Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka (born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934) is an anti-Semitic, black nationalist poet. He was Poet Laureate of New Jersey from 2002 to 2004.

Baraka's poetry contains many anti-Semitic and anti-white rantings. There are also a lot of profanity, and it is laden with misspellings, bad punctuation, and improper diction. Overall, his poetry looks more like gangsta rap to some people.

Baraka was at the center of a controversy during his Poet Laureate tenure in 2003, over his poem "Somebody Blew Up America." In this poem, Baraka blames Israel under Ariel Sharon for the 9/11 attacks. He also maligns Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas, and Condoleezza Rice in this same poem. Then-governor Jim McGreevey criticized Baraka's poem, but refused to fire him. In 2004 however, Baraka resigned.