From the Archives of Nefertiti El Muhajir

Nefertiti, Cornell West and Amiri, daughters of Marvin X. Far left is the Honorable John Douimbia, Marvin X's mentor. Photo is from the King's and Queens of Black Consciousness concert, produced by Marvin X, April 1, 2001.

August 4, 2010

The thickness and softness of the quilt reminds me of the warmth and security that I have always felt in my youth. Blessings and honor and peace be upon all of humanity. Reconnect with your faith. Reconnect with your history. Reconnect with things which will lead to your progression.

I was back in Houston, sitting on the couch, looking out the window at the big magnolia tree in the front yard. As I sat on the couch and snuggled in my thick, warm, quilt, I sighed and reflected, “Life is good.”

The quilt felt warm, and even thought it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, I had one. I had obtained a piece of history, a piece of my ancestors, my grandmothers, my people. A piece of the country, rural America; although I now lived in the big city of Houston, and I was raised in a small town in California, but my roots run deep in the red, powdered soil of Texas.

I had always wanted a quilt. My great grandmother, Momma Lue, used to make quilts and my grandmother had many of them in her home. Momma Lue had made many quilts for many of her grandchildren, but being that I was a great grandchild, it wasn’t likely that I would ever get one from her. My recollections of Momma Lue, who lived to be 104, were of her chewing tobacco, going fishing and living a very independent life. So I guess the quilting was another phase in her life that I never got a chance to see her partake in.

On the day that I purchased my quilt, I was making one of my rare 6 hour trips from Monroe, Louisiana to Houston. It was just me, my loud music and my trusted companion—MY GARMIN GPS. Outside of individuals, that little thing is by far the best gift I have ever received in my life (thanks to my beautiful sisters). But as usual, my music was blaring so loud that I didn’t hear her say, “Turn left,” and I kept straight.

I kept straight until I began to realize the unfamiliarity of my location. “Got diggity dog,” I thought, “I did it again, I missed my turn.” I decided not to do what I did the last time I missed this same turn, I didn’t turn around and go back to the freeway; the turn-around was too long and I wanted to stay on schedule.

So I thought I’d use my head and take the back roads. I was still in Louisiana, right before crossing into Texas. Driving along the tree lined roads of Louisiana always stirred up the most joyful and painful emotions within me. I reflected on the beauty of God’s creation, for the scenery was breathtaking if you choose not to take anything for granted. I loved seeing the greenery, the red dirt and the vast farm lands that had the unmet potential to feed the world. I reflected on how this land was considered by many African American conscious thinkers as “black land,” the land we should receive if ever awarded reparations. But at the same time I also thought of the blood, the sweat and the tears that fertilized the beauty of the land. I reflected on the sounds of dogs, chains, whips, the cries of mothers and fathers, the panting breaths and the racing heart beats of those who sought to be free and the incarcerated minds of pale men who sought to deny freedom.

I saw a sign, as I dashed down the road at my preferred and now legal speed of 70 mph. No music now, I needed to concentrate, I didn’t know where I was. Yes it was still day, but I can never travel those roads and assume nothing will happen to me. I don’t travel them laden with fear, but laden with a knowing of what happened in the past always has the potential to happen again.

I saw a sign, “Quilts for Sale.” But my thoughts raced just as quickly as my car did, “I want a quilt from a little old black woman, and that professional looking sign is an indication that a white family lives there.” I kept zooming and I saw a black man at the next house clearing his land, and then I saw two black women in the next yard running their mouths, and I zoomed by and I saw a young guy with his pimped out ride in the next house, along with an ambulance that was pulling up to the yard. “Slow down Nef, turn around. Ain’t no white woman living all the way back in these woods with all of these black people.” I was also conscious of the fact that I’d never make it to Houston when I wanted to. But it didn’t matter, I was not on a time frame, no one was expecting me, I’d get there when I did.

Walking up to the steps I breathed a prayer, “Lord I pray that no danger comes upon me; protect me from all danger and harm.” My minds seeks the wisdom, knowledge and protection of God all day long, whether I’m picking up a stranger off of the streets, walking into unknown territory, familiar places or just thinking about my child during the day. I didn’t want anyone to tie me up and discard my body somewhere in those woods. As no one was expecting me in Houston, no one would have missed my absence either. Maybe my mom after not hearing from me, but that wouldn’t be until Sunday; a couple of days away.

I walked to the door of the old trailer home and I heard a little old lady running her mouth on the phone. She was a small, tiny framed, black woman, who needed a new wig. I breathed a slight sigh of relief as I entered her home and kept my eyes on alert. She reminded me of any little old lady from church that I had met through the years. Her house had an old smell that made me breathe fewer breaths until I could get out. She had little nice trinkets that people had given her through the years to express their love, fake flowers, ceramic figurines, cards and pictures of people and places who had long forgotten her. Everything was tidy, but you could tell she couldn’t keep her place clean like she used to. It was too much work for someone who had worked for others her entire life.

There is another ending to this story, but I misplaced it. I'm sure I'll find it one day and I will add it with this.

--Nefertiti El Muhajir

Nefertiti is the oldest of Marvin X's three daughters. She was conceived while her parents were in flight: her father refused to fight in Vietnam and went into exile a second time in Mexico City. He was soon joined by his student from Fresno State University, Barbara Hall (Hasani). They were given temporary refuge by revolutionary artist Elizabeth Cattlett Mora. Betty and her husband, Poncho, were witnesses at the civil marriage of Marvin and Barbara. Against the advice of Betty, Marvin and Barbara departed Mexico City for Belize, then British Honduras. After hooking up with some radicals, Marvin X was arrested and deported back to America. The Minister of Home Affairs read his deportation order which said, "Your presence is not beneficial to welfare of the British Colony of Honduras. Therefore, you shall be deported to America at 4 pm. Until then, you are under arrest."

Marvin X was taken to the police station and told to sit down. He was not handcuffed nor put in a cell. To his bewilderment, he was soon surrounded by police officers who then begged him to teach them around black power, the very reason he was being deported, i.e., for teaching black power on Gales Point island.

After serving time in San Francisco County Jail and Terminal Island Federal Prison, Marvin X was released a few days before the birth of Nefertiti.

Oscar Grant's Cousin Shot in back by Oakland Police

Man shot by Oakland police charged with four felony counts

By Kristin J. Bender and Harry Harris
Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND -- A robbery suspect who was shot in the back by Oakland police Sunday night has been charged with four felonies, authorities said.

Police on Wednesday identified Tony Ray Jones, 24, of Oakland, as the man who police shot and wounded about 11:45 p.m. Sunday in the 2000 block of 62nd Avenue.

Jones, who has a criminal record dating back nearly a decade, was in the passenger seat of van believed to have been used in a robbery of cash from a man a short while earlier.

"The cops stopped the van and (Jones) started walking away and then they let the van go, and he kept going and they shot him," said Jones' San Francisco attorney Wauqeen McCoy, adding that his client was not breaking any laws and was not involved in a robbery Sunday.

Authorities said Jones got out of the passenger side of the van and ran north on 62nd Avenue.

When an officer spotted a gun in his hand and Jones turning toward him, the officer fired twice, hitting him in the lower back.

Police later recovered a loaded semi-automatic pistol near where the shooting occurred. The driver fled and remains at large.

Jones on Wednesday was charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's office with felony second-degree armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm in public. He also faces an enhancement clause for being a felon.

Jones remains hospitalized in
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stable condition and will be taken into custody when he is medically stable, police said. But for now, he is in serious pain, his attorney said.

"He can't go to the toilet on his own. He has pain in his back, leg, stomach and lower back," said McCoy, adding that he had undergone one surgery.

Jones, who is a cousin of the late Oscar Grant, has a criminal past dating back to when he was 15 and taken to the California Youth Authority. Oscar Grant was the unarmed Hayward man who on New Year's Day 2009 was shot and killed by then-BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle while being held by police face down on a train platform.

When Jones was about 19 and an inmate in a facility in Amador County, he was convicted of gassing a peace officer, which means throwing urine or feces or a combination of both on a correctional officer, authorities said.

He remained in the youth authority for several years and was transferred to New Folsom Prison near Sacramento, where he remained until his release last month.

McCoy said he has drafted a claim against the city of Oakland, which he plans to file this week.

He said he then plans to sue the city for unreasonable and unnecessary force.

For research on his Short History of Black Muslims in the Bay, Marvin X conducted interviews with the following:

AUDIOGRAPHY

Nisa Islam, Cherokee, 2004.
Nadar Ali, Fresno, 2004.
Manuel Rashid, Fresno, 2004.
John Douimbia, Grand Ayatollah of the Bay, San Francisco, 2004.
Minister Rabb Muhammad, Oakland, 2004.
Antar Bey, CEO, Your Black Muslim Bakery, Oakland, 2004.
Norman Brown, Oakland, Oakland, 2004.
Kareem Muhammad (Brother Edward), Oakland, 2004.

David Muhammad Charged

We consider David Muhammad a friend and he was on hand when we performed at Alameda County Juvenile Hall during Xmas. Of course we consider him innocent until proven guilty of charges. The community respects him as a man of honor and commitment to the cause of social justice. We pray for a speedy adjudication of all charges against him and pray for the alleged victim.

Alameda County Chief Probation Officer David Muhammad Courtesy Alameda County

Credit Courtesy Alameda County

Bay City News — The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has placed Chief Probation Officer David Muhammad on paid administrative leave after a deputy probation officer filed a $1.5 million claim accusing him of sexually assaulting and harassing her.

The board said chief of staff Brian Richart will be in charge while Muhammad is on leave but that board members cannot comment on the case because it is a confidential personnel matter.

Muhammad, 38, who was hired a year ago after holding top probation positions in New York City and Washington, D.C., couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

In her claim, which is a preliminary step to filing a lawsuit, the deputy probation officer alleges that Muhammad harassed her at a probation office in Hayward on May 15 when he noticed a discoloration on her neck, made multiple comments about it, laughed and joked about it and called it a "hickey."

The officer said Muhammad put his hands on her twice that day, prompting her to exclaim to another deputy, "Did you see that? He grabbed me!"

The deputy alleges that four days later, the morning of May 19, Muhammad asked her to pick him up at Oakland International Airport and drive him to a speaking engagement in Oakland but then instructed her to take him to the San Leandro Marina, which was empty at that time of day.

She said Muhammad suddenly grabbed her head and started kissing her, telling her, "We would make some pretty babies." The officer said when she tried to pull back, Muhammad "became very aggressive" and pulled her shirt down, cupped her breast and started to kiss it and penetrated her vagina "forcefully" with two of his fingers.

She said that when she eventually pushed him away, he told her she had excited him sexually and said, "I want you so bad, you just don't know it."

The deputy said that a day later, on May 20, Muhammad sent her multiple text messages and that she reluctantly agreed to meet with him as long as they weren't alone because she was worried about her job and what he might do to her if she ignored him.

She said in the claim that she met with Muhammad and his brother at a restaurant in Hayward and that at the end of the night he started to kiss her and grab her breasts and put his hand between her legs.

The deputy said she pushed his hand away but that he then grabbed her hand, placed it on his groin area and said she had excited him sexually. She said she pulled away and reiterated to Muhammad that she only wanted to be friends, and that Muhammad eventually left "angry and upset."

The claim says the deputy probation officer has suffered economic harm and has mental distress and anguish. It accuses Muhammad of sexual assault, false imprisonment, gender violence, sexual battery, assault, batter and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The California Attorney General's Office is conducting an investigation to see if criminal charges should be filed against Muhammad, according to attorney general's spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill.

Gledhill said the San Leandro Police Department investigated the officer's allegations and then submitted its report to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, which recused itself because it works closely with Muhammad.

Muhammad was formerly the executive director of the Mentoring Center in Oakland, and before he returned to Alameda County he served as Deputy Commissioner of New York City's Department of Probation, Adult Services, where he was responsible for overseeing 35,000 people on probation with a staff of 800.

Prior to his New York job, Muhammad served as the Chief of Committed Services for the Department of Youth Rehabilitating Services in Washington, D.C., where his responsibilities included overseeing a staff of 300, a $42 million annual budget and a juvenile institution with 900 youths in his department's care.

In an interview before he took over the Probation Department, Muhammad said he had gotten into trouble with the law as a youth in Oakland, and that as the county's chief probation officer he would try to help troubled youths improve their lives.

"I had my fair share of trouble and was in the juvenile justice system and the child welfare system," Muhammad said. But he said he turned his life around with the help of the Omega Boys Club, which paid for him to go to college.

Exhibit Marvin X: Bibliography

Marvin X and his mentor and artistic associate, Sun Ra. Outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, circa 1972.

Bibliography of Marvin X

Books

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, 1973)
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)

Works In Progress

It Don't Matter: Essays (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2006)

You Don't Know Me and Other Poems (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2006)

In Sha Allah, A History of Black Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1954-2004 (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2006).

Seven Years in the House of Elijah, A Woman's Search for Love and Spirituality by Nisa Islam as told to Marvin X, 2006.

Play Scripts and/or Productions

Flowers for the Trashman, San Francisco: San Francisco State University Drama Department, 1965.

Flowers for the Trashman, San Francisco: Black Arts West/Theatre, 1966.

Take Care of Business, musical version of Flowers with music by Sun Ra, choreography by Raymond Sawyer and Ellendar Barnes: Your Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972.

Come Next Summer, San Francisco: Black Arts/West, 1966.

The Trial, New York, Afro-American Studio for Acting and Speech, 1970.

Resurrection of the Dead, San Francisco, choreography by Raymond Sawyer, music by Juju and Sun Ra, Your Black Educational Theatre, 1972.

Woman-Man's Best Friend, musical, Oakland, Mills College, 1973.

How I Met Isa, Masters thesis, San Francisco State University, 1975.

In The Name of Love, Oakland, Laney College Theatre, 1981.

One Day In The Life, Oakland, Alice Arts Theatre, 1996.
One Day In The Life, Brooklyn, NY, Sistah's Place, 1997.
One Day In The Life, Manhattan, Brecht Forum, 1997.
One Day In The Life, Newark, NJ, Kimako's Blues, 1997.
One Day In The Life, Oakland, Uhuru House, 1998.
One Day In The Life, San Francisco, Bannam Place Theatre, North Beach, 1998.
One Day In The Lifee, San Francisco, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 1999.
One Day In the Life, Marin City, Marin City Rec Center, 1999
One Day In the Life, Richmond, Unity Church, 2000.
One Day In the Life, San Jose, San Jose State University, 2000.
One Day In the Life, Berkeley, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2000.
One Day In the Life, Sacramento, New Colonial Theatre, 2000.

Sergeant Santa, San Francisco, Recovery Theatre script, 2002.

Other

Delicate Child, a short story, Oakland, Merritt College Student Magazine contest winner, 1963.

Delicate Child, a short story, Oakland, SoulBook Magazine, 1964.

Flowers for the Trashman: A One Act Drama, San Francisco, Black Dialogue Magazine, 1965.

Flowers for the Trashman, Black Fire, An Anthology of Afro-American Writing, edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal, (New York: Morrow, 1968).

Take Care of Business: A One Act Drama, aka Flowers, (New York: The Drama Review, NYU,1968)

The Black Bird (Al Tair Aswad): A One-Act Play, New Plays from the Black Theatre, edited by Ed Bullins with introduction (interview of Ed Bullins) by Marivn X, (New York: Bantam, 1969)

"Islam and Black Art: An Interview with Amiri Baraka" and foreword by Askia Muhammad Toure, afterword by Marivn X, in Black Arts: An Anthology of Black Creations, edited by Ahmed Alhamisi and Haroun Kofi Wangara (Harold G. Lawrence) (Detroit: Black Arts Publications, 1969).

"Everything's Cool: An Interview with Amiri Barka, aka, LeRoi Jones", Black Theatre Magazine, New Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, NY, 1968.

Resurrection of the Dead, a ritual/myth dance drama, Black Theatre Magazine, New Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, 1969.

Manifesto of the Black Educational Theatre of San Francisco, Black Theatre, 1972.

The Black Bird, A Parable by Marvin X, illustrated by Karen Johnson ( San Francisco: Al Kitab Sudan and Julian Richardson and Associates Publishers, 1972).

"Black Justice Must Be Done," Vietnam and Black America: An Anthology of Protest and Resistance, edited by Clyde Taylor (Garden City: Double-day/Anchor, 1973)

"Palestine," a poem, Black Scholar magazine, 1978.

Journal of Black Poetry, guest editor, 1968.

"The Meaning of African Liberation Day," by Dr. Walter Rodney, a speech in San Francisco, transcribed and edited by Marvin X, Journal of Black Poetry, 1972.

Muhammad Speaks, foreign editor, 1970. (Note: a few months later, Marvin X was selected to be editor of Muhammad Speaks until it was decided he was too militant. Askia Muhammad (Charles 37X) was selected instead.)

A Conversation with Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Black Scholar, 1973.

VIDEOGRAPHY OF EVENTS/PRODUCTIONS

Proceedings of the Melvin Black Human Rights Conference, Oakland, 1979, produced by Marvin X, featuring Angela Davis, Minister Farakhan, Eldridge Cleaver, Paul Cobb, Dezzie Woods-Jones, Jo Nina-Abran, Mansha Nitoto, Khalid Abdullah Tarik Al Mansur, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Oba T-Shaka, and Marvin X.

Proceedings of the First Black Men's Conference, Oakland, 1980, John Douimbia, founder, Marvin X, chief planner, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Oba T'Shaka,Norman Brown, Kermit Scott, Minister Ronald Muhammad, Louis Freeman, Michael Lange, Betty King, Dezzie Woods-Jones, et al.

Forum on Drugs, Art and Revolution, Sista's Place, Brooklyn, New York, 1997, featuring Amiri and Amina Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Sam Anderson, Elombe Brath and Marvin X.

Eldridge Cleaver Memorial Service, produced by Marvin X, Oakland, 1998, participants included Kathleen and Joju Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Dr. Yusef Bey, Minister Keith Muhammad, Imam Al Amin, Dr. Nathan Hare, Tarika Lewis, Richard Aoki, Reginald Major, Majidah Rahman and Marvin X.

One Day in the Life, a docudrama of addiction and recovery, filmed by Ptah Allah-El, produced, written, directed and staring Marvin X, edited by Marvin X, San Francisco: Recovery Theatre, 1999.

Marvin X Interviews Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, former actor in Marvin X's Black Theatre: Berkeley, La Pena Cultural Center, 1999.

"Abstract for An Elders Council," lecture/discussion, Tupac Amaru Shakur One Nation Conference, Oakland: McClymonds High School, 1999.

Marvin X at Dead Prez Concert, San Francisco, 2000.

Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness, produced by Marvin X at San Francisco State University, 2001, featuring Dr. Cornel West, Amiri Baraka, Amina Baraka, Dr. Julia Hare, Dr. Nathan Hare, Rev. Cecil Williams, Destiny, Phavia, Tarika Lewis, Askia Toure, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Rudi Wongozi, Ishmael Reed, Dr. Theophile Obenga, Marvin X, et al.

Live In Philly At Warm Daddies, a reading accompanied by Elliot Bey, Marshall Allen, Danny Thompson, Ancestor Goldsky, Rufus Harley, Alexander El, 2002.

Marvin X Live in Detroit, a documentary by Abu Ibn, 2002.

In the Crazy House Called America, concert with Marvin X and Destiny, San Francisco: Buriel Clay Theatre, 2003.

Marvin X in Concert (accompanied by harpist Destiny, violinist Tarika Lewis and percussionists Tacuma and Kele Nitoto, dancer Raynetta Rayzetta), Amiri and Amina Baraka, filmed by Kwame and Joe, Berkeley: Black Repertory Group Theatre, 2003.

Marvin X Speaks at the Third Eye Conference, Dallas, Texas, 2003.

Marvin X and the Last Poets, San Francisco: Recovery Theatre, 2004.

Proceedings of the San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair, produced by Marvin X, filmed by Mindseed Productions, San Francisco, Recovery Theatre, 2004, participants include: Sonia Sanchez, Davey D, Amiri Baraka, Sam Hamod, Fillmore Slim, Askia Toure, Akhbar Muhammad, Sam Anderson, Al Young, Devorah Major, Opal Palmer Adisa, Tarika Lewis, Amina Baraka, Julia and Nathan Hare, Charlie Walker, Jamie Walker, Reginald Lockett, Everett Hoagland, Sam Greenlee, Ayodelle Nzinga, Suzzette Celeste, Tarika Lewis, Raynetta Rayzetta, Deborah Day, James Robinson, Ptah Allah-El, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Marvin X, et al. (Note: let me please acknowledge some of the historic personages in the audience: Gansta Alonzao Batin (mentor of the Bay Area BAM, made his transition shortly after the conference), Willie Williams of Broadside Press, Detroit, Gansta Brown, Gansta Mikey Moore (now Rev.), Arthur Sheridan, founder of Black Dialogue magazine, also co-founders Aubrey and Gerald LaBrie, Reginald Major, author of Panther Is A Black Cat. Thank you all for making this event historic, ed. MX)

Get Yo Mind Right, Marvin X Barbershop Talk, #4, a documentary film by Pam Pam and Marvin X, Oakland: 2005.

Marvin X Live in the Fillmore at Rass'elas Jazz Club, A Nisa Islam production, filmed by Ken Johnson, San Francisco, 2005.

Marvin X in the Malcolm X Room, McClymonds High School, accompanied by Tacuma (dijembe and percussion, dancer/choreographer Raynetta Rayzetta, actor Salat Townsend, filmed by Eddie Abrams, Oakland, 2005.

AUDIOGRAPHY

In Sha Allah, interview with Nisa Islam, Cherokee, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Nadar Ali, Fresno, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Manuel Rashid, Fresno, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with John Douimbia, Grand Ayatollah of the Bay, San Francisco, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Minister Rabb Muhammad, Oakland, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Antar Bey, CEO, Your Black Muslim Bakery, Oakland, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Norman Brown, Oakland, Oakland, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Kareem Muhammad (Brother Edward), Oakland, 2004.
Love and War, poems, Oakland, 1995.
One Day In The Life, docudrama, Oakland, 1999.
Jesus and Liquor Stores, Marvin X and Askari X, Oakland, 2002
Wake Up, Detroit, Marvin X interviewed by Lawrence X, Detroit, 2002..
Wish I, interview with Pam Pam, San Francisco, KPOO Radio, 2005.
Wish I, interview with Terry Collins, San Francisco, KPOO Radio, 2005.
Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement, interview with Professor James Smethurst of UMASS, Oakland, 2003.

BBP Negotiating to Publish Kumasi's History of Prison Movement

Comrade George Jackson,
Messiah of the Prison Movement




Eldridge Cleaver and his lieutenant in the prison movement and later in the Black Panther Party, Alprentis Bunchy Carter













Black Bird Press Negotiating to Publish
Brother Kumasi's History of the Prison Movement

Black Bird Press is honored to announce we are hoping to reach an agreement with Brother Kumasi, griot of the Prison Movement. His minute by minute oral history of the prison movement is impeccable and precise, an astonishing recall by a brother who spent time in prison with George Jackson, messiah of the prison movement (Soledad Brother). Kumasi was also associated with Eldridge Cleaver and Alprentis Bunchy Carter. Cleaver is credited with establishing the Black Culture Club at Soledad Prison, Bunchy was his lieutenant. The Black Culture Club is considered the beginning of the black prison movement in America.

As a member of Black Dialogue magazine, we visited the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club in 1966, observing Cleaver and Bunchy in action. They had the inmates organized in military fashion. In a recent conversation with this writer, Kumasi noted that most revolutionaries go to prison, then upon release start their revolution. In our case, we made revolution within the prison system.

This writer has long felt because Cleaver was a seasoned revolutionary upon his release, thus when we introduced him to Black Panthers Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, he far outmatched them in political chicanery. See my memoir Eldridge Cleaver, My friend the Devil, Black Bird Press, 2009.

We look forward to publishing any and all parts of Kumasi's narrative.

--Marvin X,
Publisher, Black Bird Press



Black Dialogue brothers who visited the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club in 1966. L to R: Aubrey LaBrie, Marvin X, Abdul Sabry, Al Young, Arthur Sheridan, Duke Williams. At the time, most of us were in the BSU at San Francisco State College, now University.





Exhibit Marvin X ends this Saturday, February 25, 7pm, with readings by Marvin X, Aries Jordan and Toya Carter. Exhibit Marvin X is located at 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley. Call 510-575-2225 for reservations, space limited, no one turned away for lack of funds. Donation requested: $20.00.

We Will Always Love You, Whitney

We Will Always Love You, Whitney

How can a blackbird not sing
ushering the dawn of a new day
calling heaven to hear her song
no words for this pain
the blues we sing
a voice so true so real
yet we overstand the tragic note
in the song we all sing
living in this wilderness
of North America
down here on the ground with
the devil
how can he pay for his sins
not only Whitney
but the millions gone in a whisper
what price for this
worthless dollars at the Federal Reserve
empty the vaults at Fort Knox
will not suffice
stealing the souls of men and women
the many Whitney's gone into the night of no return
Dr. Nathan Hare told us, "...No amount of religiosity,
coke, Crack, alcohol or sex
sufficient to sedate the social angst
shattered cultural striving...."
Oh, Whitney, we are from Allah
to Him we return. We will always

Love you!
--Marvin X
2/13/12

Report: Dr. J. Vern Cromartie at Exhibit Marvin X

Journalist Lee Hubbard,
Marvin X, Professor Cromartie
photo Gene Hazzard


On Saturday, February 11, poet/sociologist Dr. J. Vern Cromartie presented a lecture/reading at Exhibit Marvin X. He gave a summary of the paper he presented on Marvin X's brief tenure as a lecturer in black studies at University of California, Berkeley, noting the poet taught there with only an A.A. degree from Merritt College. Along with the black studies faculty, Marvin was purged by the administration and more pliant Negroes were hired. Dr. Cromartie recalled Cecil Brown's book What Happened to My Black Studies Department? to suggest an even more sinister move wherein blacks are brought in from the Pan African Diaspora and given tenure because they are even more accommodating to white supremacy academia, the local radical academics being regarded as dangerous to the status quo.

Cromarties noted that even while teaching at UCB, Marvin X had his own Black Educational Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore where his UCB students performed his myth-ritual drama
Resurrection of the Dead, which included a naming ceremony. Many students kept their names for life, including Nisa Ra (Greta Pope) and Malika Jamilah (Charlene Hunter). Singer/actor Victor Willis had the lead role in this production. He went on to sing with the Village People and wrote such hits as Macho Man, YMCA and I'm In the Navy.

The sociologist put on his poet hat to read two poems dedicated to his teacher whose works he read as a 14 year old in Waycross, Georgia, in particular Black Man Listen, Broadside Press, 1969. The first poem described the poet during his Crack addiction, the second told of Marvin X's love affair with his high school girlfriend, poet-critic-professor Sherley A. Williams. Marvin X was deeply moved at hearing this poem that revealed Professor Cromartie's profound poetic insight. The professor noted that Sherley may have been his soul mate, but apparently the poet has had several powerful soul mates that Cromartie has had the privilege of knowing since he enrolled in the poet's theatre class at Laney College, 1981: Nisa Ra, Hurriyah Asar, Masha Satterfield and Suzzette Celeste Johnson. Cromartie, of Gullah Geeche ancestry, said all these women were beautiful, highly intelligent and spiritual. Yes, Marvin X said, these women were angelic, I was the devil.

Hurriyah Asar, poet's longtime friend

The program climaxed with a reading of the poet's works by Aries Jordan, one of several poets Marvin X is mentoring. Aries read from Marvin X's Land of My Daughters, Black Bird Press, 2005, a collection that made Bob Holman call Marvin X the USA's Rumi.






Aries read What is Love, How to Love a Thinking Woman and Never Love a Poet. Aries said she loves How to Love a Thinking Woman simply because she is a thinking woman, and Never Love a Poet touched her because it deals with the creative personality. Clearly, Aries has absorbed the spirit of her teacher. Her voice is loud and clear, her dramatic technique precise. She read his poems better than he. Now 24 years old,we suspect she will become an expert at reading the poetry of Marvin X before and after he joins the ancestors. Aries concluded with two poems from her collection Journey to Womanhood, Letter to the Elders and That Girl.







Exhibit Marvin X, Sat., Feb. 18, 7pm
presents Dr. Oba T'Shaka and Norman Brown on John Douimbia, mentor to the Bay Area Civil Rights and Black Power movements


Exhibit Marvin X continues on Saturday, Feb. 18, 7pm, with a lecture/discussion of Marvin X's mentor, the Honorable John Douimbia (RIP). Dr. Oba T'Shaka, professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and community organizer Norman Brown will make presentations, both were also mentored by John D, as he was affectionately known. Exhibit Marvin X is located at 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley. For reservations, please call 510-575-2225.

Exhibit Marvin X thanks the following for their support: Dr. Robert McNight, Berkeley High School Black Studies, Ramal Lamar (Berkeley High, B-Tech), Suzzette Celeste, Phil Johnson, Paul Cobb, Oakland Post Newspaper, Adam Turner, videographer, Amira and Nefertiti Jackmon, Dr. J. Vern Cromartie, Contra Costa College.

Exhibit Marvin X presents Dr. Oba T'Shaka and Norman Brown

On Saturday, February 18, 7pm, Exhibit Marvin X presents a discussion of the Honorable John Douimbia (RIP), founder of the Black Men's Conference and mentor to many Bay Area civil rights workers and black liberation activists, including Marvin X, Oba T'Shaka, Norman Brown, et al. John was mentored by Will Ussery, a leader in CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and director of the San Francisco poverty program.

Upon his transition (Marvin X officiated his memorial service), Marvin X obtained his papers that reveal John's work in the black power movement from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The papers give us a vivid history of Bay Area black consciousness activity.

He was also an official in the SF NAACP and worked as an organizer for the poverty program in the Fillmore. In New York's Harlem, he had hustled with his friend, Big Red or Malcolm Little, aka Malcolm X, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz.

Dr. Oba T'Shaka, professor emeritus, Black Studies, San Francisco State University

Norman Brown, Community Organizer

On February 18, Dr. Oba T'Shaka and community organizer Norman Brown will discuss the John Douimbia papers (part of Exhibit Marvin X). John Douimbia was a mentor to Marvin X, Oba T'Shaka and Norman Brown. He was a voice in the Bay Area civil rights and black power movement. In 1980, Marvin X planned and organized the Black Men's Conference at the direction of John Douimbia, who had long seen the need for a secular organization of black men, had even presented the idea to his Harlem hustling buddy, Malcolm X after he joined the Nation of Islam. As we know, Malcolm followed John's concept after breaking from the NOI. He formed the Organization of Afro-American unity. If possible, this discussion may be joined by Will Ussery and Charlie Walker, two additional associates of John Douimbia. Will Ussery was the leader of CORE and a director of the poverty program. Charlie Walker is a businessman and social activist.
Charlie Walker, businessman,
social activist, "mayor of hunters point," and close friend of former
SF Mayor Willie Brown.

Chauncey Bailey: A Shakespearean Tragedy

In light of Thomas Peele's just released book, Killing the Messenger, on the Black Muslim Bakery and the assassination of journalist Chauncey Bailey, we present this essay from Marvin X's forthcoming book Who Killed Chauncey Bailey, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2012.

Chauncey Bailey: A Shakespearean Tragedy

On one level, the Chauncey Bailey assassination can be best understood by recalling the drama of classic Shakespeare, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear. Many of his plays dealt with succession rights/rites, often involving themes of jealousy, envy, greed and power. Of course these are general themes of humanity, but the man known as Shakespeare wrote about these matters better than others before and after him. In Othello we find a man duped by his friend and advisor, Iago, so confused by the tricknology of Iago that the great Moorish warrior killed his beloved wife Desdemona, then took his own life.

We can see the parallel in the Chauncey murder. The king dies and there is the fight over which of his twenty sons (there are twenty daughters as well, but this is a patriarchy) shall succeed him. One of the several mothers is determined she and her children should control the empire, but another mother feels the same and moves to secure the throne for her son (s). The first son dies mysteriously in a car-jacking. Her next in line takes over the throne.

Meanwhile, the man who was a dear friend of the king receives information about the succession battle, a piece of dirt that was, for the most part, already public information. But the messenger was sent by his mother-in-law, knowing the message would incite anger in the successor to the throne who was not of her bloodline.

When the message is delivered it is overheard by a former co-wife who immediately relays it to her friend, the wife or widow, whose son has seized control. Apparently she tells her son, the new king, who goes into a rage at his father's friend, not realizing he has been set up by the co-wife who sent the message by her son-in-law.

Also, the new king's advisor, call him Iago, has deep resentment for the old king's friend, for the friend knows Iago is a devil and has been seeking information to expose him. Iago figures he can dispose of his nemesis by encouraging the boy-king to murder his father's dear friend.

Knowing the boy-king is a hot head, Iago (OPD), suggests the plan and it is carried out. He convinces the boy-king he will go free after his dastardly deed, for Iago claims special powers under the color of law. The boy-king is convinced he can commit innumerable crimes because he is under the protection of Iago. He truly believes Iago can get him out of any situation. Yet Iago has his own motivation for inspiring murder, to stop the old king's friend from a possible exposure of his dark deeds that, now involve the boy-king: money laundering, fencing, drug dealing, homicide, prostitution, etc. The boy-king is in too deep, even after considering that his father had a deep relationship with the man he must now dispose.

The co-wife, now widow, had no idea things would get out of hand but she felt entitled to the empire and was not about to settle for her sister-wife inheriting everything.

After the assassination of the old king's friend, Iago takes control of the crime scene, gathers selected evidence and a confession. He refuses to question eye-witnesses at the crime scene for they are irrelevant, he has accomplished his mission, or shall we say his patsy has.

The boy-king soon realizes he has been set up from two sides, the co-wife and Iago, for different reasons. He realizes his deed has caused the death of his father's friend and the possible death of himself by hanging.

Iago is in the corner laughing, yet worried his mentee may one day disclose all the dirty deeds he was asked to perform for Iago, hence Iago is not home free yet. Now he must configure a way to silence the boy-king. Stay tuned.

Don't miss Exhibit Marvin X this Saturday, Feb. 11, 7pm, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley. The poet will most surely discuss the just released book on the Black Muslim Bakery by Thomas Peele. Call 510-575-2225 for reservations, space limited.

On Thomas Peele's book: Killing the Messenger

Let us cry crocodile tears for Longmire

http://www.ktvu.com/video/28505827/index.html

Lead detective Longmire


It is interesting to note Longmire blames his department for bumbling the Chauncey Bailey murder investigation, but he was the officer in charge of the crime scene who drove off when Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb presented an eye witness at the crime scene. And why would he not have access to tracking devices and phone records on the murder mastermind. What is clear is that Longmire has no intention to be the fall guy for the OPD's pitiful job in the Bailey conspiracy. The OPD had the intelligence to know the murder was going to go down and was scheduled to raid the murder suspect's compound a day before the murder but delayed until the day after, then the Chief lied about it. No matter what, Longmire's hands are as bloody as the Bakery brothers, and his OPD comrades are as well. A murder could have been prevented if only the OPD, including Longmire, had done the right thing, but we know devils are constitutionally unable to do so.
--Marvin X

Marvin X will soon release a book delineating his version of the Chauncey Bailey murder. He does not absolve the Bakery brothers, but suggests the prime role of the OPD. It is crystal clear the OPD could have prevented this assassination of a "community journalist," as Peele and Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds refer to Chauncey. see www.theblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com

Black Muslim Bakery Book: Thomas Peele's Killing the Messenger

Bay Area Black Writers Salute slain journalist, Oakland Post Editor
Chauncey Bailey

Chauncey Bailey Project lead writer, Thomas Peele, releases book on Islam and Your Black Muslim Bakery, including the assassination of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. The book mainly blames the Bakery brothers rather than focus on the leading

role of the Oakland Police Department in the murder of Chauncey who was also investigating police corruption in and City Hall. The Monkey Mind Media, i.e. the white Chauncey Bailey Project attempts to diminish the talents of Chauncey, claiming he was no Bob Woodward but only a "community journalist, thus how could he investigate police corruption and city hall chicanery. Has anyone seen his notes?

We can only understand the assassination of Chauncey Bailey within the context of global white supremacy. Hundreds of journalists are murdered yearly by oppressive political regimes and corrupt agents of the police. No matter the killers were Black Muslims, as Baldwin said of Malcolm's killers, "The hand the pulled the trigger didn't buy the bullet!" The hands that pulled the trigger of the shotgun and his associates were mentored by an officer of the OPD, Longmire, who was also in charge of the crime scene and led the raid on the bakery compound, solving the murder in less than 24 hours, alas, he recovered the murder weapon and got a confession. Case closed. The fastest solving of a murder case in world history.

While Thomas Peele and his Monkey Mind Media associates at the Chauncey Bailey Project, focused on the Bakery boys, the man who was publisher of the Oakland Post, Paul Cobb, was never called to testify about his editors projects that included the OPD and City Hall. When Paul Cobb suggested police involvement, the DA departed from his office. When he called for the Chauncey Bailey Project, and directed them to pursue the police involvement, he was silenced, especially by Oakland Tribune crime reported Harry Harris, who has been embedded at the OPD so long he sleeps in the police locker room. The police chief got on the elevator with Post Publisher Paul Cobb then pushed all the buttons so the elevator would have a slow ride down, then warned Paul Cobb, "If you pursue the OPD angle, you better get a bullet proof vest." The chief soon took an early retirement, slipping out the door of the den of iniquity. The chief had been caught lying about why the raid on the bakery didn't happen as scheduled, rather than after Chauncey was killed, especially since the OPD had the bakery members under surveillance
for months, phones were tapped and GPA devices on their automobiles.

The story below by Tammerlin Drummond is the Monkey Mind Media's version of the Chauncey Bailey killing, their view of the Black Muslim Bakery and Islam in general, as if Christianity doesn't originate in mysticism, mythology, violence and sexual depravity.


--Marvin X, the Black Chauncey Bailey Project
www.theblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com

Tammerlin Drummond: New book examines journalist's murder

By Tammerlin Drummond
Oakland Tribune Columnist

Posted: 02/05/2012 12:00:00 AM PST

Updated: 02/05/2012 08:18:27 AM PST

Cover image "Killing the Messenger" by Bay Area News Group/The Chauncey Bailey Project reporter...

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In many countries, journalists who investigate political corruption or major crime figures get thrown into prison, gunned down or kidnapped -- never to be heard from again.

In the United States, however, few people have been crazy enough or bold enough to assassinate a journalist to stop a story.

It has happened twice. In 1976, when Arizona Republic Reporter Don Bolles was mortally wounded in a car bombing in Phoenix.

Then, on Aug. 2, 2007, when a brainwashed 19-year-old man with a sawed-off shotgun ambushed journalist Chauncey Bailey as he walked from a McDonald's in downtown Oakland to his newspaper office.

Six months ago, Yusuf Bey IV, the leader of the now-defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, was sentenced to life in prison for ordering two of his underlings to kill the 57-year-old editor of the Oakland Post and former Oakland Tribune reporter.

Bey IV wanted to stop Bailey from publishing a story about his illegal takeover of the bakery and its impending bankruptcy.

Thomas Peele was the lead reporter for the Chauncey Bailey Project, a coalition of journalists from various media outlets that formed to investigate Bailey's killing and bring those responsible to justice.

Peele, a reporter for the Tribune, has just written a riveting account of the events that led up to Bailey's murder.

"Killing the Messenger: A Story of Radical Faith, Racism's Backlash and the Assassination of a Journalist," goes on

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sale Feb. 7.

It is an exhaustively researched narrative that details the rise and fall of Your Black Muslim Bakery.

Peele uses Bailey's killing as a launching point for exploring the blood-soaked history of the Black Muslim movement in the United States. He examines how virulent racism made blacks ripe for exploitation by charlatans like Nation of Islam founder Wallace D. Fard, his disciple Elijah Muhammad and later the Beys in Oakland.

Peele takes us to Chicago and Detroit to the heart of the Nation of Islam and to Los Angeles where a police shooting at a mosque convinced Santa Barbara hairdresser Joseph Stephens to join the Black Muslim movement.

Stephens who would later rename himself Yusuf Bey, opened Your Black Muslim Bakery in 1971.

He lured followers -- many of them straight out of prison -- with his message of black self-empowerment. He was a respected community leader. Politicians paid homage to him despite his racist pronouncements.

But as "Killing the Messenger" lays out in sometimes stomach-churning detail, behind Bey's carefully cultivated public facade lurked a monster.

A bakery employee once stumbled upon Bey sexually assaulting a young boy in a bathroom.

After he told others about it, he was found shot to death.

Horrors would go on at the bakery for decades while police, politicians and just about everyone else in Oakland turned a blind eye.

"For years the police backed off, and the Beys owned North Oakland," Peele says. "The police didn't want to mess with them."

When Bey died in 2003 he was facing charges that he had raped four girls under the age of 14. Alameda County prosecutors alleged that DNA tests proved Bey had fathered a child with one of them -- among the more than 40 he is believed to have sired with various women.

After his father's death, Yusuf Bey IV seized control by killing off his rivals, including one of his brothers.

He proceeded to run the family business into the ground and sow terror.

His oversized ego made him think he could get away with killing Bailey. I suspect he might have succeeded were it not for the reporters on the Chauncey Bailey project who unearthed important leads that law enforcement had not pursued.

Peele presents an unvarnished picture of Bailey. He was not the great journalist some claimed after his death.

He had in fact been fired from the Tribune for ethical lapses. He was a human being with flaws.

"It's not like they killed Bob Woodward, but that doesn't matter," Peele says. "What matters is they killed a reporter who was trying in his own way to speak truth to power."

Thomas Peele will discuss "Killing the Messenger" at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Diesel Books, 5433 College Ave., in Oakland.

Exhibit Marvin X continues this Saturday, February 11, 7pm, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley. For reservations, please call 510-575-2225. Dr. J. Vern Cromatie, chair of the sociology program at Contra Costa College will discuss Marvin X's brief tenure at UC Berkeley.

Aries Jordan Reports on Exhibit Marvin X at Berkeley High

Today I accompanied my mentor Marvin X to promote the exhibit showcasing his Archives of the Black arts movement of the 1960’s until now. We went to Berkeley Continuation School to show students themselves in the Berkeley Post article. We then went to Berkeley high to visit the Black studies department. There we met Dr. McKnight of the Black studies department. Berkeley high was the first high school in the United States to have a black studies program. Dr. McKnight asked Marvin and I to speak to the class and share poetry.

Marvin spoke about the importance of Archives. For many archives is a foreign concept. Archives are documents and records kept over time. Marvin mentioned that when most of our family members die, we go straight for the gold and trinkets and throw away the papers. For example, when the secretary of the Oakland NAACP transitioned, the State NACCP correspondence from the 1920’s til the present was found in the trash. Family records, journals, diaries and letters are invaluable and are important in documenting our collective history. He encouraged students to keep their letters, emails and diaries because the world wants to know how you survived during this time, what we were thinking and what was happening in our world.But far too many of us we view our lives as invaluable and inherently don't see their life as part of history. Marvin emphasized the urgent need for students to recognize that they are history makers.

He then proceeded to read his Yes poem which discussed our auto response of No to any question, but yes being the language of infinite possibilities, of divinity. I read my poem entitled Know Your Status which promotes HIV testing and awareness. The students enjoyed our poetry and want us to come back. The Marvin X exhibit opens this Saturday and will be open through the end of February on Friday 7-10, suggested donation $20 no one turned away for lack of funds. Hope to see you there!

On Saturday, Feb 11, Dr. J Vern Cromartie will discuss his relationship with Marvin X. He first read the writings of Marvin X when he was 14, growing up in Waycross, Georgie. Cromartie is head of the Sociology program at Contra Costa College. He will discuss a research paper he wrote on Marvin X's brief tenure at UC Berkeley. The permanent archives of Marvin X were acquired by the Bancroft library at UCB.

Journey to Womanhood

by Aries Jordan

Black Bird Press Publishing, Berkeley

Adam Turner, Layout and Design Editor

Journey to Womanhood by Aries Jordan

Review by Marvin X

Aries Jordan is a shaman lady in training, thus she is beyond poetry, though she uses the form to express her wondrous spiritual explorations, delving into the metaphysical world beneath the surface of our everyday reality. We know the self is the actual macrocosm, reality the microcosm, so while Aries addresses the mundane, it is only to take us deep down into the self, that self most of us fear to examine, making our lives, yes, worthless.

She weaves her stories in a kind of prose/poetry that some may call a confusion of form, but it is simply an attempt to grapple with the language that is often incapable of giving expression to the North American African soul, so long caged and confounded that we call it a psycholinguistic crisis, the struggle of a colonized being seeking liberation.

Thus form is not relevant, the process is not more important than the product. Her poem/stories affirm that shaman lady we mentioned at the top. The poems/stories question the life she has encountered in the 23 years, although do not be fooled by ageism, alas, she is much older than 23 in the spiritual clock. This is the wisdom of a child, but similar to that child who taught in the temple when he was twelve. She has already traveled the world on the Scholar Ship, made her journey from coast to coast in the USA, and is being mentored closely on her Journey to Womanhood by myself.

She recalls when I met her at Oakland’s Art and Soul Festival, I immediately made her audition for mentorship by having her read one of my poems. She passed my test in flying colors but it was some months before she accepted my mentorship. When she did decide to come around my Academy of da Corner, her first task was to publish this collection which she did in less than a week. This task was achieved only because of her determination to move ahead. The result is that she has advanced on her Journey to Womanhood by commenting on world events, personal confessions and observations, speaking to the elders and demanding a reply; talking about life in Cali as she walked in her stiletto shoes; questioning those who say they are only doing their job. Those charged with crimes against humanity during the Nazi horror said the same when they faced trial!

But we must say Aries cannot be understood solely by this literary creation, for it only reveals a small section of her awesome spiritual personality. Another dimension is revealed when she reads her words, and another when she promotes and sells her book, for she is a hustler supreme, very much like myself, who understands no part of no, persisting until the customer breaks down to buy her book. But her product is no scam, it is the real deal holyfield of truth from a child moving fast into full womanhood.
Enjoy!

--Marvin X, Publisher, Black Bird Press
11/14/11