Friday, February 6, 2015

Final Program of the Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary Celebration at Laney College, Feb. 7



 The Black Arts Movement
50th Anniversary Celebration
passing the baton

 February 7, 2015
Laney College, Oakland CA





Aside from the above texts, the autobiographies of Amiri Baraka and Marvin X are critical to an understanding of the Black Arts Movement, the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history. 




 Black Arts Movement Co-founders, Amiri Baraka (RIP) and Marvin X




Support the Black Arts Movement/Post News Group Isaiah 61 Project
"Bring the prisoners out of darkness"


Welcome from The Black Arts Movement

Marvin X
BAM Co-founder, Producer

Welcome to the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Black Arts Movement, the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history. "If not for the Black Arts Movement, African American culture would be extinct, " says Ishmael Reed. We are honored to be in a special partnership with Laney College and the Post News Group. We are also thankful for the support of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Council President Lynette McElhaney.

As we look back to the early years of BAM, 1965-66, we recall our Black Arts West Theatre was invaded by San Francisco police because they objected to our use of the socalled English/American language. When we brought Flowers for the Trashman to Laney College, the OPD threatened us with arrest if we performed. We recall the show did go on, in spite of police threats. Fifty years later things have changed a little, and yes, things have stayed the same. We are still in battle with the culture police who want to censure our use of the American language. In the BAM tradition, there are no obscene words, only obscene conditions; no profanity, only profane conditions. We must therefore jump out the box of our psycho-linguistic crisis and deal with conditions rather than cherry pick the American language for political correctness in the era of abject political chaos and moral hypocrisy.

With the above in mind, we welcome you to this celebration of the Black Arts Movement, founded by such artistic freedom fighters as Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, The Last Poets, Askia Toure, Haki Madhubuti, Woody King, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Sun Ra, Barbara Ann Teer, Avotcja, Judy Juanity, Ed Bullins and Marvin X.

The Bay Area played a critical role in the national Black Arts Movement, especially with such publications as Soulbook, Black Dialogue, Journal of Black Poetry and the Black Scholar. Along with Liberator, Black Theatre Magazine and Negro Digest/Black World, the Bay Area provided a critical voice to the national movement of artistic freedom fighters, to quote ancestor Paul Robeson.

We therefore recognize Bay Area BAM workers such as Adam David Miller, Marc Primus,
Ruth Beckford, Ellendar Barnes, Raymond Sawyer, Sarah Webster Fabio, John Doyle, Judy Juanita, Avotcja, Jose Goncalves, Ken and Carol Freeman, Abdul Sabrey, Aubrey LaBrie, Arthur Sheridan, Al Young, Duke Williams, Dr. Nathan Hare and Dr. Julia Hare.

Yes, we are standing on the shoulders of our ancestors. We hear them calling, saying stand up, be free, stand up, be free! But if we have a theme, it is passing the baton to the next generation of artistic freedom fighters. We will showcase some of them today. Those of us who are elders, welcome with open arms the BAM/Black Powers Babies 2.0 and 3.0. It is your turn now, just know we are here to guide you with wisdom so you need not reinvent the wheel and make critical mistakes. As we heard ancestor Martin Luther King, Jr. say in a speech, "Don't get caught in the paralysis of analysis."

In the BAM tradition, we shall go from Laney College to the community. We are calling for the Black Arts Movement District along the 14th Street corridor, from Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to Alice Street. We are honored to have the support of Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Council President Lynette McElhaney. Power to the people! BAM!

In closing, we thank the William James Prison Art Project for making possible (on short notice) the exhibit of San Quentin Prison art. We thank Paul Cobb of the Post News Group for proposing the exhibit under BAM/Post News Group Isaiah 61 Project. Most of all, thank you Laney College Presidnet, Dr. Elnora T. Webb, faculty, staff and students. Thank all you artists for giving your time and talents as we proceed to complete the BAM 27 City Tour suggested by ancestor Amiri Baraka.
--Marvin X, BAM 27 City Project Director
BAM co-founder Marvin X and Laney College President Elnora T. Webb in planning meeting with Laney faculty and staff. 
photo Adam Turner
Tamika Brown and Alicia Christenson, Co-chairs of the Ethnic Studies Department
Photo Adam Turner

Carol Newborg, MX, Dr. Leslee Stradford, Curator of Laney BAM Exhibit


 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-hHlOuxF5g9x-6iZtJqBQnhekvcZppmDj-OQ2y06666mn-f7A8k8HDGqxf11dJV5-D-xyj1Qo1EbH_AwJu4AmT4opDL5idl7YguMxBFsKHMCtgdGA9ipk0c_sKH5TZ9TGM2_YLDzIQqk/s1600/imag2106.jpg

Elena Seranno, Director of Eastside Arts, Alameda County Supervisor Marvin Keith Carson and Black Arts Movement co-founder Marvin X. Elena and Marvin X received Commendation from Alameda Country Board of Supervisors acknowledging the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement, founded on the east coast by Amiri Baraka with his Black Arts Repertory School in Harlem, 1965,  and on the west coast by Marvin X and his Black Arts West Theatre in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, 1966.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf supports the Black Arts Movement
“Oakland is lucky to have an incredibly talented and diverse art community. The African American Arts Movement is a vital, historically significant part of the Oakland Arts Community.  With its focus on justice, equality and self-realization, the message of black artists is crucial to support.  From rage to celebration, art allows expression, and expression is essential to a community as varied as Oakland.  The recent 1% for Public Art that I authored ensures that new art will be a priority in Oakland in the future. I agree with Post Publisher Paul Cobb that BAM 50th Anniversary celebration should encompass all cultural genres: visual, literary, and performance.  Age-appropriate books for African American students about the Black Arts Movement will literally bring the lesson home for families to share and aspire to.”--Mayor Libby Schaaf


The depth and breadth of the contributions of the Black Arts Movement to this community are enormous.
– Oakland City Councilmember, Desley Brooks


 Oakland City Council President Lynette McElhaney, Empress Diamond, Marvin X



President McElhaney will introduce a resolution declaring 14th Street The Black Arts Movement District

Working Program
10:00 AM--Black Arts Movement Physical Wellness Boot Camp, facilitated by Michael Bennett's Wellness Team from the YMCA, HP/Bayview:
Lynn Cole.
John Davis
Michael Kirkman
Rachel Fiapoto
Michael Bennett/ Physical Activity, Nutrition Health and Wellness Director.

  Location: Student Center

11:00AM-- Peer Group on Mental Wellness: How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy Peer Group, facilitated by Dr. Nathan Hare and Suzzette Celeste, MPA, MSW
Location: Student Union, Room 401
12 Noon--Book Fair--authors speak, MC Aries Jordan; music by D.J. Lamont
Authors: James Gayles, Aries Jordan, Judy Juanita, Duane Deterville, Menhuam Ayele, Dr. Nathan Hare, Avotcja, Elaine Brown, Kweli Tutshainda, Phavia Kujichagulia, Marvin X
Location: Student Center

2pm--Open Mike Poetry/Speak Out, MC Javier Reyes
Location: Student Center
2pm--BAM and Black Women Writers Panel; moderated by Elaine Brown; invited panelists: Judy Juanita, Avojtcha, Aries Jordan, Phavia Kujichagulia, Portia Anderson, Nefertiti Jackmon
Location: Odell Johnson Theatre
4pm Black Arts Movement/Black Power Babies panel, moderated by Davey D; invited panelists: Phavia Kujichagulia and Taiwo; Dr. Ayodele Nzinga and  Stanley; Terry Collins and Renya; Walter Riley and Boots Riley; Marvin X and Nefertiti
Performance by YGB of Youth Speaks
Location: Odell Johnson Theatre
Note: BAM/Black Power Babies is the creation of Muhammida El Muhajir, daughter of Nisa Ra and Marvin X. Muhammida now lives in Ghana, West Africa.

 Nisa Ra, Muhammida El Muhajir, Marvin X


BAM/Black Power Baby, Ras Baraka, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey,
son of Amina and Amiri Baraka

MX and Black Power Baby (Panther Cub) Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr. of the Prisoners of Consciousness Committee (POCC)

6pm - RECEPTION IN THE ART GALLERY: EXHIBIT OF SAN QUENTIN PRISON ART and Bay Area Visual Artists; curated by Professor Leslee Stradford;
Community visual artists: Emory, James Gayles, Duane Deterville, Malik Seneferu, Woody Johnson, Renaldo Rickets, Claude Clark

Host, Paul Cobb, Publisher, Post News Group
Invocation, Suzzette Celeste, Practitioner & Social Justice Activist
Welcome, Laney College President, Dr. Elnora T. Webb
Words of Wisdom from Elder Conway Jones, Jr.
Proclamation of Black Arts Movement District, Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland
Councilwoman Lynette McElhaney on the Black Arts Movement District
Councilwoman Desley Brooks
Music by Earle Davis and Oaktown Passions
Location: Laney Art Gallery, Tower Building

7pm Laney College Theatre: Marvin X's BAM classic play Flowers for the Trashman, 
introductory remarks by Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black Studies, founding publisher of the Black Scholar Magazine
Produced by The Lower Bottom Playaz
Director: Dr. Ayodele Nzinga
Bud
Stanley
Koran

Location: Odell Johnson Theatre

Collage by Adam Turner of the Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra
performing at the Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, May 17, 2014

BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra at BAM Conference, University of California, Merced, Feb./Mar 2014; a Kim McMillan/Marvin X production



8pm Black Arts Movement Poet's Choir and Arkestra with special guests John Santos, Muziki Roberson, Phavia Kujichagulia. BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra members: Joan Tarika Lewis, Avotcja, Aries Jordan, Samantha Akwei, Genny Lim, Paradise Jah Love, Mechelle LaChaux, Tureada Mikell, Val Serrant, Tacuma King, Earle Davis, Lakiba Pittman, Kalamu Chache', Rashidah Sabreen, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Zena Allen, Destiny Muhammad, Marvin X (Director)
Location: Odell Johnson Theatre
Page 5
Executive Planning Committee
Paul Cobb
Conway Jones, Jr.
Samantha Akwei
Dr. Elnora T. Webb
Dr. Leslee Stradford
Michael Bennett
LaNiece Jones
Nefertiti Jackmon
Muhammida El Muhajir
Amira Jackmon, Esq.
Hasan James 
Dr. Nathan Hare
Suzzette Celeste

Page 6
Black Arts Movement Presenters
Dr. Leslee Stradford was born in Chicago Illinois.  She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Art Education and Master of Fine Arts degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, (SAIC) She also completed her Doctorate in Art Education and Educational Administration from Illinois State University.  Dr. Stradford’s visual art includes social, cultural and historical documentation through digital images, painted canvases and printed silks.


San Quentin Artists:
Brendan Murdock
Flex Lucero
Ronnie Goodman
Justin Evans
M. Wasi
Gary Harrell
J Fowler
M. Crookes
Rolf Kissman
Michael Williams
Khalfah Christensen
Stan Bey

Mayor Libby Schaaf was elected Oakland’s 50th mayor, taking office on January 5, 2015. A lifelong Oaklander, graduate of Skyline High School, and former City Councilmember, Mayor Schaaf is honored to serve the people of Oakland and to help promote her hometown as the greatest place to live, work, play, and do business. In keeping with Oakland’s heritage as a birthplace of social movements, she is committed to ensuring the safety, education and equitable treatment of all Oakland residents as well as transparency and innovation in government. She is dedicated to bringing about revitalization in the City that preserves and celebrates Oakland’s vibrancy and diversity and leads to direct prosperity for long-time residents and newcomers.
Lynette McElhaney
 Oakland City Councilmember - District 3
Lynette has more than 20 years experience in housing and community development. Since 2001, Lynette Gibson McElhaney has served as the Executive Director and CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of the East Bay,  a HUD-approved non-profit dedicated to affordable housing development, counseling and advocacy.  In her current capacity, Lynette manages a $2 million rental real estate portfolio and supports critical counseling services to more than 400 households annually through well respected  foreclosure mitigation and first-time home buyer programs. Under her leadership NHS has developed or rehabilitated over 100 affordable homes including the development of Richmond Village- a 82 unit mixed-income HOPE VI redevelopment effort.  NHS East Bay has been at the forefront of Contra Costa's foreclosure crisis, launching the first public awareness campaign with the support of  Congressman George Miller.
Lynette is proud to have spent her career working hard to develop housing and economic opportunity in low-income communities. She believes that her experience as the Executive Director of NHS has trained her to balance a large budget, make a payroll, and bridge the interests of the business community with the needs of the neighborhood. Lynette envisions a healthy city as one that balances a vibrant business sector with a commitment to economic justice for all residents. She supports the Black Arts Movement District along the 14th Street corridor.

Conway B. Jones, Jr. is a patriot, businessman and arts patron. His adult life is marked by service to country, community and the Arts. The Arts have always been his passion. He served as chairman of the Oakland (California) Arts Council in the mid 1980s. He is a former member of the Alameda County (California) Arts Commission. As an art patron, he has donated art locally, regionally, nationally, and to foreign governments. From 1985, has served on numerous Music Panels, convened by the National Endowment for the Arts, in Washington, D.C.

During his tenure as chairman of the Western Aerospace Museum (renamed Oakland Aviation Museum), Oakland, California, from 1984 until 1988, he established the Museum’s first home at North Field, Oakland International Airport, Oakland, California.  


Dr. Elñora Tena Webb is President of Laney College in Oakland, CA. She has led the College to greater levels of student success and has ensured the College’s reaffirmation of accreditation, integrated planning and budgeting, sound resource management, community partnerships, institutional assessment and overall advancement. Prior to her appointment as President, Dr. Webb served as the Vice President of Instruction from 2005–2009, and as a Division Dean from 2002–2005. Dr. Webb consistently demonstrates ethical, visionary and collaborative leadership in a range of administrative roles within all systems of higher education in California. 

 John Santos Multi-Grammy-nominated percussionist, and US Artists Fontanals Fellow, John Santos, is a prolific Afro-Latin band leader, composer, teacher, writer, and producer with over 40 years professional experience. He has worked with acknowledged masters including Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Max Roach, Eddie Palmieri, Francisco Aguabella and Omar Sosa. He has composed and published over 100 original compositions, his record company, Machete Records, was formed in 1984, and he is part of the faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, California and at the College of San Mateo. He has taught nationally and internationally since 1973 and currently directs the highly acclaimed John Santos Sextet.
 Val Serrant. Originally from the Republic Of Trinidad & Tobago, Serrant plays the drum and steel drum & has been in-tune with the West Coast "Black Arts Movement" since moving to San Francisco in 1975. At the time he resided with Danny Glover & Family. He is also the co-Founder of "Caribbean All Stars”, “Afrika Heartbeat","Riddim Time" & "The Journey"{with Tarika Lewis & Tacuma King}. He is also a member of: -"Jazzological Muse-Oetry"{led by Kujichagulia Phavia} and. "Avotcja & Modupue".

Ken Johnson South Park Kenny is a native San Franciscan: photographer for Bay View News, Sun Reporter News, and Post News.  TV Producer on KQED Ch9, SF Public Access TV, Independent Productions. Presently Co-host The New Stimulus Package. Weekly live cable TV program on SF Comcast cable TV 29 & 76. He is a longtime associate of Marvin X.

Avotcja is a poet, playwright, multi-percussionist, photographer and teacher. She has been published in English & Spanish in the USA, Mexico & Europe, and in numerous anthologies. She is a Bay Area icon with her group Avotcja & Modúpue. Avotcja is a Radio Personality, and the Founder/Director of “The Clean Scene Theater Project (AKA) Proyecto Teatral De La Escena Sobria.” Avotcja is a proud member of DAMO (Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization), PEN Oakland, California Poets In The Schools, and IWWG & is an ASCAP recording artist.
Val Serrant Originally from the Republic Of Trinidad & Tobago, Serrant plays the drum and has been in-tune with the West Coast Black Arts Movement since moving to San Francisco in 1975. At the time he resided with Danny Glover & Family. He is also the co-founder of "Caribbean All Stars”, “Afrika Heartbeat","Riddim Time" and "The Journey" (with Tarika Lewis and Tacuma King). He is a member of "Jazzological Muse-Oetry" (led by Kujichagulia Phavia) and "Avotcja & Modupue".
Tacuma King is a percussionist and master drummer. He regularly performs locally, nationally and internationally. Marvin X would not perform without Tacuma. "He has great respect for the spoken word as a musician."

Poetess Kalamu Chaché
  was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and has lived and worked in East Palo Alto, California since the 1960s. She is a published poet, singer/songwriter, author, strong community advocate, promotions specialist and the current Poet Laureate of East Palo Alto, CA. She is a Ubiquity Records recording artist with the Sons and Daughters of Lite and Undercurrent Records recording artist on the ‘Frontliners’ album series for the National Black United Front (1984-1987). Poetess Chaché’s current cultural arts initiatives: Ancestors Page & Tribute Publications, Event Flyers Design, Publication Publicity & Promotion Services, Sistahs With Ink Blog Radio Host, Wednesday Poets Showcases & Artist Profiles and Facebook Features

Terry Collins
  was born in Lansing, Michigan, January 29, 1936. Raised in Connersville, Indiana and Los Angeles, California, Collins participated in the restructuring of the San Francisco State College BSU and TWLF, from the Fall of 1967 to the Summer of 1969, and the strike that continued for 4 months, that
brought the concept of Black Studies and Third World Studies (later renamed Ethnic Studies) to be instituted at San Francisco State University. Terry is President of KPOO Radio Board, San Francisco.

Aries Jordan the poetic goddess is New York native with something to say. Aries weaves prose, proverbs and cultural narratives into beautiful master pieces that provoke thought and inner reflection. She dares to be vulnerable in her writing as she shares the beauty and pain of being alive in this time. In 2011 she released a collection of poems entitled " Journey to Womanhood: A poetic Rite of Passage" through Black Bird Press.

Aries’s poetry has been highlighted in "The Journal of Pan African Studies: Poetry Addition", “Stand Our Ground: Poems for Trayvon Martin and Marissa Alexander” and  "Coming Back to Life". Aries is the host and Co-Creator of the “Feeding the Artist Within” a  series dedicated to artistic expression that inspires and transforms lives at J Posh Studio and Design. Aries is  expected to release
her new collection of poems "The Evolution of A Poetic Goddess" in 2015. 

Nefertitti Jackmon is a lover of life. She enjoys her work as a mother, a nonprofit consultant and strategist, a published writer and an adjunct professor at Houston Community College. She obtained her BA in English from Fresno State and her MA in Africana Studies from the University of Albany. She appeared in the Nikki Giovanni anthology Grandfathers.
Earle Davis Jazz trumpeter and visual artist, Earle Davis began studying the trumpet in 1947. In 1968, Earle played with John Coltrane at the Jazz Workshop. He then moved from San Francisco to New York City, continuing to work as a bandleader, sideman, and visual artist. While on the New York scene, he worked with such renowned jazz artists as Joe Henderson and the Kenny Dorham Big Band for two years. He later joined the Sun-Ra Orchestra as an on – off member until Sun-Ra’s death in the late 90s. During his stay in New York, he also worked with other jazz greats on the Avant-Garde scene (new music movement) such as Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Oliver Lake, Roland Alexander, Sam Rivers, Roland Kirk, Jackie Byards’s Apollo Stompers Big Band and Roswell Rudd. In 1971, Earle joined the legendary Miles Davis Band for a guest appearance at The Both/And Jazz Club at Miles’ request. Miles’ band at the time included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Buster Williams, and Wayne Shorter. Earle Davis is a permanent fixture on the New York City Jazz scene and the underground art movement as well. Earle, now the president of the newly formed Musician Co-op (Blue Gorilla) in New York City, remains focused on his creative sources as a bi-coastal artist. Earle Davis coined the term “En-cog- Negro” in 1984. This term refers to existing outside the box. He is also the father of “Blazz” (2005), which stands for Brain Liberated Artz, a new concept of black classical music.

Nathan Hare
was born April 9, 1933. In 1965 while teaching at Howard University he wrote “The Black Anglo Saxons” and in 1968 he was the first person hired to coordinate a black studies program in the United States, at San Francisco State University. He was the founding publisher of the Black Scholar from 1969 to 1975. In addition to numerous accolades, he has written dozens of articles in a number of scholarly journals and popular magazines, from The Black Scholar and Ebony to Newsweek, Saturday Review and The Times of London. Dr. Hare is an author and has written several books in collaboration with his wife, Dr. Julia Hare. The Hares were also catalysts for the black male/female relationships movement and the rites of passage movement for black boys.
 
Billy X Jennings joined the Black Panther Party at 17 years of age, and worked on the First Free Breakfast Program at St. Augustine Church in 1969. Jennings worked In East Oakland for the Black Panther Party, and later transferred to their national headquarters. He was Huey P. Newton’s aide in 1971 and in 1972, ran Bobby Seale’s mayoral campaign office. In 1995, Jennings helped establish It’s About Time/ Black Panther Party alumni committee and hosted the 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th year reunions of the Black Panther Party. Jennings started the website It’s About Time in 1998 to maintain the BPP Legacy. It’s about Time has a traveling photo exhibit which has been exhibited all over America and in London, Ireland, Portugal, Tanzania, and Australia where he has taught since 1998.

Ms. Joan Tarika Lewis
Visual and performing artist J. Tarika Lewis is often referred to as a “Renaissance Women” and Jimi Hendrix on electric violin. She teaches visual arts within the public and charter schools bringing an extensive professional background in illustrating greeting cards, posters, book illustration, banners, architectural and stage design. Ms. Lewis is currently designing an original product line for “Kimmies’s Kitchen” TV program and Strings of Soul Violin classes. Ms. Lewis performs locally with a new dynamic Black Rock Band ‘AMA EVOLUTION’, the Bobby Young Project Blues Band and “The Journey” with percussionist Tacuma King and Val Serrant, bringing West African music and audience interaction to bay area campuses. For many years Ms. Lewis toured nationally and internationally with a jazz band featuring the renowned alto saxophonist John Handy with Class. Ms. Lewis is most proud of her heritage, being the daughter of John Henry Lewis (first African American to win the title Light Heavyweight Champion of the World) and mother Florence R. Lewis daughter of California pioneers. Before California became a state her grandfather Capt William Henry Galt organized a militia in Sacramento California to help prevent California falling into the hands of the Confederacy and prevent rekidnapping of African Americans seeking asylum. Ms. Lewis is a graduate of the Academy of Art and Cal State Hayward.

Genny Lim
has performed as a feature poet at the San Francisco Jazz Center’s Jazz Poetry Festival in June 2013. She has collaborated with many musicians, such as Jon Jang, Francis Wong, John Santos and the late Max Roach and Herbie Lewis. She has appeared at World Poetry Festivals in Venezuela, Sarajevo and Naples. Her seminal play, “Paper Angels,” received a SF Fringe Festival Award in 2010 and her solo performance piece, “Where is Tibet?” was presented at CounterPULSE, in 2009 and Afro SoloArts Festival and Women of the Way Festival in 2011. She is author of three poetry collections, Winter Place, Child of War and Paper Gods and Rebels and co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, which will be republished in a new and expanded edition.

Ayodele Nzinga
, MFA, PhD is Marvin X's prize pupil.  She is an actress, director, producer, and internationally published author. Pri Thomas called her the best of our time. Ishmael Reed describes her as a tour de force.  Nzinga is by all accounts a renaissance woman; she is the founder producing director of The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc , Oakland's premiere North American African Theater Company. She is committed to the production of The August Wilson Century Cycle in chronological order. Her troupe in residence at The Flight Deck uptown Oakland, will present the last two installments in the ten installment cycle in 2015, making Nzinga and her troupe the first theater company on the planet to present the entire cycle in order. Contact Dr.Nzinga at wordslanger@gmail.com
Fantastic Negrito
Val Serrant Originally from the Republic Of Trinidad & Tobago, Serrant plays the drum and steel drum & has been in-tune with the West Coast "Black Arts Movement" since moving to San Francisco in 1975. At the time he resided with Danny Glover & Family. He is also the co-Founder of "Caribbean All Stars”, “Afrika Heartbeat","Riddim Time" & "The Journey"{with Tarika Lewis & Tacuma King}. He is also a member of: -"Jazzological Muse-Oetry"{led by Kujichagulia Phavia} and. "Avotcja & Modupue".
James Gayles is an Emmy Award winning artist based in Oakland, California. James attended Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied under renowned painters Jacob Lawrence and super realist Audrey Flack.  James has won public art commissions from cities across the US and Asia. He is very committed to cultivating artists and sharing his work in the Bay Area where he has lived for the last 20 years. As a commercial artist early in his career,  he established himself in New York as a Graphic Designer and illustrator, becoming Assistant Director of Graphics at NewsCenter 4, NBC-TV. AtNBC he won a television Emmy Award for design and illustration. James is  also  a  two-time winner  of  Art  Direction  Magazine’s  Creativity  Award,  one for  the News Center 4 logo redesign, and the other for an editorial illustration for the New York Times.James has illustrated for McGraw-Hill, Random House, Essence Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine, as well as several advertising agencies on both the East and West coasts. 
Aqueila M. Lewis A Bay Area Native and resident of Oakland, CA, Aqueila M. Lewis has been writing poetry since she was in high school. As a multi-talented artist, she is well-versed in composing, singing, modeling, poetry/spoken word, journalism (print and radio) and more. Aqueila is a graduate of Napa Valley College and UC Berkeley.  Aqueila’s work has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, KPFA 94.1 FM Radio’s First Voice Media Apprenticeship Program and Full Circle Show, National Radio Project Making Contact Storytelling Fellowship, Sistah’s With Ink Voices anthology, Reflections: A Collaboration Between Painting And Literature and Til Death Do Us Part All Lady Warrior Zine. She is the Co-host and Executive Producer of “All the Rest of Us” which airs Sundaysfrom 3pm-4pm on KPFB 89.3 FM Radio.  She is the Co-host and Co-Founder of Urban Hang Suite,a Open Mic, Showcase and Mixer in San Pablo, CA. She is currently creating children’s books focused on issues in relation to social justice and community. 

Samantha Akwei also known as Brok'N Sylance (Broken Silence) is a native of Harlem, New York that shares a love for people, poetry and the planet. After winning the Knicks Poetry Slam in 2005 and the Urban Word Poetry Slam in 2007, Ms. Akwei became inspired to continue to use her voice as a catalyst for change and since has been an active member of several social justice organizations. She currently holds a BA in English from Spelman College and works for the national environmental organization Green For All in Oakland. Having written her final paper on Amiri Baraka she was instantly drawn to assist Marvin X in reviving the Black Arts Movement. 

Suzzette Celeste Johnson, MSW, MPA has breadth and depth in the health and human services field which spans public health, alcohol and other drugs services, mental health, criminal justice, and education.  Her experience includes direct services, program planning and development, systems coordination/integration, health services administration, and training. Ms. Johnson’s professional and personal mission is to achieve health equity through developing transformational leadership approaches, fostering collaborations and coalitions, changing organizational practices, and educating providers.   She is a skilled facilitator, educator, critical thinker and perennial student of cultural humility, shifting paradigms, and Universal Spiritual Principles.    
Empress Diamond Healer, Spiritual Consultant, Botanist, Certified Herbalist, Iridologist, and Natural Health Consultant. Specializing in Dry Blood Cell Analysis and Mayan Womb Massage; a protocol used to re-set the fallen wombs of women to its proper place of balance within the Reproductive System.   Visit her online: papyrusherbals.com
Sistah Kujichagulia - Griot (Djialli Ba), educator, activist, and cultural artist, Phavia Kujichagulia is a former Professor of Ethnomusicology & African Civilizations at World College West and Stanford University’s Workshop on Political & Social Issues. In 2002, Sistah Kujichagulia was a member of the United States Delegation to the 2nd World Conference Against Racism (WCAR - Culture & Spirituality Committee) in the Caribbean country of Barbados. She has performed and lectured extensively throughout the continental USA, the Caribbean, and England and currently writes for the San Francisco Examiner Online Newspaper. Phavia Kujichagulia’s latest book, Recognizing & Resolving the Roots of Racism is a must-read for those serious about eliminating racism. It is available online and can be ordered through any book store [ISBN 978-1-4507-4050-0]. For more info visit www.kujichaguliaphavia.com

CAST of Flowers for the Trashman
by Marvin X, directed by Dr. Ayodele Nzinga

Pierre Scott, Negro: debuted as Mr. West in Two Trains Running with The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc. He also played Fielding in Jitney. An Oakland native who is honored to be a part of the Lower Bottom Playaz Troupe, Pierre is an aspiring writer, voice actor, coach, husband, and active father of six. His crisp baritone voice is melodic and demands of attention. Pierre would like to thank Director Dr. Ayo Nzinga for her patience, guidance, and instruction on self-expression. Pierre would like to give special thanks to his family for their support and an extra special thanks to his father who demanded that he read aloud as a child in order to fine tune his vocal skills

Koran Streets, Wes: Streets recently appeared as Shealy in Jitney and Sterling in Two Trains Running with The Lower Bottom Playaz. Streets is a film star, musician, and a core troupe member. He has appeared in each installment of The American Century Cycle staged by LBP. He played Citizen Barlow in Gem of the Ocean, Jeremy in Joe Turner has Come and Gone and Levee in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He costarred in the film LICKS and will appear in each coming installment of The Century Cycle.

Stanley T. Hunt, II
, Joe:  Stanley was named best actor in the film LICKS at the Chelsea film festival in New York. He appeared as Wolf in Two Trains Running. He is a core member of The Lower Bottom Playaz and has been on stage since age 9. He has appeared in over 30 plays. He was named actor to watch by the South-by-South West film festival in 2013. He has appeared in 6 productions of Wilson’s work. He has appeared as Caesar in Gem of the Ocean, Herald Loomis in Joe Turner’s come and Gone, and Toledo in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Stanley is also a talented musical artist.

Reginald Wilkins
, Whiteman: appeared as Holloway in Two Trains Running and as Turbo in Jitney with The Lower Bottom Playaz. . Reginald Silverback Wilkins, originally from Baytown, TX, is a distinguished member of the world famous Pan Theatre Improv troupe, lead singer for the band Nephalim and an artist whose work has been featured in various exhibits. He is also the creator of the comic strips "Bete Downs" along with the soon to be published, "Smoke". We welcome his impressive presence to The Lower Bottom Playaz, Inc

Nate Hi Beats Hatton
, Jailer, is a music producer, the light and sound director for The Lower Bottom Playaz who is usually more comfortable behind the scenes. He has appeared on stage in Lower Bottom Playaz productions and reprises his role as Jailer in this BAM classic. 
Marvin X Born Marvin Ellis Jackmon May 29, 1944, Marvin X is a poet, playwright, essayist educator, organizer, producer, publisher. His parents published the Fresno Voice, a Black newspaper in Fresno during the late 1940s. The family moved to West Oakland. They had a florist shop on 7th Street. Marvin X went to McFeely, Prescott and Lowell Jr. High. He graduated from Edison High, Fresno, then enrolled at Merritt College, where he met fellow classmates Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, founders of the Black Panther Party.
One of the primary movers and shakers of the Black Arts Movement coast to coast, he has published 30 books, including essays, poetry, parables, fables, proverbs and his autobiography Somethin’ Proper. He received his MA in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University where his first play was produced by the drama department while he was an undergrad. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities, including Fresno State University, San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley and San Diego, University of Nevada, Reno, Mills College, Laney and Merritt. Important books include Fly Allah, poems, Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, essays on consciousness, and How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, a manual based on the 12 step Recovery model. Ishmael Reed says, “Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland. Marvin's play One Day in the Life is the most powerful drama I've seen!” His latest book is the Wisdom of Plato Negro, parables/fables, Black Bird Press, Berkeley. He currently teaches at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. He is carrying out Amiri Baraka's directive to spread BAM to the 27 cities with large populations of North American Africans. Oakland is the first stop and will be a model for other cities, especially the Black Arts Movement District.

 



Page 7

Academic Committee
 William Riley, Peralta College District Board of Trustees
Dr. Elnora T. Webb, President, Laney College
Dr. Leslee Stradford, Instructor, Art Department, Curator BAM Exhibit
Judy Juanita, Instructor, author, activist BAM/Black Power Movement
Phyllis Carter, Laney Director of Business and Administrative Services 
Phoumy Sayavong, Dean of Humanities, Social Sciences & Applied Technology 
Tamika Brown and Alicia Christenson, Co-chairs of the Ethnic Studies Department.
Jim Cave, Odell Johnson Theatre technical director
Eric Smith, Staff Assistant in Laney Business Office 
Kinetta Barnett, Laney Facilities Services Specialist 
Randolph Belle, Communications Director for President Webb.
 
Page 8

Documentation
Photographers/videographers/writers
Ken Johnson
Kamau Amen Ra
Khalid Waajib
Adam Turner
Gene Hazzard
Malika Kambon
Aqueila Lewis

Page 9
Donations
Nikki Giovanni
Paul Cobb
Delores Nochi Edwards
Suzzette Celeste Johnson
Dr. Elnora T. Webb
Conway Jones, Jr.
Leon and Carolyn Teasley
Doris and Rashid Easley
Inder Singh
Amira Jackmon, Esq.
Debra Jackmon

Page 10

Special Thanks
Paul Cobb, Publisher, Post News Group
Terry Collins, KPOO Radio
Davey D, KPFA Hardknocks Radio
Greg Bridges, KPFA, Transitions on Traditions
KBLX
Laney College Radio
Peralta College TV
Faisa Ali, Peralta Social Media

Page 11
Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

 
Dr. Cornel West, Samantha Akwei, poet/organizer, assistant to  Marvin X
Photo Adam Turner


Cornel West supports Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement's 27 City Tour that honors Ancestor Amiri Baraka. West  called on all cities with populations of North American Africans to invite the BAM 27 City Tour, especially his hometown of Sacramento CA. "If they will bring BAM to Sacramento, I will participate."

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Sometimes I Wonder by Samantha Akwei



Sometimes I wonder
How long of a life it will take
To embrace the fullness of it
To fully take a breath away and take it back
To walk humbly nowhere

After all
Nice people finish last

Sometimes I wonder
How it feels to hold a gun
People must feel like they're competing with God
Having the power to dust away life
Like look God
What you created wasn’t worth it
The life you brought
Couldn’t stand to make it
Let me do your job for you

Let me

Sometimes I wonder
Why he never called back
After I told myself that lies were overrated
And that I would try to fall in love with truth first

Being honest alone
Is lonely

Sometimes I wonder
Which is better the facade
Or the silence
Of not wanting to teach
To let things be
To let them come at their own time


Sometimes I wonder
Whether it’s really my job
If I did nothing
Would everything still work out?

Or is it even working?
 at all. 


Brok'N

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Little African Woman Poem by Marvin X

Little African woman
full of wisdom speak
strength of your silence
calls me like the Sirens
silence calms by soul
whisper your love energy
send it my way if you can
I will flow wit da flow
listening to you
screaming silence in my ears
calm down
the deal is done
no rats can bite this cheese













ancestors have this day in the sun
I listen to you
your soft words are the sea
the tide is in and we are happy.
--Marvin X
2/2/15

Alameda County Supervisors Commend the Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary

Elena Seranno, Director of Eastside Arts, Alameda County Supervisor Marvin Keith Carson and Black Arts Movement co-founder Marvin X. Elena and Marvin X received Commendation from Alameda Country Board of Supervisors acknowledging the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement, founded on the east coast by Amiri Baraka with his Black Arts Repertory School in Harlem, 1965,  and on the west coast by Marvin X and his Black Arts West Theatre in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, 1966. On Saturday, Feb. 7, Laney College will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of BAM, the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history. The Laney College event is free and happens all day thru 8pm. Call 510-200-4164 for more information or to make a generous donation to the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour and the Black Arts Movement District that has been declared on 14th Street, downtown Oakland, from Martin Luther King, Jr. Way to Alice Street.
Photo By Adam Turner

Monday, February 2, 2015

Black Bird Press News & Review: Video: Cornel West on The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

Black Bird Press News & Review: Video: Cornel West on The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

The Radical Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Building Bridges Special
with
Mimi Rosenberg & Ken Nash
Mon., February 2, 2015, 7 pm – 10 pm, over 99.5 FM
streaming @ 
www.wbai.org                                   
smartphone streaming @
http://stream.wbai.org                                        
& to listen, or download archived shows, 
http://archive.wbai.org/show1.php?showid=bbridges
                                   
*****************************.
Because We Can’t Wait! 
The Radical King, The Prophetic King, In His Own Voice
on the Triple Evils of Capitalism, Militarism & Racism
& Fighting For Change  featuringrare audio from militant workers rallies, by one the
world’s greatest orators and from two of the finest
documentaries ever made: At The River I Stand and
King: From Montgomery to Memphis**********************
Because we can’t wait any longer to respond collectively to institutional
discrimination and bigotry, economic inequality, and militarism we can learn
from and be inspired by the radical King.  Because we must turn our moments
of outrage into building the sustained  movements for change that go to the
heart of the policies and the practices that treat many as beasts of burden
upon which the few are carried, we can learn from the radical King.  The radical
King’s voice is prophetic, echoing through the years providing insights into what
drives people to organize and then what sustains groups of people in motion and
can connect the different interest efforts and geographical locales.    Listen to the
radical King on the need to build organizations that are there for the long haul, to
weather the storms of resistance against the demands of we the people.  Listen
to the radical King, who immersed himself in and was informed by the needs and
yearnings  of the downtrodden.  Listen to the radical King who embedded himself
in the burgeoning movements of the people for human rights, for equal rights,
against poverty and for jobs with dignity and a living wage and who then pushed
them to carve away at the enormous wealth disparities that exist in America and
the scourge of US militarism, as it killed and plundered and perverted the soul of
America.  Oh yes, listen to the radical King, in rare audio recordings, and clips
from several of the best documentaries ever made that capture the man, the
campaigns, from Montgomery to Memphis to obtain human rights and which
were to merge the necessity of the impoverished and disenfranchised, of the
working class for economic power. “What good does it do to eat at a lunch
counter if you can’t buy a hamburger” said King.  

In Memphis King joined with the working class struggle, in progress, for dignity,
“I Am A Man,” for better wages and working conditions and the right for the
workers to collectivize their strength against capital by unionizing. King helped
build movements, bringing to them his personal sacrifice and perseverance,
along with his strategic analysis of the state’s maintenance of a class system
and racist ideology to support it, to feed the power and control of the plutocracy. 
King brought a strategic understanding of capitalism, along with a Gandhian
tactic to communities that were in motion.  King merged his interests with
people in struggle and was in turn shaped by those efforts for human, civil,
political and economic rights. 

Tune in and join us as we listen to and learn from King, who became one of the
world’s most meaningful voices and whose words echo beyond the boundaries
of time. Listen with us to the rare sound we’ve complied of  King and be inspired. 
Listen to King from the frontlines - which will stir you to recommit to achieve
human rights, economic justice and an end to military might.  King’s words and
actions can help guide us through the challenges ahead.
********************************
Tune in at 6 - 8 am to Wednesday Edition
hosted by Mimi Rosenberg
**************************************
In addition to being broadcast over WBAI,  99.5 FM in NYC and the
tri-state area 7 - 8 pm EST Mondays, Building Bridges is syndicated
to 50  broadcast and internet  radio stations in the US, Canada and
the UK
                                
*****************************.
Building Bridges National Edition is regularly available over:
                          WZBC, Boston, Mass.                     
                          WDRT, Viroqua, WI.
                          KYRS, Spokane, WA                 
                          Liberty and Justice1640, Shirley Mass                        
                          KWTF,Sonoma County CA
                          KNSJ, San Diego, CA
                          KMUD, Redway, CA
                          KRFY, Sandpoint, ID
                          WXOJ-LP, Florence, MA
                          KPOV, Bend, Oregon
                          KONR Ankorage, Alaska
                          WAPJ, Torrington, CT.
                          WOOL, Great Falls, Vermont and New Hampshire
                          KKRN Bella Vista, CA
                          KGHI, Westport, WA
                          KSVR, Mount Vernon, WA
                          WAZU, Peoria, Illinois
                          KMEC, Ukiah, CA
                          KOWA, Olympia Washington .
                          WMNF HD FM Tampa, Florida
                          WPVM - MAIN-FM  Asheville, NC
                          WERU Blue Hill and Bangor, Maine
                          WGOT -  Gainesville, Florida.
                          WUOW - Oneonta, N.Y.
                          WWUH, - West Hartford, CT
                          WVJW- Benwood, WV
                          KRFP, Moscow, ID
                          KCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
                          KSOW,Cottage Grove, Oregon
                          WKNH ,Keene, NH
                          CKDU, Halifax, N.S., Canada
                          WRPI, Troy, New York
                          WNRB, Wausau, WI
                          KGIG, Modesta, California
                          East Hill Radio, Snoqualmie, WA
                          KSKQ, Ashland, Oregon
                          KWMD, Kasiloff-Anchorage, Alaska
                          WPRR, Grand Rapids, Michigan
                          KGUR, San Luis Obispo, CA
                          Channel107, UK
                          Geneva Radio, Geneva, N.Y.
                          KWTF Radio, Bodega Bay CA
                          CPR Metro, NYC
                          Radio Free Radical
                          Radio Free Kansas
                          Radio Veronica, West Point, PA
                          Catalystradio.org,  U.K.
                          WXXE
                          Seattle Radical Radio
                          Radio for Peace International
                          Labourstart
                          AmericanFM.org
                          Grateful Dread Public Radio
                          Detour Network, Knoxville, TN
                          KDX Radio, Homeland, North American
                          KROV, Oroville, CA 
                                             *******************
                
For  archived Building Bridges Programs go to
                                             our website:
                        
www.buildingbridgesradio.org                                                           

           Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Marissa Alexander Released from Prison

Dear Friend,

On January 27, Marissa Alexander served her last day behind bars as was agreed to by a plea deal arranged in November 2014. She still has two years of house arrest to serve, but will be able to work and attend her children’s school functions. Please read the press release below that was put out by the national Free Marissa Now mobilizing campaign.

Radical Women took up the defense of Marissa because our experience has shown that justice for women who defend themselves is won through grassroots community organizing as much as it is in the courtroom. It is thanks to the collective efforts of many individuals and groups that Marissa is out of prison. Your phone calls, letters, demonstrations and actions pressured the courts to overturn her conviction and 20-year sentence.

This was not the ending many of us had hoped for when the case began – full acquittal was the goal. But the state relentlessly persecuted her, and State Prosecutor Angela Corey threatened a 60 year sentence if a jury found Marissa was found guilty at her second trial. So she accepted a plea deal.

Justice was not served in this case, as it so frequently isn’t for women of color and those who are physically or mentally abused by their partners. Marissa Alexander was a victim of spousal abuse who attempted to defend herself and found herself portrayed as the attacker by a racist and sexist legal system. Racial stereotypes that depict Black women as aggressive and full of anger helped stack the cards against her in the courtroom.

Radical Women joins the call for expunging Marissa Alexander’s record. We also demand the passage of a strengthened Violence Against Women Act, and an end to race and sex discrimination in the criminal justice system, including a stop to mandatory minimum sentencing.

In addition, Radical Women calls for massive increases in funding for jobs, aid to families, and shelters and services for everyone fleeing domestic violence regardless of their race, sexual orientation or immigration status. In the end, we need to overturn capitalism, the vicious economic system that so often forces women to stay with abusive partners, and create an egalitarian world that is safe and just for all.

Margaret Viggiani
Radical Women
National Executive Committee
 

NEWS RELEASE
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
From: Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign; FreeMarissaNow@gmail.com 

 
Marissa Alexander Released from Prison;
Supporters Celebrate, Demand Full Freedom

Supporters of Marissa Alexander in Jacksonville, across the US, and all around the world are overjoyed that Alexander has been released from jail after serving 3 years behind bars for defending her life. In 2010, Alexander, a black mother of three from Jacksonville, Florida, was forced to defend her life from a life-threatening attack by her estranged husband by firing a single warning shot that caused no injuries. State Prosecutor Angela Corey prosecuted Alexander, pursuing a 60 year mandatory minimum sentence. On November 24, 2014, Alexander accepted a plea deal that included time served of nearly 3 years in prison, 65 additional days in the Duval County jail, and 2 years of probation while under home detention. Today marks the end of her time behind bars.
 
“We are thrilled that Marissa will finally be reunited with her children, her family, and her community,” said Sumayya Coleman, co-lead of the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign. “Today’s hearing revealed that Marissa intends to attend school to become a paralegal and she is a wonderful mother to her children who urgently need her. Amazingly, the State continued their campaign of punishment by trying to add two more years of probation. Fortunately, they failed, and Marissa will be released today! Marissa and her family will need time to begin recovering from this arduous and traumatic experience. It’s been a long and painful journey and, though her release from jail is definitely a win - no 60 years, the journey of seeking ultimate freedom is not over. Marissa will be forced to be on strict home detention while being under surveillance for two years. This is by no means freedom in the sense we feel she deserves. Our next agenda is to seek full restoration for Marissa and her family, including the expunging of her so-called criminal record, and a systemic transformation that prevents black women and all survivors of domestic violence from experiencing the hostile and brutal treatment from policing, prosecution, and prison systems that Marissa has endured. We will push for improved legislation and monitoring of systems that penalize victims of domestic violence who choose to save their lives by force. This is by no means a conclusion.”
 
Alexander will be forced to wear and pay for a surveillance ankle monitor, and forbidden from leaving her home with the exception of attending work, church, her children’s school, and appointments with doctors or the court. This will effectively “prisonize” her home, as noted by journalist, Maya Schenwar. This practice of extending a prison culture of surveillance, punishment, and confinement into people’s homes and communities has significantly increased in the U.S., creating what Prof. Beth Richie has described as a “prison nation,” especially for black women. Coercing probationers to pay for surveillance monitors is also part of the increasing privatization of punishment in the U.S.
 
Since 2012, the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign has organized to free Alexander from the punishing experience of being prosecuted for self-defense. Supporters have organized in Jacksonville, across the United States in dozens of cities, and around the world to demand Alexander’s freedom. Aleta Alston Toure’, co-lead of Free Marissa Now said, “For almost three years, this campaign has raised critical awareness about Alexander’s case, raised much needed donations for her legal defense fund, and raised a movement that takes a stand against mass incarceration and domestic violence. If this targeting of Marissa had unfolded behind closed doors and without powerful pushback from people who believe in justice, we believe she would still be in prison today. Organizing matters.”
 
Organizers are hosting a number of direct actions in support of Alexander’s freedom. In Jacksonville, organizers will hold a press conference today at 12pm on the Duval County Courthouse steps. They will also welcome a display of The Monument Quilt, 350 quilt squares containing stories from survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in solidarity with Marissa Alexander. The quilt will blanket the Duval County Courthouse lawn on January 27th, 8 am – 2pm.
 
Local organizers will convene a televised People’s Movement Assembly to be held on January 28th, 1pm at WJCT/ PBS, 100 Festival Park Ave. The assembly discussion will focus on state violence against women and will include Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw, Columbia University, UCLA, & the African American Policy Forum; Kerry McLean, National Lawyers Guild, Dr. Faye Williams, National Congress of Black Women; Dr. Rose Brewer, University of Minnesota; and Dr. Beth Richie, University of Illinois, Chicago and INCITE!. The assembly will be hosted by local Free Marissa Now member, Denyce Gartrell.
 
The Chicago Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander led a recent major fundraising push that raised $11,000 to help Alexander cover the cost of her ankle monitor for the two year period of home detention. They are organizing a January 27th discussion about how to talk to children with imprisoned family members about incarceration, which will occur at 6pm at 637 Dearborn St. in Chicago.
 
The Free Marissa Now Bay Area collective also organized a caravan that traveled from Oakland, CA to Jacksonville, FL, raising awareness about Alexander’s case in cities along the way. Details about all of these events can be found at freemarissanow.org.
 
“It’s hard to summarize the incredible outpouring of rage, love, and commitment to freedom that has arrived from all around the world in solidarity with Marissa Alexander,” said Alisa Bierria, also from Free Marissa Now. “Hundreds of people have donated, created art and media, and organized direct actions, letter writing sessions, and teach-ins in Jacksonville, Chicago, Berkeley, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, DC, New Orleans, St. Louis, Seattle, Denver, Miami, Canada, Australia, and many other locations. The dozens of projects that Marissa’s supporters have organized have been creative, brilliant, and impactful. Together, we have not only helped to ensure Marissa’s release from prison, we have hopefully shown why we must keep addressing the connections between domestic violence, reproductive violence, and state violence. We warmly thank and honor every person who has contributed to this historic freedom movement."
 
Free Marissa Now notes that Alexander has asked supporters to use her case to bring more attention to women in similar circumstances, such as Tondalo Hall and Charmaine Pfender.
 
Organizers will publish a report about the Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign on their website, freemarissanow.org, in the coming weeks.
 
The Free Marissa Now Mobilization Campaign is an international grassroots campaign led by a core of organizers representing the African American/Black Women's Cultural Alliance, New Jim Crow Movement - Jacksonville, and INCITE! Women of Color and Trans People of Color Against Violence. For more information, see www.FreeMarissaNow.org.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Black History is World History by Marvin X

 

Marvin X, the USA's Rumi, Plato, Saadi, Hafiz


Black History Is World History


By

Marvin X



Before the Earth was
I was
Before time was
I was
you found me not long ago
and called me Lucy
I was four million years old
I had my tools beside me
I am the first man
call me Adam
I walked the Nile from Congo to Delta
a 4,000 mile jog
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I lived in the land of Canaan
before Abraham, before Hebrew was born
I am Canaan, son of Ham
I laugh at Arabs and Jews
fighting over my land
I lived in Saba, Southern Arabia
I played in the Red Sea
dwelled on the Persian Gulf
I left my mark from Babylon to Timbuktu
When Babylon acted a fool, that was me
I was the fool
When Babylon fell, that was me
I fell
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I was the first European
call me Negrito and Grimaldi
I walked along the Mediterranean from Spain to Greece
Oh, Greece!Why did you kill Socrates?
Why did you give him the poison hemlock?
Who were the gods he introduced
corrupting the youth of Athens?
They were my gods, black gods from Africa
Oh, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Whose philosophy did you teach
that was Greek to the Greeks?
Pythagoras, where did you learn geometry?
Democritus, where did you study astronomy?
Solon and Lycurgus, where did you study law?
In Egypt, and Egypt is Africa
and Africa is me
I am the burnt face, the blameless Ethiopian
Homer told you about in the Iliad
Homer told you about Ulysses, too,
a story he got from me.
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I am the first Chinese
China has my eyes
I am the Aboriginal Asian
Look for me in Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand
I am there, even today, black and beautiful
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY
I used to travel to America
long before Columbus
came to me asking for directions
Americo Vespucci
on his voyage to America
saw me in the Atlantic
returning to Africa
America was my home
Before Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Inca & Olmec
I was hereI came to Peru 20,000 years ago
I founded Mexico City
See my pyramids, see my cabeza colosal
in Vera Cruz and Yucatan
that's me
I am the Mexican
for I am mixed with all men
and all men are mixed with me
I am the most just of men
I am the most peaceful
who loves peace day and night
Sometimes I let tyrants devour me
sometimes people falsely accuse me
sometimes people crucify me
but I am ever returning I am eternal, I am universal
Africa is my home
Asia is my home
Americas is my home
BLACK HISTORY IS WORLD HISTORY

This poem was written circa 1982 while Marvin X taught English at Kings River College, his last teaching gig.

Suggested reading list

The complete works of J.A. Rogers
The World and Africa, W.E.B. DuBois
Stolen Legacy, George M. James
The African Origin of the Major Religions, Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Message to the Black Man, Elijah Muhammad
They Came before Columbus, Ivan Van Sertima
"African Explorers in the New World, " Harold Lawrence,
Crisis, June-July, 1962. Heritage Program Reprint, p. 10
The Destruction of African Civilization, Chancellor Williams.
The Cultural Unity of Africa, Cheikh Anta Diop.
Man, God and Civilization, John G. Jackson

Video: Cornel West on The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour


Cornel, Samantha Akwei, poet/organizer, assistant to  Marvin X, Marvin X
photo Adam Turner

Cornel West supports Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement's 27 City Tour. He called on all cities with populations of North American Africans to invite the BAM 27 City Tour, especially his hometown of Sacramento CA. "If they will bring BAM to Sacramento, I will participate."

The Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary celebration will be at Oakland's Laney College on Saturday, February 7, all day, from 10am thru 8pm. The event is free/donations accepted. For more information: 510-200-4164.







Marvin X: Notes on Cornel West at First Congregational Church, Oakland, a benefit for KPFA, conversation with Davey D


Dr. Cornel West appeared at Oakland's First Congregational Church to promote his book The Radical King, an examination of the unsanitized Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. West described Dr. King as a socialist with an international perspective, especially after his Riverside Church speech against the Viet Nam war, but he noted how Coretta Scott King approached Wes after a speech to tell him the first thing Dr. King told her was that he was a socialist. West noted that King was mentored by a professor at Morehouse who lectured on Marxism. His international perspective was evident when he attended the 1957 celebration of Ghana's independence from British colonialism. 

Black preachers were no friends of Dr. King. They were especially against him after the Riverside speech. We recall Dr. King was thrown out of the National Baptist Convention for being a hoodlum and thug. Dr. West labeled Rev. Al Sharpton as one of Pharaoh's magicians, along with Rev. Jesse Jackson. They do not question Pharaoh, but protect him and support him even while he walks around with a kill list, even while he takes out American citizens without charges or trial. Cornel said he supports Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement's 27 City Tour. He called on all cities with populations of North American Africans to invite the BAM 27 City Tour, especially his hometown of Sacramento CA. "If they will bring BAM to Sacramento, I will participate."

The Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary celebration will be at Oakland's Laney College on Saturday, February 7, all day, from 10am thru 8pm. The event is free/donations accepted. For more information: 510-200-4164.


Saturday, January 31, 2015

Marvin X in Stanley Nelson's documentary film on the Black Panther Party

Note: Marvin X received a phone call from producer, Laurens Grant, letting him know he survived the cutting and is indeed part of the people interviewed by director Stanley Nelson. There will be a private showing in the Bay soon, followed by a public screening. The film was recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Next weekend it will be in Los Angeles at the Pan African Film Festival.


"Marvin X was my teacher. Many of our comrades came through his Black Arts Theatre: Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Emory Douglas and Samuel Napier."--Dr. Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party

 

MARVIN X INTERVIEWED FOR  DOCUMENTARY ON BLACK PANTHERS AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT

Marvin X concluded his Revolution on the Rocks Book Tour 2012 with a lunch interview with producer Laurens Grant who is working on a documentary on the Black Panther Party, directed by Stanley Nelson. Marvin X has urged her to include how the Black Panther Party in particular and the liberation movement in general was influenced by the Black Arts Movement. According to Marvin X, there was cross fertilization between the Nation of Islam, Black Panthers, Black Arts Movement and the Black Student Movement that led to Black Studies.

Bobby Seale and Marvin X at the Joyce
Gordon Gallery Black History Celebration, 2012

No aspect of the Black Consciousness Movement sprang up in isolation. We cannot discuss the Black Panthers without discussing the African American Association, led by Donald Warden, aka Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour. From the AAA's influence came the Panthers and the establishment of Black Studies at Oakland's Merritt College, even before the violent strike for Black Studies at San Francisco State College, now university.

And would the students at Merritt and San Francisco State have been motivated without the West Coast Black Arts Movement, e.g., Bobby Seale performed in Marvin X's second play Come Next Summer before joining the BPP. Bobby played the role of a young black man in search of revolutionary consciousness.

At San Francisco State College, LeRoi Jones, aka Amiri Baraka's Communications Project enrolled student actors and playwrights such as Jimmy Garrett, Benny Stewart, George Murray, Jo Ann Mitchell, Elleadar Barnes, et al., who went on to participate in the Black Panther Party after BAM consciousness.

At San Francisco State College, now University, Marvin X's first play, Flowers for the Trashman, produced by the Drama Department, 1965, ushered in Black Arts West Theatre, 1966, with X and playwright Ed Bullins. Danny Glover performed in BAW. BAW came under the influence of the Nation of Islam will key players joining the NOI, i.e., Marvin X, Duncan X, Hillary X and Ethna X.




Upon his release from prison, 1967, Eldridge Cleaver hooked up with Marvin X and they established the Black House, a political/cultural center, along with Ethna X, Ed Bullins and Willie Dale. Again the Muslim influence: Marvin X an d BAW guru and former inmate with Eldridge, Alonzo Batin, forced Eldridge Cleaver out of his white woman's house (Beverly Axelrod, the attorney who took his manuscript Soul on Ice out of Soledad Prison and whom Eldridge promised to marry, who also contracted a portion of royalties from Soul on Ice and won by default while Eldridge was exiled in Algeria). Eldridge died poor while his book is still an international bestseller as we write! You Marvin X eventually introduced Eldridge Cleaver to Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, Marvin's companions from Merritt College.

But just as the Nation of Islam recruited members of the Black Arts West Theatre, Marvin X would later recruit for the NOI. His biggest fish was no doubt Nadar Ali or Bobby Jones who Elijah Muhammad put over the fish import business.

Islam had a significant role on the East Coast Black Panther Party and the genre Muslim American literature begins with Marvin X and the BAM writers, e.g., Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Askia Muhammad Toure, et al.

Marvin X and his mentor and associate, Master Sun Ra,outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre on O'farrel Street, between Fillmore and Webster, 1972. Sun Ra and Marvin X were both teaching Black Studies at UC Berkeley. They produced a five hour concert without intermission and a cast of fifty at San Francisco's Harding theatre on Divisadero St.
 Eldridge and Alprentice Bunchy Carter, his prison buddy and later leader of the Los Angeles Black Panther Party, murdered on the campus of UCLA, along with John Huggins by members of the US organization, headed by Ron Karenga.

 Huey P. Newton in wicker chair, rug, shield, spear; these items came from Eldridge Cleaver's room at Beverly Axelrod's house. Marvin X and Alonzo Batin (BAM guru) moved Eldridge from Axelrod's  White House to the Black House on Broderick St., San Francisco.

 Marvin X at Fresno State College/now University. He was removed as lecturer on orders of
Governor Ronald Reagan who also removed Angela Davis from UCLA the same year, 1969.

 My Friend the Devil, Marvin's memoir of Eldridge Cleaver.

 Eldridge Cleaver and Marvin X outside the house where the Panthers had a shoot out with the OPD. Little Bobby Hutton was murdered by OPD, Cleaver wounded and later fled to exile. When he returned as a Born Again Christian, Marvin X organized his ministry. photo Muhammad Al Kareem
See My Friend the Devil, a memoir of Eldridge Cleaver by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2009. Also, Somethin' Proper, the autobiography of a North American African Poet, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1998. Somethin' Proper came off the press the day Eldridge Cleaver made his transition to the ancestors, May 1, 1998. Marvin X performed the memorial rites in Oakland. Kathleen and daughter Joju attended the memorial. Kathleen said, "Marvin, the memorial was great, but there were just too many Muslims!" Alas, their son is Ahmed Maceo Eldridge Cleaver, a Sunni Muslim!


MARVIN X SPEAKS ON WANDA'S PICKS RADIO SHOW



LINK TO MARVIN X INTERVIEW WITH WANDA SABIR:  http://tobtr.com/s/7233251

Marvin X is a playwright in the true spirit of the Black Arts Movement (BAM). His most well-known BAM play, entitled Flowers for the Trashman, deals with generational difficulties and the crisis of the Black intellectual as he deals with education in a white-controlled culture. Marvin received his MA in English/Creative writing from San Francisco State University, 1975. He has taught at San Francisco State University, Fresno State University, UC Berkeley and San Diego, Mills College, Merritt and Laney Colleges in Oakland, University of Nevada, Reno.

His latest book is the Wisdom of Plato Negro, parables/fables, Black Bird Press, Berkeley. He currently teaches at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, Lakeshore on Saturdays, Sundays at the Berkeley Flea Market: www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com.

ON SATURDAY, FEB 7, MARVIN X PRESENTS THE 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College, of which he is a co-founder, having worked in BAM from coast to coast. In San Francisco, he co-founded Black Arts West Theatre in the Fillmore District, 1966. In 1967 he co-founded The Black House with Eldridge Cleaver, playwright Ed Bullins and Ethna X. Wyatt. In Harlem, New York he worked at the New Lafayette Theatre, 1968: Associate Editor of Black Theatre Magazine.  



In Harlem he worked with BAM artists: Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, The Last Poets, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra, Haki Madhubuti, Milford Graves, Barbara Ann Teer, Mae Jackson, et al.
Marvin X in Harlem, NY, 1968
photo Doug Harris

Friday, January 30, 2015

Dr. Wade Nobles, Elaine Brown and Marvin X at Year of the African American Male, hosted by Alameda County SupervisorKeith Carson


Left to Right, Dr. Wade Nobles, Professor Emeritus, San Francisco State University; Elaine Brown, former Chairwoman of the Black Panther Party and Marvin X, co-founder of the Black Arts Movement.