Marvin X on Tour, 2014

Marvin X on Tour 2014

January

Amiri Baraka Memorial, Newark, NJ

February-March

Harlem reception for Marvin X at home of Rashidah Ishmaili

Marvin X at New York University tribute for Jayne Cortez and Amiri Baraka

Fresno City College Black History Lecture

Hinton Community Center, Fresno CA lecture/reading/conversation

Black Arts Movement Conference, University of California, Merced (co-producer with Kim McMillan)

April

Marvin X at Mumia Abu Jamal's 60th Birthday celebration, Philadelphia PA

May

17th

Malcolm X Jazz Festival, Oakland: Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra

20th

Marvin X will MC tribute to Amiri Baraka at Eastside Arts Center, 23rd and International, Oakland

June

14th
Juneteenth Festival, Hinton Center, Fresno CA

15th

Juneteenth, Berkeley CA

20th

Seattle WA reading and book signing TBA

For booking nationwide, call 510-200-4164

Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise (+playlist)

Sun Ra Arkestra - Face the Music / Space is the Place

Who is Sun Ra? Meet a Jazz Angel.

Sun Ra Interview (Helsinki, 1971)

Space is the place - Sun RA

Space is the place - Sun RA

Photo Essay :The Black Arts Movement 50 Years On, University of California, Merced, Feb 28 thru March 2, 2014

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 50 YEARS ON

I'd originally wanted to go to the U.C. Merced conference on the Black Arts Movement because it was one in a series of events that were to lead up to Amiri Baraka's 80th birthday. When news of his death came in January, I wanted even more to attend, and reconfigured my paper a bit to start at the beginnings of Baraka's long discography of recordings with musicians, with further installments to follow (including at the ICA in London next month). At Merced, I was part of a panel titled "Word, Sound and Power," with papers by Geoffrey Jacques on Langston Hughes's The Panther and the Lash and Anna Everett on teaching Black film and other media of the era. And let's face it, I'd go anywhere to see Juan Felipe Herrerra with a banjo.

Another attraction was the chance to meet up with so many old friends, and to make new ones. In the audience at our panel I discovered somebody who had been a student at Federal City College in the same years I was there.  

We all owe a deep debt of gratitude to Kim McMillon, President of the African Diaspora Student Association, and her many colleagues and students who pulled off such a vibrant weekend, starting pretty much from scratch.

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra. Eastside Arts has pledged $1,000.00 for the 27 City BAM tour. Mr. and Mrs. Ovis Collins pledge $1,000.00; Pamela Young-King pledges $1,000.00. If you support the BAM Tour, submit your name and pledge amount. Call

510-200-4164; email jmarvinx@yahoo.com

The Malcolm X Jazz Festival presents Marvin X and the BAM poet's choir & Arkestra, May 17, Oakland

Marvin X and Black Arts Movement's father of music, Sun Ra, who called his band the Arkestra.

The Malcolm X Jazz Festival is proud to announce the lineup for this year's festival will present Howard Wiley, Faye Carol, The Last Poets and Marvin X with the Black Arts Movement Poet's choir and Arkestra, including percussionist Tacuma King, violinist Tarika Lewis, Zena Allen on Kora. Poets include Ayodele Nzinga, Aries Jordan, Ginny Lim and Juan Felipe Herrera, et al.

This year's event is in honor of Black Arts Movement founder Amiri Baraka. Sponsored by Eastside Arts Cultural Center, the date is Saturday, May 17, Noon until 6pm. and San Antonio Park, Foothill and East 19th Street, Oakland. Free event.

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra. Eastside Arts has pledged $1,000.00 for the 27 City BAM tour. Mr. and Mrs. Ovis Collins pledge $1,000.00; Pamela Young-King pledges $1,000.00. If you support the BAM Tour, submit your name and pledge amount. Call

510-200-4164; email jmarvinx@yahoo.com

First USA Statue of Liberty was a Black Woman

 

 

The first Statue of Liberty given to the US by France was a Black woman that the US turned down so France replaced that one with the version currently in New York harbor. This Black Lady Liberty also made by France is found on the Island of St. Martin. 

French historian Edouard de Laboulaye, chairman of the French Anti-Slavery Society, together with sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, proposed to... the French government that the people of France should present the United States – through the American Abolitionist Society – the gift of a Statue of Liberty in recognition of the Black soldiers who won the Civil War in the United States, earning themselves their freedom. It was widely known then that it was Black soldiers who played the pivotal role in winning the war, and this gift was supposed to be a tribute to their prowess.

When the statue was presented to the U.S. Minister to France in 1884, it was rejected on the notion that the dominant view of the broken shackles would be offensive to a defeated U.S. South, who despised their former captives and would not want to be faced with a constant reminder of Blacks winning their freedom.

Artists for Ras Baraka

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Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X in Philly for Mumia Abu's 60th Birthday--We love you, Mumia, Ona Move!

Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X in Philly for Mumia Abu's 60th Birthday--We love you, Mumia, Ona Move!

Marvin X 70 poem

Down in da country
down by da grape vine
got ma wine and ma woman
and I'm doin just fine

got love in da country
got honest people too
got love in da country
honest people too

Ain't like in da city
ain't no city blue

Got good food in da country
fill ya up real nice
Got good food in da country
fill ya up real nice

food, wine and woman
nigguh doin just right
down in da country
might spend da night

hear da birds in da mornin'
just fo da break of day
hear da birds in da morning
just fo da break of day

dat's why I love da country
like to hear what da birds
got ta say!
dat's why I love da country
like to hear what da birds
got ta say

birds up early in da mornin'
tryin ta make dey way
up early in da mornin'
tryin ta make dey way.

wish somebody would hear me
wish somebody say hey!

Just a country boy
escaping city life
just a country boy
escaping city life

wanna have some fun
plus I'm lookin fa a wife.

Come here country girl
you so nice so sweet
come here country girl
you so nice so sweet

just like a plum
nice enough ta eat.

--Marvin X
4/12/14

Long live revolutionary black nationalism! Long live Marcus Garvey.

One God, One Aim One Destiny
Africa for Africans
Those at home
those abroad
Up you mighty people
you can accomplish what you will
Look for me in the whirlwind
I shall be there to comfort you
rest on my shoulders when tired
I urge you forward
waving the red, black and green
for the blood
for the people
for the land

Get organized!
the world is moving against all unorganized people!

Blacks: Bibliophiles or Bibliophobes? by Alton H. Maddox, Jr

 

Freedom Party

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Alton h. Maddox, jr.                                                     Tel.: (917) 947-8994

Director                                                                                            Fax : (917) 947-8996

                                                                                                            1061  Atlantic Avenue

                                                                                                            Brooklyn, NY 11238

 

 

                                                                         

 

Blacks:  Bibliophiles or Bibliophobes? ©

By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

 

            I knew that Mother Kefa and Bro. Bill were on to something.  Attendance at "Third World" was beyond my reach, however.  I was overwhelmed with pro bono cases.  The courtroom is a battlefield.  Preparation in a "war room" is the key to surviving a battle.  Anyone who represents a Black defendant must not only possess legal courage but also military competence.  Most Black defendants leave the battlefield as "prisoners of war".

 

            Very few Blacks, with law licenses, are capable of effectively defending Black defendants. White racists are on the same plane. The master-slave relationship stands in the way.  It continued after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. The master-slave relationship militated against the need for a "code of ethics". 

 

            The "Central Park 7" is an example.  Only four Black attorneys filed notices of appearances for three defendants. All other attorneys who had been admitted to practice law in New York were MIA.  A "slave" is always MIA.  This is a slave habit. These lawyers are proficient, "after the fact", in describing crime scenes.  "Ambulance chasers" only do "civil" work for a cut of the "loot".

 

            Years ago, I was told that if you want to hide matters from Negroes, put it in a book. If I put valuable books in my car in Harlem, I could keep the car unlocked.  For ten years, no one ever touched my car in Harlem.  Books are also safe on a plantation.  The master-slave relationship had instructed us that books would drive us crazy or destroy our brains.  This instruction was better than censorship.

 

            Afterwards, I started to practice law in Brooklyn Heights.  I needed to be near a law library which was beyond my pay scale.   A law library is like a military depot at Harper's Ferry.  John Brown knew where to go before engaging in military warfare. Whites had financed Brown's military adventure.

 

            Trial by combat has the same requirements.  There are several "legal" depots in Brooklyn Heights.  The rent is expensive, however.  I had to make this sacrifice for all Blacks.  Allegedly, white thieves had a different take on my car and my books in Brooklyn Heights in 1984.   They stole all of my valuables including books, batteries and an expensive camera.  I had acquired a bad habit in Harlem.

 

            Any Black lawyer who intends to be battle with white supremacy will also establish major law firms and political parties.  These are necessary instruments of war.  There is not a single, Black, major law firm in New York City or a single Black-led and Black-financed political party in New York State.  Blacks would rather "run for the tall grass".  A "mom and pop" operation will never defeat white supremacy.

 

            The first stage for the development of either a major law firm or an independent, political party is a "code of ethics".  Blacks must be accountable to each other.  This is the necessary glue for building relationships.  There are very few xenophobes in the Black community.  Most Blacks are xenophiles.  These xenophiles elevate the rights of "immigrants" or the rights of "gays" for example, over their own "citizenship" rights.  Xenophiles have "infested" the Democratic Party.

 

            Our revered ancestors came from a "gerontocracy".  Their wisdom is now contained in countless books.  Most Blacks are unable to communicate with their spirits.  This means that we not only have to read printed materials but also study them intensely and critically.  We buy these books but they end up on bookshelves collecting dust.  See, for example, Dr. Amos Wilson's Blueprint for Black Power.  Slaves are opposed to the exercise of power or any organized effort to secure power.

 

           

4/10/14

Free Russell Maroon Shoatz

Like Mumia Abu Jamal, Russell Maroon Shoatz is a USA political prisoner. Let us liberate all the captives in the Babylon dungeons. We call for a general amnesty for all political prisoners in the USA. We want the same for the 2.4 million who committed crimes while drug addicted and mentally ill, i.e., the dual diagnosed, most of whom are poor as well as non-violent. They are not dangerous to society--alas, society is dangerous to them! Free Russell Maroon Shoatz!
--Marvin X

Russell Maroon Shoatz, Jr. and Marvin X in Philly at Atiola's

Russell Maroon Shoatz <freemaroonshoatz@gmail.com>

MAROON UPDATE:

Rising like a Phoenix from the Ashes

April 7, 2014

Greetings Maroon Supporters,

Thank you again for your steadfast support to the international
movement to free Russell Maroon Shoatz.  His transfer from 22 years of
solitary confinement into general population was the result of a
coordinated strategy by Scientific Soul Sessions (SSS) and the
Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoatz on artistic/cultural,
political, and legal fronts that were championed by the power of the
people.  It is a historic people's victory.  This is especially
significant since the U.S. government is determined to break the
spirit of political prisoners through confinement, silencing, and
torture.

Here is an update on Maroon's transition into general population at
SCI Graterford, Pennsylvania's largest maximum-security prison:

It has been five weeks since his transfer.  Every week he gains his
humanity back, as he learns how to live without shackles on his hands
and feet, breathe fresh air for the first time in months, and
carefully re-teach himself how to redistribute his weight in order to
walk up and down stairs again. He is acclimating to his new
surroundings and becoming familiar with how prison authorities
regulate his life in general population.

Upon his transfer, Maroon was introduced to a new set of rules and
regulations, some of which were specific to him.  Without a doubt, the
prison authorities are keeping a very sharp eye on him, his movement,
and his communications.

SCI Graterford confines up to 3,500 prisoners.  They are holding
Maroon in the newest wing where prisoners are completely broken.  They
have lost all self-respect and dignity.  They have been broken by the
prison system and living out of fear and desperation.  Upon entering
his new cell, fellow prisoners surrounded and begged Maroon for food.
This is unimaginable to Maroon since any sign of weakness makes you
vulnerable to manipulation by both prison authorities and prisoners.

Along with the breaking of prisoners' spirit, this is also a result of
the privatization of prisons as they cut corners to make profit.  The
prisoners are not getting fed enough during mealtimes so they are
desperate for food.  Most don't have the outside support and cannot
afford to buy food and drink from the commissary.  As a result, the
spirit of the prisoners is so low and defeated that Maroon spends most
of his time alone in his cell reading, writing, and studying.

Maroon is gaining clarity on the trauma caused by long-term solitary
confinement.  He understands more concretely how prolonged solitary
confinement has been specifically designed and used to target and
destroy prisoners who display political leadership or abilities to
organize prisoners (i.e. political and politicized prisoners).  He is
barely beginning to recognize all the psychological and bodily harm it
has done to him over the past decades.  Despite the fact that Maroon
is one of the stronger prisoners, it is clear that 22 years of
solitary confinement has done severe damage to him.  One can only
fathom how much of a toll solitary confinement takes on prisoners that
are not as strong-willed as Maroon.

Overall, Maroon is in a better situation than he has been in over 22
years. However, we have serious concerns for his safety.  Anyone of
those broken prisoners could be manipulated to cause him bodily harm.
Likewise, prison authorities could find arbitrary reasons to throw
Maroon back into solitary confinement.  Our work to protect him is
just beginning.

We will keep you - his ardent supporters - regularly updated on
Maroon's progress and with his campaign as we transition into a new
phase demanding a full release from prison.

Russell Maroon Shoatz is an innocent man who has suffered tremendously
under the duress of state torture.  He needs the kind of
rehabilitation that prison may have once promised, but clearly can't
and won't give him.  His cruel punishment - 22 years of continuous
solitary confinement and torture - has well exceeded his original
sentence.

It is time to free Russell Maroon Shoatz!

FREE MAROON!

Scientific Soul Sessions | www.scientificsoulsessions.com
NYC Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoatz
International Campaign to Free Russell Maroon Shoatz


--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org

Questions and comments may be sent to claude@freedomarchives.org

West Oakland icon, Jackson Royster, joins ancestors

Academy of da Corner professors Marvin X, Jackson Royster and Lumukonda

I should have known something was wrong when a brother on the bus said, "Have you heard about Jackson?" I replied, "What about Jackson?" and he just looked at me so I went to a seat. The next day while at my Academy of da Corner, 14 and Broadway, downtown Oakland, another brother informed me Jackson had passed away two weeks ago and was to be cremated. No memorial service is planned. Of course this is unacceptable to me so we will give the brother a memorial service, after all, Jackson was a fixture in West Oakland. Few people knew he was a graphic artist since he never stressed the point, rather, when you ran into him or he ran into you, he was always have some archival information to give you, a copy of the Oakland Tribune regarding an event long ago, usually during the heyday of West Oakland's glory. I was utterly shocked when Jackson presented me with an article about my father's florist shop. The article, published in the 1950s, told how my dad had taken a competitor to court for peddling flowers too close to Dad's florist shop on Seventh Street.

Jackson was forever coming up with materials he'd found, usually by researching the Oakland Public library history section. Yes, Jackson was walking, talking history. I'd gone to his mother's funeral to discover his mother was a poet and his aunt a scholar and principal at McClymonds, the School of Champions, as Jackson would always remind us. He loved telling the glorious history of McClymonds, the athletes who went there, Bill Russel, Jim Hadnot, Jim Hines, Charles Aikins, Beamon, the Pointer brothers, John Handy, and so many others. I didn't go to Mack but I did attend Lowell Jr. High, the feeder school to Mack. At Lowell I was on the basketball team with Joe Ellis, who later played for the SF Warriors. Jackson knew all this history and much, much more. He will be missed. Thank you, Jackson, for coming this way!

We suspect his archives went into the trash. Since we never saw his collection, we only have an idea how much material he had on the history of Oakland, especially West Oakland. Academy of da Corner and the Community Archives Project lost this time. One of my academy students, Aries Jordan, suggested some time ago that we should go kick in Jackson's door just to see how he was living, what his needs were, did he have any food, was his house clean, etc.? We never made it to his house.

A memorial service will be held soon, probably at the Senior Center where he loved to eat. 

--Marvin X

Academy of da Corner,

Community Archives Project

510-200-4164