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Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.

-Ishmael Reed

The Wisdom of Plato Negro Parables/Fables

Marvin X

He’s the USA’s Rumi! The wisdom of Saadi, the ecstasy of Hafiz!—Bob Holman

Marvin X has been ignored and silenced, like Malcolm X would be ignored and silenced if he had lived on into the Now. He's one of the most extraordinary, exciting black intellectuals living today. 
--Rudolph Lewis, Chickenbones.


Marvin X was my teacher. Many of our comrades came through his Black Arts Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas and Samuel Napier.
-Dr. Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party

INTRODUCTION

To all seekers of truth living in the post modern world, this volume of literature is your pragmatic hustler’s guide and intellectual syllabus for success. Some people found it strange when scholar Ishmael Reed first compared Marvin X, the son of Owendell and Marian Jackmon to the classical Greek Philosopher Plato (427 B.C.), son of Ariston and Perictione.

No one can argue that both Plato and Marvin X have proven in their dialogues/writings to be great thinkers and critics of their respective eras. Although separated by over two thousand years of history and clearly two distinct worldviews, research proves that these poet/philosophers strangely share similar souls.

Recently while reading about the Dialogues of Plato, I came across a quote by William Chase Greene, former Professor of Greek and Latin at Harvard University. Greene describes Plato’s works by profoundly stating, “In yet another field the Platonic Philosophy seeks to find an escape from the flux.

Those poets and artist who are content to record the fleeting impressions of the senses, or to tickle the fancies and indulge the passions of an ignorant people by specious emotional and rhetorical appeals, Plato invites to use their art in service of truth.”

These are timeless words describing Plato’s classic works, yet if you simply replace Plato’s name with Marvin X in the above quote, and review Marvin’s work over the past 40 years, you won’t be surprised why he has adopted the title “Plato Negro”. In this classic volume Marvin X truly becomes Plato personified, as we see him transcend from master poet to philosopher.

Plato was once a master poet until the death of his teacher Socrates in (399 B.C.). This marked a turning point in Plato’s life causing him to fully convert to philosophy. The same can be said now with Marvin X who recently lost his master teacher John Douimbia and has since elevated beyond poetry, reincarnating as the philosopher “Plato Negro”.

These “New Dialogues” of The Wisdom of Plato Negro provide a post modern Gorgias, Sophist, Symposium of Laws, on how to hustle and survive in the new Obamian American Republic.

It is clear that Marvin X has become the true Platonist of the day by demonstrating his Platonic love for the people, taking us on a symbolic trip through the parable of the Cave, where all true analysis takes place, inside the true self.

As an African Philosopher, as ironic as it sounds, the works of “Plato Negro” prove to be a major contribution to the field of African Philosophy. These works provide a model for a standard approach toward reflective thinking and critical analysis for African people, still trying to define their own philosophical worldview.

What Plato’s works did to inspire classical Greece and the European generations to follow, we hope this brilliant piece of literature from “Plato Negro” will shed light on Africans today and future generations to come. Write on “Plato Negro”.

--Ptahotep A. El (Tracy Mitchell)

Minister of Education, Academy of Da Corner 

Contents

Introduction by Ptah Allah El

Preface: A Dialogue—Ishmael Reed, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Rodney D. Coates

Parables and Fables

Parable of Love p.1

Fable of the Donkey 5

Fable of the Elephant 7

Parable of the Heart 8

Parable of the Sacred 10

Parable of the Poor Righteous Teacher 12

Parable of the Parrot 14

Parable of a Happy Dope Fiend 15

Parable of the Man who loved his Mama 17

Parable of the Madpoet 21

Parable of the Witchdoctor  24

Parable of the Preacher’s Wife 29

Parable of the Rabbit 32

Parable of the Black Bourgeoisie 34

Parable of Iraq  37

Parable of the War that is not War 39

Parable of the Colored People 41

Parable of the Man Who Left the Mountain 44

Parable of  Girl Ignut of Men 48

Parable of the A Students 50

Parable of the Good Children 52

Parable of  Man, Beasts, Ancestors, Nature  53

Parable of the Drunk Man 54

Parable of the Hustler 57

Parable of the Woman at the Well 59

Parable of the Gambler 61

Parable of Letting Go 62

Parable  Death of Dreams 64

Parable of the Bar 66

Parable of the Table 67

Parable of the Bitter Bitch 68

Dialogue on Bitch 70

Parable of the Weather 75

Parable of the City of God 77

Parable of the Sick Soul 78

Parable of the Criminal Society 80

Parable of Monks and Ministers 83

Parable of the Dirty South 85

Parable of the No People  86
Fable of the Black Bird  87
Parable of the Real Woman  89
Parable of the Cell Phone  91
Parable of the Man With the Gun in Hand  94
Parable of the Gangsta  96
Fable of the Rooster and the Hen  98
Parable of the Pit Bull  100
Parable of Black Man and Block Man 102
Fable of the Sleeping Lion  103
Parable of the Baby Carriage  104
Parable of the Woman in the Box 106
Parable of the Fire  107
Parable of the Basket  110
Parable of the Man Who Wanted to Die  111

Parable of Snow in Oakland 113

Parable of Neo-colonialism at University of California, Berkeley 115

Parable of What  Right? 118

Parable of Gov. Moonbeam 120

Parable of the Family 123

Parable of the North American African as Haitian 125

Parable of Same Sex Marriage, Straight Men, Prostitution 128

Parable of Zionism and National Insanity 130

Parable of the Green Revolution 132

Parable of Gang Violence and Political Power 134

Parable of Who Asks the Negro? 137

Parable of broken systems, broken minds 139

Parable of Cornel West as angry black man 143

Parable of the Sub-prime Negro 144

Parable of the Man Who Talked with Cows 146

Parable of A Day in the Life of Plato Negro 147

Dialogue on White Supremacy 151

Parable of Grand Denial 155

Parable of Imagination 159

Parable of Dope, Mamas and Preachers 167

Parable Fall of America  170

Parable Evil in the World 171

Parable of American Gangsta J. Edgar Hoover 173

Parable of Sobriety 177

Parable of Michael Jackson 180

Parable of Suicide 181

Parable of the White Man 183

Parable of the Ash Cloud 188

Parable of One Million School Dropouts 190

Parable of Creativity and Sexuality 192

Parable of Desirelessness 195