Blueprint for a New Newark

This is revisionism in it's most despicable form. It was a riot, plain and simple. Stores were looted and business, many of which had been operating in Newark for generations were torched destroyed. White and particularly Jewish owned property was targeted--yes there was a definite anti-semitic tinge to the Newark riots egged on by the father of the current mayor. The Times is complicit in accepting a politically correct version of the events. Today's spread of interviews did not include one business owner. That said, the condition of blacks in Newark was shameful and the anger understandable. But to call it anything but a riot that accelerated the economic destruction of Newark is inaccurate.

What's with all the harsh criticism of this article in this comment feed? Ray Haygood presented the readers with the problem along with a brief history. But unlike so many other opinions in the NYT, Washington Post, Salon, and HuffPost which tend to wallow in whining, he is actually presenting solutions. And implementing them too! At least he and The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice are doing the hard work of building coalitions, working with the police force, training the workforce and investing in the community by engaging many stakeholders. This as a positive approach which deserves our praise and support.

For years, especially before the Booker administration, Newark government and the mayor, was thoroughly corrupt.

Blueprint for a New Newark cannot happen without deporting unproductive, often law breaking people, and importing, inserting educated, productive people. After all, any third grader knows a place is simply a reflection of its inhabitants. Low class uneducated rogues need replacement by people with ambition, talent. It's not complicated..

There is a lot going on in Newark, but the city, despite the fact that it should be desirable, given its proximity to NYC as well as other things, has struggled. I won't/can't argue that the '67 riots had its causes based in the reality that many people experienced, but in the end the '67 riots have left a legacy that so far has proven intractable, and that is fear, fear that the city is nothing more than a crime filled, dead city, full of people who rioted mindlessly, destroying the very structure of their city, burning businesses to the ground (Newark didn't have a full supermarket until many decades after the riots). Add to that the crime rate, especially crimes of violence, and it makes for a city difficult to get out from the cloud it is under, whether fair or not.

Hopefully Newark won't become a gentrified city where most of it becomes the bastion of the upper middle class and well off, and the rest are sequestered off in 'their' areas, and where everyone, the businesses, the politicians, the cops, and the people, rich and poor, realize that a thriving city is one that works for everyone. it also means freezing out the race hustlers whose stock in trade is blaming whites for all the city's ills, and also the whites from outside the city who basically promote the idea that Newark is a hole that should have a wall put around it, both have to be shut down, so reasonable people can find real solutions.

During the Newark Riots my neighbors son, who was in the National Guard, was one of those sent there. He told me that his entire unit was sent in with no ammunition and only bayonets for their M1 Garand rifles and that they finally received some ammunition a few days later after a truck had to be sent to Fort Dix in South Jersey for some.

The solution for Newark is gentrification. It is close to NYC, has good transportation, and would be dirt cheap.

For the record, I was born here and I'am trully ecstatic of the resurgence in Newark becoming a major destination city in the northeast. The investments from different disciplines that are currently underway here will prove to not only stimulate the masses (like other urban cities), but I think the finished product will make the nation take notice in its incredible transformation.
As a Newarker, we have to learn from the rebellion 50 years ago and the horrific and awful stain it left on our city. The knowledgable are quite aware that It was a clear result of people being sick and tired of high rates of unemployment, terrible housing conditions, blatant corruption, police brutality and people never given the chance to grow, especially black people. Now 50 years later, our belove city embraces many cultures and is moving in a direction of power, productiveness and positiveness.
Before one tries to clench any negative thoughts of Newark, please try to comprehend the dismal past (at least 26 people died in that damn rebellion) and just try to give the people, the city and all the great services Newark has to offer a chance to progress. Our Mayor, Ras J. Baraka, the Public Safety Director, municipal elected officials, business leaders in the Newark community, our educational institutions and a host of other very important individuals are working hard to erase the stain I mentioned earlier, in making Newark, NJ a city to be recognized, appreciated and loved.

Leave it to the New York Times to lay the decay of Newark wholly at the feet of law enforcement.

> These disparities in employment cannot be explained by a lack of desire or ability to work.

Maybe it has something to do with levels of education and such?

Our country’s immigration policies have hurt African-Americans in Newark and around the country. In 1986, we gave legal status to illegal immigrants. This let them petition the government to bring in their relatives. Since nearly 3/4’s of our green cards are awarded solely on kinship, not on economic viability, this has resulted in our giving 30% of our annual green cards to Mexicans. Most of these people, along with the current crop of illegal immigrants, compete with our less-educated citizens for jobs, affordable housing, hospital beds, school resources, and so on.

We let poorly educated, unskilled people move here and displace our own citizens.

Canada has managed to discourage illegal immigrants from moving in, and every non-refugee immigrant it accepts must be able to contribute economically and to adapt easily to Canada. It does not accept non-refugees who would compete with its own less-educated citizens. In contrast, we treat our citizens as if they were disposable.

We need to change our immigration policies so we can focus our attention on our own people.

50 years! If the residents elect to stay in a place without work for 50 years, that is their own problem. I have had to move around for opportunities. The article suggests these people are victims that need to have others bring opportunities to them. Not the kind of people I would hire.

Too many federal buildings destroy tax base.

I'm a native Brooklynite and bought a house in the Ironbound in 2010 due to NYC's absurdly high prices. Down in Ironbound we don't feel the good times conjured by, say, the Whole Foods off Military Park. We only get the 5pm stench from the nearby fat-rendering plant. Whole Foods is in Newark to serve, not Newarkers, but the suburban office workers at lunchtime, who drive into Newark to work in that area, which is swiftly becoming a corporate office park. Has Newark become contemporary by falling for the corporate lie of trickle-down prosperity? Newark is in fact like most American cities today, losing its true community and eagerly on its knees to show true faith to their corporate masters.

I think commenters chiding the author for using Life magazine's term "predictable insurrection" miss the point entirely. Push people to the breaking point and eventually something will snap. Revolutions, whether Russian or American, don't happen in a vacuum, they happen when the pendulum has swung too far. Also of note is that most of the riots took place in the summer. A depressing article in NYMag about climate change offered the association between higher temperatures and violence. Police departments dread the dog days of summer.
I can't believe the author didn't write one word about public schools. They may be underfunded, lacking many resources, with few teachers qualified to push the students that want to learn. But I'm guessing there are Asian students that are in the school system, thrive academically, and earn scholarships to college, escaping poverty. There is institutionalized racism for sure. But there's also a failure of the African-American culture to look after their own children, encouraging them to strive academically. Never been easier with the internet to supplement the shortcomings of the local schools.
We hear all the time about our failing public schools but not enough about the students who manage to succeed in those schools, allowing them to climb the ladder. It's politically incorrect to mention poor parenting.

Growing up in suburban NJ in the 1970s I remember being told that Newark was the one place you should never, ever go--full stop. I live on the other coast now but was always curious about this seemingly outcast city. Oakland is thought of by many in the Bay Area in the same way, yet I've worked and gone out there for years with no problems. Thanks for an interesting article. I will check out Newark next time I'm back east.

It was a riot, plain and simple. I remember going to Newark with my mother to window shop. We lived at the shore then and took the train up. Newark was a lovely big city with lots of stores to look at. It's a shame, but all the corruption doesn't help either.

Imagine where Newark would have been today if not for the actions of a few racists police officers.

Many of my neighbors still talk about the riots. This obviously changed the community and caused whites to flee the city.

And if you do not think racism is not prevalent in the "white" suburbs that surround Newark, just go into the town courtrooms of these white communities and see what the makeup of the courtroom defendants. And I am white.

July 12, 1967, which you characterize as a rebellion and Life magazine called a "predictable insurrection" is more properly described as a police riot. The vast majority of the human carnage and a fair amount of the "looting" was carried out by Newark's finest and the national guard. See Ron Parambo's "No Cause for Indictment.
Robert Curvin, a community leader and my mentor, who was called upon to try to mitigate the initial police outrage with no help from the power structure which included an openly and unapologetically racist police commissioner. In his book, Inside Newark, published shortly before his death in 2015, Curvin traces the history of disenfranchisement in Newark and suggests a pathway to recovery and shared prosperity. I believe that he intended the reach of that study to go beyond Newark in that it reflected a cycle geographically and politically broader not uncommon in other northeastern cities and beyond. It is nonetheless important that efforts at broad ranging community building in Newark learn from the lessons Curvin leaves us as a legacy and guidepost.

There's much to accomplish but Newark is quite promising with much to boast: world-class performing arts and sports venues and a well regarded museum. Quality higher education includes Rutgers and its business school, Essex Community College, NJ Institute of Technology, and Seton Hall Law School. Many neighborhoods remained stable over the past 50 years, ex: Ironbound, Weequahic, and Forest Hill. Other neighborhoods are improving and developing. The city has excellent public transport including light rail/subway, PATH, NJ Transit rail / buses plus Amtrak. Companies like Prudential have prospered and expanded and businesses like Audible and Whole Foods are making investments in Newark. As of now, there is housing available to fit most budgets, whether one needs an apartment for $600/mo, or has nearly a million to spend on a house. New townhouses, apartment buildings and homes are being built on formerly vacant lots throughout the city.

There is still a terrible crime problem, poverty, and under-performing schools. Much of the public housing has been torn down with some redevelopment, but the city needs to carefully plan to balance meeting affordable housing needs, addressing crime and not pushing out decent people of modest income. Importantly, as Mr. Haygood addressed, there must be a trustful and cooperative relationship between police and residents. Corruption in government needs to end, a more daunting task considering the direction of the nation's Executive Branch.

Seems to me, an investment in public education is the longer-term solution to this inequality. Without good public schools, there's no way Newark residents could compete with Whites from affluent suburbs and the high property tax areas that finance their superior education. A number of comments here alluded to the fact that this isn't a new idea but that "throwing money at the problem" didn't seem to fix anything. I don't know what the answer is but the disparity in public school systems is one more appalling thing about this country.

My mom grew up in nearby Elizabeth in the 1930s. She spoke fondly of accompanying her folks on shopping trips to the "big city" -- Newark -- on the weekends. Today, people would struggle to think of Newark as a destination.

I worked in Newark in the early 21st century for almost decade and continue to visit now and then for business (if i was a hockey fan I would be going in for the Devils). Downtown has become almost another city the last few years. The rest of Newark, almost about the same.

Many employees who can afford to pick other areas to live in for various reasons -- crime, schools, etc. But one thing that struck me when I worked FT in the city, and is probably a key factor for families planting their roots elsewhere, were the many intelligent people I found stuck in dead end jobs because they didn't have a proper education. The city and state have been throwing money at the school system for decades with little to show for it. With downtown becoming a more popular place to live, this may be the moment to entice those new young families to come in and help build up the tax base (at least until people start complaining about long time residents forced to leave due to gentrification).

I was living in West Orange at the time of the Newark riots and my wife was sent home from school on rumors that our town would be invaded by rioters. I had a shotgun and exactly three shells for protection. The next day a joined a block long line at a gun store to buy several boxes of buckshot. Today we live in a rural area and have more than enough guns and ammunition to protect myself and my family although the possibility that I will need them is remote it is better to be prepared and not need one than to not have one and need it.

Meet the new boos, same as the old boss. This sums up Newark quite succinctly. To think that the Newark city government and school system are any less corrupt now than they were 50 years ago is pure fantasy.

I defy anyone to actually prove that Newark’s previous Mayor, the darling of the media, Corey Booker, actually lived in Newark. One type of racism has been replaced by another, and the residents suffer. It is in all of NJ’s interest to fix this problem, as it costs us all money. Where and to whom all of that State Aid (as well as Zuckerberg’s millions) actually goes is as much a riddle as Mr. Booker’s real address when he was Mayor.

Anyone who wonders why cities like Newark, Detroit, Milwaukee and other once bustling urban centers are now decrepit hulks need to pick up Kenneth Jackson's 1984 publication "Crabgrass Frontier' which illustrates how city planners like Robert Moses in NY intentionally wrecked cities by gutting neighborhoods to create expressways to the suburbs, and redlined urban neighorhoods driving out earners and businesses..in other words, it wasn't a happenstance, the destruction of many of American's great cities was by design.

Newark is a very interesting case. I spent my teenage years delivery sandwiches and pizza throughout the area. You get to know a city pretty well in the days before GPS. The Ironbound always stood out like a marvel to me. A glimpse into the past. Of course, the only reason the Ironbound survived was because residents and business owners stood under the train overpasses with shotguns. The train system provided an impromptu fortress of sorts. As you can imagine, the posse was predominantly white. The march eventually made it up Bloomfield Ave. and destroyed most of my family's downtown. A few blocks survived but most of the area exists only in photographs now.

All the same, I don't begrudge the residents of Newark their actions. There are many wonderful things about Newark but there many things that are plain messed up. I'll have you recall the term "racial profiling" was coined in New Jersey. Police abuse is only the tip of the iceberg as well. Political discrimination, residential discrimination, job discrimination, zoning discrimination. The list goes on. I hope the new leaders of Newark can bring the city back. I'll warn you though; sometimes the right address is hard to find.

Ryan, thank you for the work that you and the Institute are doing, particularly in seeing and addressing the nexus between economic development and criminal justice reform. It can be a model for other communities under DOJ settlements to undertake. Few if any see the relationship between racial bias and economic injustice and disproportionality in our justice systems.

As a high school student at St Benedict's Prep I witnessed the wreckage of the riots first-hand then and for years later. Our Drama Guild had a thriving realationship with Queen of Angels Parish as we built their sets and showcased their productions of THE MUSIC MAN and Our Town at the Hive too. The riots changed all that to our detriment, and Newark devolved into despair and ongoing corruption at the City level. Frank Torok who went to Yale after the riots left the Drama Guild in virtual shambles with a decline in our audience by 80% and a demolition of our new Drama Guild Summer Theatre where students and alimni were able to earn a stipend for their work. That all stopped that summer. The riots may have been justified but Martin Luthter King championed non-violence as well, and that never happened then in Newark. Newark is still trying to recover 50 years later in spite of all the abandoned stores, houses, and empty lots that populate every ward of Newark. Even after billions of dollars have been spent in Newark, we are about to witness the immoral demolition of Newark Bears Stadium. It could be repurposed as a vital multi-purpose Stadium for High School Band concerts, archery, cricket, fencing or other sports . The Stadium is the only resource in my neighborhood. It was built less than 20 years ago to reinvent Newark !!!

Fifty years since the "rebels" marched -- the city continues to look like a ghost town, the school district is in shambles, outside of the very downtown it attracts peripheral investment, and "where Newark goes, it goes first." Suggest the rebels put up the white flag -- half a century has proven you didn't and don't know what you are doing.

The rebellion was the unavoidable result of rampant racism pervasive in Newark in the 60's coupled with unfathomable poverty. An explosion fueled by frustration could not be prevented. Stories of police brutality were abundant, with police intentionally frequently attempting to injure marching protesters. Tony Imperiale held maneuvers with his "militia" regularly in Military Park. I was in the City as it burned, and witnessed barbed wire barricades patrolled by National Guard tanks with whites on one side and blacks on the other, each group shouting obscenities at the other. Contrary to what I had believed would occur, these core problems remain, and may even be worse as a result of white flight from the City. I don't have any answers- just observations.

Start with corrupt moribund school system.Rife with nepotism and cronyism, layers of redundant patronage jobs,even the clerks have their own clerks.Follow the money trail on where Zuckerberg's $100 million and another $100 Million in matching funds went.Hint,the kids didn't get much.

This article is a healthy antidote to the racist screed published on the same topic today in the wsj

Growing up in a nearby town, I remember Newark as a hub of commerce and culture and yes, employment.

Now I am old and can only wish you well in trying to restore/create a positive city for all its people. Police misbehavior seems to be a nationwide problem and in part a consequence of the militarization of the whole nation as well as its police forces. Just looking at photos of police in news stories is frightening to me. In a foreign country many years ao I had to be reminded that "the police here are not your friend." Very sad that that is now true in so many of our American cities and towns.

I grew up in Newark during the 50's and 60's. I watched as white flight took place to the suburbs, abandoning the city, sinking it deeper into poverty. In 1961 the summer before college was spent as a delivery boy for an engineering supply company, K+E, in downtown. The material orders were for the Newark Housing Authority blueprints to build in place of torn down dilapidated buildings, remaining in disuse for years. The disappearance of that housing made the city look like a bombed out war zone. The promise that had been drawn on paper stayed there for many years.

My father owned a luncheonette serving a mixed cliental, and blue collar workers. I distinctly remember a young policeman explaining how they were taught to bring down a black suspected miscreant with a heavy wooden baton.

The city was not working long before those riots as the twinned scourges of race and poverty suppressed any hope of unleashing the talent and energy of those caught in this web. Hope is a poor commodity when basic tools for survival are in short supply.

Jamie Dimon wants under-employed adults to re-train to become a part of the new information economy. Mr. Dimon, and other rich white people like me, need to allow ourselves to be taxed at higher rates, such as under President Eisenhower, to pay for this re-training. Without funding, Dimon's statements are meaningless.

I get that the article is long on historical context and inspiration and short on working details. But we white people, as the dominant class of the region, need to step up and make things happen at our level to make sure change is durable.

I would encourage Newark to look at West Philadelphia for plans of action that became real. West Philly has convinced me that a better future can happen if we all work together productively.

If you’re going to talk about “systemic solutions,” “breaking down silos,” and “transformative visions,” you have to be open to innovation, even if it doesn’t look like what you’re expecting.
Being sensitive to “employers’ future needs,” not just their current ones, is original. But how will you figure out what these are? Employers might not even know, or not know they don’t know. How about bringing in a futurist, or adjuncts from the colleges.
Remember the racial legacy, but ditch the hard categories of who is “black” or “white.” If you’re going to invoke MLK, remember what he said about judging people based on “their character.” If so, you can teach the rest of us.
As someone from outside of Newark who has had five career stints there, and unsuccessfully tried to serve it a few times as a volunteer or in other ways, with huge experience to offer in support of its sustainability initiatives, I felt unwelcome in what should have been a more nuanced drive to show “self-sufficiency.” So you lost me. What you should have realized is no one is ever as self-sufficient as they think they are.
Do something innovative about the “reputation problem.” Don’t bark at returnees to Newark’s mass transportation system, which isn’t bad, when the rules to ride it change and they have no way to know. Find a sister city in a suburb and develop a refreshing mutual relationship. I once got lost in Newark and stumbling around discovered a restored, green neighborhood. It shouldn’t have taken that.