Education was an overriding issue in the campaign, as it has increasingly become in communities across the nation. Baraka staunchly defended public education and received enthusiastic support and financing from the Newark Teachers Union. He also stressed his progressive roots, as the son of renowned poets, Amina and Amiri Baraka, a family that has lived in Newark for more than 70 years.
Further distinguishing his progressive background during the campaign, Baraka touted his 20 years as a community organizer, his stint as deputy mayor in 2002 and his 2010 election to the Newark Municipal Council, representing the South Ward. He has also served as principal of Newark’s Central High School and taught elementary school for 10 years.
Undaunted by opposition from Cami Anderson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s appointee as superintendent of Newark’s public schools, Baraka has been in the forefront of widespread community resistance to the state’s One Newark reorganization plan, which involves closing and consolidating some neighborhood schools to make space for more charter schools. While not categorically opposed to charter schools, Baraka rallies against what he sees as a top-down, profit-driven privatization of Newark’s schools. He is calling for more community input and, ultimately, a return of decision-making to local authorities.
As urban America faces a plethora of challenges stemming from worsening educational, income and economic inequality, a growing number of cities and mayors are fighting back with progressive policies that put people above profit, support living wages, and are designed to give more working families a real shot at the middle class. In addition to the new mayors of Newark and New York, Marty Walsh, a former union leader, is the newly-elected mayor of Boston. Also, Edward Murray, who became mayor of Seattle in January, has called for raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Like Murray, who describes his administration as “committed to progressive principles and practical solutions,” Ras Baraka and a new wave of progressive mayors are taking the lead for urban America as Washington continues to be mired in gridlock.
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