Coming Events: Women's History Concert

Coming Events: Women's History Concert

On Saturday, March 19, Bay Area Black Authors and Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre present Women Poets in the Journal of Pan African Studies, Bathroom Graffiti Queen, a drama by Opal Palmer Adisa, produced, directed and starring Ayodele Nzingha of the Lower Bottom Playaz.

The Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre will perform material from the Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, by Marvin X. Music by Mechelle LaChaux and Rashidah Sabreen.

Women poets performing include: Ayodele Nzingha, Aries Jordon, Phavia Kujichagulia, Tureadah Mikell, devorah major. Readers Theatre cast members are Talibah, Mechelle LaChaux, Hunia Bradley.

Author Timothy Reed and Journalist Jerri Lange will read and discuss their books.

The event will have books available to purchase for donation to juvenile hall, country jail and prison, a project of Bay Area Black Authors, the Post Newspaper Group, Hug A Thug Book Club and Academy of da Corner. jmarvinx@yahoo.com. www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com. Call
510-8375421. The event is at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street, downtown Oakland.
3-6pm.

Call for Papers

Call for Papers:

The Black Chauncey Bailey Project

an anthology of essays on the assassination of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey

Edited by Marvin X, published by Black Bird Press, Bay Area Black Authors and the Post Newspaper Group. Deadline, September, 2011.

We welcome papers, essays, memoirs, opinion, critical reviews, investigative reports, scholarly writings on Chauncey Bailey, who was assassinated in broad daylight on his way to work at 7:30 in the morning.

We invite authors to approach the topic from any angle that transcends the Jim Crow Media's version that he was killed by the Black Muslim Bakery Brothers solely because he was investigating the financial records and sexual behavior of bakery founder, Dr. Yusef Bey.

We welcome investigative writings that also focus on the role of the Oakland Police Department, City Hall under then Mayor Jerry Brown and Mayor Ron Dellums, and possibly other local, state and national politicians.

Papers can address the life and times of Chauncey and his work, especially at the Oakland Tribune, California Voice, Soulbeat Television and as Editor of the Oakland Post.

Another approach can be the unique fact that he is one of the few journalists killed in American history, especially compared with journalists in other countries such as Mexico, Columbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, China and many African nations.

The killing of Chauncey Bailey can be approached historically as it cannot be separated from the killing of black men in the Bay Area and America in general. Why does such killing continue under the color of law? The Black Panther Party began partially in reaction to the police killing of Denzil Dowell in Richmond, California. Because the OPD is yet to be charged in the assassination, doesn't absolve them of conspiracy in the matter. Their officers may yet be indicted, most certainly in the court of people's justice.

Length should be one thousand to two thousand words, but there can be exceptions. The proceeds from this anthology will go to a trust fund for Chauncey's son and Bay Area Authors. Writers will be compensated for their submission.

We invite you to submit your manuscript as a MS Word attachment to jmarvinx@yahoo.com.

Best Regards,

Marvin X, Editor

Maze - Joy and Pain

Malcolm X

O, Malcolm X

We love you
ain't did nothing you said
yet the chickens home to roost
me being a country boy
makes me glad
like you said
but what now
chickens home
will we go into the coop
get the golden eggs
stand up on the real
even lay down for the cause
in front of tanks, guns, tear gas
like the Egyptians
we know you smilin
bout Egyptians
but ain't we Egyptians too
Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists
Sun Ra said
We remember you in Egypt
camel riding
praying in the Majed
we remember
we love you.
--Marvin X
2/21/11

Exiled Black Panther Field Marshall Don Cox Makes Transition

Exiled Black Panther Field Marshall Don Cox Makes Transition in France

For DC

Let us push forward in the wind
fly on freedom's wings
he could not come home
so the world was his home
mighty warrior
leader in battle
we love you DC.
We shall see you again
in the wind.
--mx

from Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice Poems, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, late 2011.

DC and son in France
He was Field Marshall of the Black Panthers and wanted for murder in the USA. DC was in charge of the Panther military.


Upon his transition, his wife Barbara, who lives in Philadelphia, issued the following statement:

I received a call this morning that D.C., aka Donald L Cox, has made his transition to the ancestral grounds.

Brother DC was 74 years of age. born april 16, 1936. Passed on February 19, 2011. He will be cremated and his ashes spread around his home in france and some brought back to California and the Bay Area.

I will be leaving for France on Wednesday the 23 and staying for a month to clean up his business or whatever needs to be done.

I can be reached by my email barbaracoxeasley@aol.com or don's phone at 01133468698308...Femember france is 6 hours ahead of eastern standard time.

He passed in sleep of unknown causes. He had just been out in his garden the day before, preparing the ground for spring. His children and grandchildren were preparing to spend time with him in 2012....it is not to be.

His wife,barbara easley cox(BC), had just spend last summer with him and his daughter, kimberly, was there in october. They are both thankful for the memories.

Barbara

Pharoah, American, Let My People Go!

Let My People Go!

I do not care who you are, kings for life, presidents for life, let my people go! I don't care if you are American running dogs or religious running dogs from Saudi Arabia, let my people go. I don't care if you are Sunni or Shia, let my people go. I don't care if you are Christian Imperialists, let my people go! Take your guns, your tanks, you drones, your plane, your tear gas, your tanks, and let my people go. Let them go right now, today, right now!

My people belong to God, not me, not you, not religious movements, but God Almighty, not Sunni, not Shia, not Hamas, not Hezballah, no sect, no group, no cult, no tribe, no nation, but to God. Let my people go! No president for life owns the people, no king, no prime minister, no globalists, imperialists from America owns the people, only the people own the people. Let my people go!

Hip Hop on Happy Birthday Huey Newton

Hip Hop on Happy Birthday Huey Newton
by Devismama

Marvin X was my teacher. Many of our comrades came through his Black Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Sam Napier.--Dr. Huey P. Newton

Happy Birthday Huey P. Newton! Co-founder of The Black Panther Party an African-American left-wing organization working for the right of self-defense for African-Americans in the United States. The Party achieved national and international impact and renown through their deep involvement in the Black Power movement and in politics of the 1960s and 1970s, as the intense anti-racism of the time is today considered one of the most significant social, political and cultural currents in United States history. The group’s “provocative rhetoric, militant posture, and cultural and political flourishes permanently altered the contours of American Identity.”

unfortunately, the young black people who have a media platform today are mainly rappers/artists. and as much as i love hip hop, although the majority of rap artists ‘portray’ the confidence, fearlessness, badass attitude of the panthers, the content, intellectualism, or politicism is non-existent. huey & the panther crew were college educated young men/women (aging in range from 16 - 25). they were well read. according to writer marvin x who studied with huey & co at merritt college in oakland, their independent reading list comprised of:

Black Bourgeoisie, E. Franklin Frazier
Facing Mount Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta
Wretched of the Earth, Franz Fanon
History Will Absolve Me, Fidel Castro
Neocolonialism, the last stage of Imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah
Negro Slave Revolts, Herbert Apteker
Myth of the Negro Past, Melville J. Herskivits

i contend that being a rapper/artist/in the public eye does not make one conscious politically or active socially but you’d hope that after gaining a certain level of celebrity, you’d take it upon yourself to read some books, do some learning at least if for nothing else you sound smart if you’re given a platform such as oprah/charlie rose/bill maher etc.

perhaps if a certain artist had read a few of the books on the list, he might have been better able to articulate sentiments such as ‘george bush doesn’t like black people’!

and even though wiz khalifa’s new song ‘huey newton’ has absolutely NOTHING to do with the newton’s life/legacy perhaps it will inspire a few kids to google him just to find out who the hell wiz is talking about.