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In honor of International Women’s Day we spotlight the women behind the 19th Annual Asbury Park Black History Month celebration held at The Asbury.

“Every year, this event could not happen without Leesha and Cassandra,” Mayor Moor said in opening the Feb 15 event.

Leesha Floyd and Cassandra Dickerson [at right] are two long running city employees who organize the annual event that celebrates local residents who have made their mark.

Floyd oversees the recreation, special event and film permits, and Dickerson serves as the Director of Community Development. The pair have been the driving force behind many city events, including the upcoming Mayor’s Rodeo for Recreation, a recent clothing drive and distribution for the city’s homeless population, annual Easter pageant, and Halloween event.

“I don’t know what we would do if they ever decided to move on,”  Councilman Jesse Kendle said.

This year the duo tapped Helen Elliot [shown below right and in feature photo] of Long Branch to be the keynote speaker. The Asbury Park native received resounding cheers and applause at various moments throughout her 25 minute address.  

Elliot, who studied American History at Monmouth University, obtained a master’s degree in educational counseling from the College of New Jersey. As a college student she interned for the Ford Foundation sponsored Monmouth County Community Action program where she reported on the economic impact of the Asbury Park riots.

Certified in secondary social studies, guidance, counseling and special education, Elliot has worked as a teacher in counseling and clinical supervisor for emotionally disturbed adolescent drug abuser for the State of New Jersey’s Division of Narcotics and Drug Abuse Control, as well as for the State’s Division of Corrections. She served as Director of Social Services for the City of Asbury Park and Director of Community Outreach for Brookdale College.

“African American history is American history,” she said in opening her address to a room filled with community leaders and public service members. “American history is world history and world history began in Africa. Two hundred thousand years ago, modern human beings migrated out of Africa…and when they left, they were fully formed physically and cognitively…All human beings are 99.5 percent identical, there is only one race – the human race.”

Elliot’s speech went on to touch on the effect the written word had on bringing forth conflicts.

“Collecting knowledge all became the province of moral leaders, most of whom, probably all of whom, were men,” she said. “That is how we developed a patriarchal system. Men controlled the written word, and men who controlled the written word were the highest people in society…it was the religious leaders, it was the political leaders who were taught by the religious leaders. This whole moral authority thing came into being and it became power, and anytime something becomes power, people want to hoard it. So, education was hoarded by the most wealthy, powerful people in ancient societies.”

Moving on to American history, her expertise, Elliot said, “Basically you had to be a white, male landowner to be educated in the early colonies.”

She then traced how the hoarding of knowledge has left the nation in its current landscape of not having enough educated individuals to fill the jobs needed.

“No one can turn on the news and not hear a complaint about how Apple and Microsoft can’t find Americans who can do the technical services that they need,” she said. “So you get the impression that Americans aren’t smart enough to fill those jobs; that’s not it. It’s that we have hoarded knowledge from our own people.”

Elliot’s speech went on to touch upon the current state of affairs in her native city, saying to be a good citizen it requires that we do more than pay taxes and vote.

“We are responsible for our communities, our municipalities, our county and our state and they are responsible for what happens here,” she said. “Cities and municipalities are figures of the state. They only exist because the state allows them to exist.”

Elliot spoke of the heavy social service load the city has carried due to the import of those living on the fringe by other communities.

Asbury Park had the largest general assistance welfare roll in the county, probably in the region,” she said.

She then turned her focus to the embattled West Side Community Center, a once vibrant stakeholder in the community that continues to struggle.

“When I was growing up there were only three place I could go; I could go to school, church, and the West Side Community Center,” she said. “Asbury Park has more churches than you can flick a stick at and none of those churches pay taxes on their property. I don’t care if you live in Ocean [Township] or Neptune, if you come to church in Asbury Park, have some respect for the community and help it where it is needed. Churches should be supporting the West Side Community Center.”

She went on to address the Monmouth County Freeholders in the room – Tom Arnone and John Curley.

“Have you had a meeting in Asbury Park,” she asked of the County board’s recent decision to move its meeting at various municipalities.

It then came time to address the lack of public transportation available to city students who attend Brookdale Community College and Monmouth University.

“Someone told me that the county transportation [department] changed the bus line so it could pick up students in Fair Haven and Rumson,” she asked. “For 50 years the people from this city have been trying to get to Brookdale Community College. The County needs to look at better transportation for this part of the world.”

She wrapped with addressing the incarceration of young men, speaking of how those charged with a crime often ended up Monmouth County Jail because they could not raise bail.

In the end, Elliot received resounding applause and a standing ovation.

The program then moved on to the contributions of westside musicians.

Through its African American Music Heritage Project, the Asbury Park Public Library, has begun to chronicle the sounds and stories that once flowed from westside clubs, porches and backyards.

More anon…

[Photos, in part, courtesy of Jessiemae Jones-Ricks]

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