Anti-Violence Signs in Newark

SIGN OF RELIEF

Newark teachers take their anti-violence message to the streets

By: Kristy Barry

Posted: 1/30/07

The Newark Teachers Union is spearheading a coalition to address what they call a clear and present danger within the city limits.

The signs read "HELP WANTED: STOP THE KILLINGS IN NEWARK NOW." In 2006, the Newark homicide count was 106, and the number has already reached double digits this year.

"We've broken a record and it's not a good one to break," said Joseph Del Grosso, president of the Newark Teachers Union, the organization that produced the controversial signs. "Crime is pervasive and we're beginning to accept it as the norm," Del Grosso said.

"We're taking a strong stance on what we think is a serious problem that needs to be addressed," said Del Grosso, who has distributed 5,000 lawn signs, 5,000 placards for store windows, as well as several billboards in downtown Newark. Del Grosso said he also expects to produce 10,000 more signs.

Signs are made free from appropriated union money as well as citizen donations. The union plans to put out more billboards as well as implore the Newark Mayor Cory Booker to initiate an anti-violence campaign which would include an outreach program and mentoring service. "This is just the beginning," Del Grosso said.

Del Grosso has taught elementary school for 25 years and said he firmly believes that "without discipline, learning can't take place. There are rules at school but not at homes."

He said a month ago, he witnessed two young girls walking down the hallway, one with her father in tow. The girls bumped up against each other, the father took the book bag off his daughter's shoulders and said, "You know what to do to her."

"After that I said I'm going to take a bold leap," Del Grosso said. "I'll be criticized, but in good conscience I can't sit quiet."

His critics aren't especially convinced the signs will bring great change. "[It's easier] said than done," said Andre Cherbonnier, a junior finance major at Rutgers-Newark. "This city has a lot of fundamental flaws that aren't going to be fixed with positive advertising."

Critics of Del Grosso said he's politically-charged, "overzealous" and that the signs scare off tourists visiting Newark. "This isn't about politics, it's about human life!" Del Grosso said. He acknowledged the signs may be provocative way of sending the message but that the problem is one that haunts the city.

"The crime in Newark becomes criminals in your neighborhood. Criminals will prey in suburban areas, into Belleville, Nutley and other cities in Essex County," Del Grosso said.

"We need to mobilize the community not politically, but socially. We're asking for help because we don't have the answer. People are asking how they can help to change the culture."

In our culture, Del Grosso said, "There's this notion that a violent response makes someone stronger, that violence makes you something special. If we can change the culture on the street we can change the culture in the schools."

He said we need to invoke debate, not bullets, and it comes down to whether a person is part of the problem or the solution. "What are we waiting on? More to die?"

The non-profit coalition, "Enough is Enough," is another campaign combating violent crime in Newark. The aim is the raise the conscious level of murders on the street as well to console those affected by violent crime.

"We are out there in the frigid cold and 100 degree heat. We understand and I understand that the killer don't take the day off," said Minister Thomas Ellis, president and founder of the coalition. "We've been in the street day in and day out, at the murder scene consoling victims."

"We were elated when we saw those signs. If I had the money to put out billboards, I would have done it," Ellis said. "Finally, after all that we've been doing, I'm happy that someone with more people-power, resources, and dollars....has the courage to stand up when a lot of people sit down and watch what's going down."

He said his coalition speaks out because his victims can't. "Each person was a human being before they were murdered, how can we not care about human life?" Ellis said.

"It is not trying to make the mayor look bad...the people shooting and killing are making the city look bad. The city needs help, the people need help."

Ellis founded the organization in 1993 in Atlanta after a 13-year-old was killed by a stray bullet. He was a victim of gun violence himself nine years ago when he was shot several times and "left for dead in the street," he said.

He's been a community activist for 25 years and an outreach minister for five years. "I will go where big name preachers...won't go."

"I've attended too many funerals and wakes…" Ellis said. "There's no fanfare, just meeting people right where they are, even if that's a traumatized state, an angry state, a depressed state--not just waiting for a Sunday morning."

Ellis said he first saw the "Help Wanted" signs on Springfield Avenue. The sign was placed in front of a shrine for Tarheerah Sweat, the 101 victim in 2006.

When the murder count reached 106, Ellis said, "everybody should be fed up."

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