Sussex County Sets Aside Anti-Hate Resolution For Tweaking

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ - After a meeting that lasted over four hours and included more than 80 callers who discussed their support for or opposition of an anti-hate resolution, the members of Sussex County’s Board of County Commissioners ended up tabling the resolution to seek more public input on the topic.

Newly appointed Commissioner Chris Carney motioned for the resolution to be tabled for one month, suggesting Sussex County residents submit feedback in writing to the Board, giving Commissioners the opportunity to review this feedback.

Although the Board unanimously voted to table the resolution, three public sessions still took place, one for all other agenda items, one exclusively for the anti-hate resolution and one for any other business, though most of the speakers in the third public session discussed the anti-hate resolution.

Carney’s motion was also made after learning that U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer held a conference on racism and hate groups the day before the Commissioner meeting on Tuesday at Sussex County Community College, which Commissioner Director Dawn Fantasia said she was notified of in two separate emails from Gottheimer’s staff, a half hour and three hours after his conference took place.
Fantasia said Board members were surprised about Gottheimer’s appearance and would have participated on Tuesday if they had been given adequate notice.

“The Board was not aware that this [Gottheimer speaking] was happening, nor the context of it,” Fantasia said.

She watched a replay of it on Gottheimer’s Facebook Page, able to listen to the comments and concerns raised “regarding hate and the interpretation of that.”

“One thing I can say with certainty is I was surprised that Congressman Gottheimer had stated, ‘whatever their names, whether it’s from the right like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, or the groups inspired by the radical ANTIFA ideology on the extreme left, they’re all justifying violence against their opponents,’” Fantasia said. “It would have sounded like something this Board would have liked to have been a part of, we appreciate the notification after, but what I would look forward to is perhaps inviting the Congressman to have a dialogue with the Board, perhaps with the District 24 Legislators [StateSen. Steve Oroho and Assemblymen Hal Wirths and Parker Space, R-24th Dist.], specifically in regard to these issues and these challenges.”

Resolution History

The topic of an anti-hate resolution was first presented to the Board by a member of the public on Jan. 27, with the Board having received feedback following that meeting, calling the submitted resolution “too narrow” in terms of its language in addressing hate groups, with it only addressing white supremacy and white nationalism; and not hate crimes committed by other groups. Fantasia brought forward her resolution sample during the new business portion of the Board’s Feb. 10 meeting, which she said covered the topic more widely and spreads a wide net over all groups engaging in various manners of hate and hate crime attacks.

Some speakers countered that hate is an expansive and subjective topic, difficult to address each and every hate group and instances, including those that have happened within Sussex County, which could leave parties slighted by the potential of someone or something being left out.

Other speakers suggested the anti-hate resolution should be discarded altogether, referring to it as a Marxist proposal canceling out the First Amendment and snuffing out individual freedoms of speech and thought. These individuals also stated the submitted anti-hate resolution practiced reverse racism, stereotyping all of the county’s white residents, upset by comments made by speakers in favor of it who painted county residents with a broad brush by labeling the entire county “racist,” when they had their time to speak.

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