Coronavirus Cant Stop New Generation Of Activists In Montclair – Montclair, NJ Patch

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The coronavirus pandemic has changed the lives of young people across the nation, including those living in Essex County. But a newly formed group of activists in the Montclair area are using the COVID-19 crisis as a chance to fill “blank spaces in their lives” by fighting for social justice in their communities.

Since the viral outbreak hit New Jersey, about 50 young activists from Bnai Keshet in Montclair, Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield and the surrounding community have jumped headfirst into a new internship program named in honor of Fred Pressman, a beloved member of Ner Tamid who died April 30.

Religious leaders from the two congregations have been organizing remote meetings to teach the fundamentals of organizing. The activists then meet in smaller groups they’ve dubbed “pods” to figure out ways to transform their ideas into real world action.

So far, the internship has already produced a virtual town hall on local police funding. The remote workshop, which can be seen below, was attended by Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller and council members Lori Price Abrams and David Cummings Sr., and featured presentations from the Pressman interns, a representative from the Montclair Skateboarding group, the Montclair Beyond Policing youth group, a group from UU and the president of the Montclair NAACP.

According to Gabe Slon, a senior at the University of Pittsburgh and leader of one of the group’s “racial inequality” pods, the virtual town hall surpassed all expectations.

“We’re working on facilitating a conversation about police funding within the town,” Slon said. “First and foremost, we want people in town to recognize that we need to change, that our town has a lot of the same systemic racism that plagues the rest of the country. And following that, a good place to start would be making sure any mental health incident doesn’t end up in a cop using force, which disproportionately falls on Black and brown people.”

In another recent action from the Pressman interns, the group’s “immigration” pod hung a banner under the train tracks on Watchung Avenue and Park Street in support of Make the Road New Jersey’s ongoing campaign to get coronavirus relief for undocumented workers.

“When the pandemic hit and it became clear students had blank spaces in their lives, Bnai Keshet and Ner Tamid decided to create this internship as a way to channel their energies,” said Izzy Levine, a senior at McGill University in Montreal and the co-leader of the group’s immigration pod.

“It’s a bit Jewish influenced, with teachings on values of empathy and justice, but you don’t have to be Jewish to participate,” Levine added.

Eric Scherzer, a longtime labor activist and current head of the Montclair Sanctuary Alliance, said the Pressman internship participants are making the most of this moment to bring about change for the better in our community.

“All of these young adults were forced to leave school because of COVID-19 and had all their summer jobs and plans upended because of the virus,” said Scherzer.

According to Ronni Pressman, clergy associate at Temple Ner Tamid and wife of the late Fred Pressman, her husband would be proud of the new generation of activists that are on the rise in Montclair.

“He’s smiling down on us saying, ‘Keep the ball rolling,'” Pressman said. “This social justice internship is an inspiration for more to come; to never sit back. You’ve always got to work at it – the job is never done. It’s on the next generation to make sure it doesn’t stop.”

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