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Posted by Pepe Bonmot
on May 21, 2002 at 16:45:28:
BILL BRAKER, NOT YOUR ORDINARY FREEHOLDER By Gloria Dulan-Wilson URBAN TIMES NEWS May 4, - May 11, 2002 Bill Braker, incumbent Hudson County Freeholder, up for reelection, takes his position seriously. As he states at a recent pre-MLK Parade Luncheon, held at Ruthies Restaurant, “I’m not the kind of person who just shows up around campaign time. I’m highly visible in the community, and participate in activities relevant to my constituents. And my office is in the heart of Greenville, so my doors are always open.” Braker, a former Jersey city police officer, admits that 17 years ago, in 1985, he had no concept of running for any kind of political office. “In fact, I had no political aspirations whatsoever.” However, an incident between fellow Caucasian officer, and an African American welfare recipient, caused him to take offense at his disrespect towards her. “Her welfare check was allegedly stolen,” he asserted. The white officer not only didn’t want to do the report, but he insulted the woman by insinuating that it may have been some sort of drug-related incident. That bugged me to the point that I had to express my dismay. So I wrote a piece stating that all Black people wanted and deserved was ‘equal treatment under the law, respect, and to be treated like human beings.’ I posted on the bulletin board with my name and shield number on it, and waited for a response. “Braker states that no one accosted him, but one of the white officers stated that what he said was brilliant, and that he should run for office to represent “his people”. That was in 1983. “Two years later I ran for office, and the rest is history. Braker’s recently held fundraiser was evidence of how successful he has been in progressively assisting Jersey City residents in their quest for affordable housing, better education, quality of life concerns. Present were Councilmembers Viola Richardson and L. Harvey Smith; State Senator Joseph Charles, and Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham and first lady Sandra Bolden Cunningham. Braker admits, however, that his is no easy task. “You’d think that we’d get the message by now and be in the forefront of this kind of effort, instead of it having to always be a struggle. We now have Glenn Cunningham, the First Black Mayor of Jersey City, and people think they can just sit back and let him do all the work while they coast along. But that’s not how others make it, and if we don’t learn that right now, we’ll lose our whole community. It’s important to for parents to be integrally involved in their children’s education. It’s even more important for parents to get good educations as well, so they can get some of these jobs that we’re bring to the community. But there are times when I do wonder why it is do hard for us to get the message and what others are doing for themselves. I get concerned that Jersey City residents just want to let the next guy do the job, so they can remain in the shadows. We can’t do that and expect to be respected and included in the future. My job is to keep advocating and making sure those opportunities are there. But my constituents have a job to, and that is to be ready when those opportunities become available. Others are not going to wait very long for them to get it together. With the election less than a month away, things are intensifying on the campaign trail for both Braker and Hartnett. Both, supporters and long time allies of Mayor Cunningham and long time allies of Mayor Cunningham, are concerned about whether Jersey City will keep up the momentum that helped Jersey City elect their first Black mayor, or they will try to rest on their laurels and drop the ball. In case there is any mistake in the meaning of that last sentence, you should definitely chose from column A – keep up the momentum, support those who have supported the Mayor because, in the long run, they’re the ones who will make the difference in your lives; don’t even think about column b – we can’t afford to rest on our laurels. We have to understand that electing Mayor Cunningham was only phase one in taking back what belongs to Jersey City from 11 avaricious mayors in Hudson County, who have benefited from our being duped by the Schundler (DeGise) administration. If we allow a splinter group in the Heights to wag the tail of the rest of the community, we definitely deserve the treatment we got before Mayor Cunningham. And believe me, that’s exactly what will happen. So, as Braker puts it, “I want everyone to understand that neutral is not the way, ignorance is not bliss, and waiting for some one else to do it is deadly. It’s still up to us to carry the ball.” |
