The 50th Anniversary Observance Of The Student Walkout And Call For More Student Activism will be held Wednesday, March 24th 12:00 noon in front of Arts High School, 550 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd in Newark, New Jersey.
Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress, and former U.S. Senate candidate will hold the observance to mark the 50th anniversary of his first protest and to issue a call for increased student activism throughout the United States today.
“This event is open to everyone who supports student activism or is currently a student activist,” Hamm stated. “The purpose of this observance is not only to talk about student activism of the past but to also discuss the importance of student activism today and make a call for more student protests against police brutality, racism, student debt and other issues,” Hamm said.
“Fifty years ago, on March 24, 1971, as a 17 year-old student, I led a walk out at Arts High School in Newark, NJ, a march downtown and a sit-in to protest educational issues,” Hamm stated.
“It was the first time I participated in a protest in my life, and I have been an activist ever since. It was the beginning of my life’s work as a political activist which I have continued for the past 50 years,” he said.
Among those in attendance at the observance will be individuals who were in the 1971 Arts High School walkout and others who were a part of other high school and college student movements and protests. Student activists engaged in current issues and activities will also be present.
In 1971, Newark’s first African-American mayor Kenneth A. Gibson came to the sit-in that Hamm was leading at the Gateway Hotel to meet with the student protestors to discuss their demands he said.
“Three months later he appointed me to the Newark Board of Education at the age of 17 for a three year term, making me the youngest fully empowered voting school board member in the history of the United States,” he said.
“Shortly after my appointment to the board I met and began a decades long association with the poet, playwright and activist Amiri Baraka who had a major impact on my political thinking,” he said.
Those who participated in the 1971 Arts High walkout and other Newark student protests, and those who were involved in the New Ark Student Federation, a city-wide organization formed after the walkout are especially urged to attend.
“If you participated in student protests before 1971, during 1971, after 1971 or you are protesting today I urge you to attend this observance,” Hamm said.
