Dr. Julia Hare tells it how it is...

Our
thoughts go out to Julia and Nathan Hare tonight, my adopted aunt and
uncle; far right, my middle daughter, Attorney Amira Jackmon. Dr. Nathan
Hare is the father of Black and Ethnic Studies; he is founding
publisher of the Black Scholar Magazine and a clinical psychologist in
San Francisco. He will participate in the Black Arts Movement 50th
Anniversary Celebration at Oakland's Laney College, Feb. 7, 2015. Dr.
Nathan Hare has doctorates in sociology and clinical psychology. Along
with Suzzette Celeste, MSW, he will facilitate the mental wellness peer
group: How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, based on
the manual by Marvin X, aka Dr. M. Dr. Julia Hare will not be able to
attend due to health reasons.

MLK, Jr. Day in San Francisco at Yerba Buena Center

2015 MLK Jr. Celebration & Free Museum Day | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Monday, January 19, 2015 - All Day | Cost: FREE
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts | 701 Mission St, San Francisco, CA

SoMaSan Francisco

Every year on the third Monday in January, over 15,000 attendees come to San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Gardens to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.

2015 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration
Monday, January 19, 2015 | 11 am to 5 pm
YBCA, 701 Mission St., San Francisco
FREE
The 2015 celebration will host events for all ages including:

• The Annual MLK March
• Commemorative programs and conversations with civil rights luminaries and national personalities
• Inaugural 2015 Black Comix Arts Festival
• 2015 MLK Health and Wellness Festival (held in the Forum at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Doors open at 11 am)
• 2015 Liberation Film Festival Screenings
• 2015 Children’s Discovery Hunt

2015 Black Comix Arts Festival
This is the inaugural year for the Black Comix Arts Festival at MLK2015. BCAF’s mission is to celebrate the creativity and subjectivity of African Americans in the comic arts and popular visual culture, and it includes a grand exposition, kids activities, special guest artist presentations, a film screening, cosplay events and much more.
BCAF begins on Sunday, January 18 at 2 pm at the San Francisco Public Library’s Main Library and continues on Monday, January 19, with screenings beginning at 10 am and the BCAF Expo at noon at City View at Metreon.
2015 MLK Jr. Conversations | 11 am start
All conversations are free, with limited seating.
The 2015 MLK Conversations are scheduled to feature reflections from civic and political luminaries and conversations with noted authors, film makers, and commentators. This year features a great schedule of conversations for celebrants.

2015 Liberation Film Festival | 10 am to 6 pm
All screenings are free, with limited theater seating on a first-come first-serve basis.
2015 marks the fourth annual Liberation Film Festival (LFF) and will feature human interest and civil rights documentaries and conversations. LFF runs is scheduled for screening in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater and Screening Room, the Freedom Theater at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and the Creativity Theater. LFF is dedicated to bringing short-format cinema and human interest documentaries to the public through innovative programs designed to engage new and diverse audiences.

Marvin X and special assistant Samantha Akwei at MLK, Jr. b day in SF. She is a Spelman graduate and poet who grew up in Harlem. Ms Akwei, part Ghanaian, she works in Oakland. 
photo South Park Kenny Johnson

Black Bird Press News & Review: Race in America--the Grand Denial!

Black Bird Press News & Review: Race in America--the Grand Denial!

BAM Arkestra and Poet's Choir Member please know the lyrics and chorus to Space is the place by Sun Ra

 The Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra will perform Sun Ra's Space is the Place at Laney College Theatre, February 7, 2015, a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of BAM

Space is the Place by Sun Ra

And when you kiss your other lover I will try to understand and just because you're loving him it doesn't mean you don't love me do what you want, be what you want to be Space is the place where I will go when I'm all alone Nobody calls me on the phone and I feel alone Meditating in the zone, all alone Space is the place where I will go And just because you kiss your Brother It doesn't mean to say you're gay And just because you're loving him it doesn't mean you don't love me Do what you want, be what you want to be CHORUS Space is the place, in your face Space is the place

Dr. Leonard Jeffries earth day celebration in Harlem today

The Black Arts Movement Celebrating Amiri Baraka

BAM poet Marvin X will perform with the BAM Arkestra and Poet's Choir on Feb 7 at Oakand's Laney College in the day long event celebrating the 50th anniversary of BAM. Oakland's new Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Council President Lynette McElhaney will participate. Dr. Nathan Hare will facilitate the How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy Peer Group, along with Suzzette Celeste, MSW. The Physical Wellness Team from HP/Bay View WMCA will conduct a Wellness Boot Camp. Musicians performing include violinist Tarika Lewis, Harpist Destiny, percussionists Tacuma King and John Santos, trumpet master Earl Davis, pianist Muzuki Roberson, vocalists Mechelle LaChaux, Rasheedah Sabreen Shakir, poets Avotcja, Genny Lim, Kalamu Chache', Likiba Pitmann, Tureada Mikell, PhavioaKujichagulia, Paradise The Poet, Marvin X, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Javier Reyes and Hip Hop Poets. The event will exhibit the works of visual artists from San Quentin Prison, along with painters Emory Douglas, Renaldo Ricketts, Duane Deterville, Malik Seneferu, Refa One, Claude Clark; the Black Panther Archives of Billy X. Jennings: the archives of Dr. Nathan Hare and Marvin X. A panel on BAM and Black Women Writers facilitated by Elaine Brown; BAM/Black Power Babies, a panel moderated by Davey D, and more, including music by Fantastic Negrito. The evening includes a performance of Marvin X's BAM classic play Flowers for the Trashman. In the 60s. the Oakland Police Department threatened Black Arts West Theatre with arrest if they performed at Laney College. Two young males in the play go to jail for jaywalking (Hands Up, Don't Shoot). They play is produced and directed by Dr. Ayodele Nzinga who was a student of Marvin X when he taught theatre at Laney College, 1981. As a student she helped direct his play In the Name of Love, a Laney College production. Years later she directed his docudrama One Day in the Life, about his life on Crack, including a scene of his last meeting with Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton in a West Oakland Crack House. Ishmael Reed says, "Marvin X's One Day in the Life is the most powerful drama I've seen."

BAM Tasks at Laney

BAM Tasks for Laney College

1. Visual artists exhibit, team leader Dr. Leslee Stradford
2. Dramatic performance, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
3. Wellness, Empress Diamond, Suzzette Celeste, Dr. Nathan Hare, Michael Bennett
4. BAM and Women writers, Elaine Brown, moderator
5. Open Mike, MC Aries Jordan
6. Music, Tarika Lewis
7. Poet's Choir, Mechelle LaChaux
8. Donations, Mrs. and Mr. Carolyn and Leon Teasley
9. Reception, host, Paul Cobb
10. Food, Pat Brown
11. Reception Welcome, Laney President
12. Assistant to Producer, Samantha
13. Volunteer leader, Delores Nochi
14. Reception music, Fantastic Negro, Earl Davis
15. Sound and lights, Bud
16. Set Design
17. Program
18. Vendor tables
19. Security: Che'
20.  Archives of Dr. Nathan Hare and Marvin X
21. Book salves/givieaway
22. Children's Story house
23. Banners, Muhammad Al Kareem
24. Clean up: all
25. Transportation
26. Stage manager
27. ushers
28. Words of inspiration: Suzzette Celeste
29. Proclamation: Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland
30. On the Black Arts District, Lynette McElhaney, President, Oakland City Council
31. Video/photographers, Doug Guy, Khalid Wajeeb, Kamau Amen Ra, Malika Kambon, Gene Hazzard, Adam Turner, Ken Johnson
32. Cloth for costumes for Poet's Choir and Arkestra
33. lodging for guests and seniors
34. Cards for everyone willing to pass out to promote event.
35. If you are willing to do something to make this event a success, hit me: 510-200-4164. jmarvinx@yahoo.com. Share articles about BAM on www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com with your friends.