Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Living Black History: Exhibit Marvin X


Marvin X organized Bay Area Writers/
Chauncey Bailey Book Fair at Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland

photo Adam Turner and Gene Hazzard






Another MX production was the 75th birthday celebration for poet Amiri Baraka at the Fillmore Jazz Heritage Center. Dancers Linda Johnson, Raynetta Rayzetta and drummers Val Serrant and Tamani gave Baraka a praise dance, local poets praised him in poetry. "Black Studies went to college but never came home" was the theme of a panel discussion, participants included Dr. Jimmy Garett, Abdul Sabry, Rev. George Murray,
Dr. Dorothy Tsuruta, Amiri Baraka, Marvin X and Cecil Brown.










The Poet performed at Alameda County Juvenile Hall for
Xmas, 2011, along with Rev. Blandon Reems, Aires Jordan and Toya Carter.
photo Adam Turner




Ever since graduating from high school in 1962, Marvin X has been on the war path for black liberation. After graduation, he enrolled at Oakland's Merritt College where his classmates were Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, co-founders of the Black Panther Party. They turned Marvin onto Black Nationalism, although his parents were publishers of the Fresno Voice, a black newspaper in Fresno, the central valley town between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Suzzette Celeste, MSW, MPA, friend
and associate. Along with Dr. Nathan Hare,
Suzzette facilitated Black Reconstruction,
a mental health peer group, the prototype for
Marvin X's How to Recover from the Addiction
to White Supremacy mental health peer group
based on his manual How to Recover from
White Supremacy, A Pan African, 12 Step Model.




His father was a Race man, a social activist involved with the NAACP and other social organizations such as the Masons and American legion. His dad had fought in WWI and while in Los Angeles, saw Marcus Garvey. His mother became a follower of Christian Science, a disciple of Mary Baker Eddy. There was no medicine cabinet in his mother's house. She believed the "truth" would set you free of all
dis-ease.






Marvin's earliest memories are sitting in his parents newspaper office pecking at the typewriter and selling the Fresno Voice on the street. He later sold the Pittsburgh Courier, Chicago Defender and Detroit Black Dispatch. The family moved to Oakland when his father lost his real estate license due to gambling(with other people's money) . His father became a florist immortalized in Marvin's first play Flowers for the Trashman. The family lived in the back of the florist shop on 7th and Campbell in West Oakland. Marvin attended McFeely, Prescott, St. Patrick and Lowell Jr. High.

Poet, Critic, Professor Sherley Ann Williams
(RIP)


He graduated with honors from Edison High in Fresno, along with poet/critic Sherley A. Williams (RIP), who was his girlfriend and the woman his mother said he should have married. But he fell in love with a Catholic school girl, Patricia Smith, mother of his two sons Marvin K. and Darrel (RIP).


At Merritt College he made the basketball team and won a short story contest, but more importantly, he received a heavy dose of black nationalism from Huey, Bobby, Richard Thorne, Ernie Allen, Ann Williams, Kenny and Carol Freeman, all of whom were associated with Donald Warden's African American Association. Since there was no Black Studies, Marvin and his comrades did independent study in peer groups, often rapping on the steps of Merritt College and at conscious parties. They studied such texts as Facing Mt. Kenya by Jomo Kenyatta, Wretched of the Earth by Franz Fanon, Black Bourgeoisie by E. Franklin Frazier, History Will Absolve Me by Fidel Castro, Neo-colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah. Of course, Malcolm X was their hero. Marvin heard him speak before seven thousand students at UC Berkeley's Sproul Hall, 1964, and later than night at the mosque on Henry Street in West Oakland.

Although he didn't know it, his comrades recognized his writing talents and were bemused at his intelligence and wisdom at a young age. But in his first private meeting with Huey Newton, Newton asked him, "What is your program?" This meeting took place at Richard Thorne's room when Richard showed Huey Marvin's writings. Marvin had no idea what Huey was talking about since he was a budding writer, not a theoretician. Ironically, Huey would later claim the poet as one of his teachers who brought several BPP leaders into the BPP, including Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas and Samuel Napier.

As recruiter, Marvin also influenced the Nation of Islam when he was asked to fish his friend, Bobby Jones, into the Nation. Bobby Jones became director of imports. Elijah renamed him Nadar Ali.

He transferred to San Francisco State College, now University, in 1964, joining the Negro Student Association, renamed Black Student Union, and helped lay the ground for the first Black Studies program on a major white college campus. It came about in 1968 after the longest student strike in American history, although Marvin was in Harlem in 1968, now a mover and shaker in the Black Arts Movement, having dropped out of college in 1965 to establish his own theater in the Fillmore, along with playwright Ed Bullins and others.

Black Dialogue editors: Aubrey Labrie, Marvin X, Abdul Sabry, Al Young, Arthur Sheridan, Duke Williams

On a visit to Soledad prison in 1966, he met Eldridge Cleaver and Bunchy Carter when the staff of Black Dialogue magazine addressed the black culture club. This club was the beginning of the modern prison movement in America. Upon his release from prison, Marvin was the first person Eldridge Cleaver hooked up with and they organized Black House, a political/cultural center.
Bobby Seale attended Marvin X's
Black History event at the Joyce
Gordon Gallery, Oakland, Feb. 2011.
Gene Hazzard photo



Bobby Seale simultaneously blames Marvin for keeping Eldridge from the BPP and for dumping Eldridge on the BPP. See Bobby Seale's Seize the Time, Eldridge's Post-Prison Writings and Marvin X's My friend the Devil, a memoir of Eldridge Cleaver.





Eldridge Cleaver and his best friend, Bunchy Carter who,
along with John Huggins, was assassinated in the BSU
meeting room at UCLA by members of the US organization.




Fly to Allah, Marvin's first collection of poetry, is now considered the beginning of modern Muslim American literature. Just as the poets in the Harlem Renaissance were influenced by Marcus Garvey, the Black Arts Movement was deeply influenced by the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X.

When Eldridge Cleaver returned from exile, Marvin helped organized his Born Again ministry, traveling with EC throughout America, Canada and Jamaica. Eldridge, Huey Newton and Marvin X became addicted to Crack. Marvin's play, One Day in the Life, documents his last meeting with Huey in a West Oakland Crack house. When Eldridge made his transition, Marvin officiated his memorial service in Oakland. Eldridge had died, May 1, 1998, the same day Marvin's autobiography Somethin' Proper was released. Somethin' Proper is a classic autobiography of the Black Arts Movement, along with Amiri Baraka's and Haki Madhubuti's.

Since recovering from Crack, Marvin has written at least twenty books, produced events such as the Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness, 2001, at San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair,2004. His latest drama is Mythology of Love, produced in 2011 at Oakland's Joyce Gordon Gallery. His Academy of da Corner Reader's theatre also performed The Wisdom of Plato Negro at the San Francisco Theatre Festival.

Hurriyah Asar, Marvin's
longtime friend from the
Black Arts Movement



Other projects include Recovery Theatre, Academy of da Corner (he occupies the northeast corner of 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland), First Poets Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists (in planning) and the David Blackwell Institute of Art, Math and Science ( in planning).

Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb and Marvin X have been friends since childhood. Both grew up in West Oakland.
They are standing at Marvin X's Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Ishmael Reed calls him "Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."
Paul and Marvin say the chief role of the Oakland Police Department in the murder of Post Editor, Chauncey Bailey, was thrown under the rug at the trial. As publisher of the Post, Paul was never called to testify on the work his editor was doing, which included investigating the police and City Hall under Mayor Jerry Brown, now Governor.


Exhibit Marvin X runs Saturdays, 7-10pm, through February. It is located at 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA. Please make reservations, space is limited. No one turned away for lack of funds.




Black Bird Press Publishing House
1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA
94702









Exhibit Marvin X Lecture Series

Tentative Schedule


Saturdays, 7-10pm, during February

During February, students and associates of Marvin X will discuss their relationship with the poet and read from his selected writings and their own. The poet will entertain questions from the audience on his life and times.


There will be a special lecture/discussion on Marvin X's mentor, the Honorable John Douimbia, founder of the Black Men's Conference, 1980. The exhibit will display the John Douimbia papers. He was a Bay Area legend who played a critical role in shaping the Bay Area Black Power movement in general and the Black Men's Movement in particular. Professor emeritus Oba T'Shaka and Norman Brown will discuss John Douimbia, an associate of Malcolm X during their hustling days in Harlem. Malcolm asked John to help expand San Francisco Mosque #26. John agreed but also wanted a secular organization of Black men. Marvin X became the chief planner for John's 1980 Black Men's Conference at the Oakland Auditorium, 15 years before the Million Man March.


As we know, when Malcolm departed the Nation of Islam, he understood the need for John's secular organization, thus he formed the OAAU or Organization of African American Unity. Norman Brown, also an associate of Mr. Douimbia, will join Professor Oba T'Shaka's lecture/discussion.




Elijah and Malcolm X



Saturday, February 4th
, 7-10pm


Ayodele Nzinga, MA, MFA, will discuss her thirty year artistic relationship with Marvin X. Ayodele directed Marvin X's 1981 production In the Name of Love at Laney College. She also directed his One Day in the Life, 1996-2001, the longest running Black drama in Northern California. Ayo is founder and director of West Oakland's Lower Bottom Playaz.



Saturday, February 11th

Dr. J. Vern Cromartie


will deliver a paper on Marvin X's brief tenure at University of California, Berkeley. He was a student of Marvin X's at Laney College, 1981. Dr. Cromartie, a poet, is Chair of the Sociology Department at Contra Costa College, Richmond CA.

Saturday, February 18th

Dr. Oba T'Shaka

San Francisco State University Professor emeritus, Dr. Oba T'Shaka, and community organizer, Norman Brown, will discuss Marvin X's mentor, the Honorable John Douimbia. The John Douimbia papers are part of Exhibit Marvin X.

Norman K. Brown










Saturday, February, 25th



Marvin X
will read from his selected writings, along with Aries Jordan and Toya Carter. Mechelle LaChaux will perform Marvin X's Woman on the Cell Phone.










510-575-2225
for reservations, space limited. Group rates available for schools, colleges, organizations.

Admission: Adults $20.00/Seniors/Students $10.00. No one turned away for lack of funds.

1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley, between San Pablo and Sacramento Avenues. In the rear.






Berkeley High Students (B-Tech) Enjoy Exhibit Marvin X

The life and times of a North American African Poet









L to R: Muhammad Ali, Hon. Elijah Muhammad, Dr. Angela Davis, professor, author, activist



Marvin X joined the Nation of Islam in 1967, Mosque #26, San Francisco. Along with Muhammad Ali, Marvin X resisted the draft to Vietnam. Marvin X went into exile, then Federal Prison.

In 1969, Angela Davis was banned from teaching at UCLA. The same year, Marvin X was banned from teaching at Fresno State University by Gov. Ronald Reagan, who told the State College Board of Trustees to get Marvin X off campus by any means necessary! Ironically, in 1972 he was hired to lecture in Black Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.





Hosts Aries Jordan and Toya Carter read from
the selected writings of master poet Marvin X.
He is their mentor and published their
collections of poetry Journey to Womanhood, Aries Jordan, and
I'm Already Famous, Toya Carter, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2011.




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, Editor, Chickenbones.com



The USA’s Rumi!—Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York City

Still the undisputed king of black consciousness! And it is gratifying in an era of the sellout, the faint hearted and the fallen, to see that Marvin X is one black man who met the white man in the center of the ring and walked with him to the corners of psycho-social inequity, grappling with him through the bowels of the earth, yet remains one black man the white man couldn't get!
—Dr. Nathan Hare

One of the founders and innovators of the revolutionary school of African writing.
--Amiri Baraka

His writing is orgasmic!—Fahizah Alim, Sacramento Bee

His language is so strong it will knock the socks off old ladies!—Wanda Sabir,
San Francisco New Bay View Newspaper

Marvin X! Marvin X! Marvin X! Marvelous Marvin X!
--Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University

Muslim American literature begins with Marvin X.—Dr. Mohja Kahf, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

He’s Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland. -–Ishmael Reed

When you listen to Tupac Shakur, E-40, Too Short, Master P or any other rappers out of the Bay Area of Cali, think of Marvin X. He laid the foundation and gave us the language to express black male urban experiences in a lyrical way.
—James G. Spady, Philadelphia New Observer

Marvin X is the poorest famous person I ever met.—Toya Carter

He is the most free black man in non-free America! He walked through the muck and mire of hell but came out clean as white fish and black as coal.—James Sweeney

Marvin X was my teacher! Many of our comrades came through his Black theatre, e.g., Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas, George Murray, Samuel Napier...."
--Dr. Huey P. Newton, co-founder, Black Panther Party





Students are shocked to hear the funky style of Marvin X.
"His language is so strong it will knock the socks off old ladies."
--Wanda Sabir, San Francisco New Bayview Newspaper





Black Arts West
banner signals Marvin X's role in
the Black Arts Movement on the West coast, although
he was also in Harlem in1968, working with playwright
Ed Bullins at the New Lafayette Theatre. His associates
included Askia Toure, Amiri Baraka, Sun Ra, Nikki Giovanni,
Sonia Sanchez, Larry Neal, Milford Graves, Haki Madhubuti,
Last Poets, et al. Marvin was also associated with the Black
Panther Party, Nation of Islam, Black Student Union at San
Francisco State University and Black Studies.



















Students Listen intently as
Marvin X narrates his Exhibit















Shanika facing
camera, Marlene
with back turned





















Left to right: Marlene, Ramal, Jordan, James, Marvin, Jahkyl, Tee-Tee, Shanika, Julian, Janye, Aries.



Exhibit Marvin X opened on Friday, January 13, with students from Berkeley High (B-Tech). They enjoyed the exhibit, hosted by Marvin X's student writers, Aries Jordan and Toya Carter. The students were accompanied by Math teacher Ramal Lamar, a student at Marvin X's Academy of da Corner. Ramal is a graduate student in Math at Cal State Eastbay. The Master Poet narrated his exhibit. Aries Jordan and Toya Carter read from his selected writings.

Exhibit Marvin X is open by appointment during January. It officially opens in February on Saturday evenings 7-10pm, reservations only, space limited. Call 510-575-2225.

This is a rare opportunity to view the archives of an internationally known poet called "USA's Rumi," and one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement, the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history. Marvin X was associated with the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, the Black Student movement and Black Studies. The author of 30 books, his early writings appeared in the major black radical publications during the 60s, i.e., Soulbook, Black Dialogue, Black Theatre, Journal of Black Poetry, Negro Digest/Black World, Black Scholar and Muhammad Speaks. From time to time he writes in the Oakland Post newspaper and maintains several blogs on the internet. His archives were acquired by the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Exhibit Marvin X feature his personal archives and will be shown at Black Bird Press Publishing House, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley.


Exhibit Marvin X

Living Black History

The Life and Times of a North American African Poet ( Born May 29,1944--)


The archives of poet, playwright, essayist, educator, producer, organizer, activist Marvin X
on exhibit at Black Bird Press Publishing House 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley. Refreshments, Q and A, and book signing included.

Schedule

During February, the students and associates of Marvin X will discuss their relationship with the poet and read from his selections writings and their own.

February, Saturdays, 7-10pm

4th

Ayodele Nzinga will discuss her thirty year artistic relationship with Marvin X. Ayodele directed Marvin X's 1981 production In the Name of Love at Laney College. She also directed his One Day in the Life, 1996-2001, the longest running Black drama in Northern California. Ayo is founder and director of West Oakland's Lower Bottom Playaz.

11th

Dr. J. Vern Cromartie will deliver a paper on Marvin X's brief tenure at University of California, Berkeley. He was a student of Marvin X's at Laney College, 1981. Dr. Cromartie, a poet, is Chair of the Sociology Department at Contra Costa College, Richmond CA.

18th

Dr. Oba T'Shaka, professor emeritus at San Francisco State University, and community activist Norman Brown will discuss the Honorable John Douimbia.
Ancestor John mentored Marvin X, Oba T'Shaka, Norman Brown and many other Bay Area activists. He was a friend of Malcolm X in his Harlem hustling days. Marvin X is displaying the John Douimbia Papers as part of Exhibit Marvin X.

25th

Marvin X will read from his selected writings. Mechelle LaChaux will perform Marvin X's Woman on the Cell Phone.
Saturdays, 7-10 pm

510-575-2225 for reservations, space limited. Group rates available for schools, colleges, organizations.

Admission: Adults $20.00/Seniors/Students $10.00. No one turned away for lack of funds.




Exhibit Marvin X


Biography

Marvin Jackmon, aka Marvin X, El Muhajir, was born in Fowler, CA, May 29, 1944 and grew up in Fresno and Oakland. He attended Merritt College and San Francisco State University where he received a BA and MA in English. He taught English, African American literature, drama, journalism, creative writing, technical writing, etc. at Fresno State University, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, UC San Diego, University of Nevada, Reno; Mills College, Merritt and Laney Colleges. He is one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement and considered the father of Muslim American literature. He teaches at Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. He claims to travel with ten people at all times. These people are invisible.

Awards and Honors

Columbia University writing fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts fellowship
National Endowment for the Humanities planning grants
San Francisco Arts Commission
Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission
Marin County Board of Supervisors grant
Lifetime Achievement Award from Los Angeles Black Book Expo
Inspired Artist Award from the Full Vision Foundation

Chronology

1944
Born May 29, 1944, Fowler, CA. Parents Owendell and Marian M. Jackmon, who published a Black newspaper in the Central Valley, The Fresno Voice. Siblings include Ollie, Donna, Judy, Debbie, Ann, Gayle, Suzzette, Tommy.
1962 Graduated with honors from Edison High, Fresno. Childhood friend: poet, critic, professor Sherley A. Williams (RIP)
1962 First son, Marvin K, born to Patricia Smith. Marries Patricia Smith.
1962 Attended Oakland’s Merritt College with Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, founders of the Black Panther Party.
1964 Attended San Francisco State University, first play produced by the drama department, Flowers for the Trashman. Studied under novelist John Gardner and Leo Litwak. Beat Poet Kenneth Rexroth called him “the best playwright to hit San Francisco State.”
1966 Drops out of college to establish Black Arts West Theatre in the Fillmore with playwright Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt, Duncan Barber, Hillery Brodous, Carl Bossiere. Actor Danny Glover performed at his Black Arts West Theatre. Bobby Seale performed in his play Come Next Summer.
1967 Established Black House, political/culture center with Eldridge Cleaver, Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt. Flees to Toronto, Canada to resist draft to Vietnam war.
1968 Returns underground to Chicago, Harlem, New York. Joins Ed Bullins at New Lafayette Theatre. Key mover and shaker of the Black Arts Movement, along with Amiri Baraka, Sun Ra, Askia Toure, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Haki Madhubuti, Last Poets. Associate Editor of Black Theatre magazine, Soulbook, Black Dialogue, Journal of Black Poetry. Contributed to Muhammad Speaks newspaper, Negro Digest/Black World, Black Scholar.
1969 Arrested returning from Montreal, Canada, returns to California to stand trial for refusing to fight in Vietnam. Attempted to lecture in Black Studies at Fresno State University, removed on orders from Governor Ronald Reagan.
1970 Flees into second exile, Mexico City and Belize. Marries FSU student Barbara Hall in Mexico City. Deported from Belize to US, convicted of draft evasion, spends
Five months in San Francisco County Jail and Terminal Island Federal Prison.
1971 First daughter, Nefertiti born.
1972 Establishes Black Educational Theatre in San Francisco’s Fillmore, works with Sun Ra’s Arkestra; lectures at UC Berkeley. Daughter Muhammida born to UC student, Nisa El Muhajir (Greta Pope), marries Nisa in Muslim tradition.
1972 With NEA fellowship, travels to Guyana, South America, interviews Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, published in Muhammad Speaks and Black Scholar.
1973 Daughter Amira born to Barbara Hall.
1974 Graduates from San Francisco State University, BA in English. Lectures in Black Studies, Radio and television writing.
1975 Earns MA in English. Visiting professor at UC San Diego.
1977 Becomes Eldridge Cleaver’s chief of staff, organizes his Born Again Christian ministry.
1979 Lectures at University of Nevada, Reno: English, Creative writing, Technical writing. Planner for Community Services Agency.
1979 Organizes Melvin Black Human Rights Conference to stop Oakland Police from killing black men. Invites Minister Farakhan, Angela Davis, Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton. Five thousand attend. Police killing stops, drive by killings begin, introduction of Crack cocaine by US Government.
1980 Organized Black Men’s Conference at Oakland Auditorium. Mentored by John Douimbia.
1981 Taught Drama and English at Merritt and Laney Colleges. Produced play In the Name of Love at Laney. Meets Marsha Satterfield (RIP). Lectures at Kings River College, retires from Academic teaching with 97% student retention rate.
1984-95 Addicted to Crack Cocaine. Recovery assisted by Rev. Cecil Williams at Glide Church, San Francisco. Transition of Marsha Satterfield at 41.
1995 Published poems, Love and War.
1996 Establishes Recovery Theatre with Geoffery Grier and Ayodele Nzingha. Writes and produces One Day in the Life, docudrama of addiction and recovery, longest running African American drama in the Bay. Includes scene of last meeting with Black Panther Huey P. Newton in Oakland Crack house. Playwright Ed Bullins writes one-act play of this scene Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam, produced in New York by Woody King, Jr.
1998 Published autobiography Somethin’ Proper, a classic of the Black Arts Movement.
Performs memorial service for Eldridge Cleaver. Meets Suzzette Johnson, social worker.
2001 Produced Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness Concert at San Francisco State University, included Askia Toure, Amiri and Amina Baraka, Julia Hare and Nathan Hare,
Dr. Theophile Obenga, Dr. Cornel West, Rev. Cecil Williams, Rev. Andreatte Earl, Ishmael Reed, Kalamu ya Salaam, Phavia Khujichagulia, Ayodele Nzinga, Destiny, Tarika Lewis, Marvin X, et. al.
2002 Suicide of son, Darrel P. Jackmon (RIP), suffered manic depression. Marvin X flees to mountain retreat, spends five years in solitude. Writes In the Crazy House Called America, Wish I Could Tell You the Truth, essays, Land of My Daughters, poems, Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality.
2004 Produced Black Radical Book Fair in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco.
2006 Archives acquired by Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
2007 Writes How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy in Beaufort, South Carolina at home of Ethna X. Wyatt (Hurriyah Asar) from BAM. Assassination of journalist Chauncey Bailey by OPD and Black Muslim Bakery brothers.
2009 Writes memoir of Eldridge Cleaver, My Friend the Devil, in three weeks. Published each chapter on the internet daily.
2010 Writes eight books.
2011 Produces shows at Joyce Gordon Gallery: Black History, Women’s History, drama Mythology of Love. Mentors poets Aries Jordan and Toya Carter. Daughter Muhammida produced Keyshia Cole Day in Oakland. Daughter, Attorney Amira Jackmon, gives birth to Marvin’s seventh grandchild, Naeemah Joy. Daughter Nefertiti writes essay in Oakland Post on father’s 67th birthday. Marvin X in anthology Black California. Performs at Alameda County Juvenile Hall. Paul Cobb and the Oakland Post Newspaper pays Bay Area Black Authors for 150 books donated to Juvenile Hall. His Academy of da Corner has occupied 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, for five years: a free speech zone, sacred space, mentoring center, mental health center, micro loan bank. Ishmael Reed says, “If you need inspiration and motivation, don’t spend all that money attending seminars and workshops, just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X at work. He’s Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.” Marvin X maintains 20 blogs on the internet. Search Google. He is presently establishing the First Poets Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists and the Charles Blackwell Institute of Art, Math and Science.

2012 Planned books include Who Killed Chauncey Bailey, Revolution from Egypt to the Americas, Sweet Tea and Dirty Rice, poems, and Musings on Economics.

Bibliography

Sudan Rajuli Samia (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan Publishing, 1967)
Black Dialectics (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1967)
Fly To Allah: Poems (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1969)
Son of Man: Proverbs (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1969)
Black Man Listen: Poems and Proverbs (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1969)
Woman-Man's Best Friend (San Francisco: Al Kitab Sudan, 1972)
Selected Poems (San Francisco: Al Kitab Sudan, 1979)
Confession of A Wife Beater and Other Poems (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1981)
Liberation Poems for North American Africans (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1982)
Love and War: Poems ( Castro Valley: Black Bird Press, 1995)
Somethin Proper: Autobiography (Castro Valley: Black Bird Press, 1998)
In The Crazy House Called America: Essays (Castro Valley: Black Bird Press, 2002)
Wish I Could Tell You The Truth: Essays (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2005)
Land of My Daughters: Poems (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2005)
Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, Black Bird Press, 2007
How to Recover from White Supremacy, Black Bird Press, 2007
My Friend the Devil: A Memoir of Eldridge Cleaver, Black Bird Press, 2009
The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, Volume I,BBP, 2010
Hustler’s Guide to the Game Called Life, (Wisdom of Plato Negro, Volume II), BBP, 2010
Mythology of Love: Toward Healthy Psychosocial Sexuality, BBP, 2010.
I Am Oscar Grant, essays on Oakland, BBP, 2010
Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yoself, essays on Obama Drama, BBP, 2010
Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Issue, Guest Editor, Marvin X, BBP, 2010
Notes on the Wisdom of Action or How to Jump Out of the Box, BBP, 2010
Soulful Musings on Unity of North American Africans, BBP, 2010

The permanent archives of Marvin X are deposited at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Description

The Marvin X Papers document the life and work of playwright, poet, essayist, and activist Marvin X during the sixties, nineties and the first decade of the 21st Century. The papers include correspondence; Marvin X's writings; materials related to the Recovery Theatre; works by his children and colleagues; and resource files. Correspondence includes letters, cards, and e-mails; correspondents include Amiri Baraka, Dr. Nathan Hare, and other prominent African-American intellectuals. Marvin X's writings include notebooks, drafts, and manuscripts of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and planned anthologies. Documents from the Recovery Theatre include organizational and financial records and promotional material. Writings by others include essays, scripts, and academic papers by his three daughters. Resource files include academic articles, e-mails, flyers, news clippings and programs that contextualize and document Marvin X's involvement as an activist, intellectual, and literary figure in the African American community in the Bay Area in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Photographs include snapshots of family, friends, colleagues, and productions at the Recovery Theatre.

Background

Poet, playwright and essayist Marvin X was born Marvin E. Jackmon on May 29, 1944 in Fowler, California. He grew up in Fresno and Oakland, in an activist household. X attended Oakland City College (Merritt College), where he was introduced to Black Nationalism and became friends with future Black Panther founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. X earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from San Francisco State University and emerged as an important voice in the Black Arts Movement (BAM), the artistic arm of the Black Power movement, in the mid-to-late Sixties. X wrote for many of the BAM's key journals. He also co-founded, with playwright Ed Bullins and others, two of BAM's premier West Coast headquarters and venues - Oakland's Black House and San Francisco's Black Arts/West Theatre. In 1967, X joined the Nation of Islam and became known as El Muhajir. In the eighties, he organized the Melvin Black Forum on Human Rights and the first Annual All Black Men's Conference. He also served as an aide to former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver and attempted to create the Marvin X Center for the Study of World Religions. In 1999, X founded San Francisco's Recovery Theatre. His production of "One Day in the Life," the play he wrote about his drug addiction and recovery, became the longest-running African-American drama in Northern California. In 2004, in celebration of Black History Month, X produced the San Francisco Tenderloin Book Fair (also known as the San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair) and University of Poetry. X has taught Black Studies, drama, creative writing, journalism, English and Arabic at a variety of California universities and colleges. He continues to work as an activist, educator, writer, and producer.

Extent

Number of containers: 8 cartons, 1 box Linear feet: 10.2

Restrictions

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94270-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Availability

Collection is open for research.
Youth reading at Academy of Da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Gene Hazzard photo

Please support the many projects of the Marvin X Ministry with a generous donation, especially Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Send your generous donation to Marvin X, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley, CA 94702. Call 510-575-2225. email:jmarvinx@yahoo.com. www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Marvin X on Wall Street Part 1 WBAI Interview


In this 2007,WBAI (New York) interview Marvin X discusses the Black Arts Movement and reads poetry. After the interview, the poet walked down Wall Street and read in front of the Stock Exchange, see Marvin X at Wall Street on youtube.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

In My Classroom, Academy of da Corner

In My Classroom



In my classroom
Murder over rap contest
Winner lost his life
Stumbled into book store
place of light
eternal darkness for him,
Brother Purple.

In my classroom
Police inspired assassination
Broad daylight, Alice and 14th
Chauncey Bailey went down
“The hand that pulled the trigger
Didn’t buy the bullet, “ Baldwin said
Of Malcolm’s killers
We say the same of Chauncey’s.
Killers mentored by OPD
Kill three
Police mentor goes free.
In my classroom
Oscar Grant rebellion in the streets
14th and Broadway
Where I teach
Occupy the corner
Academy of da corner
Life threatened daily
Teaching truth
Healing sick and broken hearted
Micro loan bank
Dollar for a burger
A coffee
Bus fare
Let the people vent trauma
Let them rant into morning air
Let them shout into my ear
“Fuck the peckerwood
Fuck the peckerwood.”

In my classroom
Occupy Oakland
Wall Street Oakland

Came from Summit hospital that Tuesday
After Visiting sister with stroke
Bus ends route at 20th and Broadway
Join marchers to 14th.
I am proud of them
Though they are mostly white
Hear police shout
“You have five minutes to disperse
Before chemical agent released.”
I knew stampede was coming
Took refuge in Burger King
Tear gas soon followed into Burger King
Eyes nose mouth burning
Marine Vet escaped Iraq
Shot in head by police.

In my classroom
Eyes of the world on Oakland
General Strike called
First since 1946
Nov. 2, 2011
Ten thousand march
Port of Oakland closed
Peace all day without police
Imagine a world with no police
Until night came
agent provocateurs rampage
Police in disguise.

In my classroom
Whites rush pass my book
How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
Except white girl from Fresno, with boyfriend from Sanger
They buy the book
Even the occupation is white privilege
When have blacks camped in front of City Hall
When have blacks unloaded in bus zones
Without $350.00 ticket?

In my classroom
There is discussion
What do we want from Revolution
What part of the pie
What land
What self determination
What sovereignty
Or shall we again take bottom rung on the ladder
As Neo-Whites assume power.
And we are lost in the multi-cultural chasm.

In my classroom

A sacred space
Free speech zone
Teachers are students
Students are teachers
We only give the MF degree
If you pass the test
If you survive the police
If you survive the nigguhs
You a bad Motherfucker!
In my classroom.

Killers leap from a car
Like paratroopers
In Iraq
Run across the street to Occupy Oakland
Then pop pop pop pop
Man down
Shot in the head
Dead
In my classroom.
Rationale for closing the camp
Police set up for sure.
We are not fooled by black on black murder
The hands that pulled the trigger didn’t buy the bullet, Baldwin said.
Mayor Quan recalled
To be or not to be mayor
All Oakland mayors suffer this conundrum
Become history
Oakland dies slow death
OPD occupation
Consuming every dime
Solving no crime.
In my classroom
Cat and mouse games
Chase the mice
Run hide
Arrest the mice
Close the rat hole cats
Bring in cats from all around
Homeland Security money
No jobs no education no housing
Occupation occupation
Indigenous say don’t use the word
They/we been occupied 500 years
In my classroom.
I need a dollar for the bus
Gimme a dollar man!
Can’t get to my classroom
Monkey Mind Media takes over
Cameras lights cameras lies lies
Like flies lies lies
In my classroom.
Go home Monkey Mind Media
Go home OPD cats
Leave the mice alone
Let them eat cheese in peace.
In my classroom.
Will American go down like Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria
Will America learn
In my classroom?
Will she study
Pass or fail the finals
In my classroom?

--Marvin X
10-6-11
Revised 11/14/11

Marvin X’s Academy of da Corner is at 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Contact him for bookings, readings, performance of his Reader’s Theatre production Mythology of Love. 510-575-2225. jmarinx@yahoo.com. www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com.

“If you want to learn about inspiration and motivation, don’t spend all that money going to workshops and seminars, just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X at work. He’s Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.”—Ishmael Reed

“Marvin X is one of the innovators and founders of the revolutionary school of African writing.”—Amiri Baraka, aka LeRoi Jones

“Still the undisputed King of Black Consciousness.”—Dr. Nathan Hare

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Marvin X on Wall Street Part 1 WBAI Interview

Mythology of Love at Joyce Gordon Gallery, Fri and Sat



Mythology of Love
by Marvin X
Friday-Saturday, November 11-12, 8pm

Joyce Gordon Gallery
14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland
Donation $20.00/Students $10.00
No one turned away
Adult Language
Call 510-575-2225









Aries Jordan, Eternal Woman
Marvin X, Eternal Man















































Mythology of Love





A womanhood/manhood poetic rite of passage





(Focus on partner violence and abuse)





By









Marvin X





writer, director, producer





Reader’s Theatre





(a project of Academy of da Corner,





14th and Broadway, Oakland)









Mythology of Love empowered me. I didn’t know I had that much power.





--Young Sista









It helped me step up my game.—Young Brotha









Thank you, thank you, thank you, for writing this. I am going





To make my son and daughter read it.—A Mother









He’s the USA’s Rumi!—Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, NYC









He writes the most powerful drama I’ve seen. Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland—Ishmael Reed









His language is so strong it will knock the socks off old ladies!—Wanda Sabir, San Francisco Bay View Newspaper









His writing is orgasmic!—Fahizah Alim, Sacramento Bee









Mythology of Love is an honest account of how modern folk try to claim ownership of their mate’s sexual organ and body, thus causing many of the problems in relationships today throughout the world. Youth who otherwise don’t read, do read his Mythology of Love and even squabble over ownership, as if it were black gold!—Paradise Jah Love









Mythology of Love is based on a compilation of everything Marvin X has written over the past 40 years on psychosocial sexuality, including the 1981 drama In the Name of Love, which he performed while an instructor in the drama department at Oakland’s Laney College. There are those who will miss this opportunity to receive wisdom from our brother because of the language he uses and the perceived objectification of women and men. –Delores Nochi





Mythology of Love





Cast





Eternal Woman, Aries Jordan





Eternal Man, Marvin X,





The Other Woman, Latoya Carter





Parable of a Real Woman, Joyce Gordon



Woman on Cell Phone, vocals, Mechelle LaChaux





Parable of Woman in a Box, Latoya Carter, choreography, dance









Friday, October 21, 2011

Obama

Obama, Black Killer for White Supremacy

a fictional interview by Marvin X


MX: Mr. President, thank you again for allowing me this precious time to talk with you.

Prez: Marv, the pleasure is all mine.

MX: Mr. President, you are rapidly gaining the reputation as the black killer President.

Prez: That's a dubious honor, Marv. I certainly would label myself in that manner.

MX: Well, you took out Osama Ben Laden, Al Alaki and now Qaddafy.

Prez: I'm only trying to make America and the world safe for democracy.

MX: Are you preparing to eliminate the President of Syria, Assad?

Prez: We have no plans in that direction, of course if events continue to deteriorate in that nation, we may need to consider some type of action, in coordination with our friends in that region.

MX: Prez, your policy smells of selective action. You certainly are not thinking about taking out those repressive regimes in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and elsewhere.

Prez: Well, we must think strategically. Those nations you mentioned are important to us in spite of certain human rights abuses, although we encourage them to extend more freedom to their populations.

MX: So your friends get a pass, is that it?

Prez: That's not the term I would use.

MX: Well it's clear those regimes are nowhere in your radar for radical change, especially as per taking out their leaders. But I want to know how you justify assassinating an American citizen without bringing charges against him in a court of law, considering you are a constitutional lawyer?

Prez: You're referring to Mr. Awlaki, of course.

MX: Yes, the man you took out in Yemen a few weeks ago.

Prez: He was an enemy combatant. He tried to killed American citizens. We had no choice but to go after him with all the weight of the American military.

MX: He didn't deserve a trial in a court of law?

Prez: In a normal situation, perhaps, but this war on terror has presented us with special circumstances.

MX: So do you envision the murder of other American citizens whom you deem a threat to the national security of the US?

Prez: It depends on the circumstances, the danger they pose to the American people.

MX: Have you not transcended former President Bush II in your interpretation of US law?

Prez: No, I'm only doing what I think is best to protect the American people.

MX: You seem to have this Manichean concept of good and evil in the world and that you represent good.

Prez: That is your view, not mine. I will say, as did President Bush, you are either with us or against us.

MX: And this includes American citizens as well, does it? No opposition allowed?

Prez: Marv, I think you're stretching it a bit. Of course, the American people have the right to differ with our policies.

MX: But you just murdered an American citizen, without trial, who differed with your policies.

Prez: He went to far.

MX: Who sets the limits, you, in the tradition of your predecessor Bush?

Prez: Circumstances establish the limits.

MX: Do circumstances supersede the US Constitution?

Prez: Not necessarily. We examine each situation on a case by case basis.

MX: Sir, now that you or NATO have eliminated Qaddafy in Libya, we see you are proceeding on an African campaign. You're quite ambitious and bold, don't you think?

Prez: Marv, I'm only doing what I think is right for the American people and the global community. You're referring to our intention to send troops to Uganda?

MX: Yes, and a few other African nations. Are you now the new King of Africa, especially with the demise of Qaddafy?

Prez: You have quite a sense of humor, Marv, but no, I don't desire to be the King of Africa, but I do desire to prevent mass slaughter in Africa. As a man of African heritage, I am deeply concerned about my people there.

MX: Not to cut you off, but you did receive the Nobel Peace Prize, yet you seem intent on continuing the permanent war policy of your predecessors, from Africa to Asia.

Prez: Don't you think the people of North Africa, specifically, Libya, have the possibility of a better future with the departure of Qaddafy. We all want peace, but sometimes there must be war to achieve peace. I appreciate the Nobel Prize, but I have a job to do, and my job is protecting American interests and human rights around the world.

MX: What about human rights in America? What about the two million men and women in prisons. Have you thought about giving a general amnesty to the mostly poor, ignorant, drug addicted and mentally ill who make up the majority of the prison population in America?

Prez: No I haven't.

MX: Why not?

Prez: I have other pressing issues, such as the economic situation.

MX: Don't you understand that many of those imprisoned were due to economic crimes, the type of crimes that the Wall Street protesters are presently fighting, including the call for a redistribution of wealth?

Prez: Marv, there are many reasons those two million people are in jail, but for the safety of the American people, we have no plans for a general amnesty.

MX: Do you see the Occupy Wall Street movement as a counterweight to the Tea Party movement?

Prez: I see the Occupy Wall Street protests in the American tradition and we support them.

MX: Do you and the Democratic party plan to use them in your reelection strategy?

Prez: Well, where their goals are in harmony with mine, I will call upon them. But I do not believe in class warfare, the rich against the poor. We are one people.

MX: Even when 1% own wealth equal to 99%?

Prez: There must be a some structural change to redistribute the wealth, the insure good wages and job security. I'm for this. But we can continue the Wall Street robbers, nor can we allow crime in the street. We want the rich to recognize their obligation to the poor and middle class.
I'm against corporate greed, but I'm for free trade capitalism.

MX: Are they the same?

Prez: Well, there's enough to go around, no child should be hungry in America, or the world for that matter. We must continue the fight the good fight so that every American citizen can pursue happiness or the American dream. I will do all in my power to convince the people on Wall Street and the people on main street that we must stick together and not destroy the American dream because of greed and selfishness.

MX: Mr. President, thank you for your time.

Prez: You're quite welcome.

--Marvin X
11/21/11

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wall Street Oakland: "He's The Reason!"

Wall Street Oakland: "He's the Reason"


A week ago Marvin X entered the campground of Wall Street Oakland in front of City Hall. The protesters renamed the plaza from Frank Ogawa Plaza to Oscar Grant Plaza, in honor of the slain black man murdered on New Year's Day a couple of years ago. While we honor the martyrdom of Oscar, we should remember Frank Ogawa as one of Oakland's most progressive political leaders, a man who seriously tried to serve the people.

As we walked through the campground last Tuesday, we first encountered a suspected agent provocateur named JR, whom we call the "minister of misinformation." We've had a ten year conflict with JR going back to the video tapes he stole from me after filming me in Newark, New Jersey with the Twin Towers burning in the background. He also stole interviews of me interviewing Mrs. Amina Baraka and Sonia Sanchez. Amazingly, he now calls me the victimizer. Miffed at a recent article I did with Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr., JR shouted at me that he had a big surprise for me, "bigger than Christmas." I proceeded my walk through the campground, stopping at the tent of Everett and Jones (Jack London Square) owner, Dorothy Everett, who sat chatting with City Councilwoman Delsey Brooks.

I departed the camp of mostly young whites and set up my Academy of da Corner on the concrete base of a flagpole at the entrance to the camp. Actually, my Academy of da Corner has been occupying 14th and Broadway for the last five years. As per Wall Street, Youtube has a 2007 video of my poetry reading in front of the Stock Exchange on Wall Street, New York City.

As I put my book display on the concrete supporting the flag pole, a black woman and man came up and asked me what was going on? I thought how shall I answer the woman since she was clearly ignorant of similar events across America and around the world. I told her, "They're trying to free the slaves!" She immediately took it personally, thinking I was calling her a slave.
I made it clear that anyone employed is a wage slave, part of the reason people are protesting against the bloodsuckers of the poor who control global finance, i.e. Wall Street.

When she replied she worked for herself, I said well so do I, so we are not slaves, but she would not have it. She was convinced I called her a slave. Then she spit at me and when a white businessman passed, she said I needed dress like the white man and get a job. She walked away giving me the finger. She walked across the street and from there gave me the finger, then returned, walking pass me to the three police on bikes who had been observing the incident from beneath a shade three. The woman spent about forty minutes talking with the officers who are familiar with me but no longer harass me as they did when I first occupied 14th and Broadway with Academy of da Corner.

The day was looking gloomy until a woman walked up to me that I recognized as Barbara Cox, former wife of Black Panther Field Marshall, Donald Cox, who recently transitioned in Southern France. Barbara had just got off the plane from Philly and took the BART to downtown. I was the first person she ran into and we were elated to see each other again and had a long conversation about DC, Wall Street, the upcoming 45th BPP Anniversary this weekend. Civil Rights attorney Walter Riley joined our conversation.

We had no problem at the camp until Friday when a march was scheduled at 4pm. Protest organizers had mistakenly scheduled Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre to perform at 4pm. My performers arrived to perform but as march time neared the atmosphere became charged with the presence of hundreds of police in riot gear, with a helicopters hoovering above.
When the marchers departed pass my poets and actors, we decided to do what all performers like to do, perform wherever we are. Poet Aries Jordon stood on the flag pole support and read her poem Wall Street, engaging the crowed in a call and response. She said, "If you like a line of my poem, say, 'say it again.'" The crowed chanted after her most profound lines, say it again."

And then another drama began when a black woman emerged from the camp ranting "He's the reason. He's reason. He's the reason I'm homeless, he's the reason my baby don't have pampers.
He's the reason the police are here. He's the reason."

I was in a state of shock, so shocked I couldn't speak and didn't. And then another woman appeared and sat down on top my books, saying she needed to sit down since she was indeed the size of an elephant, but as soon as she sat, she asked me what I thought about the Federal Reserve. What a line of police at my back in full riot gear, I was in no mood to discuss the Federal Reserve, so I cut her off with, "Fuck the Federal Reserve." She then joined the other woman in the chant He's the Reason! I remained silent, shocked but calm enough not to engage with the first woman who was still screaming and hollering that I was the reason Wall Street is the blood sucker of the poor.

Then a young man stood on the pole platform and said so gibberish with the concluding lines, He's the reason, he's the reason. Lastly, the first woman's baby daddy emerged from the camp to join his woman in her tirade, "I done 18 years in prison and I'll die for mine, He's the reason, he's the reason....

As a student of drama, it was clear to me there were agent provocateurs reciting from a script. But I was too sharp to escalate the conversation, knowing the police at my back were eager to give me a head whupping.

Well, I told my poets and actors that we must remain calm and not feed into the action of the provocateurs. This was difficult because some of them were ready to fight. Instead, we eventually packed up and took the taxi to West Oakland to see a performance of Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson, performed by my former student and associated Ayodele Nzingha at her Lower Bottom Playaz. What a relief to see the beautiful performance of her playaz, with half the cast and product
We are scheduled to perform at Wall Street Oakland, Thursday, 5pm. Stay Tuned.
--Marvin X
Academy of da Corner
14th And Broadway,
Oakland CA
19 October 2011

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Wall Street and the American White Revolution

Saturday, March 5, 2011

America's White Revolution












Wall Street and America's White Revolution?

Is America in the birth pains of revolution, of joining the struggle of people around the world for social and economic justice? What is the end game of the Tea Party goers and the unions struggling for their definition of social economic democracy? Will there inevitably be a clash between the unionists and workers on the Left and the Tea Party Constitutionalists on the Right? Or will they merge into the American White Revolution? Events are moving fast, from the Middle East to Wisconsin, Ohio, California and elsewhere.

And now Wall Street is under attack, hub of global finance and imperialism. Ultimately the General Strike is in order to close America down, to bring her to her knees and seize the means of production and all institutions that deprive the people of their human rights. It is time to reclaim the wealth from the blood suckers of the poor.


We know dissatisfaction brings change, real change. The unemployed, the wage slave workers and other marginalized people will inevitably reach the breaking point. As the ruling class strengthen their stranglehold on the necks and backs of the middle and lower class, the more possibility for revolution with the great possibility that other ethnic minorities will join the liberation struggle. Sam Anderson has called for more North American Africans and Indigenous people to join the battle at Wall Street, that ancient slave mart that is yet a slave mart.

As in the Middle East and North Africa, things will hit the fan in America when youth take to the streets, suffering marginalization, high unemployment, homelessness and mental depression. The feeling of nothingness and dread shall propel them into forward motion of the radical kind.

The workers, unemployed, students, artists, intellectuals, and religious communities shall see the need for unity and will merge their agendas for the greater good. When the people refuse to accept wage slavery and the concomitant world of make believe perpetuated by the media magicians and the Center Right Democratic and Republican parties in league with the military/corporate complex, the American White Revolution will begin.

We should expect the reactionaries to mount the counter attack with state police power that may approach events in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere, outright mass murder under the color of law, mass incarcerations utilizing the terrorist laws under Homeland Security. The 700 people arrested this past weekend is a clear sign the police will need to get it right and decide what side they are on. Are they part of the problem or part of the solution. Just as the military in Egypt had to decide, the police of America must join the struggle or go down with the reactionaries. They cannot defend the state and the filthy capitalist swine. Their duty is to protect the people.

The Right will attempt to defeat the masses to continue the regime of the American neo-slave system. But a people united cannot be defeated. Fanon taught that all de-colonization is successful. The reactionaries will be forced to put down their butcher knives in the face of people power. They will be forced to share the wealth, to open the coffers of the rich, the financial and corporate bandits and distribute the wealth stolen from the labor of the poor and middle class who have long suffered from the greedy blood suckers of the poor and working class.

With a united people practicing eternal vigilance, the corporate and Wall Street bandits shall be forced to end their hoarding of the wealth they hoodwinked and bamboozled from the workers and poor; the wage slavery, the pyramid scheme loans of the housing industry, the wretched outdated white supremacy curriculum in the schools, the poor devitalized food of the petro-chemical industry and the pharmaceutical directed health care system, dominated by the insurance companies, even under President Obama's health plan that was a capitulation to the bandits.

We smell a fresh breath of air blowing in the winds, yes, the east wind is blowing west. We think white people will be forced to stand from their stunted position, backs broken by the bloodsuckers of the poor, the working poor and middle class.

North American Africans have long suffered a stunted life, full of poverty, ignorance and disease, even the middle class live in the world of make believe, traumatized by the hostile environment and addicted to conspicuous consumption.

So we see the great possibility White America and North American Africans may see their way to Liberation Square, and if necessary, in the manner of the Egyptians, lay their blankets in front of tanks and take a nap, daring the tank driver to run them over, for their best poet told them not long ago: even a tank driver must serve somebody, must answer to somebody.
--Marvin X
4/5/11
Revised 10/4/11





Friday, March 4, 2011

Reply to Marvin X from Rudolph Lewis on the American White Revolution

Rudy:

Dream on dreamer. If you wake up, you're hear the voice of the ancestors, "The worse is yet to come . . . we ain't nowhere near daylight."


Toppling a dictator and replacing it with an exceedingly wealthy military elite does not a revolution make.

Loving you madly, Rudy

Marvin X:

Rudy, you must look into the deep structure of things, far beyond the surface. When the husband beats a pregnant wife, this doesn't mean the baby won't be born. There may be some damage to the fetus but that baby is coming out for we know how much violence the woman is able to withstand, including the act of delivery itself. So we only know we are seeing things people predicted around 2012, a universal phenomenon that is beyond the imagination, and yes, we ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until the boys and girls rise up in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere on the oil lands and lanes. Wait til gas is ten dollars a gallon and a lemon five dollars. Just wait til the midnight hour.

Rudy:

Marvin, you're right: I do not know about the "deep structure of things." I do have my failings. But I suppose if I am expert at anything it is the nature of white people in America. I do wonder whether the same God who made my people made them. And if he did, what was he thinking: they have been a pestilence on the face of the earth. We need to have serious talk with His divine ways.

Let me be a prophet for a moment. As soon as the working class whites settle this matter with the Wisconsin governor, however it ends, they will be back talking about the intrusion of "niggers" in Milwaukee and Madison. Tell me, how do you think Walker got into office. I'll tell you: on a racist tip. These whites falling back into the pack of the poor thought the governor was going to take the war only to the Negroes. And what did they discover belatedly, it's gonna be class warfare and the poor whites and the marginal middle class whites, they too will be a sacrifice to the Koch brothers and other such wealthy bullies.

But this lesson will be short-lived as I suggested. As soo as these working class whites can they will betray the blacks for a farthing. That's a centuries old pattern. let us learn our history.

Hold out no hope for the struggle of black and white together, at least not in this decade.

Loving you madly, Rudy

Marvin X:

We can see from the Middle East that Arab zenophobia of Black Africans has tainted their freedom struggle. Yet this has been a long simmering problem in the Arab world just as it has been intractable and pervasive in the White Supremacy world of the West, especially in America. Thus, it must be clearly understood that liberation without recovery from the addiction to white supremacy, including Arab racism and American racism, will be short lived. As DuBois said, the problem in America is the color line, but we can expand this globally. Farakhan once said wherever he went on the planet earth the black man was on the bottom. When Cynthia McKinney was jailed in Israel she found Africans filled the jail, and we know the racial demographics of American gulags.

Without a global detox and recovery from the addiction to white supremacy in all its forms, and it is cunning and vile, surfacing its head in all religions and economic systems, there shall be no real peace in the world. Racism must be attacked in the Masjed, Church, temple, and all social institutions before the New Man and Woman can stand tall in the sun, racism and gender discrimination are pervasive in the global village. The new consciousness shall not function with any residue of racism and sexism.

We must note the Type II White Supremacy Dr. Nathan Hare speaks about that is the Black addiction to white supremacy mythology. Thus all forms of white supremacy must be eradicated before the modern world will be truly and thoroughly liberated.

Rudy:

Marvin, I speak that which I know and that which I don't know I excuse myself. I wrestled with the situation of Libya for days, reading and listening to as much as I could find before I finally posted the Pan-African piece.

http://www.nathanielturner.com/libyagettingitrightpanafrican.htm

But usually I post several points of view rather than one in that I am so far away from the scenes of counter-revolution. The corporate media is of little help nor is PBS (now under attack by federal defunding). Liberals fear any clarity of things on the ground. The truth I know is somewhere in the mix.

I shy away from ideology. I know with a certainty that foreign wars do not serve the American poor, to paraphrase MLK. We have two in the Mid-East already and an undeclared class war going on here in America. I hope Obama is not fool enough to be suckered into another Mid-East war now recommended by the Republicans and other imperial nuts.

White Americans are a strange breed and have little restraint when it comes to their racial prejudices. We are in the Age of the Neo-Confederacy, that is, white Americans are ever ready to shoot themselves in the foot to spite their face. Liberation is faraway from the dawn. Counter-revolutionatries are on the march and winning.

Loving you madly, Rudy