Monday, July 4, 2011

Yale University Black Collection Online


Yale University Places its Huge Cultural Collections Online: Thousands of Items Relating to African Americans Are IncludedYale University is making its vast art and cultural holdings available to the public over the Internet. Digital images of more than 259,000 items are now available online. In the future, millions of digital versions of items from the university’s museums, libraries, and archives will be accessible. The Peabody Museum of Natural History alone has more than 12 million items in its collection.

The online collections are fully searchable with a collective catalog. A search for “African American” turns up more than 2,700 items. A search for “black Americans” produced nearly 15,000 results.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Marvin X's Daughter Muhammida and Last Poet Omar Ben Hasan


Marvin X's Daughter Muhammida and Last Poet Omar Ben Hasan


Muhammida El Muhajir is the middle child of Marvin X's three daughters. Of his two sons, Abdul transitioned at 39 and Marvin K is estranged. Muhammida El Muhajir grew up in Philadelphia. Her mother, Nisa Ra, was a student of Marvin X's when he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. She danced in his myth-ritual drama Resurrection of the





Dead, performed at his Black Educational Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore, 1972.


Nisa Ra of Philadelphia, Mother of Muhammida

Muhammida graduated from Howard University in Microbiology, but turned to the arts. Her film HIP HOP the New World Order has been screened internationally and was taught in a class at Harvard University on Hip Hop. After traveling with her daughter to Europe, her mother exclaimed, "My daughter is as well known on the streets of Paris and London as she is in Harlem and Brooklyn."

To make her film on hip hop, she traveled to Japan, Cuba, Brazil, South Africa, England, France, Germany and Denmark with her own money, alone with her camera.

For a time she was a music marketing manager at NIKE, serving as liaison to musicians and rap artists. As event planner, she organized a VIP party for the NBA All Stars at San Francisco's NIKETOWN, producing a party on all seven floors.

She wrote a film script but after her father's critique, she came full strenght, shocking her father with her bluntness and skills with the linquistics of the hood.






Muhammida and daughter,


Mahadevi.


photo Sam Anderson









Check out her web:

http://www.suninleo.com/

Friday, July 1, 2011

White Supremacy, Zionism and National Insanity




White Supremacy, Zionism and National Insanity

Preface: Amy Nogoodwoman and her Democracy Now is clearly in the camp of the Monkey Mind Media that perpetuates the world of make believe. This morning she gave a report on the Gaza Flotilla attempting to break into the Gaza concentration camp. Amy Nogoodwoman spent an inordinate amount of time voicing the views of a Zionist agent until he rushed off the air after a propaganda barrage. When she turned to an Arab journalist, he was allowed to say a few words then cut off, so we see Democracy Now is but another of the undercover Zionist entities, parading as Leftist. She didn't dare interview a leader of Harmas, the democratically elected government in Gaza. This lopsided journalism is typical of pseudo Leftist that are in boot step with the Monkey Mind Media.
--


"Marvin X at his best, clarity of perception!" --Gerald Ali, UK



Recent events in Israel such as the planned building of 1,600 housing units in Arab East Jerusalem, lead us to the conclusion the Zionists are headed down a national suicide path that will surely take America, if not the world, with them. What makes their suicide a foregone conclusion is the fact they are surrounded by nations with populations more suicidal than they.

The Saudi Arabian brand of Islam promoted by Al Quida is a return to Ya'um Jahiliyah or the days of ignorance before the advent of Islam in 632 AD. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hezbollah are just as determined as the Jewish Zionists to execute their fanatical, dogmatic vision in the world, or in particular, the Middle East.

It is a dance of death for all peoples, with no hope in sight. The more the Muslims seem ready to conclude a deal with for some semblance of a Palestinian state, the more the Zionists expand their colonial occupation of Arab land.

Despite the winds of revolution and cries for social-political and economic justice throughout the region, the Zionists in Israel are tone deaf and determined to continue down the road to hell, for where else can they go as the Arab masses move toward a unity never before seen.

The recent visit of Israeli leader Netanyahu was a supreme example of hubris or simple minded White supremacy arrogance. He openly and unashamedly defied President Obama's call for a return to the pre-1967 borders in a final peace deal with the Palestinians. Despite having the greatest army in the world and nuclear weapons, Netanyahu claimed the 1967 borders are indefensible. How is this possible with an annual three billion dollar defense welfare check from America? And the Israeli sycophants in the US Congress treated the Zionist leader as a rock star, yet he is a star sure to fall from the sky. It is only a matter of time before the Zionist date with destiny.

Not long ago the son of a Hamas leader who confessed being a snitch for the Zionists, said he agreed to snitch after he saw nothing shall happen regarding Palestine as long as the two sides maintain their dogmatic religiosity or archaic mythology.

There can be no forward movement with such backward notions of history, of aboriginal claims of ownership based on mythology and religiosity, e.g., the Chosen people of God poppycock. At least the Arabs come from the reality that they were brazenly removed from their homeland.

How does one make peace with someone who has seized your homeland and relegated you to refugee camps within and outside your original space, especially when the occupation is based on injuries inflicted by someone else (Hitler)? Why should Arabs suffer for what Nazis did to the Jews?

The Arabs say they shall fight to the death to reclaim their land, with Hamas fighting for every inch of land taken, no matter how long it takes. It took 200 years before Saladin removed the last Crusaders! The Zionists claim Hamas will not recognize them, but what is the idea of a "Jewish" state but the non-recognition of the Palestinian people? Where is democracy in such a state, where is humanity. It is buried in mythology, a mythology that shall not survive the new era. I don't care what any holy books say, there shall be no peace without justice. This is the magic word missing in the vocabulary of both Netanyahu and President Obama. Nobody wants more than justice and nobody wants less.

What is amazing is that the Zionists have a nuclear arsenal and the greatest army in the Middle East, if not the world--at least until Hezbollah fought them to a standstill in Lebanon (a feat greater than the combined Arab armies in several wars against the Zionists)--yet all we hear is the need for security. What more security do you need? You have bombs, planes, tanks, soldiers, bio-chemical weapons of mass destruction and nukes, what more security do you need? Would tightening the grip on the Arab concentration camps suffice, i.e., will the Wall you are building satisfy your security needs, a checkpoint on every block, every mile? A snitch in every Arab home?

No matter the intractable positions on both sides, we are nearing a conclusion on this matter, yes, in spite of the duplicity of all concerned, the Zionists, their American sycophants, and the quisling Muslim governments in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf States. Also, we cannot ignore the critical role of Iran in this drama, with their support of Hamas and Hezbollah for matters of their mythological dreams.

All these myths must be cast into the dustbin of history and a new vision must be adopted by all sides, no matter how painful. But again, the vision must be based on justice, not peace. Peace with boots on the neck is not a real and lasting peace. It is a sham peace and it will only hasten the day of judgment.

What we have is a prescription for full blown Armageddon. Let the fundamental Christians rejoice along with the 12vers in Iran who anxiously await the return of the 12th Imam or Mahdi, while the Christians savor the return of their Messiah with the destruction of Jerusalem, or an even more dramatic total destruction of the Middle East.

Either the Palestinians shall obtain their state or we shall simply await the final Holocaust that will supposedly usher in the new era of peace in the world. If the 1967 borders are indefensible, equally indefensible is the idea of a "Jewish" state. This idea doesn't border on insanity, it is the essence of insanity, a total break with reality.
--Marvin X
3/15/10

Amazing Grace, for Rev. Lucius Walker (RIP)



amazin grace...for the late rev lucius walker...

by Zayid Muhammad




“Amazin grace…How sweet the sound…

That saved a soul like me…

I was once was lost…

Now I’m fighting to be free…

Only struggle

Will save you and me…”*

“Yea, though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death;

I fear no evil; For thou art with me

Thy rod and Thy staff

They comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of mine enemies.

Thou anointest me with oil;

My cup runneth over…

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life; And I shall dwell

in the house of the Lord forever…”Psalm 23

the time has come

the trumpet has sounded

that miles as in davis muted trumpet has sounded

his name has been called

Luuuuucius!

Lucius Walker!

The gateway has been presented

and this man

this modest samaritan man

this man

this fearless mount of courage and faith of a man

this daniel audacious amazin grace of a man

he has ascended that stairway to heaven

received by the God he so valiantly served

to the ultimate delightful chorus

‘job well done, my son…job well done…’

and for us still here in the land of the living

and for those coming behind us

for this man

for this heroic humanitarian

we must monumentally mark his place in this time

to radiate the lessons of light of his enormous example…

so give me a truckload of bibles

in english spanish creole and french

give me a bushel of the ripest olive branches

give me crates upon crates upon crates

of medicines and medical supplies

so we can make a late 20th century

early 21st century balm in gilead…

give me a caseload of bloodied bonebroken bullets and shrapnel

as evidence of the evil of oppression

made in the usa

give me a column Zapatistas covering the rear

as surrogate angels...

“Thy road and Thy staff, they comfort me…”

give me prime photos of his wife children and grandchildren

give me a chessboard dominated by battling bishops

and a line of willing volunteers to be sacrificed

give me a hemispheric huge harvest

of yams corn apples lentils leeks

of oranges mangoes pineapples

yucca and beets

give me fish and loaves of bread

and give me flour yeast and hearth ovens

to bake our own

give me enuf righteous roasted lamb

to feed all the villages he served

that had been denied the fruits of their own sacred labor…

“…Thou preparest for me a table in the presence of mine enemies…”


for his chocolate eyed charm

for his awesome absence of ego and vanity

for his che’ like capacity to lead without commanding

for this man

for this peoples redeemer

this shining samaritan

this humble heroic humanitarian

we need huge broken tablets of unjust laws

broken by armies of the faithful that he led

we need a tall rugged cross

stained with the blood of martyrs

like camilo cienfuegos, martin luther king and bishop romero

we need all those made missing by the death squads to be found

we need david walker’s appeal

martin’s letter from a birmingham jail

che’s socialism and man

we need fidel-full analyses

of all the political minefields and crosscurrents

we still must confront

we need broadcasts of insurgent commentary by mumia abujamal

we need a huge toilet and a flushing of the waste of the blockade!

we need mumia free…

we must enshrine that little yellow school bus

with the wheelchairs of the fasters

we need video footage of baffled abusive overseers at the borders

we need doctors without borders

willing to dance with the patients they treat

we need a huge cup runneth over with faith courage love and hope

and we need lots and lots of witnesses

organized to continue…

for this man

for this daniel audacious man

this marvelous mount of courage and faith

this shining samaritan

this heroic humble humanitarian

this chocolate eyed charming amazin grace of man

we need commitment

we need commitment

we need commitment

congalleros!**

to the front!..

“The Lord is my shepard; I shall not want…”

“We refuse to back down

We will fight to the end

Revolution

Revolution

is near…”



*lyrics from Yasmin Adeigbola’s poetic retake on Amazin’ Grace

**congalleros…spanish for conga players



©2010 all rights reserved

‘bro.zayid’

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Review of How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy



How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
Peer mental health group cures 'addiction'
Reginald James
Laney Tower
Laney College Newspaper,
Oakland CA
May 22, 2008


Author, playwright, and poet Dr. Marvin X is a modern theologian and philosopher sent to earth to help others find themselves. He's not a prophet, but is certainly beyond worthy of his Oakland bestowed title of "Plato" (Ishmael Reed).

His most recent book is, "How to recover from the addiction to white supremacy: A Pan African 12-Step Model for a mental health peer group."

Using a poetic and personal prose, Dr. M, as he is known, leads readers of all ethnicities and national origins on a journey to recover from what he terms the earth's most deadly disease: white supremacy.

"White supremacy can be any form of domination, whether stemming from religious mythology and ritual, or cultural mythology and ritual, such as tribal and caste relations," writes Dr. M. "White supremacy is finally a class phenomena, the rich against the poor,thus the process of recovery must include a redistribution of global wealth, for there is no doubt that the rich became rich by exploiting the poor, not by any natural inheritance or superior intelligence."

Dr. M, a founder of the Black Arts movement, uses his life experience with drug addiction to create a recovery model for others. Similar to the "12-step model" used by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the book reads like a personal narrative of not just one man's struggle to overcome a grafted sense of self-inferiority and a disillusioned projection of superiority in others, but a prayer of confidence that when others connect with their spirits, they will be able to overcome "stinking thinking," negative attitudes and self-destructive behavior.

After defining white supremacy in the introduction, the next chapter details how to detox and "rid the body and mind of the toxicity of decades under the influence of racist ideology of institutions that have rendered us into a state of drunkenness and denial."

After detoxification, patients are now ready to step into a new era. The first step to recovery is to "admit we are not powerless over self-hatred, racism and white supremacy thinking."

Dr. M's message of mental purification comes through strong in his accounts, and his vast historical knowledge of the experience of North American Africans" (so-called African Americans) encourages students to study. His vast literary references do not discriminate as he makes reference to Shakespeare and "classic" Greek tragedies as well.

"The Other White People," as he refers to them, "are an enigma to themselves, a conundrum of major proportions, transcending Shakespeare's Othello in tragic dimension, for their tragic flaw is lack of self knowledge."

"Such is the gracious gift of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism. It has produced a Pan African people in love with all things European: women, clothing, religion, education (what people in their right minds would send their children to the enemy to become educated, especially without a revolutionary agenda), political philosophy, social habits, dietary preferences, sexual mores, etc" writes Dr. M.

While he seeks to create a dialogue with all, the sexism ingrained in this society leaps out at you. He attempts to make amends by apologizing for his past instances of sexism and emotional, verbal, and physical abuse of women.

The most powerful aspect of the book is the encouragement to the reader to gain a working knowledge of self. When speaking to the need for patients to take a "moral inventory," Dr. M puts a mirror up to all people.

Breaking down dynamics of interracial relationships with the analytical perception of a sociologist or psychologist, including historical context of relationships between black women and white men and the taboo of white woman with a black man, Dr. M simplifies the frustration faced by women who date outside of their "race" and the reaction of those who feel their "natural partners" have been stolen.

"In this war with the white woman over the black man's sperm, the black woman, in desperation and denial, tries to mimic the white woman as much as possible, donning blond hair and continuing the tradition of bleaching cream throughout Pan Africa."

Equally healing is the emphasis on seeking forgiveness. When under the influence of substances or mind altering racist ideology, people often hurt people that are closest to them. Dr. M apologizes for his own shortcomings while under the influence of not just white supremacy, but while using crack cocaine. The prolific writer fell victim to the "ghost" for 12 years, and apologizes to his family and especially his daughters.

He also apologizes on behalf of the "Black Bourgeoisie," "Pan African Professors" he attacked because they were "not as radical and revolutionary as I believed they should, after all, white supremacy institutions are not about to allow a radical Pan African ideology and philosophy to flourish within its institutional framework," writes Dr. M.

Dr. M is able to weave not only events in his life which were symptomatic of white supremacy, but the thought process and actions of others.

While some may be quick to write Dr. M off as a Pan-African revolutionary (which he is), or a "reverse racist" (which he is not), his book benefits people of all ethnicities to come to grips with their preconceived notions about one another.

He successfully differentiates between white supremacy and "white people" for only a few handsomely reap the benefits of white supremacy, while others simply enjoy white privilege. He also emphasizes that white supremacy has not, and will not, flourish without disciples and co-conspirators.

"The white supremacy rulers have used poor whites and working class whites to delude whites into thinking the blacks are the cause of their misery and economic exploitation, just as capitalism is presently using immigrant labor to suggest they are the cause of middle and lower class white economic woes, while in fact it is the white supremacy global bandits who are outsourcing for cheap labor." Dr. M equates the assertion with the current immigration debate.

Ultimately, after completing the 12-step model, patients are encouraged to join the "cultural revolution." Harkening to the era of he 1960s, Dr. M suggests "linguistic transcendence" in which North American Africans reclaim a regal self-concept.

In the great tradition of indigenous healers, Dr. M pours love into patients inspiring hope for a cure for what others have deemed the only reality.

Like all scientists, Dr. M is experimenting, hoping that patients will actively involve themselves in their recovery. The "peer group mental health model" accompanies the book and allows the reader to form their own circle to undergo transformation with friends, family, or those people you haven't met yet. Starting a much needed dialogue, Dr. M brings forward "5000 watts" of shock therapy to awake people to their senses.

Dr. M obtained his PhD in Negrology from the University of Hell, USA. Formerly known as Marvin Jackmon, he was born in Fowler, CA and grew up in Fresno and Oakland. He attended Merritt College and San Francisco State University where he received a BA and MA in English. He has taught English, African American Literature, Drama, journalism, and more at Fresno State, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, San Francisco State University, University of Nevada, Reno, Mills, and Laney College. He was an professor at Fresno State University when then Governor Ronald Reagan found out Dr. M refused to serve in Vietnam--he was barred from teaching.

His other books include Love and War, poems, 1995, In the Crazy House Called America, essays, 2002, and his most recent Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, 2007His books are available from Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley, CA, 94702. $19.95 each. His Academy of da Corner is at 14th and Broadway, Northeast corner. He is presently organizing the Blackwell Institute of Art, Math and Science. How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy was used as a textbook at Berkeley City College and Oakland's Merritt College.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I Love Everything About You But You

Marvin X and Paradise Jah Love
photo by James Moore, Jr



This is Black America's favorite poem of mine!
Black people say this poem makes them feel validated!
===
"I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU, BUT YOU!"
===
They want the black spirit
They want the black mind
They want the black soul
They want the black behind
They want the black muscle
They want the black heart
They want the black music
They want the black art
They want the black rhythm
They want the black hips
They want the black power
They want the black lips
They want the black style
They want the black talk
They want the black skill
They want the black walk
They want the black rod
They want the black heat
They want the black coffee
They want the black meat
They want the black land
They want the black gold
They want the black diamonds
They want the black coal
They want the black oil
They want the black race
They want the black earth
They want the black space
They want the black dollars
They want the black gods
They want the black everything...but me and you
Now that's odd!
They want the black neighborhood but not the black neighbor?
I love everything about you, but you! -

(c) 1995 Paradise 939
The complete version with music is available...

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Berkeley Juneteenth, 2011









Marvin X and Paradise Jah Love
photo by James Moore, Jr
























Berkeley's Juneteenth was peaceful, especially with the entire Berkeley police department out in full force. For once, we thank the police for keeping the peace. Marvin X exhibited his writings and archives from the Black Arts Movement. A more complete archive of his art and work is in the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.


People wanted to purchase his display of archival materials from the Black Arts Movement, including copies of Black Dialogue Magazine, The Black Scholar, Black World (Negro Digest) and Journal of Black Poetry. Marvin X told customers these items were his personal archives and were only for display, and were not for sale at any price.



The people then suggested he copy the journals so the present generation can have access to the precious materials from black history. He agreed to do so. Note: Marvin X is not financially able to copy said materials. You can make a donation to the Blackwell Institute of Art, Math and Science so the material can be duplicated and desiminated. Send your donation to Paul Cobb at the Post Newspaper Group.


Catch Marvin X at the Muslim Unity and Reunion ( 1950-3011) at Defermery Park (aka Bobby Hutton Park) on Saturday, July 16, 11-5pm. Also, the following day, Sunday, July 17, Defermery Park, at the Memorial for Geronimo Ja Jiga, 2:30 pm.













The Second Civil War



The Second Civil War




With each passing day, America sinks deeper toward the very necessary economic revolution. We can see the Second Civil War as a war between the economic classes, the ruling class and the underclasses. The war will be fought to redistribute the wealth produced by the workers, but siphoned off by the bosses causing the wage slaves economic depression.


This frustration transcends all ethnic groups, even the formerly middle class whites are beginning to feel like nigguhs have felt for centuries. The whites are now jobless and homeless, the perennial state of many North American Africans. This is cause for symbiotic unity, for surely the day shall come when all of us realize we've all been hoodwinked and bamboozled by the ruling elite, political and economic. Surely we will desire a united front against the oppressors that no amount of demagoguery will prevent.


The general strike will be in order. In recent times, the people of North Africa and the Middle East have shown us that the unity of all sectors: workers, teachers, youth, and elders can bring about radical change that no amount of guns, secret police, agent provocateurs, snitches, helicopters, tanks, can subdue, especially once the fear factor is eliminated. We must realize the only thing to fear is fear itself! Knowing the moral arc of the universe is reason enough to understand the necessity of overcoming our fears to do the right thing: fight the power!


Once the ritual dance of life or death with the oppressor has been won, when fear is emilinated from the equation, the oppressed man and woman realizes a freedom that is astounding. A new man and woman has been born in an instant, only the day before he and she were part of a group, a nation of stunted men and women, backs broken by submission to wretched wage slavery, devoid of a living wage and the necessary benefits.


The people see the economic quagmire caused by pure greed of the capitalist swine, who have no intention to share the wealth, not anytime soon, unless forced to do so by the general strike.


The blood suckers must be broken by the solid will of the people. It took the people of Egypt 19 days to bring down the American running dog Mubarak. After 30 years of oppression, 19 days of fearless unity overthrew the tyrant. Libya is taking longer, Yemen as well. The Syrian butchers seem to have no intention of submitting to the will of the people. Bahrain is entrenched with a minority ruling a majority of people who have long suffered discrimination. It is in the national interest of America to support the anti-democratic regime. In nearby Saudi Arabia, they will be lucky if their revolution wins women the right to drive a car. Such backwardness is allowed because of oil.


And so the American revolution will have its own unique process, but its day of judgement is inevitable, unless she decides to share the wealth. As in North Africa and the Middle East, the rulers in America will hold out until the midnight hour. There may be blood and the suffering of many, but it will be a necessary cause to bring true economic equality to a land built on the accumulation of capital by slave labor, followed by the wealth from wage slavery.


The time has come for the producers of the wealth to enjoy the benefit of their labor under the sun. America had the chance to be the light of the world, but the greed of her rulers and their filthy capitalist system of free market exploitation must be eliminated. Change must be not what we believe in but what we know, to hell with change we can believe in. We must have radical change beyond belief. It must be change brought about by our own hands. As Dr. Romana Tascoe told us about the Haitians who informed her they know they got their liberation by their own hands, no body gave it to them, they didn't need a Lincoln to issue an emancipation proclamation. They got their liberation by the sweat and blood of their own hands.


The Second Civil War must correct past mistakes and injustices to all parties in the American dream. America may go the way of the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia, a Balkinizaton by ethnicity. This is the human right of self-determination and sovereignty of all people.

All options are open and up for discussion and consensus. The American people may be able to have a functional unity that at least gets us pass the rule of the blood suckers of the poor. And then we can decide what park of the American pie we desire for our centuries of free labor under the sun.


Hard thinking is in order, for this is no light matter. But we know a people united cannot be defeated. We can do better than the free market economy. What about a fair market economy, a just economy that allows people a living wage and makes them owners of the means of production. I like what the Communists told me when I went to read poetry at a Communist bookstore in San Francisco and asked for the boss. The laughed and said, "We don't have a boss, we killed the boss. That's what the revolution was about, to get rid of the boss."


We can own the means of production. We must seize them because they belong to us, the workers who produce the wealth that is stolen from us by the capitalist bosses who care nothing for American workers or any other workers around the world, only if they are cheap labor combined with cheap resources taken or seized by armies from the capitalist nations, who shall seize all resources needed for the engine of the rotten capitalist machine that grinds the poor into cannon fodder. There is no respect for the labor of the poor, in America or around the world.


Only when the workers stand up and discard their fears will change come, discard the fear of death, the fear of jail and prison, only then do we begin to live the life of true human beings.

--Marvin X

6/26/11

Muslim Unity Meeting and Reunion

Unity in the Community


Muslim Unity Meeting and Reunion: 1950-2011


Saturday, July 16, 11-5:00


Defermery (aka Bobby Hutton ) Park

18th and Adeline Street

West Oakland


information: Khalid 510-927-5055




Saturday, June 25, 2011

Journal of Pan African Studies on Skin Bleaching and Global White Supremacy


Editorial:Skin Bleaching and Global White Supremacy

Guest Editors
Yaba Amgborale Blay, PhD
Lafayette College
&
Christopher A.D. Charles, PhD
Monroe College

This Special Issue of the Journal of Pan African Studies focuses on the
practice of skin bleaching -- the intentional alteration of one’s natural skin color
to one relatively, if not substantially lighter in color, through the use of chemical
skin lightening agents -- as it manifests among people of African descent. Within
the context of global white supremacy, skin color communicates one’s position to
and within the dominant power structure.

Given this reality, many people, namely those subjected to white domination, colonization, and enslavement, have historically internalized projected notions that the basis of their inferior condition is their skin color. Although the contributors to this issue examine the phenomenon from a variety perspectives, all draw attention to the impact of global White supremacy on valuations of skin color and the extent to which skinbleaching, as a social practice, is functionary of white domination.

The introductory article, “Skin Bleaching and Global White Supremacy: By Way of Introduction” by guest editor, Yaba Amgborale Blay, critically examines the symbolic significance of whiteness, particularly for and among African people, by outlining the history of global White supremacy, both politically and ideologically, discussing its subsequent promulgation, and further investigating its relationship to the historical and contemporary skin bleaching phenomenon. The article provides a broader socio-historical context within which to situate the global practice of skin bleaching and thus provides a necessary framework for further realizing the critical significance of the articles presented in this issue.

Whereas the large majority of the discourse on skin bleaching focuses on
the practice as it occurs throughout the world, there exists a paucity of literature
on skin bleaching in the United States. With three articles examining the historical
legacy of the practice in early 20th century America, and one focusing on product
usage in contemporary Harlem, the current issue attempts to address this
significant gap in the literature.

In his article, “Skin Bleach And Civilization: The Racial Formation of Blackness in 1920s Harlem,” Jacob Dorman argues that for African Americans at the turn of the 20th century, skin bleaching represented much more than mere cosmetic practice. Examining historical archives,newspaper records, skin bleaching product advertisements, and the infamous and bitter wrangle between W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey, Dorman positions skin bleaching within the larger discourse of civilization and contends that the practice reflected ambiguous notions of racial progress and advancement.

Similarly, Amoaba Gooden’s examination the Black vanguard of news reporting
in her article “Visual Representations of Feminine Beauty in the Black Press:
1915-1950” highlights the extent to which the Black press, influenced by White
supremacy, patriarchy, and classism, assigned higher value to those ideals and
physical features associated with Whiteness than those associated with Blackness.

Given the frequent appearance of skin bleaching advertisements, and the extent to
which reporters attempted to reject degrading popular images of Black women
(e.g. the Mammy), Gooden argues that the Black press ultimately endorsed skin
bleaching as a means through which Black women in particular could attain not
only feminine beauty, but social respectability.

Like Gooden, Treva Lindsey also examines a number of skin bleaching advertisements, however, she focuses specifically on late 19th to early 20th century Washington D.C. and skin bleaching among Washingtonian women. Lindsey explores the relationship between White supremacy, skin bleaching, and New Negro womanhood, and in the final analysis of her article, “Black No More: Skin Bleaching and the Emergence of New Negro Womanhood Beauty Culture,” she connects skin bleaching to a politics of
appearance that intersected with White supremacist and gendered discourses
about urban Black modernity and social mobility; and asserts that African
American women of the time embraced a White constructed beauty culture as
means to an end – social, political, and economic freedom.

Moving the examination forward nearly 100 years, in his article, “The Derogatory Representations of the Skin-Bleaching Products Sold in Harlem,” coeditor
Christopher Charles analyzes the images used to market skin bleaching
products sold in contemporary Harlem in order to determine whether or not such
imagery is derogatory. Charles discovers that many of the underlying messages
inherent to the imagery displayed on skin bleaching labels today are identical to
those used decades ago in that they continue to exhibit hegemonic representations
of Whiteness versus Blackness.

In his estimation, it is this consistency and continuation that continues to push the sale of skin bleaching products in the United States. Margaret Hunter holds a similar position in her article “Buying Racial Capital: Skin Bleaching and Cosmetic Surgery in a Globalized World.” She argues that the increased incidence of transnational skin bleaching is a result of the merging of old ideologies (colonialism, race, and color) with new technologies of the body (skin bleaching and plastic surgery). In this way, as one attains light skin, s/he attains a form of racial capital – a resource drawn from the body that provides tangible benefits within the context of White supremacy.

The works of Donna Hope and Emphraim Gwaravanda both situate skin
bleaching within the specific cultural contexts within which it takes place,
Jamaica and Zimbabwe respectively. In her article, “From Browning to Cake
Soap: Popular Debates on Skin Bleaching in the Jamaican Dancehall,” Hope
examines skin bleaching through the lens of dancehall music culture which,
unlike the larger Jamaican society, contends that skin bleaching represents a mode
of fashion and style.

By examining dancehall artists, their public personas, and their lyricism about skin bleaching, and further situating skin bleaching within Jamaica’s historically three-tiered racialized society, Hope attempts to unpack conflicting cultural debates surrounding skin bleaching in Jamaica. With attention to skin bleaching in Zimbabwe, Gwaravanda relies upon Shona proverbs as an indigenous knowledge system through which to analyze the phenomenon.

Through the proverbs, he asserts that for the Shona people, intrinsic beauty is
valued above extrinsic beauty, dark skin is to be valued, and that one is to be
knowledgeable of his/her culture and identity. It is through these perspectives that
Gwaravanda challenges contemporary skin bleaching in Zimbabwe as a departure
from traditional Shona culture.

Commentary provided by African-centered psychologist, Daudi ya Azibo
concludes this special issue on skin bleaching and global White supremacy. In
“Skin Bleaching and Lightening as Psychological Misorientation Mental
Disorder,” Azibo argues that skin bleaching is consistent with the psychological
misorientation mental disorder articulated in the Azibo Nosology.

According to Azibo, living under White domination has severely traumatized people of African descent and has destabilized our ability to orient ourselves towards ourselves.Skin bleaching is thus regarded a reflective side effect of this psychological destabilization. By concluding with Dr. Azibo’s commentary, we hope to open and extend the discourse, spark debate, and inspire continued research into the
multiple dimensions for which skin bleaching has implications for people of
African descent.

Please go to: jpanafrican@yahoo.com

Friday, June 24, 2011

Message to Berkeley Juneteenth, Sunday, June 26, 2011

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Paramedic Alleges Oscar Grant Cover Up


Paramedic Whistleblower Alleges Oscar Grant Cover Up; Evidence of System-Wide Racism

by Phil Horne, Esq.
Monday Jun 20th, 2011 5:43 PM

Paramedic Sean Gillis, an instructor and supervisor at the Oakland Fire Department, filed suit on Friday, June 17th, 2011 against OFD. In his complaint, Gillis alleges OFD mistreated Oscar Grant in its response to Grant 9-1-1 calls on January 1st, 2009, destroyed evidence related to the mistreatment, ordered Gillis to stop his investigation of the call response, and is currently retaliating against Gillis for exposing same.

OAKLAND. Paramedic Sean Gillis, an instructor and supervisor at the Oakland Fire Department (OFD), filed suit on Friday, June 17th, 2011 against OFD. Alameda County Superior Court No. RG-11-581209. In his complaint, Gillis alleges OFD mistreated Oscar Grant in its response to Grant 9-1-1 calls on January 1st, 2009 and destroyed all evidence related to the mistreatment, ordered Gillis to stop his investigation of the call response, refused to comply with an order for a call review by former OFD Medical Director Dr. Michael Howard, MD, forced Howard to quit by withholding his paychecks, and is currently retaliating against Gillis.

OSCAR GRANT. On January 1st, 2009, OFD responded to the BART police shooting of Oscar Grant—an unarmed BART passenger. The shooting became a focus of community direct action during 2009 and 2010 and just recently when the shooter was released after serving a brief prison sentence.

OVERLOOKED. Overlooked until now is OFD’s role in Grant’s death. According to Gillis, OFD mistreated Grant, and that mistreatment is so egregious that it should be criminally investigated.

WOUND UNTREATED. Grant had been shot at pointblank range. The bullet made both entry and exit chest wounds. OFD Emergency Medical Services Division (EMS) first responding paramedics applied an air-tight treatment only to the entry wound—leaving the exit chest wound open to air. According to Gillis’ complaint, this misconduct is a ‘death sentence.’ Grant died from his wounds 5 ½ hours later.

SCUTTLED INVESTIGATION. On January 6th, 2009, Gillis launched an investigation and requested the coroner’s report to assess whether paramedic misconduct contributed to Grant’s death. On January 10th, 2009, OFD issued a written order to Gillis to stop the investigation and to refrain from reporting his findings to anyone—even the Grant family or law enforcement. The written order is attached to Gillis’ complaint.

EVIDENCE DESTROYED. About this time, according to Gillis, OFD destroyed all paper records related to the Grant response and the computer archive of Grant’s Patient Care Report.

DR. MICHAELS. OFD’s Medical Director, Dr. Howard Michaels, MD, ordered a call review. Even though, at the time, Michaels was the highest medical authority at OFD, the EMS Division ignored his order. Gillis alleges OFD retaliated against Dr. Michaels by interfering with his paychecks until Dr. Michaels finally left in September 2010. Dr. Michaels left OFD owed over six (6) months’ pay. When he finally left, Dr. Michaels turned to Gillis and warned, “You’re next.”

RETALIATION AGAINST GILLIS. Dr. Michaels was right. According to Gillis, OFD launched a retaliatory campaign of harassment and retaliation that included moving Gillis’ office from Jack London Square to a small trailer in the middle of a parking lot in a remote area of Oakland, eliminating his lunch break, taking his mailbox and city car access, weekly bullying sessions and monthly performance reviews, and demoting and suspending Gillis.

PUBLIC RECORDS ACTION. Gillis made a Public Records Act request for the Grant file and staff meeting audio tapes with racist and inappropriate statements about Oscar Grant. According to Gillis, OFD refuses to confirm or deny the destruction of the Grant file and, at first, falsely denied the existence of the recordings. Gillis filed suit under the Public Records Act in Alameda County Superior Court (No. RG-11-576250). Said suit is available for download by clinking the PUBLIC RECORDS ACT LINK on justiceforseanatoaklandfire [at] googlegroups.com .

SYSTEM-WIDE RACISM. Gillis alleges the mistreatment of Grant is an example of system-wide discrimination against people of color.

HISTORY. In the year 2000, in a television special on OFD, entitled “Test of Courage,” the discriminatory practices (against black people and women) of Oakland Fire were investigated by PBS. PBS showed that OFD historically tolerated discrimination, believing employment practices favoring males from “certain families” was based in sound science. OFD’s historical perspective was described as:

"Many firefighters [] come from families with several generations of white men in the fire service. Recruitment, training, and leadership have helped to honor and preserve lineages that [allegedly] favor bigger, stronger fire fighters."

Though the statement is not attributed to any particular personnel, Mark Hoffman worked closely with the reporter and is believed to be the source of that information. OFD promoted Hoffman after the special aired and Hoffman is Chief (interim) today.

MEASURE Y. Gillis alleges that evidence of the bigotry at OFD can be found in OFD’s failure and refusal to comply with Measure Y—a special tax fund created to support “at risk youth mentoring.” Measure Y requires OFD to create and maintain one “at risk youth” mentoring program in each of its 15 fire stations. OFD collects $4,000,000.00 in Measure Y money every year but fails to create or maintain any “at risk youth” mentoring programs—not one of the 15 required.

MERRITT COLLEGE. Gillis alleges that, instead of implementing programs that help “at risk youth,” OFD is dismantling such programs. OFD forced Gillis to quit his directorship of historically-black Merritt College’s EMT program, in part, to accommodate the competing program of National College of Technical Instruction (NCTI)—a for-profit college based in Colorado with a historically white student body. OFD now provides NCTI the access to OFD facilities and classrooms Merritt College formerly enjoyed. This means that NCTI students will be the only Bay Area students with “real world” OFD experience on their resume and be much more likely to receive OFD jobs and promotions, once hired, and, in this way, OFD will perpetuate historical discrimination against black job applicants and employees.

DIRECT ACTION. Gillis invites the public and his co-workers at OFD and throughout the City to become involved in the effort to bring accountability to OFD for misconduct against Grant AND to use his action to highlight racism, sexism, privatization, and corruption throughout the City of Oakland. “Now is the time for change,” says Gillis.

DEMAND INVESTIGATION. Demand District Attorney Nancy O’Malley launch a criminal investigation of OFD misconduct against Grant and willful destruction of evidence by calling: (510) 272-6222 .

INDY NEWS. Watch for independent press interviews on KPFA radio and independent newspapers throughout the Bay Area, community meetings, and direct action against O’Malley, Mayor Jean Quan (who promised to “clean house”), the City Council, and OFD.

Contact: justiceforseanatoaklandfire [at] gmail.com

Media Blackout of Crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant


US orders news blackout over crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant: report
June 18, 2011
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A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska.

According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted in a fire causing the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) to issue a “no-fly ban” over the area.

Located about 20 minutes outside downtown Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant is owned by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) who on their website denies their plant is at a “Level 4” emergency by stating: “This terminology is not accurate, and is not how emergencies at nuclear power plants are classified.”

Russian atomic scientists in this FAAE report, however, say that this OPPD statement is an “outright falsehood” as all nuclear plants in the world operate under the guidelines of the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) which clearly states the “events” occurring at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant do, indeed, put it in the “Level 4” emergency category of an “accident with local consequences” thus making this one of the worst nuclear accidents in US history.
Though this report confirms independent readings in the United States of “negligible release of nuclear gasses” related to this accident it warns that by the Obama regimes censoring of this event for “political purposes” it risks a “serious blowback” from the American public should they gain knowledge of this being hidden from them.

Interesting to note about this event was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chief, Gregory B. Jaczko, blasting the Obama regime just days before the near meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant by declaring that “the policy of not enforcing most fire code violations at dozens of nuclear plants is “unacceptable” and has tied the hands of NRC inspectors.”

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Parable of the Black Bourgeoisie



Parable of the Black Bourgeoisie

The economic and political dependence of this African neo-colonial bourgeoisie is reflected in its culture of apenmanship and parrotry enforced on a restive population through police boots, barbed wire, a gowned clergy and judiciary; their ideas are spread by a corpus of state intellectuals, the academic and journalistic laureates of the neo-colonial establishment.
--Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Decolonizing the Mind

The black bourgeoisie is a class of very sick people who go about their daily round pretending all is well. They have a gang of police who do not carry guns but are yet dangerous because they use masking tape to gag and silence the mouths of any and all who dare defy their sick value system of addiction to white supremacy that is full blown.

The culture police will silence or simply ignore those who refuse to speak the language of the black bourgeoisie, a language taught to them in the neo-colonial schools, churches, mosques and workplaces.

This class of trained monkeys includes artists, teachers, preachers, politicians and media parrots who make sure those who defy the culture police are punished by silence or ignored by non-invitation to their world of make believe.

They are not interviewed in the media, or invited to speak or teach at schools, colleges and universities, unless at their own expense. They may sometimes be invited and paid, but the culture police make sure no students are there to hear them, so they speak in an empty auditorium, even though they are paid handsomely. The black bourgeoisie don't care how much they are paid, just don't let students hear what they have to say. The culture police will actually speak after they speak and admit they have nothing to say, that they are rambling on to neutralize the atmosphere, to negate any raw truth that may have been said.

The black bourgeoisie culture police place those who defy them on house arrest, similar to the woman in Burma, for those who resist are not allowed to work, unless they agree to sing Silent Night, the national anthem.

One cannot say the A word, B word, C word, D word, E word or F word. In short, one must shut up and go along with the "King's English," of course the King was a pervert, oppressor, exploiter, robber and rapist, so who in their right mind would want to speak the "King's English"?

Rather than teach the masses in their own language, the "Mother tongue," how to behave, how to stop beating their partners, how to love themselves, the black bourgeoisie would rather the common people beat, maim, and kill their mates. Even when the masses or common people fight and steal the literature in their "Mother-tongue," the black bourgeoisie don't care, for they cannot allow them to speak in their language, they must be stopped by any means necessary.

And yet, the "King's English" and the language of the black bourgeoisie is filled with lies, duplicity and contradictions. Their language hides truth, especially of their sick, pitiful lives, terror in their mansions, in bed, hours of drunkenness and drug abuse, lechery and depravity, the golden handcuffs, incest, adultery, prostitution , emotional and verbal abuse--yes, in their moment of passion the black bourgeoisie actually use so-called foul language, yes, the very language they despise and condemn in the common people and those who speak or write in such language.

And still they walk with an air of superiority. They cannot speak or greet you on the street. There are perpetually in a rush or in a hurry going nowhere but to some din of iniquity where they wink and blink to increase their inordinancy and conspicuous consumption.

Their pseudo puritan language covers a multitude of sins and wickedness. Smiling faces belie the terror of their lives, for are they not sycophants of the worse kind, ass kissers in short, for some boss, some high class pimp in a suite, far above the street.

And yet, the black bourgeoisie are only one paycheck away from the street people who drink rot gut wine and push shopping carts, but at least they love each other with a love that is true and real!

Baraka said, "Where the soul's print should be there is only a cellulose pouch of disgusting habits." They suffer negritis, an inflammation of the negroid gland at the base of the brain, caused by negrocities or bad habits!

The black bourgeoisie were told long ago by E. Franklin Frazier about their world of make believe and conspicuous consumption. Nothing has changed, except there is more of the same.
--Marvin X
3/30/10
www.parablesandfablesofmarvinx.blogspot.com

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

How to Recover from the addiction to White Supremacy



Baseball star Sammy Sousa after
bleaching cream white supremacy treatment.

See the latest issue of the
Journal of Pan African Studies on the bleaching cream pandemic in Pan Africa.





Third Traditions Foundation

"How to Recover From the Addiction to White Supremacy"

In this work, Marvin X lays down the blueprint for freedom from internalized racism and uses the twelve steps. He debunks the chief component of powerlessness and correctly states "we are not powerless over anything… nothing has power over you except when you allow it to have such."

Much like Dr. Carter G. Woodson's "Miseducation of the Negro" Marvin begins by defining white supremacy in that recovery groups miss-educate blacks to accept injustice as part of the process but as Marvin details here:

"For it is one thing to detox and recover, We have found in drug recovery that many persons will recover, but go no further in their consciousness. Thus, they have a new addiction called recovery; one could say it is their religion since it now consumes their entire lives, which consist of attending meetings. They are most often negative and see no need to become social activist, even though Dr. Fanon and Dr. Hare tell us the only way to regain their mental equilibrium is by joining the movement of their people.”

Chapter five has a very frank, compelling Truth and Reconciliation admission that tempts one to rush to judgment. Purchase the book just to read that one chapter, it's well worth it!

Angela R. Jenkins
Third Traditions Foundation
Furthering Cultural Aptitude
http://www.thirdtraditionsfoundation.org/

How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy is out of print but will be reprinted ASAP.

Obama







A fictional speech by President Obama on Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan










Good evening, my fellow Americans. You some silly motherfuckers. Do you think I'm gonna bring a bunch of troops home from Afghanistan when my generals tell me they can make a few more billion dollars if we keep the troop level up. I'm not gonna do that, hell naw. As long as my name is Barack Hussein Obama. Yes, who sane Obama, but you insane if you think the thirty thousand troops I sent over there to kill those mountain goats are coming home anytime soon.


Oh, I might bring home two or three thousand, mostly the wounded with their brains shot out, those with no legs, no arms, we'll send them home, but you know it takes 30 thousand to capture or kill 100 to 500 Al Quida, yes, do the math, 30 thousand men at the cost of one million dollars each--now we don't pay them damn fool grunts no million dollars, but the generals get most of it for their retirement and when they come home to set up defense related corporations. You know the drill, don't you? You know politics and capitalism is dirty, filthy and funky like a ghetto ho. Hee hee hee. vote for me, I'll set you free!


You know we gotta take care of our generals, since they protect us round the world so you dumb somebitches can ride around in your SUVs, playing soccer mom and your husbands can ride through the ghetto at night picking up little black girls for prostitution. Now if you fuck with my little girls, I'm coming after that ass like I did that boy, our boy, Osama bin Laden.


Yes, I got that motherfucker. Hell, it was close to election time so I had to do something. Shot that motherfucker between the eyes and had my boys fuck his three wives fore we got outta Pakistan.


Back to Afghanistan. It is ten billion dollars a month to chase them mountain goats up and down them fuckin mountains, some ten thousand feet to twelve thousand feet up. But we makin progress so we can't leave now. Too much money involved and too much dope. Karzai and his brother is dealing too much dope and it's too good to cut and run now, except for a little drawn down fore election time, hee hee hee. Vote for me, I'll set you free, you dumb motherfuckers, especially my nigguhs.


How ma nigguhs doing in da hood? Ya'll still got yo shirt on, pants? I know you ain't got no job, ain't got no house, but you know I had to help my boys on Wall Street. I ain't stupid now, hell, I'm a Harvard nigguh, my nigguhs. Gotta help my brotherhood of thieves and robbers. If ya'll stop going to prison and come to Harvard, we'll show you how to be real criminals.


And they lettin all nigguhs and poor people into Harvard for free, what's wrong wit ya nigguhs? Get yo ass out dem prison cells and come to Harvard so you can be trained to be a real criminal. Look, we ain't gonnna keep payin no $200,000 a year to keep you little snotty nose motherfuckers in juvenile hall. We go put you in Harvard. I'll talk to my man Skip Gates bout giving you a little black studies, none of dat radical shit, some miller lite shit, but I want you to major in crime, how to rob motherfuckers in broad daylight, cheat people out da homes, jobs, take everything, don't leave a motherfucker nothing. Take his wife too. Hee hee hee, vote for me, I'll set ya free!


Back to Afghanistan. I told them mountain goats if they lay down their arms I will pay for them to go to school, get them housing and get them jobs. But them motherfuckers too dumb, can't count to ten. They can fight like hell when they wanna, but they don't want no schoolin, remind me of you nigguhs in da hood. But they worse than you nigguhs, these mountain goats won't even let the women go to school, lease you boyz in da hood ain't dat stupid. Vote fa me, I'll set ya free.


Now you boyz and girls in da hood might wonder why I don't give you motherfuckers jobs if you lay down yo guns and stop terrorizing you mama, daddy, grandpa and grandma, yo woman and babies, yes, you nigguhs is killing yo babies too--sometimes ya'll bad as them mountain goats bombing everything with they good suicide asses. Talkin bout they go get some virgins in Paradise. Do the women get dicks in Paradise? Hee, hee hee. Vote fa me, I'll set ya free!!!!


Let me finish this bullshit speech up so I can hit my cigarette, maybe a little one on one too. Mechelle make me go to a special little room she fixed up for me in the White House to do my thang. You know how them bitches is, always wanna fix up some shit fa a man. Bitch, I'm the motherfuckin Prez, bitch! Better leave me the fuck alone and take care of dem guls and yo mama.


Back to Afghanistan. We go bring home two or three thousand troops and don't fuck with me about it. Matter of fact, kiss my black yellow ass, especially you Republicans and that Cornel West bitch! American people, good night. Prosperity is just around the corner, soon a chicken in every pot. Hee hee hee. Vote for me, I'll set you free!

--Marvin X



6/23/11


Marvin X is known variously as Plato, Rumi, Mark Twain, the Sludgehammer, human earthquake. He's written thirty books, eight last year. jmarvinx@yahoo.com













Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Unity Under Stress














Toward Unity of North American Africans
15. Unity in Stress and Death


In stress and death, all classes of North American Africans are united, with the upper classes suffering more stress, perhaps, because they must be concerned with keeping the little they have. We have seen black millionaires suffer the same discrimination faced by blacks when they are watched while shopping. Black nurses come to us with horror stories of job discrimination. A black professor recently told how her colleagues suffer high blood pressure. An aide to a state senator reached a settlement for sexual harassment. Her boss had been relentless in pursuit of her tail, causing her great stress and discomfort.

Do we need to find out if our President is under stress? For sure, the boyz and girls in the hood are stressed to the point of using violence as a tension reliever, to say nothing of staying medicated on street drugs to keep from blowing a fuse. When street drugs are not available, prescription drugs will work. Our poor children suffer stress from possible homicide and/or suicide. Many of them are in trauma and grief from losing so many of their peers to violence and prison.

Elders who make it to sixty and seventy years old must often travel solo because so many of their friends have departed, including their mates. Many marriages were stress filled from the greater society. Again, the need for medication from illegal and/or legal drugs, few can afford therapy and even if they could, there are few mental health workers to serve them, especially with holistic African healing certification as opposed to useless European psychotherapy for black minds.

All classes escape to religiosity until church politics drive them from the Lord's house, especially when it's all about the preacher and his needs, leaving little mention of the Lord. Even the New Thought Spiritual Centers are degenerating into dens of iniquity under the guise of prosperity consciousness and unbridled sexuality.

Of course our diet is an ever present danger to our health, for it is designed to rush us to the doctor, although all classes have such fears of the medical profession that even those well healed blacks often do not take advantage of their health insurance. We knew a professional woman who only went to the dentist because he was her friend. She never bothered to see the doctor, supposedly because he wasn't her friend and she had fears of medical treatment.

In short, all blacks live in a hostile environment. A man escaped the ghetto to live in the Oakland hills, but when he thought he heard a burglar and called the police, they treated him as though he was the burglar, so traumatizing him that he left his wife in the house in the hills and returned to stay in the ghetto.

We suspect the stress of the hostile environment is the reason we lost several black women professors at the University of California, June Jordan, Barbara Christian, Veve Clark, Sherley A. Williams. Sherley long complained of her hostile work environment at UC San Diego. Dr. William H. Grier had his son inform me that indeed what killed Sherley was the hostile environment, not cancer and asthma.

Riding on the bus through the ghetto, there are usually conversations on three topics: who's sick, who died and who's in prison or just got out. The brothers go to prison so often that a girlfriend was heard saying, "He lives in prison, that's his home. When he's out here he's on vacation!"

Women are under great stress with so many of their mates incarcerated. With the economy in meltdown, men and women are getting desperate with each passing day, plotting criminal activity with no real thought and planning, thus they are quickly apprehended and join the line to the department of corrections where they suddenly become a valuable commodity, worth fifty to sixty thousand dollars per inmate per year.

Imagine the stress of jail and prison, with overcrowding, sexual abuse, gang violence, lack of privacy, loneliness, loss of human dignity. The only advantage is that black men and women now have the chance to think, study and write for the first time in their lives. But upon their release there is little opportunity to stay straight since they now have a record and often lack any formal education and skills since many had dropped out of school in boredom with the white supremacy curriculum and hostile, overworked and exhausted teachers who themselves rarely receive a salary worth their time and education.

The hostile environment is intensified by the slave catchers, otherwise known as police. They are an ever present danger to all classes who may be stopped for driving, walking, talking, or thinking while black. They are in constant danger of failing the tone test: when stopped the person can be killed, arrested or released based on the tone of his voice.

The arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates is testament the police, when it comes to blacks, do not discriminate. We just learned of a man who won a lawsuit against a hotel in Washington, DC because he took refuge in a hotel during a storm but because of his dress the hotel called the police to throw him out. The police gave him a choice, either go to a shelter or go to jail, he chose a shelter.

There is thus nothing post in the traumatic stress syndrome we suffer, it is ever present on a daily basis until the last rites are administered, though even in the coffin stress can reach us. Gang youth came to a funeral and shot into the corpse to make sure the deceased was truly dead. At another funeral there was a shooting inside the church causing a poor church mother to go home where she suffered a heart attack. An estranged church going wife was shot dead by her stressed husband in the church parking lot with the Bible in her hand.

When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at 39 years old, the medical report said his body had the stress of a 60 year old man.

And so it is, we live under intense pressure, all of us, no matter what class, unless we are determined to enter the no stress zone where we are not moved by things of this world that are pure illusion and mainly of little importance now or in the future. Most certainly, we are not to worry about things of the past.
--Marvin X
12/14/10

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Do I Have A Choice



Do I Have A Choice?






When fathers have done it all



what is left but something right



by children and former wives



who love you



in spite of it all



you know they love you



they would have you back again



if you would submit



but you won't



in a thousand years



hard headed as you are



recalcitrant



incorrigible



but they would have you



a special guy



in spite of negrocities



improprieties of the worse kind



the beatings



neglect



abandonment



other women



yet they were there for you



raised children for you



while you went insane



wouldn't see the doctor



in your arrogance



and now time has caught you in his hands



what remains but do the right thang



you had the dope



women in the night



money that went to hell



what now



in the final quarter



to laugh to cry to scream



silent in your room



listen to the rustle of leaves in the breeze



calling you home, brother



come home



come to your self



final vision of who you are



the real you nobody knows.






And now the grandchildren



what for them have you



a special kindness of guilt and shame



a love unconditional



making up past mistakes



seeing how precious they are in your sight



wondering why they look like you



challenge you to be a better man



if you can.



--Marvin X



6/19/11