> KQED's film unit follows poet and activist James Baldwin in the spring of 1963, as he's driven around San Francisco to meet with members of the local African-American community. He is escorted by Youth For Service's Executive Director Orville Luster and intent on discovering: "The real situation of negroes in the city, as opposed to the image San Francisco would like to present." He declares: "There is no moral distance ... between the facts of life in San Francisco and the facts of life in Birmingham. Someone's got to tell it like it is. And that's where it's at." Includes frank exchanges with local people on the street, meetings with community leaders and extended point-of-view sequences shot from a moving vehicle, featuring the Bayview and Western Addition neighborhoods. Baldwin reflects on the racial inequality that African-Americans are forced to confront and at one point tries to lift the morale of a young man by expressing his conviction that: "There will be a negro president of this country but it will not be the country that we are sitting in now." The TV Archive would like to thank Darryl Cox for championing the merits of this film and for his determination that it be preserved and remastered for posterity.
A number of people immediately asked for a copy, but there were copyright issues so downloads were not allowed.
Two weeks ago Alex Cherian, the film archivist, posted the following note on the page:
"Please contact me directly with requests to access 'Take This Hammer' on DVD, at acherian@sfsu.edu"
With the recent violence in Jamaica and the controversy over alleged drug lord, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, many people are talking about the infamous Jamaican Shower Posse and the neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens, where they have their base. What is being is being ignored largely by the media, is the role that the American government and the CIA had in training, arming and giving power to the Shower Posse.
It is interesting that the USA is indicting Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the current leader of the Shower Posse for drug and gun trafficking, given that the CIA was accused of smuggling guns into Jamaica and facilitating the cocaine trade from Jamaica to America in the 70s and 80s. In many ways Dudus was only carrying on a tradition of political corruption, drug running, guns and violence that was started with the help of the CIA.
Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s father was was Lester Coke, also known as Jim Brown, one of the founders of the Shower Posse and a fellow champion and protector of the impoverished Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in Kingston. Coke was a political enforcer and bodyguard to Edward Seaga, the leader of the Jamaican Labour Party.
Seaga’s opponent Michael Manley had begun to adopt “socialist” stances and began openly criticizing American foreign policies and meeting with U.S. enemy, Fidel Castro, in the 1970s. Given the cold war the US was having with Russia, the CIA did not want Jamaica to be friendly with communists.
According to Gary Webb’s book,”The Dark Alliance,” Norman Descoteaux, the CIA station chief in Jamaica began a destabilization program of the Manley government in late 70s. Part of that plan was assassinations, money for the Jamaican Labour Party, labor unrest, bribery and shipping weapons to Manley’s opponents, like Lester “Jim Brown” Coke.
Author, Daurius Figueira writes in his book, “Cocaine And Heroin Trafficking In The Caribbean,” “In fact, it meant that illicit drug runners linked to the JLP were integrated into a CIA linked illicit drugs guns and criminal trafficking pipeline.”
Former CIA agent, Philip Agee, said “the CIA was using the JLP as its instrument in the campaign against the Michael Manley government, I’d say most of the violence was coming from the JLP, and behind them was the CIA in terms of getting weapons in and getting money in.”
One of Lester Coke’s associates, Cecil Connor, would claim that he was trained by the CIA to fight political wars for the JLP through killing and spying. Connor would stuff ballot boxes and intimidate voters to help the JLP win elections. Connor would go on from being a political thug to being part of the international Jamaican based cocaine ring known as the Shower Posse. He wound up testifying against Lester Coke and his cohort Vivian Blake, only to return to his native St. Kitts to become a drug kingpin who almost held the country hostage.
Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s father, Lester Coke has also been accused of working with the CIA. Timothy White speculates, in his biography of Bob Marley, “Catch A Fire,” that Jim Brown was part of a team of armed gunman that attempted to assassinate Bob Marley led by JLP enforcer Carl “Byah” Mitchell. Authors Laurie Gunst and Vivien Goldman also make the same assertions in their books, “Born Fi Dead” and “The Book Of Exodus.” Marley’s manager Don Taylor claims that one of Marley’s attackers was captured and admitted that the CIA had agreed to pay him in cocaine and guns to kill Marley.
Lester Coke would later be burned to death in a Jamaican jail cell, while awaiting extradition the the United States. Many people have claimed that he was killed so he wouldn’t reveal his secrets dealing with the CIA, JLP and criminal activity.
In its efforts to destabilize the Jamaican government in the 1970s, the CIA created a group of drug dealing, gun running, political criminals. Through the cocaine trade, these criminals would eventually become more powerful than the politicians they were connected to. The CIA destabilization program did not only destabilize Jamaica in the 70s, but it destabilized Jamaica for the next 40 years.
Given the secrecy of both CIA and Jamaican society, it is unclear exactly what was the CIA’s role in creating the Shower Posse. Did they give them guns? Were they given cocaine? Were they trained how to smuggle drugs? Did the CIA use the Shower Posse to try and kill Bob Marley? These are all questions that the CIA should answer.
If what is alleged about the CIA is true, then they are partially responsible for the cycle of gun trafficking, gun smuggling and violence that plagues Jamaica today. If the US can extradite the son of one of the CIA’s political enforcers for trafficking guns and cocaine, shouldn’t the CIA be investigated for training Jamaicans on how to conduct political warfare, arming them, giving them cocaine and helping them traffic it? Given the revelation that the CIA allowed Nicaraguan drug dealers to sell cocaine in the US to fund their revolution against their communist government, it is not that far fetched to believe that they would arm Jamaicans to with guns and give them cocaine to fight communists in Jamaica.
The following poem by Kalamu ya Salaam honors Dessie X. Woods/Rashidah Muhammad (RIP), a warrior queen who killed her rapist in Georgia before moving to Oakland where she worked with the Uhuru Movement, Marvin X, and became a midwife and community organizer in West Oakland before making her transition due to cancer at 61.
There is a street named Rashidah Muhammad Way, downtown Oakland, but we doubt those who named the street in her honor were aware of her valiant past in Georgia as told in the story following Kalamu's poem.
The APSP built the National Committee to Free Dessie Woods and fought to free the courageous African woman who was an example of resistance to the African community
On November 4, 2006 the Uhuru Movement and the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) lost a dear friend and a powerful fighter for the liberation of African people everywhere. Dessie Woods, also known as Rashida Mustafa, died of lung cancer in Oakland, California at the age of 61.
Dessie Woods’ name was known around the world after she was sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing a white man in Georgia with his own gun when he tried to rape her. The story of the resistance of Dessie Woods and of the powerful movement led by our Party that freed her is part of the legacy of the ongoing struggle of African people for independence and liberation.
The APSP joins the work to free Dessie Woods
In the early 1970s, the entire Black Liberation Movement was under heavy attack by the U.S. government’s COINTELPRO program, one of the counterinsurgency programs responsible for assassinating our leaders, destroying our revolutionary organizations and locking up African people who took a stand of resistance. During this time, the African People’s Socialist Party was a leading force in defending countless African people who found themselves in prison for fighting back against the conditions imposed on us.
Our Party freed Pitts and Lee, framed up and facing the death penalty in Florida, and Connie Tucker, a Party member who had been imprisoned for her stand. Because of the success of these campaigns the Party was asked to join the existing work to defend Dessie Woods.
The Party was asked to join this campaign by one of the two factions around which the work had developed. This factional struggle represented the ongoing contest between those struggling for African self-determination and the ideological imperialists posing as revolutionaries.
Joining the work to free Dessie Woods was a strategic decision made by our Party. In the Basic Party Line, Chairman Omali Yeshitela makes it clear that “All our work is guided by our understanding that our struggle for national liberation within U.S. borders is an integral part of the whole African Liberation Movement…”
When we joined the work, the existing committee to defend Dessie woods was disorganized and dominated by white left forces. The white women’s movement and their sympathizers who wanted to build a defense for Dessie Woods based on a struggle against rape and sexual abuse of all women. Our Party struggled that the attack on Dessie Woods was part of the colonial violence imposed on all African people for the past 500 years. The white left position was defeated.
The Party formed and led The National Committee to Free Dessie woods with the slogan, “Free Dessie Woods! Smash Colonial Violence!” This was a powerful statement that brought to center stage once again the liberation struggle of African workers inside the U.S.
1975: a defiant example
On June 17, 1975, Dessie Woods and her friend Cheryl Todd were hitch-hiking home to Atlanta, Georgia from an unsuccessful attempt to visit Todd’s brother in Georgia’s infamous Reidsville Prison. The two African women were picked up by an insurance salesman named Ronnie Horne.
As an ordinary southern white man, Horne understood his “right” to assault the two African women if he chose to do so, and he did. Horne began to intimidate the women and when they resisted he pretended to be a cop and threatened to arrest them.
After stopping in a deserted area, Cheryl Todd escaped from Horne’s car and ran. Horne drew his pistol in an attempt to stop her, but Dessie Woods who had been sitting in the back seat, grabbed the gun and struggled.
Dessie was successful in removing this colonial attacker from the land of the living and ensuring that he would never again attack another African woman. She then took Ronnie Horne’s money and made sure that she and Cheryl Todd got safe transportation home to Atlanta.
1976: the trial and demonstrations
For this courageous act of self-defense and African resistance, the women were jailed and convicted. Todd’s family was able to secure an attorney, but Dessie Woods had to rely on a public defender. The attorneys made some small trial victories and had the trial moved to Hawkinsville, Georgia. On January 19, 1976 a contentious trial began in this small plantation town of cotton and peanut farms and a population of 3,000. Woods, Todd and their militant supporters were seen as such a threat to the colonial relations, that scores of law enforcement officials descended on Hawkinsville — armed bailiffs, armed state troopers, sheriffs deputies and local cops.
Beginning with her successful confrontation of Ronnie Horne, Dessie Woods continued to act with calm resolve. Through her carriage during the trial, she personally smashed any preconceived notion of the passivity of African women and the general servility of African people.
Hers was a defiant example too dangerous to go unpunished. The State therefore chose her as their main target, allowing the liberal and white left supporters to separate Cheryl Todd’s case from Woods. Todd was given a light sentence, primarily probation.
The trial was understood to be a sham, and the mass support for Dessie Woods and for justice to African people continued to build. Because of this, the State was unable to convict her for murder, but on February 12, 1976, Dessie Woods was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and armed robbery. She was sentenced to 10 years and 12 years to be served concurrently.
The Party forms the African People’s Solidarity Committee
In September of 1976, the Party, guided by our strategy, convened the first meeting to organize the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC), laying out the theoretical framework for North American people to do anti-colonial organizing — such as the defense of Dessie Woods — under our leadership. A second meeting was held in December of 1976 and the practical work of organizing Dessie Woods Support Committees under the APSP-led National Committee to Defend Dessie Woods was laid out.
On November 1, 1976, the supreme court of Georgia denied Dessie Woods’ appeal and upheld her conviction regardless of the more than 20 errors committed by the trial court. The struggle to free Dessie became our primary mass work and we intensified this work throughout the United States and in Europe.
1977: the resistance intensifies
Despite the legal setbacks, the Party knew that the defense of Dessie Woods was the defense of all African people colonized in the U.S. and understood the strategic necessity to put her case within the context of the African Liberation Movement. This is illustrated in a quote from Ironiff Ifoma’s November 1978 Burning Spear article entitled– “Dessie Woods Is All Of Us” that reads, “rape attacks against black women by white men are not sexual acts but tactics of colonial terror to keep a whole people terrorized.”
The struggle continued to build, and on September 4, 1977 some 500 people from virtually all areas of the country came together in Atlanta, Georgia to militantly demand the freedom of Dessie Woods. The Atlanta rally of predominantly African forces rejuvenated the African Liberation Movement at that time and further consolidated the APSP’s leadership.
This action, along with a subsequent one on September 14 in the San Francisco, California bay area, also demonstrated the growing support for Dessie Woods.
On the inside, Dessie continued to be defiant and organize other prisoners. She paid a heavy price for this, being continually drugged, brutalized and put into solitary confinement.
APSP “on fire” in 1978 with non-stop mobilizing around the case of Dessie Woods
On July 4, 1978 the National Committee to Defend Dessie Woods led two national demonstrations. Collectively known as the July 4th Movement to Free Dessie Woods, the demonstrations held in San Francisco, California and Plains, Georgia raised the slogan “Free Dessie Woods! Smash Colonial Violence!”
These two mobilizations were extremely significant. They continued the momentum from the September 1977 demonstration in Atlanta and further consolidated the Party’s leadership of the pro-independence movement. This was made clear by targeting Plains, Georgia the hometown of peanut farmer turned president James Earl Carter.
As head of the U.S. Government, Carter represented the colonial relationship Africans had to the United States. The treatment of Dessie Woods and all Africans in the U.S. dispelled the myth that he and the Democratic Party were anything but anti-African white ruling class representatives.
“At that moment in 1975 when she took on Ronnie Horne to protect herself and Cheryl Todd, she also took on U.S. imperialism and defended us all.”
The struggle against opportunism and for real solidarity
The significance of the mobilization for July 4 in the San Francisco bay area is found in the profound ideological struggle made by our Party. We declared and determined that we would lead our own liberation struggle; that ours was a struggle against domestic colonialism; and that the white left’s act of “adopting” the cases of individual African women or prisoners was opportunism and unacceptable.
In 1978, San Francisco was a hotbed of so-called progressive causes, including the Women’s Movement, the Gay Movement, and the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) — which was articulating clear support for the anti-colonial struggle of African People. There was a strong prisoner support movement with many individuals and organizations such as PFOC having significant relationships with prisoners, particularly African prisoners.
Remnants of the Black Panther Party still existed and memories of the Black Power Movement were strong in people’s minds. There was extensive solidarity work being done with the revolutionary movements in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Cuba.
In this atmosphere, the Chairman’s first large public speech was received enthusiastically and the turnout for the July 4th Movement to Free Dessie Woods was large, boisterous and fantastic. This would all change soon, and by 1979 the Party was publicly calling for the disbanding of PFOC as an organization and struggling with the opportunism of APSC and the North American “left”.
Our primary struggle was that we would lead our own liberation movement, and that the correct response from the North American community was to follow our leadership and provide our movement with political and material support. This put us at odds with PFOC and other ideological imperialists.
The Party struggled that the attempted rape of Dessie Woods was an act of colonial violence targeting all colonized African people, and that the prevention of such atrocities against African women in the future can only be found through the freedom of all African people. This put us at odds with the white women’s and gay movements.
Those ideological struggles made with the white left were earth shaking and ground breaking. The APSC of today is clear proof of our having needed to make the struggle at that time and further proves the correctness of our strategy.
We end 1978 challenging the legitimacy of the U.S. government
The November 1978 issue of the Burning Spear Newspaper has several articles describing our nonstop mobilizing. In early September, members of the National Committee to Free Dessie Woods held a demonstration in Midgeville, Georgia, home of Hardwick Prison, and then went out to the prison itself demanding to see Dessie Woods.
An APSP-led demonstration to free Dessie Woods
The demonstrators were bold, refusing to be intimidated by the guards and prison officials. While they were not able to see Dessie, they did set a militant example for all the visitors and challenged the authority of the State.
In the Point of the Spear of the same issue, the Chairman summed up the situation:
“Months of hard work by the African People’s Socialist Party bore fruit on the night of Friday, October 6 [1978] in San Francisco. It was on this night that the California Dessie Woods Support Coalition (DWSC) sponsored a historic political program entitled, ‘Night of Solidarity With African National Freedom Fighters.’
“This program saw almost 100, mostly North Americans, turn out for a program organized by the mostly North American Dessie Woods Support Coalition to express militant solidarity with African national freedom fighters — freedom fighters whose collective existence up to this period has not been acknowledged by the North American Left movement.
“This was an important program for our Party, for it was the concretization of our strategy for winning support from the progressive sector of the North American people for our struggle for political independence through self-liberation.”
At the end of a dynamic 1978, on October 18, the Dessie Woods Support Coalition sponsored a picket and rally in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco. Fifty people, mostly North Americans, militantly marched chanting “Free Dessie Woods, Put the State On Trial!”
1979: Not One More Year!
The March 1979 issue of the Burning Spear was a special edition with the headline reading “Black Women in the Fight for Freedom.” The Spear issue told of a demonstration held on February 17, 1979, when the Dessie Woods Support Coalition marched across the Golden Gate Bridge, a historic San Francisco landmark, thirty strong demanding “Not One More Year — Dessie Must Be Free!” With voices and signs they demanded loudly and publicly that the U.S. State release Dessie Woods from its death grip in 1979 and end the colonial violence against black people in the U.S.
As this activity was occurring on the outside, Dessie Woods maintained her resistance on the inside of Hardwick Prison. She began her fourth year of incarceration challenging the otherwise routine conditions inside this highly controlled southern concentration camp.
Her militancy and pride in her Africanness quickly began to influence other prisoners who sought out her help. In retaliation, the prison authorities made numerous attempts on her life and continued to drug her.
International solidarity with Dessie Woods
Throughout this period of protracted struggle, our Party was guided by a strategy for liberation of all African people. An important component of that strategy, international recognition and support, had the Party touring Europe in 1979 successfully stopping in Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris and culminating with a demonstration at the U.S. Embassy in London on September 26. The Party established fraternal relations with several organized African forces in Paris and London and also received a solidarity statement from the Vietnamese government at their London embassy.
This is further illustrated in the article “Dessie Woods Must Be Free This Year” from the November 1979 issue of the Burning Spear:
“On December 8, hundreds of people in over 12 cities in Europe and the U.S. will be in the streets demanding the immediate release of Dessie Woods and an end to colonial violence against African people. In Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, London, New York, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Eugene, San Francisco and elsewhere, [U.S. president James Earl] Carter will be confronted with the massive denial of human rights of Dessie Woods and all African people colonized in the U.S. The internationally supported actions led by the APSP will be demanding African independence and the destruction of U.S. colonialism.”
On November 1 in Eugene, Oregon, an enthusiastic crowd of over 200 people enjoyed a variety of culture by African artists and the North American “Amazon Kung-Fu School.” It was a successful fundraiser for the Dessie Woods support work, but still at the end of 1980 after more than four years in prison, Dessie was “in the hole” and brutally beaten. Her parole had been denied and our work to free her continued on the outside.
1981-2006: Dessie Woods is free from prison
In 1981, after serving five years of the original 12, Dessie was released from Hardwick Prison in Georgia, and she relocated to Oakland, California.
In subsequent years, Dessie Woods, known to us as Sister Rashida, was not always active in the Uhuru Movement, but she was a tireless community activist defending her neighborhood and the human rights of Oakland’s African community. She regularly attended events at the Uhuru House in Oakland, California. Her photo as part of a panel on Building the African People’s Childcare Collective was featured on the cover of the October 1983 issue of the Burning Spear Newspaper.
The headline for the article describing the panel’s work was “The Struggle of Black Women is the Struggle of Us All.” This sums up the contribution that Dessie Woods, Sister Rashida, made to Africa and African people. At that moment in 1975 when she took on Ronnie Horne to protect herself and Cheryl Todd, she also took on U.S. imperialism and defended us all.
AFRICAN FUNDAMENTALISM by The Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey
The time has come for the Blackman to forget and cast behind him his hero worship and adoration of other races, and to start out immediately to create and emulate heroes of his own. We must canonize our own martyrs and elevate to positions of fame and honor Black men and women who have made their distinct contributions to our racial history.
Sojourner Truth is worthy of sainthood alongside of Joan of Arc. Crispus Attuck and George William Gordon are entitled to the halo of martyrdom with no less glory than that of the martyrs of any other race. Jacques Deselines' and Moshesh's brilliancy as soldiers and statesmen outshone that of a Cromwell, Napoleon, or Washington: hence they are entitled to the highest place as heroes among men.
Africa has produced countless numbers of men and women, in war and in peace, whose lustre and bravery outshines that of any other people. Then why not see good and perfection in ourselves? We must inspire a literature and promulgate a doctrine of our own without any apologies to the powers that be. The right is the Blackman's and Africa's. Let contrary sentiments and cross opinions go to the winds. Oppositions to Race Independence is the weapon of the enemy to defeat the hopes of an unfortunate people.
We are entitled to our own opinions and not obligated to or bound by the opinions of others. If others laugh at you return the laughter to them; if they mimic you return the compliment with equal force. They have no more right to dishonor, disrespect or disregard your feelings and manhood than you have in dealing with them. Honor them when they honor you; disregard them when they vilely treat you. Their arrogance is but skin deep and an assumption that has no foundation in morals or in Law.
They have sprung from the same family tree of obscurity as we have; their history is as rude in its primitiveness as ours, their ancestors ran wild and naked, lived in caves and in branches of trees like monkeys as ours; they made sacrifices, ate the flesh of their own dead and the raw meat of wild beasts for centuries even as they accuse us of doing. Their cannibalism was more prolonged than ours; when we were embracing the Arts and Sciences on the banks of the Nile, their ancestors were still drinking human blood and eating out of the skulls of their conquered dead.
When our civilization had reached the noon-day of progress, they were still running naked and sleeping in holes and caves with rats, bats, and other insects and animals. After we had already unfathomed the mystery of the Stars and reduced the Heavenly Constellations to minute and regular calculus they were still backwoodsmen, living in ignorance and blatant darkness.
The world today is indebted to us for the benefits of civilization. They stole our Arts and Sciences from Africa. Then why should we be ashamed of ourselves? Their modern improvements are but duplicates of a grander civilization that we reflected thousands of years ago; without the advantage of what is buried and still hidden, to be resurrected and reintroduced by the intelligence of our generation and our posterity.
Why should we be discouraged because somebody laughs at us today? Who can tell what tomorrow will bring forth? Did they not laugh at Moses, Christ, and Mohammed? Was there not a CARTHAGE, GREECE and ROME? We see and have changes everyday; so plan, work, be steadfast and do not be dismayed. As the Jew is held together by his religion, the white races by the assumption and the unwritten law of superiority, and the Mongolian by the precious tie of blood; so likewise the Blackman must be UNITED in one grand RACIAL HIERARCHY. Our union must know no climate, boundary or nationality.
BLACK MEN THE WORLD OVER MUST PRACTICE ONE FAITH, THAT OF CONFIDENCE IN THEMSELVES, WITH: ONE CAUSE, ONE GOAL, ONE DESTINY.*
Let no religious scruples, no political machination divide us, but let us hold together under all climates and in every country; making among ourselves a RACIAL EMPIRE upon which, "The Sun shall never set."
Let no voice but your own speak to you from the depths; let no influence but your own rouse you in time of peace and time of war. Hear all but attend only to that which concerns you, your allegiance shall be to your Race, then to your family and your Country. Remember always that the Jew in his political and economic urge is always first a Jew, the white is first a white man under all circumstances; and you can do no less than being first and always a Blackman; then all else will take care of itself. Let no one inoculate you with evil doctrines to suit their conveniences. There's no humanity before that which starts with yourself, "CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME." First to thyself be true and thou canst not then be false to any man.
NATURE first made us what we are and then out of our own creative genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that GREAT LAW. Let the SKY be your limit, and Eternity our Measurement. There's no height to which we cannot climb by using the active intelligence of our own mind. Mind creates, and as much as we desire in NATURE, we can have through the creation of our own minds. Being at present the scientifically weaker Race, you shall treat others only as they treat you, but in your homes and everywhere possible you must teach the higher development of science to your children; and be sure to develop a RACE of SCIENTISTS par excellence, for in Science and NATIONALISM lie our only hope to withstand the evil designs of modern materialism.
Never forget your Cause. REMEMBER! We live, work and plan for the establishment of a great and binding RACIAL HIERARCHY; the founding of a RACIAL EMPIRE whose only natural, spiritual and political limits shall be: LIBERTY FOR AFRICANS, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
Marcus Mosiah Garvey August 17, 1887 to JUNE 10, 1940 President-General, Pro Temp, United States of Africa
Marvin X Archives on exhibit at Berkeley Juneteenth Festival
Sunday, June 13, 20010
Marvin X will exhibit his archives at Berkeley Juneteenth Festival this Sunday, June 13.
Many of his books, manuscripts, notebooks, photos, posters, leaflets from the Black Arts Movement to now will be on display at his booth. He will also autograph books. The following is a description of his archives at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. The Bancroft Library collection will not be exhibited.
Marvin X Archives
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Finding Aid to the Marvin X Papers, 1965-2006, bulk 1993-2006
The Marvin X Papers document the life and work of playwright, poet, essayist, and activist Marvin X during the nineties and the first decade of the 21st Century. The papers include correspondence; Marvin X's writings; materials related to the Recovery Theatre; works by his children and colleagues; and resource files. Correspondence includes letters, cards, and e-mails; correspondents include Amiri Baraka and other prominent African-American intellectuals. Marvin X's writings include notebooks, drafts, and manuscripts of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and planned anthologies. Documents from the Recovery Theatre include organizational and financial records and promotional material. Writings by others include essays, scripts, and academic papers by his three daughters. Resource files include academic articles, e-mails, flyers, news clippings and programs that contextualize and document Marvin X's involvement as an activist, intellectual, and literary figure in the African American community in the Bay Area in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Photographs include snapshots of family, friends, colleagues, and productions at the Recovery Theatre.
Background
Poet, playwright and essayist Marvin X was born Marvin E. Jackmon on May 29, 1944 in Fowler, California. He grew up in Fresno and Oakland, in an activist household. X attended OaklandCityCollege (MerrittCollege), where he was introduced to Black Nationalism and became friends with future Black Panther founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. X earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from San FranciscoStateUniversity and emerged as an important voice in the Black Arts Movement (BAM), the artistic arm of the Black Power movement, in the mid-to-late Sixties. X wrote for many of the BAM's key journals. He also co-founded, with playwright Ed Bullins and others, two of BAM's premier West Coast headquarters and venues - Oakland's Black House and San Francisco's Black Arts/West Theatre. In 1967, X joined the Nation of Islam and became known as El Muhajir. In the eighties, he organized the Melvin Black Forum on Human Rights and the first Annual All Black Men's Conference. He also served as an aide to former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver and attempted to create the MarvinXCenter for the Study of World Religions. In 1999, X founded San Francisco's Recovery Theatre. His production of "One Day in the Life," the play he wrote about his drug addiction and recovery, became the longest-running African-American drama in Northern California. In 2004, in celebration of Black History Month, X produced the San Francisco Tenderloin Book Fair (also known as the San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair) and University of Poetry. X has taught Black Studies, drama, creative writing, journalism, English and Arabic at a variety of California universities and colleges. He continues to work as an activist, educator, writer, and producer.
Extent
Number of containers: 8 cartons, 1 box Linear feet: 10.2
Restrictions
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94270-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Finding Aid to the Marvin X Papers, 1965-2006, bulk 1993-2006
Extent: Number of containers: 8 cartons, 1 box Linear feet: 10.2
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: The Marvin X Papers document the life and work of playwright, poet, essayist, and activist Marvin X during the nineties and the first decade of the 21st Century. The papers include correspondence; Marvin X's writings; materials related to the Recovery Theatre; works by his children and colleagues; and resource files. Correspondence includes letters, cards, and e-mails; correspondents include Amiri Baraka and other prominent African-American intellectuals. Marvin X's writings include notebooks, drafts, and manuscripts of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and planned anthologies. Documents from the Recovery Theatre include organizational and financial records and promotional material. Writings by others include essays, scripts, and academic papers by his three daughters. Resource files include academic articles, e-mails, flyers, news clippings and programs that contextualize and document Marvin X's involvement as an activist, intellectual, and literary figure in the African American community in the Bay Area in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Photographs include snapshots of family, friends, colleagues, and productions at the Recovery Theatre.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94270-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted toresearch and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Marvin X Papers, BANC MSS 2006/217, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Alternate Forms Available
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Separated Material
Printed materials, including poetry broadsides, have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library. Videotapes and DVDs/sound recordings have been transferred to the Microforms Collections of The Bancroft Library.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
X, Marvin, 1944-
African American poets
African American dramatists
African American scholars
African Americans--California
Black Arts movement
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
The Marvin X Papers were purchased by The Bancroft Library in 2006.
Accruals
No additions are expected.
Processing Information
Processed at the container level by Marjorie Bryer in 2006.
Biographical Information
Poet, playwright and essayist Marvin X was born Marvin E. Jackmon on May 29, 1944 in Fowler, California. He grew up in Fresno and Oakland, in an activist household. X attended OaklandCityCollege (MerrittCollege), where he was introduced to Black Nationalism and became friends with future Black Panther founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. X earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from San FranciscoStateUniversity and emerged as an important voice in the Black Arts Movement (BAM), the artistic arm of the Black Power movement, in the mid-to-late Sixties. X wrote for many of the BAM's key journals. He also co-founded, with playwright Ed Bullins and others, two of BAM's premier West Coast headquarters and venues - Oakland's Black House and San Francisco's Black Arts/West Theatre. In 1967, X joined the Nation of Islam and became known as El Muhajir. In the eighties, he organized the Melvin Black Forum on Human Rights and the first Annual All Black Men's Conference. He also served as an aide to former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver and attempted to create the MarvinXCenter for the Study of World Religions. In 1999, X founded San Francisco's Recovery Theatre. His production of "One Day in the Life," the play he wrote about his drug addiction and recovery, became the longest-running African-American drama in Northern California. In 2004, in celebration of Black History Month, X produced the San Francisco Tenderloin Book Fair (also known as the San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair) and University of Poetry. X has taught Black Studies, drama, creative writing, journalism, English and Arabic at a variety of California universities and colleges. He continues to work as an activist, educator, writer, and producer.
System of Arrangement
Arranged to the container level.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Marvin X Papers document the life and work of playwright, poet, essayist, and activist Marvin X in the nineties and the first decade of the 21st Century. The papers include correspondence; Marvin X's writings; materials related to the Recovery Theatre; works by his children and colleagues; photographs; and resource files. Correspondence includes letters, cards and e-mails; correspondents include Amiri Baraka and other prominent African-American intellectuals. Marvin X's writings include notebooks, drafts and manuscripts of poetry, novels, plays, essays, and planned anthologies. Documents from the Recovery Theatre include organizational and financial records and promotional material. Writings by others include essays, scripts, and academic papers by his three daughters. Resource files include academic articles, e-mails, flyers, news clippings, and programs that contextualize and document Marvin X's involvement as an activist, intellectual, and literary figure in the African American community in the Bay Area in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Photographs include snapshots of family, friends, colleagues, and productions at the Recovery Theatre.
Series 1 Correspondence1974, 1977, circa 1998-2005
Physical Description: Carton 1
Arrangement
Arranged in order received.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Correspondents include Amiri Baraka and other prominent African-American intellectuals; subjects include the 2004 San Francisco Tenderloin Book Fair and University of Poetry, Black Bird Press, and the Recovery Theatre.
Carton 1, Folder 1-3
Letterscirca 1998-2005
Carton 1, Folder 4
Letters #4 - Black Radical Book Fair (San Francisco Tenderloin Book Fair)circa 2000-2004
Carton 1, Folder 5-14
Letterscirca 1998-2005
Series 2 Writingscirca 1993-2006
Physical Description: Cartons 1-6
Arrangement
Arranged in order received.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of notebooks, fragments, typescripts, manuscripts, page proofs, drafts, production notes, grant materials, and publicity materials. Includes poetry, drama, essays, novels, the literary journal Chickenbones, broadside poems, his autobiography, Somethin' Proper, and his long-running play about addiction and recovery, One Day in the Life.
Carton 1-3
Notebooks - #1-60circa 1993-2006
Carton 3
Production Notescirca 2001
Carton 3
Writings/Notes - #1-6circa 1993-2006
Carton 3
Chickenbones: A Journal and Broadside Poems circa 1995-2005
Carton 4
In the Crazy House Called America: Essays - Drafts and Page Proofs 2002
Carton 4
Somethin' Proper: The Life and Times of a North American African Poet - Drafts and Page Proofs 1994-1998
Carton 4
Muslim American Literature (Printed Texts, Compiled for an Anthology) undated
Carton 4
One Day in the Life (A Drama of Addiction and Recovery) - Draft 1996
Carton 4
"In the Name of Love: A Poetic Drama" - Typescript 1999
Carton 4
"Book Project #4: Fables Parables" - Manuscript and Typescript1999, undated
Carton 5
Abstract for a Publishing Grant2006
Carton 5
In the Crazy House - Drafts (#1 and Final) 2002
Carton 5
Love and War: Poems - Corrected Page Proofs 1995
Carton 5
"Why Don't You Say You Love Me" (Poem) - Manuscript (Photocopy)2005
Carton 5
Mama Said: A Novel (Photocopied Manuscript) and Manuscript (Books 1-3) circa 2006
Carton 5
"Marvin X: 5 Plays" ( Flowers for the Trashman, Take Care of Business, Blackbird, One Day in the Life, and Sargeant Santa) circa 1965, 1997, 2002, undated
Carton 5
Sweet Tea, Dirty Rice: Poems - Manuscript and Typescript undated
Carton 5
Toward Radical Spirituality - Parts 1 and 2, Manuscript 2005
Carton 6
"Marvin X: A Critical Look into the Mouth of a Poet" (A Collection of Essays About and Reviews of Marvin X)undated
Carton 6
Up from Ignorance: Essays (Manuscript and Typescript) circa 2003-2006
Carton 6
In Sha' Allah: A Personal History of Black Muslims in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area - Typescript circa 2003
Carton 6
Press Releasescirca 1998
Carton 6
Promotion (Includes Playbills)circa 1997-1998
Series 3 Recovery Theatrecirca 1998-2004
Physical Description: Carton 6
Arrangement
Arranged in order received.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of materials related to the San Francisco Tenderloin Book Fair and University of Poetry, organizational records, grant applications, financial records, and programs, playbills and promotional materials for Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness and One Day in the Life.
Carton 6
Recovery Theatre #1 - Black Book Fair2004
Carton 6
Recovery Theatre #2-#10circa 1998-2004
Carton 6
Programs, Playbills and Promotional Materials1998, 2000-2001
Series 4 Writings by Others2003, undated
Physical Description: Carton 7
Arrangement
Arranged in order received.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of manuscripts by Marvin X's three daughters, Amira Jackmon, Muhammida El Muhajir and Nefertitti Rhodes and a film script based on Marvin X's play, Flowers for the Trashman.
Carton 7
Amira Jackmon - "Notes from San Diego" and "Reparations for African Americans: A Distributive Justice Model"2003, undated
Carton 7
Muhammida El Muhajir - Color Lines and Around the Way Girl undated
Carton 7
Nefertitti Rhodes - "This Is His Love"undated
Carton 7
Mel Stewert [Stewart?] - "Flowers for the Trashman, a Film Script"undated
Series 5 Resource Filescirca 1993-2006
Physical Description: Cartons 7-8
Arrangement
Arranged in order received.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of approximately 26 folders organized by Marvin X as "Articles, Leaflets" and "Ephemera." These consist of news clippings, academic articles, programs, brochures, e-mails, flyers, ephemera, and Xeroxed photographs. These materials document Marvin X's involvement as an activist, intellectual, and literary figure in the African American community in the Bay Area and cover a broad range of topics, including the Black Panther Party, African American writers, African American politics, the Black Arts Movement and African liberation movements.
Carton 7-8
Articles, Leafletscirca 1993-2006
Carton 8
Marvin X - Ephemeracirca 1999-2002
Carton 8
Marvin X - Literary Biographycirca 2001-2003
Series 6 Photographscirca 1993-2006
Physical Description:Box 1
Arrangement
Arranged in order received.
Scope and Content Note
Consists of snapshots and Xeroxed copies of photographs of family, friends, and colleagues, as well as photos of productions at the Recovery Theatre and Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness.
Box 1
Family Photoscirca 1993-2006
Box 1
Recovery Theatrecirca 1998-2004
Box 1
Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness circa 2001
Box 1
Black Radical Photoscirca 1993-2006
➢ Chronology of Marvin X
➢ 1944 Born May 29, Fowler, CA to Owendell and Marian M. Jackmon, second child, brother Oliver born in 1943.
➢ Sits atop desk as father and mother publishes Fresno Voice, the Central Valley’s first black newspaper. Father was a Race man who served in WWI. He introduced Christian Science to wife who becomes a lifelong follower of Mary Baker Eddy. Mr. Jackmon remained a Methodist.
➢ Marvin attended Lincoln and Columbia elementary schools in Fresno. In Oakland
where the family moved, he attended Prescott, McFeely and St. Patrick elementary schools, also Lowell Jr. High.
➢ Wrote in the children’s section of the Oakland Tribune.
➢ 1962 Graduated with honors from Edison High School in Fresno.
➢ Attends Merritt College in Oakland where he meets Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Ken Freeman and Ernie Allen.
➢ Introduced to Black Nationalism. Wins short story contest in college magazine, story published in SoulBook, revolutionary nationalist publication.
➢ Graduates with AA in sociology. Attends San Francisco State College.
➢ 1965 At the request of novelist John Gardner, San Francisco State College drama department produced first play, Flowers for the Trashman.
-Called the best playwright to hit SF State by Kenneth Rexroth.
-Worked as TA for novelist Leo Litwak.
➢ 1966 Writings begin to appear in Soulbook, Black Dialogue, Negro Digest (Black World), Black Scholar, Journal of Black Poetry, Black Theatre, and Muhammad Speaks. Black Dialogue staff visits Eldridge Cleaver and Bunchy Carter in Soledad prison. Marvin is present. Black Dialogue publishes Cleaver’s essay, My Queen, I Greet You, later it appears in Soul On Ice.
➢ Co-founds Black Arts West Theatre with Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt, Duncan Barber, Hillery Broadus and Carl Boissiere.
➢ 1967 Co-founds Black House political/cultural center in San Francisco with Eldridge Cleaver, Ed Bullins and Ethna Wyatt. Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Sarah Webster Fabio, Chicago Art Ensemble, Avotja, Reginald Lockett, Emory Douglass, Samuel Napier, Lil Bobby Hutton, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, attend Black House.
➢ Marvin X introduces Eldridge Cleaver to Bobby Seale. Eldridge joins BPP. Black Panthers plan invasion of state capital at Black House.
➢ Marvin joins Nation of Islam, flees to Toronto, Canada to protest draft and resist Vietnam war.
➢ 1968 Goes underground to Chicago shortly before assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lived on Southside during riots. Meets Don L. Lee, Gwen Brooks, Hoyt Fuller, Phil Choran, Carolyn Rogers, Johari Amini and others of Chicago BAM (Black Arts Movement.
➢ In Harlem joins Ed Bullins at the New Lafayette Theatre. Works as associate editor of Black Theatre magazine. Associates with Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Sun Ran, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Last Poets, Barbara Ann Teer, Milford Graves.
➢ Publishes Fly to Allah, poems that later establish him as the father of Muslim American literature, according to Dr. Mojah Kahf of the University of Arkansas department of English and Islamic Studies.
➢ 1969 Apprehended returning from Montreal, Canada, charged with draft evasion. Defended by Conrad Lynn. Returns to California to stand trial and teach at Fresno State University until removed at the insistence of Governor Ronald Reagan, by any means necessary.
➢ Angela Davis is also removed from teaching at UCLA. Student protesters burn computer center at Fresno State. Students from throughout California attend draft trial in San Francisco.
➢ 1970 Convicted, flees into exile a second time, this time to Mexico City and Belize. Marries Barbara Hall, a student from Fresno State College, in Mexico City. Revolutionary artists Elizabeth Catlett Mora and Poncho Mora witness civil ceremony.
➢ Deported from Belize because his presence was not beneficial to the welfare
of the colony of British Honduras. While in custody, police ask him to teach them about black power. Sentenced to five months in Federal prison, Terminal Island.
➢ Founds Black Educational Theatre in Fresno.
➢ Performs musical version of Flowers as Take Care of Business. Reactionary negroes kill choir director in theatre, put hit out on poet.
➢ He flees to San Francisco, opens Black Educational Theatre in Fillmore District,
joined by Sun Ra’s Arkestra.
➢ Produced five hour musical version of Take Care of Business, with cast of fifty at Harding Theatre on Divisadero, choreography by Raymond Sawyer and Ellendar Barnes.
➢ 1972 Produced Resurrection of the Dead, a myth/ritual dance drama with Plunky, Babatunde Lea, Victor Willis as lead singer (Village People), dancers included Raymond Sawyer, Jamilah Hunter, Nisa Ra, Thomas Duckett.
➢ Lectures at University of California, Berkeley in Black Studies. Marries UCB student, Nisa (Greta Pope)
➢ Awarded National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Travels to southern Mexico, Oxaca, Trinidad and Guyana. Interviews prime minister Forbes Burnham. Interview appeared in Black Scholar.
➢ Published Woman,Man’s Best Friend, poems, proverbs, lyrics, parables, Al Kitab Sudan Press.
➢ 1973 Returns to San Francisco State University, awarded BA.
➢ Earns MA in one semester, English/Creative writing.
➢ Teaches at SF State, black literature, journalism, radio and television writing.
➢ 1975 Lectures at Mills College,Oakland.
➢ Produced musical version of Woman,Man’s Best Friend.
➢ Upward Bound program pressured director Connie Wye to halt production. She refused, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and expired.
➢ Visiting professor at University of California, San Diego. Taught Afro-American literature and Elementary Arabic.
➢ 1976 Organizes Eldridge Cleaver Crusades. Hires staff of Black Muslims for Cleaver’s ministry. Meets Donald Rumsfeld, Charles Colson, Jim and Tammy Baker, Rev. Robert Schuller. Deals with Rev. Billy Graham, Rev. Falwell, Pat Roberson, Cal Thomas, Pat Boone, Hal Linsey, Art DeMoss.
➢ 1978 Returns to Fresno. Falls in love with Sharon Johnson, childhood friend. See autobiography Somethin Proper.
➢ 1979 Lectures at University of Nevada, Reno.
➢ Awarded two National Endowment for the Humanities planning grants.
Produced Excellence in Education Conference. Participants included Eldridge Cleaver, Dr. Harry Edwards, Dr. Wade Nobles, Fahizah Alim, Sherley A. Williams,Ntizi Cayou, Dr. Ahimsa Sumchi.
➢ Publishes Selected Poems.
➢ Returns to Oakland to organize Melvin Black Human Rights Conference at Oakland Auditorium to stop police killing of black men. Participants included Minister Farakhan, Angela Davis, Paul Cobb, Eldridge Cleaver, Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dezzie Woods-Jones. Police killings stop but drive by shootings begin along with introduction of Crack.
➢ 1980 Produced National Conference of Black Men at Oakland auditorium. Participants included Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Oba Tshaka, Dr. Lige Dailey, John Douimbia (founder), Betty King, Dezzie Woods-Jones.
➢ 1981 Taught drama at Laney College.
➢ Did production of In the Name of Love,a poetic drama directed by Ayodele Nzinga. Eldridge Cleaver said this drama returned theatre to the poetic dramas of Shakespeare.
➢ Taught manhood training at Merritt College.
➢ 1982 Taught English at Kings River Community College, Reedly CA.
➢ Retires from Teaching with 97% student retention rate.
➢ 1983 Incorporated Afrikan Universal Library for Hurriyah (Ethna X.) Vends on streets of San Francisco, organized vendors (mostly white) under his non-profit corporation. Harassed under color of law
➢ 1984 Vends political buttons at Democratic and Republican conventions. San Francisco Chronicle called him the Button King. In Dallas, the Republicans observed his salesmanship and said, “If he makes one more dollar, he’ll be a Republican”
➢ Descends into the muck and mire of hell: Crack drives him into the mental hospital several times.
➢ 1989 Writes article on Huey Newton, based on last meeting in Oakland Crack house.
Article becomes source of Ed Bullins’ play, Salaam, Huey, Salaam. Article is beginning of autobiography, Somethin Proper.
➢ 1990 Begins recovery at San Francisco’s Glide Church with Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani. Transcribes testimonies of Crack addicts.
➢ Writes docudrama of his addiction and recovery One Day In The Life.
➢ 1995 Transition of Marsha Satterfield at 41 years old, cancer. Poet flees to Seattle, WA. Works on autobiography.
➢ Publishes Love and War, poems.
➢ 1996 Produces One Day In The Life with Majeeda Rahman’s Healthy Babies Project, a recovery program for woman and children. Play performed at Alice Arts Theatre.
➢ 1997 One Day In the Life opens at Sista’s Place in Brooklyn, New York, also Brecht Forum in Manhattan and Kimako’s Blues in Newark, New Jersey, home of the Barakas.
➢ 1997 Attends National Black Theatre festival, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Meets Carolyn Turner. She provides him with time and space to finish autobiography, plenty of sweet tea and dirty rice, in the tradition of the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
➢ 1998 Transition of Eldridge Cleaver. Kathleen Cleaver approves poem Soul Gone Home to be read at funeral in Los Angeles. Marvin and Majeeda Rahman organize memorial service in Oakland. Participants included Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis, Richard Aoki, Dr. Nathan Hare, Reginald Major, Dr. Yusef Bey, Minister Keith Muhammad, Imam Al Amin, Kathleen and Joju Cleaver. Publication of autobiography Somethin Proper.
➢ 1999 Establishes Recovery Theatre. Begins run of One Day in the Life. Gets support from Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco after Uhuru House performance. One Day becomes longest running black play in the Bay. Ishmael Reed says, It’s the best drama I ever saw.
➢ Associate director and lead actress, Ayodele Nzinga; role of Huey Newton performed by Geoffrey Grier; Marvin X played himself or did the opening monologue, clocked at forty-five minutes.
➢ Funded by the Mayor’s office, SF Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Fund, Grants for the
Arts, Marin Country Board of Supervisor’s, Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission.
➢ 2001 Produces Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness at San Francisco State University. Participants incl ded: Nathan and Julia Hare, Rev. Cecil Williams, Dr. Cornell West, Amiri and Amina Baraka, Ishamel Reed, Askia Toure, Avotja, Eddie Gale, Rudi Wongozi, Rev. Andriette Earl, Dr. Theophile Obenga, Elliott Bey, Ayodele Nzinga, Destiny, Tarika Lewis, Phavia Kujichagulia, Suzzette Celeste, Tureeda, Geoffrey Grier, Rev. Otis Lloyd, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Ptah Allah-El. Funded by Glide Church and Vanguard foundation.
➢ Video of Kings and Queens screened at New York International Independent film festival. In Newark on 9/11, stopped at airport by police.
➢ 2002 Transition of son Darrel at 38, suffered manic oppression.
➢ Publication of In the Crazy House Called America, essays.
➢ 2004 Produced San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair. Participants included Amiri and Amina Baraka, Nathan and Julia Hare, Al Young, Askia Toure, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Ishamel Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Reginald Lockett, Charlie Walker, Jamie Walker, Davey D, Opal Palmer Adisa, Devorah Major, Fillmore Slim, Rosebud Bitterdose, Sam Hamod, Ayodele Nzinga, Tarika Lewis.
➢ Published Land of My Daughters, poems, and Wish I Could Tell You The Truth, essays.
➢ Published issue of Black Bird Press Review newspaper.
➢ 2006 Writes Sweet Tea, Dirty Rice, poems; Up From Ignorance, essays; Beyond Religion, Toward Spirituality, essays; Mama Said Use The Mind God Gave You, autobiographical novel.
➢ Archives sold to University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library.
➢ Transition of friends: Dr. Salat Townsend, Paula Shular, Alonzo Batin, Dewey Redman and Rufus Harley.
➢ Online writings appear at www.nathanielturner.com, www.aalbc.com, www.konch.com
THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba has learned with profound concern of the criminal attack perpetrated in the early hours of May 31 by the special forces of the Israeli Army on a flotilla of boats which, in international waters, was transporting humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people resident in the Gaza Strip, an attack that provoked death and injury among various members of that flotilla.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses its most energetic condemnation of this devious and criminal attack on the part of the Israeli government and calls on the international community and peace-loving peoples to demand the immediate lifting by the Israeli authorities of the illegal, ruthless and genocidal blockade of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Cuba wishes to convey its most heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and reiterates its support for and solidarity with the just cause of the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, which include the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Havana, May 31, 2010
Translated by Granma International ============================================================================== Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Ministry of People's Power for Foreign Affairs
Statement
The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Commander Hugo Chávez, emphatically condemns the brutal massacre perpetrated by the State of Israel against the members of the Liberty Flotilla, as a result of the war action started by the Israeli Army against defenseless civilians, who tried to carry humanitarian aid supplies to the Palestine people of the Gaza Strip, who are victim of the criminal blockage imposed by the State of Israel.
President Hugo Chávez, on behalf of his government and the Venezuelan people, expresses his deepest regret and sends his deepest condolences to the families and relatives of the heroes who have been victim of this state crime, and commit to honor their memory and to give the necessary help so that the responsible of this murderers are severely punished.
The revolutionary government of Venezuela will continue denouncing the terrorist and criminal nature of Israel, and it reaffirms, today more than ever, its unbreakable commitment with the fight of the Palestinian people for freedom, the sovereignty and the dignity.
Caracas, May 31, 2010 Ministry of People's Power for Foreign Affairs May 31, 2010
