Marvin X READS AT BROOKLYN COLLEGE AND BROOKLYN COMMONS

Marvin X reads in NewArk NJ
Friday, February 7, 4PM



Marvin X reads in NewArk NJ
Friday, February 7, 7PM



Marvin X reads in Philly
Saturday, February 8, 5-7PM



MARVIN X READS IN NEW YORK CITY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2020

Peace & Blessings, Family

Our legendary word warrior, poet and author, Marvin X is in the "Big Apple" getting ready to take a BIG bite! He will be in two Brooklyn spots on Sunday, February 9th. You do not want to miss him! Please share generously with your respective contacts. By the way, on the final day of Black History Month, Saturday, Feb. 29th at 2 pm in Brooklyn College, I will also be having a book reading with a slide show presentation and good live music!!! Please mark your calendar. Details to come soon. Hope to see you this coming Sunday! Your soul will be riveted with "Marvin X Power!" ❤️🖤Eternal Peace & Blessings.

--Malika Iman

BAM BABY 1.0

I Am American

Dedicated to my brother Ollie (January 21)

daughter Nefertiti (January 29)

I am American

no citizen of US

gave up years ago

Toronto, 1967

protesting Vietnam

no Viet Cong called me nigger!

willing to be US citizen again

will pledge. I AM AMERICAN

NORTH AMERICAN AFRICAN!

exiled

underground Chicago

BAM CHICAGO

HAKI DON L. LEE

CAROLYN ROGERS

MOTHER GWEN

HOYT FULLER BLACK WORLD NEGRO DIGEST

AFRO ARTS THEATRE

KILLED MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR IN MY MIDST

Westside burned, American burned

GOT UP SOUTH SIDE NATIONAL GUARD IN MY MIDST

FBI on my ass

ESCAPE TO HARLEM

Harlem Black Arts Movement

Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra, Last Poets, Amiri, Askia, Haki, Barbara Ann Teer, Milford Graves, et al.

invited to lecture black studies  at Fresno State 

crucified 

Angela Davis on cross at UCLA, 1969

I am American

exile second time Mexico City

with Americans from Americas!

brothers and sisters

Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil

fleeing banana republics

call me Pele Pele Pele on the streets Mexico City

want to touch  hair for good luck

I am American

Mexico City founded by Africans

African American indigenous young men exiled

president for life regimes in the Americas

resistance women too

wife with me from Fresno State University

mostly young men

planes landing  Chapultepec Park

cerca de Paseo de la Reforma

cerca de Metro

lovers in park Sundays

we love

Hasani B and me

fleeing American imperialism

Hasani B

pregnant with Nefertiti

beautiful one has come

"My parents were in flight when I was conceived. I freedom child."

Nefertiti El Muhajir

beautiful one in flight

I am American

cannot speak with brothers in exile

Spanish poquito poquito

Jorge

Choco, Columbia

Enrique Venezuela

My Spanish poquito

muy poquito

no Portuguese

Poder Negro

Poder Negro

Black Power!

revolutionary amigos

comprende

black power!

I am American

flee Mexico City

Belize

Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Merida, Chetumal

land of Yanga

el Africano Mexicano

Yanga so bad the Spanish gave him a town

San Lorenzo de los Negroes

Vera Cruz

Belize

flee against advice of Elizabeth Catlett Mora

revolutionary artist

begged me don’t go

Belize raw colonialism

she said

American young hard headed

easy to lead  wrong direction

hard to lead right direction Elijah said

I am American

want to hear English

tired of Spanish

basta ya!

want to see los Negroes

in Belize

esclavos

pero Negroes

yo esclavo tambien

I am American

my land Americas

all before Columbus

Maya Aztec Incas Olmec

I was here

from Ghana, Mali, Songhay

land of Sonni Ali, Askia the Great

bling bling Mansa Musa

thousand camels with gold on haj to Mecca

I am American

Belize Negroes speak English

pero muy rapido pero English

Espanol tambien

I am American

Norte Americano Africano

Simon Bolivar Americano

Simon Simon Simon

I am American

North Central South American

Caribbean American

I am American

Toronto, Montreal

Georgetown, Caracas

Slums Mexico City 

shacks Belize

madness Kingston

cocaine Port of Spain

Trinidad

C. Eric Williams

Capitalism and Slavery

Guyana

interviewed PM Burnham at his residence

Africans with AK47s at his gate

genocide of Jonestown

assassination Dr. Walter Rodney

can we forgive the reactionaries

never turn into Buddha heads

put down their butcher knives

I am American

Belize

join revolution Evan X and Ishmael Shabazz

trial for sedition

government games old people play

brothers say

this sedition

covered trial for Muhammad Speaks

my sin

1970 Wikileaks

emperor no clothes

people no water no electricity no toilet

no nothing

brothers ask

why I left America with no gold

they want American gold

why I leave without gold

America gold

I am American

people rich in Belize

poor rich

joy peace, sun and land rich

gardens paradise

islands in  sun

We stay on Gales Point

five hours by boat through jungle jungle

rent shack $7 month US

no water no electricity no bathroom

happy

wife pregnant happy

sand flies

mosquitoes happy for her blood

bathe in the river

out house on other side of the island

catfish eat shit

people don’t swim on that side of island

do not eat catfish

I am American

Gales Point people beg me teach black power

don’t tell village headman

drunk man sings

day comin ta git ya in da mornin

been down here teachin dat black power

day comin in da mornin, boy

wife and I laugh

wish dat drunk nigguh git way from door

they come in the morning

I am American

need food

get on boat to city

five hour jungle ride

police on boat

under arrest

don't know it

police undercover

say nothing 

get to the city

say nothing

rifle in hand

I go friend’s house

police come friend’s house

call me out

grab rifle

black panther shootout

put rifle down

surrender

mulatto greets me outside

under arrest

Ministry of Home Affairs

Minister reads deportation order

presence not beneficial to welfare British Colony of Honduras

deported to United States on plane Miami 4pm.

I am American

under arrest.

Mulatto takes me police station

sit down. No cell,

no handcuffs.

Black police gather around

circle police

what's up.

broder man, teach us about black power!

I am American

police victims too

teach us broder man.

I say

Marcus Garvey came 1923

told you

get Queen of England off yo walls.

It's 1970 you still gott white bitch on walls.

Get bitch off yo walls!

police crack up!

you all ite broder man

point out uncle tom police

black man wit white heart

black man wit white heart!

I am American

Plane come.

Mulatto pushed me on plane.

refuse to leave without wife

plane door slammed shut

Fly south Tegucigalpa, Spanish Honduras.

ask asylum .

Espera un momento, Negro!

marched back to plane.

land in Miami. Two gentlemen greet me at airport. Escort me to my hotel suite Dade County Jail.

put in pit with dead, deaf dumb blind negroes.

call them brother.

we ain't yo brother, nigguh.

I am silent.

I Am American!

gentlemen come

transfer me to Miami City jail, Federal.

I AM AMERICAN!

White Cuban drug dealers greet me.

What do you want, my brother?

money, food?

We send out for food to restaurant, what do you want?

I am American

hamburger, fries milkshake!

No problema, hermano!

give money to call wife.

She home in America. Father sent for her.

I am American

Cubans say whatever you need

no problema.

I am American

Simon Bolivar

Che

Fidel

Toussaint

Nat Turner

Grabriel Prosser

Harriet Tubman

Garvey

Elijah

Malcolm

Stokely (Kwame Toure)

CLR James

Padmore

Chavez

Morales

I am American.

MARVIN X AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

PHOTO BURELL SUNRISE

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 9

BROOKLYN COLLEGE, 2-5PM,

with Q and A

2900 BEDFORD AVE, BROOKLYN NY

11210

Brooklyn Commons Cafe

7-9PM

388 ATLANTIC AVE.

BROOKLYN NY 11217

**************************************************

Marvin X read to the ghosts

Marvin X arrived in New York City Sunday Night after leaving Sonia Sanchez's home in Philly. After arriving in New York, he discovered his hotel was across from the Brooklyn Detention Complex on Atlantic Avenue. New Yorkers were scrambling to find him a venue on short notice, although Brother Shep has now confirmed the Brooklyn Commons Coffee House and Malika Inman has confirmed his reading at Brooklyn College. He will read at Brooklyn College on Sunday, February 9, 2-5PM, including Q and A. He will appear at Brooklyn Commons Cafe at 7PM on Sunday, February 9. Don't miss the Human Earthquake! Come enjoy the Wild Crazy Ride of the Marvin X Experience, bring your seat belt and air bag! 

But let's finish the drama of the dramatist at the Brooklyn Detention Center. While at his hotel, the poet thought about why not read at the jail, surely they allow people in on short notice. So after deciding to go shopping at the nearby Fulton Mall, Marvin told himself it would be proper to first stop by the jail to see if he could do a free black history reading for the inmates. He walked to the jail and entered. The officers asked for his ID which he gave them along with a copy of his newspaper The Movement. When he told the officers he wanted to give the inmates a black history reading, they thought it was a great idea except for the fact that the jail is closed, there are no inmates!

He was disappointed but happy the jail was empty, after all, America should close all its jails and prisons that house the 2.4 million Constitutional slaves under the 13th Amendment that allows involuntary servitude while incarcerated. 

Black History is World History by Marvin X

Black History Is World History

By Marvin X

Before the Earth was
I was
Before time was
I was
you found me not long ago
and called me Lucy
I was four million years old
I had my tools beside me
I am the first man
call me Adam
I walked the Nile from Congo to Delta
a 4,000 mile jog
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I lived in the land of Canaan
before Abraham, before Hebrew was born
I am Canaan, son of Ham
I laugh at Arabs and Jews
fighting over my land
I lived in Saba, Southern Arabia
I played in the Red Sea
dwelled on the Persian Gulf
I left my mark from Babylon to Timbuktu
When Babylon acted a fool, that was me
I was the fool
When Babylon fell, that was me
I fell
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I was the first European
call me Negrito and Grimaldi
I walked along the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece
Oh, Greece!Why did you kill Socrates?
Why did you give him the poison hemlock?
Who were the gods he introduced
corrupting the youth of Athens?
They were my gods, black gods from Africa
Oh, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Whose philosophy did you teach
that was Greek to the Greeks?
Pythagoras, where did you learn geometry?
Democritus, where did you study astronomy?
Solon and Lycurgus, where did you study law?
In Egypt, and Egypt is Africa
and Africa is me
I am the burnt face, the blameless Ethiopian
Homer told you about in the Iliad
Homer told you about Ulysses, too,
a story he got from me.
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I am the first Chinese
China has my eyes
I am the Aboriginal Asian
Look for me in Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand
I am there, even today, black and beautiful
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I used to travel to America
long before Columbus
came to me asking for directions
Americo Vespucci
on his voyage to America
saw me in the Atlantic
returning to Africa
America was my home
Before Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Inca & Olmec
I was hereI came to Peru 20,000 years ago
I founded Mexico City
See my pyramids, see my cabeza colosal
in Vera Cruz and Yucatan
that's me
I am the Mexican
for I am mixed with all men
and all men are mixed with me
I am the most just of men
I am the most peaceful
who loves peace day and night
Sometimes I let tyrants devour me
sometimes people falsely accuse me
sometimes people crucify me
but I am ever returning I am eternal, I am universal
Africa is my home
Asia is my home
Americas is my home
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY

This poem was written circa 1982 while Marvin X taught English at Kings River College, his last teaching gig.

Suggested reading list for Black History 101

The complete works of J.A. Rogers
The World and Africa, W.E.B. DuBois
Stolen Legacy, George M. James
The African Origin of the Major Religions, Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Message to the Black Man, Elijah Muhammad
They Came before Columbus, Ivan Van Sertima
"African Explorers in the New World, " Harold Lawrence,
Crisis, June-July, 1962. Heritage Program Reprint, p. 10
The Destruction of African Civilization, Chancellor Williams.
The Cultural Unity of Africa, Cheikh Anta Diop.
Man, God and Civilization, John G. Jackson

Marvin X is now available for speaking engagements readings/performance

Call 510 575-7

send letter of invitation to

mxjackmon@gmail.com

"When you listen to Tupac Shakur, E-40, Too Short, Master P or any other rappers out of the Bay Area of Cali think of Marvin X. He laid the foundation and gave us the language to express Black Male urban experience in a lyrical way."

--James G. Spady

Philadelphia New Observer

Marvin X Book Tour

Oakland 

December 7, 2019
Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X in Conversation,
Geoffery's Inner Circle, BAMBD Oakland CA

January 25, Saturday, 12 Noon

Marvin X Welcomes NCobra Reparations gathering in the BAMBD

Joyce Gordon Gallery

14th and Franklin Streets

Downtown Oakland

Host Jahahara

Dirty South

Durham, North Carolina

January 30-31

Reading at Duke University

Black Muslim Atlantic Symposium

Tonight, Oakland poet Marvin X broke down into tears as he tried to read his poem on his recently departed friend Nisa Bey during the Black Muslim Atlantic Conference at Duke University, Durham NC.

photo James Rhodes

East Coast, Up South

Marvin X at Philly's Moonstone Poetry Reading, Shakespeare Bookstore

Marvin X and Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon

Kimmika is a dynamic/dramatic poet who studied with the 

Mistress of Poetry, Sonia Sanchez

Newark NJ

Friday February 7

4-6PM

Source of knowledge

Book store

876 Broad Street

Marvin X reading/book signing

NEW YORK CITY

MARVIN X

BACK IN DA BAY

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29

OAKTOWN FADA GIT DOWN

BLUE DREAM WEST OAKLAND

PRESENTS

THE WILD CRAZY RIDE OF THE MARVIN X EXPERIENCE

SAVE THIS DATE: August 2020

Black Arts Movement Festival, BAMFEST, Black August 2020

Sonia Sanchez and Marvin X have agreed to perform a concert reading with Maestro Michael Morgan and the Oakland Symphony, followed by a possible conversation with Sonia, Marvin X, Angela Davis and Kumasi, Founder of Black August and Griot of the Black Prison Movement. BAMFEST is a production of the Black Arts Movement Business District CDC, under the direction of Dr. Ayodele Nzinga.

 Sonia Sanchez and Marvin X, Philly 2\3\20

photo James Rhodes

Marvin X, Sonia Sanchez and Duke University Professor Ellen McLarney
photo James Rhodes

Professor McLarney is writing a book on Black Muslim inspired writers,

including Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Yusef Rahman,

Yusef Iman, et al. Dr. McLarney produced the recent Duke University on

Black Muslim Atlantic that brought together Black Muslim scholars from

around the USA.

James Rhodes, recent Dartmouth graduate and grandson of Marvin X, assisted his grandfather's book tour and was blessed to meet Dr. Sonia Sanchez at her home in Philly.