Bank, all those years that we gave it free. Legendary they write and poet amiri baraka has died at the age of 79. Just like Martin Luther king told me the week before he died in my house, he said what we must have is a united front. Will spend the hour looking at the life and legacy of amiri baraka. Poet sonyajoined by sanchez, philippe a lily larry hamm, and more. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. President obama met with privacy advocates at the white house thursday as part of his ongoing surveillance reform. Groups included the American Civil Liberties union and the Electronic Privacy Center aesented the president with number of demands. A White House Panel last month issued a similar call among several others to reign in the widespread spying exposed by Edward Snowden. At the white house, jay carney said a bomb he would unveil his policy changes in the coming weeks. He is still soliciting input, which he did today, reviewing the scope of the matter and some of the ideas presented in the review group report which was released publicly. Obviously close to the end of this review in the sense that he will be giving remarks about his conclusions and the steps forward he wants to take within beforet couple of weeks, january 28. A European Parliament committee has invited Edward Snowden to testify as part of its ongoing probe into u. S. Spying. The move by the parliaments of justice defies calls from the u. S. Government to prevent snowdens appearance. He will testify by video link from russia where he has been granted temporary asylum. Declared aia has state of emergencncy in nine counties over a Chemical Spill in the elk river. 300,000 people have been ordered to avoid tap water after the Company Freedom industries leaked a foaming agent use for extracting coal. The announcement forced residents to scramble for bottled water at local stores. Schools and businesses across the area have been ordered closed. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has fired an eight and cut ties with another after it was armored and that his administration cause traffic delays to exact political revenge. His deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly personally ordered the closure of lanes leading to the closure of the George Washington bridge, apparently to punish the mayor for declining to support christies reelection bid. He apologized and said his aides had deceived him. I come out here today to apologize to the people of new jersey. I apologize to the people of four lead, and i apologize to the members of the state legislature. Humiliatedassed and by the conduct of some of the. Eople on my team there is no doubt in my mind actions they exhibited is unacceptable and shows a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government, and for the people that we are trusted to serve. In addition to firing kelly, governor christie severed limbs to a longtime political adviser bill stepien. Namedr High School Friend avid wildstein appear before state Assembly Panel but invoked his fifth amendment right to avoid selfincrimination. The u. S. Attorney has announced an inquiry into the closures. Later in the day, christine visited fort lee to apologize to residents and mayor mark socha lich. The scandal could delay his expected candidacy for the 2016 president ial nomination. Critics say even if christie was left in the dark, it reflects a culture of intimidation that took place under his watch. Hamid karzai has ordered the release of prisoners. They were involved in killing u. S. Troops and afghan civilians. Karzai says there is insufficient evidence to warrant their continued detention. It is the latest issue to strain u. S. Afghan relations amid the standoff with the white house over a longterm security pact. A number of lawmakers have threatened to cut aid to afghanistan over their release. Adding to their rift what washington, afghan officials accuse the u. S. Of continuing to operate illegal black prisons, where prisoners are tortured. Afghan officials reported u. S. Forces accidentally shot dead a fouryearold boy in Helmand Province earlier this week. Two Service Members and a civilian died when their plane crashed in eastern province. Haven Government Forces killed dozens of rebel fighters in the city of homs. Least 45 rebels died as they tried to repel the army siege. The rebels have faced disarray. His week with heavy clashes in other violence, 18 people were killed on thursday when a car bomb exploded. The interim president of Central Africa republic has resigned after months of violence that has left over one million displaced. Came to power as a rebel leader but has faced growing calls to step down. The south Sudan Government and rebel fighters are facing a deadlock in these talks amid continued fighting. The sides met for the first time in ethiopia this week but came to an impasse after the government refused to free 11 rebels detained last year. Thousands fled from the south sudanese cities as government expelledosed in two the rebels. A spokesperson accused uganda of carrying out attacks on behalf of the south Sudan Government. There was a bombing on the eighth and ninth of january. Struckitary airplanes indiscriminately, killing innocent civilians. Also thursday, the Obama Administration warned south sudan risks going into civil war and encouraged negotiations. Arrested journalists. Two other al jazeera , andalists, Mohamed Bodnar another, have been arrested for months. Devyani khobragade, indias deputy counsel in new york was arrested last month, prompting charges of inappropriate treatment. She is charged with committing visa fraud to win entry into the country. She left the United States on thursday after the Indian Government rejected a request to waive her diplomatic immunity. The first Guantanamo Bay prisoner to go in front of a new Government Panel has been cleared for transfer abroad. He was previously deemed too dangerous to be freed but also unfit for prosecution because of a lack of evidence or jurisdiction. The Obama Administration set up the review panel last year. Despite being cleared, no decision has been made on whether he will actually be released. An American Catholic priest known worldwide for his activism on previous and social justice has been dismissed from the International Judges religious order. John deere has been arrested several times for acts of civil disobedience. Archbishop desmond tutu nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. Obstinatelyt he was disobedient to their directives. He says superiors have been trying to stop his course of activism in the jesuit order. Half of all africanamerican men will be arrested by the time they are 23 years old, according to one study. A study from 1997 until 2000 and eight showed 48 had been arrested by the time they turned 23. A transgender africanamerican woman in prison for the fatal stabbing of a man who reportedly harassed her is set for Early Release next week. Wasshaun cece mcdonald sentenced to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to Second Degree manslaughter to avoid a murder trial. Supporters say she was the victim after two women and a man began harassing her with racial and homophobic slurs. While the events of the night are unclear, the ensuing flight dead left dean schmidt from a stabbing. Ae case has emerged as rallying point in the battle against transgender people in the criminal justice system. A prisoneen held in for men despite her transgender identity. Those are some of the headlines. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers around the country and world. Rest of thed the hour remembering the life and legacy of the poet, playwright and political play writer amiri baraka. Ofdenied died at the age 79. He was a leading force in the black Arts Movement but first came to prominence as a be generation poet when he cofounded a journal and published the works of Allen Ginsberg, jack kerouac, and others. At the time, he was known as leroi jones. He published blues people ,gro music in White America which has been called the first account of black music in america. He later published the dead lecturer. Dutchman was the last play that he wrote under his birth name leroi jones. He soon became the leader of what was known as the black Arts Movement. In 2007, he appeared on democracy now and talked about his name change. My grandfathers name was every. Theamily came to newark in 1920s. My fathers name was leori. Leroi. I changed my name when we became aware of the african revolution and the whole question of our african roots. I was named by the man who buried malcolm x. The name he gave me was arabic. I brought it down into swahili land. So it is amiri baraka. If it was arabic, i would probably have more difficulty flying. Amiri baraka moved back to his hometown of newark and began focusing on political organizing. Nearly beaten by police during the uprising in newark. He was once identified as the person that would emerge as leaders of the Pan African Movement in the United States. In 1970, he formed the congress of african people. He continued writing performance poetry up until he was hospitalized late last year. In 2002, he was named poet laureate of new jersey, a post that was eliminated after a poem about thefter the september 11 attacks which created a firestorm throughout the country and state. Barakas work also influenced a Younger Generation of hiphop artists and slam poets. In a moment we will be joined by four guess to talk about his life and legacy, but first lets the jama performance on poetry. Why is we americans . Why is we americans . [singing] real. Want is me, for what i see in what i see and feel and who is me and what it is and who it is. Like i said, selfdetermination. But i income from a foolish tried. You can make 300 years of blue chip stocks. We want to be paid. Plus we want damages for all the killings and the fraud, lynchings, missing justice, the ups, unwarranted jailing, character assassinations, ugly caricatures. Want to be paid for every hurtful thing you said or did, for all the land you took. The street you destroyed, the miseducation, jobs lost, the disease that eight and killed us , for all the music and dances you still. The language, the careers you stopped. All of these are suits. The damage is paid to the africanamerican nation. [singing] we want education for all of us and anyone else hurt by slavery. For all the native peoples. Even those white people that you show funny all the time. Them,t reparations for for the mexicans, whose land you stole from north mexico. All that. [singing] all that you have got to give the. Americans, self determination, regional autonomy. 200 years. We want a central stash, a central bank with democratically elected trustees to map out the referendum we set up, what we want to spend it on, self reliance, selfrespect. Consciousness, simply the psychology of freedom. Singing] then we can talk about being american. Listen without the undercurrent of desire to first set your on fire. We will only talk about voluntary unity if there is democracy in you. That is where it will be shown. This is the only way that we as americans, the only way that the truth can be told. Otherwise there is no truth between us. We is also at the end of our silence and said down. Were at the end of being under your intentional help. Give us our lives are plenty for print your own. Primary barack of performing his poem why is we americans. Amiri baraka died on thursday. He was 79 years old. In a moment, we will be joined ,y sonia sanche, Felipe Luciano larry hamm, and historian Komozi Woodard. Amiri baraka, reading his poem wailers. The poem dedicated to bob marley and larry neal. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Are spending the hour remembering the poet and playwright and political organizer amiri baraka. Baraka was a leading force in the black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. To talk more about his legacy, we are joined by four guests. In philadelphia, sonia sanche. A renowned poet, playwright, activist, one of the leaders of the black studies movement. She is the author of more than a books. Outes here in new york, we are joined ,y three people, Felipe Luciano my longtime comrade, poet, journalist, and writer. He knew amiri baraka for 43 years. He was an original group of the group the last poets. Komozi woodard is a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence college, author of a nation within a nation amiri baraka and black power politics. Is with us, chairman of the Peoples Organization for progress. To start with sonya sanchez. Your reaction to the news of Amiri Barakas death. Good morning to you, my brothers and sisters. How are you doing . It is good hearing all of you. Juan, likether everyone else, we were more than shocked. We could never imagine ourselves on this earth without dear brother amiri and his father. He started out in the day, he would say hello to his family in newark. He would say hello to all of those brothers and sisters that i would call the magnificent generation of the 1960s, these men and women who proceeded to change the world. They came out and decided to change the world. Tor First Response is have seen you in to see you no more. After you say that and move and go outside and walk 12 blocks, you come back and realize, simply, that he lived, he will always live in the hearts of all of us, in the hearts of young poets and people that have some kind of moral grounding. This man moved in such a large way to effect change in this place called america and in the world. Komozi woodard you wrote a book about amiri baraka, a nation within a nation amiri baraka and black power politics. Give us a thumbnail sketch of his life. He was born in newark, new jersey during the great jones,ion in 1934, leroi named after his father. He went to Howard University where he met toni morrison, other people like that. He graduated from howard, but he dropped out in his last semester of his senior year, and joined the air force. He got kicked out of the air force. Then he joined the beat poet village where he it is kind of phenomenal. He became an editor of beat poetry. He took it upon himself to see if he could collect that new american poetry. In 1960 with a delegation of black writers. He met Robin Williams there, the famous naacp activist. When he got back, he hooked up with malcolm x. Late is a famous meeting x,uary, 1965 between malcolm amiri baraka, and others, where they discussed black liberation. Malcolm x is killed a few weeks later. Founds the black repertory theatre school. Held a concert to raise money for the new school and theater. He found his political voice by setting the blues. The rest is history. He formed many black power organizations. At his 75th earth day celebration, he and sonya celebrated his 75th birthday a , and there were perhaps 1000 artists and actors there. It occurred to me in the middle of that celebration, all of those people were his former students. His mentor was asked, what is your greatest work . He said, my students. I think barack would say the same thing. Met him in that period the black Arts Movement, a member of the last poets. Talk about that first meeting in his influence on your life. 1967, we started a group called the last poets. The first of and puerto rican aggregation. It had not happened before. I met him with enormous trepidation. We followed in that tradition four years later. Immediately he embraced me. Amiri was the only black intellectual that i have met who was able to bring together militancy with intellect. Progressive action with scholarship. He was an incredibly learned it man. Yeats,d quote wordsworth, tennyson, he introduced me to Allen Ginsberg. He always told me it was important to read and write. The first thing he told me, what is the use of being a serial and escapist and romantic . Take the words and make them do something. It was his poetry and motivation that led me into the young poets. A team that,go to chronicling his life, Komozi Woodard could you set up this problem for us . Eimeria baraka reading the poem at thenation Time Congress of the founding of african people. A warning, the n is repeated numerous times in this. The workload was heavy. One person late at night said, what time is it, as if they wanted to go home. An old man said, it is nation time. And thatard the story, turned into this epic poem. [indiscernible] nation time. Get up santa claus. It is nation time. Get up, nigga. That was a very baraka reading his poem it is nation time. , larry hamm,year that you first met amiri baraka. To speak at my high school in 1970 in newark, new jersey. That was our first encounter. I had been appointed to the a