Across the country, Democratic leaders are resorting to what I have called “rage rhetoric” as supporters are turning to actual violence, including arson and other crimes directed against Tesla. In Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green (D) even reacted to Novak Djokovic playing tennis with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by hoping that he is hit in the head. However, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, currently one of the top Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, appears to have gotten an early lead in this race to the bottom. In a video that has now attracted interest in his run for governor, Baraka gives a full-throated endorsement of the violent and racist rhetoric of Nation of Islam leader (and raging anti-Semite) Louis Farrakhan.
In a newly released video from 2004, Baraka is shown applauding and embracing Farrakhan as he calls for violence and denounces White people as “demons.” Those “demons” compose roughly 52% of the state that Baraka wants to lead.
The video from a Newark church shows Baraka introducing Farrakhan as “the leader of every Black person.”
“I don’t think that there’s any man today, present today, that has the kind of moral authority or spiritual strength. Not president, not community leader, not political international activist, nowhere that has the moral authority, the historical and political framework, that the Minister Farrakhan has, that. Who can stand where he stands and truly say that he is the leader of black people anywhere and everywhere.”
The New York Post uncovered the video showing Baraka giving Farrakhan a standing ovation as he denounces non-violence: “We didn’t believe in no non-violence. The cracker hit you on your jaw, you break his neck. That’s the way we think.”
He also gives him a standing ovation in denouncing all white people as the “enemy.”
“Now the enemy comes in. You, the Crips, and the Bloods, they’ll send people in to give you rumors about your brother over there. These demons will even kill a policeman and then blame it on you. You dealing with a devil, man. You’re not dealing with righteous people. This cracker is the real devil. And you better wake up and realize that.”
Once again, this is the mayor of a major city and a leading Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey.
Baraka later arranged for Farrakhan to give a speech to over 1,000 high school students at Central High School in Newark, where he was principal.
Many on the far left shrug off such connections to racist or violent groups. It is reminiscent of former Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison, now the Minnesota attorney general, who once said Antifa would “strike fear in the heart” of Trump. This was after Antifa had been involved in numerous acts of violence, and its website was banned in Germany. Ellison’s son, Minneapolis City Council member Jeremiah Ellison, declared his allegiance to Antifa in the heat of the protests this summer.
With violence on the left increasing around the country, Democratic leaders continue to try to appease the most radical elements in their party. That was evident last week when Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) denounced the investigation into the attacks on Tesla dealerships and owners as “political weaponization.”
This is a long history of downplaying or shrugging off such violence, including some who seem to fuel the violence.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told George Floyd protesters in Minnesota to “get more confrontational” if a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin not guilty. And when Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was threatened in 2018 because she had not opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., mocked the concern over her safety with “boo hoo hoo.”
For her part, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to condemn left-wing mobs destroying statues and historic displays in her home city of San Francisco. Pelosi shrugged and said, “People will do what they do.”
In the case of Baraka, he appears to have a long history of associating with such violent and racist speech. In 2017, he organized another speech for Farrakhan titled “Separation or Death,” reportedly calling for a separate black state.
With the release of the videos, Baraka is standing firm in support of his association with Farrakhan, bizarrely defending his record of supporting “peace, equality, and equity.” He is blaming the “political establishment” for “false” claims based on these videos.
In his campaign for governor, Baraka is calling for voters to “reimagine New Jersey” and promising to “deconstruct the state budget and reassemble with equity as our north star; judging every decision as either a step towards equity or a step towards inequity.”
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”