The Trenton Times published the following article on April 27, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Former NYC police detective self publishes book about importance of rejuvenating Trenton

By Alyssa Mease/The Times of Trenton 
on April 27, 2013 at 7:00 AM

TRENTON — The Rev. William Coleman said he knows his life could have been dramatically different.

One of 11 children born to a sharecropper in Virginia, Coleman said he tried to kill his abusive father when he was 13 years old.

“My father was a great worker but he sold moonshine, got drunk, was unpredictable,” Coleman said.

After being sent away in 1959 to live with an uncle in Harlem, he bought a gun, dropped out of school and briefly joined a gang.

He later met a woman who helped him turn his life around, taking him to church and becoming his godmother, he said. With her help, Coleman, now 68, finished high school, served in the Army, worked as a police officer in New York for 10 years and then became a pastor, he said.

“It was a rejuvenation of my soul, because I left home angry,” Coleman said.

Coleman, the husband of Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), now serves as an associate pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church and as a trustee of Mercer County Community College. He recently self-published a book, “Community Renewal Thru Rejuvenation of the Soul,” which he said he hopes will show community members that they too can change the paths their lives are taking.

“We need to create, with the rejuvenation of the soul, alternatives to joining gangs, alternatives to criminal activity, alternatives to violence. It can be done,” he said.

Coleman said he has mentored more people than he can count, and refers to them all as his godchildren. He helps them get into college, find jobs, get into drug rehabilitation programs and, he said, rejuvenate their souls.

“If you can change what’s inside a person, you can change a community. And I’ve done that in Trenton with people who felt left out,” Coleman said.

Creating community organizations can reduce violence in an area, and he encourages people to get to know their neighbors and agree to stop crimes they see being committed, he said.

“Call the police and don’t be afraid because, here’s my thing: If they come for you today, they’ll come for me tomorrow,” he said.

Coleman said he thinks it is possible for every block in the city to form a civic association, and doing so will provide kids with more mentors and more opportunities for success.

He said that a high percentage of African-Americans in community college drop out, attributing the problem to a lack of accountability in the public schools. The system passes students who are not educated, he argued.

“We owe it to those who are stuck in that upside-down funnel — illiterate, angry, disenfranchised, scared — to pull them through one at a time, 10 at a time,” he said.

Coleman said he sends many students to the community college where he serves on the board, as a person with a degree is more likely to find employment and stay out of trouble.

“The community college is a springboard for rejuvenation, a springboard for change,” he said. “A person with a job and a little place to live and a few pennies in his pocket and a little car is not out there lying and cheating. He’s not.”

Coleman said he would like to get enough money together to open community centers where kids can go after school to do homework. He understands that not everybody is cut out for college, so he wants to find other options, like computer repair classes, for them.

Fifty years after his soul’s rejuvenation, Coleman said he plans to continue working to bring up the city and its people.

“People say, ‘Reverend, why are you doing this?’” Coleman said. “I say, ‘Because before I die, I’m going to give it my best shot.’”

Contact Alyssa Mease at amease@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5673.