Watch Newark: The Slow Road Back (1988) Online Free
Documentary on the past and future of Newark, New Jersey after the racial riots of 1967.
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This feature-length documentary offers a chilling look at the long-term effects of urban conflict on a city, its people, and its neighbors. More than just a dusty history lesson, this program brings viewers face-to-face with not only the racism and violence of the event, but the heartbreak that followed, and the ensuing determination of the people who refused to let the riot define or defeat them.
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Sing! Fight! Sing! Fight! From LeRoi to Amiri
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Brother François, a young Frenchman, will live a human adventure in the heart of an American Ghetto.
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The Many Saints of Newark
Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.
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Thug
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On the Cusp
Tommy Cuba, a renowned skateboarder from Newark, has competed in numerous tournaments and been profiled in top skating magazines. He is one of the founders of “Shorty’s Skate Park”, built by hand from scraps, which is a legendary hub for skating enthusiasts from all over the country. Despite a motherless childhood, Tommy owns a timeless joy for life and generosity of spirit that captivates all those around him. Yet, his deliberately insulated world cannot prepare him for the looming forces of change.
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After escaping the horrors of civil war in Liberia, Robert Wilmote arrives in Newark, New Jersey, determined to build a new life. But when his search for belonging leads him into gang life and ultimately prison, he is forced to confront the man he has become. Blending documentary with dramatic reenactments featuring Robert himself, Grind tells an inspiring true story of resilience, redemption, and the transformative power of purpose.
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Song of Armorica
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Fresh out of prison, Dane believes he has left his addiction and the demons of his past behind. But on his first day of freedom, mounting debts, fractured relationships, and the relentless pull of old habits force him into a desperate fight for survival. Exit Road is a tense and emotionally raw portrait of a man teetering between redemption and self-destruction.
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See how the Benedictine monks of Newark Abbey, in the heart of one of America's most dangerous cities, are able to achieve amazing success with the most vulnerable population: inner city African American and Latino teenage males. While Newark, NJ, with a high poverty rate of 32%, has an abysmal high school graduation rate, St. Benedict's Prep has a near 100% COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE rate. The film details how their "recipe for success" follows the 6th century Rule of Saint Benedict and how this rule can serve as a model for whole cities nationwide.
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"In this half-hour documentary, Producer Sandra King provides an intimate portrait of a public phenomenon: Graffiti. Over an 18 month period, King and her crew followed the teenage members of a graffiti 'crew,' Vandals on the Street, as they painted and rapped and moved through the streets of downtown Newark. What emerges is a unique glimpse behind the 'tags' at the kind of inner city kids who write on walls, but who also make art; who create out of wedlock children, but who also form binding relationships; who drop out of school and never read a book, but who create their own brand of poetry through the medium of 'rap.'
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Beginning as a city-symphony of Newark streets, buildings, and people set to wordless chanting, The New-Ark quickly arrives at its political imperatives: Black Power must be accomplished through nationalism, and "a nation is organization." The film focuses on black education, urban public theater, and political consciousness-raising inside and outside of Spirit House - director Amiri Baraka's Black nationalist community center.
1969