Two killed, four wounded in Oakland nightclub shooting
By Dan Whitcomb
Mon Apr 25, 2011 5:48pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two people were killed and four others wounded early on Monday when a gunman opened fire at an Oakland nightclub, then sped away in a car with three suspected accomplices, police said.
The four wounded victims, who were not identified by authorities, were taken to a local hospital where two of them, both men, were listed in critical condition and said to have life-threatening injuries.
The remaining two victims, both women, were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police were searching for four young men, described as African American and in their teens or early twenties, who fled the shooting at Sweet Jimmie's nightclub in a white Dodge Avenger.
An Oakland Police spokeswoman said they had not yet determined a motive for the shooting, despite reports in the local media that the gunman had been denied entry to the club.
"Whether he was trying to get in or not, we don't know," Oakland Police spokeswoman Cynthia Perkins said, adding that it was also unclear if the shooter had targeted one of the victims.
"Last night's shootings, which are a rare occurrence in downtown Oakland, are tragic and troubling," Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said in a written statement, adding that solving the case was a "high priority" for the city. "The Police Department will schedule increased patrols in the area as they continue to investigate the circumstances," Quan said.
The mayor and police officials asked that anyone with information about the shooting or suspects contact Oakland homicide detectives.
Commentary by Marvin X
Apparently the nightclub shooters got the Easter weekend ritual confused. Sunday was Resurrection Day, but the killers must have thought it was Crucifixion Day. In light of events around the world where people are standing up and dying for freedom, the Oakland dead and wounded are as Mao said, lighter than a feather, meaningless incidents signifying nothing but madness. And yet we cannot separate this incident and other from international events, for all things in the universe are connected.
The USA cannot have a trillion dollar budget to kill and maim from Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, yet expect peace at home. What goes around comes around, or shall we say the chickens must come home to roost.
One day America will get over its fetish with guns and wars across the planet, only then will the children of the world be safe, for as James Baldwin said, "The murder of my child will not make your child safe."
Guns, violence and sex are projected 24/7 in the Monkey Mind Media, in films and television shows, even Rap glorifies violence, but again, the USA is the number one purveyor of violence in the world. Nelson Mandela said America is the main reason there is no peace in the world. American greed for oil to grease the wheels of a white supremacy culture that consumes 25% of the world's energy although she is only 5% of the global population, is the main reason the culture of violence exists at home and abroad. America is the number one arms merchant of the world. So yes, the violence in the streets of America is simple blow back and one must expect more to come until this nation realizes guns are not the panacea for problems, whether personal, political, economic, religious or otherwise.
How is it possible for two persons to be dead and four wounded because a man was refused entry to a nightclub? If it was that important that he entered the club, surely someone could have talked with him as a former nightclub owner said he used to do with unruly clientele. He would pull them aside and rap with them in a civilized manner. He said no one was ever shot at his club, nor was he attacked.
He speculated that perhaps this is a sign of class war in the hood, and those persons who feel excluded want to strike out at those in authority, although most incidents of violence usually only occur at African American night clubs. Several such clubs in Oakland have been shut down as a result of violence. Others shut down because they refused to submit to police shakedowns, Geoffrey's Club is the most recent example, although he lost his case against the OPD.
The tragedy is that we refuse to consider there is a war in the hood on much the same level as wars in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In fact, the doctors train for battles abroad in the emergency rooms of hospitals that serve ghetto battlefield wounded, most suffering multiple wounds from weapons similar if not the same as those used in America's global wars to maintain white supremacy.
We think parents should adequately warn their children they must be aware of their surroundings at all times and do not pretend they are in La La Land, but recognize they live in a battle zone. America is a hostile environment for North American Africans and others, to think and act otherwise is to be in denial and we are then subject to be victims of the mine fields in our path as we make our daily round. Put on the amour of God for we are in the valley of the shadow of death, but with the amour of God we shall fear no evil for the Lord is my rod and staff.
--Marvin X
4/25/11
Monday, April 25, 2011
War Between Nation States
4.25.11
DANGEROUS PRECEDENTS HAVE BEEN SET BY OBAMA, SARKOZY, CAMERON AND HAGUE
Dr. Sam Hamod
Dangerous precedents in attempting to kill Col. and Leader of his Libyan nation, Mu'ummar Qaddafi,have been set by Obama, Hague, Cameron and Sarkozy.
If this internationally illegal behavior and action is allowed to go unpunished, then it will be chaos in the world, where no leader will be safe, including that ignorant group of four: Obama, Hague, Cameron and Sarkozy.
There has been international understandings for centuries not to attempt to publicly attempt, and to trumpet, the desire, to kill the leader of a sovereign nation. But somehow, these Western "leaders" have now taken it upon themselves to violate this tradition, which now means there are no safeguards against world chaos and war, and even these fools may be next in line if this continues.
Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy have set 2 very dangerous precedents that may come back to devour them, if China, Russia or some other power group decides to do this against them. They feel they have the right to:
1. Go in and help, and instigate, "rebels" in a country, and to help them overthrow the government of a nation.
2. They feel they have the right to kill the leader of a sovereign nation, as they wish, for whatever reasons they choose.
Suppose China decides to come to the USA to help the Latinos in Arizona, Texas and California; what would Obama do?
Suppose India feels the UK is mistreating the Indian population in the UK, and decides to send in military and secret operatives to overthrow the UK government; what would Cameron and Hague do then?
Suppose some of the Muslim countries decide to hire mercenaries to assassinate Sarkozy of France because they feel he is being unfair to Muslims who live in France: what would Sarkozy do then?
Supposed Qaddafi sent agents in to sabotage or to kill any of this group of 4; what would they do? I'm sure they'd go screaming to the UN saying, "This is a violation of international law!"
These are just some hypothetical situations, but we must remember, just as GW Bush opened Pandora's Box in Iraq, I see that Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron and Hague have now done this with their attack on Libya.
And, just as I forecast before GW Bush opened the Pandora's Box of Iraq, the tiger came out and is now devouring America in all spheres: morally, financially, militarily and in terms of our respect in the world.
Yes, these fools have set a dangerous precedent, one that now cannot be pulled back. The peace of the earth will pay for their sins.
c: sam hamod, ph.d
4.25.11
Howard Univ. to Establish Ronald Walters Center
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Kerry-Ann Hamilton
Media Relations Manager
k_hamilton@howard.edu
202.238.2332
http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/
Howard to Establish Ronald Walters Center
WASHINGTON (April 11, 2011) – Howard University President Sidney A. Ribeau announced the establishment of the Ronald W. Walters Center during the 40th anniversary Congressional Black Caucus Foundation symposium held on campus.
Political activist, prolific author and media commentator Ronald W. Walters, Ph.D., served as a Howard University professor for 25 years, political science department chair, and was a preeminent global scholar and expert on American political behavior, Black politics and comparative politics. He died in September 2010
The Ronald Walters Center will serve as an interdisciplinary focal point for public policy research, publication and leadership development. “Through this center, his name, his spirit and his work will live on as we prepare others to follow in his footsteps and impact the world as much as he did,” Ribeau said.
Walters served as a campaign manager and consultant for the Rev. Jesse Jackson during his two presidential bids and was a policy adviser for former Congressmen Charles Diggs (D-MI) and William Gray (D-PA).
Walters was instrumental in the creation of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The Ronald Walters Center will examine the role of African Americans in the development of U.S. foreign policy; the impact of globalization on the African-American community; and the role of African Americans in U.S. presidential and congressional politics. It will also house the Walters papers.
The Center will also establish a visiting scholars program to provide research opportunities for internal and external scholars, including post-doctoral students. The Center will sponsor conferences, symposia, quarterly newsletters and other activities.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Kerry-Ann Hamilton
Media Relations Manager
k_hamilton@howard.edu
202.238.2332
http://www.howard.edu/newsroom/
Howard to Establish Ronald Walters Center
WASHINGTON (April 11, 2011) – Howard University President Sidney A. Ribeau announced the establishment of the Ronald W. Walters Center during the 40th anniversary Congressional Black Caucus Foundation symposium held on campus.
Political activist, prolific author and media commentator Ronald W. Walters, Ph.D., served as a Howard University professor for 25 years, political science department chair, and was a preeminent global scholar and expert on American political behavior, Black politics and comparative politics. He died in September 2010
The Ronald Walters Center will serve as an interdisciplinary focal point for public policy research, publication and leadership development. “Through this center, his name, his spirit and his work will live on as we prepare others to follow in his footsteps and impact the world as much as he did,” Ribeau said.
Walters served as a campaign manager and consultant for the Rev. Jesse Jackson during his two presidential bids and was a policy adviser for former Congressmen Charles Diggs (D-MI) and William Gray (D-PA).
Walters was instrumental in the creation of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The Ronald Walters Center will examine the role of African Americans in the development of U.S. foreign policy; the impact of globalization on the African-American community; and the role of African Americans in U.S. presidential and congressional politics. It will also house the Walters papers.
The Center will also establish a visiting scholars program to provide research opportunities for internal and external scholars, including post-doctoral students. The Center will sponsor conferences, symposia, quarterly newsletters and other activities.
Marvin X Calls for General Strike
The following story from the archives of Marvin X calls for the general strike. This speech was made several years ago in Houston, Texas, but today it appears America, black and white, is ready to shut down this nation to institute a redistribution of wealth, the ultimate solution to the economic woes of all the suffering American people.
Marvin X Calls for a General Strike for Reparations
On Saturday at Houston's Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, the National Black United Front hosted a forum on reparations. Keynote speaker was Att. Deadra Pellman who filed a lawsuit against corporations who benefited from slavery, including insurance companies. Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee presented a paper entitled "Making the Case for Slavery Reparations."
Also on the panel was a sister who is a direct descendent of slaves and she told an eloquent story of her genealogy. In attendance were Mrs. and Mr. Omari Obadele, legends of the reparations movement and founders of N'Cobra, the organization that has spearheaded the call for reparations. The Nation of Islam was present, along with the New Black Panther Party of Houston.
Marvin X called for a general strike to go along with litigation and legislation--mass action to keep the pressure on the American people until we achieve self-determination and sovereignty. He said we should demand reparations for our ancestors if no one else. The poet described his train ride from South Carolina to Houston: as he looked out at the trees, the woods, the swamps, the marsh, the rivers, he thought about the many thousands gone, bones buried deep in the clay, in the creeks. He thought about the slaves who tried to escape but failed and the ones who did make it to freedom.
For all these people, we must fight for reparations, and as Brother Kofi of NBUF noted, we must fight for compensation for the vestiges of slavery: our deplorable mental and physical health, our poor housing and now gentrification, lack of economic parity and educational opportunities. On another level, Marvin X noted that we are the 16th richest nation in the world (GNP), so even without repa! rations we have enough money to come up, if we use it wisely. We must take authority over our economic resources.
The forum ended with Marvin X reading his poem "When I'll Wave The Flag."Later that evening, the poet's daughter, Nefertiti, hosted a book party for her father, but because of the ENRON disaster many of the lawyers and MBAs present were unemployed and unable to purchase his book of essays, but they listened attentatively as he read.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Free Tibet!
FREE TIBET!
In response to your request for articles for posting, I will send you shortly an article if written in my newspaper, UP FRONT News ("The paper that can't be bought and can't be sold.") about an issue that I feel strongly is under-reported in the black media, i.e. the ongoing racist Genocide in Occupied Tibet.
Much of the political world, and in particular that which refers to itself as "left" and/or "progressive", perhaps still swayed by Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong's Marxist, populist, anti-imperialist rhetoric, simply continue to ignore the fact that the very imperialist Chinese invasion of independent Tibet in 1950 was the beginning of what has been a imposition of a thoroughly racist occupation which has led to the deaths of over 1 million Tibetans and the exile of hundreds of thousands more.
It is apparent that most Americans, regardless of political ideology remain unaware that 1.) before the Chinese invasion of 1950 Tibet was an independent nation and 2.) the dark-complexioned Tibetan people are completely ethnically, linguistically, and culturally distinct from their light-complexioned oppressors. In fact, relatively speaking, the Tibetans are" black people."
Indeed in many cases it's not so "relative" inasmuch as I've seen photographs of Tibetan nomads who spent long periods of time (praying) in the Himalayan sun, who are almost as black as charcoal.
In fact Mao had a deep hatred of the Tibetans, in part because of their deep religiosity (which explained the systematic destruction of many Tibetan temples the took place as the Chinese military took over Tibet). Mao and his expansionist Communist Party allied regarded the Tibetans as inferior and in need of Chinese-style modernization, a racist attitude not unlike Hitler's view of non-German Europeans.
A probably not very widely read Chinese military document is illustrative. In March, 1959 as the Chinese were completing their conquest of Tibet (a nation led by a pacifist Dalai Lama, so it wasn't a fair fight) there was a monk-lead uprising in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, which was brutally crushed by the Chinese military at a cost of many thousands of Tibetan lives.
One day a Tibetan exile living in New York City showed me a Chinese military booklet that discussed the rebellion and its suppression. It referred to the estimated 70,000 Tibetans killed as "insects."
Pro-Communist China apologists (e.g. the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Workers World Party) falsely allege that the Dalai Lama is a "CIA agent." That would have made the French underground fighters against the Nazi's the equivalent as there is no question and anti-Nazi fighters got assistance from the OSS, the predecessor to the CIA. In if in fact the Dalai Lama, receiving no assistance from the world's democracies as he tried to save his country's independence, accepted support from the CIA, how could one blame him?
There is an enormous amount of information (a good deal of which I have and have written and spoken about publicly about the de facto Genocide that continues in Tibet and the fact that the United States is in fact aiding and abetting the destruction of what may be one of the oldest cultures on the earth. Why is the world's purported greatest democracy turning a blind eye to the destruction of Tibet? Profits. "Communist" China is the perhaps the profiteering capital of the world, intimately connected with the multinationals based here and in other capitalist powers.
As far as I am aware, relatively few African-Americans have spoken out on this issue. There are a number of reasons for this, such as the fact that the relatively small U.S.-based Tibetan diaspora (small compared with, say, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Italian-Americans-Irish-Americans) tend to be less than publicly demonstrative about the situation in their occupied nations. (There is however an annual increase in Tibetan demonstrations on March 10, the anniversary of the aforementioned revolt and its suppression. There were also "Free Tibet" demonstrations around the world protesting the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In fact a New York City Council resolution originally proposed by me and introduced by then City Councilman (now State Senator) Tony Avella (D.-Queens), which called for the removal of the 2008 Olympics from China because of the Tibet Genocide) was suffocated by Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a "leader" not known for her
sensitivity to the black agenda (e.g. the Sonny Carson street name change issue) who is notoriously considerate of mega-corporate power (e.g. the cartel known as the China Lobby).
In fact I do not believe that the activist "free Tibet" community, at least here in New York, has reached out sufficiently to African-
Americans, who certainly know what it is to struggle against oppression and racism. Indeed I've discussed this reality with a number of Tibetan activists, some of whom are personally acquainted with the Dalai Lama (who, as you know, like Dr. Martin Luther King, is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.)
I've also discussed this issue with a number of African-American leaders including in particular my pastor, Rev. Dr. Demetrius S. Carolina, Sr., of the First Central Baptist Church in Staten Island. Indeed, as a consequence he has not only referred to the Genocide in Tibet in one of his sermons but also issued a brief and eloquent statement in which he urge the government of China to, "Afford the Tibetan people what is rightfully theirs: independence and freedom to control their own destiny and place in the world today!"
Whether he knows it or not (yet) President Obama, by making the categorically false statement that "Tibet is part of China", has made the Genocide in Tibet a campaign issue starting immediately. If he really believes that, all those history courses he took at those fine Ivy league schools need recalibrate their Asian history curricula. If he knows that statement to be false, he is simply bowing to the might of the China Lobby.
In any event, the only morally defensible position for Obama to take is to (as he has in the case of Palestine and Kosovo) recognize Tibet as a free country - and then to whether the inevitable tantrum in Beijing.
I will forward to you (probably tomorrow, as the internet cafe I am using is about to close for the day) a copy of my UP FRONT News article, "Tibet Is a Nation, The Tibetans Are Not Chinese, Therefore Free Tibet."
-- Tom Weiss
Saturday, April 23, 2011
A Mother's Message to the Police of America
A Mother's Message to the Police of America
Those of us who came of age in the 60s will recall that many of the riots and rebellions were the result of a mother rescuing her son from the hands of the police.
Before we knew it, all hell had broken loose, cities burned to the ground. In a recent conversation with Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds, he urged me to inform him of incidents of police abuse. Well, Martin, a mother approached me today in Berkeley to inform me the Berkeley police were harassing her son under the color of law, even though he has no police record. She was awakened by neighbors one night who told her the police were engaging her son outside. She got out of bed, dressed and went outside.
Even though he had a Cannabis card for the legal possession of marijuana, he was arrested and taken to jail. She had to pay $3,000.00 for bail and $5,000.00 for a lawyer.
Her son is now suffering trauma and apparently is harassed almost daily when he comes home from work. He begs his mother to move from the home she owns and where her family has lived for over a half century. The mother refuses to move, after all she owns the home and only must pay taxes,plus she is retired and a widow on a fixed income. She has no desire to have a house payment, for she cannot afford it.
The little money she had saved was lost when the stock market fell due to the Wall Street pyramid scheme. So she must now deal with a son in terror of coming home from work each night. She has not been able to convince him to rid himself of his fear. Her only fear is that he will be stopped alone by the police and her son will fail the tone test (depending on ones tone of voice, when stopped by the police, one of three things can happen: one can be killed, arrested or released). Her son has not taken quietly to harassment under the color of law.
But she says if anything happens to her son she will react in a manner of those mothers during the 60s. Unlike her son, she is fearless and will respond in the manner of a warrior woman. She will not go out without taking somebody with her, she swears on the blood of Jesus!
The mother wants to know where can she and other elderly persons go for help when confronted with problems such as police harassment of their children?
We think the police of America should be aware of this mother's cry and get prepared to make radical changes in their behavior, for they may soon face the wrath of a people who say enough is enough, just as the people in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain are doing at this hour. The oppressive police in those land shall soon be accountable in the court of people's justice for their abuse under the color of law.
We know the police are nothing but an occupying army in our community. They are another gang of thugs who practice wickedness under the color of law. The days of wickedness are soon to end once they people overcome fear as they did during the
60s, especially here in the Bay Area with the Black Panther Party and as they are doing throughout the Middle East and North Africa at this hour.
The Black Panthers said one is either part of problem or part of the solution. It is past time for the police of America to cease their reign of terror, harassing black and other minority men. We have seen them in action from Oakland to New York, stopping black men at will and asking for ID, are you probation or parole, then releasing them, sometimes taking their money, jewelry and any drugs. Often the men are severely beaten before they are released, not to mention the brothers and sisters who are victims of homicide under the color of law, killed in cold blood like Oakland's Oscar Grant and so many others coast to coast.
It may not be long before the courts of the people will hold accountable all those officers who have blood on their hands. There is no hiding place!
--Marvin X,
4/23/11
The Revolutionary Vision of Jesus
The Revolutionary Vision of JesusRodney D. Coates* ~
I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ.
--Fidel Castro
There are many who will condemn me as a heretic –both within the church and among so called progressives – for declaring that Jesus was a revolutionary and had a revolutionary vision for the world. Yes, Jesus –that Jesus that we celebrate, that we proclaim, and that we have been labeled as his followers – the Christ (or Promised one). And even though I will be condemned, well so also was Jesus, and even though they will try to crucify me, well so was Jesus, but I will not stay down, as well as Jesus –for his teachings continue to ferment change, rebellion, and revolution –some 2,000 years after they were spoken. I will begin with the beginning of his ministry, where he identified his vision. It is this vision which clearly articulates his revolutionary stance. In Luke 4:14 we note:
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."(Luke 4:14-21, ESV)
His mission
1) Proclaim good news to the poor
2) Proclaim liberty to the captives
3) recover sight ot the blind
4) set at liberty those who are oppressed
Not only did he identify with the poor, the helpless, but he also identified with those imprissioned and were oppressed. Jesus, a member of an oppressed group was from the least of those groups –Nazareth. What do we know of Nazareth –as Jonathan said “Can anything good come from Nazareth”,. Nazareth was a ghetto, one of the least among the opressed. And Jesus never lost sight of an outcast among the outcast. Jesus who proclaimed that “ “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Luke 18:25)” set himself against a religious ideology that had increasingly become obsessed with materialism and the objectification of religion. Hence, he was appalled at how the temple had become prostituted to the materialist interests of the Sanhedrin. Consequently, he marked himself for death when he in concert with the religious leaders had defiled and corrupted the Holy temple with their greed. (John 2: 13 - 22. Matthew 21: 12 - 13. Mark 11: 15 - 17. Luke 19: 45 - 46.)
If we examine his mission statement, perhaps we will learn more about this Jesus.
1) Proclaim good news to the poor
What was this good news to the poor. Perhaps we need to go back to Isaih, fore it is here that we can understand not only the context but also the intent of Jesus’ revolutionary vision. From Isaih condemned the religious and political hyprocrasy of the Theocracy when he charged that:
They deprive the poor of justice and deny the rights of the needy among my people. They prey on widows and take advantage of orphans. Isaiah 10:2
"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Isaiah 41: 17
Share your food with the hungry, take the poor and homeless into your house, and cover them with clothes when you see [them] naked. Don't refuse to help your relatives. Isaiah 58: 7
So clearly, this Jesus was committed to a vision that challenged a materialist obsession that had pervaded the Temple, his people. He was also challenging a perversion of religion whereby the poor, homeless, and downtrodden were blamed for their situation. He ostensibly blamed the social structure, and those in leadership for the destitution so pervasive in these lives. And what of his second mission statement, how might this be understood.
2) Proclaim liberty to the captives
Political, economic, social, cultural, and racial captives throughout the ages have found comfort in these words. Liberation theology, slave rebellions, social transformations have all been launched with these words. Even past this if we consider the thousands of prison ministries, teen shelters, homes for sexually abused, and the like that have taken this as their mission statement –the power of this vision becomes clearer when take a look at the entire phrase.
to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.
Captives made explicit reference to slaves and prisoners to those detain. In a society –both then and now where people could be bound as slaves, where a whole system was predicated on a military, industrial,prison complex where slavery and prison labor accounted for not only a tremendous amount of human misery but also imperialist exploitation –this was truly a revolutionary call to action. The Jewish and Roman state could not have doubted the insurectional appeal of such a proclamation.
Jesus’ third mission statement demonstrates his consistent concern with those who were not only ill but suffered from were disabled.
3) recover sight ot the blind
We see in the ministry of Jesus a not only compassion but action with respects to the disabled. Disability was not something that merely deserved our charity, but our active involvement with. While others would shun these, Jesus would embrace them.
And lastly, what more revolutionary could you hope for when one considers his final mission statement.
4) set at liberty those who are oppressed
The oppressive system imposed by both Roman Imperialism and the Jewish Temple were not only apparent but invassive. All aspects of Jewish life were dominated by this oppression. Jesus in this mission statement not only alligned himself with the downtrodden, but also proceeded to began a ministry to the oppressed. Many have argued that we may draw a pedagogy of social justice by reading, understanding and implementing not only his teachings but his parables.
Ultimately, Jesus understood that actions speak louder than words. When asked by his friend, cousin John the Baptist (who had been marked for marterdom) are you the Christ -0 Jesus reponds:
Luke 7: 22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
The clarity of Jesus’s vision and ministry has been obscured not only by ideologues but also much of the organized church that has in many ways bastardized the message. But clearly, as we look throuhgout acts we note that the early followers of Christ were commited to selling all that they had and distributing it to the poor, tending the sick and shut ins, serving the widows and orphans, and attempting to bring the Kingdom of God (i.e. the Good news) to the lives of the all.
Note: Rodney D. Coates is a professor of sociolgy and he can be reached at coatesrd@muohio.edu
The song that lies silent in the heart of a mother sings upon the lips of her child....
--Kahlil Gibran
Dr. Fritz Pointer Responds to Dr. Rodney Coates on Jesus as a Revolutionary
One could just as well claim that Hercules and Robin Hood are revolutionary characters, though both, like Jesus, are mythical figures. Then, what about the other face of our sweet savior, the megalomaniac who in Luke 19:27 orders his followers to bring unbelievers to him "and slay them before me."
He repeatedly condemns and damns those who do not embrace him as the one true savior: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Those who are skeptics, who doubt Jesus' delusions of greatness "are of your father the devil." "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And "if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth [like a withered branch] into the fire" (Matthew 23:33; John 8:43-44; Matthew 25:41; John 15:6. This is extreme megalomania and has nothing to do with "Revolution."
He even approves of eunuchs, especially those who deliberately castrate themselves so that they can be "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" (Matthew 19:12). He is also a home wrecker: "a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:35-37; Luke 12:53). And, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
This sounds more like a cult leader who wages war against the competing loyalties posed by the families of his followers - anything but a revolutionary. He does not urge the poverty stricken mobilize against the wealthy. In fact, his precursor, John the Baptist, tells the working poor to "be content with your wages" (Luke 3:14). Jesus has no problem with that. He reminds the poor that "the servant (slave) is not greater than his lord" (John 13:16). He accepts the notion that masters have a right to whip servants whenever a servant's performance is not up to snuff. The servant who knowingly disobeys his lord "shall be beaten with many stripes" while the servant who performs poorly but without deliberate disobedience "shall be beaten with few stripes" (Luke 12: 47-48).
What kind of revolutionary is that? And, Peter tells slaves that they must "be subject to your masters with all fear" (1 Peter 2:18). For the Christ whose divinely inspired wisdom is supposedly timeless and universal, transcending the historic limitations of place and culture it does no good at all to say that he was a product of his time...women kissing his feet and whatnot. What's revolutionary about that? Women are forbidden to teach, adorn themselves, speak in church, or visit friend. They must live in fearful and chaste subjugation to their husbands and whatever other men who might enjoy dominion over them ( 1Corinthians 11:3,9; 14:34, 35; 1 Timothy 2:9, 11-12 and 5:13; Luke 7:45-46; John 12:3). Now, what's revolutionary about that? I am sick of neophyte christians, etc. cherry-picking from this incoherent, cobbled together text, the bible, to satisfy their own religiously inspired nonsense, and imposing or attempting to impose their misunderstanding on thinking people. Enough already.
--Fritz Pointer
He even approves of eunuchs, especially those who deliberately castrate themselves so that they can be "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" (Matthew 19:12). He is also a home wrecker: "a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:35-37; Luke 12:53). And, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).
This sounds more like a cult leader who wages war against the competing loyalties posed by the families of his followers - anything but a revolutionary. He does not urge the poverty stricken mobilize against the wealthy. In fact, his precursor, John the Baptist, tells the working poor to "be content with your wages" (Luke 3:14). Jesus has no problem with that. He reminds the poor that "the servant (slave) is not greater than his lord" (John 13:16). He accepts the notion that masters have a right to whip servants whenever a servant's performance is not up to snuff. The servant who knowingly disobeys his lord "shall be beaten with many stripes" while the servant who performs poorly but without deliberate disobedience "shall be beaten with few stripes" (Luke 12: 47-48).
What kind of revolutionary is that? And, Peter tells slaves that they must "be subject to your masters with all fear" (1 Peter 2:18). For the Christ whose divinely inspired wisdom is supposedly timeless and universal, transcending the historic limitations of place and culture it does no good at all to say that he was a product of his time...women kissing his feet and whatnot. What's revolutionary about that? Women are forbidden to teach, adorn themselves, speak in church, or visit friend. They must live in fearful and chaste subjugation to their husbands and whatever other men who might enjoy dominion over them ( 1Corinthians 11:3,9; 14:34, 35; 1 Timothy 2:9, 11-12 and 5:13; Luke 7:45-46; John 12:3). Now, what's revolutionary about that? I am sick of neophyte christians, etc. cherry-picking from this incoherent, cobbled together text, the bible, to satisfy their own religiously inspired nonsense, and imposing or attempting to impose their misunderstanding on thinking people. Enough already.
--Fritz Pointer
Dr. Fritz Pointer is professor emeritus of English at Contra Costa College. His father was a minister. His siblings include the Pointer Sisters.
Bibliography of Marvin X
Bibliography of Marvin X
Books
Sudan Rajuli Samia (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan Publishing, 1967)
Black Dialectics (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1967)
Fly To Allah: Poems (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1969)
Son of Man: Proverbs (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1969)
Black Man Listen: Poems and Proverbs (Detroit: Broadside Press, 1969)
Woman-Man's Best Friend (San Francisco: Al Kitab Sudan, 1973)
Selected Poems (San Francisco: Al Kitab Sudan, 1979)
Confession of A Wife Beater and Other Poems (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1981)
Liberation Poems for North American Africans (Fresno: Al Kitab Sudan, 1982)
Love and War: Poems ( Castro Valley: Black Bird Press, 1995)
Somethin Proper: Autobiography (Castro Valley: Black Bird Press, 1998)
In The Crazy House Called America: Essays (Castro Valley: Black Bird Press, 2002)
Wish I Could Tell You The Truth: Essays (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2005)
Land of My Daughters: Poems (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2005)
Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, BBP, 2007
How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, a Pan African 12 Step Model, BBP, Berkeley, 2008
Eldridge Cleaver: My friend the Devil, a memoir, BBP, 2009.
Mythology of Love, toward healthy psychosexuality, BBP, 2009
The Wisdom of Plato Negro, parable/fables, BBP, 2010
Hustler's Guide to the Game Called Life, (Vol. II, The Wisdom of Plato Negro), BBP, 2010
Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yo Self, essays on Obama Drama, BBP, 2010
Notes on the Wisdom of Action or How to Jump Out of the Box, essays, BBP, 2010
I AM OSCAR GRANT, essays on Oakland, BBP, 2010
Soulful Musings on the Unity of North American Africans, BBP, 2010
Guest Editor, Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Issue, BBP, 2010
Works In Progress
Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice, poems, BBP, 2012
In Sha Allah, A History of Black Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1954-2004 (Cherokee: Black Bird Press, 2012).
Seven Years in the House of Elijah, A Woman's Search for Love and Spirituality by Nisa Islam as told to Marvin X, 2012.
Play Scripts and/or Productions
Flowers for the Trashman, San Francisco: San Francisco State University Drama Department, 1965.
Flowers for the Trashman, San Francisco: Black Arts West/Theatre, 1966.
Take Care of Business, musical version of Flowers with music by Sun Ra, choreography by Raymond Sawyer and Ellendar Barnes: Your Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972.
Come Next Summer, San Francisco: Black Arts/West, 1966.
The Trial, New York, Afro-American Studio for Acting and Speech, 1970.
Resurrection of the Dead, San Francisco, choreography by Raymond Sawyer, music by Juju and Sun Ra, Your Black Educational Theatre, 1972.
Woman-Man's Best Friend, musical, Oakland, Mills College, 1973.
How I Met Isa, Masters thesis, San Francisco State University, 1975.
In The Name of Love, Oakland, Laney College Theatre, 1981.
One Day In The Life, Oakland, Alice Arts Theatre, 1996.
One Day In The Life, Brooklyn, NY, Sistah's Place, 1997.
One Day In The Life, Manhattan, Brecht Forum, 1997.
One Day In The Life, Newark, NJ, Kimako's Blues, 1997.
One Day In The Life, Oakland, Uhuru House, 1998.
One Day In The Life, San Francisco, Bannam Place Theatre, North Beach, 1998.
One Day In The Lifee, San Francisco, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 1999.
One Day In the Life, Marin City, Marin City Rec Center, 1999
One Day In the Life, Richmond, Unity Church, 2000.
One Day In the Life, San Jose, San Jose State University, 2000.
One Day In the Life, Berkeley, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2000.
One Day In the Life, Sacramento, New Colonial Theatre, 2000.
Sergeant Santa, San Francisco, Recovery Theatre script, 2002.
Other
Delicate Child, a short story, Oakland, Merritt College Student Magazine contest winner, 1963.
Delicate Child, a short story, Oakland, SoulBook Magazine, 1964.
Flowers for the Trashman: A One Act Drama, San Francisco, Black Dialogue Magazine, 1965.
Flowers for the Trashman, Black Fire, An Anthology of Afro-American Writing, edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal, (New York: Morrow, 1968).
Take Care of Business: A One Act Drama, aka Flowers, (New York: The Drama Review, NYU,1968)
The Black Bird (Al Tair Aswad): A One-Act Play, New Plays from the Black Theatre, edited by Ed Bullins with introduction (interview of Ed Bullins) by Marivn X, (New York: Bantam, 1969)
"Islam and Black Art: An Interview with Amiri Baraka" and foreword by Askia Muhammad Toure, afterword by Marivn X, in Black Arts: An Anthology of Black Creations, edited by Ahmed Alhamisi and Haroun Kofi Wangara (Harold G. Lawrence) (Detroit: Black Arts Publications, 1969).
"Everything's Cool: An Interview with Amiri Barka, aka, LeRoi Jones", Black Theatre Magazine, New Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, NY, 1968.
Resurrection of the Dead, a ritual/myth dance drama, Black Theatre Magazine, New Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, 1969.
Manifesto of the Black Educational Theatre of San Francisco, Black Theatre, 1972.
The Black Bird, A Parable by Marvin X, illustrated by Karen Johnson ( San Francisco: Al Kitab Sudan and Julian Richardson and Associates Publishers, 1972).
"Black Justice Must Be Done," Vietnam and Black America: An Anthology of Protest and Resistance, edited by Clyde Taylor (Garden City: Double-day/Anchor, 1973)
"Palestine," a poem, Black Scholar magazine, 1978.
Journal of Black Poetry, guest editor, 1968.
"The Meaning of African Liberation Day," by Dr. Walter Rodney, a speech in San Francisco, transcribed and edited by Marvin X, Journal of Black Poetry, 1972.
Muhammad Speaks, foreign editor, 1970. (Note: a few months later, Marvin X was selected to be editor of Muhammad Speaks until it was decided he was too militant. Askia Muhammad (Charles 37X) was selected instead.)
A Conversation with Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Black Scholar, 1973.
VIDEOGRAPHY
Proceedings of the Melvin Black Human Rights Conference, Oakland, 1979, produced by Marvin X, featuring Angela Davis, Minister Farakhan, Eldridge Cleaver, Paul Cobb, Dezzie Woods-Jones, Jo Nina-Abran, Mansha Nitoto, Khalid Abdullah Tarik Al Mansur, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Oba T-Shaka, and Marvin X.
Proceedings of the First Black Men's Conference, Oakland, 1980, John Douimbia, founder, Marvin X, chief planner, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Oba T'Shaka,Norman Brown, Kermit Scott, Minister Ronald Muhammad, Louis Freeman, Michael Lange, Betty King, Dezzie Woods-Jones, et al.
Forum on Drugs, Art and Revolution, Sista's Place, Brooklyn, New York, 1997, featuring Amiri and Amina Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Sam Anderson, Elombe Brath and Marvin X.
Eldridge Cleaver Memorial Service, produced by Marvin X, Oakland, 1998, participants included Kathleen and Joju Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Dr. Yusef Bey, Minister Keith Muhammad, Imam Al Amin, Dr. Nathan Hare, Tarika Lewis, Richard Aoki, Reginald Major, Majidah Rahman and Marvin X.
One Day in the Life, a docudrama of addiction and recovery, filmed by Ptah Allah-El, produced, written, directed and staring Marvin X, edited by Marvin X, San Francisco: Recovery Theatre, 1999.
Marvin X Interviews Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, former actor in Marvin X's Black Theatre: Berkeley, La Pena Cultural Center, 1999.
"Abstract for An Elders Council," lecture/discussion, Tupac Amaru Shakur One Nation Conference, Oakland: McClymonds High School, 1999.
Marvin X at Dead Prez Concert, San Francisco, 2000.
Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness, produced by Marvin X at San Francisco State University, 2001, featuring Dr. Cornel West, Amiri Baraka, Amina Baraka, Dr. Julia Hare, Dr. Nathan Hare, Rev. Cecil Williams, Destiny, Phavia, Tarika Lewis, Askia Toure, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Rudi Wongozi, Ishmael Reed, Dr. Theophile Obenga, Marvin X, et al.
Live In Philly At Warm Daddies, a reading accompanied by Elliot Bey, Marshall Allen, Danny Thompson, Ancestor Goldsky, Rufus Harley, Alexander El, 2002.
Marvin X Live in Detroit, a documentary by Abu Ibn, 2002.
In the Crazy House Called America, concert with Marvin X and Destiny, San Francisco: Buriel Clay Theatre, 2003.
Marvin X in Concert (accompanied by harpist Destiny, violinist Tarika Lewis and percussionists Tacuma and Kele Nitoto, dancer Raynetta Rayzetta), Amiri and Amina Baraka, filmed by Kwame and Joe, Berkeley: Black Repertory Group Theatre, 2003.
Marvin X Speaks at the Third Eye Conference, Dallas, Texas, 2003.
Marvin X and the Last Poets, San Francisco: Recovery Theatre, 2004.
Proceedings of the San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair, produced by Marvin X, filmed by Mindseed Productions, San Francisco, Recovery Theatre, 2004, participants include: Sonia Sanchez, Davey D, Amiri Baraka, Sam Hamod, Fillmore Slim, Askia Toure, Akhbar Muhammad, Sam Anderson, Al Young, Devorah Major, Opal Palmer Adisa, Tarika Lewis, Amina Baraka, Julia and Nathan Hare, Charlie Walker, Jamie Walker, Reginald Lockett, Everett Hoagland, Sam Greenlee, Ayodelle Nzinga, Suzzette Celeste, Tarika Lewis, Raynetta Rayzetta, Deborah Day, James Robinson, Ptah Allah-El, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Marvin X, et al. (Note: let me please acknowledge some of the historic personages in the audience: Gansta Alonzao Batin (mentor of the Bay Area BAM, made his transition shortly after the conference), Willie Williams of Broadside Press, Detroit, Gansta Brown, Gansta Mikey Moore (now Rev.), Arthur Sheridan, founder of Black Dialogue magazine, also co-founders Aubrey and Gerald LaBrie, Reginald Major, author of Panther Is A Black Cat. Thank you all for making this event historic, ed. MX)
Get Yo Mind Right, Marvin X Barbershop Talk, #4, a documentary film by Pam Pam and Marvin X, Oakland: 2005.
Marvin X Live in the Fillmore at Rass'elas Jazz Club, A Nisa Islam production, filmed by Ken Johnson, San Francisco, 2005.
Marvin X in the Malcolm X Room, McClymonds High School, accompanied by Tacuma (dijembe and percussion, dancer/choreographer Raynetta Rayzetta, actor Salat Townsend, filmed by Eddie Abrams, Oakland, 2005.
AUDIOGRAPHY
In Sha Allah, interview with Nisa Islam, Cherokee, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Nadar Ali, Fresno, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Manuel Rashid, Fresno, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with John Douimbia, Grand Ayatollah of the Bay, San Francisco, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Minister Rabb Muhammad, Oakland, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Antar Bey, CEO, Your Black Muslim Bakery, Oakland, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Norman Brown, Oakland, Oakland, 2004.
In Sha Allah, interview with Kareem Muhammad (Brother Edward), Oakland, 2004.
Love and War, poems, Oakland, 1995.
One Day In The Life, docudrama, Oakland, 1999.
Jesus and Liquor Stores, Marvin X and Askari X, Oakland, 2002
Wake Up, Detroit, Marvin X interviewed by Lawrence X, Detroit, 2002..
Wish I, interview with Pam Pam, San Francisco, KPOO Radio, 2005.
Wish I, interview with Terry Collins, San Francisco, KPOO Radio, 2005.
Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement, interview with Professor James Smethurst of UMASS, Oakland, 2003.
The archives of Marvin X are at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
China Denounces USA Treatment of Blacks
China Denounces America’s Treatment of Afro-Descendants
china-denounces
China Denounces America’s Treatment of Afro-descendants (African Americans)
By Editor Raushana Karriem
In a scathing report issued by China’s Information Office of the State Council, China condemned America’s treatment of its Afro-descendants and other minorities and cited America’s numerous human rights violations against its minorities.
“The State Department of the United States released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2010 on April 8, 2011. As in previous years, the reports are full of distortions and accusations of the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China. However, the United States turned a blind eye to its own terrible human rights situation and seldom mentioned it. The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2010 is prepared to urge the United States to face up to its own human rights issues, “ states the report.
The report cites that Afro-descendants make up 50% of the homeless in Los Angeles, California and have a 32% unemployment rate nationwide.
According to a report of the Working Group of Experts on people of African descent to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in August 2010, unemployment was a very serious issue for the Afro-descendant community in the United States, with levels of unemployment being, proportionately, four times higher among this population than in the white community. Reference was made to a case where the New York City Fire Department was found to have discriminated against people of African descent who had applied for employment as firemen. Of the 11,000 firemen employed by the New York City Fire Department, only about 300 were of African descent, despite their being about 27 percent of the population of New York (UN document A/HRC/15/18). Nearly one-sixth of black residents in the city were unemployed in the third quarter of 2010. About 140,000 of the city’s 384,000 unemployed residents, or 36 percent, were black (The New York Times, Oct 28, 2010).
Poverty proportion for minorities is also high in the United States. The US Census Bureau announced in Sept, 2010 that the poverty proportion of the black was 25.8 percent in 2009, and those of Hispanic origin and Asian were 25.3 percent and 12.5 percent respectively, much higher than that of the non-Hispanic white at 9.4 percent. The median household income for the black, Hispanic origin and non-Hispanic white were $32,584, $38,039 and $54,461 respectively (The USA Today, September 17, 2010). A survey released by the America Association of Retired Persons on February 23, 2010 found that over the previous 12 months, a third (33 percent) of African-Americans age 45+ had problems paying rent or mortgage, 44 percent had problems paying for essential items, such as food and utilities, almost one in four (23 percent) lost their employer-sponsored health insurance, more than three in 10 (31 percent) had cut back on their medications, and a quarter (26 percent) prematurely withdrew funds from their retirement nest eggs to pay for living expenses. Even in the tough employment environment, 12 percent of African-Americans age 65+ returned to the workforce from retirement, while nearly 20 percent of African-Americans age 45 to 64 increased the number of hours worked and 12 percent took a second job (The Los Angeles Times, Feb 23, 2010). In 2009, there were more than 30,000 black children living in poverty in the nation’s capital, almost 7,000 more than two years before. Among black children in the city, childhood poverty shot up to 43 percent, from 36 percent in 2008. In contrast, the poverty rate for Hispanic children was 13 percent, and the rate for white children was 3 percent (The Washington Post, Sept 29, 2010).
The USA Today on Oct 14, 2010 reported that African-American boys who were suspended at double and triple the rates of their white male peers. At the Christina School District in Delaware, 71 percent of black male students were suspended in a recent school year, compared to 22 percent of their white male counterparts. African-American students without disabilities were more than three times as likely to be expelled as their white peers. African-American students with disabilities were over twice as likely to be expelled or suspended as their white counterparts (USA Today, March 8, 2010).
The health care for African-American people is worrisome. Studies showed that nearly a third of ethnic minority families in the United States did not have health insurance. Life expectancy was lower and infant mortality higher than average (BBC, the social and economic position of minorities). Mortality of African-American children was two to three times higher than that of their white counterparts. African-American children represented 71 percent of all pediatric HIV/AIDS cases. African-American women and men were 17 times and 7 times, respectively, more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than white people, and twice more likely to develop cancer.
Racial discrimination is evident in the law enforcement and judicial systems. The New York Times reported on May 13, 2010, that in 2009, African-Americans and Latinos were 9 times more likely to be stopped by the police to receive stop-and-frisk searches than white people. Overall, 41 percent of the prison population was estimated to be African-American. The rate of African-Americans serving a life sentence was more than 10 times higher than that of whites. Males of African descent who dropped out of school had a 66 percent chance of ending up in jail or being processed by the criminal justice system (UN document A/HRC/15/18). A report said 85 percent of the people stopped in New York to receive stop-and-frisk searches over the past six years had been black or Latino (The Washington Post, November 4, 2010). According to a report of the Law School of the Michigan State University, among the 159 death row inmates in North Carolina, 86 were black, 61 were white and 12 were from other ethnic groups. During the trial process of the 159 capital cases, the number of black members taken out from the jury by prosecutors more than doubled that of non-black members. According to statistics from the Chicago Police Department, the proportion of black people being the criminals and the victims of all murder cases is the highest, reaching 76.3 and 77.6 percent respectively .
In conclusion, The People’s Republic of China demands that America stop using, their cry of Human Rights Violations against other sovereign nations in order to declare war on them to steal their resources when America flagrantly violates the Human Rights of Afro-descendants and other minorities within its own country.
--from Muhammad Speaks
Friday, April 22, 2011
1 - A Day in the Life - Marvin X and Discussion
One Day in the Life, Marvin X's docudrama of his addiction and recovery from Crack, the longest running African American play in Northern California history, 1996-2002. Ishmael Reed says, "It's the most powerful drama I've seen." It was shown throughout the Bay Area to thousands and thousands of addicts in recovery and the general community, produced by Marvin X's Recovery Theatre. The play was performed nationwide.
One of the venues was Sista's Place in Brooklyn, New York. One evening following the performance was a discussion entitled Drugs, Art and Revolution. Panelists included Omawale Clay, Sam Anderson, Sonia Sanchez, Amina Baraka, Amiri Baraka and Elombe Brath. 5/27/97
On Manning's Reinvention of Malcolm X
Look at the back cover of the book, its "endorsers" and you can predict! AB
AmiriBarakaBooks.com
Sent: Wed, April 20, 2011 6:12:23 AM
Subject: Re malcolm x
From: blackbanjotony@hotmail.com
Though long awaiting this work and having had brief exchanges with Manning on
this subject over the past 35 years, the coming out of this book caught me so
deep into banjos that I didnt realize it was out until a DC journalist
Facebooked me about the rejected _Root_ review.
Several things impress me, or rather unimpress me, about the debate on it. The
first is that little of the debate in the linked pages and other things searches
on it bring up are about Malcolm X and his role in African American liberation,
although many purport to do so. Most seem to dance about one non-political
aspect of the life of Malcolm X in a period when he led a completely different
life and identity, a period when Malcolm wrote he had a mentality that he
considered a degenerate reflection of the oppression of Black folk. None of the
commentary focuses on Malcolm as a political person in a way that for better or
worse Manning no doubt centered.
What seems required is for folk to seriously read this book and forget the minor
and personal controversy and think about how the book faithfully or unfaithfully
serves the truth of Malcolm X. An abundance of books in which Malcolm expresses
his ideas clearly, particularly in the last years of his life are available for
reference and reflection. New evidence based explanations of the realities of
the last years of his life are also available in Taylor Branch's work and in the
release of his FBI files.
Manning is not the first to criticize Haley's role in "The Autobiography of
Malcolm X." What he says is just the tip of the iceberg. That book is accepted
as gospel by many people, but during his last months Malcolm made quite clear
to people around him that he wanted to change the direction of the whole project
and disagreed with Haley, particularly about how the Nation of Islam was
treated. Initially, he had felt that he needed to make no or few criticisms of
the Nation, but to set his own way, even though he knew even before he left the
Nation that his differences were irreconcilable and that the Nation's leadership
was organizing his murder. However, he came to realize that this was a mistake
and that for his own protection both physically and politically, he needed to
expose the corruption, political conservatism, and moral depravity that
characterized the Nation. Manning's assertion that Malcolm wanted that book
to be much more political in the sense that he became much more political and
radical matches what Malcolm was telling people about it in the period just
before his murder. This stuff is documented--as opposed to my memory of
talking to various people in NY about this in the late 1960s--in George
Breitman's book on Malcolm X, Evolution of a Revolutionary. It can also be seen
in the set of speeches and interviews from Malcolm's last year exposing the
Nation and its crimes and corruption available from Pathfinder.
Returning to our debate and not trying to enter it, let me beg for a seriousness
about it. It is also necessary to provide Malcolm and history with the
respect due a real fallable person who is the product, not of divine
revelation, but our gritty human life. Malcolm has become a saint, now distant
enough in actual memory of most folk for people to demand anything but
perfection and to see his life as anything but hagiography
One respect is owed Cornel West. He has written clearly about how his reformist
political perspective and the revolutionary ideas of Malcolm X are in conflict
and why he believes Malcolm was wrong. Few people attempt to do that,
disrespecting Malcolm and in turn disrespecting themselves. Instead,
discussion of Malcolm X even by scholars often ends up folk trying to prove
that Malcolm believed and stood for whatever the scholar believes.
I Rather than the plaster saint he has since been depicted as, people I have
met who knew Malcolm and interacted with him in the mid 1960s in New York,
Africa, and Europe remember him as an extremely humble, self critical person
with a sense of humor, and a longing to relax and enjoy himself when removed
from the spotlight, a person always open to learning from struggles going on
around the world, and fromt he hard school of real life, a person whose
responsibility and seriousness in big things came from a sense of obligation by
what he believed he had done wrong in the past, and a person with nostalgia and
some interest in reclaiming some of the joys he had left behind.
If whatever great school that produced his character made him such a person, let
us show his memory and ourselves the kindness to discuss him as that imperfect
human that he was, and not try to pound the sainthood that some seem to need
into him.
I hope that discussion takes place after thoroughly and critically reading his
book, after consulting Malcolm's own speeches and writings, and in a spirit of
science and objectivity, rather than of demonology or hero worship.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Why the Chauncey Bailey Project and the Black Chauncey Bailey Project
Martin Reynolds,
Editor, Oakland
Tribune
Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb suggested
the Chauncey Bailey Project and later the
Black Chauncey Bailey Project.
Why the Chauncey Bailey Project and the Black Chauncey Bailey Project?
Oakland Post writer Marvin X
holds award presented to the
Oakland Post by the Chauncey
Bailey Project. Marvin is organizer
of the Black Chauncey Bailey and editor
of the forthcoming anthology on Bailey.
photo Gene Hazzard
At lunch today, Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds asked Marvin X why the Black Chauncey Bailey Project? After all, the Chauncey Bailey Project is a consortium of journalists from many ethnic and gender groups. So why do you attack the Chauncey Bailey Project so vociferiously? You also attack the Oakland Police for conspiring to kill Chauncey Bailey, and yet you seem to excuse the Bakery boys for the cold blooded murder of Chauncey.
Marvin X replied that the entire matter was very emotional for him, after all, his friends are charged with murdering another friend, thus it is a case of being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.
And yet, as I sat in the courtroom looking at the defendents, it was clear to me these are children, similar to the children in the serious crimes unit at Alameda Country Juvenile Hall he visited recently; similar to the baby faced killers he addressed at New York's Riker's Island Juvenile Prison.
But the suspects were mentored by a member of the Oakland Police Department, so why wouldn't I also focus on the OPD's possible role in the assassination? There is no doubt Officer Longmire had a profound influence on the young men accused of murdering Chauncey, to the degree they believed they could get away with murder.
Editor Reynolds said he knows Officer Longmire, has met members of his family and thinks he is a fine gentleman. Marvin X wondered to himself whether it was possible the Chauncey Bailey Project was not pursuing the police connection because of its friendship with the OPD.
After all, it was Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb who called for the Chauncey Bailey Project after the funeral of his editor. But he said at a meeting with journalists forming the project, they resisted his notion of police involvement, especially OPD embedded writer Harry Harris. Paul Cobb suspects Harris is simply a plant in the CBP representing the OPD. It was at this point Paul distanced himself from the CBP. He is now calling for an accounting of all funds garnered by the CBP, i.e., advertising dollars, grants, fellowships, etc.
He found it ironic that he was presented with a plaque for contributing to the Chauncey Bailey Project. (Marvin X holds the plaque in the above photo by Gene Hazzard) For sure the CBP has been reluctant to pursue the role of police in the murder of Cobb's editor. Although Tribune Editor Renyolds said Chauncey was no Bob Woodward, Marvin X says Chauncey was indeed acting on information that the OPD was shaking down drug dealers, planting false evidence, money laundering and possible homicides under the color of law.
Mothers at Allen Temple Baptist Church called Chauncey to help them intervene with the OPD to stop shaking down their drug dealing children then releasing them, causing them to face the wrath of dope dealers who would not believe their children were relieved of their money, dope and jewelry, then let go.
Martin Reynolds assured Marvin X if presented evidence, the Oakland Tribune would aggressively pursue the lead, but he doesn't have the community contacts it takes to gather the necessary information. He faulted himself for not having a community writer similar to Chauncey Bailey.
Marvin told Martin he would be surprised at the things people tell him at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, the crossroads of Oakland. But he questioned the Tribune editor on why the CBP has been hesitant to go down the road to truth Chauncey was on.
Is it lack of evidence, community contacts or simple fear, and yet Chauncey gave his life because of his fearlessness in pursuit of truth. Herein may lie the real and only difference between the Chauncey Bailey Project and the Black Chauncey Bailey Project.
--Marvin X
4/20/11
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Marvin X and Tarika Lewis Performed at Lotho Repast
Marvin X and Tarika Lewis Performed at Lotho Repast
At Everett and Jones Restaurant last night, Oakland celebrated the transition of activist/entertainer Lothario Lotho (1947-2011). Marvin X read poetry, accompanied by his favorite musician, violinist Tarika Lewis, also a social activist who was the first female member of the Black Panther Party. Not seen are musicians James Levi,drummer, Butch Haynes, Congas, and Ricardo Scales on piano.
photo Gene Hazzard
Marvi X and Jason Lotho,
son of Lothario, share a
moment. "My father loved
you, Marvin X," he told
the poet.
photo Gene Hazzard
Inspired Artist Award for Marvin X
Family, Friends and Colleagues, I am excited and honored to be recognized by Full Vision Arts Foundation and lajones&associates during the Inspired Artist Awards Reception and Ceremony on Saturday, May 14th, from 5pm - 7pm at the Paramount Theatre.
This special event is a prelude to the 25th Anniversary of the Bay Area Black Comedy Competition and Festival's Final Competition Round which starts at 8pm. I hope you would consider joining me for the evening to celebrate my special honor. Advance tickets are $55 per person and $100 for couples -- these tickets not only admit you to the VIP and Awards Reception, but also include admission to the Final Competition Round.
To purchase your advance tickets to the special ticketed event ... please visit http://www.blackcomedyvipawards.eventbrite.com/. if you should have questions, please contact me or LaNiece Jones at laniece@lajonesmedia.com.
This special event is a prelude to the 25th Anniversary of the Bay Area Black Comedy Competition and Festival's Final Competition Round which starts at 8pm. I hope you would consider joining me for the evening to celebrate my special honor. Advance tickets are $55 per person and $100 for couples -- these tickets not only admit you to the VIP and Awards Reception, but also include admission to the Final Competition Round.
To purchase your advance tickets to the special ticketed event ... please visit http://www.blackcomedyvipawards.eventbrite.com/. if you should have questions, please contact me or LaNiece Jones at laniece@lajonesmedia.com.
Inspired Artist Awards VIP Reception
& Awards Ceremony 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
5:30pm - 7pm Paramount Theatre Mezzanine Level
(use Broadway entrance & pick up tickets at special VIP event will call table)
VIP table from 5pm - 6:45pm
Award Ceremony Emcee:
Nikki Thomas, Nikki Thomas Network
& Awards Ceremony 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
5:30pm - 7pm Paramount Theatre Mezzanine Level
(use Broadway entrance & pick up tickets at special VIP event will call table)
VIP table from 5pm - 6:45pm
Award Ceremony Emcee:
Nikki Thomas, Nikki Thomas Network
2011 Honorees
Amanda Elliott, Executive Director, Richmond Main Street
Don “DC” Curry, Comedian / Actor
Joyce Gordon, Proprietor, Joyce Gordon Gallery
Dorothy King-Jernegan, Proprietor, Everett & Jones BBQ
Charleston Pierce, Model Coach Philanthropist Charleston Pierce Presents
Shelly Tatum, Businessman Community Advocate
Marvin X, Prime Minister of Poetry, First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists
Don “DC” Curry, Comedian / Actor
Joyce Gordon, Proprietor, Joyce Gordon Gallery
Dorothy King-Jernegan, Proprietor, Everett & Jones BBQ
Charleston Pierce, Model Coach Philanthropist Charleston Pierce Presents
Shelly Tatum, Businessman Community Advocate
Marvin X, Prime Minister of Poetry, First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists
Music by: Dr. Terence Elliott
Free Champagne & Appetizers No Host Bar Awards Presentation
Monday, April 18, 2011
Oakland Celebrates Transition of Lothario Lotho
Lothario Lotho (the Lo Show) Transitions to the Ancestors
The Bay Area gave one of its much loved sons, Lothario Lotho, a joyful home coming ceremony Monday at St Paul's AME Church in Berkeley. The last rites was witnessed by a packed house of family, friends and associates of the man who was the Master of Ceremonies at numerous events throughout the Bay Area. For twenty-three years he was MC of Berkeley's Juneteenth Festival.
But Lotho touched many souls even beyond the entertainment world. Professor emeritus Oba T'Shaka of San Francisco State University told how Lotho joined the Civil Rights struggle while a high school student in San Francisco. Journalist Charles Aikens spoke of his association with Lotho while they were students at UC Berkeley. Lotho was an activist at UCB, who fought to establish the Black Studies program.
He joined the Black Panther Party and established himself as a serious social activist, even ran for Mayor of Oakland, competing with Bobby Seale who won 47% of the vote, although Lionel Wilsom became the first black mayor.
St. Paul's AME Church was packed with scholars, entertainers and common people who loved Lotho. Marvin X fought back tears to tell the congregation, "His last words to me were of anger at my not attending his mother's funeral a months ago. He taught me two things, (1) not to destroy a brother with drugs, (2) love the brotherhood, especially since he was an only child. He looked upon his friends as blood brothers."
Some of the Bay Area's top musicians performed during the ceremony, including Paul Tillman Smith, Butch Haynes, Rhonda Benin, Sonny Farley, Dorothy Morrison, Michael Robinson, Ricardo Scales, Levi Seaser and Derrick Hughes. Derrick's voice was simply from another world in its power and range.
Pastor Leslie R. White officiated but had to cut down the time for words of love that began with a two minute limit, but when so many lined up to express their love for Lotho, he cut the time to one minute and/or one topic.
Those present included Alameda County Suprervisor Keith Carson, the Legendary Fillmore Slim, a Berkeley City Councilman, Nisa Bey, organizer Mansha Nitoto, Charles Aikens, Delores Nochi Cooper, John McGaffy, David Glover, Alona Clifton, Henry Winston, Clifford Brown, Jr., Arif Khatib, Ed Howard, Leo Bazille, et al.
Monkey Mind Media Gets it Right, for Once!
The following article by the Monkey Mind Media's Chauncey Bailey Project correctly focuses on the role of the Oakland Police in the murder of Chauncey Bailey. We congratulate them for this piece of ivestigative journalism. We condemn them for not pursuing this line and thereby forcing the DA to charge the OPD in the murder.
We have been invited to lunch by Oakland Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds. We shall ask him why the Tribune has not pressured the DA to indict Officer Longmire and other OPD officers, including the retired Chief of Police under whose watch the murder occured.
--Marvin X, The Black Chauncey Bailey Project
By Thomas Peele, Bob Butler and Mary Fricker
The Chauncey Bailey Project
25 October 2008
OAKLAND — The lead detective assigned to investigate journalist Chauncey Bailey’s killing ignored evidence linking Yusuf Bey IV, former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, to a role in the killing and interfered in two other unrelated felony cases involving Bey IV, according to an investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project.
The Bailey Project’s reporting has led to a police internal affairs investigation of that detective, Sgt. Derwin Longmire, and whether his relationship with Bey IV may have compromised the case. Law enforcement officials said the investigation of the Bailey killing is in crisis. If Longmire is charged with administrative or criminal wrongdoing, the chances of convicting the one person charged, Devaughndre Broussard, might be jeopardized.
At the same time, if a vigorous investigation of Bailey’s killing is not quickly undertaken, chances of ever charging others and fully solving the most prominent slaying of an American journalist since 1976 could be lost.
Sergeant Derwin Longmire, lead investigator in the Chauncey Bailey murder case. (Nader Khouri/Contra Costa Times)
In a highly unusual move, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has launched its own investigation to determine whether there was a conspiracy to kill Bailey. The district attorney’s probe is independent of the Oakland police and two investigators have been assigned to the work. Usually a case has one investigator. Evidence the Bailey Project obtained during its lengthy investigation includes data from a tracking device hidden on Bey IV’s car that shows it outside Bailey’s apartment seven hours before the Aug. 2, 2007, killing.
Police say Bey IV and Broussard both admitted to being in the vehicle at that time along with a third man who worked at the bakery, Antoine Mackey. The Bailey Project could find no record that Oakland police officials ever analyzed Bey IV’s cell phone data. The Bailey Project, however, obtained and analyzed the records. Through police and court records and online databases, the Project identified the people associated with the numbers that Bey IV called, as well as the people who called Bey IV. Those cell phone records show that Bey IV was on the phone with an acquaintance of Bailey while Bey IV, Mackey and Broussard were outside the residence.
This person was JR Valrey of KPFA's Block Report and SF Bayview Newspaper. We need the trascription of his conversation with the killers while they were parked outside Chauncey's apartment rehearsing the murder plan. How could he be an acquaintance of Bailey yet not warn him killers are at his door? Was he part of the conspiracy? Why then is he talking with the killers?, Marvin X, the Black Chauncey Bailey Project, www.theblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com)
They also show Bey IV involved in a series of phone calls within minutes of the killing, including one to Mackey, who, like Broussard, is from San Francisco and who has a long juvenile and adult criminal record. Mackey is currently incarcerated on a burglary conviction.
Additionally, the Bailey Project learned that Bey IV has spoken with Longmire repeatedly from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where the bakery leader has been held on unrelated charges since his arrest in August, 2007. Seven legal and criminal experts, including a retired superior court judge, a former prosecutor and a former police commissioner, reviewed documents for the Bailey Project and said that Longmire’s investigation raises questions about whether he was protecting Bey IV from charges, ignored involvement of others and instead, pinned all blame on Broussard, now 20, who worked at the bakery as a handyman and who confessed to the killing. He later recanted.
Bey IV, 22, has repeatedly denied involvement in Bailey’s killing. District Attorney Tom Orloff, Oakland police Chief Wayne Tucker, Assistant Chief Howard Jordan, homicide unit commander Lt. Ersie Joyner and Longmire all rejected repeated requests for interviews for this story.
In past interviews, department leaders have defended Longmire’s investigation of the case and complimented his skilled interrogation in getting Broussard to confess. Joyner said Longmire was a fine detective doing excellent work. Jordan said it was unusual but not unethical for a lead investigator on a case to be friends with persons involved in it. “I don’t have any problems with Sgt. Longmire’s relationship with members of the bakery,” Jordan said in a televised interview in February. “I trust his integrity. I trust his credibility.”
But former Santa Clara County Judge LaDoris Cordell said Longmire should have recused himself from the case and that department leaders should have seen the conflict. A detective who is friends with a person suspected in a killing “should have no involvement in the investigation at all,” she said.
The internal affairs probe of Longmire is also looking at a succession of calls made in the past four months. Bey IV calls the mother of his three children who then conferenced in Longmire on three-way calling, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the case. The legal experts who reviewed Longmire’s case notes, recordings of interviews with Broussard and Bey IV, a report on the tracking device and other documents for the Bailey Project said the investigation is severely compromised. “I felt from reading all of this, a sense of a bias, a bias on the part of Sgt. Longmire, in favor of … those involved with the bakery,” said Cordell. “I didn’t feel a sense (of) objectivity that I think has to be there for a competent investigation.”
Longmire’s case notes of the investigation is “suspiciously incomplete,” said Richard Leo, a University of San Francisco law professor and nationally recognized criminal expert. “Is Longmire blind?” Leo said. “Journalists after the fact investigating a murder shouldn’t be discovering big pieces of seemingly inculpatory evidence of knowledge and involvement and participation in that murder (by uncharged people) that police knew about and didn’t thoroughly investigate and thoroughly document.”
Conspiracy Ignored
Bakery associate Antoine Mackey, arrested in April 2008 for a burglary.
A masked gunman shot Bailey, 57, three times on the morning of Aug. 2, 2007, near 14th and Alice streets as he walked toward his job at the Oakland Post newspaper. At the time of his death, he was working on several stories including one about internal strife within the Bey family and the bakery’s October 2006 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In a recorded interview on Aug. 3, 2007, Bey IV told Longmire that Broussard told him he killed Bailey because the journalist was going to “write bad things about the bakery.” Broussard, then 19, subsequently confessed to Longmire, saying he wanted to be “a real strong” Muslim soldier and that he acted alone. Broussard has also implicated himself in a series of jailhouse telephone calls that he made to friends and relatives. He said several times that Bey IV “told on me.” At the same time, he has publicly recanted his confession, saying Bey IV ordered him to admit guilt to protect the bakery.
Others associated with the bakery have said Bey IV’s followers didn’t act independently. A person arrested during an Aug. 3, 2007 raid of the bakery made a phone call from jail that police recorded. “Everybody knows, even the police know, that they don’t do nothing unless (Bey IV) tells them,” that person said to a relative, according to a copy of the recording, which was obtained by the Bailey Project. The person is not being identified out of safety concerns.
The Bailey Project has also learned that police have a statement from another bakery associate who said Bey IV called a meeting the night before the killing. He ordered his followers to pray for strength, said two police officers knowledgeable of the statement. The bakery associate told police that Bey IV, Mackey and Broussard also prayed together separately and complained that they had to wake at 5 a.m. the next day.
After the killing, there was a mood of celebration at the bakery, the associate told police. Officers asked that the person’s name not be revealed, saying disclosure could endanger the person’s life. In recorded jailhouse phone calls with relatives, Broussard has alluded to the involvement of others in the killing. In one recording, Broussard said “Mackey had the sawed-off,” in an apparent reference to the shotgun used to kill Bailey. Two of those relatives — both uncles with long criminal records — repeatedly admonished Broussard not to inform on others, according to the recordings obtained by the Bailey Project.
Bey IV has said he had the shotgun, too. On a secretly recorded police video, disclosed in June by the Bailey Project, Bey IV told two of his other followers that he put the gun used to kill Bailey in his closet after the shooting. On the recording, Bey IV mocked the fatal blast to the journalist’s head and bragged that Longmire was protecting him from charges.
Police recorded that video four days after Bailey’s killing to gather evidence in a case in which Bey IV is accused of leading four followers in the kidnapping and torture of two women. As soon as detectives in that case saw that the video also contained statements about Bailey, they turned over the tape to homicide investigators, according to detectives familiar with the case.
But like the tracking-device report, Longmire never documented the video’s existence in his case notes and never challenged Bey IV about it in two subsequent jailhouse interviews after it was taped. The department’s procedures for felony investigations require that detectives’ case notes reflect “the inclusion of any additional documents or evidence discovered during the investigation, including the location, date and time the item was discovered.”
Ignoring the tracking report, the video and failing to analyze the cell phone records are the biggest indicators that Longmire did not thoroughly investigate the killing, said Cordell, the retired judge. Longmire failed to “put together the pieces (of) what happened,” she said. “The red flag was waving and waving … but either he wasn’t paying attention or decided he didn’t want to see it.”
In his case notes, Longmire reported that police ordered a fingerprint analysis of the shotgun used in the killing. But then he never documented in his case notes receiving it. In nearly two decades on the Santa Clara County bench, Cordell said she has read “thousands and thousands of police reports. It’s rare (to) come across one that is so lacking in follow-up, so lacking in areas that ought to be delved into.” The phone records could be the key to unraveling a conspiracy, said former Boston police Lieutenant Thomas Nolan. But Longmire didn’t document any analysis of Bey IV’s calls around the time of the killing, nor do his case notes show he attempted to subpoena Mackey or Broussard’s phone records. He also didn’t document any analysis of the phone belonging to Bey IV’s girlfriend, which was seized during the raid.
Notes taken from its address book contained names and numbers key to understanding Bey IV’s phone records. The Bailey Project, however, used that information to reconstruct and analyze calls to and from Bey IV’s phone in the crucial hours before and after Bailey’s killing. “Cell phone records are an invaluable source of information about placing people in associations with other people who you know or suspect to be involved,” said Nolan, now a Boston University criminologist. “I mean, this is criminal investigation 101.”
“A true believer”
Longmire has a long history with the bakery. He has been an Oakland police officer for more than 20 years and investigated the 2005 murder of Bey IV’s brother and predecessor as bakery leader, Antar Bey. During that time, the detective got to know Bey IV. Bey IV’s former lawyer, Lorna Brown, said Longmire tried to be an older brother to him. A detective familiar with Longmire described him as a “true believer” in the former bakery’s philosophy of African-American self-reliance. Two other law enforcement members familiar with Longmire agreed with that assessment. Despite that relationship, which was widely known in the department, Longmire’s supervisors, homicide Lt. Ersie Joyner and then Criminal Investigation Division Captain Jeff Loman, let him take the lead in the Bailey case even though the bakery was implicated within 11 hours of the killing.
Joyner, in an April interview, said Longmire’s relationship with bakery members reflected department policy that officers know the community. Joyner pointed to Loman, now a deputy chief, as an example, saying he met people at the bakery when he worked in North Oakland. But the relationship between Longmire and the Bey family seemed to trouble another homicide detective. Homicide Sgt. Lou Cruz, assigned to write one of the search warrants for the Aug. 3, 2007 raid on the bakery, did the work at home to keep Longmire ignorant, said two officers familiar with Cruz’s actions. “Cruz was worried about Longmire,” one of them said.
Cruz did not return a call requesting an interview. In the first of two recorded interviews with Longmire on Aug. 3, 2007, Bey IV described the detective as “always patronizing our bakery,” calling him “a supporter.” Longmire didn’t dispute the characterizations, according to a recording of the conversation.
On a Web site called http://freethebakerybrothers.org/">freethebakerybrothers.org that bakery supporters started this year, Bey IV is quoted as saying he and Longmire, whose picture is posted on the site, “have no special friendship, we respect each other as brothers.”
The evidence not documented in Longmire’s case notes and his relationship with Bey IV shows, “this case is completely screwed up,” said an Oakland detective who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. “Everybody’s worried about it.” “Did you go …” Eleven hours after the killing — Longmire was told that a ballistic test found that two spent 12-gauge shells recovered next to Bailey’s body were fired from a shotgun used in a Dec. 6, 2006, of a car belonging to a man who had a dispute with Bey IV. No charges were filed in that shooting, but police suspected Bey IV’s involvement.
At 5 a.m. on Aug. 3, 2007, police raided the bakery to arrest Bey IV and others in the kidnapping case. The operation had been planned for days. As 200 officers swarmed the complex, Broussard threw a shotgun out of a window and was taken into custody. Police determined the shotgun was used to kill Bailey. Less than four hours after the raid, documents show, Longmire learned that a tracking device placed on Bey IV’s car by detectives working the kidnapping case showed it was parked outside Bailey’s apartment just seven hours before the killing. “I informed (Longmire) of all the highlights,” Officer Eric K. Huesman wrote in a report. He told Longmire that the tracking device showed Bey IV’s Dodge Charger left the bakery on San Pablo Avenue at 12:12 a.m. on Aug. 2 and arrived at the 1400 block of 1st Avenue — where Bailey lived — at 12:24 a.m. The car was parked there for about 14 minutes then was driven back to the bakery, the report states. But Longmire never wrote in his case notes that he spoke with Huesman. Nor did he document the existence of the tracking report. The experts who reviewed Longmire’s case notes said the department procedures require that they be included.
Longmire never mentioned the tracking report in two recorded interviews with Bey IV. And Bey IV denied being near Bailey’s apartment. Longmire: “… the area where Mr. Bailey lives, did you go to that area where he lives?” Longmire asked Bey IV. Bey IV: “I didn’t go to that area, no sir.” Rather, Bey IV said he, Broussard and Mackey went to get food that night at a restaurant on Park Boulevard, about a half mile from Bailey’s apartment. The restaurant was closed, Bey IV said, and he said they just returned to the bakery. “You don’t have a case of this magnitude and don’t put (the tracking data) in your (report) and ask (Bey IV) questions about it. This demands further investigation,” said a senior law enforcement official familiar with the case who asked not to be identified because of daily contact with Oakland police.
Later that night, a prosecutor and an investigator from the district attorney’s office interviewed Bey IV, who several more times denied going to Bailey’s apartment, repeating his story about a closed restaurant. The district attorney’s investigators then confronted Bey IV with the tracking data, according to a recording of the interview. Bey IV changed his story, saying he did go to the apartment with Mackey and Broussard, but he said he did so only because Broussard wanted to show him where Bailey lived.
Bey IV said Broussard didn’t say anything about planning a killing. Documents show that Longmire later interviewed Bey IV two more times. But in neither discussion did he ask about the tracking device, according to his brief notes. Selective case notes On Aug. 24, Longmire requested a warrant for Bey IV’s cell phone records. In his affidavit requesting the warrant, Longmire wrote that he thought Bey IV might have called Bailey and tried to lure him to a place where he could be killed. He also wrote that Bey IV was “disingenuous” to say he went to the closed restaurant rather than Bailey’s apartment shortly after midnight on Aug. 2.
Longmire did not mention the tracking device in the affidavit — which confirmed where Bey IV was — or that Bey IV had changed his story when the district attorney’s investigators pressured him and admitted he had gone to the apartment. A judge approved the warrant and sealed it at Longmire’s request. The Sprint phone company turned over the records on Sept. 21, documents show. The records covered the period from July 1 to Aug. 10, 2007, and totaled 4,478 calls to and from Bey IV’s phone. But Longmire didn’t record their receipt in his case notes until a month later, on Oct. 21. Longmire never mentioned the records again in any of his case notes — not even to document that he checked to see whether Bey IV had called Bailey. The records show no such call from Bey IV’s phone. The records show four calls exchanged between Bey IV’s and Longmire’s cell phones on July 17, 2007. There were also three calls from Bey IV’s phone to Longmire’s after Bey IV’s Aug. 3, 2007, arrest in the kidnapping case.
The phone was not seized in the raid and apparently someone else was using it. The records, which the Bailey Project analyzed, list calls that raise questions about Bey IV’s involvement. During the 14 minutes he was outside Bailey’s apartment early Aug. 2, Bey IV received two calls from a person who had known Bailey for more than a decade — JR Valrey, a blogger and activist then reporting for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper, where Bailey sometimes contributed news items. Valrey is also affiliated with New America Media, a sponsor of the Chauncey Bailey Project. The records show that Bey IV called Valrey twice on Aug. 1, and that Valrey called Bey IV twice while Bey IV was parked outside Bailey’s apartment on Aug. 2. The two calls totaled 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Six minutes after leaving Bailey’s apartment, Bey IV called Valrey at 12:43 a.m. That call lasted nearly three minutes, the records show.
Before the series of calls on Aug. 1 and 2, Bey IV’s phone records don’t show any calls between Bey IV and Valrey for the previous month. Valrey refused to discuss the calls with the Bailey Project. “(It’s) none of your business,” he said, and refused to answer other questions. “I don’t have nothing to say to you, man,” he said. “You all are the anti-bakery project.” In Internet postings, Valrey has written that Bey IV had nothing to do with Bailey’s killing. There is no documentation to suggest that police interviewed Valrey.
Longmire should have pored over the records to see who Bey IV was on the phone with while at Bailey’s apartment and immediately followed the lead, said Leo, the University of San Francisco law professor. Former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer, who won murder convictions in the infamous 2001 dog mauling death of lacrosse coach Diane Whipple, agreed. Bey IV’s phone records are “really great stuff, I mean, that’s powerful evidence,” he said. “Phone calls in the early hours of the morning, within hours of a homicide, while someone possibly involved was parked near there … I’d want to know exactly who (Bey IV) talked to, what was said, was this an unusual phone call?”
After leaving Bailey’s apartment, Bey IV, Mackey and Broussard returned to the bakery at 12:49 a.m., according to the tracking report. The phone records show connected calls between Bey IV’s phone and Mackey’s seven times from 12:56 to 3:38 a.m. As dawn approached on Aug. 2, the records show calls between Mackey’s phone and Bey IV’s phone at 5:03 a.m. and 5:22 a.m. Sometime between 5:30 and 6 a.m., a man living at the bakery, Rigoberto Magana, loaned his white minivan with no license plates to Bey IV. Magana told Bey IV that he needed the vehicle back by 7:30 a.m. so he could go to work, according to a statement Magana later gave to investigators from the district attorney’s office.
Bailey was killed about 7:25 a.m. Witnesses said they saw a masked gunman get in the passenger side of a waiting white mini van with no license plates that then sped off. The phone records show that Magana called Bey IV’s phone at 7:25 and 7:28 a.m. At 7:30, Bey IV’s phone called Mackey’s and was connected for 54 seconds, the records show. Bey IV then immediately called Magana back. According to Magana’s statement, he told Longmire that he saw Mackey driving the van that morning. He later changed his story, telling the investigators that what he meant to say was that whenever he loaned Bey IV the van, it was Mackey who drove it, but that he didn’t see Mackey drive it that morning.
“Essentially deputized”
Bey IV offered Longmire two differing accounts of how he learned of the shooting. First, he said, he received a phone call from the bakery’s business manager, telling him someone prominent had been killed in Oakland. But the phone records show no such call to Bey IV’s cell phone. But later, he said in a second recorded conversation that Broussard came to him and said he needed to show him something downtown. Bey IV, Broussard and Mackey then drove to the scene in Bey IV’s Dodge Charger. The tracking device report shows Bey’s IV’s car arriving at the murder scene at 8:09 a.m.
During interviews with Longmire, Bey IV said that Broussard admitted the killing to him. Longmire asked Bey IV if he thought Broussard would be honest if Bey IV instructed him to be, according to the recording. Longmire brought Broussard into the interrogation room. By doing so, Longmire “essentially deputized” Bey IV as an agent of the police, rather than treating him as a murder suspect, Leo said. Then, at Broussard’s request, Longmire left Broussard and Bey IV alone for six minutes.
Longmire didn’t record their conversation, which Leo said is a breach of good detective work. “There’s absolutely no investigative rationale for not surreptitiously recording (it). None at all. We’re deprived of a very, very important piece of information in this case. What did Bey IV say to elicit Broussard’s confession? Did he use improper threats and promises? Did he badger and bully him?”
Before leaving Bey IV and Broussard alone, Longmire told Bey IV he had “no ambition to attach you to (Bailey’s) murder,” according to a recording of the conversation. Cordell, the retired judge, said that statement troubled her. “What (Longmire) is saying is ‘I’m not going to look at you, you’re not a suspect’ and for whatever reason and I don’t know the sergeant’s motivation,” she said. “Is he just a lousy investigator?
I don’t think so because you don’t get promoted to sergeant by being a lousy investigator. So the question it raises with me why is (Bey IV) not a suspect?” Jeffrey Snipes, a lawyer and police consultant who chairs the San Francisco State University Criminology Department, said it was clear to him from listening to Longmire’s recorded conversations with Bey IV and Broussard that the detective had but one goal — to charge only Broussard regardless of what the evidence indicated about others.
“Every party involved here had their script established, and everything followed the script,” Snipes said. “And the script was, we’re going to clear this case, and we’re going to clear it by giving up Broussard, and we’re going to get Bey IV out of this (and) we’re going to keep Mackey out of it.”
COMING TOMORROW: Sgt. Derwin Longmire has been accused of interfering in past investigations involving Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV.
Thomas Peele is an investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group. Bob Butler and Mary Fricker are independent journalists.
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