Monday, January 22, 2018

Marvin X: Parable of Black Man/Block Man; Parable of the Rats; Notes on the Mythology of Pussy and Dick

Parable of Black Man/Block Man & Parable of the Rats

When a fool is told a parable, it's meaning must be explained to him.--African proverb

You got black man and block man.

Watch out for block man!

--Sun Ra

There was a black man and a block man, both were black men, but block man had a big block head. He used to stand at the crossroads waiting for black man to come through so he could block him from going in any direction. If black man tried to go east, west, north or south, the playa hatin, jealous, envious block man would cause black man to either stop, stumble or fall.

Sometimes black man would purposely fall because he knew the African proverb that to stumble or fall is only to go forward faster. So after being blocked at one turn, he would fake a fall and go forward on his journey up the hill.

Of course block man would be waiting for him at a pass up the hill and again try to block black man from going farther. But black man, being athletic, was able to leap to the side and gracefully go pass block man.

And even though block man had a lot of friends who were blockheads too, black man had friends in the sun, moon and stars who watched out for him.

Black man had friends in the wind, seas, rivers, trees and all over the earth. So block man didn't have a chance with his evil scheme to block black man. All black man had to do was flow in the flow and make sure he wasn't swimming against the current of the universe, for in the counter flow the block men were waiting patiently for him, sharpening their knives, ready to remove the heart and soul of black man.

So black man planned and block man planned, but black man was the best planner. As long as his mind remained clean and sober, he could see block man coming a mile way.

Parable of the Rats by Marvin X

The rats all have the same gait: they scurry about, back broken by an abundance of lies, half-truths and disinformation, defamation and other tactics of rat behavior. Even their facial expressions have a rat like appearance, so you can see them coming a mile away. You can smell a funky rat. We suspect the two legged variety even has a tail hidden inside their pants or underneath their dresses, yes, there are rats of every gender, every color, class. Some are sewer rats, some are wharf rats, some are subway rats, church rats, house rats. But their behavior is the same. They are on the lower level of humankind, these two legged rats. They can do nothing right. They cannot give justice even with the scale in view while they weigh goods. They will lie while you look at them playing with the scale. They will try to convince you the scale doesn't work while it is their minds that have not evolved to work on the human level.

There is only one thing to do with such rats: set a trap for them or feed them poison cheese and watch them puke and vomit until they die. Better yet, let the cat catch their asses. It is beautiful watching the cat catch a rat, seeing how still the cat will become while stalking his prey. But the cat will lie in wait for the rat as long as it takes, never moving, never batting his eye. And then he leaps upon his prey and devours him. It is a beautiful sight when when the cat and rat game reaches the climax and ends with the consumption of the rat by the cat.
--Marvin X
7/15/15

Marvin X and student in the Fillmore, San Francisco

Marvin X and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf who says, "Marvin X is a wonderful personality!" She gave him a proclamation from the City of Oakland on the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement.

Poets Amiri Baraka and Marvin X shared a 47 year friendship in black revolutionary arts and politics.
Baraka was more involved that Marvin X yet Marvin not only influenced the Black Arts Movement but
the Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam and Black Studies. He recruited persons like Eldridge Cleaver into the BPP and as per the Nation of Islam, he recruited Nadar Ali (Bobby Jones of Fresno, an educator who became the NOI's Director of Imports.

Marvin X in heaven, i.e., in the presence of intelligent, berautiful, revolutionary women at Laney College celebration of the Black Arts Movement 50th Anniversary

Actor Gano Grills as Marvin X; Marvin X and Amiri Baraka (RIP), New Federal Theatre, NY

Customer holding his most provocative essay Mythology of Pussy and Dick, 2009, an 18 page pamphlet now expanded to a 400 page collection of his writings on male/female relations or psycho-sexuality. According to Oakland poet Paradise Jah Love, "Youth fight over his Mythology of Pussy and Dick as if it were black gold!" Indeed, they steal it from each or simply refuse to return it. As a result, people come back two and three times for another copy, even though Marvin told them, "Don't let your friends steal it!" It is most timely in light of Harvey Weinstein and all the men around the world who have sexually, physically, emotionally and/or verbally abused women and/or children.

Marvin X was himself an abuser of women and wrote about it years ago in his classic poem Confession of an Ex-wife Beater, his play In the Name of Love (Laney College Theatre, 1981), and the recovery classic docudrama of his Crack addiction and recovery One Day in the Life, performed from coast to coast, e.g., Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Recovery Theatre, San Francisco; Alice Arts Theatre, Uhuru House Theatre, Oakland; Black Repertory Group Theatre and Berkeley Rep, Berkeley; Sista's Place, Brooklyn, NY, Brecht Forum, Manhattan, NY; Kimako's Blues Theatre, Newark, New Jersey. The dramatic depiction of his last meeting in a West Oakland Crack house with Black Panther Party co-chairman Huey P. Newton was made into a one-act play by Marvin X and Ed Bullins, produced at New York's Federal Theatre by Woody King. On the 2009 national tour of Mythology of Pussy and Dick, Marvin spent a week speaking in classes at Howard University, especially the classes of Dr. Greg Carr and Dr. Tony Medina. "With the ratio of women to men 14 to 1, what do you think is the primary topic of discussion?"

Maestro Marvin X at Oakland's Malcolm X Jazz/Art Festival, accompanied by David Murray and Earle Davis and the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir

Marvin X is known variously as El Muhajir (the migrant), Plato Negro, Rumi, Jeremiah. Alterhough he taught briefly in such academic institutions as Fresno State University, San Francisco State University, University of California Berkeley and San Diego, Mills College, University of Nevada, Reno, Laney and Merritt Colleges and elsewhere, he most enjoys his outdoor classroom known as Academy of da Corner is at 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, Lakeshore Avenue, Oakland and the Berkeley Flea Market. . Ishmael Reed says, "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 work. He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland!"

Black gods of India like bleaching cream

Dark is divine: What colour are Indian gods and goddesses?

Goddess Sita with her sons — Image captionGoddess Sita is photographed with her twin sons Luv and Kush

In India where light skin is coveted, a new campaign is re-imagining popular Hindu gods and goddesses with a darker skin, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.

The desire for fairer skin is not new in India and for centuries, fair complexion has been considered superior.

Fairness creams are among the highest selling cosmetic products in the country and top Bollywood actors and actresses regularly appear in commercials endorsing fairness products.

Goddess Lakshmi — Image captionModel Suruthi Periyasamy was "thrilled" when she was chosen to portray Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth

In recent years, creams and gels have been introduced which claim to lighten armpit hair and even female genitals, and advertisements encourage customers to believe that lighter skin tones would help them improve their lives by getting a better job or win them love.

In the past few years, there have been campaigns such as Dark is Beautiful and #unfairandlovely, calling on people to celebrate dark skin.

Yet, the unhealthy obsession with light skin has continued and, as ad filmmaker Bharadwaj Sundar says, it's not just limited to earthly beings, it includes the divine too.

A calendar image of Hindu god Krishna with his consort Radha — Image captionEven Krishna, who is described as a dark-skinned god in the scriptures, is often shown as fair-skinned

"All the images of the popular gods and goddesses that we see around us, photographs in our home shrines or prayer halls, online, on calendars, stickers and posters in shops and pasted behind auto-rickshaws, all show them to be light-skinned."

In a culture obsessed with fairness, Mr Sundar points out that even Krishna, who is described as a dark-skinned god in the scriptures, is often shown as fair. And so is the elephant-headed Ganesha, even though there are no white elephants in India.

"Everyone here prefers fair skin. But I am a dark-skinned person and all my friends are dark-skinned too. So how do I identify with fair-skinned gods and goddesses?"

To fight this disconnect, Mr Sundar, who is based in the southern city of Chennai, teamed up with photographer Naresh Nil and the two have come up with "Dark is Divine" - a project that portrays gods and goddesses with a darker skin colour.

Lord Shiva — Image captionGod of destruction Shiva is part of the Hindu holy trinity

They recruited "dusky" male and female models, dressed them up as gods and goddesses and shot the campaign images over two days in December and the result is quite stunning.

Model Suruthi Periyasamy told the BBC that she had to face too many rejections in the past "because no-one wanted a dusky model" and that she was "thrilled" when she was chosen to portray Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

Goddess Durga — Image captionDurga is almost always portrayed as a fair-skinned goddess

"Lakshmi is the most popular goddess in India, everyone wants a daughter-in-law like her because she brings prosperity so I feel so blessed to be her."

Ms Periyasamy says everyone talks about working with dark-skinned models, but no-one really encourages them. She says she hopes that this campaign will "change the minds of some people to allow us to shine in life".

Since the campaign was launched last month, Mr Sundar says they have received lots of calls and the responses have been largely positive, though some people have accused them of unfair biases, pointing out that goddess Kali is always portrayed as black.

Baby Krishna — Image captionChild Krishna is one of Hinduism's most popular gods

Mr Sundar says he's a devout Hindu and does not mean disrespect to anyone but "if we look around, we find that 99.99% times, the divine is fair-skinned".

"Appearance plays a major role in how we perceive people, especially women, and we felt that this needed to be addressed," he says.

"And through the Dark is Divine project, we are trying to challenge the belief that fair skin is superior."

World's richest 1% get 82% of wealth

'World's richest 1% get 82% of the wealth', says Oxfam

Should we trick them to a meeting and force them to divest as the crown prince has done at the Ritz in Saudi Arabia?--Marvin X

By Katie HopeBBC News, Davos

The gap between the super rich and the rest of the world widened last year as wealth continued to be owned by a small minority, Oxfam has claimed.

Some 82% of money generated last year went to the richest 1% of the global population while the poorest half saw no increase at all, the charity said.

Oxfam said its figures - which critics have queried - showed a failing system.

It blamed tax evasion, firms' influence on policy, erosion of workers' rights, and cost cutting for the widening gap.

Oxfam has produced similar reports for the past five years. In 2017 it calculated that the world's eight richest individuals had as much wealth as the poorest half of the world.

This year, it said 42 people now had as much wealth as the poorest half, but it revised last year's figure to 61. Oxfam said the revision was due to improved data and said the trend of "widening inequality" remained.

'Unacceptable'

Oxfam chief executive Mark Goldring said its constant readjustment of the figures reflected the fact that the report was based "on the best data available at the time".

"However you look at it, this is an unacceptable level of inequality," he said.

Oxfam's report coincides with the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, a Swiss ski resort. The annual conference attracts many of the world's top political and business leaders.

Inequality typically features high on the agenda, but Mr Goldring said that too often "tough talk fades away at the first resistance".

Analysis by Anthony Reuben, BBC Reality Check

It's really hard working out how much wealth the super-rich and the very poor have.

The super-rich tend not to publicise their worth and many of the world's poorest countries keep poor statistics.

To illustrate that, this time last year, Oxfam told us that eight individuals have as much wealth as the poorest half of the world's population. Now it has revised that figure to 61 people for last year, falling to 42 people this year - that's a pretty big revision.

And there are other caveats around the data on which all this is based, such as that the people on the list with the lowest wealth are not necessarily poor at all - they may be highly qualified professionals with large amounts of student debt, for example, or people with high incomes but enormous mortgages.

But whether it's eight people, 42 people or 61 people who have the same wealth as half of the world, there is still great wealth inequality around the world, which is the message Oxfam is taking to Davos.

The charity is urging a rethink of business models, arguing their focus on maximising shareholder returns over broader social impact is wrong.

It said there was "huge support" for action with two thirds (72%) of 70,000 people it surveyed in ten countries saying they wanted their governments to "urgently address the income gap between rich and poor".

But Mark Littlewood, director general at free market think tank The Institute of Economic Affairs, said Oxfam was becoming "obsessed with the rich rather than the poor".

"Higher taxes and redistribution will do nothing to help the poor; wealth is not a fixed pie. Richer people are also highly taxed people - reducing their wealth won't lead to redistribution, it will destroy it to the benefit of no one," he added.

It was a criticism echoed by Sam Dumitriu, head of research at another free market think tank - the Adam Smith Institute - who said the charity's inequality stats "always paint the wrong picture".

"In reality, global inequality has fallen massively over the past few decades.

"As China, India and Vietnam embraced neoliberal reforms that enforce property rights, reduce regulations and increase competition, the world's poorest have received a massive pay rise leading to a more equal global income distribution."

How does Oxfam work out the figures?

Oxfam's report is based on data from Forbes and the annual Credit Suisse Global Wealth databook, which gives the distribution of global wealth going back to 2000.

The survey uses the value of an individual's assets, mainly property and land, minus debts, to determine what he or she "owns". The data excludes wages or income.

The methodology has been criticised as it means that a student with high debts, but with high future earning potential, for example, would be considered poor under the criteria used.

But Oxfam said even if the wealth of the poorest half of the world was recalculated to exclude people in net debt their combined wealth was still equal to that of just 128 billionaires.