Juneteenth In Newark: Closures, Festival, Reparations, Expungements

NEWARK, NJ — There are plenty of ways to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday in Newark for 2023, with events scheduled to take place across the city this week.

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. The name Juneteenth is derived from a shortened version of June 19, commemorating the date on which federal troops freed the last of the enslaved people in the United States. See Related: What Is Juneteenth? Celebrating The End Of Slavery

Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation in 2020 declaring Juneteenth a state and public holiday.

Here are a few things happening around Newark this year.

CLOSURES, SERVICES

City Hall will be closed and most non-emergency Newark municipal services will be suspended on Monday, June 19 in observance of the holiday. Police, fire and other uniformed emergency services will be unaffected.

According to a municipal news release, trash and recycling will be picked up as scheduled on Monday, June 19. Residents should put out their trash and recycling on the evening of Sunday, June 18.

The Department of Health and Community Wellness’s inspection services, transportation for seniors, and health clinic, will not operate on Monday, June 19. In addition, the Bureau of Vital Statistics will be closed. Residents will not be able to apply for permits, birth certificates, name-change certificates, marriage licenses, nor pay water or tax bills at City Hall. However, the Medical Director and Department’s Division of Surveillance and Prevention are on call for medical and public health emergencies.

The Municipal Court will also be closed. However, a judge will be available to preside over bail hearings for defendants in custody. Residents can make payments on parking and traffic tickets through the website www.njmcdirect.com. To utilize this website, residents will need their summons number, including the prefix, and the City of Newark’s court code, which is 0714.

FESTIVAL

A Juneteenth festival will take place in Newark’s South Ward on Saturday, June 17 on Bergen Street between Lyons Avenue and Hawthorne Place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The festival will feature vendors, food, amusement activities, live DJs, performances, carnival rides, and a health and wellness zone.

According to South Ward Councilman Patrick Council, the cultural celebration represents the freeing of the last African American people from slavery in Galveston, Texas in 1865.

• See Related: What Is Juneteenth? 5 Things To Know About The Holiday

Bashir Muhammad Ptah Akinyele, a history and Africana studies teacher at Weequahic High School, has been asked to conduct libation to the ancestors to open the celebration – which carries a special significance.

“The Kemetic practice of honoring the ancestors is now found throughout the Black world to this very day,” he said.

• See Related: Here's Why I Greet My Students With 'Hotep,' Newark Teacher Says
• See Related: Why We Must Support African American Studies at Seton Hall (Op-Ed)

REPARATIONS

A Juneteenth march and rally for reparations will be held on Monday, June 19 at 2 p.m., starting at the Lincoln Statue, 12 Springfield Avenue in Newark. The statue is located at the intersection of Springfield Avenue and West Market Street.

Speakers at the event will include activists, elected officials and representatives from labor, clergy and the community.

The march is endorsed by the People’s Organization For Progress, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, African American Parades Organization, Black Lives Matter - Paterson, Ironbound Community Corporation, Newark Communities For Accountable Policing (N-CAP), NAACP - Newark Branch, Our Revolution NJ, Salvation And Social Justice, African Diaspora For Justice, Trenton Anti-Violence Coalition, Jewish Voice For Peace-Northern NJ Chapter, NJ Working Families Party, NJ State Industrial Union Council, and Al Awda NY/NJ Palestine Right To Return Coalition.

Lawrence Hamm, chair of the People’s Organization For Progress, said the demonstration is being held to “once again demand reparations for African Americans for the centuries of enslavement of our ancestors, nearly a century of apartheid Jim Crow segregation, and institutionalized racism, inequality, oppression and exploitation that continues to this day.”

“We are marching to demand passage of the reparations commission bills, A938 and S386 by the New Jersey State Legislature, and passage by Congress of HR 40 and S40 which would establish a federal reparations commission,” said Hamm, a former U.S. Senate candidate and longtime activist in Newark.

“We urge the New Jersey Legislature to follow the example of the New York Legislature which passed a reparations bill last week,” Hamm said Tuesday. “We demand the New Jersey Legislature pass the reparations bill and that Governor [Phil] Murphy sign it into law.”

EXPUNGEMENT CLINIC

Ayr Wellness and Blaze Responsibly will partner with the City of Newark and the municipal council to host a free community expungement clinic from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Juneteenth (Monday, June 19) at Good Neighbor Baptist Church, 100 Chancellor Avenue.

Participants will be able to meet with volunteer attorneys to obtain a free expungement, learn about pending fines or open warrants, and more for a chance at a clean slate. There will also be a team onsite to offer support to veterans, provide healthy meals to attendees and help with obtaining IDs.

The clinic is part of Ayr’s “concerted effort to combat the effects of the failed War on Drugs” through its ongoing Changing Legacies initiative, organizers said.

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