Black in Bayonne

Black in Bayonne raised the Pan-African Flag over City Hall on Juneteenth. From left to right: Rashad Calloway, Clarice High, Shaniqua Borders, and Camille High.

Courtesy of Black in Bayonne

Young people lead the charge to bring black culture and black pride to the city they love

Story by Daniel Israel

Photo courtesy of Black in Bayonne

Black in Bayonne was cofounded by Camille High, Clarice High, Shaniqua Borders, and Rashad Calloway. The four had been protesting elsewhere, but never in the city where they were born and raised.

A conversation started during quarantine, when they were stuck at home, consumed by the pandemic of violence against black men and women, and the harsher impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color.

Enter Power in the Park. A photoshoot by Shaniqua’s friend, Juanita Erwin, grew to include empowering speeches, voter registration, and a march from one part of Stephen Gregg Park to the other.

“There’s no black culture in Bayonne, so this is the blackest thing that we could think of to bring all forms of protesting together,” Camille said.

They kept the momentum going by forming Black in Bayonne.

“We’re going to continue to do what we have to do to make this a better city, better country, better world,” Rashad said. Among other things, the group raised the Pan-African fl ag over City Hall on Juneteenth, held a candlelight vigil for Breonna Taylor, and met with offi cials to bridge the gap between the city and residents.

CAMILLE AND CLARICE

Camille and Clarice’s parents moved to Bayonne after they met at the Evangelical Gospel Tabernacle on West 27th Street.

After attending Phillip G. Vroom Community School, the High sisters went to P.S. 14, followed by BHS, and then off to college.

Clarice doesn’t work in the city. She teaches eighth Grade English at Pride Academy, a charter school in East Orange.

She did work for the Bayonne Board of Education as an assistant for multipledisabled kids, but took the East Orange job because she wanted to teach kids who looked like her.

Camille got her Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Human Services at HCCC.

The sisters became educators to influence children of color the way they were influenced by educator Jane Roberts. In September, Camille started work as a community involvement specialist with the BBOE, looking to end the stigma against black teachers.

The sisters’ parents instilled in them a sense of pride in their blackness.

“To be black is to be an advocate,” Clarice said. “We have to fight every day for ourselves, for our skin, for our space, and for our wellbeing.”

The church taught them to be vocal but not violent.

“It’s been building up our entire lives, so it’s only natural that we find ourselves in this position,” Clarice said.

In 2012, Camille started challenging people to get involved in the community, holding events focused on female black empowerment. By the time the Black Lives Matter movement came around, they were primed.

RASHAD

Rashad and his seven siblings are Bayonne lifers. Sports were his passion, playing basketball, baseball, and football. His father was his coach. Rashad has thought about becoming a coach, too. But he doesn’t want to deal with the same issues he and his father faced due to the color of their skin.

Rashad went to BHS before getting his Bachelor’s of Science in Sports Management at the University of Tampa while on a basketball scholarship; he became an All-American. He played professionally in Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, and England.

Basketball has taken him places that his education couldn’t, offering life-changing experiences that taught him not to take anything for granted.

He now works as a security supervisor for tenants at a residential building in Bayonne. But one day he wants to become a trainer for young basketball players.

Rashad echoed Clarice, saying that being black means being an activist. “We deal with things that other people don’t have to, just because of the color of our skin,” he said. The killing of Trayvon Martin had a major impact on his life.

He challenges the beliefs of those around him, calling people out online, and off.

He always does his research and hopes that by talking things out, he can change hearts and minds.

SHANIQUA

Shani, as she is called, grew up going back and forth between her mom’s family in Bayonne and her dad’s in Jersey City. She went to kindergarten and first grade in Bayonne at Mary J. Donoghue School before attending grammar school in Jersey City until eighth grade.

It was a culture shock when she came back to Bayonne for high school after attending school in Jersey City, where she was involved in step groups, drill teams, and church activities. In Bayonne, there wasn’t black culture, she said.

Shaniqua said she tried to get kicked out of school. But nothing worked, so she stopped complaining and joined clubs she thought were corny in hopes of making them better. She became captain of the step team, taking what she’d learned in Jersey City and bringing that culture to these clubs. She joined the Ebony Culture Club and successfully pushed for a trip to Historical Black Colleges and Universities, gaining entry to Morgan State University in Maryland.

When she came back to Bayonne as an adult, she felt the same culture shock she did as a kid leaving Jersey City.

“I may raise my children here, so I need to create the things that I want to happen here,” Shaniqua said.

She opened her spa The Crowned Social Beautique at 391 Avenue C to help build up the black community.

When the Black Lives Matter movement started seven years ago in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Shaniqua was sickened.

When protests began again after the on-camera police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, she put all her power and passion into Black in Bayonne.

The goal of Black in Bayonne is to advocate for new people of color moving in as well those who have lived here for generations, and to promote diversity.

Camille, who wants the group to become a nonprofit, says their only agenda is to make black people feel comfortable in the community and carve out a space for them.

Black people are coming from Brooklyn, Baltimore, and the United Kingdom. Shaniqua has met them in her spa.

“People always ask me, ‘What else is there to do?’” Shaniqua said, explaining she wants to organize a black parade. Clarice wants Black in Bayonne to create events, positive experiences, and hope for the black community. Rashad hopes the group breaks down barriers.

“Before you clean up a house, it gets messy first,” said Camille. “So Bayonne’s going to get a little messy, and now we’re trying to clean it up.”—BLP