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Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Helene P'Simer

I know that it seems as if my blog has become a 'tribute blog' to those people in our community who were really making a difference in our community and have now passed. But,

I have been busy writing something else and I am not as 'in the know' as I used to be, which is good because I have plenty to write about as it is. However, I cannot in good conscience have video of someone in the moment of "contributing their verse," Walt Whitman.... and not share it.

I was there when Helene received a resolution honoring her deceased husband Jimmy P'Simer posthumously just as they were there when I was 12-years-old and provided me with strong positive role models. God bless them both who are now united in spirit.


Helenes Obituary can be found HERE

Helene's husband was also the St. Patricks Day Parade Grand Marshal in 2012 (Jimmy P'Simer was the organizer of the parade since its inception) which is another honor she gracefully accepted posthumously. 5-years-ago when I put up fliers at the Pubs calling on a new parade committee to be formed and we held our first meeting, Helene was there with check in-hand and worked successfully to save the parade, the one we all marched in for the first time 30-years-ago together. It is a memory of a moment that will always be ingrained in my heart.






"To Live In Hearts We Leave Behind Is Not To Die." Thomas Campbell

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Trenton Has Lost Yet Another Human Asset R.I.P. Patricia Stewart

Patricia Stewart

News of longtime Civic Activist and voice of reason Patricia Stewart's death is heartbreaking. First Dion Clark, now Pat who was just beginning her new endeavor on Trenton's first ever Ethics Board. Ahh, Pat, you will be sorely missed! My heartfelt condolences go out to her son Nick.


A video collection of some of Pat's comments before City Council are below.









R.I.P. Patricia Stewart

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Trenton Americans with Disabilities Act Committee

Trenton City Council

Thursday night, as I did Tuesday night I will be ducking the hot topic talk regarding the whole 'background' check issue and opting instead to focus on something more substantive, altruistic, and important; 13-56 an ordinance establishing a Trenton Americans with Disabilities Act Committee.

Sam Folgelgaren, a young, bright, and full of life College of New Jersey student is the brainchild behind the Committee. He is a caretaker for his brother Danny and knows all too well the obstacles that disabled people face. 

There are currently 17,000 (plus) Trentonians in the City who will benefit from this Trenton ADA Committee. Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson, who visited Project Freedom at Trent Towers during her term many times, has received more than an ear full of what obstacles disabled people face on a daily basis in her Ward so it was meant to be when Sam approached Councilwoman Caldwell-Wilson seeking her to sponsor the formation of an ADA Committee here  in Trenton. She of course has answered the call and we are two meetings away from the final adoption of the ordinance and if passed; Trenton wins.

It will be the first ADAC in Mercer County and will make a difference in the quality of life of Trenton's disabled. Mr. Wiener, an attorney at the Community Health Law Project is on board and will help the committee navigate the 51-page Act of 1990.

Please support the formation of a Trenton ADAC and if need be you can contact the Committee via email at trentonadacommittee@gmail.com    


12.19.13 Citi Docket



Peace Trenton

Monday, July 22, 2013

R.I.P Dion Clark With Video Collection


Dion Clark passed away on July 21st, 2013


I worked side by side with Dion on a couple of projects and can sincerely state that he will be missed and that Trenton lost a warrior yesterday. Below is some of his work and you can read a New York Times article about him HERE















Rest in peace Dion, we will continue the struggle!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Making A Difference, Together; Not Just A Campaign Slogan

Eric Jackson

Last night I attended the official announcement ceremony for Eric Jackson's Mayoral candidacy and as always was impressed with Mr. Jackson's message, a message far different from Mayor Mack's campaign promise of "getting more Black's into City Hall," a sentiment At-Large Councilwoman Kathy McBride also echoed. Anyone who doesn't think that statement is bias and prejudice and just plain wrong.... needs a reality check.

I have always said that the best part about living in Trenton is that you can take a bus for $1.70 and figuratively take a trip around the world if you bother to speak and hold a conversation with the people sitting next to you. We live in a very diverse community and literally represent what the United States is all about; coming from afar, being different but living together, free, as one race; the human race. Our City has the opportunity to become one that other cities model themselves after and aspire to become more like, if and only if we can work together to bring this City back from the brink.

Unlike Mack, Jackson is well aware that the future of Trenton doesn't rest on one person's shoulders rather, it rests on us all. 'United we stand, divided we fall' is not just a pledge, it's the truth! And Jackson's campaign slogan 'Making A Difference, Together' is not just a slogan; it is the answer. Jackson won't be communicating with his Police Director (hopefully he keeps Director Rivera) through a door by passing notes under it. Jackson will not suppress the voices of those who wish to be heard and offer an opinion. Jackson recognises that Trenton's greatest asset is it's citizens.

A unified approach is the only approach, any other strategy will have the same outcome as the Mack administration's. We the people, want a seat at the table, we the people have something to offer and we the people....will not be ignored. 

I know all too well how it feels to be treated different based on the color of your skin, my growing up in a predominantly African-American Wilbur Section can be compared to an African-American kid growing up in a predominately White Suburb. I absolutely deplore the feeling, so much so that at the age of 17 I formed a hip-hop group with City resident DJ Juice named 'Equality,' our concept was a White rapper and Black DJ making music that preached racial harmony and that we could move mountains united or climb over them divided. 

In the last Trenton mayoral election in 2010 I met other candidates beside Mack that treated me different (gave me that look....you know the look) like John Harmon who was seated next to me at the Eric B & Rakim concert with Senator Shirley Turner. As soon as he saw me he gave me the look, the 'this White boy must be a cop' look, I know that look all too well, on the streets of Trenton a White boy like me is either a cop or drug buyer, we are stereotyped too in case you didn't know. Mr. Harmon made me so uncomfortable that I waited until after he left Senator Turner's side to approach her and thank her for saving the concert the NJSP wanted to shut down. I can name others as well as council candidates but I think you get my point. BTW Jim Golden was John Harmon's campaign manager.

When my good friend Andrew Bobbitt introduced me to Eric Jackson at a Church Fundraiser in 2009 I knew from the moment I shook his hand that he was the one, he was going to be the one to take the helm from Palmer and navigate Trenton into a better future. From the way that he embraced me I could instantly tell that there wasn't a bias bone in his body, he didn't see me as 'some White boy,' he saw me as a human being that cared deeply -as he does- for my community and the direction it was heading. I worked on his campaign in all sorts of ways, even performing Spoken Word at one of his fundraisers and I rarely perform my poetry. I was also one of the campaign workers chosen to count votes and we all know how that ended; three votes shy of a run-off election with Mack which Jackson would have won.

So now we know what happens when we don't register to vote or worse; are registered to vote but don't. We have learned that unlike a Presidential Election where the electorate vote trumps popular vote.....here in Trenton....the popular vote is the law of the land and absolutely every single vote is crucial....just an FYI. Many human beings have given their lives in the name of suffrage rights yet some people reading this post are Googling the word 'suffrage' right now. WAKE UP! Register to vote and actually vote! Your vote counts!

As I have stated before and I will state again - the third battle for Trenton has begun, it started right under our noses and we citizens have become soldiers - And the most valuable weapon in our arsenal is not the cannons used in the first two Battles of Trenton or even the element of surprise and trickery, no, our most powerful weapon in the battle to save Trenton in today's day and age is our power to vote. I will work on Eric Jackson's campaign a second time with faith that my fellow Trentonians, my brothers and sisters in arms, won't get it wrong twice in a row. 

Peace Trenton   

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Video of Trenton Police Tackling Me After Helping a Woman Who Was Being Beaten

Below is the long awaited video depicting the unjust end of an incident that occurred on May 2nd, 2010 in the Chambersburg section of Trenton. Three years later I have finally been given permission to introduce this video to the public domain. After being violently tackled, falsely arrested and detained and maliciously prosecuted after stopping my car to help a woman being beaten by her ex (a Trenton Water Works employee named Jose Cotto who is also a convicted felon who served time for illegal possession of a gun), the fake charges against me were dropped in the Interest of Justice and I filed a lawsuit.

As I have stated time and time again, I was tackled by police on May 2nd while waiting to give my personal information to a police officer. The officers corresponding police reports state that I "fell on my own accord while backing away from them to avoid arrest" although I was never charged with resisting arrest. They claimed that they didn't touch me or facilitate my fall in any way.

You may need to play the video on a big screen or enhance it in order to see it crisp and clear (I am the guy in the yellow shirt) but even in this rough version you can see me clearly throw my hands in the air (which is a universal sign of surrender) while backing away to prolong the impact of the impending tackle yelling "I'm a witness" "I'm a witness" two times before being tackled like I was the guy with the football.

 I have only been given permission to release the video and not the police reports. There is a Confidentiality Order imposed by the federal judge in this case and I intend to respect that order.

The outside lawyers the City of Trenton has hired (the same ones they hired to defend them against the OPRA lawsuit Jim Carlucci and myself brought against the City and won) are defending the officers actions and in my opinion this is why Trenton needs more in-house lawyers.

I am not going to file an Open Public Records Act request for the law firms legal bills thus far, I will wait until after the disposition of this case to do so, as to not appear to be a bully, but if your curiosity compels you to file your own OPRA request via the Trenton City Clerk's office regarding their legal bills then... so be it.

Please feel free to leave your comments on this matter and if you are able to enhance (not alter) the video because you are a wiz at that type of thing feel free to send me the video. nemesisraps@yahoo.com

If you are one of the people on this video witnessing this incident please contact me or my attorney Patrick Whalen whose contact information is to the right of this post.

There is a lot more to this case that I cannot reveal yet but I will as soon as the judge allows it, stay tuned.


Good Samaritan Federal Civil Rights Complaint (1) by Robert Chilson


Thursday, April 18, 2013

City Council Recordings and 2013 MOU With The State of NJ For Your Review

Trenton City Council Members


To watch both recorded meetings of Tuesday's and Thursday's Trenton City Council meetings just click on the picture of City Council to the right of this post.