BY LEV D. ZILBERMINTS
NEWARK – Community activists are alleging that the Newark Municipal Council is engaged in suppression of free speech.
“Local Talk” interviewed and contacted several activists who frequently speak at Municipal Council meetings. In interviews with the activists, the common allegation is that the Municipal Council is abusing its power. However, Municipal Council members counter that they are trying to follow the rules that they have established for meetings.
Munirah Bomani, a community activist, has been excluded by Newark Municipal Council President LaMonica McIver from the September 21 Council meeting. The reason for the exclusion is that according to Ms. McIver, Ms. Bomani was “disruptive” at the September 20 Pre-Meeting on the Municipal Council.
“Local Talk” made a thorough investigation of the matter. The results show that the Municipal Council has cracked down hard on activists who attend Council meetings. Typically, this occurs when a Council member says something, and an audience member attempts to respond. The audience member is then warned by the Council President to cease and desist from interrupting the speaker. If the audience member continues interrupting, police officers are called to escort the audience from the Council chambers.
Following the expulsion, an email is sent by the City Clerk to the person who was ejected from the meeting. The email tells the person that he or she have been banned from attending Municipal Council meetings for a certain period of time and explains why.
A March 20, 2019 video posted on TapInto website clearly shows two police officers stepping up to tell Ms. Bomani, who is speaking at the microphone, to sit down. The video and article seemingly corroborate the Municipal Council’s perception that Ms. Bomani was disruptive. Moreover, the video corroborates Ms. Parker’s claim that it was former Council President Mildred Crump who started removing people from Council meetings.
Previous Municipal Council Removals, Bans and Ejections. Council video edited
The Municipal Council has a long history of removing and ejecting speakers that it considers disruptive or simply does not like. According to a March 11, 2019 letter from Alexander Shalom, senior supervising attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) there were two incidents in 2019 when the Municipal Council had removed speakers. In one case, “the speaker was told that she would be banned from attending council meetings for a year. “
The first incident occurred on January 23, 2019; the second occurred on March 6, 2019.
According to a March 25, 2019 article by tapinto.net/towns/Newark/sections/government/articles Newark resident Louis Shockley shouted about the lead water crisis in Newark when he used the word “damn” during a January 23, 2019 meeting. According to the article, Council President Mildred Crump told Mr. Shockley that “you may not curse.”
At this point, states the March 25, 2019 article, Shockley responded that he has freedom of speech and could even use a racial slur if he wanted to. At this point Crump cut his microphone. After that, the Council President ordered police to escort Shockley out of the chambers. Per article, two police officers walked Shockley back to his seat, but not out of the chambers.
The second incident occurred on March 6, 2019. Per the article, “at that meeting, two police officers stood behind resident Lisa Parker as she and Mildred Crump began to exchange words about a deal with the city’s parking authority. Parker questioned whether the council president could vote on the issue since her son is an attorney for the authority.
“How dare you,” Crump said. “How dare you suggest that my son would manipulate my vote. How dare you.”
According to the March 25, 2019 article, TAPInto Newark observed the incident. It is not mentioned in the letter sent by ACLU to then-Council President Crump. TapInto Newark reported that large portions of the meeting are excluded from the video.
Following Ms. Parker’s argument with Council President Mildred Crump, Munirah Bomani was not to speak. Bomani referred to the police officers standing behind her as “police dogs” and called it “government terrorism.” Eventually, the council president ordered Bomani removed for being disruptive. Police escorted Bomani out of the council chambers, but she returned later.
2022 Council meetings
Ms. Bomani says that she was thrown out of the September 20, 2022 meeting for responding to Council President LaMonica McIver’s comment. In text messages and emails sent to “Local Talk,” Ms. Bomani wrote, “Council member McIver responds to speakers’ comments in a sarcastic way, refuses to put her response in writing. When the speaker responds back, using their equal airtime rights, she (McIver) ejects speakers from meeting, accusing them of being disorderly and disruptive.”
Late Sunday evening, September 25, 2022 current Council President LaMonica McIver responded to some of “Local Talk’s” questions. According to McIver, Munirah Bomani was removed because she became disruptive and would not follow rules for decorum established by the Municipal Council.
In her email, Council President LaMonica McIver wrote, “Thank you for contacting us. Please note that Ms. Bomani was removed from the chambers because she was being disruptive and interrupting others while they were speaking. Please note that we follow Council Rules for all Council Meetings and ask that all appearing in the Chambers do the same.”
Currently each speaker is allowed five minutes to address the Municipal Council. Whenever a Council member responds, there are often shouted questions from the public. Unlike some other places, Newark does not have a response period for the public to reply to the Municipal Council.
According to a letter emailed to Ms. Bomani by Acting City Clerk Kecia Daniels on September 20, the exclusion from the September 21 meeting is “due to your (Bomani’s) violation of the Municipal Council’s Code of Conduct at the Municipal Council’s Pre-Meeting on Tuesday, September 20, 2022. During the Pre-Meeting, you continued to call out from the audience after repeated warnings, from Council President McIver, regarding same.”
The letter goes on to cite Municipal Council Rules, specifically Rule XIX: Decorum, Section B, “No person shall by noisy or disorderly conduct disturb or interfere with the quiet good order of a meeting of the Municipal Council. Any person who has been declared out of order by the Presiding Officer and has been asked to cease speaking and sit down, shall comply immediately or he/she shall forthwith be removed from the meeting, unless permission to continue or again address the Municipal Council is granted by majority vote of the Municipal Council.”
This is not the first time Ms. Bomani has been ejected and excluded from Municipal Council meetings. Two years ago, on September 17, 2019, Ms. Bomani was escorted from a Pre-Meeting of the Municipal Council for allegedly being disrespectful. “Local Talk” reported at the time that Business Administrator Eric Pennington did not explain what happened but started calling Ms. Bomani a liar. Mr. Pennington stated at the time that Ms. Bomani was giving out false information. Ms. Bomani responded back, saying, “You talking about me? I have the evidence. Don’t address or speak about me without expecting a response.”
At this point, Luis Quintana, the Vice Chair and presiding officer of the Municipal Council, called police to escort Ms. Bomani out of the building.
