It was surprising to me when people asked me why I wrote my memoir called My Friend the Devil, yet the very people who asked the question had called him the devil from the day he walked out of Soledad Prison. When he walked out in 1966 and came to the Bay Area, I was the first person he hooked up with. I convinced him to use his advance from Soul on Ice to establish a political cultural center we called Black House, yes, in opposition to the White House. He was chairman and I was secretary. One thing I immediately discovered was in my role as Secretary I was privy to all information. I referred all calls to the Chairman, EC, whether they were from his lover Bervely Axolrod or Bob Avakian, two of his ardent supporters, although Avakian can only be described as a menthe or sycophant, since he listened to EC's every word, certainly more earnestly than we did at Black House.
Occupants of Black House included myself, Ethna Wyatt (Hurriyah Asar), Eldridge Cleaver, playwright Ed Bullins, singer Willie Dale (a singer who spent time in San Quentin with EC) and his wife, Vernisteen from Bakersfield. Wille Dale must be recognized as a singer who sang the anthem of the Black Revolution, written by Louis Farrakhan, A White Man's Heave is a Black Man's Hell.
If you would like to read Marvin X's memoir of Eldridge Cleaver, check out this website and www.nathanielturner.com. Marvin wrote his memoir in three weeks and posted each chapter each day on www.nathanierturner.com.
In truth, Marvin X loved Eldridge Cleaver because he was a grass roots intellectual, who studied in prison for 18 years and put into action his theory of Black liberation as chair of the Black Conscious Club in Soledad, the actual beginning of the prison movement in the USA.
What a house, i could just imagine the creativity and tension,artist and people with a "revolutuionary" twist. I always argued the armed struggle aspect of that era . It seemed absurd and totally insane,I think they had no concept of the power of the US gov. Unfortunatly many young bros bought into this suicidal psychology. The unsophisticated are easily duped into believing in fantacy. I rest my case.
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