Marvin X reads in NewArk NJ
Friday, February 7, 4PM
Marvin X reads in NewArk NJ
Friday, February 7, 7PM
Marvin X reads in Philly
Saturday, February 8, 5-7PM
MARVIN X READS IN NEW YORK CITY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2020
Peace & Blessings, Family
Our legendary word warrior, poet and author, Marvin X is in the "Big Apple" getting ready to take a BIG bite! He will be in two Brooklyn spots on Sunday, February 9th. You do not want to miss him! Please share generously with your respective contacts. By the way, on the final day of Black History Month, Saturday, Feb. 29th at 2 pm in Brooklyn College, I will also be having a book reading with a slide show presentation and good live music!!! Please mark your calendar. Details to come soon. Hope to see you this coming Sunday! Your soul will be riveted with "Marvin X Power!" ❤️🖤Eternal Peace & Blessings.
--Malika Iman
BAM BABY 1.0
I Am American
Dedicated to my brother Ollie (January 21)
daughter Nefertiti (January 29)
I am American
no citizen of US
gave up years ago
Toronto, 1967
protesting Vietnam
no Viet Cong called me nigger!
willing to be US citizen again
will pledge. I AM AMERICAN
NORTH AMERICAN AFRICAN!
exiled
underground Chicago
BAM CHICAGO
HAKI DON L. LEE
CAROLYN ROGERS
MOTHER GWEN
HOYT FULLER BLACK WORLD NEGRO DIGEST
AFRO ARTS THEATRE
KILLED MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR IN MY MIDST
Westside burned, American burned
GOT UP SOUTH SIDE NATIONAL GUARD IN MY MIDST
FBI on my ass
ESCAPE TO HARLEM
Harlem Black Arts Movement
Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra, Last Poets, Amiri, Askia, Haki, Barbara Ann Teer, Milford Graves, et al.
invited to lecture black studies at Fresno State
crucified
Angela Davis on cross at UCLA, 1969
I am American
exile second time Mexico City
with Americans from Americas!
brothers and sisters
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil
fleeing banana republics
call me Pele Pele Pele on the streets Mexico City
want to touch hair for good luck
I am American
Mexico City founded by Africans
African American indigenous young men exiled
president for life regimes in the Americas
resistance women too
wife with me from Fresno State University
mostly young men
planes landing Chapultepec Park
cerca de Paseo de la Reforma
cerca de Metro
lovers in park Sundays
we love
Hasani B and me
fleeing American imperialism
Hasani B
pregnant with Nefertiti
beautiful one has come
"My parents were in flight when I was conceived. I freedom child."
Nefertiti El Muhajir
beautiful one in flight
I am American
cannot speak with brothers in exile
Spanish poquito poquito
Jorge
Choco, Columbia
Enrique Venezuela
My Spanish poquito
muy poquito
no Portuguese
Poder Negro
Poder Negro
Black Power!
revolutionary amigos
comprende
black power!
I am American
flee Mexico City
Belize
Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Merida, Chetumal
land of Yanga
el Africano Mexicano
Yanga so bad the Spanish gave him a town
San Lorenzo de los Negroes
Vera Cruz
Belize
flee against advice of Elizabeth Catlett Mora
revolutionary artist
begged me don’t go
Belize raw colonialism
she said
American young hard headed
easy to lead wrong direction
hard to lead right direction Elijah said
I am American
want to hear English
tired of Spanish
basta ya!
want to see los Negroes
in Belize
esclavos
pero Negroes
yo esclavo tambien
I am American
my land Americas
all before Columbus
Maya Aztec Incas Olmec
I was here
from Ghana, Mali, Songhay
land of Sonni Ali, Askia the Great
bling bling Mansa Musa
thousand camels with gold on haj to Mecca
I am American
Belize 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
Toronto, Montreal
Georgetown, Caracas
Slums Mexico City
shacks Belize
madness Kingston
cocaine Port of Spain
Trinidad
C. Eric Williams
Capitalism and Slavery
Guyana
interviewed PM Burnham at his residence
Africans with AK47s at his gate
genocide of Jonestown
assassination Dr. Walter Rodney
can we forgive the reactionaries
never turn into Buddha heads
put down their butcher knives
I am American
Belize
join revolution Evan X and Ishmael Shabazz
trial for sedition
government games old people play
brothers say
this sedition
covered trial for Muhammad Speaks
my sin
1970 Wikileaks
emperor no clothes
people no water no electricity no toilet
no nothing
brothers ask
why I left America with no gold
they want American gold
why I leave without gold
America gold
I am American
people rich in Belize
poor rich
joy peace, sun and land rich
gardens paradise
islands in sun
We stay on Gales Point
five hours by boat through jungle jungle
rent shack $7 month US
no water no electricity no bathroom
happy
wife pregnant happy
sand flies
mosquitoes happy for her blood
bathe in the river
out house on other side of the island
catfish eat shit
people don’t swim on that side of island
do not eat catfish
I am American
Gales Point people beg me teach black power
don’t tell village headman
drunk man sings
day comin ta git ya in da mornin
been down here teachin dat black power
day comin in da mornin, boy
wife and I laugh
wish dat drunk nigguh git way from door
they come in the morning
I am American
need food
get on boat to city
five hour jungle ride
police on boat
under arrest
don't know it
police undercover
say nothing
get to the city
say nothing
rifle in hand
I go friend’s house
police come friend’s house
call me out
grab rifle
black panther shootout
put rifle down
surrender
mulatto greets me outside
under arrest
Ministry of Home Affairs
Minister reads deportation order
presence not beneficial to welfare British Colony of Honduras
deported to United States on plane Miami 4pm.
I am American
under arrest.
Mulatto takes me police station
sit down. No cell,
no handcuffs.
Black police gather around
circle police
what's up.
broder man, teach us about black power!
I am American
police victims too
teach us broder man.
I say
Marcus Garvey came 1923
told you
get Queen of England off yo walls.
It's 1970 you still gott white bitch on walls.
Get bitch off yo walls!
police crack up!
you all ite broder man
point out uncle tom police
black man wit white heart
black man wit white heart!
I am American
Plane come.
Mulatto pushed me on plane.
refuse to leave without wife
plane door slammed shut
Fly south Tegucigalpa, Spanish Honduras.
ask asylum .
Espera un momento, Negro!
marched back to plane.
land in Miami. Two gentlemen greet me at airport. Escort me to my hotel suite Dade County Jail.
put in pit with dead, deaf dumb blind negroes.
call them brother.
we ain't yo brother, nigguh.
I am silent.
I Am American!
gentlemen come
transfer me to Miami City jail, Federal.
I AM AMERICAN!
White Cuban drug dealers greet me.
What do you want, my brother?
money, food?
We send out for food to restaurant, what do you want?
I am American
hamburger, fries milkshake!
No problema, hermano!
give money to call wife.
She home in America. Father sent for her.
I am American
Cubans say whatever you need
no problema.
I am American
Simon Bolivar
Che
Fidel
Toussaint
Nat Turner
Grabriel Prosser
Harriet Tubman
Garvey
Elijah
Malcolm
Stokely (Kwame Toure)
CLR James
Padmore
Chavez
Morales
I am American.
MARVIN X AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
PHOTO BURELL SUNRISE
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 9
BROOKLYN COLLEGE, 2-5PM,
with Q and A
2900 BEDFORD AVE, BROOKLYN NY
11210
Brooklyn Commons Cafe
7-9PM
388 ATLANTIC AVE.
BROOKLYN NY 11217
**************************************************
Marvin X read to the ghosts
Marvin X arrived in New York City Sunday Night after leaving Sonia Sanchez's home in Philly. After arriving in New York, he discovered his hotel was across from the Brooklyn Detention Complex on Atlantic Avenue. New Yorkers were scrambling to find him a venue on short notice, although Brother Shep has now confirmed the Brooklyn Commons Coffee House and Malika Inman has confirmed his reading at Brooklyn College. He will read at Brooklyn College on Sunday, February 9, 2-5PM, including Q and A. He will appear at Brooklyn Commons Cafe at 7PM on Sunday, February 9. Don't miss the Human Earthquake! Come enjoy the Wild Crazy Ride of the Marvin X Experience, bring your seat belt and air bag!
But let's finish the drama of the dramatist at the Brooklyn Detention Center. While at his hotel, the poet thought about why not read at the jail, surely they allow people in on short notice. So after deciding to go shopping at the nearby Fulton Mall, Marvin told himself it would be proper to first stop by the jail to see if he could do a free black history reading for the inmates. He walked to the jail and entered. The officers asked for his ID which he gave them along with a copy of his newspaper The Movement. When he told the officers he wanted to give the inmates a black history reading, they thought it was a great idea except for the fact that the jail is closed, there are no inmates!
He was disappointed but happy the jail was empty, after all, America should close all its jails and prisons that house the 2.4 million Constitutional slaves under the 13th Amendment that allows involuntary servitude while incarcerated.
Black History is World History by Marvin X
Black History Is World History
By Marvin X
Before the Earth was
I was
Before time was
I was
you found me not long ago
and called me Lucy
I was four million years old
I had my tools beside me
I am the first man
call me Adam
I walked the Nile from Congo to Delta
a 4,000 mile jog
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I lived in the land of Canaan
before Abraham, before Hebrew was born
I am Canaan, son of Ham
I laugh at Arabs and Jews
fighting over my land
I lived in Saba, Southern Arabia
I played in the Red Sea
dwelled on the Persian Gulf
I left my mark from Babylon to Timbuktu
When Babylon acted a fool, that was me
I was the fool
When Babylon fell, that was me
I fell
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I was the first European
call me Negrito and Grimaldi
I walked along the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece
Oh, Greece!Why did you kill Socrates?
Why did you give him the poison hemlock?
Who were the gods he introduced
corrupting the youth of Athens?
They were my gods, black gods from Africa
Oh, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Whose philosophy did you teach
that was Greek to the Greeks?
Pythagoras, where did you learn geometry?
Democritus, where did you study astronomy?
Solon and Lycurgus, where did you study law?
In Egypt, and Egypt is Africa
and Africa is me
I am the burnt face, the blameless Ethiopian
Homer told you about in the Iliad
Homer told you about Ulysses, too,
a story he got from me.
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I am the first Chinese
China has my eyes
I am the Aboriginal Asian
Look for me in Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand
I am there, even today, black and beautiful
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I used to travel to America
long before Columbus
came to me asking for directions
Americo Vespucci
on his voyage to America
saw me in the Atlantic
returning to Africa
America was my home
Before Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Inca & Olmec
I was hereI came to Peru 20,000 years ago
I founded Mexico City
See my pyramids, see my cabeza colosal
in Vera Cruz and Yucatan
that's me
I am the Mexican
for I am mixed with all men
and all men are mixed with me
I am the most just of men
I am the most peaceful
who loves peace day and night
Sometimes I let tyrants devour me
sometimes people falsely accuse me
sometimes people crucify me
but I am ever returning I am eternal, I am universal
Africa is my home
Asia is my home
Americas is my home
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
This poem was written circa 1982 while Marvin X taught English at Kings River College, his last teaching gig.
Suggested reading list for Black History 101
The complete works of J.A. Rogers
The World and Africa, W.E.B. DuBois
Stolen Legacy, George M. James
The African Origin of the Major Religions, Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Message to the Black Man, Elijah Muhammad
They Came before Columbus, Ivan Van Sertima
"African Explorers in the New World, " Harold Lawrence,
Crisis, June-July, 1962. Heritage Program Reprint, p. 10
The Destruction of African Civilization, Chancellor Williams.
The Cultural Unity of Africa, Cheikh Anta Diop.
Man, God and Civilization, John G. Jackson
Marvin X is now available for speaking engagements readings/performance
Call 510 575-7
send letter of invitation to
mxjackmon@gmail.com
"When you listen to Tupac Shakur, E-40, Too Short, Master P or any other rappers out of the Bay Area of Cali think of Marvin X. He laid the foundation and gave us the language to express Black Male urban experience in a lyrical way."
--James G. Spady
Philadelphia New Observer
Oakland
December 7, 2019
Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X in Conversation,
Geoffery's Inner Circle, BAMBD Oakland CA
Dirty South
Marvin X, Sonia Sanchez and Duke University Professor Ellen McLarney
photo James Rhodes
Marvin X Book Tour
Oakland
December 7, 2019
Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X in Conversation,
Geoffery's Inner Circle, BAMBD Oakland CA
January 25, Saturday, 12 Noon
Marvin X Welcomes NCobra Reparations gathering in the BAMBD
Joyce Gordon Gallery
14th and Franklin Streets
Downtown Oakland
Host Jahahara
Dirty South
Durham, North Carolina
January 30-31
Reading at Duke University
Black Muslim Atlantic Symposium
Tonight, Oakland poet Marvin X broke down into tears as he tried to read his poem on his recently departed friend Nisa Bey during the Black Muslim Atlantic Conference at Duke University, Durham NC.
photo James Rhodes
East Coast, Up South
Marvin X at Philly's Moonstone Poetry Reading, Shakespeare Bookstore
Marvin X and Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon
Kimmika is a dynamic/dramatic poet who studied with the
Mistress of Poetry, Sonia Sanchez
Newark NJ
Friday February 7
4-6PM
Source of knowledge
Book store
876 Broad Street
Marvin X reading/book signing
NEW YORK CITY
MARVIN X
BACK IN DA BAY
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29
OAKTOWN FADA GIT DOWN
BLUE DREAM WEST OAKLAND
PRESENTS
THE WILD CRAZY RIDE OF THE MARVIN X EXPERIENCE
SAVE THIS DATE: August 2020
Black Arts Movement Festival, BAMFEST, Black August 2020
Sonia Sanchez and Marvin X have agreed to perform a concert reading with Maestro Michael Morgan and the Oakland Symphony, followed by a possible conversation with Sonia, Marvin X, Angela Davis and Kumasi, Founder of Black August and Griot of the Black Prison Movement. BAMFEST is a production of the Black Arts Movement Business District CDC, under the direction of Dr. Ayodele Nzinga.
Sonia Sanchez and Marvin X, Philly 2\3\20
photo James Rhodes
Marvin X, Sonia Sanchez and Duke University Professor Ellen McLarney
photo James Rhodes
Professor McLarney is writing a book on Black Muslim inspired writers,
including Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Yusef Rahman,
Yusef Iman, et al. Dr. McLarney produced the recent Duke University on
Black Muslim Atlantic that brought together Black Muslim scholars from
around the USA.
James Rhodes, recent Dartmouth graduate and grandson of Marvin X, assisted his grandfather's book tour and was blessed to meet Dr. Sonia Sanchez at her home in Philly.
