The Human Earthquake Hits University of Houston

Marvin X smashed through the "Veil" at the University of Houston's Africana Studies Department. He addressed students in Dr. Conyer's Sociolinguistics class, followed by speaking with students in Dr. Malachi Crawford's Introduction to African American Studies.

Marvin X read from his assorted writings then took questions. For the Sociolinguistics class, he opened with his essay The Psycholinguistic Crisis of the North American African, describing how we endured the transformation from Kunta Kinti to Toby, a psycholinguistic crisis of major proportion, with the attendent trauma and colonization of the black mind, the initial destruction of the self.

He then read several poems using language from the Black Arts Movement. Amiri Baraka taught us if you mean "get off the sidewalk," then say "get off the sidewalk." Nothing subtle here, no metaphor, inuendo, circumlocution. As Clay told Lula in Baraka's Dutchman, "If Bessie Smith had killed some white people, she wouldn't have needed to sing the blues!" "All the hip ofays talk about Charlie Parker, but they don't know Charlie Parker was saying, "Up your ass, motherfucker, up your ass."

The following photos are by Michael Demaris, Jr.

Dr. Malachi Crawford in pink shirt, Marvin X in white

Dr. Conyers, Chair, Africana Studies Dept