The War Is Here: Newark 1967 by Bud Lee

An important look at 1960s civil unrest in America which, sadly, is easy to recognise in today's society too

- Amy Davies

£35, ZE Books, hardcover, 192 pages, ISBN: 9781736309360

In July 1967 the arrest, beating and imprisonment of cab driver John Smith by the local police in the city of Newark, New Jersey, led to a series of riots, protests and retaliation. Spanning five days, 26 people were killed by police gunfire and hundreds more were injured. Thousands were arrested, while property damage exceeded millions of dollars.

This book by Bud Lee captures it all. Working for the notoriously brilliant Life magazine at the time, Lee spent several days in Newark capturing its transformation from an ordinary city albeit one which was seemingly primed for something like this to happen to an all-out urban war zone manifesting 1 frustrations with corrupt local governments and the viciousness of the authorities.

Most of the images in the book were unpublished until now, and many of them are unsettling. They show a sense of fear, of corruption, of a misuse of power and strong racial discrimination that modern audiences will almost certainly want to turn away from in disgust. But that’s exactly why you should look at them.

In these pictures we see the locals – mostly African American – attempting to maintain some semblance of normal life while their homes and businesses are burnt down and the state police patrol the streets, leaving them living in constant fear.

Bud Lee was still a novice when he took these images. He was shooting a portrait of a Wall Street stockbroker when he received a call telling him to stop and immediately get to Newark to capture the civil uprising. He had no idea of the impact those awful few days would have, and continue to have today.