A Hard Truth and Reflection on Life at Stephen Crane Village: Sam’s Story

On November 9, 2020, my mother returned home after a month of being hospitalized after a fall caused by a viral infection. That same night, she wound up back in the hospital after her legs gave out climbing the stairs. Later, it was discovered that she had pneumonia and suffered a mini heart attack. Previously, The viral infection that was the cause of hospitalization had been from mold exposure. There were three gaping holes where the ceiling fell in from water leakage in our kitchen. One of those holes had mushrooms sprouting out of them. Before the fall, my mother often sat in the kitchen, only to fall ill and return upstairs. The conditions of the house had never been this bad before.

Growing up in Stephen Crane Village had always been pleasant; It was clean, neighbors looked out for one another, we had basketball courts and a recreational center where the kids would have something to do over the summertime. During the Holidays, management would host events for the children, such as food, toy, and clothing drives, and have get-togethers in the rec room. The units were well maintained and preserved; If you had an issue with repairs, management would resolve it that same day; if not, the next day.

Those days are long gone.

Stephen Crane is one of the few housing complexes in Newark, NJ, and one of the oldest. It is also one of the latest housing complexes to fall victim to privatization, a process that has been going on since the mid-70s after tenants in the  Stella Wright Projects went on a rent strike to protest the inhumane conditions they face, a rent strike in which the tenants won. The strike brought the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) to the brink of bankruptcy. As punishment, a redevelopment process to knock down high-rise towers was conducted. Columbus Homes Projects on 7 th Avenue were one of the first casualties of this process when demolished in 1994. Soon after that, Kretchmer Homes, Seth Boyden Terrace, Baxter Terrace, Terrell Homes, and, as mentioned above, Stella Wright Projects were also demolished to make way for condominiums and townhouses.

Sold without Proper Knowledge: A Bad Deal

Written by Habeebah Yasin

Officially known as “The Islamic Society of Essex County,” this space was donated to the Muslims of Newark decades ago in 1982. The mosque was sold last year without community knowledge. Faith-based places are integral to the vibrant city of Newark. People from different social-economic levels, racial backgrounds, and ages come together to worship and serve the community. This is all the reason why what’s happening with the mosque on Branford Place, downtown Newark, is disheartening to many community members.

Muslims make up 3% of religious affiliations in New Jersey, which is likely a more conservative number, ranking #1 in the nation in the percentage of its population. There is a longstanding history of faith-based movements and civil rights being intertwined with Muslims in Newark. The Moorish Science Temple of America was first established in Newark in 1913 by Noble Drew Ali. It has been reported that there was a place of Muslim spiritual practices at 181 Warren Street in Newark in 1920.¹

Immediately, local Newark Muslims and community members of other faiths sprang into action, protesting, creating online petitions, and social media awareness about the injustice committed against fervent Muslims and community members. On January 16, 2021, Rutgers School of Law-Newark student, Saad Admani spoke about why this space is vital to the community on the weekly Saturday protest and a message of perseverance in the fight for justice.

Rutgers School of Law-Newark student Saad Admani at a weekly Saturday protest in January 2021. Photo: Habeebah Yasin, Resident-Reporter.

The protests are an open forum for individuals who want to speak out against the injustice and how it impacts them, their families, and the community. One protester who regularly attended the mosque, speaking in the Arabic language, spoke scathingly against the Board. One of the things she mentioned was that the board did not notify the community that any issues would cause them to sell the mosque suddenly.

Muslim students who attended Rutgers University-Newark, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Seton Hall University, Essex County College, and Berkeley College would attend Friday (Jummah) prayers at this location due to its proximity. There were also notable Muslims who have frequented Branford Place mosque, including U.S. Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, Imam Heshaam Jaaber, who led the prayers at Malcolm X’s funeral in 1965. International spiritual leaders and diplomats who were visiting United Nations in New York City have frequented this mosque due to its closeness to Manhattan.

This local mosque served as a place of worship and an educational resource, networking, and a place many Muslims could be fed during Ramadan and clothed throughout the year. It indeed functioned as a microcosm of Newark.

Though the mosque was sold under the pretense that it did not function as such, thousands of Muslims can vouch otherwise, as pre-COVID, the five daily prayers were performed in this mosque every day since its inception. Some may presume that the board took advantage of the situation due to the pandemic. New Jersey State law requires any church or religious organization to have a public meeting before selling any real estate. The judge who ruled in favor of selling the masjid mentioned that she does not find this space to be a mosque because it does not have things commonly attributed to a mosque.

Amongst Muslims around the world, it is understood that mosques take different forms, and it is nearly an abstract designation for a space according to Islamic law. Some mosques are merely mud walls and dirt floors with no roof.²

How can this kind of egregious thing that seems to happen in minority communities be prevented, one may ask themselves? Community members say those who sit on the boards of community ran organizations and spaces should be required to inform city residents of progress and changes (i.e., transparency). There must be enforcement of local government-sanctioned protection for communities. Another demand is that board members host monthly meetings with the community to increase accountability.

“there has to be transparency. There have to be members on the board of directors, board of trustees that are members of the community” said Admani.

References

1. Aminah Beverly McCloud, African American Islam (New York: Routledge, 1995), 10–11; Jerald F. Dirks, Muslims in American History: A Forgotten Legacy (Belsville: Amana Publications, 2006), 264–265; Patrick D. Bowen, A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 2: The African American Islamic Renaissance, 1920–1975 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 102; Sherman A. Jackson, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 43; Sherman A. Jackson, Islam & The Problem of Black Suffering (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 8.

2. Hamza A. Dudgeon (Ph.D student at the Islamic University of Minnesota) in discussion with the author February 24th, 2021.

Habeebah Yasin, whose pronouns are she/her/they, is a Black Muslim woman who cares about social justice issues, including Black people’s plight in the United States and women’s rights issues. Habeebah is a resident-reporter with the Newark News & Story Collaborative.

Displaced Yet Not Discouraged: A Profile of Don Knight-Powell

Written by Alonzo S. Blalock

In America, youth ages 15–24 who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ peers. Of the 1.6 million homeless youth each year, up to 40% are LGBTQ — meaning around 640,000 queer teens and young adults are left to seek shelter and other resources on their own. I recently sat down with Don Knight-Powell, a 22-year resident of Essex County, to recount his story of trauma and triumph as a gay black man finding his way home.

At the age of three, Don was adopted into a Jamaican, two-parent home that already had a son. He recognized early on that he was considerably queer and recalled being chastised exhibiting behaviors not considered masculine. By 14, he was clear about his attraction to men yet had not self-identified as gay until his first sexual experience at 18. His early teen years were plagued with being grounded for looking at pictures of boys or more explicit content on the internet. “You don’t really feel comfortable in a society growing up as a kid being yourself,” Knight-Powell says.

Coming out is a monumental moment, and it can come with a sigh of relief for some when it is of one’s own volition. While several factors can lead to LGBTQ youth homelessness, the leading cause is family rejection, as reported by the National Coalition for the Homeless. Knight-Powell says that his family’s conservative values often made him feel uncomfortable and their reaction to this discovery ultimately played a significant role in his displacement.

One night after returning home from work, his mother suggested that he had been out hanging with men and told him that he could no longer live in the house. An argument ensued when he finally confirmed that he was, in fact, gay.

“It was painful…we tousled, we fought. There [were] things thrown. She basically threw me out of the house into my car.” He lived out of his vehicle for the next two days with no contact with his family members. “From there, it was very hard to live life as a gay black man with no parents… my father disowned me, my brother…they wouldn’t accept the fact that I was gay,” Knight-Powell says with a slight quiver.

Youth consistently report severe family conflict as the primary reason for homeless, so seeking out safe spaces becomes necessary for survival. After being forced out of his home and enduring a troubled stint at his boyfriend’s house, Don maintained employment and sought shelter at the Essex LGBT RAIN Foundation in East Orange, New Jersey. Many LGBTQ youth are forced to contend with abuse at homeless shelters and are nearly 7% more likely to experience sexual victimization than heterosexual homeless youth.

Unfortunately, Don was no exception to this staggering statistic and disclosed that he was sexually assaulted several times while residing in the shelter. “I got into arguments, thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is my family. I’m going to be safe here’…, and that entire four months was horrible. Being molested plenty of times by different individuals that lived there was one of the hardest things to go through,” he says. When asked if he had reported the incidents to the staff, he boldly stated, “Absolutely;” however, when asked if he had gone to the police, he solemnly responded, “No” and sighted fear of disrupting his progress. He claims that his report of sexual assault went unresolved, yet this did not deter Don’s focus on getting on his feet. “There is so much to think about when something like that happens, in my case, I feel like I still have priorities,” Don says.

The law firm representing the Essex County Rain Foundation responded with a statement denying the allegations and cannot provide any information about former or current residents.

Aside from seeking shelter, most LGBTQ youths find themselves looking for a sense of community. In the 1970s, Black and Latinx gay, trans, and queer people developed a thriving subculture comprised of “families” and “houses” where they could be mentored by older community members and build relationships with their peers. Most commonly known as the ballroom scene, these houses would come together to host events so that the youth would have a safe outlet to express themselves and cultivate their creativity freely. In the present, some agencies seek to provide a similar sense of community by offering programming and services to produce a healthier, well-adjusted population.

Don recalls his time at a local youth program, Project WOW, and his time as a core group member, saying,

“They gave me a lot of opportunities… it was good to know that going through what I went through before I got to Project WOW that I can help someone else out that came in after me.”

His fondest memory was a retreat in the Poconos, where everyone had the opportunity to share their experiences, offer support, and make life-long connections. “It gave me so much drive into becoming who I want to be,” says Knight-Powell.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, youth shelters and housing programs have a shortage, resulting in many young people being denied assistance. Increasing funding from $103 to $140M could support nearly 7,000 new residential services and 200,000 more homeless youth crisis intervention programs.

Don’s story is one of the countless others who have had to traverse through this space. Since leaving Project Wow in 2019, Knight-Powell has secured his apartment. He works as a paraprofessional with children living with Autism. Don encourages other teens that may find themselves in the challenging position of being displaced to be themselves, take advantage of resources, and surround themselves with lovable people.

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Alonzo S. Blalock (aka ‘Prince Derek Doll’) is an American performing artist, media personality, journalist, entrepreneur, and LGBTQ advocate. He serves as the Co-Executive Producer/Moderator for Queered Millennial’s “The Ki”, Co-host of “The Darren Greene Show” podcast, and is the Executive Vice President for Newark Pride, Incorporated. He is a resident reporter for the Newark News and Stories Collaborative, entertainment writer for The Newark Times, and inaugural scholar of the Center for Black Equity’s Ron Simmons Leadership Institute. Balancing life in the arts and public service, he’s been featured in Out In Jersey Magazine for his contributions to LGBT representation in music and recently produced the 16th Annual Newark LGBTQ Pride Festival.

Do you or someone you know need LGBTQ+ services? Here is a shortlist of resources in the Newark area:

Newark Public Library
LGBTQ Resource Center
First Floor
5 Washington St
Newark, NJ 07102

NJCRI [North Jersey Community Research Initiative]; one of New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive HIV/AIDS community-based organization; includes LGBTQ services such as Project WOW, Pride Center of Newark, PRIDE Project, and more.
393 Central Ave. Newark, New Jersey, 07103
(973) 483–3444

Rutgers- Newark
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Diversity Resource Center
350 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ 07102
Paul Robeson Campus Center Room 352
http://lgbt.newark.rutgers.edu/
973–353–3416

Are there resources that you know of that we can add to our list? Email us: projectmanager@newarkstories.com

School In The Future

Imagine waking up early on a Monday morning, and somehow, you’re seven years old. You brush your teeth, put on your favorite shirt, then you log onto your 1st class of the day. Still sleepy. Somehow your teacher managed to get you excited about math?! Both hands raised, she calls you to solve a problem no-one else could figure out. As you open your mouth to give your answer, which is 100% correct, by the way, and your Wi-Fi fails. This is the reality of children everywhere experiencing school in the future.

Third-grader, Zamir Frazier, says what’s been the most significant difference in his school experience: “Well, for instance, we’re all on computers. Also, now we need the internet just to talk. Sometimes it’s terrible, sometimes it’s good.”

 Although remote learning is impossible without Wi-Fi, parents have more things to keep in mind for their scholars to be prosperous.

Janel Rochez is the mother of a first-grader:

“Remaining consistent, making sure the work gets done. It’s so easy to fall behind. It’s not intentional, but it can happen very easily. Making sure the space is quiet. Making sure the wifi doesn’t go out. Making sure she remains engaged. You know she’s still a little kid, and we’re asking them to do things we’ve never asked children to do before.”

Once taken for granted, the school building is now missed by students, teachers, and parents alike. Director Tyree Barnes of Great Oaks Legacy Charter school gives insight into his observations.

“Some students have struggled through remote learning. Some students have also excelled in terms of having fewer distractions. It’s just me, my auntie, my grandma, my mom, or my dad or whomever. We’re just sitting here at home in front of the computer, and I’ve seen an increase in academic performance.”

Evidence shows that peer learning creates greater confidence and independence in knowledge, more in-depth understanding, and improved grades for peer leaders and their students. School in the future has its obstacles, but Director Barnes is confident that dedicated educators with a compassionate and optimistic approach can make a world of difference. 

Director Tyree Barnes of Newark

“I sometimes know from the outside looking in it seems like math and books and reading, yes those things are essential, but at the core of the work that we do, we build relationships. I think it's largely been dependent on the facilitator's energy. But to get our teachers and adults in the energy of being engaging and creative and fun-loving and high spirited despite all the challenges that are happening. That is trickled down to; or impacting the scholar.”

The team at Great Oaks Charter School is innovating the way educators interact with scholars to ensure togetherness in these times of physical separation. 

“You know, one of the things I’m really proud of my staff is that we’ve created spaces where students can kind of disengage from the academic so to speak. And have community time with each other. Whether we’re watching cartoons and having breakfast together or having a discussion that’s less focused on the curriculum we need to get through for the year. But to build community with each other.”  - Director Barnes

Third-grader Zamir, on his predictions of what school will look like in the future:

“School would be space camp. And we would get to do things like be in zero gravity.”

Students learning in space camp may be up for debate, but with dedicated instructors on the front lines, school in the future has a bright future. No matter how committed the educational system is to innovation, parents should try their best to be as active as possible to give their children the maximum potential to succeed. For a list of resources such as tips to create a workflow for your scholar and free or low-cost Wi-Fi, visit:

 www.projectreadynj.com || Newark Trust COVID-19 Resources || NPS Student Resources

This story is part of the Newark News and Story Collaborative made possible by grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Victoria Foundation. The Newark News and Story Collaborative, headed by WBGO Community Engagement reporter Brit Harley, is committed to elevating community-driven storytelling to fill information gaps in both local and national media. The Collaborative trains community members in storytelling, media-making, and other creative art forms to share and amplify their experiences. It’s laying the groundwork for a collaborative network that will address longstanding information inequities in Newark, New Jersey.