Sustained Protests Are A Key To Beating City Hall

By Rev. J.J. Purcell, MPS (Ret.)

I suppose it was the mid-2000s or so when the Greater Long Branch NAACP, then under the direction of President William L. Danger, was confronting the Middletown Township Committee, then led by Mayor Rosemarie Peters. The issues were plain. There was a situation with a township employee of color who was facing bias in her work situation. Meanwhile, Bill was also trying to secure additional opportunities for people of color in township employment, where there had been none so far.

Talks were at a virtual standstill. Bill and I were friends, and I had helped out his chapter with doing press before. Since my office, The Courier, was right across the road from the Town Hall where talks were going on, he came over. He told me about the arrogant posture of the committee and their want to do absolutely nothing for the employee, despite the outright bias she had faced. And, where it concerned any concessions about hiring on the then-nearly all white town departments -- nothing: absolutely nothing.

I made a suggestion to Bill, which he wound up using. I knew the thing the committee feared more than anything were Black protests along their major thoroughfares, so their mostly all-White citizenry (nearly 97 percent then) would see. You see, White suburbanites like to consider themselves 'good people' about race and such, even when they mostly aren't 'good people' about race.

I said, 'Tell them you'll put 500 or more people at the intersection of King's Highway and Route 35 (the town's main hub) and that your people will stay there until there is change.' Bill asked what should we do if they do not give in. I responded, 'Then let's do it; let's put 500 or more people out there until there is change.' He laughed. "Now that would get their attention. But, it's the middle of the winter."

My then employer, as well as owning the newspaper I published, also owned a number of Foodtowns in three counties. I said to Bill, 'We get a warming tent, all the cup of soup and coffee we can put into it, and request assistance from Second Baptist Church in Long Branch, the other area NAACPs, the state NAACP -- even the Nation if we have to in order to pull this off. The best defense is a good offense. There is no way the committee wants that to happen in their town: Newspapers, TV News, and Online News will be all over the place and asking questions.'

After a long minute, Bill, a wise man and tough negotiator, smiled and said, "OK, well, you made some work for yourself. I'm going to go in with that right now."

Well, he did. While he went back into negotiations I proceeded to get a large warming tent laid on from a company in Howell. Then, I called my boss to find out about getting soup and coffee for the tent. I waited for Bill to give me the heads up before I began any other work. But, none would be required.

"You were right. They heard about Black protesters on their main roadway and they backed-up. They resolved the personnel issue I went with in there and they gave us hiring concessions as well."

Of course none of it should have worked. Bill presented a perfectly logical argument, in a business fashion, at first to try and reasonably solve small problems in town. However, it was the arrogance and bigotry, in my opinion, of the all-White Middletown Committee that would not give an inch to not only Bill, but any person of color. There had to be an '...or else.' And, what Bill promised if talk broke down was a nightmare of theirs.

The secret to Bill's threat was the fact it would have been made real. But, he used a method that did not have violence or arrogance built into it, only American citizens exercising their God-given rights of acceptable protestation.

I cancelled the tent, soup and coffee. To tell you the truth, I was kind of sorry about it. Because if any town in New Jersey needed to get shook up it was and is Middletown Township. Still, a deal is a deal.

I absolutely believe that regular and heavy protestation of examples of bad government will work in the end. Free of violence, a crowd of dedicated, law-abiding protesters (not unlike feminists in the early part of the 20th century) who can sustain their operations for long periods of time can change the game, so to speak, where it involves issues of race and prejudice in this country. Certainly it will work in the town near you.

It is a matter of sustainability. Can protesters keep protesting, remain calm and law abiding, and never give up their cause? Law enforcement will be present at a certain point, and menacing. Consequently, strong leadership is required of protesters. If protesters can keep the fight up, though, they will win, because no elected government in this nation wants the heat that comes along with a wrong they did being covered and reminded daily.

Politicians hate it when their prejudices, sins, greed and bigotry are shed light upon. After a journalism career that was nearly two decades long, I can assure the reader of that much.

Joe Caliendo passes, marks end of an era

Joe Caliendo with former area NAACP President William Dangler

By Rev. J.J. Purcell

Former Middletown Democratic Chairman Joe Caliendo died this morning. There is so much to say about Joe one scarcely knows where to start.

He was a family man first, the husband of Pat. He was a father and grandfather, above everything. It is the thing he worked hardest at in life: his family. He was a good man, a good union man, and Joe was not afraid of hard work. A look at his hands would tell the story if you ever glanced at them. 

I met Joe because of politics. We worked together very closely during the early 2000s to help Democrats win local offices in Middletown Township, the home he loved so dearly, and in the Bayshore Area, as a whole. I knew him well in this way and that is the Joe I can speak about with authority.

Politics is an ugly game. It is filled with people, be they Republican or Democrat, who are no better than snakes. Working with politicians to achieve community goals is as easy as working in a tiger cage with a half dozen different, untamed big cats. But, Joe knew his way around that cage very well: He was intuitive, intelligent, quick, focused and utterly dedicated to the proposition that the 'every-man' and woman deserved things in this life, and not just the rich and so-called elite. Above all else, he believed in the rights of men and women to be able to earn their daily bread for themselves and their families, and that is no little thing in this world.

I have seen people try and bribe Joe Caliendo, and he laughed it off on both occasions and gave them a good piece of his mind. He liked to laugh. But, Joe was also one of the bravest souls I have encountered. 

I have seen him threatened by the highest state offices of evil men and women, mostly Republicans, who tried to coerce Joe to stop his work getting Democrats elected in town and in the county. You had a better chance of getting a wolverine to back-up. I cannot count how many times I heard that man bark into the face of someone who thought they could push him around: "What the hell are you going to do to me? I don't have all that much time on this earth -- and sure as hell don't give a damn about what you say or do."

Not everyone is brave. People like to think they are, but mostly they aren't. Joe was brave. 

Joe Caliendo (L) with former Matawan Councilman Bud Mullaney

Joe was also tireless. He'd put up signs with fellow Democrats in any weather, deep into the night and early morning if he had to, risking sickness or anything he had to in order to come a step closer to victory. Meanwhile, no Middletown Democratic chairman has ever known as much local victory in the township, which is far and away a Republican-voting community. Yet, with Joe Caliendo at the helm of the township party, victory was always possible, sometimes even likely despite the sheer number of factors set against him and the Middletown Dems. 

Joe was a lifelong Democrat and had been in leadership in the 1960s, 70s and 2000s. I believe that simple facts attests to his convictions.

Joe was a skilled politician and party boss. He did not care about frivolity. He became involved with things he believed were right and did not care about what anyone thought. He supported the NAACP openly in a time when race hatred was very alive in Middletown. And, he was recognized by area and state NAACP leaders for his wisdom and hard work. Joe fought for union rights like a lion at every turn, and supported the working person without apology over the moneyed interests of glad-handing politicians who smiled to peoples' faced and stabbed them in the back quietly in the back rooms. Joe Caliendo spoke truth to power and there are very few human beings in this world that would actually do that.

Joe was my friend. At times in my life I was distraught, he was there without judgment or self-righteousness. I know he would not mind me throwing in there that he was also a heck of a ballplayer, who almost made the old Brooklyn Dodgers before they moved to sunny California. But, he played ball like he played life -- as hard as he could and straight on. No mental errors. If you were going to beat Joe at anything you were going to have to do it, because he wasn't going to be asleep at the switch or make mental errors. He was as sharp as an eagle. 

Joe lived and worked through all kinds of physical pain from many injuries -- but to see him you'd never know it by his face. He could handle a lot of pain and make it look easier than anyone I have known. 

Joe even converted me to being a Democrat from being an avowed Republican. He was persuasive and there was power behind his words, because he was a man of action. If he said something you could believe he meant it and was going to do something about it. 

I have known many people in my life and covered many areas of the human condition as a journalist of many years, and believe me when I say few people are exceptional. I do not care how much money or celebrity they have, whether they are beautiful or athletic, elected or appointed, rich or poor -- the vast majority of people in this world are sheep. Every now and again, a true leader, a shepherd, comes along. Joe was one of those. 

Joe was not a spiritual man. He did not do right over wrong because he thought there was any reward for it in an afterlife. He just did what was right because it was right. And, if for no more than that, the God of my understanding will welcome him to his house, where he is already.