The following statement was written by Newark Solidarity Coalition, a group of community members, students, and workers in Newark who have been connecting the issues impacting the Newark community with all struggles against oppression. We republish the following statement because it challenges assumptions about the roots of violence in Newark and speaks to the experience of disproportionately Black and Brown communities in cities across the United States.

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We, the Newark Solidarity Coalition, stand in unwavering solidarity with the 14-year-old child from Newark who has been ensnared by our violent, carceral state following the recent shooting involving two NPD officers last Friday, March 7th. We make this statement as a refusal to accept the demonization of the youth caught in the crosshairs of systemic violence. We refuse to allow a single child to be scapegoated for the failures of a policing apparatus that has treated our communities as perpetual war zones.

Since last Friday we have seen countless articles from legacy media as well as public statements from our fellow Newarkers who have elevated sympathy for the cops without recognizing the humanity of a child who has been incarcerated.

Mayor Ras Baraka’s account of the event, where he told us that the shooting was not a “police problem”, and implores us to “… root out the causes and conditions of violence, so that aggression and inflicting harm are not an option”, is contradictory at best. It seems to place the blame on residents he is sworn to protect, and not on the state agents who have a monopoly on violence, who enforce the laws that create the conditions he names. His refusal to acknowledge the hostile climate plainclothes police create and the trauma communities under constant threat suffer shows a blatant disregard for the deeper causes fueling violence in Newark.

In the aftermath of the shooting, police forces from across New Jersey and New York rushed to display solidarity with the fallen officer. We acknowledge the loss of life, but cannot ignore the hypocrisy: when officers kill civilians, displays of unity and mourning are conspicuously absent from the same crowd. Instead, we see intimidation and the surveillance and criminalization of displays of mourning and unity within our own communities. We see calls for harsher policing and more militarized responses. We see the criminalization of Black and Brown youth intensify. This is also the case when officers kill one of their own. We did not see this massive outpouring of support for Jairo Rodriguez’s family by police departments when he was struck and killed by Sergeant Victor Ortiz this past December.

Meanwhile, Detective Azcona’s funeral was attended by hundreds of police officers and was used as a pretext to terrorize the 7th avenue neighborhood, yesterday. On Wednesday, residents were given less than 24 hours notice that the streets would be cleared from Thursday at 4pm through Friday at 1pm. Thousands of police from throughout New Jersey descended on the 10-block radius surrounding the 7th avenue neighborhood. Residents were essentially locked in their homes all of Friday morning, until 2pm when the throngs of police cleared out. These actions further traumatize residents who are no stranger to the ills of Newark policing, and contribute directly to the fear and immediate threat of capture by ICE that has been ravaging Newark’s most marginalized communities for months.

Though the South Ward is the epicenter of racist police violence, the North ward isn’t immune to it. Essex county sheriffs targeted Black and Latinx youth near Branch Brook Park during COVID, police shot a youth near 6th avenue ten years ago, and NPD frequently raids Stephen Crane and Mt. Prospect housing. Meanwhile, the family of Carl Dorsey, an unarmed Black father killed by Newark Police officer Roy Simpkins, is still waiting for justice as Dorsey’s killer walks free.

This city has been terrorized by racist law enforcement agents for decades. While Newark politicians claim it to be a sanctuary city, there have been ICE raids conducted everywhere from the Ironbound to Ivy Hill since at least the early 2000s. The Department of Homeland Security and GeoGroup, a multi-billion dollar private prison company, have turned Delaney Hall in Newark into another ICE detention facility, expanding a vast network of carceral institutions across the city that is simultaneously being used to further criminalize movements for Palestinian liberation. ​​​​​​​Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia, for example, was arrested and detained by Newark ICE this Friday, March 14th due to their pro-Palestine organizing at Columbia University in April 2024. The Essex County Correctional Facility next door to Delaney Hall is also part of this carceral network, and is one of the most notorious prisons in the country. From 2022 to 2024, there have been at least six deaths at the Essex County Correctional Facility and Jayshawn Boyd was put into a coma as a result of the building’s deplorable conditions.

We reject the status quo that deems community members as violent and disposable, and frames police officers as moral and innocent.​​​​​​​ In reality, violence occurs when communities are robbed of accessible healthcare, food sovereignty, and affordable housing. It occurs when communities are forced to exist under constant surveillance, alienation, and threat.

This is the brutal logic of colonialism. This is how the policing of Black and Brown neighborhoods in Newark, the United States, and across the world is justified. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​These conditions compel us to speak out against the decontextualized and biased narrative of the incarceration of a 14 year old child.

Our solidarity is with the child and every young person forced to navigate a world that treats them as disposable rather than as a cherished members of our collective future. We reject the idea that this incident is unrelated to problems with policing. Let this be the moment we commit ourselves to building a world where the humanity of all children is recognized, and where the true perpetrators of violence — capitalism and those that enforce its inhumane laws, are named. May we confront these ever more hostile forces with love for our community and a clear sense of who is in need of our support.

Signed,

The Newark Solidarity Coalition