Newark’s Dream Deferred

Newark's Dream Deferred:

During my travels across the country, I encountered a striking reality in every city led by Black leadership. Failing infrastructure, failing schools, crime-ridden streets, high unemployment, and a morally bankrupt faith community that has hustled itself as the go-between to distract us from the horrors we see in front of us with a daily dose of 'We Shall Overcome,' while pimping and leveraging their congregants for political power.

You know, with those fake non-profits that give you the illusion that help is on the way. While driving around the City of Newark, NJ, I see it every day: people with sadness and despair, people locked in a downward spiral of no return. I remember being in the room with Mayor Sharpe James, discussing the future of the city and his vision, and his hope for his city. Where the indigenous Newarkers who stayed and fought for its rebirth would benefit.

The first thing he did was build a team that had one focus: Newark. The second thing he did was to clean the streets and rid the illusion of blight. The third thing he did was put the city in a fiscal position so we could compete and attract more business, which created an economic atmosphere for real prosperity. And if you were here, you felt that energy.

The Newark Municipal Council managed the budget with a conservative zeal, protecting our assets and acting like a true partner, making sure that every resident felt a part of the renaissance. Taxes were low and continued to stay low; no parlor tricks were needed, just a real commitment to keep Newarkers in their homes and continue to stimulate our local economy. Streets were safe, and small businesses thrived. The Renaissance was for all.

Not to mention the non-profit community and the corporate community that were lock-step working hand in hand to make Newark a shiny city on the hill. But that dream has been deferred in Newark. We have become a city where prosperity has died, where outsiders have taken over again. We are now a city of corruption and despair. A city that represents the worst of America. Where developers rob and plunder our community with no commitment to its future.

Where non-profits only work is to manage poverty. Where a Mayor and Council treat their constituents as second-hand citizens. While they go around glad-handing the poor with food and drink, putting them into a slumber delusion. I must say they have done a great job.

The great Calvin West used to scream at me in a loving way. He would say they are in charge now. And after all these years, I must say he was correct. They are in charge of the final destruction of Newark. These so-called children of Newark who run our government have completed the prophecy that our parents told us about.

When white people were going to take over our city. Never would they have thought it would be one of us. The fake revolutionary and his bandit of thieves. Newark, it's time to stand up or die. Our children deserve a better future, a Sharpe future, not a Baraka failure. The choice is ours!

Posted by Munirah El Bomani

Written by Kevin Jenkins

A lifelong Newarker/Homeowner