Ramapoughs Host Forum to 'End Racism and Hate'

Out of the Furnace, a new movie about a fighting ring in the New Jersey Mountains, has caused angst and heartache amongst local members of the Ramapough Indian tribe, according to a panel discussion Wednesday where Ramapough leaders said they believe the film is based on them.

Over 100 local students, professors, environmentalists, and community members attended a panel discussion at Ramapo College Wednesday afternoon that featured township leaders, Ramapough chiefs, professors, an archeologist, and a lawyer. The panel discussed the impacts the film has had on the community.

“I did go see the movie, and I’m still very emotional about it,” Ramapough sub-chief Vinny Mann said.

“This movie is clearly aimed at us. We are the ones who have to sit here being attacked.”

Mann and other members of the panel said they feel the film is rehashing old stigmas and stereotypes against the Ramapough people that had started to diminish.

“This is nothing new,” Ramapough Chief Dwaine Perry said.

“About every 10 or 15 years [racism] and hate rear their ugly heads.”

Though the film's producers have issued a statement saying it is not based on a particular group of people, locals pointed out that there are several references in the movie to nearby landmarks, the characters in the film have last names common to tribe members, and several unnamed supporting characters are called “Jackson White,” a racial slur against the Ramapough people.

“I’m 45 years old, and I am having to relive all of that pain,” Mann said.

Mayor Bill Laforet said his main concern is to prevent children in the township from being subjected to stereotypes that he said he saw Ramapough people encounter when he was growing up in Mahwah.

“This is the first time that I know of that our community has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ramapough community,” he said.

“It is a moment in our history and we take it very seriously.”

Though lawyer Judy Sullivan outline some potential legal action the tribe might take in relation to the controversy over Out of the Furnace, organizers of the event said the purpose was to come up with ways to end the spread of old stigmas against the Ramapough people. Panelists talked with students and attendees during the event in an effort to come up with how to effectively do that.

The panel, “said multiple times that this isn’t just a Ramapough problem, it’s an everyone problem, and that really made me feel like I had a part in this,” Anna Kozlowski, a Ramapo student who attended the panel discussion, said.

“The community should stand behind the Ramapoughs.”