Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Marvin X interviewed by Wanda Sabir
Journalist/Professor Wanda Sabir
Wanda's Picks Dec. 18, 2015
This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the
African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and
theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in
the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of
expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of
art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and
their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true
revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion.
They are our true heroes. Ashay!1. Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, speaks about her 4th Annual "Go Tell It: A Harriett Tubman Christmas Story", this year, Dec. 19-20, at City of Refuge Church, 8400 Enterprise Way, Oakland. Saturday, Dec. 19, 2 & 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. Visit http://www.gotellit.info/
2. Pope Flyne, Ghanaian Music, Educator speaks to us about his One-Man Orchestra featuring classic Hi-Life, Reggae at Miliki Restaurant, 3725 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland.
3. Yvonne Cobbs, Musical Director, LHT's Soulful Christmas: A Gospel Holiday Concert, continues Dec. 18 through Dec. 24. Visit lhtsf.org, call (415) 474-8800 or email: BoxOffice@LHTSF.org4. Marvin X, Poet, Playwright, Scholar, Activist, BAM West Founder, joins us to speak about the Black Arts Movement Cultural District in Oakland. Save the dates: January 4, 12, 2016 at Oakland City Council. For information: jmarvinx@yahoo.com http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/black-arts-movement-cultural?source=s.icn.em.mt&r_by=14691340
Music: Selection from LHT's Soulful Christmas, "Emmanuel" & "The Africans Are Coming" from Pope Flyne's Sankofa GrooveHere is the link to show: http://tobtr.com/8044831
blog post:http://wandasabir.blogspot.com/2015/12/wandas-picks-dec-18-2015.html
Sunday, December 20, 2015
How does it feel to be treated like a nigguh?
do not consume water when thirsty
Oh, how does it feel to be treated
like a nigguh
to be wanted watched betrayed
mocked derided
your presence
"crime against the state"
no rest no space
how does it feel to be treated
like a nigguh
they convinced you
you are above nigguhs
nigguhs ain't shit
pimp them rob them
beat them kill them
worthless things
even God rejected
you were told
then it was your turn
to be a nigguh
sand nigguh
sikh nigguh african nigguh
no prayin on the street nigguh
no prayin on the job nigguh
no fly list nigguh
no internet nigguh
how does it feel
down in the bones
in the blood
clothes give suspicion
face hidden
are you a bank robber
act like a European
American
act like a nigguh
head bowed
slow walk
blues smile
nigguh
why do you have a bomb in your backpack
didn't we allow you here
didn't that nigguh woman invite you with open arms
pray to jesus
forget allah
it's jesus now
so what if we don't believe in jesus
you better
allah don't work here
get over it
blend in submit
yeah be like toby
or go home
take that nigguh with you!
--Marvin X
12/20/15
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Black Peter (the Moor) and White Santa; 15 things you didn't know about the Moors
Dutch self-image shaken by "Black Pete" debate
THE HAGUE
|
The Dutch see themselves as tolerant pragmatists, especially adaptable if social harmony or commercial interests demand it.
But that self-image has taken a battering in recent weeks as a growing chorus of voices inside and outside the country protest against a Christmas tradition that many Dutch see as harmless fun but critics say is racist.
According to the folklore, Saint Nicholas arrives in the Netherlands in mid-November accompanied by his servant Black Pete - a part usually played by a white man in "blackface" with a curly wig and large, red-painted mouth.
Now the Dutch are being forced to confront the possibility that their enormously popular Christmas tradition might point to a latent racism which many thought was anathema to their culture.
Few debates have stirred such emotion among the cool-headed Dutch. Millions flocked to "like" a Facebook page backing Black Pete after an independent expert who reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council criticized the tradition.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte has rejected depictions of the Netherlands as insular and xenophobic.
"I do not recognize ourselves in that portrayal," he told reporters last week when asked whether the Netherlands no longer tolerated outsiders.
But that is the point that has been exposed by the debate, according to Quinsy Gario, an artist who has campaigned against the Black Pete tradition for years.
"We've lied to ourselves about our tolerance for so long that we don't recognize discrimination anymore," he said. "There has been structural exclusion of minorities for decades."
He said the children of the many immigrants to the Netherlands were becoming increasingly vocal about confronting signs of racism that their parents may have chosen to ignore.
"You have third- and fourth- generation people who see it as their own country and they want to take responsibility for their own and their kids' sake," he said.
IMMIGRANT DESTINATION
The furor over the revered tradition, which some art historians say has its roots in a 17th century fashion for well-to-do Amsterdam families keeping a black house slave, has exposed the sensitivity of race in the Netherlands.
Wealthy and fast-growing in the years after World War Two, the Netherlands was a major destination for economic migrants from southern Europe, Turkey and Morocco in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 2010, around 11 percent of the population was foreign-born, according to Eurostat. Most have acquired Dutch citizenship, a sign of the country's successful integration policies.
Out of a population of around 16 million people, more than 3.5 million are foreign-born Dutch citizens or the children of non-Dutch immigrants, according to the official statistics agency.
The largest immigrant populations include those from Turkey, the former Dutch colony of Suriname and Morocco.
Some Dutch blame the influence of outsiders, from Muslims to interfering European Union bureaucrats, for the erosion of Dutch culture and social benefits, particularly at a time when many Dutch are feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown.
"Many Dutch people feel fundamentally threatened," said Laurens Buijs, a sociologist at the University of Amsterdam.
"As if they feel Brussels, or the UN, want to take away who we are, our identity."
Such fears have boosted support for Geert Wilders, the populist anti-Islam politician who wants to stop immigration by Muslims as well as eastern Europeans, and wants the Netherlands to leave the euro and claw back powers from Brussels. He has even set up a website where people could file complaints about eastern Europeans.
Andre Krouwel, a political scientist at Amsterdam's VU University, agreed an intolerant streak has been exposed.
"It's evidenced by the strength of anti-Muslim parties compared to other countries like Germany," he said.
The Dutch record in fighting discrimination has been criticized in recent months by Amnesty International and the Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog.
"EVERYDAY RACISM"
Most big-circulation Dutch newspapers leapt to the Netherlands' defense when Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican academic who heads a U.N. working group of independent experts on discrimination against people of African descent, said in late October that the tradition of Black Pete was racist.
On Tuesday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made clear that Shepherd was speaking in her own capacity and not for the Geneva-based office.
The daily Algemeen Dagblad gave over its front page to a montage of portraits of black and Asian Dutch citizens, all of whom said they supported the tradition.
But in an opinion piece for the Volkskrant newspaper, Roomyla Choenni, a Dutch consultant of Surinamese descent at IT outsourcer Capgemini, said Black Pete "keeps alive an atmosphere of everyday racism."
"In many people's eyes, the Netherlands is meant for white people, preferably with blue eyes and rosy cheeks," he wrote.
Many of the Africans who work at the international courts in The Hague as judges, prosecutors, lawyers and court officers - services which contribute to the region's economic growth - privately admit that they have experienced racism.
When one African judge told a taxi driver she worked at one of the international courts, he asked her if she was the cleaner, the judge told Reuters. Another senior court official said she spent months trying to find a place to live when she first arrived.
"Each time they saw it was an African, I was told the apartment was not available any more," she said.
Polls show that the main opposition in the Netherlands to the tradition of Black Pete is in cosmopolitan Amsterdam. The local council in the southeast part of the city, where many immigrants live, voted to ban the festivities this year.
But the majority still want Black Pete. In a survey by pollster Maurice De Hond last month, 91 percent of a representative sample of Dutch people said the tradition should not be changed to suit the tastes of a minority, and 81 percent thought it would be unacceptable to turn Pete another color.
Rutte said the debate was inevitable and healthy given the number of immigrants now in the Netherlands.
"It's unavoidable that when you have a huge inflow of people then you get tensions," he said. "Initial reactions from society are for no big changes at the moment ... (but) traditions can change over time."
But many Dutch eyes have been opened, Gario said.
"People are starting to realize that some people here are staunchly, obtusely racist."
(Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Sonya Hepinstall)
But that self-image has taken a battering in recent weeks as a growing chorus of voices inside and outside the country protest against a Christmas tradition that many Dutch see as harmless fun but critics say is racist.
According to the folklore, Saint Nicholas arrives in the Netherlands in mid-November accompanied by his servant Black Pete - a part usually played by a white man in "blackface" with a curly wig and large, red-painted mouth.
Now the Dutch are being forced to confront the possibility that their enormously popular Christmas tradition might point to a latent racism which many thought was anathema to their culture.
Few debates have stirred such emotion among the cool-headed Dutch. Millions flocked to "like" a Facebook page backing Black Pete after an independent expert who reports to the U.N. Human Rights Council criticized the tradition.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte has rejected depictions of the Netherlands as insular and xenophobic.
"I do not recognize ourselves in that portrayal," he told reporters last week when asked whether the Netherlands no longer tolerated outsiders.
But that is the point that has been exposed by the debate, according to Quinsy Gario, an artist who has campaigned against the Black Pete tradition for years.
"We've lied to ourselves about our tolerance for so long that we don't recognize discrimination anymore," he said. "There has been structural exclusion of minorities for decades."
He said the children of the many immigrants to the Netherlands were becoming increasingly vocal about confronting signs of racism that their parents may have chosen to ignore.
"You have third- and fourth- generation people who see it as their own country and they want to take responsibility for their own and their kids' sake," he said.
IMMIGRANT DESTINATION
The furor over the revered tradition, which some art historians say has its roots in a 17th century fashion for well-to-do Amsterdam families keeping a black house slave, has exposed the sensitivity of race in the Netherlands.
Wealthy and fast-growing in the years after World War Two, the Netherlands was a major destination for economic migrants from southern Europe, Turkey and Morocco in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 2010, around 11 percent of the population was foreign-born, according to Eurostat. Most have acquired Dutch citizenship, a sign of the country's successful integration policies.
Out of a population of around 16 million people, more than 3.5 million are foreign-born Dutch citizens or the children of non-Dutch immigrants, according to the official statistics agency.
The largest immigrant populations include those from Turkey, the former Dutch colony of Suriname and Morocco.
Some Dutch blame the influence of outsiders, from Muslims to interfering European Union bureaucrats, for the erosion of Dutch culture and social benefits, particularly at a time when many Dutch are feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown.
"Many Dutch people feel fundamentally threatened," said Laurens Buijs, a sociologist at the University of Amsterdam.
"As if they feel Brussels, or the UN, want to take away who we are, our identity."
Such fears have boosted support for Geert Wilders, the populist anti-Islam politician who wants to stop immigration by Muslims as well as eastern Europeans, and wants the Netherlands to leave the euro and claw back powers from Brussels. He has even set up a website where people could file complaints about eastern Europeans.
Andre Krouwel, a political scientist at Amsterdam's VU University, agreed an intolerant streak has been exposed.
"It's evidenced by the strength of anti-Muslim parties compared to other countries like Germany," he said.
The Dutch record in fighting discrimination has been criticized in recent months by Amnesty International and the Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog.
"EVERYDAY RACISM"
Most big-circulation Dutch newspapers leapt to the Netherlands' defense when Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican academic who heads a U.N. working group of independent experts on discrimination against people of African descent, said in late October that the tradition of Black Pete was racist.
On Tuesday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made clear that Shepherd was speaking in her own capacity and not for the Geneva-based office.
The daily Algemeen Dagblad gave over its front page to a montage of portraits of black and Asian Dutch citizens, all of whom said they supported the tradition.
But in an opinion piece for the Volkskrant newspaper, Roomyla Choenni, a Dutch consultant of Surinamese descent at IT outsourcer Capgemini, said Black Pete "keeps alive an atmosphere of everyday racism."
"In many people's eyes, the Netherlands is meant for white people, preferably with blue eyes and rosy cheeks," he wrote.
Many of the Africans who work at the international courts in The Hague as judges, prosecutors, lawyers and court officers - services which contribute to the region's economic growth - privately admit that they have experienced racism.
When one African judge told a taxi driver she worked at one of the international courts, he asked her if she was the cleaner, the judge told Reuters. Another senior court official said she spent months trying to find a place to live when she first arrived.
"Each time they saw it was an African, I was told the apartment was not available any more," she said.
Polls show that the main opposition in the Netherlands to the tradition of Black Pete is in cosmopolitan Amsterdam. The local council in the southeast part of the city, where many immigrants live, voted to ban the festivities this year.
But the majority still want Black Pete. In a survey by pollster Maurice De Hond last month, 91 percent of a representative sample of Dutch people said the tradition should not be changed to suit the tastes of a minority, and 81 percent thought it would be unacceptable to turn Pete another color.
Rutte said the debate was inevitable and healthy given the number of immigrants now in the Netherlands.
"It's unavoidable that when you have a huge inflow of people then you get tensions," he said. "Initial reactions from society are for no big changes at the moment ... (but) traditions can change over time."
But many Dutch eyes have been opened, Gario said.
"People are starting to realize that some people here are staunchly, obtusely racist."
(Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Sonya Hepinstall)
15 Things You Did Not Know About the Moors of Spain
2. A European scholar sympathetic to the Spaniards remembered the conquest in this way:
a. [T]he reins of their (Moors) horses were as fire, their faces black as pitch, their eyes shone like burning candles, their horses were swift as leopards and the riders fiercer than a wolf in a sheepfold at night . . . The noble Goths [the German rulers of Spain to whom Roderick belonged] were broken in an hour, quicker than tongue can tell. Oh luckless Spain! [i]
[i] Quoted in Edward Scobie, The Moors and Portugal's Global Expansion, in Golden Age of the Moor, ed Ivan Van Sertima, US, Transaction Publishers, 1992, p.336
3. The Moors, who ruled Spain for 800 years, introduced new scientific techniques to Europe, such as an astrolabe, a device for measuring the position of the stars and planets. Scientific progress in Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Geography and Philosophy flourished in Moorish Spain
4. Basil Davidson, one of the most noted historians recognized and declared that there were no lands at that time (the eighth century) "more admired by its neighbours, or more comfortable to live in, than a rich African civilization which took shape in Spain"
5. At its height, Córdova, the heart of Moorish territory in Spain, was the most modern city in Europe. The streets were well-paved, with raised sidewalks for pedestrians. During the night, ten miles of streets were well illuminated by lamps. (This was hundreds of years before there was a paved street in Paris or a street lamp in London.) Cordova had 900 public baths - we are told that a poor Moor would go without bread rather than soap!
6. The Great Mosque of Córdoba (La Mezquita) is still one of the architectural wonders of the world in spite of later Spanish disfigurements. Its low scarlet and gold roof, supported by 1,000 columns of marble, jasper and and porphyry, was lit by thousands of brass and silver lamps which burned perfumed oil.
7. Education was universal in Moorish Spain, available to all, while in Christian Europe ninety-nine percent of the population were illiterate, and even kings could neither read nor write. At that time, Europe had only two universities, the Moors had seventeen great universities! These were located in Almeria, Cordova, Granada, Juen, Malaga, Seville, and Toledo.
8. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, public libraries in Europe were non-existent, while Moorish Spain could boast of more than seventy, of which the one in Cordova housed six hundred thousand manuscripts.
9. Over 4,000 Arabic words and Arabic-derived phrases have been absorbed into the Spanish language. Words beginning with "al," for example, are derived from Arabic. Arabic words such as algebra, alcohol, chemistry, nadir, alkaline, and cipher entered the language. Even words such as checkmate, influenza, typhoon, orange, and cable can be traced back to Arabic origins.
10. The most significant Moorish musician was known as Ziryab (the Blackbird) who arrived in Spain in 822. The Moors introduced earliest versions of several instruments, including the Lute or el oud, the guitar or kithara and the Lyre. Ziryab changed the style of eating by breaking meals into separate courses beginning with soup and ending with desserts.
11. The Moors introduced paper to Europe and Arabic numerals, which replaced the clumsy Roman system.
12. The Moors introduced many new crops including the orange, lemon, peach, apricot, fig, sugar cane, dates, ginger and pomegranate as well as saffron, sugar cane, cotton, silk and rice which remain some of Spain's main products today.
13. The Moorish rulers lived in sumptuous palaces, while the monarchs of Germany, France, and England dwelt in big barns, with no windows and no chimneys, and with only a hole in the roof for the exit of smoke. One such Moorish palace ‘Alhambra' (literally "the red one") in Granada is one of Spain's architectural masterpieces. Alhambra was the seat of Muslim rulers from the 13th century to the end of the 15th century. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
14. It was through Africa that the new knowledge of China, India, and Arabia reached Europe. The Moors brought the Compass from China into Europe.
15. The Moors ruled and occupied Lisbon (named "Lashbuna" by the Moors) and the rest of the country until well into the twelfth century. They were finally defeated and driven out by the forces of King Alfonso Henriques. The scene of this battle was the Castelo de Sao Jorge or the 'Castle of St. George.'
Thursday, December 17, 2015
The Sixteen Crucified Saviors before Jesus
The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ, Containing New, Startling, and Extraordinary Revelations in Religious History, which Disclose the Oriental Origin of All the Doctrines, Principles, Precepts, and Miracles of the Christian New Testament, and Furnishing a Key for Unlocking Many of Its Sacred Mysteries, Besides Comprising the History of 16 Heathen Crucified Gods is an 1875 book written by American freethinker Kersey Graves,[1] which asserts that Jesus was not an actual person, but was a creation largely based on earlier stories of deities or god-men saviours who had been crucified and descended to and ascended from the underworld. Parts were reprinted in The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read edited by Tim C. Leedom in 1994, and it was republished in its entirety in 2001.The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors (1875)
The book is often used as a source by Christ myth theory proponents, such as Dorothy M. Murdock,[2][3] Tom Harpur, and John G. Jackson. Many of the same theories espoused in the book are repeated in the documentaries The God Who Wasn't There, The Pagan Christ, Zeitgeist: The Movie and Religulous.
American Atheists leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair was a fan of the book. While modern-day American historian Richard Carrier found the book to be incomplete, he appreciated some of its points.[4]
Contents
Summary
Graves, often citing Anacalypsis and other works by Godfrey Higgins (1772-1833) as his source, asserts in the book that many messiah-like "saviors" were crucified on a cross or tree before ascending into heaven.
"One thing is clear — the mythos of the Hindus, the mythos of the Jews and the mythos of the Greeks are all at bottom the same; and what are called their early histories are not histories of humankind, but are contrivances under the appearance of histories to perpetuate doctrines." (Higgins, Anacalypsis)
Here is Graves' main list, arranged chronologically:
- Thulis of Egypt, 1700 B. C.[5]
- Chrishna of India, 1200 B.C.
- Crite of Chaldea, 1200 B.C.[6][7]
- Atys of Phrygia, 1170 B.C.
- Thammuz or Tammuz of Syria, 1160 B.C.
- Hesus or Eros 834 B.C.
- Bali of Orissa, 725 B.C.[8]
- Indra of Thibet (Tibet), 725 B.C.
- Iao of Nepaul (Nepal), 622 B.C.[9][10]
- Buddha Sakia (Muni) of India, 600 B.C.[11]
- Mitra (Mithra) of Persia, 600 B.C.
- Alcestos of Euripides, 600 B.C.
- Quezalcoatl of Mexico, 587 B.C.
- Wittoba of the Bilingonese, 552 B.C.[12]
- Prometheus or Æschylus of Caucasus, 547 B.C.
- Quirinus of Rome, 506 B.C.
- Salivahana of Bermuda
- Zulis or Zhule of Egypt[13]
- Osiris of Egypt
- Oru of Egypt
- Odin of the Scandinavians
- Zoroaster of Persia
- Baal of Phoenicia
- Taut, "the only Begotten of God" of Phoenicia, inventor of letters[14]
- Bali of Afghanistan
- Xamolxis (Zalmoxis) of Thrace
- Zoar of the Bonzes
- Adad of Assyria
- Deva Tat of Siam (Thailand)
- Sammonocadam (Sommona-Codom) of Siam (Thailand)[15]
- Alcides of Thebes
- Mikado of the Sintoos
- Beddru of Japan
- Bremrillah of the Druids[16]
- Thor son of Odin of the Gauls/Norse
- Cadmus of Greece
- Hil/Feta of the Mandaites[17]
- Gentaut of Mexico[18]
- Universal Monarch of the Sibyls
- Ischy of Formosa (Taiwan)[19]
- Divine Teacher of Plato
- Holy One of Xaca[20]
- (Fohi) of China
- Tien of China
- Adonis son of the virgin Io of Greece
- Ixion of Rome
- Mohamud or Mahomet of Arabia.
Quotes
Here I desire to impress upon the minds of my clerical brethren the important fact, that the gospel histories of Christ were written by men who had formerly been Jews (see Acts xxi. 20), and probably possessing the strong proclivity to imitate and borrow which their bible shows was characteristic of that nation ; and being written many years after Christ's death, according to that standard Christian author, Dr. Lardner, it was impossible, under such circumstances, for them to separate (if they had desired to) the real facts and events of his life from the innumerable fictions and fables then afloat everywhere relative to the heathen Gods who had pre-enacted a similar history. Two reasons are thus furnished for their constructing a history of Christ almost identical with that of other Gods, as shown in chapters XXX., XXXI. and XXXII. of this work.[21]
Criticism
American historian Richard Carrier, a supporter of the Christ myth theory, has written online about his concerns with The Sixteen Crucified Saviors. For example, Price argues that Graves often omits citations, uses dubious sources, mixes opinions with facts, and draws conclusions beyond the evidence presented. However, according to Carrier, there is no comprehensive rebuttal of the book, and although many of his facts are wrong, others assertions such as a December 25 birthdate among Greco-Roman sun gods are now acknowledged to be correct. Carrier argues there is a better case for the resurrection of Thracian god Zalmoxis (also called Salmoxis or Gebele'izis) and the crucifixion and resurrection of Sumerian goddess Inanna (also known as Ishtar), neither of whom are mentioned by Graves.[22]
See also
References
- Graves, Kersey (1875). The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Or, Christianity Before Christ, Containing New, Startling, and Extraordinary Revelations in Religious History, which Disclose the Oriental Origin of All the Doctrines, Principles, Precepts, and Miracles of the Christian New Testament, and Furnishing a Key for Unlocking Many of Its Sacred Mysteries, Besides Comprising the History of 16 Heathen Crucified Gods. Freethought Press. pp. 22–23.
- Maurice Casey Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? T&T Clark 2014 p21-22
- http://www.truthbeknown.com/beddru.html
- infidels.org
- Graves, p. 125
- The Ball Shell Walls: Awaken Your Mind to New Spiritual Realities by Joseph Kantor Higgins
- aryanity.com
- www.bharatonline.com
- see_the_truth.web.com
- www.flyingchariotministries.com
- The Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1870
- ronaldvhuggins.blogspot.com
- The World's Sages, Thinkers and Reformers: Being Biographical Sketches by De Robigne Mortimer Bennett
- Phoenicia by John Kenrick
- A New Universal History of the Religious Rites, Ceremonies and Customs by William Hurd
- www.kingdavid8.com
- www.kingdavid8.com
- www.kingdavid8.com
- www.kingdavid8.com
- www.kingdavid8.com
- Graves, Kersey (1875). The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors: Or, Christianity Before Christ, Containing New, Startling, and Extraordinary Revelations in Religious History, which Disclose the Oriental Origin of All the Doctrines, Principles, Precepts, and Miracles of the Christian New Testament, and Furnishing a Key for Unlocking Many of Its Sacred Mysteries, Besides Comprising the History of 16 Heathen Crucified Gods. Freethought Press. pp. 22–23.
Black Hollywood unChained
Out
of a nation shaken by terrorism, racial tension and violence, where
traces of past sins collide with a quicksilver pop culture, rides Quentin Tarantino's
new film about frontier justice, strange alliances and how a black
bounty hunter with a dead-eye shot survives on guile, menace and clever
sleight of hand against enemies and unrepentant Confederates.
"The Hateful Eight," which
opens Christmas Day, is a western spun through a racial prism, a
swift-talking tale of seven suspicious men and one mean woman trapped in
a snowstorm in the cruel mountains of Wyoming. The bad die in wicked
ways and mercy is a lie, but the film, set in post-Civil War America,
speaks to today's troubled landscape of police shootings and seething
politics.
Tarantino
turns narratives inside out and scratches at the national psyche with
restrained frenzy. Like his other films, notably "Pulp Fiction" and
"Django Unchained," "The Hateful Eight" hypnotizes with dialogue while
edging toward brutal recrimination that is at once wincing and
cartoonish. The movie, brimming with N-words and ghosts of the Old
South, distills the disquieting polarization of a country that has given
us Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter.
Filmmakers
are often reluctant to draw analogies between their work and divisive
current events. But Tarantino relishes hitting nerves and insinuating
himself into the broader conversation.
"The
events in the world are disturbing to say the least, but as an artist
you can only hope to do some piece of material that actually connects to
the zeitgeist," Tarantino said. "While we were doing the movie that
sort of blue state-red state divide that had been going on — and it
wasn't lost on me when I wrote the script — just got wider and wider and
the people on both sides of the line seemed to be even more vocal in
demonizing one another."
Talking
to Tarantino is like buying a car from a man at the end of an alley.
He's coy, quick, effervescent. He has a prankster's laugh, and his long
frame, tailored in gray and black, unfolds like a loosed hinge. He sat
in a Beverly Hills hotel as dusk fell over Hollywood Hills and President Obama addressed
the nation after the San Bernardino shootings. The director had been
talking to the press about his film for three days, and it seemed he
could go for three more.
Samuel
L. Jackson took a seat beside him. The two have collaborated for
decades, and in "The Hateful Eight" Jackson is Major Marquis Warren, an
ex-Union soldier and bounty hunter who relies on his wits, pistol and a
suspect letter from Abraham Lincoln. Theirs is a relationship rooted in a
reverence for film and Jackson's loyalty to the director even as many
blacks have criticized his portrayals of African Americans.
A look at the films that propelled celebrated directors to prominence. (By Christy Khoshaba)
Both
men escaped to movie houses when they were young, and, with Tarantino
shaking his head, Jackson, 66, his voice like swallowed thunder,
remembered his boyhood in Tennessee.
"I
came home and I pretended to be the thing I saw up there because it
made me feel good and it was exciting," he said, gesturing toward
Tarantino. "Those are the kind of movies he makes. He writes things that
are complex, interesting and exciting. I don't get a lot of those
things. I get a lot of stuff. Very few scripts are those things."
Anticipation
for the movie, shot on high-resolution 70mm film with an overture by
Ennio Morricone, has been strong. It received several Golden Globe
nominations, including for screenplay, and is part of an aggressive
Academy Awards campaign by the Weinstein Co.Despite
his contentiousness, Tarantino, who threatened to shelve the movie
after the script was leaked online in 2014, is a favorite among academy
voters — he's won two Oscars for his scripts for "Django Unchained" and
"Pulp Fiction," which he shared with Roger Avary.
"The
Hateful Eight" glides on greed and betrayal played out in Minnie's
Haberdashery, an outpost in a blizzard where eyes squint hard and little
is as it seems. The film also stars Tim Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Michael Madsen andBruce Dern,
playing a bitter, white-haired Confederate general. They are a
pernicious lot guided by the harsh codes of an untamed land where a
hangman roams for hire and the sheriff has the oily manner of a corrupt
preacher.
Racism
and barbed vernacular — sentences flit like venomous sparrows — salt
this mendacious stew. Major Warren is the only black among whites, some
of whom tolerate him while putting him in his place with the N-word, and
others who would just as soon lynch him. The major is wily enough to
know that safety is a black man's delusion, which is why he keeps his
weapon close and an ever-assessing gleam in his eyes. He uses the color
of his skin and all it evokes to scare, revile, placate, humor and draw
respect.
"If
I have one serious subject that has carried over with me," said
Tarantino, 52, "it is dealing with race in America and in particularly
between white folks and black folks.... It is who I am and what I'm
interested in."
Black
writers and intellectuals have upbraided Tarantino for warping black
history and offending with caricature and epithet. One of his most vocal
detractors has been Spike Lee, a director whose vision and cinematic
alchemy are as captivating as Tarantino's. Both filmmakers explore race;
Lee's new movie "Chi-Raq", which also stars Jackson, bristles with
street violence and the N-word in Chicago. But Lee vilified "Django
Unchained," about a black slave turned gunslinger, in a tweet: "American
slavery was not a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. It was a Holocaust."
Sam Jackson on Quentin Taratino.
(Los Angeles Times)
"What's
most offensive is that [Tarantino's films] are being treated as a guide
to black history," said Ishmael Reed, a writer and activist who
recently edited "Black Hollywood Unchained," a collection of essays on
how African Americans are portrayed in films. "Tarantino gets more
coverage and a bigger audience. There aren't enough black directors with
enough power to accurately tell the story of black history."
Such
criticism doesn't "deserve much respect from me," said Tarantino,
suggesting that his opponents want to appropriate racial and cultural
touchstones to keep them out-of-bounds for white artists. "I'm a writer.
Writers are supposed to write about themselves and other people. Male
writers are supposed to write about white people and black people and
children, women and old people."
Tarantino
has a sharp awareness of the times and a savant's detailed passion for
movies. He is a "provocative artist and filmmaker," said Yoruba Richen, a
black documentary director. "What I appreciate about him is that he's
engaging with issues of race. I don't always like what he does, but I'm
interested."
Dressed
in a burgundy cap and a matching sweater, Jackson took the argument
back to his Chattanooga childhood when his grandfather, who cleaned
offices, was referred to as "boy" and worse by white men. He said in the
South everyone professed to hate the N-word. "But every rap song has it
in it. It's all over 'Chi-Raq.' It's all over 'Straight Outta Compton.'
So what are we talking about?"
He
pointed to Tarantino. "He's not that person," he said in answer to
those who accuse the director of racism. "He's not any of those people."
In
October, Tarantino outraged police unions across the country when he
marched in New York to protest police brutality against blacks. "I'm a
human being with a conscience," Tarantino said at the rally. "And when I
see murder I cannot stand by. And I have to call the murdered the
murdered and I have to call the murderers the murderers."
Police
threatened to boycott "The Hateful Eight." Days later, Tarantino told
The Times: "All cops are not murderers. I never said that. I never even
implied that."
But
the San Bernardino shootings — carried out by husband and wife Islamic
radicals — have tugged the nation, at least for a time, in a different
direction. Tarantino and Jackson spoke of the paranoia that blooms from
fear and how racial and cultural pecking orders get rearranged.
Mentioning that even today he is deferential to police because of what
he learned as a boy, Jackson wondered what Muslims in America might
encounter in the coming months.
"They're
not your neighbors anymore. They're suspects," he said, suggesting what
may be in the minds of many. "They've essentially become young black
men in a community where before they didn't have to walk the line.
People fear them in a way they didn't before."
Tarantino
nodded. He sipped water. Jackson leaned back. They were friends, muses,
guys used to being holed up for months together. As kinetic as they
are, both men, on-screen and in person, have the patience to let a
moment gather force. Jackson remembered his youth, sitting on the porch
with his grandfather, listening to Andy Griffith on
the radio, trying to figure out how a story works, how it crawls into
you and makes a home. Tarantino said he wanted to make another western
so his work could stand on a shelf with Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah.
He turned to Jackson.
"He
does dialogue like nobody else," he said of the actor. "I let him do
more collaborating with the structure of the scene and even some of the
dialogue and even some of the emotional beats than I allow other actors
to do. He's plugged into the way I write."
Tarantino
stood and stretched. Night covered the hills. Obama's speech was over
and pundits were spinning what it all meant. From the 15th floor of the
hotel, the world below unfurled in the bittersweet quiet of a dying
Sunday; makeup artists packed their bags and publicists scratched the
last names off their lists. Jackson pulled tight his cap and walked to
the door.
Television
sets flickered with the latest violence from militants in Iraq and
Syria, and a day later protesters in Chicago condemned the police
shooting of a black teen.
Karen Armstrong - Religion and the History of Violence
Karen Armstrong is one of my favorite scholars of theology and
spirituality. I love her because she has that eclectic vision so
necessary to unravel the conundrums of the present intellectual morass.
We are happy to hear her explain her understanding of religion and
violence. Too often we want to attribute world issues to one cause or
another, sometimes politics, religion, economics, ecology, but Karen is
careful to sift through all such isms, schisms, ideologies and
mythologies to arrive at some modicum of truth that we can savor. She is
not always optimistic at the human condition. After one lecture on her
current book, she said she felt dreadful. We share her dread, for the
world has become very dreadful. She notes that men are essentially
predators or killers. She told how men kill and plunder often because
they are bored. This hit us in the gut because we recall when some young
men in the ghetto told us, "OG, you know what we do when we get bored? We
get our bulletproof vests, UZIS and ride through the hood killing
nigguhs." This made me consider that we have become lower than the KKK,
at least they killed because they hated us, certainly not because they
were bored. But I tried to think deeper on this predatory condition of
men. As I grew up in the country where men to hunt, I
wondered was it because in our move to urbanity we were unable to
exercise the hunter myth/ritual. In the absence of deer, duck,
pheasants, quail rabbits and other animals to hunt, in our urbanity we must now resort to
hunting each other, humans killing humans in lieu of animals. How
can we back up from this precipice and return to some level of humanity and/or civility?
Is there any possibility of us reclaiming our divinity which I am want
to maintain is our essential nature. Karen never imagines we are capable of such high spirituality.
This notion of our predatory nature being essential appears to be pervasive in our
slippery slop into nothingness, dread and absurdity.
-- Marvin X
12/18/15
Karen Armstrong - Religion and the History of Violence
Karen Armstrong is one of my favorite scholars of theology and spirituality. I love her because she has that eclectic vision so necessary to unravel the conundrums of the present intellectual morass. We are happy to hear her explain her understanding of religion and violence. Too often we want to attribute world issues to one cause or another, sometimes politics, religion, economics, ecology, but Karen is careful to sift through all such isms, schisms, ideologies and mythologies to arrive at some modicum of truth that we can savor. She is not always optimistic at the human condition. After one lecture on her current book, she said she felt dreadful. We share her dread, for the world has become very dreadful. She notes that men are essentially predators or killers. She told how men kill and plunder often because they are bored. This hit us in the gut because we recall when some young men in the ghetto told us, "OG, you what we do when we get bored? We get our bulletproof vests, UZIS and ride through the hood killing nigguhs." This made me consider that we have become lower than the KKK, at least they killed because they hated us, certainly not because they were bored. But I tried to think deeper on this predatory condition of men. As I grew up in the country where men used to go hunting, I wondered was it because in our move to urbanity we were unable to exercise the hunter myth/ritual. In the absence of deer, duck, pheasants, quail and other animals to hunt, we must now resort to hunting each other, brothers hunting brothers in lieu of animals. How can we back up from this precipice and return to some level of civility? Is there any possibility of us reclaiming our divinity which I am want to maintain is our essential nature although this notion of the predatory nature being our essence appears to be on a slippery slop of nothingness and absurdity.-- Marvin X
Monday, December 14, 2015
Marvin X's East Coast style biblotherapueutic revolution rocks Oaktown
Marvin X has given out thousands of books freely to the people. Lately, Dr. Nathan and Dr. Julia Hare gave him permission to give a five book collection of their writings at whatever price God puts in the people's heart. Many do not understand when God tells them to give whatever God puts in their hearts. Some give $100.00, some give $50.00, some give $40, some give $20.00. But it doesn't matter.
Dr. Nathan and Julia Hare authorized Marvin X to tell the people to give what God puts in their hearts. Now what part of English do you understand??????
Most people give $100.00 to $50.00, those who are able to give less give $40-to $20.00. It's okay.
Give what God tells you to give and what you are able to give. Thank you. May God bless you. ASA, Marvin X, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Julia Hare
San Francisco, 1972, on Ofarrel between Fillmore and Webster at the Greek Orthodox Church, renamed the Black Educational Theatre. Sun Ra arranged the music for the musical version of Marvin's play Flowers for the Trashman, renamed Take Care of Business of TCB. Sun Ra and Marvin X produced a five hour performance (without intermission) with a cast of fifty, including the Sun Ra Arkestra and dancers, the Raymond Sawyer dancers and the Ellender Barnes dancers, and the cast of TCP by Marvin X.
Marvin X in Seattle WA rally in support of Palestine
The Marvin X biblotherapueutic (healing through reading books) has finally come to the attention of the West Coast. At his Academy of da Corner, Lakeshore station, the Buppy/Yuppy section of Oakland, he was acknowledged for doing an East Coast thang, i.e., from Harlem to Wash. DC, conscious literature is vended on the streets, especially in Harlem, Brooklyn, Newark, and Philly. Marvin X is often seen vending his books up and down the East Coast. A little brother from Oakland saw him in Philly outside the Gallaria, the downtown mall frequented by Philly's North American Africans. The brother couldn't believe Marvin X was in Philly doing what he does in downtown Oakland, usually at 14th and Broadway, although Marvin also works Lakeshore Ave. and the cross roads of the Black/African Bay Area, the Berkeley Flea Market at the ASHBY BART Station.
Today the Blacks on Lakeshore let him know they know how conscious literature is vended on the streets of Harlem, Brooklyn elsewhere up and down the East Coast. These bi-coastal North American Africans were elated to see Marvin X has that East Coast style of spreading conscious knowledge.
Marvin X didn't hesitate to let them know he does his thang coast to coast, including the Midwest and Dirty South. After working the Fulton Street Mall in Brooklyn, Marvin X stopped at a conscious book stand that sold conscious tapes as well. Since the brothers weren't familiar with him, he shared some of his works freely, books and DVDs. As he departed Fulton Street Mall, a young brother ran up to him saying, "OG, my padnas selling books and tapes said you just left their stand and you got a different point of view. That's what I'm looking for, a different point of view." The young brother spent $30.00 buying Marvin X's different point of view. Ironically, before arriving in Brooklyn, Marvin X had visited the Yoruba African Village in Sheldon, South Carolina. While there a another young man saw him and said, "Marvin X, I know who you are! My friend is your friend on Facebook, and even though I am not your friend, he sends me your writings, and I must admit, you have a different point of view. We appreciate you, Marvin X."
At Marvin X's Academy of da Corner, Lakeshore, he deals with a variety of people, including Christians, Muslims, Native Americans, Whites, Gypsies, Gay/Lesbian, and those who claim to be nothing or none of the above. He tries to treat them all with unconditional love, as he is a follower of His Holliness Guru Bawa, along with Elijah Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad, Rumi, Saadi and Hafiz, and don't leave out Sufi Master of Senegal, Bamba, who has the Holy City Touba, more sacred than Mecca to West African Muslims.
While Marvin X is placed into the Muslim literary tradition, Ishmael Reed says Marvin X must be considered in the Yoruba tradition since he is in that tradition of the artist as teacher, better known as didactic literature, or literature with a purpose, usually moral, probably why Ishmael Reed called him, "Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland." Reed said of Marvin X, "If you want to learn about motivation and inspiration, 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."
We suggest you catch Marvin X at work, whether at 14th and Broadway (currently being renamed the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic District) or on Lakeshore or at the Berkeley Flea Market, catch him and see if you can escape his aura. Although Marvin X has been literally giving away his books for free, alas, he said God told him to give away a thousand copies of his collection of essays Wish I Could Tell You The Truth. He felt vindicated when two young brothers passed him on Lakeshore but turned around to introduce themselves to him saying, "Brother Marvin X, we just want to shake your hand because we found half of your book Wish I Could Tell You The Truth and it changed our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
More recently, a young brother said to him at the Berkeley Flea Market, "Marvin X, thank you for taking so much pressure off me. After reading your Mythology of Pussy and Dick, I can now get my life together. I don't have to worry about owning my woman's vagina. I can own myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And even old men have told Marvin, "Marvin X, I hate to admit this, but I learned something from your Mythology of Pussy and Dick." And the young girls says, "Marvin X, you taught me I had pussy power. I didn't know this before reading your essay. Thank you."
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Marvin X and Aries Jordan on The Black Arts Movement District, downtown Oakland CA, photo essay by Adam Turner
The BAM/City of Oakland planning committee voted to make The Black Arts Movement Disrtrict the official name of the proposed BAM District, a cultural and economic area along the 14th Street corridor, downtown Oakland. The BAM District will give honor and respect to Oakland's radical tradition of artists as artistic freedom fighters (Paul Robeson). According to Ishmael Reed, "If not for the Black Arts Movement, Black culture would be extinct!" BAM co-founder Marvin X says, "We give all praise to the Harlem Renaissance artists who expressed Black consciousness, inspired by the teachings of Marcus Garvey. We who are part of the Black Arts Movement give praises to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Think of writers Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Sonia Sanchez, Last Poets, Askia Toure, Sun Ra and Marvin X, all influenced by Islam. Muslim American literature originated with the BAM poets, writers, musicians, painters, dancers, actors. BAM artists were "sisters of the Black Power Movement" (Larry Neal). Marvin X says BAM was the Mother of the Black Power Movement because many students and young people came through BAM, then joined the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Party, Black Students Union. Even the American Prison Movement was influenced by BAM after the staff of Black Dialogue Magazine visited the Soledad Prison's Black Culture Club, chaired by Eldridge Cleaver and Alprintice Bunchy Carter.
BPP
co-founder Dr. Huey P. Newton said, "Marvin X was my teacher. Many of
our comrades came through his Black Arts Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge
Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier."
The
Black Arts Movement District gives honor and respect to the artistic
and political freedom fighters who fought to liberate Oakland and
America from the addiction to white supremacy. We think of
dancer/choreographer Ruth Beckford, Ellendar Barnes, Raymond Sawyer, Ed
Mock, Judith Holton, Suzzette
Celeste, Deborah Vaughn, Halifu Osumare, Malika Jamillah, Nisa Ra, et
al. We think of Avotcja, Adam David Miller, Sarah Webster Fabio, Dr.
Nathan Hare, Dr. Julia Hare, Bob Chrisman, Robert Allen, Abdul Sabrey,
Aubrey LaBrie, Duke Williams, Saadat Ahmad, et. al. We especially recognize actor Danny Glover who was with us at San Francisco State University and was a member of Black Arts West Theatre, San Francisco. Danny is in the Paul Robeson tradition of the Artistic Freedom Fighter.
As
was noted in the BAM/City of Oakland planning meeting: BAM was/is an
international Black Arts Movement, that expressed itself nationally and
internationally, from Europe to Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, Africa
and elsewhere.
Oakland's
Black Arts Movement District serves as the model of a national and
international/Pan African artistic movement. Those who think BAM is
something from the past are simply lost and turned out on the way to
grandmother's house (Whispers). They need to get a healing and come into
the present era. After all, we are yet free and thus the mission of BAM
continues until freedom is won. Oh, Ancestor Harriet Tubman, speak to
us tonight, "...I could have freed more slaves if they had known they
were slaves...."
--Marvin X, BAM Planner, December 7, 2015
Next meeting: Oakland City Hall
January 4, 2016, 2PM-5PM
Be there or be square!
Information: 510-200-4164
Graphics design by Adam Turner
Oakland City Council President Lynette McElhaney addresses planning session on establishing an Arts Commission and the Black Arts Movement District
Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb making a point. "Lynette, why didn't you include or sync the BAM agenda with your agenda?"
Anyka Barber, Director of Betti Ono Gallery, Elder Paul Cobb and Aries Jordan, all BAM District planners
Menhuaim Ayele, holds a Masters in Architecture, is author of a book on creating an Afrikatown. His dream is coming true! He is a member of the BAM District planning team. To left of Menhuaim is Duane Deterville, Editor of Black Artists in Oakland. He is a member of the BAM District planning team.
The next meeting of the Black Arts Movement District is January 4, 2016
BAM Notes by Aries Jordan
On Monday 12/7/15 the 2nd planning meeting for the Black Arts Movement District began
with a review of norms and the ambitious agenda to finalize recommendations
for BAM District and Arts Commission. Participants acknowledged the past efforts
of many culture keepers who also envisioned a Black cultural
district in Oakland . Participants were also challenged to move past
grievances and grief towards a collective vision for the next 100
years. The large group was broken into two working groups to explore
the scope of BAM district and reestablishment of the Oakland Arts commission. Both groups
passionately shared the need for protection
for Black artist and businesses leaders in Oakland and beyond.
A consensus was reached on the name “Black Arts Movement” District for the 14th street corridor. The Black Arts Movement is a part of Oakland’s history of resistance to
oppression and was a catalyst for the spread of Black consciousness in the
1960’s. The BAM district would serve as a place for cultivation of Black
art and economic prosperity. The BAM
group identified the creation of
a BAM Land trust as a top priority; also, an assessment of City of
Oakland Properties that BAM district can acquire for performance space, artist
space, housing, business space.
The BAM members envisioned a green space
that incorporated Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.
The BAM committee also proclaimed that they will support and not compete
with our brothers and sisters in east Oakland working on creating a Black Arts Movement
district
The
Oakland Arts Commission group made recommendations on the process going forward
which included partnering with the Oakland's Department of Race and Equity to ensure protection of existing
Black cultural institutions. Moreover, it was also clear that once the Oakland
Arts commission is re-established the arts fund needs to be restricted for
sustainability, including a citizen review board.
Lastly,
the group recommended the
establishment of Oakland Entertainment Commission to address the
challenges of obtaining permits and licensing. The meeting concluded
with closing remarks
from City Council President Lynette McElhaney on next steps for the
proposed legislation before the City Council. Participants departed the meeting with a sense of hope, fierce determination and commitment to move thoughtfully
and swiftly to turn the BAM District into a reality.
--Aries Jordan
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