Black Bird Press News & Review

Marvin X at Laney College, Oakland Ca

photo Alicia Mayo

The Conversation

Time flies! It is hard to believe it has been twenty years since Dr. Cornel West and I were on stage
together. The occasion was the April 1, 2001 production of my Kings and Queens of Black
Consciousness Concert at San Francisco State University. The kings and queens included
Drs. Julia and Nathan Hare, Rev. Cecil Williams, Rev. Andriette Earl, Mr. and Mrs. Amiri and
Amina Baraka, Phavia Kujichagulia, Elliott Bey, Rudi Mwongozi, Avotchja, Tarika Lewis, Destiny
Muhammad, Ishmael Reed, Dr. Theophile Obenga, John Doumbia, et al. It was a seven hour
concert and Dr. West sat patiently in the audience for five hours before I called him to the stage.

Even though he may have been one of the best known participants, I considered him a prince.
And when he finally took the mike, he said, “There is so much darkness in my life, I don’t know
if I’m a king or queen!” No matter, he used the occasion to introduce his rap album produced by
his brother Cliff. If I’m correct, this album got him removed from the faculty at Harvard University.

Throughout the years, we met only briefly, usually when  he came to speak in the Bay Area. I would
sit with his family, including his mother, brother and cousins Fuad and Kwame Satterfield.

I consider Kwame my step son. West and I were together in Philadelphia for the 65th birthday
celebration of warrior journalist Mumia Abu Jamal, former Black Panther Minister of Information
wrongly convicted of killing a Philadelphia policeman. 

Our conversation on December 7, 2019, will cover a myriad of topics, including local, national and
global issues, displacement and gentrification, white supremacist education and the future of black
studies; police violence under the color of law; Oakland’s Black Arts Movement Business District,
especially since Bar-b-q Becky’s meltdown at Lake Merritt and the resultant occupation of the Lake
by North American Africans, including street vendors since the passage of SB946 that allows street
vending throughout California. Of course we want to discuss the upcoming 2020 elections and the
rise of white nationalism. Was it simply a reaction to President Obama’s election as the first black
president? I see President Donald Trump as the devil in the Book of Job. I’m curious to know Dr.
West’s take on Obama and Trump. I may share my fictional interview with President Obama. I
applaud Dr. West’s criticism of Obama that was anathema to many North American Africans who
considered him the messiah! I agreed with Dr. West’s comment, “We must respect him, protect him,
but check him!” Who is without sin and above criticism? I’m sure Dr. West and I can deconstruct
President Donald Trump. And I have issues with the Democratic party as well. I was not pleased to
hear West’s Democratic Socialist friend, Senator Bernie Sanders, endorse African population control
to check climate change. It sounded like some Margaret Sanger racist Eugenics to me. Perhaps Dr.
West can clarify his friend's statement. If time allows, I want to discuss the MeToo Era that is radically
altering sexual relations. 

On the so-called 400 years of our arrival, where do we go from here? How shall we make our way
back through the Door of No Return? How shall we liberate Toby back/forward to Kunta Kinte?

Let’s discuss global migration. I’ve been a migrant, living in exile among the poor throughout the
Americas. I appreciated Dr. West and Tavis Smiley’s national book tour on the poor. So what about
a redistribution of global wealth? What about fair trade, just trade? What about fair trade in the hood
among the multi-culturals? 

What do two North American African intellectuals think about Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Syria,
Saudi Arabic,Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan? West speaks from the overground, I speak from the
underground. It should be an exciting evening of edutainment! Be there or be square!

--Marvin X

10/21/19