By now you’ve likely heard about the controversy. The Plainfield High School Girls Basketball team found a black puppet with bulging eyes in their locker room – with a string around its neck and a basketball dangling above. You can read the story per NJ.com here. One Clark parent went on to say the puppet was supposed to be Lebron James (full story here).
In the middle of last night’s Plainfield City Council reorganization meeting, Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso addressed the situation.
Also at last night’s meeting, Joylette Mills-Ransome was appointed to the Second and Third Ward At-Large City Council seat. The vacancy was left by Councilwoman Rebecca Williams, who was elected Councilor At-Large for the City of Plainfield in November.
Mills-Ransome received “yes” votes from Councilors Williams, Storch, Goode, and new Third Ward Councilman Charles McRae, who was also sworn in last night. Councilors Tolliver and Rivers voted against her appointment.
Mayor Adrian Mapp swears in Joylette Mills-Ransome.
While Mayor Adrian Mapp will host a stand-alone State of the City address, he spoke briefly with enthusiasm for the coming year. “To date, all the indicators, but one,” said the mayor, referring to violence, “will point to a Plainfield that is enjoying a renaissance and is enjoying an upward spiral in terms of overall development.”
Special thanks to Lamar Mackson for sharing with me his audio of Clark’s Mayor. I recorded the video but the sound on my camera malfunctioned. If anyone has the first 35 seconds of Mayor Bonaccorso’s speech on their camera phone, please contact me at david.marcus.rutherford@gmail.com and I will be able to post the full video.
Plainfield View 
I read both sides of the puppet story: 1) it was a racist act of intimidation to the Plfd ladies basketball team, 2) it was an unfinished tribute to Lebron James. While I want to believe option 2, too many issues are in the way.
This is a high school art project right: did you see the puppet. It is remedial at best. It looks nothing like Lebron. Lebron is brown skin not midnight black. Lebron’s jersey is “wine and gold” not blue and white. And the eyes are crude. And why is its neck so long, completely disproportional to its body. The puppet is more reminiscent of minstrel puppet than a tribute to LBJ. Unless the student is color blind and/or has some other disability, the art teacher should have never accepted such an art project. It’s either ill-intention (offensive to minorities) or a complete mockery of art (offensive to the art class and teacher).
Further investigation is warranted. And the investigation should not take long as a serious conversation with the creator and art teacher should uncover the truth.