Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s new campaign ad, “American Poem,” is a thunderous declaration of identity—a working-class, Black American manifesto that doesn’t just promote his candidacy but implicitly questions the authenticity of his rivals.
Against the backdrop of a state where housing costs are crushing families, Baraka’s message is clear: Who truly understands the struggle of New Jersey’s forgotten?
The ad’s opening line—“Are there any American poets in here?”—is a direct challenge to former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, the Jamaican-born teachers’ union president whose campaign has been buoyed by a staggering $35 million super PAC funded by the New Jersey Education Association…