As Tourists Invade, Local Group Points Out the "True Jersey"

The B-word: Benny. For so many people it brings up thoughts of clueless tourists coming to the Jersey Shore to crowd streets, overwhelm beaches, and act uncouth.

Raising a "locals unite" flag up the pole since 2006 have been Benny Go Home and True Jersey.

But the members of Benny Go Home and True Jersey have come a long way since they started making waves among the shore crowds for the last five years.

With an eye on Memorial Day fast approaching many residents are either for or against the motto, Benny Go Home; a motto derived from a slang term infamous throughout the Garden State. In a recent interview, questions were answered as to what the groups really means to the people of New Jersey.

Peter Perea, Director of True Jersey, sat down to set the record straight for locals and tourists.

"If you're not from the area you at least have to read up on it to get it…otherwise it's just three words that you won't understand," said Perea.

"Benny Go Home started when we were all much younger," said Perea. "The initial concept for it (BGH and True Jersey) maintains this local feel. When BGH originated it was  ittle bit more aggressive as many people interpreted it. It had a very local feel to it; the goal of it was to bring awareness to something that everyone was thinking about already, but just kind of give it a name. Bring it out into the open a little bit."

Perea is making reference to the term "Benny", which for all intensive purposes relates to northern Jersey and New York. Brooklyn (or Bayonne), Elizabeth, Newark and New York as many local Jersey Shore () citizens come to think of when they hear the term.

"We wanted to get people to be a part of something that they didn’t necessarily know existed already. It's about adding another layer to the culture and community. When we looked around we certainly saw a culture that is very unique to this area. We saw how it (New Jersey) was sometimes depicted it didn’t quite line up with our own views or what we perceived to be the views of other people around here. So we kind of wanted to take the idea that had already been lapped upon this 'Us and Them' feeling and we wanted to take that and turn it on its head, to make it something different. True Jersey evolved from that to a degree."

With both organizations deriving from one another, the concept of both groups is starting to form their own identity. What first started out as a fun idea to a few younger residents has now fledged into a business in addition to a state of mind. As with all areas of the country New Jersey has its own identity. For Perea and his friends the Jersey Shore life has now become a job and a lifestyle.

"For a little while we had people from not just from the Jersey Shore, but people from North Jersey and even from farther away like New York come up to us and say they get what we are trying to say. True Jersey, after its creation, started to be more about growing a culture. It doesn't have to be something that is passed down to you; you can make it what you want it to be."

Perea wanted to make several points clear about what BGH and True Jersey really stand for. For local residents, either new to the shore or having been born here, the term True Jersey stands for an idea of what it is like to live near the shore.

Not everyone living at the shore fits into one mold or the other, but the idea behind it means to understand what the culture and the people have to say.

BGH originally started out with a group of people who wanted to shed some light on what most shore residents had already been thinking. The difference between BGH and the local residents is that BGH said it loud and proud.

Perea went into a detail about how the roots were planted for True Jersey:

"When Asbury Park was going through the very beginning of its re-development, the Stone Pony was having the Tillie Town Fair, which was their local culture homage to the music scene. They invited BGH and the whole crew to come and basically 'hang out'. They said they really liked what we did and wanted us to come check out the event. We went there as BGH and we had huge success," he said.

BGH was invited to have a store on the boardwalk for the summer, right in Convention Hall. "We didn’t know what we wanted to call the store at first; is it BGH? Is it something else?  We decided we couldn’t call it BGH because Benny Go Home is an idea," he said. "We wanted True Jersey to be something that anybody could make into their own style. You ultimately had some control over what its outcome is."

Perea made it very clear there is a difference between "putting up a banner and then taking it down at the end of the weekend." As soon as they started selling T-shirts and stickers Perea and the crew wanted make it official. The idea of pushing a certain idea of unwanted tourist is something the group never wanted to force upon anyone.

"We didn’t want to force this certain kind of label onto the store," said Perea. "We debated through weeks and weeks over the specific name…True Jersey wanted to keep all the concepts real and at the same time bring people in who aren’t going to get it otherwise."

As with all new ideas the group has met some opposition. Many out-of-town residents, local business people and even higher levels of government have been questioning the group's true motives.

"There has been a lot of positive and a decent amount of negative," said Perea. "From regular people, people from Ocean County, Monmouth County even from Cape May to New York, the most negative opposition we get doesn’t necessarily relate to them. They usually don’t get what we are trying to say. On the flip side of that, most feedback has been incredibly positive. As far as people in positions of power, we have had all sorts of reactions. We have had mayors write us emails with praise for what we do, but some people have told us to stop putting stickers all over town. In general, we have had more positive than negative feedback."

Perea is referencing an unbelievable amount of stickers and decals being placed on signs and street corners all throughout the area. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about telling someone to not put up a sticker, especially if they are truly passionate about a cause like many of BGH and True Jersey's fan seem to be.

One of the aspects Perea wanted to stress is the misconception of our great state. In films and even in the media most images of New Jersey are quite negative. Images of guttural mobsters, chemical plants and the 'Jersey Shore' hasn't painted New Jersey in the best light. A main idea behind both BGH and True Jersey is to highlight the better parts of Jersey and that it is not OK for other parts of the country to look down upon us.

"Usually New Jersey doesn’t get any love; nobody loves New Jersey!" Perea said jokingly. "People who live here have a love/hate scorn for the state."

For those individuals outside of the Jersey Shore area, the message is coming through either positive or negatively. Perea made reference to some people who do not like the group at all. Most of the opposition has come through via emails with obscenities and vivid language. The idea of BGH and True Jersey casting an ill shadow on visitors from the north has been a driving factor behind most of the hate mail Perea receives.

But another aspects has also come through, one Perea and the members want people to take to heart. Perea spoke of a meeting with a person who came to the shore for a vacation. This person lives on the Isle of Jersey in Britain. The person had nothing but praise for the group; saying it was a remarkable idea and that he loved the group and their message. It is interesting to note that a person from across the Atlantic Ocean understood the idea of what BGH and True Jersey means. A tourist, one who comes from farther away than New York or Bayonne, respects the group's right to speak.

This coming Memorial Day BGH and True Jersey will be expecting tourists from all over the globe to hit the Jersey Shore. The summer means many things to many different people. For those local Jersey Shore residents it is a time of rejoicing and reverie.

Some however, can't wait for Labor Day, when the beaches and stores are a little less crowded. Where do you stand?