Saturday, April 5, 2014

Senator Vincent Hughes on Breaking the silence on mental wellness

If you are having trouble viewing this email, click here.April 3, 2014
State Senator Vincent Hughes: On the Issues
Senator HughesAn informational update for you!

This publication is your opportunity to receive regular updates on the work and the issues that I have been involved with, both in Harrisburg and throughout our community.
Please visit my website, where you will find a comprehensive overview of our work, various phone numbers and contact information to assist you in solving problems, opportunities to volunteer and assist us in our programs and opportunities to give your feedback.

FREE CONFERENCE: BREAKING THE SILENCE ON MENTAL WELLNESS

Breaking the Silence

FRIDAY, APRIL 4TH & SATURDAY, APRIL 5TH
STARTS AT 8AM


Temple University School of Medicine
3500 North Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19140
TWO FULL DAYS ** OVER 100 WORKSHOPS ** EMPLOYMENT SERVICES ** LICENSED PROFESSIONALS ON-SITE ** COMPLETELY FREE *** CEU CREDITS
FIND OUT MORE: www.senatorhughes.com/bts or call 215.879.7777
Sens. Costa, Wiley, Hughes, Smith, Teplitz
Click here to watch
IN THE NEWS
Breaking the Silence: Free mental health symposium at Temple
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist | Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Even if her fashion line was in deep financial trouble, to the outside world it seemed that L'Wren Scott had everything: a personal estate worth $9 million, a rock-star boyfriend, fame.

But who knows what demons Mick Jagger's girlfriend struggled with before hanging herself with a black silk scarf on a doorknob inside her posh New York City apartment last month? In hindsight, you'd think someone - Jagger maybe - would have sensed just how despondent Scott had become.

"She didn't just wake up that day and say, 'I'm going to kill myself,' " said Marcella Daniels, an organizer of a free mental-health conference that starts Friday called "Breaking the Silence on Mental Wellness: Real Talk. Real Help. Real Solutions."
Is exercise one of the missing links to mental wellness?
April 2, 2014 | Philly.com
The positive effects of working out extend far beyond the gym. As you might have guessed, physicians, researchers and mental-health practitioners have long discovered the positive relationship between exercise and mental health.
More than a decade ago, researchers at Duke University released a groundbreaking study demonstrating that 30 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week is just as effective as drug therapy in relieving the symptoms of major depression in the short term, and also that continued exercise reduces the chances of the depression returning.
PA Senator Vincent Hughes Makes Mental Health a Priority
Mar 12, 2014 | By Tonya Pendleton | BlackAmericaWeb.com
Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes is known by Philadelphians as a hands-on legislator with an active community agenda. As part of that agenda, the West Philadelphia native has been a major part of raising awareness for HIV/AIDS along with his wife, actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and for sponsoring events that deal with finances and assistance for the elderly.
Hughes is also very passionate about mental health. This year, he will hold his fifth mental health symposium, ‘Breaking The Silence’ at Temple University’s medical school on April 4th and 5th. Here’s why Hughes feels that mental health is particularly important in the African-American community. » Continue Reading


You can find out more specifics about the Breaking the Silence: A Summit on Mental Wellness and provide your feedback on my website at senatorhughes.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter (@SenatorHughes).

Offices of State Senator Vincent Hughes

 DISTRICT OFFICE
4950 Parkside Avenue | Suite 300
Philadelphia, PA 19131
Phone: 215.879.7777
Fax: 215.879.7778
HARRISBURG OFFICE
Senate Box 203007
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3007
Phone: 717.787.7112
Fax: 717.772.0579
 

John Coltrane My Favorite Things (1961) [Full album]

In a sentimental mood - Duke Ellington and John Coltrane

Jimmy Smith - The Jumpin' Blues

You Send Me - Jimmy McGriff & Hank Crawford Quartet

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Memorial Service for Judge Henry Ramsey, Jr., Saturday, May 3, 1-3pm, Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley






















MEMORIAL SERVICE TO CELEBRATE THE LIFE OFF JUDGE HENRY RAMSEY, JR SATURDAY MAY 3, 2014, 1-3 PM WHEELER AUDITORIUM  UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, CA

Reception for reflections will be held at the California Memorial Football Stadium, University of California, Berkeley immediately following the ceremony

IN LIEU OF FLOWERS PLEASE DONATE TO THE JUDGE’S FAVORITE CHARITY

Restorative  Justice  For  Oakland  Youth  (RJOY) interrupts  cycles  of  violence  and incarceration by promoting restorative justice policy and practices in Oakland’s schools and juvenile justice system. With an emphasis  on repairing harm and inviting all  affected to jointly figure out how to do so, restorative justice gives equal attention to community safety, victim’s needs, and offender accountability and growth. Most recently, at a continuation high school in West Oakland for youth in the juvenile justice system, violence and suspension rates have fallen dramatically, graduation rates and test scores are on the rise, and the school has garnered national attention for its stories of transformation. The Oakland Unified School District adopted restorative justice as official policy in 2010. www.rjoyoakland.org

The  Center  for  Youth  Development  Through  Law  (CYDL) provides  life  changing experiences  to  high  school  students  from  low-income  backgroungs  through  a  summer internship  and  education  program,  educational  mentoring,  and  after-school  program. Building on the students’ passion, intelligence and interest in law and social justice, these programs foster academic and pratical skills, interpersonal competence, self-confidence and high  aspirations.  More  than 92% of  the  students  go on  to  attend  institutions  of  higher education. After participating in the Center’s summer program, one student remarked, “ It was like I was drowning for so long, and this program finally threw me a rope!”                    www.youthlawworks.org

The  Young  Women’s  Saturday  Program  (YWSP),  founded  in  2011,  serves  as  an enhancement to Alameda County Girls  Court.  YWSP,  also know as The Alameda County Young Women’s Empowerment Program, mainly serves girls in Alameda County who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and those at-risk for such exploitation who are on probation.  The  12-week  program,  which  focuses  on  trauma  recovery....


Henry Ramsey Jr., Legal Scholar, Former Howard Law Dean, Dies at 80


by AFRO Staff


Henry Ramsey Jr. was involved in every facet of the law in his 30-plus year career. He started as a deputy district attorney, moved into private practice, was elevated to judge, taught law and served as dean at the Howard University Law School.

When he died after suffering a stroke March 14, acquaintances said the world lost a brilliant legal mind. He took over as dean at Howard’s law school in 1990, an imposing figure in a field of impressive legal minds.
“He wore bow ties all the time,” said Orlan Johnson, an intellectual properties lawyer and former Howard Law School professor who lives in Bowie, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C.. “He reminded you of someone in academia. He had a very professorial intellect. You never saw him not looking the part of being an academician.”
Johnson said prior to becoming Dean of the Law School, Ramsey had no connection to Howard, but was hired because of his strong credentials.
“He had no connection to the law school,” Johnson said. “He was one of the deans who quote unquote didn’t have a Howard background. He was part of the legacy of outside people coming in to take leadership positions. Whenever you go outside the family, things can get tough, but he was well respected in what he brought.”
Among Ramsey’s priorities was improving the law school’s bar passage rate.
“He brought a lot of structure and discipline, as well as a high level of focus on academics,” Johnson said. “He believed in the Howard tradition of being a civil engineer, but he also felt that should be coupled with strong academic achievement.”
Ramsey came to Howard after an illustrious career. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, Riverside in 1960 and his law degree from the University of California’s Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law.
His first job was in the Contra Costa County District’s Attorney’s Office, one of the first African Americans to be hired as a prosecutor there.
After a few years, he moved into private law, focusing on civil and criminal matters, according to his LinkedIn page. From 1981 until 1990, he served as a judge with the Alameda County Superior Court. During the same time, he worked as a law professor at Berkeley. He became dean at Howard in 1990 and retired in 1995.
Besides working in the law, Ramsey served on the Berkeley City Council from 1973 to 1977, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown told the newspaper that he and Ramsey worked together on several cases representing “those who couldn't get representation, like the Black Panthers.” Brown remembered Ramsey as being “forceful” and someone who “caused everyone to be conscious of their own conduct.”
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte told the Chronicle that she remembers Ramsey as a "warrior for justice and fairness and equality in our court system.”
Charles Ramsey, one of Ramsey’s six children, president of the West Contra Costa Unified School District board, said his father taught his children to give back.
"My dad always said, 'You'll be measured as a man not by what you did for yourself, but what you do for others,'" he told the San Francisco newspaper.
Ramsey died Friday at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center after having a stroke at his home.
He is survived by his second wife, Eleanor, and six children.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

No Jobs, No Education, No Housing, except for terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan

 I am not to be fooled by the blood suckers of the poor. Tell me how can America offer the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan three items if they lay down their arms and pledge allegiance to the constitution of their nations: jobs, housing and education, yet this same offer is  not offered to the boyz and girls in the hoods of America. If you can stop the violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, why do you not offer the same solution to the boyz and girls in the hoods in Chicago, NYC, Philly, Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco.

You do not offer jobs, housing and education in the hood because you have found a better method of containment, jail and prison, at $50,000 to $60,000 per inmate per year. And let us not speak of juveniles at $250.000.00 per inmate per year. We have visited the juvenile in detention and they have told us that they cannot get out until they can be placed in a family.

 Marvin X and the Sheriff of San Francisco who himself has suffered the addiction to the patriarchal mythology. Marvin X has liberated men and women with his 18 page pamphlet Mythology of Pussy and Dick. Once you get past the title, you will see Marvin X is about the liberation of men and women.
Young people fight over his Mythology of Pussy and Dick as if it were gold! They steal it from each other and refuse to give it back! Elders do the same, coast to coast, from Oakland to Philly!




Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Black Arts Movement and the United Front as taught by Amiri Baraka



Marvin X and Black Power Baby 2.0 Fred Hampton, Jr.

Marvin X says it is time to pass the baton to the next generation and let them do as they please. We shall guide them when and only when they ask for guidance! If they make mistakes, so what, didn't we make mistakes? Let us be there to lift them up and wash them off so they can continue until the revolution is won! 

When my grandson was three years old, as we were walking down to Oakland's Lake Merritt, out of the blue he said to me, 
"Grandpa, you can't save the world but I can!"





Top students of Marvin X's Academy of da Corner, Aries Jordan and Toya Williams
both students published their own books under the guidance of Master Teacher Marvin X
at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland

Dr. Julia Hare, the female Malcolm X
see her on Tavis Smiley's State of the Black World on Youtube.com


Marvin X is in tune with the revolution in Syria, especially since his son Abdul El Muhajir ( Darrel P. Jackmon) won a Fulbright to study at the University of Damascus, Syria RIP! He graduated in Arabic and Middle Eastern literature, University of California, Berkeley, with graduate work at Harvard U.


Amiri Baraka and Marvin X share a happy moment at the Baraka house in Newark, New Jersey
I shall not name all the friends in my life, but Amiri Baraka was a brother like no other! Nobody helped me more than Amiri Baraka. This is the simple truth!--Marvin X/El Muhajir





Marvin X speaking at the last rites of his friend Amiri Baraka
As-Salaam Alaikum, Imamu Amiri Baraka

 Marvin X in Harlem, New York,Jan. 2044,  a reception in his honor hosted by Rashidah Ishmaili, Revolutionary Scholar/activist. Rashidah completed the New York University event organized by AB.

 AB performing with the living legend Henry Grimes. Marvin X performed with HG at the tribute for Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka, New York University, Feb 4, 2014.


Marvin X was highly honored to read with bassist Henry Grimes at the NYU tribute to AB.  Performing with Henry Grimes was like performing with God! Only thing, I was so busy reading my work I could not fully enjoy the mystical music of Henry beside me. But I felt him in my jugular vain









 Zena Allen, Black Arts Baby 2.0 accompanied Marvin X with his Again the Kora Poems

 Tarika Lewis, violinist, artist/activist, first female member of the Black Panther Party

 Earl Davis, Black Arts Movement trumpet master, member of Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre,1966, San Francisco,  performed with Sun Ra's Arkestra, look at his hat!
 Ginny Lim, Asian poet filled with the Black Art's Movement Holy Ghost, accompanied by drummer,
BAM baby 2.0

Aries Jordan, Black Arts Movement baby 2.0, 
a student at Marvin X's Academy of da Corner,
Has published two books while mentored by Master Teacher Marvin X









Let me know if you are down with the 27 City tour AB laid out in this discussion of Drugs, Art and Revolution at Sista's Place in Brooklyn, as they discussed Marvin X's play One Day in the Life, a play about the drugs and the Black liberation movement, including his last encounter with Black Panther Huey P. Newton in a West Oakland Crack house. Marvin X also told of his relationship with Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver during those crack years. Woody King produced the Ed Bullins version of Marvin X's last encounter with Huey and Eldridge, Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam.

As per AB, It is not about a big venue but even a little store front will do to spead the BAM message of truth and beauty.

We can do the BAM tour in the Black Churches across America, at least they own their own space. So we shall connect with the progressive preachers and spread truth and beauty as AB taught us.

Let us be clear about the united front AB taught us about. We must first unite with each other, yes, the Pan African community, then we can unite with others, progressive whites, Chicanos, Asians, Native Americans, Gays, Lesbians, et al

As per uniting with each other, let us come together with all segments of our society, teachers, preachers, politicians, judges, pimps, hustlers, whores, pimps, dope dealers. Once we come together, the struggle is over, the battle is won. Somebody better say Amen, Ache, Amin, Hotep!

Yes, once the black woman and man unite, alas, for the benefit of the children, and themselves, the struggle is over, freedom has arrived, and so let us unite as AB told us to do, connect the united front on all levels, family, community, nation. And there it is, a united nation of people, connecting with all other ethnic groups who seek sovereginty as well. Ishmael Reed says it was the Black Arts Movement that taught us to seek cultural sovereignty and all other ethnic groups followed suit.




Monday, March 31, 2014

Black Bird Press News & Review: 1 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

Black Bird Press News & Review: 1 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion





A Day in the Life is a Marvin X play performed circa 1996 at Sista's Place in Brooklyn, NY. One evening a panel discussion followed an excerpt of the play. The panel was entitled Drugs, Art and Revolution. Panelists included Sonia Sanchez, Mrs. Amina Baraka, Mr. Amiri Baraka, Sam Anderson, Elombe Brathe, Omowale Clay and Marvin X. In this discussion, Amiri Baraka laid out his idea of the 27 City tour for the Black Arts Movement. Marvin X has decided to produce the BAM 27 City Tour--with your help!

6 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

8 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

7 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

5 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

5 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

4 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

3 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

2 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

1 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion

Black Bird Press News & Review: Navigating the perilous mental landscape

Black Bird Press News & Review: Navigating the perilous mental landscape



Watch the zombie in the car ahead of you. He may be sleep walking or sleep talking or texting or having sex--his blinker says left turn or right turn, but the light changes and the car doesn't move, just sits still on the green light, until you finally blow your horn, then, slowing, the car turns and heads down the street. You wonder what is going on and the answer is nothing, it is a zombie car with a zombie driver. Whatever you do, be courteous, don't be rude, don't go into road rage for the zombie may pull a weapon, after all, the zombie is a danger to himself and others, so be careful, don't add fuel to the fire. This is how we must navigate the perilous mental landscape in the last days of the devil's world. Jesus told you this is only the beginning of sorrows, there shall be pestilence, drought, famine, earthquakes in diverse places, mudslides, tsunamis, planes disappearing from the sky, jails and prisons full of those suffering poverty, drug addiction and mental illness. The global bandits, the blood suckers of the poor, suffer no jail or prison time. They pay a simple fine then continue in their inordinacy, as the Qur'an says. They are the zombie too, so smart they outsmart themselves, thinking their wickedness shall last forever, they have enough guns and a monkey mind media that perpetuates the world of make believe that the deaf, dumb and blind inhabit as they make their daily round in the big yard, suffering their myriad addictions and afflictions and conspicuous consumption. --Marvin X

Tuesday, April 1, Marvin X speaks on KPOO Radio, 89.5FM, www.kpoo.com, 4pm-6pm, PDT,

For the People is produced and hosted by Safi wa Nairobi (safi@kpoo.com).



Tune in Tuesday, the 1st April 2014, to KPOO Radio, 89.5FM, San Francisco (www.kpoo.com), 4pm - 6pm, PDT, For the People.  During the first half of the show, hear music about fools and foolishness, in recogntion of April Fool’s Day.  In the second half of the show, we continue to highlight the Black Arts Movement Conference which took place earlier this year at UC Merced (www.ucmercedbamconference2014.com/‎), with the opening keynote address by conference co-producer, Marvin X (http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/2012/08/bio-of-marvin-x.html).  Activist Genny Lim, who presented at the Black Arts Movement Conference, will be in-studio to talk about the upcoming SF Jazz Poetry Festival (www.sfjazz.org).  Lady Bianca (www.ladybianca.com), talks about her latest project and upcoming CD release.  Also, folk from the Sugar Pie Team join us to talk about the forthcoming documentary on Sugar Pie DeSanto.  And Giorgia Ori will be in-studio to discuss her documentary about KPOO Radio (www.kpoo.com).  Hear that and more, Tuesday the 1st April 2014, on 89.5FM, KPOO Radio, San Francisco, For the People, 4pm - 6pm, PDT.  For the People is produced and hosted by Safi wa Nairobi (safi@kpoo.com).

Friday, March 28, 2014

Elder Marvin X needs volunteers, young and old, to help organize the 27 City Black Arts Movement Tour





On May 29, 2014, Marvin X will turn 70 years old. No matter how youthful he looks, he has lived many lifetimes fighting oppression, jailed, exiled, "white" listed, virtual house arrest, yet he has persisted to be one of the most prolific writers in America and the world, some 30 books penned. He has organized Black Men (Oakland Auditorium, 1981), Melvin Black Human Rights Conference to Stop the Police Killing of Black Men (Oakland Auditorium, 1979), Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness (San Francisco State University, 2001), Tenderloin Black Radical Book Fair (San Francisco, 2004), Black Arts Movement Conference, University of California, Merced, 2014, et al.

To make the 27 City Black Arts Movement a success, Marvin X needs your assistance, young and old. Rats need not apply, only the sincere are needed. As Ancestor Amiri Baraka taught us, the Black Arts Movement is about beauty and truth. It is about a radical restructuring of society, and this begins with the cultural revolution, the uprooting of reactionary consciousness replaced with revolutionary consciousness--the total restructuring of society, not nit picking or cherry picking, but out with the old and in with the new. Somebody say Ase!

Our mission is to address all sectors of society, men, women, youth, children, seniors. Only when all sectors are involved can revolution be successful. We know this from a study of the North American African revolution and all other revolutions throughout the world.

Amiri Baraka talked constantly and endlessly about a united front of all progressive groups. We are in that tradition. The cultural revolution will benefit all because it will bring in the new and cast out the old into the dustbin of history.

If truth be told, all ethnic groups benefited from the Black Arts Movement. All have acknowledged this,
Native Americans, Asians, Latinos, Women, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender.

If you hear this message, let me hear from you at the earliest, again, young and old.

Love you madly, in the name of the Black Arts Movement's cultural revolution.

Thanks to all of you who have said you are Down with the BAM revolution! We must say this: the cultural revolution involves detoxing and recovering from the addiction to White Supremacy as prescribed in Dr. M's manual How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy. Please note that Dr. Nathan Hare said in his foreword to this manual, North American Africans suffer from Addiction to White Supremacy type II, i.e., self hatred.



Marvin X, Producer
Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
510-200-4164
jmarvinx@yahoo.com