Thursday, April 7, 2011
Malcolm X's Daughters Unhappy With Book
Remembering Chauncey Bailey by Kwan Booth
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Dockworkers Shut Down Ports of Oakland and SF
Chauncey Bailey Murder Trial: A Personal History
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Marching with Manning Marable
Marching With Manning Marable
I have only marched a few times in my life. I was never much on marching, especially during the Civil Rights era. As a member of the Nation of Islam, we were not taught to march but to do for self by taking authority over our lives and construct the institutions needed for survival and thrival, whether economic, educational, spiritual, military and political.
But on the eve of the Million Man March I was living in Philadelphia at one of Father Divine’s hotels near the University of Penn. I was hustling my poster poems on the streets of Philly and often hustled across the street from City Hall, sight of the murder trial of Mumia Abu Jamal. As I was hustling and not trying to be politically involved, I did not cross the street to City Hall where Pam Africa, Ramona Africa and others in the Move organization were supporting justice for Mumia. But I would see them across the street while selling my poster poems.
Then one day Rev. James Bevels who had worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., came from the Mumia Rally on his way home. When I approached him to buy a poster, he said, “You should be across the street selling your posters, “ pointing to the City Hall rally. He departed and I thought about finally crossing the street. Eventually I did, only to feel disappointed because they were playing a tape that sounded like the voice of a white man.
I couldn’t understand why they were playing this tape, only to discover it was the smooth voice of Mumia Abu Jamal, smoother than Peter Jennings and Ted Kopel.
From that day I took more interest in the trial of Mumia Abu Jamal. And then came the day of a massive rally and march beginning at City Hall. I went to the march and ran into many friends, including poet Sonia Sanchez and Khalid Muhammad. I made Khalid recognize me as I had gained a few pounds during my recovery from Crack addiction.
Khalid then embraced me and introduced me to his son, Farakhan, then seven years old. Since the march took place on one of those unbearably hot and humid east coast summer days, I sought refuse in a store for cold water and watched the marchers leave City Hall for the Liberty Bell. I had no desire to march in the hot sun, until I saw Khalid marching alongside Akbar Muhammad, Minister Farakhan international representatives, and Manning Marable, the great historian who has joined the ancestors.
The Spirit told me to join them so I rushed from the comfort of the air conditioned store to the join my colleagues, although I did not really know Manning, but we acknowledged each other and I joined the trek to the Liberty Bell to help save Mumia from the death chamber.
In my autobiography Somethin’ Proper, 1998, I described what happened as I marched with Manning, Herman Ferguson, Khalid, Akbar and little Farakhan:
…Akbar and I embraced and I joined the march, falling in the rear behind Khalid, who was mobbed by photographers…as we continued toward the Liberty Bell, little Farakhan turned and grabbed my hand, pulling me next to his father. The child put me on post securing his dad. When I would fall to the rear, here came his hand, pulling me up front again. When people, mainly white, got between his father and me, he motioned for me to move them away. This little child of seven was a soldier. He told me to tell the people, “Excuse me, but just don’t touch them.!”
When we finally arrived at the Liberty Bell, I was in my security groove. Khalid didn’t want to speak because he was afraid the media would purposely misquote him, possibly try to attribute something to him that would make Mumia’s situation worse.
Minister Farakhan was supposed to speak, but sent Akbar instead. His absence visibly upset Pam and Ramona Africa and other rally organizers, but Farakhan was preparing for the Million Man March, attendance at a Mumia rally was probably too controversial for him.
Anyway, cooling out under a shade tree, I asked Khalid what was up with him and the Minister. He said he was unable to communicate with the minister, although the Final Call said he was back in good standing….
This rally was the only time I was with Manning Marable, but he had impressed me with his social activism as well as his intellectuality. There is certainly some irony in the fact he made his transition days before his greatest work, a biography of Malcolm X, would be released. We never had faith in his Autobiography since it was completed after his death and much of it was considered spurious. We have learned our suspicions were right since the FBI had approached Alex Haley to delete certain information. Three chapters were removed that have now been found. We are thankful that Manning’s book will shed new light on the life and times of Malcolm X and clarify how profoundly the FBI and the New York Police were involved in his assassination, much like the Oakland Police and City Hall were involved in the assassination of Oakland Post Editor, Chauncey Bailey.
Those who question the role of the OPD in the murder of Chauncey, need only peruse Manning’s book to see the critical role of the FBI, New York police, along with the Nation of Islam, and persons in Malcolm’s organizations, ( OAAU and Muslim Mosque, Inc.), played in his assassination.
--Dr. M (Marvin X), Prime Minister,
First Poet’s Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists
www.firstpoetschurch.blogspot.com
Malcolm X scholar Manning Marable dies at 60 By CRISTIAN SALAZAR The Associated Press NEW YORK — Manning Marable, an influential historian whose forthcoming Malcolm X biography could revise perceptions of the slain civil rights leader, died Friday, just days before the book described as his life's work was to be released. He was 60. His wife, Leith Mullings, said Marable died from complications of pneumonia at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. She said he had suffered for 24 years from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease, and had undergone a double lung transplant in July. "I think his legacy is that he was both a scholar and an activist," she said. "He believed that history could be used to inform the present and the future." She said Marable's latest book, "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention," will be released Monday. Two decades in the making, the nearly 600-page biography is described as a re-evaluation of Malcolm X's life, bringing fresh insight to subjects including his autobiography, which is still assigned in many college courses, to his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan on Feb. 21, 1965. The book is based on exhaustive research, including thousands of pages of FBI files and records from the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department. Marable also conducted interviews with the slain civil rights leader's confidants and security team, as well as witnesses to his assassination. Blair Kelley, a history professor at North Carolina State University, called Marable's death a "devastating" loss for black historians. "I can't believe he died before the book came out. He really deserved the opportunity to be celebrated for his groundbreaking scholarship," Kelley wrote on Twitter. "He touched so many of us as an activist, scholar, historian, political scientist, publisher, mentor. Truly a great man." Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a statement that Marable's "contributions to the struggle for freedom of African Americans will never be forgotten." "Dr. Marable brought one of the keenest intellects of our age to the contemporary conversation on race in America," he said. Born in Dayton, Ohio, on May 13, 1950, Marable wrote in his book, "Speaking Truth to Power," that he was born into the era that witnessed the emergence of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as nonviolent movements in the South struggling to break the back of white supremacy. But he was the child of middle-class black Americans, he wrote, his father a teacher and businessman, his mother an educator and college professor. He watched from afar as blacks in the South rebelled against segregation and racial inequality, and as a teenager found his emergent political voice writing columns for a neighborhood newspaper. He wrote that his mother encouraged him to attend King's funeral "to witness a significant event in our people's history." He served as the local black newspaper's correspondent, he wrote, and marched along with thousands of others during the funeral procession. "With Martin's death, my childhood abruptly ended," he wrote. "My understanding of political change began a trajectory from reform to radicalism." Marable followed a scholarly path but turned toward progressive politics to help shape his understanding of the world and his people. He wrote hundreds of papers and nearly 20 books, including the landmark "How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America," published in 1983. At Columbia University, where he was a professor, he was the founding director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and established the Center for Contemporary Black History. Besides his wife of 15 years, he is survived by three children and two stepchildren. ___ AP National Writer Jesse Washington in Philadelphia contributed to this report. ___
Friday, April 1, 2011
Mythology of Love Tour 2011
Bishop Ernestine Reems, Center of Hope Church
featuring
Also: Mutima Imani, Geoffrey Grier, Eugene Allen, Jermaine, Jasmine Conner, Toreada Mikell, Jerri Lange, Michael Lange Sponsors: Center of Hope Church, First Poet's Church, Post Newspaper Group, Conway Jones, Jr., Bay Area Black Authors, Academy of da Corner, San Francisco Recovery Theatre, Lower Bottom Playaz, Kakakiki Slave System. For more information: jmarvinx@yahoo.com.
For booking, contact Ed Howard at: kakakiki@pacbell.net
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
National Black Women's Defense League
Comments/Agenda: Million Woman Movement/National in cooperation with the International/Universal Million Woman Movement & Brothers In Support
WHAT:
"A CALL TO ACTION" Direct and Holistic Actions for the Elimination of Violence and Abuse of Women and Girls of African Descent
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPANT IN THE TELE-CONFERENCE CALL:
* Black Females who have experienced being abused (in the past or presently) or family members
* AND Only "serious" persons (Sisters and Brother) of African descent who want to assist in anyway possible, with the understanding that only WE, the Black/African Family and Communities can and will make the difference and bring this monster to its knees
MISSION/PURPOSE:
To assist in the further development and national establishment of the Black Women's Defense League who's major and fundamental mode of operations is to Defend, Protect, Service and Heal females of African descent (and their children) In that The "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" Project that BWDL has conducted for more than 12 years along with related work is now being redesigned and readied for maximized productivity and effectiveness. The immediate mission is to exhibit well thought out,, organized, consistent non-Europenized tactics to eradicate this destructive behavior which includes understanding from whence it comes Present goals include the implement a clear no nonsense pro-active campaign that provides greater awareness, education, training and other solution oriented initiatives.
.
Tonight's Discussion Focus Areas:
* Committees
* Updates on Face Book and Newsletter
* Radio program suggestions (Topics, Guest, etc.)
* Where Do We Go From Here (Training, Speakers Bureau, etc.)
* General Reports and Updates:
* Call To Artist (Logo development, music & art partnerships etc.)
* Review of Information Materials and Documents (recently sent for review and filing)
* Suggestions (please be prepared)
* Assignments: (if one is not selected, one will be assigned)
Review of Last Week's Topics:
* National Summit and Rally for the "Elimination of Violence and Abuse of Africana/Black Women and Girls' in DC in May 2012
* National "SPEAK OUT" and Declaration Oct. 2011 (14th anniversary
event in Philly)
* Community Hearings and Testimonies and monthly Speak Outs etc.(nationwide)
* Local and national symposiums, Think Tanks, research teams etc.
* Interested in Culture, Arts, Activism and/or Justice
* Building a National Support Sistahood
* Brothers In Support "FOR BROTHERS ONLY" Village/Town Hall Meeting
* Brief Overview of some of the Protracted Goals and Missions
ALSO Provided:
* Learn more about MWM and BWDL-Who we are, What we do and Why
* Our philosophy, methodology and ideology
* How you can get involved: Volunteer, Supporter, Special Project
Coordinator, etc.
(need not be a member)
* Membership Info: Starting a Chapter, becoming an affiliate,becoming a
partner
* Upcoming events and programs
Conference Call Host: Empress Chi
Founder of the historic Million Woman March and President General of MW Universal Movements
Start Time:
08:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
End Time: 11:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Dial-in Number: 1-270-400-2000 (East Coast)
Participant Access Code: 5675464
This event start today, Wednesday, April 30, 2011
You have been invited by
Official and National Million Woman Movement
Friday, March 25, 2011
Eight Books in 2010
Marvin X
Writes Eight Books in 2010
The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, Volume I
If you want to learn about inspiration and motivation, don't spend all that money going to workshops and seminars, just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X at work. He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.--Ishmael Reed
Hustler’s Guide to the Game Called Life, (Wisdom of Plato Negro, Volume II)
Mythology of Love: Toward Healthy Psychosocial Sexuality, 416 pages.
This book is the most wanted title in the Marvin X collection. Youth in the hood fight over it and steal it from each other. Girls say it empowers them, and the boys say it helps them step up their game. Mothers and fathers are demanding their sons and daughters read this. Paradise Jah Love says they fight over it as if it's black gold!
I Am Oscar Grant, essays on Oakland, $19.95. Critical essays on the travesty of American justice in the cold blooded murder of Oscar Grant by a beast in blue uniform.
Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yoself, essays on Obama Drama, $19.95.
Marvin X is on the mark again with his accurate observation of the Obama era. The black community was so excited with Obama being the first Black Prez that they forgot he was a politician-not a messiah. Marvin X brings the community back to the reality of what Obama stands for-at the moment! He has not given up on Da Prez, he simply wants people to see what he stands for and what he still has an opportunity to do for our communities. Make sure you put Pull Yo Pants Up Fada Black Prez & Yo Self on your to-buy list It will be the best book you will read in 2010!--Carolyn Mixon
Marvin X, Guest Editor, Poetry Issue, Journal of Pan African Studies, 480 pages
In honor of the Journal of Black Poetry, Marvin X collects poetry from throughout the Pan African world. This massive issue is a classic of radical Pan African literature in the 21st century. Amiri Baraka says, "He has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the innovators and founders of the new revolutionary school of African writing."
Notes on the Wisdom of Action or How to Jump Out of the Box. In this collection he calls upon the people to become proactive rather than reactionary, to initiate the movement out the box of oppression by any means necessary, although Marvin X believes in the power of spiritual consciousness to create infinite possibilities toward liberation.
Soulful Musings on Unity of North American Africans, 150 pages
Marvin X explores the possibilities for unity among North American Africans.
Available from Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702. jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Thursday, March 17, 2011
President Aristide Returns--God and the Devil in Haiti
President Aristide Returns
God and the Devil in Haiti
Baby Doc,
"Evil shall prevail!"
God and the Devil in Haiti
When ousted Haitian President Aristide lands in Haiti, a man of God shall join Haiti's devil incarnate, Baby Doc. Of course the Great Satan is standing in the corner of the island throwing coal into the fire of Haiti's perennial political quagmire that has persisted since the revolution that ran out the Spanish, French and English and projected the island as the first Republic of liberated Africans in the Americas.
As the nation recovers from a devastating earthquake and cholera epidemic, we understand a priority of the White Supremacy nations is a first class hotel being built at the airport.
The elections this coming Sunday may be a repeat of the fraudulent elections of last year. For sure, the candidates are
Pres. Rene Preval and Pres. Jean Paul Aristide
hardly progressive, rather a conservative lot, including a singer and former first lady. The major political party has been banned from running, the party founded by Aristide.
The housing issue persists with million still in tents, rubble in the streets, parents with no school fees, sanitation, and ongoing corruption, drug dealing and money laundering.
Well, Haiti has one thing, if nothing else, hope! When God gave the devil power to torture Job, the devil could do any and everything except kill him. It may be this knowledge that allows the Haitians to survive under the very worse circumstances known to humanity.
But let us not forget the devil's plan is that evil shall prevail, thus we must keep all eyes on Baby Doc and his minions, especially his connection to the regime of the Great Satan. The devil planned and God planned, but we know God is the Best Planner!
--Marvin X
4/17/11
www.firstpoetschurch.blogspot.com
The Return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti
Press Conference and Emergency Rally
Friday, March 18
4:30 PM
United Nations Plaza, Hyde at Fulton, San Francisco
Haiti Action Committee welcomes and celebrates the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to his homeland, after almost 7 years of forced exile in South Africa, following a coup against his government on Feb. 29, 2004, orchestrated by Haitian elites, France, Canada, and the United States. “The return of Aristide is a tribute to the love the Haitian people have for the president they elected twice with overwhelming majorities, and their persistent demand for his return, in spite of adamant opposition from the coup supporters, and a continuing United Nations occupation force of almost 12,000 personnel,” said committee member Ayana Labossiere.
We condemn the threatening language of the State Department, and its ongoing and blatant efforts to disrupt true democracy in Haiti. On March 14, U.S. State Department spokesperson, Mark Toner said, “We would urge former President Aristide to delay his return until after the electoral process has concluded, to permit the Haitian people to cast their ballots in a peaceful atmosphere. A return prior to the election may potentially be destabilizing to the political process.”
These so-called “elections” excluded the participation of Haiti’s largest party, President Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas, in the first place, and have forced a fraudulent “run-off” on Sunday, March 20, with two supporters of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, completely rejected by most Haitians. It is the United States that, since President Aristide was first elected in 1990, has refused to send funds directly to the Aristide government, blocked it from receiving signed international loans, economically destabilized it, and orchestrated his overthrow twice in 1991 and 2004 coups. Washington has also prevented the Fanmi Lavalas Party from participating in post-2004 coup elections.
If allowed to do so in peace, the Haitian people are perfectly capable of governing themselves wisely and democratically. They love President Aristide because his governments built more schools in their few short years in power than had been built previously in Haiti’s entire history, built clinics and a medical school, built parks in neighborhoods with no open space, raised the minimum wage, and tried to get the wealthy to pay taxes, making powerful enemies in the process.
We want people to understand that the enthusiasm with which President Aristide will be welcomed in Haiti reflects not only the affection of Haitians for this individual and respect for the office to which he was elected, but also their cry for a legitimate democratic process. This means recognition of their favored political party, non-interference by foreign elements in Haiti's internal affairs, and a respect for the political and structural changes brought about during President Aristide’s administrations.
We urge you to join Haiti Action Committee for an emergency rally Friday afternoon to support the historic return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti. As many know, President Aristide and his family departed South Africa for Haiti today, to banner headlines that read "Jean-Bertrand Aristide defies US by heading back to Haiti."
While this marks a great occasion, still the next 24 hours are critical as the US relentlessly pursues efforts to block the return of Haiti's most popular leader. Dozens of prominent lawyers and law professors sent a statement today to Cheryl Mills, US Dept of State Chief of Staff, criticizing US government interference with Aristide's constitutional and human right to return from forced exile. There are rallies planned across the country in NY, Boston, Florida, and the Bay Area to coincide with the anticipated popular celebrations that will - if all goes well - be held Friday in Haiti upon the arrival of President Aristide and his family.
We hope you will join us Friday, March 18th at 4:30PM at UN Plaza in San Francisco, Hyde at Fulton. Meanwhile follow the journey as Amy Goodman blogs from the plane that is bringing President Aristide and his family back to Haiti. Continue to demand the US annul Haiti's phony elections slated to be held this Sunday, March 20th - between two right wing Duvalierist candidates who together won 10% [6% and 4% respectively] of the vote in widely discredited November elections.
In solidarity,
Haiti Action Committee
www.haitisolidarity.net and on FACEBOOK