Taking Public Feedback, Sussex County Floats Anti-Hate Resolution

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ - The Sussex County Board of County Commissioners Director Dawn Fantasia presented a “sample” of an anti-hate resolution to her colleagues to spark discussion.

The resolution sample was presented by what she called “significant communication from the public,” asking that the board pass an anti-hate resolution, after members of the public approached the Commissioners at the Jan. 27 meeting with a resolution sample of their own.

Members of the public who contacted Fantasia about the public’s Jan. 27 draft resolution critiqued it for its lack of inclusivity of all hate groups and instead, considered it too “narrow.”

During Wednesday’s new business portion of the meeting, Fantasia presented what she had begun to draft based on feedback she had received from many county residents after the Jan. 27 meeting. Fantasia read what she wrote into the record, with Commissioners and members of the public commenting on it during appropriate segments of the meeting. Fantasia called the draft “inclusive of hate of all kinds” that “covers quite a lot of ground,” including Federal Bureau of Investigation definitions of hate crimes and various instances of hate-driven events.

“The word ‘hate’ is a deeply subjective term influenced by any number of cultural, socio-economic, religious, and family influences,” part of Fantasia’s sample draft read.

Many individuals commented to Fantasia and the other commissioners, she said, that the resolution draft originally presented to the Board on Jan. 27, was inadequate and not inclusive enough of hate groups that have taken center stage in the last year especially, terrorizing individuals and communities both countywide and nationwide.

“I understand individuals having the need for specific groups to be called out,” Fantasia said during the meeting. “Some of these things are absolutely outrageous and deplorable and of course, no sane individual in their right mind would ever support something like that and I certainly would denounce that, but the need to name each and every group seemed very prevalent.”

Some members of the public asked her why, for example, after former Commissioner Joshua Hertzberg had condemned the riots within cities over the summer of 2020 and the Commissioners condemned the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 in public statements, they had not crafted accompanying resolutions.

“If you’re going to do that you should encompass any and all hate that we’ve witnessed here in Sussex County,” Fantasia said members of the public who contacted her recommended.

Residents also asked for anti-hate resolutions after the arrests of three individuals who fired approximately 10 gunshots at the home of Sheriff Michael Strada, while he, his wife and children were in the home, with those individuals having also spray-painted “BLM” on a sign outside of their home and on the street. Other residents questioned why no anti-hate resolution was additionally drafted after anti-police and anti-President Donald Trump profanities were spray-painted onto a billboard for Space Farms, the business owned by the family of New Jersey Assemblyman Parker Space.

“I don’t think it could be written any better,” County Commissioner Chris Carney said, who took his oath last week to fill Hertzberg’s unexpired term, after Hertzberg was elected to serve on the Sparta Township Council. “I think it hits every hate that there can be.”

Commissioner Deputy Director Anthony Fasano thanked the many residents “who reached out with diverse opinions and I appreciate all of them,” he said.

County Commissioner Herbert Yardley said he looked forward to reading it more in-depth before the next meeting. After the lengthy public portion of more than 20 speakers, he described the events at the meeting “an interesting night.”

County Commissioner Sylvia Petillo said it was the first time she had seen Fantasia’s sample draft and wanted more time to review it. However, following the public portion, Petillo shared some personal details about her life to explain that she has received unwarranted attacks from particular members of the public, some calling her a “racist” because her ideas differ from theirs.

Petillo shared her experience as a survivor of the Newark riots that took place in 1967, the city where her family was from and where she grew up.

“I saw what that type of hatred can do to a city,” Petillo said, with some sections of the city still scarred and empty more than 50 years later after buildings were torched.

Petillo referred to the hatred in the streets and the schools following the 1967 riots as so severe, that it made it uncomfortable for everyone in the city. To counter it, the Newark community formed alliances to open discussions and solve problems, which remain in place today. Petillo said she was proud of Newark’s residents who, when more than 12,000 participated in peaceful protests this summer, were able to stand together and fend off violent outsiders attempting to shatter that peace, because of these strong alliances formed in 1967.

After explaining her history, Petillo said she has taken exception to some members of
the public who have thrown the term “racist” at her, because of her stance on particular issues,
such as being against recreational marijuana and being pro-life.

“That word [racist] is thrown around so much today,” Petillo said. “And the real depth of
that meaning and the ugliness of that word is losing its strength. Not everyone is racist because
they disagree with you on an issue.”

Petillo offered the opportunity to organize a coalition within Sussex County, similar to the Newark model, to begin a discussion about these issues. After one member of the public addressed the anger that the country’s children are feeling about racism, Petillo called it a problem “on all of us,” whether Republican or Democrat.

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