Celebrating Black Lives Through Policy Advocacy

Throughout the month of February 2021, we will be celebrating Black History Month through many expressions and opportunities to engage. We will be exploring the theological themes from our faith tradition to help us repent, lament, and take actions that align with the legacies of our Black ancestors in faith and prophetic witness. We are planning educational opportunities and moments in our worship services with these themes in mind.

We will not only be looking back in our history to celebrate and learn from Black struggle and Black joy, but we will also be looking at the present state of our world and our local community, focusing on tangible ways to engage in antiracist work. Many of our congregants and partnering congregations are deeply invested in influencing and advancing policy that advocates for healing, community investment, and justice for our Black neighbors and all racially disenfranchised communities.

Please visit this page frequently for weekly actions you can take—individually and/or in groups—to help translate “celebration” into “collaboration,” as we work together to realize God’s beloved community of justice, mercy, and peace.

For further context on RCHP’s commitment to racial justice, please read our faith statement “On Anti-Racist Faith,” published in June of 2020.

Week One Policy Priority: Abolish the War on Drugs

Pastor Amos works part-time with the racial justice policy organization, Salvation and Social Justice, and leads their brand new campaign "Abolish the Drug War, NJ” (ATDW). The “War on Drugs” was first declared by President Richard Nixon, 50 years ago. The explicitly racist underpinnings of these policies to criminalize certain drugs and enforce punitive laws on selective minority communities has birthed what we now know as mass incarceration. In New Jersey, our drug policies are particularly ruthless, and have led to the worst racial disparities in prison and among the highest racial wealth-gaps in the country.

If we are to stand for racial justice, we must begin by abolishing the drug war, which is a war on Black and LatinX communities. Learn more by watching the video of the ATDW campaign launch on Facebook, and TAKE ACTION by signing on to the Drug War Emancipation Proclamation.

Week Two Policy Priority: Police Transparency

Through the work of local advocates and faith leaders, including many from our congregation, and under the direction of Highland Park’s own Rev. Antoinette Moss (Trinity United Methodist Church), the Black Community Watchline (BCW) is operational and serving all the communities in Middlesex County. Click here to learn more about BCW. For this second week of Black History Month, Rev. Moss prepared a video for RCHP, explaining and requesting partnership in supporting the passage of S2656/A5301, which would provide for greater transparency from law enforcement, providing public access to disciplinary records. Click here to learn more about the bill, and how you can take action today. Please watch the video address from Rev. Moss below.