VTMBH Article: Body
Just about everyone in New Jersey wants to fire state poet laureate Amiri Baraka, but nobody knows how.
Call it poetic license.
Last week Governor James McGreevey called for the resignation of Baraka, a 68-year-old poet, playwright and activist who gained fame in the 1960s as LeRoi Jones, after he recited a poem accusing Israel of having advance knowledge of the September 11th attacks. When Baraka refused to resign, and the governors office acknowledged that it lacked the authority to remove him from from the $5,000-a-year, two-year post, New Jersey officials were left scrambling for a way to push him out.
A spokesman for the New Jersey Council of the Arts said that is was in the hands of the body that nominated Barakathe nonprofit, non-state-affiliated New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
According to Gerald Stern, Barakas predecessor as poet laureate of New Jersey, the law creating the poet laureate of New Jersey was drafted without provisos for how to dismiss one. It never occurred to them that they might have to fire one, Stern, who served on the committee that recommended Baraka, told the Forward.
One thing I do know is that there is nothing in the legislation for us to remove him, said Jim Haba, who serves on the committee of the New Jersey Council of the Humanities, which recommended Baraka as poet laureate earlier this year. Theres nothing that we as a committee can do.
Thats not enough for the Anti-Defamation League, whose local director said the organization has spent years seeking the removal of individual officials who uttered racist or anti-Semitic remarks. Look, these situations dont resolve themselves within 48 hours, said Shai Goldstein, director of ADLs New Jersey office.
Goldstein has called for all officials connected with Barakas appointment to condemn him.
The poet laureate is supposed to speak the truth, not lies, Goldstein said. He may be an appropriate poet laureate for Al Qaeda.
The poem in question, Somebody Blew Up America, was published in Muslims, a Queens-based Pakistani weekly, on October 9, 2001long before Baraka was appointed last month as New Jerseys top bard. The poem was forgotten until Baraka recited it Sept. 20 at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in the village of Waterloo, N.J. A student in attendance wrote an account of the reading for the Jewish Standard newspaper.
When I heard him read the poem there were a lot of boos, instantly, Haba, the organizer of the festival told the Forward. When Baraka read the poem at a different gathering later in the day, he cut out the controversial lines.
The poem attacks the American power structure as well as condemning the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. On the issue of the Holocaust, Barakawhose first wife was Jewishwrites: Who put the Jews in ovens/and who helped them do it/Who said America First/ and okd the yellow stars.
But when addressing September 11th, Baraka writes: Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed/Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers/To stay home that day/Why did Sharon stay away? Baraka recycled the widely discredited Internet rumor that the Israeli government had warned its nationalsor, in other versions, Jews in generalto stay home from their jobs at the World Trade Center on September 11th. Most versions of the rumor do not suggest that Prime Minister Sharon had plans to be at the World Trade Center that day.
Aside from the governors office, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts also issued a statement condemning Barakas poem. We deeply regret the recent statements, literary or otherwise, of the remarkable poet Amiri Baraka regarding the tragedy of September 11th, said the Council in a prepared statement. His statements are too deeply hurtful and painful to too many New Jerseyans to be acceptable from the voice of its Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate post is an important vehicle by which to celebrate humanity, commemorate our lives, honor New Jersey and bring the magic and wonder of poetry to more people. We do not see how Mr. Baraka can effectively continue in that post.
Stern, the former poet laureate, was less measured in his response. We didnt ask to see his [credentials], said Stern, 76. If I would have known that [he had written Somebody Blew Up America] I would have said fk him!
Baraka did not return calls seeking comment, but told the Associated Press that I can criticize U.S. imperialism and Israeli imperialism, and I can take a position of support of the Palestinians right to self-determination without being slandered as an anti-Semite.
Call it poetic license.
Last week Governor James McGreevey called for the resignation of Baraka, a 68-year-old poet, playwright and activist who gained fame in the 1960s as LeRoi Jones, after he recited a poem accusing Israel of having advance knowledge of the September 11th attacks. When Baraka refused to resign, and the governors office acknowledged that it lacked the authority to remove him from from the $5,000-a-year, two-year post, New Jersey officials were left scrambling for a way to push him out.
A spokesman for the New Jersey Council of the Arts said that is was in the hands of the body that nominated Barakathe nonprofit, non-state-affiliated New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
According to Gerald Stern, Barakas predecessor as poet laureate of New Jersey, the law creating the poet laureate of New Jersey was drafted without provisos for how to dismiss one. It never occurred to them that they might have to fire one, Stern, who served on the committee that recommended Baraka, told the Forward.
One thing I do know is that there is nothing in the legislation for us to remove him, said Jim Haba, who serves on the committee of the New Jersey Council of the Humanities, which recommended Baraka as poet laureate earlier this year. Theres nothing that we as a committee can do.
Thats not enough for the Anti-Defamation League, whose local director said the organization has spent years seeking the removal of individual officials who uttered racist or anti-Semitic remarks. Look, these situations dont resolve themselves within 48 hours, said Shai Goldstein, director of ADLs New Jersey office.
Goldstein has called for all officials connected with Barakas appointment to condemn him.
The poet laureate is supposed to speak the truth, not lies, Goldstein said. He may be an appropriate poet laureate for Al Qaeda.
The poem in question, Somebody Blew Up America, was published in Muslims, a Queens-based Pakistani weekly, on October 9, 2001long before Baraka was appointed last month as New Jerseys top bard. The poem was forgotten until Baraka recited it Sept. 20 at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in the village of Waterloo, N.J. A student in attendance wrote an account of the reading for the Jewish Standard newspaper.
When I heard him read the poem there were a lot of boos, instantly, Haba, the organizer of the festival told the Forward. When Baraka read the poem at a different gathering later in the day, he cut out the controversial lines.
The poem attacks the American power structure as well as condemning the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. On the issue of the Holocaust, Barakawhose first wife was Jewishwrites: Who put the Jews in ovens/and who helped them do it/Who said America First/ and okd the yellow stars.
But when addressing September 11th, Baraka writes: Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed/Who told 4,000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers/To stay home that day/Why did Sharon stay away? Baraka recycled the widely discredited Internet rumor that the Israeli government had warned its nationalsor, in other versions, Jews in generalto stay home from their jobs at the World Trade Center on September 11th. Most versions of the rumor do not suggest that Prime Minister Sharon had plans to be at the World Trade Center that day.
Aside from the governors office, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts also issued a statement condemning Barakas poem. We deeply regret the recent statements, literary or otherwise, of the remarkable poet Amiri Baraka regarding the tragedy of September 11th, said the Council in a prepared statement. His statements are too deeply hurtful and painful to too many New Jerseyans to be acceptable from the voice of its Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate post is an important vehicle by which to celebrate humanity, commemorate our lives, honor New Jersey and bring the magic and wonder of poetry to more people. We do not see how Mr. Baraka can effectively continue in that post.
Stern, the former poet laureate, was less measured in his response. We didnt ask to see his [credentials], said Stern, 76. If I would have known that [he had written Somebody Blew Up America] I would have said fk him!
Baraka did not return calls seeking comment, but told the Associated Press that I can criticize U.S. imperialism and Israeli imperialism, and I can take a position of support of the Palestinians right to self-determination without being slandered as an anti-Semite.