Ayo Nzinga Comments On the Poetry of Dr. M


A. Nzinga, MA, MFA

"This" is beautiful.Baba words flow out of you like beautiful black sand, warm and

cleansing. I read "The Best of Times," for some reason it made me cry... I will

think about the images it conjures until I know why.

See you soon.

Baghdad By the Bay: The Surge Is Working

The surge is working the general says
Why not with Baghdad under siege
30,000 Crusaders on post
The surge is working fine
4 million vacated their houses
The surge is working
The doctors, professors, scientists
All gone to Jordan , Syria , Iran
The surge is working
Uncle Abdullah is paid off in his desert tent
For now the insurgents have switched sides
the assassins costume change to pimp the Crusaders
After all, they must pay for every drop of blood
It is the Arab way.

The surge is working
Two hours of electricity in the best neighborhoods
Even Saddam did better than this
Billions have gone to reconstruction
A sham even Condi can’t explain
Blackwater cowboys ride wild
Killing through the streets
With immunity like they used to kill niggers
Great progress from niggers to sand niggers
The surge is working.

Now you want to surge your punk ass into Iran
Go head white boy, yr end is near
It is sad we are here in your midst
Don’t you see there is no more water
fire has come this time
For all yr iniquities there must be justice
This is not a pretty day
Even the night shall be ugly and mothers shall scorn
The hour of their birth and the birth of their children
For every hateful thing you have done throughout time
Stealing nigger mail in the dirty south
Stealing the life of black soldiers from the Civil War to WWI, WWII, Korea
Vietnam and Iraq
You must go to the cashier and cash in your chips.
The surge is working.

--m

University of California Grad Student Researching Chauncey Bailey and Your Black Muslim Bakery


Zachary Stauffer < zachary.stauffer@gmail.com> wrote:
Marvin X,

I'm still slowly (but surely) moving forward with this project on Chauncey Bailey and Your Black Muslim Bakery. The research is gradually coming together.

I was recently on your bibliography page on nathanielturner.com and saw Dr. Bey's name come up a few times. I was wondering if you had copies of any of these materials:

Proceedings of the Melvin Black Human Rights Conference, produced by Marvin X, Oakland, 1979
Proceedings of the First Black Men's Conference,produced by Marvin X, Oakland, 1980
Eldridge Cleaver Memorial Service, produced by Marvin X, Oakland, 1998
and
In Sha Allah, Marvin X interview with Antar Bey, CEO, Your Black Muslim Bakery, Oakland, 2004.

Or might these items be with your archives at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley?
I'd love to watch and listen to these pieces, if they're available, to see what new stuff I might learn. Maybe they'd be useful in the final film.

Thanks much for you help.
Best,
Zach Stauffer
--
Freelance Reporter/Producer
Graduate School of Journalism
University of California - Berkeley

zachary.stauffer@gmail.com
415-420-3032

Another View: How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy



The following article adds to the discussion on how to recover from the addiction to white supremacy. I agree with almost everything he says, but he left out one word: Nationhood. It's hard to get us to think outside the box of Americana. Well, the time may be coming when we shall be forced out of the box. ButNorth American Africans should consider the fact that most Pan Africans live in their own nation states, so no matter how dire their circumstances, at least they have a nation. The North American African doesn't have a pot to piss in. After 400 years, is your face on the money? We can't talk about Africans who at least have countries--and we helped in their liberation struggle, but where is your land for your efforts here in the wilderness of north America?
-- Dr. M

Another View: How To Recover From the Addiction to White Supremacy


HARD TRUTH
By Min. J. Kojo Livingston
liberationzone@aol.com
Destinyone.org

Understanding White Supremacy (Part 3 of 3)

"So this is it. The single most important column I've done in 29 years as a journalist and 35 years as a ground-level activist for Black Liberation. But I'm not good enough. Sitting here, surrounded by the ancestors, I realize that I am hardly adequate to share the fullness of their counsel. But the Spirit of God says 'Try, make the effort, go for it.' Deep breath. Let's DO this".

How do you stomp a child to death on camera and be declared 'not guilty' in a court of law? The same way you the same way you ignore the televised pleas of thousands of hurricane victims that you have the ability to rescue in a matter of hours. It's the same way you could re-enslave or annihilate an entire un-desirable element of a society. It worked for Hitler and has worked before and since him.

It was about two years before Katrina that Dr. Samuel F. Yette came to New Orleans . My pastor, Dwight Webster, had studied under him in Howard and invited me to have lunch with them. It was a dream come true. I admired this man since 1973 when I read his book, "The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America ." In it he used publicly available documents to expose the rationale and plans to contain and exterminate Black people. The book was so powerful that President Richard Nixon attempted to prevent it from being published. (Of course, today he would have succeeded.) Like a kid in a candy store, I must have asked him at least half a million questions. One answer froze me in my tracks.

"I imagine a day when the other nations will have to meet to decide whether or not to try to save us from annihilation. I imagine them saying, 'They don't produce anything. They are not contributing anything of value to the world. There is no justification for taking the risks and making the sacrifices necessary to rescue these people from a nation that powerful.'"

It's time for us as a people to reposition ourselves.
Some of our better minds believe that we have about five years to do this before the term 'ugly' takes on a new meaning for us. I hope they are right. The totalitarians may not want to have another national election. That would give us about one year. But five years of vigorous work could put us on the path to real empowerment and serious national change. Doing nothing could leave us either non-existent on in some modified form of mass enslavement.

It's not about a being protected by a system where you have rights. We're not and we don't. It's about possessing the power and position to provide for and protect ourselves. Now, more than ever, Black people need a Black Power or Black Empowerment Movement that has clear, long and short range objectives and rational strategy for achieving self-sufficiency and self-determination with justice.
How do we come out of this mess and rise to the level of greatness of our ancestors? There are many ways. So to organize this brief synopsis we'll go from the big picture to the little picture, what we must do and what you can do, starting today, immediately, right now.

THE BIG PICTURE
The first thing is to realize that our struggle is part of the universal battle between good and evil. There is no cause on this earth more sacred than the pursuit of the destiny (God's plan) and restoration of Black people!
Therefore my first piece of practical advice is to PRAY. (Where did you expect me to start? I'm a preacher.) Pray according to your own tradition. Pray by yourself and with groups. Pray often and expect to get answers.

Having trouble getting past the image of the old White guy in your head? Here's a technique that I use. When in prayer or meditation imagine the blackness of space. Now imagine a deeper blackness within that Blackness. Now speak to the core of that Blackness but not with your head but from your heart. You are now communicating with the Creator. (Apologies to 'those-who-know', but we really need this right now.)
Next, the most critical thing that Black people must do at this point is to begin to aggressively LOVE ourselves. Sounds mushy? What was the first tool used to enslave us? An aggressive, international campaign to reduce us to less-than-human status in our own eyes and the eyes of the world. It is this self-hatred and self-doubt that allows, causes and mandates that we accept a lower position in life. Carter G. Woodson said a person taught to be subservient would make a back door to go in if he did not find one. We need to use every possible vehicle to promote the concept of Black self-love. Music, spoken word, images on t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, flags, caps will all help. We need to talk and teach the mechanics of self-love using TV, radio, movies, the net, books, tapes, brochures, posters, classes and mass rallies and anything else we can find. We are good at dissing each other, now we must learn the habit of appreciating each other and building our people up.

Then we must change the culture of activism. This is the mantra of our ministry. We've got to grow up as people. We must move from being short-sighted and re-active to operating based on a long-term vision with clear objectives and plans. We could keep re-acting to racist offenses for the next 400 years (if we had that long) but it would not advance us as a people. We need to agree to a definition/vision of what we want, develop a credible strategy and then refuse to stop until we have fulfilled it. This is called becoming responsible for one's Destiny.

Since we spent most of our physical, mental, spiritual and financial energy supporting the world system of White supremacy, we must begin to take some of our power back from that system in simple, practical ways. Put more of your labor into liberation activities. Start spending more money with Black businesses. Make your dollars work to strengthen your own community. Teach our children the value of business ownership. This could help our people to start really supporting our businesses. Brother James Clingman recently pulled together groups to revive a new MATTAH movement. You can also go online and check The Black Business Network and IZANIA.com.

We must develop active relationships with other nations, especially Afrika. These can be business relationships, cultural exchanges, academic and other types of activities that expand our horizons. Black people must start doing business with Afrika. When I was in South Afrika a brother practically pleaded with me, "Everybody is coming here and getting rich except the American Blacks." It's no accident. Oppression-induced Afri-phobia prevents us from taking advantage of partnerships that could help both us and the Motherland. These relationships will expand our understanding of the larger world, greatly enhance our financial wealth and bring active allies that can be of some help in a worst case scenario.
We must develop strategies and resources to generate meaningful consequences for those who violate our people. People should know that if you mess with us we will not only 'express collective outrage' but we will find a way make you pay and do the right thing. One short-term tactic I like is picketing homes of offenders. It's how we shut down the South African consulate in New Orleans . Heck, we went to jail picketing the consulate office and Kruggerand shops but when we showed up at his home he left and took his staff with him.

In Jena this could be tried with the DA or other officials. It doesn't take 40,000 people to make an impact this way and you can maintain consistency, say one hour per day at some strategic time, until your objective (and you must have an objective) is achieved. On a larger scale, strategic boycotts, lawsuits and even exposing embarrassing or incriminating information are all fair in war...and we are at war, we just keep losing.

THE SPECIFICS
To win we've got to build a real base of economic, political and cultural power. This involves short-term, practical self-sufficiency work as well as bold national moves. Both types of endeavors are listed below:
START A GARDEN. Yes, a GARDEN. A one-foot square project in your back yard can grow into an economic engine for your entire community... if you use your danged Kuumba, – that's creativity. Believe it or not, gardening projects make communities safer and more unified. There's something about people working together that strengthens and puts the 'neighbor' back in the 'hood.'

Even a small garden can generate income by selling to stores or individuals. Since most of our people rarely eat real food nowadays, there are serious health benefits and even behavioral benefits for our children. Since land is the basis for political and economic power, learning how to relate to the land and feed ourselves is a practical first step that you can begin THIS VERY DAY.

Imagine massive gardening projects in every city that also connected with Black farmers, (who really need our support). Imagine vacant, nasty lots replaced with life-affirming, organized vegetation. Imagine having an Afrikan marketplace set up where people can sell their wares and that the community truly supports. Imagine a goal of re-directing 1% of the grocery dollars of the Black community in your city in the first year's time and 5% in three years. That's a lot of money and a lot of power. Since I'm no expert on this, you might want to contact the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to help you get going.

BREAK THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE. Our schools were bad before high-stakes testing. Now they are becoming drop-out factories to feed the new slavery...the prison industry. We simply need our own national school system that could start with mass home schooling. This week you can begin tutoring or participating in an after-school or weekend program that teaches children their history and culture. You can become an advocate for education change. CIBI- the Council of Independent Black Institutions may be a place to start. The Children's Defense Fund is also working this issue.

INCREASE THE PEACE - especially with our youth and young adults. We've got to take our children back from the 'drug/thug' culture. We've got an entire generation of born warriors who simply need direction. Let's go get them. Programs that combine cultural orientation with employment or (legal) income producing training have been effective across the country. If necessary, you can start one in your living room. We're going to do an entire column or series on this.

HELP STOP RECEDIVISM. Visit or write someone in prison, help others do the same. What if every Church adopted two prisoners who are about to come out and helped them find work and stay out of the joint? Check out my friends at NABSIO - the National Association of Brothers and Sisters Inside and Out.

CHALLENGE THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX. This thing is a racial reality. According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, White people are arrested for way more crimes, even violent crimes than anybody else in the country. No surprise there, since they are 'way' the majority. So why are we over-represented in the prisons? Guess the Whites are all false arrests. We need to work with folks like The Sentencing Project, to expose and oppose how this system treats our people. Groups like Critical Resistance are doing this work.

GET YOUR MIND RIGHT. Read something everyday. Check out some of the empowerment plans other leaders have laid out for our people. The works of Marcus Garvey, Chancellor William's Destruction of Black Civilization, Amos Wilson's epic 'Blue Print for Black Power' (no, I didn't finish it either), and don't miss Claud Anderson's "Powernomics" because his Harvest Institute is actually doing the stuff he writes about. Start a book club and PLEASE get the books from Black-owned bookstores. Check out websites you're not supposed to know about such as Democracy Now.org or Copwatch, or Project Censored. If you are a fundamentalist, biblical literalist with high blood pressure, or a heart condition, please DO NOT visit wblr.com, that's WBLR.COM. Do not click on the radio and do not listen to Dr. Ray Hagins. (Okay, at least I warned you.) Also check out wlib.com.

ORGANIZE YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. Develop a neighborhood vision and a plan for realizing it. Get prepared for natural or human generated disasters. Learn how to protect your community. My ministry does it through setting up Liberated Zones. For info check our website (under construction) at destinyone.org.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY. Look up 'REX 84' or 'Operation Garden Plot' (they're about you). Like to hear the other side raw? Search terms like 'paramilitary' or 'RaHoWa'.
JOIN SOMETHING. Other groups that are already doing self-determination work include: 10•10•50.org; - a campaign I just got involved in that is dedicated to creating synergy among Black organizations. They don't duplicate, they coordinate! Other groups include, The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, National Black United Front, the New Afrikan People's Organization, INCITE! Women of Color vs Violence (family violence is a threat to our future) and The Millions More Movement . Most of these either have a group near you or would be delighted to have you start one in your area. You don't have to re-invent the wheel.

There's much more than can fit in this or several columns, but I hope you've got the urgency and some ideas that can help you become active and effective in pursuing total Black Liberation. I promise to provide more information of these and other solutions in future columns. I value your input and ideas.
So, Whatchagonna DO? As we say at Destiny One, "Let's Go Get Our People!"

Regional Undoing Racism Workshop

Posted by: "AskCathyHarris@comcast.net" AskCathyHarris@comcast.net askcathyharris

Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:43 am (PST) Regional Undoing Racism Workshop

I have included background information on the People’s Institute below:
The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB), is a national and international collective of anti-racist, multicultural community organizers and educators dedicated to building an effective movement for social transformation. The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, affectionately known in the community as The People’s Institute, considers racism the primary barrier preventing communities from building effective coalitions and overcoming institutionalized oppression and inequities. Through Undoing Racism™/Community Organizing Workshops, technical assistance and consultations, PISAB helps individuals, communities, organizations and institutions move beyond addressing the symptoms of racism to undoing the causes of racism so as to create a more just and equitable society (see detailed workshop description and objectives below).

For more information, please visit their website at: http://www.pisab.org/
----------------------------------------------------------Undoing Racismâ„¢ Community Organizing Workshop
The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism™/Community Organizing Workshops move beyond a focus on the symptoms of racism to an understanding of what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, why it persists and how it can be undone. The core of workshop’s systemic approach emphasizes learning from history, developing leadership, maintaining accountability to communities, creating networks, undoing internalized racial oppression and understanding the role of organizational gatekeeping as a mechanism for perpetuating racism.
HOW CAN WE UNDO RACISM?
The fabric of racism is inextricably woven and constructed into the founding principles of the United States. Racism was done and it can be undone through effective anti-racist organizing with, and in accountability to the communities most impacted by racism. The People’s Institute believes that effective community and institutional change happens when those who are agents of transformation understand the foundations of race and racism and how they continually function as a barrier to community self determination and self sufficiency.
ANTI-RACIST COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Anti-racist community organizing and training analyzes power and how it is used to maintain a racial construct that was implemented centuries ago during the founding of the nation. This nation has always reflected rich diversity from the innumerable multitude of indigenous cultures who inhabited and sustained this land prior to arrival of European explorers to our present composition. Yet, unequivocally, whites continue to fair significantly better than all people of color. Anti-racist organizing helps us to understand why.
ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES
Through dialogue, reflection, role-playing, strategic planning and presentations, this intensive process challenges participants to analyze the structures of power and privilege that hinder racial equity and prepares them to be effective organizers for social justice. Workshop participants will:
Develop a common definition of racism and an understanding of its different forms: individual, institutional, linguistic, and cultural;
Develop a common language and analysis for examining racism in the United States;
Understand one’s own connection to institutional racism and its impact on his/her work;
Understand why people are poor and the role of institutions in exacerbating institutional racism, particularly for people and communities of color;
Understand the historical context for how racial classifications in the United States came to be and how and why they are maintained;
Understand the historical context for how U.S. institutions came to be and who they have been designed to serve;
Understand how all of us, including white people, are adversely impacted by racism every day, everywhere;
Address surface assumptions about how your work is (or is not) affected by racism;
Develop awareness and understanding about ways to begin Undoing Racism ;
Gain knowledge about how to be more effective in the work you do with your constituencies, your organizations, your communities, your families;
Understand the role of community organizing and building effective multiracial coalitions as a means for Undoing Racism.

http://thefreedomjournal.blogtoolkit.com

Joseph "Seyoum" Lewis
Core Trainer/Organizer The People's Institute For Survival and Beyond Southeast Regional Office
9 Gammon Avenue
Atlanta, Georgia 30315
joeseyoumlewis@bellsouth.net tel:
fax:
mobile: 404-622-1133
404-622-9644
404-247-2872

Dr. Nathan Hare On the Family and the Mental Health Peer Group to Recover from White Supremacy


Dr. M.,

I want to make it clear when I said unity is best approached by working from inside out I wasn’t talking about from inside the individual so much as from the individual and his comrades out to others as they go rather than trying to gather untold masses like contemplating the climbing of a mountain instead of taking preliminary steps. In any case I wouldn’t want to turn the tables on the oppressed individual, because oppression is not first and foremost an individual thing; and if a problem is collective the solution must be collective.

I also would watch out and take pains not to turn the recovery from addiction to white supremacy into a family fight, or a place where the peer group becomes a situation for disgruntled self-righteous family members to meet and simply jack up an identified culprit, forgetting that the culprit is a peer, and no doubt made by the family albeit in collaboration with a mutual or common oppression. A peer group should be not only a gathering of people as peers, but a safe place to gather, and known to be so, not only free of physical violence but free from unwanted psychological and emotional assault; not a place to be berated because the berated might not like that; and long before young brothers started blowing one another away for “dissing” them, the literature on homicide had already revealed the high place loss of face is prone to play in acts of homicide, right up there with the presence of a gun.

However, I saw you and Suzette handle all this superbly well in the Black Reconstruction Group.

I also hope I don’t appear to be slipping onto a seesaw, or the everything-and-its- opposite-is-true kind of thing. Everybody’s just going to have to remember it’s not so much a discovery group as a recovery group – not to mention a diss-covery group, which blood can take and use to his or her advantage, though there’s been no keeping people from misusing everything, including the church and the White House, as you and Eldridge no doubt also discovered in The Black House, in the Sixties in the Fillmore.

Nathan

Final Draft:The Family and Recovery from the Addiction to White Supremacy

By Dr. M (Marvin X)


The family is the smallest unit in society and the most critical, thus we cannot speak about the recovery and reconstruction of the Pan African nation without a critical examination of family dynamics. In order for the White Supremacy regime to be successful, the social and cultural life of the African family had to be disrupted, if not all but destroyed, in the process of creating the slave society and more recently the wage slave society or neo-colonialism—the grand illusion of freedom, a psychic trick wherein one is under the illusion he/she is free when he is yet shackled to the slave master’s groin.

Thus it is impossible to speak of a mentally healthy African family under the conditions of slavery and neo-slavery. Imagine a mentally healthy human being after centuries of rape (female, male and child, including the master raping his own children in the slave huts and big house, the stud farms of Mandingos and other prize African tribesman ), the auction block, lynching, separation, abandonment, miscegenation, psychological behavior modification or brainwashing.

There is no terrorism that can approach American terrorism now or in the future. Not even the Jews in Nazi Germany suffered terror equal to four centuries of American pseudo democracy or slaveocracy wherein we were reduced to three fifths of a man and even today our citizenship must be continuously renewed by the Voting Rights Act. Even newly arrived immigrants need not go through this process after they become nationalized. Yet you parade like a peacock strutting his feathers pretending you have arrived and want the world to know you are out the cotton patch while it is an illusion only you believe in the midnight hour of your madness.

Only the truly liberated slave can begin the process of reconstructing the mentally healthy family. Thus, liberation is the crucial factor in beginning that process of recovery and reconstruction. Emancipation is merely the first step toward liberation since the status of free slavery is not the product but only a step in the process toward true liberation which includes self-determination, independence and sovereignty.

Upon emancipation, the North American African suffered a myriad problems including post-slavery trauma and unresolved grief after centuries of cruel and inhumane treatment of the most wretched kind. Disoriented to the degree that he had no concept of freedom—and many have no concept today except for a socalled good job which clearly does not exist except in the figment of the his imagination—yet they prepare their children for a good miseducation to qualify for a fictional life in corporate America-- many had no knowledge they were slaves. Harriet Tubman told us she could have freed more slaves if they had known they were slaves. In this condition of ignorance, the North American African was easily duped to remain on the plantation under the feudalistic system of sharecropping, essentially renting the land as opposed to ownership under the false promise of 40 acres and a mule. He was further terrified by violence and lynching to return him to servitude with the backing of the US government that conspired with the slave masters who were without their property as a result of losing the Civil War. The prison-industrial complex has finally returned the modern African free slave to his master. And the master, especially in the South, but in the North as well, is glad about it. “Ah finally got ma nigger back in chains. Now, if Ah can just keep ‘em away from ma daughters with that Girls Gone Wild crap and dat Snoop Dog nigger!”

There is no way we can speak of the North American African family being mentally healthy under conditions of slavery or post slavery, certainly not until he is able to break free from not only physical bondage but psychological bondage as well. We can see clearly in the present era that he yet suffers mental slavery evidenced by his continued worship of Western mythology and rituals, including religion (Christianity, especially the white Jesus and white angels).He is yet trapped in Christmas, Easter and secular holidays such as Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween and the Fourth of July. His participation in such rituals, especially financially but socially as well, is clear evidence he is a psychological slave of Western civilization, a white man in black face. Esthetically, his standards of beauty continue to be of the white supremacy variety, after all, he is continuously bombarded with symbols of white supremacy. The white woman or a reasonable facsimile is his standard of beauty. Even after the 60s cultural revolution, bleaching cream is back in vogue from South Africa to North America and the Caribbean. His woman must possess long hair—weaves and dreg locks—if not wigs, often blond, to imitate the white woman, including slimming themselves the size of a starving runway model.

The young men of the hip hop generation are unconscious homosexuals with their pants sagging in imitation of prison gays, but more importantly it is a sign there is no father in the house. There is no father in his right mind who would allow his son to leave the house with pants sagging down to his knee caps. But we know in many cases the father suffers arrested development and thus is a child himself. The son is consequently lost and turned out. Rather than condemn our sons, we should reach out and touch them with unconditional love, understanding they are in urgent need of mental health treatment.

And of course the women must imitate the boys so their pants expose the crack of their asses—all of which says much about the respect and social mores of descendants of slaves who are yet to ascend from animal to Divine.

As per the North American African, there are those who will say what choice does he have but to accept his condition as an African trapped in the White man’s world and therefore he must accept his fate and make the best of it. Forget about going back to Africa, forget about fighting to establish a nation of his own in North America, as though he is not entitled to some of this land after four centuries of free labor and/or wage slavery under modern capitalism, now called globalism.

All the above dynamics has impacted the family, destabilizing it to its present configuration wherein 70% of households are headed by women and very few North American African men are able to escape the criminal justice system for the old slave-catcher, now in the guise of police, is yet on the prowl since the neo-slave is worth fifty thousand dollars per year per inmate imprisoned, creating a free labor force in the global economy. Obviously, the condition of the family matters little to the capitalist bloodsuckers of the poor. Yet, mothers raising young black men are, for the most part, unable to restrain them from engaging in criminal activity to survive in the hood, which includes drug dealing and homicide (mainly black on black). Although mother does all she can do to raise her manchild, to keep him from becoming a statistic, he is most often in rebellion against her and angry about his absent father as well. He longs for his father’s love and wisdom, but must settle instead for the manhood training of his gang buddies. As we know, when the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch together, thus far too often the manhood training of the gang leads him directly into the criminal justice system or an early funeral.

And so we must attack the family to rescue it from the ravages of the White Supremacy society. We must gather the family together for sessions to heal the wounds suffered while attempting to survive a wicked society. It cannot be beyond our imagination to seek out the absent father to join the healing sessions, for his daughters need him as well as his sons. No matter where he is, we know he is doing nothing of importance if he is not engaging his estranged children, trying to help them understand the roadmap out of this American morass.

If and when the father cannot come together, and perhaps when the mother cannot join the discussion, let the children meet as peers to search the depths of their souls for answers to their anger and frustration, hatred and bitterness as victims of the white supremacy society.

We suggest use of the 13 Steps I have outlined in my book HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE
ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY. Let the steps guide the discussion and keep it on a civil path because we know the deep emotional scars of family life. Such scars can only be healed with unconditional love and forgiveness. We must move from the animal plane to the human to the Divine. We cannot continue languishing on the animal plane of bitterness, vengeance, anger and hatred. By degrees we must treat each other as humans, then finally advance to the Divine wherein we understand and act like spiritual beings in human form, wherein we express nothing but love for each other in the family, community and nation.

Let us not talk about saving the world when we have made no attempt to save our precious families, and this attempt must reach out beyond the nuclear to granny, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. Those persons with African and spiritual consciousness have a special duty to touch their families with their newfound wisdom and knowledge. Don’t talk about saving Pan Africa if you are not trying to liberate your family from ignorance, poverty and disease.

You are invited to bring your family members to the next meeting of the Pan African Mental Health Peer Group, Friday, November 2, 7pm at the Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre, 3201 Adeline Street, Berkeley. No one will be turned away for lack of money but a $25.00 fee is requested—includes copy of book HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY, A PAN AFRICAN 12 STEP MODEL BY DR. M, FOREWORD BY DR. NATHAN HARE, AFTERWORD BY PTAH ALLAH EL, Black Bird Press, POB 1317, Paradise CA 95967, $19.95. Available in Oakland at De Lauer’s News, 1310 Broadway, downtown Oakland. Call 510-355
-6339 for more information.

Please go to www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com

Harlem Sellout King-Daddy Charles Rangel


Yes, we have black sellouts among North American Africans. US Congressman Charles Rangel is one of the best--studying his history as king of Harlem, we can understand the type of Africans who put us on the slave ships. m



HARLEM DEMONSTRATION AGAINST WAR QUEEN HILLARY CLINTON
& SELL OUT CHARLIE RANGEL


Saturday, October 27, 2007
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building
163 West 125th & Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd (7th Ave.)

Congressman Charles Rangel’s “very special event” to honor Senator Hillary Clinton on October 27th is an insult to the people of Harlem whom he has sold out for decades. “Hillary’s homecoming: 100 Days ‘til Victory in New York” stands in stark contrast to the “homelessness coming” for thousands of Harlem tenants at risk because of unprecedented gentrification sweeping through the world’s most famous historic Black community. Rangel supports the expansion of Columbia University that will displace thousands of families in West Harlem. He was shamed by the community into helping over a dozen local Black businesses facing eviction on the Frederick Douglass Blvd. business corridor from 125th to 126th Streets. Under Rangel’s tutelage the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone doled out millions of public dollars to major corporations while ignoring the plight of local small businesses. Harlem continues to be plagued with high unemployment, growing homelessness, unbridled police brutality, and devastating rates of incarceration. We need folks on the street on Saturday to give Rangel and the rest of the political honchos a reality check!

“War Queen” Hillary Clinton has no shame whatsoever! In 2002 she voted for Bush’s “war for oil” in Iraq. Clinton voted for the repressive Patriot Act and its reauthorization in 2006. And in 2007 she was the only Democratic contender who voted for a senate resolution denouncing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization (the unit is part of Iran's army), a move to give Bush the green light to wage war against Iran. Since Sept. of 2007 the US has spend $456 billion dollars for the Iraqi War. Over 3,500 soldiers have been killed and the Lancet Medical journal estimates over 650,000 Iraqi deaths as a result of the war.

BRING SIGNS AND NOISE MAKERS!

Sponsoring organizations: list in formation: For additional information contact the Harlem Tenants Council at 212-234-5005 or email at harlemtenants@ aol.com.

Nusaiba/L.E.G.A.C.Y. Comments On "The Reactionary Negro"

Peace to You Divine Dr. Marvin,

To be introduced to your blogs is much of a blessing to my Spirit. I would like you to know that as a Young Adult of 23, I overstand what you are saying and I will forward you message to others. I speak some of these same words that you write in the communities that I encounter in New York City...many have never thought of these things, many do not overstand...but with people like you and me our communities will be Freed, mentally, physically and Spiritually....I, too, just KNOW IT!

THE BEST OF TIMES



The best times is the coming winter

Fall or Autumn it’s called

When the leaves are red, lime green and yellow

And the ancient rolling hills and their pines stand tall in royal splendor

The Feather River is too cold for a swim, just down the road from my house

And the budding writer or rapper has left me again in solitude

Gone with their crazy thoughts that they know everything at 30 or 35

I laugh at them silently

Saying nothing since they already know everything I know

Why waste my breath, pretend I am their teacher

Did I let anyone teach me, no. I knew it all at 18, even wrote my autobiography, Lord have mercy, at 18.

So I took one of those smart-asses to the Amtrak bus to Sacramento, let them be gone.

They did write something—I took a peek and it was indeed something with the potential of greatness, so I did not block, just let them write. A writer need only write, nothing else matters, not even the wisdom of the master.

But they are gone now with a message for the world. Of course, something the world has not heard before. Forget that Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun.



In my solitude I am at peace once again. The hawk is my friend again, the lizard, the bee, even the fly. If they come into my house I escort them out and there is no problem. I do not kill them. They are my friends along with the ghosts of Native Americans who visit my visitors, checking them out.



She said the ghost who came to her had long hair in a ponytail. Of course it was the Native ghosts, checking to see if she was for real. The ghost approved because she wrote in peace and left without harm, although there was some evil in her so the ghost escorted her out the door. We call the evil ones ungrateful bastards, but we feed them for Allah’s pleasure only, we desire from them neither reward nor thanks (Al Qur’an).

--m

Dr. Nathan Hare Comments On Family and Recovery from The Addiction to White Supremacy



Nathan Hare wrote:



You’re right. The more I think about it the more I’m also intrigued by the idea of meeting in family groups, especially if the family meetings include in-laws, cousins, gramps, etc. Or it could start with nuclear, then extend out to reach beyond the family box to the peer groups impervious to families; or failing that, coalitions of families might be merged. Whatever works. As Fanon suggested, much of these ideological/theoretical issues will develop and grow in and out of the process of action itself. Just thinking out loud, not trying to be “brilliant”; especially when I check out the brains on this list! My cursory count shows exactly nineteen! Enough to take over the world or cause it to take over itself. Fourteen persons, as I remember it from the mandatory high school course in Civics, signed on to the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Jesus had only twelve against the world, down here on the ground, as his father was in Heaven . Nat Turner started with four, soon five, and had picked up something like seventy by the time the militia came. Of course, as the SCLC leader Rev Lowery said on t.v. when Nelson Mandela’s was visiting in this country and Lowery caught himself praising Mandela for violent struggle in South Africa: “of course we’re talking about love and nonviolence ourselves,” except maybe when I mentioned the in-laws. Come to think about it, some of these family meetings, with or without in-laws might better be held on neutral ground. And maybe that in itself, at the proper time, would work to move us beyond the clan, and the clique.

Finally, I’ve always said that we err in black unity efforts precisely because we strive to unify in a general way (from the outside in) instead of uniting from the inside out. As it is we have brothers talking about worldwide African unity and can’t even get along with the woman they say they love. And that goes for the woman too. So whatever works; we got work to do.



Nathan

Rudolph Lewis Comments on His Comments Regarding How To Stop The Killings


Mr. Lewis moderates the literary website Chickenbones.com




rudolph lewis wrote:

Marvin, I am going through a lot of changes in perspectives and thinking. My readings daily have some impact or influence on how I view the world and my own thinking and responses. Of course, there is some continuity, but there is development and adaptation as well. There are lots of things going on among our own thinkers and leaders that I don't fully grasp or support, that don't make full sense to me, like reparations or Ban the N-Word or Pan Africanism. They don't correspond or engage the dire realities before us.

So often we talk pass each other because we have our own ideological or doctrinal mindsets -- our different ways of being BLACK. But for me more study and more and more critical thinking and more and more reexamination remain necessary. We need more appreciation, more criticism, and more concluding from available evidence, and probably less theorizing. And we need more and more ways of presenting our findings, our appreciations, our criticisms.

But progress is slow. Still those of us in a situation to do the necessary work must do it whether others are paying attention or not, and find ways to preserve that as others catch up. I am reading a book on Alexander Crummell now that's over 15 years old and its changing how I view the past, the 19th century and the relationship to the thinking now. But I was not ready for the book 15 years ago, and if I were I did not take the time to read it for there were other things that needed to happen.

So I appreciate your coming back on my response. Today I might agree with what I wrote then but I probably would not write or respond the same way as then. You should check to see how I responded to your Farrakhan call. I was very disappointed with that and was inclined not to publish it at all. For I think that view is wrongheaded and not what we should be talking about at all and I was ready to suppress that kind of thinking. But it's kind of historic and so I published it. But I separated myself from that kind of thinking for it will take us nowhere.

My thinking is that Rev. Mr. F should have threatened to encourage people not to vote, that is, threatened the Democratic Party. But the guy has made so many deals, so many doctrinaire statements he no longer knows how to think on his toes. He loves the sound of his own voice. He's too comfortable, too self-satisfied. And we should give up that kind of thinking and support for those kinds of leaders. -- Rudy

******
Dr. M Replies to Rudy:

Rudy, yes, I remember Alex Crummell as a brilliant thinker and writer of the 19th century. As per yourself, of course we change but truth remains the same--we need only get into the flow and flow. And as per Farrakhan, let us not confuse the messenger with the message--I see no reason why the concept of a nation of North American Africans cannot or will not become a reality--imagine the insanity yet reality of an Askennazi Jewish nation in the midst of the middle east, or the attempted process of making Iraq a nation. We can create whatever our hearts desire. Or, we can continue treading water until we drown. m

Parable of the Pan African Hood
By Marvin X

"The reactionaries will never put down their butcher knives,
they will never turn into Buddha heads."--Mao

We are talking about a condition in the hearts of men, an evil sore festering and stinking like rotten meat, to use that Langston Hughes metaphor. It is a spiritual disease more prevalent than HIV, for it consumes whole countries, not only Pan Africa, but it may be said to originate in Europe because lying and murder is the great theme of this culture, and Africa and Africans throughout the Diaspora are victimized and suffer this malady equally with their colonial Mother. See how Europe butchered the butcher's sons in Iraq, or is this the democratic way of life she is bringing to the sand nigguhs?

The problem is how to throw off the vestiges of colonialism to become the New Man and New Woman. Of course, we must first recognize how sick colonialism has made us throughout Pan Africa. Somehow we must bow down and ask forgiveness of our Higher Power, the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. There must be a cleansing ritual performed until the mud and slime of Western culture is purged from our minds, bodies and souls.

The Western gods must be destroyed, crushed to the earth and stomped into eternity, for they have blessed us with ignorance, superstition, greed, lust and pure evil, allowing us to become worse than beasts in the field, committing the worse atrocities, yea, even worse than all the teaching of our colonial masters.

No doubt Africa is paying for the great sin of sending her sons and daughters into slavery. Has Africa asked forgiveness of herself, yet she wails for apology from the slave master's children. Has she given reparations to her descendants lost in the wilderness of North America? Has she ever sent a symbolic ship or plane to bring them home? So Pan Africa lives a slow death because she allows corrupt, boastful, arrogant leaders to control her nations, her leaders shelter each other, covering their multiple sins, protecting themselves from people's justice who would rightfully hang them like Mussolini and his wife.

Like jack in the box, Pan Africa must jump out of her iniquities, she must call forth the divine energy within the bowels of her soul and step into the New Day of light, breath and health. She cannot allow her children to devour her from coast to coast, sea to sea, from America to Africa, but children only mock the behavior of adults, so we cannot blame them, children are children, so adults must step to the front of the line, no matter how busy they are doing nothing, for they are surely doing nothing if the village is in chaos, security being the top priority of civilization.

Everyone must become the central command, every man and woman must be about the business of teaching new values, new ways of thinking and acting that are not harmful to the human soul and the human condition.

The world is so full of wisdom it escapes us because our quest is for the trivial, the low things of life, not the things in the upper room, but those in the basement, in the gutter of our minds and hearts, that is were we dwell, that is our focus and this is why we suffer. Kobe gives his wife a four million dollar rock, but will it placate her soul, will material things correct a spiritual problem of faith and trust?
The West has a sordid history buying people as Pan Africa can attest, but everyone is not for sale, those of integrity will jump ship, will eat the whip and the gun, for persecution is worse than slaughter, the Qur'an teaches.

No, physical weapons cannot solve the problem. Look at Israel, she has the all the modern weapons but she cannot defeat the spirit of a people determined to be free. So Pan Africa's children can and must be disarmed by a new consciousness. Even Fidel Castro has said the new weapon is consciousness!

Like Johnny Apple Seed, we must go about spreading consciousness, teaching unconditional love and forgiveness, sharing knowledge and wealth with the poor and ignorant, the brokenhearted and oppressed. I am not trying to be sentimental, but we can and must flip the script as they say in the hood.

Again, like Jack, we must jump out the box of mental and physical oppression by taking a new look at reality, by stopping a moment to wonder at the pleasure in the sun, the trees, the sea and mountains, the glory of being alive each moment to share human love, being grateful we have a moment on this earth to whisper truth to children that they may rise and be a pleasure to the ancestors watching from everywhere. Yes, we must transcend block man and block woman, the block within ourselves even, and reach forth into the realm of new possibilities, not allowing evil and her brothers and sisters to control the air and sun that comes each day blessing us with another moment to walk in the light, escaping the darkness of ignorance, greed, lust and violence.

Black men, go into the hood and take the guns from your sons, yes the sons you abandoned, neglected and rejected, the sons who look like you although you deny this, the sons who walk with sad hearts, hardened because they long for you, for your love and guidance, for your wisdom and strength, after all, Mama did all she could to raise her manchild in the promised land.

--Marvin X

* * * * *

A Response to "Killing in the Pan Africa Hood"
By Rudolph Lewis

Marvin, there is great wisdom that should be heeded in your essay "How To Stop The Killing in the Pan African Hood." I am aware that a new set of values (though possessed by our enslaved ancestors but now abandoned under the "new world order") and a new perspective of our place in the world, of our past and future are earnestly needed in these dire times.

The most important of these new perspectives is couched in your paragraph that reads as follows:

Has Africa asked forgiveness of herself, yet she wails for apology from the slave masters' children. Has she given reparations to her descendants lost in the wilderness of North America? Has she ever sent a symbolic ship or plane to bring them home? So Pan Africa lives a slow death because she allows corrupt, boastful, arrogant leaders to control her nations, her leaders shelter each other, covering their multiple sins, protecting themselves from people's justice who would rightfully hang them like Mussolini and his wife.

In short, you suggest our critical sword should have a double edge -- that is, the slave trade was African nations and European nations collaborating for the purposes of wealth and power. They got rid of their "niggertrash."

Many of those descendants of the tribal kings and chiefs who sold millions of slaves still play significant roles in the politics of today's African nations. And they will sell us again and their people again in the 21st century, if the World Bank and other internationalist (globalist), corporatist agencies offer the right price. (Check out Paul Kingsnorth's essay on South Africa and the ANC A Shattered Dream.)

In the contest for wealth and power, black and white, however, are not real distinctions but illusions, a means for escapism or sidetracking those who wish to do the "good." I know "evil" has become a popular theme in the discussion of international politics and the resistance to corporate imperialism, especially from the bully pit of the presidency. I hope we do not become a mirror image of such trite rhetoric -- it indeed will lead us astray. It is necessary that we keep on the straight and narrow and keep both edges of our sword whetted sharp.

At no time must we sink back into mythologizing the world for the sake of political convenience. Beneath most Pan-African rhetoric (from the 19th century to the present), there is this underlying notion of Africa as paradise into which Satan (the white man) introduced evil. I recommend strongly that all pan-africanists and sympathizers and all other petty-bourgeois, pseudo-revolutionaries read the Malian Yambo Olouloguem's novel Bound to Violence . Or any non-romantic account of Africa before European trade began.

There was more evil in Africa than one could shake a stick at. The process of empire building in Africa by Africans themselves and the perennial struggles for power and the retention of power included the wholesale slaughter of tribes (genocide), butchery, debauchery of every sort (religious, political and social), cannibalism, incest, and so on. -- all these acts of evil existed before modern Europe stepped onto the soil of Africa or worked out its first deal for a cargo of slaves.

The emperors, kings and queens, and chiefs -- to which we have become so inured (and want to imitate by dress, manners, and religion) -- did not achieve those aristocratic titles by their sweetness and benevolence but by the same means we are familiar with today in those who strive to rule and conquer. That is, they did it the old-fashioned way -- by violence, exploitation, and oppression..

The aberrations we see in Africa and at home are not new. This violence for wealth and power is just as old as the first time one brother killed another for his wife or his ass. This contest for dominance has always been bloody and this violence and evil were not invented by Europe or whites. We must do away with this myth. Otherwise, in a perverse way, we make Africans less than human -- we make them into corrupted angels.

There is no sanctity in having a black skin or in Africanity. This type of mythologizing gives our leaders too much credit and too much room for collaboration with corporate power and a means of duping the masses of the poor and the black working classes. It is no longer sustainable that we ask or recommend that the masses of "Pan-Africa" live vicariously by distant observation and/or proximity to power and wealth.

That an elite should live in comfort and security while the great masses attend them hand and foot with all their hearts and souls is no longer acceptable if we truly have egalitarian goals for our society....

That kind of barbaric nobility is no longer proper in a civilized world in which democracy and human rights have been given revitalized meanings in which every man is a king and queen, or at least be acknowledged with that kind of respect, integrity, and dignity.

Our critical sword should not only land on the heads of the great aberrations of society -- the likes of a Idi Amin, a Mobutu, a Bokassa, or a Sgt. Doe or a Charles Taylor, but also those respectable heads of state like Mbeki, Obasanjo, and the other African leaders who smilingly welcomed Bush to Africa and are ever-ready to make their deals with globalization. Such African leaders with such narrow interests sold our ancestors into the Americas.

And not only those African leaders there, but also here at home, we should do some swinging at our black elected and appointed officials (city councilmen, legislators, cabinet secretaries), yes and also corporate and ecclesiastical functionaries, and other notable heads, such as the leaders of civil rights organizations like the NACCP, whose board is ruled by corporate executives or such flunkies and running dogs. They too must be made to pay for their sins of neglect and moral blindness.
If we lapse into the anti-white, anti-American, anti-Western rhetoric, we will sorely miss the point and provide more fuel for these black elites to further misdirect the energies of the masses of Pan-Africa along lines of escapism and support for the status quo.

If we are to make real changes within our communities some of our petty bourgeois aspirations must be abandoned. We can no longer naively defend black middle-class sellout politicians and preachers. We must recognize a real change in the face, rhetorical aspirations, and the present corporate ties that our leaders have established. It is fine to cite Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, as some pan-africanist marxists tend to do. That is well indeed. I am far from a white apologist -- a corner in which some may want to paint me. But I do not want to be a black apologist, either -- I was not taught that way.

The NAACP is headquartered here in Baltimore and they just had a conference and they had nothing to say about the 40% unemployment rate here among black males (18-35); the high murder rate (about 300 a year, mostly young black males); a 50% drop-out rate from high school; neighborhoods in which only 25% of adults have a highschool diploma. Brothers and sisters are paraded to jails like our ancestors to Goree Island!!!

Whatever the justification for their apprehension is inadequate and should cause some shame of those who run this city and those who support the powers to be -- which here in a majority black city, means a black middle class and those who work government jobs or receive money from corporate elites.

Damn, brother, we have grown ass men on the corner selling single cigarettes for 35 cents a piece. What kind of enterprise is that? And it is not just a few. Is that any way to gain a livelihood? And our shit-head leaders are worrying about whether Bush or democratic presidential candidates come to their meeting. Ain't that a matter to be indignant and upset about? But it seems we are so spiritually sick we take it as a norm the misery and the downtrodden state of the poor (black and white). That the oppressed are overlooked and allowed to continue to sink into the abyss is a grand betrayal by our leaders. Murder and mayhem is not just coming from the bottom dregs of society. We have a general slavery and devastation in which silence and passivity is imposed by poverty, the gun, and prisons?
With these reservations, I support heartily the sentiments contained in your plea for earnest black work, black renewal, and black progress.

Marvin X has taught English, African American literature, journalism, creative writing, drama, technical writing at various colleges and universities, including: University of California, Berkeley and San Diego, San Francisco State University, University of Nevada, Reno and elsewhere.

Comments On Mama's Bones and Family Recovery from White Supremacy (WSD)


Brother Marvin
Brilliant poem and poignant analysis of the dilemna. I would like to add an analogy to the question of whether family meetings and smaller groupings could be a significantly meaningful tool towards overcoming the addiction to WSD (White Supremacy Disorder): When you speak about "fighting over mama's bones" it brings to mind the old saying about crabs in a barrel.

Brother Cromartie and I recently had a discussion about the HUD policy, in which a HUD householding grandmother can be evicted from the project or HUD house permanently just because her grandson is caught selling dope on the property. In a case like this, the family would come together before the shoe drops, hold family meetings, and ratify an agreement that binds the youngster to abide by a "don't shit where you eat" rule, in order to preserve the collective asset, namely the house.

To insure our continued survival we may have to think outside the box. If the crabs cannot get out of the barrel perhaps they need to learn how to live inside it more harmoniously.

Craig 17X (Zahieb A. Mwongozi)

J Vern Cromartie wrote:
Brother Marvin,

Thank you very much for sharing these insights. Your
poem "Mama's Bones" hit me like Georgia thunderclaps
on a hot July day. It made me think of all the
sacrifices my mother made in her youth to take care of
six children as a single parent. My mother and father
divorced when I was quite young. After the divorce,
our standard of living declined wherein his remained
about the same. It declined to the point wherein my
mother, my siblings, and me moved from our house to an
apartment in the Bailey Heights housing projects in
Waycross, Georgia. I was a man-child living in the
projects for some nine years. Right now my beloved
mother is in a Florida hospital with some heart
related problems. In my view, my mother has been a
tower of strength and I appreciate and love her
deeply. Your poem made me think of my mother and all
of the other Black mothers who have helped us survive
in Amerikkka.

As for the comments of Dr. Hare, he too, showed his
brilliance. When the Afrocentric paladins gather at
the National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) and talk
about founders of the contemporary Black studies
movement, his name is often omitted, overlooked, or
ignored to their folly. When I am present and the
Afrocentric paladins talk that talk, I bring up the
contributions of Dr. Hare, San Francisco State
students, and the Black Panther Party to the FIRST
contemporary Black studies department to emerge in a
predominately White four year college or university.
Further, I recently re-read Dr. Hare's introduction to
the Signet Classic edition of The Souls of Black Folk
and saw his brilliance at work. As a Black
sociologist, I certainly feel that I am standing on
the shoulders of Dr. Du Bois and Dr. Hare as I make my
own analyses of social conditions at the micro,
middle, and micro levels.

As a poet and literary artist, I certainly feel that I
am standing on the shoulders of Dr. Du Bois and your
shoulders, too. I first read your work when I was
about 14 in 1968 and I deeply appreciate the fact that
you became a mentor to me around 1980 when I was in my
mid 20s.

Brother Marvin, as you have rightly pointed out, White
supremacy is clearly a major social problem which
threatens world peace because as the saying goes there
can be no peace without justice. White supremacy is
against justice and we must wage struggle against it.
We must also realize that scholarship is a form of
struggle, too.

Yours in the struggle,

Vern
--
J. Vern Cromartie
Professor of Sociology
Chairman, Social Sciences Department
Contra Costa College

Dr Nathan Hare Comments on Mama's Bones
Re:White supremacy recovery as a family affair

Dr.M:

It’s better than nothing but staying within the family does not reach out and connect beyond the solitary family unit. Family meetings like we used to have in the good old days are certainly recommended and helpful for their own sake, as is family therapy; and maybe if the families could get it together it would be easier to move to another stage and connect the dots, the families. Right now I’m afraid we’re a race of disconnected and shattered dots, a polka dot people.

In my last days at Howard I often spoke of “polka dot power.” Then at San Francisco State I came up with “polka dot studies” to describe the courses being hastily set up by the white departmental chairs to augment against the black autonomy demanded by the BSU as well as courses set up by blacks without a black perspective (something like the contemporary “afrocentric,” centered there but not the there).
Doc



From: Marvin X [mailto:mrvnx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:38 AM
To: Nathan Hare
Subject: RE: Mama's Bones



Well, Doc, we fight over the crumbs--James Sweeney calls it the "crummification theory." But I do believe revolution is a family affair--if and when we clean up our families the revolution will be won. People have been asking is it okay to set up a group with family members so they can recover from white supremacy. m

Nathan Hare wrote regarding Mama's Bones:

Poignant, Dr. M. That’s the same way they took Papa.

Doc



From: Marvin X



Mama's Bones



They want Mama's bones

no flesh no blood

just bones

dry

empty bones

they will be happy then

sucking her bones

wouldn't wash her feet

give her something to eat

just her bones was all

they cried aloud

went to court

over her bones

didn't have time for Mama's love

her tender touch

tales of the old south

her mourning over husband long gone

still maybe she loved him

she gave him four children, after all

why wouldn't she still love him

think of him

wonder why he let white supremacy

drown him in drink

but her bones remain

and so they scramble over them

fighting like mad dogs

when the bones are dry

no meat

no blood.

--m

Listener Comments on Dr. M's Interview on KPFK Radio, Los Angeles

Tim G wrote:
With all do respect sir,i heard you speak today in LA on KPFK and had some mixed emotions regarding your words.
Let me just begin by asking you this: do you believe that if all white people disappeared-that all problems would also disappear? I hope we are on the same page
here,and understand that WE have a 'spiritual' problem ON THE PLANET. And right now the rich white bureaucrats are at the head. Although if they all disappeared,another race and color would take THEIR place...........do you see where I'm going here........(please bare with me,i'm just trying to communicate to the best of my ability....thanks...).

It aint about the color Dr. M. I was once victimized by both my parents,(and after working thru some major stuff) I realize that not all parents are
'bad'. Yo Dr. M., I realize there is a mess out there involving a rainbow of colors, and people have suffered FAR BEYND what i could handle,,,,,,but lets make this a' UNIVERSAL 'DELEMA'. Because if you or 'your people' or me and 'my people' are suffering,its EVERYONES PROBLEM right? When i heard you speak I loved your SPIRIT(and thank you)But as soon as you put a color on a crime,that creates 'us against them mentality',

MY POINT IS THIS DR. M. There is a 'HUMAN SUPREMACY' ISSUE going on out there.

Please lets not say 'white supremacy', are there not people of color holding
higher positions in other parts of the world AND ABUSING their own people??? What do we call that-ifthe people are not white?
Can you PLEASE help us out Dr. M. Can we say 'HUMAN SUPREMACY DILEMA',,,,,It may not sound asgood,but i think it's more acurate. Dr. M.,please write when you get a chance and tell me what you think.

Thank you for taking time to read my words.I know we're on the same 'side' here,please know that i mean well and my words come from my heart.

God Bless,
Timothy

Dr. M Replies to Timothy

White supremacy is the modern form of domination and exploitation--practiced by whites, in the main, but blacks as well--they are all white supremacists. As for yourself, organize a white supremacy recovery group with your own kind. We'll work on our kind and maybe, just maybe, we will come together in a peer group at some point in time. peace, m

Mama's Bones



They want Mama's bones

no flesh no blood

just bones

dry

empty bones

they will be happy then

sucking her bones

wouldn't wash her feet

give her something to eat

just her bones was all

they cried aloud

went to court

over her bones

didn't have time for Mama's love

her tender touch

tales of the old south

her mourning over husband long gone

still maybe she loved him

she gave him four children, after all

why wouldn't she still love him

think of him

wonder why he let white supremacy

drown him in drink

but her bones remain

and so they scramble over them

fighting like mad dogs

the bones are dry

no meat

no blood.

--m

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Comment on Minister Farrakhan


First, I love Minister Farrakhan so much that I cry when I hear his voice. He is what I would want my father to be if I had one. I love him because he loves his people and although he may evolve he never waivers in his fight for his people. I read your article on the creation of a Black nation. Your description sounds like a Black heaven. I, too, would love to live in a black nation with some true black people; however, I don't see that as a possibility here. I don't believe the US government would ever partition land to give us. They will never give us monetary reparations and we are stupid, in my opinion, to think they will. We have to leave.

regina@rneequaye.com
www.rneequaye.com

Reply by Dr. M


Don't ever underestimate the power of Allah to make the devil do His will.

Farrakhan’s Last Hurrah: Come Out of Her My People


By Dr. M (Marvin X)





For a revolutionary African nationalist, Minister Farrakhan’s Atonement Day speech in Atlanta was music to my ears, but the consensus of my advisors was that it was too little too late, perhaps thirty years too late. If he had continued the separation teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, a black nation could have been more than an idle dream by now, some kind of provisional government could have been established and negotiations with the US on a separate territory could have been underway on the highest and most serious level.



So where does he and we go from here? Was his separation talk just rhetoric or is he serious about parting ways with America and working toward a nation-state or territory based on self determination and sovereignty. The last time I wrote about him, he asked that I call him for clarification of his statements and/or activities. Perhaps I should give him a call since he said my last article (Reverend Farrakhan-Moon) raked him over the coals. But I think his Atonement Day speech was crystal clear on the theme of separation, spiritually and physically. The question is where we go from here—should there be a plebiscite or vote of the North American African people to establish a consensus on whether we should stay or leave. Historically, in times of progress there has been little desire to depart pharaoh’s house, but in times of depression and anxiety the desire to leave is heightened. Despite the growing black middle and upper class—which the minister pointed out is merely a buffer between the masses and pharaoh—the condition of the masses is wretched. He gave ample statistics on our deplorable economic, political, social, psychological and spiritual condition. For us to continue in such wretchedness is the height of suicide or more collectively speaking, genocide. For the majority of North American Africans who will not share in the American dream, there must be an alternative future, thus separation is the only answer, no matter how difficult, it is an idea long past due.



It is clear to me the United States of America is a white supremacy nation, and the white right and the left have no real desire to give up white privilege and share political and economic equality, rather they persist in denial that this is a white supremacy nation and they enjoy maintaining their superior status. The police with their slave-catcher origins are yet an occupying army to maintain control that allows white power to continue with security. The prison industrial complex is designed to return us to slavery under the constitution which allows involuntary servitude for inmates. The educational system contributes to the prison industrial complex by systematically miss educating millions of black boys and girls, forcing them to drop out and more recently pushing them out.

The hostile environment of America promotes a variety of physical and psychological diseases that can only be cured by separation into a land of our own wherein we can create a society that is more conducive to our physical and mental health.



Yes, it is pastime for us to come out of her, my people, for she has become the haven for every filthy unclean bird. In the words of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and more recently in the words of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, America is the devil. This is not to say there are not black devils as well, and surely they will desire to remain with the beast, the great harlot, the serpent who has deceived the world. For a certainty, they will not be allowed to set up shop in the revolutionary North American African nation. Furthermore, we are well aware of how revolutionaries become reactionaries—we see in South Africa how the ANC has created situations worse than Apartheid. Thus, we envision a nation of men and women possessing radical spirituality who desire to establish a divine kingdom on earth wherein our animal nature and consciousness are checked and our divine consciousness is given free expression.



Men and women of radical political consciousness and vision must step to the front of the line to make the words of Minister Farrakhan a reality. In the beginning was the word, let us go forward to realize our national aspirations as mature human beings to achieve independence, sovereignty and self-determination. Let us go forward in the spirit of our ancestors who desired complete freedom, not a sham status of neo-slaves of a white supremacy nation that desires to maintain domination and exploitation of forty million people who have the divine right to separate from such hostile and contrite devils.



Independent thinking intellectuals must organize think tanks to ponder how to come out of the American morass and what shall be the formulation and configuration of a separate nation. Shall it be a constitutional democracy, a theocracy, a secular/spiritual regime in the manner of Turkey—these are questions of the most serious nature, but for sure, as Minister Farrakhan noted, we can create a better nation than has been our experience the last few centuries in this American nightmare. Surely we are prepared to offer our citizens true freedom, justice and equality, not contradictory treatment that makes mockery of our founding principles.



After devising an initial plan, we should hold regional meetings to debate the issue of independence and reach a consensus on the nature of the constitution. What values do we hold dear and sacred and what values are against our well being and the world community with whom we shall interact. Shall we practice naked capitalism or a form of socialism that is in harmony with our spiritual consciousness?

Shall we not guarantee our women full equality since they are divine as we are, and furthermore they are currently the sole parent in 70% of our households? What shall be the configuration of the African family once we separate—monogamy, polygamy, polyandry? Shall there be religious freedom or spiritual liberation without religious trappings that too often enslaved the human spirit and created stunted men and women incapable of imagining the infinite possibilities of the universe.





The nation of North American Africans should be sustained by reparations from the US government for three centuries of slavery and neo-slavery. As called for by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we should be maintained for twenty-five or thirty years until we can stand alone, similar to how America has given financial support to Israel the last sixty years. But even under the present domestic colonialism, we generate 900 billion dollars per year, thus we are only in poverty because we are duped into consumerism and crass materialism. If we channeled our economic wealth into nationhood, we will be a mighty nation overnight, not a people dependent on welfare, surviving on the worse food and insufficient health care. In an independent nation we shall not tolerate our youth killing each other over drugs because they are incapable of thinking out of the box of animalism.

The elder men and women will be duty bound to teach the young people economic independence, and the young people will be taught respect for elders and each other. No partner or domestic violence will be tolerated under pain of death. There shall be no prisons because there will be no crime. Persons with criminal behavior shall be ostracized to the United States of America and not allowed to return.



We applaud Minister Farrakhan for putting our freedom agenda back on track, for the last few decades we have wandered aimlessly without purpose and direction. We can never thank him enough from bringing the million men together, but as he said the other night in Atlanta, suicide is better than to continue living under the shadow of death which is our present status here in the hells of North America. As he noted, any politician, religious leader, intellectual or anyone who cannot promote separation and independence should be recognized as pharaoh’s magician and ignored, for Moses is in town to tell old pharaoh, “Let my people go.” You magicians with a contrary message will be silenced with the superior magic of Moses. The Red Sea of American blood and terror will be parted and we shall cross to the Promised Land. Liberty or death!



Please send me your comments: www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com.

The Black White Man
by Dr. M

Dr. M returned to his outdoor classroom at Oakland's 14th and Broadway. It was a cloudy day and rain was on the way. He set up his table to sell his books. Then decided to give 14th and Broadway people a little drama. Reaching in his bag, he pulled out is white makeup and dabbled it on his face, looking into a broken mirror. The passerby began to question him. Was he sick? A street brother who often assists Dr. M for a few dollars saw his white face and was upset. Why do you have that white stuff on your face, you are not white, you are black, you should have black paint on your face! M nodded, the man's friend came up to M and told him the guy just didn't understand, but he would explain the meaning of his white persona. Matter of fact, the guy said, he would like to come and join Dr. M by putting on a white face as well, since he understood what he was doing.

All of this occurred while Dr. M was chatting with a childhood friend and his wife who stopped by to chat, actually to invite Dr. M to speak at a show to stop the violence in Oakland. His friend, Johnny Mack, told of how he was being blocked by city officials as he organized his Stop the Violence Day. Dr. M referred him to his parable of Black Man and Block Man and Johnny picked up the book which contains the parable IN THE CRAZY HOUSE CALLED AMERICA.

M reminded Johnny that they grew up in Fresno in the projects and Johnny's parents used to ring the neck of chickens in the backyard which adjoined M's grandmother's house. Johnny shocked M by telling how his preacher father moved to a white area in the country. At school one day, the white children grabbed Johnny, beat him to the ground and tied a rope around his neck, then dragged him across the school grounds while teachers stood watching. Johnny said he has been terrified of white people ever since. Johnny said he might join Dr. M and dawn a white face.

A man passed the table and seeing the title of M's book HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY, A PAN AFRICAN 12 STEP MODEL, said he only needed one step, Jesus. M said that is only the first step, there are 12 more. Johnny concurred that Jesus wasn't enough, the man needed to look at the man in the mirror to discover he was Jesus. His wife concurred. M said, "Johnny, I didn't know you knew that you were Jesus." His wife said, "If he didn't know that, I wouldn't be with him."
Johnny disclosed to M that he was a preacher at nine years old, but broke away from his father's church because his dad took all the collection plate. On his death bed his dad apologized to God for believing Jesus was God and misleading the people.

It began to rain so M packed his books and left for a meeting with another childhood friend from Oakland, Leon Teasley. As Leon parked beside him in the parking lot, M was removing the make up. Leon was shocked at seeing his Cub Scout buddy in white face, but he was cool as he has been throughout his life--they call him Cool T. What's up with the makeup, he wanted to know. M told him he was a black white man. Cool T said there are many white black men with no makeup. You know I like drama, he told Cool T, and they were off to have lunch and talk about old times. As they sat eating spring rolls and drinking Thai tea, T pulled out his archival material on his buddy, including a copy of M's autobiography SOMETHIN PROPER, his first book of poems FLY TO ALLAH, 1969, and another volume of poems CONFESSION OF A WIFE BEATER, 1981. T gave him the copy of his autobiography which was in mint condition. He retained the volumes of poetry but offered to help reprint them. And so it was, a rainy day in hell with the black white man and his childhood friends.

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Did he turn back to black?
--Amiri Baraka

Part Two: The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

by Dr. M (aka Marvin X)

The Chauncey Bailey Project continues to give us the story of incidents in the life of Your Black Muslim Bakery. While it is a good thing to see journalists and writers contribute to in depth articles on this story (and we consented to an interview with a student from UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism) , it is approaching the level of overkill, repetition and redundancy. How many times can you go over the same facts or allegations? Thus, the Chauncey Bailey Project has quickly become an attack on Your Black Muslim Bakery in particular and Muslims in general, adding to the climate of hatred and disgust for Muslims in the Bay, in the US and worldwide. We suggest the media tone down the Muslim aspect of the story and concentrate on the fact that individuals may have killed Chauncey, since when do we see persons referred to as Christians when they are indicted for crimes?

The Chauncey Bailey Project has yet to tell us about the guilt, shame and grief of the entire African American community here in the Bay Area that has endured decades of embarrassment from the activities of YBMB. As in the case of Jim Jones who had compromised the black leadership of San Francisco long before his suicide mission in the jungle of Guyana, Dr. Bey compromised, perhaps through fear, much of the political and religious leadership of Oakland, to the extent that children suffered and he himself. As far as I know, he was never advised to seek help for his dark side activities. What kind of friend are we when we cannot help a friend, when we are too cowardly to tell a friend the truth and advise him to seek help, especially when it is well known he long ago crossed the line of propriety.

The matter of Chauncey Bailey and YBMB touches a sensitive heart string though out the community because the two were often comrades in struggle, especially when Dr. Bey and Chauncey both had programs on Soulbeat television for several years. Thus this tragedy is a community tragedy, not simply the murder of a fine journalist and the destruction of a community institution. It has affected the African American community and perhaps the community in general in a way we have not seen since the first OJ trial. As one friend noted at the time, "OJ put the entire black nation under stress with his bullshit." Today we are under stress at what has happened with Chauncey and YBMB as well as the continued mayhem throughout our community in the Bay Area, the homicides and especially the number of unsolved cases. Perhaps the police rushed to judgment with spurious facts only because Chauncey was a high profile personality. But the Chauncey Bailey Project appears to continue the myopia of Mr. Bailey by rehashing information for sensationalism, or does it have a demonic mission to bury any positive view of Islam in the Bay.

We are stressed that so called leaders are incapable of finding creative solutions to problems which are economic and mental health issues that don't take rocket scientists, nor will a military/police action resolve matters as we can see from the situation in Iraq. If the criminals and insurgents in Iraq can be enticed to end their mayhem and terror with employment and reconstruction aid, why can't the same formula be used throughout the hoods of America to entice youth to stop the violence and resulting destabilization of our beloved community? It appears there are those with a vested interest in the continued chaos--perhaps it is good for gentrification or "Negro removal."

It is time to heal the community grief associated with YBMB. No amount of writing will bring Chauncey back, nor will it bring back the bakery, but there are many people associated with both who have unresolved grief and need resolution so a community can move on to other critical issues.

Dr. M is an internationally recognized poet/playwright, essayist and social activist, one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement. His latest book is HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY, available from Black Bird Press, POB 1317, Paradise CA 95967, $19.95. Dr. M will facilitate the next meeting of the Pan African Mental Health Peer Group on Friday, November 2, 7pm at the Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre, 3201 Adeline St., Berkeley. Call 510-355-6339 for more information.

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You are wild and wonderful....and I think you've lost your mind....which is a good thing...because without the monkey mind, one can find one's life purpose.
--Fahizah Alim