PARSIPPANY – There were at least 500 people – maybe more – spread out on the lawn of Veterans Park Tuesday evening sitting and relaxing as they would on an ordinary summer afternoon.

They kneeled and listened to uplifting speeches about brotherhood and opposing hate and racism. One speaker even thanked the “good” cops who stood on the perimeter of the field prepared for trouble that never came.

This truly was a very special event in Morris County’s largest town at a time when some protests across the nation after the death of George Floyd have descended into violence and criminal behavior.

It all started about a mile away at Parsippany High School.

“I think this has to be done, we need to raise our voice,” said township resident Julie Carabello.

A block away from the high school on Vail Road, an elderly couple sat in lawn chairs outside their home watching things unfold. They had a sign. It read, “Black Lives Matter.”

Why?

“It’s time for equal rights, it’s been too long,” said the woman who didn’t give her name.

The march began soon thereafter and the throng made its way down Vail Road and across Route 46, a section of which was closed for the occasion, and into the park.

One of those watching was Police Chief Andrew Miller, who had to be pleased at how orderly everything was.

Sure, some may have considered the rhetoric being spouted a bit over the top, but this was, after all, a march condemning the alleged murder of a black man by police.

“No Trump, No KKK, No Racist USA” was one chant.

Signs carried by marchers read, “White silence is violence” and “Latinos for Black Lives Matter.”  There was also one expressing support from “South Asians.” Indians are a major immigrant group in
Parsippany.

The only real controversy came before the march began.

On Monday, the township superintendent of schools sent out a letter to the police chief and mayor saying it would not allow march attendees to park in the high school lot. And to emphasize the point, the letter said cones and barricades would  be in place. How about armed security guards?

This heavy-handed approach seemed strange. For instance, at a similar protest last Saturday in Morristown, people parked in the high school lot without incident.

If there was no parking at the high school in Parsippany, it clearly would have created a pretty big mess.

It’s not as if there are public parking garages on Vail Road.

But then something happened. School board politics often tend to be odd.

On Tuesday, yet another letter from the superintendent essentially said, forget about the Monday letter. People could use the high school lot. And they did.

The politics behind the original letter and the about-face is not apparent now, but the final result was the right one.

Amen to that.