Love Poems by Marvin X

Marvin X: America's Rumi, Plato, Hafiz, Saadi

 

  

Ishmael Reed calls him "Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland." Bob Holman says,  "He is the USA's Rumi!--the wisdom of Saadi, the ecstasy of Hafiz." Rudolph Lewis says, "A master teacher in many fields of thought. One of America's great story tellers. I'd put him ahead of Mark Twain!" James G. Spady writes, "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 experiences in a lyrical way."

 

The Rapture or I will go into the city 

(from the play In the Name of Love, Laney College Theatre, 1981, written, produced and directed by Marvin X, with the assistance of Ayodele Nzinga.

I will go into the city
I will find work
I will find work
I will remember you country woman
I will not forget you
your laugh arguments
to learn
it is your way
let it be
how can I forget your lips
enchanting smile
I will not forget
we walked in the rain
it was free and we were free
we agreed
best of life is free

I will go into the city
I will find work
but you will be with me country woman
when those city women come to devour me
with sweet perfume
you will be there
you spirit will protect me

I will never forget
how we sipped $1.00 Margaritas
in the Mexican Cafe in Chinatown

our ride to the lake
picnic on the hill
ranger spotted us in his binoculars
we did not care
we were filled
with the Holy Spirit of Love

how can I forget
hours in bed
children of the love spirit
one moment
man and woman one
discovered missing self
eternal self
self of love
self of joy
self of happiness realized

I will go into the city
I will find work
I will not forget you country woman

I will return to claim you
in the name of Love
I will claim you
because you woman
I will claim you
you are feeling spirit intelligence
I will claim you
you have given yourself to me
so totally
I will claim you
in the name of Allah
I will claim you
for the Glory of Allah
I will claim you.
--Marvin X
from Selected Poems by Marvin X, 1979.

For the Women by Marvin X

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

                                          For the Women

For the women who bear children
and nurture them with truth
for the women who cook and clean
behind thankless men

 
for the women who love so hard so true so pure
for the women with faith in God and men
for the women alone with beer and rum
for the women searching for a man at the club, college, church, party
for the women independent of men
for the women searching their souls
for the women who do drugs and freak
for the women who love only women
for the women who play and run and never show
for the women who rise in revolt in hand with men
who say never, never, never again
for the women who suffer abuse and cry for justice
for the women happy and free of maternal madness
for the women who study and write

 
for the women who sell their love to starving men
for the women who love to make love and be loved by men
for the women of Africa who work so hard
for the women of America who suffer the master
for the women who turn to God in prayer and patience

 
for the women who are mothers of children and mothers of men
for the women who suffer inflation, recession, abortion, rejection
for the women who understand the rituals of men and women
for the women who share
for the women who are greedy
for the women with power

 
for the women with nothing
for the women locked down
for the women down town
for the women who break horses
for the women in the fields
for the women who rob banks
for the women who kill
for the women of history
for the women of now
I salute you
A Man.
--Marvin X

I Don't Want to Know Yo Name


I don't want to know nothin bout ya
don't tell me yo name
don't ask me shit
don't tell me shit
don't tell me yo name
don't want nothin from you
no head
no pussy
no ass hole
no kiss
no hug
no smile
no frown
just take yo sick ass down the street
be a pleasure to somebody else
spare me
let me stay in the no stress zone
take your lies
fake hair
fake eyes
fake lips
fake hips
fake pussy
fake ass
fake mind
and let the door kiss yo black ass.
love you madly,
--Marvin X

 I Release You

You said release you
I chant I release you
three times
then you called
emergency
save your nephew
boyz in the hood want his head
gave him refuge in the mountains
manhood training
labor of love for you and him
he is you and you are him
my life is saving youth
what is revolution except saving
the next generation
from getting caught riding dirty
brothers marked for extinction
no use for them
except
caged
enslaved
ignorant
no thinkers wanted
freedom fighters
conscious poets and rappers
I did my job
can I get a little love
hug a kiss
no matter you have someone new
We feed you for Allah’s pleasure only
we desire neither reward nor thanks, Al Qur’an.
marvin x
4.3.07


The Funny Thing is I Already Knew

I see you coming toward me
wind surrounds you
swirling swirling
a dance of dervishes in your stride
wind blows you to me
arms open wide
enfold  greatness of your spirit
I am here at your pleasure
do with me as you wish
no abuse please.
I have no fear of this
I know you already know this.

Ah, the air is so fresh
we must go to the ocean
walk the shore
barefoot in the sand as the tide comes in
holding hands in the wind
the dervish dance and swirl.
--Marvin X
4/9/11

Wish I Could Fly Like a Hawk

 

Wish I could fly like a hawk
just soar above earth
silent
gliding smooth
no noise
silent
observing all
madness below
rats scurrying
snakes in the grass
wish I could fly like a hawk
sometimes in motion still
wings frozen in flight
yet moving
wish I could be hawk
above the madness of it all
the meaningless chatter
cell phone psychosis
talking loud saying nothing
why are you breathing
jogging
without meaning purpose
no mission beyond nothingness
absorbing air from the meaningful
who subscribe to justice
let me fly above the living dead
let me soar
let me dream
imagine
another time and place
another space
this cannot be the end game
the hail marry
let me soar above it all
wings spread wide
let me glide
ah, the air is fresh up here
did I make it to heaven
did I escape hell
come with me
do not be afraid
the night is young
let us fly into the moon
see the crescent
so beautiful
let us fly into the friendly sky
wings spread wide
we are strong and mighty
the hawk.
--Marvin X
10/10/10

Oh, Mighty Kora


I Cannot Hide from Kora
Oh, Mighty Kora
you tear the heart apart
soul from mind
ten thousand years 
seeps into a soul lost in time
Oh, Kora
time lost regained
sounds set centuries ago
no improvisation no jazz
myth/ritual set for infinity
voices heard
message to the king
from the king
griot sings 
king listens obeys sound of kora
submit or die
heart music cannot lie
sound of nights on the River Senegal
thousand warriors dance
holy stomp of a thousand women
breasts shaking in the sun
take me home take me home Kora
I am not bound for this wilderness
dungeon of darkness
how was I taken from my holy land
cast into hell with devils of the worse kind
naked devoid of my holy tongue
my holy mind soul

I speak the language of bastards
men of ill repute
pirates, kidnappers rapists
these are not men the shell of human kind
plunder for illusions
no joy in their ritual
no happiness  no peace
I am weary  in a strange land
O Kora, take me back to the Senegal and Niger
Let me hear you in the day in the night
of ancient times
rhythms of ancestors
let me be at peace
this is not my world
no matter how I try
I am naked in the wind
take me home, take me home kora
let the whirlwind take me 
to the womb of my Mother
let me dwell in my Father's House.
--Marvin X
6/17/10

 
A Poem for Unresolved Grief
When thy lover has gone to eternity
When touch is no more 
no feel in the night in the day
no smile walk
sweetness of body
kissing of lips breasts thighs
When thy lover has gone
A day we never imagine
love blinds 
the day came like a cloud of thunder rain
down upon head
drowning us in sorrow the worse kind
We cannot walk 
listen each day
her voice message 
til we are taken away
want to hear for the last time
voice of love
For all the joy shared
blending two into one
thinking two into one
When thy lover has gone
We are worse than dead
yet alive to suffer pain no one can know
Who has never loved
true love we say we want but never get
we have lived what few ever know
touch feel constant smile
When thy lover has gone
earth opens for the mate as well
no tears enough
No silent moments to get over matters 
confined in the prison of life
wish to leave for other worlds
to see if we can meet again
one so kind so true
life keeps us here bound like slave to master
we yearn for paradise
life is love and love has gone
desire is great pain a mountain
We visit familiar places but are lost
cannot find the way home
We call a friend to pick us up
take us home
there we sit in stupor
thinking of days joy ruled our world
joy never to return.
Lord help us through day night
It hurts to breathe 
think
a picture of our lover
We try night consumes us and we sleep
tomorrow will be a better day.
II
To heal the missing part of you
To feel again the love of yesterday
To realize what is gone cannot return
Flesh is frail
Spirit lives
In the day night
challenge the task
know we are spirit
Of the Great Spirit
We flow with the flow
Not the flesh,
body vessel
Never put faith in flesh
Enjoy the moment
seconds of the day
Romantic hours of night
physical shall pass
Then what shall we do
confounded
Perplexed
depressed
Stuck against the wall
a frog on a lily pad
Flow in the flow of the Great River
Sail down the Nile Niger Congo
Do not drown
reality is transitory
Except the metaphysical 
macro cosmic truth inside of you
Love continues into the ancestor tree
Beyond pain sorrow lost
Tears in the night
Love can be found again
If we try if we stand
As Rumi taught
reeds in the reed bed stand alone
Yet all together
The reed flute is a song of mourning
A yearning to return
Through the door of no return
flute plays the song of joy
A communal chant in the sun
Sing
world will bless you
Praise you sing
your song of sorrow is gone
healing complete
Live again and love
Reach touch somebody
Breathe out the pain
Exhale the misery
Love is in the air 
It blows your way
Listen to the wind
Listen to the sound of your flute.
--M
12/22/07


We're In Love, But You Don't Know Me
You don't know me
you had a chance to know me
before we made love
you had a chance to know my mind
understand my fears
learn about issues
help me heal some things
but you wanted to make love
so you don't know me
we made love
but you don't know me
don't have a clue
think I'm a good d
or some good tight p
but you don't know me
and never will now
because you wanted to make love
you wanted to get a nut
we didn't even talk much
a little bit leading up to sex
I went along
I was horny too
but you don't know me
and I don't know you
now we never will
we blew it forever
because we made love
too fast too quick too soon
now you think you own me
I can't breathe
can't talk on the phone to friends
because we made love
because I gave you some d
you gave me some p
now I'm no longer human
I'm your love slave you my slave
we're in love
but you don't know me
we gonna get married
but you don't know me
we're gonna have children
but you don't know me
you're gonna beat my ass
but you don't know me
you're going to jail
but you don't know me
we're getting a divorce
but you don't know me
now we're friends
"Just Friends" Charlie Parker tune
But you don't know me
and never will. 






 

Rally to Keep Oakland Creative; artists fight to keep mural at Malonga Center in the BAMBD

I want to thank everyone who made this day so crazy. Lailan Sandra Huen, straight non-stop fire, Carla S Dancer, and Eric Arnold for all their work behind the scenes. Caribelinq Omnimedia, Tacuma King and Ayikwei Scott for carrying the heartbeat and holding down the ‪#‎SoulofOakland‬. Wicah Candy and Gerardo Omar Marin representing the Ohlone, Apache and Mexica... Marvin X Jackmon standing firm for the Black Arts Movement and Business District. Anyka Barber and the Oakland Creative Neighborhoods Coalition for ‪#‎KeepingOaklandCreative‬... Pancho Pescador for motivating the youths. Laura Marshall Arts for showing up and helping. Lungusu Malonga representing for her family and lineage... The East Bay School for Boys representing for the youth - damn they were fired up!! Daniel Zarazua for making this struggle into curriculum for Oakland Unity High School students... Everyone who showed up to support, or donated or signed the petition... And if you couldn't make it, chip in, and got too busy to sign... this is the first step. There are still opportunities to get involved. Like writing your councilperson...

I want to thank everyone who made this day so crazy. Lailan Sandra Huen, straight non-stop fire, Carla S Dancer, and Eric Arnold for all their work behind the scenes. Caribelinq Omnimedia, Tacuma King and Ayikwei Scott for carrying the heartbeat and holding down the ‪#‎SoulofOakland‬. Wicah Candy and Gerardo Omar Marin representing the Ohlone, Apache and Mexica... Marvin X Jackmon standing firm for the Black Arts Movement and Business District. Anyka Barber and the Oakland Creative Neighborhoods Coalition for ‪#‎KeepingOaklandCreative‬... Pancho Pescador for motivating the youths. Laura Marshall Arts for showing up and helping. Lungusu Malonga representing for her family and lineage... The East Bay School for Boys representing for the youth - damn they were fired up!! Daniel Zarazua for making this struggle into curriculum for Oakland Unity High School students... Everyone who showed up to support, or donated or signed the petition... And if you couldn't make it, chip in, and got too busy to sign... this is the first step. There are still opportunities to get involved. Like writing your councilperson...

Members of the Black Arts Movement Business District planning committee and media team.

Left to right: Amir C. Clark, Aries Jordan and son Legend, Robert Arnold, Marvin X, 

Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Eric Arnold, Ken Johnson, Maiya Newsome-Edgerly, Adam Turner.

photo Amir Aziz Clark

postnewsgroup.com

FYI, the Black Arts Movement Business District planners will meet again on Monday, February 15, 10AM, at the Post News Group office, 405 14th Street, Suite 1215. Black artists and business persons should be there to continue planning the BAMBD.  

 Marvin X interviewed by WURD Talk Radio, Philadelphia, at the Black Power Babies Conversation

If you missed BAMBD planner Marvin X's interview on Harambee Radio yesterday, he has been asked to continue his discussion of Oakland's BAMBD with Sistah Q, next Thursday, February 18, 5PM Pacific time, 8pm Eastern time. www.harambeeradio.com

The call in number is: 805-309-0111
Conference ID number: 840360* [star; not pound]
Moderator number: 754939

Next week's Eastbay Express Newspaper will publish a feature story on Oakland's Downtown Plan, including an interview with BAMBD planner Marvin X.

Beyonce' and her girl gang as Black Panthers at Super Bowl

Beyoncé, Media Hype, 2016 Super Bowl Madness

• Posted by Nana Baakan Agyiriwah 
• February 11, 2016

 

Beyonce and her Girl Gang

NB Commentary: I enter this discussion kicking and screaming and swearing to myself that I am not, and I mean, am not gonna fall prey to the hype. But today, I had to come forth with another blog post.  I was compelled by the comments under many of the pictures posted of her and her girl gang at the Super Bowl and how some folks were actually seeing it as a Powerful Movement, a statement about Black Power, a high five to Malcolm X, and the insane indicators of it being an Illuminati ritual. But what really took me to the top of the clock was the actual lyrics, which in no way seem to reflect any of this, in fact quite the contrary. So here I am again, with something to rant on about That!!!

Let me begin my rant with a shout out to Cookie Couture who posted the lyrics to Beyoncé song.

"Thank you for this. You know how you witness something and something inside you goes off and tells you that there is something wrong with this because inside of you, you can feel it going in all kinds of different directions. Well, thanks again, I really appreciate you posting those lyrics!!"

Nowadays, we cannot take lightly the impact of the media. It's in your face in an instant and manipulating you and brainwashing you in the millisecond. Nowadays, it's more dangerous due to the advance technology they can use to grab your brain and do all kinds of trickery with it.

The invention of motion pictures and later television, herald the beginning of an epic age, where the minds of the masses are in the hands of the elite controllers who can massage, manipulate, brainwash and control the narrative to such a degree that people believe that what they see is real and true.

People identify with the character on the screen so much so that they protect them as if they have an intimate relationship with them, all because of what they see on the screen. People project themselves into the personification of a made up image on the screen and it becomes their alters. For that matter, fans are as much MK-Ultra slaves as much as the people they Idolize and Adore. The Cult of Personality has replaced the Gods and Goddesses of ancient times.

The people on the big screen are fallible human beings, but the masses need Gods so they elevate them to the status of "Gods" and defend their "Persona" as if it's real, or actually means anything. The psychological irony of this is that their "Persona" does mean something for the hungry masses, but 99% of them won't use this power for anything other than maintaining the status quo of the Elite Moguls who control them from behind the scenes. Their true creativity is eclipsed by the greed, avarice and debauchery that is the world of celebrity. If they step out of the mold that was designed for them, they will fail or meet a worse fate. Thus the hype is just that, hype, form no substance, yet the impact of such superficiality is as deadly has a thousand poison arrows.

And Now to the Lyrics. You decide, how progressive these are.

What happened at the New Wil’ins?

Bitch, I'm back by popular demand

[Refrain: Beyoncé]

Y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess

Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh

I'm so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress (stylin')

I'm so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces

My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana

You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama

I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros

I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils

Earned all this money but they never take the country out me

I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag

[Interlude: Messy Mya + Big Freedia]

Oh yeah, baby, oh yeah I, ohhhhh, oh, yes, I like that

I did not come to play with you hoes, haha

I came to slay, bitch

I like cornbreads and collard greens, bitch

Oh, yes, you besta believe it

[Refrain: Beyoncé]

Y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess

Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh

I'm so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress (stylin')

I'm so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces

My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana

You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama

I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros

I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils

Earned all this money but they never take the country out me

I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag

[Chorus: Beyoncé]

I see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it

I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it

I twirl on them haters, albino alligators

El Camino with the seat low, sippin' Cuervo with no chaser

Sometimes I go off (I go off), I go hard (I go hard)

Get what's mine (take what's mine), I'm a star (I'm a star)

Cause I slay (slay), I slay (hey), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)

All day (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)

We gon' slay (slay), gon' slay (okay), we slay (okay), I slay (okay)

I slay (okay), okay (okay), I slay (okay), okay, okay, okay, okay

Okay, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay

Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay

Prove to me you got some coordination, cause I slay

Slay trick, or you get eliminated

[Verse: Beyoncé]

When he fuck me good I take his ass to Red Lobster, cause I slay

When he fuck me good I take his ass to Red Lobster, cause I slay

If he hit it right, I might take him on a flight on my chopper, cause I slay

Drop him off at the mall, let him buy some J's, let him shop up, cause I slay

I might get your song played on the radio station, cause I slay

I might get your song played on the radio station, cause I slay

You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making, cause I slay

I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making

[Chorus: Beyoncé]

I see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it

I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it

I twirl on my haters, albino alligators

El Camino with the seat low, sippin' Cuervo with no chaser

Sometimes I go off (I go off), I go hard (I go hard)

Get what's mine (take what's mine), I'm a star (I'm a star)

Cause I slay (slay), I slay (hey), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)

All day (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)

We gon' slay (slay), gon' slay (okay), we slay (okay), I slay (okay)

I slay (okay), okay (okay), I slay (okay), okay, okay, okay, okay

Okay, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay

Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay

Prove to me you got some coordination, cause I slay

Slay trick, or you get eliminated

[Bridge: Beyoncé]

Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, I slay

Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation

You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation

Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper

[Outro]

Girl, I hear some thunder

Golly, look at that water, boy, oh lord

AND NEXT,

 TRENDING ON THE OTHER END OF THE MASS MIND CONTROL SCALE

COMES THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT????

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

ARE BEYONCE’S ‘FORMATION’ LYRICS ANTI-COP, PRO-BLACK OR JUST PLAIN PERFECT?

ZACHARY VOLKERT

The lyrics and video to Beyonce’s new single “Formation” shouldn’t be surprising to any fans who have been closely following the political leanings of the pop artist and her husband Jay-Z. While the power couple have often tried to keep it quiet, they’ve been huge financial supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. Last year, activist Dream Hampton revealed that the couple had poured in tens of thousands of dollars in bail money without a second thought when Baltimore and Ferguson protestors were jailed. After those tweets were deleted, he later suggested that they didn’t really want to largely publicize the fact, reported The Guardian.

That attitude seems to be shifting when peering into the video, performance and lyrics behind Beyonce’s “Formation.” Just as she gained accolades for aligning herself with feminism on her 2013 surprise self-titled album, Beyonce has once again recognized the power of pop and the cult of her own artistry to send a message. This time, it’s about the police violence faced by the black community.

Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/2782102/are-beyonces-formation-lyrics-anti...

Michelle Alexander: Why Hillary Clinton Doesn't Deserve the Black Vote

Why Hillary Clinton 

Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote

From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.

By Michelle Alexander

Hillary and Bill Clinton in 1992. (Reuters Pictures)

Hillary Clinton loves black people. And black people love Hillary—or so it seems. Black politicians have lined up in droves to endorse her, eager to prove their loyalty to the Clintons in the hopes that their faithfulness will be remembered and rewarded. Black pastors are opening their church doors, and the Clintons are making themselves comfortably at home once again, engaging effortlessly in all the usual rituals associated with “courting the black vote,” a pursuit that typically begins and ends with Democratic politicians making black people feel liked and taken seriously. Doing something concrete to improve the conditions under which most black people live is generally not required.

Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina, where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African Americans. It seems that we—black people—are her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.
And it seems we’re eager to get played. Again.

The love affair between black folks and the Clintons has been going on for a long time. It began back in 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for president. He threw on some shades and played the saxophone on The Arsenio Hall Show. It seems silly in retrospect, but many of us fell for that. At a time when a popular slogan was “It’s a black thing, you wouldn’t understand,” Bill Clinton seemed to get us. When Toni Morrison dubbed him our first black president, we nodded our heads. We had our boy in the White House. Or at least we thought we did.

Black voters have been remarkably loyal to the Clintons for more than 25 years. It’s true that we eventually lined up behind Barack Obama in 2008, but it’s a measure of the Clinton allure that Hillary led Obama among black voters until he started winning caucuses and primaries. Now Hillary is running again. This time she’s facing a democratic socialist who promises a political revolution that will bring universal healthcare, a living wage, an end to rampant Wall Street greed, and the dismantling of the vast prison state—many of the same goals that Martin Luther King Jr. championed at the end of his life. Even so, black folks are sticking with the Clinton brand.

What have the Clintons done to earn such devotion? Did they take extreme political risks to defend the rights of African Americans? Did they courageously stand up to right-wing demagoguery about black communities? Did they help usher in a new era of hope and prosperity for neighborhoods devastated by deindustrialization, globalization, and the disappearance of work?
No. Quite the opposite.

* * *

When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, urban black communities across America were suffering from economic collapse. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs had vanished as factories moved overseas in search of cheaper labor, a new plantation. Globalization and deindustrialization affected workers of all colors but hit African Americans particularly hard. Unemployment rates among young black men had quadrupled as the rate of industrial employment plummeted. Crime rates spiked in inner-city communities that had been dependent on factory jobs, while hopelessness, despair, and crack addiction swept neighborhoods that had once been solidly working-class. Millions of black folks—many of whom had fled Jim Crow segregation in the South with the hope of obtaining decent work in Northern factories—were suddenly trapped in racially segregated, jobless ghettos.

On the campaign trail, Bill Clinton made the economy his top priority and argued persuasively that conservatives were using race to divide the nation and divert attention from the failed economy. In practice, however, he capitulated entirely to the right-wing backlash against the civil-rights movement and embraced former president Ronald Reagan’s agenda on race, crime, welfare, and taxes—ultimately doing more harm to black communities than Reagan ever did.

We should have seen it coming. Back then, Clinton was the standard-bearer for the New Democrats, a group that firmly believed the only way to win back the millions of white voters in the South who had defected to the Republican Party was to adopt the right-wing narrative that black communities ought to be disciplined with harsh punishment rather than coddled with welfare. Reagan had won the presidency by dog-whistling to poor and working-class whites with coded racial appeals: railing against “welfare queens” and criminal “predators” and condemning “big government.” Clinton aimed to win them back, vowing that he would never permit any Republican to be perceived as tougher on crime than he.

Just weeks before the critical New Hampshire primary, Clinton proved his toughness by flying back to Arkansas to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally impaired black man who had so little conception of what was about to happen to him that he asked for the dessert from his last meal to be saved for him for later. After the execution, Clinton remarked, “I can be nicked a lot, but no one can say I’m soft on crime.”

As president, Bill Clinton mastered the art of sending mixed cultural messages.

Clinton mastered the art of sending mixed cultural messages, appealing to African Americans by belting out “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in black churches, while at the same time signaling to poor and working-class whites that he was willing to be tougher on black communities than Republicans had been.

Clinton was praised for his no-nonsense, pragmatic approach to racial politics. He won the election and appointed a racially diverse cabinet that “looked like America.” He won re-election four years later, and the American economy rebounded. Democrats cheered. The Democratic Party had been saved. The Clintons won. Guess who lost?

* * *

Bill Clinton presided over the largest increase in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history. Clinton did not declare the War on Crime or the War on Drugs—those wars were declared before Reagan was elected and long before crack hit the streets—but he escalated it beyond what many conservatives had imagined possible. He supported the 100-to-1 sentencing disparity for crack versus powder cocaine, which produced staggering racial injustice in sentencing and boosted funding for drug-law enforcement.

Clinton championed the idea of a federal “three strikes” law in his 1994 State of the Union address and, months later, signed a $30 billion crime bill that created dozens of new federal capital crimes, mandated life sentences for some three-time offenders, and authorized more than $16 billion for state prison grants and the expansion of police forces. The legislation was hailed by mainstream-media outlets as a victory for the Democrats, who “were able to wrest the crime issue from the Republicans and make it their own.”

When Clinton left office in 2001, the United States had the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Human Rights Watch reported that in seven states, African Americans constituted 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders sent to prison, even though they were no more likely than whites to use or sell illegal drugs. Prison admissions for drug offenses reached a level in 2000 for African Americans more than 26 times the level in 1983. All of the presidents since 1980 have contributed to mass incarceration, but as Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson recently observed, “President Clinton’s tenure was the worst.”

Some might argue that it’s unfair to judge Hillary Clinton for the policies her husband championed years ago. But Hillary wasn’t picking out china while she was first lady. She bravely broke the mold and redefined that job in ways no woman ever had before. She not only campaigned for Bill; she also wielded power and significant influence once he was elected, lobbying for legislation and other measures. That record, and her statements from that era, should be scrutinized. In her support for the 1994 crime bill, for example, she used racially coded rhetoric to cast black children as animals. “They are not just gangs of kids anymore,” she said. “They are often the kinds of kids that are called ‘super-predators.’ No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel.”

Both Clintons now express regret over the crime bill, and Hillary says she supports criminal-justice reforms to undo some of the damage that was done by her husband’s administration. But on the campaign trail, she continues to invoke the economy and country that Bill Clinton left behind as a legacy she would continue. So what exactly did the Clinton economy look like for black Americans? Taking a hard look at this recent past is about more than just a choice between two candidates. It’s about whether the Democratic Party can finally reckon with what its policies have done to African-American communities, and whether it can redeem itself and rightly earn the loyalty of black voters.

* * *

An oft-repeated myth about the Clinton administration is that although it was overly tough on crime back in the 1990s, at least its policies were good for the economy and for black unemployment rates. The truth is more troubling. As unemployment rates sank to historically low levels for white Americans in the 1990s, the jobless rate among black men in their 20s who didn’t have a college degree rose to its highest level ever. This increase in joblessness was propelled by the skyrocketing incarceration rate.

Why is this not common knowledge? Because government statistics like poverty and unemployment rates do not include incarcerated people. As Harvard sociologist Bruce Western explains: “Much of the optimism about declines in racial inequality and the power of the US model of economic growth is misplaced once we account for the invisible poor, behind the walls of America’s prisons and jails.” When Clinton left office in 2001, the true jobless rate for young, non-college-educated black men (including those behind bars) was 42 percent. This figure was never reported. Instead, the media claimed that unemployment rates for African Americans had fallen to record lows, neglecting to mention that this miracle was possible only because incarceration rates were now at record highs. Young black men weren’t looking for work at high rates during the Clinton era because they were now behind bars—out of sight, out of mind, and no longer counted in poverty and unemployment statistics.

To make matters worse, the federal safety net for poor families was torn to shreds by the Clinton administration in its effort to “end welfare as we know it.” In his 1996 State of the Union address, given during his re-election campaign, Clinton declared that “the era of big government is over” and immediately sought to prove it by dismantling the federal welfare system known as Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC). The welfare-reform legislation that he signed—which Hillary Clinton ardently supported then and characterized as a success as recently as 2008—replaced the federal safety net with a block grant to the states, imposed a five-year lifetime limit on welfare assistance, added work requirements, barred undocumented immigrants from licensed professions, and slashed overall public welfare funding by $54 billion (some was later restored).

They are not just gangs of kids anymore…they are ‘super-predators.’ —Hillary Clinton, speaking in support of the 1994 crime bill

Experts and pundits disagree about the true impact of welfare reform, but one thing seems clear: Extreme poverty doubled to 1.5 million in the decade and a half after the law was passed. What is extreme poverty? US households are considered to be in extreme poverty if they are surviving on cash incomes of no more than $2 per person per day in any given month. We tend to think of extreme poverty existing in Third World countries, but here in the United States, shocking numbers of people are struggling to survive on less money per month than many families spend in one evening dining out. Currently, the United States, the richest nation on the planet, has one of the highest child-poverty rates in the developed world.

Despite claims that radical changes in crime and welfare policy were driven by a desire to end big government and save taxpayer dollars, the reality is that the Clinton administration didn’t reduce the amount of money devoted to the management of the urban poor; it changed what the funds would be used for. Billions of dollars were slashed from public-housing and child-welfare budgets and transferred to the mass-incarceration machine. By 1996, the penal budget was twice the amount that had been allocated to food stamps. During Clinton’s tenure, funding for public housing was slashed by $17 billion (a reduction of 61 percent), while funding for corrections was boosted by $19 billion (an increase of 171 percent), according to sociologist Loïc Wacquant “effectively making the construction of prisons the nation’s main housing program for the urban poor.”

Bill Clinton championed discriminatory laws against formerly incarcerated people that have kept millions of Americans locked in a cycle of poverty and desperation. The Clinton administration eliminated Pell grants for prisoners seeking higher education to prepare for their release, supported laws denying federal financial aid to students with drug convictions, and signed legislation imposing a lifetime ban on welfare and food stamps for anyone convicted of a felony drug offense—an exceptionally harsh provision given the racially biased drug war that was raging in inner cities.

Perhaps most alarming, Clinton also made it easier for public-housing agencies to deny shelter to anyone with any sort of criminal history (even an arrest without conviction) and championed the “one strike and you’re out” initiative, which meant that families could be evicted from public housing because one member (or a guest) had committed even a minor offense. People released from prison with no money, no job, and nowhere to go could no longer return home to their loved ones living in federally assisted housing without placing the entire family at risk of eviction. Purging “the criminal element” from public housing played well on the evening news, but no provisions were made for people and families as they were forced out on the street. By the end of Clinton’s presidency, more than half of working-age African-American men in many large urban areas were saddled with criminal records and subject to legalized discrimination in employment, housing, access to education, and basic public benefits—relegated to a permanent second-class status eerily reminiscent of Jim Crow.

It is difficult to overstate the damage that’s been done. Generations have been lost to the prison system; countless families have been torn apart or rendered homeless; and a school-to-prison pipeline has been born that shuttles young people from their decrepit, underfunded schools to brand-new high-tech prisons.

* * *

It didn’t have to be like this. As a nation, we had a choice. Rather than spending billions of dollars constructing a vast new penal system, those billions could have been spent putting young people to work in inner-city communities and investing in their schools so they might have some hope of making the transition from an industrial to a service-based economy. Constructive interventions would have been good not only for African Americans trapped in ghettos, but for blue-collar workers of all colors. At the very least, Democrats could have fought to prevent the further destruction of black communities rather than ratcheting up the wars declared on them.

Of course, it can be said that it’s unfair to criticize the Clintons for punishing black people so harshly, given that many black people were on board with the “get tough” movement too. It is absolutely true that black communities back then were in a state of crisis, and that many black activists and politicians were desperate to get violent offenders off the streets. What is often missed, however, is that most of those black activists and politicians weren’t asking only for toughness. They were also demanding investment in their schools, better housing, jobs programs for young people, economic-stimulus packages, drug treatment on demand, and better access to healthcare. In the end, they wound up with police and prisons. To say that this was what black people wanted is misleading at best.

By 1996, the penal budget was twice the amount that had been allocated to food stamps.

To be fair, the Clintons now feel bad about how their politics and policies have worked out for black people. Bill says that he “overshot the mark” with his crime policies; and Hillary has put forth a plan to ban racial profiling, eliminate the sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine, and abolish private prisons, among other measures.

But what about a larger agenda that would not just reverse some of the policies adopted during the Clinton era, but would rebuild the communities decimated by them? If you listen closely here, you’ll notice that Hillary Clinton is still singing the same old tune in a slightly different key. She is arguing that we ought not be seduced by Bernie’s rhetoric because we must be “pragmatic,” “face political realities,” and not get tempted to believe that we can fight for economic justice and win. When politicians start telling you that it is “unrealistic” to support candidates who want to build a movement for greater equality, fair wages, universal healthcare, and an end to corporate control of our political system, it’s probably best to leave the room.

This is not an endorsement for Bernie Sanders, who after all voted for the 1994 crime bill. I also tend to agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates that the way the Sanders campaign handled the question of reparations is one of many signs that Bernie doesn’t quite get what’s at stake in serious dialogues about racial justice. He was wrong to dismiss reparations as “divisive,” as though centuries of slavery, segregation, discrimination, ghettoization, and stigmatization aren’t worthy of any specific acknowledgement or remedy.

But recognizing that Bernie, like Hillary, has blurred vision when it comes to race is not the same thing as saying their views are equally problematic. Sanders opposed the 1996 welfare-reform law. He also opposed bank deregulation and the Iraq War, both of which Hillary supported, and both of which have proved disastrous. In short, there is such a thing as a lesser evil, and Hillary is not it.
The biggest problem with Bernie, in the end, is that he’s running as a Democrat—as a member of a political party that not only capitulated to right-wing demagoguery but is now owned and controlled by a relatively small number of millionaires and billionaires. Yes, Sanders has raised millions from small donors, but should he become president, he would also become part of what he has otherwise derided as “the establishment.” Even if Bernie’s racial-justice views evolve, I hold little hope that a political revolution will occur within the Democratic Party without a sustained outside movement forcing truly transformational change. I am inclined to believe that it would be easier to build a new party than to save the Democratic Party from itself.

Of course, the idea of building a new political party terrifies most progressives, who understandably fear that it would open the door for a right-wing extremist to get elected. So we play the game of lesser evils. This game has gone on for decades. W.E.B. Du Bois, the eminent scholar and co-founder of the NAACP, shocked many when he refused to play along with this game in the 1956 election, defending his refusal to vote on the grounds that “there is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I do or say.” While the true losers and winners of this game are highly predictable, the game of lesser evils makes for great entertainment and can now be viewed 24 hours a day on cable-news networks. Hillary believes that she can win this game in 2016 because this time she’s got us, the black vote, in her back pocket—her lucky card.

She may be surprised to discover that the younger generation no longer wants to play her game. Or maybe not. Maybe we’ll all continue to play along and pretend that we don’t know how it will turn out in the end. Hopefully, one day, we’ll muster the courage to join together in a revolutionary movement with people of all colors who believe that basic human rights and economic, racial, and gender justice are not unreasonable, pie-in-the-sky goals. After decades of getting played, the sleeping giant just might wake up, stretch its limbs, and tell both parties: Game over. Move aside. It’s time to reshuffle this deck.

Michelle Alexander Michelle Alexander is a legal scholar, human rights advocate, and author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (The New Press).

WURD Speaks: Black Power Babies

Thursday March on City Hall for Malonga and Equitable Development

 Marvin X on Harambeeradio.com

5pm Pacific time

8pm East Coast time

Marvin X will speak on the Black Arts Movement Business District, Oakland. He spoke in Oakland today at the rally for the Malonga Center mural. A multi-cultural crowd of artists and arts organizations gathered at 14th and Alice in the parking lot to protest the City approving plans for a 16 story market rate apartment complex on the parking lot. They marched down 14th to Oakland City Hall to let the politicians know people come before developers. As we write, the Post News Group and Betti Ono Gallery in the BAMBD must move due to rent increases. Such is the problem throughout Oakland. Marvin X told the Malonga protesters, "Oakland is a radical city so we must stand tall and resist. The devil never sleeps, he just changes shifts. So we must stay awake or wake up in a hurry and stay on the case until victory. Yes, the City declared the Black Arts Movement Business District, but where's the budget to make it a reality?"

MEDIA ADVISORY
March on City Hall for Malonga and Equitable Development

For Immediate Release: February 10, 2016

(Oakland, CA) – Recently, the City of Oakland’s Planning Commission voted to approve a 16-story 126-unit development at 250 14^th Street in the parking lot directly across from the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Performing Arts. This development would obscure a brand-new mural highlighting the cultural practitioners of the Malonga Center and the contributions of Oakland’s Chinese-American community.  The development would also eliminate all public parking from the site. Another proposed development, at 226 13^th Street, would eliminate all public parking and build 262 market-rate housing units. Neither project includes affordable housing units or significant community benefits.

The elimination of over 325 public parking spaces could have a detrimental impact on the Malonga Center, an Oakland cultural institution and one of the centerpieces of the newly-minted Black Arts Movement Business District (BAMBD), an initiative championed by City Council President Lynnette Gibson-McElhaney. Parking is already scarce in the neighborhood, and the loss of public lots could impact those attending shows in the Malonga’s 355-seat theater, as well as dance and music students, residents, and instructors, as well as customers and workers of other local businesses and agencies   Most of the other public lots in the area are slated for development or sale as well.

To fight for Equitable Development and community benefits, a concerned community coalition including Malonga artists, members of the Chinatown Coalition, and the Community Rejuvenation Project has organized a march and rally Thursday, February 11, starting at 11:30 am. The march will begin at the Malonga Center (1428 Alice St.) and end at City Hall at 12pm, where the coalition will present their appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision to Oakland officials.

“We are holding this march and rally because the Planning Commission and city staff are fast-tracking developments without negotiating an equitable portion of community benefits, or in the case of the Malonga Center, without considering the full impact of the proposal on this important City-owned cultural institution,” said Lailan Huen, a Chinatown advocate. “This is egregious, especially because city planners have co-opted slogans like ‘development without displacement’ even as they implement development that will in fact displace both culture and residents.  Last Wednesday, the Planning Commission gave away millions in dollars of value to Bay Development by allowing for more than double the height limit, and not asking for any mitigation for the detrimental impacts this will cause for the neighborhood.”

“The Malonga Center is an international destination that draws visitors from across the region. Some come from as far away as Hayward, Antioch, or Santa Rosa. It’s just not realistic to expect all of them to take public transit or bike, and if there’s nowhere to park, it could cripple the Malonga Center economically,” said Carla Service of Malonga resident company Dance-A-Vision . “I highly doubt this is what Council President McElhaney had in mind when she proposed the BAMBD, that development would prevent our cultural resources from flourishing.”

“It’s unfortunate that a mural to which the city contributed $40,000 in public funds to, to honor the historic contributions and resiliency of Oakland’s Chinese and Afro-Diasporic communities, would be obscured by a development with no affordable housing and no tangible community benefits,” said Desi Mundo of the Community Rejuvenation Project, which spent the last two years working on the mural which was just completed a few months ago. “We have been in discussion with the developer about repainting the mural at an alternate site, but to date the developer hasn’t committed to putting an MOU in writing, or to a specific dollar amount for this $80,000 project.”

A diverse group of Malonga artists, drummers, and arts supporters from around the city will take to the streets in this lively and colorful march with instruments to bring to life Oakland’s spirit and the community’s message with banner proclaiming “Equitable Development Now!” and #KeepOaklandCreative in the streets of Downtown Oakland on Thursday, and into the Planning Department and City Hall to talk with city officials about community concerns.  Other neighborhood development movements will join in solidarity, including artists working to save the city’s beloved Art Murmur and First Fridays galleries which are also currently threatened by market-rate development.  This comes on the heels of widespread community opposition to a market-rate development at East 12^th not far away.

Coalition members will be available for interviews at 11:30am at Alice and 14^th and after the City Hall meetings around 12:45pm.

The coalition has gathered over 320 signatures in just six days on this petition which states the community demands: https://www.change.org/p/bay-development-build-real-community-benefits

And in only five days, 50 people contributed to raise $2,200 for the appeal filing fee and legal fees: https://www.gofundme.com/xyn67r9t

Watch the trailer of a documentary about this mural and community here: https://youtu.be/2TAj_CKApUI

MARCH/RALLY FOR EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT AND TO SUPPORT THE MALONGA CENTER

Follow #KeepOaklandCreative #SupportMalonga for live updates.

Thursday, February 11, 11:30 am, 1428 Alice St. at 14^th St.

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/663838503755662/permalink/665056293633883/

Media Contact: Eric Arnold, (510) 681-8213, escribe68@gmail[dot]com

Donald Trump--the White Man's Last Hurrah!

"Donald Trump is Marvin X rich and white!"

--Elliot Bey, Philadelphia PA

Donald Trump, the Last White Man

 Marvin X and daughter Nefertiti at Oakland's Laney College, 2015

photo Ken Johnson

Marvin X's smart mouth oldest daughter, Nefertiti, told her father after meeting his agent, Peter Howard (RIP), a rich white man,"Dad, Peter is just like you, an intelligent, arrogant bastard!" Enter Donald Trump, another intelligent, arrogant bastard, and rich, unlike Marvin who was described by one of his students as the poorest famous person she'd ever met. For star worshipers, Donald and Marvin are both Gemini, usually known for intelligence and duplicity, multiple personalities, and throw in a little or a lot of narcissism.

Marvin X was born a Black nationalist, i.e., his parents were known as Race people, Blacks who were for their people. If Donald Trump is not a white nationalist, none exists anywhere in the world. Marvin X says, "I'm not mad at Donald Trump for being a white nationalist. Every person should stand and defend their own kind, otherwise they're a sellout. Donald is fighting to preserve the last vestige of white supremacy in America, but the world is already majority non-white and America is on the precipice of becoming the same."

So Donald is like a child in Toys R US fighting for the last toy before a new shipment arrives from, yes, China. He is a dramatic persona with that tragic flaw of arrogance and hubris or overwhelming pride in himself and his people. No other people matter for his vision is warped in dreams of a white Christmas that shall be no more. As many of his brothers are doing, he should consider suicide since, as Baldwin said, "White supremacy has led white people to rationalizations so fantastic it approaches the pathological."

But, no, Donald is a mad warrior who must represent all those white men who cannot understand why their world is coming to an end. And so he is in battle with the shadow on the wall that is not of himself but the breathing world in which he shall exist in name only, for sure not in any dominant position, no matter his military budget, no matter the building of a Chinese style or Israeli style wall to keep out the barbarians. Alas, the barbarians are Donald and his brothers, Vandals who are their own worse enemies and who shall ultimately destroy themselves because they are constitutionally unable to change.

This is the difference between Marvin and Donald. Those who know Marvin know he is a personality in constant transformation, although basically a Black nationalist. Have you seen him embracing the white woman, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf? She supported the creation of Oakland's Black Arts Movement Business District along the 14th Street corridor, downtown. The legislation was pushed through by Lynette McElhaney, President of the City Council. Google Marvin's essay In Search of My Soul Sister, in which he delineates the difference between Condi Rice and Barbara Boxer.

 Marvin X and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf at Laney College, 2015 BAM 50th Anniversary Celebration

photo Jahahara

 

Marvin X and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf at opening of Marshawn Lynch's Beast Mode outlet, 2016

photo Troy Williams 

But Marvin realized long ago when he taught in universities and colleges, especially when he had classrooms of mostly white students, a teacher who hates his students is a very sick puppy and he had no intention to be that puppy. He embraced his white students and they embraced him. He could see they needed knowledge and truth to dispel the world of make believe they inherited from their racist parents.

It would be good if Donald Trump, in these Last Days of Whitey, could really become the man he claims to be. For sure, he is trying his best to be brutally honest, a phenomena most of his brothers and sisters cannot phantom. But in his honesty is a plethora of lies and half truths that cannot and will not stand no matter how adamantly he proclaims such antiquated notions of his world of make believe. He will not be able to exterminate those he feels are roaches, simply because there are too many of them and the blow black will be horrific for Donald and his brothers. They may be forced to undergo long term recovery in some facility like Gitmo.



Take a good look at wars America is engaged in at this hour: Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. She is losing everywhere, in fact, hasn't won a war since World War II. She's still fighting North Korea, she lost in Vietnam. War! What is is good for? The military industrial complex, the global bloodsuckers of the poor? Imagine, she's been bombing Iraq twenty-five years, Afghanistan sixteen. How long can this go on? And he wants to bomb the hell out of ISIS and take their oil? How can America bomb the hell out of ISIS when she is supplying ISIS? Donald knows the truth so why all the drama to deceive the 99%, the deaf, dumb and blind of America, White, Black, Latino/Latina, Asians and Aboriginal?

He may be bluntly honest but at his core he is delusional, his soul atrophied, as ancestor poet Amiri Baraka wrote in A Black Mass, "Where the soul's print should be there is only a cellulose pouch of disgusting habits."

I may be an intelligent, arrogant bastard, but someone said, "At his best, Marvin X is clarity of perception."

I can see clearly the world of Donald Trump will be, at best, ephemeral. It is good to see he is trying to stand tall and represent the last hope of White American manhood, but it is too late. The condition of the patient is terminal, he cannot be rusticated. So have a good laugh, Donald,  just know he who laughs last, laughs the longest! We are convinced, the suffering masses shall have the last laugh!

My friends are laughing at me this hour. They are mystified that from a tent and table on 14th and Broadway, downtown, I am able to influence the politics of Oakland. How can a man with two dollars demand one billion dollars for his people? But I do so with humility, not arrogance. I heard it said, "Ask and it shall be given."



Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner, in the Black Arts Movement District, 14th and Broadway, down town Oakland. photo Adam Turner

So we wish you well, Donald Trump, your people need your tragic flaws at this hour. Perhaps you can help them realize their flaws as they rejoice in yours.
--Marvin X
2/9/16

Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra seeks performance venue for benefit concert for the BAMBD

The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra is now available for concerts benefiting the Black Arts Movement Business District. Please consider inviting us for a benefit concert at your venue. Depending on their schedule, we will be accompanied by YGB, Young, Gifted and Black.

For booking, please call 510-200-4164

 l

 The BAM's multi-talented Kujichagulia

 

The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, University of California, Merced, 2014

BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra, Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, Oakland CA, 2014

photo collage by Adam Turner, BAM graphics designer

BAM poet/organizer Marvin X, David Murray and Earle Davis, Malcolm X Jazz/Art Fest, Oakland

photo Adam Turner

BAM performer Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, poet, playwright, producer, director, actress

BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra members Tureada Mikel, Val Serrant and Tarika Lewis

BAM poet Paradise Jah Love

BAM singer Mechelle LaChaux

Special Guests 
YGB
Young Gifted and Black



For booking, please call 510-200-4164