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Ras Baraka Bio
Growing up in Newark, NJ, Baraka says,
"What I write about I have witnessed. I always knew Black
Girls loved hard because they are triply oppressed because of
their gender, their nationality, and their class." As the
son of revered poet-activists Amina and Imamu Amiri Baraka,
activism and art have always been synonymous. "Poetry and
art is culture," says Baraka. "Art is activism. There
is no division for me with art and politics."
A graduate of Howard University, Baraka
received his degree in political science and history in 1991.
While a student he formed Black Nia F.O.R.C.E. (Freedom
Organization for Racial and Cultural Enlightenment) - a student
group at the forefront of campus political and social activism.
Baraka served as Assistant Youth Coordinator for the Commission
for Racial Justice, and traveled with G.E.T.B.U.S.Y. —a tour
of rappers and political activists who lectured at jails and
schools around the country.
In his junior year, Baraka successfully led
the 1989 historic student protest to remove Lee Atwater,
Chairman of the Republican National Committee, from the
university’s Board of Trustees. The following year, Baraka was
elected as Vice President of the Howard University Student
Government.
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Baraka ran for Newark's Mayoral position in 1994, garnering nine
percent of the vote—a significant task for the then 24 year old. In 1998, he
ran for Newark Councilman-at-Large and won the general election, but missed
in the run off election. In 2002, once again he ran for Councilman-at-Large
impressingly marshalling over 13,000 votes but again missing in the run-off.
His political leverage did not go unnoticed. On September 27, 2002, Ras was
sworn in to serve as Deputy Mayor for Newark Mayor, The Honorable Sharpe
James until October 31, 2005. On, November 2, Ras was voted by Newark’s
Municipal Council to serve out the remaining Councilman-at-large seat
vacated by the death of Councilman Donald K. Tucker.
photo
left: Ras Baraka and Barack Obama |
It is no surprise this vice principal of Weequahic High
School in Newark has been such an active participant in the politics and
culture of his native New Jersey.
As an artist, Baraka independently released his debut spoken word
CD, Shorty for Mayor, with the acclaimed single "Hot
Beverage in the Winter" featuring Grammy award winning
artist Lauryn Hill. Baraka also edited
In the Tradition with
Kevin Powell, and anthology of young Black poets and writers
(1991). He recently appeared on Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry on
HBO, and is currently working on his second book of essays and
poem.
more on RasBaraka
How Ras Baraka Beat Oscar S. James II for [South Ward
Councilman]—Wednesday, May 12, 2010—James was
defeated by Ras Baraka, the man that James replaced four years ago.
New Jersey
posted 3 March 2006
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City of Newark 2010 Inauguration—Part 7—Ras Baraka
Speech
On
Thursday, July 1, 2010, the City of Newark inaugurated
the Mayor and Municipal Council to new four-year terms.
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"American Poem" Ras
Baraka (Def Poetry) /
Lauryn Hill and Ras
Baraka—Hot Beverage In Winter
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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