FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Miranda Murray
Green Party of Louisiana
504-906-1120
[email protected]
www.lagreens.org

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana-October 25, 2016 — Ajamu Baraka, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS), will be in New Orleans on Thursday, Oct. 27, Miranda Murray, the Louisiana Green Party's co-chair, announced this morning. Mr. Baraka will meet with the public at events at Dillard University and the First Unitarian-Universalist Church, and will be available for interviews with the press and other interested parties.

"We are delighted to have such a distinguished spokesperson for the Green Party visit us at this time," Murray stated in a press release. "The Green Party has been steadily rising in the polls, and voters now see Ajamu Baraka and our Presidential candidate, Jill Stein, as viable alternatives to the corrupt and discredited candidates of the major parties."

Baraka will speak at Dillard University at noon, and at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church at 4. Further information is available at http://www.lagreens.org/calendar

Baraka is known for his leadership in human rights and anti-apartheid campaigns. He provides human rights trainings for grassroots activists across the country, briefings on human rights to the U.S. Congress, and has appeared before various United Nations agencies, including the UN Human Rights Commission (predecessor to the UN Human Rights Council). He is an editor and contributing columnist for Black Agenda Report, and has written for Counterpunch, Black Commentator and other publications. Ajamu also serves on the boards of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Africa Action, Latin American Caribbean Community Center, and the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights.

In the past, Baraka has been a grassroots organizer with Amnesty International, and was the Founding Executive Director of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) from July 2004 until June 2011.

Individuals and groups interested in interviewing Mr. Baraka may contact the Louisiana Green Party at 504-906-1120 to arrange an interview.



BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ABOUT AJAMU BARAKA

Ajamu Baraka is a human rights defender whose experience spans three decades of domestic and international education and activism. He has been a veteran grassroots organizer in the Black Liberation Movement and anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity struggles.

He has provided human rights trainings for grassroots activists across the country, briefings on human rights to the U.S. Congress, and appeared before and provided statements to various United Nations agencies, including the UN Human Rights Commission (precursor to the current UN Human Rights Council).

As a co-convener with Jaribu Hill of the Mississippi Worker Center for Human Rights, Baraka played an instrumental role in developing the series of bi-annual Southern Human Rights Organizers’ conferences (SHROC) that began in 1996. These gatherings represented some of the first post-Cold War human rights training opportunities for grassroots activists in the country.

Baraka played an important role in bringing a human rights perspective to the preparatory meetings for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) that took place in Geneva and in Santiago, Chile as part of the Latin American Preparatory process, as well as the actual conference that he attended as a delegate in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

Baraka was the Founding Executive Director of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN) from July 2004 until June 2011. The USHRN was the first domestic human rights formation in the United States explicitly committed to the application of international human rights standards to the U.S. Under Baraka, the Network grew from a core membership of 60 organizations to more than 300 U.S.-based member organizations and 1,500 individual members who worked on the full spectrum of human rights concerns in the U.S. During Baraka’s tenure, the Network initiated the Katrina Campaign on Internal Displacement, after Baraka was the first to formally identify the victims of Hurricane Katrina as internally displaced people (IDPs).

Also while at the Network, Baraka ensured that the Network spearheaded efforts to raise human rights abuses taking place in the U.S. with United Nations human rights processes and structures, including the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN Human Rights Council, through its Universal Periodic Review process. By coordinating the production of non-governmental reports on human rights and organizing activist delegations to UN sites in Geneva and New York, the Network gave voice to victims of human rights abuses and provided opportunities for activists to engage in direct advocacy. These efforts resulted in specific criticisms of the U.S. human rights record and recommendations for corrective actions.

Prior to leading the USHRN, Baraka served in various leadership capacities with Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). As AIUSA’s Southern Regional Director, he played a key role in developing the organization’s 1998 campaign to expose human rights violations in the U.S. Baraka also directed Amnesty’s National Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, during which time he was involved in most of the major death penalty cases in the U.S.

In 1998, Baraka was one of 300 human rights defenders from around the world who were brought together at the first International Summit of Human Rights Defenders commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2001, Baraka received the “Abolitionist of the Year” award from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. The following year, Baraka received the “Human Rights Guardian” award from the National Center for Human Rights Education.

Baraka has also served on the boards of various national and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International (USA) and the National Center for Human Rights Education. He is currently on the boards of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Africa Action, Latin American Caribbean Community Center, and the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights.

Baraka has taught political science at various universities and has been a guest lecturer at academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. A commentator on a number of criminal justice and international human rights issues, Baraka has appeared on and been covered in a wide-range of print, broadcast, and digital media outlets such as CNN, BBC, the Tavis Smiley Show, Telemundo, ABC’s World News Tonight, Black Commentator, the Washington Post and the New York Times. He is also a contributing writer for various publications including Black Commentator, Common Dreams, Pambazaka, People of Color Organize, Dissident Voice and Black Agenda Report.

Baraka is currently an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and is editing a new book on human rights in the U.S. entitled: “The Struggle Must be for Human Rights: Voices from the Field,” scheduled for publication in 2013.