Published May 11, 2025
Once again, I’m letting someone else deliver the mail today. I’m too broken to do it.
It has occurred to me that y’all might not know who Mayor Ras Baraka is. So I’m going to take a moment out of grading to do my duty as a Jersey girl and teach you a thing. Mayor Baraka is the 40th mayor of the Newark, NJ, the city that will forever be Jersey’s heartbeat.
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Settle in. I have Nicole’s permission to post this thread.
Let’s get on with it.
He is the son of two powerhouse poets, community organizers, activists, and change makers, Amina Baraka and Amiri Baraka, both members of the Black Arts Movement of the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. Amiri Baraka is often considered the founder of the Black Arts Movement.
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Amiri opened Black Arts Repertory Theatre School in 1965 in Harlem. You can learn more about Amiri Baraka at www.blackpast.org/african-amer…
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
You can read one of Amiri Baraka’s poems at www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52777/…
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
And possibly my favorite poem at youtu.be/KUEu-pG1HWw?…
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Amina Baraka you can learn about at www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/amina-…
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Now Mayor Baraka was raised in Newark by these two revolutionary artists. He attended University High in Newark, he got a BA from Howard and an MEd from St. Peter’s in Jersey City and he served as principal of Central High in Newark for six years. Mayor Baraka reps Brick City and he bleeds Jersey.
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
And the people of Newark? They ride for him. He’s been reelected twice since he became mayor in 2014. They know he loves the community. He was featured on “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” for the love of the gods. You don’t get more cool, hip, and Jersey than that.
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Except you do, because this mayor also writes poetry, just like his parents. You can watch him read “God Must Be a Black Woman” at www.facebook.com/watch/?v=713…
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
So. When I say that arresting Mayor Ras Baraka, who is currently running for governor of New Jersey, is an insult to every person in New Jersey, every person in Newark, and every Black person, every poet, and every leftist in America, I stand by those words.
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
It is now New Jersey vs. Everybody. And Jersey doesn’t lose. May the gods have mercy on the souls of those who chose to arrest Mayor Baraka today–because Newark sure as hell won’t.
— Nicole Rizzuto (@fluentisona.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Thank you, Nicole.
♥
Thank you
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Map by SevenMaps via Shutterstock.
Note: I promised Nicole I wouldn’t change anything, and I was careful to use a generic image with this story. At the risk of stating an opinion, though, I have to think that if Ras Baraka was from as accomplished a family as he is but white instead of Black, I’d have had no trouble finding a photo of one of them with my Shutterstock account.