P.O.P. REMEMBERS NEWARK REBELLION AT 52!
NEWARK POLICE CHALLENGED
TO DROP THEIR APPEAL AGAINST THE NEW CCRB!
On Friday, July 12th, the People’s Organization for Progress observed the 52nd anniversary of the epic Newark Rebellion with their annual March and Rally!
Participants included elder area statesman William Payne, who retold the haunting story of Eloise Spellman, a mother of eleven children, who was shot to death pulling one of her children from their window as Police forces were firing at their building, Rev. Louise Rountree of the City’s Clergy Council, who opened with prayer and words of healing, NJCU Professor Max Herman, a highly regarded scholar on Urban Uprisings, Richard Cammarieri of New Communities Corporation (NCC), children from the Popcorn Kidz Black History Program and Chaka Zulu Sharod of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party among others.
The program began with moving laying down of memorial flowers on the Rebellion Monument which the names of all of those who were killed during the Newark Rebellion.
P.O.P. chairman Lawrence Hamm opened with one of his classic historic talks on the Rebellion.
One of the most salient remarks of his talk was when he said that there may have been more people than the 26 who were killed than are actually listed on the Monument.
“I want to make it clear that there may have been more than the 26 people listed here who were killed.
“In fact just this week, someone told me who was working for Newark Legal Services at that time assured me that there were than 26 people who were killed in that Uprising.
“More important than that, no one was ever held accountable for any of the people who perished in the Rebellion,” he reminded everyone.
Zayid Muhammad, the organizer for Newark Communities for Accountable Policing, better known as NCAP, challenged the Police to break ranks with their Fraternal Order of Police leadership after laying out a bold outline of Urban Uprising History.
“Yes, after 55 years, we finally had a victory at the NJ State Court Of Appeals for our Civilian Review Board, but it doesn’t end there because the FOP is appealing that decision to the NJ Supreme Court.
“Kwame Ture, the man who brought us to Black Power standing on Malcolm’s shoulders, taught us that our struggled is a protracted one.
“We must understand that and get ready to face that appeal and get ready to pack that court when the time comes,” he insisted.
NCAP is an initiative of the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union created to build support for Newark’s new groundbreaking Civilian Complaint Review Board.
“If the Newark Police Department wants to do something genuine to begin to capture the trust of our community after all this abuse, they need to step to their leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police and tell them to drop their appeal against our Civilian Complaint Review Board and agree to cooperate with all of its transparency dimensions,” railed the veteran activist.
In 1967, from July 12th to July 17th, the Newark Rebellion shook the consciousness of the nation. Triggered primarily by the scourge of police brutality and a local order of brutally enforced segregation, it would take the lives of more than two dozen civilians and the wounding and arresting of many thousands more. It would inspire dozens of similar uprisings throughout the country and inspire an acceleration of organizing centered on Voting Rights-based actions that would transform the electoral landscape, especially in Urban America.
The late Amiri Baraka’s efforts, which ended Urban Apartheid in Newark, would be greatly applauded, and in many cases emulated in other cities, in a movement that would bring into office a wave of Black elected officials not seen since the early moments of The Reconstruction Era!
The Newark Police Department is currently undergoing a major reform effort under the oversight of a Federal Monitor. Just weeks ago, the City, under the leadership of Baraka’s son, Mayor Ras Baraka, won a victory in NJ Appellate Court for the first Civilian Complaint Review Board in both the city and the state. Although it will face an appeal to the State’s Supreme Court by the Fraternal Order of Police, the victory was the fruit of a demand for real Civilian Oversight on the Newark Police that dates back to 1964!...
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