Angela V. McKnight and Nicholas Chiaravalloti, candidates for the state Assembly in the 31st District, got a very real lesson about life on the streets while campaigning in Jersey City on Thursday near the MLK Drive station for the Hudson Bergen Light Rail and a bus stop. “A car passed us and a gun fell out of the window,” Chiaravalloti said.
The weapon turned out to be a fully-loaded Glock handgun. Luckily, the gun didn’t discharge.
“We kicked it onto the sidewalk and stood around it, and waited for the police,” he said. “I knew someone might come back for it.”
For both candidates, the moment illustrated what it means to live in certain Hudson County neighborhoods, and brought them face to face with the realities that many residents deal with day in and day out.
“This forces you to take a step back and look at the situation again,” Chiaravalloti said.
In the last 10 years, Jersey City has suffered from anywhere near one to three dozen murders each year.
“I could imagine a kid coming along seeing the gun on the street.” – Nicholas Chiaravalloti
____________
“I got to see what was going on around me,” he said. “There were kids going to school. I have three kids. I could imagine a kid coming along seeing the gun on the street. I’m sure they would pick it up. Since it was fully loaded, something could have happened.”
McKnight, who has been involved with the community for a number of years, was shocked.
“This was the first time that I actually saw a gun accessible to young children on their way to school, accessible to seniors going about their daily routine and accessible to end up in the wrong hands,” she said. “I am so happy that we were able to take a gun off the street. We as a community have to do better, not only on gun laws, but also awareness.”
A recent talk about violence
Chiaravalloti said he kept thinking about the Anti-Violence Youth Summit at St. Peter’s University on Sept. 25, and comments made by people like Pamela Johnson, who heads the Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition Movement.
The panel was comprised of people representing Jersey City’s youth, government, corrections, police, judicial system and community, to address the concerns of the people.
These discussions covered issues regarding violence, gangs, ex-offenders, education, unemployment, police and citizen engagement, peer-pressure and economic growth.
“I remembered the young people talking about their experiences,” Chiaravalloti said
Gun violence plagued the area for a good portion of last summer, many of the victims young men. Earlier this year, two people were fatally shot within a few hours of each other. In another case, three women were shot on the same day, in different incidents. Evanna Scott, a mother of six children, was one of the three.
“I’m still walking around with the bullet in me,” she told the Hudson Reporter two weeks ago.
Gang activity was responsible for a large percentage of violence in the city, the summit concluded.
Police Director James Shea told participants that 99 percent of most violent crime in Jersey City can be attributed to 25 to 35 individuals. Chiaravalloti said he was enlightened by some of the reasons kids get involved with gangs.
“One boy at the summit said he joined so he could get to school and back safely,” Chiaravalloti said.
Part of gang activity is safety or protection, but another part is the need for love.
Chiaravalloti said with families breaking down, kids often search outside the home for the support network they need.
“This is a kind of perverted love,” he said.
Are there are ways to battle this?
“None of this is new,” Chiaravalloti said. “We know that things like mentoring work against violence. We know that after school programs help. We also need summer programs that have an academic element as well as sports.”
But he said many of these things have been set aside because of mounting budget concerns. Things that help prevent violence often get cut when government budgets tighten.
He said government isn’t the only answer. Groups like Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition Movement, AngellaCares (run by McKnight), Team Walker, The Boys and Girls Clubs, and Big Brother, are all part of the solution.
“We have to make some decisions for the future,” Chiaravalloti said. “We have to take action. We must start building trust between law enforcement and the community.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.