Baraka: A Dangerous Distraction

New Jersey Politics on Line ^ | January 2, 2003 | Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

[ZULU]

Baraka: A Dangerous Distraction

By Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

Controversial poet and political activist Amiri Baraka has every right to say what he believes. In Baraka’s poem “Somebody Blew Up America” regarding the September 11 attacks, Baraka asks the following rhetorical questions: “Who knew the World Trade Center was going to get bombed?” “Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers to stay home that day?” “Why did Sharon stay away?” Pretty sick stuff, huh?

More on the poem in a moment, but first some quick background. I have known Amiri Baraka and his work for many years. Like me he is a product of Newark-we come from different sides of town but still both from Newark. Growing up in Newark, particularly in the late 60s and 70s, it was impossible not to know Baraka. He was what some call a racial provocateur long before Al Sharpton was out of diapers. Baraka talked a lot about Black Nationalism and separating from whites. Both in his poems and his political rhetoric (often one and the same) he has been anti-government and anti-white. But like I said, Amiri Baraka has every right to say what he believes.

However, there is one catch. A while back Baraka was appointed by the New Jersey Council for Humanities and the Council on the Arts to be the state’s “Poet Laureate.” This is a government post paying Baraka a $10,000 stipend for him to perform a couple of public readings a year and promote poetry in the schools. Obviously, after Baraka’s inflammatory, insensitive and unsubstantiated charges that Jewish employees at the World Trade Center (as well as President Bush and other world leaders Baraka says are anti-Arab) knew about the September 11 attacks before they happened, lots of people reacted. Several Jewish leaders called for his immediate resignation as the state’s Poet Laureate. One argued that his poem was “patently inappropriate for children.” Governor Jim McGreevey jumped in saying that Baraka should resign. Numerous legislators did the same.

To date, Baraka remains the state’s Poet Laureate because state law doesn’t allow him to be removed by any elected official, including the governor. But the plot thickens. Back in Newark, the school board has now named Baraka the Poet Laureate of the Newark Public Schools. It was a unanimous vote. In addition, numerous political leaders in Newark, including Councilman Donald Bradley, hailed the school board’s decision saying this was a great opportunity to bring Baraka’s “expansive body of work” to the city’s beleaguered public schools through poetry workshops and readings.

Amiri Baraka is a very talented writer and poet who is considered one of the great poets of the 20th Century. Problem is the sick and terribly divisive things he has said in his poem “Somebody Blew Up America,” especially at a time when our country needs to be united, clearly disqualify him from holding any government post. Having a right to say anything you want as a poet is not the same as being able to say anything you want when you are getting paid with tax payer dollars. Consider what happened to Trent Lott after he made those asinine comments at Strom Thurman’s 100th birthday party. He had to resign his top post in the Senate. Interestingly, some of the same black political leaders and others who called for Trent Lott’s hide are demanding that Baraka be left alone.

Further, consider this hypothetical scenario. In New York City some white supremacist poet who writes that blacks are less patriotic than whites and sympathize with Osama Bin Laden gets named Poet Laureate for either the city or the city’s public schools. What would happen? You can bet that Al Sharpton and Congressman Charley Rangel as well as a host of others, both black and white, would demand that the poet not hold any government post, and they would be right. Is this not a double standard? If Trent Lott and the white supremacist poet should pay the price, so should Amiri Baraka, even though he has a right to his opinion.

Finally, while Baraka’s comments are clearly divisive, they are also a distraction. A distraction in a city where public school kids cannot afford to be distracted. Some say that Baraka can turn Newark kids on to poetry. Possibly. But given the media attention this case has rightfully garnered, my fear is that Baraka won’t be able to get past his commentary about certain whites, particularly Jews, having advanced knowledge of the Trade Center bombings. How is he going to explain that to kids? And how does a 16-year-old student make sense of all that? That’s not simply a controversial point of view, it is downright sick and an unacceptable part of any public school curriculum. Remember, we are talking a public school system in which a disgraceful percentage of kids fail the High School Proficiency Test. We’re talking a city where way too few high school kids go to college and way too many are lost to drugs and gang violence because their opportunities seem so limited.

Like I said, Amiri Baraka has a right to write or say anything he wants, but not while he is holding an official post in the government he has so long railed against and advocated the overthrow of.

Steve Adubato, Ph.D. is a four-time Emmy Award-winning anchor for Channel 13/WNET (PBS). He is also a political analyst for ABC/7 in New York and the author of the soon-to-be-published book Speak from the Heart: Be Yourself and Get Results (Simon & Schuster). Steve’s company, Stand & Deliver, provides training and executive coaching on communication and leadership issues for corporations and organizations. Check out Steve’s Web Site at www.stand-deliver.com or e-mail him at sadubato@aol.com.

[ZULU]

Steve Adubato is a left-wing DeoncRAT from urban New Jersey.

His defense of LeRoy Jones (a.k.a.)'s original appointment as New Jersey's "poet laureate" is indefensible.

LeRoy Jones is a pre-rapper black racist whose writings are obscene, racist, and ant-white. They always were and always will be. Mr. Jones (a.k.a. Baraka) is a black racist. Period.

[lady lawyer]

I didn't read this article as a defense.

[eclectic]

Amiri Baraka is a very talented writer and poet who is considered one of the great poets of the 20th Century.

Mind boggling. Talk about overstatement of the century. I won't know "Amiri Baraka" from a piece of excrement

[sheik yerbouty]

How are they different?

[Happy2BMe]

"Obviously, after Baraka’s inflammatory, insensitive and unsubstantiated charges that Jewish employees at the World Trade Center (as well as President Bush and other world leaders Baraka says are anti-Arab) knew about the September 11 attacks before they happened, lots of people reacted."

Why is an this man able to gain such political and media attention? Not even the governor is able to untrench him.

This goes far deeper than just anti-white and anti-Jew hatred.

If you note the two words "anti-Arab" above, this is the hidden agenda Baraka is really targeting here - and in doing so he seeks to further the Islamic cause.

Consider this:

Twenty-Year Plan for USA: Islam Targets America

2. Wage a war of words using black leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson and other visible religious personalities to promote Islam as the original African-American's religion while Christianity is for the whites! Strange enough, no one tells the African-Americans that it was the Arab Muslims who captured them and sold them as slaves, neither the fact that in Arabic the word for black and slave is the same, "Abed."

3. Engage the American public in dialogues, discussions, debates in colleges, universities, public libraries, radio, TV, churches and mosques on the virtues of Islam. Proclaim how it is historically another religion like Judaism and Christianity with the same monotheistic faith.

4. Nominate Muslim sympathizers to political office for favorable legislation to Islam and support potential sympathizers by block voting. 7. Yell, "foul, out-of-context, personal interpretation, hate crime, Zionist, un-American, inaccurate interpretation of the Quran" time Islam is criticized or the Quran is analyzed in the public arena.

8. Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam. Acquire government positions, get membership in local school boards. Train Muslims as medical doctors to dominate the medical field, research and pharmaceutical companies. Take over the computer industry. Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way.

10. Reading, writing, arithmetic and research through the American educational system, mosques and student centers (now 1500) should be sprinkled with dislike of Jews, evangelical Christians and democracy. There are 300 exclusively Muslim schools with loyalty to the Quran, not the U.S. Constitution.

12. Let the entire world know through propaganda, speeches, seminars, local and national media that terrorists have hijacked Islam, not the truth, which is Islam hijacked the terrorists.

16. Open numerous charities throughout the U.S. but use the funds to support Islamic terrorism with American dollars.

17. Raise interest in Islam on America's campuses by insisting that freshman take at least one course on Islam. Be sure that the writer is a bonafide American, Christian, scholarly and able to cover up the violence in the Quran and express the peaceful, spiritual and religious aspect only.

It goes on, but I think you may have caught the basis for what Islam is doing in America.

Baraka is playing the media and going down the 20-Year Plan almost precept-by-precept.

All at tax payer's expense, with complete immunity, and before the eyes of the entire world.

[ZULU]

Read it again.

[happygrl]

Both in his poems and his political rhetoric (often one and the same) he has been anti-government and anti-white. But like I said, Amiri Baraka has every right to say what he believes.

...However, there is one catch. A while back Baraka was appointed by the New Jersey Council for Humanities and the Council on the Arts to be the state’s “Poet Laureate.” This is a government post paying Baraka a $10,000 stipend for him to perform a couple of public readings a year and promote poetry in the schools.

...Amiri Baraka is a very talented writer and poet who is considered one of the great poets of the 20th Century. Problem is the sick and terribly divisive things he has said in his poem “Somebody Blew Up America,”... Having a right to say anything you want as a poet is not the same as being able to say anything you want when you are getting paid with tax payer dollars.

I agree with lady lawyer. The writer is merely pointing out that Baraka is 1) misusing his talents; and 2) doing it on the public dole. This is consistent with conservative thinking. He is not defending Baraka in any way.

As a fan of poetry, I have read some of LeRoi Jones/Baraka's work. I would agree that he is talented, but has put it to odious use. Saying that he is talented is not the same as defending him.

If the writer is in fact a liberal/leftist, his opposition to Baraka is all the more significant.

[ZULU]

“Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers to stay home that day?” “Why did Sharon stay away?” Pretty sick stuff, huh?"

Where was Mr. Abaduto when Baraka was spewing his anti-white hatred?? Like most Demcorats, he probably was not too concerned. Only when his rhetoric turned anti-Semitic was there a problem with him. McGreevey was well aware of this black racist's attitudes, as were most New Jerseyites.

"He was what some call a racial provocateur long before Al Sharpton was out of diapers. Baraka talked a lot about Black Nationalism and separating from whites. Both in his poems and his political rhetoric (often one and the same) he has been anti-government and anti-white. But like I said, Amiri Baraka has every right to say what he believes."


Baraka may be protected under the Constitution, but the same protection is not available to whites like Lott and Marge Shott - remember her?? Abaduto would be in the forefront of supporting penalties against them, because like liberal DemocRATs, he is a hypocrite.

"however, there is one catch. A while back Baraka was appointed by the New Jersey Council for Humanities and the Council on the Arts to be the state’s “Poet Laureate.” This is a government post paying Baraka a $10,000 stipend for him to perform a couple of public readings a year and promote poetry in the schools."

Why does Abaduto have a problem with this all of a sudden?? As a college freshmen at Red Rutgers, I and a church full of students were FORCED to listen to an exhaustive display of this vicious, racist's scatological descriptions of white folks and what he would like to do to them.

"obviously, after Baraka’s inflammatory, insensitive and unsubstantiated charges that Jewish employees at the World Trade Center (as well as President Bush and other world leaders Baraka says are anti-Arab) knew about the September 11 attacks before they happened, lots of people reacted. Several Jewish leaders called for his immediate resignation as the state’s Poet Laureate."


Where was the outrage when Baraka was spewing anti-White venom?? Was that O.K.???

"to date, Baraka remains the state’s Poet Laureate because state law doesn’t allow him to be removed by any elected official, including the governor."

??????? Well than, cut his pay to $0.50 per year.

"but the plot thickens. Back in Newark, the school board has now named Baraka the Poet Laureate of the Newark Public Schools. It was a unanimous vote. In addition, numerous political leaders in Newark, including Councilman Donald Bradley, hailed the school board’s decision saying this was a great opportunity to bring Baraka’s “expansive body of work” to the city’s beleaguered public schools through poetry workshops and readings."

This demonstrates the selective nature of anti-racist opinion among some members of the Black Community. Newark is mainly a black city.

"Amiri Baraka is a very talented writer and poet who is considered one of the great poets of the 20th Century."

By WHO???? Is dubato suddenly a poetic critic?? Adubato would probably have thought Hitler was a great painter.

"..the problem is the sick and terribly divisive things he has said in his poem “Somebody Blew Up America,” especially at a time when our country needs to be united, clearly disqualify him from holding any government post. Having a right to say anything you want as a poet is not the same as being able to say anything you want when you are getting paid with tax payer dollars."

Again - the selective outrage. Where was Abaduto when Baraka was intially appointed??? Didn't he have a problem with his anti-white racism, or was that O.K.???? Since he knew him so well from their common days back in Newark, he should have been well aware of this guy's racism from the start.

"consider what happened to Trent Lott after he made those asinine comments at Strom Thurman’s 100th birthday party. He had to resign his top post in the Senate. Interestingly, some of the same black political leaders and others who called for Trent Lott’s hide are demanding that Baraka be left alone."

Not surprising. Black racists have long maintained that only whites are capable of racism.


"Further, consider this hypothetical scenario. In New York City some white supremacist poet who writes that blacks are less patriotic than whites and sympathize with Osama Bin Laden gets named Poet Laureate for either the city or the city’s public schools."

Only in your lying dreams Abaduto and you know it. Whites are held to a different standard from other ethnic groups in this country. They are not allowed to express any sentiments of racial pride or even respond to racists of other ethnicities without being persecuted.

Its DemocRATs like Abaduto who originated the concept of "protected classes", which allow people like LeRoy Jones (a.k.a Baraka) receive praise for being a "poet".

"If Trent Lott and the white supremacist poet should pay the price, so should Amiri Baraka, even though he has a right to his opinion."

There is no comparison between the blatant, scatological venom and anti-white hate and rhetoric of Baraka and the poor choice of words employed by Trent Lott - NONE AT ALL - Adubato - a very poor, but typical craven white liberal analogy.

"...my fear is that Baraka won’t be able to get past his commentary about certain whites, particularly Jews, having advanced knowledge of the Trade Center bombings."

HUH???? Adubato is concerned that Baraka won't be able to get past something??? What kind of craven rhtetoric is that. Baraka is a blatant racist who has no business being endorsed by any politician and no business being paid by tax dollars - period. I don't give a rat's ass whether or not Baraka gets past anything and neither should Adubato if he had any testacles or self-dignity.


"How is he going to explain that to kids? And how does a 16-year-old student make sense of all that? That’s not simply a controversial point of view, it is downright sick and an unacceptable part of any public school curriculum. Remember, we are talking a public school system in which a disgraceful percentage of kids fail the High School Proficiency Test. We’re talking a city where way too few high school kids go to college and way too many are lost to drugs and gang violence because their opportunities seem so limited. "


NOTHING HERE CONDEMNING BARAKA STRAIGHT OUT FOR BEING A BLACK RACIST!!

"Like I said, Amiri Baraka has a right to write or say anything he wants, but not while he is holding an official post in the government he has so long railed against and advocated the overthrow of. "

And like I said, where was DemocRAT Abaduto when his buddy McGreevey first appointed a man whom he KNEW was an anti-white black racist to this position?? Nowhere. Not until Barak made the error of making some anti-Semitic statements.

"Steve Adubato, Ph.D. is a four-time Emmy Award-winning anchor for Channel 13/WNET (PBS). He is also a political analyst for ABC/7 in New York and the author of the soon-to-be-published book Speak from the Heart: Be Yourself and Get Results (Simon & Schuster). Steve’s company, Stand & Deliver, provides training and executive coaching on communication and leadership issues for corporations and organizations. Check out Steve’s Web Site at www.stand-deliver.com or e-mail him at sadubato@aol.com."

He's also a former Democratic member of the New Jersey State Legislature and the son of an Essex County Democratic Party Boss (Essex County has long been one of the nation's most politically corrupt, Democratically run Counties).

He attempts to pass himself off as kind of impartial commentator on any number of issues, but the liberal, DemocRATic bias is there for anyone intelligent enough to uncover it.


"As a fan of poetry, I have read some of LeRoi Jones/Baraka's work. I would agree that he is talented,.."

Have you seen any of Hitler's potcards??? I understand Stalin may have enjoyed sculpting. Praising Baraka's poetic talents is simply idiotic. And I HEARD Baraka personally. The only way I can adequately express my assessment of his "talents" is to employ the type of scatological terms with which he is so familiar, but which would be entirely unaccepted in a civilized forum like this one.

[happygrl]

I read this man's poetry years ago when he was LeRoi Jones. Nothing you'ver written here is persuading, mostly it's just hysterical.

[ZULU]

Maybe I have to draw you a picture, but I can't believe your that dense or ignorant.

Statements referring to inserting white males' heads in urinals, etc, would, to me, appear to be obscene, scatological and racist - not poetic. However, Mr. Jones appears to have an obsession with such visions.

Perhaps your reading of LeRoy Jones' literature was limited, or perhaps we hold different perspectives on these viewpoints of his.

I fail to note anything I posted as being "hysterical".
Mr. Jones is an anti-semitic, anti-American black racist.
That is not hysterical opinion - that is fact.

[happygrl]

Your original point was the the author was defending Baraka. My original point was that he was not. You attack him for what he (the author) did or did not do in the past, reading that into his piece of writing. I was originally pointing out that he was NOT defending Baraka in this piece. That is also a fact.