Friday, July 3, 2015

Revolutionary Black Nationalism: Muhammad Ahmad, aka Max Stanford




Malcolm X and Revolutionary Black Nationalism in America

Malcolm X and Revolutionary Black Nationalism in America


Malcolm X

Malcolm X and the emerging Ideology of Revolutionary Black Nationalism

“Malcolm X was a student of history, and that is what made him one of the most important political philosophers and leaders African Americans ever produced. For some 15 years or more, Malcolm X studied history, philosophy, religion, and politics.”

Quote from Malcolm X and the Black Liberation Movement by Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford), the closest of Malcolm’s associates in the final years of his life. Muhammad Ahmad became one of the most significant leaders, activists, and theoreticians in the Black liberation Movement. He was instrumental in fusing the philosophies of Robert F. Williams, Malcolm X and Queen Mother Moore to give birth to the ideology of Revolutionary Black Nationalism.

The name Muhammad Ahmad, or Max Stanford, is not among the many African American leaders and activists from the 1960s whose names are household words. However, it should be, for, as far as J Edgar Hoover was concerned, he was the most dangerous man in America. Use the links below and get to know him. Explore this man who is still living and who can best be considered a key architect of the Black Revolution in America. Get to know this unseen living legend.
Watch interview with 

Muhammad Ahmad from Cointelpro 101

Muhammad Ahmad from Cointelpro 101 on Vimeo
Muhammad Ahmad (formerly Max Stanford Jr.) was a pivotal figure within the Black Liberation Movement and struggle for Black Power in the 1960s and 70s; notably, he was the national field chairman of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) and a direct target of J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO.

References on Muhammad Ahmad, Malcolm X and Revolutionary Black Nationalism
The Malcolm X Project at Columbia University
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/stanford.html http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/stanford.html
Early in 1963, Malcolm took the young Philadelphia militant Max Stanford under … New Jersey, movement, his support for members of the Black Liberation Army … Islam and since the early 1970s, he has been known as Muhammad Ahmad.

The Black Power Movement

http://www.blackpolitics.org/the-1960s/black-power-movement-robert-williams-fred-hamptongeronimo-pratt-dhoruba-moore-kwame-ture-stokely-carmichael-african-liberation-support-committee-african-peoples-party/
… and Why Such Support is Support of the Black Liberation Movement … The Assassination of Malcolm X . The Black Arts Movement: … Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford), …
Black Nationalism and the Revolutionary Action Movement: The …
http://gdc.gale.com/archivesunbound/archives-unbound-black-nationalism-and-the-revolutionary-action-movement-the-papers-of-muhammad-ahmad-max-stanford/

… The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) … The Papers of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) Summary. In BlackMuhammad Ahmad, a protégé of Malcolm X, …
PSLweb.org: The civil rights and Black Power movements
http://www2.pslweb.org/site/News2?id=11183

The two tendencies of the civil rights movement, … young activists led by Max Stanford (later Muhammad Ahmad) … The objective basis for the Black liberation
Stanford, Maxwell Curtis, Jr. (aka Muhammad Ahmad, 1941 …
http://www.blackpast.org/aah/stanford-max-1941-and-revolutionary-action-movement-ram-1962-1968
Dr.Muhammad Ahmad (Maxwell C. StanfordMalcolm X in Harlem in November 1962, and Malcolm would join the … The Black Liberation Movement: …
The Black power movement; Part 3
http://www.bibliotheek.nl/catalogus/titel.339688904.html
Reproduces the writings and correspondence of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford); … Black Liberation Army, Black Panther … associated with RAM including Malcolm X, …

We Will Return In The Whirlwind: Black Radical Organizations …
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Return-The-Whirlwind-Organizations/dp/0882863142
He has worked closely with Malcolm X … of meeting Professor Ahmad (Max Stanford) … knowledge of Stanford’s activity and importance in the liberation movement.
Activism – Dr. Akinyele Umoja
http://www.akumoja.com/Activism.html
… joined the Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) … Power movement organizer and associate of Malcolm X and … detailing the Black liberation movement’s …

Pan-African News Wire – Books That Will Advance Knowledge of Liberation Movements
http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2007/12/books-that-will-advance-knowledge-of.html
Hoover went on to call Stanford‘s organization, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) “a highly secret, all-Negro, Marxist-Leninist, Chinese Communist oriented organization which advocates guerrilla warfare to obtain its goals.” Stanford today is Dr Muhammad Ahmad, who teaches in the department of African American St…

ISBN: 9781556559273 – The Black Power Movement (Black Studies …
http://www.openisbn.com/isbn/9781556559273/
Book information and reviews for ISBN:9781556559273,The Black Power Movement (Black Studies … of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford); … Black Liberation
Max Stanford

1960s Photo of Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)
Muhammad Ahmad on Malcolm’s emergence as a Revolutionary Black Nationalist and Internationalist and the emergence of the Black Power Movement
“Within all political phenomenon under capitalism is a right (conservative), center (moderate), and left (militant) sector. So was the case within the Nation of Islam in the 1950s and early 60s, especially as it began to grow. Malcolm was part of the left-wing while he was in the Nation of Islam. This is why Malcolm’s speeches sound so different from Elijah Muhammad’s. These tendencies were also present among the civil rights organizations, SCLC, NAACP, and SNCC. What made Malcolm so pivotal to the Black Liberation Movement was that he followed in the anti-imperialist tradition of Paul Robeson and WEB Dubois and was developing a mass following as a revolutionary democrat (not to be confused with the Democratic Party).  

Malcolm, before his death, made an ideological leap, a leap which took many of us years to understand. Malcolm often had ways of saying things. He said, ‘travel broadens one’s horizons’. By traveling, which Malcolm did most of his life, he came in contact with progressives all over the world. But he began to see something. During our last one on one meetings in 22 West Restaurant in Harlem, approximately February 11, 1965, Malcolm said, ‘I can no longer call myself a black nationalist. The best thing to describe myself is to say, I am an Internationalist.’ ….What confused so many people is that some writers have said Malcolm had become an integrationist. Black nationalists say Malcolm died a black nationalist, and Muslims say Malcolm died a Muslim. Malcolm stood for all of these, and much more, but that is not the issue. It is important to know that Malcolm was in rapid transition in search for the best solution to the plight of African Americans and persons of African descent the world over…. 

Malcolm had become, at the time of his death, a revolutionary international democrat, or an anti-imperialist who stood against the oppression of people by people, regardless of nationality, creed, or color…..Even while Malcolm was in the Nation of Islam he was heavily influenced by the young students in the civil rights movement and developing progressive forces in and around the NOI. The Nation of Islam was the center of black nationalism in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During 1962-63 several independent, all black student formations developed in the North. All these organizations had a close association with the Nation of Islam. In Detroit, there was Uhuru; in Chicago, NAO; in Oakland, California, there was the Afro-American Association; in Cleveland, the African American Institute; in New York, UMBRA; and in Philadelphia, the Revolutionary Action Movement. Malcolm, being the traveling representative for the Nation of Islam, was in contact with these organizations and others….Malcolm’s advocating of armed self-defense was a radical departure from traditional black nationalism. His position reflected the new mood developing among black youth. The left-wing of SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee), particularly the Mississippi field staff, had become revolutionary nationalists and had armed and untied with Malcolm’s strategy. Before the end of 1964, several SNCC delegations had met with Malcolm. Interrelated was the networking of the Revolutionary Action Movement with third world revolutionaries, civil rights organizations, and other nationalists and the OAAU. The RAM sponsored the direct action Afro-American Student Movement conference on black nationalism May 1, 1964, which was the pivotal point for the student movement. …The convening of the….conference on black nationalism was the ideological catalyst that eventually shifted the civil rights movement into the Black Power Movement”  Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)
Currently, he is an Associate Professor and chair of the …
http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6075908/f/Umoja_movement_bio_2014.pdf
for UCLA’s Black student newspaper NOMMO and joined the Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) … of Malcolm X and … published in Black Liberation movement
Black Social And Political Thought by Muhammad Ahmad
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-social-and-political-thought-muhammad-ahmad/1017470645?ean=9781934269428
Black Social and Political Thought: … liberation of the Black Nation, … Dr. Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) …
REVOLUTIONARY ACTION MOVEMENT – The Freedom Archives
http://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/Black%20Liberation%20Disk/Black%20Power!/REVOLUTIONARY%20ACTION%20MOVEMENT%20copy.doc
REVOLUTIONARY ACTION MOVEMENT. … Black Workers “Liberation Unions. … Dr. Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford) 2008 . Title:
Letter from friends of Dr. Muhammad Ahmad – Black Bird …
http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/
Dr. Muhammad Ahmad, aka, Max Stanford, Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) … Maxwell Curtis Stanford, Jr., known since 1970 as Muhammad Ahmad, is a civil rights activist and was a founder of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), a black power organization active during the 1960s. Born on July … Marshall and Stanford met Malcolm X in Harlem in November 1962, and Malcolm would join the organization before embarking on his trip to Mecca in 1964.
UMP | University of Minnesota Press Blog: Diane C. Fujino …
http://www.uminnpressblog.com/
Professor of Asian American studies and director of the Center for Black Studies Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara Appearing in Life … There I met Muhammad Ahmad (formerly Max Stanford), who was a major leader in the Revolutionary Action Movement, who had worked with Malcolm X, and whose intellectual and political prowess inspired Yuri—who in turn pushed for a wider audience for his book, Toward Black Liberation. I remember Yuri …
RAM: The World Black Revolution (1966) | Anti-Imperialism …
http://anti-imperialism.com/
… Revolutionary Action Movement. The group counted Malcolm X as a close supporter and member and was heavily influenced by Robert. … Like many individuals and organizations which fought for justice against the US, Max Stanford Jr. (now know as Muhammad Ahmad) and the Revolutionary Action Movement have been ‘erased’ from history. Until very recently, this document … On ‘the World Black Revolution’In “Black National Liberation”. RAIM Draft 12 Point …
COINTELPRO 101 & COINTELPRO Documentary …
http://earthwarriorsrising.wordpress.com/
Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)—Founder of Revolutionary Action Movement and professor at Temple University. Bob Boyle—Attorney representing many activists and political prisoners targeted by COINTELPRO. Kathleen Cleaver—former leader of the Black Panther Party, now Professor of Law at Emory and Yale Universities and an expert on COINTELPRO. … COINTELPRO Alive: Malcolm X Grandson, Malcolm el Shabazz, Issues Statement · COINTELPRO: …

An Updated History Of The New Afrikan Prison Struggle by …
http://www.sundiataacoli.org/
Two of the returning students were Wanda Marshall and Max Stanford, now name Akbar Muhammad Ahmad, who transplanted RAM from Cleveland to the ghettos of Philadelphia, New York, and other urban areas. …. Small groups began studying on their own, or in collectives, the works of Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, The Black Panther newspaper, The Militant newspaper, contemporary national liberation struggle leader Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Frantz …

Eldridge Cleaver, A Memoir by Marvin X – Black Bird Press …
http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/
Several of us were associated with Soulbook, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) publication headed by Robert F. Williams and Max Stanford (now Muhammad Ahmed). ….. Chicago, especially the South side, but Harlem, the capital of Black America, the ground Malcolm X walked upon, and Duke, Billie, Basie, Parker, Apollo Theatre, awesome power of my people, the East coast version of what I’d experienced in Oakland on Seventh Street, Harlem of the West.

The Black power movement: Papers of the Revolutionary Action Movement, 1962-1996
Muhammad Ahmad, Ernie Allen, John H. Bracey, Randolph Boehm, published 2002, 72 pages
We will return in the whirlwind: black radical organizations 1960-1975
Muhammad Ahmad, published 2007, 340 pages
Contemporary Black Thought: The Best from the Black Scholar
unknown, published 1973, 299 pages
The Civil Rights & Black Liberation Movements … – Freedom Archives

http://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Curr%2520C101/Black%2520liberation%2520movement.pdf
The references in the film to Dr. King and Malcolm X, to organizations such as … as Kathleen Cleaver and Muhammad Ahmad (Max Stanford)— to aid students … speakers to discuss the civil rights and Black liberation movement in this context.
Letter from friends of Dr. Muhammad Ahmad – Black Bird Press …
http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/2014/07/letter-from-friends-of-dr-muhammad-ahmad.html
Jul 10, 2014 Dr. Muhammad Ahmad, aka, Max Stanford, Revolutionary Action Movement ( RAM) … Marshall and Stanford met Malcolm X in Harlem in November 1962, … with a dissertation titled “The Black Liberation Movement: Then and …

Black Nationalism in America


Black Nationalism in American Politics and Thought|Multimedia
http://rbgstreetscholar.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/black-nationalism-in-american-politics-and-thoughtmultimedia/
Black Nationalism in American Politics and Thought, Robinson, Dean E.,Cambridge University Press 2001
Link to our EduBlog for full e-book read/study/download
More References:
7 Mar 2013 … black nationalism, political and social movement prominent in the 1960s and early ’70s in the United States among some African Americans.



The legacy of the movement is still very much with us today in the various strands of black nationalism that originated from it; we witnessed its power in the 1995 …
Achieving major national influence through the Nation of Islam (NOI) and the Black Power movement of the 1960s, proponents of black nationalism advocated  …
 Black nationalism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black nationalism (BN) advocates a racial definition (or redefinition) of national identity. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles  …
In contrast to prominent Republicans’ strange receptivity to black nationalism, Democrats seemed to go out of their way to condemn it. Back in the days when he …

 

Poem by Ayodele Nzinga: The Gardener's apprentice

the gardener’s apprentice

by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD
i can only plant
in the dirt i got
it got to grow what
i need cuz its all
i got i am trying to
grow me a world
might as well start right
here where i am with empty
hands and seeds of desire
i am going to grow me a
world the dirt i got
is what i got
if its hard or not
if its got weeds
thats ok i am
planting anyway
got to start somewhere
here isn just fine
going to draw me a line
and pencil a sign
growing here
don't interfere
as I pump sunshine
harness the ocean
open the door to the universe
bless this
dirt i got
i am growing a world

Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD | July 3, 2015

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Poems from the Book of Marvin


MARVIN X, DAVID MURRAY, EARLE DAVIS, VAL SERRANT, MECHELLE LACHAUX WITH THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT POETS CHOIR AND ARKESTRA, MALCOLM X JAZZ/ART FESTIVAL, OAKLAND, MAY 17, 2014. BAM 27 CITY TOUR. COMING SOON TO SAN FRANCISCO, SACRAMENTO, FRESNO, LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO, AND BEYOND
FOR BOOKING CALL 510-200-4164; EMAIL JMARVINX@YAHOO.COM

PHOTO GENE HAZZARD

 SUN RA

Marvin X and Sun Ra, Master Musician and Philosopher of the Black Arts Movement. Sun Ra arranged the music for Marvin's drama Flowers for the Trashman, retitled Take Care of Business. Marvin produced a five hour concert without intermission with Sun Ra's Arkestra, along with a  cast of fifty people, including the cast of TCB and  the dancers of choreographers Raymond Sawyer and Ellendar Barnes at the the Hardiing Theatre on Divisadero, San Francisco, 1972. Also,  Marvin X and Sun Ra taught in Black Studies at the University of California, Berkeley until the entire faculty was purged for being too radical for white supremacy academia. 

JOHN COLTRANE, ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS AND LYNCHING TREE

I AM JOHN COLTRANE

I am John Coltrane
not with horn
but pen
beyond words to silence
not sound
words sacred
profane obscene
no proper politically correct
beyond bourgeoisie culture police
revolutionary puritans
who say
don't say nigguh but kill nigguhs at every turn
turn holy in prison doing push ups after killing all nigguhs in the hood
don't say motherfucker
but fuck their mothers, daughters, sons and anything else under the sun
but don't say motherfucker
don't say bitch
while they are the real bitch in disguise of mother Theresa

Fuck the King's English
the king and his mama
I am Freedom in discipline
all words in context
No political correctness
Sun Ra taught somebody else's idea of somebody else's world
not my idea
Sonny said I am not holy man
ain't crucifying me
that's for Jesus, Osiris, Malcolm, Martin, Medgar
My words shall crucify you
hang you on the cross and lynching tree of truth
people want low down dirty truth
Sonny taught me
no holy ghost truth
miller lite truth
watered down diluted polluted
pasteurized homogenized truth
Don't think nice of me
no politician here
vote for me I'll set you free here truth
hate me
more people love me
common people with common sense
no academic negores holy ghost negroes
common people with common sense
don't read book by cover common sense people
seeking truth and relief from suffering
light for children slipping in darkness
somebody help me
I am shaman truth
between darkness and light
before dawn truth
working my twist while wicked sleep
your world is not my world
and my world is not your world
to you your way and to me mine
lakum dinu kum waliya din.

Catch me in my hour of madness
did you invite me to your gladness
don't want your sadness
Sonny taught me this
holy rats
bourgeoisie swine
nigguh please!
get up outta here wit dat!
Square nigguhs will get ya killed
hustler podna's taught me that
I walk alone
Men of fear
cannot walk this road
I walk alone
men who snitch
who snibble
who take evidence to pharaoh
cannot walk this road
I walk alone
john coltrane
john coltrane
a love supreme
a love supreme
space is the place
space is the place.

Muhammad said live like you here for eternity
and live like death is tomorrow at dawn
why are you breathing
exercising
what reason what purpose
what program
Huey Newton asked me in our first meeting
what is your program, Jackmon?

I am John Coltrane
writing is fighting
writing is fighting
A love supreme
A love supreme

You can't touch this
beyond the beyond
beyond words
religion
politics money sex
vote for me
I'll set you free truth
see the stars. moon. sun.
I am blue man
blue trane.

Trane moving on
catch me if you can
my intensity consumes you
get out da kitchen
I am terror in the night
the dream the prayer of ancestors
for every hurtful thing
I speak and sing songs of the lion king
nothing holy nothing nice
catch me if you can
see my mask
the mask you fear
in your bones and blood
I am the wind
a pleasure to my people
I am the sun
A pleasure to my people
common sense people
beyond edumakion from the devil people
simple minded shit
where was he ten trillion years ago
Space is the place
Space is the place.
A love supreme
A love supreme.
--Marvin X
3/17/10





Christian Terrorists

Ever heard of WWI, WWII, WWIII, yeah, the eternal war on terrorism good for business as usual
Ask Africans was the Good Ship Jesus a nice ride to Mississippi,
Jamaica, Brazil, Cuba
How did Mali music turn into Blues in the Mississippi Delta
Ever heard of the Cross & Lynching Tree
Billi called it Strange Fruit nothin' to eat
Native Americans just love the teachings of Jesus
the small pox syphilis alcoholism wife beating
oh how we love Jesus in the concentration camps
called reservations
Now wasn't Hitler a Christian pure Christian 100%
Wasn't the KKK Christian burning crosses in the name of Jesus
the Blue eyed blond hanging on the cross looking like a hippie
How did blue eyed blonds get to Palestine, Jerusalem
was it on the Ra boat did they come from the river Hapi
Christians sliced Africa at the Berlin Conference
just split the pie Germany took a piece, France, England
Holland, Spain, took Arabia too, Egypt, Iran
did they practice human rights
administer justice kind to women
europeans cry bout Muuuuuuuuuuslims in their midst
how long did they stay in Muuuuuuuuuuuuuslim lands
did they treat Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuslims with tender loving kindness
did they not hang them, beat them, cut off arms legs lips hands
these Christian saviors of the savages saved them from nakedness
saved them from no heart attacks no high blood pressure no AIDS no Ebola
Do they not have 800 Christian army bases around the world today
occupying lands for the rights of corporations who are people too we heard the court say
corporations are people who murder in the name of Jesus rob in the name of Jesus exploit
plunder pollute like Shell in Nigeria India Peru
steal the forests for IKEDA furniture you want
Gold  and diamond mines so Negroes can have bling bling
extract African minerals so Negroes can talk on cell phones
Where you at, where you at, where you at
Is you outside Jesus you ain't back yet
been two thousand years
where you at, where you at, where you at.
Is you ISIS they look like Jesus
Is you Taliban they look like Jesus
Is you Hamas, Hezbollah, they look more like Jesus than Jesus we know
Is Al Quida Jesus
Who is Al Quida anyway
Ain't Al Quida America
Ain't Al Quida who America helped in Afghanistan then left them naked after the Russians ran home
Ain't the Bin Laden family and the Bush family lovers and friends
Bin Laden family flew out of American when nobody else could fly, remember 9/11
Baldwin said these people ain't Christians
your condition proves it
yes, Baldwin said
your condition proves it.
Where you at Jesus with your pretty blond hair pretty blue eyes
drone in the sky
poison water air food poison men women and children
Where you at, where you at, where you at
Oh, you love Native Americans so much
Your good Christian police love Negroes so much, ok they love Africans so
Ask Diallo how much they love Africans or did they think he was a Negro
we all look alike don't we
What's the difference between a Negro and African they both Black ain't they
You made them Christian didn't you
you gave them both the Cross and Lynching Tree
Messed up their minds for the next four hundred years
Dumping bleaching cream by the tons on Africa
Bleaching still in America, look at Sammy Sousa
Remember poor Michael
My grandson said he wanna be white like Michael Jackson
So why you good loving Christians crying bout Muuuuuuuuuuslims in your midst
didn't you make them devils like you
didn't they go to your good Christian colonial schools
didn't they study the Bible while you stole the land
little bait and switch here uh
Oh, now you morn in Europe
Muuuuuuuuuuuslim terrorists Muuuuuuuuuslim terrorists
all Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuslims are terrorists
All Christians are what good guys in white hats
Onward Christian soldiers kill the infidels heathens
drive them from Europe and America like Spain did in 1492
Put them on the Good Ship Muuuuuuuhammad
America is a Christian land Europe is good Christian land
let the world be a good Christian land let Jesus return in a space ship
to save us all, save us all.
where you at, where you at, where you at
--Marvin X
1/15/15 

The Negro Knows Everything

The Negro knows everything, don't tell him nothing
Cause he knows everything
History of the atom
Construction of the pyramids
Exact location of Bin Laden
How to grow marijuana with air
Everything
Expert
Scientist
Einstein's teacher
The Negro
He knew the world was round trillions of years before the white man
He was with God in the beginning
He knows how to be a loyal slave like no other
His drugs are holistic
He doesn't need treatment, but more drugs
What would a Negro be without drugs, his morning wake up
Start the day right
Ask him which way is east or west
He'll have a nervous breakdown
Wanna fight
Insulting his intelligence
But he knows everything
Does he have an exit plan
Just in case America falls and FEMA is closed?
Does he have water, food, guns?
Of course he does
Think the Negro is stupid
He knows everything
Don't tell him nothing
Leave him alone
He's dangerous to your healthâ?¦..
say peace when you see him.
On her dying bed, my Moma said,
"Marvin, leave them nigguhs aloneâ?¦.."
but I love dem nigguhs, Mama
LEAVE DEM NIGGUHS ALONE
Mama, I love dem sick crazy
hog eatin liquor drinkin
jesus lovin white man creation
nigguhs
MARVIN, LEAVE DEM NIGGUHS ALONE
Mama, I can't stay way from dem nigguhs
dem all nite party get down funky
ugly lookin wig wearin weave headed dreg locked dead locked nigguhs
Dem black african bilalian afro pan centric endemic nigguhs
anti freedom fightin job loving hate doing for self scared fearful
fearless when fightin for the white man
killling each other beatin they wife ass but never touch the white man
cowardly nigguhs
MARVIN, LEAVE DEM NIGGUHS ALONE....
Mama
MARVIN....
Mama but I
MARVIN
Please, Mama can I
MARVIN
I love
MARVIN
Mama dem nigguhs
MARVIN......
And Mama died........
and I love dem nigguhs................
and Mama died and I love dem nigguhs
and Mama died and I love dem nigguhs
and Mama died
and I love dem nigguhs.

10/5/01

Little African Woman

Little African woman
full of wisdom speak
strength of your silence
calls me like the Sirens
silence calms by soul
whisper your love energy
send it my way if you can
I will flow wit da flow
listening to you
screaming silence in my ears
calm down
the deal is done
no rats can bite this cheese
ancestors have this day in the sun
I listen to you
your soft words are the sea
the tide is in and we are happy.
--Marvin X
2/2/15


I AM AMERICAN
I am American
no citizen of the United States
gave that up years ago
in Toronto
protesting US in Vietnam
exiled in Canada
underground to Chicago, Harlem
crucified at Fresno State University
same time Angela Davis was on the cross at UCLA, 1969

I am American
exiled a second time in Mexico City
with all the exiled Americans from the Americas
from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil
they call me Pele Pele Pele on the streets of Mexico City
want to touch my hair for good luck

I am American
in Mexico City founded by Africans
now exiled by president for life regimes
we are young men of resistance
and women too, my wife is with me
young men
put aboard planes that landed in Chapultepec Park
cerca de Paseo de Reforma
my wife and I live near the Metro by the park
we see the lovers in the park on Sundays
and we are in love
she is pregnant with our daughter Nefertiti
I am American
I cannot speak with my brothers in exile
Jorge from Choco, Columbia
Enrique from Venezuela
I speak Spanish pochito
muy pochito
no Portuguese
I can only say Poder Negro to my revolutionary amigos.
They comprende
I give them the black power salute
I am American
I flee Mexico City for Belize
I pass through Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Merida, Chetumal
the land of Yanga el Africano Mexicano
Yanga was so bad the Spanish gave him a town
San Lorenzo de los Negroes
down in Vera Cruz
I flee against the advice of my Elizabeth Catlett Mora
my elder revolutionary artist
she begged me not to go
those negroes are in raw colonialism
not neo-colonialism she said
I am American
young and hard headed
easy to lead in the wrong direction
hard to lead in the right direction
I am American

I want to hear English
tired of Spanish
basta ya!
I want to see los Negroes
in Belize
esclavos pero Negroes
yo esclavos tambien
I am American

This is my land the Americas
all of it
I was here before Columbus
Before Maya Aztec Incas Olmec
I was here
I came by canoe from Ghana, Mali, Songhay
from the land of Sonni Ali, Askia the Great
the bling bling of Mansa Musa
a thousand camels with gold on his haj to Mecca

I am American
in Belize los Negroes speak English
pero muy rapido pero English
Espanol tambien
I am American
Norte Americano Africano
Simon Bolivar Americano
Simon Simon Simon

I am American
North Central South American
Caribbean American
I am American
from Toronto, Montreal
to Georgetown, Caracas

Slums of Mexico City are mine
shacks of Belize are mine
madness of Kingston are mine
cocaine of Port of Spain are mine
yes, Trinidad
land of C. Eric Williams
victim of Capitalism and Slavery
Guyana is mine
I interviewed PM Burnham at his residence
Africans with AK47s at his gate
the genocide of Jonestown
assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney
how can we forgive the reactionaries
who never turn into Buddha heads
who never put down their butcher knives

I am American
in Belize I join the revolution of Evan X and Shabazz
on trial for sedition
the government is games old people play
this is sedition
I covered the trial for Muhammad Speaks
this was my sin
a 1970 Wikileaks
exposing the emperor has no clothes
the people have no clothes
no water no electricity no toilet
no nothing
brothers want to know why I left American with no gold
they want to go to American to get the gold
why did I leave without the gold
good question

I am American
the people are rich in Belize
joy and peace, sun and land
gardens of paradise
islands in the sun
I love on Gales Point
a little shack with no water no electricity no bathroom
but I am happy
my wife is pregnant and happy
except for the sand flies
mosquitoes who love her blood
we bathe in the river
the out house is on the other side of the island
the catfish collect the waste
people do not swim on that side of the island

I am American
the people beg me to teach black power
I do not check in with the village headman

a drunk man sings outside my house
day comin ta git ya in da mornin
been down here teachin dat black power
day comin to get ya in da mornin, boy

my wife and I laugh
wish dat drunk nigguh git way from our door
but they come to get me in the morning

I am American
When I get on the boat into the city
five hour ride through the jungle
police on boat
I am under arrest
but don't know it
police undercover
don't say nothing to me
when we get to the city
he don't say nothing
police come to my friends house
call me out
I grab rifle
but put it down
surrender
a mulatto greets me outside
I am under arrest
take me to Ministry of Home Affairs
Minister reads my deportation order
Your presence is not beneficial to the welfare of the British Colony of Honduras
therefore you shall be deported to the United States on the next plane to Miami
leaving at 4pm.
Until then you are under arrest.
Mulatto takes me to police station
I am told to sit down. No cell, no handcuffs.
Soon the police gather around me
I am in the middle of a circle of police
I do not know what's up.
Soon they say, broder man, teach us about black power!
I am American

victim of the slave system
police victims too
teach us broder man.
I say
Marcus Garvey came here in 1923
told you to get the Queen of English off yo walls.
It's 1970 and you still got that white bitch on yo walls.
Get that bitch off yo walls!
police crack up
they say you all ite broder man
They point out uncle tom police
they say he black man wit white heart
black man wit white heart!
I am American

Plane came for me on time. Mulatto pushed me onto the plane. I refused to leave without my wife. The plane door slammed. Fly south to Tegucigalpa, Spanish Honduras.
I ask for asylum . Espera un momento, Negro!
I am marched back onto the plane.
We land in Miami. Two gentlemen greet me at the airport. Escort me to my hotel suite at Dade County Jail. I am put into a pit with dead, deaf dumb and blind negroes.
I call them brother.
They say we ain't yo brother, nigguh. I am silent.
After a few days the gentlemen come to transfer me to Miami City jail, the Federal facility.
White Cuban drug dealers greet me. What do you want, my brother, they say.
You need money, food? We send out for food to the restaurant, what do you want.
I am American
I want hamburger, fries and milkshake!
No problema, hermano!
They give me money to call my wife.
She is home in America.
I am American
Cubans say again, whatever you need just let us know.
I am American
like Simon Bolivar
like Che
like Fidel
Toussaint
like Nat Turner
Grabriel Prosser
Harriet Tubman
Malcolm
Like Garvey
Stokely
CLR James
Padmore
Chavez
Morales
I am American.
--Marvin X
1/29/11

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Update on the education of Jah Amiel Muhajir, grandson of Marvin X, now seven years old

 

For the sake of peace in my family, I have not written about my grandson in nearly four years. When he was two and three years old, he used to accompany me downtown to my Academy of da Corner. It was during this time he told me, "Grandpa you can't save the world but I can!" I was shocked but relieved, a mountain of pressure escaped my back, the weight was overwhelming. A woman friend asked me to just be Marvin for today, forget about Marvin X. "When you add the X the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Just for today, be Marvin, especially while you're with me."

Yes, that day as we walked to Lake Merritt and he said those words to me, the pressure was released. But my daughter, his mother, didn't want her son to be so racialized, shall we say. But I came from parents who were a Race Man and Race Woman, meaning they were for the upliftment of the North
American Africans. They published one of the first Black newspaper in the Central Valley, the Fresno Voice. At the same time they had a real estate business. Most Blacks in Fresno bought their first house from my parents during the 1950s. My parents were activists, members of the NAACP and serveral other social organizations, including the Elks, American Legion, Eastern Star, Men of Tomorrow Business Club, especially when our family migrated to Oakland in the late 1950s. I have a picture of my parents at the San Francisco Peace Conference that evolved into the United Nations. I am so happy I experienced the North American African culture of 7th Street. I grew up on 7th and Campbell. I feel so blessed to grow up in a black world of 7th Street, Harlem of the West, Slim Jenkins Restaurant, Percy's Shoe Shine Stand, Wolf's Record, Lincoln Theatre, Scott's Lock and Key Store, Jackmon's Florist. I am so humbled that Paul Cobb and I grew up together yet he knows more about my father's social and political involvement than I do. We are so thankful for the community archivist Jackson Raysor who gave me articles from the Oakland Tribune of my parents fighting racism and housing discrimination.
I am so proud of my parents.
My oldest daughter asked me, "Dad, how can we still be fighting the same issues; and Dad, how is it that you are still alive?"


But my daughter is a Yale graduate in psychology and Stanford Law School graduate, she has her own ideas on raising her children and has written a book on how parents can reward their children for good behavior, Ki-Change, printed in China! So her children are my grandchildren, but I defer to her in the manner she wishes to raise them. But imagine the world of Yale and Stanford, for sure it is not my world. Dr. Wade Nobles says, "The brothers go to prison and the sisters are prisoners of white supremacy academia." Ancestor Amiri Baraka said, "We send our children to colleges and universities and they come back home hating us and everything we're about--but they don't even know what we're about!"

Today, my grandson called me, he said, "Grandpa, are you selling at the flea market today?" I said, "No, grandson, today is Wednesday. I'm downtown right now handling some business. I might be at 14th and Broadway a little later, not sure."

"Well, grandpa, I want to sell some popcorn to make some money, can you come get me or can Mama drop me off?"

"Jah, that's possible. If I decide to set up, I will call you, ok?"
"O.K.!"
 Jah Amiel is standing in front of his grandfather. He is holding Mayor Libby Schaaf's proclamation honoring the 50th anniversary of the Black Arts Movement. The Mayor is holding Jah's sister Naima Joy. photo South Park Kenny Johnson

Jah is on the right of Mayor Libby Schaaf. His sister Naima Joy is on the left, along with their aunt Nefertiti, Marvin X's oldest daughter.
photo South Park Kenny Johnson

After seeing a friend off on Amtrak and eating an original fish burger at 8th and Washington, I drove through 14th and Broadway to check out the terrain  but decided not to open Academy of da Corner, instead I headed to my daughter's house in Berkeley. When I got there, Jah was on the front lawn selling his uncooked popcorn for $5.00 a canning jar. He'd only sold one jar. I bought one. He showed me his art work on the label celebrating the 4th of July. Of course I asked him if he'd heard Frederick Douglas's speech on the 4th of July. He had not.

He'd sold his uncooked popcorn during Xmas to make over $100.00 he needed to buy himself a tablet. Today he needed money to buy Lego's. Toward traffic time on the street he lived, business picked up, by 6pm, the boy had made $60.00 to buy his Lego's. I would like to continue this story but in deference to his mother, my baby daughter, I shall end here and pray she will not crucify me for the above words regarding one of  her chillin'.

Peace and Love,
Marvin X/El Muhajir/Nazzam Al Sudan

The Education of Jah Amiel

I'd rather Osama Bin Laden knock at my door than my grandson. I know total destruction is about to happen in my house.
--Marvin X

Grandpa, you can't save the world but I can!
--Jah Amiel




Child
a thousand years before you came from me and your grandmother and our daughter
I knew you
you did not know me
but I knew you
a thousand years ago
in the infinity of the universe
I knew you were coming
to be a force in the world
and I see you
at my doorstep
in my bed asleep beside me
pissing in my bed
lying about it in the morning
I see you a thousand years before you came
crawling walking dancing singing rapping
I saw you
yet you claim I am blind
a bad grandfather
mean to you
yet I saw you coming
it was no dream
you were the return of a madman
a son who self destructed
and now a grandson
the same potential
so we want to save you
the pleasure
desire
for you are a god
we see that
you listen to my prayers for you
ask me to pray
and so we do
Al Fatihah
you love this prayer
I am amazed
but you ask me to say it again and again
Al Fatihah you want
Not Al Hamdulilah
it is not enough
Grandpa, I want you to say the prayer
In Arabic
that is what I want to hear
That is what I shall recite after you.
--Marvin X
1/23/11




Marvin X is now available for bookings, readings, performance: send letter of invitation to jmarvinx@yahoo.com 

James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass on the 4th of July to captive Africans in the American slave system





July 4, 1776



July 4, 1776

where were you

African man/woman

in celebration or on plantation

popping fire crackers

picking cotton

what were you doing

why were you doing it

with whom were you doing it

July 4, 1776

were you part of new nation

or ole member Massa Johnson's plantation

where were you

July 4, 1776

African man/African woman

--Marvin X

7/4/95

Philly PA



from Love and War Poems by Marvin X, 1995, Black Bird Press, Berkeley CA.

Parable of the Man with ten souls inside his soul

Marvin X
photo Eugene B. Redmond

Why are ten souls inside my soul
Always there
haunting me mostly
never letting me be at peace
especially with a lover
most jealous of people these guys inside me
no matter how beautiful she is intelligent
they are not satisfied unless they have one too
bug me to death
fuck up my shit
little haters inside me
demanding happiness too
absolutely will not let me be happy if they aren’t
up in my face pleading for the same joy
I know you will never go away
perhaps I shall stay in solitude
writing my songs in the key of life
like Stevie said
they can’t taunt then
don’t disturb my writing
they know better
I would kill them motherfuckers
they know it
writing is my mistress supreme
so they leave me alone
call themselves protecting me
guarding the inner walls of my soul
I am a prisoner of love
if love doesn’t come to them as well
no love for me
oh well, buddy, write your books
we got yo back.
but you better get us some ladies too
fine and mellow
kind you like
intelligent
we know you like ho’s too
we like ho’s too
don’t play us like that buddy
we ain’t goin nowhere you know that
been with you yo whole life
even in high school
you satisfied us didn’t you
you tried
we made you do some things you didn’t even wanna do
didn’t we, buddy?
so don’t play with us
you know you can’t see us coming
in the night or in the day
unless we make ourselves known
yeah, we the spirit in the dark
and in the light
can’t miss us
we show don’t miss you
closer than your jugular vain
closer than close
better ax somebody.
—Marvin X
6/3015

Marvin X on Navigating the perilous mental landscape



Navigating the perilous Mental Landscape

Like the earthquake in Japan, man too is in mental motion, a mind quake of the most devastating degree that is rocking his mental equilibrium to the core!
We must be aware of the times and what must be done. A blind man named Ray Charles told us "the world is in an uproar, the danger zone is everywhere...." And so it is, ancestor Ray, there is turbulence in the land and in man, woman and children. As the earth enters another 25,000 year cycle of history with the coming New Age of high spiritual consciousness, there are many who remain deaf, dumb and blind to present and future events, even though the news is full of rapidly changing events in the global village. One would need to be in worse shape than Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder not to see the earth is in transformation, even Nature itself. The ice is melting, the sea rising, the forests burning, earthquakes and tsunamis , drought, famine, pestilence, in diverse places, just as Jesus predicted.

Apparently, many do not believe what Jesus said even when they see events he predicted before their very eyes, on the news, Twitter, Facebook, Cable TV and elsewhere. He said mother would be against child and child against mother and father. Did he not say brother would be against brother and sister against sister? And do we not see this in our social relations today.

It is crystal clear to me we are in times in which a friend is no longer a friend, a wife and husband no longer wife and husband. There is no love between them. Husbands and wives say the horrible things to each other. Daughters and sons say the most wretched things to their parents, often when the parents are helping them.

But when the danger zone is everywhere, no one, no relationships are exempt from the turmoil sweeping the old order out and ushering in the New Era. But there is an almost organic relationship between the earth quaking and the minds of men, women and children becoming totally unbalanced. In this time of radical change of Nature and man, those with no understanding shall become unglued, losing their fragile mental equilibrium or simply tripping out. Ultimately, they become a danger to themselves and others and must be committed, for they are not the person we knew only yesterday. Today they are a total stranger who does not know us, cannot even recognize us, yet we have known them since childhood. They could be a sibling yet they do not act like there is any blood relationship between us. We behave like total strangers.

It could be parent/child relationships that come to such a low point children will sue parents or visa versa. In short the love is gone. Amiri Baraka tells us in his play A Black Mass, "Where the souls print should be there is only a cellulose pouch of disgusting habits...."

As we walk the streets be very careful what you say to people, for they are on edge, on the precipice, ready to strike out at the slightest perceived negative incident, or wrong word uttered.
Yes, they are ready to kill, so be aware as you make your daily round.

The political/economic atmosphere is charged with venom, but it is misplaced aggression, for no one is going after the bankers, the loan sharks, the Wall Street financiers who were casino gamblers with the wealth of the people, stealing 13 trillion dollars in the sub prime housing scam.
And yet hardly a banker is in jail, meanwhile 2.4 million mostly poor are incarcerated for petty crimes, additionally they suffer drug abuse and mental illness, not to mention lack of proper legal representation at the time of their trials. The only white man doing time is the one who stole from the rich, not the poor. Those who robbed the poor are yet receiving multimillion dollar bonuses while 30 million workers are unemployed and millions are now homeless.

It is this atmosphere that is so unsettling to the mental state of those who were already suffering stress from the general hostile environment, from bad food, the media dispensing
information from the world of make believe and promoting the addiction to white supremacy conspicuous consumption

How do we move from problem to solution, from addiction to recovery, from sickness to healing?
The Buddhists says knowledge plus the right action. We must first understand the time and what must be done. These are perilous times, very dangerous, thus one must tip through the tulips, through the mind fields that lay before us, behind us, to the right and to the left.

We must practice eternal vigilance and stay on guard against being deceived. There are those who wish to deceive us so that we remain victims of the slave system. They will not tell us all the institutions are exhausted, political, economic, educational, religious, marital. None of these shall continue with business as usual. They must and shall undergo radical structural change, if not simply thrown into the dustbin of history where they belonged long ago.

Those not prepared for radical change shall be blown by the wayside where they shall inhabit the lower realms of an animal existence until they die or recover from savagery and come into the era of civility and spirituality beyond religiosity.

Those who are a danger to themselves and others will need to be confined to a program of long term recovery, a rehabilitation of their disgusting habits, namely greed, ego, pride, lust, arrogance, and other deadly sins, and most importantly the inability to practice freedom, justice and equality, constitutionally unable to share the wealth and practice democracy or the consent of the governed.

The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end, or rather what goes around comes around. What we are witnessing and experiencing is not linear time but circular, for we shall continue, but only those who are able to jump out of the box of the old structures into the new.

The fearless ones, they shall be successful. Those not motivated by the illusions of the monkey mind shall be successful. We pray for the others who persist in their inordinancy, blindly wandering on, as the Qur'an says.
--Marvin X
4/7/11

Benefit for Val Serrant, Saturday, August 8 at New Karibben City


YES IT'S ON
"From Drum To SteelDrum
From Afrika To De Karibbean & Beyond!"
"A $pecial Fund$-Rai$er.
For  
Val Serrant's CommUNITY-Programs!"
AT 
"NEW KARIBBEAN CITY"{Richard Nkc}
1408 Webster St...*D'town Oakland,...
Saturday,8th August 3-9pm.
Donation$ Most Welcome! **FOOD & DRINKS ON $ALE. Smile
***PLEASE:-SPREAD DE WORD...AN' BRING DE CHIL'REN! Smile.
ONE-LOVE!
ASE-O!.