Photo Courtesy of Kevin McLaughlin, who directed, edited and produced a documentary about the 1967 riots in Newark.
Photo Courtesy of Kevin McLaughlin
McLaughlin, left, is interviewed by Seton Hall University professor Thomas Rondinella at a June 13 event on the campus.
SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Seton Hall University served as the gateway into a painful time in recent history as university alumnus Kevin McLaughlin presented a private screening of his documentary about the 1967 Newark Riots, “The Week that Changed the World,” on campus June 13.
McLaughlin is the film’s director, editor and producer. He spent five years working on the documentary, which chronicles the city of Newark and the ways in which it was affected by the rioting that took place there from July 12 to 17, 1967. “The Week that Changed the World” features interviews with numerous people who were present during the conflict, including first-responders, politicians and ordinary residents. Every mayor elected in Newark since the riots contributes commentary as well. Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher, a South Orange resident, narrates the film.
The event was held in the Jubilee Auditorium, and many attendees, who brought their families along, had actually been interviewed for the documentary.
The screening commenced with an introduction from Seton Hall professor Peter Savastano, who was also featured in the documentary. Savastano spoke about being born and raised in Newark, and attending the now defunct Essex Catholic High School.
“The events in the summer of 1967 had a profound effect on me as someone who was very involved in the civil rights movement,” Savastano said. “I was young and didn’t understand at the time what was going on. I just knew something very troubling and very sad was happening.
“It wasn’t until graduate school that I really began to understand,” Savastano continued. “From 1995 through 2002 I did field work on the riots, talking to residents and getting their oral histories.”
In the wake of recent demonstrations of civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, Md., Savastano advocated the documentary as a timely reminder that all lives matter, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
The documentary itself details the history of Newark prior to 1967, highlighting the economic hardships, lack of decent housing and consistent political disenfranchisement of the city’s black residents. The film addresses the fact that Newark was mainly divided by race, and further separated along ethnic lines, with Italian, Irish and black residents making up the largest segments of the population.
In addition to interviewing current residents, the documentary includes many historical clips of political figures from Newark’s complex political past, including former Mayor Hugh Joseph Addonizio and police Director Dominick Spina.
The documentary is in fact dedicated to McLaughlin’s father, Jim McLaughlin, a retired Newark Fire Department captain featured in the film, which includes interviews with several first responders present during those troubling five days in 1967.
A recurring theme throughout the documentary is that there were no deaths among the civilians or police until Gov. Richard Hughes called in reinforcements from the National Guard and the New Jersey State Troopers.
The film balances the differing opinions of those interviewed; some residents felt law enforcement was heavy-handed, while the police and firefighters who stood firm in their belief that they had done their job to the best of their ability.
The documentary also looks at the aftermath of the riots, which included a significant decrease in Newark’s population and a change in the racial makeup of the city. According to the film, between 1950 and 2000, Newark’s population decreased by 40 percent.
Perhaps no neighborhood in the city has reflected this more than Vailsburg, where filmmaker Kevin McLaughlin and Rahjta Ren, the film’s score composer and McLaughlin’s oldest friend, were raised.
The documentary also briefly highlights the tides of political change that took place in Newark with Kenneth Gibson being elected mayor in 1970 and becoming the first African-American mayor in any major Northeastern city.
Interviews with Newark mayors Gibson, Sharpe James, Cory Booker and Ras Baraka are all included in the film. Also featured are prominent figures from Newark’s movement for education and awareness in the aftermath of the riots, including Rutgers professor Clement Price and former Poet Laureate of New Jersey Amiri Baraka, the current mayor’s father.
A question-and-answer session followed the screening of the film, with Seton Hall professor Thomas Rondinella facilitating questions for McLaughlin.
“My inspiration was growing up in the shadows of the riots as a Newark resident,” McLaughlin told Rondinella. “This project took five years to complete and I discovered that nothing happens with just one phone call.”
The film’s crew also included a number of other SHU grads, including Dave Emmerling, Walter Shoenknecht and Bill McEvoy, who are all part of Midnight Media Group, a Millburn production company and one of the film’s benefactors.
McLaughlin has submitted the documentary to film festivals with the hope of having it shown to a wider audience. Visit www.weekthatchangedtheworld.com.