Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre presents

Academy of da Corner
Reader's Theatre
presents

Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Festival
Chauncey Bailey Book Fair
Saturday, February 19,
12 noon til 6pm
Joyce Gordon Gallery
14th and Franklin, Oakland

Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. Left to right: Human Rights attorney Walter Riley, a supporter of the Academy; Academy student/teacher, historian, videographer Gregory Fields, Blues living legend Sugar Pie de Santo and Chancellor Marvin X ("Plato Negro") According to Ishmael Reed, "Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland...His play One Day in the Life is the most powerful drama I've seen."

Youth reading at the Academy of da Corner
"Crack a book before you're booked for Crack!"
--Paul Cobb, Publisher, Post Newspaper Group








In celebration of Black History Month, the Oakland Post Newspaper is
co-sponsoring the Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Festival and Chauncey Bailey Book Fair, Saturday, February 19, 12 noon until 6pm, at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin Streets, downtown Oakland.

The JPAS is an online journal of Pan African literature. Marvin X is Guest Editor of the recent poetry issue and Bay Area poets will read their selection at the Joyce Gordon Gallery.

The Chauncey Bailey Book Fair is in honor of slain Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey who loved literature and tried to educate youth. Paul Cobb, Post Newspaper Group Publisher, is asking persons to buy a collection of books by the authors for donation to juvenile hall, Santa Rita County Jail and San Quentin Prison.

Bay Area writers/artists/activists salute slain journalist Chauncey Bailey at

Joyce Gordon Gallery

photo Adam Turner and Gene Hazzard

Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Festival
and
Chauncey Bailey Book Fair

12 Noon until 6pm

JPAS Poetry Reading 3pm-6pm
Saturday, February 19th

Joyce Gordon Gallery
14th and Franklin
Oakland

Authors/Vendors contact Marvin X: jmarvinx@yahoo.com



Marvin X, Guest Editor
Journal of Pan African Studies

Marvin X has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the innovators and founders of the new revolutionary school of African writing.
--Amiri Baraka

An excellent collection of poetry from some of the best poets in America. The best selection of poems that any Guest Editor has ever put together!--Rudolph Lewis, Editor, Chickenbones.com

Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yosef
essays on Obama Drama
Marvin X

Journal of
Pan African Studies
Poetry Reading

Al Young, California Poet Laureate Emeritus

devorah major, San Francisco Poet Laureate Emeritus








Alona Clifton, Reader's Theatre

Eugene Allen, Reader's Theatre

























Paradise Jah Love, poet, Reader's Theatre





TuReadah Mikell

Phavia Kujichagulia, a Griot / Djialli (Oral Historian), musician, writer, poet, dancer who utilizes music, poetry and dance to heal and reveal history

Hunia, Reader's Theatre

Ptah Allah El, poet, author Tainted Soul, Professor, Academy of da Corner



Marvin X and Dr. Dorothy Tsuruta, Professor of Ethnic Studies at
San Francisco State University, a co-sponsor of this event. Black Studies
went to college and came home to community! (See Ptah's poem in JPAS.
She was one of his professors at SFSU who gave him a grounding in Black literature.)


























Ayodele Nzingha, Professor of Arts, Academy of da Corner
PhD. candidate

Itibari M. Zulu,

Senior Editor, JPAS,
author Exploring the African Centered Paradigm

Fritz Pointer, author, A Passion to Liberate

J. Vern Cromartie

Ramal Lamar, Associate Guest Editor,
Professor, Academy of da Corner

Avotcja

Ishmael Reed, author, poet, playwright, essayist, publisher, genius award winner, MacArthur Foundaion

Timonthy Reed, author

Anthony Spires

Renaldo Manuel Ricketts

Not pictured: Kwan Booth, Charles Blackwell, Niyah X, Maisha, Nykimbe, Aries Jordan

Joyce Gordon Gallery
14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland

Sponsored by:
Oakland Post Newspaper Group
Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre
San Francisco State University Ethnic Studies Department

The JPAS is an online journal that can be downloaded for free. Black Bird Press has a print edition available for $49.95, 475 pages. This is a Classic of Pan African literature in the 21st Century. It is a decolonized world view, so necessary for sanity in a turbulent Age. It is a poetic manual of recovery and healing from the ravages of White Supremacy, the greatest illusion of the modern world. To grapple with this illusion language is the best tool to deprogram, detox and inspire people with the word, yes, in the beginning was the word.

Sponsors

Post Newspaper Group
An Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre
Black Bird Press
Ed Howard, Kakakiki, Inc., Slave System
Journal of Pan African Studies
Joyce Gordon Gallery
Refa One
Ethnic Studies Department, San Francisco State University
Oakland Local
It's About Time/Black Panther Archives
Eastside Arts/Black Arts Movement literary exhibit
Reginald James, The Black Hour
Media documentation: Gregory Fields, Adam Turner, Ken Johnson, Khalid Wajjib, Kamau Amen Ra, Gene Hazzard, Lee Hubbard, Wanda Sabir, Susan Merit, Davey D, KPOO Radio, San Francisco

Notes on the Journal of Pan African Studies
Poetry Issue

If one is serious about getting a precise understanding of the 1960s Black Arts Movement, the most radical artrs and literary movement in American history, that forced the inclusion of ethnic literature into academia, one must grab the recent Journal of Pan African Studies, Poetry Issue.

The issue has poems by some of the BAM major players (Baraka, Bullins, Madhubuti, Ya Salaam, Toure, and X, as well as essays and dialogue on the literary productions of BAM, the proposition that the genre called Muslim American literature is based on the BAM Islamic influence, with roots in Moorish Science, Nation of Islam, Sufic, Sunni and Yoruba influences, although the Yoruba is not explained yet self evident in the poetry.

There is discussion on the poetic mission, and in the BAM tradition it is argued that poetry is not an end within itself but a vehicle, a tool, a weapon in the arsenal of liberation, and most importantly, a tool of communication.

The poems are drums of Pan Africa, message to and from the God and gods, ancestors, the living and yet unborn. Entries are from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, United Kingdom, South Korea, New Zealand and throughout the United States.

We tried to give a regional sample from the west coast, east coast, mid west and south. You will find a commonality of themes and concerns, freedom most of all, but listen carefully to the regional rhythms on the poetic drums.

Overall, it represents an alternative world view, the Pan African world view as opposed to the Eurocentric world view. It is the world view of the oppressed, yet the spiritually liberated for the poets are, if nothing else, free spirits that cannot be caged, whipped or defeated, for they say you can kill the revolutionary but can't kill the revolution, thus the word causes forward motion in the ocean of humanity, and such are the contents herein. Magic words, magic truths, wisdom and and prophesy.

It is obvious from the bios that most of the poets are trained in academia, whatever their other origins. For sure the nuances of language transcends traditional English, for it is a language rooted in decolonizaton and liberation. Thus, many of the poets are bilingual, making use of the master's tongue and the tongue of the masses.

The BAM theme of revolutionary consciousness is pervasive. Associate Guest Editor Ptah Allah El says this is the Bible for the 21 Century. So it is! Like Black Fire of the 60s, let it fire up a static situation with the word. Let the Pan African mind move a little closer to home.
--Marvin X
1/15/11

Authors/vendors contact Marvin X @ jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Journal of Pan African Studies is Online

The Journal of Pan African Studies works to become a beacon of light in the sphere of African world community studies and research, grounded in an interdisciplinary open access scholarly peer-reviewed construct, simultaneously cognizant of the multilingualism of our audience, and the importance of universal access in cyberspace; regardless of geography, economic, social or cultural diversity. ::More Information ::Editorial Board ::Contact The JPAS ::Instructions for submitting a manuscript Gadgets powered by Google CURRENT ISSUE Volume 4 • Number 2 • 2010 This special issue of The Journal of Pan African Studies is edited by guest editor Marvin X and dedicated to Dingane aka Jose Goncalves, the publisher and editor of the Journal of Black Poetry, which has published some 500 poets. Groundation ● JPAS: Dedicated to Dingane, Jose Goncalves by Marvin X [ view PDF ] ● The Poets by Marvin X [ view PDF ] ● Letters to the Editor [ view PDF ] ● Dingane Joe Goncalves, The Journal of Black Poetry & Small Non-Commercial Black Journals by Rudolph Lewis [ view PDF ] [ view PDF ] In My Negritude ● Shaggy Flores, Ras Griot, Phavia Kujichagulia, Chinwe Enemchukwu, L. E. Scott, Rodney D. Coates, J. Vern Cromartie, Dike Okoro, Neal E. Hall, Marvin X, Mohja Kahf, Ayodele Nzingha, Askia M. Toure, Michael Simanga, Amiri Baraka, Kalamu ya Salaam, Kola Boof, Louis Reyes, Rivera, Aries Jordan, Ptah Allah El, and Hettie V. Williams [ view PDF ] ● Teaching Diaspora Literature: Muslim American Literature as an Emerging Field by Mohja Kahf [ view PDF ] ● Mother Earth Responds by Askia Toure reviewed by Kamaria Muntu [ view PDF ] ●Tainted Soul by T. Ptah Mitchell reviewed by Zulu King [ view PDF ] The Whirlwind ● Tracey Owens Patton, devorah major, Anthony Mays, Bruce George, Jeanette Drake, Itibari M. Zulu, Renaldo Manuel Ricketts, Nandi Comer, Al Young, Ghasem Batamuntu, Mona Lisa Saloy, Eugene B. Redmond, Fritz Pointer, Gwendolyn Mitchell, Felix Orisewike Sylvanus, Rudolph Lewis, Kamaria Muntu, Ed Bullins, Mabel Mnensa, Kwan Booth, and Tureeda Mikell [ view PDF ] ● Poetic Mission: A Dialogue on the Role of the Poet and Poetry by Rudolph Lewis (dialogue team: Marvin X, Jerry Ward, Mary Weems, and C. Leigh McInnis) [ view PDF ] ● The Poetic Mission: Art II: Reviewing a Life, A Calling by Haki R. Madhubuti [ view PDF ] Amour of Ancestors ● Everett Hoagland, Charles Blackwell, Jacqueline Kibacha, John Reynolds III, Darlene Scott, Jimmy Smith Jr., Sam Hamud, Opal Palmer Adisa, Amy ‘Aimstar’ Andrieux, Lamont b. Steptoe, Avotcja Jiltonilro, Anthony Spires, Benecia Blue, Neil Callender, Tanure Ojaide, Pious Okoro, Tony Medina, Dr. Ja A. Jahannes, Brother Yao, Zayad Muhammad, Nykimbe Broussard, Kilola Maishya, Niyah X, Adrienne N. Wartts, Greg Carr, Darlene Roy, Tantra Zawadi, Ishmael Reed, Quincy Scott Jones, Bob McNeil, Ariel Pierson, Marie Rice, Yvonne Hilton, Bolade Akintolayo, Latasha Diggs, Felton Eaddy, and B. Sharise Moore [ view PDF ] Baraka, Politics and News ● Medical Mythology by Ramal Lamar [ view PDF ] ● Qaddafy’s Apology for Arab Slavery: A Dialogue Between Poets by Rudolph Lewis, Sam Hamud, and Kola Boof [ view PDF ] ● Prize and Award: Chinua Achebe and Haki R. Madhubuti [ view PDF ] ● Two Poets in Oakland: Ishmael Reed and Marvin X by Ishmael Reed and Marvin X [ view PDF ] ● A Pan African Dialogue on Cuba: From Black Bird Press by Dead Prez, Carlos Moore, Pedro de la Hoz, and North American African Activist, Intellectuals and Artist [ view PDF ] ● Black Arts West Celebrates Amiri Baraka at 75 a photos essay by Kamau Amen-Ra [ view PDF ] ● Amiri Baraka Entertains SF: ‘Lowku’ versus Haiku Revives Fillmore Spirit by Lee Hubbard and Marvin X [ view PDF ] Tuesday, January 18, 2011 The Black Arts Movement at Yoshi's, San Francisco The Black Arts Movement at Yoshi's, San Francisco Last night at Yoshi's in the Fillmore, Amiri Baraka and Roscoe Mitchell performed a concert partially devoted to the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Baraka photo Kamau Amen Ra Baraka is godfather of the Black Arts Movement or BAM, and Roscoe Mitchell of the Chicago Arts Ensemble is a BAM Master as well. They were joined by poet Marvin X who opened both sets with a poem. Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre, 1966, was a block or two down from Yoshi's at Turk and Fillmore. With playwright Ed Bullins, essayist Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) and Ethna X, companion of Marvin X, they established the political/cultural Center called Black House. The Black House on Broderick Street was the center for radical culture in the Bay Area, 1967. Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Emory Douglas, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Lil Bobby Hutton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Avotcja, Samuel Napier, Ellendar Barnes, Dezzie Woods Jones, Bennie Ivy, Norman Brown, Walter Riley, Rosco Proctor, and numerous arts and politicos congregated at Black House. The Chicago Arts Ensemble had performed. Roscoe remembers the Black House, especially the food. Ethna X (Hurriyah) and Amina Baraka created the food. photo Gene Hazzard Tonight was the rare coming together of BAM artists from three regions, although BAM was bi-coastal. Baraka from Newark, New Jersey, Roscoe from Chicago and Marvin X from the San Francisco Bay. Marvin X also worked at the New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem and with Sun Ra. Sun Ra created music for two musicals of Marvin's Take Care of Business (aka Flowers for the Trashman) and Resurrection of the Dead. After Marvin's opening poem, Roscoe began with percussion work. He tinkered with bells and other sounds, preparing the way for Baraka, but this opening was himself at his greatest. Calmly he went about his musical work. A musician who accompanies a poet must be humble to the word, he cannot become self-consumed so that we do not hear the word. Such a musician is thus highly conscious of the word as he is of himself. But the focus is on the word and he respects the word and wants to enhance the word, accent the word. Roscoe is the man for the job. The first set he was reserved, it was a kind of rehearsal, though there is a natural harmony between the poet and musician, most especially with Amiri Baraka, who highly appreciates music and musicians. This is the BAM tradition. At Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore, we used to let the musicians be free. They asked to be free. During our productions they might roam the stage, the audience and go outside on the street to join the sounds of the street traffic and cars, often doing a call and response with car horns: Dewey Redman, Donald Rafael Garrett, Monte Waters, Earl Davis, BJ, Oliver Johnson, were some of the Black Arts West musicians. Baraka joined Mitchell with tales and poems of his childhood in Newark, what a weird child he was, reading Japanese poetry and coming up with Lowku, the Negro version of Haiku Ku because we don't have time to count syllables. Baraka is the court jester, the comedian, the joker who is more than serious, for he is too bright to be taken lightly, the opposite of the people in one of poems, white racists, who are too ignut to understand what's happening to them, too ignut to be white even. Baraka began his tribute to MLK with the wedding of MLK and Coretta Scott. He weaved his narrative by chronicling major events of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement. It was a history lesson every child should know, the dates, the events, the names of warriors, martyrs and devils Rosa Parks, Bull Conners, Black Power, Freedom Riders, Student Sit-ins, Black Power, Non-violence. Baraka, 77 this year, transformed from poet to actor, playwright, singer, doing all the parts of blacks and whites. He sang all the freedom songs throughout his narrative, revealing his knowledge of black Christian culture, for it was the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement, after all, non-violence is a Christian concept, born of Jesus Christ, although at one point Baraka mentioned that Christians need do a body count as a result of their religion. It was interesting to hear and see Baraka tell the story of MLK from his perspective, a participant/observer, analyst, organizer, living historian, walking history himself. He told the time MKL knocked on his door in Newark, during the Poor People's campaign, Martin had a stubble beard with no tie on. The King said to the king, Le Roi, you don't look like such a bad fellow! Baraka does not attempt revisionist history, but tells it like it was, even free of strident ideology, propaganda, just the story. All the time Roscoe is dancing from horn to horn, never upstaging but accenting always, a call and response in the African and BAM tradition, which are one. Only after Baraka ended the King narrative with his assassination did Roscoe take off on his horns, and this was especially during the second set. He took us to a lyrical land of sound and beauty, letting us know he is one of the true Masters of creative sound. The audience gave the brothers much applause and appreciation. Ninety per cent of those present were whites. A brother whispered to me in the lobby, "Man, I never heard or seen anything like this in my life!" Baraka could have used some help reading all the parts. Indeed, after the last set, he asked me rhetorically, Marvin why didn't you help me do this? --Marvin X 1/18/11 Baraka and Marvin at Yoshi's photo Julian Carroll Catch Marvin X at the Journal of Pan African StudiesPoetry Festival and Chauncey Bailey Book Fair,Saturday, February 19, 12 noon til 6pm, Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland.

January 17, 1961, Lumumba Overthrown by USA

Long Live Lumumba!


January 17, 1961

The United States of America conspires to overthrow Patrice Lumumba, democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo.

A Night In Tunisia

A Night in Tunisia

The oppressed man lives in desperate straits, at the edge of society, marginalized without any hope. It is revolution or death. It doesn't matter any longer for we have no choice but to revolt.

It is a sacrifice as the brother in Tunisia demonstrated by setting himself on fire. And yet a single spark can set off a prairie fire. His symbol and sacrifice set off a fire storm that swept to old dictator from the nation he'd ruled for nearly three decades, overseeing a nest of nepotism, only family members received high benefits from the society.

The excluded go from bad to worse until many segments of society join in with the struggle, the workers, students, unemployed, the military, the writers and artists, the religious and/or spiritual community. Revolution is a family affair, a community affair wherein consensus is clear.
We agree the situation is bleak unless we correct it by coming into control of it.

The president flew to exile in Saudi Arabia, the refugee camp for dictators for life in the Middle East and Africa.

The people want justice for the terror of the last regime. And then the rebuilding of society.

Legitimate order must demand control. A night in Tunisia.

Is revolution on fire in Africa and the Middle East. There have been three suicides by fire in Egypt. The desperate man is at wits end.
--Marvin X
1/18/11

The Black Arts Movement at Yoshi's, San Francisco

The Black Arts Movement at Yoshi's, San Francisco

Last night at Yoshi's in the Fillmore, Amiri Baraka and Roscoe Mitchell performed a concert partially devoted to the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Baraka photo Kamau Amen Ra


Baraka is godfather of the Black Arts Movement or BAM, and Roscoe Mitchell of the Chicago Arts Ensemble is a BAM Master as well. They were joined by poet Marvin X who opened both sets with a poem. Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre, 1966, was a block or two down from Yoshi's at Turk and Fillmore. With playwright Ed Bullins, essayist Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) and Ethna X, companion of Marvin X, they established the political/cultural Center called Black House.

The Black House on Broderick Street was the center for radical culture in the Bay Area, 1967. Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Emory Douglas, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Lil Bobby Hutton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Avotcja, Samuel Napier, Ellendar Barnes, Dezzie Woods Jones, Bennie Ivy, Norman Brown, Walter Riley, Rosco Proctor, and numerous arts and politicos congregated at Black House. The Chicago Arts Ensemble had performed. Roscoe remembers the Black House, especially the food. Ethna X (Hurriyah) and Amina Baraka created the food.




photo Gene Hazzard



Tonight was the rare coming together of BAM artists from three regions, although BAM was bi-coastal. Baraka from Newark, New Jersey, Roscoe from Chicago and Marvin X from the San Francisco Bay. Marvin X also worked at the New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem and with Sun Ra. Sun Ra created music for two musicals of Marvin's Take Care of Business (aka Flowers for the Trashman) and Resurrection of the Dead.

After Marvin's opening poem, Roscoe began with percussion work. He tinkered with bells and other sounds, preparing the way for Baraka, but this opening was himself at his greatest. Calmly he went about his musical work.

A musician who accompanies a poet must be humble to the word, he cannot become self-consumed so that we do not hear the word. Such a musician is thus highly conscious of the word as he is of himself. But the focus is on the word and he respects the word and wants to enhance the word, accent the word.

Roscoe is the man for the job. The first set he was reserved, it was a kind of rehearsal, though there is a natural harmony between the poet and musician, most especially with Amiri Baraka, who highly appreciates music and musicians. This is the BAM tradition.

At Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore, we used to let the musicians be free. They asked to be free. During our productions they might roam the stage, the audience and go outside on the street to join the sounds of the street traffic and cars, often doing a call and response with car horns: Dewey Redman, Donald Rafael Garrett, Monte Waters, Earl Davis, BJ, Oliver Johnson, were some of the Black Arts West musicians.

Baraka joined Mitchell with tales and poems of his childhood in Newark, what a weird child he was, reading Japanese poetry and coming up with Lowku, the Negro version of Haiku Ku because we don't have time to count syllables. Baraka is the court jester, the comedian, the joker who is more than serious, for he is too bright to be taken lightly, the opposite of the people in one of poems, white racists, who are too ignut to understand what's happening to them, too ignut to be white even.

Baraka began his tribute to MLK with the wedding of MLK and Coretta Scott. He weaved his narrative by chronicling major events of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement. It was a history lesson every child should know, the dates, the events, the names of warriors, martyrs and devils Rosa Parks, Bull Conners, Black Power, Freedom Riders, Student Sit-ins, Black Power, Non-violence.

Baraka, 77 this year, transformed from poet to actor, playwright, singer, doing all the parts of blacks and whites. He sang all the freedom songs throughout his narrative, revealing his knowledge of black Christian culture, for it was the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement, after all, non-violence is a Christian concept, born of Jesus Christ, although at one point Baraka mentioned that Christians need do a body count as a result of their religion.

It was interesting to hear and see Baraka tell the story of MLK from his perspective, a participant/observer, analyst, organizer, living historian, walking history himself. He told the time MKL knocked on his door in Newark, during the Poor People's campaign, Martin had a stubble beard with no tie on. The King said to the king, Le Roi, you don't look like such a bad fellow!

Baraka does not attempt revisionist history, but tells it like it was, even free of strident ideology, propaganda, just the story. All the time Roscoe is dancing from horn to horn, never upstaging but accenting always, a call and response in the African and BAM tradition, which are one.

Only after Baraka ended the King narrative with his assassination did Roscoe take off on his horns, and this was especially during the second set. He took us to a lyrical land of sound and beauty, letting us know he is one of the true Masters of creative sound.

The audience gave the brothers much applause and appreciation. Ninety per cent of those present were whites. A brother whispered to me in the lobby, "Man, I never heard or seen anything like this in my life!"



Baraka could have used some help reading all the parts. Indeed, after the last set, he asked me rhetorically, Marvin why didn't you help me do this?
--Marvin X
1/18/11

Baraka and Marvin at Yoshi's
photo Julian Carroll







Catch Marvin X and poets in the Journal of Pan African Studies, Poetry Issue, edited by Marvin X, during Black History Month: Saturday, February 19, 3-6pm, Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland.

I wanted to read a poem on the theme of love dedicated to Dr. King

I wanted to read a poem on the theme of love dedicated to Dr. King


I wanted to read a poem on the theme of love dedicated to Dr. King
but I listened to the news all night talking about a new event in Haiti

We thought Haiti was in bad shape
poverty ignorance disease
after defeating the Spanish English French
including Napoleon
don't ever do that
beat the white man
you will suffer forever
in the deepest corner of hell
like Haiti
a freedom never realized
a suffering never seen
we thought Haiti was in bad shape
hurricanes earthquakes cholera
no government
no trees
no water
no housing
no president
we thought Haiti was in bad shape
no reconstruction a year after quake
we thought Haiti was in bad shape
rigged elections
but then came the worse of all possible things
worse than poverty ignorance disease
hurricanes quakes
cholera
worse than no trees water food
we thought Haiti was in bad shape
then the plane landed
evil will prevail he had said
a police escort
evil will prevail he had taught
a hero's welcome

wasn't Aristide, priest of the poor
democratically elected, removed on orders of you know who
by you know who
flow away by you know who
I wasn't Aristide
we thought Haiti was in bad shape
then the prince of evil landed
worse than his Papa
We thought Haiti was in bad shape
then Baby Doc came home.

--Marvin X
1/17/11

From Savagery to Civility

From Savagery to Civility

Unity, Criticism, Unity! We must be able to criticize each other constructively, to engage in debate and dialogue. This is how civilize people conduct their affairs. Now savages want to kill, no debate, no dialogue, no comment. Man, I wanna smoke dat nigguh!
--from Soulful Musings on Unity, Marvin X
12/10/10

It is imbecilic to think a nation steeped in the blood of global violence and permanent war can attain civility at home, for as Baldwin noted, "The murder of my child will not make your child safe."

It is indeed ironic and most tragic that the nine year old girl born on 9/11 was the model of civil engagement and gave her life to the process. As she tried to exercise civility, her sick brother reflected the blow back from the deranged mentality that lurks in the deep structure of most American minds, rooted in the mythology of white supremacy that insures domination by use of the gun.

How can America be the number one arms merchant of the world yet pretend civility? No, you are a savage who must be corralled and disarmed as must happen to the citizens in the cowboys-gone-wild state of Arizona and throughout the American states where guns are the number one past time, the cultural residue of kidnappers, rapers, robbers, land grabbers and moral hypocrites.

The call to civility shall ring hollow for the sick savages in America shall only sink deeper into the chasm of mental darkness. The alleged mass killer in Tucson, Arizona symbolizes the general pathological state of Americans who imagine they can expend an annual trillion dollar military budget to kill, yet maintain peace at home. What goes around comes around, they say in the hood. Yes, the chickens come home to roost.

Just as there is little mental health treatment for the soldiers returning from savagery in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere, there is obviously little mental health treatment for the mass killer in Tucson who wandered the streets of the city with severe mental health issues that were obvious to all.

We can listen to Right and Left wing radio and decipher the same pathology that the mass killer actualized. The Left is simply spineless while the Right is heartless, but we can do nothing when lacking heart or spine!

Where is the voice on the Left calling for an end to permanent wars? Where are the protests, demonstrations, mass marches? The Left hardly said a peep as the military budget was passed for the coming killing season. The American Left and Right are simply different sides of the same coin of white supremacy.

And the silent Blacks and other ethnic groups suffer Type II White Supremacy as Dr. Nathan Hare teaches us. Their over identification with white supremacy has addicted them to singing Silent Night and Onward Christian Soldiers. They are like those monkeys who know nothing, see nothing and do nothing.

The only hope is the children, like nine year old Christine, who indeed represented the generation that may achieve the civility of political engagement and clean up the mess of the elders. Christine was in league with my grandson, now three, who told me at two years old: "Grandpa, you can't save the world, but I can!"
--Marvin X
1/13/11

Marvin X facilitates Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. His Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre will perform poetry from the Journal of Pan African Studies, Poetry Issue, Saturday, February 19, 3-6pm, at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin, Oakland.