Please sign petition for Black Arts Movement Cultural District for downtown Oakland

Will Oakland establish the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Business District?

Please sign this petition: Black Arts Movement Cultural District for downtown Oakland

Hotep,

To raise cultural, economic and political consciousness in Oakland CA.

That's why I created a petition to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf which says:

"We demand the City of Oakland proclaim the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Business District along the 14th Street corridor, from Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to Alice Street and beyond. It will be an Afro-centric sacred space for people of good will and positive consciousness to gather and express themselves freely as divine beings in human form. Gov. Brown recently signed legislation to establish cultural districts throughout California."

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/black-arts-movement-cultural?source=c.em.mt&r_by=7558031

Thanks!

Marvin X, Black Arts Movement

Ancestor Amiri Baraka and Elder Marvin X, two founders of the Black Arts Movement, coast to coast. These brothers enjoyed a 47 year friendship and artistic relationship.

If you ever find
yourself, some where
lost and surrounded
by enemies
who won't let you
speak in your own language



who destroy your statues






& instruments
who ban
your omm bomm ba boom



then you are in trouble
deep trouble
they ban your
omm boom ba boom
you in deep deep
trouble

humph!

probably take you several hundred years
to get
out!
--Amiri Baraka

Bay Area authors, artists, activists celebrate Chauncey Bailey
in the BAM District--Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin 
 photo Gene Hazzard/Adam Turner

CALLING ALL BLACK PEOPLE

ARTISTS, VENDORS, BUSINESS PERSONS

We are calling for the Black Arts Movement District along the 14th Street corridor, downtown Oakland, from Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to Alice Street. This corridor should be the resurrection of 7th Street, West Oakland, Harlem of the West. It should be the cultural and economic expression of North American Africans who have been the vanguard of resistance to white supremacy domination in Oakland and America. Yes, Oakland is the City of Resistance, like Fallujah in Iraq. Let's be clear, during the 1960s North American Africans in Oakland suffered a military defeat by the US Government's Cointelpro, the effort to prevent the rise of a black messiah and the liberation of the Black Masses. The revolutionary Black Panther Party was ultimately defeated on the streets of Oakland by police, military and intelligence agencies of America. See Stanley Nelson's film Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution. Fifty years later we are still fighting the police, miseducation of our children, urban removal (now called gentrification), joblessness and incarceration; still suffering traumatic slave syndrome, unresolved grief and a pervasive toxic environment.

Culturally, housing for North American Africans is disappearing rapidly, artistic institutions are few and funding is minimal while European American art and cultural institutions flourish, especially in the downtown area. 

Our cultural gatherings are under attack. We are fined for singing in church while Black, drumming while Black, partying at Lake Merritt while Black: No amplified music, no Bar b Que, no alcohol= No Nigguhs at the Lake! Black women from the Bay were recently kicked off the Napa Wine Train for laughing while Black. 

Richard Wright said it best in Native Son, "Your very presence is a crime against the State!...."

It is time to stand our ground, maybe it's the last stand, but stand and resist white supremacy domination in Oakland. Oakland's socalled multi-racial demographics is not what Oakland is about. Oakland is the City of Resistance to oppression and pervasive discrimination in every sphere of cultural life: political, economic, educational, religious. Resistance is the key to Oakland's past and future. The Black Arts Movement District will continue the tradition of art for liberation, not to perpetuate the world of make believe projected by the dominate culture.

WE call upon all conscious people to attend the upcoming planning meetings to demand the Black Arts Movement District.

--Marvin X

Black Arts Movement co-founder

510-200-4164

jmarvinx@yahoo.com

www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com

 Black Arts Movement/Black Liberation fighters Angela Davis, Marvin X, Sonia Sanchez

Letter from City of Oakland Planning Department

From: Parker, Alicia <AParker@oaklandnet.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 2:57 PM
Subject: Plan Downtown - Artists Group on 10/27 at 11am
To: "info@joycegordongallery.com" <info@joycegordongallery.com>

Dear Ms. Diouf,

My name is Alicia and it is my pleasure to invite you to a meeting to discuss arts in Downtown Oakland. As part of Plan Downtown we are convening a meeting with artists and cultural leaders on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 11am at 1544 Broadway. The group will be composed of artists, downtown gallery owners and curators, representatives from performance venues, and cultural leaders. We will discuss the place for arts in the future of downtown, how to ensure equity as we grow as a city and how to reach the widest audience (across cultures and ages).

It would be great if you are able to make it. I’ve attached some flyers so that you can add the other community events to your calendar. We’re having a “hands-on design” session at 6pm Monday, Oct. 19 (the Rotunda Building, 300 Frank Ogawa Plaza), a “pin-up” session at 6pm on Thursday, Oct. 22 (1544 Broadway) and a “work-in-progress” presentation at 6pm Wednesday, Oct. 28 (The Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway).

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any clarification. I look forward to hearing from you. (510) 238-3362

Thank you,

Alicia Parker, AICP, Planner III | City of Oakland | Bureau of Planning | 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 3315, Oakland, CA 94612 | Phone: (510) 238-3362 | Fax: (510) 238-6538 |Email: aparker@oaklandnet.com  |  Website: www.oaklandnet.com/planning

City of Oakland Planning Meetings on the Downtown Future

Be there or be square!

We hope to see you at tonight’s Hands-On Design Workshop, which kicks off a ten-day series of events to engage the public in planning Downtown Oakland’s future. 

At the end of the ten-day charrette, the community and planning team will have collaboratively developed the bones of Plan Downtown, which will guide future land use, development, housing, employment, transportation, community character and arts and culture in Downtown.

Monday, October 19, 6 to 8pm
Hands-On Design Workshop – TONIGHT
The Rotunda Building, 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Consultants will lead the public through discussion and activities to identify the important issues associated with the future of Downtown and illustrate how Oaklanders might like to see the area evolve.

Tuesday, October 20 through Tuesday, October 27
Open Design Studio
9 am to 6 pm daily (closed Sunday), open until 8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursday
1544 Broadway, across from Latham Square
Drop by at any time to meet the City’s Plan Downtown team, including experts in fields such as environment, architecture and economics. Share your ideas, ask questions and find out what other Oaklanders are envisioning for Downtown.

Thursday, October 22, 6 to 7 pm
Pin-up Open House
1544 Broadway
An illustrative plan designed throughout the week to help visualize change will be pinned up on the wall for the public to see and discuss.

Saturday, October 24, 9 am to Noon
Downtown Walking Tour
Tour departs from 1544 Broadway
The walking tour will highlight areas of change and opportunity in Downtown, giving tour participants a chance to consider the existing urban form and possibilities for growth.

Tuesday, October 27, 12:30 to 1:30 pm
Parking Summit
1544 Broadway
City transportation staff will provide information about the Downtown Oakland Parking Study and facilitate a conversation about parking strategies.

Wednesday, October 28, 6 to 8 pm
Work-In-Progress Presentation
The Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway
The planning team will present the ideas, goals and draft visualizations generated for Plan Downtown to get feedback from the public to make sure the plan is on the right track.

For more information on the Plan Downtown Oakland, please visit the project web page at www.oaklandnet.com/plandowntownoakland.

Gay Plair Cobb, Marvin X, Mayor Libby Schaaf, Laney College President Elnora T. Webb, Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black Studies, and Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb. Laney College celebration of the BAM 50th Anniversary, 2015.
photo Ken Johnson

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College, Feb. 14, 2015. Left to Right: Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb, Laney Art Professor Leslee Stradford, Rt. Col. Conway Jones, Jr., BAM co-founder Marvin X, Mayor Schaaf holding X's granddaughter Naeemah, grandson Jahamiel, Laney College President Elnora T. Webb, Dr. Nathan Hare, Lynette McElhaney, President of the Oakland City Council.  California ArtBeat California Arts Council Advancing California through the Arts and Creativity October 02, 2015

GET THE ARTS PLATE >> KEEP ARTS IN SCHOOLS WITH YOUR TAX RETURN >>

Gov. Brown Signs Legislation Creating CA Cultural Districts

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 189, a measure empowering the California Arts Council to designate areas as Cultural Districts!
The districts will be approved by the Council through a competitive application process. As part of the program, we'll provide technical and promotional support to the districts, as well as collaborate with public agencies and private entities to maximize the benefits to the local and state economy.

The bill was authored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom with co-authors Assembly Members Ian Calderon and Marie Waldron, and Senator Ben Allen. 

"Whether it be the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, the Tower District of Fresno, or the artistic enclaves of the North Coast, California is internationally recognized for its abundance of creative and cultural businesses, organizations and events," stated Assemblymember Bloom. "Designating areas with vibrant creative communities as Cultural Districts will not only celebrate California's diverse cultural landscape, but will also help to draw economic development and tourism to local economies."
Stay tuned for more information on the launch of the California statewide Cultural Districts program. 

 
                       

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra, University of California, Merced, 2014 

 

From the archives of the Oakland Post Newspaper

Friday, November 21, 2014

BAM Artists seek "Black Arts Movement District" in Oakland

Caption: Left to right, Amiri Baraka, chief visionary of the Black Arts Movement; Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party; theatre director Dr. Ayodele Nzinga; Ahi Baraka; and Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner at 14th and Broadway in downtown Oakland. Man in background is NOI fan of Marvin X. Photo by Gene Hazzard.

By Ashley Chambers, Associate Editor, Post News Group

With plans underway for  BAM’s ,(Bay Area Black Arts Movement) 50^th anniversary celebration, BAM producer Marvin X Jackmon  and Post Publisher Paul Cobb are proposing that the City Council  and Mayor-elect Libby Schaaf  declare 14^th Street, between Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and Alice Street in downtown Oakland, as “Black Arts Movement District.”

The movement revolutionized the arts, literature and ethnic studies in America. Leading artists include Ed Bullins, Nikki Giovanni, Woodie King, Haki Madhubuti, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Touré, Marvin X, Val Gray Ward, and others.

“I think what Black Arts did was inspire a whole lot of Black people to write,” said author Ishmael Reed. “Moreover, there would be no multiculturalism movement without Black Arts. Latinos, Asian Americans, and others all say they began writing as a result of the example of the 1960s,” said Marvin.

“When the Post Newspapers were founded 50 years ago, we also founded El Mundo, a Spanish language paper as well. Many artists, writers and musicians have been covered and promoted by our publications,” said Cobb.

Cobb is optimistic that the city could designate the district because while he was Religion Editor and a columnist at the Oakland Tribune and at the Post, he proposed the renaming of 20th Street to Thomas L. Berkley Way, to honor the late Post Publisher.  And now, ironically, the Oakland Tribune offices are located at Broadway and Thomas L.Berkley Way. Cobb also proposed the renaming of Cypress Street to Mandela Parkway after the freeway collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

Marvin and Cobb said the BAM district could start at 14^th and Brush Street location, at the off ramp of the John Miller Freeway, which also borders the Oak Center District championed by the late Lillian Love.  From Castro  Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Way sits the Preservation Park Development which was organized by the late Black Chamber of Commerce leaders  Oscar Coffey, Leon Miller and C.J.Patterson along with the OCCUR organization led by Paul Cobb. The home of Ellen G. White, the Black prophetess of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is located inside Preservation Park.  Writer Jack London, who was raised and breast-fed by Jennie Prentice, his African American surrogate mother, studied at the Charles Greene Library, now renamed the African American Museum/Library (AAMLO) at 14th and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.

Walking up 14^th are the C. L. Dellums apartments, across the street from AAMLO, in honor of the Pullman Porters Union, the first Black union in America.

At 14^th and Brush Streets which is at the edge of the Oak Center District and at the off ramp of the John Miller Freeway stands the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building with a statue of the late NAACP leader and Judge Donald McCullum in the plaza area adjacent to the Post Office named for the late Pharmacist and Senator Byron Rumford. The Elihu Harris State Building is also located on Clay Street.

 City Hall Plaza which honors Japanese American vice Mayor Frank Ogawa, is adjacent to the Lionel Wilson office Building named after Oakland’s first Black Mayor

At 14^th and Broadway, we enter the outdoor classroom of Marvin X, a literacy center, site of mentoring and grief counseling. Readings and dramatic performances happen there. The Oscar Grant rebellion and Occupy Oakland occurred in his classroom, which is located above the bust of the late John B. Williams, the first Black Redevelopment Director of Oakland. Williams is celebrated for revitalizing West Oakland, Old Oakland and portions of Chinatown along with the George Scotland Convention Center housed inside the Marriott Hotel, which is diagonal to the Key System Building where Josephine Baker led a protest for workers.

Marvin X with the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir & Arkestra (David Murray on sax, Earl Davis on trumpet). Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland, May 17, 2014

photo Gene Hazzard

Marvin plans to help conduct walking tours similar to those led by the City of Oakland’s Anna Lee Allen. The sites will include Geoffrey’s Inner Circle the premiere Black Entertainment Complex at 14^th and Franklin, which faces the offices of the Post Newspaper in the Financial Center Building.  Historically Geoffrey Pete’s building, the Niles Club, once denied entrance to Blacks. Other Black venues at Geoffrey’s include: The Joyce Gordon Gallery, Imagine Affairs special events, Exhale Hair Salon, Oakland Tattoos, Central Nails, When Harlem Was In Vogue, Club Vinyl, a nightclub and Halftime Sports Bar

Walking  eastward toward Webster Street is the site of  former Black owned Bank of Oakland,  now owned by the Greenlining Institute.

The tour moves past the Club Caribee towards the Malonga Arts Center at 14^th and Alice Streets, which is across the street from the site of the assassination of Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. At the end of the walking tours Marvin said they would visit the Rene C. Davidson County Courthouse where the trials Bailey’s Murderer and Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton were conducted. Davidson was the first countywide elected Black official.
 

The tour concludes with visits to the once Black-owned Tribune Building.  Robert C. Maynard was the first Black publisher of a major metropolitan daily newspaper. Many Black editors, writers, photographers and columnists worked for the Tribune, including Delilah Beasley, Chauncey Bailey, Martin Reynolds, Pearl Stewart and Paul Cobb. The building now houses offices of the African American Chamber of Commerce and the offices of Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

  The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra, Malcolm X Jazz/Arts Festival, Oakland, 2014

photo collage by Adam Turner, Post News Group

For information call 510-200-4164 or email: jmarvinx@yahoo.com.

A look at Black America, 2015

Book Release: Black Hollywood unChained, edited by Ishmael Reed

Friends,

After the controversial release of the movie Django Unchained three years, Ishmael Reed was asked by Third World Press to put together a book of essays of criticism and response by various authors.

While the essays were finished not long after the movie's release, it's been a long journey to get the book itself published. However, Black Hollywood Unchained is now in print, It includes contributions by 28 authors, including what may have been one of the last essays written by Amiri Baraka before his death.

Also contributing (including myself) are:

Houston A. Baker Jr.

Playthell G. Benjamin

Herb Boyd

Cecil Brown

Ruth Elizabeth Burks

Art t. Burton

Stanley Crouch

Justin Desmangles

Lawrence DiSasi

Jack Foley

David Henderson

Geary Hobson

Joyce A. Joyce

Haki R. Madhubuti

C. Liegh McInnis

Tony Medina

Alejandro Murguía

Jill Nelson

Halifu Osumare

Heather D. Russell

Hariette Surovell

Kathryn Waddell Takara

Jerry W. Ward Jr.

Marvin X

Al Young

The book is currently available at Amazon. I buy as much as possible from local venues but I'm not sure which, if any, book-and-mortar stores it's being sold at. If you're interested, you should ask.

Jesse Allen-Taylor

Gov. Brown Signs Legislation Creating CA Cultural Districts

Gov. Jerry Brown Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College, Feb. 14, 2015. Left to Right: Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb, Laney Art Professor Leslee Stradford, Rt. Col. Conway Jones, Jr., BAM co-founder Marvin X, Mayor Schaaf holding X's granddaughter Naeemah, grandson Jahamiel, Laney College President Elnora T. Webb, Dr. Nathan Hare, Lynette McElhaney, President of the Oakland City Council. California ArtBeat California Arts Council Advancing California through the Arts and Creativity October 02, 2015

GET THE ARTS PLATE >> KEEP ARTS IN SCHOOLS WITH YOUR TAX RETURN >>

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Gov. Brown Signs Legislation Creating CA Cultural Districts

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 189, a measure empowering the California Arts Council to designate areas as Cultural Districts!
The districts will be approved by the Council through a competitive application process. As part of the program, we'll provide technical and promotional support to the districts, as well as collaborate with public agencies and private entities to maximize the benefits to the local and state economy.

The bill was authored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom with co-authors Assembly Members Ian Calderon and Marie Waldron, and Senator Ben Allen. 

"Whether it be the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, the Tower District of Fresno, or the artistic enclaves of the North Coast, California is internationally recognized for its abundance of creative and cultural businesses, organizations and events," stated Assemblymember Bloom. "Designating areas with vibrant creative communities as Cultural Districts will not only celebrate California's diverse cultural landscape, but will also help to draw economic development and tourism to local economies."
Stay tuned for more information on the launch of the California statewide Cultural Districts program. 
                       

The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra, University of California, Merced, 2014 

From the archives: Black History--Oakland's Shame by Marvin X

Marvin X

The purpose of history is to give people a memory of their past in order that they may endure the present and propel themselves into the future. When they are disconnected from their myths and history, the present can be chaotic and the future problematic. Such is the present condition ofOakland’s North American African citizens: their grass roots heroes and sheroes languish in obscurity and infamy. Oakland heroes from the 1960s, namely radicals such as the Black Panthers have no streets named after them for their valiant struggle against oppression. There are no statues or other monuments to the Black Panther leadership or the thousands of rank and file grass roots people who sacrificed their sweat and blood to make Oakland and America a better place. There’s a Federal building named after Ron Dellums, a state building named after Elihu Harris, a psychiatric hospital named after John George, but nothing to honor the common people who fought in the streets of Oakland and across America to make this nation live up to the Constitution by creating a society of, for and by the consent of the governed.

Lil Bobby Hutton

There are no statues of Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Hutton, Panther leaders who have joined the ancestors. What is the excuse for not officially renaming Defermery Park after Little Bobby Hutton, the 16 year old youth murdered by the Oakland Police in a shootout after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Little Bobby was the third member of the BPP and its secretary. Today he should be an example much needed by youth to show them the path to freedom rather than the rode to self destruction they are presently following. After three black mayors, there is yet no official name change of the West Oakland park where so many Panthers and other radicals grew up on the basketball courts and picnic grounds.

As one who grew up in West Oakland and familiar with Oakland’s radical tradition, I am embarrassed when people ask me where are the monuments to the great radicals Oakland produced, especially during the 60s. People from out of town who visit Oakland are dumbfounded that they cannot visit any sites where Black Panthers and other radicals are honored.

Oakland’s old Merritt College on Grove or MLK street, was the hotbed of radical Oakland during the early 60s. It is where I attended college and obtained my radical education, not in the classroom, but on the steps at the main entrance, listening to fellow young radicals Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Richard Thorne, Ernie Allen, Isaac Moore, Ann Williams, Ken and Carol Freedom, Donald Warden, Maurice Dawson, et al.

With all due respect to Martin Luther King, the site should not have been named in honor of MLK but to those Oakland radicals who helped change America and the world from the hallowed steps at the front of the college. The world should know that Oakland’s 60s revolution was spearheaded by students who would extend their struggle for freedom to UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, which had the longest and most violent student strike in American history. Many of the students at SFSU had transferred from Merritt College, taking their desire for equal education, including black studies, across the bay and eventually across America when the call for black studies became a priority of the freedom struggle. Well, Merritt College, now located up in the Oakland hills, far from the flatlands and the population who made the college historic, has belatedly named a room after its most controversial students, Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

But the real significance of the BPP is that they gave a voice to the voiceless masses of youth and adults suffering oppression in Oakland, the US and the world. And these brothers and sisters must be honored for their sweat, blood and tears on the streets of this city. The tragic shame is that today’s youth have little or no knowledge of what happened in Oakland, for there are no monuments at 14th and Broadway or anywhere to remind them of their roots, of the struggle and sacrifice of their parents and grandparents.

We call upon Mayor Ron Dellums, himself a part of Oakland’s radical history, to make it a priority of his tenure to establish monuments to Oakland’s Black Radical Past.

If streets can be named after African and European radicals, how long will local heroes be neglected, especially when youth need knowledge and symbols of progressive social activists so they can see there are alternative lifestyles other than the self destructive American gansta genre of psycho-social pathology.

And more important than symbolic gestures, we call upon the mayor and city council, in coordination with other Bay Area governments, to establish a special fund to award and reward the still surviving freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives, educations, jobs, and families to make a better world for Bay Area citizens in particular and Americans in general. After all, these liberation fighters in the Panther Party, the Nation of Islam, Black Student Unions and other social activist organizations, suffered the blows of fascist America. These valiant men and women endured police surveillance, family intimidation, jail, prison, torture, murder, exile, black listing and other forms of obstruction in the battles they waged to make things better for all Americans. They are thus entitled to just compensation as are veterans from any war, for their battle was in fact the Second Civil War, far more important than the racist war in Vietnam and the present unprovoked war in Iraq.

One result of the Black Panther Party was the US government’s adoption of their free breakfast program for all children.

Black Student Union members fought for diversity in education, and with the establishment of Black Studies, it was soon followed by Asian Studies, Native American Studies, Chicano Studies, Gender Studies. American academia was forever changed for the better: the racist Eurocentric education suffered a death blow.



Let us acknowledge and reward the cultural workers who established the West coast arm of the Black Arts Movement or BAM, which revolutionized the esthetics of the arts, replacing the art for art sake of the European paradigm with a functional approach that stated art is indeed didactic, i.e., for education and elevation of consciousness, not merely for entertainment. Cultural workers such as Ed Bullins, Marvin X, Danny Glover, Jimmy Garrett, Vonetta McGee, Sarah Webster Fabio, Adam David Miller, Ntozake Shange, Reginald Lockett, Avotjca, Ruth Beckford and others, raised the standard of the black arts that had been initiated by the Harlem Renaissance, but BAM was more political and directed to the masses rather than to the whites seeking exotica and erotica. It was a revolutionary artistic movement, working in tandem with the political liberation movement. Not only was BAM the sister of the Black Power movement, but in a very real since, it was the mother since many of the politicos were nurtured in the womb of BAM, then advanced to the political revolution. We think of Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Huey Newton, Benny Stewart, George Murray, Emory Douglass, Samuel Napier, Judy Juanita, Halifu Osumare, Joann Mitchell and others who came through BAM.

And finally, BAM, by the very nature of the literature, forced inclusion of its material in academia, thus upsetting the status quo, altering it forever when ethnic literature was forced into the Eurocentric curriculum. Other ethnic groups followed suit with demands their literature become apart of the general curriculum. The Asian poet Janice Mirikini (wife of Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Church) will tell people, “It was the poetry of Marvin X that awakened me to my ethnicity.” So yes, BAM awakened other ethnicities to the power of their indigenous literature and artistic expression, freeing them of Eurocentric domination or white supremacy/lunacy.


Unfortunately, opportunists took advantage of the situation created by the liberation fighters to simply obtain tenure, thus the original mission was aborted with the resultant disintegration of community. If black consciousness had been properly spread to the community, there would be children today carrying on the tradition rather than engaged in self destructive behavior. The present situation is indeed a shame, but perhaps if the veteran liberation fighters are honored, it will inspire the children of today to engage in the protracted struggle to liberate themselves from the last vestiges of white supremacy/lunacy.

--Marvin X
1/30/08

Marvin X grew up in West Oakland on Seventh and Campbell, the son of a florist who had published the first black newspaper in the central valley, The Fresno Voice. His first writings were published in the children’s section of the Oakland Tribune. His latest book HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY is now a textbook at Berkeley City College and Oakland’s Merritt College. To order your copy, send $19.95 to Black Bird Press, 339 Lester Ave., #10, Oakland CA 94606.

From the Archives: Black Panthers in China: Chairman Huey P. Newton meets Chinese Premier Chou En Lai

Huey Newton meeting Chinese Premier - Chou En Lai

The 1946 Chinese revolution ensured the independence of China from once being a semi-colony of many european colonialists. The revolution also developed in a socialist direction. The Chinese revolution was one of the most important revolutions of the last century, which inspired a new wave of revolutionary struggles for several decades.

The African Revolution and the Black Liberation Movement was also inspired by the Chinese revolutionaries, and Mao's statement on the Black Liberation struggle, arising from discussions with pioneering black revolutionary Robert F Williams, helped to put Mao and the Chinese revolution as a champion of the Black Revolution.

Sukant Chandan, Sons of Malcolm




China


Chapter 32 
From Revolutionary Suicide


The people who have triumphed in their own revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty. 
(Mao Tse-tung, Little Red Book)

Today, when I think of my experiences in the People’s Republic of China – a country that overwhelmed me while I was there – they seem somehow distant and remote. Time erodes the immediacy of the trip; the memory begins to recede. But that is a common aftermath of travel, and not too alarming. What is important is the effect that China and its society had on me, and that impression is unforgettable. While there, I achieved a psychological liberation I had never experienced before. It was not simply that I felt at home in China; the reaction was deeper than that. What I experienced was the sensation of freedom as if a great weight had been lifted from my soul and I was able to be myself, without defense or pretense or the need for explanation. I felt absolutely free for the first time in my life completely free among my fellow men. This experience of freedom had a profound effect on me, because it confirmed my belief that an oppressed people can be liberated if their leaders persevere in raising their consciousness and in struggling relentlessly against the oppressor.

Because my trip was so brief and made under great pressure, there were many places I was unable to visit and many experiences I had to forgo. Yet there were lessons to be learned from even the most ordinary and commonplace encounters: a question asked by a worker, the response of a schoolchild, the attitude of a government official. These slight and seemingly unimportant moments were enlightening, and they taught me much. For instance, the behaviour of the police in China was a revelation to me. They are there to protect and help the people, not to oppress them. Their courtesy was genuine; no division or suspicion exists between them and the citizens. This impressed me so much that when I returned to the United States and was met by the Tactical Squad at the San Francisco airport(they had been called out because nearly a thousand people came to the airport to welcome us back), it was brought home to me all over again that the police in our country are an occupying, repressive force. I pointed this out to a customs officer in San Francisco, a Black man who was armed, explaining to him that I felt intimidated seeing all the guns around. I had just left a country, I told him, where the army and the police are not in opposition to the people but are their servants.

I received the invitation to visit China shortly after my release from the Penal Colony, in August, 1970. The Chinese were interested in the Party’s Marxist analysis and wanted to discuss it with us as well as show us the concrete application of theory in their society. I was eager to go and applied for a passport in late 1970, which was finally approved a few months later. However, 1 did not make the trip at that time because of Bobby’s and Ericka’s trial in New Haven. Nonetheless, I wanted to see China very much, and when I learned that President Nixon was going to visit the People’s Republic in February, 1972, I decided to beat him to it. My wish was to deliver a message to the government of the People’s Republic and the Communist Party, which would be delivered to Nixon when he made his visit.

I made the trip in late September, 1971, between my second and third trials, going without announcement or publicity because I was under an indictment. I had only ten days to spend in China. Even though I had no travel restrictions and had been given a passport, the California courts could have tied me down at any time because I was under court bail, so 1 avoided the states jurisdiction by going to New York instead of directly to Canada from California. Because of my uncertainty about what the power structure might do. I continued to avoid publicity after reaching New York, since it was not implausible that the authorities might place a federal hold on me, claiming illegal flight. By flying from New York to Canada I was able to avoid federal jurisdiction, and once in Canada I caught a plane to Tokyo. Police agents knew of my intentions, and they followed me all the way right to the Chinese border. Two comrades, Elaine Brown and Robert Bay, went with me. I have no doubt that we were allowed to go only because the police believed we were not coming back. If they had known I intended to return, they probably would have done everything possible to prevent the trip. The Chinese government understood this, and while I was in China, they offered me political asylum, but I told them I had to return, that my struggle is in the United States of America.

Going through the immigration and customs services of the imperialist nations was the same dehumanizing experience we had come to expect as part of our daily life in the United States. In Canada, Tokyo, and Hong Kong they took everything out of our bags and searched them completely. In Tokyo and Hong Kong we were even subjected to a skin search. I thought I had left that routine behind in the California Penal Colony, but I know that the penitentiary is only one kind of captivity within the larger prison of a racist society. When we arrived at the free territory, where security is supposed to be so tight and every-one suspect, the comrades with the red stars on their hats asked us for our passports. Seeing they were in order, they simply bowed and asked us if the luggage was ours. When we said yes, they replied, “You have just passed customs.” They did not open our bags when we arrived or when we left.

As we crossed into China the border guards held their automatic rifles in the air as a signal of welcome and well-wishing. The Chinese truly live by the slogan “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” and their behavior constantly reminds you of that. For the first time I did not feel threatened by a uniformed person with a weapon; the soldiers were there to protect the citizenry.

The Chinese were disappointed that we had only ten days to spend with them and wanted us to stay longer, but I had to be back for the start of my third trial. Still, much was accomplished in that short time, traveling to various parts of the country, visiting factories, schools,and communes. Everywhere we went,large groups of people greeted us with applause, and we applauded them in return. It was beautiful. At every airport thousands of people. welcomed us, applauding, waving their Little Red Books, and carrying signs that read WE SUPPORT THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY, DOWN WITH U.S. IMPERIALISM, OR WE SUPPORT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BUT THE NIXON IMPERIALIST REGIME MUST BE OVERTHROWN.

We also visited as many embassies as possible. Sightseeing took second place to Black Panther business and our desire to talk with revolutionary brothers, so the Chinese arranged for us to meet the ambassadors of various countries. The North Korean Ambassador gave us a sumptuous dinner and showed films of his country. We also met the Ambassador from Tanzania, a fine comrade, as well as delegations from North Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam. We missed the Cuban and Albanian embassies be-cause we were short of time.

When news of our trip reached the rest of the world, widespread attention focused on it, and the press was constantly after us to find out why we had come. They were wondering if we sought to spoil Nixon’s visit since we were so strongly opposed to his reactionary regime. Much of the time we were harassed by reporters. One evening a Canadian reporter would not leave my table despite my asking him several times. He insisted on hanging around, questioning us, even though we had made it plain we had nothing to say to him. I finally became disgusted with his persistence and ordered him to leave. Seconds later, the Chinese comrades arrived with the police and asked if I wanted him arrested. I said no, I only wanted him to leave my table. After that we stayed in a protected villa with a Red Army honor guard outside. This was another strange sensation- to have the police on our side.

We had been promised an opportunity to meet Chairman Mao, but the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party felt this would not be appropriate since I was not a head of state. But we did have two meetings with Premier Chou En-lai. One of them lasted two hours and included a number of other foreign visitors; the other was a six-hour private meeting with Premier Chou and Comrade Chiang Ching, the wife of Chairman Mao. We discussed world affairs, oppressed people in general, and Black people in particular.

On National Day, October 1, we at-tended a large reception in the Great Hall of the People with Premier Chou En-lai and comrades from Mozambique, North Korea, North Vietnam, and the Provisional Government of South Vietnam. Normally, Chairman Mao’s appearance is the crowning event of the most important Chinese celebration, but this year the Chairman did not put in an appearance. When we entered the hall, a band was playing the Internationale, and we shared tables with the head of Peking University, the head of the North Korean Army, and Comrade Chiang Ching, Mao’s wife. We felt it was a great privilege.

Everything I saw in China demonstrated that the People’s Republic is a free and liberated territory with a socialist government. The way is open for people to gain their freedom and determine their own destiny. It was an amazing experience to see in practice a revolution that is going forward at such a rapid rate. To see a classless society in operation is unforgettable. Here, Marx’s dictum- from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs- is in operation.

But I did not go to China just to admire. I went to learn and also to criticize, since no society is perfect. There was little, however, to find fault with. The Chinese insist that you find something to criticize. They believe strongly in the most searching self-examination, in criticism of others and, in turn, of self. As they say, without criticism the hinges on the door begin to squeak. It is very difficult to pay them compliments. Criticize us, they would say, because we are a backward country, and I always replied, “No, you are an underdeveloped country.” I did have one criticism to make during a visit to a steel factory. This factory had thick black smoke pouring into the air. I told the Chinese that in the United States there is pollution because factories are spoiling the air; in some places the people can hardly breathe. If the Chinese continue to develop their industry rapidly, I said, and without awareness of the consequences, they will also make the air unfit to breathe. I talked with the factory workers, saying that man is nature but also in contradiction to nature, because contradictions are the ruling principle of the universe. Therefore, although they were trying to raise their levels of living, they might also negate the progress if they failed to handle that contradiction in a rational way. I explained that man opposes nature, but man is also the internal contradiction in nature. Therefore,while he is trying to reverse the struggle of opposites based upon unity, he might also eliminate himself. They understood this and said they are seeking ways to remedy this problem.

My experiences in China reinforced my understanding of the revolutionary process and my belief in the necessity of making a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. The Chinese speak with great pride about their history and their revolution and mention often the invincible thoughts of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. But they also tell you, “This was our revolution based upon a concrete analysis of concrete conditions, and we cannot direct you, only give you the principles. It is up to you to make the correct creative application.” It was a strange yet exhilarating experience to have traveled thousands of miles, across continents, to hear their words. For this is what Bobby Seale and I had concluded in our own discussions five years earlier in Oakland, as we explored ways to survive the abuses of the capitalist system in the Black communities of America. Theory was not enough, we had said. We knew we had to act to bring about change. Without fully realizing it then, we were following Mao’s belief that “if you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.”

Free Political Prisoner, Black Panther Abdullah Majid, Harlem Rally

TONIGHT IN HARLEM:

IT'S GONNA BE A GOOD TIME...
AND IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT,
PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING AND WRITING
A LETTER...THANK YOU!!!!!

Abdullah Majid is a native of Jamaica, Queens, New York. He has been imprisoned for more than three decades. In the 1960s, Abdul worked in the Grassroots Advisory Council—an anti-poverty program— before joining the Black Panther Party (BPP), and then became a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika. Abdul was involved in many of the BPP’s community-based survival programs which included free health clinics, free breakfast for children, the fight to decentralize the NYC public schools and NYPD. For this reason, he was targeted by the FBI’s Cointelpro—counterintelligence—program, charged and convicted of murder and the attempted murder of a police officer. Abdul and his co-defendant, Bashir Hameed, were forced into three separate trials. The first trial ended in a hung jury divided along racial lines; the second trial was declared a mistrial by the judge immediately after the jury acquitted Bashir of the murder charge; both were finally convicted in a third trial. Abdul was sentenced to 33 years to Life. Bashir Hameed made his Transition in prison in 2008.

In 2015, Abdul will appear before the parole board for the first time. He and his family are asking the community to write letters of support to the parole board urging for his release. The letters should reference Abdullah earning a college degree in Business Administration while in prison, mentoring youth as they make the adjustment to the prison environment, his helping young males to cope with long sentences, conduct legal research and providing civics training. It is should also be noted that Abdul is well-known and respected for his work with the Lifer’s Organization both inside and out the New York State Department of Corrections for facilitating classes, his teachings, leadership and counseling skills.

33 years is ENOUGH!!! We need your solidarity and support. Family and friends of Abdullah Majid ask that you write letters of support to the Parole Board urging his release. We also ask that call your elected representatives to demand his release. Abdullah Majid needs to be released so he can rejoin his 93-year-old mother, Mrs. LaBorde, who needs him by her side. Letters should be addressed to the NYS Board of Parole, 1220 Washington Ave, Bldg #2, Albany, NY 12226-2050, but sent to his attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen at 277 Broadway, Suite 1501, New York, New York 10007

FREEDOM AIN’T FREE II
Art, Culture & Resistance
National Black Theatre
2031 Fifth Avenue, Harlem
Friday, October 16th 2015 @ 6pm

PROGRAM

Welcome

Video presentation: Mrs. R. LaBorde, Abdul’s Umi
Moira Meltzer-Cohen, attorney at law
Zayid Muhammad, cultural presentation
Sekou Odinga, former PPOW
Suliaman ‘aka King’ Majid, Abdul’s son, cultural presentation
Legendary 12th & Sincerity, cultural presentation
Aliyah ‘LiLi’ Hakim-el, cultural presentation
‘Preme’ Abd’alAdhiym, ‘Laal’ Bilal, ‘Milez’ Isma’il,
‘Heedy’ Shahid, Abdul’s grandsons, cultural presentation
‘eMperor’ Abd’alMalik, Abdul’s son
Yaa Asantewaa Nzingha
Verbal Artisan, cultural presentation
M1 & Divine RBG, dead prez People’s Army Collective

The Abdullah Majid Freedom Campaign would like to thank
the National Black Theatre, Lumumba Bandele, and all
the artists who so generously donated their time, skills
and talent to make this event possible.

Abdullah Majid Freedom Campaign
PO Box 1274, Bronx, NY 10462
www.AbdullahMajid.com • 718-512-5008

NYC Police Terror

"NYC #RiseUpOctober Stop Police Terror Press Conference On Steps of City Hall"

Press Conference TODAY @ 11:00am Sharp! 

We Need ALL Anti-Police Terror Activist Leadership @ Today's 11am City Hall Press Conference In Support Of Those "Stolen Lives" Families from NYC Who Are United Together For This Saturday's #RiseUpOctober National March Against Police Terror On October 24th In New York City.

Please Try To Come Help Represent Today... If You Can!

Ukuthula,

Zulu Nation King "Bro. Shep"