New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka was a speaker at an event with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the early 2000s and applauded violent rhetoric by the controversial preacher.

Baraka, now the mayor of Newark, N.J., was the deputy mayor at the time, a role he held from 2002 to 2005. Following strong debate performances, Baraka has been seen as surging in a crowded field of Democratic candidates in the gubernatorial race.

Farrakhan has been repeatedly condemned for antisemitic, homophobic and racist comments.

During a 2004 speech in Newark at which Baraka was a featured guest, Farrakhan expressed disagreement with the nonviolent philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. and voiced support for violent retaliation, comments that elicited approval from Baraka.

“The cracker hit you on your jaw, you break his neck, that’s the way we think,” Farrakhan said, to loud applause from the gathered crowd. In a video of the event posted by the Nation of Islam, Baraka can be seen rising to his feet and applauding that comment.

Later in the speech, Baraka can again be seen standing and applauding comments by Farrakan accusing the government of sowing violence and dissent in the Black community, including framing Black people for killing police.

“You’re dealing with a devil, man. You’re not dealing with righteous people,” Farrakhan said. “This cracker is the real devil, and you better wake up and realize that.”

In a lengthy statement to Jewish Insider, Baraka rejected accusations of antisemitism and said that he attended the event because it was focused on supporting a truce between major rival gangs.

“I am not antisemitic. I have never been. And it’s offensive and irresponsible for anyone to suggest otherwise,” Baraka said. “Throughout my life, I’ve built bridges across communities, faiths, and backgrounds to stand for justice and peace. I was at the Million Man March. Yes, I stood on a stage with members of the Nation of Islam to call for a gang truce — urging young people to put down their flags, stop the violence, and choose life.”

He added that he would not hesitate to appear again at a rally to “bring people together, reduce violence, build peace, and demand justice in the face of injustice … I am running for Governor of New Jersey, I can only speak for myself. And I speak for unity, not division.”

Baraka introduced Farrakhan before his speech, describing him as a personal inspiration and role model with more “moral authority or spiritual strength” than any other modern leader and the de-facto “leader of Black people anywhere and everywhere they are.”

“It wasn’t until I heard the voice and the organization of the Nation of Islam and Minister Louis Farrakhan that I really began to try to stand up straight and get the courage that I needed to get to begin to organize in the community the way I should have,” Baraka said in 2004.

He said that introducing Farrakhan to speak was “the best job that I have had thus far” as deputy mayor.

In his statement to JI, Baraka emphasized what he said are positive works of the Nation of Islam in the Black community.

“I have spoken at rallies and events my whole life because they were spaces where people came together to fight against police brutality, against gang violence, and for social and economic justice. Not just for Black people, for all people,” Baraka said in his statement to JI. “The Nation of Islam holds deep respect in many parts of the Black community because of the work they’ve done to reduce violence and support self-determination in neighborhoods that have been ignored and abandoned for generations.”

Throughout the speech, Farrakhan repeatedly expressed homophobic and deeply conspiratorial views, and has said that Black people, rather than Jews, were the subject of biblical prophecies and promises about returning to the Promised Land.

“You may think that’s talking about some Jews somewhere, but it’s talking about you,” Farrakhan said. He also condemned Israeli military actions against Palestinian terrorists.

Baraka emphasized to JI that the Black community has faced undeniable “oppression, disinvestment and violence.”

“I will not be bullied or silenced into walking away from the fight for justice. I will not be cowed into denouncing my lifelong work for peace, equality, and equity,” Baraka said. “These latest accusations and insinuations aren’t just false — they’re a reflection of the fear my candidacy is provoking in the political establishment. This is what happens when someone challenges a broken status quo that’s failed working people for decades. So let’s be clear, the people trying to twist my words and my record are the same ones who don’t show up for any community — not Black, not Jewish, not Latino, not South Asian, not working-class people from anywhere. These are people who rely on our collective division.”

Baraka’s own writings, such as the 1995 poem “Apocalypse 4Ever,” also reference Nation of Islam teachings, such as that of Yakub, an evil figure who the group teaches is responsible for creating white people and Jews as devils to destroy Black people.

Farrakhan referenced Baraka’s father, poet Amiri Baraka, multiple times during the speech. The elder Baraka claimed in a 2002 poem that Israelis knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance; the mayor has sought to defend his father from accusations of antisemitism over those comments and has held city-backed events honoring him.

Asked in 2014 about the antisemitism accusations, Baraka pointed to other lines in the poem where his father criticized Americans who supported the Nazi regime and its atrocities against the Jewish people.

Baraka also faced criticism in 2012 for comparing then-Mayor Cory Booker’s vote to appoint an ally to the city council to the atrocities of the Nazis exposed in the Nuremberg trials following World War II.

“They knew what they were doing was horrific, tyrannical … But they did it anyway,” Baraka said, referring to the Nazis.

Baraka did not directly address questions about his or his father’s writings or his 2012 comments.