FOX DIGITAL REVIEW: Progressive Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka, one of the top Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, has a record of associating with alleged abusers of women and has been accused of fostering a toxic work environment for women in his administration, a Fox News Digital review found.
Baraka, who has been mayor of Newark since 2014, hired his brother, Amiri Baraka Jr., as his chief of staff. In June 2020, Sebrivious Scott, a woman who was hired through a prisoner reentry program, accused Baraka Jr. of silencing her after she raised concerns about being sexually assaulted.
Scott alleged that she spoke with Baraka Jr. about being sexually assaulted by her boss and about being denied full-time employment for refusing sexual favors, Real Garden State reported.
Instead of helping, Baraka Jr. allegedly informed Scott that no steps would be taken to address her complaints and said, “Don’t be coming here complaining about discrimination. You should be happy you have a job.”
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Scott further claimed that her inquiries about her full-time application were ignored by her supervisors, including Mayor Baraka. Scott claimed numerous men hired through the reentry program obtained full-time positions upon completing the program as she waited.
In a 2020 Facebook post reacting to another user who posted support for Scott along with the Real Garden State article and a comment of “keep your head up cuzzo,” Scott wrote, “Cuzz I’m trying. Just need all the support I can get against these monsters. I’m not afraid.”
When Fox News Digital reached out for comment, Scott said, “They actually just settled after fighting this since 2018.” However, she declined to go into details of the settlement, citing her lawyer’s advice.
Baraka also hired another brother, Obalaji Jones, as a youth opportunity coordinator who was later accused of sexual assault. In 2017, Dannisha Clyburn, a former City of Newark employee, accused Jones of sexually assaulting her in 2013 and attempted sexual assault in 2015, TapInto Livingston reported.
According to Clyburn, Jones called her into a dark room and inappropriately touched her without her consent at a 2013 political speech by Baraka. She further claimed that Jones attempted to assault her again by calling her into a private room during a children’s event in 2015.
Clyburn, who previously served time in prison, told the outlet she had been a political supporter of Baraka but came forward because she did not want to see other women victimized.
“Your brother Obalaji, he’s a whole other monster,” Clyburn posted on Facebook, addressing Baraka directly.
“Your brother, you better get him out of here. He is a predator. He is a menace to our city. And if you know, you taught us best. If you see something, you say something. I learned that from you, Ras Baraka,” Clyburn said, according to Politico’s New Jersey Playbook. “So I’ve seen something, I heard something, and I’m saying something. I’m speaking for every person, every female, every male that can’t come forward and are afraid to come forward.”
Former Newark Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins, who ran against Baraka for mayor in 2018, accused Baraka’s administration of widespread abuse in which many women were pressured into sexual favors in exchange for jobs, according to a 2018 report from TapInto Newark.
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Jenkins said during a council meeting, “I’m not on Team Baraka for a number of reasons, but one of the reasons is their abuse of power. I cannot believe that any of my council colleagues…that none of these women haven’t come up to you and told you what they’ve had to go through as far as having to have sex to get a job, or they’ve been abused, or they’ve been talked about, or they’ve been ridiculed.”
Three years later, a lawsuit filed by a former Newark city employee said that Baraka ignored legislation directing him to appoint an independent task force to investigate claims of sexual harassment brought by Newark employees, according to Chaneyfiled Jenkins in a report from NJ.com.
According to the suit, the legislation created an independent task force to investigate claims brought by Newark employees. The five-member panel was supposed to be appointed by the mayor and include a retired police officer from outside Newark, a clergy member, two members of the public and a final member to be nominated by Rutgers University. However, Baraka never appointed a member to the task force.
Baraka has also associated himself with alleged abuser Kiburi Tucker, who was arraigned in 1996 in a Newark municipal court on allegations that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl, an archived version of the Star-Ledger reported.
The girl’s parents filed a complaint, and Tucker was charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint and endangering the welfare of a child for holding the victim and fondling her body, according to online records reviewed by Fox News Digital. He would end up serving a four-year prison sentence between 1997 and 2001 after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and drug possession charges.
Tucker would later face more legal trouble, which led to him serving a 17-month prison sentence for wire fraud and tax evasion after racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for personal use using resources from a childcare nonprofit started by his father. After leaving prison, Tucker told TapInto Newark that Baraka was his “best friend” and that he was “doing a hell of a job.”
Tucker has remained close to Baraka, as evidenced by several Facebook posts in recent years and months. Tucker, who was reportedly business partners with Baraka’s wife for several years, has posted in support of Baraka’s gubernatorial campaign several times this month and as recently as this week.
On May 9, Tucker posted several pictures of Baraka and supporters at an event, saying, “Lets go ! Post your V for Victory In Support of Mayor Baraka for Governor!”
Earlier this week, he also posted a photo that appears to be at a Baraka fundraiser in Cranford, New Jersey.
Baraka’s brother, Amiri, has also remained supportive of Baraka’s run for governor, posting about an upcoming political event just last week.
In 2022, the mayor also endorsed Louis Weber, a former Newark police officer who was running for city council and was accused of sexual assault by a former female partner. Weber has denied the allegation and was not charged criminally, Politico reported.
“It’s interesting to me that these fabricated stories that are unsubstantiated and built on innuendo are coming out just as the mayor is gaining in popularity and the polls,” Mark Di Ionno, a Newark city spokesman, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Baraka has dominated news headlines in recent weeks after being arrested outside an ICE facility in Newark and ultimately being charged with trespassing.
After a court appearance last week, Baraka told reporters that he was being unfairly targeted.
“We believe that I was targeted in this,” Baraka said. “I was the only person arrested. That’s right. You know, I was the only person identified. I was the only person, you know, they put in a cell. You know, the only person, I think that was in cuffs to the whole process that’s here this morning, going through this humiliation for these people.”
On Monday evening, the charge against Baraka was dropped.
Fox News Digital reached out to Baraka’s gubernatorial campaign, his two brothers, Tucker and Clyburn, and Jenkins but did not receive a response.
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