Moira O’Connell,
Morristown, NJ.
I lived in East Orange during (and after) the 1967 Newark riots. I remember standing on my front porch at around 7 years old watching tanks come down my street (186 4th Avenue) heading into Newark. My parents used to act as shills — going into apartment buildings to confirm there were vacancies and then they’d send a black couple in and Voila! No vacancies. They worked for some group that reported these incidents to HUD or some other government organization. They hung out at police stations to document how Blacks were treated by police. When the tanks rolled in, my parents were on the side of the Black community and so disgusted with Addonizio and the rest of Newark’s corrupt and racist government. My parents are gone but I’m so proud of who they were and what they did. But I’m distraught that not much has really changed in the 40 plus years that have passed since those days.
