Mayor Scharfenberger, members of the Township Committee, ladies and gentlemen of Middletown and guests,
My name is Art Gallagher. I am a former Middletown resident. I am currently a Middletown business owner, as I have been for the last 10 years. I am a Middletown property tax payer and 75% of my employees are Middletown residents. I live in Highlands. For purposes of the record, please use my business address, 571 Route 36, Belford.
As a resident and business owner, I have always endeavored to be a good neighbor. Mostly with success I think. I don’t remember ever turning down a request to contribute to the community which has treated me and my family so well. Be it the senior prom, police or fire departments, or local charities, I have been there when asked, however modestly. I also volunteer my time to local civic organizations whenever possible.
Recently, some have alleged that I am also a Human Rights violator. According to reports published on the Internet, the Middletown Human Rights Commission had a “special meeting” last week about my blog, MoreMonmouthMusings, and a conversation I started about race relations. At that meeting, which I was not invited to nor informed about until after it happened, my writing was condemned, and by inference I was labeled a racist Human Rights violator.
I started the conversation in response to the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s vulgar comments about Barack Obama. I used the same offensive word that Reverend Jackson used, not as a slur towards any one individual or race. Rather, I used it and other offensive words as a linguistic devise, a provocation, to generate attention for this conversation about race relations. It worked.
I come to you tonight, not to defend my 1st Amendment rights, because they have not been violated. I do not come to criticize those who would silence me, because they have the same unalienable right to condemn my speech as I have to utter it.
Nor do I come to apologize. I did what I did intentionally and with a purpose. It worked better than I counted on. I baited my critics to generate attention to the conversation that I believe needs to be had. They reacted predictably. I make no apology for manipulating them, because to do so would dishonor them. I have no delusions about being a puppeteer. Each of us has choices. We are responsible for our own actions and reactions.
Nor do I apologize to my friends and affiliates that my critics have tried to paint as racist by association. Their reactions and responses are an important part of this conversation.
We all need to look in the mirror and into our hearts.
I come to invite you all into the conversation and to take it to the next level.
Contrary to published reports, I did not, and I do not, advocate that the offensive word be reintroduced into the main stream lexicon. I am pleased that one of my critics who in the past has regularly used the word has now publically condemned it. That is one positive result of my provocation, but there is much more work to do.
While addressing the nation about the racial controversy generated by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Senator Barack Obama said, "…race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. "
I am happy that there is something so important that Senator Obama and I agree about.
We haven’t worked through these issues or perfected our union. Many of us, me included, haven’t worked through them individually or perfected our hearts. I’m coming out of the corner and I invite you to also.
I am aware that time is short tonight and I thank the Mayor for indulging me. I want to quickly invoke two more historic figures and then make a request before I conclude my remarks.
As part of my study of race relations I recently read the full text of Martin Luther King, Jr’s I have a dream speech. If you haven’t read it or listened to it recently, I encourage you to do so. There is a link to it on my blog.
As I read the speech Dr. King delivered 45 years ago, I was struck with how much of King’s dream has been fulfilled. Much of what he dreamed of is now the law of our land. However, we still have a long way to go. The rest of his dream can not be legislated because we can not legislate what is in our hearts and minds. In order for the rest of King’s dream to be fulfilled, I think we need to look to the words of another historic figure, whose principles our nation was founded on. He is one historic figure who is revered in both the black and white communities. The quote is brief, but it is reaches into the heart of the matter of how we can perfect ourselves, our union and our planet. Tragically, I can not say his name here in this government building without sparking an even bigger controversy, but you will know who it is when I quote him.
Those powerful words are, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
With those words, Mr. Mayor, I conclude my remarks. I request that this governing body instruct the Middletown Human Rights Commission to have another special meeting and to do so quickly. I request to be invited to or notified about that meeting. And I request that as a result of that meeting, that the Middletown Human Rights Commission either reaffirm or reverse their action concerning me and the work I am doing on my blog.
Thank you.
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