17 - Bushwhacked at Waterloo

 


 

Governor Jim McGreevey and the New Jersey Arts Elite attacked poet Amiri Baraka for a passage of a poem he read at the Dodge Poetry Festival in September.

McGreevey -- who is hardly a freedom of speech advocate and who earlier in the year tried to clamp down on information journalists might have access to (making New Jersey the most restrictive state for public information in the country) -- demanded Baraka's resignation as New Jersey Poet Laureate.

McGreevey has been deluged by pro-Israel groups to remove Baraka after Baraka questioned whether or not Israel knew of before hand of the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 and deliberately ordered its citizens to stay away from the buildings.

Although Governor has no power to remove Baraka -- and Baraka has refused to leave the post -- McGreevey could eliminate the position for which Baraka receives $10,000 per year.

Baraka's remarks came in the middle of a poem several hundred lines long, part of a questioning process as to who knew what about the attack. He is not the only one. Internet webpages have cropped up over the last several months noting other irregularities about the events of Sept. 11.

McGreevey's spokespeople blasted Baraka without any determination as to the accuracy of the information contained in the poem, or even if Baraka's had exercised poetic license.  McGreevey's office and officers from the state immediately put an anti-Semitic spin on the lines, although Baraka said he was questioning the Israeli government, not the Jewish people.

His lines run as follows: "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?

While no proof has been presented to verify Baraka's theory, Israeli intelligence agencies have with held information from the United States in the past, and, in fact, have spied on the United States.

McGreevey, unfortunately, may be under pressure from Congressman Steve Rothman, who is an active supporter of the Israeli government, as well as other strong political forces in the state.

Charles "Shai" Goldstein, of the Anti Defamation League labeled Baraka's remarks "a pernicious anti-Semitic lie."

Baraka offered no apology, claiming that the U.S. Government was well aware of the attack before it happened. Baraka believes the United States and others are seeking to use the attack as an excuse to crack down on unfriendly governments in the Middle East. Similar theories were raised after Pearl Harbor, suggesting that then President Roosevelt had allowed the military base to be attacked so as to win public support for America's entry into World War Two. The big difference here, however, is the anti-Jewish spin that has been used against Baraka.

Jane Braillove Rutkoff, executive director for the New Jersey Council for the Humanities -- a person that should be protecting Baraka's freedom of speech, also came out against him, calling his statements counter to the mission of the council. This, of course, leads us to wonder, what mission the council is on, it not to promote an artist's right to create.

McGreevey has not said whether his office would authorize an investigation into the questions raised by Baraka's poem, but from the tone of McGreevey's official statements -- it is not likely.


email to Al Sullivan

 

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