"Soledad Brother" John Clutchette stops by Marvin X's Academy of da Corner, Oakland

John said we must free Ruchell  McGee! And I agree. I suggest when Kanye West meets with your President Trump tomorrow, he suggest giving a general amnesty to all incarcerated in American prisons. John was paroled in July, 2018. He's wearing an ankle monitor and getting adjusted to the cell phone. Marvin told him, "Just stop any five year old and they will tell you how to use it. Just be ready for them to call you stupid and dummy." When John tried to give a donation for a collection of Marvin's books, the poet refused to take the money.
--Marvin X

10/10/18

‘Soledad Brother’ John Clutchette granted parole – will California Gov. Jerry Brown reverse the decision?

January 19, 2018

John Clutchette in the 1980s

An interview with law professor Angela A. Allen-Bell

by Angola 3 News

On Jan. 12, 2018, the California Board of Parole Hearings granted parole to an elderly inmate named John Clutchette. However, supporters of parole for Clutchette are concerned that California Gov. Jerry Brown will reverse the board’s decision and Clutchette will not be released.

Supporters have a reason to be concerned. After all, this is exactly what happened in 2016 when Clutchette was similarly granted parole by the board, but Gov. Brown chose to reverse the board’s ruling.

Legal scholar Angela A. Allen-Bell, a professor at Southern University Law Center, and students in her “Law and Minorities” class began researching Clutchette’s legal battle over a year ago. Following extensive research, they have concluded that “the law has been used to perpetuate an injustice in Mr. Clutchette’s case.”

Why did Gov. Brown deny parole to 74-year-old John Clutchette? In our interview with Professor Bell, she refers to Brown’s written explanation for his 2016 parole reversal, where Brown cites the fact that in the early 1970s, Clutchette was one of a trio of inmates at California’s Soledad Prison, who became high profile co-defendants known as the “Soledad Brothers.”

Since Clutchette was ultimately acquitted of all charges in the Soledad Brothers case, Professor Bell argues that it is problematic for Gov. Brown to use this as his reason for reversing the Parole Board. In our interview, Bell further contextualizes Brown’s reference to the Soledad Brothers and identifies other troubling aspects of the case.

Professor Bell concludes with a call to action, urging readers to contact California Gov. Jerry Brown and express their support for the California Board of Parole Hearings Jan. 12, 2018, decision granting parole to John Clutchette.

Professor Bell concludes with a call to action, urging readers to contact California Gov. Jerry Brown and express their support for the California Board of Parole Hearings Jan. 12, 2018, decision granting parole to John Clutchette.

Angola 3 News: Can you tell us about the work you and your students have done researching the case of “Soledad Brother” John Clutchette?

Angela A. Allen-Bell: In my “Law & Minorities” class, the law students explore the use of law both to perpetuate and eradicate racial injustice in the United States by exploring past and current legal, racial and social justice challenges involving minorities, indigenous peoples and others in vulnerable situations. Once such a challenge is identified, the students conduct investigative research. Restorative justice principles are then employed.

A year ago, when we began our work on the case of Soledad Brother John Clutchette, we knew only that he was in custody and that he had some historical connection to the late George Jackson. The four law students who worked on this case sifted through volumes of dated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents, numerous era-related court cases, news stories, books and interviews. They also conducted their own interviews.

These collective efforts led us to conclude that the law has been used to perpetuate an injustice in Mr. Clutchette’s case. In conjunction with this conclusion and, as a restorative justice measure, we filed a complaint to the United Nations through its Special Procedures Division.

A3N: Last week, on Jan. 12, 2018, the California Board of Parole Hearings granted parole to Mr. Clutchette, but before he is actually released on parole, this ruling will now have to be affirmed by California Gov. Jerry Brown. In the past, Gov. Brown has rejected parole for Mr. Clutchette. On what grounds did he make this decision?

AB: On Nov. 4, 2016, California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. reversed the 2016 California Board of Parole Hearings decision that had granted parole to John Clutchette. Gov. Brown reasoned:

A photo of the Soledad Brothers, with John Clutchette on the left, was incorporated into this 1970 poster.

“He [Clutchette] has told the Board many times that he was not and had never been a member of the Black Guerilla Family … Mr. Clutchette has been identified as a high-ranking and revered member of the gang since the 1970s and as recently as 2008.

“Although he was acquitted of the murder of a correctional officer in 1970, he later admitted to fellow inmates that he had knocked the officer unconscious before George Jackson killed him. The pair, along with Fleeta Drumgo, became known as the ‘Soledad Brothers,’ and made national news when Mr. Jackson’s brother made a failed attempt to take the judge, a deputy district attorney, and jurors hostage …

“While Mr. Clutchette acknowledged that he knew all of the individuals involved at the time and shared the same ‘political ideology,’ he steadfastly denies that he was ever in the [BGF] gang or that he was ever involved in ‘any violence or anything since I’ve been in prison.’ These statements are contradicted by ample evidence in the record …

“While I appreciate that Mr. Clutchette has completed the stepdown program and has now been deemed an inactive gang member, I remain troubled by his version of events. His statements, and the evidence to the contrary, demonstrate that Mr. Clutchette has not acknowledged or come to terms with his key role in these historical events or the magnitude of his actions. …

“I have considered the evidence in the record that is relevant to whether Mr. Clutchette is currently dangerous. When considered as a whole, I find the evidence shows that he currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison.”

To appreciate our conclusions about this being an injustice and a human rights violation, Gov. Brown’s decision must be viewed within the larger context of this case.

From all indicators, John Clutchette was a politically inactive citizen in 1966 when he was convicted of burglary. For that charge, he was supposed to have been released from prison in April 1970. However, instead of seeing freedom, he became a character entangled in a web of racial politics and social struggle on a forgotten page in a discarded history book.

In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the civil rights era was underway in the United States. Free citizens and inmates alike were demanding civil and human rights.

At this moment in time, J. Edgar Hoover was leading the FBI. Through COINTELPRO, a clandestine intelligence program, Mr. Hoover sought to neutralize many activists, advocacy groups, dissident voices, artists and innocent citizens. His tactics were often unconstitutional and largely illegal.

For over 47 long years, Mr. Hoover declared war on free expression, chilled speech, intimidated and bullied dissenters, meted out private punishments, invaded privacy rights and engaged in discriminatory law enforcement practices. The Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) were two groups that Mr. Hoover had a particular disdain for. Mr. Hoover’s practices were successfully suppressed from the American public until 1975. The full extent of COINTELPRO harms have yet to be realized all these years removed.

For over 47 long years, Mr. Hoover declared war on free expression, chilled speech, intimidated and bullied dissenters, meted out private punishments, invaded privacy rights and engaged in discriminatory law enforcement practices. The Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) were two groups that Mr. Hoover had a particular disdain for.

The late George Jackson is another prominent figure in Mr. Clutchette’s story. He was a successful organizer, an activist, the founder of the BGF, a member of the BPP and a respected prison intellectual. In 1970, he released “Soledad Brother,” a book that exposed prison conditions to a captive world audience.

While this endeared legions of inmates and free people to him, this cemented his adversarial relationship with the prison staff and administration. His opposition extended beyond the prison gates. He was a target of Mr. Hoover’s COINTELPRO program.

In the early 1970s, John Clutchette was incarcerated at California Correctional Training Facility at Soledad. He was housed in the “Y” wing on the tier with George Jackson. At the time, there were documented racial problems inside the facility, as well as allegations of excessive force and other abuses on the part of correctional officers.

In this climate, three African American inmates were murdered by a white guard, African American inmate witnesses were not allowed to testify at trial and the officer was not prosecuted. Shortly thereafter, in January 1970, John Mills, a white prison guard was murdered in what some describe as an act of retaliation.

George Jackson, John Clutchette and Fleeta Drumgo were accused of Officer Mills’ murder and subsequently indicted in February 1970. The trio became known as the “Soledad Brothers.” Mr. Clutchette was less than three months away from parole.

Months later, in August 1970, heavily armed, 17-year-old Jonathan Jackson joined this cast of characters. Jonathan, George’s youngest brother, entered the Marin County Courthouse during a trial. Jonathan armed three prisoners before the group left with five hostages, which included the judge and district attorney.

In an effort to stop the escape, officers killed Jonathan, the judge and two of the prisoners. A year later, in August 1971, George was killed by San Quentin prison guards, leaving his associates, however distant, to pay for his sins, both real and imagined.

From all appearances, officials deemed the Soledad Brothers guilty on the day they were arrested and viewed the surrounding legal process as a mere formality – something akin to a pit stop on the way to their final destination toward literal or figurative death in prison. Fate would write another ending for John Clutchette. In February 1972, John Clutchette was acquitted by the all-white jury that presided over his case. He further defied odds when he was granted parole on Nov. 13, 1972.

Significantly, none of the “Soledad Brothers” were found guilty of the murder of Officer Mills. Also noteworthy is the fact that John Clutchette was not charged or convicted in the 1970 Marin County Courthouse matter that was onset by Jonathan Jackson nor was he charged or convicted in the 1971 Adjustment Center incident that resulted in the death of George Jackson.

John Clutchette remained a free man from 1972 until 1980 when he was placed in custody to stand trial for the murder of Robert Bowles. Mr. Bowles’ lifeless body was found in a parked car with two gunshot wounds to the head.

Mr. Clutchette, then a substance abuser and a party to illicit drug operations, testified only to participating in the cover up of the murder. Despite his testimony, he was convicted of first degree murder. An indeterminate sentence of seven years to life was imposed. Two additional years were added for use of a weapon.

Mr. Clutchette presently speaks of this crime with great remorse and sorrow. His moral convictions led him to pen a heartfelt letter to the Bowles family. In that letter, he expressed:

“I … extend[] my deepest apologies and sincere regrets to the entire Bowles family for the devastating and irreparable harm that I have caused with my callous disregard for Robert’s life … I’ll forever live with the shame of my actions … It did not happen overnight …

“I am taking full advantage of the rehabilitative process; in my long journey of self-discovery, I have matured and learned to use my care and concern when I know that my actions have the potential to affect the lives of my fellow man, woman and community … I am on my perpetual road of atonement.”

A3N: Do you know how Gov. Brown arrived at the conclusions that led him to reject the Parole Board’s decision granting Mr. Clutchette parole in 2016?

AB: His written reasons suggest he used subjective, unvetted, unreliable information and inaccuracies from John Clutchette’s prison file. This includes statements from prison snitches, memoranda from confidential sources, statements from prison staff and the like.

Many of the documents are self-serving. Others are little more than speculation. They are not the product of any vetting or credible or fact-finding process; yet they have been given the veracity of such.

This is more than speculation. In 1997, the appellate court made such a fact-finding: “We agree that Clutchette’s file contains false information. He produced uncontroverted declarations which provide that he was neither involved in nor prosecuted in connection with [the 1971] San Quentin Adjustment Center takeover attempt.”

This same court urged California officials to correct Mr. Clutchette’s records, stating that: “[T]his false information suggests that Clutchette was involved in a serious breach of institutional security and implicates him in the death of inmates and correctional officers. Because of the seriousness of this implication, the Department voluntarily should expunge the false information from Clutchette’s file. Removing the false information from Clutchette’s file might avoid litigation each time Clutchette is considered for parole in the future.”

In 1997, the appellate court made this fact-finding: “We agree that Clutchette’s file contains false information. … [T]he Department voluntarily should expunge the false information from Clutchette’s file. Removing the false information from Clutchette’s file might avoid litigation each time Clutchette is considered for parole in the future.” Unfortunately, California officials undertook no such action, leaving the inaccuracies in place to fulfill the court’s prophecy about the potential for harm this false information could cause.

California’s standards governing eligibility of Parole Board commissioners are high. The individuals who make parole decisions must have a broad background in criminal justice and experience or education in the fields of corrections, sociology, law, law enforcement, medicine, mental health or education. Additionally, they must fulfill rigorous, annual training requirements. Such a highly distinguished board thoroughly reviewed Mr. Clutchette’s prison record and determined some of the salacious contents not worthy of their use.

Moreover, a 2007 appellate court deemed much of the content “historically interesting but otherwise irrelevant” for purposes of parole eligibility. In his 2016 reversal of parole, the governor imprudently relied upon these contested contents in Mr. Clutchette’s prison file. In so doing, he completely ignored the wisdom of the board that he appointed, a board that spent considerable time examining the records in this case, and the guidance of the judicial system and rendered a decision that defies logic.

Mr. Clutchette has paid for his past crimes. He is not a public threat. This is evidenced by the California Board of Parole Hearings granting him parole in 2003, 2015, 2016 and again on Jan. 12, 2018. Because of pending, parole-related litigation, Mr. Clutchette postponed at least seven parole suitability hearings, resulting in even more time in custody. He has been eligible for parole since 1988.

The governor is wrong for his: 1) reliance on the false and unreliable information in Mr. Clutchette’s prison records; and, 2) display of an animus to, through the parole process, “sentence” or punish Mr. Clutchette for the 1970s Soledad murder that he was acquitted of, the 1970 Marin County Incident with which he was never charged and the 1971 Adjustment Center Incident with which he was never charged.

Tragically, the governor’s decision to disregard the legal dictate that his actions be guided by some evidence of current dangerousness has come at the expense of an elderly man who is afflicted with a host of health problems. Worse, without intervention, Mr. Clutchette will never be able to establish his suitability for parole because these flawed records will always serve as a bar to his freedom – or can be used as such. Such decision-making is in conflict with California law, as well as human rights tenants.

A3N: What’s the official status of John Clutchette’s case at this moment?

AB: In addition to the pending human rights complaint, Mr. Clutchette has formally brought his challenges to the court (in the form of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by his incredibly talented attorney Keith Wattley).

In December 2017, the attorney general (AG), in defense of the governor, filed a request to keep the records the governor used under seal. In support of this request, the AG argued: “Disclosure [of the documents the governor used to support his decision that John Clutchette is unsuitable for parole] would reveal the identity of the confidential informants from whom the confidential information was obtained and would release information that poses a threat to institutional security.”

These records have been openly considered and discussed by the various parole boards over the years. In each of those instances, the respective boards deemed many of these records unreliable and consistently felt they did not amount to a showing of present dangerousness.

Mr. Clutchette has paid for his past crimes. He is not a public threat. This is evidenced by the California Board of Parole Hearings granting him parole in 2003, 2015, 2016 and again on Jan. 12, 2018. In each of those instances, the respective boards deemed many of the records in his file unreliable and consistently felt they did not amount to a showing of present dangerousness.

In concert with all of this, Mr. Clutchette appeared before the parole board again on Jan. 12, 2018. He was once again granted parole. However, Mr. Clutchette will not actually be released on parole without Gov. Brown’s formal approval.

A3N: How can our readers best help his effort to finally be paroled?

AB: Brother Clutchette is approaching 75 years of age. He has lost too many years to this injustice. Readers have to become his voice at this critical time. They must create a theatre of agitation that makes elected officials uncomfortable abusing power and partaking in racial or social injustices. Officials need to know that political accountability will await them for doing so.

Readers must make John Clutchette’s story a topic of robust discussion. Most importantly, they must speak their immediate opposition to Gov. Brown. Supporters can mail a written letter, send a fax, make a phone call, and/or send an email to his office.

Be sure to include his prisoner ID number: C-23857.

Contact information for Gov. Brown, suggested talking points and sample letter

Contact Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, California 95814, phone 916-445-2841, fax 916-558-3160, office email (click here), link to email submission page: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov39mail/

Gov. Brown,

John Clutchette with his late wife in the 1990s

Elderly inmate John Clutchette (C-23857) was again granted parole on Jan. 12, 2018. I urge you not to oppose his release.

In February 1972, John Clutchette was acquitted by the jury who heard and evaluated the evidence against him for the murder of Officer John Mills. In November 1972, he was granted parole. I remind you that none of the “Soledad Brothers” were found guilty of the murder of Officer Mills.

Also noteworthy is the fact that John Clutchette was not charged or convicted in the 1970 Marin County Courthouse matter that was onset by Jonathan Jackson, nor was he charged or convicted in the 1971 Adjustment Center incident that resulted in the death of George Jackson.

Despite this, your reasons for opposing his release appear to involve your desire to punish Mr. Clutchette for these things, extrajudicially. If so, this is an abuse of your powers and it is a violation of California law and of human rights principles.

Mr. Clutchette has fulfilled the 1980 sentence that was imposed in conjunction with the Robert Bowles case. The judicial system did not impose any other sentences upon him. Please respect that.

As determined by your very capable Parole Board on multiple occasions, he is not a present danger and the record, when contextually considered, does not hold “some evidence” of current dangerousness. Please respect this too. I thank you for your attention to this request.

Angola 3 News is a project of the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3. At our website, www.angola3news.com, we provide the latest news about the Angola 3. Additionally, we create our own media projects, which spotlight the issues central to the story of the Angola 3, like racism, repression, prisons, human rights, solitary confinement as torture and more.

Hapi b day, Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Messenger of Allah to the So-called Negro, deaf dumb blind

I Am Marcus Garvey

I Am Marcus Garvey, A Monologue by Marvin X

 The Most Honorable Marcus Garvey

Poet, Playwright Marvin X

photo Kamau Amen Ra (RIP)

I am Marcus Garvey, Jamaican born African man. The winds of Jamaica blew my soul, body
spirit far and wide. I was a printer then took off to see the world, to unravel the riddles of the
Black man, African man, trapped deep down in the belly of the beast called colonialism.
I traveled the Americas, Costa Rica, Panamá, Honduras. I saw the suffering workers in these
lands, studied their condition and determined to free them. I went to England where I met Duse
Muhammad Ali, the Pan African who taught me One God, One Aim, One Destiny, Africa for the
Africans, those at home and those abroad. I wrote in Ali’s Oriental Times and Review, so did
Booker T. I wanted to meet Booker T so I went to the USA but Booker T. died before I could
meet him. I was heartbroken not to meet the man who wrote Up From Slavery, who founded
Tuskegee, who said do for self, you can accomplish what you will.

I wanted to know what happened to the Black man’s land, how did it become the pleasure
of Europeans, the richest continent in the world. I wanted to make the Black man independent
standing tall in his own land, not under the boot of Europeans. Africa for the Africans, those at
home and those abroad.

Where is our flag? In my disgust at the white man’s song “Everybody
got a flag cept a coon,” God blessed me with the Red, Black and Green, Red for blood of one
hundred million, Black for all African people, Green for our Motherland. Fly the Red, Black and
Green, let the ancestors know you know them, honor and respect them, the living and yet unborn.

I am Marcus Garvey. Let our African legions march, let black nurses heal the wounds of our despair,
let the African poets sing songs of freedom, let the colonialists dred the sound of our valiant voices
singing in the winds of freedom, independence and joy.

I am Marcus Garvey, let my newspaper The Negro World spread the truth of our Blackness,
African pride and glory. We shall spread the words of freedom throughout the Pan African world,
millions shall join the UNIA, United Negro Improvement Association, millions in the USA,
Caribbean, Europe and the Motherland.

No matter those who oppose us, the winds of time shall oppose them in their wickedness,
sycophants of colonialism, yes, bootlickers who think they are smart but only outsmart themselves.
Their idea of freedom is yet slavery for independence is the dream of every true man and woman.
No man is free under the yoke of another. Yet some intellectual black fools hate the idea of true
freedom. They set traps for me at every turn, in league with the FBI and other agencies around the
world.

The devil sent Negroes to sabotage my ships The Black Star Line. Black spies infiltrated our UNIA.
The FBI began with their spies in my midst, along with  the jealous, envious Negroes who hated
Blackness. We call them Black men with white hearts. Somebody said these Negroes are white men
dipped in chocolate! In Spanish we call them coffee con leche!

I am Marcus Garvey. What was the Harlem Renaissance without me? I published all the poets in my
newspaper. It was the spirit of Blackness that made the Renaissance possible, not white patronage
that made us exotic birds of paradise.

I am Marcus Garvey. With the help of sell out Negroes, call ‘em niggas, the USA falsely charged me
with mail fraud and jailed me, then deported me. I passed away in London, never visiting Africa.
Yet today, the Red, Black and Green is the Universal African flag of liberation. Long live Black
Nationalism, long live Pan Africanism. One God, One Aim, One Destiny. Africa for Africans, those
at home and abroad. Up you mighty Race, you can accomplish what you will!

Yes, look for me in the whirlwind, look for me in the storms, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes in
diverse places. Look for me in the eyes of our children who carry the torch of freedom in the morrow
of their bones!

--Marvin X
10/7/18

Part Two: I don't believe in death

No Prince Luther Michael
no
sing forever Prince Luther Michael
sng
Barry
sing
Bessie
Billie
Sarah
sing
wisdom songs
for all the wicked nights
broken love
promises
lies
booty runs
male/female
sing to us song saviors
keep us from killing lovers
unfaithful
and why did we truth loveless lovers
hot for anything in the night
bar hot girl ass shaking in red dress
why did we forget the faith trust of promises in the night
after we sucked fucked licked kissed all of our sacred parts
yet the moment made sacred moments disappear into the night of carnal bless
cling to me if you can
knowing I am weak in the knees for any fine ass passing
you cannot stop my wreakless eyes
can I stop yours
spying some hot dick in the club
you tell me let you flirt at the bar
then niggas following us bar to bar
gotta pull my knife
drunk nigga wants your ass
let's go home now
no more Long Island Ice Tea
let's go home
let me love you in all ways
yes, you are one in ten and ten in one
let me appreciate you as angel woman
love goddess supreme

Sing Prince Purple Rain love
Sing Michael Remember the Time
Sing Luther love songs supreme
Sing Aretha Respect
Sing.

Prince sing
Luther
Michael
Aretha
sing!


--Marvin X
10/3/'18

Hey Player, Hustler, Youtube Scholar, Give your woman conscious knowledge

According to the Holy Bible, the people were destroyed for lack of knowledge, not lack of money, knowledge. The Buddhists teach that wisdom is knowledge plus the Right Action, not any means necessary but the right means to solve the problem. Sun Ra taught us in the Black Arts Movement and throughout the world wherever he performed that the Creator got things fixed, he told me time after time, "Until you do the right thing, you can't go forward or backwards, you just stuck on stupid," and I added, "Yes, like Super Glue on your asses."

The Black Woman is God! The entire human race came from her womb. Did humanity come from your womb, check to see if you have a womb, Mr. Black Man. A young woman said her man act like he have a cycle! I hate a weakass nigga, thinking he a player but getting played at every turn. If he don't know my pussy is mine, he don't know shit. Half them niggas in prison cause they think they own my pussy, especially when they pay they pussy bill on time. Somebody need to tell these niggas to pay they pussy bill on time, they babies need to eat, school clothes, bus fare, whatever.

Whether you got money or not, educate me to Blackness and Spirituality. Tell me what books tovo read to save my life and your babies, Mr. Player, Hustler, Pimp, Dope Dealer, nothing ass nigga. Stand up and represent yourself above the animal plane. Give me knowledge of world history and the plan for now into the future.

In many cases the brother cannot read so his woman/partner must read to him. Wake the nigga up from darkness of thinking he a player when he getting played.

Girl said downtown ma man the baby momma, I'm the baby daddy. I leave him at home with the baby and I bounce.

Young woman on the bus in San Francisco said to her girlfriend, "When he come home from prison, he on vacation. That nigga live in the prison house. He on vacation right now. Before long he going back home. He go fuck up and go home to his three hots and a cot.

She continued, "I love the nigga but I'm trying to have a life. He need to get a life. I told him to teach me some things but he can't teach me shit if he don't know shit. Guess I gotta teach him."

Don't Underestimate a Black goddess because of her hair. A young lady came to my Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, wearing blond dread locks or weave, although in a beautiful hair design that people complemented her while she perused the books on my tables. In my White Supremacy Type II addiction to white supremacy, I dismissed her immediately because of her blond hair, no matter the African styling. But she smashed my world of self hatred or Type II addiction to white supremacy when she picked the baddest book on display, a collection of essays on Cheikh Anta Diop.
I was so impressed she selected the deepest book on display that my mind shifted automatically to a loving vibration, suddenly her hair didn't matter but her mind overwhelmed me. I wanted to know more about her since the moment had transcended my initial dislike of black blonds, dread locks, weave, pressed, natural or whatever. I can end this discussion with the words of a young partner that made he write a poem called Dis Ma Hair. It was the last time I would care whether a woman was bald, natural, weave, wig, dread, whatever. Ain't ma business. Young girl taught me:

Daddy,
you can suck me fuck me
wine me dine me
dis ma hair
I can weave it glue it
sew it bleach it dye it blue, green, purple red
dis ma hair....
--marvin x, revised 10/2/18

Back to give your woman conscious knowledge

A young brother held me up for two hours at a fried fish cafe one night in Deep


continued--------------------------------

New poem by Marvin X: I can't believe in death

Poet Marvin X/El Muhajir at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza, Oakland City Hall, Black Arts Movement Business District, co-founded by Marvin X, passed by the Oakland City Council, January 19, 2016
photo Pendarvis Harshaw



I can't believe in death
I look at Mama and Daddy
every day on my cell phone
wallpaper

I can't believe in death
I think of my lovers gone to heaven
I kiss them
ask forgiveness for my sins
in violation of their unconditional love for me

I can't believe in death
My son walked into a train
yet he is here beside me on the Freedom Train
I can't get over him telling me
"Dad, I'm going to preach your funeral
tell every secret thing about you."
Yet I buried him
buried him deep in my heart for a thousand forevers
kiss him
hug him for the 39 years I enjoyed him
who walked like me
talked like me
laughed like me
yet beyond me
Gibran told us
your children are not you
they come through you
like arrow released from bow

I can't believe in death
life is a moment at best
cherish moments
sweetness and bitter
moments none the less
life is a moment
enjoy the moment
before the moment of eternity arrives
after tears
wailing in the night early morn
we adjust
we heal
we love
not overnight
closure is never never land
we cannot close the heart of love with good-bye
our beloved is not buried in earth with skin bones for worms butterflies
as-salaam alaikum never will suffice
no matter instant burials Muslim fashion
long drawn out death rituals in our African tradition

I can't believe in death
Africans say
only death
to be forgotten
let us never forget ancestors
love them in our daily round
call their names
honor them praise them
dance to them
holy dance of joy happiness.
for getting us to this moment
after tears in the night
we heal with cement of love
flooding our empty spaces with flowers of love
roses carnations gladiolus birds of paradise
candles food for the departed who linger
after all
we stand upon their shoulders
cannot walk on the right path
without their guidance
stay with us always
focus us on understanding
good times and bad
yin and yang of life
sunshine and rain
joy and pain
Frankie Beverly
Ma'at.
mizan
feather on the scale
Judgment Hall Kemit
life and death indivisible
eternal moment in the sun.
No attachments but to Allah
Eternal.
men women come go
wives husbands
children
Allah Eternal
Yahya/John
Life Giver.

I can't believe in death
elders then ancestors
then birth of wonder children
"Grandpa you can't save the world
but I can," said Jahmeel to me at three
mysterious genius children
let Gibran's arrow fly
let our children soar
with ancient wisdom
mixed with Afro futurism
Sun Ra, Octavia Butler style
We are from a world our children shall never know
they are from a world we shall never know
unless we connect with honor respect
due elders
What you know at 20
you shall know better at 75.
kick yourself for being a fool at 20
you didn't know it all
knew nothing really
pretended you did
faked the funk
survived because the Lord was your Shepard
He dressed you in the armor of His love
Protection Shield saved you for sure death
only after you submitted and crossed the road
from hell to heaven/paradise
wherein rivers flow and gardens of flagrant flowers
jasmin
myrrh frankincense burning filling our senses with goodness

I can't believe in death
If you don't know how to pick cotton
elder teach you
you teach those after you
circle unbroken.
I can't believe in death.

--Marvin X
10/1/18

Marvin X Notes 9/25/18

Gemini twins, Marvin and Sun Ra. How many people are in this picture? Marvin claims ten people travel and live with him. Sun Ra controlled his multiple personalities as band leader, visionary, prophet, philosopher. But it was his creations and productions in his concerts that sealed his imprint on the world, yes, as someone from another world. 

Marvin X and his mentor/associate, BAMh Master Musician/Philosopher, father of Afro-Futurism Sun Ra, one of the most advanced minds produced by North American Africans. Marvin X performed with the Sun Ra Myth-Science Arkestra coast to coast. Sun Ra and Marvin taught together in the Black Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley. See Youtube for Sun Ra's lectures in four parts, audio. Marvin X's archives were acquired by the UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library. Marvin is also acknowledged in the Smithsonian African American Collection. As the Black Arts Movement is the father of Hip Hop, Marvin X was recently featured in the Respect Hip Hop Exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California. On December 15, 2018, Marvin X will read and speak on the Black Arts Movement as a key co-founder, along with Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Last Poets, Haki Madhubuti, et al. Marvin was also a recruiter for the Black Panther Party, e.g., Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier, et al., and the Nation of Islam, especially "fishing" Nadar Ali who became Director of Imports. Also, Fahizah Alim who became a writer for Muhammad Speaks. Marvin X served as Foreign Editor of Muhammad Speaks during his exile in Mexico City and Belize, Central America.

 Actor Danny Clover and Marvin X spoke at San Francisco Anti-war Rally.

photo Kamau Amen Ra

Marvin X and Danny Glover, both were students and members of the BSU at SFSU. Danny also performed in Marvin's Black Arts West Theatre, Fillmore District, San Francisco, 1966.

photo Ken Johnson

Marvin X and Nuyorican poet, professor Nancy Mercado at the Harlem NY reception for Marvin X at the home of poet Rashida Ismaili. Marvin X was in town to celebrate the memorial for poets Amiri Baraka and Jayne Cortez at New York University, 2014.

Marvin X conversing with his star student, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga (Laney College Theatre class taught by MX, 1981, as a student, Ayodele directed his poetic/dance drama In the Name of Love and starred in it as well. Years later they came together to co-direct his recovery classic One Day in the Life, a docudrama of Marvin X's recovery from Crack addiction, the longest running play in Northern California Black theatre history, 1996-2002, also performed in New York at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan, Sista's Place in Brooklyn and at Kimako's, Newark NJ.

 BAM co-founders Amiri Baraka and Marvin X enjoyed a 47 year friendship and artistic and revolutionary relationship, although divided by AB's Communism and Marvin's Islamic radicalism. But, "When I came to the Baraka's house, I was at home. Many times I exceeded the limit of propriety from alcohol, yes, even passing the Barakas, but they never put me out. He and his wife Amina were my comrades like no others in my life. We drank, partied, bar hoped and ate out almost every night, especially in AB's last days when Amina was not cooking. Our best meals were at the Spanish restaurant and bar near City Hall and the Portuguese restaurant in their district near the Penn Terminal, and the Soulfood venues where the Barakas were treated royally, alas, as if they were not treated royally wherever we went in Newark.

Was there drama with my loving friends? What do you expect in the house of dramatists? My students and friends will tell you there is drama at my house on the west coast, ask those who've fled from my house when I left reality for outta space in the Sun Ra mode or beyond.Ask my students who endured what they described as "The Wild Crazy Ride of the Marvin X Experience."

But, after spending some weeks with the Barakas, I came to know their dramatic ritual that their neighbors and friends knew well and knew how to ease their way out of the house when the drama began. Even so, I could not ease my way out since I was staying with them, except when I wanted to enjoy debauchery at the old Father Divine's Hotel where I could enjoy the Crack Hotel sisters as a single man.

Marvin X as journalist interviewing Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana, SA, at his residence, while Marvin X was on a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1972. His interview was published in Muhammad Speaks Newspaper, Black World and Black Scholar Magazines, critical journals of the 1960s Black Liberation Movement. PM Burnham had North American Africans in his government and gave us refuge, although PM Burnham was revealed as a CIA agent in the USA's attempt to prevent a Cuban style Communist regime to take power under the opposition leadership of Cheddi Jagan. Terrible things occurred under the Burnham pseudo Black Power regime, i.e., Dr. Walter Rodney, one of the greatest Pan African scholars was assassinated under his watch, not to mention the Jonestown massacre wherein 900 mostly desperate North American Africans escaped the USA for the jungle of Guyana, only to drink poisoned Kool Aid along with their children, in their hopeless and hapless attempt to escape USA oppression for some other world, anywhere but another day in the USA hellhole, yet Rev. Jim Jones was uJltimately overcome by his darkside. Yet he was so skilled he duped the entire leadership of Black San Franciscans (I won't name names unless you request, just know I said leadership). Blacks sold all their property and donated the money to Rev. Jim Jones jungle heaven that quickly turned into hell, no worse than the USA hell they escaped but consider the desperation of our people, alas, anywhere is better than here.

In 2018, it is reported there are 5,000 North American Africans in Accra, Ghana. They are there forever, including one of my daughters. She reports her friends are living the good life, no jungle life. In fact, North American Africans are causing gentrification in Accra. So the choice is yours. Hell in America or perhaps love, peace and happiness somewhere else on this earth. The Qur'an says if we flee in the name of Allah we shall enjoy many places of escape and abundant resources." Don't buy the hype that the USA is the greatest place on earth. We are the owners of planet earth so we can enjoy peace, love and happiness anywhere on the earth. We only need to come with the right spirit and attitude, not with white supremacist notions of exploitation and domination in the imperialist, capitalist mode.

For sure, it would do many of us to leave these United Snakes, but we need to know the Ancestor spirits are calling some of us home, yes, to return through the Door of No Return, and so we shall go because the Ancestor Spirits are calling us and we cannot refuse them. Those called must go. My daughter has passed back through The Door of No Return, and she is satisfied to be home again. I miss her but know as Gibran said, "Our children come through us but they are not us: we are the bow, they are the arrow!" So we must let them fly as the spirit takes them. They have our DNA and know they must extend it in the name of those whose shoulders we stand upon. We did not need to converse with them on this subject, it was in them when they came out of the womb. Even though we may have stood there in wonder as they eased from their mother's womb, it was not our child but the child of the gods and ancestors who shall not be placated until all of us do the right thang, here in the wilderness of North America, our Motherland or elsewhere, no matter where we must stand tall and represent the royal genius of our people.

Marvin X and his mentor/associate Dr. Nathan Hare, father of Black and Ethnic Studies, first Chair of Black and Ethnic Studies at a major American university. The fight to establish Black and Ethnic Studies caused the longest and most violent (well, no one was killed as at Kent State), student strike in American academic history. On the 50th Anniversary of the SFSU Student strike, there have been attempts to downplay the role of Black Students who initiated the strike. Same fake narrative at Columbia University when Black students originated their strike.Fifty years later, whites still want to control the narrative with white supremacy domination. But let's be clear, without white students at SFSU, the strike would not have been successful. But don't promote a revisionist narrative that is was a white thang. It originated from the Negro Students Association that morphed into the Black Student Union. Give credit where credit is due. Did white students suffer sweat, blood and tears on the same level as the Black strike leaders. Did whites go to jail like the BSU strike leaders?

We encourage you to attend the 50th Anniversary of the Black Student/Third World Strike, November 9, 2018. Those strike leaders, especially the Blacks, need to know you appreciate them and love them for the sacrifice they made to upturn White Supremacist academia that has slipped back into a neo-colonial mode as per Black and Ethnic Studies. See Cecil Brown's book Hey, Dude, What Happened to My Black Studies.

BAM Master poet/playwright with his star student, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, founder of the Lower Bottom Playaz, the only theatre group in the world to produce the entire cycle of plays by August Wilson. As a student in his Laney College Theatre Class, Ayo directed Marvin's In the Name of Love and performed in it as she did many years later for his recovery cult classic One Day in the Life, Recovery Theatre, San Francisco. This pic is from Ayo latest play, written, directed and produced by her at the Flight Deck Theatre, 1540 Broadway, downtown Oakland. Marvin is questioning her on Protection Shields, a drama utilizing Yoruba mythology. See Marvin's review below.

Some erudite socalled Negro informed me that white folks cannot leave us alone because we are their reason for being, their existence or existential reality, is propositional upon their domination of African bodies, space, time and voice. No matter what we originate, contemplate, imagine, invent, Europeans must steal, like Jazz, Blues, spicy foode, philosophy, sociology, mythology,  psychology,

religiosity, sexuality. Do white people (and their multi-cultural sycophants) understand what goes around comes around?

I don't  want to be nowhere close to white people when what goes around comes around. Neither do I want to be around their African and multicultural elite, for the Bible tells those who worship the beast shall be destroyed with the beast, i.e., those neo-colonial elite, addicted to the white supremacy World of Make Believe and Conspicuous Consumption (Frazier, Hare, et al.).

In the current American Drama of Pussy and Dick, complicated by the intersection of sexual improprieties of Western and global civilization, including African, Arab, Asian, Latin, thus a Pandemic of major proportion: for the physical and psychological abuse of men, women and children is full blown, thus severe,  and societies globally are trying their best to deal with the new sexual drama that demands men exercise discipline in their imaginary domination of women that must end. As the father of three strong daughters, I want only the very best for my daughters, and for sure I don't want men to corrupt, disrupt or block their aspirations to be the best they can be with their God-given talents. It is clear I and my children are the continuation of Ancestor Dreams so we shall not stop until victory! Power  to the Ancestors, Power to the People. In the Sankofa myth-ritual, we look back to look forward, never to stay in the past but to go forward faster!

Now to the Main Topic: Who Asks the Negro or Stay Out of White Folks Bizness

Firstly, nobody asks the Negro anything although he has been around since time began, literally, no one argues with this except those in the low information vibration. Let us pray and excuse the low vibration people although the Bible tells us the people were destroyed for lack of knowledge, so there is no excuse for ignorance today when you can Google Becky who will tell you the history of the world, and if you didn't ask her correctly, Becky will say, "Did you mean?" And you don't respect Becky, she will say, "Would you talk to your mother like that?"

But Jimmy Baldwin wrote to us that Whites will ask a Negro things they will never ask a white person, simply or only because they know we tell the truth while their white brother is bound to lie with the movement of his lips. During my hustling days in San Francisco's rich shopping Area, from the Cable Car turnaround to Fisherman's Wharf, there might be a thousand white people lined up for the Cable Car ride, but if Whites wanted direction and information, they were willing to pay a Black hustler for information because they knew it was reliable. Whites knew not to bother their white brothers and sisters because they knew they would lie simply because they are pathological liars.

So all Cable Car hustlers charged white tourists for information, selling  and decoding maps of the city.

But even when you try to stay out of white folk's bizness, they will find a way into yours, if only to see how can you yet laugh after all the terror they deposited on your black asses. They have the bad habit of feeling free to interrupt any conversation between and/or among black people, no matter how many are engaged, because they were overwhelmed from ear-hustling and feel no way to interrupt our conversation,  to insert themselves whether invited or not. Is this not the supreme example of white privilege and white supremacist domination? And well-meaning whites have no knowledge of their low information vibration etiquette exposing their myth-ritual of white supremacist behavior.

They taught us innocent until proven guilty, yet the Me Too Movement proclaims guilty by pronouncement and/or allegation, no facts needed. Imagine if Euro-American culture investigated North American African sexual violence, the jails and prisons would implode (as if the jails and prisons have not already imploded from said sexual and survival necessity) from brothers guilty of sexual improprieties  since sexual assault and violence over claims of ownership of females was a constant cause of personal and communal warfare, sometimes individual and more often gang related when brothers fought over women as if they were property of certain gangs based on territory, although most altercations as per sexual domination were individual, between men claiming ownership of that which was not theirs to own since the woman's body is ultimately owned by her and no one else under the sun, moon and/or stars! See my classic monograph Mythology of Pussy and Dick. Google it for free. Just know when my white agent for the sale of my archives to the University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, Peter Howard (RIP), also owner of Serendipity Book Store in Berkeley, read Mythology of Pussy in one sitting ( and while reading told me to shut the fuck up), after his perusal informed my essay was not for Black people, as if to say it was above the low information vibration of my people. Well, Peter, we need only look at the nightly news to see the Mythology of Pussy (and Dick) is needed by everyone, no matter what class, color, ethnicity, religiosity, political persuasion and/or gender.

What human beings on earth were more sexually violated than North American Africans during 400 years of full blown physical, sexual and mental trauma? Our genocide and mentacide is never placed against the Jewish holocaust of five or six years, compared with 400 years. There is no comparison possible, yet we applaud the Jews for having their own state. Who asks the so-called Negro if  he desires a state for the holocaust he's suffered? To speak of reparations is almost a joke, although the Jews were given some reparations for their holocaust, the Native Americans and the Japanese, but the North American African is derided for suggesting reparations, but we know when a wife and husband cannot live together in peace, the resolution is often divorce, with compensation for abuse and injuries, whether physical, emotional and/or verbal.

Don't you think after a 400 year forced marriage, after it is clear North American Africans and European Americans live on two different planets, it is time to separate? We say we knell for police violence, you flip the narrative to the national anthem, what the fuck? Two worlds, one of the master, the other of the slave, the oppressed, and never shall we see the same world, not now, not in a thousand years. You go your way, I go mine, Arabic: lakum dinu kum waliya din!

BAM Master Sun Ra taught, "You didn't let me enjoy your gladness so I don't want to share your sadness. History is your story, Mystery is my/our story. You so evil the devil don't even want you in hell!"

--Marvin X

9/24/18

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2018

Marvin X review of Dr. Ayodele Nizinga's Protective Shields at the Flight Theatre, 1540 Broadway, downtown Oakland

Notes on Dr. Ayodele Nzinga's mytho-magical drama: Protection Shields

by

Marvin X

Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, founder, producer, playwright and director of Oakland's Lower Bottom Playaz opened a new play at the Flight Deck, 1540 Broadway, downtown Oakland. It is a myth-ritual dance drama in the Black Arts Movement Theatre tradition, based on the Yoruba story telling in the best tradition of African didactic narrative, i.e., teaching a moral story based on ancient spirituality and morality, i.e., the myth of Eshu and the moral teaching of do the right thing. 

In the 1960s, Black Arts Movement poets, playwrights, dancers, drummers, painters turned away from Christian mythology and ritual to embrace Islamic, Yoruba, Rasta and Hebrew myth-ritual. It was a conscious denunciation of European White supremacist Christianity that approved the genocide of 100 million, and even today, 2018, North American Africans suffer trauma and unresolved grief so well depicted in Protective Shields. 

The Yoruba priest who probably influenced 1960s Black African culture the most, was Oba Serjiman Olatunji who spread Yoruba culture in Harlem, who single handedly presented Yoruba culture in its most flamboyant and royal manner. As a Harlemite during 1968-69, I recall Oba Serjiman parading through the streets of Harlem with his entourage of wives, priests and devotees in elegant flowing robes and head pieces, chanting Yoruba songs that helped ignite the Black Arts Movement of the 60s, the most radical artistic and literary revolution in American history, alas, it gave birth to the Black Panthers, Black Arts Movement, Black Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, et al.

Black Arts Movement co-founders,Amina and Amiri Baraka, were married in a Yoruba ceremony, officiated by Oba Serjiman, who soon departed Harlem to establish his  African Yoruba Village in Sheldon, South Carolina. According  to the new Oba/king, before his father could have peace with the whites in the area, he had to show superior magic in the manner of Moses and Pharaoh's magicians.

Oba Serjiman, obviously influenced the Black Arts Movement, alas, he is perhaps the most critical factor in the BAM/Yoruba intersection. There was Nigerian drummer Oljunji reinstating the drum as spiritual therapy with rhythms for all the orishas, i.e., gods, for Harlemites and North American Africans coast to coast deprived of the healing power of the drum since arriving in the Americas, most especially in the USA, elsewhere the drum created new world beats in the old world manner, for orisha rhythms never change--an eternal tribute to the identity and power of the gods and their  connection with devotees, supplicants, sycophants.....

A Black Mass was Amiri Baraka's interpretation and synchronization of Elijah Muhammad's Myth of Yakub, the mad scientist who created the white man through genetic engineering, but Baraka infused his myth drama with Yoruba and Sufi teachings. We applaud Baraka for utilizing original North American African mythology but extending the myth with African and Islamic myth-rituals. 

BAM theatre folks like the New Lafayette's director Bob Macbeth, Barbara Ann Teer's National Black Theatre, the Last Poets and myself tried to create Black Ritual Theatre, with dramatic energy derived from Yoruba, Islamic and Christian myth-ritual, especially the Holy Ghost church. It had the high level of energy we wanted in the BAM theatre. Further, we wanted to destroy that fourth wall that separated the actors from audience, forcing them into oneness and celebration of the Divine Spirit. My contribution to Ritual Theatre is Resurrection of the Dead, a myth-ritual dance drama by Marvin X, Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972. In the African tradition of drama, there is no audience, all enjoy the communal experience. When I was told Vudun is a democratic society, I understood in  the Vudun ritual one only comes forward when their orisha's rhythm is beat on the drum. Correct me if I am wrong. 

We cannot leave BAM Master Teacher Sun Ra out of this discussion since he fused Kemit mythology with socalled science fiction, although Sun Ra is considered the father of Afro-futurism, Octavia Butler, the Mother. But Sun Ra took Yoruba, Islamic, Christian and all other isms and schisms, including Jazz, Blues and any other sounds to construct his Myth-Ritual Arkestra, demonstrating the highest level of BAM aesthetics, philosophy, dramaturgy. No BAM artist approached Sun Ra's vision of smashing European art and white supremacy mythology. 

In the grand tradition of African drama that originated in the Osirian drama of Resurrection, modeled on the annual inundation of the Hapi River, aka, Nile, Ayodele reveals to us the necessity of high morals and values as the ultimate Protective Shield. 

If we cut to the chase in Ayo's drama at the crossroads ruled by Eshu, aka Legba, aka Ptah, aka Peter, Protection Schields taught us the only protection is to do the right thang, thus the long monologues by characters fighting within themselves to do the right thing. To borrow a line from Islam, we say, "Ithdina s-sirata al mustaqim, Guide us on the right path." The Christian Bible tells us to put on the armor of God. 

Dr. Ayodele Nzinga forces us to transcend the Christian and Muslim myth-ritual, with repeated calls out to the Yoruba orishas, displaying Yoruba myth ritual of offering fruit to placate the orishas, without which one cannot possibly navigate the crossroads, not without Eshu in the persona of a child, yet wielding spiritual power to present the suffering adults with the Protective Shield, even the suspected murderer of the mother's son is given the Protective Shield but only after he declares the uselessness of murder or "blood for blood" as the narrator repeatedly informed us. 

A mother wants revenge for the murder of her son. Having lost a son, we were beyond understanding of her trauma and unresolved grief. She was presented with a Protection Shield by Eshu represented by a child who adorned all the supplicants who submitted to do the right thing, some for the first time in their lives. Alas, my patron, Abdul Leroy James, used to say, "Most of you people (excluding himself since he was a successful multi-millionaire from real estate but he did make possible my book projects and community events such as the Melvin Black Forum, Oakland Auditorium, 1979, National Black Men's Conference, Oakland Auditorium, 1981, Kings and Queens of Black  Consciousness, San Francisco State University, 2001, Tenderloin Black Radical Book Fair, 2004, San Francisco, One Day in the Life, docudrama of Marvin X's addiction and recovery, the longest running North American African drama in Northern California history, 1996-2002)--Ancestor Abdul Leroy James said, "Most of us ain't done nothing right in our lives.". 

Protection Shield's dominant theme was do the right thang! If you kill, the pain of revenge is inescapable, blood feuds for evermore, honor killings. All the supplicants submitted to do the right thang and were thus blessed to transcend the crossroads with the blessing of Eshu. 

Throughout the drama, all the orishas were called upon to do their thang. Playwright, producer, director, Dr. Ayodole Nzinga consciously employed the Yoruba myth-ritual to rock 2018 Black Christian myth-ritual, although Africans in the Americas long ago figured out how to synchronize African spirituality with European Christian mythology. We fused Haitian  Vudun, Cuban and Puerto Rican Santaria, Barzilian Condomble and other Caribbean spiritual persuasions into a eclecticism of functional religiosity. We can attend a Catholic mass then visit a Vudun ceremony to placate the Orishas without feeling contradictory.

The Yoruba narrative in Ayo's drama resembled Black American Christian ritual, or Christianity in general with its major theme of suffering and death, although the joy of resurrection derived from Kemet, Egypt, Africa's Nile Valley Civilization that extended the 4,000 miles of the Hapi River, aka Nile, source of  basic Christianity, Judaism and Islamic religiosity. See Yusef Ali's translation of the Holy Qur'an and his notes on the steps of Egyptian Religion toward Islam. 

Dramatic Structure

For sure, Dr. Ayodele transcended Western dramaturgy. Protection Shields was completely devoid of dialogue, instead a plethora of monologues was employed, many offstage, but even more pervasive was her use of choreography to advance the narrative. The Yoruba method of utilizing dance to advance narrative is well known, going back thousands of years. We know the dancers employed classic Yoruba choreography to tell the story, for every dance movement is connected with an Orisha,yet as much as we enjoyed the dancers whose choreography advanced the narrative, still, something was missing and sorely needed to make this myth-ritual dramatic. Dramatic film can move to stage and visa versa, but Protection Shields is the mytho-history of the hero Wolfhawk Jaguar, an individual experiencing a rite of passage and his devotees enjoying a healing communal rite of passage as well.

We were not satisfied with the hero sleeping throughout the drama of his myth history. We see him on the second level, primarily asleep in a dream mode, but since he is also the rapper and high priest of this drama, he must be utilized beyond his dream state. After all we hear him and see him in constant movie clips buy why not allow him to take the stage as rapper to explicate his mythology. He would be much appreciated by the dancers whose every move is about him, so get him out of slumber land and let him rap to us from the upper room. This will make his mythology real to us and expand the reality of his time in our midst and the lessons the narrator informs us about continuously throughout this didactic classical drama in the Yoruba tradition.

Earlier today, I wrote about How to Recognize A Real Nigga, Part Two, Notes on the Nigga Debate, during the intermission, Dr. Nzinga and I conversed and I told her I tried to delineate the positive nigga from the negative nigga. Her drama revealed to us that doing the right thing is the best and only thing to do, anything less has negative repercussions since every action has a reaction and Eshu will not allow us beyond the crossroads unless we put on the Protective Shield, i.e., the armor of God. Thankfully, the supplicants submitted to wear the Protective Shield, so the drama ends in the African fashion of Sheikh Anta Diop, who told us in the Cultural Unity of Africa, there is no tragedy, only comedy, for we know what Frankie Beverly sang about joy and pain, sunshine and rain, sometimes they the same.... Yet, to traverse the crossroads, we must be right, so in Islam we pray, "Ithdina s-sirata al mustaqim, Guide us on the right path. Dr. Ayodele Nzinga continues and extends Black Arts Movement theatre into the present era. We applaud her crew of actors, dancers and technicians.

Protection Shields will rock your consciousness, especially if you are a white man dipped in chocolate as a young man described the Black Anglo Saxons (Dr. Hare) of today.

--Marvin X

9/23/18