Governor James E. McGreevey
P.O. Box 001
Trenton, NJ 08625

Dear Governor McGreevey:

We are writing on behalf of the 113-member Freedom to Write Committee of PEN American Center, a body that seeks to protect the rights of writers around the world to express themselves freely and monitors threats to freedom of expression in the United States, to urge you to oppose Assembly Bill N. 2857 or any other legislation that could pave the way for the dismissal of a Poet Laureate based on objections to the content of the poet's work.

Our writing to you should not be construed as an endorsement of Mr. Baraka's poem "Somebody Blew Up America" or all of the views it expresses. However, as consistent court rulings through the years have made clear, offensive speech, especially when the speech has a political nature or intent, is precisely what the First Amendment was designed to protect. A parallel set of rulings concerning offensive speech by artists who are the recipients of government support has held that the government, once it enters into the business of supporting the arts, cannot withhold promised support as punishment for the content of the work an artist produces.

Apparently concurring with this analysis, the New Jersey Senate abandoned a number of legislative initiatives aimed at firing or removing Amiri Baraka from the Poet Laureate post; instead, the Senate passed Joint Senate Bill Numbers 21 and 1981, a bill that would repeal the law establishing the post of New Jersey State Poet Laureate, voting in effect to defund the position. The bill appears calculated to pave the way for Mr. Baraka's removal in a way that circumvents clear First Amendment prohibitions against punishing speech deemed offensive. As such, we believe it violates the spirit if not the letter of First Amendment law. At the same time, it sends an unfortunate message about the State's commitment to the spirit behind the creation of the position - that is, that the promotion of poetry and literature as a whole is an appropriate and worthy public policy goal.

It is worth noting that Mr. Baraka created and presented the poem "Somebody Blew Up America" publicly on numerous occasions before he was appointed Poet Laureate. The poem, and indeed Mr. Baraka's entire oeuvre - much of which is calculated to outrage or provoke - was available to New Jersey officials to review prior to his appointment, and nothing, no legal rulings or First Amendment concerns, constrained them from considering whether his work was compatible with an appointment as State Poet Laureate. But by overlooking these concerns and offering the appointment, the state has put itself in a position where it is constrained by a body of law that seeks, rightly, to assure that government cannot punish a person for exercising free speech.

On behalf of the Freedom to Write Committee of PEN American Center,

K. Anthony Appiah
Chair, Freedom to Write Committee

Larry Siems
Director, Freedom to Write Program

CC: New Jersey State Senators
New Jersey State Assemblymen and Assemblywomen