Notes on Brick City: Part 1 and 2
by Guest Contributor Kiana, originally posted at ProperTalks and Postourgie
Sundance’s Brick City is the only reality TV show worth watching this week. The street soldiers, sheroes and heroes of Newark New Jersey along with Mayor Cory Booker are all attempting to renew Newark’s urban landscape but they are up against the city’s infamous reputation, earned mostly with blood and corruption.
The spirit of Newark is rough but Brick City wins because it doesn’t romanticize or demonize Newark and its people. Comparisons to The Wire are inevitable but I think Brick City will appeal to the people who thought The Wire was too raw. The irony of that is laughable since The Wire was a drama and Brick City isn’t scripted, but the miniseries is a tamed version of David Simon’s masterpiece.
There is violence (a 10 year old is shot and killed in his neighborhood in part one), there is incredible pain, which leads to frustration, but there is also a sense of optimism that I rarely saw in The Wire.
The two clear standouts of Brick City are Mayor Booker and ex-Blood, Jayda, who is in love with an ex-Crip and pregnant with her second child.
Mayor Booker hammers over and over again his message that Newark leads the nation in crime reduction. We see him navigating two worlds, the ghettos and city hall, but he seems out of place in both settings even as he’s embraced almost everywhere he goes.
He usually dresses down, in gym clothes, when he rides around the more dilapidated sections of Newark, talking to teenagers and offering corner boys jobs. These street images of Booker are juxtaposed with scenes of him draped in suit and tie, delivering fiery speeches to a room full of police officers or local politicians and potential donors.
I think there should be more Mayor Bookers in the world but there is a part of me that is skeptical of the motives of any politician, though I wouldn’t go as far as Amiri Baraka and refer to Booker as a “white racist Negro.” I don’t want to negate the needed work Booker is doing in Newark but you’d be a fool to ignore how Brick City will set the mayor up for higher political ground whenever he’s ready. The show is simmering with potential campaign slogans. It will be interesting to see Newark’s future when Mayor Booker leaves someday. Only time will tell if the “bricks” he lays now will withstand the realities of the city.
Mayor Booker is the anchor of Brick City but Jayda and some of the other ex-gang members are the heart and substance of the show. I could watch a spinoff show featuring Jayda any day.
I’m touched by her struggle because I realize that my life could have easily been hers if my parents were bringing home a smaller check, if my parents didn’t have the time or will to parent, or if I decided to emulate some of the behavior of the girls I ate lunch with in high school.
I’m not nearly as tough as Jayda but I see her in so many of the young girls I work with today. They have tongues that can cut – sometimes they might just cut you – but they also have endless potential when they are focused and surrounded by wiser heads. The shows creators attempt to portray Jayda and her boyfriend Creep’s story as a ghetto Romeo and Juliet, but Jayda is so damn common it’s a wonder no one has thought to highlight a story like hers before.
These stories can be replicated in cities throughout America; if Sundance was smart they’d turn this into something bigger than Newark.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Sean wrote:
This looks like a good documentary to check out, thanks. (I say documentary because to me, the term Reality TV is too often an oxymoron)
From what I remember, watching the Street Fight documentary, I can’t help but think of the paralell between Corey Booker and Barack Obama: the former struggling to undo the legacy of Sharpe James. The other, George W. Bush.
Posted 12 Oct 2009 at 11:20 am ¶
Iggles wrote:
Wow, this is a great overview of the show/documentary. I really want to tune in. I’ve seen posters for it, but didn’t know what it was about. I assumed it was a new scripted drama! Way off…
Posted 12 Oct 2009 at 12:01 pm ¶
j wrote:
watched all 5 episodes over the weekend. AWESOME show. like the wire, doesn’t make black people out to be mindless gangbanging drug using etc.
Posted 12 Oct 2009 at 1:03 pm ¶
Cassie wrote:
If anyone out there has Comcast, you can find all the episodes (and some extra stuff, too) for free using On Demand.
Posted 12 Oct 2009 at 2:19 pm ¶
storm wrote:
I watched this documentary relunctantly at first, but I am happy that I invested the time to watch it; it was uplifting, sad, poignant, and an authentic look at the street and city hall.
Charismatic, dedicated, driven, Corey Booker, a gifted politician, has a great future in politics ahead of him. I enjoyed watching him patrol the streets of Newark and the halls of city hall, connecting with corner boys and bureaurcrats effortlessly.
Still, Jayda’s story was the most riveting part of the documentary. When Jayda was on the screen, I could not look away.
Posted 12 Oct 2009 at 2:22 pm ¶
LCrawfty wrote:
I really enjoyed watching the show, but one thing that stuck out to me was how Jayda does not participate in gang activity anymore but doesnt fail to still label herself as a Blood and socializes heavily with Bloods. Her actions seemed to be sort of contradicting her message to the 9 Strong Women project that gang members are not really your friends and you shouldnt hang around gang members, did anyone else have an issue with that?
Posted 12 Oct 2009 at 2:30 pm ¶
CParis wrote:
@ Cassie – thanks for the hedzup on Comcast OnDemand. Sundance Channel is not part of my cable package, so I assumed I wouldn’t be able to catch this – but a quick check confirmed it’s OnDemand for free!
Posted 13 Oct 2009 at 10:50 am ¶
Eric wrote:
Re: Cassie
THANK YOU! I saw this on Comcast the other day, and thought, “This looks interesting,” but didn’t give it a second thought. Now I know what I’m doing this weekend.
Posted 13 Oct 2009 at 11:01 am ¶
Brigitte wrote:
On a completely shallow note, Cory Booker is hot.
Posted 13 Oct 2009 at 12:26 pm ¶
ras wrote:
This looks really interesting. Hopefully I can find it On Demand.
My son just finished 2 years of preschool in the historic building poking up behind the black glass building in the right side of the picture.
Yes, I know the immediate downtown area is FAR different from the rest of Newark, and yes, I know Newark has a lot of real, seriously difficult issues to face. Sometimes though, I feel like the perception/reputation is just as difficult (if not more so) to overcome. People would get all shocked and concerned for our safety (Gosh, isn’t Newark REALLY dangerous?!?! Aren’t you SCARED?) when we talked about our son’s school. Sigh.
Posted 13 Oct 2009 at 1:01 pm ¶
Rina wrote:
I go to school in Newark and I am conflicted about the show’s message also. On one hand it does show a city in transition where it seems like many groups of people are organizing themselves to change things around because they are sick and tired of how things are. On the other hand it shows the same old tired stereotypes of Newark as being a crime filled city. There was a screening done in the city and I heard that a lot of people from Newark were upset that this aspect of the city was dwelt upon. Even in the first episode, I believe it is the scene where the 10 year old is shot, there is a man who starts yelling at the camera telling the cameraman and the crew to go somewhere else and find the good stories in the cities because they are out there.
Also I am sure Cory Booker will move on to bigger things but who cares? For right now he is in this city and he seems to be trying to change things for the better.
Newark is marred with decades of institutionalized racism and corruption that are not going to be fixed in just a few years.
Posted 14 Oct 2009 at 7:14 pm ¶
Tania wrote:
@ Rita
I think you should feel good about what outsiders, I’m from Texas, are seeing about Newark. I was there working about five years ago and was simply amazed and terrified but to see the changes that Booker is trying to implement is heart warming.
I think its unfair for people to classify him as an uncle tom or a white racist because he did what most of us want to do…get a great education and do something great with our lives that will make our parents proud.
I watched all the episodes back to back because I couldn’t tear myself away and I got the feeling that most of the people we saw are really doing this from the heart. I walked away questioning Bell and his city council motives and his inability to accept that the old school way just didn’t work.
Loved It…and really hoping Booker can turn Newark around.
Posted 22 Oct 2009 at 12:19 pm ¶