Ras J. Baraka

Ras J. Baraka (2016)

Ras J. Baraka (born April 9, 1970 in Newark , New Jersey ) is an American politician who has been the mayor of his hometown since July 1, 2014.

life and career

Career start

Ras J. Baraka was born on April 9, 1970 as the son of the American poet, playwright, music critic, prose writer and activist Amiri Baraka and his wife Amina, herself an author, in Newark, the largest city in the US state of New Jersey . His family had lived in the city for decades at the time; His father, who died in 2014, was also born here in 1934. After attending only the Newark Public Schools , he began studying at Howard University in Washington, DC , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts major in Politics and History . He then completed his master 's degree in Education Supervision at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City , before he worked his way up in local politics in his hometown from the 1990s, while working as a teacher at the same time. At this time he also appeared frequently as an author. In 1992, for example, the book In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers was published, which he wrote with Kevin Powell , who was also from New Jersey . In 1998 Baraka worked as the narrator of various interludes on Lauryn Hill 's first solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill . At that time he was working on his entry into the council of Newark ( Municipal Council of Newark ) and was a teacher of eighth grade when he got a call from Hill to her home to South Orange to come. That year Baraka also released his debut Spoken Word CD Shorty for Mayor , which featured Grammy winner and friend Lauryn Hill in the single Hot Beverage in Winter . The CD was released worldwide; mainly because of that, he also appeared on Russell Simmons ' Def Poetry Jam on HBO .

Various political offices in the Newark City Council

In 2002 the previous member of the city council was elected to the office of deputy mayor behind Sharpe James , who had been mayor of Newark since 1986. In this position, he was still active as a teacher until 2005. That year he also published a collection of poems called Black Girls Learn Love Hard , in memory of his sister Shani Jones Baraka, who was killed in a violent crime in August 2003. Furthermore, since the introduction of this event in 2004, he took part in the national Political Hip-Hop Convention , which he had co-founded and of which he is chairman. His tenure included the establishment of the Newark Committee on Violence and the activity as the main organizer of the Newark Ceasefire Peace Initiative in 2004, when the Bloods and Crips agreed on a temporary ceasefire. In November 2005 he was elected to the post that became vacant after the death of Donald Kofi Tucker as a member of the municipal council ( At-large Member of the Municipal Council of Newark) and held this office from November 2, 2005 to July 1, 2006, before he was replaced by Mildred C. Crump , who was once (1994) the first African American woman to be elected to the city council. Crump is still in this position today (as of April 2016). Baraka then served as the director of the local Central High School from 2007 to 2013 , during which time he was elected as a member of the Municipal Council of Newark, responsible for the city's South Ward. In this position, in which he was responsible for the South Ward neighborhoods or boroughs of Weequahic , Clinton Hill , Dayton and South Broad Valley , he served from July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014 for a four-year term.

Elected 40th Mayor of Newark

Ras J. Baraka at a demonstration against the presidency of Donald Trump (2017)

The election campaign that Baraka carried out in May 2010 through the previous member of the city council, Oscar James II , was considered hotly contested, and the mayor and later Senator Cory Booker also offered it a platform. The election and, above all, the election campaign was even documented in the SundanceTV - reality TV series Brick City . Ras J. Baraka can also be seen in the film Street Fight , another documentary by director Marshall Curry about Cory Booker's election campaign for the office of Mayor of Newark. After he had run for mayor's office in 1994 at the age of 23 or 24, but had clearly lost the election on May 10, 1994 with 8.47% of the vote, he ran again for mayor 20 years later his hometown. After the elimination of candidates Anibal Ramos, Jr. and Darrin Sharif , the election campaign became a head-to-head duel with Shavar Jeffries , former Assistant Attorney General of New Jersey. In August 2013, other city officials such as Mildred C. Crump and Ronald C. Rice made their formal declaration of support for Baraka. Baraka's candidate list for town council at the time included John Sharpe James , son of the former mayor, Mildred C. Crump, Alturrick Kenney , Patrick Council and Joe McCallum . He also received a statement of support in December 2013 from the Communications Workers of America , a large union for communications workers, with around 2,000 members living in Newark and thousands more who work in Newark.

After receiving support from ex-Governor Richard Codey and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop in February 2014 and a statement of support from 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East , the largest US health care union , in March 2014 , it happened the crucial election phases. But not everyone was peacefully disposed to Baraka in the election for mayor, among other things, in February 2014 his official campaign bus was set on fire by two supporters of his direct opponent Shavar Jeffries. On May 13, 2014, Baraka was elected the new Mayor of Newark by 24,358 votes to 20,593, as he was officially sworn in on July 1, 2014, replacing Luis A. Quintana , who was mayor after the election of Cory Booker in took over the US Senate on an interim basis in October 2013. He took his oath of office before ex-Governor Richard Codey at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center for his four-year term . Shortly after his election victory, he convened a meeting with Cory Booker, followed by a meeting with the acting Governor Chris Christie and the County Executive of Essex County , Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. on May 28 gave Baraka gave his ex-mayor Kenneth A. Gibson , the first African American mayor in the northeastern United States , was announced to lead the transition team of 16 committees to serve until his inauguration on July 1. He then supported various people in the elections to the Newark Town Council, most of which also won the elections and got seats in the city council. He brought his brother Amiri "Middy" Baraka, Jr., into his team as Chief of Staff .

In 2015 he supported his party colleague, the Mexican-born Democrat Jesús "Chuy" García , in the election for Mayor of Chicago , where he was defeated by Rahm Emanuel and only finished second with 44.3% of the vote. In the course of his career so far, Baraka has repeatedly appeared artistically. For example, he has lectured several times at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival , the largest festival of its kind in North America ; In 2014 his book A Black Fire! , in memory of his father, who passed away that year. In addition to his father, his role models include Marion Barry , who was Mayor of Washington, DC from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999 and who also died in the same year as his father. Ras J. Baraka is married and has three daughters.

Web links

Official website of Ras J. Baraka (English)
Ras J. Baraka on the official website of the City of Newark (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Inside 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' , accessed April 20, 2016

↑ STATE OF NEW JERSEY v. IBN EL-AMIN PASHA , accessed April 20, 2016

↑ Black Girls Learn Love Hard on Amazon.com , accessed April 20, 2016

↑ Rap on Politics: First National Hip-Hop Convention Calls for Change , accessed April 20, 2016

↑ Crips, Bloods in Newark agree to a truce , accessed April 20, 2016

^ Newark residents vote in highly contested council elections in South, Central wards , accessed April 20, 2016

↑ coming january 30 - all new season of brick city ( memento of the original from December 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed April 20, 2016 @1@ 2