Will a leadership rift disrupt — or damage — the Paterson Healing Collective?

PATERSON — A festering rift between two leaders of the Paterson Healing Collective violence intervention group resulted last week in the executive director, Liza Chowdhury, firing longtime city activist Teddie Martinez from his job at the organization.

Earlier this year, Chowdhury and Martinez stood side by side at protests, City Council meetings and other public events to condemn the Paterson police for fatally shooting their Healing Collective colleague Najee Seabrooks.

But behind the scenes, the two of them have been at odds in what one community leader described as “a power struggle.”

“I am unable to go into details about any confidential human resources issues, nor can I respond to unfounded allegations,” Chowdhury said in response to questions from Paterson Press.

Martinez criticizes Chowdhury

Martinez — a street-savvy shooting victim who began helping former prison inmates after his own release from incarceration — told Paterson Press last week that Chowdhury tried to control his community work and prevent him from speaking out about gun violence in the city where he grew up.

Martinez harshly criticized Chowdhury, saying she “uses people’s deaths as a platform,” refuses to cooperate with police officers, and has given Healing Collective jobs and contracts to people close to her.

“I don’t think Liza Chowdhury has the best interests of the community at heart,” Martinez said.

Chowdhury — a yoga instructor and former probation officer who taught criminal justice classes at several colleges — wrote a disciplinary memo to Martinez on Oct. 2 accusing him of undermining her authority and conflicting with public positions taken by the Healing Collective.

In that memo, which Martinez shared with Paterson Press, Chowdhury said Martinez engaged in behavior that violated the organization’s “policy and my repeated instructions to you.”

In imposing a two-day suspension, Chowdhury’s memo cited as the basis for the punishment Martinez’s attendance at a Sept. 26 news conference held by law enforcement officials about changes being made in the Paterson Police Department. Chowdhury wrote that Martinez had used a personal day to go the event, without telling her that was the reason he was taking the day off from work.

Chowdhury, who also attended the police event, wrote that Martinez committed “insubordination … through your repeated failure to follow chain of command protocol and seek my permission to attend events where your presence, as an employee of the organization may be misconstrued as an endorsement by the Organization.”

Chowdhury’s disciplinary memo said that at the end of the police event, Martinez walked “over to the press to intentionally stand next to Officer in Charge, Isa Abbassi, in front of several press and cameras at the Paterson Public Library.” She also said Martinez participated in a news interview and made “unauthorized statements” to the press.

In addition to the suspension, Chowdhury placed Martinez on a 60-day probation. Paterson Press sent Chowdhury an email asking about Martinez’s suspension and his criticisms of her on the afternoon of Oct. 11. Martinez said Chowdhury fired him later that same day.

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Can the Paterson Healing Collective survive?

Chowdhury and Martinez were two of the founders of the Healing Collective in 2020, when the group received its first funding to operate a hospital-based violence intervention program in Paterson. The state and federal governments have provided the Healing Collective with several million dollars during the past three years. Officials have said the goal is to prevent retaliatory shootings by visiting violence victims at the hospital and providing them with services they need to avoid trouble.

What impact the split between Chowdhury and Martinez will have on the Healing Collective’s work remains to be seen.

“People will probably wonder if they are falling apart,” said Jason Williams, a Black Lives Matter activist and justice professor at Montclair State University who once worked with Chowdhury at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Teaneck campus.

“But I will tell you, it’s normal for there to be conflict within organizations like this,” Williams added. “In fact, I would say it’s healthy.”

In most instances, Willliams said, such conflicts are kept private.

Paterson activist Casey Melvin, who helped start the Healing Collective with Chowdhury and Martinez, declined to talk about the rift when contacted by Paterson Press on Wednesday, before his colleague’s termination.

“That’s inside business,” Melvin said. “They’re two intelligent adults. They will work it out.”

Martinez’s suspension took effect in the middle of a three-day outbreak of shootings in Paterson in which four people were killed and three others suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds, incidents that became part of the Healing Collective’s workload.

“PHC is committed to quality victim services to survivors of gun violence,” Chowdhury said in a written statement. “There has been an uptick in violence and our team has been working in the hospital and the community to ensure that we can provide support and healing to all those who are in need of our services.”

“PHC will continue to foster community based public safety by being a liaison, and a voice for our participants to navigate between law enforcement, institutions and community,” Chowdhury added.

Officials at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center — the hospital that has partnered with the Healing Collective in its violence intervention work — said they were “not aware of any gaps in service” during Martinez’s suspension. St. Joseph’s also said the situation would not affect the Healing Collective’s work going forward.

“We are confident Liza Chowdhury and the PHC management team will address any staffing issues appropriately — enabling their advocacy work to be maintained without interruption,” said a statement issued by the hospital.

Activists observed growing rift

Community leaders said they have heard rumblings about the rift in recent months.

“There’s definitely been a power struggle,” said former school board member Corey Teague. “Teddie Martinez is more ingrained in the community because he’s from Paterson. But Liza Chowdury is an excellent person, and she’s done a great job, too.”

Outspoken activist Ernest Rucker said he thought it strange that Martinez was disciplined for going to the police press conference.

“You would think that anything the Police Department is doing, the Healing Collective would want to know about,” he said.

Rucker said Martinez was a valuable resource for the Healing Collective.

“They are better off with Teddie than they are without Teddie,” Rucker said. “Teddie understands the streets; he understands the kids he’s working with and where they come from.

“It would be a monumental mistake for the organization to terminate him because of him exercising his First Amendment rights,” Rucker said.

But Paterson Black Lives Matter leader Zellie Thomas took a somewhat different view of the situation.

“I think the Paterson Healing Collective has integrity,” Thomas said, “and they will continue to do their work in the community and continue to save lives in Paterson no matter who is involved in the organization.”

Victoria Oquendo, who has done face-painting for children at Healing Collective events, said she thinks the organization has become less active in the aftermath of Seabrooks’ death. She expressed concern about Martinez’s termination.

“The community loves this man. He’s a credible messenger,” Oquendo said. “I don’t know why you would fire someone who’s an asset to the city of Paterson, a pillar of the community.”

“She’s got book sense,” Oquendo said of Chowdhury, “but she doesn’t have street sense.”

The mother of Jameek Lowery, who died in January 2019 while in police custody, praised Chowdhury for helping her family over the years, saying she came to know Chowdhury when she was a probation officer.

“Liza Chowdhury was always there for me and my kids,” said Lowery’s mother, Patrice King.

King said she didn’t know Martinez very well. “He’s for the cops; that’s all I can tell you,” King said.

Martinez said Chowdhury alienated police officers in Paterson.

“It’s clear she doesn’t want to work with the Police Department at all,” he said. “I don’t understand it. We’re all fighting for the same thing, to be safe.”

Martinez said maintaining relationships with the police has been helpful in his work for crime victims. He cited an instance earlier this year when he was trying to get access to a victim who was in police custody at the hospital. Martinez said he reached out to Abbassi, who authorized his getting access to the person.

“I was able to make sure the person was OK,” he said.

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What does Chowdhury say?

In her written statement, Chowdhury said, “Our organization has a working relationship with local law enforcement, social services, the judiciary and several other organizations so that we can continue to effectively advocate for our participants.”

Martinez said Chowdhury has given contracts for workforce development work to her boyfriend, hired her former boyfriend as a crisis intervention specialist, and picked her brother-in-law to be the Healing Collective’s legal counsel.

Paterson Press asked Chowdhury about those appointments.

“Community violence intervention (CVI) work is by definition relationship-based work and everyone who has ever been a part of the team here at PHC has been vetted and hired because of their commitment to the community, their dedication to end violence and serve as victim advocates,” she said in her statement.

“Not only do we hire people who have a passion and dedication to the work, but also experience and specialized skill sets that are unique to this field,” Chowdhury added. “Our outreach workers, victim advocates and case managers do impeccable work both in the office and in the community.”

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Paterson Healing Collective leadership rift