Muhammad Speaks Reviews The Wisdom of Plato Negro by Marvin X

Marvin X has provided a reflective  work that explains the condition of Black people in America today. He not only explains how we have arrived at this wretched juncture in our history, but offers wisdom as to how we may regain the love of self and family that was decimated through the drug and cultural wars that were aimed at our people.

It is sad to note that a people who were coming of age and promise in the 1960’s and 1970’s were nearly destroyed by the ‘deliberate’ crack epidemic which robbed us of ourselves, and robbed our children of their parents.

Marvin X candidly admits that his addiction to crack robbed his children of their father and his wife of a husband. 

The reader is indeed lucky that he survived his addiction, and that his talent for writing and storytelling survived so that his work may live as a testament and instruction to future generations.

He rightly describes the current economic crisis Black America sees itself in as our being the ‘donkey’ of the world that every other people ride to economic prosperity.  Black people live with this reality daily, as we patronize others who come to this country sell us food, liquor, do our nails, sell us hair, and the list goes on.  We witness them take our money, and deliberately not live in our community.  We know that they would never think of patronizing us.  Yet, we are willing participants in our own exploitation.

Why do we continue this path to economic destruction? Are we like the parable of the elephant as described by Marvin X? The circus elephant   tied by a simple rope and did as his trainer instructed, until one day, he decided to break free, wreaking havoc on everything in his path?

Are we Samson, who brought the pillars down on the temple and destroyed himself along with his tormentors?

The Wisdom of the Plato Negro is a must read for it explains the contemporary condition of our people. What path we will take to correct this condition is in our hands.

Raushana Karriem

Editor-in-Chief Muhammad Speaks Newspaper, Atlanta GA

8/29/12

Parable of the Poor Righteous Teacher

for Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee)

Sooner or later, they always come for the teacher. After all, the more popular, the more dangerous. The more serious and sincere, the more a threat to the bourgeoisie whose philosophy is do nothing, say nothing, know nothing. Thus, the serious teacher has no seat at the table. Yes, he is tolerated for a time, maybe a long time, but the plot was hatched the first day he arrived to teach, when the contract was signed, his doom was sealed.

No matter what chairs he established, no matter how many institutions he created in the name of God. The bourgeoisie care nothing for God, only as a cover for their filthy behavior in the dark, their winking and blinking at the water hole.

The teacher must know absolutely if he is on his job he won't have a job, for no matter how many years he gives of his soul, his mental genius, he is not wanted. No matter how many students he is able to raise from the box, his services are not wanted.

The bourgeoisie do not want Jack out of the box, this must be understood. They prefer Jack and Jackie stay confined and proscribed in the box of ignorance. They are mere pawns in the game of chance the bourgeoisie play until they are removed from power, after they steal all they can, when the coffers are empty, the institution bankrupt and they are under indictment.

Now they will never put down their butcher knives, never turn into Buddha heads. This is why one must practice eternal vigilance with them. They are planning and plotting the demise of the poor righteous teachers at every turn.

So the teacher must teach his students about power, but when he does, his exit papers are signed. He may not know this. He may believe he has friends on the board of trustees, but he is only fooling himself. He is a starry eyed idealist, a dreamer, who shall be awakened from his dream one day for sure. And on that day he shall find his office door locked. His classroom door secured by a guard. His students transferred to other colleagues he thought were with him. But they will only say to him, "Sorry, brother."
--Marvin X
4/5/10

Catch his reading and book signing on Saturday, Sept. 1, 3-6pm at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street, downtown Oakland. Call 510-200-4164 for more information. 

Bio of Marvin X

Above: Eldridge Cleaver and Marvin X, circa 1978

Bio of Marvin X

Marvin X was born May 29, 1944, Fowler CA, nine miles south of Fresno in the central valley of California. In Fresno his parents published the Fresno Voice, a black newspaper.

Marvin attended Oakland’s Merritt College where he encountered fellow students how became Black Panther Party co-founders Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. They taught him black nationalism.  Marvin’s first play Flowers for the Trashman was produced by the Drama department at San Francisco State University, 1965.  Marvin X dropped out to established his own Black Arts West Theatre in the Fillmore, 1966, along with playwright Ed Bullins. Months later Marvin would co-found Black House with Eldridge Cleaver, 1967.

Marvin introduced  Eldridge Cleaver to Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.  Eldridge immediately joined the Black Panther Party.  Huey Newton said, “Marvin X was my teacher, many of our comrades came from his Black Arts Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver,  Emory Douglas and Samuel Napier.”

One of the movers and shakers of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) Marvin X has published 30 books, including essays, poetry, and his autobiography Somethin’ Proper. Important books include Fly to Allah, poems, Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, essays on consciousness, and How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, a manual based on the 12 step Recovery model.

Marvin received his MA in English/Creative writing from San Francisco State University, 1975. He has taught at San Francisco State University, Fresno State University, UC Berkeley and San Diego, Mills College, Merritt and Laney Colleges in Oakland, University of Nevada, Reno.  He lectures coast to coast at such colleges and universities as University of Arkansas, University of Houston, Morehouse and Spelman, Atlanta, University of Virginia, Howard University, Univ. of Penn, Temple Univ., Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, UMASS, Boston.

His latest book is the Wisdom of Plato Negro, parables/fables, Black Bird Press, Berkeley. He currently teaches at his Academy of da Corner, 14^th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Ishmael Reed says, “Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."

For speaking, readings and performance, contact Marvin X @ jmarvinx@yahoo.com,
510-200-4164. www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com

Morris Brown College Files Chapt. 11 Bankruptcy

Morris Brown College seeks federal protection, hopes to prevent auction of campus
By Ernie Suggs

August 26, 2012
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Morris Brown College officials have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a last ditch effort to prevent the 131-year-old school from being foreclosed on and sold at auction, and to give them time to regroup.


Morris Brown, which is more than $30 million in debt, was facing foreclosure next month after investors called $13 million worth of bonds tied to the college. The bonds were issued by the Fulton County Development Authority in 1996. As security for the bonds, Morris Brown pledged several pieces of property, including the school's administration building. An auction of assets had been scheduled for Sept. 4.

"The trustees are taking several deliberate actions to insure that we not only survive, but thrive," board Chairman Preston W. Williams said Saturday. "Our commitment is to focus on restructuring and making it possible for us to survive another day."

Chapter 11 is part of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization and gives federal protection to businesses unable to pay their debts.

Renardo Hicks, an attorney for Morris Brown, said the emergency filing automatically delays the foreclosure until a judge decides otherwise.

"Our expectation is that the sheriff's sale will not happen," Hicks said.

Morris Brown President Stanley Pritchett said the filing will give the school breathing room to find a steady stream of capital to keep it afloat.

"We are making a statement that Morris Brown College is not going anywhere," Pritchett said. "We are not going to allow this latest challenge to get in the way of what we are trying to do."

Hundreds of supporters and alumni of the school gathered on campus Saturday for a prayer vigil and campus prayer tour.

At times, the vigil, which started in the John H. Lewis Gymnasium, was more like church. The air conditioning wasn't on so large fans were placed at the doors to circulate the air. Everyone used their programs to fan them selves as members of the Morris Brown Choir sang hymns.

Beneath banners touting the school's athletic dominance of the 1940s and 1950s --- including one that read "Black College National Champions 1951" --- several ministers offered prayers and hymns.

Then they walked across campus, stopping at each major facility to pray --- from the multi-million-dollar football stadium that Olympic money built, which now sits choked with weeds, to Fountain Hall, the historic building where W.E.B. Du Bois once had an office, now boarded up and abandoned.

Eugenia McDowell stood at the top of the steps overlooking the football field, waiting for a group to gather for prayer. To her right was Furber Cottage, now boarded up. To her left was Gaines Hall, which was the honors dorm when she was a student there in 1997 --- also boarded up.

Directly behind her was the Sarah Allen Quads, gutted by a recent fire.

"It is sad that we might lose all of this," McDowell said. "I would love to come back to this campus one day and see it revitalized. That is why we are praying today."

Black Love Lives, Part II: Nisa Ra interviews Drs. Nathan and Julia Hare

Filmmaker Nisa Ra scored big brownie points for her project Black Love Lives when she was able to interview Dr. Nathan Hare. And near the end of her talk with Dr. Nathan Hare, his wife, Dr. Julia Hare, of 55 years returned from a walk and at the urging of her psychologist/sociologist husband, sat down at the piano and began playing and simultaneously joking and poking at her husband. Videographer Gregory Fields captured her performance and acid wit, so well known to those who caught her at Tavis Smiley's Black Forum some years ago (see Youtube).





For Dr. Nathan Hare
Contact:
The Black Think Tank
info@theblackthinktank.com
Phone: (415) 474-1707

L to R: Marvin X, daughter Muhammida El Muhajir, Dr. Julia Hare, Nisa Ra, former wife
and mother of Muhammida, and Dr. Nathan Hare. Nisa Ra interviewed the Hares for her
film project Black Love Lives. photo Gregory Fields

Why "Runaway Slave"?

Miles Davis - The Last Performance - Jazz à Vienne 1991 (Official)