Connect with us

Featured

OP-ED: Ras Baraka Takes Oath of Office as Newark’s Mayor

Published

on

I was never moved by the singing of the national anthem until July 1 when Alana Smith, a very young woman, blasted into the mike outside Newark’s Performing Arts Center during the inauguration of Ras J. Baraka as the city’s new mayor.

Yes, I was moved to tears but tears of joy at the child and the swearing in of a young man I’ve known since he was a child, Ras J. Baraka, son of my recently departed friend of 47 years, poet Amiri Baraka and his beautiful wife, Amina.

After Ras was administered the oath of office, he proceeded with the inaugural address.

After giving the eulogy at his father’s funeral in January, we knew his speech would be powerful, for he is a poet in his own right, although he revealed he is as much a preacher as poet with his call and response cadences.

He began with the mantra of his campaign, “WE ARE MAYOR,” and went on to delineate the social economic issues facing the city of his birth.

Hetalked about economic disparity, educational inequities, violence and incarceration as issues he must address. Mayor Baraka repeatedly called upon God to help him and the people of Newark, but declared he was a fearless radical who will call a spade a spade.

He told how he was in his mother’s womb when Martin Luther King Jr. dropped by their house. He was three years old when the Newark rebellion took place. His father was beaten bloody and mother terrorized.

This was his socialization, his rites of passage into the political world of Newark – and America. His mother, poet Amina Baraka, grandmother and three daughters sat behind him on stage, along with former elected officials, including Gov. Richard J. Codey, New York Mayor David Dinkins and Newark Mayor Sharp James.

Radicals present included poets Sonia Sanchez, Haki Madhubuti, Marvin X, Dr. Tony Montiero of Temple University, Philadelphia, Pam Africa of the Committee to Save Mumia Abu Jamal, New York senior Black producer Woody King and Baba Zayid of the New Black Panther Party.

The following notes from the mayor were printed in the official inaugural program:

“Today, we take our oaths of office and our greatest duty will be to serve each and every one of you with professionalism, efficiency and effectiveness. We are committed to listening and leading, to answering and acting and to be compassionate and caring.

“We seek a Newark of safe streets, strong schools, a clean environment and abundant prosperity. We are proud of how our city stands at the center of our regional economy, a focus for development and increasingly, a destination for entertainment and the arts.

“We have families to support, children to teach, homes to build, neighborhoods to strengthen and jobs to create. Together we will do so.”

So, on a hot day in Newark, the child of radical parents took the reins of power. In an act of political self-diminishment and people’s empowerment, he said repeatedly, “We are the Mayor!”

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of March 12 – 18, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 12 – 18, 2025

Published

on

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Continue Reading

#NNPA BlackPress

Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

on

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

Continue Reading

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

Published

on

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

#NNPA BlackPress2 weeks ago

Target Takes a Hit: $12.4 Billion Wiped Out as Boycotts Grow

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).
Activism4 weeks ago

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series

Oakland City Hall. File photo.
Alameda County4 weeks ago

After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7

Blair Underwood (left) and Barbara Lee (right). Courtesy photo.
Activism4 weeks ago

Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative

Albert L. Brooks MD. Courtesy photo.
Activism1 month ago

OP-ED: Like Physicians, U.S. Health Institutions Must ‘First, Do No Harm’

iStock.
Activism4 weeks ago

Lawsuit Accuses UC Schools of Giving Preference to Black and Hispanic Students

Activism1 month ago

Oakland Post: Week of January 29 – February 4, 2025

#NNPA BlackPress1 month ago

PRESS ROOM: Top Climate Organizations React to Trump’s Executive Orders Attacking Health, Environment, Climate and Clean Energy Jobs

Rep. Barbara Lee. File photo.
Activism1 month ago

Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee Reflects on Her Career as She Bids Farewell to Congress

#NNPA BlackPress1 month ago

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2025 We Proclaim It

Barbara Lee. Courtesy photo.
Alameda County4 weeks ago

Lee Releases Strong Statement on Integrity and Ethics in Government

Ricki Stevenson, Blacks in Paris. Courtesy photo.
Activism4 weeks ago

Retired Bay Area Journalist Finds Success in Paris with Black History Tours

Activism1 month ago

Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025

Day laborer zone sites are scattered across several streets in East Oakland, California. The sites allow workers to find temporary jobs in skilled labor such as construction, landscaping, and agriculture. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.
Activism2 weeks ago

Undocumented Workers Are Struggling to Feed Themselves. Slashed Budgets and New Immigration Policies Bring Fresh Challenges

Activism4 weeks ago

Oakland Post: Week of February 12 – 18, 2025

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.