• Perry, Ravi K (editor); Gillespie, Andra (2013), "Beyond Booker: Assessing the Prospect of Black and Latino Mayoral Candidates in Newark, New Jersey", 21st Century Urban Race Politics: Representing Minorities As Universal Interests, Emerald Group Publishing, ISBN 9781781901847CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) The Honorable Mayor Ras J. Baraka. Meetings “Register & Vote! “We are moving in Newark to gain our political control, not because we are interested in American democracy,” Baraka continued, “but because we are interested in black survival. February 9, 2021 at 6:34 PM. What was particularly notable about police violence in the early years of Gibson’s mayoralty was how it was used to thwart attempts to upend the racial status quo in the city. Hahn plans to run again this fall. Three years earlier, the 1967 Newark Rebellion, which began in response to the police beating of a Black cab driver, resulted in dozens of deaths—including two children—at the hands of police and the National Guard. City government See also: Mayor-council government Since 1953, the city of Newark has utilized a mayor-council system. By JOHN VAN VLIET. Rice, the runner-up, received 23%. Incumbent Sharpe James did not run. New Jersey Senate president Steve Sweeney reacts to the water crisis in Newark and explains why blaming Senator Cory Booker is … A runoff election, if necessary, would have taken place on June 5, 2018. The Newark example serves as a cautionary tale for activists today. The mayor of … By Andrew Grim — Fifty years ago, Newark, New Jersey, elected its first Black mayor—Kenneth Gibson—at a moment when there was an urgency to address police violence. Elections for all seats on the nine member Municipal Council of Newark were held the same day. Newark has seen 230 new cases of … Baraka faced a former supporter, Newark City Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins. Fifty years ago, Newark, New Jersey, elected its first Black mayor—Kenneth Gibson—at a moment when there was an urgency to address police violence. The 10-day lockdown put into effect by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is scheduled to end Friday. NEWARK, NJ -- Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura announced today that he will seek re-election for an 11th term. 2, This moderate menu of reforms was a far cry from the more fundamental transformation sought by activists in Newark, who aimed to completely dismantle the anti-Black racism endemic to policing. Ricigliano ran as an independent after losing party support for reelection. Sharpe James (born February 20, 1936) is an American Democratic politician from New Jersey, who served as State Senator for the 29th Legislative District and was 35th Mayor of Newark, New Jersey.James was the second African American Mayor of Newark and served five four-year terms before declining to run for re-election. Senator, 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, "The New York Times > New York Region > Image > Graphic: Results in Newark Municipal Races", https://www.nj.com/ledgerarchives/2008/01/booker_wins_big.html, Elects Cory Booker to Be New Mayor: Newark Elects Cory Booker First New Mayor in Two Decades in Landslide Victory, "Booker Is Elected Newark Mayor in a Landslide", "On 2nd Try, Booker Glides In as Newark Mayor", Sharpe Drops Out: James cites only his position against holding dual offices, New York Times Metro Briefing - NEWARK: DEPUTY MAYOR ENTERS THE RACE, "A Newcomer Is the Winner In Newark's Runoff Election", "But What Did Cory Booker Actually Accomplish in Newark? ", "See Cory Booker's resignation letter as he bids farewell to Newark City Hall, goes to Washington", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2006_Newark_mayoral_election&oldid=1000782415, Articles with dead external links from April 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 16 January 2021, at 18:06. Gibson, a city engineer, had a reputation as a political moderate. Police violence was nothing new for Black Newarkers. After winning the October 16 special election for U.S. [7], On March 6, 2006, Rice entered the mayoral race again, noting "that Mayor James had encouraged him to run but noted that if the mayor decided to join the race, his candidacy could change."[8]. The 2010 election for Mayor of Newark took place in Newark, the most populous city in the state of New Jersey, on May 11, 2010.Elections for all seats on the nine member Municipal Council of Newark were held the same day. Follow him on Twitter @andyleegrim. NEWARK — Ras Baraka, a councilman and fiery community activist who campaigned on the vow to "take back Newark" from outsiders, was elected mayor of New Jersey's largest city in … The Newark mayoral election took place May 13, 2014 and was won by Ras Baraka. ... General Election 2017 results; Party Votes % Net percentage change in seats +/- … Official Page of Newark, NJ News: 2018 Municipal Election Tuesday, May 8, Polls Open 6am - 8pm A native of Newark, whose family has lived in the City for more than 80 years, Mayor Baraka’s progressive approach to governing has won him accolades from grassroots organizations to … Newark at the time had a majority Black and Puerto Rican population, yet was governed by an entrenched white political machine and patrolled by an overwhelmingly white, mostly Italian-American police force. Credits: Borough of Hawthorne . Three years earlier, the 1967 Newark Rebellion, which began in response to the police beating of a Black cab driver, resulted in dozens of deaths—including two children—at the hands of police and the National Guard. Newark Parliamentary constituency. [11] In 2019, he mounted a campaign to participate in 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. A group of officers calling themselves the Concerned Police Committee stoked opposition to Gibson within the department. In Newark, Mayor Al Nagy, who has been at the helm since 2011 and on the council since 1980, appeared on his way to easily winning his 13th consecutive election. Chaneyfield Jenkins backed Baraka's 2014 mayoral bid, running as part of his slate of candidates. NJ Division of Elections, P.O. A former assistant state Attorney General, he was a candidate in the 2014 election for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, after which he became a partner at Lowenstein Sandler in August 2014. Our prayers go out to his wife, Camille, and the entire Gibson family.” Walsh has been an outspoken critic of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, according to TAP into Newark. Several officers told the Washington Post that some of their fellow officers were essentially engaged in a conspiracy to undermine Mayor Gibson by brutalizing his supporters. For Gibson, the problems with the police stemmed from poor training and a lack of mutual understanding and rapport between citizens and the police. Newark water crisis: NJ Senate president sounds alarms. Updated Jan 30, 2019; Posted May 09, 2018 Newark Mayor Ras Baraka signals touchdown as he enters the stage during his victory party. Newark, NJ – February 16, 2021 — Mayor Ras J. Baraka today announced two additional Police Division promotions to assist acting Public Safety Director Brian O’Hara in implementing his critical initiatives. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in the election was March 10, 2014. Their experience, however, illustrates the pitfalls of relying on electoral politics to solve the problem of police violence. Newark is organized under the Faulkner Act. Born May 15, 1932 in Enterprise, Alabama, Kenneth Gibson’s career in engineering would see him settle in New Jersey in 1950. At the end of 2018, Democrats held mayorships in 61 of the 100 largest cities in the country. Updated on: Nov 10, 2020, 10:28pm EST. He was re-elected in 2017, defeating Keith Hahn by 3,596 votes, 58.6% to 41.4% Hahn had served as the Democratic Municipal Chairman before switching parties and running as a Republican. NEWARK, NJ —It was "hate and fear in its purest form," according to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. The city of Newark, New Jersey, held a general election for mayor on May 8, 2018. In 1971, when Black and Puerto Rican parents and students campaigned for community control of Newark public schools, they were met with police violence at Board of Education meetings. Once in office, Kenneth Gibson failed to live up to the expectations of many of his supporters. A runoff took place on June 10 in the West and Central Wards. In 1972, when Baraka’s organization the Congress of African People initiated construction on an affordable housing project for Black residents, they were met with police violence at the construction site. Lieutenants Miguel Aviles and Emmanuel Miranda were promoted to the rank of Acting Captain, both to work in Acting Director O’Hara’s office. Righteous demands for accountability and justice had seemed victorious as Newark’s first Black mayor was sworn into office that hot summer day fifty years ago. Rumors circulated that a cabal of officers aimed to embarrass Gibson by beating Black citizens. The city was inundated with complaints of police brutality against Black and Puerto Rican citizens. If anything, his reticence on the issue amounted to a tacit endorsement. As beatings and quotidian acts of disrespect and brutality persisted in the Gibson era, the police message to Black Newarkers seemed to say: a Black mayor will not protect you, this is still our city. The Mayor of Newark is elected for a four-year term. NEWARK (Sept. 14, 2020) --- Calling for all Newark residents to become involved, engaged and exercise their right to vote, Mayor Ras J. Baraka and New Jersey Devils President Jake Reynolds announced the Prudential Center will be a Super Polling Site for the 2020 Presidential General Election. SHARE. Never Let This Happen Again!” the flyer implored. In 1973, when Black and Puerto Rican residents of Newark’s Central Ward marched to protest poor sanitation in their neighborhood, they were met with police violence on the steps of City Hall as Gibson looked on from within. Newark City Councilman Ras Baraka declared victory in the race for mayor of New Jersey's largest city on Tuesday - the first citywide election since Cory Booker, Newark's charismatic former mayor, stepped down to join the U.S. Senate. Out of 500 New Jersey School districts, Newark is one of only 20 in the state that have annual school board elections. Newark Mayor Says 'Abolish Electoral College' Amid Capitol Riots - Newark, NJ - Mayor Ras Baraka: "The Electoral College is our biggest obstacle to a true democracy. They held out hope that “somehow we could change him, that the movement which he was riding would penetrate and transform him.”. Newark was not unique. [1] A runoff election, if necessary, would have taken place. Each author’s posts reflect their own views and not necessarily those of the African American Intellectual History Society Inc. AAIHS welcomes comments on and vigorous discussion about our posts. NEWARK, NJ — Newark's mayor asked residents to “stay at home” for a 10-day period over the Thanksgiving holiday as part of a renewed effort to battle a second wave of the coronavirus in New Jersey’s largest city. [3][4][5][6], On March 27, 2006, James announced that he would not seek a sixth term, preferring to focus on his seat in the New Jersey Senate. Supporters of Mayor Joe Smith, from left: Anthony Hector and Spencer Sink. Results. Ras Baraka Elected Mayor of Newark, NJ. Despite the best efforts of the Newark Police Department, Gibson defeated Addonizio handily, a victory that observers attributed to growing Black voting strength, the successful get-out-the-vote effort spearheaded by Baraka, and the unpopularity of Addonizio, who’d been indicted on corruption charges in the midst of the campaign. Pro-Gibson flyers distributed widely throughout the city picked up on this theme, depicting the election as a fight for survival against the forces of “law and order.” One such flyer featured an image from the 1967 Rebellion of a Newark police officer with a smoking gun in hand, standing over the body of a Black child. The mayor, elected at-large, serves a three-year term. The Newark Communities for Accountable Policing wants to extend our heartiest congratulations to Newark’s beloved Mayor Ras Baraka upon his election as president of the NJ … In many cases Black radicals formed coalitions with Black and white liberals in order to elect Black candidates. Newark, New Jersey completed a 10-day lockdown before Thanksgiving to slow the spread of COVID-19. Elections in the city are non-partisan and candidates are not listed by political party. Ras J. Baraka is the 40th Mayor of the City of Newark. Gibson—a moderate, liberal technocrat—was a strange bedfellow for Black radicals like Amiri Baraka. Municipal elections in Newark are officially nonpartisan, but many city officeholders and candidates are affiliated with a political party. He said, they’ve never been on. Fifty years ago, Newark, New Jersey, elected its first Black mayor—Kenneth Gibson—at a moment when there was an urgency to address police violence. Nov 10, 2020, 10:28pm EST. During Gibson’s first year in office, police brutality actually got worse. First, he worked with the state’s highway department until 1960 before taking over the position of Chief Engineer for Newark’s housing authority until 1966. A runoff election, if necessary, would have taken place. Election day is more than three months away, but it’s never too early to run for mayor in Newark. [9] He run and lost in the 2002 mayoral election, his campaign for which is the subject of the 2005 documentary Street Fight. Black activists concluded that if they could harness the electoral strength of the Black and Puerto Rican community, they could dislodge the white political machine, elect sympathetic Black officials, and gain control of the police department. Six council members, elected from separate districts, serve staggered two-year terms. Senator[10] Booker resigned as mayor and was sworn in on October 31, 2013 as the junior U.S. We are trying to control the police.”. This was particularly true in the area of policing. Out of the twenty-five mayoral elections that were held in 2018 in the 100 largest cities, two party changes occurred by year's end. Narrowing the extreme … He was previously a member of the Municipal Council of Newark and the principal of the city's … African American Intellectual History Society. Voters in East Newark went to the polls on June 4 to cast their ballots in the borough's Democratic primary for mayor. SHARE. To fix these issues, he proposed increasing contacts between police and Black residents through community policing strategies as well as hiring more Black and Puerto Rican officers to bring the department more demographically in line with Newarkers themselves. In fact, while Gibson did push for the department to hire more Black officers, he did little else to stem the onslaught of anti-Black police practices. But, as the wounds of 1967 still festered, activists and Black radicals kept policing at the center of the campaign. Elections are non-partisan and candidates are not listed by political party. Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren has been named a vice president. ... Mayor Ras Baraka, Newark Mayor Dwayne Warren, Orange Mayor Adrian Mapp, Plainfield Election day is more than three months away, but it’s never too early to run for mayor in Newark. In the aftermath of the Rebellion, activists worked tirelessly to counter police violence. Despite Gibson’s moderate nature, NPD officers saw the prospect of a Black mayor as an existential threat to their authority and they mobilized to put a stop to it. According to Mayor Ras Baraka, a stay-at-home advisory will be in effect from Wednesday, Nov. 25 to Friday, Dec. 4. Newark is a city in Essex County, New Jersey.As of 2013, its population was 278,427. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Monday ordered non-essential businesses and restaurants to shut down indoor service after 8 p.m., effective Tuesday. This section details the partisan control of the mayor's seat and the city council heading into the 2018 elections, as determined by Ballotpedia. They cautioned fellow officers that if Gibson were elected “many of our powers will be restricted,” and a Civilian Review Board to investigate complaints of police misconduct “will be forced upon us.” Police Director Dominic Spina warned voters that a Gibson victory would lead to “anarchy” and cause white police officers to resign en masse. It was here that he took a number of engineering positions. The Mayor of Newark is elected for a four-year term.