by Ken Walker
NJ Voices Publishes Newark Op-Eds
August 9, 2007
NJ Voices, a new blog project at the Newark Star Ledger, has published a series of opinion/editorial articles from Newarkers and Ledger columnists about Saturday’s shooting of four college students. A number of people including Rutgers-Newark professor and historian Clement Price, columnist Tom Moran and yours truly contributed to this morning’s blog entries:
- Clement Price, Rutgers-Newark professor and Newark historian: Newark’s nadir.
Such is a sign of civic maturity that now enables the city’s residents, and others who care for Newark, to deeply grieve the deaths of three youngsters in Vailsburg. That collective grief, not unlike the city’s collective commemoration of 1967, marks a significant turning point for Newark’s civic life and what its residents will increasingly expect from themselves and their young neighbors.
- Ryan Haygood, attorney and South Ward community leader: A call to action.
…The truth of the matter is that looking only to external factors, those things outside of us, causes us to lose sight of the solutions to the problems that soil our moral and social fabric.
Some of those solutions are inside of us.
- Bob Braun, Star Ledger columnist: Three deaths in Newark.
We think an arts center and a stadium and a Starbucks or two represent a Renaissance, when what is really needed are jobs, health care, and housing.
- Tom Moran, Star Ledger columnist: For a desperate city, a defining moment.
Newarkers are going to have to come up large in another way, too. They have to tell police what they see and hear, and take the risk of testifying at trial — both major problems in fighting violent crime.
- Carl Golden, former press secretary for Governor Kean and Republican consultant: The challenge for Booker.
It will be necessary for Booker to reach deeper into the well of his commitment and dedication to meet the challenge posed by this crime. His honesty, decency, and work ethic are all admirable traits for a public official, but Booker is intelligent enough to know that none of it will mean much if Newark adds to its reputation as the place where three innocent and promising lives were obliterated without consequence.
- Terry Golway, curator of the John T. Kean Center for American History at Kean University: Not just a Newark story.
…It’s a fact of life that Newark’s revival depends upon the willingness of non-city residents to bring themselves and their kids into the city. And New Jersey needs a revival in Newark and other distressed urban areas. Morally and economically, we can’t afford to see our cities fail.
- Jim McQueeny, president and CEO of Winning Strategies Public Relations in Newark: Street fight or street flight?
In reality, the plan was probably always bouncing between hope and hype. The latter is on full display in the Administration’s gushy and glossy 100 day progress report that was issued last year, and it was rightfully ridiculed into oblivion shortly thereafter as a superficial media approach to governing. And, judging by the unabated murder rate in town, the bad guys never got the message in that brochure either.
- Star Ledger Editorial Board: The battle for Newark.
The percentage points mean nothing in the context of weekends like the one just past. For one neighborhood, the violence quotient climbed exponentially. For a few grieving families, the homicide rate hit the stratosphere and is never coming down. What good is it to claim that Newark’s 60 homicides so far this year are three fewer than this time last year when one bloody weekend proves that statistical victories can be obliterated in a staccato of gunfire?
- Ken Walker, editor of The Daily Newarker: Ending Newark’s Lawlessness.
I think it’s the contrast of this audacious lawlessness against the backdrop of Newark’s progress that makes these killings so shocking. Violent crime is the single largest obstacle to any hope of the city’s recovery; promising crime statistics and development ring hollow to residents and outsiders alike who fear for their lives inside city limits.If Newark has any hope of restoration, it will be in the city’s ability to capture, prosecute and convict the murderers of these students. We must be able to show that these crimes will not be tolerated anymore.
One problem with witnesses being willing to testify is that usually, the only people who see these no good deeds at no good hours of the night are no good people to being with. Most people with major responsibilities and a “9-5″ are in the park at midnight on any evening. While the unfortunate young adults may not have been up to no good themselves, they were without question unnecessarily in harms way. I hope that this tragedy teaches other young adults to value their safety and pick more secure places to be. (feel free to use these comments)Veronica L -07106