If you live in Clark, are you a complicit racist?

If you live in Clark, I feel sorry for you. Or maybe you have the reputation you deserve.

Read More: Secret racist tapes leaked — Clark, NJ mayor is asked to resign

Did you vote for former Mayor Sal Bonaccorso after all the dirt came out?

Did you vote to put him back in office even though he was a known vile racist, using terms like ‘spooks’ and ‘shines’ and the ‘n-word’? If you did, you have no moral compass. If you didn’t and wanted better for your town, good for you.

Bonaccorso was not only caught on tape using this pejorative, racist language, after he was sadly re-elected, but he was also caught using Clark Township resources to benefit his private landscaping business and forging signatures on applications for permits for work his company performed. He pleaded guilty last January to abusing his office and by copping a plea avoided prison time. But he was forced to leave office and resigned unceremoniously.

Well, it didn’t end there.

How proud are you now, Clark? A new lawsuit filed by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office in state Superior Court accuses him, when in office, of directing his police force to keep black people out of Clark.

The discriminatory and reprehensible conduct is said to have been “aided and abetted by leadership within the township with oversight and management responsibilities over (Clark Police Department).”

Read More: Civil rights lawsuit targets 'racist' Clark, NJ police practices

The mayor. Good old Bonaccorso again.

Chief of police Pedro Matos and police director Patrick Grady are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The complaint filed by the Division of Civil Rights claims that the mayor directed his police department leadership to “keep chasing the spooks out of town.”

Indeed, officials say Clark police prioritized low-level administrative and equipment violations rather than moving violations as a pretext for traffic stops. Also, they falsely alleged marijuana odors as a basis to search vehicles.

The numbers back it up. According to prosecutors, vehicle search data between 2015 and 2020 shows black motorists were searched at a rate nearly four times higher than whites.

Look, this is nothing new with Clark.

I lived there as a kid for just one year. I was born and raised in Rahway, which was and still is a diverse community. The 12 months I lived in Clark, leading up to my parents’ divorce, was a culture shock. Not a single black student in the school. And the whispers in tones and words, racist adults' thoughts kids wouldn’t pick up on were clear. People conspired to not sell to a black family back then. I recall hearing one grown-up proudly state, “Clark won’t go dark.”

My parents raised me to never feel I was worse than anybody or better than anybody. I never fit in there.

What’s the town like now? It can’t be as bad as it once was. Yet people voted back in a known racist. I just can’t get past that. Again, if you knew Bonaccorso was a problem, good for you. And I feel sorry for you that you’re stuck in that town.

But if you did vote for him, get back to cutting the eyeholes out of your white sheets