Lets take a stroll down memory to the late nineties. Gas was $1.22 a gallon in the US, Great Britain handed back Hong Kong to China and the Dow was at less than 8000 . The first signs of the dreaded Bird Flu in China where the first documented case of the jump to humans causes Hong Kong to kill 1.25 million chickens. In the UK Tony Blair was the prime minister and Princess Diana died in a car accident.
Titanic crashed into theaters and was the most expensive film of all time, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market and Ellen DeGeneres outs herself becoming the first openly gay woman to have her own sitcom. But more importantly, above all of those historic events, an even greater historic event was in the making. The birth of an amazing group of children known as the Newark Student Union, or how some like to call them, the Newark Freedom Fighters.
The Newark Student Union consist of roughly 150 Newark Public High School Students, between the ages of 14 and 17. Founded on November 1st, 2012, the Newark Student Union "Is an organization founded by and for Newark students with the goals of protecting student rights, ensuring we receive a quality education, and empowering the student voice in the political process", according to their mission statement.
In December of 2013, Cami Anderson, the Newark Public Schools Superintendent, who was appointed by Governor Chris Christie, announced a program called, "One Newark,". This program was designed to turn Newark Public School buildings over to charter management organizations and implement an open enrollment program to allow for district-wide "choice". Students, Parents, and even Newark Public School teachers immediately recognized the problems with the "One Newark" program and sprung into action.
On the evening of May 20th, 2014, approximately a dozen members of the Newark Student Union staged a sit-in on the floor in the front of a meeting with the elected school advisory board after the school boards refusal to let the students voices be heard. They shouted “hey ho, hey ho, Cami Anderson has got to go” and used the hashtag #OccupyNPS to spread news of their sit-in. By successfully shutting down the school advisory board meeting, the Newark Student Union had quickly began to realize how significant their group really was. Over the next few months, these brave individuals would go on to plan an even bigger action.
Beginning on the morning of September 9th, protests began at three public High Schools in Newark. The message was clear: Stop the "One Newark" program, return control of the Public School System to the Public, and the resignation of Cami Anderson.
Members of the Newark Student Union form a blockade in front of the entrance of Central High School.
The three separate rallies eventually met up with each other and marched through downtown Newark arriving at Military Park around 10am. The Newark Student Union attended workshops on the history of student activism in Newark, the legal rights of activists in public disobedience, and art and sign making. They also discussed plans for the following day.
Students from three local High Schools gathered on the steps in Downtown Newark to demand their voices be heard.
Students marching through Downtown Newark towards Military Park
Kristin Towkaniuk, President of the Newark Student Union speaks to her peers at a General Assembly held Tuesday morning in Military Park.
One of the several workshops conducted in Military Park was a know your rights training.
On Wednesday morning, the Newark Student Union moved their efforts to be heard into high gear, effectively shutting down the busiest road in Newark, for roughly 10 hours. These motivated, dedicated, and brave students all understood the risk involved, and still decided to block the road until their message is heard. That is an inspiration to myself, and should be to everyone else as well.
At approximately 620 PM, The Newark Police Department, along with ESU, decided to use excessive and unnecessary force to cut the chains that were around the bodies of the Newark Students.
Despite the force from the Newark Police Department, The Newark Student Union stood strong with their heads held high.