Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Five Days in July Special
FIVE DAYS IN JULY
HOST (Nancy Giles
Hello, I'm Nancy Giles, and this is 5 Days in July. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 riots in Newark, New Jersey. Today we will hear an original radio play by Tracy Scott Wilson. Later, a distinguished panel of scholars will join us to discuss the significance of the events.
The unrest in Newark began on July 12, 1967 when musician and cabdriver John W. Smith was arrested for a minor traffic violation. Police brutality was a part of everyday life for African-Americans living in Newark's Central Ward, and Smith's mistreatment pushed many Newark residents over the edge. Listen, as we take you back to the summer of 1967?.
SCENE 1 1967 STATION IDENTIFICATION (AB)
This is WNJR 1430 on your dial. Have a safe night Newark. And now we return to the Jimmy the Jock show from Newark?s number one soul station WNJR.
SCENE 2 JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
Baby, it?s me again! Jimmy the Jock coming to you live and this ain?t no jive. We gonna rock it, sock it, and knock it all night long. So sit back and relax and let Jimmy make you shimmy. Here we go with the Queen of Soul! Yeah! You know it! Aretha with Respect.
(MUSIC: ARETHA FRANKLIN?S ?RESPECT?)
SCENE 3
(SOUND OF A HORN HONKING AND TRAFFIC. ARETHA FRANKLIN?S RESPECT IS PLAYING ON THE CAR RADIO. THEN WE HEAR A POLICE SIREN, A CAR DOOR SLAMMING, SOMEONE WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK, AND KNUCKLES RAPPING ON A CAR WINDOW)
NEWARK POLICEMAN 1 (BM)
What?s your name? Turn that music down!
MUSIC IS TURNED DOWN BUT WE STILL HEAR IT SOFTLY IN THE BACKGROUND DURING THIS SEQUENCE
NEWARK POLICEMAN 1
What?s your name boy?
JOHN W. SMITH, CAB DRI VER (CC)
What did I do?
NEWARK POLICEMAN 1
Let me see some I.D.
NEWARK POLICEMAN 2 (DWB)
John. W. Smith. How long you been driving this cab?
JOHN SMITH
Officer, what is the problem? What did I do?
POLICEMAN 1
You know what you did boy. Get out the car.
JOHN SMITH
I don?t know.
POLICEMAN 2
You popped the intersection.
SMITH
You weren?t moving. I made a normal pass around.
POLICEMAN 1
No, No, No.
POLICEMAN 2
Get out of the car boy. Now!
SOUND OF CAR DOOR OPENING THEN WE HEAR THE END OF THE SONG ?RESPECT? GRADUALLY GETTING LOUDER AS WE BLEED INTO:
SCENE 4 JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
Hey there soul brothers and sisters. You digging it? I know you are because you are with the Soul Master, the Blaster. The Brother who puts the dip in your hip and the groove in your move. Are you enjoying yourselves this July 12? It?s hot, hot, hot but don?t worry baby cause you?re with Jimmy. And Jimmy will make you shimmy.
(MUSIC: MARVIN GAYE AND TAMMI TERRELL ?YOUR PRECIOUS LOVE?)
SCENE 3 cont.
(MUSIC BLEEDS INTO THE SOUND OF THE SONG ON A CAR RADIO:)
SMITH
What?s the matter? I do it all the time.
POLICEMAN 1 (BM)
You can?t do that with me!
SMITH (CC)
I don?t care.
POLICEMAN 1
What?
POLICEMAN 2 (DWB)
What?d you say?
SMITH
Go ahead and do what you want to do. What?s the ticket for, five dollars?
POLICEMAN 2
Hey, what are you? A wise guy? You?re under arrest. Get out of the cab. You in the back. Get the hell out of the cab. Get another taxi.
(SOUND OF CAR DOOR OPENING AND SOMEONE RUNNING AWAY)
SMITH
I didn?t do anything. What are you?.?
(SOUND OF SMITH BEING HIT.)
POLICEMAN 2
You want to be a smart ass now boy huh?
(SMITH IS HIT AGAIN.)
POLICEMAN 1
You want to talk back now!
(MUSIC ON CAR RADIO AND SOUND OF BEATING BLEED INTO THE SOUND OF A CB RADIO)
SCENE 5 TAXI DISPATCHER (TL)
Cab 42 What is your location?
(NO ANSWER)
TAXI DISPATCHER
Forty-two?
(NO ANSWER)
TAXI DISPATCHER
John??John?.. Are you there?
SCENE 3 cont.
(SOUND OF POLICE SIREN BLEEDS INTO SOUND OF SMITH BEING HIT WITH POLICE CLUB. SMITH CURSES, PLEADS AND SCREAMS IN PAIN THROUGHOUT THE SEQUENCE)
POLICEMAN 1
Not such a smart ass now. Are you? Huh? Huh?
POLICEMAN 2
Don?t you let up on him!
POLICEMAN 1
Hell no! This baby is mine!
SCENE BLEEDS INTO:
SCENE 6 JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
Hey listen up brothers and sisters. The Black Power Conference is coming to Newark. Next week some smart, fine brothers and sisters will be meeting, greeting and bringing harmony in the midst of this insanity. Come to the Black Power Conference next week, the 20th to the 24th. Let?s unite and help the fight.
(MUSIC: JAMES BROWN, ?COLD SWEAT?)
(?COLD SWEAT? IS HEARD OVER THE CAR RADIO)
(THE SONG BLEEDS INTO:
SCENE 7 CABBIE ONE (MDJ)
Cab 142 here.
CABBIE TWO (AB)
Go ahead 142
CABBIE ONE
Did you hear about Smith getting nailed by the pigs?
CABBIE TWO
John?
CABBIE ONE
Yeah. Yeah. That?s him. John Smith.
CABBIE TWO
I know him.
CABBIE ONE
Did they kill him?
(SOUND OF A PHONE RINGING)
SCENE 8 BOB CURVIN (ON PHONE) (KMK)
Core. Bob Curvin here.
(IN THE BACKGROUND ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE WE HEAR THE FOLLOWING DIALOUGE:
1)?What are they doing now?? AB
2)?He?s not there now.? BD
3)?They dragged him inside.? MDJ
BOB CURVIN
Hello? Hello?
MAN ON PHONE (AB)
Yeah uh?.I live in the Hayes project.
IN BACKGROUND WE HEAR A WOMAN SAY: (BD)
?I?m going over there.?
MAN ON PHONE (TO WOMAN IN BACKGROUND)
Wait! Wait or me!
BOB CURVIN
Can I help you?
MAN ON PHONE
Yeah. Yeah. I live at the Hayes projects right across from the 4th precinct and we just saw the police beating this brother all up and down the street.
BOB CURVIN
When did this happen? What is your name?
MAN ON PHONE
Forget my name man! Y?all better come quick!
IN THE BACKGROUND: (MN)
?Come on now. I?m going.?
MAN ON PHONE (TO BACKGROUND VOICE)
All right. I?m coming.
BOB CURVIN
Hello? Hello?
SOUND OF A DIAL TONE
(SOUND OF AN AMBULANCE. THEN WE HEAR PHONES RINGING AND A VOICE OVER A HOSPITAL LOUD SPEAKER)
SCENE 9 LOUDSPEAKER (AC)
Paging Dr. Collins to Emergency. Paging Dr. Collins to Emergency.
PATIENT ONE (BOS)
Nurse! Can you help me nurse.
NURSE (BD)
Just a minute. Someone will be with you in a minute.
LOUDSPEAKER (AC)
Paging Dr. Collins to Emergency. Paging Dr. Collins to Emergency.
NURSE (BD)
Mr. Smith.
SMITH (CC)
Yeah.
NURSE
The doctor will be with you in a moment. Where does it hurt?
SMITH
All over.
NURSE
All right. All right. We have to get some X-rays.
SMITH
Can you bring me some ice or something?
NURSE
I?m taking care of it. I need to know how you got your injuries.
SMITH
Ask those police over there.
NURSE
Can?t you tell me?
SMITH
Ask them. Ask them why they beat my black ass half to death.
SCENE 10A
(SOUND OF PROTEST OUTSIDE OF POLICE STATION ?Show us Smith? ?Stop Police Brutality? ?No more Lies?. THEN SOUND OF BOB CURVIN ON THE BULLHORN.)
SCENE 10 BOB CURVIN, CORE ACTIVIST (on bull horn) (KMK)
My name is Bob Curvin from CORE. Now, I know ya?ll are mad. I?m mad too, but I want ya?ll to know.
CROWD CHANTING
Show us Smith! Show us Smith!
BOB CURVIN (on bullhorn)
Smith is all right. He has been sent to the hospital!
RESIDENT (MDJ)
He?s dead He?s dead!
BOB CURVIN (on bullhorn)
He?s not dead. Smith is not dead. Listen?. Listen to me. The police are conducting a war against us!
(CROWD CHEERS)
BOB CURVIN
They are sadists.
(CROWD CHEERS)
BOB CURVIN
We are going to protest this corruption but listen? Listen! It?s got to be peaceful so put that?Come on brothers. Put that stuff down. Put that brick down. This is going to be militant.
(CROWD CHEERS)
BOB CURVIN
But peaceful. Peaceful.
(SOME IN CROWD CHEER. SOME BOO)
BOB CURVIN
Now we gonna line up over here and?
CROWD CHANTS
Show us Smith! Show us Smith
BOB CURVIN
Smith is all right! He?s at the hospital. Now listen?
(CHANTS FROM CROWD DROWN OUT CURVIN. THEN SOUND OF GLASS BREAKING. OBJECTS BEING THROWN.)
BOB CURVIN
(On bullhorn) No! No! Now listen here. Listen here?this has got to be non-violent.
(CURVIN IS DROWNED OUT BY INCREASING ANARCHY)
BOB CURVIN
No! No! Wait! Brothers and Sisters. Listen?. Listen to me.
(POLICE ARE NOW YELLING: ?Get back? ?Look out? etc) SOUNDS OF A RIOT WHICH BLEEDS INTO:)
SCENE 11A (DWB)
STATION IDENTIFICATION
This is W-A-B-C
SCENE 11 ABC NEWS REPORTER (TL)
Jeff Martin here with the news. It is Thursday, July 13,th nine am. Bands of Negroes went through a heavily Negro neighborhood in South Newark last night and early today smashing windows and looting stores. Stones struck several policemen. Mayor Addonizio is calling the riot an ?isolated incident that has no significance as far as relating to any other problem.?
(SOUND OF A NEWS CONFERENCE. CAMERAS CLICKING ETC)
SCENE 12 STREET REPORTER (DWB)
Mayor can you comment on the frustrations some black leaders say they have with your administration?
MAYOR ADDONIZIO (BM)
I would like to point out that I have constantly met with citizens groups with individual citizens over a period of 5 years. My door has been constantly open. There isn?t one person or group in this city that can ever say that they asked to see me ? where they were refused. We have constantly followed that policy through for five years and hope to continue it in the future.
(SOUND OF HORNS HONKING AND TRAFFIC)
SCENE 13 CROWD CHANTING
Stop Police Brutality! Stop Police Brutality!
THROUGHOUT THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE WE HEAR THE CROWD CHANTING IN THE BACKGROUND. ?WHAT DO WE WANT?? BLACK POWER? WHEN DO WE WANT IT??. NOW! WHAT DO WE WANT? JUSTICE. WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!?
TIM ANDREWS(KG)
Hi?.Hi?.I?m Tim Andrews with WBAI 99.5 FM New York. Can I ask you a few questions? Are you in charge?
ACTIVIST JAMES KENNEDY (MDJ)
I guess so.
TIM ANDREWS
Do you have any thing to do with the rally that?s happening later tonight?
ACTIVIST JAMES KENNEDY
Yeah. I?m with that group.
TIM ANDREWS
What is your name?
ACTIVIST JAMES KENNEDY
James Kennedy
TIM ANDREWS
Ok. I?m ready. (Into tape recorder) Interview with James Kennedy outside of city hall. Mr. Kennedy, I understand there is to be a rally in front of the 4th precinct tonight?
ACTIVIST JAMES KENNEDY
Yes there will be a rally in front of the 4th precinct. Last night Mr. Bob Curvin spoke to the group in front of the precinct. He told them they could have a rally tonight.
TIM ANDREWS
Will it be peaceful?
ACTIVIST JAMES KENNEDY
I hope so.
TIM ANDREWS
You don?t know?
ACTIVIST JAMES KENNEDY
We plan on being peaceful, but you have to ask the police if they plan on being peaceful as well. I doubt it.
MUSIC: BABY I LOVE YOU, ARETHA FRANKLIN
SCENE 14 JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
Yes. It?s me baby. I?m back. I know you missed me. But do not fret and do not fear cause Jimmy the Jock is here to put some spice in your Thursday night. So put away those boxing gloves brothers and sisters and put on your dancing shoes. Alright? Just listen to Jimmy and relax cause Jimmy got the soul hits that will put a smile on your face and everything in its place.
(MUSIC: WILSON PICKETT, FUNKY BROADWAY BLEEDS INTO:)
SCENE 15 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
Just tell me what happened in your own words. You ever been on radio before?
VITO PONTRELLI, SMITH ARRESTING OFFICER (DWB)
No.
TIM ANDREWS
Nothing to be nervous about.
VITO PONTRELLI
I?m not nervous at all.
TIM ANDREWS
Ok. I?m going to count down then ask you what happened Ok?
VITO PONRELLI
Ok.
TIM ANDREWS
Are we ready? I?m here with Officer Vito Pontrelli. Mr. Pontrelli arrested cab driver John Smith last night. Officer can you tell us what happened? Was there police brutality?
VITO PONTRELLI
No. Absolutely not. My partner then told Smith he was under arrest, and his reaction to that was opening the cab door, hitting DeSimone in the chest. Smith punched DeSimone in the face. I got out of the car and we struggled with Smith and finally got him into the back of our patrol car. Smith and my partner were fighting almost all the way down South Tenth Street to the precinct. We did nothing wrong.
SCENE 16A
(SOUND OF DEMONSTRATORS PROTESTING ?WHERE?S PONTRELLI? ?ITS TIME TO STOP THE BEATINGS? ?THE HELL WITH POLICE CHIEF SPINA?. AN AFRO DRUM PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND. THESE SOUNDS CONTINUE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE. )
SCENE 16 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
I?m Tim Andrews reporting from the Hayes Projects on 4th street in Newark, NJ. The Hayes Projects are right across the street from the police station where a riot occurred last night destroying several stores. Right now they?re about 100 people gathered around waiting for the protest to begin. Hi?.Hi. Can I speak to you for a minute.
PROTESTOR (BOS)
Yeah. Where you from?
TIM ANDREWS
WBAI.
PROTESTOR (BOS)
I never heard of that.
PROTESTOR 2 (BD)
You know Jimmy the Jock?
TIM ANDREWS
I?ve heard of him but I don?t know him. Can I ask you some questions?
PROTESTOR (BD)
Yeah. Go ahead.
TIM ANDREWS
What are conditions like here?
NEXT WOMAN (SW)
Because where we are living now there are rats as big as cats, roaches but what else can you do if you don?t have money to live some other place.
***(IN THE DISTANCE THERE IS THE SOUND OF A MAN ON A BULLHORN.)
RESIDENT ONE (11)
Shhhh. They talking at the police station.
RESIDENT TWO (BD)
They ain?t saying nothing anyway.
BLACK MALE (KMK)
All the businesses small and large that we go in is owned by whites. And now they talking about building this hospital right up on Bergen Street. Where we supposed to go? They gonna knock down these slums and build a hospital.
(BACKGROUND SOUNDS GRADUALLY GET LOUDER)
BLACK MAN (MDJ)
Just treat a Negro like a man. It is so easy but the white man will not stand for a black man being a man. He's gotta be a boy. If they will just let a black man be a man none of this would be going down.
TIM ANDREWS
Thank you. Thank you very much.
BLACK MAN (MDJ)
Hey I?m not done?.where you going?
TIM ANDREWS
I think they are making a statement at the police station.
BLACK FEMALE (AC)
When is it gonna be on the radio? What station you from again?
TIM ANDREWS
WBAI. I have to go to the police station.
BLACK MAN (MDJ)
Stay here. They ain?t saying a damn thing, man.
SCENE 17A
RALLY IN FRONT OF POLICE STATION
SCENE 17 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER JAMES THREATT (ON BULLHORN) (MDJ)
I am James Threatt and I have a message from Mayor Addnizzio.
(LOUD BOOING FROM THE CROWD. PEOPLE CALLING THREATT AN ?UNCLE TOM? ETC)
JAMES THREATT (MDJ)
Listen?.Listen to me?.Mayor Addonizio has promised to promote Negro police officer Eddie Williams to captain by July 17th if these demonstrations will stop.
WOMAN 1 (AC)
Stop your tomming brother. Stop your tomming.
(BOOS FROM THE CROWD AND GENERAL DISSENT INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING:)
MAN 1 (KMK)
Go to hell man.
WOMAN 2 (BD)
We?re tired of this.
MAN 2 (BOS)
Get off the steps brother Join us down here! Join us!
MAN 3 (AB)
We?re going to tear this place down!
(SOME IN CROWD CHANT, ?BLACK POWER! BLACK POWER!? ?WE WANT JUSTICE? THE CHANT STEADLY GETS LOUDER AND STRONGER
JAMES THREATT
Clear the stairs!! Clear the stairs!! Why don?t you people go home?
(SOUND OF BOTTLES AND BRICKS BEING THROWN, POLICE SIRENS AND BULLETS. A RIOT)
POLICEMAN (BM)
All you black niggers go home. Go home!
SCENE 18
MUSIC: CLOSE YOUR EYES, PEACHES AND HERB
RADIO ADVERTISEMENT (DWB)
So hurry over to Adam?s Furniture today. This is a limited sale - Adam?s Furniture. 45 Market St. Newark ? Easy credit terms and up to 3 years to pay at GH Adams opened every night till 9 ?Saturday till 6. So come on in today and see one of my boys!
JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
So get on over there brothers and sisters. (Pause) On second thought maybe you should wait a day or two before venturing downtown. If you go down there now you might not get any bread just a knock in your head. You dig? Be careful brothers and sisters. Be careful.
(SOUND OF A POLICE SIREN)
SCENE 19 POLICEMAN, ON CAR RADIO (TL)
This is car 92 requesting information. When can we shoot? Over.
POLICEMAN 2, ON RADIO (BM)
This is car 36. We?ve been firing 92. Over
POLICEMAN, ON RADIO
It?s about damn time. Give them hell. Over.
(SOUND OF A PRESS CONFERENCE
SCENE 20 STREET REPORTER (TL)
Governor, do you consider this a Negro rebellion?
GOVERNOR HUGHES (BW)
This is a criminal rebellion. It?s an anarchy against the government and society in which we live. We are going to make sure society wins.
(SOUND OF GUARDSMEN MARCHING INTO NEWARK)
SCENE 21 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
This is Tim Andrews reporting for WBAI. That is the sound of the National Guard on their way into the South Ward. There are a number of residents, white residents watching. It feels like a parade.
WHITE RESIDENT 3 (TL)
Go Guard!
TIM ANDREWS
Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I talk to you? Do you think anything should be done for the Negroes?
WHITE MALE (DWB)
Yeah get better buildings and facilities and stuff like that.
SECOND WHITE MALE (BM)
That is probably why it started because they don?t think they are getting a far shake you know. They probably look for jobs and they don?t get a chance ya know. They need a chance that is what it is.
SECOND WHITE MALE
The people that I talk to say the same thing ? they need some attention that is the way it is.
WHITE RESIDENTS
Go Guard! Go kill them niggers!
(CROWD CHEERS)
TIM ANDREWS
I don?t think your neighbors feel the same way.
SOUND OF A CB RADIO
SCENE 22 DISPATCHER (TL)
Attention all cars! Attention all cars! Police officers are hereby advised to use ?all necessary means including firearms? to defend themselves.
(SOUNDS OF A NEWS CONFERENCE)
SCENE 23 GOVERNOR HUGHES (BW)
We will be entering an emergency order under our disaster and emergency law, which will forbid the movement of automobiles under certain conditions and forbid the carrying of alcoholic beverages and narcotics in automobiles. And we will try to enforce a curfew at 12 o?clock tonight.
SCENE 24A
SOUNDS OF TRAFFIC, COPS YELLING, ?MOVE ALONG,? ?GET GOING? ETC. RESIDENTS CAN ALSO BE HEARD YELLING ?LEAVE ME ALONE,? ?BLACK POWER? ETC. THESE SOUNDS ARE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND DURING THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE.
SCENE 24 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
Tim Andrews here. The National Guardsmen have arrived in the city of Newark. They are marching up and down the streets with rifles, checking ID?s of all residents. There are about five hundred national guardsmen and just as many Negroes in the street right now. Not a good situation.
I?m here with a National Guardsman. What?s your name?
NATIONAL GUARDSMAN (TL)
Bill Porter.
TIM ANDREWS
How old are you?
NATIONAL GUARDSMAN
Nineteen.
TIM ANDREWS
Is that an M-15 rifle your holding?
NATIONAL GUARDSMAN
Yes.
TIM ANDREWS
How is it going? It seems pretty chaotic.
NATIONAL GUARDSMAN
Well, we?ve had orders to keep people moving. A lot of them give us a tough time. But when you actually touch them in the throat wit the bayonet they start to move.
(SOUND OF GUNFIRE)
NATIONAL GUARDSMAN
Gunfire.
TIM ANDREWS
From the Guardsmen?
NATIONAL GUARDSMAN
I don?t know.
(SOUND OF BULLETS)
WNJR STATION IDENTIFICATION
This is WNJR 1430 on your dial. Have a safe night Newark.
(DEAD AIR THEN SOUND OF FUMBLING WITH MICROPHONE)
SCENE 25B JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
Hey there brothers and sisters. Sorry I?m late. I?ve never been late for a show in all my life. (Pause) Traffic is bad at there. (Pause) I thought Vietnam was thousands of miles away but I could swear I saw soldiers on the street pointing their guns at me. It?s a crazy situation. I almost? (Pause) Anyway, I?m not going to let it bother me, brothers and sisters cause it?s Friday night and Jimmy the Jock is here to make you rock. Let?s get started cause soon we will be parted.
(SOUNDS OF A NEWS CONFERENCE)
SCENE 26 STREET REPORTER (TL)
Governor, there are reports that people have been killed?
GOVERNOR HUGHES (BW)
Yes, these reports are continually going on. I have heard them over the telecommunication system. A Newark policeman has been shot and critically injured and may die. He is on the operating table now.
STREET REPORTER
Would you say the situation is deteriorating?
SCENE 27A WE HEAR HOSPITAL SOUNDS SIMILAR TO THE ONES WE HEARD IN EARLIER SCENE, A VOICE PAGING A DOCTOR, PHONES RINGING. WE ALSO HEAR SOMEONE CRYING SOFTLY IN THE BACKGROUND.
SCENE 27 TIM ANDREWS (Whispering) (KG)
I am in the emergency room of Newark City Hospital ? a 12-year boy, a Michael Pugh of 15th Ave of Newark, has just been brought in an ambulance. Michael has been shot in the side. The incident occurred while he was taking the garbage down. The bullet passed completely through his body and he is not expected to live.
SCENE 28 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
I?m just going to ask you a few questions about what happened
alright?
SMITH (CC)
Yeah. Alright. Go ahead.
TIM ANDREWS
OK. I?m here with John W.Smith. The cab driver whose arrest sparked the riots that have been occurring for the last two days. (To Smith) Did you refuse to get out of the patrol car at the forth precinct?
SMITH
I was in no condition to get out because he jabbed me in the groin with a stick and I don?t know how you could hit a nerve center in the dark but evidently it was a lucky shot because that was the end of the night for me.
TIM ANDREWS
You?re saying you couldn?t get out of the car even if you wanted to?
SMITH
I was in intense pain. So they start dragging me through the streets and this evidently incensed the people of the community.
TIM ANDREWS
Do you remember anything else?
SMITH
You don?t have to drag him like that,? somebody called out. I heard somebody else yell, ?At least you can carry him.? Well they carried me the rest of the way but once we got to the door they threw me in. There were at least six or eight policemen there who began hitting and kicking at me. They took me to a cell and beat on me some more until I thought it would never stop. They held my head over the toilet and one of them threw water on me from the bowl all over my head. Another one hit me on the head with a gun butt and I was also hit with a blunt instrument in the side. Finally they just left me there.
SCENE 29A
(SOUNDS OF A RALLY. CHANTS OF ?BLACK POWER?)
SCENE 29 BLACK FEMALE (BD)
?Where there are snipers in these buildings especially these high
rise buildings and other multiple buildings the police and the
military forces in the city have just been laying down barrages.
Now there might be one sniper to a building that has 1,400
families in it. These shots are going into all apartments where
people are only trying to stay out of trouble and mind their own
business ? this has to be stopped. There must be some way that
we must get to governor ? the mayor ?the president anybody else to stop this senseless thing. These people are supposed to be
trained in marksmanship if it takes 15 ? 80 people to shoot into a
building to get one sniper ? then I would say let the sniper shoot.?
(GENERAL STREET NOISES. CARS HONKING ETC)
SCENE 30 GUARD CAPTAIN (DWB)
Get in your house.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (AC)
I was in my house...
MAN #4: (TL)
Go ahead. Right now. Move.
WOMAN:
...till I came outside my house now.
MAN #4:
Go on. Move. Get in your house.
WOMAN:
Why do you people talk like that? I'm not doing anything.
MAN #4:
Just go on. There's been people killed here today.
WOMAN:
Yeah, but I mean, I'm not doing anything.
MAN #4:
Get in your house.
WOMAN:
You talk like I?m your dog?Like you talking to your dog that's in chains
SCENE 31A
(SOUNDS OF AN ALL OUT WAR ? SOLDIERS SHOUTING ORDERS ?KELLY LOGAN TAKE COVER? LOOK OUT? ?WE NEED MORE BACK UP?. BULLETS BEING FIRED, GUNS RELOADING, SOLDIER?S MARCHING, SCREAMING AND YELLING ?LEAVE US ALONE? ?GO HOME GUARD!?)
SCENE 33 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
Sporadic gunfire has broken out immediately across the street from the hospital. I am now following three Newark City policemen into the area where the shooting occurred.
(SOUND OF BULLETS AND YELLING)
TIM ANDREWS
It?s like a war zone.
SOUNDS OF A NEWS CONFERENCE
SCENE 32 GOVERNOR (BW)
I point out that these police and National Guard have no orders to shoot to kill. And they have no instructions not to defend themselves.
STREET REPORTER (TL)
You mean they could shoot - it seems contradictory?
GOVERNOR
They are expected to defend themselves but they have no orders to shoot to kill....
(WOMEN AND CHILDREN SCREAMING)
SCENE 33 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
I?m in the Hayes Housing building where a shooting has just occurred.
RICHARD SPELLMAN (KMK)
Ambulance! Ambulance! We need some help here!
TIM ANDREWS
A woman has been shot. She?s bleeding out her neck. There are children here. It?s chaos.
POLICEMAN #4 (BM)
Clear this area here! Clear this area here! All you black niggers get upstairs.?
(SOUND OF BULLETS AND GLASS BREAKING)
POLICMAN #5 (DWB)
Hold your fire! Hold your fire!
SPELLMAN GIRL (AC)
Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!
ELOISE SPELLMAN (SW)
I?m gonna die. I?m gonna die.
RICHARD SPELLMAN
Call an ambulance!
(SOUND OF BULLETS)
SPELLMAN GIRL
Make them stop! Mommy!
TIM ANDREWS
The police have hung a white sheet out the window
POLICEMAN
Get away from the window! (on walkie-talkie) National Guard, hold your fire!
NO ANSWER
POLICEMAN
Do you copy? State police, hold your fire!
NO ANSWER
POLICEMAN
Does anybody copy?
SOUNDS OF BULLETS AND GLASS BREAKING
RICHARD SPELLMAN
Call an ambulance for my mother!
POLICEMAN
Boy get away from that window!
RICHARD SPELLLMAN
She?s dying!
SOUNDTRACK: YOU?RE MY EVERYTHING BY THE TEMPTATIONS
SCENE 34 JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
It?s Jimmy the Jock on a Saturday night. A night for love right? So let?s love. L-O-V-E. Repeat after me. Peace. Love. Truth. Peace. Love. Truth. Just stop whatever you?re doing. Say it with me please. Peace. Love. Truth. That?s all we need.
YOU?RE MY EVERYTHING BLEEDS INTO:
SOUND OF MUTED VOICE ON A WALKIE TALKIE. SPORADIC GUNFIRE
SCENE 33B POLICEMAN (DWB)
Do you copy? You?re shooting at each other! National guardsmen, you?re shooting at buildings and sparks fly so we think there are snipers! Be sure of your targets. Hold your fire ? hold your fire.
(BULLETS STOP. SOUND OF CHILDREN CRYING)
RICHARD SPELLMAN (KMK)
Call an ambulance for my mother.
POLICEMAN
What was she doing in front of the window anyway?
RICHARD SPELLMAN
She was trying to get ya?ll to stop shooting at us!
ONE OF THE CHILDREN SCREAM.
MALE CHILD (BOS)
She?s dead. She?s dead.
TIM ANDREWS
Oh God.
SOUND OF A SCUFFLE.
POLICEMAN
Hey there! Hey there! Stop it! Stop it!
TIM ANDREWS
You?re not going to arrest him?
POLICEMAN
He swung at me!
TIM ANDREWS
His mother is dead.
POLICEMAN
Calm down son. Just calm down.
TIM ANDREWS
How many brothers and sisters do you have?
POLICEMAN
You kids have got to stay away from that window. Do you want to end up like your mother?
RICHARD SPELLMAN
Eleven. It?s eleven of us.
SCENE 35 NEWSREEL (TAPE)
Sniper fire from open windows kills two policemen, a fire captain shot in the back while answering a false alarm and several bystanders. Because of wide spread looting eight emergency food centers are set up to supply milk, bread and cereal to besieged and terrorized
residents.
SOUND OF THUNDER STORM
SCENE 36 TIM ANDREWS (KG)
It?s Sunday morning. It poured all last night. Looks like it?s really going to open up soon. There?s nobody really out.
STORM SOUNDS GET LOUDER, RAIN COMES DOWN HARDER WHICH BLEEDS INTO:
SOUNDS OF A PRESS CONFERENCE.
SCENE 37 GOVERNOR HUGHES (BW)
I am ordering the withdrawal of the National Guard because the rioting and looting in Newark had all but ended and the sniping is so sporadic that it is almost non-existent. Soon, electricity will be restored, garbage removed, roads cleaned, mail delivered, businesses opened, public transportation put back on a normal schedule, and so on. People will feel safe to walk the streets again.
STREET REPORTER (TL)
Governor, do you really believe the riots are over?
GOVERNOR
Yes, I do. The primary mission to restore law and order has been accomplished.
(MUSIC: TEMPTATIONS, ?I WISH IT WOULD RAIN?)
SCENE 38A JIMMY THE JOCK (DG)
I?ve never been so happy to see the rain. I usually like the rain because it?s romantic but on today, this Sunday it means an end to this madness. The madness of a thousand Negroes in jail. God knows how many dead. Hospitalized. And these National Guardsman invading our streets treating all Negroes like criminals. This injustice has been going on for a long time brothers and sisters. This fight ain?t over. What? What? Ah, my boss doesn?t like what I?m saying. I don?t give a damn. I?m speaking the truth though brothers and sisters. Peace, Love, and Truth. Peace, Love and Truth. Peace, Love?..
(THE SOUND GOES DEAD)
SCENE 38B RADIO ADVERTISEMENT (DWB)
So hurry over to Adam?s Furniture today. This is a limited sale - Adam?s Furniture. 45 Market St. Newark ? Easy credit terms and up to 3 years to pay at GH Adams open every night till 9 ?Sat. till 6. Come in today and see one of my boys!
SOUND OF A NEWS CONFERENCE
SCENE 39 STREET REPORTER (TL)
Mayor Addonizio what is your assessment of the situation now?
MAYOR ADDONIZIO (BM)
It is all gone. The whole town is gone. It?s all over.
SOUND OF TRAFFIC. PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET.
SCENE 40 MAN ON BULLHORN (TL)
Line up to the right to get your food. If you cut ahead in the food line you will be forced to go to the back of the line. Line up in an orderly fashion.
SCENE 41 JOHN SMITH (CC)
I?m just a cab driver. I didn?t start a riot. I was just a victim of circumstances. It could have happened to anybody.
You want a justification, something to explain what happened. There is no justification. I may have assisted the police in jumping to a hasty conclusion, that?s all. People here do not communicate at all with the community. In a way, I was proud of them that they wanted to protest gross injustice, but at the same time I was sad they were getting hurt. Nothing good could come from it. It?s something to have unarmed people getting shot down like that and when you are a direct part of it the influences are much more dynamic. It was like a bad dream: I was lying in a cell and outside people were getting shot and city was exploding.
SCENE B HOST (NG)
Five days of rioting left 26 dead, 24 of whom were African American. Police or National Guardsmen shot approximately eighteen of the 26 people killed during the riots. No Newark police state troopers or National Guard were ever indicted. In 1970 Mayor Hugh Addonizio was convicted of extortion. Governor Hughes served as the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979. On April 1st 1968 John Smith was found guilty of assaulting one of his arresting officers. An all white jury sentenced him to two years in jail. The conviction was repealed four years later.
Credits at end of Radio Drama
You have been listening to 5 Days in July, written by playwright Tracy Scott Wilson, directed by Chuck Schultz, and produced by Esther Podemski. We'll be back in a minute to hear scholars discuss the longstanding effects of the riots on Newark, and our nation. But first we'd like to credit our cast and crew: Our actors included Arnold Baker, David Wilson Barnes, Alia Chapman, Chad L. Coleman, Bernadette Dreighton, Kevin Geer, Dion Graham, Marc Daman Johnson, Tom Lyons, Kevin Michael Kennedy, Bruce McViddy, Brandon O'Neill Scott, Sharon Washington and William Wise?.
A very special thanks to Executive Editor Marty Goldensohn, sound mixers Lisa M. Gray and David Rapkin, sound editor John Kalish, dramaturgy- Charles Potter and recording engineer Conrad Sangrinetti.
Stay tuned, we'll be right back
Panel Discussion Transcript
[30:00] Hi this is NANCY GILES: What were the underlying causes of the Newark riots of 1967? How did they effect Newark and the nation? With 40 years of perspective what have we learned?
NG: Joining us: Eddie S. Glaude Jr. He?s a Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University.
EG: It?s a pleasure to be here.
NG: Thank you. Dr. Max Herman is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University-Newark.
MAX HERMAN: Good morning.
NG: Good morning. And Thomas J. Sugrue, professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
THOMAS J. SUGRUE: It?s great being here.
NG: Thanks. Now?
NG: Alright, gentleman, how did the radio drama that you just heard, um, evoke the African-American experience at the time? do you feel like it really captured what was going on, and you wanna talk a little bit about the issues that caused the riot?
Eddie Glaude
30:50 EG: What?s interesting about this is that we hear in the radio a drama- a dramatic representation of the event- the circulation of perceptions: how the- how these particular folk were perceived by those very people who were policing.
Max Herman
[31:02] MH: Many of the problems that African-Americans faced in-in Newark were addressed or touched on, especially the issue of police-community relations. Newark had a notorious history of, ah, police brutality against young African-American men. prior to the arrest and- of John Smith, there had been several high-profile incidents where young black men had been arrested, detained and beaten by the police. Lester Long in 1965 comes to mind.
[31:30] EG Part of what we see with Newark, of course, is the impact of post-war suburban migration. We begin to see the white flight to the suburbs.
NG: Right, it was a predominantly white town.
EG: [over Nancy] Oh, absolutely. 1940, 80% of the urban population in Newark was white.
NG: Italian?
EG: Mixed.
EG: But by 1967 the majority of the population of Newark was actually African-American. At the same time we see that Newark is experiencing a kind of process of de-industrialization. We see the departure of General Electric; we know that the tanneries that polluted the Passaic River, ah, is disappearing; the brewing industry is leaving. So we see, ah, all of these, ah, shall we say, structural realities impacting how one experiences Newark as an urban space. At the same time, we know that, ah, 38% of black men between the ages of 16 and 19 were unemployed at the time. And so there are-there?s this confluence, not only with regards to de-industrialization, not only with regards to these demographic shifts as a result of migration out and migration in, we also see the impact of policing of communities, we also see the effects of-of urban renewal, quote- unquote, ah, on these particular communities. And so it was just simply a powder keg ready to explode.
EG: And so we see that, there is a sense in which the police don?t understand themselves as being in the role of protecting this particular group of citizens. In fact they see them as animals, they see them as criminals, they see them as those who actually jeopardize the stability of the country.
[33:00] CUT TO drama.- Scene 30 ?Dog in chains?
SCENE 30 GUARD CAPTAIN (DWB)
Get in your house.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (AC)
I was in my house...
MAN #4: (TL)
Go ahead. Right now. Move.
WOMAN:
...till I came outside my house now.
MAN #4:
Go on. Move. Get in your house.
WOMAN:
Why do you people talk like that? I'm not doing anything.
MAN #4:
Just go on. There's been people killed here today.
WOMAN:
Yeah, but I mean, I'm not doing anything.
MAN #4:
Get in your house.
WOMAN:
You talk like I?m your dog?Like you talking to your dog that's in chains
33:33 MH: ? Black people didn?t have political power in the city, they didn?t have political representation in the city. And this was, in addition to the police-community relations. You had the appointment of, um, James Callaghan to the Newark School Board. He was a guy with a high school degree who was chosen over a fellow, Wilbur Parker, who had a CPA- one of the first CP- black CPA?s in the state of New Jersey.
NG: Can we talk a little bit more about Newark in the context of what was going on in the country in the summer of ?67?
[33:58] Thomas Sugrue
TS: Survey research in the mid 1960?s showed that African-Americans distrusted local government the most. Many looked to the federal government, especially in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Legislation of ?64 and ?65, as an ally.
Local government, which was often disproportionately white in cities that were gaining black populations seemed to be distant, removed, and hostile to the interests of the African-American population. And that distrust played out on the streets. You know, folks will respond, you could say, to the political failures of municipal governments by turning to forms of protest including demonstrations and rioting.
EG: And we have to place it within the broader context of Black Power.
NG: Right.
EG: We know that by 1965, 1966 there?s a discourse, there?s a cry for Black Power. We know October of 1966 in California the Black Panther party is formed.
NG: Well even right before that in February of ?65 Malcolm X is assassinated.
EG: Absolutely, and 1965, of course, is the- is the year of the-of the Watts rebellion. And so there is this kind of shift in the very tone, in the very style, in the very ways in which African-Americans are engaging in struggle. And so we begin to hear languages of self-determination, languages of black love, languages of, around- or talk about Black Power in the sense of black political empowerment. So when you join this kind of ideological shift on the landscape with the kind of political realities that lead, that-that reflect the kind of fundamental mistrust of local government- the reality of being disenfranchised in ones local spaces? How Black Power then seeks to mobilize constituencies in order to seek power, in order to what, ah, shall we say to pursue the interest of communities within which one finds oneself. This becomes the kind of, ah, equation for the very interesting place that Newark becomes, because I like to think of Newark as a Black Power city- and so it has everything to do with those, the Newark riots in ?67, the ascendance of Ken Gibson- behind Gibson, of course is Newark, and Leroi Jones who would later become Amiri Baraka. Then we begin to see a black political class emerging with an interesting ideology that doesn?t get broken until Corey Booker?s election.
[36:02] TS In 19- in-in the midst of the riots in the late 1960?s, Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, who were some of the great theorists of Black Power, ah, Jimmy Boggs said, ?this city is the black man?s land.? And so much of what was happening in the riots in Newark and elsewhere was African-Americans claiming turf, saying, ?this is our territory, we should determine our own fate and our own future, and not have it imposed on us by these outside forces,? whether it be the police or whether it be a white city councilor or a white city government.
NG Gentleman, um, we?re talking about the riots and-and I wanna throw this question first to you, Eddie Glaude: are riots ever successful, or do you think they just end up marginalizing the affected communities?
EG: Right, it all depends on what we?re claiming as success?
NG: Okay.
EG: Because, in some ways when we think about the kind of convergence of forces that lead to, ah, shall we say, urban rebellion, um, those forces are reflective of a condition of living on the part of many people who happen to be voiceless. And oftentimes these forces emerge, or erupt, in the way that they do, not in any directed fashion- right- and so in some ways riots or rebellions are the expression of those who oftentimes are voiceless and then folks swoop in to try to give it direction.
One of the interesting things that we know about, ah, this period of rioting, um, is that it did, for a while, bring urban policy on to the scene. It became a crucial feature of presidential politics, a crucial feature of American politics generally. And when we see what happens when folk who are poor, who are locked out, who are black and brown, and on the margins, and are locked out and not on our radar screen, it takes a natural disaster like Katrina to wash them up and bring them into, into- on to the radar screen again.
[ 37:48] TS: I'd say one of the most striking differences between 1967- the longest of the long, hot summers, there were more than 160 of these riots and rebellions around the country in that summer, including Newark. The biggest difference is for the past 30 or 40 years we've just had a handful of such riots and rebellions. Why? Because there was a sense of the possibility of change in 1967. People believed that taking it to the streets, ah, would, ah, transform the political system of the United States, ah, or the political system of Newark in ways that reflected an optimism that's now, um, gone and buried in large segments of the African-American community, and large segments of white America for that matter. And so it may seem perverse to think about the riots as expressions of a kind of hopefulness in the possibility of change, but they were coming at a moment when people really did believe, even if the thought process wasn't fully formulated in the heads of a lot of rioters, that taking it to the streets could have an effect; you could change the status quo and you could change it by turning the system on its head and forcing a rupture.
[38:48] MH Eddie said earlier is that, you know, he likes to see the cities as the Black Power cities, but there are a lot of white folks out there who resent that terminology, and have this sort of mythologized sense of what the city was like- the 'good ol' days' prior to these political changes and they would strongly resist this notion of the cities- and even the concept of calling it a 'rebellion' raises the hackles among a lot of the white people that have this vision of the city prior to '67.
[39:19] NG: Tom Sugrue, I'm wondering- I mean, how can the city be perceived without marginalizing the African-American community and romanticizing the all-whiteness of the good ol' days? I mean, what- through these rebellions was there a sense of maybe two different sides working together?
TS Ah, there wasn't that much of a 'two different sides working together,' there was polarization in the aftermath. But, I think there are ambiguous outcomes: on one hand- ah, in the aftermath of the riots, public officials and corporate leaders bought what, at the time, was called, 'riot-insurance,' that is, they tried to incorporate African-Americans into the system in a way that would diffuse the discontent. And that led to some concrete gains- the number of black public employees in cities all over the country, um, skyrockets in the aftermath of the uprisings, because they realize there- there are costs to the systematic exclusion of African-Americans from the political and economic system. The flip side, however, is that there is a dramatic ramping up of the polarized
politics of law and order, [EG: absolutely] and it's one that comes down very heavily on urban African-Americans, especially young black men. So the 1970's in the decade after the riots witnesses a significant and a steady increase in the number of African-American men who are incarcerated. The rise of the carceral state, the prison-industrial complex is one of the unintended consequences of the climate of discontent and rebellion in the 1960's.
[40:38] NG: So, 40 years later do you think that John W. Smith would be dragged from a cab and beaten and put in jail the same way that he did that was maybe the spark to initiate the Newark riots.
EG: I think it all depends on where the cab is stopped.
NG: Interesting?
EG: If the cab is stopped downtown Newark- maybe not.
NG: But would it start a riot, is what I'm wondering?
EG: I mean, it all depends, it might not start a riot, but it would certainly start the traditional racial theater of American politics. So you think about the young man who was recently stopped and shot on, on his, you know, on his wedding-night, on the eve of his wedding night.
NG: That's in Queens, New York.
EG: And we think about what followed- what followed were a series of protests, what followed were a series of very heated public exchanges- the traditional racial theater.
NG: And, just so that it's clear, one of the officers that was- that was a shooter was an African-American officer.
EG: That's right, so, I mean, and it's become clear over the course, since the 60's that once they go into the police office- police precincts- they start bleeding blue.
EG: Whether or not that treatment would then result in a kind of massive demonstration, I'm not sure today, precisely because of the kinds of class cleavages that Tom Sugrue just laid out.
[41:38] NG: So now blacks are getting a little bit more involved in the political concerns of their communities, so once that happened and they gained access into the political sphere after the riots- it seems that they had many of the same problems as the white political machine.
Eddie Glaude
EG: One of the ironies of African-American political classes taking over urban spaces is that they take over at the very time in which these spaces are deteriorating- when their tax-bases are just simply being deracinated, and in interesting sorts of ways. So it's really- we always seem to come in one step late, and the very moment at which we take over cities- cities are in dire straits, and the federal government is turning its attention away from them.
[talking over each other] MH: ?there's a cookie jar and there's no cookies left in it?
NG: ?So the rebuilding process is, like, immense.
TS: Some observers have called it 'the hollow prize,' that is, African-Americans assume the control of municipal government at a time when federal spending for cities is starting to plummet, ah, at a time when the process of de-industrialization- the flight of capital and business out of cities has been going on now for 25-30 years, at the same time that white suburbanization is continuing apace. So essentially you take cities, you drain them of their capital, you drain them of- of a sizeable segment of the population that's
contributing to the property-tax base [NG: ay ay ay] and you take federal government away, and then you say, 'it's your problem now.'
NG: Good luck?
EG: And then, what's interesting too, this is- remember now, 1973 marks the end of the American century. Right? That is to say, this- this idea that American productivity- that prosperity will last for a hundred years- that we will continuously see a growth of the economy- shuts down.
NG: That's right in '73?
TS: That's right.
[21:03] EG: Everything collapses, right? So we have the oil embargo [NG: That's right.] We begin to see high rates of inflation, stagna-, stagfla-, stagflation, all this stuff starts taking place, right? And so at this moment we see economic realities: the nation has a cold. And whenever the nation has a cold, black America has the flu.
TS: Or pneumonia?
NG & EG: Or pneumonia.
EG: And so what happens: we're coming in, taking over cities, whether it's- whether it's Ken Gibson, whether it's Wilson Good, whether it's-
TS: -Coleman Young
NG & EG: Coleman Young.
EG: They're taking over cities that are literally, literally dying?
It just seems to me that we have to see the kind of implosion of coalitions that brought Ken Gibson into office.
NG: Can you explain that a little?
[43:56] EG: And what I mean by that? Komozi Woodard has written a wonderful book, "A Nation Within A Nation," which is a study of Amiri Baraka's role in Newark politics. And what's interesting about this is that we see that there is an interesting coalition behind Ken Gibson, ah, that has a broad ideological range, but at its center is a certain conception of black politics that's tied to a particular understanding of Black Power, right? And so part of what we see, right, is Ken Gibson getting in office and there's certain expectations placed upon him. [NG: ?To tote the party line.] From his- from
these factions? And when Gibson makes certain political choices it- in City Hall- political choices that are viewed by some as sell-out, the coalition breaks and then we see all sorts of things going on. What we see very clearly, Sister Nancy, is that black folk is just like everybody else. Giv'em some power-they act funny. They start acting like folk with power. It's complicated but we have to wrap our minds around it.
NG: Would any of the white people in the room like to comment on that?
[44:53] TS: I agree with you. I think class politics become increasingly important because the inequality that is remaking America into a more unequal place in the last third of the 20th century, is one that's playing out among African-Americans, and it's playing out in cities like Newark. So what we see over that 30 plus years after the riot of 1967 the emergence of an increasingly vocal and powerful African-American middle-class, many of whom are working in the public sector or in publicly funded sectors of the economy, um, and have certain interests there at stake, ah, in the political system. You've got a growing segment of the population that's marginalized from the political process altogether. They're where they were prior to 1967 in lots of ways: they're disaffected with what they see as out-of-touch folks who don't really understand what's happening in the streets, many of police-community relation issues that were, alive and important in 1967 change their color but they don't go away. Tension between, especially poor and working-class African-American men and an increasingly multi-cultural police force are still alive and real.
NG Okay back to Newark these days: we've got Corey Booker as Mayor, ah, he's got some pretty formidable challenges in the wake of Sharpe James and what he's dealing with right now- there's crime problems, there's killings? I mean, we all want Newark to be a successful city.
EG: Well, part of what I think, Mayor Booker has to do is to dare to be innovative and creative and imaginative in public. And that is to say, to step outside of the traditional ways in which Newark politics is taking place. And when I say the traditional ways, I'm thinking about not only Sharpe James, but I'm thinking about other- the very ways in which politics takes shape in this city. Ah, we know that there're not only problems with crime, there's problems with regards to employment, there are problems- serious problems- with regards to education. We know about the housing crunch, we know about the private sector and its challenges, we just recently, not too long ago, saw a piece in The
EG New York Times about people thinking about Newark as a place to live, given the soaring rents and cost of living in New York City. [NG: That's right] So we know there are possibilities, with that we also know that there's- that there're challenges. What I like to think of is Corey Booker as a post-soul politician.
[47:02] NG: Post-soul? meaning?
[21:14] EG: A post-soul politician. And what do I mean by that? What I mean by that- I'm talking about a generation of African American leaders who're going to emerge, who have no biographical experience with Jim Crow, who have had access to mainstream American society in ways that black America's never seen before. I mean, the fact that Corey's a Yale-trained lawyer, the fact that Corey has all of these connections to Wall Street, the fact that Corey decided to move into the more economically challenged areas of Newark gives- makes him a peculiar bird? He sounds differently, he walks differently, and so part of what we need to do is to kind of understand that these voices coming out from this generation of leaders, these folk will look and sound differently, they won't sound like those who were shaped in the context of the 60's. I like to think of the 60's generation as the greatest generation America's ever produced. I do know that the greatest challenge my generation faces, and I say this with Corey Booker in mind, is that we have the 60's to deal with. They didn't. We have to deal with the symbolic significance, the shadow of trying to imagine struggle- imagine politics in the aftermath of this extraordinary explosion of, of civic energy.
[48:10] TS: Yeah, I think what we're seeing among the younger generation of black politicians like Booker are a return to a form of coalition politics that was really important in key moments in the black struggle for racial equality in the North. It's forming those unlikely coalitions: building bridges between community organizations, state and region-wide, and nation-wide organizations, that made possible the kinds of larger scale structural reforms to improve the quality of life for African-Americans. And those kind of coalitions were harder to build for a generation after 1967, and they're easier to build on the part of people like Booker because they're not encumbered with all of the memories and all the experiences of 1967.
[48:50] MH: And those coalitions are necessary.you cannot be a mayor of a city like Newark today without building those kinds of coalitions.
[49:00} Stay tune we will be right back
[49:30] NG Joining us: Eddie S. Glaude Jr., the author of "Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America." Max Herman, the author of "Fighting in the Streets: Ethnic Succession and Urban Unrest in 20th Century America." Thomas J. Sugrue, author of "The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit."
NG: Well, gentlemen, you've been very polite, you've listened to my agenda and my questions, and now I just wanna, before we say goodbye, I wanna open it up to you: anything that you'd like to add about the Newark Riots, about Newark from '67 to 2007, Newark today? Anyone? Let's start with Max Herman.
MH: I wanted to say that the main challenge that Corey Booker - faces today, and I think any mayor of Newark- is to transcend machine politics. I think with the growing Latino population, they need to be incorporated into the city, into a coalition. I think the traditional machine politics of one group dominating at one point in time and another group displacing them from power is, at the essence, is part of the problem, and that he needs to transcend that in the long term. The other thing is, we're also talking about class, that there are middle class people moving back into the city and we have this real, legitimate issue about the future of the city. When you bring the middle-class back, things are going to change, and there are deep and abiding concerns that some people ? the poor people ? will be displaced from the city. The people who stuck it out for the 40 years after '67 are now worried that they are going to be booted out of their own city. And I think that's a legitimate concern. T Mayor has to strike a balance, not just in terms of racial politics, but in terms of class politics between those middle class people that are coming in and those working class people that have struggled over the years to keep the city alive.
NG: Tom Sugrue?
[51:33] TS Newark and the other uprisings of 1967, of those long hot summers, was an expression of a real battle for the soul of America. It was, ah, a result of a failure of institutions, um, from city government on up, from the economy to provide opportunities- equal opportunities for African-Americans, it was a moment of real hope, a possibility of change, ah, but at the same time a recognition that change was not going to come just by people acting out of good will, it would have to be forced, and you could see the people who took to the streets of Newark in 1967 as attempting with unanticipated consequences, with not a clear vision of what they wanted to create, but attempting to force change on a society that was only moving very, very gradually toward the inclusion of African-Americans.
NG: Eddie Glaude, Jr. you wanna bring it home?
[52:35] EG: There's a striking moment in the radio drama that framed, that began our discussion and it's the 5th day, the rain is falling heavily and the mayor declares that it's done. The city is done.
Insert SCENE 41 ? It gone the whole city is gone. It over
SCENE 39 STREET REPORTER (TL)
Mayor Addonizio what is your assessment of the situation now?
MAYOR ADDONIZIO (BM)
It is all gone. The whole town is gone. It?s all over.
EG The riots of 1967, marked, in some significant way, this low point, even though it had all of this extraordinary possibility, as it tried to push the country to accept African-Americans, particularly Newark ? Newarkers. There's a sense that the 1967 riots in Newark sealed this city's fate, and it's been living in the shadow of '67 ever since. But what we wanna say is that Newarkers have been resilient and that they are opening up the future for possibility: with the election of Corey Booker- that's not to say that Corey Booker is a savior, he's definitely not that, we need to hold him accountable and responsible- but what we see, since '67, is that Newark is a city that has all the potential in the world. And if Newarkers decide, and when they decide, and as they have decided, to assume the reigns of their city, Newark will rise, rise and continue to rise. So, I only think that this is going to be an extraordinary place, I can't wait to see Newark 10 years from now.
NG: That's wonderful. It's an honor to speak to you 3. Once again, Eddie Glaude, Jr., Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University. Glaude's new book is "In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America." Dr. Max Herman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University-Newark. He is currently working on a second book entitled, "Summer of Rage: Newark, Detroit and the Summer of '67." And Thomas J. Sugrue, Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. He has just finished "Sweet Land of Liberty: The Unfinished Struggle for Racial Equality in the North?.
Gentlemen, this is fascinating conversation. Thank you so much.
EG: Thank you for having us.
Quite welcome. Thank you.
NG : A final note on the 40th anniversary of the Newark riots ... from Rutgers Historian Clement Price.
He reminds us that while the decline of some cities & towns was hastened by the violent summer of 1967, the "perfect storm" had been gathering."
Insert Price?s Commentary
2:30
5 Days In July was supported by:
A Grant from David and Cathy Holmes
The New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations in this radio program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
This radio program is part of a larger traveling installation project to be premiered at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art in Newark.
Special thanks to Aljira?s Director, Victor Davson.
We are also grateful to
Consultant Kevin Mumford author of Race, Rights and Riots in Newark: A New Political History
Judy Mauer & Mary Ruth Tomasiewicz from Phantom Audio
Charles Morrow Productions
Matt Brown
Michael Cumpsty
John Diaz
Bernard Drayton
Ed Fogarty
Jerry La Rosa
Christine Vogel
Actors: Richarda Abrams
Duane Boutte
Kim Brockington
Carl Coffield
Michael Early
Charlie Kevin
& Tom Schall
If you would like to learn more about the program or how to obtain a copy please email us @ 5daysinjulyradio@gmail.com
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