Lisa Durden | |
---|---|
Born | 1963or1964(age 59–60) [1] Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Seton Hall University |
Occupation | Media commentator • producer |
Lisa Durden is a media commentator and producer. Durden was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in journalism. [2] She has provided commentary on The Kelly File and other television programs on subjects including racism, [3] Black Lives Matter, [4] [5] and celebrity culture. [6]
Durden hosted a talk show, The Lisa Durden Show, that aired on Newark and Manhattan public access cable channels. [2] [7] She was the associate producer for the documentary Brick City , [8] and producer of the documentary Soul Food Junkies , which won the 2012 Grand Jury Prize of Best Documentary at the American Black Film Festival. [9]
On June 6, 2017, Durden appeared on Fox News in an interview with Tucker Carlson, discussing a Black Lives Matter chapter that held a Memorial Day event exclusively for black people. Durden defended the chapter's actions, saying "Boo-hoo-hoo... You white people are angry because you couldn’t use your ‘white privilege’ card to get invited to the Black Lives Matter’s all-black Memorial Day celebration." Carlson responded by calling Durden "hostile and separatist and crazy" and "demented". [10] Two days later, Durden was suspended from her position of adjunct professor at Essex County College in Newark. Two weeks later, she was fired. [10] [11] Durden described the experience as being "publicly lynched". [10] [12]
College president Anthony Munroe said the firing was in response to the college being "inundated" with concerns and fears expressed by students, faculty, and prospective students following Durden's remarks on television. [13] Subsequently, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sued the college for records about these complaints, and found that the college had received only one complaint before Durden was fired. [14]
In 2017, Durden was the running mate of Seth Kaper-Dale, who was running for New Jersey Governor on the Green Party ticket. [1] [15] [16] Kaper-Dale and Durdan received 0.47% of the votes. [17] [ citation needed ]
Newark is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the seat of Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 311,549. The Population Estimates Program calculated a population of 305,344 for 2022, making it the 66th-most populous municipality in the nation.
Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 25,684, an increase of 1,817 (+7.6%) from the 2010 census count of 23,867, which in turn reflected a decline of one person from the 23,868 counted in the 2000 census.
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Weequahic High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Weequahic section of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school is operated by the Newark Public Schools and is located at 279 Chancellor Avenue. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1935.
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Ras Jua Baraka is an American educator, author, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Baraka is the 40th and current mayor of Newark, New Jersey. First elected in the 2014 election, he was sworn into office on May 13, 2014, and was reelected in 2018 and 2022.
Caren Zeldie Turner is a former United States Democratic lobbyist and formerly served as one of several unpaid commissioners for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. She resigned from her position in 2018 after a video showed her berating and attempting to influence police officers at a traffic stop and announcing she was a "friend of the mayor."
The 2014 Newark mayoral election took place in Newark, the most populous city in New Jersey, on May 13, 2014. The race was characterized as a contest between two candidates, Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries, both from Newark's South Ward. Elections for all seats on the nine member Municipal Council of Newark also took place. Luis A. Quintana, who had become Mayor of Newark following the resignation of Cory Booker, did not seek the seat.
The 2017 New Jersey gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2017, to elect a new governor of New Jersey. Incumbent Republican Governor Chris Christie was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term.
April Danielle Ryan is an American reporter, author, and White House Correspondent for The Grio. In 2023 Ryan joined MSNBC as a political contributor.
Clement Alexander Price was an American historian. As the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History at Rutgers University-Newark, Price brought his study of the past to bear on contemporary social issues in his adopted hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and across the nation. He was the founding director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers; the vice chair of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the chair of Obama's transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities; a member of the Scholarly Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; and a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He is the namesake of the jazz club Clement's Place.
Following the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020, protests erupted around the nation and world. Dozens of protests, several involving thousands of protesters have been held in New Jersey. Unlike in other areas of the country, protests have been mainly peaceful. This is attributed to relatively good community-police relations, memories of the race riots of 1967, and activist leadership maintaining focus on systemic racism. After protests in Trenton and Atlantic City grew violent on May 31, curfews were set for the first time. Residents of Atlantic City helped clean up damage after the protests turned destructive.
A statue of Christopher Columbus was a memorial in Washington Park in Newark, New Jersey, within the James Street Commons Historic District. It was made in Rome by Giuseppe Ciochetti and presented to the city by Newark's Italians in 1927. The statue was removed by the city in June 2020 to prevent its toppling in a Black Lives Matter protest.
A bronze statue of George Floyd (1973–2020), an African-American man who was murdered by police in Minneapolis, was completed by Stanley Watts and unveiled in 2021. It is situated outside Newark, New Jersey's City Hall in Government Center.