WHAT IS THE AFRICAN DIASPORA BAZAAR AND CRAFTSFAIR?
The African Diaspora Bazaar and CraftsFair is an opportunity
for local crafts people to share their wares while encouraging
cooperative economics. We will also creating a space for information and
resources to be shared with the public. Our hope is to create a
year-round networking opportunity for those of African descent to share
their services and products with our community.
From knitwear and jewelry to home décor and specialty foods, the African Diaspora Bazaar and CraftsFair is
the one-stop shop for the very best in handmade gifts and wares. Now in
our 3rd year, we are bringing 30+ crafters, vintage sellers, and food
artisans together for a shopping, eating, and DIY-ing extravaganza in
the heart of Oakland’s merging of cultural neighborhoods.
WHEN AND WHERE DOES THE AFRICAN DIASPORA BAZAAR AND CRAFTSFAIR TAKE PLACE?
The African Diaspora Bazaar and CraftsFair will take place
indoors and outdoors at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland, Ca
94612. It will be open to the public on Saturday November 28, 2015 from
12:00 noon to 6:00 PM. The Humanist Hall is accessible by AC Transit bus
lines 51 (via Broadway) and 1 (via Telegraphy).
HOW DO I APPLY TO BE A VENDOR?
This year, we are only accepting applications online. You must
complete the online registration by November 13, 2015 at 9:00 pm to be
included in the show.
WHAT KIND OF VENDORS DO YOU ACCEPT?
You represent the African Diaspora. From Oakland to Touba to
Adis Ababa, we are looking for high-quality products and services that
in their creation; support and strengthen our African Diaspora
Communities!
Performers (storytellers, dance, spoken word, drum, etc.)
Organizations that build and support humanity growth
Health, Nutrition & Fitness experts
We’re looking for any and all
edible/wearable/loveable/handcrafted/one-of-a-kind items and foods
you’ve got. They include but are not limited to specialty foods,
silk-screened items, cosmetics, knitwear, jewelry, paper goods,
handbags, cards, unique vintage items, and more!
We are also creating space this year just for youth! Any youth
between the ages of 5 and 18 will have a special area designated for
their goods.
We also welcome entrepreneurs who have items to sell that are
not their own creation, however, there are limited slots for these.
Examples include individuals selling Avon, Divas Defense, etc.
MY CHILD HAS ITEMS THAT HE/SHE SELLS. WILL THERE BE A PLACE FOR YOUNG VENDORS?
Yes! This year, we would like to encourage our children to
begin thinking about business ownership. For $20, children (with the
help ONLY) of their parents, can set up a table of their own. ONLY items
made exclusively by children and youth will be allowed at this rate.
CAN I SHARE A BOOTH WITH ANOTHER VENDOR?
Yes. If you already know the person you'd like to share with, please indicate their name on the application form.
LAST YEAR THERE WERE TOO MANY VENDORS AND NOT ENOUGH SPACE; WILL IT BE THE SAME THIS YEAR.
No. Based on various feedback, we will decrease the number of
vendors indoors. This will give each vendor more space to create a
beautiful display.
WHAT ARE THE BOOTH/TABLE FEES? WHAT ARE THE DIMENSIONS OF A BOOTH SPACE?
A
full booth is a 6' x 6' space on the main floor of the Humanist Hall.
This includes a 6' x 30" table and two chairs, as well as one wi-fi
passcode and access to a standard electrical outlet. African Diaspora
Bazaar and CraftsFair will provide all tables and chairs, though you are
welcome to bring racks or other display setups if you prefer. All
displays must fit within this 6’ x 6’ space.
WHAT ARE 'PREMIUM' BOOTH OPTIONS?
This year, you will have the option to select Premium booth
space for an additional fee ($25). Any corner booth is considered
Premium and or any booth with 2 sides to display items. This Premium
booth gives you an entire end-cap of a vendor row. There are only 8
Premium booths. If you elect a premium booth space when you apply and we
are unable to provide you with one due to space limitations, the fee
paid for the premium booth option will be refunded to you before the
show date.
HOW WILL YOU DETERMINE WHICH VENDORS ARE PLACED INDOORS AND PLACED OUTDOORS?
Vendors will be placed first-come, first served. The indoors
will comfortably hold approximately 20 vendors. After this, we will
begin utilizing the outdoor space.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING OUTDOORS?
You have a lot more space to create a beautiful display
This year, the entertainment, raffle and music will be outdoors
The food will be outdoors
You have the option of purchasing a tent ($10) to really create an exquisite outdoor market place feel.
WHAT ABOUT LIGHTING, LAST YEAR ONCE IT GOT DARK, WE HAD NO LIGHT.
This year, we are ending the event before the sun goes down. There will be no need for lights.
IS ELECTRICITY PROVIDED?
Yes, but please bring your own extension cords.
IS WI-FI PROVIDED?
Yes—you will receive an access code for one device.
WHEN IS THE APPLICATION DEADLINE?
Applications for the African Diaspora Bazaar and CraftsFair will be open until November 13, 2015 at 9:00 pm.
WHAT IF I HAVE TO DROP OUT OF THE CRAFTSFAIR ? WHAT IS YOUR REFUND POLICY?
Full refunds of booth price less a $10 processing fee will be
available if we are notified before November 13, 2015. If you need to
cancel after this date, you can “sell” your space to another vendor that
you know.
HOW WILL THE AFRICAN DIASPORA BAZAAR AND CRAFTSFAIR BE PROMOTED?
The African Diaspora Bazaar and CraftsFair will be promoted
with a press release, PR blasts, advertising placement on craft websites
and listings in local press as well as postcards, posters, and e-mail
blasts to local lists as well as promotion our social media platforms.
WHAT KINDS OF INFORMATION WILL BE LISTED ON THE AFRICAN DIASPORA BAZAAR AND CRAFTSFAIR FACEBOOK PAGE?
The
Facebook will list all participating vendors with a link to their
company website. Once you are notified of your acceptance, please
provide us with 3-4 a .gif or .jpg pictures of you, your best product
and your logo.
DO SHOPPERS NEED TO PURCHASE A TICKET FOR THE AFRICAN DIASPORA BAZAAR AND CRAFTSFAIR?
Yes. Admission is $2 at the door.
HOW CAN I HELP?
We
welcome all volunteers wanting to help spread the word about the
African Diaspora Bazaar and CraftsFair. Please email Aishah at aandione@yahoo.com to get involved.
I’D LIKE TO DONATE AN ITEM TO HELP PROMOTE MY BUSINESS, CAN I DO THIS?
Yes.
We will have multiple times during the event where we will be raffling
off items. Additionally, we will offer donated items to boost/promote
the Facebook event page. Someone will walk around at the beginning of
the CraftsFair to collect your items. If you would like to have your
items raffled BEFORE the show (perfect way to highlight your business on
FB), we can make arrangement to pick up from you in advance.
Based on cache of secret slides leaked by national security whistleblower, stunning exposé by The Intercept reveals inner workings—and failures—of the U.S. military's clandestine efforts in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia
The
Intercept has obtained a cache of secret slides that provides a window
into the inner workings of the U.S. military’s kill/capture operations
at a key time in the evolution of the drone wars — between 2011 and
2013. (Image: The Intercept)
A stunning new exposé by The Intercept,
which includes the publication of classified documents leaked by an
intelligence source, provides an unprecedented look at the U.S.
military's secretive global assassination program.
The series of articles, titled The Drone Papers,
follows months of investigation and uses rare primary source documents
and slides to reveal to the public, for the first time, the flaws and
consequences of the U.S. military's 14-year aerial campaign being
conducted in Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan—one that has consistently
used faulty information, killed an untold number of civilians, and
stymied intelligence-gathering through its "kill/capture" program that
too often relies on killing rather than capturing.
"The series is intended to serve as a long-overdue public examination
of the methods and outcomes of America's assassination program," writes
the investigation's lead reporter, Jeremy Scahill. "This campaign,
carried out by two presidents through four presidential terms, has been
shrouded in excessive secrecy. The public has a right to see these
documents not only to engage in an informed debate about the future of
U.S. wars, both overt and covert, but also to understand the
circumstances under which the U.S. government arrogates to itself the
right to sentence individuals to death without the established checks
and balances of arrest, trial, and appeal."
The source of the documents, who asked to remain anonymous due to the
U.S. government's aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers, said the public has a right to know about a program that is so "fundamentally" and "morally" flawed.
"It's stunning the number of instances when I’ve come across
intelligence that was faulty, when sources of information used to finish
targets were misattributed to people," he told The Intercept.
"And it isn't until several months or years later that you realize that
the entire time you thought you were going after this target, it was his
mother’s phone the whole time. Anyone caught in the vicinity is guilty
by association – it’s a phenomenal gamble."
As outlined by The Intercept, the key revelations of the reporting are:
Assassinations have depended on unreliable intelligence.
More than half the intelligence used to track potential kills in Yemen
and Somalia was based on electronic communications data from phones,
computers, and targeted intercepts (know as signals intelligence) which,
the government admits, it has “poor” and “limited” capability to
collect. By the military’s own admission, it was lacking in reliable
information from human sources.
The documents contradict Administration claims that its operations against high-value terrorists are limited and precise.
Contrary to claims that these campaigns narrowly target specific
individuals, the documents show that air strikes under the Obama
administration have killed significant numbers of unnamed bystanders.
Documents detailing a 14-month kill/capture campaign in Afghanistan, for
example, show that while the U.S. military killed 35 of its direct
targets with air strikes, 219 other individuals also died in the
attacks.
In Afghanistan, the military has designated unknown men it kills as “Enemies Killed in Action.”
According to The Intercept’s source, the military has a practice of
labeling individuals killed in air strikes this way unless evidence
emerges to prove otherwise.
Assassinations hurt intelligence gathering. The Pentagon
study finds that killing suspected terrorists, even if they are
legitimate targets, “significantly reduce[s]” the information available
and further hampers intelligence gathering.
New details about the ‘kill chain’
reveal a bureaucratic structure headed by President Obama, by which
U.S. government officials select and authorize targets for assassination
outside traditional legal and justice systems, and with little
transparency. The system included creating a portrait of a potential
target in a condensed format known as a ‘Baseball Card,’ which was
passed to the White House for approval, while individual drone strikes
were often authorized by other officials.
Inconsistencies with publicly available White House
statements about targeted killings. Administration policy standards
issued in 2013 state that lethal force will be launched only against
targets that pose a “continuing, imminent threat to U.S. persons,”
however documents from the same time reveal much more vague criteria,
including that a person only need present “a threat to U.S. interest or
personnel.”
New details of high-profile drone kills,
including the 2012 killing in Somalia of Bilal al-Berjawi, which raise
questions about whether the British government revoked his citizenship
to facilitate the strike.
Information about a largely covert effort to extend the U.S. military’s footprint across the African continent, including through a network of mostly small and low-profile airfields in Djibouti and other African countries.
The investigation comes as the Obama administration announced plans on Thursday to delay withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Administration officials told CNN that troops may conduct "counterterrorism operations" against Islamic State (ISIS) militants there.
But as the documents reveal, assurances from the Obama administration
that drone strikes are precise and used only in cases of "imminent"
threats are themselves based on intentionally vague definitions of
"imminence."
"Privately, the architects of the U.S. drone program have acknowledged its shortcomings," said Betsy Reed, editor-in-chief of The Intercept.
"But they have made sure that this campaign, launched by Bush and
vastly expanded under Obama, has been shrouded in secrecy. The public
has a right to know how the US government has decided who to kill."
As the source himself said, "We’re allowing this to happen. And by
'we,' I mean every American citizen who has access to this information
now, but continues to do nothing about it."
Register for the National Black Political Leadership Conference in St. Louis, MO, October 30, 31, 2015
On
Friday, October 30th and Saturday, October 31st 2015, the Universal
African Peoples Organization (UAPO), will host a National
Black Political Leadership Conference. This conference will be held at
Greater St. Mark Family Church, 9950 Glen Owen, St. Louis, MO.
Pre-registration for this two day event is $35.00 and $45.00 at the
door.
The objective of the conference is promote the concept of
"Proportionate Political Representation" for our people and to encourage
our people to focus on who will be our candidates for powerful
political offices such as United States Senators, Governors, and other
statewide and local positions. In fact, in 2016 there will be 34 United
States Senate seats and 11 Governors positions up for election.
Accordingly, across this country, we need a total of 56 strong and
progressive Black men and women to challenge for each of these positions
and campaign on a common platform of domestic and foreign issues
impacting our lives daily. Such a bold move would be historic,
especially in light of the present day reality,that there are no Black
Governors and only 2 Black US Senators.
Again, this is why we need "Proportionate Political
Representation." If you have leadership skills and would like to help
shape a new and powerful political destiny for our people, then you must
join us. You can pre-register by going directly to Eventbrite.com and type in National Black Political Leadership Conference or go to our websitewww.uapo.org and click on National Black Political Leadership Conference . We will see you at the conference. For additional information call (314) 477-4629 or (314) 454-9005.
Panther a Documentary by Stanley Nelson: A Film Review
By Ayodele Nzinga
I
watched Alex Haley's Roots on my Granny's TV. I watched alone. My
Granny could not stand to watch. She was visibly upset in a way I now
understand signaled the film had evoked strong memories. She was not
watching Alex Haley's story, she was remembering her own, recounted
first hand from her parents and grandparents. For me, it was a way to
view history as alive, to hear it coming from black mouths, to hear the
story aloud. I connected to the group story, my subconscious began to
chew on the enormity of the epistemological tragedy wrought by the
holocaust of transatlantic transgression. For my grandmother it was like
falling through a door nailed shut and covered by a wall of years and
the illusion of progress. She could not watch the fictional recreation
of the enslavement and breaking of Africans and the rude process of
learning to become American. No doubt the film conveying a time come and
gone reminded her of how far we had not gone. I found myself feeling
the same way as I watched Nelson's Panther.
I
arrived at the Shattuck Cinema in Berkeley at the agreed upon time but
still managed to miss connecting with Marvin X the West Coast Black Arts
impresario and my mentor. We were to watch Panther together but when I
arrived, X and his entourage were already seated in one of the theaters
to view a sold out four o’clock showing of the film that promised a
Q&A with X and others from the film. I bought a ticket for the 5:00
show and hung out in the lounge with a couple of pomegranate margaritas
and some sweet potato fries as I waited to watch a film I was not sure I
wanted to see.
I
saw the film alone in a half empty theater with a crowd that was mixed
like Berkeley can be. Some older white folk you could imagine being
nostalgic about a history they remembered, some older black folk with
youth in tow, wanting the youth to see what they the elders had lived,
and some youth of varying hues mixed and matched curious about a time no
so long ago but in many ways obscured and glossed over to make it seem
very far away somewhere in the land of improbable myth. Our myths are
important as are the recounts of all the times when humanity stepped off
the page and left a mark big enough for us to remember. I made it half
way through without talking to the screen. I cried through most of it. I
left the theater full of a deep pain and a deeper understanding of how
far we have not come.
My
brother Nehemiah Franks was a member of the Black Panther Party. I,
like my mentor Marvin X, who was questioned by a party member recently
about his affiliation, was an associate. Watching the film for me was
not like a history lesson it was like remembering. I had some
trepidation about remembering. Reality is more complex than myth. How
would Nelson capture the truth of The Black Panther Party in a way that
both respected and illuminated the beauty and pain of one of the most
significant moments in US history? What would he have us know? After
seeing the film I wished I had made one of the screenings I was invited
to where he was part of the Q&A. I would have asked him what he had
come to know about the complexity of truth and the places where myth and
truth part ways to preserve the power of myth.
The
film is composed of first person accounts and documentary footage with a
minimum of overwriting. You are presented with facts as the speakers
recall them. One knows that somethings remain on the cutting room floor,
and in Nelson's mind, considered unnecessary to tell the larger than
life story of The Black Panther Party. All art is invested with the
artist's point of view it is inevitable. Nelson's documentary left me
with my memory of warriors and told me enough of the unpleasant truth
that attends reality to feel that he was invested in telling the story
that mattered most.
The
film rest on the surface, giving a balance to stories reported over the
news at the time, it introduces you to the characters in the drama and
clearly defined the conditions which supported the formation and the
reasoning for a citizen's self-defense organization. It traced
relationships and gave thumbnails of the major players. While giving us
the framework for the myth we are shown ordinary men and women who made a
choice to resist blatant racism and its effect and what it cost them to
stand up. One sees the surface of relationships and the overarching
story of struggle manifest in actions that help to shape our current
moment. The film establishes and rest on some important historical
facts, like the beginning of free breakfast programs in schools, the
idea of community health clinics, the idea of knowing the law and being
able to make use of it to defend yourself from its abuse, the idea of
policing the police and insisting on the minimums it takes to make life
as articulated in the ten point plan. Along with the idea of publishing
internationally and driving your own narrative of struggle as an option
alongside the mainstream accounts of aggressive negroes living beyond
the pale sequestered in the urban ghettos.
The
Black Panthers were more than an organization they were a part of a
movement that marks a moment in time. Its formation, its achievements,
its decline, and the incredible role the United States Government played
in that decline along with its (the government) motivations and
intentions is one of the most important moments in American history for
North American Africans. Seeing Nelson's work may not offer a definitive
view of the scope of the national struggle for equity carried in The
Black Power Movement but it gives you a view of one of the cornerstones
of that movement as in played out on the West Coast and it gives you a
glimpse of Oakland as a chocolate city pressed down but fighting back.
The
film highlights Bobby Seales run for Mayor in Oakland but does not
engage the string of Mayors before and after who failed to steward
Oakland to prosperity and enabled development to eat large parts of
communities that were created by redlining without providing jobs or
better quality of life for the residents confined to those areas. It
also does not venture far into the infighting and what taking over the
underground in Oakland looked like. Nor does it give you a view of what
that decision felt like in community or what it did to those who dreamed
on The Panther’s as a tool of revolution and a means to achieving
freedom. Nelson's film stays in its lane barely tilting at the lawless
way in which the law maintained the racial divide, while giving you a
sense of the ruthless way in which it pursued, feared, and ultimately
authored the plan that spelled the end of an enterprise begun out of
necessity, conceived in courage, with the highest intentions.
The
film gives you space to consider the power and potential of organized
youth with a clearly defined agenda to clearly understand and firmly
seize the moment. The Panther Party gave youth like my brother a
structure under which to embody resistance. The party gave them a voice,
a presence in a world where outside of being the targets of oppression,
they were virtually invisible. It is not difficult to see that there
has been no grassroots organized struggle to hold black youth and their
unique and peculiar struggle to be seen as human since that moment to
the Black Life Matters platform of the current moment.
It
is of interest that the Black Life Matters platform is currently being
harassed by the FBI and described as terrorist as were The Panthers.
Nelson's film gives you a broader view and allows lots of room for you
to connect dots and understand history in a grounded and contextual
fashion. If you are interested in understanding the racial divide in
America and the beginning of a series of laws authored to oppress people
of color and enabling the creation of privatized prisons this film
should be on your viewing list. If you are a teacher or student of
American history you should view this film. If you are a student of
African American history you must see this film. If you are interested
in the state of urban America see this film. If you are invested in
change see this film. It should inspire you to want to know more.
Left to Right: Marvin X, grandson Jahmiel, director Stanley Nelson, MX's daughter Attorney Amira Jackmon and her daughter Naeemah Joy at Shattuck Cinema, Berkeley showing of Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution. Marvin appears in the film. He and Stanley Nelson participated in the Q and A. Marvin's grandson said, "It was too much shooting!"
Defying Expectations, Mayor Ras Baraka Is Praised in All Corners of Newark
NEWARK — Mayor Ras J. Baraka came into office last summer practically taunting his doubters.
“Yeah,” he said in his inaugural address, “we need a mayor that’s radical.”
They had predicted that he would be anti-business and anti-police, that Mr. Baraka, the son of Newark’s most famous black radical, would return a city dogged by a history of riots and white flight to division and disarray.
A
year later, Mr. Baraka is showering attention on black and Latino
neighborhoods, as he promised he would. But he is also winning praise
from largely white leaders of the city’s businesses and institutions
downtown. He struggles with crime — all mayors here do — but he has also
championed both the Black Lives Matter movement and the police, winning praise for trying to ease their shared suspicion.
The radical now looks more like a radical pragmatist.
Newark
is still stubbornly two cities: gleaming new glass towers downtown,
block after block of abandoned plots and relentless poverty in its outer
wards, with five killings within 36 hours this month.
But for all the expectations that Mr. Baraka would divide the city,
those on both sides of the spectrum say that he has so far managed to do
what his predecessors could not: make both Newarks feel as if he is
their mayor.
Development plans are reaching into long-ignored neighborhoods. Projects stalled for years are moving forward, and new industries are taking root: a vertical farm, an incubator space and an investment fund for technology start-ups.
Mr.
Baraka closed a $93 million hole in the city budget without layoffs. In
June, Gov. Chris Christie agreed to start returning the schools to
local control — something the governor had denied Cory A. Booker, Mr. Baraka’s more polished predecessor. The governor had rejected Mr. Baraka’s bid for control a year ago, deeming him “kind of hostile.”
“He’s
like the local boy who grew up and said, ‘I need to fix my city.’ How
do you not get inspired by that? How do you not root for a guy like
that?” said Joseph M. Taylor, the chief executive of Panasonic
Corporation of North America, which was lured to Newark by Mr. Booker.
“I didn’t think anybody could top Cory Booker, but if anybody can, it’s
Mayor Baraka.”
Not
everyone is on board. Some local politicians, even those who support
Mr. Baraka, say the positive reception partly reflects the low
expectations set during a nasty election last spring,
in which outside groups spent at least $5 million trying to defeat him.
They say the talent pool at City Hall is shallow, and that Mr. Baraka
has surrounded himself with friends and family members — in particular,
his brother, Amiri Baraka Jr., who serves as his chief of staff — who
engage in a kind of street politics that have dragged Mr. Baraka into
distracting feuds.
The candidate Mr. Baraka defeated, Shavar Jeffries,
continues to criticize the mayor’s inability to stanch crime,
dismissing Mr. Baraka’s anti-violence rallies as empty gimmicks. And
presuming Mr. Baraka can complete the return of schools to local control, they remain some of the nation’s most troubled and low-performing.
But
others point to changes large and small. The mayor had the walls
painted and brighter light bulbs installed at City Hall. Residents
welcomed his gestures like offering movie nights in Military Park, which is newly renovated with help from private groups and Prudential, whose sleek new headquarters opened this month across the street.
“These small things are what we need,” said Kourtney Awadalla, 28, an office worker who lives in the North Ward.
She had come with her 7-year-old daughter to an Occupy the City
rally the mayor held in early August, blocking off streets at the
city’s crossroads for thousands of residents who marched against
violence. “We’re used to them blocking off streets because someone got
shot, not someone blocking off streets for a positive thing,” Ms.
Awadalla said.
The mayor has created a Civilian Complaint Review Board to address accusations of mistreatment by the police,
and a municipal identification program. He also rewrote the zoning code
for the first time in 60 years, and businesspeople praised him for
speeding up the bureaucracy at City Hall.
Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr.,
the Essex County executive who leads the Democratic machine that lined
up against Mr. Baraka in the nonpartisan elections last year, stood with
him at a news conference in June and declared that he had made a
mistake not supporting him.
“I thought he would be divisive,” Mr. DiVincenzo said in an interview. “That’s where I was wrong.”
“A
boy from Clinton Avenue and 10th Street,” as he describes himself, Mr.
Baraka, 46, grew up in one of the more celebrated households of Newark.
His father was Amiri Baraka, the poet, playwright and black nationalist
who moved back to the city to help galvanize the black nationalist
movement. Maya Angelou read poems to the young Ras Baraka; Nina Simone sang him lullabies.
As principal of Central High School,
he pushed out gangs and raised test scores. And as a City Council
member representing the South Ward — Newark’s largest and poorest — he
styled himself as the anti-Booker, criticizing the mayor for spending
too much time on television and travel and not enough tending to the
needs at home. His campaign refrain: “When I become mayor, we all become
mayor.”
Still,
Mr. Baraka can seem uncomfortable with attention. Introduced warmly at a
recent event to open a new community center in the West Ward, he looked
up briefly to nod at the applause, then resumed staring at an
indeterminate place on the floor.
About
his city, he expresses emotion fiercely and openly. In May, after a
spate of killings, he sent out an anguished email over the public alert
system, describing his difficulty sleeping as he thought about the
violence. He called for residents, especially Newark’s men (“the ladies”
always show up, he said), to join him in “occupying” a different block
each week, trying to push out illegal activities.
“Everybody
has a responsibility,” he shouted to the thousands gathered at the
intersection of Market and Broad Streets for Occupy the City, wearing a
T-shirt proclaiming “We Are Newark.”
“The
mayor has a responsibility, yes,” he said. “The police have a
responsibility, yes. But so do our fathers, so do our mothers, so do our
brothers. The question is, are you living up to your responsibility?”
The
stubborn poverty of Newark’s residents has long made the city reliant
on its downtown corporate tenants for its tax base and prompted
complaints that mayors lavish attention on them to the detriment of the
rest of the city. (Mr. Baraka’s father was a leader of this charge.)
Downtown
is largely a 9-to-5 population of whites who commute from the suburbs.
Residents in other parts of the city are more likely to refer to the
riots that convulsed Newark in 1967 as “the rebellion,” an uprising
against white oppression.
In the heart of downtown, the administration has pushed forward Triangle Park,
a 24-acre parcel with a park and retail, residential and office space
that will connect Pennsylvania Station, the restaurants of the Ironbound
section, and the Prudential Center,
an entertainment arena and home of the New Jersey Devils. The city
conceived the project 10 years ago, but much of the land has remained
weedy lots. Construction is expected to begin next year.
“The progress that has been achieved in the last 90 days has been more than what was done in the last five years,” said Hugh Weber, the president of the Prudential Center and the Devils.
The city has also helped move along the construction of One Theater Square,
a 22-story residential tower that was supposed to be built soon after
the Performing Arts Center was finished in 1997. The project, expected
to complete its financing in October, will be the city’s first new
market-rate housing in five decades.
A
free-standing Starbucks — the city’s only one announced its closing in
2008 — will soon open in the new Prudential complex, as will a Nike
store. A Whole Foods is under construction in the old Hahne &
Company department store space nearby, and Rutgers will occupy 57,000 square feet there with university arts programs, gallery space and a community photo studio.
The
Baraka administration passed an ordinance requiring developers who get
tax abatements and companies with city contracts to hire Newark
residents for 51 percent of their jobs.
This
spring, Mr. Baraka designated two of the most blighted areas in the
South and West Wards of the city “model neighborhoods,” flooding them
with police and code enforcement officers to address problems like poor
lighting and abandoned structures that can foster crime.
He
established nine Centers of Hope with social services and activities in
abandoned community centers, and enlisted downtown institutions, such
as the Devils and the Performing Arts Center, to bring programs to the
neighborhoods. Well before Ferguson, Mo., drew attention to
police-community relations, Mr. Baraka had begun leading groups of
police officials and clergy members to walk and talk with residents in
some of the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Mr.
Baraka meets often with his police director. But he has also set up
street teams of residents to help defuse tensions that can escalate into
shootings and death. In one recent case, a young man reported that
someone was threatening to kill him because he owed $250. The team took
money from a hardship fund and gave it to the man making the threat, but
told him that if there was further trouble, he would be arrested.
Todd R. Clear,
the provost and a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers
University-Newark, confessed to having worried about the new mayor
coming in. “Now I’m really engaged, I’m all in,” he said, impressed by
the mayor’s “phenomenal” energy in dealing with crime, his willingness
to enlist help and push the police and residents out of their
traditional postures.
“I
am as encouraged about what’s going on in Newark with public safety as
I’ve ever been, and I’ve been here since 1979,” he said.
“He realizes that he can’t do this out of City Hall,” Mr. Clear said. “This is sort of like making everyone mayor.”