Nine months after the Native American Advancement Corporation (NAAC) bought 63 acres in Quinton Township, it finally received the permits it was seeking.
“Nine has a lot of significance to us,” said Tyrese Gould Jacinto, a member of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape nation and president and CEO of the corporation. “If you draw the figure nine, it’s infinity.”
On May 14, after more than a half hour of grilling the NAAC’s attorney, the township’s planning board unanimously greenlit the Cohanzick Longhouse Sanctuary to continue as a worship site.
Gould Jacinto, who expects to receive the occupancy certificate sometime in June, reflected on the meeting one week later. Her recollections are not very pleasant.
“I felt heartbroken. I felt numb,” she said. “It felt like I was 150 years in the past. And, although I was peaceful, it was really heartbreaking to feel like we’re not American citizens.”
The site had previously been home to different Christian churches spanning more than five decades and long held continued permission to use the land as a place of worship.
Gould Jacinto was frustrated over questions the board asked her lawyer, queries that put the burden on the attorney to prove that her organization was a valid religious group.
“When I think about it, we never interrogated anyone for their belief system when they came over, ever.”
NOTE:Kenny Burns' report is part of WBGO's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion feature series made possible in part by a grant from the Fund for New Jersey