It’s all in a day’s work in Newark, as New Jersey’s largest city celebrated another 24 Hours of Peace from Aug. 23 to Aug. 24. First started in 2012, the annual hip-hop culture block party promotes anti-violence leading up to every Labor Day weekend. R&B legend Mýa headlined an all-female lineup for this year’s women empowerment theme.
The event traces its roots to Mayor Ras Baraka’s time as a Newark council member in the city’s South Ward. Boogie Down Productions rapper Hakim Green – of Channel Live fame – approached his brother and current Chief of Staff Amiri Baraka Jr. to hold a day-long concert promoting peace. The childhood friends knew typical anti-violence efforts rarely drew the audiences they wanted to reach and often found themselves preaching to the choir. So they co-founded 24 Hours of Peace, hoping star power from prominent figures in Black music could help get their message across.
Initially, 24 Hours of Peace traveled on a small Wenger wagon and was powered by a car battery. Baraka deemed the block party an official citywide event after taking mayoral office in 2015. Since then, a who’s who has graced the event, from Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah headlining the event last year to hip-hop matriarch and hometown heroine Queen Latifah hosting the whole thing in 2022.
This year’s event took place in the city’s West Ward on South 10th Street and Central Avenue, a block Amiri Baraka Jr. identified specifically in need for anti-violence efforts.
“The whole objective is to get the crowd there to make sure the kids that are actually involved with this kind of behavior [are] there to hear the message that we give them about changing their habits and behaviors,” Amiri Baraka Jr. told AmNews in a phone interview. “And understanding that violence is not helping us. It’s causing us problems. We definitely hid the messages in between a lot of the artists. And I think it’s been effective.”
He adds that some artists invited may even perpetuate violence and harm through their lyrics and persona, particularly those appealing to younger audiences. But all performers are mandated to open and close their set promoting peace. Meanwhile, wellness programming like yoga is rolled out for older attendees.
New York City was represented by A.T. Mitchell-Mann, the founder of Man Up! and the Big Apple’s gun violence prevention czar.
“The community of Newark came out and proved their point that we as people who have grown up in a community stricken by violence can create an environment [with] peace,” said Mitchell. “Not just for 24 hours, but for an entire summer.”
While police are present at 24 Hours of Peace (and often dancing along), the event’s safety is often entrusted to those closest to the violence. Newark Deputy Mayor of Public Safety LaKeesha Eure points to efforts made by gang members to push for peace, even if it’s just for a day.
“They’re doing problem solving, right in the audience, their presence is important to those people [who] may be a part of gun violence, and they get to say, ‘no, I need you to not be here today’ or ‘put your guns down’ or ‘that’s not what happened here today,’” she said.
24 Hours of Peace is now just one of many anti-violence efforts under Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVPTR), an agency born from diverting 5% of the law enforcement budget towards peace efforts following the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
Yet, violence continues to plummet despite reduced police funding. Last year, Newark reached record homicide lows unseen since the early ‘60s. All the while, detectives closed 81% of cases, according to NJ Spotlight. Gun violence and assaults also dropped.
Eure says the city is on track for another safer year and credits 24 Hours of Peace for reserving a day in the calendar when residents in “hot spot” neighborhoods are neither victims or perpetrators of violence.
“We ultimately know that public safety is not just law enforcement,” Eure said. “We just have to shift our mindset. So the City of Newark is shifting the culture from trauma to trust, right? We’re shifting the culture to be able to give opportunities where they never existed. So we ultimately use the budget to be able to send children to college, versus arresting these kids.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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