"This Is Not Normal" - Brick City principal speaks to students after shooting

[MrRrrrrrryyyy]

I've heard this guy speak a few times and I generally like what he has to say. I like how he calls out antisocial behavior for what it is and doesn't make excuses. I mean you can be dealt a terrible hand but come on guys play the cards a little better. I'm a white dude but my wife is black, so my kids will be looked at as black. I'd like to see more leaders like this in the black neighborhoods, instead of the tired old Sharpton and J Jacksons of the world.

[KeionaJPoeticRhymes]

They want you to see the bad in us, they want the people of newark to look like animals. Their rather show you shit like this, but nobody ever show you how the money that was suppose to be spent on newark schools was only spent on charter schools. Or how corey "lying ass" booker doesn't do shit for the city of newark, but make us look bad, and make you the people outside of newark believe it. Stop believing what you hear and what you see, because they both can decieve you. Fucking fools.

[KeionaJPoeticRhymes]

They want us to look like animals, but nobody ever talk about how the money that was suppose to be spent on newark was only spent on charter schools, how corey "lying" ass booker never does shit for newark but feed the people who don't live in newark lies. We're just like the next fucking city so stip believing what you hear and see because even that can be a damn lie. Fucking fools.

[KeionaJPoeticRhymes]

People really think newark is such a bad place. Yes there are killings, yes there are gangs, yes we are poor and oppressed, but we are no different from d.c. no different from n.y, l.a or any other place. They televise shit look this to put us in the spot light. Every tine there's a shooting newarks on t.v. Nobody ever televise the good we try to do. Like get young kid off the street corners, create organizations for change for the youth. Or even a young colored teen on a journey to college.

[kanyaugatiejagwo]

I like that line really really much..."its not because you are tough but because you are oppressed..." used emphasis on that quote but that is it right there. That is where it all boils down to. Its not because you are tough but because you are oppressed. Broken people...who are broken people? They look normal, they do everything a normal person can do, they laugh they cry the smile. On the outside you see the person...on the inside there is nothing but a shell of what was once a vibrant soul

[psychofish25]

baratunde are you from newark? I've heard a lot about you, and have seen you on TV.

[vosogo]

Looks like all that money that Mark Zuckerberg gave to them didn't really do much, but living in NJ, any of us could have told you that.

[nmjean05]

@vosogo Let me set everyone of yall straight Mark Zuckerberg's money didn't come through until after all of this mess went down. This occurred three years ago way before Mark Zuckerberg's so call money came through Newark. Second of I am so tired of everyone downing Newark like Newark is the only big city with big problems. Look @ Detroit,Chicago, & Philadelphia. So before you come and criticized and downing Newark everyone needs to look in the mirror, and look in your town.

[vosogo]

@nmjean05 I'm not seeing any news stories about kids shooting each other in North Brunswick. I don't hear about massive government corruption or police brutality in Milltown. Newark has a lot of problems, and it seems like most people aren't even interested in fixing them. I say this with some experience too as I spent quite a lot of time in Newark over the past 6 years. It's a mess, plain and simple.

[nmjean05]

@vosogo I grew up in Newark, and I am still a resident of Newark. So I see the problems on a daily basis. The towns that you are talking about are suburbs, and some of these small towns in New Jersey has to deal with government corruption too. All I am saying to you, and to everyone on Youtube is that the problems that the residents face on a daily basis are magnified ten times here in New Jersey because we are the largest city in the state with close to 300,000 people in it.

[twaallen32]

"By the grace of MODERN MEDICINE he is doing ok." FIFY

[sdflksdfkfh]

Yeah, I'm sure this speech will make a dramatic change in Newark and crime will plummet.I won't hold my breath!

[mleechick]

He was my principal and he did'nt play!

[nujrz4lyfe]

@in991 This guys father "Leroy Jones"...was one of the MIAN instigators and one of the MIAN reasons why the Newark riots happened....The city was never trhen same since...Save the bullshit praise for the people who dont know no better

[baratunde]

@tehpewpew420 so are you volunteering to dispose of the bodies? i feel like you haven't thought this through

[tehpewpew420]

@baratunde Not at all, sir. Why would I dispose of the bodies?

[MrWhambamthkumam]

@tehpewpew420 Because you gave a fuck about calling them "Niggers" and were concerned about them dying and rotting...

[tehpewpew420]

@MrWhambamthkumam No, its not my job to bury the vermin. It'd be more feasable and logical to just burn them, similar to the way they burn things that are in a quarantine zone when some virus breaks out. This would be ironically similar, don't you think?

So chill out, keyboard warrior. You aren't proving anything except what a internet tough guy jackass you are.

[MrWhambamthkumam]

@tehpewpew420

Lol, OKAY Hand Banana a.k.a. The Laptop Bandit lay off the crack pipe .

Thats a very vivid imagination, but C'MON SON! that shit'll never happen.

It's obvious the Jackass in this little convo wants every "Nigger" distroyed with a with a Youtube comment and a racist thought. Oh and to prove I'm so called tough, take a flight out of Iowa to EWR, and head to Pennington Court, nuff said

[tehpewpew420]

@MrWhambamthkumam Oh jesus... what a tool.

You challenge someone who posts comments online to an actual physical fight, which of course is the absolute WORST rebuttal to anything and makes people notice what an absolute jackass you are. You dont even give me an actual address, just some broad area. Do you realize how stupid and pussy that makes you look?

Seriously, you are embarrassing yourself and Im embarrassed for you. Delete that before someone sees it, you laughable nigger garbage.

[DaOrigTruthSeeker]

@DoughJames: Why don't you stop being so anal about the little things and focus on the big picture? Sometimes your enviornment can have that affect on you. Things do rub off on you when you hear it day in and day out. I work in a prison and i hear profanity all day everyday in just a regualr conversation.....i never was one for foul language but after a while it rubbed off on me and i wasn't even aware i was using that kind of language. Grow up and see the bigger picture here.

[READY4REVELATION]

Why did they take this show off the air it was pretty good?

[G00g284]

@READY4REVELATION do you know the song that they play sometimes it's a happy song?

[rudkappa]

This is a hell of a soapbox sermon, Well done Ras, anything is better than Booker

[DoughJames]

This guy can't even speak correctly. His English grammar is atrocious. How is he going to be the principal of a school?

[GodOfThaDead]

@DoughJames Well bush was the president! how grammatically (intellectually) qualified was he?

[DoughJames]

@GodOfThaDead Bush should have never been president either. That is not a good argument.

[rudkappa]

@DoughJames get off your high horse punk, as I see it, we stopped speaking the "Queens English" after the revolutionary war.

[DoughJames]

@rudkappa High horse? Because I ask that the PRINCIPAL of a school be able to speak grammatically correct?

Are you serious?

[rudkappa]

@DoughJames haha, now that I think about it good point, touche!

[allenanb]

@DoughJames exactly you are no worse than the grammar police who cant here the power of the content of someones point and instead harp on something as inconsequential as a gramatical error. Get over yourself.

[DoughJames]

@allenanb Your spelling is awful, too. LOOK. If you get mad at me b/c I expect the PRINCIPAL of a school to use correct grammar in front of STUDENTS, you are the one with the problem. Therein lies a message.

How can you expect students to do well on exams if you yourself can't speak correct grammar? Come on, black people.

And, this guy here is nothing more than a guy seeking glory. He wants to the KIDS to get help as long as HE is the one doing the helping. He wants it to be HIS plans.

[JohnPorkLord]

@DoughJames "He wants to the KIDS to get help. . ." You're lecturing people on grammar? That's a laugh, mate. How about you stop judging people online? You make mistakes too, clearly.

[DoughJames]

@JohnPorkLord THE MAN IS A PRINCIPAL OF A SCHOOL!!!! How does it not bother you that the PRINCIPAL of the school doesn't use correct grammar? Damn!!! No wonder inner-city schools are failing.

This guy's school has some of the lowest test scores in the state. I can see why. How can he expect his students to pass an English Proficiency Exam if he can't speak English well himself?

This is ridiculous that idiots like you defend this foolishness. It is appalling. Honestly, I am stunned.

[buggeazy102]

10th 11th and cliton ave represent!

[newjeruballyer]

How can anyone, especially the kids he is lecturing, take him seriously when he hasn't fully addressed the the voices that say he is deeply involved in the gang culture he chastises?

[KeneshaCoulibaly]

@newjeruballyer WOW. Really? If he was ever gang-related and has turned his life around or even is presently making a change for the better, why not appreciate what he is saying now? Why not focus on the positive? I'll tell you why? Sickness. We can't STAND to see someone doing better . . . even if it's better than they were only five minutes ago. Someone will always find something negative to say. That is why we cannot rise above the BS.

[Streetmo]

Black N.I.A.

[ztellers27]

This man is totally out for himself. I have worked with him and if he;s anything like his father. He's an asshole. He's a no show principal, he does not have the intelligence, of Cory Booker and in order to climb that latter,of achievement with you open your legs if your a woman. I beg of the Newark voter if you don't like Cory write in Mickey Mouse. He cares nothing about his teachers and acts worst than the kids

[wize1]

now he needs to start lecturing the GOVERNMENT. because its them that puts these cities in poverty and perpetuates violence. how about have BETTER history courses so they can be empowered? the US government spends45% of YOUR taxes on the MILITARY. so they can steal from you and bomb the rest of the world so to steal from them too! GET INFORMED. get united. divided is how they conquer us!!!!

[815Sox]

@wize1 It is not the institution of Government itself that causes poverty. Government is not a bad thing. Government can also solve problems. The problem is that over and over again, individuals whose interests do not include the impoverished. As long as people continue to elect these corporate purchased stooges then these problems will continue to exist.

I was a social worker who worked in a community very similar to Newark, just as violent, just as impoverished. This show is very important.

[GodOfThaDead]

@wize1 While we do that we also have to take care of home at the same time! The youth should be taught about the hole that they have been placed in but at the same time empowering them not to join the army, to take the money that they use on drugs and guns on something more productive. It is no secrete that the gov't placed guns and drugs in urban areas on purpose. In the movie Crooklyn, one of the detectives stated that blacks killing blacks in the PJ's "is like a self clean oven"!

[markkorea33m]

thank you for speaking the truth! Amen

[tbyrddaboss313]

Man im from Detroit, MI and its the same way here as Blacks we have to check our culture because thugs, rappers are making our kids flat out retarded!!!

[YoshixRIOT]

You guys worry about grammar way to often, a person can be intelligent even without words. Listen more to what hes saying, not how he says it.

[DhorubaBinWahad]

Ras Baraka represents a new class of Black-African community representative and activist. As and educator he realizes the fundamental role of Western institutional education is not to teach youth and workers how to think but "what to think". Education in this mode, is neither dynamic or self-affirming in a society circumscribed by a legacy of white supremacy, the consequences of which is self-hatred, self-loathing, and substitution of social marginalization for Gangster recognition.

[DhorubaBinWahad]

Ras Baraka represents a new class of Black-African community representative and activist. As and educator he realizes the fundamental role of Western institutional education is not to teach youth and workers how to think but "what to think". Education in this mode, is neither dynamic or self-affirming in a society circumscribed by a legacy of white supremacy, the consequences of which is self-hatred, self-loathing, and substitution of social marginalization for Gangster recognition.

[herrera6687]

this mr baraka looks like an X con lol

[ztellers27]

I worked with this man and he is a bold faced liar. he can't write a sentence, sleeps with his students and because, of who his so called father is he get a job as Principal, who is barely on campus. Don't believe the "HYPE".

[dkn1362]

@ztellers27 Even if what you're saying is true....it doesn't change the FACT that what HE is saying is also TRUE. I don't know him I live in Philly, but I do know right from wrong and I do know that what he is saying is happening with black children EVERYWHERE. Baraka is not here in Philly but the same thing is happening down here....so now whats your excuse? Our people are destroying our own selves and YOUR post proves this theory. Stop analyzing the man and start analyzing the message.

[TlGBC]

where exactly is the ghetto, inner city area of newark? south, west, east, or north end?

[grepodstfj]

OMG!!!

[stefanierose88]

Thank God someone cares about the kids in Newark...I pray God heals the streets before even more kids die for stupid reasons...he is right..its oppression and i wish to God people would stop killing each other and turning people into feins and realize that its that way for a reason! its no accident...

[ethervagabond]

"one of the best monologue's ever"

fail from the fucking get go, how fucking stupid do you have to be to not realize that you don't need a fucking apostrophe to pluralize a word.

[steadystevie]

@ethervagabond please...don't strain at a gnat and swallow a camel...English is a bastart language anyway....

[steadystevie]

@ethervagabond "bastard"

[5thhorsman]

I grew up and live in Belleville right outside of Newark and it hurts anyone from NJ when people talk trash about Newark because it should be one of the best Cities in the country but was really screwed over by Sharpe James and other politicians before him that stole allot of money that should have been used to rebuild the city ..

they suffered allot because of a bad reputation but the greater majority of people in and around Newark are genuinely good people that deserve a better life.

[rudkappa]

Cranford is a bunch of rich bastards... I never had any problem playing in Newark... we used to beat Barringer all the time!!!

[takbirnoble]

I happened on this documentary by accident, I must say I was immediately drawn in by the realness. It is one of the most compelling shows I've ever seen. I wonder if a season 2 follows. Big ups to all of the people who choose to be a part of the solution. Keep your heads up and God bless.

[urlocalSAVAGE]

"Poverty is the mother of crime"

[DEEPTHROAT36]

come on!!! We can do better than this!!

[RichyJA]

was it that day that there was a drive by on weekway park?

[rudkappa]

@RichyJA Weequahic

[waingro1018]

"When they send they kids to me"

"Friday they wasn't safe"

Excellent grammar.

[abraham1934]

loser...

[NWK973BRICKCITY]

dont have explain myself to somebody over the internet...lol

[deepsussex]

Mayor

[daprincess0607]

I was in those bleaches at the time of this speech. I was a freshman there, tho. I think that week was very hard for everyone! No one really did speak too much about anything that happened. But, I do remember school being over & a fight happened up the block with a girl getting jumped. Right after I saw all these people running behind 18th ave. School saying somebody got shot. Baracka told everybody to move & go home. I rode the 99 home & heard everybody saying it was a drive-by on Ridgewood. .

[jubileeshine]

show & prove fool

[DCchild1989]

Spell "before" and "you" correctly before you criticize asshole. Go read a book!

[NiicNac1]

I remember that day as if it was yesterday. Principal Baraka is always there for anybody who needs him, and I can vouch for that. He is a very powerful man, he deserves everyones respect. I appreciate this man. He is what Newark needs!. A real black strong educated man. Trust me when I say Baraka makes things happen.

[MistahNickells]

Wow jblack is that all you got from this video? we have a sad society

[jblackrupert]

Nigger really needs to learn how to speak.

And this guy is a school principle???

[IMxXCLUSIVE]

hello and i commend you on your speech to the students of newark to try and reach a generation that is disfunctional and violent i often wonder what it would take to reach these kids who mave this violent mindset.i talk to my kids and their friends and to express a positive attitude when faced with a confrontational situation.

[c20995]

Wait...Wait... Some of it was cut. After he said,over job override oppression',and laughed, they cut it. What did he say about being oppressed. I think I know.

[c20995]

I agree with the Principal, but what is abnormal to him, is normal to those kids. Look at their faces, most aren't even paying attention, some are resting their heads like their dozing off. They don't care. And how many will even remember what he was saying?

[honeydip2826]

Yes, it is.. and Principal Baraka is one who makes me proud to be a part of Newark and know that there are still many around that care about the future (our children) :)

[seanthedonconsidine]

Excellent video, I can't begin to relate to what their life is like, but the fact that they are resigned to a life of death and abuse is sickening. If every dollar that was spent on weapons and war was spent on these kids and resources to improve their education and environment, half of the issues would be solved. The other half is a psychological problem, and the only one who can overcome that is those kids. They will need help though, hopefully they can get guidance to assist them. great vid.