Stir It Up

Amiri Baraka

Posted December 19, 2007 by Jennifer Melick

Born in 1934 as Everett LeRoy Jones, the lifelong Newarker founded the Black Arts Movement in Harlem in the 1960s and gained fame for his Beat-influenced poetry and jazz criticism. His controversial political stances include the 2002 poem, “Somebody Blew Up America,” which claimed Israeli involvement in the 9/11 attacks and ended up costing him the title of New Jersey poet laureate.  Brilliant or infuriating, Baraka can’t be ignored.

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