Will young New Jersey voters cast ballots in the midterms on Tuesday? If recent elections are the measure, the answer is a resounding “Yes.” According to the Center for Information & Research on Civil Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, the number of young voters in New Jersey between 18 and 24 grew 16 percent in the last four years. In 2020, the state had the highest youth voter turnout in the country—an impressive 67%. Nationwide, half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted in the 2020 general election, “one of the highest youth voting rates in recent history and an 11-point increase from 2016,” according to CIRCLE. Racially diverse states can impact voting.

Lawrence Hamm’s life links the most powerful social movements of the last 50 years. Appointed to the Newark, New Jersey Board of Education in 1971 at the age of 17, he balanced the radical world of Newark’s Black Power Movement with a racially-divided city’s practical public policy concerns. What were his rewards? Harsh criticism in the press, dropping out of Princeton University, being publicly attacked by the man who appointed him—Kenneth Gibson, Newark’s first Black mayor—and an attempted framing on a gun he never had.

In the spirit of Democracy Day, Public Square Amplified asked our colleagues Linda McDonald Carter, a community-based attorney and former professor and director of Paralegal Studies at Essex County College, and Gloria J. Browne Marshall, a Pulitzer Center grantee and Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College, to explore the themes of American Democracy and our Constitution. Both brought their experience as intellectuals, journalists, activists and women of color to the conversation.

The Public Square Amplified team turns its lens to street protests as a center of the struggle for democracy. Claiming space in the public square has been the right of citizens throughout history—grassroots organizers in NJ march in the legacy of those who have long fought against tyranny.

In 2001 Tom Brokaw’s book on WWII, “The Greatest Generation,” soared to the top of the NY Times Best-Sellers list. Brokaw leaned into the propaganda of the United States—protecting freedom and democracy—by offering this “it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.” While wrapping his comments in hyperbole, he disavowed any concern with historical context.

University Hospital is an essential resource for New Jersey residents. It's the only state-owned public hospital and one of only three Level One trauma centers. It's home to a comprehensive stroke center and a regional perinatal center and serves as a primary care facility for many Newark residents. During the pandemic, it was the Northern Regional COVID center; yet the hospital is outdated and underfunded.

As July 12 marks the 55th anniversary of the Newark Rebellion in 1967, Newark's Central Ward faces another transformation. The city's central but aging care and teaching facility, University Hospital, has become the focus of a long-overdue redevelopment project to renovate and expand the hospital and its health services. The project has the potential to build on the promises of the historic Newark Accords, also known as the Newark Agreements of 1968—the only contract of its kind in the United States codifying a hospital's commitment to promoting the public health of a community. But it is also a cause of concern for many Newark residents and activists.

On June 18, activists, leaders and organizers joined over 30,000 people from across the nation on Third and Pennsylvania Avenues in Washington D.C. for the Mass Poor Peoples and Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March. Organized by the Poor People's Campaign (PPC), citizens gathered to demand urgent attention to economic and political policies that negatively and disproportionately affect poor and low-income communities in America. PPC called on the government to take responsibility for the stark wealth gap.

Not only is the United States one of the world's wealthiest countries, but New Jersey is one of the richest states in the nation. The annual Gross Domestic Product (GPD) or total market value in the U.S. is around $20 trillion, and New Jersey is home to booming industries and two of the wealthiest counties in the country, Monmouth and Bergen County, where the average household earns $150,000. Despite abundant wealth and productivity, nearly half the nation is poor and 41 percent of New Jerseyans struggle to afford housing, child care, food, taxes and even a cellphone plan, the basics needed to live and work in the modern economy.

New Jersey middle and high school students participated in the Model Gary Convention in Newark this spring. The event marked fifty years since the first National Black Political Convention (also known as the Gary Convention) took place in Indiana in March of 1972. In keeping with the original convention, student delegations gathered at Seton Hall from Friday, Apr. 29 to Saturday, Apr. 30 to discuss solutions to societal injustices and issues of importance to the Black community.

On May 15, Paterson officially renamed a part of Main Street "Palestine Way," thanks to Alaa "Al" Abdelaziz, the first Palestinian-American city councilman and council president Maritza Davila who sponsored the renaming resolution. The city council voted 8-1 to approve the renaming on March 29, but "Palestine Way" isn't just another street sign.

Fifty years since the first National Black Political Convention (also known as the Gary Convention) took place in Gary, Indiana, Newark middle and high school students are participating in a commemorative Model Gary Student Convention in Newark. Organizers say the behind-the-scenes work of students to develop position papers on topics including education, health, economics, and politics honor the original convention's goal of convening Black Americans to discuss and advance solutions to promote equity and confront the pressing societal injustices of our times. Participation in the model conventions, organizers hope, will impress upon students that they have the power to advocate for themselves and their communities right now.

Steve Bernhaut grew up in a conservative Jewish home that nurtured a worldview centered on the holocaust. As a young man navigating his way to a more just world, Bernhaut was inspired by the work of Ploughshares in the anti-nuclear movement and Jonah House on their grounding in non-violence.

In the run-up to the 2022 municipal elections, we are looking at voter turnout and "getting the vote out" efforts in Newark. Check here for our latest reporting on the candidates and issues that play a role as voters prepare to elect the city's next mayor and all nine seats on the city council on May 10, 2022.

Who’s on the ballot?

When Tyrone Lockett heard the story of Eleanor Bumpurs, he laced his shoes and took to the streets in protest.

Bumpurs, a 66-year old public housing tenant in The Bronx, faced eviction from her apartment for withholding rent. She refused to pay and maintained that the New York City Housing Authority failed to complete her repair requests. But on Oct. 29, 1984, after she screamed from inside her apartment at city marshalls trying to serve her an eviction notice, NYCHA responded by calling on the police to remove Bumpers from her home.

EAST ORANGE, NJ—Ingrid Hill grew up at a time of severe systemic injustice. It was the 1960s, and the world was turning upside down.

As a teenager, she was part of a "collective," surrounded by community elders, family members, and friends who were all committed to each other and making a better world for all.

NEWARK,NJ—“We who believe in freedom cannot rest,” go the lyrics of “Ella’s Song.” A popular tribute by the women troupe Sweet Honey in the Rock, the song honors the words and spirit of trailblazing civil rights activist Ella Baker. To speak with Larry Hamm, Chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress (P.O.P), is to hear how her words and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement endure in today’s struggle for voting rights.

Fifty-seven years ago Martin Luther King's campaign for voting rights began, and his work still resonates in communities across this country - a new century but an old fight that is yet to be settled. Last weekend, in freezing temperatures here in New Jersey, members of the People's Organization for Progress (POP), elected officials and many Newark area residents, gathered for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. march to remember and affirm the struggle for racial justice, with an acute lens on voting rights, and issue that was at the forefront of King’s activism.

The 2021 elections mark the first time New Jersey residents can participate in early in-person voting in state history. Between Saturday, Oct. 23 and Sunday, Oct. 31, registered New Jersey voters could cast their ballots in person and ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Nov. 2. Here in Newark, voters will have a say in the gubernatorial race between Gov. Phil Murphy and Jack Ciattarelli and in local elections, including those for Essex County sheriff and to fill Senate and Assembly seats in the 28th and 29th districts of the state legislature.