Baraka Comes out Swinging, Defends Harris Against GOP ‘DEI’ Smears
SOMERVILLE – Newark Mayor Ras Baraka tonight fought back against Republican attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, denouncing as racist the chorus of “DEI hire” complaints issued by the backers of former President Donald Trump, their nominee for president this year.
From The Hill this week, by way of context:
“Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called Harris a ‘DEI hire.’ Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) similarly told local media that Democrats will elevate her to replace Biden as their nominee because they ‘feel they have to stick with her because of her ethnic background.’”
Following President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday not to seek reelection, Vice President Harris stepped up to run for the presidency on the Democratic ticket.
Baraka is himself a candidate for higher office, pursuing the governorship in 2025.
He sees a connection between his candidacy and that of his party ally Harris.
“I’m listening to people call Kamala Harris the DEI [diversity, equality, inclusion] president and it’s really seriously racist and disheartening,” the Newark mayor told a house party of Somerset African American business owners at a downtown event hosted by Somerset County Commissioner Director Shanel Robinson and the Somerset Business Hub.
Baraka noted Harris’ credentials, including prosecutor, attorney general, U.S. Senator, and vice president.
“But she’s apparently still not qualified to these folks,” he said. “I don’t know what she has to do except be a white man. We can’t allow these tropes to continue without addressing it. I love that people are going to her aid. I saw [actor] Jennifer Aniston responding, for example, to the attacks made because she doesn’t have children. We have to make sure we protect, speak out, erase all the negativity people are trying to put out there.
“We have to make sure she wins,” Baraka added. “My election next year is an extension of this election. The things we are fighting for are similar to the things if not the same as our vice president. If she can’t win, it makes it difficult for us. The same tropes they use on her, they will try to use on me.”
The mayor this evening also took time to expound on his campaign’s priorities, including educational opportunity for all, quality healthcare for all (“African American women are seven times more likely to die giving birth,” he said), higher educational opportunity for all, and policies that hit head on wealth gap inequality. “We want to live in a state where inequality is being challenged, and where we open access to economy and democracy [for all populations living in poverty],” Baraka said in this, the kickoff event of what he calls “Rollin’ with Ras Block Party Tour 2024.” The tour, according to the campaign, “will tear down our artificial borders, cross cities, suburbs, zip codes and school districts, a grassroots tour that will see [the candidate] visiting every county in the State of New Jersey.” Baraka was well received in Somerville, as Commissioner Robinson hailed countywide efforts to unleash greater economic vitality through incubators that support Black business leaders.
A person is counted eligible because of the work they have done ” the messy nay sayers will spew out nasty things because what’s in them will come out there is nothing else there to come out and so it reveals who they are and what they can only bring to the table recycled mess ,
The unfortunate reality centers around the undemocratic process of not having a Democrat primary. An insult to all voters regardless of color, gender and anything else. The DNC choose the nominee, not the people. RFK JR was not even given an opportunity to run as a democrat and therefore is running as an independent. Refused Secret Service protection and censored for his “misinformation.” A made up word.
Polls show Kennedy has a fighting chance to win the election.
Note: New Jersey is the sixth most segregated school system in the nation. Deserving students are locked in failing schools because of a zip code. This is not something new, this has been going on for years. And only some schools are Best In The Nation.
The existential threat to democracy is a population that does not know how to read. You must learn to read so that you can read to learn.
RFK JR may change the trajectory for, We the People.
The comments and sentiments of Republican Congressman Burchett and Grothman, and the millions of Americans who also hold these racist views are the principal reason why there is so much division in America. These mid-guided people are still fighting the Civil War. Make no mistake that the Civil War was inevitable, given the ‘3/5ths Compromise in our Original Constitution that counted African American SLAVES as three-fifths of a person so that Congressional Districts in the South with large Plantations with large numbers of slaves would have disproportionately greater representation in Congress, so as to maintain its legal, evil grip on Slavery. These are the same bastards who were Democrats before and after the Civil War, who’s descendants eventually became Republicans after increasingly larger numbers of Black Republicans began voting for Democrats , starting with FDR. These people are guided by fear and hate, and not by “…our better Angels” as our greatest President, Abraham Lincoln exhorted us all to be guided by. These haters in our historic past and of our present, judge people by the color of their skin, rather than the “content of their character, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King so eloquently dated in his I have a Dream Masterpiece. You anti-Woke IDIOTS with your don’t tread on me flags that you first began displaying in this century when a Black Man, Barrack Obama was elected President, because you were blinded by your irrational and evil hatred of this man SIMPLY BECAUSE OF HIS SKIN COLOR. May the Good Lord Almighty help you see the error of your ways.
The GOP, and Trump have no policies to run on. All the know is how to be bullies.
Sorry WNY Voter. It’s obvious that you failed U.S. History in high school. Democrats were the bigotted slave owners. They started the Civil War because the Northern Republican states wanted to abolish slavery. The Democrats caused the deaths of 600,000 Americans in the bloodiest war we ever had. A Democrat assassinated Abraham Lincoln for his freeing of the slaves. Democrats attempted to block the 1866 & 1871 Civil Rights Acts (13th & 14th Amendments). Republicans shamed some of them into voting for it. Democrats formed the KKK when the Civil Rights Acts were passed. Democrat President Woodrow Wilson was a KKK supporter and rabidly racist. Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) wouldn’t allow blacks to fly fighter planes during WWII, until his wife stepped in and we got the Tuskeegee Airmen. Democrats attempted to block the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Tremendous pressure was put on Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) to sign the laws. LBJ resigned from his campaign for second term because he was not well liked for this.
Democrat Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden promised the blacks everything for their vote and once they were voted in as President, completely ignored the black and hispanic communities–AGAIN!!!!! They promoted racist division in this country, and have brought the country to the edge of the precipice for everyone because of their anti-white, DEI, LGBTQ radical agendas.
So, WNY Voter, before you go off on one of your “useful idiot” rants without facts, go back and learn U.S. History, especially how the Democrats-Marxists-Communists have brought this country to its knees.
Truscha Quatrone, you have no clue and should be removed from the comment list for making insane, uneducated statements. The GOP and Trump are the only party and candidate that have policies to run on. Kamala Harris, not even nominated yet, is the failed “Border Czar” that allowed 10-15 MILLION illegal aliens into this country that have murdered, raped and assaulted Americans, killed over 100,000 Americans/year with Communist Chinese fentanyl pouring across the border, and allowed terrorists into this country.
Harris wants to eliminate private health insurance for failed government health insurance. She wants to tax corporations and the wealthy at 90% levels. She told Israeli President Netanyahu that the Israelis started the war with Gaza (actually Hamas) and she won’t support Israel (our only ally in the Middle East). Harris wants to defund the police, allow felons and illegal aliens (criminals) to vote, and she wants to abolish ICE (border patrol). This is not presidential material. This is tyrant material.
Democrats want everyone to forget how good Trump’s 4 years were-lower prices on everything, being the powerhouse on exporting energy, no wars, real peace in the Middle East, the Abraham accords, really being an ally to Isreal, a secure border, with Mexican sharing in its security, members of NATO pitching their fair share, speeding up emergency use of vaccines for Covid, dispatching the Mercy hospital ship for treating COVID patients (which was ignored by Cuomo and Murphy) and having police fully funded. There is only one way to have that back and everyone knows that, whether they say so or not.
“Thomas Jefferson,” if you only knew how ignorant you really are about my history credentials and published works. Your other shoe has dropped.
The 13th and 14th Amendments were actually ratified in 1865 and 1868, respectively. Your comment about FDR not allowing Blacks to fly fighter planes ‘during WWII until his wife stepped in and we got the Tuskegee Airmen” is false. The Army Air Corps (of which FDR was Commander in Chief) announced in September, 1940, creation of training for Black pilots to be held at Tuskegee Army Airfield.
LBJ announced early in 1968 that he would not seek re-election. This was not because of backlash for the two monumental Civil Rights and Voting Tights bills he guided through Congress and signed into law with broad, bipartisan support; it was because he faced an increasing political insurgency from the left flank of his own, Democratic Party over his involvement with, and handling of the Vietnam War. He actually won the New Hampshire Primary, but because Senator Eugene McCarthy, a strong, anti-war proponent finished a strong second, with over 40% of the vote, LBJ Decided to to run again.
While your last two paragraphs are pure right-wing speculation, you actually are correct elsewhere.
It is you who needs to go back to school and re-learn how to comprehend what you read. My original comment made it quite clear that the Democratic and Republican Parties from the antebellum Period through today have both experienced significant change and realignment. Your CURRENT Republican Party is sadly not the same Party in thought and deed who so strongly identified with the aspirations of Lincoln in the 1860’s;My CURRENT Democratic Party is thankfully not the same party in thought and deed that wrongly vilified Lincoln in the 1860’s.
Baraka is not going to let a bunch of right wing yahoos insult a highly competent woman who has earned the right to run against the felon
Hey TJ, you forgot one little point in your history lesson. You are correct that the Southern Democrats were promoters of slavery and against the civil rights acts. However, you failed to mention how they all became Republicans once the Democrats took on the civil rights mantle. That’s why the south is now so Republican.
I am not a historian. But there seems to be a tremendous amount of talk today about George Washington not running for another term and making comparisons to Biden’s decision to drop out. George Washington’s Farewell Speech is a worthy read , for he feared a two party system could destroy our Republic.
Today, more than two parties are running for President.
Kennedy is the Remedy.
Vote independent. Vote RFK JR
Mayor Baraka stands with the weak and disenfranchised. So will Kamala.
This was hosted by a consulting company and law firm not Commissioner Director Robinson
It is a rare opportunity to be enlightened by this man and hear him speak so highly of a very qualified person. Our current Vice President, Kamala Harris has checked all the benchmarks with grace & stellar success. Although, Newark, NJ Mayor, Ras J. Baraka is an accomplished leader in New Jersey’s political spectrum, he is without question, brilliant in his delivery of VP Harris. His astuteness and direct engagement is valued by many in numerous communities around the globe. Therefore, society should listen and in November 2024, there should be lines at the voting polls to vote for Kamala Harris as our next U.S. President. Lastly, I am looking for a voting effort around the nation that equates to the long lines of 2008/2012, when former President Barack Obama ran for the U.S. Presidency.
Hey, WNY, the 13 & 14th Amendments were part of the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1871. Read it again. Title 42 USC 1983 constitutes the Civil Rights Act of 1866 & 1871 (and the 14th Amendment). Dig deeper. As for the Tuskeegee Airmen, look up who initiated it–with the Army Air Corps. FDRs wife was the prime mover behind the scenes. Your comments are misplaced history. The antebellum period involved “Reconstruction”. Southern Democrats did not want to support President Ulysses S. Grant’s and the Republican Congress’s “Reconstruction Act” and told the Republicans if they want “Reconstruction”, Democrats wanted their slaves and plantations back. Read the ‘Complete Personal Memoirs of General Ulysses S. Grant” by Mark Twain. He describes the time period where Grant was forced to send Union troops into the South to quell the Southern Democrats rebellion, in concert with their newly minted KKK.
The Republican Party is pretty much the way it was back after the Civil War. The Democrats have not changed. They think all blacks (hispanics, and even whites) all belong “down on the plantation”.
BB: You’re comments on history are ignorant and ridiculous. You stated: “You are correct that the Southern Democrats were promoters of slavery and against the civil rights acts. However, you failed to mention how they all became Republicans once the Democrats took on the civil rights mantle. That’s why the south is now so Republican.”
The Southern Democrats never changed. The entire North were the abolitionist Republicans. The Republicans have never changed. The Democrats never took on the “Civil Rights” mantle. They were still recently obstructing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. No, the Democrats never changed. They are still the wolves in sheep’s clothing. You either failed High School U.S. History I and II, or you are more of a mental defective like Joe Biden.