Marvin X thinking out loud on the OPD, Slavery, Global wars and the beauty of life in spite of ugliness

Marvin X and Nuyorican poet Nancy Mercado at the reception for him in Harlem, NY at the home of author Rashidah Ismaili. 

Brothers ask Marvin X, "Marvin, how come every time I see you, you with a fine lady? How you do dat?" Answer: You have to be nice, just be nice. You have to be a friend to have a friend, I heard. My three daughters have humbled me to the extreme as per my need to recover from the addiction to the patriarchal mythology and its Macho culture that treats women as things. People have noticed how my aura changes when talking with my daughters. In my patriarchal mentality, I thought my sons would fulfill my dreams but alas, my daughters have taken the baton and continue every aspect of our family tradition as conscious people.  

In my healing pamphlet Mythology of Pussy and Dick, the leit motif is a quote from poet Kujichagulia, "If you think I'm just a physical thing, wait til you see the spiritual power I bring." 

It has taken me a lifetime to learn how to be nice, especially to the women who love me and I claim to love.  You know my favorite song is Nature Boy, i.e., "The greatest thing you will ever learn is to love and be loved in return...."

As per the Oakland Police Department, sad truth is that their sexual improprieties and those of other law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area and coast to coast cannot be separated from the addiction to patriarchal mythology in the general society. The police only commit such violations under the color of law, which is a crime. Yes, it is necessary to hold them to a higher standard even though they suffer the muck and mire of the general society. We therefore cannot clean up the police department's sexual improprieties until we are willing to clean up the mess in the general society but said society is unwilling to give up male privilege and when it does so, it then becomes victim of the next gender group, shall we call it the matriarchal mythology group? Or the gay/lesbian/trans mythology group. My young brother was fired from his HR job because he refused to hire a gay/lesbian person at the request of the gay/lesbians in charge of a certain city where they rule.

So what is the endgame? The more things change, the more they stay the same! Alas, we thought slavery ended but there is more slavery now than in 1863. There are 3 million slaves in America under the US constitution or the New Jim Crow. 

We thought the holocaust ended with Sir John Hawkins, King James,  Hitler or was it Stalin, King Leopold or Pol Pot or Rwanda or Syria or America! How many did the US kill in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan in its permanent wars?

Will our children ever know peace? I was born into war, 1944, and have known nothing but war ever since, atomic bomb on Japan, Palestine, Korea, Vietnam and now Africa and the Middle East. Who benefits from these wars, who suffers? And will it end with a bang or whimper as the poet asked?
--Marvin X
6/28/16

Catch Marvin X Sunday, July 3, 1:30PM at the San Francisco Main Library, Civic Center. He will be part of the discussion on Black Hollywood unChained, edited by Ishmael Reed, Third World Press, Chicago. 

Don't miss the discussion by Black Hollywood unChained contributors at the SF Main Library, July3, 1:30PM

Some of you know that last year, Third World Press published Black Hollywood Unchained. Edited by Ishmael Reed, the book contains a collection of critical essays by various authors around the country in reaction to Quentin Tarentino’s movie Django Unchained.

On Sunday, July 3, 1:30-3:30 pm, several of the authors will participate in a panel discussion at the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch to discuss the impact of Django Unchained as well as other Hollywood movie depictions of African-American life. Included with author presentations will be a time for questions and answers.

Along with Ishmael Reed, other participants include Halifu Osumare, Cecil Brown, Marvin X, Justin Desmangles, and myself.

If you’re in the Bay Area that weekend, hope you can make it.

Jesse Allen-Taylor