STILL STANDING

As told to Akintola Hanif| Images by Akintola Hanif

October 24, 2014

Al Tarik-Onque was born and raised in Baxter Terrace, a low-rise public housing project on Orange and Nesbitt Streets built in 1941 and demolished in 2009. He is Senior Aide to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and co-founder of Stop Shootin’ Inc., a city-based anti-violence organization.

You know what made me feel like I was part of a community at Baxter Terrace? I could go in a good ninety percent of people’s homes, sit on the couch, and go in the refrigerator. I’m talking about the whole community. It was that kind of love. When they announced plans to demolish it, people had a lot of questions. Why we gotta leave? Why can’t they just repair it? Why don’t I have a choice? What neighborhood am I going to? Who helps me with moving? I can’t afford to move...They were frustrated. But somehow the entity that handles this, the Newark Housing Authority, never knew how to tell them: “This is what happens, this is the truth.” It would come backward or watered down or half of the story.

They never told the people they were about to displace, we gonna move you to some fucked up neighborhoods. You think Baxter Terrace is bad? You might have to go to Stratford. You Crip? We gonna send you to Bradley Court. They all Blood up there. Anyone that was in good standing, all their bills paid, up to date, they would move first. People who had back rent, disputes, they had a hearing, eviction notices. You can imagine the scenarios. Some people were never actually placed. They just gave up.

When they had to leave and move to other communities, it was hard. In some form or fashion, all they knew was BT. They had to move to a neighborhood where they didn’t feel comfortable going to the corner store. Now you in someone else’s community, where you were once on the opposite side of the fence. People lost their paths. But guess what? You gotta plow a new one.

Once everyone was gone and they tore it down, do you know what it was like? Like having your color TV fade to black and white. Back in the day, you remember when you got your first color TV in the house? Everyone wanna come to your house. You’re the man! But then life goes on, stuff happens, eventually the TV ain’t working the same. You got a hanger on it, it lost a knob, so you gotta use pliers on it, you gotta hit it on the side to make it jump. That’s how the projects started to go bad. After the dope era, the streets took over the love, the drugs and the money took over that love. Then eventually BT was gone. It’s like you hit that TV one day, that motherfucker won’t come on. You just watched it go to black and white and die.

I miss BT, but I don’t miss it that much. It’s like a new me, the renaissance, the rebirth. I’m not just Baxter Terrace, I’m Newark. My path made me but I’m starting my new path right here. There’s something about BT, it molded us and helped us in every part of our life. It gave us character. We got that pride, like BT was the best projects ever! We that shit! You light up when you see BT people. We still got that family, that brotherhood, nobody can downplay or destroy that.