Prism, Urim, Thummim -- I'd trade 'em all for a 56" DLP 1080i. -- Joseph Smith
Posted on 07/08/2007 3:20:43 PM PDT by neverdem
NEWARK, July 6 — Four decades later, many people here still cannot agree on what to call the five nights of gunfire, looting and flames that disemboweled the geographic midsection of this city, leaving 23 people dead, injuring 700, scorching acres of property and causing deep psychic wounds that have yet to fully heal.
To the frightened white residents who later abandoned Newark by the tens of thousands, it was a riot; for the black activists who gained a toehold in City Hall in the years that followed, it was a rebellion. Those seeking neutrality have come to embrace the word disturbance.
“There is not one truth, and your view depends on your race, your age and where you lived,” said Linda Caldwell Epps, president of the New Jersey Historical Society.
The society has planned a series of panel discussions and film screenings to mark the 40th anniversary of the violence, which began the night of July 12, 1967, after false rumors spread that an African-American cabdriver had been killed by police officers after his arrest for a traffic infraction. Avoiding the semantic controversy, the society has titled a planned exhibit “What’s Going On? Newark and the Legacy of the Sixties.”
There are no public monuments to mark the episode that painted Newark as a national symbol of racial disparity, police brutality and urban despair, but there is a newfound willingness here to confront the past. City officials, who ignored previous anniversaries, will dedicate a plaque Thursday at the Fourth Precinct station house, where the first skirmishes erupted between residents and the police.
“It’s still a touchy and contentious subject, but the fact that there is dialogue taking place is highly positive and would not have happened 10 years ago,” said Max Herman, a sociology professor at Rutgers University who...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Copy and paste the URL if you want to view the slide show.
down memory lane
He was only 10 years old back then, but somehow it was George Bush’s fault.(/sarcasm)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The violence of the 1960’s was ignited by radical elements who followed Marx.
The early 1960’s non-violent coercive protests (sit-ins and marches in the South) had established the principle that breaking the law was justified to fight racism-segregation so the next step to violent breaking of the law was easy.
For better or worse, that’s how it came dowh.
We cannot allow people who worship the “Civil Rights Movement” and preach “diversity” to bring back the bitter divisions of the past by igniting racial hatreds.
The talk of “being aware of our differences” is just a shoehorn to stir up this ugly past.
Americans need to find unity and common ground today and not be divided against each other.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Prism, Urim, Thummim -- I'd trade 'em all for a 56" DLP 1080i. -- Joseph Smith
““There is not one truth, and your view depends on your race, your age and where you lived,” said Linda Caldwell Epps, president of the New Jersey Historical Society.”
The muse of history just committed suicide. News at 11. Well, no, news is history... forget it.
“There are no public monuments to mark the episode that painted Newark as a national symbol of racial disparity, police brutality and urban despair....”
Really? A drive down Springfield Ave. will give one a view of the monuments - the burned out shells of buildings that still line sections of that artery. Now I admit it’s been 2 years since I ventured down that way, but if it’s been finally changed since then I’d be shocked.
Definition of a crummy city . . . a place where they celebrate anniversaries of a riot as the one defining moment in the city’s history.
If true what is the need for a Historical Society?
The white residents rebelled too. With moving vans.
If they were truly willing to confront the past then they would admit that the "episode" is also a national symbol of the violence and racist hatred that are endemic to black Americans.
Also, during the riots, most the black owned businesses that had a "Soul Brother" sign in their windows were spared. The other businesses (largely Jewish owned, btw) along Springfield Avenue were cleaned out within minutes in some cases.
Springfield Avenue in Irvington is another story...worse than anywhere in Newark.
[[The other businesses (largely Jewish owned, btw) along Springfield Avenue were cleaned out within minutes in some cases.]]
You mean like all of the Walmarts in New Orleans during Hurrican Katrina?
10. yeah.
Unlike Wal Mart, these guys were small businessmen, and these stores were all that they had. After the riots, they took whatever savings or insurance they had and opened businesses elsewhere, leading to the hood rats whining about "disinvestment in their communities."
For all of its faults, Newark has at least seen significant, if at times only cosmetic, improvements. This is largely thansk to Prudential and having connected pols in Trenton. Camden, Paterson, and Irvington on the other hand...
“The white residents rebelled too. With moving vans.”
Ditto for Detroit. And those moving vans contained brains, talent, good will and money too. If it wasn’t for the high cost of Detroit’s crime problems, most white people of a certain age couldn’t care less about Detroit’s fate.
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