Friday, January 9, 2015

BAM Press Release on Celebration at Laney College, February 7, 2015


Press Release: For Immediate Release
photo Kamau Amen Ra
1/9/2015

Contact Person:
Marvin X
510-200-4164
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Now available for interviews 

The Black Arts Movement will celebrate its 50th Anniversary at Laney College on February 7th 2015. 

On February 7th 2015, Laney College will host the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement. This event will begin at 10am until 10pm. Its focus will be the Bay Area’s contribution to the Black Arts Movement. BAM is often referred to as the sister of the Black Power Movement. BAM is also known as the most radical artistic and literary movement in American History. According to  Ishmael Reed, "If not for the Black Arts Movement, African American culture would be extinct."

As a result of the Black Arts Movement, other ethnicities found their voices such as Asians, Native Americans and Latinos.  It forced the inclusion of Afro American literature and other ethnic literature in American Academia.

BAM literature was often considered too radical for Academia and many of the BAM founders, poets, playwrights, essayists and others were purged from academia, especially from Black Studies programs. The radicals were replaced by more pliant Negroes or Continental and/or Caribbean Africans.

The Bay Area’s contribution included some of the primary BAM journals such as Soul Book, Black Dialogue, Journal of Black Poetry and the Black Scholar Magazine. The icons includ Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, The Last Poets, Haki Madhubuti, Askia Toure, Marvin X, Sarah Webster Fabio, Ed Bullins, Adam David Miller, Judy Juanita, Avotcja, Jose Goncalves, Elizabeth Catlette Mora and Emory Douglas.
 The Black Arts Movement Arkestra and Poet's Choir at the University of California, Merced, Feb-Mar, 2014
 Marvin X reads DOPE by Amiri Baraka, accompanied by David Murray and Earl Davis. Earl Davis performed in Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, San Francisco, 1966

 Marvin X and actor Danny Glover. Danny performed in Black Arts West Theatre, 1966. Both men attended San Francisco State College/now University.

 Former Black Panther Chairwoman Elaine Brown, Marvin X and Mama Ayanna of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Dr. Elnora T. Webb, PhD, President of Laney College, a special partner with Marvin X's BAM.

Empress Diamond, BAM Wellness Director, Mayor Libby Schaaf and Marvin X

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Councilwomen Lynette McElhaney and Desley Brooks support the BAM Celebration. City Council President McElhaney will introduce legislation to declare 14th Street The Black Arts Movement District. The first Last Saturday in the BAM District will be February 28, 2015, and event similar to Oakland's First Fridays.


Working Program
10:00 AM--Black Arts Movement Physical Wellness Boot Camp, facilitated by Michael Bennett's Wellness Team from the YMCA, HP/Bayview
11:00AM-- Peer Group on Mental Wellness: How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy Group, facilitated by Dr. Nathan Hare and Suzzette Celeste, B.A., MPA, MSW
12 Noon--Book Fair--authors speak, music, Augusta Collins

2pm--Open Mike Poetry/Speak Out
2pm--BAM and Black Women Writers Panel; moderated by Elaine Brown; invited panelists: Judy Juanita, Avojtcha, Aries Jordan, Phavia Kujichagulia, Portia Anderson
4pm Black Arts Movement/Black Power Babies panel, moderated by Davey D; invited panelists: Phavia Kujichagulia and Taiwo; Dr. Ayodele Nzinga and  Stanley; Terry Collins and Renya; Walter Riley and Boots Riley; Marvin X and Amira; Jerri Lange and Michael

6pm - RECEPTION IN THE ART GALLERY: EXHIBIT OF SAN QUENTIN PRISON ART and Bay Area Visual Artists; curated by Professor Leslee Stradford; invocation,Suzzette Celeste, Practitioner & Social Justice Activist; Welcome, Laney College President, Dr. Elnora T. Webb; proclamation of Black Arts Movement District, Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland; Councilwoman Lynette McElhaney on the Black Arts Movement District; host, Paul Cobb, Publisher, Post News Group; music by Earl Davis, Fantastic Negrito

7pm Laney College Theatre: Marvin X's BAM classic play Flowers for the Trashman, introductory remarks by Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black Studies, founding publisher of the Black Scholar Magazine
8pm Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir & Arkestra with special guests John Santos, Muziki Roberson and Phavia Kujichagulia

Sponsors: Laney College, Post News Group, Black Caucus of California Community Colleges, YMCA, HP/Bayview; Black Think Tank, Black Bird Press, KPOO Radio, Davey D and Greg Bridges of KPFA Radio, lajones associates, BWOPA/TILE, William James Association Prison Art Project, San Francisco State University Ethnic Studies Department, It's About Time




BAM co-founders Marvin X and Sun Ra, both purged from teaching in Black Studies at University of California, Berkeley. 

While students at San Francisco State College/now University, these men edited and/or contributed to Black Dialogue Magazine, Journal of Black Poetry, Soulbook and The Black Scholar Magazine: LtoR: Aubrey LaBrie, Marvin X, Abdul Sabrey, Al Young, Arthur Sheridan and Duke Williams.

 Bay Area Black authors/activists celebrate the life of slain Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. The pose in front of the Joyce Gordon Gallery at 14th and Franklin, part of the upcoming Black Arts Movement District.
photo Adam Turner/Gene Hazzard

The Black Arts Movement Arkestra and Poet's Choir performing at the Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, 
May 17, 2014, Oakland CA
photo collage Adam Turner 

Dr. Elnora T. Webb donated $100.00 for the BAM Fest.

 Post News Group Publisher Paul Cobb and Black Arts Movement co-founder Marvin X
photo Walter Riley, Esq.

Oakland Post News Group Publisher, Paul Cobb, has donated $100.00 for the BAM Fest. He suggested 100 people donate between $100.00 and $500.00 for BAM so we can do for self. He will put the pic of all who donate in the Oakland Post. We are looking for 99 people of good will who believe in BAM. FYI, Paul Cobb is a Garveyite, his father and grandfather were Garveyites. I am a Garveyite! As they say in Houston, TX, "You better ax somebody!"
Marvin X


If you are willing to donate any amount, please call Marvin X, 510-200-4164. BAM must be a community supported project. The original Black Arts Repertory Theatre failed in Harlem when grant funds were cut off. BAM must be independent although we will accept funds but will not compromise our revolutionary values and goals, the freedom of our people.










Here’s an update for you from the ‘Black Arts Movement 27 City National Tour’ team:

If you are willing to donate any amount, please call Marvin X, 510-200-4164. BAM must be a community supported project. The original Black Arts Repertory Theatre failed in Harlem when grant funds were cut off. We need funds for food at the Laney College gala; we need money for artists, sound equipment, transportation,book give away,  costumes, speaker fees. Thanking you in advance for your support.
Sincerely,
Marvin X, Project Director
BAM 27 City Tour
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The Indiegogo Team

 Black Arts Movement chief architect LeRoi Jones, aka Amiri Baraka, on the set of his play The Toilet
Amiri and Maya, RIP
The Black Arts Movement Arkestra and Poet's Choir will perform at Laney College, Feb. 7, 2015
photo Adam Turner


Black Bird Press News & Review: See Dr. Ayodele Nzinga's production of Jitney by August Wilson at the Flight Deck, downtown Oakland

Black Bird Press News & Review: See Dr. Ayodele Nzinga's production of Jitney by August Wilson at the Flight Deck, downtown Oakland

Jitney by August Wilson at McClymonds High School

Black Arts Movement Program



Working Program
10:00 AM--Black Arts Movement Physical Wellness Boot Camp, facilitated by Michael Bennett's Wellness Team from the YMCA, HP/Bayview
 
11:00AM-- Peer Group on Mental Wellness: How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy Group, facilitated by Dr. Nathan Hare and Suzzette Celeste, B.A., MPA, MSW
 
12 Noon--Book Fair--authors speak, music, Augusta Collins

2pm--Open Mike Poetry/Speak Out
 
2pm--BAM and Black Women Writers Panel; moderated by Elaine Brown; invited panelists: Judy Juanita, Avojtcha, Aries Jordan, Phavia Kujichagulia, Portia Anderson
 
4pm Black Arts Movement/Black Power Babies panel, moderated by Davey D; invited panelists: Phavia Kujichagulia and Taiwo; Dr. Ayodele Nzinga and  Stanley; Terry Collins and Renya; Walter Riley and Boots Riley; Marvin X and Amira; Jerri Lange and Michael

6pm - RECEPTION IN THE ART GALLERY: EXHIBIT OF SAN QUENTIN PRISON ART and Bay Area Visual Artists; curated by Professor Leslee Stradford; invocation,Suzzette Celeste, Practitioner & Social Justice Activist; Welcome, Laney College President, Dr. Elnora T. Webb; proclamation of Black Arts Movement District, Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland; Councilwoman Lynette McElhaney on the Black Arts Movement District; host, Paul Cobb, Publisher, Post News Group; music by Earl Davis, Fantastic Negrito

7pm Laney College Theatre: Marvin X's BAM classic play Flowers for the Trashman, introductory remarks by Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black Studies, founding publisher of the Black Scholar Magazine
 
8pm Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir & Arkestra with special guests John Santos, Muziki Roberson,

Sponsors: Laney College, Post News Group, Black Caucus of California Community Colleges, YMCA, HP/Bayview; Black Think Tank, Black Bird Press, KPOO Radio, Davey D and Greg Bridges of KPFA Radio, lajones associates, BWOPA/TILE, William James Association Prison Art Project

On behalf of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu Jamal: A Contribution Request

 
 
On Behalf of
Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal,
A Contribution Request
 
Wadiya Jamal, Samiya (1978-2014) and Dolly
Samiya “Goldii” Abdullah, a daughter of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal died on December 17, 2014 after years of battle with breast cancer. Samiya would have been 37 this January 9 and is survived by two young daughters, Aiyanah and Aaiyah, affectionately known as Dolly and Puddy, ages eleven and four.
 
Samiya was a remarkable woman. She was accomplished as a musician, an activist and rapper on social justice, particularly in the struggle for Mumia’s freedom. She devoured books and education. During her long, often debilitating illness, Samiya finished her Masters Degree in School and Mental Health Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania with honors. She was dedicated to her young daughters and wanted them to grow up loving each other as much as she did her brothers and sisters. And she wanted her daughters to see Mumia (called “Pop Pop” by them) walk out of prison and home with their grandmother, Wadiya.
 
Samiya's active fight for Mumia's freedom, began at the young age of four. Mumia wrote about this in “The Visit” printed in Live from Death Row in 1994. This was recreated in the movie "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary."
 
Samiya’s strength, character and spirit were nurtured by Wadiya and Mumia and are being passed on to her daughters.
 
On behalf of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal, this is a request for funds to assist Wadiya for care of her granddaughters, Dolly and Puddy.
 
A financial contribution of any amount will be greatly appreciated.

Please send checks or money orders, made payable to Wadiya Jamal:

Wadiya Jamal
P.O. Box 19404
Kingsessing Postal Station
Philadelphia, PA 19143-9998
 
In loving memory of Samiya and in tribute to her fierce fight for life,
 
Rachel Wolkenstein
Sister, Advocate and Friend of the Extended Family
 
 
 
 
 
 
"My father is still considered to be a dangerous individual … his mind is what they fear, there is over- whelming evidence that would exonerate him of his conviction.
"He is an innocent man and the commonwealth has always known this, but being too Black, too smart, and too strong … The government will silence anyone that possesses the power to open the minds of the people."    
                     —Goldii
Samiya (Goldii) Performs at Mumia's 55th
Birthday & Book Release Party (2009)

Black Art by Amiri Baraka

Black Art
By Amiri Baraka

 
Poems are bullshit unless they are
teeth or trees or lemons piled
on a step. Or black ladies dying
of men leaving nickel hearts
beating them down. Fuck poems
and they are useful, wd they shoot
come at you, love what you are,
breathe like wrestlers, or shudder
strangely after pissing. We want live
words of the hip world live flesh &
coursing blood. Hearts Brains
Souls splintering fire. We want poems
like fists beating niggers out of Jocks
or dagger poems in the slimy bellies
of the owner-jews. Black poems to
smear on girdlemamma mulatto bitches
whose brains are red jelly stuck
between ‘lizabeth taylor’s toes. Stinking
Whores! we want “poems that kill.”
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
with tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland. Knockoff
poems for dope selling wops or slick halfwhite
politicians Airplane poems, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . .tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuh
. . .rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . Setting fire and death to
whities ass. Look at the Liberal
Spokesman for the jews clutch his throat
& puke himself into eternity . . . rrrrrrrr
There’s a negroleader pinned to
a bar stool in Sardi’s eyeballs melting
in hot flame Another negroleader
on the steps of the white house one
kneeling between the sheriff’s thighs
negotiating coolly for his people.
Aggh . . . stumbles across the room . . .
Put it on him, poem. Strip him naked
to the world! Another bad poem cracking
steel knuckles in a jewlady’s mouth
Poem scream poison gas on beasts in green berets
Clean out the world for virtue and love,
Let there be no love poems written
until love can exist freely and
cleanly. Let Black people understand
that they are the lovers and the sons
of warriors and sons
of warriors Are poems & poets &
all the loveliness here in the world
We want a black poem. And a
Black World.
Let the world be a Black Poem
And Let All Black People Speak This Poem
Silently
or LOUD

Source: Selected Poetry of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones (1979)
* * * * *

On the death of AB

























One year ago
my friend departed
my friend to the end
a true friend
who helped me
like no one else
his last words
I gotta gig faya at NYU
wanna do it
Yes, but guess what
I gotta gig fa you
UC Merced then he was dead
in the coldest winter ever

complications of complications
joyful tortured life
genius 
madman
Jekyll and Hyde wife said
man of two worlds
the black the white
he flowed wit da flow
lover of life
the drink the fame
women the driver
politics/ art
revolution 
dining out the shout
the cry the scream
don't let them take yo
um boom de boom
you be in deep trouble
if dey take yo um boom de boom
take you several centuries to get out

oh, my friend
you taught me so much
you taught the world
we love you so much
because you loved the world.
--Marvin X
1/9/15