Newark Unemployment Protest in 6th Month is a Model for the Nation with Larry Hamm, Chairman, People's Organization for Progress, Newark, N.J.
The U.S. economy is struggling, but in many black communities Americans are in the throes of a depression. With unemployment exacting an outsize toll on African-American men and women, a coalition initiated by the People's Organization for Progress has been demonstrating daily for over 6 months in a busy intersection in Newark flanking a statue of Abraham Lincoln outside the Essex County Courthouse. This persistent and visible protest in one location has received widespread attention throughout the City and support from labor, student, religious and other community groups including Occupy Newark who see unemployment as a crucial civil rights issue emerging from the country's economic woe. "We are more than a half-century away from the Montgomery bus boycott, but we are dealing with issues just as pressing," said Larry Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress. Hamm and like- minded activists started the 381-day protest modeled after one of the most famous battles of the Civil Rights era the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955-56. They are calling on President Obama and Congress to institute a jobs program akin to the Works Progress Administration of the Great Depression, that employed millions of unskilled Americans in public works jobs. Unemployment is 16 percent among black Americans, a rate rivaling those of the 1930s. Newark's jobless rate hovers around 15%, while the national rate is 8.6 percent.
Produced by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash
please email us if you plan to broadcast this program - knash@igc.org
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