Second of a three-part series on how largely white congregations in inner-city New Jersey neighborhoods make meaningful connections with their diverse communities.
All Martial Bonhomme wants to do is help his Haitian-born countrymen integrate successfully into American society.
All Darrell Berger wants to do is help his church grow by furthering its mission, which is connected to the revitalization of Orange.
Sounds like a perfect match.
Bonhomme runs the Lanbi Center for Humanities and Civics, an independent community group operating out of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex County, in Orange. A law clerk by day, Bonhomme runs the Lanbi Center on his own time and his own dime. The center teaches English as a Second Language classes in Creole, as well as skills to help people move toward U.S. citizenship. In time, Bonhomme would like to add counseling and after-school youth programs.
The Oranges make up the epicenter of New Jersey’s Haitian community — one that is large but largely invisible. Cultural and language gulfs impede the integration of Haitians into their own neighborhoods, making the Haitian community isolated — even by minority-population standards.
“The Creole community is totally reticent to get out of their homes and be out with other people,” says Berger, minister of the First UU Church of Essex County. “They are shy and feel as if they are at the low end of the pecking order, even among blacks.”
‘A rabble rouser’
Last fall, Bonhomme approached Berger, asking to use space in the church to open his community center. Berger agreed, and Bonhomme established the Lanbi Center — named after the Creole word for “conch,” whose sound was a rallying cry during the revolution that gave Haiti independence from France.
“Lanbi wants to rally the Haitian community,” Bonhomme said later, in a May 9, 2010 sermon at First UU Church of Essex County. “This vision to rally and have a strong community has been a lifetime commitment for me.”
But through the fall and winter, only two or three people came regularly to Lanbi. Berger liked what Bonhomme was trying to do, but was curious why Bonhomme hadn’t tried a seemingly more obvious strategy for attracting people to the center.
“I said, ‘There’s a huge Haitian church across the street. Why didn’t you go over there?’
“He said, ‘Over there, they are interested in Christianity and the saving of souls in their religion. I want to do things in the community about citizenship, so they aren’t interested,’” Berger recalls. Then Bonhomme confided: “And they think I’m a bit of a rabble rouser. They don’t like the voodoo.”
As Berger explains, “Martial considers the native voodoo culture an important aspect of Haitian culture that we would not put down. He doesn’t take any position on it, but he views it as an expression of anticolonialism.”
Right then and there, Berger knew “This is a Unitarian who doesn’t know he is one. I realized his vision of what he’s trying to do in the community is very copasetic with UU values.” In Berger’s mind, it was an opportunity to connect with the Haitian community by partnering with it — and maybe pick up a few new members along the way.
Benefit concert
After the Jan. 12 Haitian earthquake, the church organized and hosted a benefit concert. The Feb. 28 music fest featured 14 groups, thanks largely to a church member’s connections with the local music community. “We had Haitians, Jamaicans, Americans, old Jews — we had everybody playing 20–30 minute sets all day,” Berger says. “There must have been 300 or 400 people there over the course of the day — the most diverse group of people I ever addressed in a UU setting.”
The concert forged a bond between the church and the Haitian community. “The congregation felt good about it, [Bonhomme] got attention for his community center, and now he’s getting 30 to 40 people there. And a couple of our congregants have started to tutor there,” says Berger.
At his May 9 sermon, Bonhomme related his work to three UU principles: The inherent worth and dignity of every person; a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; and the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. “That helped our congregation understand what he’s doing and to think, ‘This is something we should embrace as our program — not like some group that rents our sanctuary,’” says Berger.
“We’re really excited about how we can help out this community,” continues Berger, who is also bullish on its potential to help his church grow. “We talk about partnering with different organizations, but it would be good to get local activists to be part of us. That would make a big difference to the church and to the activists, who would have a broader base to do their work.”
Next week: For inner-city UU churches, staying viable means picking their spots.
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