Saturday, January 23, 2016

Toward the BAM Business District National Advisory Board (Proposed, unconfirmed)



The following persons are requested to participate on the Black Arts Movement Business District National Advisory Board:




Danny Glover
Delroy Lindo
Sonia Sanchez
Nikki Giovanni
Mrs. Amina Baraka
Mayor Ras Baraka
Amiri Baraka, Jr.
Askia Toure
Woody King
The Last Poets
Felipe Luciano
David Murray
Marshall Allen
Danny Thompson
David Boykin
Haki Madhubuti
Toni Morrison
Alice Walker
Angela Davis
Muhammad Ahmad
John Burris
Gus Newport
Walter Riley
Eleanor Mason
Dezie Woods Jones
Maxine Ussery
Ruth Beckford
Ellendar Barnes
Dr. Mona Scott
Dr. Nathan Hare
Ishmael Reed
Al Young
Fahizah Alim
Kalamu Ya Salaam
Eugene Redman
Dr. Cornel West





Chicago's David Boykin produced conference on BAM Master Sun Ra at University of Chicago.
BAM Master's Marvin X, Marshall Allen and Danny Thompson of Sun Ra's Arkestra particpated,
May 22, 2015.

 The Black Dialogue Magazine brothers who visited the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club, chaired by Eldridge Cleaver and Alprintice Bunchy Carter, 1966. This club was the beginning of the American prison movement. Black Dialogue Magazine was edited by students in the BSU at San Francisco (most of the above). FYI, the Bay Area played a critical role in radical publications of the BAM National Movement, sister of the Black Power Movement (Larry Neal). While the East Coast is credited with founding BAM, critical journals of BAM were produced in the Bay Area: Soulbook Magazine (Merritt College), Black Dialogue, Journal of Black Poetry (San Francisco State College/University and community), Black Scholar Magazine, founded by Dr. Nathan Hare, edited by Robert Chrisman. There were the critical BAM journals, along with Liberator (New York City) and Negro Digest/Black World (Chicago). Prior to BAM journals was Umbra, published in NYC.

 BAM/Black Power freedom fighters Angela Davis, Marvin X, Sonia Sanchez

 Tarika Lewis, artistic freedom fighter, first female member of the Black Panther Party; Fred Hampton, Jr., Black Panther Cub, BAM Elder Marvin X, BAM/Black Power Babies Ras Ceylon and Alia
 BAM Baby Wanda Sabir. Her parents read to her Marvin X's classic Fable of the Black Bird.
Wanda is a Professor at College of Alameda and writer for the Bayview Newspaper, SF.

Promo from Stanley Nelson documentary film Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution
BAM poet Marvin X appears in film.



Bay Area artists: Dewey Crumpler, painter, Author Monroe, painter, Ishmael Reed, author, Conyus, poet, Marvin X poet/organizer, Al Young, California poet laureate emeritus 
photo Tennessee Reed

 Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, University of California, Merced, 2014.
The BAM 50th Anniversary Celebration produced by Kim McMillan and Marvin X

 

Juan Herrera Felipe, member of original  BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra formed at University of California, Merced, 2014. Juan is now United States of America Poet Laureate 

 The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra at the Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland Ca, 2014
collage photo Adam Turner, Post News Group


Marvin X, daughter Muhammida el Muhajir, Dr. Julia Hare, Nisa Ra (Mother of Muhammida, former wife of Marvin X, still one of his best friends; Dr. Nathan Hare. Marvin adopted Julia and Nathan as his aunt and uncle. Dr. Julia Hare said, "When Marvin X calls you, it's like God calling. When he says jump, you say how high?" Marvin X says, "Oh, let us assist Dr. Nathan Hare in caring for his wife of 58 years. Oh, community, go visit them or send them a generous donation. They need your help at this hour as I write."
BAM artists Zena Allen, Marvin X, Tarika Lewis and Linda Johnson, one of our greatest choreographers. Marvin says, "I've worked with many Bay Area dancers, choreographers. As a child I adored Ruth Beckford who taught at New Century Rec Center in West Oakland when I was a child.
At San Francisco State College/University, I experienced Nontizi Cayou, worked with her. Then Raymond Sawyer, Ed Mock, Debra Vaughn, Suzzette Celeste, Raynetta Rayzetta (no one interpreted my poetry better than Raynetta and Suzzette Celeste). But I can't exclude Debra Vaughn and Traci Bartlow.



Ishmael Reed's classic study of Muhammad Ali. I appreciate Ishmael for allowing me to say what I wanted to say about my NOI brother and fellow traveler. As per the war in Vietnam, Ali and I were the best known NOI members who refused to fight in Vietnam. I endured exile, jail and Federal prison for my beliefs. Ali suffered fighting in the prime of his life as World Heavyweight  Champion.

Stanley Nelson, director of the film Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution, Marvin X and Fred Hampton, Jr., at the screening of film at San Francisco International Film Festival. Fred Hampton was featured in the film as a baby. He was in the womb of his mother when the pigs killed his father while he lay in bed with his pregnant mother. The Chicago police admitted they attacked the BPP house to murder Black Panthers, especially after receiving information from a snitching ass nigguh.

Even as I write here in Oakland CA, even as the Oakland City Council just approved the Black Arts Movement Business District along the 14th Street corridor downtown, the rats are out and about. Even as we took the photo shoot before the City Council vote on the BAMBD, the rats were about, not only were they in the grass outside City Hall as many artists noticed, but they found their way into the group photo, one need only look at the last row on the left to see the rats. We had people on the East Coast check out the pic and they agreed they saw the rats in the pic.


Friday, January 22, 2016

Nigger for Life, poems by Dr. Neal Hall, MD



Nigger For Life Book Awards:
  • 2015 Pacific Rim Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2015 Amsterdam Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2015 Greater Southeast Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2014 Florida Books Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 GRAND PRIZE WINNER – The Do-It-Yourself Book Awards
  • 2013 London Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 The Great Midwest Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 Southern California Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 Do-It-Yourself Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 Finalist: International Book Awards by USA Book News
  • 2013 San Francisco Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 Paris Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 National Beverly Hills Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 Great Northwest Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 Great Southwest Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2013 GRAND PRIZE WINNER – Los Angeles Book Awards – The First Poet to Ever Win The L.A. Grand Prize
  • 2013 Los Angeles Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2012 New England Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2012 New York Book Awards – 1st Place, Poetry
  • 2012 Hollywood Book Awards – Runner Up, Poetry
  • 2012 Poetry Contest Winner, Ubud Writers & Readers International Festival, Bali, Indonesia
  • Named Conversation Magazine’s 2012 Top 10 Best Poetry Books
  • National Black Authors Tour’s Distinguished Honor Award

City of Oakland downtown Plan meeting


City of Oakland Banner
Connect
Please join us to consider policy and design options to make Downtown Oakland the thriving, diverse, safe and equitable neighborhood that Oaklanders want to see at their city’s core. Based on the community’s feedback from two months of extensive public conversations, the City will be presenting ideas for solutions in a specific plan for Downtown to help meet the community’s needs, including:
  • Policies and programs to protect and support artists, small businesses, and residents at all income levels, including options to develop funds needed to meet these needs
  • Plans to encourage development that will fill in the gaps in our neighborhoods with living-wage jobs, new housing, new retail space and community benefits
  • Designs for public streets and gathering places that welcome and connect all residents, with a focus on transit-accessible public spaces that are safe for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages
An open house will follow the presentation, where you can take a closer look at the options, offer new ideas and revisions, and talk with the designers, staff, and other community members.
Monday, February 1, 2016, 6:00 to 8:30 pm
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice Street
Schedule
6:00 pm: Arrival & Reception
6:30 pm: Presentation
7:30 pm: Open House
Play
To experience some of the future possibilities firsthand, come to Frank Ogawa Plaza from February 4th through 6th for the Our City: Oakland Public Design Fair. The Plaza will be transformed into a place for people of all ages to play in new ways. Ten locally-built public design projects will premiere at the Fair, inviting residents and visitors alike to reimagine the future of our public space.
Festivities start on Friday, February 4th at a kickoff celebration with food, drinks and PLAY at the Museum of Children’s Art (1625 Clay Street) from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Visit the Our City: Oakland website for details.
Heal
The City of Oakland is committed to advancing policy and institutional change to address structural inequality throughout Oakland. To support concrete steps toward this goal the Planning Department is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop a social equity strategy that will guide this and future specific plans. The strategy would ensure that policies are developed to address the physical environment and economic conditions for all people, including those with the fewest resources, through the promotion of participatory engagement and positive social change.
Please forward this email and the link to the RFP to any organizations and consultants who are leaders in social equity policy, planning and participation: RFP for Oakland Social Equity Strategy.
Please feel free to forward this email or repost the Facebook event link to the February 1st meeting for your friends, neighbors and coworkers who care about their city: Community Meeting Facebook Event. For more information on Plan Downtown, please visit www.oaklandnet.com/plandowntownoakland.
We hope to see you on Monday, February 1st!

Marvin X invited to Visioning Session at Oakland's Flight Deck Theatre


       


 VIP hour Accelerator 2016

Art at the Center of Downtown’s Public Life: A Creative Visioning Session Oakland is changing. We all know it. Buildings are going up, businesses are opening, new people are coming in, and some folks who have been here for a long time are getting pushed out. There’s a sense of opportunity and a sense of fear. Who will get a share of the new prosperity? In Oakland, like in so many urban areas, artists have been central in making the place desirable - so often, people reference diversity and arts & culture when they talk about why they love Oakland. But as new money comes in and rents rise, artists and arts organizations are often some of the first to be displaced. At this moment when so much is changing for Oakland, and when the city is creating a new Downtown Specific Plan, how can we make sure that the arts remain at the center of public life in Oakland, and that they continue to grow in ways that are equitable and rooted in Oakland’s rich culture and history?


As the opener to The Flight Deck’s annual Accelerator event on February 6th, we are inviting our guests to join in a visioning session on the future of the arts in Downtown
Oakland. Experts in various fields will provide context and give their perspective on
these issues, and then participants will work in groups to creatively develop a vision for
placing the arts at the center of public life in Downtown Oakland’s changing landscape.
The process will marry elements of ensemble theater techniques and urban planning
design charettes. This session will serve as a pilot - an experiment in process that could
be duplicated in other contexts if it is effective.
Time: 5-6pm
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Facilitator: Anna Shneiderman, Executive Director, Ragged Wing Ensemble & The Flight
Deck
Panelists:
1. Robert Ogilvie, Executive Director, SPUR Oakland (confirmed)
2. Richard Weinstein, Owner, Weinstein Local & Citrine Advisors Real Estate
(confirmed)
3. Lindsay Krumbein, Executive Artistic Director, Gritty City Repertory Youth
Theatre (confirmed)
4. Someone from the city - Libby Schaaf, Tamika Moss or who?
5. A local artist/advocate – Marvin X? Anyka Barber?

Plan:
1. As the participants enter, they are assigned a group number.
2. The facilitator introduces the topic, process and panelists.
3. Each panelist gives a 3-minute intro to their perspective on the topic and any
relevant background and context from their field.
4. The participants split into groups. Each group includes one panelist and onefacilitator. The groups address their question by creating a simple artistic product. 
5. We return to the full group and each group presents their piece.
6. Each panelist has 1 minute to synthesize take-aways, or things they will add to the next steps of their work as a result of the session.
7. Facilitator closes out the session. 

Questions for groups to address:
  • 1. How can city government best support Oakland artists? (City person)
    2. How can art be incorporated into street-scapes, public spaces and new
    developments? (Robert)
    3. How do we make sure that the artists and arts organizations who have made
    Oakland so unique and desirable are able to stay as new residents, businesses and
    capital move in and rents rise? (artist/advocate)
    4. How can the Arts community and the Business community collaborate to best
    serve the public? (Richard)
    5. How can The Flight Deck best serve the public of Oakland? (Lindsay)
    Prompt for each group:
    Talk, draw, sing, move. Come up with some ideas and then make a simple artistic
    product that represents them.
    Create a product that:
    includes a minimal amount of text that gets to the essence of your idea (spoken or
    written)
    includes a visual element
    includes a performance element - movement or music
    is no longer than 1 minute
    includes everyone in the group in some way
    the form of the piece reflects the content of the ideas
    Materials available:
    large paper
    markers, colored pencils, etc.
    tape & glue
    other simple craft supplies

Parable of Black Man and Block Man & Parable of the Rats

When a fool is told a parable, it's meaning must be explained to him.--African proverb


You got black man and block man.

Watch out for block man!

--Sun Ra


There was a black man and a block man, both were black men, but block man had a big block head. He used to stand at the crossroads waiting for black man to come through so he could block him from going in any direction. If black man tried to go east, west, north or south, the playa hatin, jealous, envious block man would cause black man to either stop, stumble or fall.


Sometimes black man would purposely fall because he knew the African proverb that to stumble or fall is only to go forward faster. So after being blocked at one turn, he would fake a fall and go forward on his journey up the hill.

Of course block man would be waiting for him at a pass up the hill and again try to block black man from going farther. But black man, being athletic, was able to leap to the side and gracefully go pass block man.

And even though block man had a lot of friends who were blockheads too, black man had friends in the sun, moon and stars who watched out for him.

Black man had friends in the wind, seas, rivers, trees and all over the earth. So block man didn't have a chance with his evil scheme to block black man. All black man had to do was flow in the flow and make sure he wasn't swimming against the current of the universe, for in the counter flow the block men were waiting patiently for him, sharpening their knives, ready to remove the heart and soul of black man.

So black man planned and block man planned, but black man was the best planner. As long as his mind remained clean and sober, he could see block man coming a mile way.

Parable of the Rats by Marvin X



The rats all have the same gait: they scurry about, back broken by an abundance of lies, half-truths and disinformation, defamation and other tactics of rat behavior. Even their facial expressions have a rat like appearance, so you can see them coming a mile away. You can smell a funky rat. We suspect the two legged variety even has a tail hidden inside their pants or underneath their dresses, yes, there are rats of every gender, every color, class. Some are sewer rats, some are wharf rats, some are subway rats, church rats, house rats. But their behavior is the same. They are on the lower level of humankind, these two legged rats. They can do nothing right. They cannot give justice even with the scale in view while they weigh goods. They will lie while you look at them playing with the scale. They will try to convince you the scale doesn't work while it is their minds that have not evolved to work on the human level.

There is only one thing to do with such rats: set a trap for them or feed them poison cheese and watch them puke and vomit until they die. Better yet, let the cat catch their asses. It is beautiful watching the cat catch a rat, seeing how still the cat will become while stalking his prey. But the cat will lie in wait for the rat as long as it takes, never moving, never batting his eye. And then he leaps upon his prey and devours him. It is a beautiful sight when when the cat and rat game reaches the climax and ends with the consumption of the rat by the cat.
--Marvin X
7/15/15 







Marvin X is known variously as El Muhajir (the migrant), Plato Negro, Rumi, Jeremiah. His outdoor classroom is at 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Ishmael Reed says, "If you want to learn about motivation and inspiration, don't spend all that money going to workshops and seminars, just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X work. He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland!"

Oakland Post on BAM Business District


Thursday, January 21, 2016

Poetry for the People curated by Cat Brooks

Marvin X's Letter to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf


 Last year's 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College. Left to right: unidentified person, Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black & Ethnic Studies; Nefertiti Jackmon, Naima Joy, Mayor Libby Schaaf, Jah Amiel; next row: Earl Davis, Val Serrant, Michelle LaChaux, Renaldo Ricketts, Aquella Lewis, James Gayles, Marvin X, Paradise Jah Love, Aries Jordan, Laney College President, Elnora T. Webb, Samantha Akwei
photo Ken Johnson


1/20/16

Dear Libby,

Please forgive me for accusing you of supporting police abuse under the color of law. My charge has no basis in fact, yet it is clearly the community perception that you are more aligned with the police than with the people. The Black Lives Matter people clearly feel this way. My focus is on the Black Arts Movement Business District. As per the police, I would like you to read about my fifty year relationship with the police beginning with the Black Panther Party's response to the Richmond police killing of Denzil Dowell that was featured in the first issue of the Black Panther Newspaper.
Aside from my focus on BAM, and I hope to have your continued support, lately I've tried to think about how we can reach a more positive if yet symbiotic relationship with them. In my essay My Life in the Global Village--Notes of an Artistic Freedom Fighter, Part Two (see below), I use the example of Newark's Mayor Ras Baraka: since taking office the police killing has stopped, although the black on black killing has continued. But I would like you to seriously consider having Mayor Baraka visit Oakland to help us understand what he has done in Newark that we can use to improve police/community relations. Also, it would be good for our young people to hear from a young man of the hip hop generation who has become politically involved. I would definitely like to see more young people involved in Oakland's politics beyond protest. I agree with President McElhaney when she said sometimes we exclude ourselves. Please let me know about the possibility of you inviting Mayor Baraka.

 I'd love to hear him speak on our Black Arts Movement Business District as well as police/community relations. Again, forgive me for charging you with supporting police abuse under the color of law. For sure, though, it is the community's perception that you show more sympathy for the OPD than their safety. And we need to see the OPD officers express a radical change of attitude since they work for us, we don't work for them. I would like to see more Black officers in the downtown area but not with the arrogance of the past. We need them to mix with the people and show a positive attitude. I know you are Mayor of all the people, but you must care about the least of us. Lastly, I saw video footage of parolees evicting the homeless and disposing their property during the rain. We think a more appropriate time could and should be considered, especially when we know there is probably not enough shelters to accommodate them.
Peace and Love,
Marvin
 
Newark NJ Mayor Ras Baraka and Marvin X

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf responds to Marvin X Letter of 1/20/16
Dear Marvin,
Thank you for sharing all this. I was particularly sad to read about your son's suicide. I was also sad to read the Black Lives Matter press release as it contained so many factual inaccuracies. I recognize we have much work to do to recover from our shameful past. Please read this article about how Oakland is being recognized nationally - including by the White House - for its reforms to rebuild community trust. http://m.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Obama-official-says-Oakland-s-police-department-6483838.php . I recognize national accolades doesn't matter as much as the sentiment from our own community and I will work even harder on earning that trust. I look forward to continuing the conversation.
Best,
Libby


Marvin X: Part Two: My life in the Global Village--Notes of an Artistic Freedom Fighter


If my memory is correct, the Black Panthers were at the Black House, San Francisco, when the first issue of the Black Panther Newspaper hit the press. Eldridge Cleaver and I had founded the Black House as a political/cultural center on Broderick Street, 1967,  and after I introduced him to Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, co-founders of the BPP and he became Minister of Information, the Black House morphed into the San Francisco Headquarters of the BPP. The Black House as a cultural center collapsed from ideological differences so the artists eased on down the road, including playwright Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt and myself. Ed Bullins fled to New York as did many artists, especially musicians, whom I discovered, especially when I hit Harlem myself, were more politically astute than the so called politicos, especially the Panthers who did not recover from their anti-art or war against "cultural nationalists" stance until they attended the Pan African Cultural Festival in Algeria.

But before I departed Black House, I saw the BPP newspaper being laid out in Cleaver's room adjacent to mine. The BPP trip to Sacramento was  planned at Black House. I could hear their planning session from my bedroom that Mrs. Amina Baraka described as Spartan compared to Eldridge's that was "high tech", i.e., he had a speaker phone! She was pregnant with the Baraka's first child, Obalaji, while at the Black House that was visited by such artists and politicos as Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Sarah Webster Fabio, Avotcja, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier, Judy Juanita, Chicago Art Ensemble, Reginald Lockett, Ellendar Barnes, George Murray,  and a host of others too numerous to remember, including Alprentice Bunchy Carter, Cleaver's close associate from Soledad  Prison.
 Eldridge Cleaver and his lieutenant in the prison movement and later ...Bunchy Carter was a story I've never forgotten. Do your math if you ...

Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter(born 1943; died January 17, 1969, Los ...

Alprentice Bunchy Carter

Carter was one of most handsome Black men
in the BLM, a former leader of the seven thousand member
Los Angeles Slauson Street gang, poet
and Cleaver's co-chair of the Soledad Prison
Black Culture Club that was the beginning
of the American Prison Movement.

edit-of-blk-dialog-grp-foto2

The Black Dialogue Magazine brothers who visited the Soledad Prison
Black Culture Club, chaired by Eldridge Cleaver and Bunchy Carter, 1966.

Left to Right: Aubrey LaBrie, Marvin X, Abdul Sabrey, Al Young, Arthur
Sheridan (founding editor of Black Dialogue) and Duke Williams. Most of
us were students at San Francisco State College/University when we visited
Soledad Prison. There was thus a unity in the Black Liberation Movement between students, prison inmates, Black intellectuals, artists and activists. There can be no revolution until all sectors of the
community unite and become one fist, i.e., youth, students, workers, intellectuals,
artists, women, progressive bourgeoisie and the spiritual leaders.

The staff of Black Dialogue Magazine visited the club
at Cleaver's invitation that we received from
his lawyer/lover Attorney Beverley Axelrod,
to whom he dedicated Soul on Ice and promised
to marry upon his release.  She smuggled his manuscript
out of Soledad in her legal papers. She won a percentage of
royalties by default after Cleaver went into exile from America.
Ironically, a few days before I performed his memorial service
in Oakland, her Pacifica house slid down the hill in a mudslide.
I didn't know she was at the memorial until years later when I
viewed the video of the memorial.

Bunchy was killed in the BSU meeting room on the campus of UCLA, along
with BPP member John Huggins, supposedly by members
of Ron Karenga's US organization, although Geronimo Pratt
absolves US of this twin murder. For sure, it was a Cointelpro affair,
have no doubt about this. See Senator Church's hearings on Cointelpro
and the Black Movement, including the Civil Rights Movement.

John Huggins - Email, Address, Phone numbers, everything! www ...
Comrade John Huggins

INVADERS
Black Panthers in Sacramento

The climax in my relationship with Cleaver and the Panthers occurred when I got into a confrontation with Lil' Bobby Hutton over the youth club in the basement. True, the youth were out of control and Hutton told me,"The Supreme Commander, i.e. Huey Newton, said close it down because it could be an excuse for the pigs to raid Black House." Of course Lil' Bobby and the BPP were correct, I was being emotional. We had received information from some progressive Black bourgeoisie sisters that the Black House was indeed going to be raided as they had information the police knew the youth were taking liberties with women or young girls, playing hookie from school and partying in the basement. Years later though, I met those youth who were grown and quite conscious culturally, and they thanked me for their Black House experience.

Bobby Hutton and Bobby Seale inside the Sacramento Capitol building ...

<b>bobby</b> <b>hutton</b> | Tumblr

I identified with the youth and was their mentor, so I told Hutton, "Fuck the Supreme Commander! I'm not closing down shit!" I could see in his eyes, Hutton wanted to get me that instant but restrained himself, saying, "We'll deal with you later, dude!" That night all I heard was the click of 45 automatics outside my door. I wasn't intimidated and didn't give a fuck. I knew I was just as crazy as Huey, Bobby and Eldridge, but shortly after the incident,  Eldridge evicted Ed Bullins, Ethna and myself. Ethna and I joined the Nation of Islam. After dropping out of San Francisco State College/now University, I was drafted but under Panther and Nation of Islam influence, I fled to Toronto, Canada, later Mexico City and Belize, from which I was deported and spent five months in jail and Federal prison at Terminal Island. The Panthers said, "We must not only resist the draft but resist arrest as well! Actually, no matter where I was, whether in exile or prison, the task was the same, i.e., to teach the deaf, dumb and blind the reality of our condition. So I did so in Toronto, Mexico City and Belize, Central America. And for doing so, one can be killed, exiled or jailed.
Somehow God saved me to tell this story. Years later, San Francisco County Jail Sheriff Charles Smith (who threw Muhammad Speaks newspaper in my cell during the three months I spent in jail at 350 Bryant Street--my BAM co-worker Ethna (Hurriyah) brought them on her visits) told me he attended an Interpol Conference in Belize at which they discussed my presence in Central America.

The killing of Denzil Dowell in Richmond was the first case of pigs killing North American Africans the BPP tackled. Fifty years later, where are we and the police? It seems another Denzil Dowell is murdered by the pigs every day coast to coast. Fifty years ago the Panthers took up arms to defend the community. Before them were brothers in the South such as the Deacons for Defense and Robert Williams in North Carolina (Negroes With Guns).

Since the BPP took up arms, many pigs were killed and many many Black Panther Party members were murdered by the pigs. When Eldridge Cleaver returned from exile as a Born Again Christian, I traveled with him throughout the Western hemisphere, America, Canada, Jamaica. After giving his testimony about finding Jesus Christ in the moon, the white Christians would embrace him and confessed they used to hate him and Blacks in general but since they were Born Again, they no longer hated him nor Blacks. On one occasion the police confessed they had murder squads who killed Panthers in particular and Blacks in general.  The pigs and Cleaver embraced, both exclaiming, "Praise the Lord!"

Because the Born Again pigs and Cleaver confessed their new found love for each other, do not think they trusted him one iota. Before he had me organize his ministry independent of the whites, there were white Born Again Christians who traveled with us to maintain their surveillance of him. After all, he was the Black superstar on the white Born Again Christian circuit. Charles Colson of Watergate was the other, along with Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Pat Bone, Jim and Tammy Baker, et al. I met most of them on more than one occasion. Since Black Christians were mortally afraid to work with Eldridge, as his chief of staff, I hired a crew of fearless Black Muslims that he fronted off as "heathens" he'd converted to Christianity. After giving his testimony, we'd usually have dinner with the white Christians (for a long time, he didn't deal with Black Christians), and they would ultimately turn to me with the question, "Marvin, when did you find the Lord?" And being an actor from Black Arts Movement Theatre, I answered, "One Tuesday night!" The Christians would also ease up to me with the question, "Marvin, is Cleaver for real, did he really see Jesus Christ in the moon?" Of course I said yes. They also wanted to know if I was his bodyguard, even though he was twice my size at the time. I told them I his travel companion and photographer, although he did provide me with a 45 automatic I carried in my camera bag.

When he went to Vancouver, Canada for a speaking engagement, they shook us down at the airport returning to the US and shook us down a second time when we arrived at San Francisco airport. They weren't sure Cleaver was truly Born Again and might still be a Communist dedicated to destroying America.

But it was a different feeling having the police greet us in a friendly manner when we arrived at the airport of various cities and accompany us to his engagements. I recently had a positive experience with the police while in Newark, New Jersey for the funeral of Amiri Baraka and also when I returned for the inauguration of his son, Ras Baraka, as Mayor of Newark NJ.

During the funeral, the police were all over the Baraka house as friends and security. Even before becoming Mayor, Ras had told me, "Marvin, we got brothers with legal guns on our side!" Indeed, many Black police supported the Baraka family, the "first family" of Newark, NJ.

Mrs. Amina Baraka told me that since her son became Mayor, the killing of Blacks by the police has stopped. Now it is only Blacks killing Blacks. During the time I was in Newark, I called California to tell friends there was a more positive relationship between the people and the police. They said I was crazy, this was unimaginable. I was tripping, they said. But it was true none the less, the antagonistic relationship between the people and the police in Newark was subsiding.

In Oakland, I recently asked my childhood friend, Paul Cobb, one of the elders in Oakland politics, are there any Black police on our side? He was not able to answer the question. In my mind, there must be some Black officers on the side of the people. They can't all be pigs, devils, beasts in blue uniforms. We know some of them can be won over to the cause of the people. We saw this in Egypt during the short lived Arab Spring. For a moment, the police and people became one.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, we need to think about how we can come to a more civilized relationship with the police, even if it is symbiotic, it need not be totally negative. But the police cannot be allowed to continue their murder of Black people and other minorities under the color of law. Every human being in American has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And every human being has the right to self defense. Must we conclude the police are constitutionally unable to restrain themselves from killing us? Or is it possible for them to reach a higher level of understanding than the beast plane? If they can do it in Newark, they can do it in Oakland and Ferguson. Isaiah said let us reason together.

We know we cannot outgun the police. We saw in the 60s and we see now, the police have plenty back up, i.e., National Guard, Army, Air Force, Navy, FBI, Homeland Security, CIA, snitches and agent provocateurs. Yes, the Panthers in particular and the Black community in general suffered a military defeat during the 60s and 70s. Guns weren't the only weapon: there was disinformation, chemical (drugs)  and germ warfare(HIV/STDs), toxic food and water.

Isn't it time to do something that works? Shall we continue doing the same thing but expect different results, the mark of insanity?

Fifty years later, it is almost impossible for me to attend rallies against the police for murdering our young men and women. I applaud  people like Oakland's Cat Brooks,Chepus Johnson and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Thank God they have the energy. After fifty years, I'm emotionally and mentally drained, especially after losing my own son to suicide. Imagine, on psycho drugs, he walked into a train, a brilliant young man who graduated from UC Berkeley, attended Harvard and studied in Syria at the University of Damascus. Dr. Nathan Hare says suicide and homicide are but different sides of the same coin, often situational disorders caused oppression. Often homicides are suicides because the person didn't have the never to kill himself so he made someone else do the job. Franz Fanon said the only way the oppressed can regain their mental health is by engaging in revolution to end oppression. Revolution is seizing power. Ras Baraka has demonstrated this in Newark, NJ. And he was blessed with revolutionary parents, so he is well trained for his mission to transform Newark, NJ, a city much like Oakland.



Newark, NJ Mayor Ras Baraka and Marvin X

For sure, we are at war with the oppressor and the police are his first line of defense. Many of us are in denial we are at war until one of our children are killed. The tragedy is that there is no Black family in America that has not been impacted by police actions under the color of law, not to mention incarceration.

We know for a fact police behavior is quite different in the white community than in our community.
I've lived among white people in Castro Valley and they don't even treat Black people the same as they treat us a few miles away in Oakland. The son of a rich friend of mine was repeatedly stopped for speeding and driving without a license in Castro Valley. Did the police kill the boy? No. Did they give him a ticket? No. They called his father to come get the car and his son. Yes, they knew the father was a rich Black man so they treated him with respect. Once the youth had a party that got loud so neighbors called the police. Of course the youth were drinking and smoking. When the police came, they only wanted to know if there was an adult at the house. When I came to the door, the police said, "Are you the adult here, Sir?" I said, "Yes, Sir." The police said, "Good night, Sir."

Now we know money ain't gonna save you all the time, ask Harvard's Skip Gates! But we know if those armed white men in Oregon were Black, they would have surrendered or they'd be dead by now. Still we must make a way out of no way. We cannot continue going to funerals of our children from police homicide under the color of law or Black on Black homicide due to our addiction to white supremacy. We must arise from this morass of savagery. We must regain our self respect and demand others respect us.


I have called for the Red, Black and Green flag to fly up and down the Black Arts Movement Business District along the 14th Street corridor, downtown Oakland. Saluting the flag should help us regain our mental equilibrium and make others, including police, recognize we are a nation of people and must be respected as such. I often give the example of the gay/lesbian flag that flies down Market Street in San Francisco as one goes toward the gay/lesbian community. By the time one gets to the  community, one gets the feeling that we must have respect for this community and not engage in homophobic language and behavior. It should and must be the same in the BAM Business District. This must be a sacred space that we must respect. And this vibration must spread throughout our community. I suggest the Red, Black and Green fly throughout our community to let ourselves and the world know we are a people with cultural consciousness, who originated from the womb of civilization. It will help us understand when we kill our brothers and sisters, we kill ourselves. When others kill us, they kill themselves as well. James Baldwin said, "The murder of my child will not make your child safe!"
--Marvin X
1/17/16


Marvin X is a poet, playwright, essayist, organizer, one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement. He attended Oakland's Merritt College along with Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. He introduced Eldridge Cleaver to the Black Panthers. He was a member of the Negro Student Association/Black Student Union at San Francisco State University, 1964. Marvin co-founded Black Arts West Theatre, San Francisco, 1966, Black House, San Francisco, 1967, and was a member of Harlem's New Lafayette Theatre, 1968. He taught at Fresno State University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, San Francisco State University, Mills College, Laney and Merritt Colleges, Oakland; University of Nevada, Reno. He lectures at colleges and universities coast to coast. Marvin is prolific: he's written 30 books. His current project is the Black Arts Movement Business District, downtown Oakland.  He is in the Black Panther film Vanguard of the Revolution directed by Stanley Nelson. See his memoir of Eldridge Cleaver: My friend the Devil, Black Bird Press, 2009, Berkeley CA.


 Press Release from Black Lives Matter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chinyere Tutashinda 510-698-3800 x409 October 29, 2015
Mayor Schaaf Needs Better Plan for Oakland’s Black Residents

Black Lives Matter Bay Area Responds to 2015 State of the City Address

Oakland, CA. — Mayor Libby Schaaf delivered her first State of the City address yesterday, laying out four priorities for Oakland: community safety, equitable jobs and housing, responsible infrastructure, and responsive and transparent government. Despite use of terms like “safety,” “equitable,” “responsible” and “transparent,” Mayor Schaaf’s policies have not lived up to these values and won’t make Black lives matter.

Instead of fostering community safety, Schaaf has overseen the oversized and brutal policing of Oakland’s Black residents and other people of color. This summer alone, six Black men were killed by police officers in Oakland. While Schaaf indicated that citizen complaints against OPD have been declining, she failed to acknowledge why. Residents of Oakland have lost faith in the review process, and have repeatedly demanded a community review process with real enforcement power. Schaaf’s solution is to hire more officers, which will not, and has not ever, increased safety for residents.

Instead of developing equitable jobs and housing, Mayor Schaaf’s proposal to build 15,000 new housing units includes only 1,000 (fewer than 7 percent) affordable housing units. In the face of skyrocketing rents, building more expensive homes will not alleviate the health and wealth disparities that disproportionately disadvantage Black residents of Oakland. Black residents have long demanded rent control with clear definitions of low income, a moratorium on foreclosures, community benefits agreements for all new development, and a Black business and arts district in East and West Oakland.
Instead of investing in responsible infrastructure, Mayor Schaaf has legitimized the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board’s continuous pursuit of charges against the Black Friday 14, a team of Black Lives Matter activists in Oakland that participated in a nationwide direct action to call attention to the unchecked murders of Black people by law enforcement officers. This is not only a gross miscarriage of justice, but also shifts accountability from BART officials who allow their armed officers to kill and brutalize Black bodies with impunity. Mayor Schaaf and the District Attorney’s office must drop the charges, now.

Instead of promoting responsive and transparent government, in response to community protests against police violence toward Black women and girls, Mayor Libby Schaaf passed a rule, without public process or proper notification, forbidding protest after dark. As a result, hundreds of Black women and girls were repeatedly attacked, teargassed and jailed by the OPD. The ban stopped being enforced after large numbers of Oakland residents refused to adhere to it, but remains on the books.
Despite the dramatic inclusion of a large slide bearing the words Black Lives Matter during her address—Schaaf failed, just as dramatically, to deliver real solutions to the health, wealth and safety disparities that disproportionately disadvantage Black residents of Oakland. In short, Schaaf’s plan will hurt Black lives, not improve them.

Instead of a plan that would improve the lives of Black Oakland residents, Schaaf focused on turning Oakland into a “kinder, more inclusive tech hub” through “tech-quity.” This catch phrase is being used to sell Oakland to the highest bidder, while maintaining its brand. But Oakland’s record of social activism, our history of Blackness, and our cultural infrastructure is not a brand and is not for sale.
In a letter to Uber executives, Schaaf defined tech-quity as providing “equitable access to top-notch training and jobs for our residents and fostering our local technology sector’s growth so it leads to shared prosperity.” For Black residents of Oakland, there is no equity or prosperity in plans that use policing and racial profiling, rising housing costs and other environmental factors to force the migration of one set of poorer residents to make room for another, wealthier, mostly whiter, set. We need a plan for all of us.
###
Launched by Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors in 2012, ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ is a unique contribution to oppose the extra-judicial killings of Black people and win basic rights and dignity for all Black people, everywhere. Black Lives Matter Bay Area is one of over 20 chapters in and outside of the United States.







Hip-Hop N’ Politics: Black Panther Party: Commemorating Power To The ...

Black Arts Movement Business District approved by Oakland City Council

On Tuesday, January 19, the full Oakland City Council voted approval of the Black Arts Movement Business District along the 14th Street corridor, downtown Oakland. Lynette McElhaney, President of the Council, pushed the legislation after weeks of meetings with artists and business persons. After the vote, she thanked everyone. "I appreciate all of the culture keepers for supporting this effort and expanding upon this concept.... While I appreciate everyone's contributions, I want to extend a very special note of thanks to Joyce Gordon (an absolute gem), Duane Deterville (whose cogent presentation helped me see the importance and power of linking this effort to historic and global movements), Paul Cobb (whose deep knowledge of people and place fully expanded my appreciation of the corridor) and Marvin X, who, without doubt, has been the most vocal proponent for the celebration of the Black Arts movement and the claiming of a space to honor the contributions of Black artists.  I also want to thank the business owners Craig, Geoffrey, Oscar, Corey and Veronica and city staff for their insight and support."


Oakland Black Artists: Left to Right: front row, Khalid Waajid; second row: Hasain Rasheed, Duane Deterville, Tureada Mikell, Marvin X, Jahaninh Omi Bahari, Jahneah Taylor, Crsna Cox; Next row: Ptah Allah El, Ron Lindsey, Chanfil Brown, Blystk Kmba, Eric Arnold, Jaenal Peterson, DeMar-con Gibson, Amir Aziz
 photo Adam Turner



Louis Farrakhan: Angel or Devil? - Interview By Alex Jones

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Letter from Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney


Oakland Black Artists support the Black Arts Movement Business District. This pic was taken shortly before the full City Council voted to establish the BAM Business District. 1/19/16

photo Adam Turner


Hello all:

I want to appreciate all of the culture keepers for supporting this effort and expanding upon this concept.  I cannot tell you how gratified I am that what I once believed to be a personal idea was actually me tapping into the wellspring of passion and love for this concept that long predates my arrival on the council.  I am humbled.  Spirit is all-knowing and all-wise and I am truly honored to be in a position to help fulfill - or at least facilitate - the fulfillment of this community desire.

While I appreciate everyone's contributions, I want to extend a very special note of thanks to Joyce Gordon (an absolute gem), Duane Deterville (whose cogent presentation helped me see the importance and power of linking this effort to historic and global movements), Paul Cobb (whose deep knowledge of people and place fully expanded my appreciation of the corridor) and Marvin X, who, without doubt, has been the most vocal proponent for the celebration of the Black Arts movement and the claiming of a space to honor the contributions of Black artists.  I also want to thank the business owners Craig, Geoffrey, Oscar, Corey and Veronica and city staff for their insight and support.

This is just the first step.  We have a lot more work to do.  Looking forward to expanding the team and finding ways to fund the vision.

With deep Oakland-love, Lynette


We are happy to announce that today, January 12, 2016,  a committee of Oakland City Council members passed the resolution designating the 14th Street corridor as the Black Arts Movement Business District. The resolution was introduced by Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney. For their vote to officially establish the name Black Arts Movement Business District, they receive the BAM Gold Fist Award for Excellence:



Council President Lynette McElhaney, Marvin X, Duane Deterville; Middle row: Gerry Garzon (Oakland Public Library), Tureeda Mikell, Jaenal Peterson, Aries Jordan, David McKelvey, Eric Murphy (Joyce Gordon Gallery); Back row: Eric Arnold, Kwesi Wilkerson, Charles Johnson, Alicia Parker (Oakland Planning Department), Shomari Carter (Supervisor Keith Carson's Office). Far right: Elder Paul Cobb, Publisher, Oakland Post News Group.
 
For more information on the Black Arts Movement Business District, stay tuned to www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com