The nation's highest court today turned back controversial former New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka's challenge over the elimination of the position following his reading of a poem about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.No one is stopping Baraka from saying whatever comes to his mind. New Jersey taxpayers just don't have to provide a platform from which he can launch into whatever diatribe he wishes.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied certification of Baraka's suit that argued state officials violated his First Amendment rights when the position was eliminated four years ago after he read the poem "Somebody Blew Up America." Critics claimed it was anti-semetic, something the poet denies.
Baraka, reached by cell phone today in Venezuela, was outraged by the court's decision and said it was further evidence of a right-wing agenda in government.
"I'm a citizen. How can I not have a claim to First Amendment rights? I thought that was guaranteed by the Bill of Rights," said Baraka, who was at an international book fair. His lawyer, Robert Thomas Pickett of West Orange, said he planned to file a lawsuit in state court.
It's quite revealing that he responded to this from Venezuela - home to [T]hugo Chavez, who is busy taking away Venezuelans' freedom of speech in a very real and tangible fashion. He's shut down opposition radio and television stations, and his thugs roam the streets attacking peaceful demonstrators to coerce them into silence.
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