Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s attempts to drive out protesters from Delaney Hall can be described best by the words of T.S. Eliot, “not with a bang, but a whimper.” This weekend, I once again traveled to Newark to cover what mainstream media will not; the ongoing hunger and labor strike by detainees and the protests outside Delaney Hall in support of them.
Before I get into my experiences on the ground, I want to remind everyone that none of the detainees demands have been met. These include a meeting with Mikie Sherrill, release of the sick and elderly, adequate access to medical treatment, legal review of their cases, and an end to forced signings of self-deportation documents. Their courage has been met with violence inside — ICE agents as well as GEO Group employees (the private prison company contracted to operate Delaney Hall) have beaten and tear gassed strikers. Martin Soto, the detainee who began the strike (and husband to the woman who launched the protests outside in support) was transferred to another facility, along with others.
First hand accounts of the conditions within Delaney Hall even prior to the strike were grim — rotting food in inadequate portions. Lack of access to medical care, with a single doctor on staff for 600 detainees. Numerous individual cases of barbarity — several miscarriages, a man in a wheel chair stuck in solitary confinement, and even the death of 41 year old Jean Wilson Brutus in December.
These detainees and their families are in dire need of support.
Last weekend, I detailed the ways New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill used state police to drive protesters from Delaney Hall. If you haven’t read the article, I recommend it, but here’s the TLDR; state police charged protesters with riot gear and on horseback, shot them with pepper balls, rubber bullets, and tear gas, and drove them from Doremus Avenue. On Sunday May 31st, Mayor Ras Baraka implemented a curfew to cover a .5 mile radius surrounding the facility. 63 peaceful demonstrators and members of the press, positioned outside the curfew zone, were arrested that evening. Press who followed police orders to exit were not allowed close enough to the scene to capture video footage — because Mayor Baraka is desperate to keep this out of the public eye.
Following the weekend of chaos, Baraka took charge of the scene, condemning the actions of state police. On Thursday, June 4th, he issued a statement;
We have made clear to the GEO Group, who has its own private security firm, that securing their facility is their responsibility, not the City’s. Our intention was never to protect Delaney Hall or HSI but to bring calm. It is a clear contradiction to the City’s position with GEO group to remain there.
Therefore, we will not continue to spend resources and tax dollars in an already strapped budget to safeguard a privately-owned facility, especially when it places our officers at unnecessary risk. Nor will we ask our officers to engage in practices that contradict our values of fairness, restraint, and respect for human rights.
Given the significant reduction in unrest, the City will begin scaling back its presence at Delaney Hall. After tonight, NPD will focus on traffic management and public safety, ensuring the protection of both protesters and motorists.
Nothing was “scaled back” when I arrived on scene Friday evening, at least if you were looking for it. Driving from my hotel in Harrison, I noticed a dozen or so Newark PD vehicles staged two miles from Delaney Hall — well away from any press. Moments before parking my car, my rearview mirror lit up with their red and blue lights. The vehicles were descending on Delaney.
Protesters had broken the windshield of a vehicle when it entered the facility, enraging GEO group employees. One called the police. After parking, they exited the gates and began a street fight with the protesters — pepper spraying and punching them. One man carried a baton, which he used to choke a man on the ground.
The protesters involved were arrested. The employees who assaulted them? Not so much. So went much of the tension Friday evening, with numerous incidents between protesters and GEO group employees — who frequently pepper sprayed demonstrators from their vehicles. At one point, half a dozen cars rushed from the facility, speeding through the crowd of protesters. At that point, a GEO Group employee swerved, striking a journalist.
About an hour later, I received a message from an anonymous source that Newark PD have stopped allowing pedestrians down Doremus Avenue with backpacks, respirator or face masks, or other PPE. Before I was able to reach the police checkpoint to confirm, a man coming up the road began to yell this information to the protesters. Even credentialed press were being told to leave backpacks with equipment and personal protective supplies behind.
Shortly after this news, ICE emerged, firing pepper balls into the crowd. They snatched two protesters and detained them before retreating. Newark police stood by on scene, doing nothing.
Now let’s fast forward to Saturday evening. Despite a day of calm and no issued curfew, Newark PD descended on the protest in riot gear at 9:45pm, ordering demonstrators to vacate the “unlawful” assembly. So much for not using Newark tax dollars to protect GEO Group.
Already it was clear that Mayor Ras Baraka was doing everything in his power to quietly subdue the protest outside Delaney Hall. By Sunday afternoon, I received word from sources on the ground that police had began issuing parking tickets to vehicles parked where I myself had throughout the weekend — despite no signage posted to designate no parking, as was the case in the rest of the surrounding area.
The tactics Ras Baraka is employing to drive protesters away from Delnaey Hall are not dramatic. They will not grab headlines. There will not be viral footage of parking tickets in the way there were viral videos of state police assaulting demonstrators the weekend prior. That’s the point.
Baraka is preventing people from carrying backpacks with water, food, sunscreen, supplies — all in 90 degree heat. He is preventing people from bringing protective equipment like respirators and goggles, while GEO group employees and ICE attack protesters with chemical agents. He’s making it near impossible to park in the vicinity, already a .5 mile walk with the sun beating down. He is forcing press to comply with these rules (barring the backpacks, which are allowed to credentialed press) to limit media coverage. He is creating an increasing series of inconveniences to discourage anyone from attending.
And it is horrifically effective. When Governor Mikie Sherrill sent state police after protesters last Friday, their numbers doubled the following evening. The violent tactics by state police forced even mainstream media to cover the story. Americans watching were furious, and those who were able felt inspired to join.
Mayor Baraka is doing something much more sinister. He wants to slowly diminish the number of protesters, away from the cameras and press attention. He wants to appear as though he is in support of our right to peaceful protest, while throwing every obstacle in our way that he can (at least the ones the media will find too boring to talk about).
All the while, the detainees inside Delaney Hall and in concentration camps around the nation continue to be brutalized.
Do not let them kill this movement. Do not let them kill this story. The first step? Inform a friend.
Mainstream media isn’t talking about Delaney Hall. I’m not mainstream media. Not only am I here to cover the stories they’re sweeping under the rug — I’m here to give you ways to do something about it. If you can’t support the mutual aid plugged at the top of this article, call Mayor Ras Baraka at 973 733 6400.
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