Save the Date: Saturday, September 1, 3-6pm

Save the Date: Saturday, September 1, 3-6pm

Marvin X Reading and Book signing at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin Streets, downtown Oakland, Saturday, September 1, 2012, 3-6pm.


The living legend, the myth, the ritual, the human earthquake, the sledge hammer, the lover, the confessionist, the teacher, the poet, Marvin X will autograph his latest book The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, Black Bird Press,2012, $19.95. Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, 3-6pm, at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland. 

 Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parable/fables 

by Marvin X

Marvin X. Jackmon is a product of West Oakland, attended McFeely, Prescott, St. Patrick's and Lowell Jr. High. He graduated with honors from Edison High in Fresno, then returned to Merritt College where his classmates were Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. He was turned on to Black Nationalism by Huey and Bobby who were influenced by Donald Warden's Afro-American Association.


Marvin Transferred to San Francisco State University and his first play was produced by the Drama department, Flowers for the Trashman, 1965. In 1966 he dropped out of college to found his own theatre, Black Arts West, in San Francisco's Fillmore, along with playwright Ed Bullins, Hillery Broadous,
Duncan Barber, Carl Bossiere and Ethna Wyatt. In 1967 he hooked up with Eldridge Cleaver and they founded Black House, a political/cultural center in San Francisco. 


This reading/book signing is sponsored by The Post Newspaper Group, OCCUR, Golden Gate Locksmith, the West Oakland Renaissance Committee/Elders Council, Black Bird Press. Proceeds benefit Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway.


Donation $20.00, includes signed copy of book and refreshments. Call 510-200-4164 for more information. 


Comments


If you want to learn about motivation and inspiration, 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


He's the USA's Rumi! The Wisdom of Saadi, the ecstasy of Hafiz.--Bob Holman


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


Is Marvin X a parable or fable? We doubt a Marvin X exists. We double doubt there is a Plato Negro.--Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)


I am sure these parables are a first in America exploiting this literary category. People will wonder where to place these parables and fables. You have expanded contemporary literature. I suspect there is nothing like them in post-modern American literature.--Rudolph Lewis, Founding Editor Chickenbones: A Journal


The works of "Plato Negro" prove to be a major contribution to the field of African philosophy. These works provide a model for a standard approach toward reflective thinking and critical analysis for African people, still trying to define their own philosophical worldview. Write on Plato Negro. --Ptah Allah El (Tracy Mitchell), from the introduction




Sponsors: Leniece Jones Associates

ChickenBones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes

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They helped free us poets, playwrights and actors from the white supremacy esthetic as per formal drama. They smashed the very concept and made us conscious just how free one  can be if one will just go there. They told us thespians, just do your thing and we will come in and out as we desire.

Jazz and Blackness By Marvin X Sunday evening we attended an onstage conversation between poet Amiri Baraka and bassist Reggie Workman at Oakland's Eastside Arts Center. Actually it wasn't onstage but the esteemed gentlemen were part of the circle of artists, intellectuals and community people who turned out for the event. Since I declined to speak at the event, I am posting my comments now. Since the age of fourteen or fifteen, I have listened to jazz. Of course I heard it growing up, especially my family moved from Fresno to Oakland's 7th Street, but was turned on to jazz by a heroin addict friend, Ronald Williams. In between shooting dope, Ronald and his friends used to listen to jazz and discuss Islam. What a potent mixture! I didn't indulge the dope, but I listened to the music and conversation. Sometimes we'd be a little cafe on Whitesbridge and they would play Nina Simone's "I Love You Porgy," over and over. Once in Oakland and living on 7th Street in the back of my parents florist business, jazz filled my world, especially as a Cub Scout hustling Jet and Ebony magazines up and down 7th. Of course I recall the signs on the wall of Slim Jenkin's Club advertising such artists as Josephine Baker and Father Earl Hines. I'd heard my parents discussing Jo Baker many times. Not much jazz was played in our house, but I did hear the big band music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Up and down 7th I could hear music blasting on the juke box, blues and jazz, especially that B-3 Hammond organ. The Hammond took my soul into another zone. Poet Avotcha has a poem and play called "Oaktown Blues." It is a masterful piece but somehow she never mentions that organ music by Jimmy Smith and others. When I think of West Oakland music culture in the late 50s, I think of the B-3. It seemed to dominate the scene. I understand this was true in Newark, New Jersey and other places as well. My association with jazz continued with lessons from my high  school girlfriend, Sherley A. Williams (RIP), who had an access to her sister Ruby's extensive collection of blues and jazz, Sherley turned me onto Hank Crawford and a few others. In 1966, playwright Ed Bullins and I established Black Arts West Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore. We were soon joined by a host of musicians, e.g., Dewey Redman, Earl Davis, Oliver Jackson, BJ, Monte Waters, Rafael Donald Garrett, et al. In freestyle, they accompanied our plays and went outside to play in harmony with the street sounds, car horns, human sounds, the wind and fog. They helped free us poets, playwrights and actors from the white supremacy esthetic as per formal drama. They smashed the very concept and made us conscious just how free one  can be if one will just go there. They told us thespians, just do your thing and we will come in and out as we desire. They went from stage to audience, in the best manner of what would become known as ritual theatre, similar to the circle at Sunday's conversation at Eastside Arts. After Black Arts West Theatre went under, Eldridge Cleaver, Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt (Hurriyah) and myself founded Black House on Broderick Street in SF. The Chicago Art Ensemble performed at Black House, which the hot political/culture center during 1967.  After introducing Eldridge to Black Panthers Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, Black House soon became the SF headquarters. The artists were kicked out due to ideological differences: cultural nationalism versus political nationalism. Sometime later the Panthers would understand the necessity of the cultural revolution—this was after they attended the Pan African Arts Festival in Algeria. But soon after the fall of Black House, many artists, musicians, poets, fled the negative atmosphere of the Bay for New York. Ed Bullins fled to New York and joined theNew Lafayette Theatre in Harlem. I fled to Toronto, Canada as a draft resister. After about six months, I returned underground to Chicago, hanging around OBAC (Organization of Black American Culture) and Phil Koran's Afro-Arts Theatre. OBAC poets included Don L. Lee, aka Haki Madhubuti, Gwen Brooks, Hoyt Fuller,Carolyn Rogers, Jewell Lattimore, et al. I was in Chicago when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, but soon fled to New York when I found out the FBI was closing in on me. Ed invited me to work at the New Lafayette Theatre as associate editor of Black Theatre Magazine.  Much like Rumi meeting Shams, or Malcolm X meeting Elijah Muhammad, I met Sun Ra and my world has never been the same. With Sun Ra I discovered the depths of drama, the integration of poetry, music, dance, lights, costume, mythology. Sun Ra taught the necessity of artistic  and personal discipline to be one's creative best. During this time I met drummer Milford Graves. He frightened me to death with his aggressive drummer, so bold that he was banned from playing downtown New York. Milford's music was so political, it was then that I finally realized the musicians and arts were the vanguard of spreading revolutionary consciousness. The politicos had much to learn from them. The arts gave the musicians and poets more mental balance and especially more spirituality. The essence of Sunday's conversation at Eastside Arts was that musicians, poets, rappers must know our history and stay connected with the people. Amiri Barakapointed out that we are still slaves, although Elder Ed Howard would argue that we are not slaves, rather simply Africans caught in the slave system. For example, Ed would say how could slaves or free slaves publish a newspaper called Freedom's Journal in 1827?  How could a slave write David Walker's Appeal, 1829? How could a slave write the Frederick Douglas classic "What to a slave is the 4th of July?" Workman and Baraka stressed Jazz is the only American music, the other music is European, only jazz is American. James Baldwin said in my 1968 interview with him, "We're the only thing that happened here, nothing else happened here but us!" 30 July 2012 Source: blackbirdpressnews *   *   *   *   * Jazz and Blackness—No Jazz in the Crack House Part II Marvin X The heroin addicts love jazz, the Crack heads hated jazz and all other music, including speech. Long before I became a crack head, I noticed when I came into the crack din no one looked up or even acknowledged I was in the room. Only silence and the passing of the pipe from one crack head to another. Absolutely, there was no music played since the psychosis necessitated silence, for one had to listen for sounds that didn't exist, only in our warped minds. We imagined police were at the door, or that friends were outside the door plotting to kill us. We even thought the friends or crack heads at the table were whispering about how to kill us, since they knew we had money. We imagined our girlfriend was knocking at the door, so we went to the door to let her in but no one was there, only the rustling leaves on the tree in the yard. This drama went on for twelve years, no music, no sounds, no talking, sometimes no sex since we couldn't function sexually—our shit was like silly putty under the influence of crack. No human touch for years, only the daily hustle for dope money. We wonder how was it possible for a crack head to hustle money every day of his crack life, but once clean and sober he is broke. And so the music I loved was no longer part of my life, only the silence in the wind and the madness of my mind. And yet I had become accustomed to life without music so that even upon recovery, it would be years before I could listen to jazz. When I did listen to music it was P and D music, as Sun Ra called popular music, Pussy and Dick music. Only now, 2012, have I seriously returned to jazz, the music so necessary for my consciousness, spirituality, and mental health. As I said in Part I, we Black Arts poets styled ourselves after the jazz musicians. Even now, I try to write like they play, to go as far out as I can go with my words on paper. I am consciously trying to write like Coltrane, Parker and Miles played, to take the mind to the outer limits, to jump out of the box of white supremacy psycholinguistics, in short, to transcend the English language, or even if I use the devil tongue, I will flip the script, reverse the meaning of words, say the wildest shit that can come to my mind, of course a little Henny helps! One thing about that Henny, there shall be no writer's block—you will tell the truth, even if  it will frighten you to death in the morning when you read some of the shit you've written. Often you must hit delete several times to not reveal too much truth, as a judge friend says I do too much. 30 July 2012 Source: blackbirdpressnews Photo above left: The young Marvin X with Sun Ra *   *   *   *   * Savior Sonny Simmons Part III I just recalled that on one occasion during those crack years I did connect with jazz. I used to live in one of those SRO hotels near San Francisco's Union Square, near Geary and Grant. During this time I would be in my room smoking crack, separating from reality. Then many nights I would hear the most melodious music imaginable. It was so beautiful I would take a break from the Crack pipe to run outside to find the source of the music. It was sax man Sonny Simmons playing on the corner. Sometimes it seemed his music was floating in the night fog, drawing me to where he played. I was so in awe of the beauty he expressed that I was forced to give him a donation because I knew his music was trying to save me. This happened many nights that I would be forced to stop my madness and go out to give him a donation. Now Sonny may have had his own problems since many street hustlers are dope fiends, especially musicians, but it didn't matter to me because I needed to hear Sonny's sounds like a thirsty man needs water. Not long ago Sonny and Amiri Baraka performed together at Eastside Arts Center and I reminded him of those days and what I used to do when I heard him. It was like a private concert that temporarily liberated me from my madness. Thank you, Sonny. *   *   *   *   * Sherley Anne Williams, a leading African American author, poet, playwright and professor of literature and writing at the University of California, San Diego, died July 6 at Kaiser Permanente Hospital of cancer. She was 54 years old. Williams, a native Californian who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, was best known for her historical novel Dessa Rose. First published in 1986 by William Morrow & Co., "Dessa Rose" was an instant critical and popular success. The novel is now in its fourth printing and has been translated into German, Dutch, and French. At the time of her death, Williams was working on a sequel to Dessa Rose and on another novel set in the 20th century. The story of an enslaved black woman and a white Southern belle, Dessa Rose was praised by the New York Times as "artistically brilliant, emotionally affecting and totally unforgettable." Williams told the Los Angeles Times that her research on slavery while writing the novel "brought me to the brink of despair, because I realized how circumscribed our circumstances had been." Williams' prodigious talent won her acclaim in many literary genres. Her first book of poetry, The Peacock Poems, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. She won an Emmy Award for a television performance of poems from her second poetry book, "SomeOne Sweet Angel Chile," another National Book Award nominee. Her full-length, one-woman drama, Letters from a New England Negro, was a featured play at the National Black Theatre Festival (1991) and the Chicago International Theatre Festival (1992). Working Cotton, Williams' 1992 Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich children's tale, won an American Library Association Caldecott Award and a Coretta Scott King Book Award, and it was listed among "Best Books of 1992" by Parents Magazine. She also recently published a second children's book, "Girls Together." Literary scholar Barbara Christian has written: "Williams' writing is rich, intellectually stimulating, beautifully crafted, and unique. [It] is brilliant, and her contributions to the field of African American literature are long lasting." Williams was an alumna of California State University, Fresno, where she earned a B.A. in English in 1966, and of Brown University, where she earned an M.A. in American Literature in 1972. She joined UCSD's Literature Department in 1973, received tenure in 1975, and served as chair from 1977 to 1980.—ucsdnews  / answers *   *   *   *   * I Love You, Porgy             Sung by Nina Simone I loves you, Porgy. Don't let him take me Don't let him handle me And drive me mad. If you can keep me I wanna stay here with you forever And Ill be glad Yes I loves you, porgy, Don't let him take me Don't let him handle me With his hot hands. If you can keep me I wants to stay here with you forever. I've got my man I love you, Porgy, Don't let him take me. Don't let him handle me and drive me mad. If you can keep me I wanna stay here with you forever. I've got my man Someday I know he's coming to call me He's going to handle me and hold me So, it's going to be like dying, Porgy When he calls me. But when he comes I know I'll have to go. I love you, Porgy, Don't let him take me Honey, don't let him handle me and drive me mad. If you can keep me I wanna stay here with you forever. I've got my man *   *   *   *   *

A New Poem by Marvin X: You Imagine

You imagine
all yo friends will be with you til the end
but the old phone book tells all
it is the Book of the Dead
like the Egyptian Coming forth by Day
the dead are numbered by telephone address email
but gone
the book is a testament to yesterday when friends were real and true
no phoniness
pure and true
like a John Coltrane solo
from the heart
real nigguhs
down to the end
they say a friend is a  friend to the end
I look at my phone book
book of the dead
why did you leave me
for what purpose did you depart
without me
where shall I join you, when?
I yearn to see you, hug you kiss you
you are my world the meaning of my being
I know not who these people are in my midst
are they humankind or animal
parable or fable
please help me, pray for me in this land of the living dead....
--Marvin X

7/31/12

Part II and III: Jazz and Blackness-- No Jazz in the Crack House and Savior Sonny Simmons

Part II: Jazz and Blackness--

No Jazz in the Crack house

The heroin addicts love jazz, the Crack heads hated jazz and all other music, including speech. Long before I became a Crack head, I noticed when I came into the Crack din no one looked up or even acknowledged I was in the room. Only silence and the passing of the pipe from one Crack head to another. Absolutely, there was no music played since the psychosis necessitated silence, for one had to listen for sounds that didn't exist, only in our warped minds. We imagined police were at the door, or that friends were outside the door plotting to kill us. We even thought the friends or Crack heads at the table were whispering about how to kill us, since they knew we had money. We imagined our girlfriend was knocking at the door, so we went to the door to let her in but no one was there, only the rustling leaves on the tree in the yard.

This drama went on for twelve years, no music, no sounds, no talking, sometimes no sex since we couldn't function sexually--our shit was like silly putty under the influence of Crack. No human touch for years, only the daily hustle for dope money. We wonder how was it possible for a Crack head to hustle money every day of his Crack life, but once clean and sober he is broke.

And so the music I loved was no longer part of my life, only the silence in the wind and the madness of my mind. And yet I had become accustomed to life without music so that even upon recovery, it would be years before I could listen to jazz. When I did listen to music it was P and D music, as Sun Ra called popular music, Pussy and Dick music. Only now, 2012, have I seriously returned to jazz, the music so necessary for my consciousness, spirituality and mental health.

As I said in Part I, we Black Arts poets styled ourselves after the jazz musicians. Even now, I try to write like they play, to go as far out as I can go with my words on paper. I am consciously trying to write like Coltrane, Parker and Miles played, to take the mind to the outer limits, to jump out of the box of white supremacy psycholinguistics, in short, to transcend the english language, or even if I use the devil tongue, I will flip the script, reverse the meaning of words, say the wildest shit that can come to my mind, of course a little Henny helps! lol. One thing about that Henny, there shall be no writer's block--you will tell the truth, even if  it will frighten you to death in the morning when you read some of the shit you've written. Often you must hit delete several times to not reveal too much truth, as a judge friend says I do too much.
--Marvin X

Part III: Savior Sonny Simmons

I just recalled that on one occasion during those Crack years I did connect with jazz. I used to live in one of those SRO hotels near San Francisco's Union Square, near Geary and Grant. During this time I would be in my room smoking Crack, separating from reality. Then many nights I would hear the most melodious music imaginable. It was so beautiful I would take a break from the Crack pipe to run outside to find the source of the music. It was sax man Sonny Simmons playing on the corner. Sometimes it seemed his music was floating in the night fog, drawing me to where he played. I was so in awe of the beauty he expressed that I was forced to give him a donation because I knew his music was trying to save me. This happened many nights that I would be forced to stop my madness and go out to give him a donation. Now Sonny may have had his own problems since many street hustlers are dope fiends, especially musicians, but it didn't matter to me because I needed to hear Sonny's sounds like a thirsty man needs water. Not long ago Sonny and Amiri Baraka performed together at Eastside Arts Center and I reminded him of those days and what I used to do when I heard him. It was like a private concert that temporarily liberated me from my madness. Thank you, Sonny.
--Marvin X
7/30/12

Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power - TheBlackList Pub

Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power - TheBlackList Pub

Wednesday, August 1, 7 pm ICE Lawndale 10 Theaters 3330 W Roosevelt Road Admission: $6.00 Thursday, Aug 2, 7pm ICE Theaters Chatham 210 W 87th St Admission: $6.00 On Thursday August 2nd Only Film Screening & Community Forum  on Gun Possession, Stand Your Ground  & Myths About Concealed Carry Moderated by WVON's CLIFF KELLY NEGROES WITH GUNS: Rob Williams and Black Power  USA, 53 minutes, 2005,  Writer/Co-Director: Sandra Dickson;  Co-Director: Churchill Roberts NEGROES WITH GUNS tells the dramatic story of the often-forgotten civil rights leader who urged African Americans to arm themselves against violent racists. In doing so, Williams not only challenged the Klan-dominated establishment of his hometown of Monroe, North Carolina, he alienated the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, which advocated peaceful resistance. Robert F. Williams was the forefather of the Black Power movement and broke dramatic new ground by internationalizing the African American struggle. Negroes with Guns is not only an electrifying look at an historically erased leader, but also provides a thought-provoking examination of Black radicalism and resistance and serves as a launching pad for the study of Black liberation philosophies. Insightful interviews with historian Clayborne Carson, biographer Timothy Tyson, Julian Bond, and a first person account by Mabel Williams, Robert's wife, bring the story to life. Shown with NO GUNS FOR NEGROES USA 2009, 20 min, by Aaron Zelman The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws -- and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, gun control was openly stated as a method for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place," and to quiet the racial fears of whites. This film provides a brief summary of this unholy alliance of gun control and racism, and to suggest that gun control laws should be regarded as "suspect ideas," analogous to the "suspect classifications" theory of discrimination already part of the American legal system. Presented with Chicago Firearms Safety Association  On Thursday August 2nd Only Film Screening & Community Forum  on Gun Possession, Stand Your Ground  & Myths About Concealed Carry Moderated by WVON's CLIFF KELLY Panel Discussants: Chris Cooper, Candidate for States Attorney David Lemieux - Retired Chicago Police Detective Lori Meriweather - single mom and stalking victim Gimbu Kali, Pres & Shawn Gowder, VP,  Chicago Firearms Safety Association Radie - home invasion survivor Organizations:  Chicago Firearms Safety Association  IllinoisCarry.com The Illinois State Rifle Association The Second Amendment Sisters Effective Firearms Personal Protection Consultants W

Bob Marley: Live in Santa Barbara [COMPLETO]

Black August Events in the Bay

CONSCIOUS/POLITICAL CALENDAR EVENTS IIN THE BAY AREA FOR BLACK AUGUST

by Shango Abiola on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 1:24am ·

August is a month of meaning, of repression and radical resistance, of injustice and divine justice; of repression and righteous rebellion; of individual and collective efforts to free the slaves and break the chains that bind us.” - Mumia Abu-Jamal

HERE IS A LIST OF POLITICALLY CHARGED AND/OR SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS EVENTS HAPPENING IN THE BAY AREA DURING BLACK AUGUST. NOT ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE NECESSARILY IN FULL PROMOTION AND ACCORD WITH THE HISTORY, THEORY AND PRACTICE OF BLACK AUGUST BUT THEY ARE EVENTS THAT ARE POSTIVE DURING THIS SACRED MONTH OF RESISTANCE.

1-AUGUST 2ND REGGAE FOR MUMIA

-CONTINENTAL CLUB 12TH AND CAMBELL OAKLAND, CA

-HOSTED BY DJ ITAL RA, CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU JAMAL, BLACK RIDERS  LIBERATION PARTY

-$5 DOLLAR DONATION TO THE HELP FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL

-9PM-2AM

2-AUG 2ND FILM SCREENING "BITTER CANE" BERKELEY

-BERKELY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNNIVERSALISTS 1924 CEDAR ST. AT BONITA AVE BERKELEY, CA

-HOSTED BY HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE

-$5-10 DONATION (NO ONE TURNED AWAY)

-7PM

3-AUG 2ND EDUCATE TO LIBERATE/FEED THE PEOPLE PROGRAM OAK

-EASSIDE ARTS ALLIANCE 2277 INTERNATIONAL BLVD. OAKLAND, CA

-HOSTED BY BLACK RIDERS LIBERATION PARTY

-FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME)

-6PM-8PM

4-AUG 4TH BLACK AND BROWN SOCIAL CLUB ART EXHIBIT W/ EQUIPTO SF

-BLACK AND BROWN SOCIAL CLUB 474 VALENCIA ST. SAN FRANCISCO, CA

-HOSTED BY EQUIPTO

-FREE ALL AGES

-6PM-9PM

5-AUG 4TH STOP AND FRISK FORUM

-REDSTONE BUILDING 3RD FLOOR 2940 16th St SAN FRANCISCO, CA

-HOSTED BY ISO (INTERNATIONALIST SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION)

-FREE

-6PM

6-AUG 4TH SAM ONE BAD BOY OF BLUES

-Bo's Barbecue & Catering Restaurant 3422 Mt Diablo Blvd, Lafayette, California 

-SAM ONE AND BO'S BBQ

-6-9PM

7-AUGUST 5TH BSLC, BRLP AND PCM BLACK AUGUST COMMUNITY FEEDING

-CORNER OF 55TH AND FOOTHILL

-HOSTED BY BSLC(BLACKSTAR LINER COALITION), BRLP AND PEOPLES COMMUNITY MEDICS

-FREE

-12PM

8-AUGUST 9TH EDUCATE TO LIBERATE/FEED THE PEOPLE PROGRAM OAK

-EASSIDE ARTS ALLIANCE 2277 INTERNATIONAL BLVD. OAKLAND, CA

-HOSTED BY BLACK RIDERS LIBERATION PARTY

-FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME)

-6PM-8PM

9-AUGUST 11TH REVERSE THE HYNOSIS SHOW BRLP 

  -La Peña Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, California 94705

  -HOSTED BY BRLP (BLACK RIDERS LIBERATION PARTY)

  -$5-10 DONATION (NO ONE TURNED AWAY)

-10PM-2AM

10-AUGUST 11TH BLOCK UNITY COMMUNITY BRIDGE FEED

  -FILLMORE MINI PARK SAN FRANCISCO CA

  -HOSTED BY BAY AREA BLOCK UNITY NETWORK

  -FREE

  -11AM-4PM

11-AUG 16TH EDUCATE TO LIBERATE/ FEED THE PEOPLE PROGRAM OAK

  -EASSIDE ARTS ALLIANCE 2277 INTERNATIONAL BLVD. OAKLAND, CA

  -HOSTED BY BLACK RIDERS LIBERATION PARTY

  -FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME)

  -6PM-8PM

12-AUG 17TH MARCUS GARVEY ARTS FESTIVAL

  -MARCUS GARVEY PARK W. OAKLAND 34TH AND MLK

-HOTED BY RESHAWN GOODS

-FREE

-6PM-1030PM

13-AUG 18TH M.A.C. KEEP IT LIT DAY. PUT THE GUNS DOWN

  -1098 12TH ST. W OAKLAND

-HOSTED BY HUSLANITY MOBBISM

-FREE

-12PM

14-AUGUST 18TH BURNING SPEAR MARCUS GARVEY FESTIVAL

  -MARCUS BOOKS & MARCUS GARVEY PARK W. OAK 34TH AND MLK

  -BRLP

  -FREE

  -11AM-6PM

15-AUGUST 19TH KENNETH HARDING JR. COMMUNITY FEEDING BAYVIEW HUNTER'S POINT

-3RD AND OAKDALE SAN FRANCISCO

-KENNETH HARDING JR FOUNDATION

-FREE

-10AM-2PM

16-AUGUST 23TH EDUCATE TO LIBERATE/FEED THE PEOPLE PROGRAM ESAA

  -EASSIDE ARTS ALLIANCE 2277 INTERNATIONAL BLVD. OAKLAND, CA

  -HOSTED BY BLACK RIDERS LIBERATION PARTY

  -FREE (DONATIONS WELCOME)

  -6PM-8PM

Black August originated in the prisons of California to honor fallen Freedom Fighters: Jonathan Jackson, George Jackson, William Christmas, James McClain and Khatari Gaulden. Jonathan Jackson was ambushed outside the Marin County courthouse on August 7, 1970 - as he attempted to liberate three imprisoned Black freedom fighters: James McClain, William Christmas and Ruchell Magee.

Ruchell Magee is the sole survivor of that armed rebellion. He is the former co-defendant of Angela Davis and has been locked down for 40 years, most of it in solitary confinement. George Jackson was assassinated by prison guards during a prison rebellion at San Quentin on August 21, 1971. 

To honor these fallen soldiers, the brothers who participated in the collective founding of Black August wore black armbands on their left arm and studied revolutionary works, focusing on the works of George Jackson.

Black August is a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training and resistance.The tradition of fasting during Black August teaches self-discipline. A conscious fast is in effect FROM SUNRISE TO SUNSET (6:00 am to 8:00 pm) Some other personal sacrifice can be made as well. The sundown meal is traditionally shared whenever possible among comrades. Black August fasting should serve as a constant reminder of the conditions our people have faced and still confront. Fasting is uncomfortable at times, but it is helpful to remember all those who have come and gone before us, Ni Nkan Mase, if we stand tall, it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors.

August 20, 1619—First born Afrikan captives were brought to England’s North Amerikan colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

August 16, 1768—Charlestown, South Carolina rebellious Afrikan slaves (known as maroons) engaged British military forces in bloody battle defendingtheir camp which was a haven for fugitive slaves.

August 30, 1800—Day set for launching Gabrier Prossers revolt. On this day over 1000 armed slaves gathered to endeavor to secure their liberty, however bad weather forced them to postpone the revolt and betrayal ultimately led to the crushing of their physical force.

August 21, 1831—Slave revolt launched under the leadership of Nat Turner which lasted four days and resulted in fifty-one slaveholders and their loved ones being subjected to revolutionary People’s justice.

August 29, 1841—Street skirmish took place in Cincinnati between Afrikan and Euro-Amerikan, wherein for five days Afrikans waged valiant struggle indefense of their women, children and property against brutal racist terror campaigns.

August 1854 —Delegates from eleven states met in Cleveland at the National Emigration Convention of the Colored People, to advance the positionthat an independent land base (nation) be set up for the absorption of captive Afrikans in Babylon who wanted to return to Afrika.

August 1, 1856 —North Carolina, fierce battle erupted between fugitive slaves and slaveholders who sought their capture and re-enslavement. Only recorded casualties were among slaveholders.

August 1860 —Freedom (slave) conspiracy uncovered with the discovery of an organized camp of Afrikans and Euro-Amerikan co-conspirators in Talladega County, Alabama.

August 2, 1865 —Virginia a statewide conference of fifty Afrikan delegates met to demand that Afrikans in Virginia be granted legal title to landoccupied during the Civil War. Numerous off-pitch battles ensued during this same month as terrorist mobs moved to evict Afrikans from the land and were met with resistance.

August 17, 1887—Honorable Marcus Garvey, father of contemporary Afrikan Nationalism was born.

August 1906 —Afrikan soldiers (in service of Babylon) enraged behind racial slurs and discrimination struck out and wrecked the town of Brownville, Texas.

August 1906 —Niagara Movement met at Harpers Ferry, Virginia and issued W.E. Du Bois’ historic manifesto against racist discrimination in Babylon against Afrikans.

August 1, 1914 —Garvey founds Universal Negro Improvement Association, advancing the call for Land, Freedom, and Independence for Afrikan people.

August 23, 1917—Afrikan soldiers in Huston engaged in street skirmishes that left more than seventeen Euro-American racists dead.

August 1920 —Over two thousand delegates representing Afrikan from the four corners of the earth gathered in New York for the International Convention of the Negro People of the World, sponsored by UNIA convention issue a bill of rights for Afrikans.

August 1943 —Slave revolt took place in Harlem as result of a K-9 shooting a brother defending the honor of Afrikan womanhood. More than 16,000 military and police personnel were required to quell the rebellion.

August 1963 —190,000 Afrikans (250,000 people all toll) took part in the March on Washington led by Dr. Martin Luther King to petition for the extension of the rights and privileges due to them mandated by the U.S. Constitution.

August 1964 —Afrikan launched comparatively large-scale urban slave revolt in the following cities: Jersey City NY, Paterson NJ, Keansburg NJ, Chicago IL, and Philadelphia PA. These slave revolts were for the most part sparked by either police brutality or disrespect shown toward Afrikan womanhood.

August 16, 1965—Urban revolt took place in Northern Philadelphia.

August 7-8, 1966–--Large-scale urban revolt was launched in Lansing, Michigan.

August 28, 1966—Waukegan, Illinois, urban slave revolt launched in response to police brutality.

July 30- August 2, 1967 —Urban slave revolt launched in Milwaukee.

August 19-24, 1967-Comparatively large-scale urban slave revolt was launched in New Haven, Connecticut.

August 7, 1970 —Jonathan Jackson killed in firefight while leading the Marin County Courthouse raid. George Jackson

August 21, 1971—George Jackson shot and killed in San Quentin by tower guards.