Born in Newark, New Jersey, as LeRoi Jones, he changed his name, converted to Islam, and became a black nationalist in 1968, and a Marxist in 1974.
In September and October of 2001 Baraka composed a poem called "Somebody Blew Up America". The poem was read publicly and circulated, and later became the source of controversy when he was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey. The poem was written about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Among other criticisms, some people interpreted sections of the poem as saying that Israel had prior knowledge of the attack or even were responsible:
Who know why Five Israelis was filming the explosion And cracking they sides at the notionand
Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers To stay home that day Why did Sharon stay away?Upon the controversy, Baraka stated that the poem was not anti-Semitic and stated further that "I do believe, as I stated about England, Germany, France, Russia, that the Israeli government, certainly its security force, SHABAK knew about the attack in advance."
Governor James McGreevey called for Baraka's resignation as poet laureate, and when he refused, asked the state legislature to abolish the post, which it did in 2003.
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