Saturday, March 21, 2015

Long live, Dr. Ben!

I am forever indebted to Dr. Ben for extending my knowledge of world history. I heard him lecture when I arrived in Harlem, NY, 1968. I last saw him at the Schomburg Library at the 75th birthday celebration for Amiri Baraka. The event was packed so Dr. Ben wasn't allowed inside. He was in the lobby and thirsty for water. I got him a bottle of water. Thank you, Dr. Ben, for all the water you showered upon us. Peace and love, Marvin X/Nazzam Al Sudan El Muhajir

THE MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE MOURNS ‘DR. BEN’!
THE LAST OF THE FOUR WISEMEN!

The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee is saddened beyond words at the passing of our most beloved ‘Dr. Ben.’
It is incredible that he would leave us on March 19th just two days before the anniversary of that colossal crime against humanity, the Ponce Massacre of March 21, 1937!
It was this savage display of the colonial disregard of human life and democracy that politicized him as a young college student in Puerto Rico as to the imperative of dismantling global white supremecy from its very core!...


Dr. Ben was one of our leader’s most trusted expert confidantes. He belonged to a private brain trust of powerful Black experts, the others being Dr. Clarke and Dr. Kenneth Clarke, that Malcolm would consult when preparing for his legendary debates where he would ultimately crush the academic gatekeepers of white supremecy before our very eyes, seeding the confidence that gave birth to Black Power!
Quiet as its kept, it was ‘Dr. Ben’ who was among the first to insist that Malcolm make his ‘hajj’ and some important necessary adjustments to his religious orientation long before he actually did it.
He was the last of the ‘Four Wisemen’…John G. Jackson, Chancellor Williams, John Henrik Clarke and Yosef ben Jochannon…
At last, they are all together again!
It was this quartet of brilliance, scholarship, excellence and yes, defiance that anchored and bred the epic Black Movement, from Harlem to the rest of the Afrikan world!
It was also this quartet, not that others do not deserve credit too because they do, but it was this quartet that was just as key in the seeding of what we know can call the emergence of Africentricity.
But of these four, it was ‘Dr. Ben,’ the youngest of the four, who was the most prolific of them.
It was ‘Dr. Ben’ who rescued our minds and hearts from the trinity of colonial consciousness of the three western religions undressing them down to their more endearing, more rooted, more humane Afrikan/Nile Valley origins. 


And it was ‘Dr. Ben,’ the engineer, the linguist, the anthropologist, the historian, who was the most multidimensional of them. His embodiment of the multidisciplinary approach to the rescue of the Afrikan contribution anticipated and prepared us for that other embodiment of the multidisciplinary approach who took it to the next level, the incredible Cheikh Anta Diop, and laying the groundwork for the rescue of the Ancient Egypt for Afrika and Afrikans!


So just as we are proud to say that ‘X’ is the answer when rallying our people to the correctness and power of our leader’s legacy, we are also just as proud to say that ‘Dr. Ben’ showed all of us, like few others, how to get to the answer in multilayered detail.


“Of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward us of all research,” Malcolm taught us.
We thank the God of our ancestors for blessing us with one of the greatest of all those liberating researchers in ‘Dr Ben’!

Long live ‘Dr. Ben’! Carry on the Tradition!
Bro. Zayid Muhammad, Press office

Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies



dr-ben 

  • SunriseDecember 31, 1918Gondar, Ethiopia
  • Sunset: March 19, 2015, Harlem-Bronx, New York
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  • The "Official" Universal Zulu Nation Statement on The Transcendence of 
  • Dr. Antonio Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies
  • In The Name of Almighty Allah (Amen Ra)

    We The Universal Zulu Nation give honor to Our Honorable Elder Yosef Ben Jochannan for his hard work,time,efforts,travels,opening of the Third Eye,keeper and finder of  Ancient Knowledge of Afrika,(Alkebu Lan) for generations to come and for Humans who are here in the now. May Allah be please with our brother and Anpu (Anubus) guide him swiftly back to our Ancestors.

    Dr. Ben is a Giant in waking up so many who might still be in the land of Nod Sleep state of Mind. we honor him,respect,him and even if you didn't agree with what he said in Our story,he is still Our Royality. Love,Peace,Freedom and Thought in Honor of the Great Dr. Ben and all his Legacy of Books forever he All in the All of All.

    Amen Ra Be Pleased.

    Brother Minister Afrika Bambaataa


    Former Student Zulu King Sadiki "Bro.Shep" Olugbala & Zulu Nation Founder Bro. Minister Afrika Bambaataa
    Delivering A Tribute To Dr. Ben On The Event Of His 95th B-Earthday in Da Boogie Down Bronx

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

BAM San Francisco Planners Meet


Marvin X, Geoffery Grier and Michael Bennett met recently to plan the Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary Celebration in San Francisco. These brothers were in the Glide Church Facts on Crack recovery program under Rev. Cecil Williams and Jan Mirikitani. Geoffery operates Recovery Theatre. Michael is the Physical Wellness Director at the Bayview/Hunters Point YMCA. If you would like to participate in BAM San Francisco, please call 510-200-4164. We are looking for organizations, funders, volunteers, participants. jmarvinx@yahoo.com. On June 5,6,7, BAM members will participate in the Sacramento Black Book Fair: Dr. Nathan Hare, Sonia Sanchez, Marvin X, et al.

The Black Arts Movement Supports the State of Black Oakland, Saturday, March 28, 10am, Geoffery's Inner Circle



Join Black led organizations on Saturday, March 28, 2015 10:00 am - 4:00 pm in creating a Black People's Agenda for Oakland.

There is tremendous work happening in Oakland with and for Black people. Many organizers, artists, advocates, community members, mothers, and more are working hard towards systematic change for the 109,471 Black residents left in Oakland (as of the 2010 census). The reality, however, is that we've also suffered many blows in the past few years. Every 28 hours a Black woman, child, or man is killed by a government protected vigilante force, as is evidenced by the report issued by MXGM, Operation Ghetto Storm. Simultaneously, the recent national uprisings for Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and countless others in our own backyard, have ushered in a spirit of hope and inspiration for a renewed people led movement.

Arguably, after the Oscar Grant uprisings (where Black folks where at the helm of leadership and collective response in Oakland) the Black community has not come together to sustain city wide change across issue. Moreover, the legacy of COINTELPRO which was key in dismantling the Black Panther Party and reared its head as recent as the Oscar Grant uprisings, have made Black collective action seem even harder. Additionally, the displacement of 25% of African people in the last decade from Oakland, and the pouring of federal monies, nearly 2 million dollars recently, into upholding a police state in Oakland has weakened our community. At the same time, there's been a "renaissance" of art and culture of Black people into Oakland that has been ushered into the city. In the midst, there are folks that have continued or birthed, a commitment to a spirit of Black Power, Service to the People, Pan Africanism, Self Determination, Youth Development, Community Empowerment and more!

Join us as we bring Black Oakland together to discuss these conditions, and what we can do as a collective Black community to bring change! This is open to all and only Black community members in Oakland!!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Black Bird Press News & Review: Open letter to USA Black Military Veterans to unite with Veteran soliders of the 1960s Revolution for American Democracy

Black Bird Press News & Review: Open letter to USA Black Military Veterans to unite with Veteran soliders of the 1960s Revolution for American Democracy

Black Arts Movement Dream and Wishlist

 



I want to see artists and craft persons in the Black Arts Movement District along Oakland's 14th St., just as they are daily on Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue and San Francisco's Market Street. This will inspire entrepreneurship or do-for-self economics in our community, as well as inspire cultural consciousness. If youth can sell drugs, they can sell anything, legal goods, gear, music and educational tapes, books, healthy food and vegetables. I don't want to hear problems, I want to hear solutions! The cultural revolution is first, then follows the political revolution!--Marvin X

 Black Arts Movement chief architect Amiri Baraka (RIP), Black Panther Party Co-founder Bobby Seale, BAM student Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Ahi Baraka, and Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, in the heart of the BAM District.
photo Gene Hazzard

 Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner in the heart of the BAM District, 14th and Broadway.
photo Adam Turner


 

 












Sunday, March 15, 2015

PASS THE BATON BUT CAN YOU CATCH IT?

ONE OF THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT'S CO-FOUNDERS, MARVIN X, ASKS IF THE ELDERS PASS THE BATON  TO THE YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS, CAN YOU CATCH IT?

 In this picture, we see, L to R, Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb, Laney College Professor of Art, Dr. Leslee Stradford, Rt. Col. Conway Jones, Jr. Marvin X, Naima Joy, granddaughter of Marvin X, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Jah Amiel, grandson of Marvin X, President of Laney College, Dr. Elnora T. Webb, Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black Studies, and Lynette McElhaney, President of the Oakland City Council.
photo South Park Kenny Johnson