LINCROFT – What to make of James A. Bradley, a founding father of Asbury Park?

That question took center stage in a Brookdale Community College debate on the legacy of Bradley, who in addition to founding the city by the sea, championed segregationist policies some believe still shape how people live in Asbury Park.

The discussion Thursday featured representatives of The Asbury Park Historical Society and Help Not Handcuffs. The latter, a local community group focused on drug policy reform and social justice issues, sparked the debate when its leader earlier this month called for the removal of a Bradley statue from a prominent park — because of the policies championed by Bradley at the dawn of Asbury more than a century ago.

"I think it opened my mind to different views I never thought of before," Veronica Goldberg, 19, said of the discussion.

The two sides reached no consensus on what to do with the statue, in Bradley Park near the waterfront and Convention Hall, but at a time where historical figures are facing new scrutiny for policies and views they championed sometimes centuries ago, the debate marked a rare opportunity for those with opposing views to engage with each other.

Don Stine and Kay Harris, members of the historical society, opposed the statue's removal, arguing markers and monuments are necessary to learn lessons from the past.

But Randy Thompson, founder of Help Not Handcuffs, said Bradley's policies left a legacy of division in the city. Thompson was joined in arguing for the statue's removal by Asbury Park activist Muata Greene and local trial attorney Tom DeSeno.

The panel discussion was sponsored by the History and Political Science Club at Brookdale. The civil discussion was a far cry from the kind of discord recently on display in places like Charlottesville, Virginia, where a woman was killed during clashing protests over the fate of a statue of Robert E. Lee, legendary hero of the Confederacy.

Thompson publicly called for the removal of the Bradley statue last month, saying Bradley's segregationist policies planted the seeds for the economic disenfranchisement of blacks. He arrived at this conclusion after researching the history of Asbury Park.Thompson explains his views in the video above this story.

Statues, he argued, are meant to convey honor and a sense of admiration.

"Move that statue into a museum," Thompson said.

The statue was erected in 1921, just days after Bradley's death, to commemorate the city's 50th anniversary.

Bradley was "an instrumental architect of segregation," David Goldberg, a history professor at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, said in an interview with the press last month.

Goldberg authored the 2016 book "The Retreat of Reconstruction: Race, Leisure, and Politics of Segregation at the New Jersey Shore 1865 to 1920."

What exactly did Bradley do?

During the 1870s and 1880s, Goldberg said, black workers in hotels and businesses in Asbury Park began to frequent the beach and boardwalk, which prompted an outcry from white tourists. They pressured Bradley into enforcing segregationist policies at the beach. Sometimes the policies were enforced through violence, Goldberg said.

"My position is that the statue should remain, but I would not want to whitewash the fact that he was a segregationist," said Kay Harris, who is a member of the historical society. She thanked Thompson for calling attention to the statue because she said it has sparked a discussion on the history of the city.

Harris is the author of the book "From Amistad to the White House "Teachable Moments" From 1839 to Within My Lifetime." The book examines different historical sites that tell the history of the civil rights movement.

She said her opinion was informed in part by visiting Money, Mississippi, where Emmett Till was killed after allegedly whistling at a white woman in August of 1955. Till's horrific murder was a major catalyst in the civil rights movement. As she searched for markers of where the incident took place, she could find none.

"We find this as a teachable moment," said Don Stine, president of the Asbury Park Historical Society. "You don't destroy teachable moments, you make people understand them." You can see video of the debate below.

After the violence in Charlottesville, the national debate over historical figures picked up new steam, including not just Confederate war heroes but also the likes of Christopher Columbus, among others.

Veronica Goldberg, the Brookdale student, asked panelists where the line should be drawn on removing statues of historical figures. She said that Abraham Lincoln, who has a national monument and is viewed as a key figure in ending slavery, held controversial views on blacks that might now be regarded as racist.

Greene and DeSeno said monuments needed to be examined on a case by case basis. They said the Bradley issue was one that was best handled locally, aside from the national debate.

"Let's not have a national rule on monuments or statues," DeSeno said. Greene said it was important to have an accurate telling of history, one that was inclusive of blacks, Native Americans and others who built the country.

Austin Bogues 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com