Spotlight: Interview with Jay of BLM Bergen County

By: Dana Bahng

It's only been 220 days since the death of George Floyd.

BLM is alive and well, but we're certainly not hearing about it from the mainstream media. As expected, coverage by mass media has completely vanished in the drama and aftermath of the 2020 election. It's so disappointing to see a mainstream news network like CNN covering nothing but Trump, 24/7, when there's plenty of other news that needs attention right now.

Mainstream media shouldn't be dictating the conversation, and I know this because I see so many activists around me who are still working their hardest every day to make sure something gets done - with or without the coverage. I decided to find out for myself what's happening with the BLM movement in my own county.

This past July, I participated in a BLM rally in my hometown in New Jersey. The rally served as both an awareness event and a place for singers, dancers, and speakers to share their stories. It was here where I first heard about the larger presence of BLM Bergen County.

BLMBC, or @blmbergencounty on Instagram, has been actively posting since the beginning of this summer, shortly following the murder of George Floyd. With roughly 2.7K followers, this account regularly shares informational posts and resources for people looking to stay updated and self-educate on issues like racism, police brutality, voter registration and more. BLMBC also supports other groups by reposting announcements for upcoming events such as protests, marches, and vigils. It’s served as a role model, shadowing several other BLM chapters in my county, including BLM x Cresskill, BLM x Edgewater, BLM x Westwood, BLM x Dumont, and BLM x Paramus.

Both as a Bergen County resident and a fellow student looking to support activism, I knew I had to learn more. Who was behind the account; who was leading this effort?

In December, after a few months of contact via email, I finally got to speak with the admin of BLMBC over Zoom. Jay is a current senior at the Dwight-Englewood School. She’s originally from Teaneck, but has been at DE since seventh grade. She and several fellow activists founded BLM x Teaneck along with BLM Bergen County this year.

But activism is not something new to Jay. She mentioned that she used to be in Girl Scout Troop 19 of Teaneck, which pushed for a plastic bag ban in the years leading up to 2015 and earned recognition from NJ Congressman Josh Gottheimer.

“Working for so long from such a young age with so many strong women has educated me to want to educate others,” Jay noted. “What I learned from the plastic bag ban . . . [is that] no one is going to be impacted by what I say if they don’t understand it.”

We also discussed recent local events and the path of BLM in our county over the past few months. On October 24, four organizers at the Englewood Black Excellence March were violently apprehended by police after trying to break up a fight unrelated to the rally. Videos of the incident show the police shoving them around and pinning them to the ground. Multiple officers tackled Ainsworth Minott, who organized the event, to the ground, breaking his wrist.

Jay, who knows one of the four organizers personally, reiterated: “It was a peaceful march advocating for black excellence; it was an awareness event meant to show that black lives do matter. They didn’t cause any violence . . . It was nothing to warrant that kind of force, the measures taken. It was no ‘protest’ - there were like five or six people. They were outnumbered by the police.”

It might be nice to think that the discourse on racism and police brutality has “cooled down” since June. But just because mainstream media stops covering topics that are no longer hot enough to generate revenue doesn’t mean they stop happening in real life.

Being able to ignore these issues is a privilege. As a BIPOC individual, Jay put it this way: “It isn’t a choice for me. It’s like having a cursed lottery ticket, waiting for the day yours gets picked and you get stopped for no reason.”

Near the end of our conversation, we talked about what kind of steps we can take to improve the future, not only for our county, but for the country as a whole. As Jay mentioned in her experience with the Girl Scouts, facilitating understanding, and then action, is key to change. 

“Education’s such a big part of it. If they’re so stuck on this one thing, we can’t get them across to where they need to be. We need awareness, then education, then action. The education is so important, because without it, people can make assumptions about data that are often rooted in personal bias.” We have to encourage people to do research on their own, practice deductive reasoning, and think deep and objectively (instead of jumping to the easy conclusions).

What Jay emphasized is that these three steps need to be completed in succession to work. Getting partway there is not enough to solve the problem. Without follow-through, we see symbolic action: BLACK LIVES MATTER painted in bright yellow on streets where protestors get teargassed, big brands announcing their support on social media, “Rest In Power” reposts flying through Instagram and dying within a day. The end result we’re searching for should always be systemic change that will bring these ideas to fruition.

I came out of our conversation with not only the origin story I was curious about, but a stronger understanding of what people mean when they talk about the strength of collective action. We must remember both parts: that our goals are systemic change, and that change finds its roots in the individual. People like Jay who choose to act and support others in the effort are living proof of that.

A movement guided by grassroots principles is sourced from the passion of people rather than leading forces. It is self-sustained. Because of this, it will stay alive despite every roadblock, despite everything. The change starts on this level, with you and me.

“That’s what’s really important. Without that, there is nothing.”