Many Newark, N.J., residents have wondered if the city remembers the 1967 riots, which claimed 26 lives and sparked decades of economic decline for the once-vibrant metropolis. Now after 40 years, as its fortunes begin to ascend, Newark will show it has not forgotten.
A New Jersey Historical Society exhibit, scheduled for completion next summer, will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Newark riots, which marked a period of racial turmoil in the nation's impoverished urban communities. The exhibit, which will feature oral histories, text and artifacts, also will examine the violence that erupted in Detroit and Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, which drew national attention to the lacking economic opportunity in poor black communities, reports USA Today.
The exhibit, which will draw parallels between the 1960s riots, will stay in Newark for nearly a year before moving to Los Angeles and Detroit. At a time when the nation is increasingly becoming stratified by income, and programs geared to increase opportunity for people of color are being challenged nationwide, it is ever more important to remember these riots and the inequities that caused them.
Now Newark is reversing the downward trend, buttressed by cultural attraction, business growth and the recent election of Mayor Cory Booker, who brings new promise to the city once swathed in political corruption.
Booker recently moved to the top floor of a three-family house in the South Ward of Newark after learning that his eight-year home in the city's high-rise projects was to be razed. Brick Towers, which the Newark Housing Authority bought for a dollar in 2002, will be converted into townhouse-style developments, according to The New York Times.
"I want to live in a place where I can leverage myself in the best possible way, where I can be part of the struggle for deeper justice in an urban community," Booker told the Times.
Read DiversityInc magazine's regular Newark column for the latest on the city and Mayor Cory Booker's agenda for change.
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