Ajamu Sibeko Baraka is a far-left civil rights and environmental activist. He ran for Vice President of the United States as the running mate of Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein in the 2016 presidential election.

Baraka works as an associate fellow at the far-left Institute for Policy Studies, is a member of the board of Amnesty International, and was previously the founding executive director at the U.S. Human Rights Network, a network of over 200 left-of-center human-rights organizations. ²

Dakota Access Pipeline Protest

Baraka and 2016 Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein were both charged with misdemeanor counts of trespassing and criminal mischief after their participation in a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. According to the Associated Press, a court document shows that Baraka spray-painted the word “decolonization” on a piece of construction equipment while Stein spray-painted the phrase “I approve this message” on a bulldozer. ⁸

1. “Ajamu Baraka” Institute for Policy Studies. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://ips-dc.org/ips-authors/ajamu-baraka/.
2. “Coordinating Committee.” The Black Alliance for Peace. Accessed January 16, 2023. https://blackallianceforpeace.com/coordinating-committee.
3. “Green Party’s Jill Stein Charged in N. Dakota Pipeline Protest” The Associated Press, NBC News. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/green-party-s-jill-stein-charged-n-dakota-pipeline-protest-n644326.
4. Baraka, Ajamu. “The Charlie Hebdo White Power Rally in Paris.” Dissident Voice. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://dissidentvoice.org/2015/01/the-charlie-hebdo-white-power-rally-in-paris/.
5. “Statement of the 2014 African Heritage Delegation.” African Heritage Delegation to Palestine/Israel. Accessed May 10, 2019. http://www.ifpb.org/africanheritage/statement.html.
6. “Green Party’s Baraka: Obama has been ‘moral disaster’.” Fleming, Leonard M. The Detroit News. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/10/18/baraka-green-party-vice-president/92384566/.
7. “Beyoncé and the Politics of Culture Dominance.” Baraka, Ajamu. CounterPunch. Accessed May 10, 2019. https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/11/beyonce-and-the-politics-of-cultural-dominance/.
8. Baraka, Ajamu. “U.S. White Supremacy Doesn’t Even Hide Its Positions. Explaining Objective of Pelosi Trip: ‘America’s Determination to Preserve Democracy, Western Values and Military and Economic Primacy in the Pacific and across the World.” No Equality or Respect Here. Https://T.co/1JAH2pqech.” Twitter. Twitter, August 2, 2022. https://twitter.com/ajamubaraka/status/1554429120066494466.