Peralta Colleges honors Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party; Bobby Seale honors Marvin X

 Black Panther Party co-founders Bobby Seale and Dr. Huey P. Newton

Tonight at Oakland's Marriott City Center, the Peralta Colleges Foundation honored one of their own, former Merritt College student Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, along with fellow student Huey P. Newton. Bobby Seale was ill, so he sent Virtual Murrell, another Merritt College student and first president of the Soul Students Advisory Council, that morphed into BSUs across America. The first thing Virtual Murrell read was a note from Bobby to let those in attendance know that the Soul Students Advisory Council began after a performance of fellow Merritt student Marvin X's (Jackmon) play Flowers for the Trashman. The anti-Vietnam play recruited students into the Black consciousness and activist movement at Merritt College. Marvin X stood at the $175.00 plate dinner, a benefit for the Peralta College Foundation that gives scholarships to needy students.


 Virtual Murrell, accepted award for Bobby Seale. Virtual was first president of the Soul Students Advisory Council that later became the BSU at Merritt.

Speaking for Bobby, Virtual also said Peralta College students and instructors must tell the true story of Merritt, not the watered down, Miller Lite version so often heard, although attendees did view a trailer of the award winning Peralta College TV documentary on Merritt College as the birthplace of the Black Panther Party and student activism, especially in the Bay Area.


Rt. Col. Conway B. Jones, Jr., Charles Brown, political activist (former student leader at UC Berkeley) and Marvin X

Marvin X's autobiography Somethin' Proper, narrates the student struggle at Merritt, one of the few sources on the history of the Black Arts/Black Power Movement, especially on the West Coast. Laney College Professor, Judy Juanita's novel, relates some of the history as well. See also the writings of Donald Warden of the Afro-American Association, the key organization that preceded the Black Panther Party and the Black Arts Movement on the West Coast and nationally.



Ch

Marvin X and Paul Cobb have been friends since childhood in West Oakland

Ossie Davis, Dr. Nathan Hare, Bobby Seale and Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett

Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale and fellow Merritt College student, Marvin X, 1962-64. Bobby Seale performed in Marvin's Black Arts West Theatre before joining the Black Panther Party. He played a young revolutionary Black man trying to find himself in Come Next Summer, Marvin's second play.

From the Archives of Marvin X, the USA's Rumi, Saadi, Hafiz, Plato

Al Fitnah Muhajir

When you enter
strange cities
be silent
in the streets
but speak
with all
you meet
And you will see
as the people see
the poor people
are very rich.

When you enter
their homes
eat with them
or they will hate you
but eat not
that which will kill you
even if they insist
for you have been taught
by the Great Teacher
and they know Him not
may even mock Him
to your face
but cool your voice
they will submit
when they meet Him
when they see Him
in you

When you love
peoples of the world
rivers are nothing
between you
and strange tongues
a soulful tune
Salaam, salaam.
--Marvin X, aka Nazzam Al Sudan, El Muhajir
from The New Black Poetry, edited by Clarence Major, 1972, New World Paperbacks

Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour is coming your way soon as you book us in your city. For booking the BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra: Call 510-200-4164. Suggested fee for three hour concert with the BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra, including Q and A: $50,000.00--$100,000. Fee negotiable.

 

BAM District Flag statement revised

For the Women by Marvin X

Women Writers Panel at Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary Celebration, Laney College, Oakland, Feb. 7, 2015. L to R: Elaine Brown, Halifu Osumare, Judy Juanita, Portia Anderson, Kujichagulia, Aries Jordan. Standing: Marvin X, BAM producer
photo South Park Kenny Johnson

For the Women
For the women who bear children
and nurture them with truth
for the women who cook and clean
behind thankless men
for the women who love so hard so true so pure
for the women with faith in God and men
for the women alone with beer and rum
for the women searching for a man at the club, college, church, party
for the women independent of men
for the women searching their souls
for the women who do drugs and freak
for the women who love only women
for the women who play and run and never show
for the women who rise in revolt in hand with men
who say never, never, never again
for the women who suffer abuse and cry for justice
for the women happy and free of maternal madness
for the women who study and write
for the women who sell their love to starving men
for the women who love to make love and be loved by men
for the women of Africa who work so hard
for the women of America who suffer the master
for the women who turn to God in prayer and patience
for the women who are mothers of children and mothers of men
for the women who suffer inflation, recession, abortion, rejection
for the women who understand the rituals of men and women
for the women who share
for the women who are greedy
for the women with power
for the women with nothing
for the women locked down
for the women down town
for the women who break horses
for the women in the fields
for the women who rob banks
for the women who kill
for the women of history
for the women of now
I salute you 
A Man.
--Marvin X
www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
510-200-4164

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's proclamation of the Black Arts Movement Day

 

Merritt College: Home of the Black Panthers (New Trailer)

Marvin X on War in the Hood

America is the Black man's battleground. As I travel the streets of Oakland, I run into police at crime scenes, streets taped and markings for bullet casings. It is almost  daily or weekly. This is war, whether caused by external or internal forces. War is war. Coast to coast. But we cannot make war unless one is prepared. When unprepared, one is simply the victim who suffers but is unable to stop the war against him or her. How does one prepare for war? Put on the armor of God or obtain spiritual consciousness, then one can walk through the valley of the shadow of death but fear no evil. Be conscious of the Tone Test: when stopped by the police, one can be arrested, released or killed, depending on one's tone of voice. When encountering another brother, the tone test operates. Depending on our tone of voice, we can have an argument or the situation can escalate to violence and death. Isn't there a Hadith that says when we encounter the ignorant, say As-Salaam-Alaikum. Don't escalate a situation when you know where it is going! We must survive to fight another day of our choice, not the enemy's. And don't think you are going to defeat the enemy with guns. My friends and comrades in the Black Panther Party tried this but suffered a military defeat. We don't have enough guns or bullets to match the police, the US Army, Navy, Air Force, FBI, CIA, NSA, spies, snitches and agent provocateurs. Fidel Castro said, "The weapon of today is not guns but consciousness."--Marvin X

Marvin X at Yoshi's San Francisco Part II

Bobby Seale honored at Peralta Colleges Foundation Dinner/Bobby Seale honors Marvin X

  Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale and fellow Merritt College student, Marvin X. Bobby Seale performed in Marvin's Black Arts West Theatre before joining the Black Panther Party. He played a young revolutionary Black man trying to find himself in Come Next Summer, Marvin's second play.

Tonight at Oakland's Marriott City Center, the Peralta Colleges Foundation honored one of their own, former Merritt College student Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, along with fellow student Huey P. Newton. Bobby Seale was ill, so he sent Virtual Murrell, another Merritt College student and first president of the Soul Students Advisory Council, that morphed into BSUs across America. The first thing Virtual Murrell read was a note from Bobby to let those in attendance know that the Soul Students Advisory Council began after a performance of fellow Merritt student Marvin X's (Jackmon) play Flowers for the Trashman. The anti-Vietnam play recruited students into the Black consciousness and activist movement at Merritt College. Marvin X stood at the $175.00 plate dinner, a benefit for the Peralta College Foundation that gives scholarships to needy students.

Speaking for Bobby, Virtual also said Peralta College students and instructors must tell the true story of Merritt, not the watered down, Miller Lite version so often heard, although attendees did view a trailer of the award winning Peralta College TV documentary on Merritt College as the birthplace of the Black Panther Party and student activism, especially in the Bay Area.

Marvin X's autobiography Somethin' Proper, narrates the student struggle at Merritt, one of the few sources on the history of the Black Arts/Black Power Movement, especially on the West Coast. Laney College Professor, Judy Juanita's novel, relates some of the history as well. See also the writings of Donald Warden of the Afro-American Association, the key organization that preceded the Black Panther Party and the Black Arts Movement on the West Coast and nationally.

 

Bobby Seale and Marvin X

Flag of the Black Arts Movement District in the heart of downtown Oakland

WHITE SUPREMACY-2 BY MARVIN X