Marvin X's Revolution on the Rocks Book Tour 2012

BOOK MARVIN X FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

 FEBRUARY, 2013

HE'S LIVING BLACK HISTORY

NATION OF ISLAM, BLACK PANTHERS, BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT, BLACK STUDIES

"Marvin X is still the undisputed king of black consciousness!"

--Dr. Nathan Hare, the Black Think Tank

BOOKING AGENT: SUN IN LEO 718-496-2305

Marvin X's Revolution on the Rocks Book Tour 2012

Tuesday, Sept 18

Africana Studies Department, University of Houston

Thursday, Sept 20
Elders Institute of Wisdom, SHAPE Community Center, 11:30am
Friday, Sept 21
Texas Southern University, School of Business
Saturday, Sept 22
Secret Word Cafe, 9pm
Sunday, Sept 23
Third World Imports, 2-4pm

October 6

Kings Day at Oyutunji African Village, Sheldon, SC

October 25

Brecht Forum, Manhattan, New York

October 28

Joins Amiri and Amina Baraka at the Blue Mirror, Newark NJ

November 1

Thursday, 6-8pm, Sankofa Books, 2714 Georgia Avenue, NW, Wash DC

November 2-4

Black Power to Hip Hop Conference, Howard University, Wash DC

November 4

Sunday, 7pm, Umoja House, 2015 Bunker Hill Rd., NE, Wash DC

November 9          

Friday, 7pm, Moonstone Art Center, 110 South 13th Street, Philadelphia PA

November 16        

Friday, 3pm, Black and Nobel Books, 1411 West Erie Ave., Philadelphia

November 17

Saturday, 4-6pm, Black Power Babies, Restoration Plaza, Skylight Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

November 25

The Free Market Place, 905 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn

November 26

Interview with PBS

Marvin X is Plato Teaching on Oakland’s Streets

By Ishmael Reed

Marvin X is not only a terrific writer but a Black Power historian…. However, if I had to pin down the influences upon Marvin X’s, “The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/Fables,” I would cite the style of Yoruba texts: texts in the Yoruba language reveal that didacticism is a key component of the Yoruba story telling style.

Africans use proverbs to teach their children the lessons of life. Marvin X acknowledges the Yoruba influence on his book. He imparts wisdom by employing cautionary tales and uses his own life and mistakes to consul the young to avoid mistakes.

Moreover, unlike some of the books written by popular African American writers, his book does not look backward to the period of slavery, though some of that is here. He writes about the contemporary problems of a community under attack.

He blames crack for causing “ a great chasm between adults and children, children who were abandoned, abused, and neglected, emotionally starved and traumatized.”

Marvin X exposes the situation of other ethnic groups invading Black neighborhoods and making the lion’s share of profits from vice, while the media focus upon the mules of the operation, the pathetic and disgusting pimps, the drug dealers who are killing each other over profits that are piddling next to the great haul made by the suppliers of the guns and the drugs.

Don’t expect the local newspapers to cover this end of the distribution.
In the “Parable of the Donkey,” Marvin X writes: “ The so-called Negro is the donkey of the world, everybody rides him to success. If you need a free ride to success, jump on the Negro’s back and ride into the sunset. He will welcome you with open arms.
“No saddle needed, just jump on his back and ride him to the bank.”

When you learn that the government ignored the dumping of drugs into our neighborhoods by their anti-communist allies, you can understand the meaning of Marvin X’s words. Not only are invading ethnic groups and white gun suppliers benefitting from using the Black neighborhoods as a resource but the government as well.

In  “Parable of the Parrot,” Marvin X also takes aim at the Dream Team academics who “parrot” the line coming down from the One Percent that the problems of Blacks are self-inflicted.

“The state academics and intellectuals joined loudly in parroting the king’s every wish. Thank God the masses do not hear them pontificate or read their books. After all, these intellectual and academic parrots are well paid, tenured and eat much parrot seed. Their magic song impresses the bourgeoisie who have a vested interest in keeping the song of the parrot alive.”

Marvin X’s answer to this intellectual Vichy regime has been to cultivate off campus intellectuals by conducting an open air classroom (Academy of da Corner) on 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, which is how the peripatetic philosophers like Plato used to impart their knowledge in open air academies.

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Ishmael Reed is the author of “Going Too Far, Essays About America’s Nervous Breakdown.” 

CONTACT MARVIN X @ (510) 200-4164

EMAIL: jmarvinx@yahoo.com

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