Ajamu Baraka in Survey of 2016 Presidential campaign websites

On Civil Rights: Protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination

• Protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination.
• Defend indigenous rights, lands and treaties.

On Drugs: Replace drug prohibition with harm reduction

• End the failed war on drugs. Replace drug prohibition with harm reduction. Legalize marijuana/hemp. Treat substance abuse as a health problem, not a criminal offense.
• Release nonviolent drug offenders from prison, removing such offenses from their records, and provide them with both pre- and post-release support.

On Education: Treat education as a right

• Protect our public school systems from privatization.
• Evaluate teacher performance through assessment by fellow professionals. Do not rely on high stakes tests that reflect economic status of the community, and punish teachers working in low income communities of color.
• Replace Common Core with curriculum developed by educators, not corporations, with input from parents and communities.
• Stop denying students diplomas based on high stakes tests.
• Stop using merit pay to punish teachers who work with the most challenging student populations.
• Increase federal funding of public schools to equalize public school funding.

On Energy & Oil: Green New Deal to turn the tide on climate change

• Enact an emergency Green New Deal to turn the tide on climate change, revive the economy and make wars for oil obsolete.
• Initiate a WWII-scale national mobilization to halt climate change, the greatest threat to humanity in our history.
• Support a strong enforceable global climate treaty that limits global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius and provides just financial compensation to developing countries.
• End destructive energy extraction and associated infrastructure: fracking, tar sands, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal, natural gas pipelines, and uranium mines. Halt any investment in fossil fuel infrastructure, including natural gas, and phase out all fossil fuel power plants. Phase out nuclear power and end nuclear subsidies. End all subsidies for fossil fuels and impose a greenhouse gas fee / tax to charge polluters for the damage they have created.

On Environment: Adopt the Precautionary Principle

• Protect our public lands, water supplies, biological diversity, parks, and pollinators. Ban neonicotinoids and other pesticides that threaten the survival of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.
• Label GMOs, and put a moratorium on GMOs and pesticides until they are proven safe.
• Support organic and regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and sustainable forestry.
• Protect the rights of future generations. Adopt the Precautionary Principle. When an activity poses threats of harm to human health or the environment, in the absence of objective scientific consensus that it is safe, precautionary measures should be taken. The proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.
• Invest in clean air, water, food and soil for everyone. Clean up America.

On Government Reform: Replace Electoral College with national popular vote

• Protect voters' rights by enforcing and expanding the constitutional right to vote (including a new amendment if necessary). Enact the full Voter's Bill of Rights guaranteeing each person's right to vote, the right to have our votes counted on hand-marked paper ballots, and the right to vote within systems that give each vote meaning.
• Make voter registration the responsibility of government, not a voluntary opt-in for citizens.
• Abolish the Electoral College and directly elect the President using a national popular vote with ranked-choice voting..
• Restore the right to run for office and eliminate unopposed races by removing ballot access barriers.
• Guarantee equal access to the debates to all ballot-qualified candidates.
• Reduce barriers to voting by making Election Day a national holiday.
• Enact simplified, safe same-day voter registration to the nation so that no qualified voter is barred from the polls.

On Health Care: Healthcare for all including contraception

• Establish an improved "Medicare for All" single-payer public health program to provide everyone with quality health care. No co-pays, premiums or deductibles. Access to all health care services, including mental health, dental, and vision. Include everyone, period.
• Allow full access to contraceptive and reproductive care.
• Expand women's access to "morning after" contraception by lifting the Obama Administration's ban.

On Homeland Security: Close the 700+ foreign military bases

• Cut military spending by at least 50% and close the 700+ foreign military bases. Ensure a just transition that replaces reductions in military jobs with jobs in renewable energy, transportation and green infrastructure development.
• Stop U.S. financial and military support to human rights abusers. Barring substantial changes in their policies, this would include Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt.
• End the US' role as the world's arm supplier.

On Social Security: Remove income cap on social security taxes

• Strengthen rather than cut Medicare and Social Security.
• Remove the cap on social security taxes above a certain level of income.

On Homeland Security: Public opinion is manipulated to support permanent war

On War & Peace: U.S. complicity created Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan

President Carter's strategy [created] the "Soviet Union's Vietnam" by bogging it down militarily in Afghanistan with the an international corps of right-wing Islamists ready to fight the godless Soviets. The Mujahedeen performed marvelously, destroying a secular nationalist government with Marxist leanings and plunging the nation into the chaos that led to the establishment of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

These kinds of cynical calculations have always been a cornerstone of colonial "divide and rule" politics. However, the religious fervor and commitment of these Islamic elements could not be turned on and off.

On War & Peace: CIA training & equipment created ISIS in Syria & Iraq

But this strategy turned into disaster when ISIS double-crossed their benefactors by breaking the rules and attacking the "good Kurds" in Iraq. The strategy appeared to be more concerned with holding territory in Iraq and Syria than carrying out their assignment to overthrow the Assad government and completing the dismemberment of the Syrian state--the strategic objective of U.S. and Israeli policy to counter the regional power of the Iranians. This "blowback" theory is controversial.

On Crime: Death penalty for whites is tactic to stop black opposition

The decision by the DOJ to pursue a death sentence for Roof should be seen as no more than another tactical move: by appealing to African Americans, the group in the country most consistently opposed to the death penalty, state propagandists saw this as a perfect opportunity to undermine opposition to capital punishment and facilitate the process of psychological incorporation.

On Civil Rights: Beyonce's Superbowl show caricaturized & commodified blacks

I am told that I am being too harsh. That there were positive messages encoded into Beyonce's performance: that "we got to meet the people where they are at" and take every opportunity to push positive messages. This sad and reactionary position only reflects the deep cynicism and alienation of black radical politics that has never recovered from the systematic assault on our movement from the '70s onward.

On Homeland Security: Militarization to fight terrorism is permanent war posture

The strategy of reducing the U.S. footprint by relying on small numbers of special forces--Delta force, Seals, Green Berets etc.--and not committing massive ground forces, thus reducing the possibility of U.S. casualties and the attention of the public, reflects a serious strategic threat to the cause of peace and anti-interventionism. It is not only a strategy that commits the U.S. to a permanent war posture, especially since the connection of covert U.S. support to these terrorist operations is now well established, it also means that the plan for Africa is being written in the blood of the people in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

On Civil Rights: Obama serves white power, not MLK's dream

Linking the demands and aspirations of African Americans in 1963 to the ascendency of Barack Obama as President within the still-dominant white supremacist structure, affirms a limitation that reflects the oppressive reality of African American life. It brings a clear message that the highest aspiration and possible achievement for an African American is to be able to serve white power--to be a servant. That is the "positive" role model for the new black leadership class.