Angela Davis and Sonia Sanchez, A revolutionary conversation at Oakland Merriott

On Saturday, May 24, 2014, a rare conversation took place at Oakland's Merriott Hotel between two revolutionary divas, Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis, hosted by Sara Lomax-Reese, owner  of WURD, a Philadelphia Black talk radio station. The conversation was entitled Embracing Our Culture Coast-to-Coast. Angela is an Oakland resident, Sonia lives in Philadelphia, but the three thousand miles difference in space and time, was not a factor in the conversation as the veteran revolutionary fighters shared their past in the struggle for Black liberation. Both ladies are from Birmingham, Alabama, both suffered the wretched conditions of the dirty south, their parents were among those North American Africans who were attracted by the Communist party. Angela said it was members of the Communist party who help lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement. Sonia said her father allowed the Black Communists to meet at his speakeasy. But when her family moved to New York, her dad tried to keep her from being involved in the Black Thang. Sonia became a member of CORE or the Congress of Racial Equality, essentially, she became an integrationist until she heard Malcolm X speak. He told her one day she would change her views. And she did, after which CORE members didn't want to her anything she had to say since it was prefaced with, "Brother Malcolm X said...."

 Two revolutionary Black women who have helped change our world: 

Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis

 Sonia, Angela and Kim McMillan, producer (with Marvin X) of the UC Merced conference on the Black Arts Movement, 2014

 Sonia, Lakiba Pittman, Kim McMillan, Marvin X

Long-time revolutionary comrades: Angela Davis, Marvin X and Sonia Sanchez

Angela left Birmingham, attended school in New York, then went to study in Europe. When she heard about the birth of the Black Panthers in Oakland, she wanted to be there. Eventually she came back to the US but landed in southern California where she attempted to teach at UCLA, 1969, but was removed on orders of Gov. Ronald Reagan, who also had Marvin X removed from lecturing at Fresno State University. Recently, Angela returned to teach at UCLA and Sonia returned to a NYC  university that had removed her. Marvin X wonders if he will come full circle and return to lecture at Fresno State University. He's getting close, during February, he was invited to speak at Fresno City College.

The ladies spoke on there role in the liberation struggle. Angela told of getting strength from knowing the struggle wasn't about her but her community, than her individuality. No, she said, I was not prepared to be on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. How could I prepare for this? 

While teaching in Black Studies at San Francisco State College/now University, Sonia had a visit from the FBI for teaching such authors as W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Wright, and other "banned" authors, black listed or "white listed" by the US Government.  She repeatedly asked the FBI agent who could she possibly teach Black Studies and not mention the banned Black authors? Her poetry became more political after Amiri Baraka, aka LeRoi Jones, sent a letter to all Black artists urging them to establish the Black Arts Movement. Sonia wrote the proposal to fund Baraka's Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem until the women artists were forced out of the theatre at gunpoint by two psychopathic brothers who couldn't stand "smart Black B's," she said. In spite of funds cut off, the Black Arts Movement became nationwide, working in tandem with the political movement. On the West Coast, it was Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre, cofounded with playwright Ed Bullins. Sonia participated at the Black House, a political/cultural center established by Marvin X, Ed Bullins, Eldridge Cleaver and Ethna Wyatt. 

Host Sara Lomax-Reese asked the women how do they view our present condition. Sonia said we are in worse condition than fifty years ago with the high incarceration rate, school drop out rate and the persistent dire economic condition. And she was happy to see a Black President, even if he is a puppet for capitalism and slavery around the world. Angela agreed. She was happy too when Obama was elected but the struggle continues. He has shown us what is possible but we must continue to press him on our agenda items. 

Marvin X and WURL owner Sara Lomax-Reese

photo Johnnie Burrell

The event ended with a book signing and reception. Marvin X spoke with host Sara Lomax-Reese about sponsoring the 27 city tour of the Black Arts Movement. Sara told Marvin X don't think about coming to Philadelphia with the BAM tour without WURL being a sponsor!

Marvin X embracing his long-time friend and revolutionary comrade Sonia Sanchez. "I don't know why you didn't marry Sonia Sanchez thirty years ago, Marvin X!"--Amiri Baraka
photo Johnnie Burrell

 Ta'ala nasrob bismillahi! (Come let's drink in the name of Allah)

The staff of WURL was shocked to see Marvin X since rumors were spread of his demise in February.

A local brother informed WURL staffers that he sees Marvin X at the gym every morning, so he is still very much alive. The staffers and Marvin X had to toast that he is still alive. Marvin said I have been pronounced dead three times this year, in February condolences were sent to my family. It April, rumors spread that I was killed in a car accident in east Oakland. Facebook said I was killed in west Oakland in a car accident. A friend suggested Marvin X has  indeed transcended from Marvin X to Plato Negro El Muhajir. Are not his multiple and simultaneous deaths an example of quantum physics!

Marvin X told Sister Lomax-Reese he liked her idea of bringing people from Philly to Oakland. We can use this model for the 27 city tour. We can do as you have done and rather than go to each city, we can invite people to attend our BAM concerts and workshops in Oakland. He again thanked Sister Lomax-Reese for producing his daughter's discussion of Black Power Babies in Philly and the conversation between Angela and Sonia in Oakland. 

--Marvin X

More on Dr. Molefi Asante as Afro-Centric Nigguh

In a recent conversation with Dr. Tony Monteiro, he informed me Dr. Asante was not from Philadelphia but came from Georgia. I then quoted an ancestor known in Cali as Billy from Philly, "That nigguh is dumber than the dumbest mule ever let out of Georgia."--Marvin X

Hi Colleagues:

Dr. Asante, last night, released an even longer set of attacks on Dr. Monteiro than he did last week, this time targeting especially Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report. Dr. Asante refused to consider any of the positions aired in the letter written by Dr. Johanna Fernandez (Baruch Colege/CUNY), and Dr. Mark Lewis Taylor (Princeton Theological Seminary). Another response will be forthcoming. In the meantime, we feel it important to recirculate this statement. It still stands, and we will not let this defense of Dr. Monteiro be forgotten. The letter below is in the hands of all the major administrators at Temple University, and we have good reason to know it is having an impact. Hence, Dr. Asante's desperation.

Consider this response letter, again, please, and continue your support, and help us fund the ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Stay strong, everyone.

A Response to Dr. Molefi Kete Asante’s Charges against
Dr. Anthony Monteiro

By the Drafters of the Educators’ Call to Reinstate Monteiro

In recent radio and Facebook denunciations, Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, descends to new levels of desperation in his attempt to defend Temple University’s “dismissal” of Dr. Anthony Monteiro after his ten years of distinguished service to its African American Studies Department.

Displaying an utter absence of ethical propriety, Asante publicly attacks Dr. Monteiro, his colleague of 10 years in the Department, with libelous caricatures of Dr. Monteiro as a “charlatan,” a “low-level purveyor of Marxism and anti-African ideas,” and more. Further, Dr. Asante flagrantly demeans distinguished national scholars Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, because they dared support Dr. Monteiro. Of their participation in a public gathering, Asante writes that they were merely “doing their Leftist duties” and, worse, he writes, “they were duped.” Dr. Asante then proceeds to excoriate white undergraduates involved in recent protests as a “cadre of white leftists,” who seek “to use the Monteiro issue to hijack the African American agenda.”

Dr. Asante’s brazen demonization of student protesters and his deployment of these racially divisive attacks are morally bankrupt and incompatible with his ethical responsibilities as chair of an African American Studies unit at a University. These claims have been effectively countered in a statement by leaders of the Philadelphia Monteiro movement.

Further, Dr. Asante’s use of a naked and anachronistic anticommunism to justify baseless attacks on Dr. Monteiro's integrity as a scholar and a teacher pose a dangerous threat to academic integrity and academic freedom. Dr. Asante’s statements against Dr. Monteiro are especially disconcerting because they reveal a deep seated, prejudicial contempt that has been longstanding. With his recent public statement, Dr. Asante inadvertently reveals that he used the power of his office as Department Chair to fire Dr. Monteiro for nothing other than political animus.

Together with previous, well-publicized charges of plagiarism and abuse of authority against him, Dr. Asante’s unethical conduct make him unfit to make decisions about faculty or lead an academic department. His pattern of unethical conduct brings disrespect upon his Department and Temple University.

Dr. Asante goes on to deride the entire national campaign’s “Call for Dr. Monteiro,” and its 250 signatories from across the nation, as having also been duped, and condemns Dr. Monteiro’s campaign as “slavishly selfish, self-indulgent and pathetic.” Will Dr. Asante next move to attack the Call’s headliners by name? These would be Angela Y. Davis, Gary Y. Okihiro, Gerald Horne, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Joy A. James, Joe Feagin, Howard Winant, Chris Hedges, Charles L. Blockson, James H. Cone, Lewis R. Gordon, Vijay Prashad, V. P. Franklin and Farah Jasmine Griffin.

Beyond name-calling, Dr. Asante gives no attention to the careful arguments made in the educators’ Call, which point to this dismissal as being a “retaliatory firing.” These are arguments that have not been seriously engaged by Dr. Asante.

The Call for Dr. Monteiro was publicized after carefully vetting it for accuracy with those who know the situation at Temple University, from both student and faculty perspectives. When drafting the Call, there were others who spoke with us only on condition that they remain anonymous, fearing retaliatory action from the Department Chair or other administrators.

Dr. Asante’s apparent role in the de facto firing of his colleague is especially offensive given that Dr. Monteiro helped support Dr. Asante’s appointment as Chair following a crisis of governance in the Department just last year.

Dr. Asante justifies the firing by repeatedly stating that it was simply time for Monteiro’s one-year contract to end. He downplays the fact that Monteiro’s contract was renewed multiple times over the course of 10 years, signaling the Department’s deep level of trust and respect for his teaching and scholarship over the years.

Dr. Asante also tries to justify the firing by waving away Dr. Monteiro’s status as a Du Bois scholar - even writing, “he is not a Du Boisian scholar.” He rages as if those of us who drafted and signed the Call for Dr. Monteiro have no basis for highlighting Dr. Monteiro’s distinguished record in Du Bois studies. We simply invite him to look at the record. Dr. Monteiro has multiple essays on Du Bois, in peer-reviewed journals, in academic books, and in other venues, too. He has a major manuscript in preparation on Du Bois. He has been the driving force for the annual symposia and lectures held at Temple University on Du Bois, drawing scholars of distinction to the lectures and symposia from Princeton, Drexel, UPENN, Brown and many other schools. His doctoral seminars on Du Bois are regularly attended by students of various fields of study. He was asked by UPENN to bestow upon Du Bois the Emeritus Professorship in Africana Studies and Sociology at UPENN.

Moreover, Dr. Asante seems not to know what it means for a scholar like Dr. Monteiro to work in the legacy of Du Bois. Du Bois wrote and organized against deadly mixes of racism and class repression, as these weigh heavily upon diverse groups (black and white, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chinese, and more) and especially upon women of color. Contrastingly, the narrow Afrocentric traditions of scholarship which Dr. Asante represents have been less effective in displaying the integral relations between Du Bois’ blend of Pan-African, socialist and women’s concerns. Dr. Monteiro addresses these relations in his teaching and scholarship, advocating for all – in Du Bois’ language, for all the “darker nations” and for any who suffer the “anarchy of empire.”

It is time for Dr. Asante to cease posing as the deserving well-published scholar over and against Dr. Monteiro, whom he describes as the undeserving “elevated adjunct”/”charlatan.” Dr. Asante needs to remember that he, along with many of the tenured and celebrated university professors of this country, has been protected in his position, especially when he was most vulnerable. Even when three separate faculty committees at Temple University found sufficient evidence for a university tribunal to weigh Dr. Asante’s “grave misconduct” of plagiarism and misuse of a female colleague’s work in his publications – it was only a single Temple administrator, President Liacouras, in 1996, who protected him from the dire consequences of such a negative judgment by colleagues (The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 14, 1996).

Dr. Monteiro deserves protection, but for something far better and more exemplary: his reputable and distinguished service for over a decade at Temple. Dr. Monteiro warrants that for which our Call has argued, what distinguished scholars world-wide have affirmed, and what scores of leading scholars recognize – namely, his reinstatement to the Department of African American studies.

Dr. Johanna Fernandez, Baruch College/CUNY, History Department and Black and Latino/a Studies*

Dr. Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary, Religion & Society Committee, and Theology Department*

*Institutions listed for identification purposes only.

SUNSET SERVICE FOR REVOLUTIONARY ELOMBE BRATH

WE KNOW THE SOUL OF REVOLUTIONARY ELOMBE BRATH JOINED HIS COMRADES FROM AROUND THE WORLD WHO ENGAGED IN REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE, WHO SACRIFICED MIND, BODY AND SOUL TO THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM.LONG LIVE THE SPIRIT OF MY COMRADE ELOMBE BRATH!
--MARVIN X

FUNERAL SERVICES FOR BRO. ELOMBE BRATH TO BE HELD ON
SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2014  IN HARLEM, NEW YORK  @ 10:00 AM

THE ABYSSINIAN BAPTISH CHURCH
132 ODELL CLARK PLACE
(138 St. between Malcolm X Blvd. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Beloved Revolutionary Elombe Brath Joins The Ancestors"                                                         By Herb Boyd

By Herb Boyd

On the very day his friends and comrades were celebrating the birthday of Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz), Elombe Brath was joining his fellow revolutionary on the other side of our struggle. Brath, 77, made his transition on Monday, May 19 at the Amsterdam Nursing Home, according to his son, Cinque.

Brath had been at the nursing home for several years after a series of strokes limited his ability to function in the capacity that had made him a legendary freedom fighter of international acclaim.

While our struggle for total liberation could have continued to use his wise counsel and unwavering commitment to civil and human rights, his legacy was established years ago. His Pan-African and Black Nationalist credentials were impeccable, and his devotion to African liberation was sealed with the founding of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, over which he presided with eloquence and peerless determination.

Last May, a tribute to Brath in Harlem recounted his impressive resume of activism; a proclamation touched on a few of the accomplishments of his extraordinarily productive life. It highlighted his outspoken and courageous voice for the world’s oppressed communities and his intelligent grasp of the ideas and philosophies of Marcus Garvey and Carlos Cooks.

He was cited for his empowering message of Black consciousness and the creation, with his brother, Kwame and others, of AJASS (African Jazz-Arts Society and Studios) and the Grandassa Models, which popularized the concept “Black is beautiful.”

Many remember when Nelson Mandela appeared in Harlem in 1990 and how significantly involved Brath was in that historic moment. There was no better image than that of him standing on the podium, side by side with Madiba.

Born Sept. 30, 1936, in Brooklyn, Brath came of age in Harlem and in Hunt’s Point, on Kelly Street. He spent some of his early years in the Bronx and attended Morris High School, where Colin Powell was among his classmates. From the various ethnic groups, newsreels and family discussions he observed, he began the journey of world discovery, and from his father he inherited invaluable artistic gifts, some of which were visually displayed during his tenure with ABC’s “Like It Is.”

From out of a cauldron of racism, cultural enlightenment and, particularly, the music of such jazz greats as John Coltrane and Miles Davis and the literary genius of Amiri Baraka and others, Brath shaped his own social and political matrix that would take him directly back to his African roots. He was still a teenager when he began to develop a comprehensive understanding of oppression and white supremacy and some strategies and tactics to minimize their deleterious effects on his people.

“We were a group of jazz lovers, artists and activists who began producing jazz concerts featuring some of the greats of jazz who happened to be passing through town,” his brother, Kwame Brathwaite, recalled. “This was back in 1956, and with Elombe at the forefront, we were influenced by Carlos Cooks and the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement. And we were deeply indebted to Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, who inspired us with their art and political commitment.”

The impressions shared at his 77th birthday salute and the subsequent tribute are just as meaningful now that his spirit lingers with us. Acclaimed artist Ademola Olugebefola, one of the founders of the Dwyer Cultural Center, provided further artistic and political context for those intense waves of Black consciousness in the ’60s. “What Elombe and Kwame and others in their organization set in motion was a number of artistic and political associations, including Weusi,” he said. “Even this cultural center springs from those visionaries, and it’s taken us 20 years to put this center in place. And where you are sitting is the result of what Elombe and Kwame started years ago.”

“You have to understand that Elombe and Kwame and the people around them were about self-respect and self-determination,” said Dr. Leonard Jeffries. He summoned icons of the Haitian Revolution, the likes of Dessalines and Christophe, who should stand as inspiration for young people today as they continue the quest that Brath and his brother had envisioned. “Elombe was always about family, always about the health and welfare of the African family, and that is something we must honor as we honor him.”

Renowned poet George Edward Tait has often expressed his love and appreciation for Brath, and did so elegantly at the tribute. “Brooklyn & Bronx brainchild answering the be-bop beat of a Barbados Birdcall/Hipstrutting to Harlem homebase and headquarters/Student of streetspeaker seminars and stepladder symposiums/Becoming soldierstar of study and struggle/Becoming revolutionary renaissance revivalist,” is the opening stanza of the poem in honor of his fallen friend and associate.

It was truly “Elombe Time,” and as Tait concluded in his poem: “A freedom fighting man; a family man/Freedom fighting day after day; freedom fighting decade after decade/With family foundation, family fixture, family framework, family fulfillment/Behold the Brath of most persistence; behold the Brath of most resistance/It’s Elombe Time: to be continued & continued & continued & continued.”

On that momentous occasion, Lisa Noble, Gil Noble’s daughter, recalled that it was Brath who educated her father on Africa and facilitated the appearance of so many important revolutionaries on “Like It Is.” One clip from the show includes Brath with the late Ossie Davis, as they reacted to the then visit of President George W. Bush to Goree Island.

Noted broadcaster Bernard White told a couple of memorable stories about Brath, but he really elicited laughter when he recounted how Brath’s children once hid his shoes to keep him home. “Elombe was always on the move, and this was their way of trying to stop him and get him to rest,” he explained.

But now the great warrior can rest for the ages because he has, like Othello, done the state some service and they know it; and if they don’t, all they have to do is to witness the coterie of young people who will gather for the memorials that are sure to come as a tribute to his selfless fight to liberate us all.

Hapi earth day Sun Ra, Space is the Place

Marvin

Entering a deep meditative state in 1937, Sun Ra had an out of body experience in which he traveled to another planet and was given a divine message conveyed through his music. With the Formation of his "Arkestra" in the 1960s he would perform to great acclaim though his sound was beyond category.  On the date of his birth Jazz on the Tube honors the far out contributions of Sun Ra. 

 Marvin X and Sun Ra,  his mentor and associate at X's Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972. Gemini Twins! Marvin X is May 29, 1944. Yes, two crazy motherfuckas! Or is it twenty? Marvin says he travels with ten people at all times. How many did Sun Ra travel with, aside from his Arkestra? "Stop teaching' yo actors freedom, Marvin, don't you see how wild and free they act--teach them discipline."

Black Mass is Baraka's  interpretation of the Muslim myth of Yacub, the big headed scientist who genetically engineered the white man. Sun Ra arranged the music. Sun Ra also arranged the music to Marvin X's play Flowers for the Trashman, renamed as the musical Take Care of Business. It was performed at Marvin's Black Educational Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore, while both Sun Ra and Marvin X were lecturing in the Black Studies Department at University of California, Berkeley. Take Care of Business was performed at San Francisco's Harding Theatre on Divisadero St. It was a five hour concert without intermission, with a cast of fifty, including Sun Ra's Arkestra, Marvin's actors and the dancers of choreographers Raymond Sawyer and Ellendar Barnes, a BAM dancer/actress.

Part Two: 30 Years of Teaching and Writing: The Public Career of Marvin X

by James G. Spady, Philadelphia New Observer,1997 

copyright (c) 1997 by James G. Spady

....Craft is essential to Marvin X's poetry and drama. He knows the possibilities and constraints of the form. And he also knows how to expand. He credits Sun Ra with having helped him to realize the full possibilities of theatre. Marvin read his poetry in San Ra's grand musical energy field and he closely observed Sonny's skillful exploration of our Omniverse and all of its real possibilities. Was int not Sun Ra who told Marvin X that he would be teaching at U.C. Berkeley before it happened?




Marvin X and Sun Ra, both Gemini. Sun Ra was Marvin's mentor and artistic associate.

They performed together from coast to coast. This  pic is outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore, 1972. Sun Ra wrote the music

for Marvin's play Take Care of Business,

the musical version of Flowers for the Trashman. 

 Francisco Mora Catlett, also mentored and performed with Sun Ra. Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir & Arkestra plan to connect with Francisco's Afro Horn band when we hit New York City! Get ready Francisco! Henry Grimes, Craig Harris, and all you other BAM poets and musicians. Let's do the damn thang!

Album cover for Francisco Mora Catlett's Afro Horn. Art by David Mora Catlett

Art by David Mora Catlett for his brother's album Afro Horn

 Negro es bello (black is beautiful), art by Elizabeth Catlett Mora. Ancestor Betty was

a comrade of the Black Arts Movement and Black Liberation, which are one.

 Earl Davis, a Sun Ra Arkestra member; also a member of Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre, San Francisco, 1966; Earl is with the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

 Hip Hop: The New World Order, a film by Muhammida El Muhajir

 Muhammida El Muhajir, Black Arts Movement baby 2.0

 Marvin X in Harlem, New York, 1968, met Sun Ra and worked with Sonny coast to coast

 Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X inspired the Black Arts Movemt, including Sun Ra who came out of Chicago.

 Money won't save you, but time will take you out!--James Brown

Jah Amiel, grandson of Marvin X, a black arts movement baby 3.0

 Dr. Julia Hare, the female Malcolm X. "When Marvin X calls you to do something, you just do it. It's like a call from da Lawd. When Marvin says jump, you ask how high?"

Sun Ra's poetry appears in Black Fire

On the date of his birth Jazz on the Tube
honors the far-out contributions of Sun Ra.

Video:

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/page/7773.html 

- Lester Perkins
Jazz on the Tube

P.S. Please share Jazz on the Tube with your
friends and colleagues.

If they like jazz, they're going to love this.

Send your friends to this link and tell
them what we do...

http://www.jazzonthetube.com/content/su1.html

Black Bird Press News & Review: Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis, A Conversation, Sat., May 24, 5:30, Oakland Marriott, Room 208

Black Bird Press News & Review: Sonia Sanchez and Angela Davis, A Conversation, Sat., May 24, 5:30, Oakland Marriott, Room 208

Marvin X speaks on Harambee Radio, Thursday, 22 May, 7pm (est); Tuesday, May 27, KPOO.Com, 10pm (pst)

 Dr. Ayodele Nzinga will join Marvin X on KPOO.Com Tuesday night, Terry Collins show, 10pm (pst)

Sister Lomax, owner of WURD radio, Philadelphia, Marvin X, his daughter Muhammida and Mrs. Amina Baraka. WURD produced Muhammida's Black Power Babies. On Saturday Ms Lomax brings together Angela Davis and Sonia Sanchez at Oakland's Merriott Hotel for a conversation.

Please tune in to What The Problem Is with Sistah Q Live on Harambee Radio Thursday, 22 May from 7 - 8 pm Eastern time to hear Brothah Marvin X speak. 4pm on the West Coast.

Join the conversation: 805-309-0111; 840360#

Listen live: harambeeradio.com

Peace...

Sistah Q

"The healing power of a person lies within the person not within the doctor, a pill, or a knife. The healing power of a community lies within the community, not within a ballot box, an executive order, or a referendum."
From: Maintaining Our Temples
By: Qaraandin

Visit our website: http://www.whattheproblemis.com

What The Problem Is with Sistah Q Live on Harambee Radio

Thurday evenings from 7 - 8 Eastern Time

Call-In Number: 805-309-0111  840360#

Listen at: harambeeradio.com

Stokely, aka Kwame Ture, a keynote address by Dr. Peniel Joseph