Newark Group Keeps ‘Organizing For Progress’ After George Floyd

NEWARK, NJ — The group behind Newark’s massive George Floyd rally isn’t letting up in their fight for social justice.

The People's Organization for Progress (POP) was organizing against police brutality in Newark long before Floyd’s tragic death. But after their May 30 rally – which drew an estimated 12,000 people – the group gained a momentum that its members have been using to reach a new wave of supporters in the Brick City.

• See related article: They Helped Lead Newark's George Floyd Protest; What's Next?

Here are some upcoming rallies the POP is spearheading in Newark.

RALLY FOR REPARATIONS/EMPOWERMENT SATURDAY

The POP will hold a “rally for reparations” as part of its ongoing Empowerment Saturday series on Aug. 15.

Everyone who plans to participate is asked to wear a face mask and will also be asked to practice social distancing at the event, organizers said.

The rally will take place at 3 p.m. at Broad and Market Street, and is being held in solidarity with similar events in other cities.

Organizers wrote:

“As a part of what is being called Reparations Day, the December 12 movement will be hosting a rally in New York City, and the National Black United Front will be hosting an action in Houston. Each action will also be dedicated to recently fallen reparations advocate Conrad Worrill, who was born on August 15, 1941. The beloved organizer passed away this year at 78 on June 3. The organizers are calling for this Reparations Day as means to highlight the critical importance of the issue of reparations during the month-long appreciation of Black Resistance that is known as Black August and to add an important dimension to current protests against police brutality.”

POP founder Lawrence Hamm said he and other organizers are calling for congressional legislation that will "appropriate trillions of dollars for direct payments to the descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States as restitution for their unpaid forced labor, stolen wealth and suffering."

The reparations rally will also be combined with the POP voter registration drive which takes place every Saturday at the location where the rally is being held. POP members will register voters while the rally is taking place.

"We believe voter registration is very important ... it's a form of political empowerment," Hamm said. "The stronger we are politically the greater the possibility of making reparations a reality."

Slavery reparations has been an issue that the POP has championed before, drawing dozens of marchers to their cause.

• See related article: Newark Residents March For Slavery Reparations (WATCH)

“If Black lives are really going to matter in America, then reconciliation begins by finally giving Black people our long overdue reparations for our 350 years of pain and suffering under American enslavement and segregation,” a history teacher in Newark recently wrote.

• See related article: Keep Your Movies And Statues. Give Us Our Reparations Now! (OP-ED)

JUSTICE MONDAYS CONTINUE

The POP will continue its long-running “Justice Monday” protest series with a rally against police brutality outside the federal building at Broad and Market streets at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 17.

The rally will remember the ordeal of Radazz Hearns. According to a statement from the POP:

“Hearns was only a teenager when he was shot in the back by Trenton and NJ State Police officers while running away from them on August 7, 2015. Although Hearns survived the ordeal, he was charged with having a gun in his possession. No weapon was found on our near his person when he shot, however.”

Organizers said the rally will also pay tribute to the race-based attack on social justice protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2018 that left a protestor, Heather Heyer, dead.

Aug. 17 is also the birth date of African nationalist organizer Marcus Garvey, the group noted.

NAT TURNER

On Friday, Aug. 21, the People’s Organization for Progress will host its annual appreciation of the Nat Turner Rebellion, which took place on Aug. 21, 1831.

This year’s event will take place in Newark’s Nat Turner Park at 189 Muhammad Ali Avenue.

‘TRUMP MUST GO’

The POP will hold a march and rally on Saturday, Oct. 3 in advance of the November presidential election. Participants will assemble at noon at the Lincoln Monument, 12 Springfield Avenue.

Organizers said the rally is being held to condemn the administration of President Donald Trump.

Hamm said the nation has never seen a president so “polarizing and divisive.”

“Our call to action is simple and clear,” the longtime activist and educator said. “Trump must go.”

• See related article: This 'Radical' From Newark Is Challenging Cory Booker For Senate

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