Malcolm X's Daughters Unhappy With Book

Malcolm X's Daughters Unhappy With New Book, 'Malcolm X: A Life Of Reinvention'

NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

04/ 6/11 11:37 PM ET

IIyasha and Malaak Shabazz,

daughters of Malcolm X

NEW YORK — Two of Malcolm X's daughters are unhappy that a new biography alleges their parents' marriage was strained and that their mother – and possibly their father – were unfaithful. The marriage "was definitely faithful and devoted because my father was a man of impeccable integrity, and I think that most people, if they're not clear on anything, they're clear that he was moral and ethical and had impeccable character," Ilyasah Shabazz said Wednesday. Ilyasah and Malaak Shabazz spoke to The Associated Press about "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention."

Author Manning Marable, a highly respected scholar who worked for more than 20 years on the book, died last week of complications of pneumonia just before publication. Malcolm X's daughters did not speak to Marable for the book, which draws upon thousands of interviews, government documents and private papers. The book has been in the top 10 on Amazon.com's best-seller list, and the print run has been increased from 46,000 to 70,000, according to Viking, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).

Viking spokeswoman Carolyn Coleburn said the publisher had no comment about the daughters' criticisms. While both sisters acknowledged they have yet to read the book, they questioned reports about the contents. Marable had intended "Malcolm X" as a tribute to the slain activist's life and influence, but he also wanted to avoid portraying him as "a saint, without the normal contradictions and blemishes that all human beings have," as the historian wrote in the introduction. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. His wife, Betty Shabazz, died in 1997 after one of her grandchildren set fire to her apartment.

The book alleges that parts of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," a classic released after Malcolm X's death that sold more than 1 million copies, were inaccurate. For instance, Marable questions details of Malcolm X's early life as a criminal, writing that Malcolm likely exaggerated his wrongdoings. Questions about the autobiography's accuracy have been raised for decades, and Marable addresses questions about the book's co-writer, Alex Haley, who many believe left out or softened Malcolm's more radical political views in the last couple of years of his life. He also looks into Malcolm X's more controversial words and actions, including a meeting with members of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1960s. At the time, he was a high-ranking member of the Nation of Islam and had discussed with the Klan the possibility of the nation purchasing land for blacks to live on. Malcolm X would later express regret, although Marable still called the meeting "despicable."

Nefertiti El Muhajir Comments on Malcolm X Book

Nefertiti El Muhajir

It is interesting that Marable uses the word, "Reinvention." I wrote a paper on Malcolm X in college and in the title were the words, "Black Butterfly." You could not help but recognize the fact that he was constantly growing and changing into a different person; and I saw all of the changes as positive, maturing.

His ability to transform himself was beautiful, the unfortunate part was that his life was taken away from us before we could see what I believe would have been the full manifestation of that transformation. I admire anyone who constantly "reinvents" themself; it represents an individual who is growing and who is allowing him/herself to change based upon the new knowledge that he/she uncovers. Anything that does not change/grow is dead.

Unfortunately, we don't want people to change. We want to box everyone in based on knowledge from yesterday. Regarding the daughters' claims, they have a right to feel the way that they do; we all desire to believe the story that our parents were beautiful respectful people, who lived happily in love all of the days of their lives.

I would hope the infedility would not be true, but if they were unfaithful, it does not take away the essence of the work that they did for the community, and that's who we know them for and that's what we should continue to respect them for. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Marable before his passing and I respect his work as a historian and scholar. What were his purposes for revealing what he did, who knows?

----------------

Nefertiti El Muhajir received her B.A. in English from Fresno State University and her M.A. in Africana Studies from New York University, Albany. She is the oldest daughter of poet Marvin X (aka El Muhajir).

Remembering Chauncey Bailey by Kwan Booth

Remembering Journalist Chauncey Bailey

Remembering Chauncey Bailey, newspaper editor, mentor and friend.

By

Kwan Booth

(August 3, 2007

Deadline nights in the newspaper business are sacred. Nothing compares to that last minute rush of writing, editing and designing, trying to squeeze in that last crucial detail before going to press. When I heard that Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, was killed yesterday morning, “deadline night” was the first thing that came to mind. For the last 2 ½ years I’ve been a writer and editor at the Post and Chauncey and I worked together on several occasions.

Some of my best memories are from Tuesdays in the production room at 2am: huddled around a computer screen-shirt sleeves rolled up, bags under everyone’s eyes, cups of stale coffee littering every counter top. I remember some nights looking over at Chauncey and seeing the fatigue on his face. But more than that there was the joy-the man was addicted to the news and the business associated with it. These were the times he relished.

These were also the times when he opened up the most. Reports from the last 24 hours have repeatedly mentioned his hallmark aggressive style and brevity, and for good reason. Chauncey wasn’t one for small conversations. From the way he answered the phone-”This is Bailey. What?” to his habit of writing stories in the body of emails or dictating them to layout designers directly to speed the process-he was all about getting it out quick, hard and correct. But his style always came across as more tough love than “tough shit.”

Late nights he’d open up about the screenplays and movies he was working on and his frustration trying to get movie studios to read scripts that showed real life black characters. He’d tell stories of his years chronicling the African American community in the Bay Area and Detroit and the roadblocks he encountered trying to increase the presence and credibility black people in the media. The man truly loved people and he was the first person to really drive home the importance of knowing the people you write about.

He would always say “how can you report on the community if you’re not in the community?” We’d have long debates on media and the best way to reach under served neighborhoods. I’d call him a dinosaur for his unrelenting faith in the power of print news and old school TV broadcasts. He thought I put too much emphasis on all this “new media.” His rationale: you’ve got to reach people where they are and most poor folks aren’t checking for the Daily Kos.

Understandable coming from a man who never figured out how to send an attachment in an email, but from those late night conversations I learned a lot about the inner workings of the news industry. Chauncey taught me everything from how to really grill public officials to how to score a spot on the coveted “press junket.” We often joked about it in the office, but Chauncey really was the James Brown of Bay Area reporting-”the hardest working man in journalism.”

He refused to have a computer in his house, explaining that he’d “never stop working.” It was a regular thing for staffers to make late night and early morning runs to the office to find Chauncey sitting there, hunched over his computer, ballpoint pin in his mouth, eyes three inches from the screen surrounded by mountains of press releases, phone numbers and story notes. Chauncey had a great feel for what people wanted and was a big fan of short, tightly written stories. He liked to tease the reader and make them come back for more next week.

He regularly chided contributing writers for their verbosity “I wrote about the entire state of black people in California in 300 words, why do you need 800 for a record review?” This article-756 words written in his memory-would have probably driven him nuts and I can imagine him over my shoulder with a red pen in hand, slashing copy.

Like most journalists he didn’t like to be the center of attention and I could see him bumping his own memorial for something more “newsy.” For just this once though, long winded or not, I hope he’d agree that the length of the article fits the occasion. Chauncey you were a good dude, a trusted mentor and a hell of a newspaper man. Your contribution to the community will be greatly missed. End of story.

-----

Note:

This essay will be included in the Chauncey Bailey Anthology, edited by Marvin X, published by Black Bird Press and the Post Newspaper Group, late Septemer, 2011. You are invited to submit an essay. Send to jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Dockworkers Shut Down Ports of Oakland and SF

No cargo worked April 4th in solidarity with heroic Wisconsin

Dockworkers shut down ports of Oakland & San Francisco for 24 hours

By Dave Welsh

Oakland, CA , April 4, 2011 -

The power of workers to bring production to a halt was on dramatic display April 4th, when longshore workers of ILWU Local 10 shut down the ports of Oakland and San Francisco for 24 hours, in solidarity with the heroic struggles in Wisconsin .

The big container port of Oakland was deader than a doornail Monday at 6:00 a.m. I saw a long snake-line of trucks bearing shipping containers idled on the roadway. The shipping cranes were all “standing at attention” – i.e., not working any containers. [These are same Port of Oakland cranes that gave George Lucas the idea for some of his “Star Wars” imagery.]

The ILWU hiring hall was practically deserted at dispatch time for the night shift, leaving several hundred jobs unfilled. The dock workers stayed away, and no cargo was worked on any shift Monday in Oakland or San Francisco . The rank-and-file-initiated shutdown was part of nationwide actions on April 4th to challenge the draconian budget cuts and union busting in Wisconsin and other states. An “organized act of resistance” by rank-and-file dock workers

“This was a voluntary rank and file action – an organized act of resistance,” said Clarence Thomas, a dock worker and Local 10 executive board member. “It is significant that the action by Local 10 was taken in solidarity with Wisconsin public sector workers who are facing the loss of collective bargaining,” Thomas said. He pointed out that April 4th is also the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. – who was killed in Memphis demanding collective bargaining for sanitation workers in that city. “So we’ve come full circle,” he concluded.

The Memphis public workers got their union, after a two-month strike. Now 40 years later their Wisconsin counterparts are threatened with losing theirs. But it is Wisconsin ’s “fierce resistance that is inspiring all of us today.” It is not surprising that the 24-hour port work stoppage came out of International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 10, a racially diverse, predominantly African American local, and the home local of legendary labor leader Harry Bridges. Martin Luther King was named an honorary member of Local 10, six months before he was killed.

Oakland teachers shut down Wells Fargo Bank for 3 hours on Apr. 4

The Oakland Education Association has been facing crippling attacks on the public school system - including layoff notices for 600 of their members. When the April 4th Day of Action arrived, the OEA chose to protest at Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Oakland , demanding “Bail out schools, not banks.” About 100 teachers and supporters chanted, marched and sat down at the bank entrance, effectively shutting down the bank for three hours.

They set up a makeshift classroom in the bank plaza to teach about the key role of the banks in bringing on today’s economic crisis. OEA President Betty Olson-Jones pointed out that Wells Fargo received a $50 Billion federal bailout, and the people chanted: “Banks took our money…Now give it to the schools!”

Protesters took turns at the bullhorn: 1. To demand that workers' jobs, pensions, schools & social services must be safeguarded before one cent of interest is paid to the banks and wealthy bond investors. Which has priority, they asked: Profits for the wealthy, or our children’s future? 2. To highlight Wells Fargo's role in the foreclosure epidemic – affecting many families of district school children – and demand a moratorium on foreclosures, so families can stay in their homes. An OEA press release said Wells Fargo must "stop foreclosures and lower mortgage debt to reflect homes' reduced market value."

The Bail out the People Movement organized demonstrations Monday at Wells Fargo branches in Los Angeles and Baltimore , in solidarity with the teachers’ action in Oakland .

wwwtheblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com

wwwtheblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com

Chauncey Bailey Murder Trial: A Personal History

The Chauncey Bailey Murder Trial: A Personal History

The author, who knew the victim, reflects on the murder of an Oakland journalist

By Zusha Elinson on March 28, 2011 - 12:00 a.m. PDT

Journalist Chauncey Bailey was killed in 2007

Zusha

It’s strange to cover a murder trial when you know the man who was murdered – and several people on the witness list. I met Chauncey Bailey when I was an editor and reporter at the Oakland Post. There, I also had my first encounters with Your Black Muslim Bakery, whose leader, the young Yusuf Bey IV, is on trial for ordering the hit on Chauncey for a story he was working on about the bakery.

The Oakland Post wasn’t the most obvious place for my first job as a journalist. The Post is a venerable African American weekly newspaper and I was a young white Jewish kid fresh out of college. But it was the first paper to offer me an internship after I rolled into Oakland in my red pickup truck – and it turned out to be an excellent training ground. In one of my first encounters with Chauncey, he appeared on the Post’s front page – as a subject, not a writer. He was leaving the Oakland Tribune, where he’d long worked as a staff writer – and was moving to St. Kitts. There, he would somehow serve as the Oakland Post’s "Caribbean Correspondent."

The headline, written by Paul Cobb, the word-playing publisher of the Post, read: “Let’s Just St. Kitts and Say Goodbye.” Chauncey was a news-generating machine, a tough no-nonsense questioner, and always smartly dressed. When he returned from the Caribbean and began appearing on the Post front page as a writer, he would sit at his desk and pound out a half-dozen stories a day. At the same time, he was writing stories for the Globe, a competing black weekly, and doing television shows for two competing TV stations.

As Paul liked to say, “He was the James Brown of journalism: The hardest working man in the business.” The Post was always short-staffed and getting the paper together each week was an entertaining scramble. I would write, edit, take pictures and lay out the pages. After Chauncey came along, we easily filled the paper each week with his stories. Some appeared under his byline, some under “Post Staff,” just for variety.

Although I was technically an editor, I was young and inexperienced and Chauncey taught me how to report and write quickly and how to turn most anything into the story. By example, with his tough questioning, he taught me how to cut through politicians’ bullshit. When, after a year and a half at the Post, I was eying an open position at a weekly paper in Marin, the Post newsroom good-naturedly gave me shit: I would surely be writing about hot tubs and yachts instead of the more life-and-death issues in Oakland’s black community.

But Chauncey took me aside and told me it would be good for my career, which even though I ended up writing about yachts, it was. Chauncey eventually succeeded me as editor of the Post. The first contact I had with Your Black Muslim Bakery was writing a story for the Post about the death of Waajid Aliawaad Bey. He was an adopted son of the charismatic and controversial founder of the bakery, Yusuf Bey, and had inherited the throne after Bey died in 2003. Soon after, Waajid was found in a shallow grave in the Oakland hills.

Waajid Bey’s murder has never been solved, but I remember interviewing the young Antar Bey, another son of the founder, who’d taken control of the bakery after Waajid’s death. Throughout the interview, he said he had no idea who the killers were, but insinuated with his cavalier and mocking tone that business had been taken care of. Soon after, Antar Bey was murdered at a North Oakland gas station.

Another son, Yusuf Bey IV, now accused of ordering Bailey’s murder, followed him as the leader. Sitting in the advertising department of the Oakland Post was another key player in the saga. She was a former model and a lieutenant in the Nation of Islam and went by many different names throughout her life: Sister Felicia, Nisa Islam, Nisa Bey and finally Nisayah Yahudah as I knew her. Dressed fashionably and often sporting blonde hair, Nisiyah volunteered to sell advertising, though she didn’t sell much, and she had some sort of modeling agency on the side. She was a friend of Chauncey's and, as it turned out, the ex-wife of the bakery’s founder, Yusuf Bey.

As the Chronicle reported in a well-researched story by Matthai Kuruvila, many thought it was Nisiyah who’d passed word along to the bakery that Chauncey was working on a story about their crumbling finances – sparking anger and eventually murder. Nisayah, too, is a witness in the murder trial. I had been gone from the Post for less than two years when Chauncey was gunned down while walking to work on the morning of August 2, 2007.

I visited the spot and attended the enormous funeral at Allen Temple. Time has passed. But seeing the photos of Chauncey’s dead body — riddled with red holes from shot-gun blasts — that the prosecution put on the screen this week was like getting punched in the stomach. A few months after Chauncey was killed, I was at the laundromat near my house and I ran into a man who ran the North Oakland branch of Your Black Muslim Bakery on Telegraph Avenue. (The headquarters that was raided the day after Chauncey was murdered was on San Pablo Avenue). We’d become friendly over the years. He’d help me with stories occasionally and I would buy those famously thick bean pies from him.

There are small visceral reactions to traumatic events – and since Chauncey had been murdered I felt sick at the thought of those bean pies, so I hadn’t been back to his bakery. I approached him while we were washing our clothes, demanding answers about what had happened. He blamed the young men who’d had taken over the bakery: they were wild and didn’t listen to their elders. The explanation was hardly satisfying.

Now those young men are on trial. On Thursday, Devaughndre Broussard, 23, who pleaded guilty to shooting Bailey at close range with a shotgun, was on the stand. He was there to implicate the head of the bakery, Bey IV, for ordering Bailey’s murder because of the stories he was working on. Bey IV, who is now 25, was sitting at the table in a tan suit jacket with a matching tan bow-tie – the signature accessory of the black Muslims.

Bey IV, who infamously led missions to destroy liquor stores for selling alcohol to the black community, is also on trial for ordering the murder of another man. Progress in the case has been made. Excellent reporting by the Chauncey Bailey Project, a group of journalists that banded together to investigate his death, and others nudged the District Attorney to eventually charge Bey IV. At first, Broussard had taken the rap alone.

Broussard’s testimony will be key to convicting Bey IV, but the defense plans to discredit him using his criminal past and changing stories about what happened on August 2, 2007. It was the first time I'd seen Broussard and Bey iV in person. I was struck by how young they were. I wondered if they even understood what Chuancey's life as a tireless journalist and a voice of the black community was all about.

Related Chauncey Bailey – The Carnage has No End in Sight Jury Selected in Chauncey Bailey Murder Trial Bey Blames News Media for Tainted Jury Zusha Elinson Reporter covering bikes, buses, BART, buildings, and buds at the Bay Citizen. I was a legal reporter at the Recorder, an editor at the Marinscope and I started my career at the Oakland Post. Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/12b4F)

www.theblackchaunceybaileyproject.blogspot.com

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. ___

Mythology of Love Tour 2011

Hunia Bradley, Minister of Ceremony

Ptah Mitchell, poet/philosopher

Bishop Ernestine Reems, Center of Hope Church

Mythology of Love Tour, 2011

A womanhood and manhood rites of passage

Coming to Oakland's Fox Theatre

date to be announced

featuring

Dr. M (Marvin X)

Prime Minister of Poetry

"The USA's Rumi!"

--Bob Holman

"He's still the undisputed king of black consciousness!" --Dr. Nathan Hare, the Black Think Tank, San Francisco

With an all-star cast of poets, actors, singers, musicians

O'town Passions

Phavia Kujichagulia

poet/musician

Ayodele Nzinga, poet/actor/director/producer

Paradise Jah Love, poet

Mechelle LaChaux, Singer/actress

Augusta Collins, guitarist/singer

Aries Jordan, poet/actor

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

National Black Women's Defense League

BWDL: THE NATIONAL BLACK WOMEN'S DEFENSE LEAGUE': National Task Force For The Elimination of Violence and Abuse of Africana Females

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

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

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.

Dear Bay Area Friends of Haiti,

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