By Donald Gilpin

About 35 local residents, seeking to sharpen the community’s focus on civil rights, have founded a new organization called Civil Rights Princeton (CRP).

“Civil Rights Princeton is a citizens advocacy group intending to serve the cause of civil rights in Princeton, as a sounding board and information source, and, when needed, an advocate and mediator for victims of discrimination in our community,” wrote Walter Bliss, a member of the group and a longtime local resident.

So far the committee has been meeting monthly with an agenda generated mostly by questions brought up by members of the group.

“We’re brand new,” said Lew Maltby, CRP chair and chief organizer. “Nobody knows we’re here. We think that once people know we’re here, they’ll bring complaints to us.” Individuals with concerns, questions or complaints should contact CRP at maltbyadr@gmail.com, he added.

The CRP was born last January after Princeton Council made the controversial decision to consolidate the Civil Rights Commission (CRC) into a single committee along with the Human Services Commission and the Affordable Housing Board. Council members, who voted unanimously in favor of consolidation, saw the opportunity for synergy and more efficient collaboration among the groups, but some citizens feared that those organizations would be diminished and disempowered.

“A number of civil rights commissioners and others who believed in the CRC said, ‘We can’t let this happen. Civil rights is too important. There needs to be a body in Princeton that asks the hard questions and recommends changes if changes are needed,” recalled Maltby, a writer, attorney, and advocate for workers’ rights who, along with Bliss and five other CRP members, is a former member of the CRC.

“We decided to create a citizens group that would be a spokesperson for protecting civil rights in Princeton, and that’s what we did,” he added.

Maltby suggested that issues of police transparency, equity of discipline at Princeton High School, ICE raids, and the possibility of a local civil rights ordinance are all items that might appear on the CRP agenda, but he noted, “This is not an organization where the chair really runs the show. I’m not sure what the group is going to take up. The chair is the coordinator more than anything else.”

He continued, “It’s not as if we look around Princeton and see all these horrible injustices that need to be corrected, but we’re looking around and saying there are important questions to be asked. These questions shouldn’t be swept under the rug.”

Bliss, an attorney, described his motivation to join the new organization. “I’ve raised a family here and been involved with the schools over the years. As was the case then is the case now. I want a community that our youth are proud to grow up in. I think a community that embraces civil rights in a public way is that kind of community.”

He went on to urge others to join CRP. “The ultimate goal is not unpleasantness,” he said. “We don’t have grievances. We just have questions. The ultimate goal is the happy goal of e pluribus unum. We’re one community.”

Bliss suggested that the “first order of business” for CRP should be to talk with the municipal consolidated Committee on Affordable Housing, Racial, Economic, Social Equity, and Services (CARES) “and figure out how we can best work in collaboration or at least in a complementary fashion.”

Another founding member of CRP, Rhinold Ponder, described the organization as ”an excellent opportunity to establish strong coalitions among organizations and individuals who have been working on issues of equity and justice for quite some time.”

Ponder, an artist, writer/activist, and lawyer, expressed his disappointment at the abrupt dissolution of the municipal CRC and declined to comment on the work of CARES, but he expressed hope for greater involvement in civil rights issues in Princeton going forward, particularly among young people.

“I hope that CRP inspires more people to be active in the variety of issues that CRP addresses, from immigration to racial justice to LGBTQ rights,” he said. “People who favor the rights of others need to become more active. I hope this causes them to do that.”

As CRP has been getting launched over the past eight months, the 11-member CARES committee has also been busy, meeting the third Thursday of every month and pursuing its agenda in areas of affordable housing, human services, racial equity, social equity, and economic equity, according to its page on the municipal website.

Depending on the needs of the Princeton Council, the website states, CARES responsibilities may include periodic community needs assessments, public engagement, policy recommendations, public events, and subject matter expertise.

Councilwoman Leticia Fraga, who is Council co-liaison to CARES, pointed out the extraordinary progress already made by CARES, and she emphasized the positive effects of consolidation. She also expressed a willingness to collaborate with the new CRP.

“I welcome anyone who’s organizing or working together to help our residents,” she said.

She praised the members of the new municipal committee. “CARES is not just an acronym,” she said. “In a short time this group has demonstrated that they are a very caring group. They understand. From the start it was very clear that the goals that they wanted set are not only realistic, they are measurable and obtainable. And they will have the most direct impact on our residents who are in need.”

Among the committee’s accomplishments so far, she noted workshops on immigrants’ rights immediately following the ICE raids in July; upcoming workshops on tenant-landlord rights and responsibilities in conjunction with support from Human Services to avoid evictions; enforcement of wage theft laws to protect all workers; outreach; and community building.

“It’s very positive as far as the energy is concerned in terms of ‘This is what we’re going to do and this is when we’re going to do it, and this is how we’re going to measure our success,’” she said.

She went on to point out that the committee has no enforcement or subpoena power and is limited in its ability to take action, but added, “If there’s anything that can be resolved through communication or reaching out in someone’s behalf, that’s always an option.”

She continued, “I know in our community of Princeton as a whole the level of care is uplifting. It’s uplifting that we care about one another and we are willing to speak up for our neighbors who may not feel that they have a strong voice. It’s uplifting to know that there are individuals and groups that care enough to speak up on their behalf.”

Councilman Leighton Newlin, Fraga’s co-liaison to CARES, concurred. “I’m very happy with the leadership and membership of the new committee,” he said. “These people feel strongly about what they are doing. There’s a lot of synergy among the three different areas.”

For more information on CARES, visit the municipal website at princetonnj.gov.