Ceremony Pays Tribute to Enslaved Africans, Civil Rights Leaders

The Third Annual People’s Ceremony that was held Saturday afternoon in Hackensack honored the millions of Africans who suffered during the time of slavery.

About 50 people gathered for the event on the courthouse lawn where the African Historic Monument is located. Elected officials at the ceremony included State Sen. Loretta Weinberg, County Executive Kathleen Donovan, Freeholder John Mitchell, Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, and Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle.

Other guests – including those with ties to Teaneck – included Marilyn Harris, pastor of ; Gail Smith, president of the Teaneck Community Chorus; Edna Dismus, pastor emeritus of ; Vernon Walton, senior pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Englewood; historian Arnold Brown; and Kathleen Green, minister of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood.

Master of ceremonies was Teaneck resident Clifton Arrington, who is chair of the Bergen County Branch of the People’s Organization for Progress – one of several sponsors for the event.  

“We wanted something to remember the enslaved Africans that were brought over here, the enslaved African Americans that were here, plus everyone who continues to be in the struggle for peace and justice,” Arrington said. “And we didn’t want that to get lost. We wanted to make something that was vibrant and something that was lively.”

One of the featured guests of the ceremony was hip-hop musician Hasan Salaam, who was born in Manhattan but lived in Teaneck for about 17 years.

Desiring to be a “voice for the voiceless,” Salaam said he was honored to be a part of the People’s Ceremony.

“I remember reading that they used to do slave auctions here in Bergen County, and a lot of times – especially in the North – people try to act like there isn’t that same history of slavery and oppression of African Americans up here,” he said. “They try to make it seem like that was all down south. It’s important to show our struggle everywhere and not as something that we use as a crutch or to throw in people’s faces. But especially with the youth, the youth have to know what their ancestors endured for them to have the opportunities that they have now.”

When Salaam took to the microphone, he performed loudly, lifting his deep voice high above the noise coming from nearby traffic and airplanes overhead. He drowned out all the background sounds and captured not only the attention of those in the crowd, but those walking and driving by the courthouse lawn.

He began with the lyrics: “I arrived in this country without the choice of the pilgrims. I was hog-tied and carried outside of my village … I witnessed the killings of our elders and children and bodies left unburied for the maggots to finish. I swear if I lived it’s only for revenge and the chance to make amends with my family’s spirit …”

The event also featured poet and playwright Veona Thomas, who conducted the libation to the ancestors. She thanked the spirits of African ancestors, acknowledging their many roles as slaves.

“They stayed alive and survived the whip, the lash, the nursing of other folks’ babies so that we could stand here today,” Thomas said. “I thank the spirits for surviving Jim Crow, segregation, humiliation, subjugation, and carrying the seed which was us so we could stand here today … I thank all the maids and the porters and the dishwashers who valued education and lifted their children above their heads so that they could go further with their lives than they got the opportunity to go.”

She invited the audience to say out loud five names of “anyone who has gone over” to keep their memory alive. Weinberg said she appreciated that gesture when she got up to speak.

“We’re kind of in the middle of what we call the high holy days in the Jewish religion where we honor and think about people who have passed on in our lives,” Weinberg said. “And talk about slavery – in generations gone by. And to you here, honoring all of our ancestors by being gathered here today and by calling our attention to the slavery of the more modern era then the one I was talking about. It’s never quite vanquished, it’s never quite ended, and it takes constant work, constant reminders to make sure we have a society that really has buried the slavery of the past and will guarantee the equal opportunity of the present and the future.”

The African Historic Monument lies next to memorials for the Jewish holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and the Irish potato famine.

Brown, who is chair of the Bergen County African American Advisory Committee, told the crowd how the land that they were standing on was owned by a free African American in 1694.

“This is sacred ground,” said Brown, who also told those in attendance that in 1790 Bergen County was the largest slave-holding county in the state.

Walton, who was the first African American to serve as a Bergen County freeholder, was instrumental in having the African Historic Monument established. He reflected on the long journey of African Americans, and he said he recognized that the journey is not complete.

“Every day we are making new discoveries. Every day we are tearing down barriers, and every day we are gaining new momentum,” he said. “I’m reminded of our past problems. I’m reminded of our present progress. And finally I’m reminded of our potential possibilities.”