It's not necessary if you know anything about Newark. (sigh). I went to Weequahic High School in the 60's when it was by far the best, and only decent school in Newark because of the remaining Jewish population. It had fairly harmonious race relations at the time and, one year, a state champion basketball team. In the following five to ten years, the neighborhood changed as the remaining Jews moved out to the suburbs.
About 10 years ago I was on an airplane sitting next to a woman who was doing the NY Times Sunday crossword. I like crosswords, so we did some damage to the puzzle and started talking. She was a few years older than I and a bit annoyed with her husband because of a recent divorce. It turned out the husband and I had gone to the same college, and also gone to the same high school (Weequahic), a few years apart. Her gripe was with his commons sense--a few years before, the husband had decided to show the family where he'd gone to high school. Not recognizing the signs of a seriously decayed and dangerous neighborhood, he drove around the school parking lot, where they were held up at gunpoint, with the kids in the car.
Strangely, even with that history and the current events, I think Newark may have hit bottom. Some neighborhoods even seem to be coming back. Maybe its like a forest--after the fire, it looks bad, but the pioneer seedlings soon (or in the case of Newark, eventually) repopulate the barren ground.
when it was by far the best, and only decent school in Newark because of the remaining Jewish population >>
You can say that for so many inner-city, urban schools in northern NJ. Eastside High in Paterson comes to mind, there are so many, the Jews and other European groups kept the standards up until the late 1960's, even after the housing projects went up in the 50's. Once the riots hit, the white flight ensued.
Funny, my dad used to take me around his old nabe in Newark all the time and we never had any problems. Of course, he grew up in the Ironbound section.