Marvin X returns to Duke University

Duke University, Durham NC, has invited Marvin X to read in the fall.The theme is Prisons from the USA to Palestine. One of Marvin's classic poems is Palestine:

"Yes! Powerful my brother! We must never sell our precious Palestinian brothers and sisters for a mess of pottage!! I salute you!!"

--Cornel West

I am not an Arab I am not a Jew

Abraham is not my father, Palestine is not my home
But I would fight any man
who kicked me out of my house to dwell in a tent
I would fight to the ends of the earth
someone who said to me
I want your house because my father lived here two thousand years ago
I want your land because my father lived here two thousand years ago
Jets would not stop me from returning to my home
Uncle toms would not stop me
Cluster bombs would not stop me
bullets I would defy.
No man can take the house of another
and expect to live in peace
There is no peace for thieves
for those who murder for myths ancient rituals
wail at the wall
settle in Judea and Samaria
fate awaits you
you will never sleep in peace
you will never walk without listening.

I shall cross the River Jordan
with justice in my hand
I shall return to Jerusalem
and establish my house of peace
thus said the Lord.

Marvin X

Black Scholar Magazine, 1970

Marvin X at Gaza Protest, Seattle WA

BPP co-founder Huey P. Newton embracing Yasir Arafat, leader of Palestine. Marvin X said, "We
support Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian call for nationhood. We North American Africans desire
the same!"

If We Must Die by Claude McKay--from Attica to Gaza

Attica

Attica

Gaza

Gaza

If We Must Die

BY CLAUDE MCKAY

If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Poem: Gaza Concentration CAMP by Marvin X

Seattle WA protest

GAZA Concentration CAMP

There are those who say we must restore peace to GAZA

concentration camp peace

Peace of genocide

no protest allowed

Submit to starvation

humiliation

stunted life hell on earth peace

No protest

peace before anything

justice

life even

peace

GAZA sing silent night

Holy night

All is peace

All is right

Under shadow of death

peace

No justice

Peace

boots on necks

Mass murder peace

At all costs

Hamas Rockets no avail

Iron Dome gift from USA

Iron Dome is saves

From land, air, sea you attack

Mighty Mouse

Iron Dome Mouse

Look at you

Wild wild west beast

No thought of justice

Just peace

Peace be still.

--Marvin X

7/17/14