Our Man in Toronto, Norman Richmond, aka Jalali on Malcolm X and Music

           

By Norman (Otis) Richmond aka Jalali

Malcolm X, loved then and now by the people, eulogized by Ossie Davis as our “Black Shining Prince”

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) was assassinated 51   years ago, on Feb. 21, 1965, because of his attempt to internationalize the struggle of African people inside the United States. Malcolm was born 91 years ago on May 19, 1925. While U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama has acknowledged Kwanzaa, I doubt very seriously if he will show Malcolm the same love.

The late Manning Marable’s volume, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention,” sparked a renewed interest and debate about Malcolm. Previous works like Karl Evanzz’ “The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X,” Zak Kondo’s “Conspiracies: Unraveling the Assassination of Malcolm X” and Bill Sales’ “From Civil Rights to Black Liberation: Malcolm X and the Organization of Afro-American Unity” are all being reopened.

Contrary to popular belief, it was Malcolm, not Martin Luther King, who first opposed the war in Vietnam. Malcolm was the first American-born African leader of national prominence in the 1960s to condemn the war. He was later joined by organizations like the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Junta of Militant Organizations (JOMO) and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. This was in the tradition of David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, Martin R. Delaney, Bishop Henry McNeil Turner, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Ella Baker and Paul Robeson.

Malcolm continued to link the struggles of African people worldwide. King came out against the Vietnam War in his famous April 4, 1967, speech at Riverside Church in New York City. Malcolm spoke against this war from the get-go.

Musicians have done their part to keep Malcolm’s legacy alive. Long before Spike Lee’s 1992 bio-pic, “X,” hip hop, house, reggae and R’n’B artists created music for Malcolm, high-life and great Black music (so-called jazz) artists first wrote and sang about Malcolm. The dance of Malcolm’s time was the “lindy hop,” and he was a master of it. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” which Malcolm wrote with the assistance of Alex Haley, gives a vivid description of his love of dancing.

Years later, on a visit to the West African nation of Ghana, Malcolm spoke of seeing Ghanaians dancing the high-life. He wrote: “The Ghanaians performed the high-life as if possessed. One pretty African girl sang ‘Blue Moon’ like Sarah Vaughan. Sometimes the band sounded like Charlie Parker.” Malcolm’s impact on Ghana was so great that one folk singer created a song in his honor called “Malcolm Man.”

After Malcolm’s death, many jazz artists recorded music in his memory. Among them, Leon Thomas recorded the song, “Malcolm’s Gone” on his “Spirits Known and Unknown” album; saxophonist-poet-playwright Archie Shepp recorded the poem, “Malcolm, Malcolm Semper Malcolm,” on his Fire Music album. Shepp drew parallels between Malcolm’s spoken words and John Coltrane’s music.

Said Shepp: “I equate Coltrane’s music very strongly with Malcolm’s language, because they were just about contemporaries, to tell you the truth. And I believe essentially what Malcolm said is what John played. If Trane had been a speaker, he might have spoken somewhat like Malcolm. If Malcolm had been a saxophone player, he might have played somewhat like Trane.”

Shortly before Malcolm’s death, he visited Toronto and appeared on CBC television with Pierre Berton. During the visit, Malcolm spent time with award-winning author Austin Clarke talking about politics and music. Time was too short to organize a community meeting, but a few lucky people gathered at Clarke’s home on Asquith Street. Clarke had interviewed Malcolm previously, in 1963 in Harlem, when he was working for the CBC. Clarke recalled they “talked shop,” but also discussed the lighter things in life, like the fact that both their wives were named Betty.

It is not surprising that Malcolm made his way to Canada. His mother and father, Earl Little, met and married in Montréal at a Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) convention. Both were followers of Marcus Garvey. His mother, Louise Langdon Norton, was born in Grenada but immigrated first to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and later to Montreal in 1917. Jan Carew’s book, “Ghosts in Our Blood: With Malcolm X in Africa, England, and the Caribbean,” documents this aspect of the life of the pan-Africanist.

While on a visit to Nigeria, Malcolm was given the name Omowale, which means in the Yoruba language, “the son who has come home.” It was in this period of his life that he visited Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Guinea and Tanzania. It was during this period that he met with Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Julius K. Nyerere, Nnamoi Azikiwe, Sekou Toure, Jomo Kenyatta, Dr. Milton Obote, Abdul Rahman Muhammad Babu and others. During this visit he also met Ras Makonnen, a legendary pan-Africanist from Guyana, Richard Wright’s daughter Julie Wright, Maya Angelou, Shirley Graham Du Bois, the wife of W.E.B. Du Bois, and Chinese Ambassador Huang Ha.

It must be mentioned that Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, his wife Shirley Graham Du Bois and Robert F. Williams all supported the 1949 Chinese revolution. Malcolm also was a huge supporter of the People’s Republic of China. He was delighted when China tested its first nuclear weapon.

Babu talked about the significance of this event at the Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and a Legacy of Struggle Conference in New York City in 1990.

In Nigeria, Malcolm was given the name Omowale, “the son who has come home.” This photo was taken in 1964.Says Babu: “When Malcolm X came to Tanzania, I took him to meet President (Julius) Nyerere on another historic date. Because that very day, China exploded her first nuclear bomb. And as we went to see Nyerere, Nyerere said, “Malcolm, for the first time today in recorded history, a former colony has been able to develop weapons at par with any colonial power. This is the end of colonialism through and through.”

Malcolm was the chief organizer of the Nation of Islam and the founder of the group’s newspaper Muhammad Speaks. He split with the nation and its leader Elijah Muhammad in 1963. At the time of his death he headed two organizations. The secular group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), was his political arm. He also organized the religious group, Muslim Mosque Inc. (MMI), which practiced Sunni Islam.

Today Islam is the second largest religion in the United States and Canada. Many credit Malcolm with helping spread Sunni Islam as well as revolutionary Black Nationalism and pan-Africanism among African people in the Western Hemisphere.

Like Augusto Cesar Sandino of Nicaragua or Sun Yat-sen of China, Malcolm was embraced by all sectors of the Black Nationalist and pan-Africanist movements. All Nationalists and Pan-Africanists claimed to follow his example. Revolutionary Nationalist groups like the Black Panther Party and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers emerged in the late 1960s, after Malcolm’s death. Even after the BPP and the League embraced Marxism, Malcolm was still their man. The cultural Nationalists who maintained that the Cultural Revolution must precede the political one also embraced Malcolm.

Fidel Castro was demonized when he came to New York City in October 1961 to speak at the United Nations, but he felt safe in Harlem when he and his delegation moved from a hostile hotel to the Hotel Theresa, where he was welcomed by Malcolm.

He was a controversial figure. Actor Ossie Davis eulogized him as our “Black Shining Prince” while the director of the U.S. Information Agency, Carl T. Rowan, referred to him as “an ex-convict, ex-dope peddler who became a racial fanatic.”

He was loved by the oppressed and hated by the oppressors. Malcolm spoke about the MMI and OAAU in these terms: “Its aim is to create an atmosphere and facilities in which people who are interested in Islam can get a better understanding of Islam. The aim of the OAAU is to use whatever means necessary to bring about a society in which the 22 million Afro-Americans are recognized and respected as human beings.”

“The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Alex Haley and other books by and about Malcolm continue to sell worldwide. Some of his books have recently been published in Cuba. Rosemari Mealey's volume, Fidel & Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting.  Malcolm was one of the few Black Nationalist leaders who welcomed Cuban leader Fidel Castro to Harlem in 1960.

Many Nationalists didn’t want to be identified with communism. Carlos Cooks, the leader of the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement, absolutely refused to have anything to do with Castro. But African people in the West could easily identify with the slogan, “When Africa called, Cuba answered.” Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) was fond of reminding us that the only place in the United States that Fidel felt safe was in Harlem.

Toronto-based journalist and radio producer Norman (Otis) Richmond can be heard on Diasporic Music the last Thursday of every month at 8-10 p.m., Uhuru Radio every other Sunday 2-4 p.m., Saturday Morning Live on Saturdays 10 a.m.-1 p.m. He can be reached by e-mail at norman.o.richmond@gmail.com.

~ Program ~

(5:30 pm – 7:45 pm)
Welcome/Opening Remarks............................Vanessa Silva
Panel Discussion.........................................Guest Speakers
Dr. Muhammad Ahmad
Malcolm X's former political assistant and co-founder of RAM
Saladin Muhammad
African People’s Party (APP) and Black Workers for Justice (BWFJ)
Askia Toure
SNCC, RAM and leader of the Black Arts Movement
Nino Brown
Mass Action Against Police Brutality (MAABP) and ANSWER Coalition
Lanise Frazier
Black Lives Matter Boston (BLM)
Michelle Santana
We Are The Ones (WATO)
Khlaida Smalls
Services Employees International Union (SEIU) and A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI)
Reflections
Please keep comments brief so others may share
Closing Remarks..................................Tony Van Der Meer

Dr. Muhammad Ahmad

https://vimeo.com/19174560

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/stanford.html

Saladin Muhammad

http://theblm.net/saladin/

http://livestream.com/accounts/2710797/events/5302091

~ Resources ~

Malcolm X
http://www.brothermalcolm.net http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/mxp/finalmonths.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9AmuYqjRyg

Askia Toure https://vimeo.com/19921546 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=p8O-dyEEOuE Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) http://search.freedomarchives.org/search.php?view_collection=129 Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_student_nonviolent_coo

rdinating_committee_sncc/ A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) http://apri.org/ Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition http://www.answercoalition.org/boston Black Lives Matter Boston (BLM) https://www.facebook.com/BlackLivesMatterBOS http://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2015/08/20/5-questions-with-the-leader-of-black- lives-matter-boston Mass Action Against Police Brutality (MAAPB) https://www.facebook.com/maapb617/ Services Employees International Union (SEIU) http://www.seiu.org/ We Are The Ones (WATO) https://www.facebook.com/wearetheonesboston http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adebukola-ajao/the-reeducation-of-we-are_b_6600800.html

“History rewards all those who research it.” Malcolm X

A poem by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD: Horse Day

horse day by Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD sun baked day like all days just a day until it is something more the horses came two lean large eyed looking hungry horses two prosperity after hunger after want after white light so bright blinded now we can see what the hard ground will yield when we have more muscle only as good as the tools we use he used to say pride in his dark eyes leading thin horses up a rocky hill our horses our hill our chance a extra hot water cornbread day like sunday on tuesday celebration signs of our right to be lucky to continue to struggle in the storm to continue performing the miracle of pulling our skinny life from the dirt god sent horses we will eat only beans for a month to pay for them say hallelujah and pass the hot water corn bread pour the last of the syrup we fall down to get up always reaching we go forward no chance turned to slim chance we dance thankful for the promise in the horses we will fatten them planting hope in them like the seeds we will plant in hopes of harvesting more than ill will rolling down like the rain we pray up in the heat of 0ur deep hunger in soul to rise like the sparse shoots that defy odds to keep us just alive enough to want more two horses lead by a slender rope harnessing our future Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD | May 17, 2016 at 1:27 PM | Tags: ayodele wordslanger nzinga, narrative poetry, North American African Perspective | Categories: The Horse Eaters | URL: http://wp.me/p14Q31-262 Comment    See all comments    Like

Dirty South greatest HIV risk for Gay, Bisexual Men

New Map Reveals HIV Risk Greatest in Southern Cities for Gay, Bisexual Men

Estimates of MSM (Men who have sex with men) by race are also not available, though the CDC estimated in February that half of black MSM and a quarter of Latino MSM will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime. 

“To stop the spread of HIV in the U.S., we have to understand how, where, and among whom the epidemic is striking the hardest,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said during today's news conference. 

 

MICHAEL NEDELMAN,ABC News 32 minutes ago

A map documenting HIV rates for gay and bisexual men has revealed they are most at risk for becoming infected in multiple southern cities, according to a report being presented today by Emory University researchers.

The cities with the highest rates included Columbia, South Carolina, El Paso, Texas, and Jackson, Mississippi. In these cities, more than 25 percent of men who have sex with men (MSM) had been diagnosed with HIV.

“This is really the first time we’ve been able to examine the HIV infection burden ... at such fine levels of geography,” Eli Rosenberg, assistant professor of epidemiology at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, said during a news conference today.

According to the report, the South is home to 21 of the 25 metropolitan areas with the highest HIV prevalence among MSM. The analysis provides “new evidence” of a growing disparity between the HIV epidemic in the South relative to the rest of the U.S. -- but it is unclear whether this says more about rising transmission rates in the South, or public health successes in other regions.
Overall, gay and bisexual men are more than 57 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than other men in the U.S., the study authors said.

“Where HIV is most a problem are places that are failing gay men,” said George Ayala, executive director of the Global Forum on MSM and HIV, a leading advocacy group that was not involved in the report.
Where health systems fail, according to Ayala, is in the process of identifying people who have HIV and immediately linking them with care. Gay and bisexual men may be more likely to face additional barriers such as poverty and stigma, he said.

Because federal and state funding for HIV prevention can be directed to where the disease hits hardest, knowing where HIV is most concentrated may enable public health agencies and local organizations to tweak how they distribute resources at the local level, according to Rosenberg.
“We really want this to be a tool for public health practitioners and policy makers,” he said.
While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes the prevalence of HIV among different races and age groups, it reports only the raw number of cases among MSM. The Emory researchers used other national surveys, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, to estimate where MSM were distributed across the country.

Estimates of MSM by race are also not available, though the CDC estimated in February that half of black MSM and a quarter of Latino MSM will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime.

“To stop the spread of HIV in the U.S., we have to understand how, where, and among whom the epidemic is striking the hardest,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said during today's news conference.

Mermin said that a major focus of HIV prevention programs will be expanding access to HIV testing, treatment, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), especially among gay and bisexual men of color and transgender individuals. The CDC earmarks targeted funds as a supplement to state and local health departments.

According to one CDC study, these programs could prevent up to 70 percent of new infections over the next five years.

That's why experts say it is important that southern states and cities get on board. CDC data show that the South lags behind the rest of the U.S. when it comes to HIV-positive people getting the treatment they need, or even knowing they’re infected in the first place, Mermin said.

“You see disease concentrated in places that are poorly supported in terms of health infrastructure,” said Ayala. “Those things are really an important part of the story to tell about HIV in the United States."

Cointelpro is alive and well! Big Man Howard and Marvin X on Black Panther Party Minister of Distribution, Sam Napier

• 

Monday, May 16, 2016

All Power To The People!

Troi "PIG-STAR" Torain has now been encouraged by his family & friends in the NY & NJ police departments to not only promote Zulus to kill Zulus but he has also disrespected the memory of fallen Black Panther Comrades Sam Napier, Robert Webb, Sandra Pratt, Fred Benett & others who were killed during The FBI's COINTELPRO Orchestrated Split Of The BPP" and; 

This sellout is also encouraging the fools who participate in his social media circus aka "The Star Chamber" to "prevent" Bro. Shep from making any more future statements to the Black/New Afrikan Community that warns them to avoid the well documented divide & destroy tactics that the U.S. government illegally utilized during the 1970's in its COINTELPRO, CHESIMAR & NEWKILL operations to cause Panthers to kill other Panthers.

In conclusion, read the following materials and then view below Troi "PIG-STAR" Torains carefully edited below excerpt from last month's UZN public meeting on COINTELPRO to see exactly what this admitted operative for the NYPD and NJ Police is trying to do in order to create a blood bath in the streets of NYC.

I have pasted his E-mail address... thehater1964@yahoo.com for folks to address this negro idiot directly.

Peace,

Panther-Zulu Nation King Sadiki "Bro. Shep" Ojore Olugbala

Fred Bennett [BPP, PA] (? - 1971)
Assassinated: Victim of fratricide orchestrated by COINTELPRO following the internal "split" of the Party. Fragments of what was reported to be his remains were found February, 1971.

 Robert Webb [BPP] (1949 - 1971)
Assassinated: March 8, 1971 - Victim of FBI orchestrated fratricide following the internal "split" of the Party.

 Samuel Napier [BPP] (? - 1971)
Assassinated: April 17, 1971 by unknown assailants in retaliation of the murder of Robert Webb during the "split" of the Party.

 Sandra "Red" Pratt [BPP] (? - 1971)
Assassinated: November, 1971 in Los Angeles while visibly in her eighth month of pregnancy and stuffed in a garbage dumpster during the "split" of the Party.

Remembering Sam Napier – My Fallen Comrade 

In the middle of the New Haven trial of Bobby Seale, Erica Huggins, and the New Haven Panthers, in 1970, I received a very upsetting call from National Headquarters. The caller instructed me to go to New York and claim Sam Napier’s body and bring him home to California. This nearly floored me because they gave me no information about Sam’s death or any details about the circumstances surrounding it. Sam Napier was in charge of our newspaper’s distribution nationwide, as well as worldwide. Sam and I worked together in the early days of the Panther newspaper’s development. 

A very devoted Party member, Sam was a natural-born distribution and traffic manager. At any given time, he could tell you how many Panther newspapers were shipped to each city and chapter, when they were due to arrive, and by what means. He loved the Party and he loved his work in the Party. His death revealed to me the so-called split in the Party between the East Coast and the West Coast Panthers. A few months prior to Sam’s murder, a Panther by the name of Robert Webb was murdered on the streets of New York. Webb was originally from the west coast, but had been assigned to work in the New York Chapters. 

What happened after Webb’s murder was that the FBI, CIA, and the police fed false information via provocateur agents, to the New York Chapter of the BPP, telling them that West Coast Panthers had murdered Robert Webb. To me, it was obvious that Cointelpro had seized on the opportunity to drive a wedge in the Party, and kill a Panther Party member at the same time. I met up with Sam’s wife, Pauline Napier, who had flown in from the west coast to get her husband Sam’s body, and take him home. She had been to the medical examiner’s office and claimed him. Pauline then told us how Sam looked. I told her what Panthers had related to me about Sam’s death. They said that he had been held hostage in the Newspaper office, tortured, then shot, and the building had been set on fire. 

During the days of the Panthers, because one had so little time, you got to know a person pretty fast, mostly by their attitude, and by their talents and work. Sam was also a great teacher and he built very strong cadres, mostly by his example. I never saw Sam down, he was always cheerful in his work, steady, dependable, and dedicated to the idea of putting theory into practice. He would only get irritated when the Chapters didn’t send in their receipts and always had a ready smile, and the words: “Circulate to Educate!” Sam was the main reason that the paper soon had a 200,000 plus copies per week distribution. Sam and I met when I was Editor of the BPP newspaper, and although I soon went on to other responsibilities, we continued to see each other frequently and I was always amazed at his organization, discipline, and consistency. We met during the course of great struggles in our lives. I have often wondered where this great person came from. Where did he attend school? Did he have sisters and brothers? Sam was my friend as well as my comrade in arms. I still miss him after 40- odd years. But then, I like to think that we will meet again and have all the time we need to talk of such things. 

Long live the memory of Sam Napier! 

All Power to the People! 

Elbert “Big Man” Howard 

Forestville, CA February 2012

Marvin X on Samuel Napier

I remember the day Samuel Napier walked into the Black House, the political/cultural center founded by Eldridge Cleaver and myself in San Francisco, 1967. Sam was working at a co-op supermarket in Hunters Point but wanted more than a job in his life. He was sincere and just wanted to get involved. His attitude was the same as another brother who came to the Black House looking to get involved: Emory Douglas,  who became Black Party Minister of Culture. Emory came into the Black House reciting an original poem Revolutionary Things. 

Cover art by Emory

Amiri Baraka by Emory

As per Sam, we were totally devastated when we learned how he was murdered in the COintellpro inspired battle between the two BPP armies. And the bitterness has continued to this day. When I produced my play One Day in the Life in Brooklyn at Sista's Place, 1996, featuring the scene of my last meeting with Huey P. Newton, the December 12 people sat me down and said, "Marvin X, we love you but we don't give a damn about Huey Newton, this is Eldridge's turf, this is where his army was and is."(See the panel discussion entitled Drugs, Art and Revolution, Sista's Place, 1996, featuring Sam Anderson, Sonia Sanchez, Elombe Brath, Mrs Amina Baraka, Mr. Amiri Baraka (RIP), and Marvin X, hosted by December 12 member Omawale Clay, Youtube.)

As you may know, I introduced Eldridge to Huey and Bobby and it was sad to see how Cointellpro helped divide brother against brother to the point of murder, brutal murder in the case of Sam Napier who was killed and set on fire. As Mao said, "The reactionaries will never put down their butcher knives, they will never turn into Buddha heads!" So the struggle continues.

We must simply practice eternal vigilance until victory. And we must pass the baton to our children, especially the Black Arts/Black Power/Black Panther Babies. Newark, New Jersey's Mayor Ras Baraka is a model of a child who understands his mission is to continue the tradition of Black Liberation, which simply means seizing power for the people.

--Marvin X, Black Arts Movement
5/17/16

 

October, 20-23 Black Panther Party 50th Anniversary at Oakland Museum of California.

Writers: Join the National Writers Union

Alone We are Talented. Together We are Powerful.  Visit NWU.org  We've added new benefits for members, including new tools to help you publicize your work. Our advocacy is just as strong as ever. Plus, we now have one-click access to gift memberships so you can gift a future journalism school graduate or freelance writer with the most valuable gift he or she could ever get. Or consider just donating to NWU.  That's why we're reaching out to you, a past member of NWU. Rejoin the NWU and get tools to build your career and build a movement of writers, freelancers, and journalists.  Renew your membership to NWU and:  Get FREE advice on your publishing contract from trained contract advisors who know the pitfalls and the ins and outs of getting the best publishing deal  Get FREE grievance assistance to deal with deadbeat publishers  Access group dental and vision insurance rates  GET a press pass: we’re the only group offering the International Federation of Journalists press pass to freelancers in the United States  Showcase your writing services on our talent database, Find a Union Writer  Submit articles to our website and publicize your work  Any writer can join NWU, even if you don’t have a byline, are a student, or just write as part of your normal job.  Visit NWU.org and learn about how to join or support, join, or give the gift of membership to a writer you care about. If you itemize your taxes, dues may be tax deductable. Dues calculated on a sliding scale based on writing income.

Black Arts Movement Theatre, West: Dewey Redman - Dewey Time, Happy Birth Day, Dewey!

Saxophonist Walter Dewey Redman
was born on May 17, 1931 in Fort
Worth, Texas.

He received his initial band
training at I.M. Terrell High
School where he performed
with fellow students Ornette
Coleman, Prince Lasha and Charles
Moffett.

Redman played in Ornette Coleman's
groups and with Keith Jarrett
and then formed his own band "Old
and New Dreams" with fellow Ornette
alumni Don Cherry, Charlie Haden,
and Ed Blackwell.

Here's a clip from the 2001 documentary
"Dewey Time" about his life and music
PLUS a performance with friends and
collaborators Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell
and Charlie Haden.

Marvin X on Dewey Redman and Black Arts Movement Theatre, West

When we established Black Arts West Theatre, 1966, in San Francisco's Fillmore District, across the street from Tree's Pool Hall and around the corner from the Sun Reporter Newspaper, Turk and Fillmore, we, actors, playwrights, Ed Bullins, Duncan Barber, Carl Bossiere, Hillary Broadus, Ethna Wyatt, Sandra Williams, Danny Glover and myself, were soon joined by musicians. Among them were Dewey Redman, Rafael Donald Garrett, Earle Davis, BJ, Oliver Jackson, et al. They held concerts but most importantly they accompanied our plays in the style of what we now call "ritual theatre", i.e., they were free to play on stage, or move about in the audience or go out on the street to the accompaniment of car horns and all the sounds on Fillmore Street that was often bumper to bumper cars and sidewalks full of people, Harlem of the West, like 125th Street and Lenox Ave. As we know redevelopment (gentrification) destroyed the cultural and economic vitality of the Fillmore. Former San Francisco Mayor Joe Alioto apologized for destroying the Fillmore. And this is why the land trust must be employed in the coming Black Arts Movement Business District in Oakland.

Dewey and his fellow musicians inspired us with their freedom and we began to do improvisation with our scripts, especially while under the influence of marijuana, i.e., we would transcend the script and free-style for a moment of two, then return to the script, call it jazz-drama. 

While we loved the musicians, we had ideological differences with many if not most of them because we considered ourselves Black Nationalists and they had white women, which we found embarrassing, especially in the box office during the jazz concerts, e.g., the Monte Waters Big Band. But we survived our differences and I would sometimes visit them at their homes, in particular Donald Rafael Garrett, Oliver Johnson and Dewey Redman. Surely, today we are happy Dewey's woman gave birth to Joshua Redman. Happy birthday, Dewey!
--Marvin X
5/17/16

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