philadelphia museum celebrates black arts movement

 PhilAesthetic explores local Black Arts Movement

Ayana Jones Tribune Staff Writer Jun 13, 2017

Helen Haynes, left, Patricia Wilson Aden and James Claiborne of the African American Museum in Philadelphia speak about PhilAesthetic events scheduled through August. — PHoto by ABDUL SULAYMAN/TRIBUNE CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Philadelphia Dance Company, one of four collaborators in the weeks-long cultural event, is scheduled to perform July 18 at the Dell Music Center. — SUBMITTED PHOTO

“One of the objectives of our project is to tie generations together,“ said Helen Haynes, PhilAesthetic producing director. — SUBMITTED PHOTO

Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum Ensemble will put on a show in helping to launch PhilAesthetic during a reception on Thursday at the African American Museum of Philadelphia. — SUBMITTED PHOTO

The African American Museum of Philadelphia is marking its 40th anniversary by curating PhilAesthetic: A Celebration of Philadelphia’s Black Arts Movement, a multimedia, pop-up

exhibition that opens this week.

The celebration is an unprecedented collaboration between four cultural institutions: The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, Philadelphia Dance Compay, the New

Freedom Theatre and AAMP.

“PhilAesthetic is a shared celebration amongst Philadelphia’s African-American legacy cultural organizations,” Patricia Wilson Aden, AAMP president and CEO, told The Philadelphia Tribune.

“All of these organizations, for the first time, are offering programs with a shared theme. PhilAesthetic is all about the Black Arts Movement,” she said. “The Black arts movement is that

time between the late ‘60s and early ‘70s where we had a lot of creative energy percolating up

not only from neighborhoods in Philadelphia, but also nationally and internationally.”

“What we wanted to do is highlight the fact that these legacy organizations very often had their genesis during that time period and those legacy organizations have associated with them artists that have had impact not only here in Philadelphia but across the globe For so long we believed

that these legacy organizations haven’t been celebrated collectively as they could and should be, “ Aden said.

“We really want people to appreciate the fact that they have had this fantastic, immeasurable and invaluable imprint. The culture community is changing, the neighborhoods in which they exist are changing and very often their impact is under appreciated,” she added.

PhilAesthetic is anchored by a two-gallery exhibition showcasing four decades of works by some

of the top Black visual artists. It also features community workshop performances and pop-up exhibits at the three partner institutions where visitors can explore the stories, history and work of each of community cultural organizations.

“One of the objectives of our project is to tie generations together,“ said Helen Haynes,

PhilAesthetic producing director. “We talk about the Black Arts Movement and we talk about

what the boomers’ experience with it, but a lot of the millennials and the Xers haven’t had that

same experience with these institutions.

“We want to attract younger people to these institutions. This programming is really designed to attract younger people to the institutions to really get them more involved with them and also different cultures to these institutions,“ she said.

PhilAesthetic launches Thursday with a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the AAMP, 701 Arch St. The reception features live performances by the Clef Club Ensemble, Ursula Rucker and Kulu

Mele African Dance and Drum Ensemble.

Through August, each partner institution will host a series of performances showcasing the

diversity of artwork created by the Black Arts Movement artists and their influence on

contemporary performers.

A performance titled “Fierce! Three Generations of Jazz, Funk and Hip-Hop” will be held June 24

at 8 p.m. at the Philadelphia Clef Club, 738 S. Broad St. The event features Jamaaladeen Tacuma

and his band, soul-singer Lady Alma as well as rapper, singer and songwriter Hezekiah.

An event titled “The Ultimate Supa Sisters!” featuring Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez and Jessica Care Moore will be held July 14 at 8 p.m. at AAMP.

Other events include a Philadanco performance at 7 p.m. July 28 at the Dell Music Center, 2400 Strawberry Mansion Drive, and a theatrical production at 8 p.m. Aug. 11 at New Freedom Theatre, 1346 N Broad St. The production explores major Black Arts Movement headlines connected to Philadelphia’s Broad Street.

PhilAesthetic has received a $75,000 grant from the PNC Arts Alive initiative and is supported

by the King Foundation and PECO.

“Through PNC Arts Alive, we continue to help invigorate local arts organizations while bringing

new and exciting programs to our community,” Joe Meterchick, PNC regional president for Philadelphia, Delaware and New Jersey, said in a news release.

“The creativity and collaboration demonstrated by the local arts community is evident in the programs that will be introduced, while enabling new visitors and residents alike to experience a diverse range of exhibits and performances, “ Meterchick said.

For ticket information, visit www.aampmuseum.org/philaesthetic or call (215) 574-0380.

Level the Playing Field--Everybody Pack!

•  Marvin X 
•  July 20, 2012 

Police: Suspect stockpiled arsenal

Violence is as American as cherry pie!--H. Rap Brown, aka Imam Jamil Al Amin


The murder of my child will not make your child safe.--James Baldwin





The recent mass shooting in a Colorado cinema is an essential part of American culture, a culture steeped in violence, genocide and a plethora of psycho pathologies too numerous to catalog. In short, America is a society rooted in mental illness. The very idea of claiming equality of all men, yet practicing chattel slavery of kidnapped Africans is schizophrenia of the most morbid kind.

Furthermore, the very idea of a free market economy is not based on fairness or social-economic justice but to obtain the cheapest labor possible and the acquisition of raw materials at the lowest price, including at the point of a gun, hence the trillion dollar US military budget to kill, maim and dominate people around the world.

So how can we imagine living in a peaceful society when we are in permanent war around the world with hundreds of military bases throughout the globe to insure political/economic domination? How can we be so delusional to think there shall be no blow back for American behavior around the world? Surely, we know what goes around comes around!

We need only look at the violence in the hoods of America, aided and abetted by gun sellers often working in conspiracy with government agents, e.g., Fast and Furious, although this was across the border sales, but do not think these same gun sellers do not operate in the hood, spreading their wares to people so desperate from economic deprivation they can only rob and kill each other. We rarely hear of ghetto youth crossing the line into the white side of town to kill white people. If anything, it is most often white police officers (sometimes black officers as well) who act as an occupying army in the hood. White police have a long history (originating with slave catchers) of executing justice upon North American Africans and other minorities.

As Baldwin noted, the murder of my child will not make your child safe, so violence appears in the suburbs from time to time, a reminder that when one child or adult is not safe, no child or adult is safe anywhere in the world.

There is no way America can murder with drones in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, yet
harbor the thought that there shall be peace at home.

As we look for options to stem this violence that is American as cherry pie, we think the only option is to level the playing field by making everyone pack arms at all times, yes, as in the Wild Wild West days. No persons should find themselves in a situation where some crazy fool is armed and we are not.

In the hood, even black bourgeoisie parents have been known to allow their children to arm themselves if they happen to live in or near the hood where there is rampant gang violence. Some parents urge their children to dress down so they do not incur the wrath of poor ghetto youth who may be jealous and envious of them parading in the latest high priced hip hop gear. Here, we see the economic motive that leads to violence. Only when we address the economic inequities and social psychology of American culture wIll we be able to solve this problem. Until then, it is only sensible to practice self defense at all times and never get caught naked or unarmed. The South learned this lesson long ago. I have friends in the "dirty South" who never go out unarmed, especially down those southern roads.

Up South in the North, the situation is approaching the dirty south. Many of us dare not go out at night, some stay locked inside their homes except for necessary trips outside. Long ago, ancestor Ray Charles told us about the danger zone, "The danger zone is everywhere...." So be aware of your surroundings and as the Boy Scouts taught us, "Be Prepared!" The old Arab adage is, "Trust in God but tie your camel!"
--Marvin X
7/20/12

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cover art by emory

MAJOR TILLERY Fighter for Freedom and Human Rights Mumia Abu-Jamal describes Major Tillery as a “jailhouse lawyer who shook the prison walls,” then held in solitary confinement for twenty of his 33 years in prison “because of something prison administrators hate and fear above all things: prisoner unity; prisoner solidarity.” Messing With Major [col. writ. 8/14/15]   Shakaboona Marshall, co-editor of The Movement, was sentenced as a juvenile to life imprisonment without parole. He describes Major Tillery as “a highly respected man, Revolutionary, Prisoners’ Rights Activist, Religious Leader and Human Rights Advocate.” Major Tillery, the Man, Fall 2016   June 14--Major Tillery, now 66 years old, continues to advocate for all prisoners while fighting for his own his freedom. He filed a federal pro se lawsuit against the Pa Department of Corrections (DOC) because of retaliation against him for demanding medical treatment for Mumia and all prisoners. At SCI Frackville he has succeeded in obtaining services for aging prisoners.   Major Tillery filed a pro se Pennsylvania state post-conviction petition in June 2016 to overturn his 1985 conviction. It is based on his actual innocence, with new evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct.   Nine years after a 1976 Philadelphia poolroom shooting of two men, Major Tillery was tried and convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The surviving victim identified other men as the shooters. There was no evidence against Major, except the testimony of two career jailhouse informants. Those prosecution witnesses have now given sworn declarations that their lying testimony was entirely manufactured by the police and prepared by the prosecutors.   Major Tillery’s new legal action exposes a favorite police modus operandi in the early 80s to get false convictions. Jailhouse informants were coerced with threats of prosecutions for murders they did not commit and induced to lie with private time in police interview rooms for sex with their girlfriends. Prosecutors provided plea bargains, and dismissal of pending criminal cases that could have resulted in decades of prisontime.   Just three months later the judge dismissed the petition without even allowing a hearing, stating that it was “untimely.” The judge ignored corroborating evidence of the “sex for lies” scheme and the videotaped statement of the chief jailhouse snitch Emanuel Claitt.   Major Tillery’s case in now on appeal in the Pennsylvania Superior Court. The key legal issue is the preemptory dismissal of pro se filings, challenging as unconstitutional the “timeliness” restrictions used to deny prisoners a day in court when, after years of continued efforts, they obtain new evidence.   Major Tillery now has the pro bono representation of PA criminal defense attorney Stephen Patrizio, but financial help is needed to cover the expenses of the appeal process and continuing investigation.   Major Tillery is continuing his 33-year fight for his freedom, challenging the injustice of false convictions through state coercion, and the denial of the rights of appeal. Please help! Make your support to Major Tillery known to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. Make a financial contribute to help with the costs of Major’s appeals.     How You Can Help   Financial Support—Major Tillery needs funds for a lawyer in his appeal to overturn his conviction.   Go to PayPal   Go to JPay.com; code: Major Tillery AM9786 PADOC Or send a check/money order to: Major Tillery or Kamilah Iddeen, U.S. Post Office, 2347 N. 7th St., PO Box 13205, Harrisburg, PA 17110-6501   Tell Philadelphia District Attorney: Free Major Tillery! He is an innocent man, framed by police and and prosecution. Call: 215-686-8711 or  Email: DA_Central@phila.gov   Write to: Major Tillery AM 9786, SCI Frackville, 1111 Altamont Blvd., Frackville, PA 17931   For More Information, Go To: JusticeForMajorTillery Kamilah Iddeen (717) 379-9009, Kamilah29@yahoo.com Rachel Wolkenstein (917) 689-4009, RachelWolkenstein@gmail.com   www.JusticeForMajorTillery.org

SURVEY FOR THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT BUSINESS DISTRICT

Take a moment to complete online survey   http://bit.ly/2qBwqqA  Your answers will help us in creating a proposal for technical assistance from Carmel Partners the developer of the high rise at the Merchant Parking lot site. This is a opportunity created as a part of a Community Benefit Agreement between BAMBD, CDC and the developer. Your answers to the survey questions will help us ascertain the best use of this resource. If you have not done so please send the request to your networks as appropriate so that they may participate in this important step. Thank you, BAMBD Team

LUMUMBA MAYOR OF JACKSON MISSISSIPPI

Jun 14 at 8:51 PM

JUSTICE INITIATIVE Mayor-elect Lumumba: Jackson 'to be the most radical city on the planet'   Anna Wolfe June 12, 2017 The Clarion-Ledger    "The Wednesday after the election I woke up in Jackson, Mississippi, and what that means is, no matter whether our country has experienced great boons or busts, in Mississippi, we've always been at the bottom," Mayor-elect Chokwe Antar Lumumba said. "We have to decide that we're going to rescue ourselves. That in places like Jackson, we won't allow it to be havens of oppression which endangers all of us." Chowke Antar Lumumba on March 11, 2014. Photo by Trip Burns.     Mayor-elect Chokwe Antar Lumumba talked about making Jackson "the most radical city on the planet" Friday at the People's Summit in Chicago.   The word "radical" is not unfamiliar to the 34-year-old attorney and son of late-Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, whose agenda, which he has adopted, is built on economic democracy.   The mayor-elect talked about that very term - the misconceptions and truths tied to it - with The Clarion-Ledger editorial board in April before the primary.   "Chokwe Lumumba is a pretty tough name. And people don't know what that means," he said lightly. "I'm confronted with people, 'He's Muslim! He's this!' Not to disparage anyone's faith, but I'm Christian. Lumumba is a Christian African name. There are things that people are concerned about based on the history of when my father was here in the 70s. Guess who was not here in the 70s? I wasn't thought of at that time. And it was a different time. We can all agree that people on both sides of some of the friction can admit that things should have been taken care of in a different fashion. That has no reflection on who Chokwe Antar Lumumba is."   A young Lumumba Sr. came to Jackson in the 1970s alongside the Republic of New Afrika with goals of creating a separate nation through black liberation and self-determination. The history evokes a particular scene in which Jackson police officers, tear gas and a tank in tow, attempted to raid a house where RNA members lived, prompting a shootout. Lt. William Louis Skinner was killed. Lumumba Sr. was not at the house. He eventually helped found the New Afrika People's Organization, from which grew the Malcolm X Grassroots movement. The mayor-elect is a "proud member" of MXGM. "I'm not trying to push people away from anything. I'm passionate because I'm passionate about people's lives. I believe in human rights for human beings," Lumumba told The Clarion-Ledger board. "l'm critiqued for things just because of my background that if you think about it really intently, you would find that it's nothing that pushes anybody away. When I say 'People's Assemblies,' or I say 'we want to put people before politics,' I've had people ask me, 'Well, who are the people?' Well, if you're living, breathing, need water and food like I do, then I'm talking about you."   "I believe that's what people should understand about me, that I'm an inclusive person," Lumumba continued. "Beyond that, I'm not afraid of the term 'radical.' I'll embrace the term radical. Because when I look in history and I see all the people who have been called radicals - Martin Luther King was called a radical. Jesus Christ was called a radical. I believe that a radical is someone who cares enough about circumstances that they want to see a change, and if you look outside of these walls, and you see a need for a change in this community, in this city, then we all need to be prepared to be as radical as the circumstances dictate we should be."   The People's Summit is a conference focused on social, racial and economic justice and supported by National Nurses United and other progressive groups.   Lumumba was met with loud cheers from the People's Summit audience when he announced his victory in Jackson in a field of 16 candidates and with 94 percent of the vote in the general election. "More important than that, we did so on a people's platform," Lumumba said. "From the moment we announced, we did so saying that we were running on an agenda of social justice, of economic democracy and working with people, making sure people had a voice. And that's our story, and we're sticking to it."   Lumumba also talked about living in "Trump times" in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, where "we have all kinds of questions about what that means."   "The Wednesday after the election I woke up in Jackson, Mississippi, and what that means is, no matter whether our country has experienced great boons or busts, in Mississippi, we've always been at the bottom," Lumumba said. "We have to decide that we're going to rescue ourselves. That in places like Jackson, we won't allow it to be havens of oppression which endangers all of us."   "So we've made the decision that we're going to be the most radical city on the planet," he said. "We're going to make certain that we change the whole scope of electoral politics."

Marvin X poem: The Reluctant Revolutionary

Marvin X

photo Kamau Amen-Ra (RIP)

I am contradiction
just to confound you
transcend your myth of me
submit to your rituals
I defy you to be me
not some pure spirit
righteous holy man
for your Crucifixion
I am the meta man
on the other side of time Sun Ra said
catch me on the other side if you can
I am not your leader
lead yourself
no more battles I don't need to fight
don't waste my time
I go to bed early
get up
write after midnight
as the wicked sleep in their sloth
dream of passivity
I am not your leader
lead yourself
you know everything
I can tell you nothing
you don't know
and you will do nothing I say anyway
hard to lead in the right direction, Elijah said
easy to lead in the wrong direction
dwell on my contradictions
not your own
I admit my sins
alcohol drugs beautiful women
yet I am productive on my agenda not yours
have you written 30 books
do you stand on the blood of ancestors
why you coat tailing me
use the mind God gave you
Mama told me
so I do
what yo mama tell you
follow me I will set you free?
follow me and I will confound you
from river to sea
just to be me not your myth
let me think outside the box of your dreams schemes iszms schisms
sects cults dogmatic ideological fantasies
I am not your Jesus, Buddha Muhammad
I am me fat and happy
naked unashamed
drunk high longing for hot wet pussy

revolution in the name of love
return of sanity through struggle like fanon said
let there be movement
a bowel movement at least
movement like a negro moving off zero into one
sun moving to moon
hate moving to love
sloth moving to action
unconscious to consciousness
movement
even I must move when the people whip me into leadership
reluctantly I go into the dreadful night of political engagement
against will desire against joy and happiness to the ugliness
of political combat
in the ring with snakes rats liars thieves of the hearts and souls of men women children.
Must I go there so gently into that night of nothingness and dread
stressing my soul mind heart
tarring me apart from the writer I love
the joy of solitude naked into the night
full of Henny and dope
on the other side of time
I do not care if you are with me there
in the zone where wise men fear to tread
I live there love there let me be
I am not your leader
lead yourself
stand for self and kind
stand sly stone said stand
no more battles I don't need to fight
call me if you need me and I will do what I can
not what you want of me
how you want me to be
when you ain't you
fake as you can be
fake love in my face
fake hair fake eyes lips ass breasts
fake men fake minds
Chris Rock said everything about you is a lie!
man woman lie
only truth about you is you don't know the truth about you
denial is the clothing you wear
afraid to be naked truthful
ashamed of your vital organs
life giving yet your fear shame guilt abounds
consumes your being
you tremble at the nakedness of truth
you deny the undeniable in your fear and trembling
just tell the truth snaggle tooth
Rev. Cecil Williams said, "You want me to do everything, Marvin?"
People, you want me to do everything
as you consume your sloth and niggardliness
let me rest in my drunkenness sex
don't call me to repeat the days of yore
battles already won yet misunderstood
there is no need to fight when the victory is won
devils shall be devils
let the second line begin
let the celebration conquer death
devils shall kill our children
that is their job
murder under the color of law
police ain't the only killers
murder in the schools universities
murder in the food water
organic toxicity
murder in the air
murder in religious myth rituals
murder in wage slavery indirect welfare handout jobs for life
murder in the loving family full of hate jealousy envy
murder murder murder
murder in the mind
murder in the heart
murder in the love bed
let Shaitan kill love
let Shaitan kill two souls joined for life
let Shaitan kill husband kill wife kill children
hail to Shaitan devil within without
listen to the whispering devil who whispers into the hearts of men and women.
who dwells in the Silent Night song for all souls
let the revolutionary stand
transcend solitude for the communal
it is painful for the Shaman to leave his nest on the other side of time
but sometimes he must
rise above imagination into pure action for the better good
stop being the child in toy r us
be about revolution in his father's house
revolution in the upper room
revolution in the dungeon
revolution in the hearts minds souls of men women children.
--Marvin X
5/19/17

Raqqa, Syria battle: 'staggering' civilian death toll--white phosphorus gas used

Raqqa battle: 'Staggering' civilian toll in strikes on IS

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionTens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting for Raqqa

UN war crimes investigators say US-led coalition air strikes on Islamic State militants in the Syrian city of Raqqa are causing "staggering loss of life".

Hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed since March, as coalition warplanes support an offensive by a Kurdish-led alliance.

In the past week. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters have pushed into the west, east and north of Raqqa.

The battle for the city has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes.

• US-backed forces face fierce battle for Raqqa
• Inside 'Islamic State': A Raqqa diary
• Islamic State group: The full story

The coalition has said the capture of Raqqa will deliver a "decisive blow" to the caliphate proclaimed by IS in June 2014, months after it took control or the city.

Up to 4,000 militants are believed to be holed up inside Raqqa, including foreign fighters and various senior figures.

It is unclear how many civilians are trapped there with them, but UN officials estimated that there are between 50,000 and 100,000.

In an address to the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, the chairman of the independent commission of inquiry for Syria noted that IS had been losing territory at a rapid pace in the north and centre of the country over the past few months.

If successful, Paolo Pinheiro said, the SDF offensive on Raqqa "could liberate the city's civilian population from the group's oppressive clutches, including Yazidi women and girls, whom the group has kept sexually enslaved for almost three years as part of an ongoing and unaddressed genocide".

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionUN officials estimate that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians trapped in Raqqa

But he added that the offensive must not be "undertaken at the expense of civilians who unwillingly find themselves living in areas where [IS] is present".

"We note in particular that the intensification of air strikes, which have paved the ground for an SDF advance in Raqqa, has resulted not only in staggering loss of civilian life, but has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes and becoming internally displaced."

The UK-based monitoring group Airwars estimates that more than 600 civilians were killed in more than 150 coalition or SDF attacks between March and May.

Air and artillery strikes killed dozens more in the first eight days of June, it says.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned on Thursday that the assault was intensifying an "already desperate" situation in Raqqa.

Air strikes, shelling and clashes on the ground were killing and injuring civilians, and damaging key infrastructure, it said. There were also reports of increased shortages of essential commodities such as food, medicine and fuel, it added.

Media captionTens of thousands have left the city as fighting intensifies.

Mr Pinheiro also expressed deep concern that the creation of "de-escalation" zones in western Syria - agreed earlier this year as part of a plan sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran - had not led to improved access for aid agencies.

So far this year, he said, only one UN convoy had been permitted access to an area identified as urgently in need of assistance.

The UN investigators were also alarmed at the increasing number of "evacuation agreements" in which civilians are being moved out of some besieged areas.

They said some of the evacuations might amount to war crimes because they appeared "primarily motivated by the strategic considerations of the warring parties that negotiate them" and generally did not take the wishes of civilians into account.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionThe SDF has spearheaded the US-led coalition's campaign to capture Raqqa

Separately, Human Rights Watch warned that the coalition's use of artillery-delivered white phosphorus in Raqqa and in the last remaining IS-held parts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was endangering civilians.

White phosphorus can be used for several purposes on the battlefield - as a smoke screen, for signalling and marking, and as an incendiary weapon.

However, international law prohibits its use in civilian areas because of its indiscriminate effects. On contact, it can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone.

"No matter how white phosphorus is used, it poses a high risk of horrific and long-lasting harm," warned Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch.