EMERGENCY RALLY TODAY IN SUPPORT
NEWARK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS OCCUPYING THE BD OF ED!
On Wednesday, May 21st, there will be an emergency rally in support of the student occupation at the Newark Boar d of Education.
The rally will take place at 5pm at 2 Cedar Street, Newark…
The Newark Student Council surprised the Board of Education at their meeting when they staged a sit-in at the meeting and announced that they were going to occupy the building to protest the anti-democratic One Newark Plan of Superintendent Cami Anderson that accelerates school closures and replacing them with charters.
A range of community leaders assembled outside the building last night once their occupation commenced.
Mayor-elect Ras Baraka, joined by Councilpersons Mildred Crump and later Ron Rice Jr., went in the building last evening expressing their solidarity with the students.
The Newark AntiViolence Coalition was launched in the Summer of 2009 to protest the deadly epidemic of gun violence and to also protest both governmental and community indifference to this dangerous and pressing issue. Conceptualized and initiated by Councilman Ras Baraka, it began with the senseless slaying Nakeisha Allen in broad daylight on July 20th 2009! It would initiate sustained protests that continued for a historic 155 straight weeks! The NAVC is credited with being a critical reason why former police chief Garry McCarthy left the city for a similar post in Chicago. The NAVC’s direct action strategy has inspired similar protests and formations in other cities similarly plagued with gun violence like the Trenton AntiViolence Coalition in the state’s capital.
The NAVC has also updated its demands to address the schools crisis!
They now are as follows:
1. Cami Anderson must go! School czar Anderson has done nothing but polarize the city over our children’s schools. Never has she sought community input or a consensus for any of her polarizing policies. She should be terminated immediately.
2. We want the return of local community control over the Newark schools!. The state has has taken over our schools for over a decade and the issues and problems facing the schools have arguably gotten worse. It makes us question whether the takeover was orchestrated to deliberately run the schools down.
3.We want gun violence declared a public health emergency! This is still our most central demand! Just last year, Governor Christie has issued a public health emergency surrounding gun violence. So far, it is only proving to be a ‘paper’ declaration. We believe that if this was genuinely undertaken, uniting all public health and service sectors related to the issue, it would not only provide key resource and program support to address the gun violence plague. It would also be essential in the turnaround of our schools. Our schools are the central institutional place to implement the public health strategy!
4.We want the immediate implementation of the Amistad Act in our schools curriculum! This original demand has been well received by the Newark Advisory Board. The problem is that it is only an advisory. Only the state superintendent has the authority to implement such a policy.
5. We want the immediate enforcement of all existing ordinances that call for Newark residents getting their fair share of jobs coming into this city! Economic violence is a key engine driving social violence. Large companies of all kinds are getting richer and richer off of the economic infrastructure of this city without being made to give anything back to the people of this city. Meanwhile, the city is becoming poorer in terms of residential income by the day. A committee overseeing all development projects and contracts should be put in place to monitor and enforce all ordinances composed to insure that Newark residents are getting their proper share of good jobs generated by this economic activity…
For more information on the NAVC, call 908 605-NAVC or email at navc@googlegroups.com...
SOURCE: zayid muhammad abazayid@yahoo.com
https://theblacklist.net/
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