Friday, July 30, 2010

Kevin Powell on Charlie Rangel, et al

Kevin Powell is a writer with political ambition. He is presently running for Congress from Brooklyn. His analysis of the behavior of Charlie Rangel and Ed Towns reflects the general condition of neo-colonial politicians. From coast to coast we see such men and women under indictment or doing time, or simply doing nothing, just maintaining, as we say in the hood.

Elijah told us no politician of this world can save you. We see in Kevin Powell the next generation of politicos, along with Ras Baraka on the Newark City Council. We hope and pray they can maintain some semblance of radical consciousness, though the essential theme of the politician is let's make a deal! Sometimes that deal puts us in a hole from which we cannot resurface.
--Marvin X

Charlie Rangel Begat Ed Towns: Something Is Broken In Brooklyn, Too
By Kevin Powell
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.”
—Abraham Lincoln
And the drama of Congressman Charlie Rangel continues to unfold with 13 charges of misconduct, even as I type this essay: Mr. Rangel faces a range of accusations stemming from his accepting four rent-stabilized apartments, to misusing his office to preserve a tax loophole worth half a billion dollars for an oil executive who pledged a donation for an educational center being built in Mr. Rangel’s honor. In short, Mr. Rangel, one of the most powerful Democrats in the United States House of Representatives, has given his Republican foes much fodder to attack Dems as the November mid-term elections quickly approach.
While this saga continues, two questions dangle in the air: First, where did it all go so terribly wrong? And, second, did Mr. Rangel begat the lack of ethics also present in the career of his colleague, friend, and staunch ally Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns of Brooklyn, New York?
To answer these questions I think we must go back to the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement’s waning days. Dr. King was still alive, but his popularity had plummeted, which explains why, to this day, many people do not know his writings or sermons from those latter years. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. of Harlem (Mr. Rangel’s predecessor) was clinging to his seat amidst ethics battles of his own. The streets of Black America were habitually afire, as urban unrest became the language of the unheard ghetto masses. And in majority Black communities like Harlem and Brooklyn, Black leaders, emboldened by Civil Rights victories, chants of “Black Power,” and a once-in-a-century opportunity for power, rushed through the kicked-in doors, into politics, into business, into film and television, into book publishing and magazines (or started their own), and into colleges and universities heretofore shuttered. It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. The best because many really believed “change” was on the horizon. The worst because some Black movers and shakers were so happy to get inside that they came with no vision or a plan whatsoever for their followers.
Clearly very few even bothered to read Dr. King’s landmark essay “Black Power Redefined,” which sought to push Black leaders toward a programmatic agenda that included the poor and economically disenfranchised.
And if there were any communities in Black America to test Dr. King’s vision, they were Harlem and Brooklyn. Brooklyn has Black America’s largest concentration of people of African descent. But Harlem, in particular, was the symbolic capital of Black America, and it was there that the now famous Gang of Four—Percy Sutton, Charlie Rangel, David Dinkins, and Basil Paterson—planned and plotted a course for their community, and themselves. Rangel replaced Powell in Congress and became the dean of New York politics. Sutton would first be a successful politician himself, then eventually start Inner City Broadcasting, a major person of color owned media enterprise; Basil Paterson would be, among other things, New York State Senator, Deputy Mayor of New York City, and New York Secretary of State; and David Dinkins, of course, became the first Black mayor of New York City.
Truth be told Mr. Rangel and his colleagues had an incredible vision and really did nothing differently than their White predecessors had been doing for decades in America: they saw an opportunity for a taste of power and they took it. (And at least the Gang of Four brought an economic empowerment zone to Harlem, something Congressman Towns pretended to want to do in the mid1990s for Brooklyn, then mysteriously backed away from, instead endorsing then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s re-election bid, with Brooklyn never hearing about that zone again.)
Indeed, as I was coming of age as a student and youth activist in the 1980s, and as a then-reporter with various Black newspapers in the New York City area, I remember well hearing their names mentioned often. And, to a lesser extent, the names of their Black political peers in Brooklyn like Al Vann, Major Owens, and Sonny Carson. It was awe-inspiring, because I did not know that Black folks were leaders in this way. The pinnacle of this Black political ascension in New York City, without question, was the election of David Dinkins in 1989. For New York was the last of the major American cities to produce a Black mayor.
But something stopped during Dinkins’ years in City Hall. Black New York was unable to shake off the catastrophic effects of the 1980s crack cocaine scourge, or Reagan-era social policies. Meanwhile, Black leadership in New York, rather than nurture and prepare the next generation of Black voices to succeed them, did exactly what their White forerunners had done: they dug their heels deeper into the sands of power and have instead become leaders of what I call “a ghetto monarchy.” In other words, the community-first values of the Civil Rights era have been replaced by the post-Civil Rights era values of me-first, career first, and control and domination of my building, my block, my housing projects, my district, my part of the community (if not all of it), my church, my community center, or my organization, by any means necessary. For as long as possible. And often for as much money, privilege, and access to power as one can get with a “career” as a Black leader or figurehead.
And that, my friends, is what leads us, again, to the sad spectacles of the two senior most Congresspersons in New York State: Charlie Rangel of Harlem, and my representative in Brooklyn, Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns.
For it is so clear that the leadership path of Congressman Rangel begat the leadership path of Congressman Towns. Both may have been well intentioned at the beginning of their careers. Both may very well believe in the goodness, as I do, of public service for the people. But something has gone terribly wrong, the longer they have stayed in office (40 years now, for Mr. Rangel, and 27 long years for Mr. Towns); something that, I believe, has zapped them of their ability to serve effectively. That has zapped them of sound moral, political and ethical judgment. That has led both to be disconnected from the very people they claim to serve, both younger and older people alike.
And you see this pattern with old school Black political leaders nationwide. For ghettoes exist wherever you see Black city council or alderpersons. Ghettoes exist wherever you see Black state senators and assemblypersons. And ghettoes exist for most of the Congressional districts, too, represented by Black House members. 40-plus long years of Black political representation, in record numbers, in fact, but it seems our communities are worse off than even before the Civil Rights Movement.
Now I am very clear that systemic racism has done a number on these communities from coast to coast, from how financial institutions have treated urban areas, to the deterioration of our public schools when White flight became real in the 1960s and 1970s, to loss of factories, and other job incubators, to the often combative relationship between our communities and local police. And let us not begin to talk about the effects of gentrification on urban areas across America the past decade and a half.
But if a leader really has any vision, she or he figures out some way to help the people to help themselves. You simply do not retreat to what is safe, secure, and predictable in terms of your actions, or lack thereof. Doing that means you simply have given up. Or, worse, you just do not care.
For me, no clearer evidence than the other day when I was campaigning for Congress in Marcy Projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, the Marcy Projects made famous in the lyrics of hiphop superstar and Brooklyn native son Jay-Z. 60-year-old Marcy Projects is so huge a housing complex that it swallows whole Myrtle and Park and Flushing Avenues between Nostrand and Marcy. It consists of 27 buildings, over 1700 apartments, and approximately 5000 residents. And except for areas like Fort Greene (excluding its own projects), Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, and parts of Dumbo, Bed-Stuy, East Flatbush, and Canarsie, most of Mr. Towns’ district is as impoverished, under-served, and as forgotten as Marcy Projects.
There is the sight of several elderly women sitting on benches in the middle of this aging complex, frustrated with the state of their lives, their meager incomes, the bags of garbage strewn about them, and the rats who have created dirt holes so big around each building, that a small human head could fit through most of those holes. When I ask these women where is the nearest senior citizen center so they could have some measure of relief, they say, in unison, “Right here, outside, where we are sitting now, these benches. This is the safest place we got.”
There is the sight of children, pre-teens and teens, running, jumping, over pissed stained asphalt, scraping their knees on the ground filled with broken bottles and broken promises. There also is no community center open in Marcy any longer. Why that is the case, no Marcy resident can tell me. What they do tell me is that Marcy Playground is being renovated. And indeed it is. But the residents feel it is not for them, that it is for “the new White people coming into the area, and the new Black people who have some money.”
There is the sight of all those Black and Latino males standing on this or that corner, in front of this or that building, the hands of their lives shoved deep into their pockets, their hunger for something better fed by a Newport cigarette, a taste of malt liquor or Hennessey, a pull on a marijuana stick. And then the ritual happens: a police car shows up, males and females of all ages are asked for identification, are thrown up against a wall, against the squad car, or to the ground, asked where they live, where they are going, why are they standing there, what is in their shoes, in their underwear. Or they are accused of trespassing for going from one building to another, even if they are simply visiting a relative or friend.
This is not just life in Marcy Projects, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. This is what ghetto monarchs like Congressman Towns and Congressman Rangel preside over in Black communities nationwide. Perhaps, once more, they really cared at one point—maybe they really did. But circa 2010, Charlie Rangel’s problems are Ed Towns’ problems because the apple does not fall very far from the tree. Yes, cite Mr. Rangel’s litany of indiscretions, but let us not forget Mr. Towns’ own timeline of indiscretions while overseeing his district (see the timeline below for Mr. Towns), for nearly three decades, with, among other things, some of the bloodiest violence in America, the highest HIV/AIDS rates in America, the most under-achieving schools (with a few notable exceptions), and vast disparities between the haves and the have-nots. Right here in Brooklyn, New York.
Is it little wonder that as I travel this Congressional district, meeting with Jewish folks in Boerum HIill, Chinese folks in Williamsburg, West Indian folks in East Flatbush and Canarsie, or African American and Puerto Rican folks in East New York, I hear the same things time and again: “We never see Mr. Towns except maybe when he needs our vote” or “I have never seen Mr. Towns in my life” or “I have called Mr. Towns’ office many times and never gotten the help I need” or “I just do not trust any of these politicians at all. They all lie.”
This is why voter turnout is perpetually low. This is why incumbents get to stay in office decade after decade. The formula is very simple for electeds like Congressman Ed Towns: Identify the loyal voters and only cater to them (helping them get election poll jobs, or regular jobs, helping their children get into schools, paying for trips out of town to some casino or amusement park or cookout). Stay out of sight of all the other registered Democratic voters, banking on them simply pulling the lever for “Democrats” every election cycle without any fuss or questions. Never debate an insurgent opponent for fear of your being exposed for who you really are, and for what you have not done for the community. Turn your political seat into a business, one where your family member and circle of friends and colleagues benefit from the powerful reach of your position.
So why would you want to give that up? Why would you even bother to do more than is absolutely necessary when you are able to enjoy the perks of a long political career without much effort, without much sweat equity at all? Why would you even think that taking on the values of political corruption are unethical at all, if there has been no one to hold you accountable for so very long?
And why would you see that Brooklyn, and the Brooklyns of America, are broken, so very terribly broken, even though it is clear as day to the people in your community?
Kevin Powell is a 2010 Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Brooklyn, New York’s 10th Congressional district. You can contact him at www.kevinpowell.net
TIMELINE of unethical behavior by Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns
Democrat, Brooklyn, New York’s 10th Congressional District
(This is a PARTIAL list)

1982: While campaigning for his first term, Towns was caught on videotape accepting a $1,300 cash bribe from 3 undercover officers with the NYC Department of Investigation. Prior to being indicted, he was tipped off that the construction executives from whom he took the money were actually cops and he returned the money:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/12/poised_to_succe.php

1997: Towns endorses Rudy Giuliani for Mayor despite Giuliani’s antagonistic relationship with the vast majority of the residents of his congressional district.

2005: Towns casts the deciding vote in support of George W. Bush’s CAFTA policy, after flip-flopping on the issue considerably.

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=2037

2006: In the pocket of Big Pharmaceuticals: Billy Tauzin, president of that group, a lobbying organization for brand-name drug companies, recently urged Representative Edolphus Towns, Democrat of New York, to seek a position as chairman of a powerful House subcommittee, said Karen Johnson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Towns. The subcommittee has authority over Medicare and the Food and Drug Administration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/washington/24drug.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

2009: In the midst of the foreclosure crisis and the economic meltdown, instead of using his power as a congressman to help his constituents get jobs and get their homes, Towns instead used his power to award himself to VIP mortgages with Countrywide. He then refused initially to issue a subpoena to investigate Countrywide’s records as to protect himself.

www.Online.wsj.com/article/SB124960476129713019.html

2010: New York Daily News reports that Congressman Towns tried to steer $5 million in f$5.3 million in taxpayer money to a nonprofit that employs one of his staffers. The group, Trinity Community Development and Empowerment Group Inc., had an abandoned building as its address.

2010: Towns recently voted along with 180 Republicans against the most recent jobs bill. Here we are in this crisis, and he’s voting AGAINST JOBS. While it was not a perfect bill, it did have a provision in it to create business for minority contractors.

2010: Towns confides in a staffer that he may not run here in 2010. Whether he just doesn’t have the energy or he’s seeing the heat on Rangel, it doesn’t appear Towns has the interest to represent the people any longer.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Reader Comments on Pull Yo Pants Up



Comment on Marvin X's Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez, and Yo Self, Essays on Obama Drama


Marvin X is on the mark again with his accurate observation of the Obama era. The black community was so excited with Obama being the first Black Prez that they forgot he was a politician-not a messiah. Marvin X brings the community back to the reality of what Obama stands for-at the moment!


He has not given up on DaPrez, he simply wants people to see what he stands for and what he still has an opportunity to do for our communities.


Make sure you put Pull Yo Pants Up Fada Black Prez & Yo Self on your to-buy list

It will be the best book you will read in 2010!
--Carolyn Mixon


Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez,

Essays on Obama Drama by Marvin X

Black Bird Press 2010

50 pages

$19.95


Black Bird Press

1222 Dwight Way

Berkeley CA 94702

www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com

jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

On The Sunny Side of the Street

On The Sunny Side of the Street

Review: South of the Border

Review: South of the Border

Black Bird Press Review

From: Nefertitti Jackmon
Sent: Wed, July 21, 2010 8:30:02 AM
Subject: Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER

I had an opportunity to view South of the Border this past Monday. It discusses the socialist movement that is sweeping Latin America. I was not surprised by any of the information that I saw in the film, but I was further empowered. My father (Marvin X) has been sharing with me (and others) much of what was shown in the film. What it did reveal to me is that revolutionary change is possible even within my lifetime. It is not an idealistic dream of some people from the '60's. The seeds of change have been sown, they are growing and they can either blossom or be destroyed. Our knowledge and our understanding of our role in this world will either fuel this growth or kill the potential for positive change fueled by THE PEOPLE.

What you will note in the documentary is that the countries that embraced changed were empowered by the masses of the people. There are many who are upset over what has occurred in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and Cuba, but this is the ruling minority. The minority who for years have controlled the wealth; they are afraid that their wealth and their way of living will diminish. This is true all over the world, even in the United States. Yesterday I heard a U.S. Senator discussing his lack of satisfaction with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. He said that he is afraid of the change that is taking place in this country (he was speaking specifically in terms of the changes in the process of how the Senators agreed on her nomination) but to me it was symbolic of the overall fear that the wealthy/ruling minority fear will occur if Obama is bold enough to fulfill some of his campaign rhetoric.

The Latin leaders even challenged Barak Obama to show his solidarity with the people. They suggested that there were merely three conditions that must be met to show that he's concerned/unified with the people:

1) Pull out of the wars in the Middle East
2) Gosh, I'm so old and I forgot the second one, it was good
3) Invite Hugo Chavez to the U.S. (they all laughed)

So just two, and when I heard what they said, I felt that if he would follow through on those he would be worthy of the Nobel Prize which he has already been awarded.

The challenge is for us to encourage our brothers and sisters in African and Caribbean nations to look to the few strong leaders in Latin America who are charting a new destiny for their people. They have their own unique form of democracy, socialism and capitalism. Think out of the box, there's more than one way to get things done.

Go see the film and make your own informed decision.

To the Bolivarian Revolution!


Peace and Blessings,

Nefertitti



To: despierte@gmail.com
Subject: Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER opens Friday 7/23 in HOUSTON
From: despierte@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:39:51 -0700

Greetings! Now that you were able to watch Oliver Stone's "SOUTH OF THE BORDER", please help us spread the important information in this film to a larger audience! Please forward the information below to your networks. THANK YOU!!


**PLEASE FORWARD**

Oliver Stone’s new documentary SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Opens Friday July 23rd in HOUSTON!



"I LOVED THIS DOCUMENTARY!" - Bill Maher

PROVOCATIVE...Oliver Stone’s celebration of the leftward tilt of South American politics comes as a cheerful surprise.”
- Stephen Holden, The New York Times

"An EYE-OPENING DOCUMENTARY...captures South America in a paradigm shift, wrenching itself free of centuries of colonial control."
- Owen Gleiberman, EW.com

COULD BE OLIVER STONE'S MOST IMPORTANT FILM.”

"Oscar-winning director STRIKES ONCE AGAIN into the political heart of darkness"
- Laura Emerick, Chicago Sun-Times

Synopsis: There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President NÄ—stor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.


• HOUSTON •

AMC STUDIO 30
2949 Dunvale Rd., Houston, TX 77063 • (713) 977-4431

Don’t miss Q&A on 7/23 after the main evening show with Luis Duno-Gottberg,
Associate Professor of Caribbean and Film Studies at Rice University

Ticket Pricing:

Adult: $9.75 - After 4:00 pm

Child: $6.75 - Age 2 - 12

Matinee: $7.75 - Before 3:55 pm

Senior: $8.75 - Age 60+

click here for more info

Organize group and get discount tickets:
- Visit:
www.amcnationalsales.com
- Register on the site.
- Purchase the GOLD EXPERIENCE TICKETS bundle (tickets good on opening
weekend for film). 50 ticket minimum at $7.50 each
- Select shipping method and follow checkout instructions.
- Please take into account shipping time if you plan to see the film on
opening weekend.
Purchase Group Tickets

South of the Border will play in these theaters and more nationwide:
NOW PLAYING
NYC
Cinema Village
NOW PLAYING
Los Angeles
Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex and Laemmle’s Town Center
NOW PLAYING
Pasadena
Laemmle’s Playhouse 7
NOW PLAYING
San Francisco
Sundance Kabuki Cinema

Berkeley
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood

Palm Springs
Cinemas Palme d’Or
July 23
Phoenix
Harkins Valley Art

Dallas
AMC Grand 24

Houston
AMC Studio 30

New Orleans
Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center
July 30
Minneapolis
Showplace ICON at The West End

Seattle
Santa Barbara
Regal Meridian 16
Plaza d'Oro

Portland
Living Room Theaters
August 6
Salem (OR)
High Street Cinema


••••••••••••

Since hitting the big screen, SOUTH OF THE BORDER has been generating some heat!
· FAIR's Peter Hart weighs in on right-wing journalists and their coverage of the film and in particular the Larry Rohter of The New York Times.
· FOX& Friends lashed out and and attacked “South of the Border,” spreading outrageous ignorance in the guise of news.
· Activists in Los Angeles mobilized to counter a protest of the film organized by the Venezuelan opposition - Anne Thompson/Indiewire and Steve Pond/The Wrap report.
Some interviews, commentaries and reviews:

· The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday interviews Stone.
· Naomi Campbell interviews Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez in GQ.
· Chicago Reader - "a better overview of the current political climate in Latin America than anything you’ll see on U.S. television." Review.
· Mark Weisbrot's recent Op-Ed: "Washington Still Has Problems With Democracy in Latin America."

Or, compare your knowledge about South America with some of journalism’s best…

Vote: Dumbest Mistake in a "South of the Border" Review!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Willie Ricks (Black Power) and Marvin X

Willie Ricks and Marvin X
TRANSFORMATION PLUS TV

WITH


www.harambeeradio.com
The TV screen is right on that page.

DALANI AAMON




Tonight's guest will be;




9:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST

Willie Ricks 60s Civil Rights Worker



The cry for BLACK POWER was coined by one Willie Ricks aka Mukasa Dada

Who Is Mukasa Dada?

1. Civil Rights Leader, Elder, Father, Organizer, Orator
2. Field Secretary of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
3. "The fiery orator of SNCC" - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his 1967 book, Where Do We Go From Here
4. "Willie Ricks must rank as one of those unknown heroes who captured the mood of history. In calling for Black Power, he caught the essence of the spirit, moving Black people in the United States and around the world who were poor, Black, and without power" - James Forman of SNCC
5. Popularized of the chant, "Black Power"


and


10:00 PM until





Marvin X, also known as Marvin Jackmon and El Muhajir

Talking about Oscar Grant and police brutality.


Marvin X was born May 29, 1944 in Fowler, California, near Fresno. Marvin X is well known for his work as a poet, playwright and essayist of the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT or BAM. He attended Merritt College along with Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. He received his BA and MA in English from San Francisco State University.

Marvin X is most well known for his work with Ed Bullins in the founding of Black House and The Black Arts/West Theatre in San Francisco. Black House served briefly as the headquarters for the Black Panther Party and as a center for performance, theatre, poetry and music.

Marvin X is a playwright in the true spirit of the BAM. His most well-known BAM play, entitled Flowers for the Trashman, deals with generational difficulties and the crisis of the Black intellectual as he deals with education in a white-controlled culture. Marvin X's other works include, The Black Bird, The Trial, Resurrection of the Dead and In the Name of Love.

He currently has the longest running African American drama in the San Francisco Bay area and Northern California, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE, a tragi-comedy of addiction and recovery. He is the founder and director of RECOVERY THEATRE.

Marvin X has continued to work as a lecturer, teacher and producer. He has taught at Fresno State University; San Francisco State University; University of California - Berkeley and San Diego; University of Nevada, Reno; Mills College, Laney and Merritt Colleges in Oakland. He has received writing fellowships from Columbia University and the National Endowment for the Arts and planning grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.


INTERESTED IN HOSTING YOUR OWN PROGRAM ON HARAMBEE ?

1 -866-851-5279 toll free or email dalani@harambeetv. com

Need to advertise your products and services around the clock worldwide on our Website, Radio or TV?

We offer you The New Harambee Radio and TV Web site
.

Over 70 past programs on demand free 24/7


24/7 All Black Talk On Demand Station

24/7 All Black Live Talk Station

24/7 TV Station With Video On Demand
Over 160 of the best exclusive videos free.

Over 100 hours of education.


24/7 Independent Artist Station

24/7 Old School Station

24/7 Harambee Exclusive Listener Chat Room

24/7 Live Streaming TV Station


24/7 The Black Success Channel
http://www.livestre am.com/theblacksucc esschannel


http://harambeeradi/o.ning.com/


Encoder 9 Sound System from Microsoft


New digital recording system for replays


Over 30 countries and 100 cities

1-877-514-5454 ext 501 toll free

We are paying royalties to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC for all the
music on The Harambee
Radio and Television Network


Dalani@harambeetv. com


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Hustler's Guide to the Game Called LIfe

Coming Soon from Black Bird Press

Hustler’s Guide to the Game

Called Life


Volume II, the Wisdom of Plato Negro

Marvin X


Contents

Parable of Value

Parable of Plato Negro’s Republic of North American Africans

Plato Negro’s Republic and Morality

Plato Negro’s Republic, Newark: A Case Study

Parable of Leave Me ‘Lone

Parable of a Nigguh

Parable of Slow Dance on the Killing Floor

Parable of the Demons

Parable of Solutions

Parable of Da Corner

Parable of Lord Have Mercy

Parable of Jazz

Parable of Nigguh Please!

Parable of Helen Thomas

Parable of Parental Partiality

Parable of the Gaza Concentration Camp

Parable of the Wannabe Actor, Part II

Parable of Women without Men

Parable of Trinkets and Gadgets

Parable of the Man who could Write

Parable of the Man Who Talked to No One

Parable of the Man Who Fell

Parable of the Negro as Terrorist

Parable of the White Woman

Parable of the Dying White Man

Parable of the Tour

Parable of the Mike

Parable of the Reader’s Theatre

Parable of Stormy Weather

Parable of Ancestor Coretta Scott King

Parable of the Religious Haters

Parable of the Poet

Parable of the Oakland Pigs

Parable of Walter Riley

Parable of Oakland’s Day of Absence

Parable of I am Oscar Grant

Parable of Oakland at the Precipice

Parable of the Angel

Parable of Living in the Last Days

Parable of the San Francisco Negro

Parable of the Death and Resurrection of a City

Parable of the Spider

Parable of July 4, 1910

Parable of a beautiful day in the Bay

Parable of a City Traumatized

Parable of Oakland Police Riot

Parable of the Father who lost two Sons

Parable of I Shot the Sheriff

Parable of the Wannabe Actor

Parable of the Letter

Parable of the Moment

Fable of the horse, cow and bull

Parable of Prayer

Parable of the Death Angel

Parable of Pain

Parable of Malcolm’s Killer

Parable of the Immigrant

Parable of Bitch Led Nigguhs

Parable of the Neo-Haitian Revolution

Parable of the Butt Kickers

Parable of the Penguin

Parable of the Catholic Church

Parable of the Poetic Victory

Parable of how to stop killing in the Pan African hood

Platonic Negro Dialogue on the Poetic Mission

Parable of Woman Stoned to Death

Parable of Bobby Seale’s 73rd Birthday

Parable of Mythology of Pussy and Dick Hits Mississippi

Parable of Mythology of Pussy and Dick Hits Howard University

Parable of Mythology of Pussy and Dick at Howard University, Final Notes

Parable to the Common People of Oakland

Parable of a Pan African Love

Parable of Harlem’s Celebration of Amiri Baraka’s 75th

Parable of Nisa Ra on Mythology of Pussy

Parable of Plato Negro’s Great Grandfather

Parable of Fahizah Alim

Parable of You Don’t Know Me!

Parable of Mythology as Hottest Book in Oakland


Black Bird Press, 2010

1222 Dwight Way

Berkeley Ca 94702

300 pages

$100.00


Order now, pre-publication discount less 40%

Wisdom of Plato Negro in San Francisco Theatre Festival

Sunday, August 8, The Academy of Da Corner Reader's Theatre will perform parables from the Wisdom of Plato Negro at the San Francisco Theatre Festival, Yebra Buena Center, 3rd and Mission, downtown San Francisco. Performers include Rashidah Sabreen, music, Raynetta Rayzetta, choreography/dance, Paradise, reader, Talibah, reader, Valarie Harvey, reader,

Mechelle LaChaux, reader/singer.