RiseUpNewark.com, the official website and platform for the study of Newark’s movements for black empowerment, Mayor Ras Baraka representing the city of Newark, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) will present a virtual “Teach IN” called, “Protest to Power: Lessons from Newark and the George Floyd Aftermath.” How does the election of Ken Gibson, the first black mayor of Newark, 50 years ago how elp us explain the uprisings in cities all over the world?
The event will take place on June 16, from 7-9:00pm on Zoom.Registration can be done through clicking on the link bit.ly/njpacptp .
Mayor Ras Baraka, who will participate in the program , said this about the event: “We must look to the past and study the lessons that history provides. As a young boy I remember my father, Amiri Baraka, and other people tell stories about how the city had to be transformed by protest but also by a very important election in 1970. I am mayor today because of those people who walked -the-walk as well as talked-the-talk, including special guest Jesse Jackson, who came to Newark to help Ken Gibson become mayor. There is a lot to be learned from all the people who brought together the coalition to make the election of a black man as mayor of all the people. But it is also very important to hear what young people have to say about the proper use of this history.”
“In response to the killing of George Floyd, how do we bottle all that energy in the streets before it goes away; or gets ground into dust, or slips from memory? A study of the 50th anniversary of the peoples’ movements in Newark, NJ that elected Ken Gibson as the first black mayor, may suggest some answers”, said conference organizer Junius Williams, a veteran of the civil rights and black power movements in Newark, and also Newark Historian.
“In this teach-in, we will look at the issues, the confrontations, the players, and the coalitions that propelled Ken Gibson into city hall, and draw lessons that can explain the rage and violence racking America after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis”, continued Williams.
The conversation will start among veterans of the 1960-70s who helped make Mayor Gibson possible; younger advocates, not yet born in 1970 when Gibson was elected the first time, but who have their own ideas about power, will respond and offer their opinion about the direction of the power in the streets. And we’ll be joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, President and CEO of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a timeless advocate for the importance of the right to vote, who helped mayor Gibson get elected.
The two hour event will be moderated by Junius Williams, Esq. and Professor Elise Boddie, of the Rutgers Law School. The panel of veterans is composed of Fred Means, former Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Organization of Negro Educators (ONE); Vickie Donaldson, former Director of Homeless Services for the Newark Department of Health and founding member of the Black Organization of Students at Rutgers; and Miguel Rodriguez, affectionately known as “The Don of Puerto Rican Politics in Newark”, as co-founder of La Casa de Don Pedro, Cura, F.O.C.U.S. and the Puerto Rican Congress. The youth panel will be composed of Zellie Thomas, educator and community organizer with Black Lives Matter, Paterson, NJ; A’Dorian Murphy-Thomas, an elected member of the Newark Board of Education; and Beatrice Adams, a doctoral student at Rutgers University.
“”I would suggest that the really pressing question is ‘Why should young people see value in the lessons of the past?’ To this question, I would argue that the past is meaningful, especially on the eve of the upcoming election, because it provides a blueprint for how to formulate plans to challenge the ever-changing face of racism and inequality,”said Beatrice Adams.
“The older people need to learn from us as well as teach us”, said Zellie Thomas. “We appreciate what the veterans did, but we can’t relive the past, and in many respects, it is our time now. I join this conversation with the understanding that our perceptions and experiences are just as important.”
