"The man who buried Malcolm X - my Muslim imam, priest - he, after I got beat up by police... came to me, and he said, 'You don't need this American name.' And I was susceptible to it at the time because, God knows, I had just gotten whipped near to death. So he gave me an Arab name; he gave me the name Amir Barakat."

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Poet, playwright, and critic

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About Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka was an American poet, playwright, essayist, and critic associated with the Black Arts Movement.

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