MENDHAM - Dale Caldwell accepted an invite to speak about racism at the local United Methodist Church before he was picked to run for lieutenant governor.

Caldwell, a pastor himself of the Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield, honored the invite and spoke at the church Wednesday night.

This was, he said, a non-campaign event.

Reality, however, could not be ignored.

Caldwell was asked afterwards about a letter from dozens of black clergy that condemned Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli.

This was a scathing missive that began:

"On Thursday, September 19, in a meeting with black clergy, Jack Ciattarelli responded to a question about the erasure of black history by asserting - then lecturing us - on Columbus Day being 'the first civil rights holiday,'

The audacity.
To invoke Columbus - a man who initiated the transatlantic slave trade, who captured and sold Indigenous people into bondage, and whose voyages laid the foundation for centuries of racial terror - as a symbol of civil rights is not just historically inaccurate - it is morally bankrupt. During that same conversation, Jack stated that he would roll back the scope of the Amistad mandate to teach black History in schools. His comments are a slap in the face to every ancestor who died for freedom, every child who still suffers under the weight of systemic injustice, and every preacher who dares to speak truth to power."

Caldwell said he agreed with the scope of the letter and planned to speak more about it at a Sept. 30 lieutenant governor's debate.

An acclaimed tennis player, Caldwell was the first black president and CEO of the United States Tennis Association. Talking about past racial barriers, he described the rules of one tennis club thusly:

"Not only did you have to wear white, you had to be white."

Fast forward to today. Caldwell said he is optimistic about society - and the state - because he simply does not see as many differences among people, political and otherwise as some do. He said the problem is that too many people want "to drive a wedge" between us.

Stereotypes are one of the problems, although they are not always accurate.

To that end, he looked at the four candidates running statewide this year.

The Democratic ticket has a military veteran (Mikie Sherrill) and a pastor - himself.

Republicans have a CPA (Ciattarelli) and a sheriff (Jim Gannon).

He said this reverses common political stereotypes about, say, military vets and church pastors being Republican.

There was a general discussion among the audience and Caldwell about "coming together." This may have sounded a bit spiritual, but it served as a jumping off point for a discussion on "home rule" in New Jersey and the need to bring towns and school districts together in hopes of reducing property taxes.

This was certainly a great locale for that. While there are two Mendhams (a borough and township) it's impossible to discern any real or demographic difference between them. Yet, there are two distinct municipalities.

Only in Jersey.

Caldwell also presented an interesting take on the electorate as he is traversing the state.

He broke things down to three groups of people - those who care about democracy and related topics, those who care only about their own families and those who are apathetic about everything.

Anyone who has spoken to average people about politics knows from where Caldwell is coming.

The challenge for Caldwell and all candidates, one supposes, is to get the apathetic to care about something. Like maybe merging towns to save tax money.