The Asbury Voice

29/04/2023

The Asbury Book Coop is having their anniversary thing. I got a coffee table book about coffee tables

17/07/2021

Here is the LINK TO May/June 2020 Edition of THE ASBURY VOICE
https://conta.cc/3wPTG1o

16/04/2021

The Asbury Voice - March/April 2021
Click Here to read: https://conta.cc/3wWoO0D

ISSUE DEDICATED TO RENT CONTROL ORDINANCES

19/02/2021

Here is the link to the January/February 2021 Issue:

https://conta.cc/2N6H717

15/12/2020

Here is the link to the November/December 2020 Issue: https://conta.cc/37l09YV

18/10/2020

The Asbury Voice October. 2020

Link: https://conta.cc/3o0ih0n
In This Issue:

Introduction and Purpose
Part III - A Short Her/History of Police and Prison Abolition and a Picture of What It Looks Like Today by Derek Minno-Bloom
Civilian Review Board Needed in Asbury Park by Reverend Nicolle D. Harris
My Giant Friend by Pam Lamberton
Indigenous Peoples' Day by Teretha Jones
Your Vote Counts, Use It! by Linda Phillips
Kokopelli - Charles Trott
Rumors and Rumblings
Did you Know...
Archives

31/08/2020

THE ASBURY VOICE SEPTEMBER 2020
LINK: https://conta.cc/2YLJ4lW

IN THIS ISSUE:

Introduction and Purpose
Part II - The Effects Police and Prison have
on Family and Domestic Violence by Jennifer Lewinski
It's Time to Stop Celebrating Columbus Day - Teretha Jones
Kokopelli - Charles Trott
Ride the Tide by Linda Almgren
Well I'll Be John Brown! by Lorraine Stone
Letters to the Editor
Rumors and Rumblings (new) 
Hold Rev Gil in prayer
Did you Know...
Archives

31/07/2020

THE ASBURY VOICE
AUGUST 2020

https://conta.cc/3jVbAut

In This Issue:

Introduction and Purpose
Conversation on Prison and Police Abolition - Part I - Lori Rush
*Kokopelli - Charles Trott
An Interview with Fr. Chase Danford - New Pastor at Trinity Church
Letters to the Editor - Yvonne Clayton
Democratic Action - Walter Greason
Talking About Race, Must Not Cause, Not Talking About Race - Rev. Gil
Did you Know...
Archives

26/06/2020

THE ASBURY VOICE - JULY 2020 #11
https://conta.cc/3dzGggu

In This Issue:
Introduction and Purpose
The Time is now - Renaming Springwood Park
Don't Erase Our History - Dan Harris
Black Music Month - Charles Trott
*Kokopelli - Charles Trott
A Statement from Trinity Church
Let's Get Educated
Black Trans Lives Matter
Letters to the Editor
Did you know..
Archives
A Conversation on Police and Prison Abolition

02/06/2020

The June 2020 Edition of
The Asbury Voice
https://conta.cc/36Yn2Q4

02/05/2020

THE ASBURY VOICE - MAY 2020 EDITION #9

SHARE WITH FRIENDS ENJOY !!!!

28/03/2020

Some Ways White People Can Make Life Less Frustrating For People of Color
Adapted from a list created by Kesiena Boom

Here is a small sampling of advice from Kesiena Boom in an article published by Vice in 2018. For the entire list of 100 suggestions check out this LINK but be warned: It has language that some may find offensive.

1. Just because you can’t see racism around you doesn’t mean it's not happening. Trust people of color’s assessment of a situation.
7. Don’t assume that a person of color knows everything about their country of heritage. Do you know everything there is to know about America? Germany? Sweden? That’s what I thought.
14. When you endlessly complain about how terrible white people are, you are being that terrible white person. Jeez.
17. Never try and tell a person of color what is or isn't racist.
35. If you’re upper or middle class try to avoid moving into an area that has historically been populated by low-income people of color. Gentrification tears communities apart.
38. In general, just don’t assume we want to be white or want to assimilate. And don’t pressure us to do so.
44. Remember that it is Black women and Native women and mixed race women who are most likely to be r***d in their lifetimes in America. You cannot be an advocate against sexual violence without considering the impact of race.
56. If you have a partner of color or children of color, trust and believe that you can still be racist. You’re not exempt. If anything, you have even more of a duty to examine your behavior for the benefit of your loved ones.
59. Look around your workplace—are the only people of color cleaners or assistants? What can you do to change that? (The answer is almost never “nothing.”)
62. Refuse to speak on an all-white panel. Regardless of the topic.
67. Don’t say things like “there are two sides to every story!” or play devil’s advocate when it comes to conversations about race.
71. Research your candidates. Who has progressive policies that won’t needlessly criminalize people of color? Vote for them.
72. Remember that Black women are not here to save you from yourselves. You’ve gotta put in the work, too.
74. Use your white privilege to be on the frontline between people of color and the police at protests. You’re at much less risk than us.
76. Share alerts when ICE is planning a raid.
77. Stand up to Islamophobia wherever you see it.
89. Understand that America has what it has because it stole land from indigenous people and stole people from Africa.
90. Care about race on the 364 days that aren’t Martin Luther King Jr. day.
99. Recognize that fighting racism isn't about you, it's not about your feelings; it's about liberating people of color from a world that tries to crush us at every turn.
100. And remember: Being an ally is a verb, not a noun. You can’t just magically be an ally to people of color because you say you’re one, it's something that you must continually work on.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ OTHER ARTICLES IN THE MARCH 2020 EDITION OF THE ASBURY VOICE: https://conta.cc/2vSSXmH

28/03/2020

JAMES ABRO
From his Experience of Homelessness
to
Leading Activist for Homeless Rights
to
Thought Leader on the Subject of Poverty

Several months ago I met James Abro at a KYDS event {Konscious Youth Development & Service konscious.org) in Asbury Park. He is a frequent participant at their monthly One Mic One Soul platform for vulnerability, openness, and Knowledge. I was impressed with his participation which was more remarkable upon learning he commutes from New York City to attend the 6 pm event and returns the same night at its conclusion about 10 pm.

So who is James Abro?

His book Facing Homelessness was reviewed on Amazon:

In 2009, James Abro became homeless and destitute. His was not what we have come to think of as the typical story of becoming homeless after ‘hitting rock bottom’ by losing battles with addiction or some devastating personal setback. In that sense, Mr. Abro’s story is the new typical and one he shares with millions of Americans who through no fault of their own find themselves in similar circumstances.

As Matthew Desmond reports in his new book, Evicted: “Every year in this country families are evicted from their homes not by the tens of thousands or even the hundreds of thousands, but by the millions.” Desmond’s book relies heavily on interviews with people who lost their homes. As Mr. Abro, and others like him will tell you: “When you are in a desperate situation and asked to describe it your instinct is to tell a version of that story that will help you survive and that often means not being totally honest about it. It’s human nature. “

Mr. Abro had no such incentive for writing A Guidebook for Surviving Homelessness. In fact at the time he wrote it he was undergoing treatment for an acute anxiety disorder that resulted from his experience. He felt that the only way to understand what happened to him in order to quell his anxiety and get on with his life was to write about it honestly. And it worked. Mr. Abro has gone on from his experience to become a leading activist for homeless rights in his community, as well as a thought-leader on the subject of poverty.

Mr. Abro is often asked if he could provide a blueprint for someone going through what he did. “No,” he answers. “Social services programs and policies on homelessness vary greatly from state to state and even within counties of a state. But what I can offer is a personal guidebook for getting through what is universal to this experience: trauma, doubt, fear, resiliency and recovery. “

Facing Homelessness: Thoughts on his memoir by James Abro

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “On a single night in January 2009 there were an estimated 643,067 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people nationwide."

I was one of them. I lost my home in January 2009 after spending more than two years caring for a terminally ill parent. At the age of fifty-five, I was exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially, and yet I had to go about finding a place to live and a way to restore my life.

This, unfortunately, is no longer uncommon. According to the public policy organization, Demos: one in seven Americans will face homelessness at some time during their lives. Additionally, 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day and will continue to do so for the next fifteen years (MSN). Americans nearing retirement age are looking at the prospect of not being able to retire because they will be unable to afford housing on the benefits provided by Social Security. For many who are unable to extend their careers past the standard retirement age, the financial and personal challenges are daunting.

Facing Homelessness is one of the most dreaded experiences a person can have. Having sociologists interview people struggling with housing issues is not the same as having a professional writer write about their actual experience.

"James Abro speaks in a candid and clear voice in his latest book, Facing Homelessness. He is without a doubt a talented and fearless writer; and I truly appreciated that he shared the utter darkness of his experience, not just the light at the end of the tunnel. We as readers have much to learn from him as he shares his perspective and personal story. James grew up in a secure family, but then experienced the sudden loss of his support system when, as an adult, he suffered the loss of a dear family member. He then found himself alone, unemployed, and detached from the world -- facing poverty and homelessness. Through his honest, authentic story-telling, James is able to evoke our empathy and compassion as he shares how he came to inhabit a strange and hostile reality of economic and social poverty." -- Trish Goodall, former director of The Hope Center.

According to a 2016 Marketplace Economic Anxiety Index report, the same percentage of Americans who were experiencing heightened levels of anxiety about the economy and their personal financial well-being during the Great Recession remains the same today, roughly about one-third of the population.

I feel that this persistence of anxiety is due in large part to the fact that for the last 40 years the American ‘Safety Net’ has been so strained and tattered by contentious political ideological battles about its purpose, and even necessity, that it is now frayed so badly that it is a net in name only.

Adding to the dilemma facing someone confronting the possibility of becoming homeless is that charitable religious groups that in the past offered assistance to the needy without asking for anything in return, now in many instances have been replaced by a growing number of Evangelical faith-based groups that subtly, and not so subtly, demand recognition and allegiance to ‘a power greater than oneself that will save you from your plight if only you will let it’. If you are a non-religious person in a vulnerable condition, this can be both a confusing and seductive proposition. I address the dilemma in my book this way: “… in part, I am writing this book for people who, like me, try to find tools – secular and spiritual -- for getting through trying times in their lives without creating another crisis of belief or dependency within them that they will inevitably have to deal with and unburden themselves from at a later date. When you are struggling, your goal is to lighten your load, not add to it.”

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ OTHER ARTICLES IN THE MARCH 2020 EDITION OF THE ASBURY VOICE: https://conta.cc/2vSSXmH

28/03/2020

JAMES ABRO
From his Experience of Homelessness
to
Leading Activist for Homeless Rights
to
Thought Leader on the Subject of Poverty

Several months ago I met James Abro at a KYDS event {Konscious Youth Development & Service konscious.org) in Asbury Park. He is a frequent participant at their monthly One Mic One Soul platform for vulnerability, openness, and Knowledge. I was impressed with his participation which was more remarkable upon learning he commutes from New York City to attend the 6 pm event and returns the same night at its conclusion about 10 pm.

So who is James Abro?

His book Facing Homelessness was reviewed on Amazon:

In 2009, James Abro became homeless and destitute. His was not what we have come to think of as the typical story of becoming homeless after ‘hitting rock bottom’ by losing battles with addiction or some devastating personal setback. In that sense, Mr. Abro’s story is the new typical and one he shares with millions of Americans who through no fault of their own find themselves in similar circumstances.

As Matthew Desmond reports in his new book, Evicted: “Every year in this country families are evicted from their homes not by the tens of thousands or even the hundreds of thousands, but by the millions.” Desmond’s book relies heavily on interviews with people who lost their homes. As Mr. Abro, and others like him will tell you: “When you are in a desperate situation and asked to describe it your instinct is to tell a version of that story that will help you survive and that often means not being totally honest about it. It’s human nature. “

Mr. Abro had no such incentive for writing A Guidebook for Surviving Homelessness. In fact at the time he wrote it he was undergoing treatment for an acute anxiety disorder that resulted from his experience. He felt that the only way to understand what happened to him in order to quell his anxiety and get on with his life was to write about it honestly. And it worked. Mr. Abro has gone on from his experience to become a leading activist for homeless rights in his community, as well as a thought-leader on the subject of poverty.

Mr. Abro is often asked if he could provide a blueprint for someone going through what he did. “No,” he answers. “Social services programs and policies on homelessness vary greatly from state to state and even within counties of a state. But what I can offer is a personal guidebook for getting through what is universal to this experience: trauma, doubt, fear, resiliency and recovery. “

Facing Homelessness: Thoughts on his memoir by James Abro

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “On a single night in January 2009 there were an estimated 643,067 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people nationwide."

I was one of them. I lost my home in January 2009 after spending more than two years caring for a terminally ill parent. At the age of fifty-five, I was exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially, and yet I had to go about finding a place to live and a way to restore my life.

This, unfortunately, is no longer uncommon. According to the public policy organization, Demos: one in seven Americans will face homelessness at some time during their lives. Additionally, 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day and will continue to do so for the next fifteen years (MSN). Americans nearing retirement age are looking at the prospect of not being able to retire because they will be unable to afford housing on the benefits provided by Social Security. For many who are unable to extend their careers past the standard retirement age, the financial and personal challenges are daunting.

Facing Homelessness is one of the most dreaded experiences a person can have. Having sociologists interview people struggling with housing issues is not the same as having a professional writer write about their actual experience.

"James Abro speaks in a candid and clear voice in his latest book, Facing Homelessness. He is without a doubt a talented and fearless writer; and I truly appreciated that he shared the utter darkness of his experience, not just the light at the end of the tunnel. We as readers have much to learn from him as he shares his perspective and personal story. James grew up in a secure family, but then experienced the sudden loss of his support system when, as an adult, he suffered the loss of a dear family member. He then found himself alone, unemployed, and detached from the world -- facing poverty and homelessness. Through his honest, authentic story-telling, James is able to evoke our empathy and compassion as he shares how he came to inhabit a strange and hostile reality of economic and social poverty." -- Trish Goodall, former director of The Hope Center.

According to a 2016 Marketplace Economic Anxiety Index report, the same percentage of Americans who were experiencing heightened levels of anxiety about the economy and their personal financial well-being during the Great Recession remains the same today, roughly about one-third of the population.

I feel that this persistence of anxiety is due in large part to the fact that for the last 40 years the American ‘Safety Net’ has been so strained and tattered by contentious political ideological battles about its purpose, and even necessity, that it is now frayed so badly that it is a net in name only.

Adding to the dilemma facing someone confronting the possibility of becoming homeless is that charitable religious groups that in the past offered assistance to the needy without asking for anything in return, now in many instances have been replaced by a growing number of Evangelical faith-based groups that subtly, and not so subtly, demand recognition and allegiance to ‘a power greater than oneself that will save you from your plight if only you will let it’. If you are a non-religious person in a vulnerable condition, this can be both a confusing and seductive proposition. I address the dilemma in my book this way: “… in part, I am writing this book for people who, like me, try to find tools – secular and spiritual -- for getting through trying times in their lives without creating another crisis of belief or dependency within them that they will inevitably have to deal with and unburden themselves from at a later date. When you are struggling, your goal is to lighten your load, not add to it.”

28/03/2020

MARCH 2020 ISSUE OF THE ASBURY VOICE

https://conta.cc/2vSSXmH

29/02/2020

Sand Hill Band History
By Sharon Coleman Davis

On December 14, 2019, West Bangs Avenue (at the corner of Neptune Boulevard) was dedicated as Sand Hill Road. This dedication from Neptune township was to salute the Sand Hill Indians and all that they have accomplished.

In 1877 Isaac Richardson and his brothers, Theodore and Robert, bought 15 acres near Indian Lady Springs in Neptune Township. That area became known as Richardson Heights.

The Richardsons called themselves the Sand Hill Indians. Most of the men were carpenters and craftsmen and farmers, as were most of the people in Monmouth County at that time. Isaac taught these skills to his sons, Richard, Isaac, Theodore, and Joseph.

The Sand Hill Indians were builders, carpenters, masons, and farmers. They constructed many houses, schools, churches, barns, and fences needed to grow shore towns of Neptune, Eatontown, Long Branch, Tinton Falls, Asbury Park and Ocean Grove including the Asbury Park boardwalk. The families became prosperous and owned over one hundred acres in Tinton Falls and Neptune.

They kept their traditional ways of living by building a community where several generations lived together. As new families formed, the land was divided, new houses built, and another generation learned the ways of the past from their grandparents and kin. Barns, corn cribs, gardens, and water from springs were all shared by the entire family. The whole community supported the family village.

Our Sand Hill Indian grandparents were part-time farmers in the early 1900s, who kept farm animals, chickens, cows, hogs, horses, as well as a corn crib and gardens. They were self-sufficient and lived in small communities where everyone nearby was related to the Sand Hill community. The Sand Hill Indian women became skilled seamstresses. They beaded clothing and moccasins and were self-employed and owned their homes and properties. They also baked goods that were sold locally. Their traditions were mainly family and all things related to family survival. They had to make a new home here in New Jersey and had no plans to return to Cherokee lands in the south.

The Sand Hill Indians today meet twice a year to inform and teach the next generation about our heritage and family history. Handmade leather clothing, moccasins, headgear, a peace pipe, turkey fan, and beaded items were displayed during these events.

Our traditions trace back to our Cherokee roots, where the tribes lived in a village setting surrounded by gardens and fields of corn, squash, and beans. They kept community storehouses for the survival of the entire village and had a community space for religious gatherings and special events. They piped water from two nearby springs so that each home was supplied with fresh water. They had their fire wagon located in their fire company barn.

It is important to share our ancestor's traditional ways with our Sand Hill Indian descendants and those who are interested in Native American culture. In the early 1960s, the corner of Springwood Avenue (now known as Lake Avenue) and Springdale Avenue (now known as Neptune Boulevard) was named Richardson Heights due to the positive impact my ancestors made in this community.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ OTHER ARTICLES IN THE FEBRUARY 2020 EDITION OF THE ASBURY VOICE: https://conta.cc/2VuDJP9

28/02/2020

From the Asbury Voice - February, 2020

Paper Genocide
by Dr. Walter Greason, PH.D

People can easily confuse the past, memory, and history. The past is everything that occurred before the present moment. It is impossible to record or recall everything in the past. It is an abstraction that refers to everything 'before now.' It is the ocean that we seek to chart with our memories.

Every person recalls these moments. As we live, we hold to specific moments that come to define our sense of self, family, and community. While these memories shape our perception of the past, they are still incomplete. No one remembers every moment of their entire lives. It is our selection of these recollections that helps to guide our choices in the present and future.

History is a different project. It specifically seeks the written records of human activity. It borders on archaeology and anthropology, but restricts its resources in very defined ways. Since 1880, written words -- especially about monarchs, empires, governments, and wars -- have been the primary concern of historians. Their work, my work, requires a firm distinction between the past, memory, and history. At the heart of this distinction is a massive 'paper genocide.'

Pergolaville, New Jersey, was a labor camp for African American families in 1960. By 1980, it disappeared from every local map. In the last twenty years, the New Beginnings affordable housing development stood on the lot where Pergolaville used to be. I referred to this process as 'suburban erasure' - the way that metropolitan growth (or urban sprawl) transformed the landscape and destroyed small, black communities across the United States.

This research brought significant scholarly attention to shore towns like Red Bank, Long Branch, and Asbury Park. Francesca Ammon, David Goldberg, Richard Veit, Daniel Wolff, and Vayne Ong have advanced the understanding of Asbury Park over the last one hundred and fifty years in substantial ways. Unlike Pergolaville, the black community on the west side of Asbury Park has not been erased. In many ways, it has become one of the enduring symbols of racial segregation in the modern United States.

Racially segregated places and institutions often remain invisible to the civic and financial institutions that define life in the twenty-first century. Since 1948, these communities and organizations created a legal framework to dismantle the inequities that the Jim Crow system maintained. In a cruel irony, their opponents turned their successful legislative and judicial victories against them, using these principles to dismantle the movement that challenged entrenched racism. In ways that reflected the treatment of American Indians in the early twentieth century, African-American, Chicano, and Boriquen communities have been slowly displaced and dismantled over the last seventy years.

'Suburban Erasure' is just one more form of 'paper genocide.' Unless we create purposeful initiatives to restore and expand schools, businesses, and public agencies to reverse this destruction, places like Asbury Park will have little chance at future histories. They will even fade from the reach of personal memories. They will be lost to the ocean of the unknowable past.

TO READ ALL THE ARTICLES FROM THE FEBRUARY 2020 EDITION CLICK ON THIS LINK https://conta.cc/2VuDJP9

28/02/2020

THE ASBURY VOICE FEBRUARY 2020 #7
Journal of the People
You are not voiceless but are often unheard
We can change that together
https://conta.cc/2VuDJP9

09/01/2020

The Asbury Voice Edition # 6
January, 2020
https://conta.cc/2sbf6Li
Like Us

05/12/2019

Edition # 5 of The Asbury Voice
December , 2019
https://conta.cc/34R1Mtn

15/10/2019

Follow us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/asburyvoice/

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

04/10/2019

The October issue of the Asbury Voice is out! https://conta.cc/2MnIK63

15/09/2019

THE ASBURY VOICE - A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
You are not voiceless, but are often unheard.
We can change that together.

April 2019 Issue # 1
TAV # 1 https://conta.cc/2Nf3qkd

19/08/2019

A favorite gathering space in our beloved community, Springwood Park, Asbury Park

19/08/2019

Our latest issue of The Asbury Voice is available here!

https://conta.cc/31ynQHd