by Sophia Ludtke ’20, Feature Editor

We all know that we are fortunate to attend a school with a rich and complex history. From a 1780 Revolutionary War incident which burnt the newly constructed school to the ground to the school’s 1964 move to its present-day location on South Orange Ave, time has shaped NA into the school that it is today. But what we may not all know is that time has significantly changed Newark Academy’s former location in Newark as well.

While in 1929, a beautiful colonial building sat on the corner of Orange and First Streets, operating with the lofty ambition of “training and sending [young men and women] to act as leaders in the civic and intellectual life of the community,” today, two twin apartment buildings known as Garden Spires tower over the corner.

Though much of Newark is a vibrant and thriving environment, Garden Spires offers a small window into the poverty and injustice far too many urban Americans continue to face. The two Section-8 housing complexes have been plagued by drug use, gun violence, and crime, and many residents have cited “unbearable” living conditions. The complex has been described as “one of Newark’s worst housing projects.”

Some efforts have been made to improve the situation, but significant work is still left to be done. In 1999, Senator Cory Booker pitched a tent outside the housing projects, going on a 10-day hunger strike to raise awareness about the complex’s deplorable living conditions. The associated press attention did bring about some positive change. However, the living conditions continue to remain intolerable. Tenant Shonette Parker said that she “wouldn’t wish this on her worstest enemy.”

It’s hard to believe that these “pockets of ‘third world’ nations” exist just minutes away from “incredible wealth and privilege,” as high school humanities teacher Ms. Lifson explains. The complex’s nickname, “Academy Spires” – a nod to the site’s former Newark Academy occupants –, reflects the disheartening truth that dramatic divides in privilege exist right in our backyards. While it is a fact that this divide does exist and will continue to exist, we, as Newark Academy students, should feel a certain moral responsibility to help.

Ms. Lifson added that Newark Academy students have this responsibility “not just because it is the land we vacated, but because once we see the utter immorality of a society that allows some kids to live without the basic necessities, without safety, without opportunities, and without protection, we know we need to act.”

In the 2017 Human Rights: Civil Rights, Civil Liberties, and Training for Activism June Term class, students explored issues associated with Garden Spires extensively. A few students even produced a short documentary with the aim of sharing this story with the greater Newark Academy community.

Hopefully, efforts like these will continue throughout the upcoming year. Senator Cory Booker recently proposed a bill which will ban blacklisting, a practice in which landlords discriminate against residents who have complained about poor living conditions in previous rental homes. If passed, this bill will encourage residents to speak up against unjust living conditions, hopefully moving residents in complexes such as Garden Spires one step closer to the justice they rightfully deserve.

It is clear that time has changed the corner of Orange and First Streets in Newark significantly, and time will continue to shape both Academy Spires and Newark Academy for many years to come. But we are the ones who can take charge of what this change will look like. This coming year, as Human Rights Club and the Newark Academy community as a whole continue to raise awareness about and work to give back to Garden Spires, I encourage you all to get involved. After all, this location in Newark was once what many Newark Academy students called home.