Oakland Police Chief Gone, Mayor Next?
With a looming vote of no confidence from the Oakland City Council, Police Chief Tucker resigned last night, leaving the OPD in tatters over the shoddy investigation of journalist Chauncey Bailey's murder and the head of internal affairs role in the beating death of man a few years ago. Add the eleven officers fired for filing false information with the judge for search warrants. As we know, the person ultimately responsible is the chief. And so we wonder is Mayor Ron Dellums next? Known as the Invisible Man, Mayor Ron has been unable to put his house in order, including the hiring of a chief administrator, the last one fired for nepotism and interfering with a police drug arrest involving her relative.
Mayor Ron has been unable to get a handle on crime, especially homicide. His pitiful state of the city speech called for a meager ten percent drop in crime during the next year. We wonder why violence decreased in Iraq as a result of giving employment to the insurgents, yet this concept eludes those who run America's crime ridden cities. Why is it so difficult to hire the youth in the security of their neighborhoods, especially since the police are unable to secure the hoods?
Mayor Dellums seems unable to get a grip on his city, forcing many citizens to suggest the formation of a New Black Panther Party since the only thing that backed the police up in the 60s was the Panther patrols. And surely at this hour some entity needs to police the police.
What we need is a council of elders to advise the city on critical issues such as youth employment, the rotting educational system with a lack of black teachers, lack of healthy food markets in the hood, disparity in health care, economic self-sufficiency and true distribution of wealth.
We love brother Ron Dellums, but his inadequacies as mayor are unacceptable. He needs to resign and enjoy the rest of his life out of the political arena.
--Marvin X
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
As Fidel Castro has said, our weapon is consciousness, yes, it is the only weapon
we have that can defeat the forces allied against us. Consciousness is an awareness
of our traditions and our mission. Our tradition is a freedom loving people
Manifesto of The University of Poetry
By Marvin X
Chancellor, University of Poetry,
A Project of the Black Arts Movement
The University of Poetry is a continuation of the Black Arts Movement, a performance/academic/activist project to inspire the Cultural Revolution in African America, with implications for the rest of humanity that apparently follows closely every cultural move of African Americans. We can't fart without the world copying our fart. So perhaps we should be flattered except for the fact that often imitation becomes exploitation and we become victims of our own creations, e.g., "Lord, look what they did to my song."
Nevertheless, we shall strive forward with our cultural revolution to transform the negative aspects of our lives into the positive, to reconnect our community, parents with children, males with females, brother to brother and sister to sister, yes, even enemies must reconcile in the spirit of recovery, healing and liberation of the entire community. This is the challenge of the new millennium and we shall not move forward without meeting it. Either we are brave warriors willing to face the jihad within ourselves and our community, or we're cowards prepared to tread water until we become extinct, a forgotten people, relics of a glorious past but no future except a multicultural chasm where we exist on the last rung of the ladder, simply because we refuse to transcend our differences for the greater good, thus succumbing to a low intensity war determined to destroy us politically, economically, morally and culturally.
University of Poetry: The Performance and Educational Arm of the Cultural Revolution
As Fidel Castro has said, our weapon is consciousness, yes, it is the only weapon we have that can defeat the forces allied against us. Consciousness is an awareness of our traditions and our mission. Our tradition is a freedom loving people, not political, economic and cultural slaves to others. We reject the slave tradition of clowning and buffoonery so evident in African American artistic expression, especially movies and rap (now called yap, for rap derived from the tradition of revolutionary spoken word: H. Rap Brown, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Last Poets, Baraka, Sonia, Askia, Haki, X, and yes, Malcolm, Martin, Kwame Toure, Fannie Lou, Queen Mother Moore, Angela). If one is not aspiring to be in the tradition of Paul Robeson, i.e., the artistic freedom fighter, then one has no right to claim membership in the Black Arts Movement, and is therefore merely a whore for capitalist pimps, ready to wear any clown suit, do any shuffle, say any jingle and rhyme, put on any make up and dance for the master's American bandstand, manifesting the cultural hate personified by the likes of Michael Jackson and others too numerous to mention.
No people with consciousness would allow themselves to be paraded on BET, MTV and elsewhere as naked whores, pseudo gangstas and wannabe pimps. Although we are about artistic freedom and freedom of speech, we reject phony black bourgeoisie culture police who are themselves guilty of a profane and obscene lifestyle of conspicuous consumption, yet we demand African American artists get in harmony with our tradition and mission to use our creativity to help liberate the deaf, dumb and blind, not take them deeper into the devil's den of iniquity.
University of Poetry Will Speak Truth to Power
The University of Poetry will perform works that liberate not desecrate. Rappers have given us graphic descriptions of our psychosocial condition, now we must come with solutions. If you hate yo daddy and mama, show me how you turned hate into love, show me how you sought reconciliation and unconditional love. Otherwise, you are simply yapping nursery rhymes, snibbling like snotty nose babies too pitiful to wake up and release your lips from your mother's breasts, you ungrateful bastards! Grow up, did mama tell you life was a bowl of cherries—you are lucky to have a mother and father—think of all the children who are products of foster care.
We were not brought to America to create families, but to be mules, donkeys and horses, and have our families utterly destroyed for capitalism and slavery. And we can only overcome America's plan for us by putting on the armour of God and standing tall together, defying America's hope for our continued subservience and debauchery.
Poets and spoken word artists have an obligation to speak truth to power, not submit gleefully, yapping nonsense around the world to make a dollar and make mockery of the elders, calling them "broke heroes," although the so-called broke heroes are the reason you are among the newly rich because of their sacrifice and unconditional love for your punk asses.
The American Educational System Is An Abysmal Failure
Since the American educational system has failed to teach Johnny and Johnnymae how to read, write and most of all, think, the University of Poetry shall see it as a priority to teach basic skills. How can we have a drama class in which students are unable to read the script. I have taught such classes on the college and university level, so I know the degree of the problem. Don't try to cover ignorance and mental retardation as a result of America's public school miseducation.
The University of Poetry will train students with talent in the arts: drama, dance, music, creative writing, nonfiction, poetry and spoken word, for these are serious crafts that take discipline and training, not a jack in the box game of jingles and rhymes produced because one can memorize words that are full of sound and fury signifying nothing, although audiences are enraptured by the nothingness and babble, rewarding the jester with money at poetry Slams/Scams, deluding the person that he/she is a poet and spoken word master because of his/her natural talent as a product of the ancient African oral tradition.
Racism 101
Racism is the abomination of the new world, but Elijah Muhammad used racism and black supremacy as an anti-toxin to white supremacy. The Black Arts Movement did the same. Whites were often banned from attending performances and certainly from performing in productions. Harold Cruse noted how this marked a radical departure from traditional Negro theatre (see Crisis of the Negro Intellectual). Thus BAM was of, for, and by Black people, if only for a moment, time enough to get “ourselves” together. This moment was necessary to raise a people from the dead, who were full of fear after being terrorized for centuries by white supremacy.
Why is this so difficult to understand, perhaps because there are those in denial about the ravages of white supremacy on African American minds, to say nothing about what it has done to delusional white minds. Why should victims of liars and murderers want them in our presence? How can we recover with them in our midst? Can the rape victim recover with the rapist in her bed?
Even today, American racism and capitalism/imperialism is the scorn of the earth, blood sucking the poor in the name of global free trade, caring nothing for the rights of poor nations to economic parity. You consume the world’s energy for the greedy privilege of driving SUVs and having a television in every room, left on 24/7. You have no intentions of dealing with the root causes of terrorism: poverty, ignorance, and disease. Until you do so, you will become a prisoner in your own land, afraid of those outside your borders and those within whom you’ve equally mistreated, abused and falsely accused of being criminals, unworthy to share in the fruits of their labor and that of their ancestors, while white descendants enjoy the surplus capital from centuries of slave labor.
Our primary concern was then and is now ourselves. You are dangerous to our health, mental, physical, and spiritual, unless you have radicalized your consciousness, or shall we say become blackenized, certainly all vestiges of white supremacy must be processed out of your consciousness. Those whites who have worked on themselves we welcome as allies, brothers and sisters in revolution.
It is not the nature of Africans or African Americans to hate and exclude. We can be nationalists and internationalists without hating and excluding. But we do have the human right to do for self as others do, whites, Latinos, Asians, gays, lesbians, and others of every race, sex and creed.
We must not be afraid to become economically self-sufficient. We were in better economic shape under segregation, yes, when we were Negroes, now we’re black and don’t have a decent restaurant or hotel in any American city.
We have thousands of religious houses where the people receive their dose of opium as a form of social control to delay the day of our liberation, where people are taught fairy tales and nursery rhymes about a sky god who died on the cross for our sins, sins? What have African Americans done but be loyal slaves, down to this present moment we are dying in Iraq defending liars and murderers.
Finally, racism is a component of capitalism. We cannot be capitalists because we have no capital! We hardly have one black bank in America. Where are our African American global markets? We might sell a few raps songs in Europe and Asia, but do we sell a blackmobile, trucks, socks, toilet paper, matches?
Black Studies and the University of Poetry
Although black studies derived from the efforts of black revolutionary students, with the demise of the liberation struggle, radical instructors and scholars were removed and replaced with academically "qualified" collaborators and trusted colonial servants, unconcerned with the original mission of black studies: to uplift the community. As a result, for every one brother going to college, four go to prison. For the most part, black studies is a sham, a place for tenured Negroes to keep a job for life unless they rock the boat by teaching radical ideas found to be politically incorrect by their academic masters.
Black Studies began in revolution, but has succumb to reaction and irrelevance with respect to providing a leadership role in uplifting the community. Where is a truly radical black studies department? Where in America is one black radical college or university?
Please don't mention the Negro colleges and universities, mainly outhouses for training house slaves who escape the hood into corporate America and never look back. Of course the white colleges and universities do the same. Isn't it interesting that Dr. Ben couldn't find a black academic institution to donate his thirty thousand volume library? He gave it to the Nation of Islam, which is very ironic in light of his history of anti-Islamic pronouncements.
As a consequence of the above, the University of Poetry must step to the front line of community education; it must become an institution for the training of radical scholars and social activists who will fulfill the original mission of black studies by attacking illiteracy, joblessness, economic empowerment, addictions, mental and physical health issues and spiritual poverty caused by excessive religiosity. Academic subjects will be considered for their relevance to life issues as we confront America's low intensity war on a daily basis.
Gender Studies and the University of Poetry
The Arabic word nisa has two meanings depending on syllable stress. One meaning is woman, another meaning is to forget. Long ago, Warith Din Muhammad gave a lecture on how men forget women. More recently, Amina Baraka exhorted me and her husband, Amiri, not to forget women, to respect them always, especially for their contribution to our liberation struggle: "Remember the women of history, remember Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, remember Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Queen Mother Moore, remember Ella Collins," Amina cried.
The University of Poetry must address problems in male/female relations since such problems directly impact healthy family and community development. Mrs. Baraka was addressing two poets, both having the artistic sensibility and insensitivity to become emotionally detached from women, children and men in our quest for creativity, thinking a poem is more important than the human being. (Of course Amiri Baraka is qualified to speak for himself, but since I know him, I'm taking the liberty to place him in the boat with me, other poets and artists in general.)
If men of intelligence can be so detached, imagine the behavior of men with lesser intelligence. Perhaps this is why the divorce courts and the anger management programs are full. Men just don't get it and some have no intention to "get it." It will take generations before the patriarchal mentality subsides, if then, although great strides have been made in male/female equality. Now we are in danger of women getting revenge after coming into power situations. They want to oppress. Go before a female judge with a domestic violence case.
But the socialization of males and females must be examined to explore better, healthier methods of interpersonal relations. How can women who love talking endlessly, communicate with men who will go silent when approached on critical matters? "Do you hear me, man," the woman says, "Then why don't you say something?" In the TS Eliot poem the women say, "That is not what I meant, that is not what I meant at all. . . ."
Male education must involve manhood rites that allow them to explore male psychology and female psychology, and the same for women. So often we come together not knowing a damn thing about each other, until it is too late, two or three children later, several ass whippings later.
Men must learn to understand and treat females as equal but different human beings. The idea is not to make men more feminine, but to understand their natural selves and gain a more precise understanding of the opposite sex. Mythologically speaking, understand the function of the sky god and the earth mother goddess. One is the protector, one the nurturer. Today the situation is such that the woman needs protection from the protector!
And the man feels his nurturer is somehow his enemy, the very person he sleeps with he is terrified of, and often the woman feels the same. What kind of horror story is this?
Moving from myth to nature, roosters will not become hens, bulls will not become cows, so stop trying to reverse nature, although it is urgent that we understand the nature of human psychology, understand different functions of each sex, responsibilities, desires, drives and dreams. Often men are indeed lost in the stars, while women are usually forced to stay grounded in reality. As Joseph Campbell explains, men must be taught they are approaching manhood. Women know they are approaching womanhood at the first cycle—they can see, feel, touch, smell womanhood, but men need a ritual: they must come out of the sky and go into the bush to be terrified into the reality of manhood.
Men must at least listen to the dreams of women, even if we reject their dreams, and women must do the same—ultimately a compromise can and must be found. It shall never be again, "Your way or no way," although men will attempt to maintain male privilege until the sky falls—look up, brother, the sky is falling!
And women, in their new found aggression and power positions, will push their agenda at every turn, forcing men to react violently, "Bitch, I don't want to hear nothing you got to say. Shut the fuck up." But she's not going to shut up and she ain't going away—you may leave her for another woman but strangely it will be the same woman with another name. A woman is a woman is a woman is a woman, stupid!
So before there can be unity, there must be understanding. The main thing is not to oppress each other, especially since we're both freshly out of slavery. Men often feel the double-edged sword of oppression from the black woman and the white man. And women feel the same sword blade from the white man and the black man. If we, males and females, would recognize we're not enemies but friends and lovers, sailing in the same love boat, we'll be at least halfway free!
When women are at the top of their game, they have the unique ability to get anything they want from men, sometimes with the glance of an eye, a stride, a smile, the tone of her voice can totally disarm a man. Call it feminine charm or whatever, but women have been successful throughout the ages. With her newfound power, do not forget her ancient secrets that worked for thousands of years, giving her the ability to be a helpmate to great men and tearing down great men when in rage and frustration.
Consider the Children
These twisted male/female relationships have profound implications for the children. When the male departs from the jungle to the forest, the child, especially the male child, is soon out of control, usually by age 15. He is in absolute rebellion against his mother's agenda, although her agenda is often bisexual because she is forced to don the persona of the female/male. The young man's hatred is directed at the female side of the mask, although he harbors a distinct hatred for his missing father as well. So consider his rage, just as his hormones are kicking in. Again, the need for manhood training. But even with females, there is a need and desire for father's love that she will search for in fatherless young men or dirty old men!
Likewise, with young males, the hatred is transferred to girlfriends whom they verbally and physically abuse. This hatred is expressed in the poetic language of rap songs. Healing such shattered young lives is the task of mental health specialists such as Dr. Nathan Hare's Black Reconstruction mental health group sessions that he is calling to be established across America. In the interim, hip hop youth use poetry, sometimes unconsciously, for peer counseling, and this is all good. The University of Poetry must address such stress and strains in the personality of males and females, urging them to use poetry as a healing tool in their lives, let poetry be a bridge for reconciliation rather than a vehicle to only express pain and rage between the sexes and the generations.
Poetically Gay
If we were against gay and lesbian poets, there would be little poetry to read, since the arts seem to be the home of many gay people. Imagine a world without Langston Hughes or James Baldwin, or Audre Lorde and June Jordan. So my attitude is what does sex have to do with being a poet—nothing! A poet must understand human sexuality in general. A poet stuck on being gay is not a poet, for what happens when he or she must put on the persona of a man or woman, or a tree for that matter. A poet must transcend all sexuality in order to understand the universal human spirit that is, yes, beyond a particular sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians might sometimes have a more sensitive spirit, but every poet, whether gay or straight, must have a sensitive spirit.
Did Baldwin write as a gay or as a writer of the human condition? After my 1968 interview with him, I remarked to Ed Bullins, “He talked like a man.” Ed said, “He damn sho did.” Alas, Baldwin wrote the script for Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. If he had been trapped in his gayness, how could he have written a script about a hero who symbolized black manhood? When people questioned whether he was qualified to write the script because of his gayness, Baldwin said, “Hey, I pay my rent, I write what I want to write.”
In the video version of my play One Day In The Life, a gay actor portrays my son. If he had not transcended his gayness, he wouldn’t have been in my play. So he was in my play because he was a great actor. At the audition for my play in New York, a gay brother tried out for the part but couldn’t transcend his sexuality. My daughter was casting director, and when I told her to let the guy read the part again, she said, “No, Daddy, no. Let me handle this. He got to go!”
So we have no time to condemn people for their sexual orientation. We might thereby condemn the goose laying the golden egg. We could use another Baldwin or Langston right about now to help free us from this precipice.
But I say to those who passed legislation permitting sex between consenting adults, and in California one of them was then Assemblyman Willie L. Brown, if gays can be with gays and lesbians with lesbians, then men who love prostitutes should be allowed to be with their sex workers in peace, not sneaking around in the alley like a broke dick dog, arrested and cars seized. Yes, legalize prostitution. Lakum dinu kum waliya din: to you your way and to me mine.
Integrated Medicine
Sobriety for some people is possible, but not for all. Harm reduction is the model we favor, just don’t kill yourself, make an all out effort not to self destruct on drugs, if you insist on using them, try to maintain a level of functionality. Some people have been on dope for decades, working everyday and taking care of their families, they just happen to love dope and have no intention of giving it up.
Drugs should probably be legalized, especially when so many people are hooked on legal drugs. Look at the “high” and mighty Rush Limbaugh! And many people have absolutely no intention of ever giving up marijuana or even cocaine for that matter. Decriminalizing drugs would take great pressure off the legal and penal systems, especially if we treat drug abuse as a mental health issue.
We should consider the medicinal value of such drugs that have been used as such for centuries. In other words, certain illegal drugs should be integrated into the catalogue of therapeutic medicines. Some people are better off on certain drugs, even illegal drugs. They have better personalities on drugs than they do when clean and sober—they are clean and sober assholes, disgusting to be around. We should rush them their old drugs if it alters their wretched clean and sober personalities that are often fowl, evil, arrogant and abusive, the dry drunkards.
Yes, we know drugs were only the symptom, not the problem. They have issues in the deep structure of their minds that even drugs cannot remedy. Like an actor putting on makeup, they medicate themselves to face the world, sadly, the world can see underneath the makeup.
Poets and other artists are especially inclined to seek the euphoric state of mind induced by drugs, especially in the emptiness of their hotel suites after the applause is over, the last hurrah. We know the best high is the natural high, we know the body produces the chemicals to make us high, if we would only do the natural thing to release these chemicals. But like the common people, we go for the punk high, high on the cheap, although it can be very expensive, costing our very lives, affecting our families and friends in our selfishness and eagerness to self-destruct. The Ken Burns documentary on jazz artists was so tragic to see our great artists self destructing one after the other. As great as she was, we wonder how greater Billie Holiday would have been without drugs.
And Charlie Parker, Miles, Coltrane, et al.
Art requires a high state of discipline, so young artists, poets, must come to the conclusion that a clear mind is the best tool for success. If one must indulge, try harm reduction. This is what I do. I can do without drugs, but if I want to drink alcohol I do so. But I get high writing as I’m doing right now. I get high seeing my children, woman (when she acts right, whatever that means), visiting the mountains, rivers, creeks, oceans.
Nothing is all bad, even drugs, nor is anything all good, except God. So get with the Most High and stay high forever.
Poets and Mental Health
It is a truism that there is a thin line between creativity and insanity. Poets walk the razor’s edge of being in this world and hearing voices from another world, the world of creation, myth making, and word magic. My first Arabic name was Nazzam, organizer or systematizer, which is what poets do, create a system of myth with their body of work.
Often we are amazed at our creative productions, for what is the source of these words
that seem to spring from a well deep in the human consciousness, or perhaps the collective consciousness of humanity as Jung suggested. For sure the poet’s mythology is but an extension of universal myth with the addition of his unique and original creations, stemming from his personal and communal life. He cannot claim total originality because his basic language is his Mother Tongue, the language of his people, thus his essential myths belong to his tribe, his nation, and he cannot escape this reality, no matter how deep he transcends into mystic shamanism.
In this sense, the poet is never, for all his individuality, an individual, but he is the collective voice of his people. Yes, he speaks for the living, the dead and the yet unborn; he speaks for the blind, the deaf and dumb; he speaks for the fearful, the speechless, the trembling and even the bold, the brave and the strong. If and when he is on point, the people will tell him so. In this sense, the poet is a mirror reflecting truth and beauty that the people already know, but they feel good to know that he knows and can speak about it, spit it out, make it plain, put it in stone.
Now when it goes to stone, sometimes the people are shaken, because they know the poet has gone down the hall of eternity and now they are spooked, for who knows what lies down the halls of eternity? This is why the poet must tell the truth, for no one wants lies sketched on the walls of eternity. And then too, who wants the truth inscribed in the halls and on the walls of eternity, if and when it happens to be the bitter truth, the ugly truth, the low down dirty truth. My family was horrified when I told the truth about them in my autobiography, even though some of the truth was already in the street. So what, they said, at least it wasn’t in stone.
Often the poet is bewildered by his words because he can be overwhelmed—so smart he outsmarts himself, thus, perhaps, they are not his words but the voice of God speaking through him. I said long ago, “I am the pen, Allah is the ink.” Yes, often the pen breaks down, we indeed trick ourselves, contradict our words in every way—and the people love to see us in contradiction, although they love us in righteousness as well, sometimes they will help us energetically no matter what route we choose, out of love.
In the dope house, I was given honor and respect no matter how much and how hard I tried to remain incognito because I knew I was a walking contradiction. But the people knew who I was and treated me as a hero, even though I was walking in shame. Even Huey Newton told me, “Don’t beat yaself, Jackmon,” as we sat smoking crack in West Oakland. I read that during slavery the people knew the leaders, the priests, the warriors, the griots, and they bowed down to them, gave them their propers.
We cannot hide from the people, they know who we are. I caught a woman in the dope house without any dope. She didn’t know me, but she said she saw me when I walked in and wondered what the fuck is this nigguh doing in the dope house. And after I rapped to her, she left with me, again, even though I didn’t have any dope. And we kicked it together for a minute. She tried to help me recover, although she was an alcoholic herself, and eventually lost her life in the game (peace be upon her). But as they say, game recognizes game!
In spite of all the above, we occasionally find ourselves in the mental ward. Yes, as my beloved brother Askari X titled his first album, we find ourselves a “Ward of the State.”
Yes, and I quote him, “A motherfuckin ward of the state.” I just want to say, Askari X is the most powerful Islamic poet I’ve ever heard. He became my son for awhile and I saw him come back from total insanity to a modicum of sanity, then back again to the outer limits, but in his good moments, I observed his genius mind in the studio recording entire albums from recall, doing retakes with perfect recall, a manifestation of the powerful African oral tradition. The present crop of rappers are far from the cream of the crop, wait til the real deal hollyfields step to the front of the line, and don’t expect to see them on BET or Def Poetry Jam, stay tuned to the black underground BAM station in your area.
During my stay in the mental hospital, I had the companionship of many poetic and artistic brothers and sisters. Clearly, some of our disabilities are shared by the general population, but poets were in abundance during my stay, point of information.
So all of us, poets and non-poets, might benefit from Dr. Nathan Hare’s prescription to establish peer mental health group sessions throughout this wretched land. Dr. Hare says we need not have present a professional mental health worker, but we can meet in the manner of AA, CA, NA, as peers to process our mental health issues. It is crystal clear to me that poets are doing this unconsciously in their open mikes and spoken word events, but we need to do it consciously so we are aware of the crisis and therefore take our poems more seriously because of their therapeutic nature and move beyond simple-minded applause into discussion, resolution, and conscious healing. Church!
Poets especially need Dr. Hare’s mental health group titled Black Reconstruction, alluding to the post slavery period of our African American sojourn, also the title of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’s classic study of the post slavery period by the same name BLACK RECONSTRUCTION. Poets need Black Reconstruction because we think we are so clever with our poetic pronouncements that we, sometimes, totally escape the reality called life, with all its implications and requirements for using common sense, rather than poetic sense which is often nothing but nonsense of the highest order. Somebody help me, Church!
Addiction and Liberation
Chemical and sexual addictions were the plague of our movement and partly caused its failure, in spite of our achievements which were significant when we stop beating ourselves and consider our accomplishments, as Amina Baraka constantly reminds us.
But after our daily round in a cloud of marijuana, accompanied by a plate of cocaine powder and a bottle of expensive brandy, observed by the hip hop generation, our children, they followed our example to the extent they now tell us at a rap concert, “We ain’t comin on stage less you get some Hennesy and bitches up in this motherfuckin dressin room."
Consequently, we must at least use the harm reduction model when and if total abstinence is not possible. If you must drink, cut the dosage. If you want sex with groupies, practice safe sex. There’s a right way to even do wrong. Don’t do wrong too long!
University of Poetry and Political Education
Since our politicians have been derelict in their duty to establish political institutes for the training of the next generation of political scientists, the University of Poetry will hold classes in political education.
While Elijah said, "No politician of this world can save you," it is also true that relevant and socially committed politicians can be helpful when held accountable to the community. It is indeed sad to see Christian ministers such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton stumble and fumble with liberation theology in the political area, while our trained politicians seem to hide and duck challenging the power structure.
Imagine, one black woman, Barbara Lee, challenged the war hawks in the Bush house. One black woman, Cynthia McKinney, questioned the Bush devils on 9/11. If and when poets are required to step into the political area, we shall do so without fear.
Amiri Baraka brought over ten thousand people together at the National Black Assembly. Perhaps it is time to call another assembly, but a trained cadre of conscious and politically aware artists can and must move history forward. Those dead head rappers and poets must fall in line or fall into the dustbin of ancient history, taking their bling bling and slam/scams with them.
In The Beginning Was The Word
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and belongs to God. Those who play with the word are playing with God and He don't like ugly. The word is sacred, the word is holy, so be about the business of spreading truth not nonsense, lies, and frivolity for the sake of applause and a few pennies thrown from the master's table. Either get with Moses or go down as one of Pharaoh's magicians.
The Bible tells us the people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Although we are in the Information Age, our community suffers from information starvation, with little relevant news from commercial or community newspapers (often community papers are either a hip hop rag sheet or a bourgeoisie perpetuation of the world of make believe and pseudo high society, so eloquently delineated by sociologist E. Franklin Frazier four decades ago in his classic Black Bourgeoisie.
Baraka asks, "Where are the black radical newspapers and magazines? Where are the freedom journals representing the aspirations of a people forty million strong, a people who are the 16th richest nation in the world?"
We Must Train Fearless Journalists
If these publications don't exist-and they don't-then the time has arrived to create them. We must train journalist dedicated to community service rather than objectivity.
Either the police beat Rodney King's ass or they didn't-there is nothing to be objective about. Either the police shot Diallo 41 times or they didn't-don't hide behind objectivity to eat a meal at Pharaoh's table. We must train fearless journalists, informed of world events so they can inform a community steeped in darkness of international affairs.
Additionally, the University of Poetry must train our community how to locate alternative news sources such as Al Jazeerah, Al Arabiyah, Pacifica News, NPR, and BBC, the most listened to news service on the planet—few Negroes tune in to the BBC unless they're outside this country.
If you don't listen to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now, one is simply out of the information loop. And where is our Amy Goodman? Oprah?
Where is our African American emergency information hotline? We know we cannot rely on governmental sources of information, nor can we depend on government bootlickers NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and CNN, agents of misinformation and white racist propaganda.
Baraka has told us to stop thinking like Americans. Americans own ABC, CBS, NBC, et al, we don't—we were too stupid to keep BET. Nevertheless, we can create news sources in the Digital Age, improve and support TBWT and others. We can and must create the necessary radical journals, magazines, and newspapers that reflect the tradition of Freedom's Journal, Garvey's Negro World and Elijah's Muhammad Speaks.
Our publications need not be slick like Ebony, Essence, Vibe—content will make them slick. Remember how eagerly we sought copies of the Crusader by Robert Williams, a little hand sized newsletter that was earthshaking in calling for radical change.
Poets And The Religious Experience
The great mythologist Joseph Campbell taught that religion(s) prevent us from having the religious experience. Religion is basically a code of conduct for the masses, an opiate to keep them under control. I once asked Minister Farakhan why do religions, all religions, make slaves of believers? He simply said we must somehow move to the point that religion is a liberating force rather than an enslaver.
I have written elsewhere (Religion and Revolution) that religion is a road to God, God being the Mountain, so religion is a path up the mountain. Most people need religion because they fear going up the mountain alone, they want someone to hold their hand, to guide them, fearful, they refuse to stand alone and face God butt naked. So religious leaders baby sit them while they read kindergarten books about God, rather than plow up the mountain like a warrior after his enemy, although God is their friend, alas, God is themselves. Martin Luther King, Jr. went up to the mountaintop of himself and saw God in himself and needed to see no more. His work was finished. Somebody get a healing.
The priest, the preacher, the imam does not detour from the holy books, only the poet is fearless enough to go beyond the book into the dark abyss of mystical joy and searching. The priest/preacher/imam is locked in traditional myth and ritual, but the poet kicks down the door of tradition to make himself one with the Divine. By definition, he must transcend the common rites and rituals to experience the metaphysical, the mystical intercourse with God; in his fearlessness, in his search for something new, something extraordinary, he may "walk through the muck and mire of hell," but if he is a true believer, a shaman, he will "come out clean as white fish and black as coal" (quote from James Sweeney, foreword to In the Crazy House Called America by Marvin X).
The University of Poetry must teach spirituality but not religion. Spirituality is being one with God, being God, expressing godliness in all that we do. We are not apart from God, hence there is nothing to learn except to know who we really are. We are in God/ God is in us. There is no separation, no sin, we cannot get out of our God skin, except when we refuse to recognize what we are wearing. We have on an expensive fur coat, but we don't want to recognize it, so the thief comes and steals it off our back and we stand naked in the snow. Of course Jesus taught us sometimes it is better to give the thief your coat and your cloak, for God is still within, closer than our jugular vein, closer than all the blood flowing from head to toe, closer than close, if we recognize.
And we better recognize, in other words, make salat, prayer, as in salute, recognize. But our every move should be salat, not five times a day but all day, every step we step with God consciousness, every move we move in harmony with the Divine flow of the universe. We flow with the flow, whom shall we fear, fear is the counter flow, going against the Divine, against ourselves, the very essence of our being, our godliness or goodness. God is myself, whom shall I fear.
The man told you the only thing to fear is fear itself. Someone asked me why don't I go lead the people. I asked them, "Why don't you go lead the people." You won't do it because you are afraid, shaking in your boots, so you want someone else to do what you should be doing. To hell with you. Lead yourself, stupid! Enough men and women have died for you, die for yourself, or rather, live for yourself and others will follow your example. Just like you're watching me, somebody is watching you, so don't ask me to bear your burden. They say I fought battles I didn't have to fight, so now it's your turn, the ball is in your court, the baton is in your hand, run with it and don't look back. Keep the faith until you win the race!
All religions make slaves of believers, robots who recite myth and enact rituals unto death, thus creating the present situation of savage murder and self annihilation throughout the world in order to fulfill religious precepts, whether Christian White Supremacy or Muslim Fundamentalism. But often ignorance, poverty, and disease take the religious fanatic beyond tradition into the absurd because of hopelessness under authoritarian and fascist oppression, pseudo democracies and barbaric theocracies.
Under such conditions, the oppressed have the human and divine right to overthrow the oppressor by any means necessary, including self-annihilation, to hell with this life, persecution is worse than slaughter, better we perish than suffer oppression for one minute, one day, and we have suffered four hundred years. Why do we even bring slave children into the world, better to abort them than allow them to be fuel for the fires of oppression, to be tricks for the blood suckers of the poor, to go about their daily round deaf, dumb and blind, yes, blind in this world and blind in the hereafter. Wake up and see God, look in the mirror.
Perhaps the poet's insanity can bring about sanity to a world full of religions but devoid of persons enjoying the religious experience. Yes, the power of the poet is such that he can make you cry like you're at your mother's funeral. As a young man I did a production of Baraka’s Dutchman at Fresno State University. I needed a wig for Ethna X. Wyatt (now Hurriyah, queen of Black Arts West Theatre and Black House, San Francisco) to perform the role of the white woman Lula. So I got a local pimp to loan me a wig belonging to one of his sex workers.
The pimp came to the production and when he saw Lula stab Clay to death it rocked his world so much that he gave up pimping and joined the Nation of Islam, later became an Imam under Warith Din Muhammad, even made his haj to Mecca, such is the power of drama. And if the poet cannot move you in this fashion, to this degree, then he is not a poet and most certainly not a shaman, thus you are right to return to the authority of your priest/preacher/imam, and live happily ever after, deaf, dumb and blind to your divinity and eternity.
Poet As Shaman
The poet as shaman is a visionary who sees with his third eye, his spiritual eye. A people who don’t support their poets and other artists will get no prophecy and see no visions, Baraka said long ago. But the poet as shaman is in this world but not of this world. He is simultaneously in harmony with nature and beyond nature. He is in harmony with the trees, rivers, oceans, mountains, valleys, sun, moon, and stars. He is in harmony with the bees, birds, dogs, cows, and horses, even the flies. He knows and understands the flies. When flies bug him in the house, he knows they are telling him to let them out, so he opens the door for them to exit rather than kill them with the swatter.
He demands freedom for himself and all human beings, men and women. He must be free to think, to imagine the impossible, to create new thoughts, new configurations of society that are healthy and wholesome rather than destructive and demoralizing, inhibiting self development and transformation. For example, is the concept of marriage functional in the new age? Fifty per cent of the marriages end in divorce, pretty sad odds. Maybe we need to take a look at the concept and consider a reconfiguration that will make relationships more lasting and not full of sorrow, pain, and suffering, but happiness and joy.
We must look at the system of justice and envision a better way. Why should millions be imprisoned for petty crimes while the filthy rich plunder the world beyond the arm of justice. How shall the world disarm and arrest such global criminals for polluting the environment and pimping the poor unto death in the name of free trade, free slavery?
So it is the duty of the poet /shaman to think of ways out of this morass of suffering and injustice. He must conjure words that liberate the human spirit, inspire people to dream the impossible, to unite for the common good rather than selfish desires. The poet/shaman must force people to give up their fears, doubts and inferior complexes created by the social oppression of centuries. He must make the people feel good about themselves because he has given them knowledge, wisdom, and the appreciation of beauty and truth.
Music and Poetry
Sun Ra said, “Marvin, don’t you know armies march to music?” Of course they do, and music can kill, music can heal. When my driver suffered a mental breakdown, Sun Ra sent the brother an album and he got better. Music is therapy, and for black people it is truly their only therapist, they refuse any other doctor, maybe except doctor feel-good, as Aretha sang.
Music was an essential part of the BAM, coast to coast. Baraka had Sun Ra, the Aylers, Archie Shepp, Pharaoh Sanders, Milford Graves, Don Pullins. On the West Coast we had Dewey Redman, Raphael Donald Garrett, Monte Waters, BJ, Earl Davis, Oliver Johnson, and later Bobby Hutcherson, Sun Ra, Juju with Babatunde Lea and Plunky. In Chicago they had the Art Ensemble and Phil Corans Afro-Arts Theatre.
Today I am blessed to perform with Destiny (harp), Tarika (violin) and Tacuma (djembe and other instruments), and I detest performing without them. Yes, their “new age” sounds are healing for me, if no one else. Physician heal thyself.
We know music affects our central nervous system, calming us down or hyping us into a stupor. The culture police worry about the affect of lyrics on youth, but some youth informed me they pay no attention to the lyrics, only the beat, so perhaps the culture police should turn their attention away from the so-called disgusting lyrics and consider the beats and their effect on the mentality of youth. It’s the beats that have them bobbing and weaving like palm trees in the wind.
So I want music that can soothe the wild beast and transform the beast into a soldier for the cultural revolution. The BAM, revolution also had Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and My Favorite Things, Eric Dolphy’s Round Midnight, Mile’s Kind of Blue, and Nina talking plenty shit, but music, not techno music, live music that brought us alive and made us challenge the evil powers. Today the music is fostering the state of Yakubism, perpetuating violence and negative thinking, instead of healing sounds that liberate us mentally and physically. See the great Sufi master Hazrat Khan on music and sound.
We know there are only so many rhythms and each one has a different effect on the heart or central nervous system. Vudun, Santeria, Condomble all have rhythms to call forth the gods or spirits, each with a different purpose for each devotee, who only responds to a particular god’s rhythm or drum beat. But we’re dancing to beats about which we know nothing, except they make us feel good, meanwhile they are destroying our central nervous system, causing us to have a mental breakdown, yes, as we go down funky!
Ain’t it funky now. I didn’t say James Brown wasn’t healing!
The poet must integrate his healing words with healing music, and don’t forget the dancer who can translate our poetry into body language to help make the poem plain. Work that magic Raynetta Rayzetta! Elijah said, “I am only after the plainest way to get truth to my people. Poetry is a science.” So we want to make it so plain a fool can understand, the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
Poetics of Yakubism
The poetry genre “rap” must be examined from the reference point of the Muslim myth of Yakub, the mad scientist who created the white man through genetic engineering. (See Elijah Muhammad’s Message to the Black Man and Amiri Baraka’s play A BLACK MASS.) Yakub discovered the magnetic attraction of playing with two pieces of steel.
Hip Hop youth are fond of playing with steel, especially the gangsta rappers and their devotees. They repeatedly rap about gun violence, apparently have a fixation with weapons of steel, thus we call them Yakub’s children. Now the previous generation played with knives, so we were Yakubites as well. But our guns were mainly for hunting animals. Today’s Yakubites hunt each other. Often it is not about dope or sex, simply boredom, as some youth told me, “Man, when we bored, we put on our bulletproof vests, get our uzis and ride through the hood shootin nigguhs.” Are we not worse than the KKK? At least they don’t shoot each other!
Cars reflect the Yakub syndrome. Youth drive at high speed through city streets, killing innocent people while doing donuts and other tricks with their steel toys. And Yakub’s children can be seen playing in the streets while 2,000 pounds of steel is coming at them.
And they refuse to move as if the steel can stop on a dime. The children will walk right into the steel, fearless in the face of certain death, and will curse you for blowing your horn to warn them to get their ignut asses out of the street.
Of course, we must look at the teachers of Yakub’s children, America, the number one gun merchant of the world, who also supplies guns to Yakub’s children in the hoods of America, along with dope to destabilize the community. Gangsta rap adds fuel to the fire, with lyrics and videos praising violence, if only verbal violence, against brothers and sisters, reducing women to sex objects and parading them in prostitute garb.
In ancient times, the Yakubites were banned from the holy land, exiled in the hills and caves of Europa. As punishment for playing with steel, we may need to banish the modern Yakubites, unless they are willing to enter recovery and become civilized, renouncing urban savagery, whether poetic or real.
Poetics and Psycholinguistics
We are speaking here of the relationship between the mind and language. Sometimes words have us in such a tizzy we can’t think straight. We are so confused about the word nigguh we can’t engage in civil conversation about the term. And the irony is that no matter what we think about it, the term is now in worldwide usage with the multi-cultural hip hop generation. The word nigguh is literally making billions of dollars, yet the nigguhs are often mortally afraid of the term, as they are afraid of themselves, generally.
True, its origin conjures the most despicable aspects of American history and culture, yet language is in constant flux, taking on new meanings or connotations, so it is culturally lagging to remain fixated on the denotation of a word that has been transformed into something positive rather than negative. Get over it, nigguh ain’t going nowhere soon, unless we stop speaking English. It is one of the most powerful words in American English with multiple meanings, depending on tone, stress and speaker. It can get you killed or get you in bed with your lover. It is a word that comes from the depths of slavery but its current usage indicates the slave’s language is superior to the master’s.
For all his effort to make it a term of debasement, it is now a term of love and appreciation, as in “You my nigguh.” And this can be said between two white persons, Latinos, Asians, or whomever. Negro speech is but another aspect of our culture that is co-opted by world culture, over which we have absolutely no control. Do we control Blues, Jazz, or Rap for that matter? And now poetry is being pimped by slams and def jams. We understand there is a poetry war in Los Angeles between the conscious poets and the dead head slam poets.
While we believe in freedom of speech, we must push for poetry that moves history forward, not treading water in the personal, but reaching out to arouse political consciousness in a people who amble about like dead men walking. Imagine, there is no black representation in the California State legislature above Bakersfield. This is a pitiful situation that reflects the apolitical nature of the times and poets must break the spell with word magic.
On another point, I maintain there are no profane or obscene words, only profane and obscene actions. Saying motherfucker is in no way equal to being a mother fucker. Words are the tool of poets, writers, so just as Picasso would not limit himself to certain colors, no poet is going to limit his language except in context. Words only have relevance in context.
If we are writing for polite society, we might use Miller Lite language. But if we are describing or recreating language of the hood, we use Old English 800 terminology, some ass kicking shit.
Writers/poets must have freedom of speech. We cannot be held hostage to the culture police whether they are phony black bourgeoisie, religious or radical purists, all of whom can be found using the most vile language when it suits them, usually in anger and rage. A friend who abhors the term bitch, recently informed me she called her son a bitch in anger and rage at his juvenile behavior. So the culture police are at the very least hypocritical, and most certainly ignorant of the complex function of language, or is it simply denial, again context: it’s proper and improper depending on the moment.
Baraka jammed me one night in New York for using profanity in the presence of his wife, who quite frequently uses profanity, especially in describing and communicating with her husband. But I was horrified that the motherfucker who taught me how to say motherfucker had flipped on me and was telling me to shut up. Yes, this is the man whose poetics freed us psycholinguistically during the 60s. What poet or playwright wasn’t influenced by The Dutchman? Perhaps Baraka has become conservative, but again, words are valid in context, and even now when he wants to say motherfucker he doesn’t hesitate to include it in a poem or in conversation.
I find it very strange when the culture police tell me not to use certain language because children are present, yet, the children use more gutter language that myself, Baraka and Shakespeare together. Yes, the old bard was raw when the occasion called for it.
Now if we want to talk about a new language, it would be the language of silence, yes, don’t read my lips, but read my mind. I can read yours. I know what you’re thinking, so be silent. Why is it necessary to yap endlessly day and night, especially when you have no idea what you’re saying, you’re simply masturbating at the mouth. Words are extensions of our mind, so let’s go to the deep structure and read minds. You don’t need to call me on the phone because I already know what you’re thinking, and you know what’s on my mind. Silencia por favor.
Poetic Sexuality
Sex is the gasoline that fuels the poetic engine. After climax, the poet can get up and write all nite. He is energized, although he may never get enough, a delusion of his addictive personality. He is addicted to beauty and truth, often both of them come in the form of the opposite sex.
But normal sex is not good enough. The worse thing in the world to tell the poet is to be normal. “Why don’t you act like normal people?” The last thing on earth he wants to be is normal. Now if you want a normal motherfucker, get yo square ass away from the poet person. He is the natural born freak. He wants more and a variety thereof. If you think he will ever be satisfied with only you, you are dumber than the dumbest mule let out of Georgia. Not only does he love beauty and truth, but the more beauty and truth the better.
Even if you are the most beautiful woman in the world, the poet looks at you thinking it would be even more beautiful if there were two of you taking care of me. Church!
No one should ever approach the poet with the idea he should do anything normal, for he dwells in the abnormal, the different, just to be different. He is sexually insatiable, just to be insatiable, simply because in your simple mindedness you think he should be satisfied.
He purposely must fuck with you, go beyond your normal thoughts, so that you never consider him on such a lowly plain—in his warped mind.
And yet, there comes a woman who takes him beyond sex into the love zone, although in the deep structure of his mind, he is in love with poetry. Poetry is his lover, just as Duke Ellington said, “Music is my mistress.”
Believe it or not, he is ultimately asexual, caring nothing for sex, especially if it interferes with his creativity. Was it Emerson who said, “I would write on the lentils of a door post.”?
His sheets are full of ink from pens he left uncapped after falling asleep writing in bed. He is funky, refusing to bathe after writing for days. And he is the supreme distant lover, never, ever, never, ever there. Look into his eyes, but he is not there, his mind is lost in a poem, while his lover chats endlessly about their relationship and what a commitment means to her, as if he gives a fuck about what she’s running off at the mouth about in her utter seriousness that means absolutely nothing to him. He is lost in poetic dreamland, where he lives 24/7 and most likely where he will die, graciously. It doesn’t matter if you have been with him four years or thirty-four years, the net result is the same, so you either love the man ya wit or get yo ass on—whatever ya do, don’t think ya gonna change baby boy cause it ain’t that kinna party. Love him for what he is and where he is: in the poetic dreamland where he lives and where his heart is at in peace, and where no one but God can penetrate. Church! So now you know, poets are crazy motherfuckers.
The Poetics of Love
Love is the grand theme of poetry, all other themes pale in comparison because love is at the heart and soul of every poet. Of course love of the opposite sex is often a metaphor for Divine love. And what is hate except a heart crying out for love, so love is the question and the answer, the problem and the solution. How often do we hear young poets crying in their poems about what love has or hasn’t done to them, and old poets as well, so poets must go deep down into the sea of love and write from there the poems of eternity, even political poems are rooted in love of justice, truth and peace, but love is the motivator, love for a new day beyond the white night of oppression and human misery, love, even when love is impossible the thought is ever present to have the experience, the joy.
Now of course poets sometimes find themselves full of love, so full they take it for granted, after picking all the lilies in the field, and the lilies seem to come a poet’s way with each poem recited. Want to win the soul of a beautiful woman, read her a poem that touches her heart strings and she will melt into your arms, even break into tears at the beauty of your words, and even you will be shocked at the power of poetry, so try not to abuse these divine words that spring from the fountain of eternity like a well placed before you by God Himself, so never think you are self sufficient, this idea is the stuff of classic tragedy, Shakespeare’s dramas are full of men and women who thought too much of themselves, beyond themselves, so they fell into disgrace and shame. And they wondered what happened to love.
University of Poetry and Basic Education
Finally, the University of Poetry is for all brothers and sisters who can't learn anywhere else, who might be teachable with the spoken word. We know they can learn, perhaps the failure has been methodology, insincere teachers and administrators. We want the University of Poetry to be a place students are taught with love, patience and understanding. We know Johnny and Johnnymae can learn. Johnny sells dope, thus he's a salesman. He weighs and measures dope, so he knows math. He cooks dope, so he is a chemist. He packages dope, so he deals with marketing and promotion. Johnny can learn. He has look outs, so he deals with security. He keeps the count right on pain of death, so he knows bookkeeping. Johnny can learn. He has a baby and a baby mama, so he deals with responsibility. Johnny can learn. Let's teach him at the University of Poetry.
Let's make one thing perfectly clear: the University of Poetry is not about freedom, rather discipline, discipline, discipline, in the spirit of our dearly departed master teacher Sun Ra, mystic, musician, philosopher, poet, mythologist, ritualist of the Black Arts Movement. Long live Master Teacher Sun Ra!
Funding the University of Poetry
In conclusion, lack of a stable economic base caused the fall of the Black Arts Movement,, aside from its alignment with the liberation movement and the government's orchestrated attack on the overall freedom struggle. The University of Poetry can and must be sustained by the people, not by the whims of governmental and corporate funders, although we have a right to such funds because they are derived from tax dollars. But we must be self sustaining and beyond censorship, independent, including beyond the slimy fingers of the black culture police. If the dead head rappers and poets don't want to join the revolution, they can make donations and be sponsors. They should not have a profit motive: the revolution is not for profit. Bacon said, "Truth will not make you rich, but it will make you free." As-Salaam-Alaikum.
University of Poetry National Tour
We want to take the University of Poetry on a national tour of twenty-seven major cities to perform with legends of the Black Arts Movement, and hip hop conscious poets, also to conduct workshops as described above, establishing a University of Poetry in each community. We must produce journals, newspapers, magazines, books, videos, films, CDs in each community to advance the cultural revolution. The tour should have an executive committee and a local organizing committee that will help raise the necessary funds for each community and do the outreach, marketing, promotion, and logistics.
we have that can defeat the forces allied against us. Consciousness is an awareness
of our traditions and our mission. Our tradition is a freedom loving people
Manifesto of The University of Poetry
By Marvin X
Chancellor, University of Poetry,
A Project of the Black Arts Movement
The University of Poetry is a continuation of the Black Arts Movement, a performance/academic/activist project to inspire the Cultural Revolution in African America, with implications for the rest of humanity that apparently follows closely every cultural move of African Americans. We can't fart without the world copying our fart. So perhaps we should be flattered except for the fact that often imitation becomes exploitation and we become victims of our own creations, e.g., "Lord, look what they did to my song."
Nevertheless, we shall strive forward with our cultural revolution to transform the negative aspects of our lives into the positive, to reconnect our community, parents with children, males with females, brother to brother and sister to sister, yes, even enemies must reconcile in the spirit of recovery, healing and liberation of the entire community. This is the challenge of the new millennium and we shall not move forward without meeting it. Either we are brave warriors willing to face the jihad within ourselves and our community, or we're cowards prepared to tread water until we become extinct, a forgotten people, relics of a glorious past but no future except a multicultural chasm where we exist on the last rung of the ladder, simply because we refuse to transcend our differences for the greater good, thus succumbing to a low intensity war determined to destroy us politically, economically, morally and culturally.
University of Poetry: The Performance and Educational Arm of the Cultural Revolution
As Fidel Castro has said, our weapon is consciousness, yes, it is the only weapon we have that can defeat the forces allied against us. Consciousness is an awareness of our traditions and our mission. Our tradition is a freedom loving people, not political, economic and cultural slaves to others. We reject the slave tradition of clowning and buffoonery so evident in African American artistic expression, especially movies and rap (now called yap, for rap derived from the tradition of revolutionary spoken word: H. Rap Brown, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Last Poets, Baraka, Sonia, Askia, Haki, X, and yes, Malcolm, Martin, Kwame Toure, Fannie Lou, Queen Mother Moore, Angela). If one is not aspiring to be in the tradition of Paul Robeson, i.e., the artistic freedom fighter, then one has no right to claim membership in the Black Arts Movement, and is therefore merely a whore for capitalist pimps, ready to wear any clown suit, do any shuffle, say any jingle and rhyme, put on any make up and dance for the master's American bandstand, manifesting the cultural hate personified by the likes of Michael Jackson and others too numerous to mention.
No people with consciousness would allow themselves to be paraded on BET, MTV and elsewhere as naked whores, pseudo gangstas and wannabe pimps. Although we are about artistic freedom and freedom of speech, we reject phony black bourgeoisie culture police who are themselves guilty of a profane and obscene lifestyle of conspicuous consumption, yet we demand African American artists get in harmony with our tradition and mission to use our creativity to help liberate the deaf, dumb and blind, not take them deeper into the devil's den of iniquity.
University of Poetry Will Speak Truth to Power
The University of Poetry will perform works that liberate not desecrate. Rappers have given us graphic descriptions of our psychosocial condition, now we must come with solutions. If you hate yo daddy and mama, show me how you turned hate into love, show me how you sought reconciliation and unconditional love. Otherwise, you are simply yapping nursery rhymes, snibbling like snotty nose babies too pitiful to wake up and release your lips from your mother's breasts, you ungrateful bastards! Grow up, did mama tell you life was a bowl of cherries—you are lucky to have a mother and father—think of all the children who are products of foster care.
We were not brought to America to create families, but to be mules, donkeys and horses, and have our families utterly destroyed for capitalism and slavery. And we can only overcome America's plan for us by putting on the armour of God and standing tall together, defying America's hope for our continued subservience and debauchery.
Poets and spoken word artists have an obligation to speak truth to power, not submit gleefully, yapping nonsense around the world to make a dollar and make mockery of the elders, calling them "broke heroes," although the so-called broke heroes are the reason you are among the newly rich because of their sacrifice and unconditional love for your punk asses.
The American Educational System Is An Abysmal Failure
Since the American educational system has failed to teach Johnny and Johnnymae how to read, write and most of all, think, the University of Poetry shall see it as a priority to teach basic skills. How can we have a drama class in which students are unable to read the script. I have taught such classes on the college and university level, so I know the degree of the problem. Don't try to cover ignorance and mental retardation as a result of America's public school miseducation.
The University of Poetry will train students with talent in the arts: drama, dance, music, creative writing, nonfiction, poetry and spoken word, for these are serious crafts that take discipline and training, not a jack in the box game of jingles and rhymes produced because one can memorize words that are full of sound and fury signifying nothing, although audiences are enraptured by the nothingness and babble, rewarding the jester with money at poetry Slams/Scams, deluding the person that he/she is a poet and spoken word master because of his/her natural talent as a product of the ancient African oral tradition.
Racism 101
Racism is the abomination of the new world, but Elijah Muhammad used racism and black supremacy as an anti-toxin to white supremacy. The Black Arts Movement did the same. Whites were often banned from attending performances and certainly from performing in productions. Harold Cruse noted how this marked a radical departure from traditional Negro theatre (see Crisis of the Negro Intellectual). Thus BAM was of, for, and by Black people, if only for a moment, time enough to get “ourselves” together. This moment was necessary to raise a people from the dead, who were full of fear after being terrorized for centuries by white supremacy.
Why is this so difficult to understand, perhaps because there are those in denial about the ravages of white supremacy on African American minds, to say nothing about what it has done to delusional white minds. Why should victims of liars and murderers want them in our presence? How can we recover with them in our midst? Can the rape victim recover with the rapist in her bed?
Even today, American racism and capitalism/imperialism is the scorn of the earth, blood sucking the poor in the name of global free trade, caring nothing for the rights of poor nations to economic parity. You consume the world’s energy for the greedy privilege of driving SUVs and having a television in every room, left on 24/7. You have no intentions of dealing with the root causes of terrorism: poverty, ignorance, and disease. Until you do so, you will become a prisoner in your own land, afraid of those outside your borders and those within whom you’ve equally mistreated, abused and falsely accused of being criminals, unworthy to share in the fruits of their labor and that of their ancestors, while white descendants enjoy the surplus capital from centuries of slave labor.
Our primary concern was then and is now ourselves. You are dangerous to our health, mental, physical, and spiritual, unless you have radicalized your consciousness, or shall we say become blackenized, certainly all vestiges of white supremacy must be processed out of your consciousness. Those whites who have worked on themselves we welcome as allies, brothers and sisters in revolution.
It is not the nature of Africans or African Americans to hate and exclude. We can be nationalists and internationalists without hating and excluding. But we do have the human right to do for self as others do, whites, Latinos, Asians, gays, lesbians, and others of every race, sex and creed.
We must not be afraid to become economically self-sufficient. We were in better economic shape under segregation, yes, when we were Negroes, now we’re black and don’t have a decent restaurant or hotel in any American city.
We have thousands of religious houses where the people receive their dose of opium as a form of social control to delay the day of our liberation, where people are taught fairy tales and nursery rhymes about a sky god who died on the cross for our sins, sins? What have African Americans done but be loyal slaves, down to this present moment we are dying in Iraq defending liars and murderers.
Finally, racism is a component of capitalism. We cannot be capitalists because we have no capital! We hardly have one black bank in America. Where are our African American global markets? We might sell a few raps songs in Europe and Asia, but do we sell a blackmobile, trucks, socks, toilet paper, matches?
Black Studies and the University of Poetry
Although black studies derived from the efforts of black revolutionary students, with the demise of the liberation struggle, radical instructors and scholars were removed and replaced with academically "qualified" collaborators and trusted colonial servants, unconcerned with the original mission of black studies: to uplift the community. As a result, for every one brother going to college, four go to prison. For the most part, black studies is a sham, a place for tenured Negroes to keep a job for life unless they rock the boat by teaching radical ideas found to be politically incorrect by their academic masters.
Black Studies began in revolution, but has succumb to reaction and irrelevance with respect to providing a leadership role in uplifting the community. Where is a truly radical black studies department? Where in America is one black radical college or university?
Please don't mention the Negro colleges and universities, mainly outhouses for training house slaves who escape the hood into corporate America and never look back. Of course the white colleges and universities do the same. Isn't it interesting that Dr. Ben couldn't find a black academic institution to donate his thirty thousand volume library? He gave it to the Nation of Islam, which is very ironic in light of his history of anti-Islamic pronouncements.
As a consequence of the above, the University of Poetry must step to the front line of community education; it must become an institution for the training of radical scholars and social activists who will fulfill the original mission of black studies by attacking illiteracy, joblessness, economic empowerment, addictions, mental and physical health issues and spiritual poverty caused by excessive religiosity. Academic subjects will be considered for their relevance to life issues as we confront America's low intensity war on a daily basis.
Gender Studies and the University of Poetry
The Arabic word nisa has two meanings depending on syllable stress. One meaning is woman, another meaning is to forget. Long ago, Warith Din Muhammad gave a lecture on how men forget women. More recently, Amina Baraka exhorted me and her husband, Amiri, not to forget women, to respect them always, especially for their contribution to our liberation struggle: "Remember the women of history, remember Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, remember Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Queen Mother Moore, remember Ella Collins," Amina cried.
The University of Poetry must address problems in male/female relations since such problems directly impact healthy family and community development. Mrs. Baraka was addressing two poets, both having the artistic sensibility and insensitivity to become emotionally detached from women, children and men in our quest for creativity, thinking a poem is more important than the human being. (Of course Amiri Baraka is qualified to speak for himself, but since I know him, I'm taking the liberty to place him in the boat with me, other poets and artists in general.)
If men of intelligence can be so detached, imagine the behavior of men with lesser intelligence. Perhaps this is why the divorce courts and the anger management programs are full. Men just don't get it and some have no intention to "get it." It will take generations before the patriarchal mentality subsides, if then, although great strides have been made in male/female equality. Now we are in danger of women getting revenge after coming into power situations. They want to oppress. Go before a female judge with a domestic violence case.
But the socialization of males and females must be examined to explore better, healthier methods of interpersonal relations. How can women who love talking endlessly, communicate with men who will go silent when approached on critical matters? "Do you hear me, man," the woman says, "Then why don't you say something?" In the TS Eliot poem the women say, "That is not what I meant, that is not what I meant at all. . . ."
Male education must involve manhood rites that allow them to explore male psychology and female psychology, and the same for women. So often we come together not knowing a damn thing about each other, until it is too late, two or three children later, several ass whippings later.
Men must learn to understand and treat females as equal but different human beings. The idea is not to make men more feminine, but to understand their natural selves and gain a more precise understanding of the opposite sex. Mythologically speaking, understand the function of the sky god and the earth mother goddess. One is the protector, one the nurturer. Today the situation is such that the woman needs protection from the protector!
And the man feels his nurturer is somehow his enemy, the very person he sleeps with he is terrified of, and often the woman feels the same. What kind of horror story is this?
Moving from myth to nature, roosters will not become hens, bulls will not become cows, so stop trying to reverse nature, although it is urgent that we understand the nature of human psychology, understand different functions of each sex, responsibilities, desires, drives and dreams. Often men are indeed lost in the stars, while women are usually forced to stay grounded in reality. As Joseph Campbell explains, men must be taught they are approaching manhood. Women know they are approaching womanhood at the first cycle—they can see, feel, touch, smell womanhood, but men need a ritual: they must come out of the sky and go into the bush to be terrified into the reality of manhood.
Men must at least listen to the dreams of women, even if we reject their dreams, and women must do the same—ultimately a compromise can and must be found. It shall never be again, "Your way or no way," although men will attempt to maintain male privilege until the sky falls—look up, brother, the sky is falling!
And women, in their new found aggression and power positions, will push their agenda at every turn, forcing men to react violently, "Bitch, I don't want to hear nothing you got to say. Shut the fuck up." But she's not going to shut up and she ain't going away—you may leave her for another woman but strangely it will be the same woman with another name. A woman is a woman is a woman is a woman, stupid!
So before there can be unity, there must be understanding. The main thing is not to oppress each other, especially since we're both freshly out of slavery. Men often feel the double-edged sword of oppression from the black woman and the white man. And women feel the same sword blade from the white man and the black man. If we, males and females, would recognize we're not enemies but friends and lovers, sailing in the same love boat, we'll be at least halfway free!
When women are at the top of their game, they have the unique ability to get anything they want from men, sometimes with the glance of an eye, a stride, a smile, the tone of her voice can totally disarm a man. Call it feminine charm or whatever, but women have been successful throughout the ages. With her newfound power, do not forget her ancient secrets that worked for thousands of years, giving her the ability to be a helpmate to great men and tearing down great men when in rage and frustration.
Consider the Children
These twisted male/female relationships have profound implications for the children. When the male departs from the jungle to the forest, the child, especially the male child, is soon out of control, usually by age 15. He is in absolute rebellion against his mother's agenda, although her agenda is often bisexual because she is forced to don the persona of the female/male. The young man's hatred is directed at the female side of the mask, although he harbors a distinct hatred for his missing father as well. So consider his rage, just as his hormones are kicking in. Again, the need for manhood training. But even with females, there is a need and desire for father's love that she will search for in fatherless young men or dirty old men!
Likewise, with young males, the hatred is transferred to girlfriends whom they verbally and physically abuse. This hatred is expressed in the poetic language of rap songs. Healing such shattered young lives is the task of mental health specialists such as Dr. Nathan Hare's Black Reconstruction mental health group sessions that he is calling to be established across America. In the interim, hip hop youth use poetry, sometimes unconsciously, for peer counseling, and this is all good. The University of Poetry must address such stress and strains in the personality of males and females, urging them to use poetry as a healing tool in their lives, let poetry be a bridge for reconciliation rather than a vehicle to only express pain and rage between the sexes and the generations.
Poetically Gay
If we were against gay and lesbian poets, there would be little poetry to read, since the arts seem to be the home of many gay people. Imagine a world without Langston Hughes or James Baldwin, or Audre Lorde and June Jordan. So my attitude is what does sex have to do with being a poet—nothing! A poet must understand human sexuality in general. A poet stuck on being gay is not a poet, for what happens when he or she must put on the persona of a man or woman, or a tree for that matter. A poet must transcend all sexuality in order to understand the universal human spirit that is, yes, beyond a particular sexual orientation. Gays and lesbians might sometimes have a more sensitive spirit, but every poet, whether gay or straight, must have a sensitive spirit.
Did Baldwin write as a gay or as a writer of the human condition? After my 1968 interview with him, I remarked to Ed Bullins, “He talked like a man.” Ed said, “He damn sho did.” Alas, Baldwin wrote the script for Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. If he had been trapped in his gayness, how could he have written a script about a hero who symbolized black manhood? When people questioned whether he was qualified to write the script because of his gayness, Baldwin said, “Hey, I pay my rent, I write what I want to write.”
In the video version of my play One Day In The Life, a gay actor portrays my son. If he had not transcended his gayness, he wouldn’t have been in my play. So he was in my play because he was a great actor. At the audition for my play in New York, a gay brother tried out for the part but couldn’t transcend his sexuality. My daughter was casting director, and when I told her to let the guy read the part again, she said, “No, Daddy, no. Let me handle this. He got to go!”
So we have no time to condemn people for their sexual orientation. We might thereby condemn the goose laying the golden egg. We could use another Baldwin or Langston right about now to help free us from this precipice.
But I say to those who passed legislation permitting sex between consenting adults, and in California one of them was then Assemblyman Willie L. Brown, if gays can be with gays and lesbians with lesbians, then men who love prostitutes should be allowed to be with their sex workers in peace, not sneaking around in the alley like a broke dick dog, arrested and cars seized. Yes, legalize prostitution. Lakum dinu kum waliya din: to you your way and to me mine.
Integrated Medicine
Sobriety for some people is possible, but not for all. Harm reduction is the model we favor, just don’t kill yourself, make an all out effort not to self destruct on drugs, if you insist on using them, try to maintain a level of functionality. Some people have been on dope for decades, working everyday and taking care of their families, they just happen to love dope and have no intention of giving it up.
Drugs should probably be legalized, especially when so many people are hooked on legal drugs. Look at the “high” and mighty Rush Limbaugh! And many people have absolutely no intention of ever giving up marijuana or even cocaine for that matter. Decriminalizing drugs would take great pressure off the legal and penal systems, especially if we treat drug abuse as a mental health issue.
We should consider the medicinal value of such drugs that have been used as such for centuries. In other words, certain illegal drugs should be integrated into the catalogue of therapeutic medicines. Some people are better off on certain drugs, even illegal drugs. They have better personalities on drugs than they do when clean and sober—they are clean and sober assholes, disgusting to be around. We should rush them their old drugs if it alters their wretched clean and sober personalities that are often fowl, evil, arrogant and abusive, the dry drunkards.
Yes, we know drugs were only the symptom, not the problem. They have issues in the deep structure of their minds that even drugs cannot remedy. Like an actor putting on makeup, they medicate themselves to face the world, sadly, the world can see underneath the makeup.
Poets and other artists are especially inclined to seek the euphoric state of mind induced by drugs, especially in the emptiness of their hotel suites after the applause is over, the last hurrah. We know the best high is the natural high, we know the body produces the chemicals to make us high, if we would only do the natural thing to release these chemicals. But like the common people, we go for the punk high, high on the cheap, although it can be very expensive, costing our very lives, affecting our families and friends in our selfishness and eagerness to self-destruct. The Ken Burns documentary on jazz artists was so tragic to see our great artists self destructing one after the other. As great as she was, we wonder how greater Billie Holiday would have been without drugs.
And Charlie Parker, Miles, Coltrane, et al.
Art requires a high state of discipline, so young artists, poets, must come to the conclusion that a clear mind is the best tool for success. If one must indulge, try harm reduction. This is what I do. I can do without drugs, but if I want to drink alcohol I do so. But I get high writing as I’m doing right now. I get high seeing my children, woman (when she acts right, whatever that means), visiting the mountains, rivers, creeks, oceans.
Nothing is all bad, even drugs, nor is anything all good, except God. So get with the Most High and stay high forever.
Poets and Mental Health
It is a truism that there is a thin line between creativity and insanity. Poets walk the razor’s edge of being in this world and hearing voices from another world, the world of creation, myth making, and word magic. My first Arabic name was Nazzam, organizer or systematizer, which is what poets do, create a system of myth with their body of work.
Often we are amazed at our creative productions, for what is the source of these words
that seem to spring from a well deep in the human consciousness, or perhaps the collective consciousness of humanity as Jung suggested. For sure the poet’s mythology is but an extension of universal myth with the addition of his unique and original creations, stemming from his personal and communal life. He cannot claim total originality because his basic language is his Mother Tongue, the language of his people, thus his essential myths belong to his tribe, his nation, and he cannot escape this reality, no matter how deep he transcends into mystic shamanism.
In this sense, the poet is never, for all his individuality, an individual, but he is the collective voice of his people. Yes, he speaks for the living, the dead and the yet unborn; he speaks for the blind, the deaf and dumb; he speaks for the fearful, the speechless, the trembling and even the bold, the brave and the strong. If and when he is on point, the people will tell him so. In this sense, the poet is a mirror reflecting truth and beauty that the people already know, but they feel good to know that he knows and can speak about it, spit it out, make it plain, put it in stone.
Now when it goes to stone, sometimes the people are shaken, because they know the poet has gone down the hall of eternity and now they are spooked, for who knows what lies down the halls of eternity? This is why the poet must tell the truth, for no one wants lies sketched on the walls of eternity. And then too, who wants the truth inscribed in the halls and on the walls of eternity, if and when it happens to be the bitter truth, the ugly truth, the low down dirty truth. My family was horrified when I told the truth about them in my autobiography, even though some of the truth was already in the street. So what, they said, at least it wasn’t in stone.
Often the poet is bewildered by his words because he can be overwhelmed—so smart he outsmarts himself, thus, perhaps, they are not his words but the voice of God speaking through him. I said long ago, “I am the pen, Allah is the ink.” Yes, often the pen breaks down, we indeed trick ourselves, contradict our words in every way—and the people love to see us in contradiction, although they love us in righteousness as well, sometimes they will help us energetically no matter what route we choose, out of love.
In the dope house, I was given honor and respect no matter how much and how hard I tried to remain incognito because I knew I was a walking contradiction. But the people knew who I was and treated me as a hero, even though I was walking in shame. Even Huey Newton told me, “Don’t beat yaself, Jackmon,” as we sat smoking crack in West Oakland. I read that during slavery the people knew the leaders, the priests, the warriors, the griots, and they bowed down to them, gave them their propers.
We cannot hide from the people, they know who we are. I caught a woman in the dope house without any dope. She didn’t know me, but she said she saw me when I walked in and wondered what the fuck is this nigguh doing in the dope house. And after I rapped to her, she left with me, again, even though I didn’t have any dope. And we kicked it together for a minute. She tried to help me recover, although she was an alcoholic herself, and eventually lost her life in the game (peace be upon her). But as they say, game recognizes game!
In spite of all the above, we occasionally find ourselves in the mental ward. Yes, as my beloved brother Askari X titled his first album, we find ourselves a “Ward of the State.”
Yes, and I quote him, “A motherfuckin ward of the state.” I just want to say, Askari X is the most powerful Islamic poet I’ve ever heard. He became my son for awhile and I saw him come back from total insanity to a modicum of sanity, then back again to the outer limits, but in his good moments, I observed his genius mind in the studio recording entire albums from recall, doing retakes with perfect recall, a manifestation of the powerful African oral tradition. The present crop of rappers are far from the cream of the crop, wait til the real deal hollyfields step to the front of the line, and don’t expect to see them on BET or Def Poetry Jam, stay tuned to the black underground BAM station in your area.
During my stay in the mental hospital, I had the companionship of many poetic and artistic brothers and sisters. Clearly, some of our disabilities are shared by the general population, but poets were in abundance during my stay, point of information.
So all of us, poets and non-poets, might benefit from Dr. Nathan Hare’s prescription to establish peer mental health group sessions throughout this wretched land. Dr. Hare says we need not have present a professional mental health worker, but we can meet in the manner of AA, CA, NA, as peers to process our mental health issues. It is crystal clear to me that poets are doing this unconsciously in their open mikes and spoken word events, but we need to do it consciously so we are aware of the crisis and therefore take our poems more seriously because of their therapeutic nature and move beyond simple-minded applause into discussion, resolution, and conscious healing. Church!
Poets especially need Dr. Hare’s mental health group titled Black Reconstruction, alluding to the post slavery period of our African American sojourn, also the title of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’s classic study of the post slavery period by the same name BLACK RECONSTRUCTION. Poets need Black Reconstruction because we think we are so clever with our poetic pronouncements that we, sometimes, totally escape the reality called life, with all its implications and requirements for using common sense, rather than poetic sense which is often nothing but nonsense of the highest order. Somebody help me, Church!
Addiction and Liberation
Chemical and sexual addictions were the plague of our movement and partly caused its failure, in spite of our achievements which were significant when we stop beating ourselves and consider our accomplishments, as Amina Baraka constantly reminds us.
But after our daily round in a cloud of marijuana, accompanied by a plate of cocaine powder and a bottle of expensive brandy, observed by the hip hop generation, our children, they followed our example to the extent they now tell us at a rap concert, “We ain’t comin on stage less you get some Hennesy and bitches up in this motherfuckin dressin room."
Consequently, we must at least use the harm reduction model when and if total abstinence is not possible. If you must drink, cut the dosage. If you want sex with groupies, practice safe sex. There’s a right way to even do wrong. Don’t do wrong too long!
University of Poetry and Political Education
Since our politicians have been derelict in their duty to establish political institutes for the training of the next generation of political scientists, the University of Poetry will hold classes in political education.
While Elijah said, "No politician of this world can save you," it is also true that relevant and socially committed politicians can be helpful when held accountable to the community. It is indeed sad to see Christian ministers such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton stumble and fumble with liberation theology in the political area, while our trained politicians seem to hide and duck challenging the power structure.
Imagine, one black woman, Barbara Lee, challenged the war hawks in the Bush house. One black woman, Cynthia McKinney, questioned the Bush devils on 9/11. If and when poets are required to step into the political area, we shall do so without fear.
Amiri Baraka brought over ten thousand people together at the National Black Assembly. Perhaps it is time to call another assembly, but a trained cadre of conscious and politically aware artists can and must move history forward. Those dead head rappers and poets must fall in line or fall into the dustbin of ancient history, taking their bling bling and slam/scams with them.
In The Beginning Was The Word
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and belongs to God. Those who play with the word are playing with God and He don't like ugly. The word is sacred, the word is holy, so be about the business of spreading truth not nonsense, lies, and frivolity for the sake of applause and a few pennies thrown from the master's table. Either get with Moses or go down as one of Pharaoh's magicians.
The Bible tells us the people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. Although we are in the Information Age, our community suffers from information starvation, with little relevant news from commercial or community newspapers (often community papers are either a hip hop rag sheet or a bourgeoisie perpetuation of the world of make believe and pseudo high society, so eloquently delineated by sociologist E. Franklin Frazier four decades ago in his classic Black Bourgeoisie.
Baraka asks, "Where are the black radical newspapers and magazines? Where are the freedom journals representing the aspirations of a people forty million strong, a people who are the 16th richest nation in the world?"
We Must Train Fearless Journalists
If these publications don't exist-and they don't-then the time has arrived to create them. We must train journalist dedicated to community service rather than objectivity.
Either the police beat Rodney King's ass or they didn't-there is nothing to be objective about. Either the police shot Diallo 41 times or they didn't-don't hide behind objectivity to eat a meal at Pharaoh's table. We must train fearless journalists, informed of world events so they can inform a community steeped in darkness of international affairs.
Additionally, the University of Poetry must train our community how to locate alternative news sources such as Al Jazeerah, Al Arabiyah, Pacifica News, NPR, and BBC, the most listened to news service on the planet—few Negroes tune in to the BBC unless they're outside this country.
If you don't listen to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now, one is simply out of the information loop. And where is our Amy Goodman? Oprah?
Where is our African American emergency information hotline? We know we cannot rely on governmental sources of information, nor can we depend on government bootlickers NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and CNN, agents of misinformation and white racist propaganda.
Baraka has told us to stop thinking like Americans. Americans own ABC, CBS, NBC, et al, we don't—we were too stupid to keep BET. Nevertheless, we can create news sources in the Digital Age, improve and support TBWT and others. We can and must create the necessary radical journals, magazines, and newspapers that reflect the tradition of Freedom's Journal, Garvey's Negro World and Elijah's Muhammad Speaks.
Our publications need not be slick like Ebony, Essence, Vibe—content will make them slick. Remember how eagerly we sought copies of the Crusader by Robert Williams, a little hand sized newsletter that was earthshaking in calling for radical change.
Poets And The Religious Experience
The great mythologist Joseph Campbell taught that religion(s) prevent us from having the religious experience. Religion is basically a code of conduct for the masses, an opiate to keep them under control. I once asked Minister Farakhan why do religions, all religions, make slaves of believers? He simply said we must somehow move to the point that religion is a liberating force rather than an enslaver.
I have written elsewhere (Religion and Revolution) that religion is a road to God, God being the Mountain, so religion is a path up the mountain. Most people need religion because they fear going up the mountain alone, they want someone to hold their hand, to guide them, fearful, they refuse to stand alone and face God butt naked. So religious leaders baby sit them while they read kindergarten books about God, rather than plow up the mountain like a warrior after his enemy, although God is their friend, alas, God is themselves. Martin Luther King, Jr. went up to the mountaintop of himself and saw God in himself and needed to see no more. His work was finished. Somebody get a healing.
The priest, the preacher, the imam does not detour from the holy books, only the poet is fearless enough to go beyond the book into the dark abyss of mystical joy and searching. The priest/preacher/imam is locked in traditional myth and ritual, but the poet kicks down the door of tradition to make himself one with the Divine. By definition, he must transcend the common rites and rituals to experience the metaphysical, the mystical intercourse with God; in his fearlessness, in his search for something new, something extraordinary, he may "walk through the muck and mire of hell," but if he is a true believer, a shaman, he will "come out clean as white fish and black as coal" (quote from James Sweeney, foreword to In the Crazy House Called America by Marvin X).
The University of Poetry must teach spirituality but not religion. Spirituality is being one with God, being God, expressing godliness in all that we do. We are not apart from God, hence there is nothing to learn except to know who we really are. We are in God/ God is in us. There is no separation, no sin, we cannot get out of our God skin, except when we refuse to recognize what we are wearing. We have on an expensive fur coat, but we don't want to recognize it, so the thief comes and steals it off our back and we stand naked in the snow. Of course Jesus taught us sometimes it is better to give the thief your coat and your cloak, for God is still within, closer than our jugular vein, closer than all the blood flowing from head to toe, closer than close, if we recognize.
And we better recognize, in other words, make salat, prayer, as in salute, recognize. But our every move should be salat, not five times a day but all day, every step we step with God consciousness, every move we move in harmony with the Divine flow of the universe. We flow with the flow, whom shall we fear, fear is the counter flow, going against the Divine, against ourselves, the very essence of our being, our godliness or goodness. God is myself, whom shall I fear.
The man told you the only thing to fear is fear itself. Someone asked me why don't I go lead the people. I asked them, "Why don't you go lead the people." You won't do it because you are afraid, shaking in your boots, so you want someone else to do what you should be doing. To hell with you. Lead yourself, stupid! Enough men and women have died for you, die for yourself, or rather, live for yourself and others will follow your example. Just like you're watching me, somebody is watching you, so don't ask me to bear your burden. They say I fought battles I didn't have to fight, so now it's your turn, the ball is in your court, the baton is in your hand, run with it and don't look back. Keep the faith until you win the race!
All religions make slaves of believers, robots who recite myth and enact rituals unto death, thus creating the present situation of savage murder and self annihilation throughout the world in order to fulfill religious precepts, whether Christian White Supremacy or Muslim Fundamentalism. But often ignorance, poverty, and disease take the religious fanatic beyond tradition into the absurd because of hopelessness under authoritarian and fascist oppression, pseudo democracies and barbaric theocracies.
Under such conditions, the oppressed have the human and divine right to overthrow the oppressor by any means necessary, including self-annihilation, to hell with this life, persecution is worse than slaughter, better we perish than suffer oppression for one minute, one day, and we have suffered four hundred years. Why do we even bring slave children into the world, better to abort them than allow them to be fuel for the fires of oppression, to be tricks for the blood suckers of the poor, to go about their daily round deaf, dumb and blind, yes, blind in this world and blind in the hereafter. Wake up and see God, look in the mirror.
Perhaps the poet's insanity can bring about sanity to a world full of religions but devoid of persons enjoying the religious experience. Yes, the power of the poet is such that he can make you cry like you're at your mother's funeral. As a young man I did a production of Baraka’s Dutchman at Fresno State University. I needed a wig for Ethna X. Wyatt (now Hurriyah, queen of Black Arts West Theatre and Black House, San Francisco) to perform the role of the white woman Lula. So I got a local pimp to loan me a wig belonging to one of his sex workers.
The pimp came to the production and when he saw Lula stab Clay to death it rocked his world so much that he gave up pimping and joined the Nation of Islam, later became an Imam under Warith Din Muhammad, even made his haj to Mecca, such is the power of drama. And if the poet cannot move you in this fashion, to this degree, then he is not a poet and most certainly not a shaman, thus you are right to return to the authority of your priest/preacher/imam, and live happily ever after, deaf, dumb and blind to your divinity and eternity.
Poet As Shaman
The poet as shaman is a visionary who sees with his third eye, his spiritual eye. A people who don’t support their poets and other artists will get no prophecy and see no visions, Baraka said long ago. But the poet as shaman is in this world but not of this world. He is simultaneously in harmony with nature and beyond nature. He is in harmony with the trees, rivers, oceans, mountains, valleys, sun, moon, and stars. He is in harmony with the bees, birds, dogs, cows, and horses, even the flies. He knows and understands the flies. When flies bug him in the house, he knows they are telling him to let them out, so he opens the door for them to exit rather than kill them with the swatter.
He demands freedom for himself and all human beings, men and women. He must be free to think, to imagine the impossible, to create new thoughts, new configurations of society that are healthy and wholesome rather than destructive and demoralizing, inhibiting self development and transformation. For example, is the concept of marriage functional in the new age? Fifty per cent of the marriages end in divorce, pretty sad odds. Maybe we need to take a look at the concept and consider a reconfiguration that will make relationships more lasting and not full of sorrow, pain, and suffering, but happiness and joy.
We must look at the system of justice and envision a better way. Why should millions be imprisoned for petty crimes while the filthy rich plunder the world beyond the arm of justice. How shall the world disarm and arrest such global criminals for polluting the environment and pimping the poor unto death in the name of free trade, free slavery?
So it is the duty of the poet /shaman to think of ways out of this morass of suffering and injustice. He must conjure words that liberate the human spirit, inspire people to dream the impossible, to unite for the common good rather than selfish desires. The poet/shaman must force people to give up their fears, doubts and inferior complexes created by the social oppression of centuries. He must make the people feel good about themselves because he has given them knowledge, wisdom, and the appreciation of beauty and truth.
Music and Poetry
Sun Ra said, “Marvin, don’t you know armies march to music?” Of course they do, and music can kill, music can heal. When my driver suffered a mental breakdown, Sun Ra sent the brother an album and he got better. Music is therapy, and for black people it is truly their only therapist, they refuse any other doctor, maybe except doctor feel-good, as Aretha sang.
Music was an essential part of the BAM, coast to coast. Baraka had Sun Ra, the Aylers, Archie Shepp, Pharaoh Sanders, Milford Graves, Don Pullins. On the West Coast we had Dewey Redman, Raphael Donald Garrett, Monte Waters, BJ, Earl Davis, Oliver Johnson, and later Bobby Hutcherson, Sun Ra, Juju with Babatunde Lea and Plunky. In Chicago they had the Art Ensemble and Phil Corans Afro-Arts Theatre.
Today I am blessed to perform with Destiny (harp), Tarika (violin) and Tacuma (djembe and other instruments), and I detest performing without them. Yes, their “new age” sounds are healing for me, if no one else. Physician heal thyself.
We know music affects our central nervous system, calming us down or hyping us into a stupor. The culture police worry about the affect of lyrics on youth, but some youth informed me they pay no attention to the lyrics, only the beat, so perhaps the culture police should turn their attention away from the so-called disgusting lyrics and consider the beats and their effect on the mentality of youth. It’s the beats that have them bobbing and weaving like palm trees in the wind.
So I want music that can soothe the wild beast and transform the beast into a soldier for the cultural revolution. The BAM, revolution also had Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and My Favorite Things, Eric Dolphy’s Round Midnight, Mile’s Kind of Blue, and Nina talking plenty shit, but music, not techno music, live music that brought us alive and made us challenge the evil powers. Today the music is fostering the state of Yakubism, perpetuating violence and negative thinking, instead of healing sounds that liberate us mentally and physically. See the great Sufi master Hazrat Khan on music and sound.
We know there are only so many rhythms and each one has a different effect on the heart or central nervous system. Vudun, Santeria, Condomble all have rhythms to call forth the gods or spirits, each with a different purpose for each devotee, who only responds to a particular god’s rhythm or drum beat. But we’re dancing to beats about which we know nothing, except they make us feel good, meanwhile they are destroying our central nervous system, causing us to have a mental breakdown, yes, as we go down funky!
Ain’t it funky now. I didn’t say James Brown wasn’t healing!
The poet must integrate his healing words with healing music, and don’t forget the dancer who can translate our poetry into body language to help make the poem plain. Work that magic Raynetta Rayzetta! Elijah said, “I am only after the plainest way to get truth to my people. Poetry is a science.” So we want to make it so plain a fool can understand, the blind can see and the deaf can hear.
Poetics of Yakubism
The poetry genre “rap” must be examined from the reference point of the Muslim myth of Yakub, the mad scientist who created the white man through genetic engineering. (See Elijah Muhammad’s Message to the Black Man and Amiri Baraka’s play A BLACK MASS.) Yakub discovered the magnetic attraction of playing with two pieces of steel.
Hip Hop youth are fond of playing with steel, especially the gangsta rappers and their devotees. They repeatedly rap about gun violence, apparently have a fixation with weapons of steel, thus we call them Yakub’s children. Now the previous generation played with knives, so we were Yakubites as well. But our guns were mainly for hunting animals. Today’s Yakubites hunt each other. Often it is not about dope or sex, simply boredom, as some youth told me, “Man, when we bored, we put on our bulletproof vests, get our uzis and ride through the hood shootin nigguhs.” Are we not worse than the KKK? At least they don’t shoot each other!
Cars reflect the Yakub syndrome. Youth drive at high speed through city streets, killing innocent people while doing donuts and other tricks with their steel toys. And Yakub’s children can be seen playing in the streets while 2,000 pounds of steel is coming at them.
And they refuse to move as if the steel can stop on a dime. The children will walk right into the steel, fearless in the face of certain death, and will curse you for blowing your horn to warn them to get their ignut asses out of the street.
Of course, we must look at the teachers of Yakub’s children, America, the number one gun merchant of the world, who also supplies guns to Yakub’s children in the hoods of America, along with dope to destabilize the community. Gangsta rap adds fuel to the fire, with lyrics and videos praising violence, if only verbal violence, against brothers and sisters, reducing women to sex objects and parading them in prostitute garb.
In ancient times, the Yakubites were banned from the holy land, exiled in the hills and caves of Europa. As punishment for playing with steel, we may need to banish the modern Yakubites, unless they are willing to enter recovery and become civilized, renouncing urban savagery, whether poetic or real.
Poetics and Psycholinguistics
We are speaking here of the relationship between the mind and language. Sometimes words have us in such a tizzy we can’t think straight. We are so confused about the word nigguh we can’t engage in civil conversation about the term. And the irony is that no matter what we think about it, the term is now in worldwide usage with the multi-cultural hip hop generation. The word nigguh is literally making billions of dollars, yet the nigguhs are often mortally afraid of the term, as they are afraid of themselves, generally.
True, its origin conjures the most despicable aspects of American history and culture, yet language is in constant flux, taking on new meanings or connotations, so it is culturally lagging to remain fixated on the denotation of a word that has been transformed into something positive rather than negative. Get over it, nigguh ain’t going nowhere soon, unless we stop speaking English. It is one of the most powerful words in American English with multiple meanings, depending on tone, stress and speaker. It can get you killed or get you in bed with your lover. It is a word that comes from the depths of slavery but its current usage indicates the slave’s language is superior to the master’s.
For all his effort to make it a term of debasement, it is now a term of love and appreciation, as in “You my nigguh.” And this can be said between two white persons, Latinos, Asians, or whomever. Negro speech is but another aspect of our culture that is co-opted by world culture, over which we have absolutely no control. Do we control Blues, Jazz, or Rap for that matter? And now poetry is being pimped by slams and def jams. We understand there is a poetry war in Los Angeles between the conscious poets and the dead head slam poets.
While we believe in freedom of speech, we must push for poetry that moves history forward, not treading water in the personal, but reaching out to arouse political consciousness in a people who amble about like dead men walking. Imagine, there is no black representation in the California State legislature above Bakersfield. This is a pitiful situation that reflects the apolitical nature of the times and poets must break the spell with word magic.
On another point, I maintain there are no profane or obscene words, only profane and obscene actions. Saying motherfucker is in no way equal to being a mother fucker. Words are the tool of poets, writers, so just as Picasso would not limit himself to certain colors, no poet is going to limit his language except in context. Words only have relevance in context.
If we are writing for polite society, we might use Miller Lite language. But if we are describing or recreating language of the hood, we use Old English 800 terminology, some ass kicking shit.
Writers/poets must have freedom of speech. We cannot be held hostage to the culture police whether they are phony black bourgeoisie, religious or radical purists, all of whom can be found using the most vile language when it suits them, usually in anger and rage. A friend who abhors the term bitch, recently informed me she called her son a bitch in anger and rage at his juvenile behavior. So the culture police are at the very least hypocritical, and most certainly ignorant of the complex function of language, or is it simply denial, again context: it’s proper and improper depending on the moment.
Baraka jammed me one night in New York for using profanity in the presence of his wife, who quite frequently uses profanity, especially in describing and communicating with her husband. But I was horrified that the motherfucker who taught me how to say motherfucker had flipped on me and was telling me to shut up. Yes, this is the man whose poetics freed us psycholinguistically during the 60s. What poet or playwright wasn’t influenced by The Dutchman? Perhaps Baraka has become conservative, but again, words are valid in context, and even now when he wants to say motherfucker he doesn’t hesitate to include it in a poem or in conversation.
I find it very strange when the culture police tell me not to use certain language because children are present, yet, the children use more gutter language that myself, Baraka and Shakespeare together. Yes, the old bard was raw when the occasion called for it.
Now if we want to talk about a new language, it would be the language of silence, yes, don’t read my lips, but read my mind. I can read yours. I know what you’re thinking, so be silent. Why is it necessary to yap endlessly day and night, especially when you have no idea what you’re saying, you’re simply masturbating at the mouth. Words are extensions of our mind, so let’s go to the deep structure and read minds. You don’t need to call me on the phone because I already know what you’re thinking, and you know what’s on my mind. Silencia por favor.
Poetic Sexuality
Sex is the gasoline that fuels the poetic engine. After climax, the poet can get up and write all nite. He is energized, although he may never get enough, a delusion of his addictive personality. He is addicted to beauty and truth, often both of them come in the form of the opposite sex.
But normal sex is not good enough. The worse thing in the world to tell the poet is to be normal. “Why don’t you act like normal people?” The last thing on earth he wants to be is normal. Now if you want a normal motherfucker, get yo square ass away from the poet person. He is the natural born freak. He wants more and a variety thereof. If you think he will ever be satisfied with only you, you are dumber than the dumbest mule let out of Georgia. Not only does he love beauty and truth, but the more beauty and truth the better.
Even if you are the most beautiful woman in the world, the poet looks at you thinking it would be even more beautiful if there were two of you taking care of me. Church!
No one should ever approach the poet with the idea he should do anything normal, for he dwells in the abnormal, the different, just to be different. He is sexually insatiable, just to be insatiable, simply because in your simple mindedness you think he should be satisfied.
He purposely must fuck with you, go beyond your normal thoughts, so that you never consider him on such a lowly plain—in his warped mind.
And yet, there comes a woman who takes him beyond sex into the love zone, although in the deep structure of his mind, he is in love with poetry. Poetry is his lover, just as Duke Ellington said, “Music is my mistress.”
Believe it or not, he is ultimately asexual, caring nothing for sex, especially if it interferes with his creativity. Was it Emerson who said, “I would write on the lentils of a door post.”?
His sheets are full of ink from pens he left uncapped after falling asleep writing in bed. He is funky, refusing to bathe after writing for days. And he is the supreme distant lover, never, ever, never, ever there. Look into his eyes, but he is not there, his mind is lost in a poem, while his lover chats endlessly about their relationship and what a commitment means to her, as if he gives a fuck about what she’s running off at the mouth about in her utter seriousness that means absolutely nothing to him. He is lost in poetic dreamland, where he lives 24/7 and most likely where he will die, graciously. It doesn’t matter if you have been with him four years or thirty-four years, the net result is the same, so you either love the man ya wit or get yo ass on—whatever ya do, don’t think ya gonna change baby boy cause it ain’t that kinna party. Love him for what he is and where he is: in the poetic dreamland where he lives and where his heart is at in peace, and where no one but God can penetrate. Church! So now you know, poets are crazy motherfuckers.
The Poetics of Love
Love is the grand theme of poetry, all other themes pale in comparison because love is at the heart and soul of every poet. Of course love of the opposite sex is often a metaphor for Divine love. And what is hate except a heart crying out for love, so love is the question and the answer, the problem and the solution. How often do we hear young poets crying in their poems about what love has or hasn’t done to them, and old poets as well, so poets must go deep down into the sea of love and write from there the poems of eternity, even political poems are rooted in love of justice, truth and peace, but love is the motivator, love for a new day beyond the white night of oppression and human misery, love, even when love is impossible the thought is ever present to have the experience, the joy.
Now of course poets sometimes find themselves full of love, so full they take it for granted, after picking all the lilies in the field, and the lilies seem to come a poet’s way with each poem recited. Want to win the soul of a beautiful woman, read her a poem that touches her heart strings and she will melt into your arms, even break into tears at the beauty of your words, and even you will be shocked at the power of poetry, so try not to abuse these divine words that spring from the fountain of eternity like a well placed before you by God Himself, so never think you are self sufficient, this idea is the stuff of classic tragedy, Shakespeare’s dramas are full of men and women who thought too much of themselves, beyond themselves, so they fell into disgrace and shame. And they wondered what happened to love.
University of Poetry and Basic Education
Finally, the University of Poetry is for all brothers and sisters who can't learn anywhere else, who might be teachable with the spoken word. We know they can learn, perhaps the failure has been methodology, insincere teachers and administrators. We want the University of Poetry to be a place students are taught with love, patience and understanding. We know Johnny and Johnnymae can learn. Johnny sells dope, thus he's a salesman. He weighs and measures dope, so he knows math. He cooks dope, so he is a chemist. He packages dope, so he deals with marketing and promotion. Johnny can learn. He has look outs, so he deals with security. He keeps the count right on pain of death, so he knows bookkeeping. Johnny can learn. He has a baby and a baby mama, so he deals with responsibility. Johnny can learn. Let's teach him at the University of Poetry.
Let's make one thing perfectly clear: the University of Poetry is not about freedom, rather discipline, discipline, discipline, in the spirit of our dearly departed master teacher Sun Ra, mystic, musician, philosopher, poet, mythologist, ritualist of the Black Arts Movement. Long live Master Teacher Sun Ra!
Funding the University of Poetry
In conclusion, lack of a stable economic base caused the fall of the Black Arts Movement,, aside from its alignment with the liberation movement and the government's orchestrated attack on the overall freedom struggle. The University of Poetry can and must be sustained by the people, not by the whims of governmental and corporate funders, although we have a right to such funds because they are derived from tax dollars. But we must be self sustaining and beyond censorship, independent, including beyond the slimy fingers of the black culture police. If the dead head rappers and poets don't want to join the revolution, they can make donations and be sponsors. They should not have a profit motive: the revolution is not for profit. Bacon said, "Truth will not make you rich, but it will make you free." As-Salaam-Alaikum.
University of Poetry National Tour
We want to take the University of Poetry on a national tour of twenty-seven major cities to perform with legends of the Black Arts Movement, and hip hop conscious poets, also to conduct workshops as described above, establishing a University of Poetry in each community. We must produce journals, newspapers, magazines, books, videos, films, CDs in each community to advance the cultural revolution. The tour should have an executive committee and a local organizing committee that will help raise the necessary funds for each community and do the outreach, marketing, promotion, and logistics.
Refa 1 Replies to Marvin X on Weary of Intellectuals
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:44:49 PM
Subject: RE: Weary
Yeah Brah... I hear you.
I'm also a Revolutionary who is a hustler when it comes to survival but there are some
things I will not do... Promoting Obama is one of them. I missed alot of money as a result
but I've managed to maintain my Afrikan integrity. Obama is Political Crack...One could argue
that the community wants drugs and Drugs are the lesser of two evils compared to instant death...
...That doesn't mean we should capitalize on the sell of crack to a particular community consensus
who desire it. There are some levels of selling out that are imposed on us like wage slavery and taxes
but there are many other methods of selling out that we can refrain from...and if that means I have to
go out of my way to do so,so be it. It's a struggle and that means Sacrifice... possibly your life. We are
not inching ahead with the Movement,we are moving backwards at a rapid pace. Our leadership has been handed to us by the White Power Structure to deliver the same amount of evil with a smile.
Our next Generation of youth is being seduced by the allure of Obama's pseudo charm that has been
partly fed to them by the adults in our own community. There might be something to your argument
if there was a ground swell of community action around the Obama smile politics or if the T-shirts
people bought actually got them to think in a more progressive way...but Last i checked the status quo
in the hood didn't move an inch. I'm sure as a united front we can figure out some creative ways to make Cash Flow for our struggling brothers and Sisters. Promoting Obama is Like Promoting "Jim Jones"...
...there is Karma attached to that toxic Kool Aid... I would caution the community about knowingly
promoting the U.S. Government to financially prosper. The Creator will provide if we hold tight to the
truth(not blind faith) and do the Best we can with what we got. If you want to promote a
Black President to the Community put Malcolm or Marcus Garvey on the shirt.
...I'm making those Tees Now...I'll give you one.
The Revolution Belongs to the youth and when we get it together we'll be able to care
for our elder revolutionary soldiers so they will not have to simp for these pimp$.
If skippin' meals aint your deal you may need a new Hustle.
-Your Brother in the struggle in them trenches serving the People and the Most High Spirit.
The work don't stop til Freedoms got...Dig it
-Refa1
WASET ZULUS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:44:07 -0800
From: jmarvinx@yahoo. com
Subject: Weary
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American? " I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many improverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:44:49 PM
Subject: RE: Weary
Yeah Brah... I hear you.
I'm also a Revolutionary who is a hustler when it comes to survival but there are some
things I will not do... Promoting Obama is one of them. I missed alot of money as a result
but I've managed to maintain my Afrikan integrity. Obama is Political Crack...One could argue
that the community wants drugs and Drugs are the lesser of two evils compared to instant death...
...That doesn't mean we should capitalize on the sell of crack to a particular community consensus
who desire it. There are some levels of selling out that are imposed on us like wage slavery and taxes
but there are many other methods of selling out that we can refrain from...and if that means I have to
go out of my way to do so,so be it. It's a struggle and that means Sacrifice... possibly your life. We are
not inching ahead with the Movement,we are moving backwards at a rapid pace. Our leadership has been handed to us by the White Power Structure to deliver the same amount of evil with a smile.
Our next Generation of youth is being seduced by the allure of Obama's pseudo charm that has been
partly fed to them by the adults in our own community. There might be something to your argument
if there was a ground swell of community action around the Obama smile politics or if the T-shirts
people bought actually got them to think in a more progressive way...but Last i checked the status quo
in the hood didn't move an inch. I'm sure as a united front we can figure out some creative ways to make Cash Flow for our struggling brothers and Sisters. Promoting Obama is Like Promoting "Jim Jones"...
...there is Karma attached to that toxic Kool Aid... I would caution the community about knowingly
promoting the U.S. Government to financially prosper. The Creator will provide if we hold tight to the
truth(not blind faith) and do the Best we can with what we got. If you want to promote a
Black President to the Community put Malcolm or Marcus Garvey on the shirt.
...I'm making those Tees Now...I'll give you one.
The Revolution Belongs to the youth and when we get it together we'll be able to care
for our elder revolutionary soldiers so they will not have to simp for these pimp$.
If skippin' meals aint your deal you may need a new Hustle.
-Your Brother in the struggle in them trenches serving the People and the Most High Spirit.
The work don't stop til Freedoms got...Dig it
-Refa1
WASET ZULUS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 08:44:07 -0800
From: jmarvinx@yahoo. com
Subject: Weary
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American? " I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many improverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
Poetic Mission
A Forum on the Role of the Poet and Poetry
Overview
Recently (24 January 2009), Marvin X, a well known writer and founder of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) sent out by email a provocative piece titled "Poetic Mission." On the surface the concern was the controversial investigation of the murder of the Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. But "Poetic Mission" goes farther and makes an argument about the role of the poet and poetry. Rudolph Lewis, editor Chickenbones (www.nathanielturner.com)
Here are some excerpts from "Poetic Mission.":
The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.
The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. . . .
The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution—is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good.
The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount—there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin X, "Poetic Mission." 24 January 2009
Reading Marvin's "Poetic Mission" provoked a slew of questions, which I emailed to him and others in my address book. Poets Jerry Ward, Jr., Mary Weems, and C. Liegh McInnis (with a poem) responded. Marvin responded to a number of my questions, directly. Below I will I place them in a Q & A format. After which, I will present the other responses.
* * * * *
Rudy: Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." The heart of the problem for the poet is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing?
Marvin: Everyone, whether poet, scientist, lover, street sweeper, dope fiend, must ultimately define his/her life’s mission or purpose. This is why brother Ptah suggested and I included the 13th Step in my How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
What is the mission of the poet—words can kill or heal. Sonia Sanchez says, “Will your book free us?” Apparently not since the stores are full of black books and we still ain’t free.
The dope fiend must come to understand recovery is only a step—once clean and sober then what? Only to sit in meetings claiming sobriety while still drunk on recovery—so after recovery, then discovery of one’s mission.
Remember that Nancy Wilson song, “I Never Been to Me”? So we can be poet, mother, wife, husband, yet never discover our true mission in life, and even when we discover our mission, we may be too fearful to execute it.
Rudy: Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a "truth sayer"?
Marvin: The people are real live people who we should encounter in their/our daily round, thus we hear their cries if we listen, for they will tell us all, if we listen. It is not some echo in our head, life is beyond imagination (the poet’s sense of the people). They will tell you their joy and suffering as they have told me while I was “selling Obama T shirts. The “people” told me again and again the ritual they planned for inauguration day, they told me their joy and happiness, no matter what intellectuals think. So it is my job to express their joy in this world of sadness and dread.
It was the same with the murder of Oscar Grant. The people told me of losing their loved ones to homicide, yet received no attention because it was a black on black crime. They said even the police showed no real concern. Thus we must be guilty of selective suffering. If a white man kills us, we protest. When we kill us, nothing happens. The murderer still walks the streets and everybody knows he’s the killer, but we say nothing out of fear, so families suffer grief and trauma alone, in silence. These people are not some abstraction, some imaginary sense of the people, not his choir. The poet is either about truth or he is about lies, the choice is his.
Rudy: Does not the poet often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Marvin: All art is exaggeration. What is music but the exaggeration of natural sounds, birds, bees, water, wind, rain, thunder. The poet often takes poetic license with events, especially for dramatic effect. The poet, the musician, the painter must decide to join the revolution, as they did during the 60s and earlier, throughout time. This is not a romantic notion. How can the conscious poet ignore the suffering of his people when he sees they are ignorant, suffering poverty and disease? The poet must decide to aid them or leave them alone and praise the king, pharaoh or whomever he decides to clown for, shuffle and dance. For thousands of years the poetic mission has been to cry for freedom and justice. We know the source of art for art’s sake—simply art of the master class, the rulers and oppressors who pass by the man on the roadside, robbed and half dead.
Rudy: Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go?
Marvin: As is well known, my style is the sledge hammer (Kalamu ya Salaam) or to write with venom (Dr. Julia Hare). The youth on the streets of Oakland who have read my books say, “You’re very blunt.” Indeed, it is a style reflecting my lifestyle (you’re too rough to be a pimp, said a prostitute).
And yet I am in awe of the feminine style. It is so gentle, subtle, smooth like a razor cutting to the heart. I am amazed at the feminine approach or style, especially in writing. But Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem was too soft for me, bored me to tears. Alice Walker’s as well. Now the poetic message from Rev. Lowery was great. It moved the soul, my soul, it had the language of the people, not that academic bullshit language of Alexander’s. See my “A Day We Never Thought” on the inauguration. But all these poems are a matter of style, not truth. Some like it soft, some like it hard. Some like Miller Lite, some like OLE English 800. We can get to the truth many ways, just get there.
Rudy:Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
Marvin: All art is propaganda of one class or another, one group or another. Alexander’s poem is bourgeoisie art to me. Would I be allowed to read my poems on such an occasion? The bourgeoisie runs from me on sight, no need to say boo. Although the Oakland Post Newspaper claimed they were going to run “A Day We Never Thought.” I did not try to be the sledge hammer with this poem. I wanted to express the joy of the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. Oh, Happy Day. Finally, the poet is not limited to one approach. He is able to don the feminine persona when necessary. It is his duty to know the spirit of male and female, and the non-gender of the spirit world?
Rudy: As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Marvin: The mission of the Black Arts Movement was truth. There is still truth in the BAM poems, yes, forty years later. There is truth in Baraka’s Toilet, Dutchman, and the poems of Nikki and Sonia. Yes, these poets might say their poems are not relevant but they are not truthful. The Dutchman is real. “If Bessie Smith had killed some white people, she wouldn’t need to sing the blues. She could have talked very straight and plain about the world—no metaphor, no innuendo….”
And Sonia’s lines are still relevant even if she finds them distasteful, such as “What a white woman got cept her white pussy?”
Are the above words youth or truth? Of course time causes a maturation of thought. All the things I thought at twenty, some of them I no longer think, but there is still much truth in my early writings. Khalid Muhammad used to tell me to hell with my current writings, he loved my early books such as Fly To Allah and Woman, Man’s Best Friend. These are the books that awakened his consciousness, he told me more than once.
Baraka, the man who taught me how to say motherfucker, now objects the use of the term, except in a moment of passion. As for myself, all words are holy and sacred, none are obscene. What is obscene, saying motherfucker or actually fucking your mother, sister, daughter, son? There are those persons here in the Bay who object to my language, yet they have been indicted for incest and child molestation.
Simply because these/us BAM poets have reached old age does not negate the truth of our early writings. Of course the rappers took our language to another level that may indeed transcend truth for pussy and dick nonsense.
Rudy: Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth? Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza.
Marvin: My poem “Who Are These Jews” is basic truth. And if it’s true for me, it’s true for you. But the essence of the poem was said by Jesus 2000 years ago, John 8:44. Was Jesus lying then, am I lying now? At what point do we come out of denial and admit we got some devils up in here? Why should Hamas recognize the existence of Israel, does Israel recognize the existence of Hamas, the democratic victory of Hamas?
Rudy: How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
Marvin: Are the people deaf, dumb and blind? Have you not read a poem or book that changed your life? The people tell me all the time my writings transforms their lives. Truth transforms, lies do not, not for the better. Lies lead to destruction, truth to construction and people and society.
* * * * *
Responses
THE TRUTH is not an entity but a conflicted set of conditions, phenomena which our human minds might envision or speculate about but never fully grasp. In that sense, poetry seeks to represent an insight about a truth. What is made of a truth in a poem varies among readers and most certainly between different generations of readers, particularly if the poem is topical.
You are right in suggesting that we ought to talk about the missions of poetry. When I write a poem, I do have a mission in my head, but my readers may or may not perceive what that mission was intended to be or to do. Knowing that poems have both limits and unforeseen consequences, I believe my work is designed to move readers to have fresh thoughts. The act of reading a poem involves change, of course, but whether the reader gets the point is a matter of chance.—Jerry
* * * * *
Poetry is an art and like all art its success/impact/power is up to the interpretation of each audience member who engages it. What constitutes a good poem or a powerful poem or a truth telling poem varies based upon interpretation . . . there is no one meaning, no one way of expressing whatever inspires a poet to write.
Also, poets write for a variety of purposes . . . some, like me (Harlem Renaissance poets, Black Arts Movement Poets, Socially conscious Spoken Word artists), use our poetic voices most often as political acts to speak out against the injustices of the day, to speak truth to power—historically, this is one of the reasons many poets have been considered dangerous to various power regimes resulting in imprisonment, exile, and censorship.
Some poets believe the role of the poet is to make the mundane memorable, to record various degrees of beauty based upon their interpretation of what that is, to describe the world they are living in for future generations, without regard for politics, protest, or social justice.
Some poets believe it's all about performance, giving the audience what they want to hear for popularity purposes, to win Slam poetry competitions.
Some poets are introspective to the point of confessing, zeroing in on their personal trials, tribulations, and successes.
I am not one to publicly dis a poet because a poem that says nothing or little to me, could mean the world to someone else who is able to step inside the poem and make meaning based upon the experiences they bring to what the poet has written. A poem that doesn't make me feel anything, though it may be technically flawless, is not a good poem to me, but—
There is no one way to be a poet, there is no one purpose, there's only folks who have a gift for metaphor, simile, rhyme, rhythm, imagery, trope, allegory, for seeing the world through a particular lens—doing our best to do what we do because we have to . . . Mary
* * * * *
.
“What Good Are Poems?”
By C. Liegh McInnis
Can a poem be as affective as a .357?
Can the images of a poem spray buck shot holes
into the body of a greenback stuffed sheet wearing shoat?
Can a poem be thrown as a brick through the window
of a grocery store so that we may pillage and plunder
its shelves for food for the hungry?
Can a poem be laid on top of a poem,
be laid on top of a poem, be laid on top of a poem
until we have built a shelter for the homeless?
Does a poem need a million dollar war chest
or a foundation grant to be mightier than the sword?
What good does a poem do a spoiled, bloated belly?
Can a poem clothe the naked?
Can a poem improve an ACT score?
Can a poem pay the rent?
Can poems assassinate Negro turncoats
who have sold their souls to racist rags?
Can poems cut short the lives of serpentine superintendents
who slyly suffocate African babies in Euro-excrement
disguised as Caucasian curriculums?
Poems are the sperms of revolution.
We need poets to stop adding extra syrup and saccharine
to their sonnets so as to appease the pale palates of people
who have not the stomach for the truth.
We need poets to stop
masturbating away their talents into literary napkins.
We need poets to start impregnating thoughts of
Black magnolias bursting through white cement
into the minds of Raven virgin souls who without it
toil in the reproductive process of self-aversion.
Poems are the sperms of revolution.
Are you making love to your people,
or are you fornicating away your existence?
Poet Marvin X is available for speaking and reading during Black History Month. (He's the USA's Rumi--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York.) Call 510-355-6339.
A Forum on the Role of the Poet and Poetry
Overview
Recently (24 January 2009), Marvin X, a well known writer and founder of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) sent out by email a provocative piece titled "Poetic Mission." On the surface the concern was the controversial investigation of the murder of the Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. But "Poetic Mission" goes farther and makes an argument about the role of the poet and poetry. Rudolph Lewis, editor Chickenbones (www.nathanielturner.com)
Here are some excerpts from "Poetic Mission.":
The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.
The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. . . .
The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution—is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good.
The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount—there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin X, "Poetic Mission." 24 January 2009
Reading Marvin's "Poetic Mission" provoked a slew of questions, which I emailed to him and others in my address book. Poets Jerry Ward, Jr., Mary Weems, and C. Liegh McInnis (with a poem) responded. Marvin responded to a number of my questions, directly. Below I will I place them in a Q & A format. After which, I will present the other responses.
* * * * *
Rudy: Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." The heart of the problem for the poet is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing?
Marvin: Everyone, whether poet, scientist, lover, street sweeper, dope fiend, must ultimately define his/her life’s mission or purpose. This is why brother Ptah suggested and I included the 13th Step in my How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
What is the mission of the poet—words can kill or heal. Sonia Sanchez says, “Will your book free us?” Apparently not since the stores are full of black books and we still ain’t free.
The dope fiend must come to understand recovery is only a step—once clean and sober then what? Only to sit in meetings claiming sobriety while still drunk on recovery—so after recovery, then discovery of one’s mission.
Remember that Nancy Wilson song, “I Never Been to Me”? So we can be poet, mother, wife, husband, yet never discover our true mission in life, and even when we discover our mission, we may be too fearful to execute it.
Rudy: Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a "truth sayer"?
Marvin: The people are real live people who we should encounter in their/our daily round, thus we hear their cries if we listen, for they will tell us all, if we listen. It is not some echo in our head, life is beyond imagination (the poet’s sense of the people). They will tell you their joy and suffering as they have told me while I was “selling Obama T shirts. The “people” told me again and again the ritual they planned for inauguration day, they told me their joy and happiness, no matter what intellectuals think. So it is my job to express their joy in this world of sadness and dread.
It was the same with the murder of Oscar Grant. The people told me of losing their loved ones to homicide, yet received no attention because it was a black on black crime. They said even the police showed no real concern. Thus we must be guilty of selective suffering. If a white man kills us, we protest. When we kill us, nothing happens. The murderer still walks the streets and everybody knows he’s the killer, but we say nothing out of fear, so families suffer grief and trauma alone, in silence. These people are not some abstraction, some imaginary sense of the people, not his choir. The poet is either about truth or he is about lies, the choice is his.
Rudy: Does not the poet often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Marvin: All art is exaggeration. What is music but the exaggeration of natural sounds, birds, bees, water, wind, rain, thunder. The poet often takes poetic license with events, especially for dramatic effect. The poet, the musician, the painter must decide to join the revolution, as they did during the 60s and earlier, throughout time. This is not a romantic notion. How can the conscious poet ignore the suffering of his people when he sees they are ignorant, suffering poverty and disease? The poet must decide to aid them or leave them alone and praise the king, pharaoh or whomever he decides to clown for, shuffle and dance. For thousands of years the poetic mission has been to cry for freedom and justice. We know the source of art for art’s sake—simply art of the master class, the rulers and oppressors who pass by the man on the roadside, robbed and half dead.
Rudy: Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go?
Marvin: As is well known, my style is the sledge hammer (Kalamu ya Salaam) or to write with venom (Dr. Julia Hare). The youth on the streets of Oakland who have read my books say, “You’re very blunt.” Indeed, it is a style reflecting my lifestyle (you’re too rough to be a pimp, said a prostitute).
And yet I am in awe of the feminine style. It is so gentle, subtle, smooth like a razor cutting to the heart. I am amazed at the feminine approach or style, especially in writing. But Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem was too soft for me, bored me to tears. Alice Walker’s as well. Now the poetic message from Rev. Lowery was great. It moved the soul, my soul, it had the language of the people, not that academic bullshit language of Alexander’s. See my “A Day We Never Thought” on the inauguration. But all these poems are a matter of style, not truth. Some like it soft, some like it hard. Some like Miller Lite, some like OLE English 800. We can get to the truth many ways, just get there.
Rudy:Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
Marvin: All art is propaganda of one class or another, one group or another. Alexander’s poem is bourgeoisie art to me. Would I be allowed to read my poems on such an occasion? The bourgeoisie runs from me on sight, no need to say boo. Although the Oakland Post Newspaper claimed they were going to run “A Day We Never Thought.” I did not try to be the sledge hammer with this poem. I wanted to express the joy of the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. Oh, Happy Day. Finally, the poet is not limited to one approach. He is able to don the feminine persona when necessary. It is his duty to know the spirit of male and female, and the non-gender of the spirit world?
Rudy: As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Marvin: The mission of the Black Arts Movement was truth. There is still truth in the BAM poems, yes, forty years later. There is truth in Baraka’s Toilet, Dutchman, and the poems of Nikki and Sonia. Yes, these poets might say their poems are not relevant but they are not truthful. The Dutchman is real. “If Bessie Smith had killed some white people, she wouldn’t need to sing the blues. She could have talked very straight and plain about the world—no metaphor, no innuendo….”
And Sonia’s lines are still relevant even if she finds them distasteful, such as “What a white woman got cept her white pussy?”
Are the above words youth or truth? Of course time causes a maturation of thought. All the things I thought at twenty, some of them I no longer think, but there is still much truth in my early writings. Khalid Muhammad used to tell me to hell with my current writings, he loved my early books such as Fly To Allah and Woman, Man’s Best Friend. These are the books that awakened his consciousness, he told me more than once.
Baraka, the man who taught me how to say motherfucker, now objects the use of the term, except in a moment of passion. As for myself, all words are holy and sacred, none are obscene. What is obscene, saying motherfucker or actually fucking your mother, sister, daughter, son? There are those persons here in the Bay who object to my language, yet they have been indicted for incest and child molestation.
Simply because these/us BAM poets have reached old age does not negate the truth of our early writings. Of course the rappers took our language to another level that may indeed transcend truth for pussy and dick nonsense.
Rudy: Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth? Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza.
Marvin: My poem “Who Are These Jews” is basic truth. And if it’s true for me, it’s true for you. But the essence of the poem was said by Jesus 2000 years ago, John 8:44. Was Jesus lying then, am I lying now? At what point do we come out of denial and admit we got some devils up in here? Why should Hamas recognize the existence of Israel, does Israel recognize the existence of Hamas, the democratic victory of Hamas?
Rudy: How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
Marvin: Are the people deaf, dumb and blind? Have you not read a poem or book that changed your life? The people tell me all the time my writings transforms their lives. Truth transforms, lies do not, not for the better. Lies lead to destruction, truth to construction and people and society.
* * * * *
Responses
THE TRUTH is not an entity but a conflicted set of conditions, phenomena which our human minds might envision or speculate about but never fully grasp. In that sense, poetry seeks to represent an insight about a truth. What is made of a truth in a poem varies among readers and most certainly between different generations of readers, particularly if the poem is topical.
You are right in suggesting that we ought to talk about the missions of poetry. When I write a poem, I do have a mission in my head, but my readers may or may not perceive what that mission was intended to be or to do. Knowing that poems have both limits and unforeseen consequences, I believe my work is designed to move readers to have fresh thoughts. The act of reading a poem involves change, of course, but whether the reader gets the point is a matter of chance.—Jerry
* * * * *
Poetry is an art and like all art its success/impact/power is up to the interpretation of each audience member who engages it. What constitutes a good poem or a powerful poem or a truth telling poem varies based upon interpretation . . . there is no one meaning, no one way of expressing whatever inspires a poet to write.
Also, poets write for a variety of purposes . . . some, like me (Harlem Renaissance poets, Black Arts Movement Poets, Socially conscious Spoken Word artists), use our poetic voices most often as political acts to speak out against the injustices of the day, to speak truth to power—historically, this is one of the reasons many poets have been considered dangerous to various power regimes resulting in imprisonment, exile, and censorship.
Some poets believe the role of the poet is to make the mundane memorable, to record various degrees of beauty based upon their interpretation of what that is, to describe the world they are living in for future generations, without regard for politics, protest, or social justice.
Some poets believe it's all about performance, giving the audience what they want to hear for popularity purposes, to win Slam poetry competitions.
Some poets are introspective to the point of confessing, zeroing in on their personal trials, tribulations, and successes.
I am not one to publicly dis a poet because a poem that says nothing or little to me, could mean the world to someone else who is able to step inside the poem and make meaning based upon the experiences they bring to what the poet has written. A poem that doesn't make me feel anything, though it may be technically flawless, is not a good poem to me, but—
There is no one way to be a poet, there is no one purpose, there's only folks who have a gift for metaphor, simile, rhyme, rhythm, imagery, trope, allegory, for seeing the world through a particular lens—doing our best to do what we do because we have to . . . Mary
* * * * *
.
“What Good Are Poems?”
By C. Liegh McInnis
Can a poem be as affective as a .357?
Can the images of a poem spray buck shot holes
into the body of a greenback stuffed sheet wearing shoat?
Can a poem be thrown as a brick through the window
of a grocery store so that we may pillage and plunder
its shelves for food for the hungry?
Can a poem be laid on top of a poem,
be laid on top of a poem, be laid on top of a poem
until we have built a shelter for the homeless?
Does a poem need a million dollar war chest
or a foundation grant to be mightier than the sword?
What good does a poem do a spoiled, bloated belly?
Can a poem clothe the naked?
Can a poem improve an ACT score?
Can a poem pay the rent?
Can poems assassinate Negro turncoats
who have sold their souls to racist rags?
Can poems cut short the lives of serpentine superintendents
who slyly suffocate African babies in Euro-excrement
disguised as Caucasian curriculums?
Poems are the sperms of revolution.
We need poets to stop adding extra syrup and saccharine
to their sonnets so as to appease the pale palates of people
who have not the stomach for the truth.
We need poets to stop
masturbating away their talents into literary napkins.
We need poets to start impregnating thoughts of
Black magnolias bursting through white cement
into the minds of Raven virgin souls who without it
toil in the reproductive process of self-aversion.
Poems are the sperms of revolution.
Are you making love to your people,
or are you fornicating away your existence?
Poet Marvin X is available for speaking and reading during Black History Month. (He's the USA's Rumi--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York.) Call 510-355-6339.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Marvin X 2009 Tentative Tour Schedule
March 11 Amiri Baraka interviewed by Marvin X, Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico
March 15, Houston, Texas, Texas Southern University
April 1, Beaufort, South Carolina, University of South Carolina
May 1, Sonia Sanchez Host, Philadelphia
May1-3 Black Studies Conference, Temple University, Philly, Muhammad Ahmed contact
May 19 Malcom X Birthday at the Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, New York
May 29 Marvin X 65th Birthday Celebration,
Frank White’s Café and Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Hue-man Book Store, Harlem
Medger Evers College, Brooklyn
October 7 Amiri Baraka’s 75th Birthday Celebration, Newark, New Jersey
November Hartford, Conn, Perform with novelist Dana Randel
Boston, Reading with playwright Ed Bullins ( Northeastern University) and Askia Toure, (University of Mass.)
Wake Up, America!
We are not the only Americans. There are North Americans in Canada and Mexico. In Canada they call United States of America citizens Southerners. During my exile in Toronto, Canada, 1967, they referred to me as a Southerner. During my seconed exile in Mexico City, 1970, they called me a Gringo, even though I was black, meaning I was supposed to be rich. When I wasn't called Gringo, they called me Pele after the Brazilian soccer champion. They called me Pele because I was black, since the Mexicans are ignorant of the fact they have Mexicans in their country blacker than I. They wanted to rub my hair and the hair of my sons, for we North American Africans were known to have magical powers.
The Mexicans would be dumbfounded to learn they have citizens south of Mexico City darker than Pele, the Brazilian. And if they ever wandered down to Rio for a weekend, they would discover themesevles in a country of at least one hundred million Peles, the largest concentration of Africans outside of Nigeria, yes, these Portuguese speaking Africans are Americans as well. The most painful experience of my life was meeting our American brothers in Mexico City but unable to communicate with them, especially my brother, Jorge, from Choco, Columbia, blacker than night. I felt the same when I met Enrique La Fontaine from Venezuela, a mulato. While I was in exile in Mexico City, we became Black Arts Mexico City (see the Journal of Black Poetry on Black Arts in Mexico, JBP, circa 1970).
We must respect Mexico for giving refuse to revolutionaries from throughout the Americans, from Fidel to Marvin X. During my exile there, I had the pleasure to meet young brothers from throughout the Americas, Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba, Dominican Republic, USA (Elijah and Sultan Muhammad, grandsons of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad).
In Mexico City I met the USA ex-patriot community, North American Africans whose consensus was they would never return to the USA, and any African who wanted to endure the racism of America deserved it.
I befriended African and African Caribbean diplomats who were banned from taking black power literature home, even under diplomatic protection.
But let us come to the North American African, now President of the United States of America, a journey of four hundred years. Yet let us recognize our brother Morales in Bolivia—it took five hundred years for him to rise from the indigenous people to become president.
In short, throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, revolution is in the spirit of the people.
Let North American Africans join in the celebration of radical democracy, for the masses, the ignorant, the poor and diseased. Let us declare ourselves one with the oppressed throughout the Americas.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
March 11 Amiri Baraka interviewed by Marvin X, Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico
March 15, Houston, Texas, Texas Southern University
April 1, Beaufort, South Carolina, University of South Carolina
May 1, Sonia Sanchez Host, Philadelphia
May1-3 Black Studies Conference, Temple University, Philly, Muhammad Ahmed contact
May 19 Malcom X Birthday at the Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, New York
May 29 Marvin X 65th Birthday Celebration,
Frank White’s Café and Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Hue-man Book Store, Harlem
Medger Evers College, Brooklyn
October 7 Amiri Baraka’s 75th Birthday Celebration, Newark, New Jersey
November Hartford, Conn, Perform with novelist Dana Randel
Boston, Reading with playwright Ed Bullins ( Northeastern University) and Askia Toure, (University of Mass.)
Wake Up, America!
We are not the only Americans. There are North Americans in Canada and Mexico. In Canada they call United States of America citizens Southerners. During my exile in Toronto, Canada, 1967, they referred to me as a Southerner. During my seconed exile in Mexico City, 1970, they called me a Gringo, even though I was black, meaning I was supposed to be rich. When I wasn't called Gringo, they called me Pele after the Brazilian soccer champion. They called me Pele because I was black, since the Mexicans are ignorant of the fact they have Mexicans in their country blacker than I. They wanted to rub my hair and the hair of my sons, for we North American Africans were known to have magical powers.
The Mexicans would be dumbfounded to learn they have citizens south of Mexico City darker than Pele, the Brazilian. And if they ever wandered down to Rio for a weekend, they would discover themesevles in a country of at least one hundred million Peles, the largest concentration of Africans outside of Nigeria, yes, these Portuguese speaking Africans are Americans as well. The most painful experience of my life was meeting our American brothers in Mexico City but unable to communicate with them, especially my brother, Jorge, from Choco, Columbia, blacker than night. I felt the same when I met Enrique La Fontaine from Venezuela, a mulato. While I was in exile in Mexico City, we became Black Arts Mexico City (see the Journal of Black Poetry on Black Arts in Mexico, JBP, circa 1970).
We must respect Mexico for giving refuse to revolutionaries from throughout the Americans, from Fidel to Marvin X. During my exile there, I had the pleasure to meet young brothers from throughout the Americas, Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba, Dominican Republic, USA (Elijah and Sultan Muhammad, grandsons of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad).
In Mexico City I met the USA ex-patriot community, North American Africans whose consensus was they would never return to the USA, and any African who wanted to endure the racism of America deserved it.
I befriended African and African Caribbean diplomats who were banned from taking black power literature home, even under diplomatic protection.
But let us come to the North American African, now President of the United States of America, a journey of four hundred years. Yet let us recognize our brother Morales in Bolivia—it took five hundred years for him to rise from the indigenous people to become president.
In short, throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, revolution is in the spirit of the people.
Let North American Africans join in the celebration of radical democracy, for the masses, the ignorant, the poor and diseased. Let us declare ourselves one with the oppressed throughout the Americas.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Marvin X:Black History Archives
Poetry Picks: The Best of 2005
Marvin X, Eliot Weinberger, Oscar Brown, Jr., Naropa Archives
By Bob Holman & Margery Snyder
Where I’d like to start this 2005 Poetry Roundup is Iraq, as in, how did we get there and how do we get back? The consciousness-altering book of poems that tells the tale, in no uncertain terms and yet always via poetry, is the astonishing Land of My Daughters: Poems 1995-2005 (Black Bird Press) by Marvin X. Marvin X is the USA’s Rumi, and his nation is not “where our fathers died” but where our daughters live. The death of patriarchal war culture is his everyday reality.
X’s poems vibrate, whip, love in the most meta- and physical ways imaginable and un-. He’s got the humor of Pietri, the politics of Baraka, and the spiritual Muslim grounding that is totally new in English –- the ecstasy of Hafiz, the wisdom of Saadi. It’s not unusual for him to have a sequence of shortish lines followed by a culminating line that stretches a quarter page –- it is the dance of the dervishes, the rhythms of a Qasida.
“I am the black bird in love
I fly with love
I swoop into the ocean and pluck fish in the name of love
oceans flow with love
let the ocean wash me with love
even the cold ocean is love the morning swim is love
the ocean chills me with love
from the deep come fish full of love” (from the opening poem, “In the Name of Love”)
“How to Love A Thinking Woman”:
“Be revolutionary, radical, bodacious
Stay beyond the common
Have some class about yaself
…
Say things she’s never heard before
Ihdina sirata al mustaquim
(guide us on the straight path)
Make her laugh til she comes in panties
serious jokes to get her mind off the world.”
There are anthems (“When I’ll Wave the Flag/Cuando Voy a Flamear la Bandera”), rants (“JESUS AND LIQUOR STORES”), love poems (“Thursday”) and poems totally uncategorizable (“Dreamtime”). Read this one cover to cover when you’ve got the time to “Marry a Tree.”
Marvin X is available for readings/performance during Black History Month. Call 510-355-6339. Email:jmarvinx@yahoo.com. Visit his blog:www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com.
Also www.nathanielturner.com and www.aalbc.com.
Poetry Picks: The Best of 2005
Marvin X, Eliot Weinberger, Oscar Brown, Jr., Naropa Archives
By Bob Holman & Margery Snyder
Where I’d like to start this 2005 Poetry Roundup is Iraq, as in, how did we get there and how do we get back? The consciousness-altering book of poems that tells the tale, in no uncertain terms and yet always via poetry, is the astonishing Land of My Daughters: Poems 1995-2005 (Black Bird Press) by Marvin X. Marvin X is the USA’s Rumi, and his nation is not “where our fathers died” but where our daughters live. The death of patriarchal war culture is his everyday reality.
X’s poems vibrate, whip, love in the most meta- and physical ways imaginable and un-. He’s got the humor of Pietri, the politics of Baraka, and the spiritual Muslim grounding that is totally new in English –- the ecstasy of Hafiz, the wisdom of Saadi. It’s not unusual for him to have a sequence of shortish lines followed by a culminating line that stretches a quarter page –- it is the dance of the dervishes, the rhythms of a Qasida.
“I am the black bird in love
I fly with love
I swoop into the ocean and pluck fish in the name of love
oceans flow with love
let the ocean wash me with love
even the cold ocean is love the morning swim is love
the ocean chills me with love
from the deep come fish full of love” (from the opening poem, “In the Name of Love”)
“How to Love A Thinking Woman”:
“Be revolutionary, radical, bodacious
Stay beyond the common
Have some class about yaself
…
Say things she’s never heard before
Ihdina sirata al mustaquim
(guide us on the straight path)
Make her laugh til she comes in panties
serious jokes to get her mind off the world.”
There are anthems (“When I’ll Wave the Flag/Cuando Voy a Flamear la Bandera”), rants (“JESUS AND LIQUOR STORES”), love poems (“Thursday”) and poems totally uncategorizable (“Dreamtime”). Read this one cover to cover when you’ve got the time to “Marry a Tree.”
Marvin X is available for readings/performance during Black History Month. Call 510-355-6339. Email:jmarvinx@yahoo.com. Visit his blog:www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com.
Also www.nathanielturner.com and www.aalbc.com.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Rudolph Lewis Replies to Marvin X’s Poetic Mission
The Poetic Mission
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin
Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." At the heart of the problem for poets is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing? Missions vary from moment to moment, occasion to ocassion, I would think. Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a truth sayer? Or does he/she often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go? Some poems are not so easily interpreted, as in Kwame Dawes, New Day, which some might be view as a eulogy for the living. Poems are symbolical as well as prosaic. Some poems are intended to shock.
For instance, take Baraka's "The Masquerade Is Over."
The Masquerade is Over
Hitler is alive
& Well
Now he lives
In Israel .
The Master Race
Has changed
Its place
The new Nazism
Is called
Zionism!
The old oppressed Jews
Are dead
Call them Palestinians
Instead!
-Amiri Baraka 12/08
Does this poem express the Truth. If it does, is it a truth that the people can digest? Or does it stimulate untruths or more conflicts or more hatreds? Do you grant too much to the "mission" of the poet? Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth?
Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza:
Who Are These Jews?
Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb and lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Even Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abrahamʼs children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
The peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers like the Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
No water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet claim they come in peace
Where is the peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants
The media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not fair
While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
It may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never intend to allow Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
So your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
of the Synagogue of Satan?
You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
If Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way not yours
America ’s
Egypt ’s Saudi Arabia ’s Jordan ’s
Their way
Maybe then rockets will be silent
Maybe then you will live in peace
Maybe then the world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love and brotherhood.
be aware the battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than you, your guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
In the white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home
Past time for Palestinian State
Don’t you see the world wearing Kafiyas
Not knowing it is the scarf of suffering people
The scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal and dine in Europe
Leaders who sell out to Satan in the night
While people live in refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead since they are blind
Who are these Jews?
—El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Will such a poem lead us to the Truth, or just more conflict? Can it really convey the truth of Hamas or Jews or Israelis or Palestinians--a 50 year history? Maybe we need a whole slew of poems to get at the truth about just one instance of our existence. And still I feel it ends as a failed mission. Poems (words) have their limitations.
They often fail us, saying what we really want to say, especially those that speak to the larger conflicts of life, like racism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, war, peace. We often cannot get enough distance to speak what our hearts really want to say. How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
I welcome response from other poets and writers—Rudy
Marvin X Replies to Rudolph Lewis on Poetic Mission
Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." At the heart of the problem for poet is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing? Rudy
Everyone, whether poet, scientist, lover, street sweeper, dope fiend, must ultimately define his/her life’s mission or purpose. This is why brother Ptah suggested and I include the 13th Step in my How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
What is the mission of the poet—words can kill or heal. Sonia Sanchez says, “Will your book free us?” Apparently not since the stores are full of black books and we still ain’t free.
The dope fiend must come to understand recovery is only a step—once clean and sober then what? Only to sit in meetings claiming sobriety while still drunk on recovery—so after recovery, then discovery of one’s mission. Remember that Nancy Wilson song, “I Never Been to Me”? So we can be poet, mother, wife, husband, yet never discover our true mission in life, and even when we discover our mission, we may be too fearful to execute it.
Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a truth sayer? Rudy
The people are real live people who we should encounter in their/our daily round, thus we hear their cries if we listen, for they will tell us all, if we listen. It is not some echo in our head, life is beyond imagination (the poet’s sense of the people). They will tell you their joy and suffering as they have told me while I was “selling Obama T shirts. The “people” told me again and again the ritual they planned for inauguration day, they told me their joy and happiness, no matter what intellectuals think. So it is my job to express their joy in this world of sadness and dread.
It was the same with the murder of Oscar Grant. The people told me of losing their loved ones to homicide, yet received no attention because it was a black on black crime. They said even the police showed no real concern. Thus we must be guilty of selective suffering. If a white man kills us, we protest. When we kill us, nothing happens. The murderer still walks the streets and everybody knows he’s the killer, but we say nothing out of fear, so families suffer grief and trauma alone, in silence. These people are not some abstraction, some imaginary sense of the people, not his choir. The poet is either about truth or he is about lies, the choice is his.
Or does he/she often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times. Rudy
All art is exaggeration. What is music but the exaggeration of natural sounds, birds, bees, water, wind, rain, thunder. The poet often takes poetic license with events, especially for dramatic effect. The poet, the musician, the painter must decide to join the revolution, as they did during the 60s and earlier, throughout time. This is not a romantic notion. How can the conscious poet ignore the suffering of his people when he sees they are ignorant, suffering poverty and disease? The poet must decide to aid them or leave them alone and praise the king, pharaoh or whomever he decides to clown for, shuffle and dance. For thousands of years the poetic mission has been to cry for freedom and justice. We know the source of art for art’s sake—simply art of the master class, the rulers and oppressors who pass by the man on the roadside, robbed and half dead.
Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go?
Rudy
As is well known, my style is the sledge hammer (Kalamu ya Salaam) or to write with venom (Dr. Julia Hare). The youth on the streets of Oakland who have read my books say, “You’re very blunt.” Indeed, it is a style reflecting my lifestyle (you’re too rough to be a pimp, said a prostitute).
And yet I am in awe of the feminine style. It is so gentle, subtle, smooth like a razor cutting to the heart. I am amazed at the feminine approach or style, especially in writing. But Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem was too soft for me, bored me to tears. Alice Walker’s as well. Now the poetic message from Rev. Lowery was great. It moved the soul, my soul, it had the language of the people, not that academic bullshit language of Alexander’s. See my A Day We Never Thought on the inauguration. But all these poems are a matter of style, not truth. Some like it soft, some like it hard. Some like Miller Lite, some like OLE English 800. We can get to the truth many ways, just get there.
Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two? Rudy
All art is propaganda of one class or another, one group or another. Alexander’s poem is bourgeoisie art to me. Would I be allowed to read my poems on such an occasion? The bourgeoisie runs from me on sight, no need to say boo. Although the Oakland Post Newspaper claimed they were going to run A Day We Never Thought. I did not try to be the sledge hammer with this poem. I wanted to express the joy of the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. Oh, Happy Day. Finally, the poet is not limited to one approach. He is able to don the feminine persona when necessary. It is his duty to know the spirit of male and female, and the non-gender of the spirit world?
As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth. Rudy
The mission of the Black Arts Movement was truth. There is still truth in the BAM poems, yes, forty years later. There is truth in Baraka’s Toilet, Dutchman, and the poems of Nikki and Sonia. Yes, these poets might say their poems are not relevant but they are not truthful. The Dutchman is real. “If Bessie Smith had killed some white people, she wouldn’t need to sing the blues. She could have talked very straight and plain about the world—no metaphor, no innuendo….”
And Sonia’s lines are still relevant even if she finds them distasteful, such as “What a white woman got cept her white pussy?”
Are the above words youth or truth? Of course time causes a maturation of thought. All the things I thought at twenty, some of them I no longer think, but there is still much truth in my early writings. Khalid Muhammad used to tell me to hell with my current writings, he loved my early books such as Fly To Allah and Woman, Man’s Best Friend. These are the books that awakened his consciousness, he told me more than once.
Baraka, the man who taught me how to say motherfucker, now objects to use of the term, except in a moment of passion. As for myself, all words are holy and sacred, none are obscene. What is obscene, saying motherfucker or actually fucking your mother, sister, daughter, son? There are those persons here in the Bay who object to my language, yet they have been indicted for incest and child molestation.
Simply because these/us BAM poets have reached old age does not negate the truth of our early writings. Of course the rappers took our language to another level that may indeed transcend truth for pussy and dick nonsense.
Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth? Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza. Rudy
My poem Who Are These Jews is basic truth. And if it’s true for me, it’s true for you. But the essence of the poem was said by Jesus 2000 years ago, John 8:44. Was Jesus lying then, am I lying now? At what point do we come out of denial and admit we got some devils up in here? Why should Hamas recognize the existence of Israel, does Israel recognize the existence of Hamas, the democratic victory of Hamas?
How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people? Rudy
Are the people deaf, dumb and blind? Have you not read a poem or book that changed your life? The people tell me all the time my writings transform their lives. Truth transforms, lies do not, not for the better. Lies lead to destruction, truth to construction of people and society.
--Marvin X
The Poetic Mission
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin
Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." At the heart of the problem for poets is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing? Missions vary from moment to moment, occasion to ocassion, I would think. Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a truth sayer? Or does he/she often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go? Some poems are not so easily interpreted, as in Kwame Dawes, New Day, which some might be view as a eulogy for the living. Poems are symbolical as well as prosaic. Some poems are intended to shock.
For instance, take Baraka's "The Masquerade Is Over."
The Masquerade is Over
Hitler is alive
& Well
Now he lives
In Israel .
The Master Race
Has changed
Its place
The new Nazism
Is called
Zionism!
The old oppressed Jews
Are dead
Call them Palestinians
Instead!
-Amiri Baraka 12/08
Does this poem express the Truth. If it does, is it a truth that the people can digest? Or does it stimulate untruths or more conflicts or more hatreds? Do you grant too much to the "mission" of the poet? Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth?
Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza:
Who Are These Jews?
Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb and lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Even Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abrahamʼs children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
The peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers like the Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
No water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet claim they come in peace
Where is the peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants
The media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not fair
While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
It may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never intend to allow Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
So your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
of the Synagogue of Satan?
You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
If Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way not yours
America ’s
Egypt ’s Saudi Arabia ’s Jordan ’s
Their way
Maybe then rockets will be silent
Maybe then you will live in peace
Maybe then the world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love and brotherhood.
be aware the battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than you, your guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
In the white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home
Past time for Palestinian State
Don’t you see the world wearing Kafiyas
Not knowing it is the scarf of suffering people
The scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal and dine in Europe
Leaders who sell out to Satan in the night
While people live in refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead since they are blind
Who are these Jews?
—El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Will such a poem lead us to the Truth, or just more conflict? Can it really convey the truth of Hamas or Jews or Israelis or Palestinians--a 50 year history? Maybe we need a whole slew of poems to get at the truth about just one instance of our existence. And still I feel it ends as a failed mission. Poems (words) have their limitations.
They often fail us, saying what we really want to say, especially those that speak to the larger conflicts of life, like racism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, war, peace. We often cannot get enough distance to speak what our hearts really want to say. How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
I welcome response from other poets and writers—Rudy
Marvin X Replies to Rudolph Lewis on Poetic Mission
Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." At the heart of the problem for poet is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing? Rudy
Everyone, whether poet, scientist, lover, street sweeper, dope fiend, must ultimately define his/her life’s mission or purpose. This is why brother Ptah suggested and I include the 13th Step in my How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
What is the mission of the poet—words can kill or heal. Sonia Sanchez says, “Will your book free us?” Apparently not since the stores are full of black books and we still ain’t free.
The dope fiend must come to understand recovery is only a step—once clean and sober then what? Only to sit in meetings claiming sobriety while still drunk on recovery—so after recovery, then discovery of one’s mission. Remember that Nancy Wilson song, “I Never Been to Me”? So we can be poet, mother, wife, husband, yet never discover our true mission in life, and even when we discover our mission, we may be too fearful to execute it.
Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a truth sayer? Rudy
The people are real live people who we should encounter in their/our daily round, thus we hear their cries if we listen, for they will tell us all, if we listen. It is not some echo in our head, life is beyond imagination (the poet’s sense of the people). They will tell you their joy and suffering as they have told me while I was “selling Obama T shirts. The “people” told me again and again the ritual they planned for inauguration day, they told me their joy and happiness, no matter what intellectuals think. So it is my job to express their joy in this world of sadness and dread.
It was the same with the murder of Oscar Grant. The people told me of losing their loved ones to homicide, yet received no attention because it was a black on black crime. They said even the police showed no real concern. Thus we must be guilty of selective suffering. If a white man kills us, we protest. When we kill us, nothing happens. The murderer still walks the streets and everybody knows he’s the killer, but we say nothing out of fear, so families suffer grief and trauma alone, in silence. These people are not some abstraction, some imaginary sense of the people, not his choir. The poet is either about truth or he is about lies, the choice is his.
Or does he/she often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times. Rudy
All art is exaggeration. What is music but the exaggeration of natural sounds, birds, bees, water, wind, rain, thunder. The poet often takes poetic license with events, especially for dramatic effect. The poet, the musician, the painter must decide to join the revolution, as they did during the 60s and earlier, throughout time. This is not a romantic notion. How can the conscious poet ignore the suffering of his people when he sees they are ignorant, suffering poverty and disease? The poet must decide to aid them or leave them alone and praise the king, pharaoh or whomever he decides to clown for, shuffle and dance. For thousands of years the poetic mission has been to cry for freedom and justice. We know the source of art for art’s sake—simply art of the master class, the rulers and oppressors who pass by the man on the roadside, robbed and half dead.
Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go?
Rudy
As is well known, my style is the sledge hammer (Kalamu ya Salaam) or to write with venom (Dr. Julia Hare). The youth on the streets of Oakland who have read my books say, “You’re very blunt.” Indeed, it is a style reflecting my lifestyle (you’re too rough to be a pimp, said a prostitute).
And yet I am in awe of the feminine style. It is so gentle, subtle, smooth like a razor cutting to the heart. I am amazed at the feminine approach or style, especially in writing. But Elizabeth Alexander’s inaugural poem was too soft for me, bored me to tears. Alice Walker’s as well. Now the poetic message from Rev. Lowery was great. It moved the soul, my soul, it had the language of the people, not that academic bullshit language of Alexander’s. See my A Day We Never Thought on the inauguration. But all these poems are a matter of style, not truth. Some like it soft, some like it hard. Some like Miller Lite, some like OLE English 800. We can get to the truth many ways, just get there.
Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two? Rudy
All art is propaganda of one class or another, one group or another. Alexander’s poem is bourgeoisie art to me. Would I be allowed to read my poems on such an occasion? The bourgeoisie runs from me on sight, no need to say boo. Although the Oakland Post Newspaper claimed they were going to run A Day We Never Thought. I did not try to be the sledge hammer with this poem. I wanted to express the joy of the ancestors, the living and the yet unborn. Oh, Happy Day. Finally, the poet is not limited to one approach. He is able to don the feminine persona when necessary. It is his duty to know the spirit of male and female, and the non-gender of the spirit world?
As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth. Rudy
The mission of the Black Arts Movement was truth. There is still truth in the BAM poems, yes, forty years later. There is truth in Baraka’s Toilet, Dutchman, and the poems of Nikki and Sonia. Yes, these poets might say their poems are not relevant but they are not truthful. The Dutchman is real. “If Bessie Smith had killed some white people, she wouldn’t need to sing the blues. She could have talked very straight and plain about the world—no metaphor, no innuendo….”
And Sonia’s lines are still relevant even if she finds them distasteful, such as “What a white woman got cept her white pussy?”
Are the above words youth or truth? Of course time causes a maturation of thought. All the things I thought at twenty, some of them I no longer think, but there is still much truth in my early writings. Khalid Muhammad used to tell me to hell with my current writings, he loved my early books such as Fly To Allah and Woman, Man’s Best Friend. These are the books that awakened his consciousness, he told me more than once.
Baraka, the man who taught me how to say motherfucker, now objects to use of the term, except in a moment of passion. As for myself, all words are holy and sacred, none are obscene. What is obscene, saying motherfucker or actually fucking your mother, sister, daughter, son? There are those persons here in the Bay who object to my language, yet they have been indicted for incest and child molestation.
Simply because these/us BAM poets have reached old age does not negate the truth of our early writings. Of course the rappers took our language to another level that may indeed transcend truth for pussy and dick nonsense.
Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth? Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza. Rudy
My poem Who Are These Jews is basic truth. And if it’s true for me, it’s true for you. But the essence of the poem was said by Jesus 2000 years ago, John 8:44. Was Jesus lying then, am I lying now? At what point do we come out of denial and admit we got some devils up in here? Why should Hamas recognize the existence of Israel, does Israel recognize the existence of Hamas, the democratic victory of Hamas?
How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people? Rudy
Are the people deaf, dumb and blind? Have you not read a poem or book that changed your life? The people tell me all the time my writings transform their lives. Truth transforms, lies do not, not for the better. Lies lead to destruction, truth to construction of people and society.
--Marvin X
The Poetic Mission
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin
Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." At the heart of the problem for poets is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing? Missions vary from moment to moment, occasion to ocassion, I would think. Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a truth sayer? Or does he/she often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go? Some poems are not so easily interpreted, as in Kwame Dawes, New Day, which some might be view as a eulogy for the living. Poems are symbolical as well as prosaic. Some poems are intended to shock.
For instance, take Baraka's "The Masquerade Is Over."
The Masquerade is Over
Hitler is alive
& Well
Now he lives
In Israel .
The Master Race
Has changed
Its place
The new Nazism
Is called
Zionism!
The old oppressed Jews
Are dead
Call them Palestinians
Instead!
Amiri Baraka 12/08
Does this poem express the Truth. If it does, is it a truth that the people can digest? Or does it stimulate untruths or more conflicts or more hatreds? Do you grant too much to the "mission" of the poet? Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth?
Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza:
Who Are These Jews?
Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb and lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Even Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abrahamʼs children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
The peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers like the Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
No water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet claim they come in peace
Where is the peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants
The media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not fair
While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
It may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never intend to allow Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
So your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
of the Synagogue of Satan?
You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
If Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way not yours
America ’s
Egypt ’s Saudi Arabia ’s Jordan ’s
Their way
Maybe then rockets will be silent
Maybe then you will live in peace
Maybe then the world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love and brotherhood.
be aware the battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than you, your guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
In the white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home
Past time for Palestinian State
Don’t you see the world wearing Kafiyas
Not knowing it is the scarf of suffering people
The scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal and dine in Europe
Leaders who sell out to Satan in the night
While people live in refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead since they are blind
Who are these Jews?
—El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Will such a poem lead us to the Truth, or just more conflict? Can it really convey the truth of Hamas or Jews or Israelis or Palestinians--a 50 year history? Maybe we need a whole slew of poems to get at the truth about just one instance of our existence. And still I feel it ends as a failed mission. Poems (words) have their limitations.
They often fail us, saying what we really wnat to say, especially those that speak to the larger conflicts of life, like racism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, war, peace. We often cannot get enough distance to speak what our hearts really want to say. How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
I welcome response from other poets and writers—Rudy
The Poetic Mission
The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.
The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. Like Oakland Tribune editor Martin Reynolds defending the bullshit Chauncey Bailey project, that collection of white supremacy journalists supposedly investigating the murder of Chauncey Bailey.
Martin spoke of the glorious task the project has undertaken, but after all these months, the CBP has yet to reveal information on the black murder squad at the Oakland Police Department. The latest revelations of police corruption do not answer the question of who killed Chauncey. We understand it took months before the CBP would consider any police misconduct in the murder investigation. While Martin applauds the work of the project, we ask him about long-time Tribune crime writer Harry Harris who, we have learned, opposed investigating his friends at the OPD. Clearly, Harry Harris has been around too long associating with the police and has thus become part of the problem, making us smell a rat running between the police and the media, Tribune and CBP included.
The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution--is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good.
The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form.
Martin mentioned the toll of journalists killed in the line of duty throughout the world last year. Yes, the truth is just as mighty as the sword. Men fear truth simply because it destroys lies presented by oppressors everywhere. They do not want the truthsayers around. Silence them at whatever price. Censor them. Let them starve to death as America did journalist Gary Webb or Chauncey Bailey for that matter. Chauncey was arrogant but he lived a humble life-style and he was a dedicated journalist who wrote when you observed no movement of his pen. Yes, Chauncey would interview without tape recorder or notes, but there would be a story. And he paid the ultimate price to carry out his mission. Are you poets, writers, journalists, rappers prepared to pay--or you prepared to tell the truth so help you God?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin
Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." At the heart of the problem for poets is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing? Missions vary from moment to moment, occasion to ocassion, I would think. Is the audience "the people" or is it the poet's sense of the people? Or is the poet's audience, his choir? Is the poet really a truth sayer? Or does he/she often obfuscate (or exaggerate) the truth, maybe for good reasons, maybe for awful consequences? I suspect that neither poems nor poets have a special Mission. It is a romantic notion that has outlived its times.
Poems can be sledge hammers (hurtful) or they can be subtle (very subtle), like Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, Praise song for the day? Which ones indeed carry more truth? Which ones are more effective in getting us where we want to go? Some poems are not so easily interpreted, as in Kwame Dawes, New Day, which some might be view as a eulogy for the living. Poems are symbolical as well as prosaic. Some poems are intended to shock.
For instance, take Baraka's "The Masquerade Is Over."
The Masquerade is Over
Hitler is alive
& Well
Now he lives
In Israel .
The Master Race
Has changed
Its place
The new Nazism
Is called
Zionism!
The old oppressed Jews
Are dead
Call them Palestinians
Instead!
Amiri Baraka 12/08
Does this poem express the Truth. If it does, is it a truth that the people can digest? Or does it stimulate untruths or more conflicts or more hatreds? Do you grant too much to the "mission" of the poet? Is poetry the same as propaganda, which some associate with out right lies and distortions? How do we reconcile the two?
As you know many of the poems of the BAM period are relics and say more about the mindset of the period or the poet, for instance, some of the poems of Nikki Giovanni or poems of Sonia Sanchez. The poets themselves might argue that they are not relevant for today. Or they would denounce or apologize for them as the expression of youth, and not really the Truth.
Is poetry not also a personal statement that says more about the person at the time of writing, than it does the Truth?
Take for instance your poem in response to the slaughter in Gaza:
Who Are These Jews?
Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb and lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Even Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abrahamʼs children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
The peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers like the Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
No water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet claim they come in peace
Where is the peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants
The media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not fair
While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
It may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never intend to allow Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
So your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
of the Synagogue of Satan?
You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
If Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way not yours
America ’s
Egypt ’s Saudi Arabia ’s Jordan ’s
Their way
Maybe then rockets will be silent
Maybe then you will live in peace
Maybe then the world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love and brotherhood.
be aware the battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than you, your guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
In the white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home
Past time for Palestinian State
Don’t you see the world wearing Kafiyas
Not knowing it is the scarf of suffering people
The scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal and dine in Europe
Leaders who sell out to Satan in the night
While people live in refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead since they are blind
Who are these Jews?
—El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Will such a poem lead us to the Truth, or just more conflict? Can it really convey the truth of Hamas or Jews or Israelis or Palestinians--a 50 year history? Maybe we need a whole slew of poems to get at the truth about just one instance of our existence. And still I feel it ends as a failed mission. Poems (words) have their limitations.
They often fail us, saying what we really wnat to say, especially those that speak to the larger conflicts of life, like racism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, war, peace. We often cannot get enough distance to speak what our hearts really want to say. How do the "people" really know when the poem or the poet has really failed to speak to the real needs of the people?
I welcome response from other poets and writers—Rudy
The Poetic Mission
The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.
The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. Like Oakland Tribune editor Martin Reynolds defending the bullshit Chauncey Bailey project, that collection of white supremacy journalists supposedly investigating the murder of Chauncey Bailey.
Martin spoke of the glorious task the project has undertaken, but after all these months, the CBP has yet to reveal information on the black murder squad at the Oakland Police Department. The latest revelations of police corruption do not answer the question of who killed Chauncey. We understand it took months before the CBP would consider any police misconduct in the murder investigation. While Martin applauds the work of the project, we ask him about long-time Tribune crime writer Harry Harris who, we have learned, opposed investigating his friends at the OPD. Clearly, Harry Harris has been around too long associating with the police and has thus become part of the problem, making us smell a rat running between the police and the media, Tribune and CBP included.
The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution--is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good.
The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.
In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form.
Martin mentioned the toll of journalists killed in the line of duty throughout the world last year. Yes, the truth is just as mighty as the sword. Men fear truth simply because it destroys lies presented by oppressors everywhere. They do not want the truthsayers around. Silence them at whatever price. Censor them. Let them starve to death as America did journalist Gary Webb or Chauncey Bailey for that matter. Chauncey was arrogant but he lived a humble life-style and he was a dedicated journalist who wrote when you observed no movement of his pen. Yes, Chauncey would interview without tape recorder or notes, but there would be a story. And he paid the ultimate price to carry out his mission. Are you poets, writers, journalists, rappers prepared to pay--or you prepared to tell the truth so help you God?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
The Poetic Mission
The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.
The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. Like Oakland Tribune editor Martin Reynolds defending the bullshit Chauncey Bailey project, that collection of white supremacy journalists supposedly investigating the murder of Chauncey Bailey.
Martin spoke of the glorious task the project has undertaken, but after all these months, the CBP has yet to reveal information on the black murder squad at the Oakland Police Department. The latest revelations of police corruption do not answer the question of who killed Chauncey. We understand it took months before the CBP would consider any police misconduct in the murder investigation. While Martin applauds the work of the project, we ask him about long-time Tribune crime writer Harry Harris who, we have learned, opposed investigating his friends at the OPD. Clearly, Harry Harris has been around too long associating with the police and has thus become part of the problem, making us smell a rat running between the police and the media, Tribune and CBP included.
The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution--is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good.
The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.
It time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form.
Martin mentioned the toll of journalists killed in the line of duty throughout the world last year. Yes, the truth is just as mighty as the sword. Men fear truth simply because it destroys lies presented by oppressors everywhere. They do not want the truthsayers around. Silence them at whatever price. Censor them. Let them starve to death as America did journalist Gary Webb or Chauncey Bailey for that matter. Chauncey was arrogant but he lived a humble life-style and he was a dedicated journalist who wrote when you observed no movement of his pen. Yes, Chauncey would interview without tape recorder or notes, but there would be a story. And he paid the ultimate price to carry out his mission. Are you poets, writers, journalists, rappers prepared to pay--or you prepared to tell the truth so help you God?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune, stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.
The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and lies. Like Oakland Tribune editor Martin Reynolds defending the bullshit Chauncey Bailey project, that collection of white supremacy journalists supposedly investigating the murder of Chauncey Bailey.
Martin spoke of the glorious task the project has undertaken, but after all these months, the CBP has yet to reveal information on the black murder squad at the Oakland Police Department. The latest revelations of police corruption do not answer the question of who killed Chauncey. We understand it took months before the CBP would consider any police misconduct in the murder investigation. While Martin applauds the work of the project, we ask him about long-time Tribune crime writer Harry Harris who, we have learned, opposed investigating his friends at the OPD. Clearly, Harry Harris has been around too long associating with the police and has thus become part of the problem, making us smell a rat running between the police and the media, Tribune and CBP included.
The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the problem or part of the solution--is he with the oppressor or the oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson, "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write? Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective good.
The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.
It time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job for money, no position for public adoration, no ego trip. Call it revolution, change of the most radical form.
Martin mentioned the toll of journalists killed in the line of duty throughout the world last year. Yes, the truth is just as mighty as the sword. Men fear truth simply because it destroys lies presented by oppressors everywhere. They do not want the truthsayers around. Silence them at whatever price. Censor them. Let them starve to death as America did journalist Gary Webb or Chauncey Bailey for that matter. Chauncey was arrogant but he lived a humble life-style and he was a dedicated journalist who wrote when you observed no movement of his pen. Yes, Chauncey would interview without tape recorder or notes, but there would be a story. And he paid the ultimate price to carry out his mission. Are you poets, writers, journalists, rappers prepared to pay--or you prepared to tell the truth so help you God?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
From: Marvin X Jackmon
To: reggiegeneral@yahoo.com
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 4:57:52 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Weary
You are right, brother. We're all crazy. I'm working on myself everyday. We all need to study my book every day, add to it Cress-Welsing, Fanon, Hare, and all the biblo-thearpy we can find. I am willing to host a session at my place sometime soon. peace and love, marvin x
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Brother Reggie
To: Marvin X Jackmon; refa1@hotmail.com
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 5:40:35 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Weary
Truth is, Marvin. We're all crazy.
I was reading your latest book the other day. White Supremacy is really fucked up. I mean, I've read it two & a half times (first for that article, second to get people nervous on a plane, and more recently because of Obama Drama) and I was really able to observe the effects of White Supremacy.
Going into a Marvin X moment: This young beautiful brown-skin woman that gave me a ride to Dorsey's on Tuesday tells me, "I hate these light-skin mothafuckkas. I mean, they hella racist. They think they...better than white people or something." And I said to myself, "She's addicted to White Supremacy." Now, on one hand, I've said that to myself about 10 times in the last week--hence why I used that in my response yesterday--and the humor that I initially used is gone. We are insane.
So I acknowledged her frustration first. And how ignorant it is that we've been Willie Lynched and divided, and how beautiful Black skin is. I then proceed to explained another side of the coin, where I--myself born of a mother of indigenous descent--was called "white" and had people assume I was intelligent because I could pronounce words and people said I was "light-skinned." She told me that, "I wasn't really light-skinned. I was darker than a "Sugar Daddy" plus my dreadlocks made me "pass." At this point, I realized I couldn't call John George for this and didn't have Dr. X's number.
Then I try to explain Cress-Welsing and how White Supremacy was created and propogated. She sits on it for a minute. "You're right. I notice how everything that is Black is supposed to be bad and White is good." Break through.
Anyway, since I was one the way to deliver group therapy under the guise of comedy, I started thinking about a great infomercial. Your own Recover from White Supremacy Pill.
You'd be some sort of revolutionary version of Richard Simmons, Billy Blanks, George Foreman and those folks on late night TV who help people with little peepees. The product would be a pill to cure people from White Supremacy. Now, of course it'd be a placebo and the real cure would be learning to love themselves, but this is just an infomercial designed to poke fun at White Supremacy and Black Inferiority myths.
Beyond that Marvin, I'd like to take this somewhat public electronic opportunity to apologize to you for what--in retrospect--appear as personal attacks in my email. I read your response (which I'll respond to) and my original. There are a few critiques I could've worded better but obviously sparked an immediate response.
I still disagree on some particular ideas, but I feel it. But I shouldn't have disrespected you, as I feel I did. I am very frustrated with a couple elders right now, but I shouldn't use that generational frustration and take it out on a general. But like you said, sometimes you feel like people "ain't revolutionary enough." If I recall, apologizing to people is one of the steps to overcome White Supremacy addiction.
So thanks for getting me writing again, I was lull for a minute.
And now that you connected me to Refa, I'll probably be talkin' mo shit.
Bro. Reggie General
http://www.myspace.com/reggiegeneral
Marvin X Jackmon wrote:
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Amirib@aol.com"
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 10:49:04 AM
Subject: Re: Weary
What an ignorant negro, indeed. Where did you find it? AB
In a message dated 1/23/2009 9:30:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, jmarvinx@yahoo.com writes:
You are not leading the people. The people are leading you, hence the crisis of the negro intellectual. No matter what else, Obamta has inspired the whole world.
If he ends up a dirty capitalist swine in black face, that's on him. I have no doubt Obalama has awakened black consciousness in some and spiritual consciousness in others.
We can take this Obama vehicle and move on to other things. Like what is your economic program in the midst of depression? At this moment, the dope man is still the number one employer of black youth. I suggest micro-credit loans for youth with the entreprenueral spirit--if they can sell dope, they can sell anything. The people will always need food, clothing and shelter. Most of all, the people need a vehicle to ride to success, anything that is beyond pimping, whoring and murder. What is your solution? Reggie, again, what you're saying just doesn't make sense.
The fact is that a black man is symbolically the most powerful man in the world. If he falls on his face tomorrow, that's him. But to ignore his/our victory is beyond stupid and shows we suffer miseducation. I think were Elijah, Marcus, Martin and Malcolm alive, they would initially support Obama. And when he moves too far to the right, they would condemn him. This is political engagement, not standing in the peanut gallery yapping. The association between Oscar Grant and Obama is clear. Oscar was crucified, Obama ascended, it is part of the same myth-ritual drama. All of us are not going to make, some soldiers will fall as in all warfare. As the bible says, a live dog is better than a dead lion. To protest the death of Oscar Grant is hypocritical when you do nothing about the murder of black youth by black youth. You dishonor grieving families who receive no attention to their dead loved one, no protests, no rallies, so they must suffer in silence. Let's see you edumacaked negroes protest and riot over the one hundred and thirty or more killed in Oakland by other blacks last year. Let's see you go to the dope spots with food, clothing and shelter for the youth who are forced to sell drugs to survive, let's see you offer them an alternative other than a wage slave job in the midst of depression. It is the height of insanity for negro to offer a job during this economic depression that is global. Before it's over, I predict many of you will be selling any T shirt you can find, you will be selling matches and toilet paper, etc. With Obama or without Obama, you will do for self as Marcus, Elijah and Malcolm taught. Obama is a tactic, the strategy is do for self by any means necessary, but hopefully we must use the best means. If you work for the white man, you are not supporting capitalism? You are not an agent of imperialism? You are not addicted to white supremacy with your white man's job? You are not a collabrator, in short, an uncle tom wage slave whore?
--Marvin X
----- Forwarded Mssage ----
From: Brother Reggie
To: Marvin X Jackmon; ramal.lamar@gmail.com; refa1@hotmail.com; revandriette@ebcrs.org; revelouise@ebcrs.org; ronald_bentley@att.net; romekyn@earthlink.net; ibespirit@yahoo.com; goodnewspc@aol.com; Fahizah Alim ; wordslanger@gmail.com; j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com; jnaidu@postnewsgroup.com; nhare@blackthinktank.com; drjuliahare@pacbell.net
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:13:49 PM
Subject: Re: Weary of justifying capitalism
Weary of Justifying Capitalism
Still Weary of the American Dream
Before Obama was elected, I joked that he was already creating jobs. Thousands of formerly unemployed men and women have now started their own businesses thanks to Obama. I suggested that the campaign created many sales and manufacturing jobs for Obama T-shirts, buttons, and other memorabilia.
And then I'd ask, what happened to Malcolm X shirts?
For those who the Creator has endowed have influence over others—whether through media, creative expression, spiritual or psychological counseling—it is important that we are not allowed to mislead others. Like how many people want to juxtapose Obama and Dr. King. Not only a grave underestimation of King's evolutionary as a revolutionary, but misappropriations of his “dream” as the office of the presidency or a Black face in the White House were not on the agenda.
So I too wondered to why the revolutionary Dr. M would be selling T-shirts and other memorabilia of a man some consider to be "White Power in Black Face.” Now I am even more confuse as you justify capitalism in the form of commercialization of a man's image whose psychological state you question because of his hawkish intent to bomb a nuclear Pakistan; the same man of whom you once said, “We learned from the 60s black power revolution that a black face will not save us, so we must have no illusions Obama is our savior. He will carry out the will of American imperialism to the best of his ability." (Obama Drama part 3)
Where is the common sense in going out of you way to do what you don't believe in?
However, understanding the economic times, I knew that when times make you wanna holla, people will do what they need for a dollar. Especially when there are others to support. But they say, if you knew better you would do better. And we know better.
So why would one allegedly fighting for our liberation lead our people back into the Demon-cratic Party’s plantation under the guise of electoral emancipation? You may be able to get paid, but the same soldiers on the frontlines will become conscripts of the global imperialist regime committing atrocities in our Motherland under the guise of AfriCOM (General Kip), aide and Black face (Susan Rice). And domestically as the State.
And the real contradiction is when this same Pro-Zionist hawk memorabilia is being hocked at a Rally in which the masses of people are demanding Justice for Oscar Grant. One young woman asked me, “WTF is up with Marvin X selling Obama shit at the rally.” And I thought to myself, “Addiction to White Supremacy.”
It is one thing to want to encourage our youth to believe in themselves as using Obama's rise as an example, and yet another to make a quick nickel.
In this information age, a picture is worth a thousand words and an image is infinite. The image of a functional Black family in the White House is empowering. The fact that the most well-known Black man on this Earth is not an athlete (although I love Muhammad Ali), nor an actor (Will Smith is cool too) nor a rapper (someone in Bosnia asked me if I knew 50 Cent) will certainly encourage our children to think beyond these as their only occupational objectives.
But where are the Garvey shirts? Harriet? Dr. Carver? Ida B. Wells? All of you are more familiar than I in which the state will prop up fake leaders/organizations to destabilize others. Not saying bruh is prop-ertied up by the system, but seemed like a lot of so-called Negroes were down with the Clinton ’s before lily-white Iowa caucused.
My mother told me a long time ago, that some of the same so-called revolutionaries in the 60s were encouraging people to skip class, give money, etc, while they in fact got their degrees. In my own prime of traditional warrior age, I learned this same lesson the hard way.
So I feel you for trying to come up. But you propagating “Obama Drama” for your own profit is just like that nerd selling your book and eating your hot dog. It’s what some people call “Pimpin’ the System,” and updated version of the survival tactics we've used in this hemisphere since being kidnapped from African and an attempt to redefine "pimping" as something acceptable to our community.
And it’s unacceptable to—knowingly—lead the people astray.
Where's the common sense in that?
Reginald James
Marvin X Jackmon wrote:
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American?" I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face.. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many improverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Goodnewspc@aol.com"
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:43:46 AM
Subject: Re: Weary
you finally said something of intellectual and practical value
To: reggiegeneral@yahoo.com
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 4:57:52 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Weary
You are right, brother. We're all crazy. I'm working on myself everyday. We all need to study my book every day, add to it Cress-Welsing, Fanon, Hare, and all the biblo-thearpy we can find. I am willing to host a session at my place sometime soon. peace and love, marvin x
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Brother Reggie
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 5:40:35 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Weary
Truth is, Marvin. We're all crazy.
I was reading your latest book the other day. White Supremacy is really fucked up. I mean, I've read it two & a half times (first for that article, second to get people nervous on a plane, and more recently because of Obama Drama) and I was really able to observe the effects of White Supremacy.
Going into a Marvin X moment: This young beautiful brown-skin woman that gave me a ride to Dorsey's on Tuesday tells me, "I hate these light-skin mothafuckkas. I mean, they hella racist. They think they...better than white people or something." And I said to myself, "She's addicted to White Supremacy." Now, on one hand, I've said that to myself about 10 times in the last week--hence why I used that in my response yesterday--and the humor that I initially used is gone. We are insane.
So I acknowledged her frustration first. And how ignorant it is that we've been Willie Lynched and divided, and how beautiful Black skin is. I then proceed to explained another side of the coin, where I--myself born of a mother of indigenous descent--was called "white" and had people assume I was intelligent because I could pronounce words and people said I was "light-skinned." She told me that, "I wasn't really light-skinned. I was darker than a "Sugar Daddy" plus my dreadlocks made me "pass." At this point, I realized I couldn't call John George for this and didn't have Dr. X's number.
Then I try to explain Cress-Welsing and how White Supremacy was created and propogated. She sits on it for a minute. "You're right. I notice how everything that is Black is supposed to be bad and White is good." Break through.
Anyway, since I was one the way to deliver group therapy under the guise of comedy, I started thinking about a great infomercial. Your own Recover from White Supremacy Pill.
You'd be some sort of revolutionary version of Richard Simmons, Billy Blanks, George Foreman and those folks on late night TV who help people with little peepees. The product would be a pill to cure people from White Supremacy. Now, of course it'd be a placebo and the real cure would be learning to love themselves, but this is just an infomercial designed to poke fun at White Supremacy and Black Inferiority myths.
Beyond that Marvin, I'd like to take this somewhat public electronic opportunity to apologize to you for what--in retrospect--appear as personal attacks in my email. I read your response (which I'll respond to) and my original. There are a few critiques I could've worded better but obviously sparked an immediate response.
I still disagree on some particular ideas, but I feel it. But I shouldn't have disrespected you, as I feel I did. I am very frustrated with a couple elders right now, but I shouldn't use that generational frustration and take it out on a general. But like you said, sometimes you feel like people "ain't revolutionary enough." If I recall, apologizing to people is one of the steps to overcome White Supremacy addiction.
So thanks for getting me writing again, I was lull for a minute.
And now that you connected me to Refa, I'll probably be talkin' mo shit.
Bro. Reggie General
http://www.myspace.com/reggiegeneral
Marvin X Jackmon
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Amirib@aol.com"
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 10:49:04 AM
Subject: Re: Weary
What an ignorant negro, indeed. Where did you find it? AB
In a message dated 1/23/2009 9:30:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, jmarvinx@yahoo.com writes:
You are not leading the people. The people are leading you, hence the crisis of the negro intellectual. No matter what else, Obamta has inspired the whole world.
If he ends up a dirty capitalist swine in black face, that's on him. I have no doubt Obalama has awakened black consciousness in some and spiritual consciousness in others.
We can take this Obama vehicle and move on to other things. Like what is your economic program in the midst of depression? At this moment, the dope man is still the number one employer of black youth. I suggest micro-credit loans for youth with the entreprenueral spirit--if they can sell dope, they can sell anything. The people will always need food, clothing and shelter. Most of all, the people need a vehicle to ride to success, anything that is beyond pimping, whoring and murder. What is your solution? Reggie, again, what you're saying just doesn't make sense.
The fact is that a black man is symbolically the most powerful man in the world. If he falls on his face tomorrow, that's him. But to ignore his/our victory is beyond stupid and shows we suffer miseducation. I think were Elijah, Marcus, Martin and Malcolm alive, they would initially support Obama. And when he moves too far to the right, they would condemn him. This is political engagement, not standing in the peanut gallery yapping. The association between Oscar Grant and Obama is clear. Oscar was crucified, Obama ascended, it is part of the same myth-ritual drama. All of us are not going to make, some soldiers will fall as in all warfare. As the bible says, a live dog is better than a dead lion. To protest the death of Oscar Grant is hypocritical when you do nothing about the murder of black youth by black youth. You dishonor grieving families who receive no attention to their dead loved one, no protests, no rallies, so they must suffer in silence. Let's see you edumacaked negroes protest and riot over the one hundred and thirty or more killed in Oakland by other blacks last year. Let's see you go to the dope spots with food, clothing and shelter for the youth who are forced to sell drugs to survive, let's see you offer them an alternative other than a wage slave job in the midst of depression. It is the height of insanity for negro to offer a job during this economic depression that is global. Before it's over, I predict many of you will be selling any T shirt you can find, you will be selling matches and toilet paper, etc. With Obama or without Obama, you will do for self as Marcus, Elijah and Malcolm taught. Obama is a tactic, the strategy is do for self by any means necessary, but hopefully we must use the best means. If you work for the white man, you are not supporting capitalism? You are not an agent of imperialism? You are not addicted to white supremacy with your white man's job? You are not a collabrator, in short, an uncle tom wage slave whore?
--Marvin X
----- Forwarded Mssage ----
From: Brother Reggie
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:13:49 PM
Subject: Re: Weary of justifying capitalism
Weary of Justifying Capitalism
Still Weary of the American Dream
Before Obama was elected, I joked that he was already creating jobs. Thousands of formerly unemployed men and women have now started their own businesses thanks to Obama. I suggested that the campaign created many sales and manufacturing jobs for Obama T-shirts, buttons, and other memorabilia.
And then I'd ask, what happened to Malcolm X shirts?
For those who the Creator has endowed have influence over others—whether through media, creative expression, spiritual or psychological counseling—it is important that we are not allowed to mislead others. Like how many people want to juxtapose Obama and Dr. King. Not only a grave underestimation of King's evolutionary as a revolutionary, but misappropriations of his “dream” as the office of the presidency or a Black face in the White House were not on the agenda.
So I too wondered to why the revolutionary Dr. M would be selling T-shirts and other memorabilia of a man some consider to be "White Power in Black Face.” Now I am even more confuse as you justify capitalism in the form of commercialization of a man's image whose psychological state you question because of his hawkish intent to bomb a nuclear Pakistan; the same man of whom you once said, “We learned from the 60s black power revolution that a black face will not save us, so we must have no illusions Obama is our savior. He will carry out the will of American imperialism to the best of his ability." (Obama Drama part 3)
Where is the common sense in going out of you way to do what you don't believe in?
However, understanding the economic times, I knew that when times make you wanna holla, people will do what they need for a dollar. Especially when there are others to support. But they say, if you knew better you would do better. And we know better.
So why would one allegedly fighting for our liberation lead our people back into the Demon-cratic Party’s plantation under the guise of electoral emancipation? You may be able to get paid, but the same soldiers on the frontlines will become conscripts of the global imperialist regime committing atrocities in our Motherland under the guise of AfriCOM (General Kip), aide and Black face (Susan Rice). And domestically as the State.
And the real contradiction is when this same Pro-Zionist hawk memorabilia is being hocked at a Rally in which the masses of people are demanding Justice for Oscar Grant. One young woman asked me, “WTF is up with Marvin X selling Obama shit at the rally.” And I thought to myself, “Addiction to White Supremacy.”
It is one thing to want to encourage our youth to believe in themselves as using Obama's rise as an example, and yet another to make a quick nickel.
In this information age, a picture is worth a thousand words and an image is infinite. The image of a functional Black family in the White House is empowering. The fact that the most well-known Black man on this Earth is not an athlete (although I love Muhammad Ali), nor an actor (Will Smith is cool too) nor a rapper (someone in Bosnia asked me if I knew 50 Cent) will certainly encourage our children to think beyond these as their only occupational objectives.
But where are the Garvey shirts? Harriet? Dr. Carver? Ida B. Wells? All of you are more familiar than I in which the state will prop up fake leaders/organizations to destabilize others. Not saying bruh is prop-ertied up by the system, but seemed like a lot of so-called Negroes were down with the Clinton ’s before lily-white Iowa caucused.
My mother told me a long time ago, that some of the same so-called revolutionaries in the 60s were encouraging people to skip class, give money, etc, while they in fact got their degrees. In my own prime of traditional warrior age, I learned this same lesson the hard way.
So I feel you for trying to come up. But you propagating “Obama Drama” for your own profit is just like that nerd selling your book and eating your hot dog. It’s what some people call “Pimpin’ the System,” and updated version of the survival tactics we've used in this hemisphere since being kidnapped from African and an attempt to redefine "pimping" as something acceptable to our community.
And it’s unacceptable to—knowingly—lead the people astray.
Where's the common sense in that?
Reginald James
Marvin X Jackmon
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American?" I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face.. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many improverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Goodnewspc@aol.com"
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:43:46 AM
Subject: Re: Weary
you finally said something of intellectual and practical value
Friday, January 23, 2009
Reply from Gerald Ali on Marvin X’s Weary of Intellectualism
Hi Marvin and all,
They are not ''intellectuals' they are the petit bourgeois intelligentsia, which is a different entity.
They have no new thoughts, no new research, they just regurgitate what they have read elsewhere, they could not solve a contradiction if they tried.
The bourgeois have no liking for real intellectual, which is why they attack you, don't think with this line that I agree with all your politics, that would be incorrect, but I agree with your ability to study and research, without which no one could reach the position of an intellectual.
'''''to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be.'''
Marxism and Marxist are ALL ANTI MARX, they are the petit bourgeois, as was Stalin, as was/is social democracy.
So, if you cannot 'make a buck'' how else does one eat ?
From a scientific socialist, make a million bucks if you want to, make a few, its what you do with it that counts.
For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama
From a scientific socialist, good practice.
'''listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events''
Reading and understanding are two completely different things, they cannot resolve the contradiction in what they read, or how they live. Stop believing them when they say they are revolutionaries, they are not.
'''Many revolutionaries and so-called conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. ''
He's a lesser evil at the moment, it was fully correct to support the change of President and dominant party, most of the ''third party ones' were little more than populists, they could say anything they wanted, with the full knowledge that they would not get the job. All rhetoric, but if they got the job, most would have soon been to the right of Bush.
Yes it is correct from a scientific socialist viewpoint to give tactical support, to give conditional support, to take their policies and programme to its logical conclusions as fast as possible, whilst carrying out a consistent analysis and posing alternate policies as well.
Unfortunately some are still trying to fight the election, its either that or admit they were in fact wrong, if they do so they will immediately 'lose face', so they cry quietly in the darkness, instead.
A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction. '''
Nice to see he's now backed off, he's said recently they don't need to kill or capture bin laden.
The Pakistanis will have sent him a message, and it would not have been about atom bombs, something smaller. Ha hahahah.
''And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?''
Correct, '''white man in black face.'' which is what you have consistently said all along. In all your post's, they are recorded in the group archives, so none can deny them as being a correct record.
Which now gives the LIE to both Little Joe and Adaoma, who have accused you of open support for Obama and the Democrats, glad you posted that line.
They have lied and slandered you lately, Joe started it, Adaoma follows like a sheep.
Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense,
One can trust more the working classes that one can ever trust the petite bourgeois, they are the intelligentsia, not intellectuals.
All the intellegensia of Fascism and Stalinism came from the petite bourgeois sections of society, the religious -revisionist christian and the middle classes in economic terms, they were supported by elements from the LUMPEN propletariat, the de-classed elements at the bottom of society, the 'armchair politicians' , the bar room politicians, the 'street shouters', the down and outs provide the ''strong arm brigades', the thieves and criminals.
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American? " I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many improverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
Hi Marvin and all,
They are not ''intellectuals' they are the petit bourgeois intelligentsia, which is a different entity.
They have no new thoughts, no new research, they just regurgitate what they have read elsewhere, they could not solve a contradiction if they tried.
The bourgeois have no liking for real intellectual, which is why they attack you, don't think with this line that I agree with all your politics, that would be incorrect, but I agree with your ability to study and research, without which no one could reach the position of an intellectual.
'''''to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be.'''
Marxism and Marxist are ALL ANTI MARX, they are the petit bourgeois, as was Stalin, as was/is social democracy.
So, if you cannot 'make a buck'' how else does one eat ?
From a scientific socialist, make a million bucks if you want to, make a few, its what you do with it that counts.
For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama
From a scientific socialist, good practice.
'''listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events''
Reading and understanding are two completely different things, they cannot resolve the contradiction in what they read, or how they live. Stop believing them when they say they are revolutionaries, they are not.
'''Many revolutionaries and so-called conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. ''
He's a lesser evil at the moment, it was fully correct to support the change of President and dominant party, most of the ''third party ones' were little more than populists, they could say anything they wanted, with the full knowledge that they would not get the job. All rhetoric, but if they got the job, most would have soon been to the right of Bush.
Yes it is correct from a scientific socialist viewpoint to give tactical support, to give conditional support, to take their policies and programme to its logical conclusions as fast as possible, whilst carrying out a consistent analysis and posing alternate policies as well.
Unfortunately some are still trying to fight the election, its either that or admit they were in fact wrong, if they do so they will immediately 'lose face', so they cry quietly in the darkness, instead.
A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction. '''
Nice to see he's now backed off, he's said recently they don't need to kill or capture bin laden.
The Pakistanis will have sent him a message, and it would not have been about atom bombs, something smaller. Ha hahahah.
''And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?''
Correct, '''white man in black face.'' which is what you have consistently said all along. In all your post's, they are recorded in the group archives, so none can deny them as being a correct record.
Which now gives the LIE to both Little Joe and Adaoma, who have accused you of open support for Obama and the Democrats, glad you posted that line.
They have lied and slandered you lately, Joe started it, Adaoma follows like a sheep.
Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense,
One can trust more the working classes that one can ever trust the petite bourgeois, they are the intelligentsia, not intellectuals.
All the intellegensia of Fascism and Stalinism came from the petite bourgeois sections of society, the religious -revisionist christian and the middle classes in economic terms, they were supported by elements from the LUMPEN propletariat, the de-classed elements at the bottom of society, the 'armchair politicians' , the bar room politicians, the 'street shouters', the down and outs provide the ''strong arm brigades', the thieves and criminals.
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American? " I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many improverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
Pull Yo Pants Up fa da black prez
This should be the message of elders to youth. Obama's victory is our victory for struggle and sacrifice over the centuries, from the slave revolts and failed reconstruction when we foolishly gave up the guns of the 200,000 black soldiers who should have been defenders of the black nation. Our defenselessness allowed the KKK to go crazy on our behinds, spreading terror and segregation. And then came Noble Drew Ali, Garvey, Elijah, spreading black consciousness, inspiring civil rites and black power. SNCC, Black Panthers, Nation of Islam, gave us energy to get our nuts out the sands of time. Cointellpro brought us down the mountain with agents, snitches and opportunists, pussy and dick rappers, gold teeth and sagging pants, reverse evolution, down the mountain in the best tradition of Sisyphus. It this moment of darkness Obama came on the scene like a lightning bolt, striking inside the belly of the beast. Be careful of the masks we wear--what you see is not always what you get. There is a world behind the world behind the world. We need only plug into the seed of the seed of the first seed and be not afraid. We are terrified of the new thing, the new guy on the block. Get over it--we control the block, we control the time clock. Pull yo pants up fa da black prez. So some respect fa yaself. The race ain't ova, this is merely another beginning on a long journey. There are no savior and very few saints, only those who struggled and those who did nothing, those who joined the people in their myth-ritual, no matter how ignut, like celebrating xmas and easter, it is no great sin to eat what the people eat, to dine with them in their ignorance, only then will come the opportunity to teach. With my Obama T shirts I sell my books, offering an alternative view of reality, even distant from Obama's. If we can't find a way to use this Obama drama to educate and radicalize our people, then we are dumber than dumb. When God gives you a blessing to work with, you work with it and don't be ungrateful. Will you curse God while He is blessing you. Some negroes would rather have the devil himself rather than their own brother, this is the extent of the self hatred in the guise of revolutionary consciousness. Pull yo pants up for the black prez.
We have no black teachers for our children. This is a cold fact we are in denial about. How can you change the system when even the black teachers who are in the system are of white mentality, thus part of the problem. Where are our radical teachers which no amount of money will recruit, only when they know the black curriculum is allowed, not the white supremacy teachings of yesterday. Pull yo pants up for the black prez. Students, take over the classrooms and teach yourselves, become peer teachers, study outside the classroom, this is how we did it in the 60s, this is how Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and I studied, not in the classroom but in each other's room, on the sidewalk of Oakland's Merritt College. Pull yo pants up.
Would any of you brothers like to go through what Obama had to go through to become president? I pity the brother since he indeed will be like Job before his term is over, he will be afflicted, persecuted, hated and reviled, even by his own kind, playa haters, we call them, blockers and busters, like a nigguh who will come to your house and tell your maid to come work for him, totally disrespecting you. Pull your pants up for the black prez.
--Marvin X
This should be the message of elders to youth. Obama's victory is our victory for struggle and sacrifice over the centuries, from the slave revolts and failed reconstruction when we foolishly gave up the guns of the 200,000 black soldiers who should have been defenders of the black nation. Our defenselessness allowed the KKK to go crazy on our behinds, spreading terror and segregation. And then came Noble Drew Ali, Garvey, Elijah, spreading black consciousness, inspiring civil rites and black power. SNCC, Black Panthers, Nation of Islam, gave us energy to get our nuts out the sands of time. Cointellpro brought us down the mountain with agents, snitches and opportunists, pussy and dick rappers, gold teeth and sagging pants, reverse evolution, down the mountain in the best tradition of Sisyphus. It this moment of darkness Obama came on the scene like a lightning bolt, striking inside the belly of the beast. Be careful of the masks we wear--what you see is not always what you get. There is a world behind the world behind the world. We need only plug into the seed of the seed of the first seed and be not afraid. We are terrified of the new thing, the new guy on the block. Get over it--we control the block, we control the time clock. Pull yo pants up fa da black prez. So some respect fa yaself. The race ain't ova, this is merely another beginning on a long journey. There are no savior and very few saints, only those who struggled and those who did nothing, those who joined the people in their myth-ritual, no matter how ignut, like celebrating xmas and easter, it is no great sin to eat what the people eat, to dine with them in their ignorance, only then will come the opportunity to teach. With my Obama T shirts I sell my books, offering an alternative view of reality, even distant from Obama's. If we can't find a way to use this Obama drama to educate and radicalize our people, then we are dumber than dumb. When God gives you a blessing to work with, you work with it and don't be ungrateful. Will you curse God while He is blessing you. Some negroes would rather have the devil himself rather than their own brother, this is the extent of the self hatred in the guise of revolutionary consciousness. Pull yo pants up for the black prez.
We have no black teachers for our children. This is a cold fact we are in denial about. How can you change the system when even the black teachers who are in the system are of white mentality, thus part of the problem. Where are our radical teachers which no amount of money will recruit, only when they know the black curriculum is allowed, not the white supremacy teachings of yesterday. Pull yo pants up for the black prez. Students, take over the classrooms and teach yourselves, become peer teachers, study outside the classroom, this is how we did it in the 60s, this is how Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and I studied, not in the classroom but in each other's room, on the sidewalk of Oakland's Merritt College. Pull yo pants up.
Would any of you brothers like to go through what Obama had to go through to become president? I pity the brother since he indeed will be like Job before his term is over, he will be afflicted, persecuted, hated and reviled, even by his own kind, playa haters, we call them, blockers and busters, like a nigguh who will come to your house and tell your maid to come work for him, totally disrespecting you. Pull your pants up for the black prez.
--Marvin X
Marvin X Replies to Reggie on Weary
You are not leading the people. The people are leading you, hence the crisis of the negro intellectual. No matter what else, Obama has inspired the whole world.
If he ends up a dirty capitalist swine in black face, that's on him. I have no doubt Obama has awakened black consciousness in some and spiritual consciousness in others.
We can take this Obama vehicle and move on to other things. Like what is your economic program in the midst of depression? At this moment, the dope man is still the number one employer of black youth. I suggest micro-credit loans for youth with the entrepreneurial spirit--if they can sell dope, they can sell anything. The people will always need food, clothing and shelter. Most of all, the people need a vehicle to ride to success, anything that is beyond pimping, whoring and murder. What is your solution? Reggie, again, what you're saying just doesn't make sense.
The fact is that a black man is symbolically the most powerful man in the world. If he falls on his face tomorrow, that's him. But to ignore his/our victory is beyond stupid and shows we suffer miseducation. I think were Elijah, Marcus, Martin and Malcolm alive, they would initially support Obama. And when he moves too far to the right, they would condemn him. This is political engagement, not standing in the peanut gallery yapping. The association between Oscar Grant and Obama is clear. Oscar was crucified, Obama ascended, it is part of the same myth-ritual drama. All of us are not going to make, some soldiers will fall as in all warfare. As the bible says, a live dog is better than a dead lion. To protest the death of Oscar Grant is hypocritical when you do nothing about the murder of black youth by black youth. You dishonor grieving families who receive no attention to their dead loved one, no protests, no rallies, so they must suffer in silence. Let's see you edumacaked negroes protest and riot over the one hundred and thirty or more killed in Oakland by other blacks last year. Let's see you go to the dope spots with food, clothing and shelter for the youth who are forced to sell drugs to survive, let's see you offer them an alternative other than a wage slave job in the midst of depression. It is the height of insanity for negro to offer a job during this economic depression that is global. Before it's over, I predict many of you will be selling any T shirt you can find, you will be selling matches and toilet paper, etc. With Obama or without Obama, you will do for self as Marcus, Elijah and Malcolm taught. Obama is a tactic, the strategy is do for self by any means necessary, but hopefully we must use the best means. If you work for the white man, you are not supporting capitalism? You are not an agent of imperialism? You are not addicted to white supremacy with your white man's job? You are not a collaborator, in short, an uncle tom wage slave whore?
--Marvin X
----- Forwarded Mssage ----From: Brother ReggieTo: Marvin X Jackmon ; ramal.lamar@gmail.com; refa1@hotmail.com; revandriette@ebcrs.org; revelouise@ebcrs.org; ronald_bentley@att.net; romekyn@earthlink.net; ibespirit@yahoo.com; goodnewspc@aol.com; Fahizah Alim ; wordslanger@gmail.com; j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com; jnaidu@postnewsgroup.com; nhare@blackthinktank.com; drjuliahare@pacbell.netSent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:13:49 PMSubject: Re: Weary of justifying capitalism
Weary of Justifying Capitalism
Still Weary of the American Dream
Before Obama was elected, I joked that he was already creating jobs. Thousands of formerly unemployed men and women have now started their own businesses thanks to Obama. I suggested that the campaign created many sales and manufacturing jobs for Obama T-shirts, buttons, and other memorabilia.
And then I'd ask, what happened to Malcolm X shirts?
For those who the Creator has endowed have influence over others—whether through media, creative expression, spiritual or psychological counseling—it is important that we are not allowed to mislead others. Like how many people want to juxtapose Obama and Dr. King. Not only a grave underestimation of King's evolutionary as a revolutionary, but misappropriations of his “dream” as the office of the presidency or a Black face in the White House were not on the agenda.
So I too wondered to why the revolutionary Dr. M would be selling T-shirts and other memorabilia of a man some consider to be "White Power in Black Face.” Now I am even more confuse as you justify capitalism in the form of commercialization of a man's image whose psychological state you question because of his hawkish intent to bomb a nuclear Pakistan; the same man of whom you once said, “We learned from the 60s black power revolution that a black face will not save us, so we must have no illusions Obama is our savior. He will carry out the will of American imperialism to the best of his ability." (Obama Drama part 3)
Where is the common sense in going out of you way to do what you don't believe in?
However, understanding the economic times, I knew that when times make you wanna holla, people will do what they need for a dollar. Especially when there are others to support. But they say, if you knew better you would do better. And we know better.
So why would one allegedly fighting for our liberation lead our people back into the Demon-cratic Party’s plantation under the guise of electoral emancipation? You may be able to get paid, but the same soldiers on the frontlines will become conscripts of the global imperialist regime committing atrocities in our Motherland under the guise of AfriCOM (General Kip), aide and Black face (Susan Rice). And domestically as the State.
And the real contradiction is when this same Pro-Zionist hawk memorabilia is being hocked at a Rally in which the masses of people are demanding Justice for Oscar Grant. One young woman asked me, “WTF is up with Marvin X selling Obama shit at the rally.” And I thought to myself, “Addiction to White Supremacy.”
It is one thing to want to encourage our youth to believe in themselves as using Obama's rise as an example, and yet another to make a quick nickel.
In this information age, a picture is worth a thousand words and an image is infinite. The image of a functional Black family in the White House is empowering. The fact that the most well-known Black man on this Earth is not an athlete (although I love Muhammad Ali), nor an actor (Will Smith is cool too) nor a rapper (someone in Bosnia asked me if I knew 50 Cent) will certainly encourage our children to think beyond these as their only occupational objectives.
But where are the Garvey shirts? Harriet? Dr. Carver? Ida B. Wells? All of you are more familiar than I in which the state will prop up fake leaders/organizations to destabilize others. Not saying bruh is prop-ertied up by the system, but seemed like a lot of so-called Negroes were down with the Clinton ’s before lily-white Iowa caucused.
My mother told me a long time ago, that some of the same so-called revolutionaries in the 60s were encouraging people to skip class, give money, etc, while they in fact got their degrees. In my own prime of traditional warrior age, I learned this same lesson the hard way.
So I feel you for trying to come up. But you propagating “Obama Drama” for your own profit is just like that nerd selling your book and eating your hot dog. It’s what some people call “Pimpin’ the System,” and updated version of the survival tactics we've used in this hemisphere since being kidnapped from African and an attempt to redefine "pimping" as something acceptable to our community.
And it’s unacceptable to—knowingly—lead the people astray.
Where's the common sense in that?
Reginald James
Marvin X Jackmon wrote:
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American?" I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many impoverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
You are not leading the people. The people are leading you, hence the crisis of the negro intellectual. No matter what else, Obama has inspired the whole world.
If he ends up a dirty capitalist swine in black face, that's on him. I have no doubt Obama has awakened black consciousness in some and spiritual consciousness in others.
We can take this Obama vehicle and move on to other things. Like what is your economic program in the midst of depression? At this moment, the dope man is still the number one employer of black youth. I suggest micro-credit loans for youth with the entrepreneurial spirit--if they can sell dope, they can sell anything. The people will always need food, clothing and shelter. Most of all, the people need a vehicle to ride to success, anything that is beyond pimping, whoring and murder. What is your solution? Reggie, again, what you're saying just doesn't make sense.
The fact is that a black man is symbolically the most powerful man in the world. If he falls on his face tomorrow, that's him. But to ignore his/our victory is beyond stupid and shows we suffer miseducation. I think were Elijah, Marcus, Martin and Malcolm alive, they would initially support Obama. And when he moves too far to the right, they would condemn him. This is political engagement, not standing in the peanut gallery yapping. The association between Oscar Grant and Obama is clear. Oscar was crucified, Obama ascended, it is part of the same myth-ritual drama. All of us are not going to make, some soldiers will fall as in all warfare. As the bible says, a live dog is better than a dead lion. To protest the death of Oscar Grant is hypocritical when you do nothing about the murder of black youth by black youth. You dishonor grieving families who receive no attention to their dead loved one, no protests, no rallies, so they must suffer in silence. Let's see you edumacaked negroes protest and riot over the one hundred and thirty or more killed in Oakland by other blacks last year. Let's see you go to the dope spots with food, clothing and shelter for the youth who are forced to sell drugs to survive, let's see you offer them an alternative other than a wage slave job in the midst of depression. It is the height of insanity for negro to offer a job during this economic depression that is global. Before it's over, I predict many of you will be selling any T shirt you can find, you will be selling matches and toilet paper, etc. With Obama or without Obama, you will do for self as Marcus, Elijah and Malcolm taught. Obama is a tactic, the strategy is do for self by any means necessary, but hopefully we must use the best means. If you work for the white man, you are not supporting capitalism? You are not an agent of imperialism? You are not addicted to white supremacy with your white man's job? You are not a collaborator, in short, an uncle tom wage slave whore?
--Marvin X
----- Forwarded Mssage ----From: Brother Reggie
Weary of Justifying Capitalism
Still Weary of the American Dream
Before Obama was elected, I joked that he was already creating jobs. Thousands of formerly unemployed men and women have now started their own businesses thanks to Obama. I suggested that the campaign created many sales and manufacturing jobs for Obama T-shirts, buttons, and other memorabilia.
And then I'd ask, what happened to Malcolm X shirts?
For those who the Creator has endowed have influence over others—whether through media, creative expression, spiritual or psychological counseling—it is important that we are not allowed to mislead others. Like how many people want to juxtapose Obama and Dr. King. Not only a grave underestimation of King's evolutionary as a revolutionary, but misappropriations of his “dream” as the office of the presidency or a Black face in the White House were not on the agenda.
So I too wondered to why the revolutionary Dr. M would be selling T-shirts and other memorabilia of a man some consider to be "White Power in Black Face.” Now I am even more confuse as you justify capitalism in the form of commercialization of a man's image whose psychological state you question because of his hawkish intent to bomb a nuclear Pakistan; the same man of whom you once said, “We learned from the 60s black power revolution that a black face will not save us, so we must have no illusions Obama is our savior. He will carry out the will of American imperialism to the best of his ability." (Obama Drama part 3)
Where is the common sense in going out of you way to do what you don't believe in?
However, understanding the economic times, I knew that when times make you wanna holla, people will do what they need for a dollar. Especially when there are others to support. But they say, if you knew better you would do better. And we know better.
So why would one allegedly fighting for our liberation lead our people back into the Demon-cratic Party’s plantation under the guise of electoral emancipation? You may be able to get paid, but the same soldiers on the frontlines will become conscripts of the global imperialist regime committing atrocities in our Motherland under the guise of AfriCOM (General Kip), aide and Black face (Susan Rice). And domestically as the State.
And the real contradiction is when this same Pro-Zionist hawk memorabilia is being hocked at a Rally in which the masses of people are demanding Justice for Oscar Grant. One young woman asked me, “WTF is up with Marvin X selling Obama shit at the rally.” And I thought to myself, “Addiction to White Supremacy.”
It is one thing to want to encourage our youth to believe in themselves as using Obama's rise as an example, and yet another to make a quick nickel.
In this information age, a picture is worth a thousand words and an image is infinite. The image of a functional Black family in the White House is empowering. The fact that the most well-known Black man on this Earth is not an athlete (although I love Muhammad Ali), nor an actor (Will Smith is cool too) nor a rapper (someone in Bosnia asked me if I knew 50 Cent) will certainly encourage our children to think beyond these as their only occupational objectives.
But where are the Garvey shirts? Harriet? Dr. Carver? Ida B. Wells? All of you are more familiar than I in which the state will prop up fake leaders/organizations to destabilize others. Not saying bruh is prop-ertied up by the system, but seemed like a lot of so-called Negroes were down with the Clinton ’s before lily-white Iowa caucused.
My mother told me a long time ago, that some of the same so-called revolutionaries in the 60s were encouraging people to skip class, give money, etc, while they in fact got their degrees. In my own prime of traditional warrior age, I learned this same lesson the hard way.
So I feel you for trying to come up. But you propagating “Obama Drama” for your own profit is just like that nerd selling your book and eating your hot dog. It’s what some people call “Pimpin’ the System,” and updated version of the survival tactics we've used in this hemisphere since being kidnapped from African and an attempt to redefine "pimping" as something acceptable to our community.
And it’s unacceptable to—knowingly—lead the people astray.
Where's the common sense in that?
Reginald James
Marvin X Jackmon
Weary of Intellectualism
These previous months of the Obama Drama have made me grow sick and tired of so-called intellectuals who utterly lack a microdot of common sense. I was really through last weekend as one such nerd stood in front of my stand conversing for nearly two hours while I made money with my books and Obama T shirts. When the nerd finished talking he came behind my table and finally joined me in commerce--to make a dollar is a dirty act we suppose, according to the die-hard Marxists, Communists, Socialists are whatever they profess to be. The nerd has a published book but didn't bother to put his book on the table, rather when he sold a copy of my book, he proceeded to put the money in his pocket, telling me he needed it because he was broke. How can someone stand around yapping intellectual gibberish while starving--the nerd gladly accepted a hotdog when I returned with several for my workers. He even shared it with one of the ladies with him who was hungry and broke as well. For months I had told him to join me in making some money off this Obama Drama, just as I told the brothers who were so excited over Jesse Jackson's run for president in 1984.
These last months of the Obama campaign has allowed many brothers and sisters to eat, pay rent, car notes and other bills. Yet many socalled revolutionaries and pseudo-conscious hip hop activists, stood on the sideline yapping while brothers and sisters with common sense were able to "come up." I was unable to get a team of my comrades to sale a T shirt, only the grass roots brothers offered to give me a hand hawking Obama Drama. It really hurt to see my Latino brothers working as a family selling Obama Drama. They had father, sons and grandsons at the mostly black events. Where is my family. I have plenty nephews and cousins who are unemployed and broke, but they have no intention to help me or themselves "do for self" in a big way.
To my revolutionaries, how shall we fund the revolution, a job, a grant, a loan, selling drugs, pimping and prostitution, how? I have recalled to this audience what a young brbther said to me at Oakland's 14th and Broadway, former site of my outdoor classroom, more recently the scene of riots after the murder of young Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "Hey, Marvin X, what you doing sellin dat Obama shit, I thought you was anti-American?" I replied, "I am anti-American but don't anti-Americans need money?" Where do the Communists go for loans, the Socialists, they go to the international finance global bandits. Yes, the global banking bandits finance the capitalist and communist wars across the planet, for that matter, they finance the Muslims as well. So much for ideological purity and pseudo political correctness.
I am so happy my mother gave me a little common sense, otherwise I would starve to death trying to be a wage slave or even less listening to my revolutionary brothers and sisters yapping on the sidelines of struggle. Their acute sense of history cannot be argued, for they have read far more than I desire. And I appreciate their analysis of history and current events. But they remind me of the Bush administration on the edge of the war with Iraq--remember the millions of people who protested around the world--America ignored the global masses who were against that war of white supremacy.
Many revolutionaries and socalled conscious hip hop people refused to accept the world consensus that Obama is a lesser evil than the right wing Republicans, even though the global masses can see Obama shows many of the same traits. A red flag went up in my head when he talked of marching into Pakistan to find Osama Bin Laden. Is this Negro crazy, I thought to myself--Pakistan does indeed have weapons of mass destruction.
And so I concluded we are in for another white man in black face. But we can yet give him the benefit of doubt, unless we are so marginalized with ideological purity until we are paralyzed and unable to take advantage of the new situation on the battlefield. Is it better in this protracted war to inch forward or remain stuck on stupid?
Obama has been gold to many impoverished brothers and sisters, probably many who were previously selling drugs and pimping, even killing.
Yes, I am often guilty of faulty analogy or taking poetic license to the extreme, but I do know we must take advantage of the situations life presents, otherwise there will be no motion in the ocean. Thank God the people have common sense, far more common sense than their intellectual brothers and sisters who have been edumaked and duped into thinking weird thoughts that just don't make sense, as my brother in DC, Don Freeman, likes to say--it just doesn't make sense (what you are saying).
--El Muhajir (Marvin)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Gerald Ali Replies to Marvin X Poem Love Is For the Beloved
Note: The poem referred to by Ali are lyrics from Reasons by Earth, Wind and Fire
From: Gerald Ali.To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.comSent: Monday, January 19, 2009 6:16:02 PMSubject: Re:
[blackantiwar] Re: A Day We Never Thought
Very interesting contrast between the Bourgeois and Muslim concept of Love.
What reflects into Bourgeois society from its religious base, the Bible, which feeds both the Petit and Grande Bourgeois, is most often based on self centeredness, the personal view of love, alternatively the Muslim is based of the love that binds Family, and the group, the basis of which is the Koran.
The relation of the individual to others is paramount with the Islamic base, whereas the revisionist Christian approach , is more the personal relationship. Both Christianity and Muslim are left over from previous movements of centuries ago, the Christian is no longer a social movement but has become openly the ideological base of the ruling/exploiting class, which controls the religion, the Muslim is still in transition, from being a social movement to complete degeneration, the transition into a religion, the ending of the fight/struggle for a ''communal way of life''. Both had the same ends in sight in their original forms, the content of either could virtually be interchangeable, one , the Muslim, was only a higher development from original Christianity.
The poem by Adaoma could not apply to a Family, '' All our reasons were a lie and our love was meant to die.'' but only to self.
The poem by Marvin X, who considers that there was prophet Isa 250 b.c.e original Christianity, and that he is one of the Muslim favoured prophets, gives a different angle to expressing love '' Sweet submission - What is beyond giving all - We feed you for Allah's pleasure only - We desire from you neither reward nor thanks. - Al Qur'an. ''
To children, Family and friends, it is addressed.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -------
----- Original Message -----
From: adaoma_o
To: blackantiwar@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:42 PM
Subject: [blackantiwar] Re: A Day We Never Thought
Ohhh and, after this love game has been played
All our allusions were just a parade
and all of our reasons start to fade.
And, in the morning when we rise
No longer feeling hypnotized
For the reasons, our reasons
Have no pride.
After all the reasons why
All our reasons were a lie
and our love was meant to die.
Adaoma---
Note: The poem referred to by Ali are lyrics from Reasons by Earth, Wind and Fire
From: Gerald Ali.
[blackantiwar] Re: A Day We Never Thought
Very interesting contrast between the Bourgeois and Muslim concept of Love.
What reflects into Bourgeois society from its religious base, the Bible, which feeds both the Petit and Grande Bourgeois, is most often based on self centeredness, the personal view of love, alternatively the Muslim is based of the love that binds Family, and the group, the basis of which is the Koran.
The relation of the individual to others is paramount with the Islamic base, whereas the revisionist Christian approach , is more the personal relationship. Both Christianity and Muslim are left over from previous movements of centuries ago, the Christian is no longer a social movement but has become openly the ideological base of the ruling/exploiting class, which controls the religion, the Muslim is still in transition, from being a social movement to complete degeneration, the transition into a religion, the ending of the fight/struggle for a ''communal way of life''. Both had the same ends in sight in their original forms, the content of either could virtually be interchangeable, one , the Muslim, was only a higher development from original Christianity.
The poem by Adaoma could not apply to a Family, '' All our reasons were a lie and our love was meant to die.'' but only to self.
The poem by Marvin X, who considers that there was prophet Isa 250 b.c.e original Christianity, and that he is one of the Muslim favoured prophets, gives a different angle to expressing love '' Sweet submission - What is beyond giving all - We feed you for Allah's pleasure only - We desire from you neither reward nor thanks. - Al Qur'an. ''
To children, Family and friends, it is addressed.
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -------
----- Original Message -----
From: adaoma_o
To: blackantiwar@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 9:42 PM
Subject: [blackantiwar] Re: A Day We Never Thought
Ohhh and, after this love game has been played
All our allusions were just a parade
and all of our reasons start to fade.
And, in the morning when we rise
No longer feeling hypnotized
For the reasons, our reasons
Have no pride.
After all the reasons why
All our reasons were a lie
and our love was meant to die.
Adaoma---
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Love is for the Beloved
Love is for the beloved
Selfless totally
Agent of joy
At one’s pleasure
Desire
Transcending self
Love is all there is
Like a good deal at the Flea Market
You can’t pass.
Gotta squeeze ya real tight. Reasons.
self to divine self
Get real with love
Up from animal
monkey mind
Illusions
Listen to the whirlwind of Garvey
Motherplane is here for you
Better ax somebody, Houston TX
Denial of self
Sweet submission
What is beyond giving all
We feed you for Allah’s pleasure only
We desire from you neither reward nor thanks.
Al Qur’an.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Love is for the beloved
Selfless totally
Agent of joy
At one’s pleasure
Desire
Transcending self
Love is all there is
Like a good deal at the Flea Market
You can’t pass.
Gotta squeeze ya real tight. Reasons.
self to divine self
Get real with love
Up from animal
monkey mind
Illusions
Listen to the whirlwind of Garvey
Motherplane is here for you
Better ax somebody, Houston TX
Denial of self
Sweet submission
What is beyond giving all
We feed you for Allah’s pleasure only
We desire from you neither reward nor thanks.
Al Qur’an.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
[blackantiwar] Re: A Day We Never Thought
Brother, if I poured my heart out so, why do you ask more of me. Isn't that enough?
I hate to quote the European T.S.. Elliot, but we have had a hundred visions and revisions that a moment will reverse.
If we thought of certain thoughts, we will dismiss them, thinking them impossible dreams. Not knowing that we must takes things to the edge and beyond, surely the world is full of infinite possibilities. Give Obama his moment and let us check him at every turn we disagree with, even if we feel the need to march on Washington against our brother. It is done in Africa all the time, sometimes on the pain of death.. Kwame Nkrumah told us every black state is a military state. What shall we have with a black president. Will he be harder than the white man?
And yet with all this in mind, what a beautiful idea whose time has come. The reality of it all is mind bogling, since we never let the idea fully into our consciousness. Sherley Chiscom, Jesse Jackson, gave us the concept. Obama, for whatever reason, was able to make it a reality.
From: adaoma_oTo: blackantiwar@ yahoogroups. comSent: Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:11:34 PMSubject: [blackantiwar] Re: A Day We Never Thought
Marvin,What moved you to pour your heart out so. Could you expound on this poem. What is the "day we never thought"? Is this about President Obama and inauguration day.
Adaoma---
Brother, if I poured my heart out so, why do you ask more of me. Isn't that enough?
I hate to quote the European T.S.. Elliot, but we have had a hundred visions and revisions that a moment will reverse.
If we thought of certain thoughts, we will dismiss them, thinking them impossible dreams. Not knowing that we must takes things to the edge and beyond, surely the world is full of infinite possibilities. Give Obama his moment and let us check him at every turn we disagree with, even if we feel the need to march on Washington against our brother. It is done in Africa all the time, sometimes on the pain of death.. Kwame Nkrumah told us every black state is a military state. What shall we have with a black president. Will he be harder than the white man?
And yet with all this in mind, what a beautiful idea whose time has come. The reality of it all is mind bogling, since we never let the idea fully into our consciousness. Sherley Chiscom, Jesse Jackson, gave us the concept. Obama, for whatever reason, was able to make it a reality.
From: adaoma_o
Marvin,What moved you to pour your heart out so. Could you expound on this poem. What is the "day we never thought"? Is this about President Obama and inauguration day.
Adaoma---
Saturday, January 17, 2009
A Day We Never Thought
Inside chambers of our mind
We yearned freedom
Not knowing the fullness thereof
In centuries of debate and suffering
Of whip and breaking of bones
We never thought
No sliver of hope
No prayers for this
Surely wasted
We went about our day
Our madness couched in faith
Yet pain and doubt persisted
Into the night
Children taught to hate
Fathers gone mad with drink
Mothers working to save the children
Yet we never thought
A day like this would come
Like a distant star
We cannot believe its twinkle
So far
years become centuries
Long and hard
We cannot bear this pain
This waiting in the sun
What shall we do where shall we go
The night is upon us
Were we born into this night
This darkness of skin
Was this the meaning of our shame
To overcome all odds
To defeat the devil
To celebrate our Lord
Keep the faith
We shall win the race
Like Dr. Clark taught
This is not for sprinters
Only long distance runners
Even this day is not the end
Just another beginning
A sign along the route
Letting us know the best is yet to come
In the fullness of the moon
We shall dance the holy dance
Late into the night
It is only a moment
Precious and bold
Hard fought deserved
Like a meal after work
Yet we never thought
We would return to our father’s house
Our royal robes adorn
We dance into the new day
We know joy and rain
We know the pain of African men in power
Who want to be president for life
Who crush and break the people
Banish and burn alive all opposition
We know the West
We have such brutes in our midst
We know their terror
We know our sweat and blood at their hands
A day we never thought
Keeping eyes open
Ever on the alert
Do not depart our post
Relief shall come
No matter the doubt
The sun has never missed a day
So how come a day we never thought
Why did this day seem so impossible
Our suffering ancestors said bottom rail top
They sang sorrow songs
Knowing life is full
Resistance every day all day
Like the people of Gaza
We cannot be broken
And so this is a moment of joy
On the journey up the hill
the rock of Sisyphus in hand
We can make it to the top
a thought to action
A unified thrust
smashing all doors
Leaping all walls
Crashing ceilings forever
This is who we are
Warriors of the king
smash fear
Resist every hurtful thing
Shoot it down fast
Keep on keepin’ on
A day we never thought.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
1.17.09
Inside chambers of our mind
We yearned freedom
Not knowing the fullness thereof
In centuries of debate and suffering
Of whip and breaking of bones
We never thought
No sliver of hope
No prayers for this
Surely wasted
We went about our day
Our madness couched in faith
Yet pain and doubt persisted
Into the night
Children taught to hate
Fathers gone mad with drink
Mothers working to save the children
Yet we never thought
A day like this would come
Like a distant star
We cannot believe its twinkle
So far
years become centuries
Long and hard
We cannot bear this pain
This waiting in the sun
What shall we do where shall we go
The night is upon us
Were we born into this night
This darkness of skin
Was this the meaning of our shame
To overcome all odds
To defeat the devil
To celebrate our Lord
Keep the faith
We shall win the race
Like Dr. Clark taught
This is not for sprinters
Only long distance runners
Even this day is not the end
Just another beginning
A sign along the route
Letting us know the best is yet to come
In the fullness of the moon
We shall dance the holy dance
Late into the night
It is only a moment
Precious and bold
Hard fought deserved
Like a meal after work
Yet we never thought
We would return to our father’s house
Our royal robes adorn
We dance into the new day
We know joy and rain
We know the pain of African men in power
Who want to be president for life
Who crush and break the people
Banish and burn alive all opposition
We know the West
We have such brutes in our midst
We know their terror
We know our sweat and blood at their hands
A day we never thought
Keeping eyes open
Ever on the alert
Do not depart our post
Relief shall come
No matter the doubt
The sun has never missed a day
So how come a day we never thought
Why did this day seem so impossible
Our suffering ancestors said bottom rail top
They sang sorrow songs
Knowing life is full
Resistance every day all day
Like the people of Gaza
We cannot be broken
And so this is a moment of joy
On the journey up the hill
the rock of Sisyphus in hand
We can make it to the top
a thought to action
A unified thrust
smashing all doors
Leaping all walls
Crashing ceilings forever
This is who we are
Warriors of the king
smash fear
Resist every hurtful thing
Shoot it down fast
Keep on keepin’ on
A day we never thought.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
1.17.09
Monday, January 12, 2009
From: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 4:51 PM
Subject: [blackantiwar] Black Panther Calls for BART Shut Down
Black Panther Says Shut Down BART
Tarika Lewis, first female member of the Black Panther Party, called for a shut down of the BART transit system to force Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff to bring murder under the color of law charges against the officer who killed Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "We can force the DA to bring charges by hitting the BART system with a boycott or "slow down" by holding up trains with masses of people, " she told Marvin X on Saturday. We don't need the violence, she said, referring to the anarchists who burned cars and broke windows during protests last week. "A little non-violence will go a long way to making BART and the Oakland government understand we will not tolerate the murder of our people." She added, "We must also reach out to the police officers with a little sensitivity training so they understand they serve the people, the people don't serve them."
Marvin X told Comrade Tarika, "We need to also stop brothers killing brothers. It is hypocritical for us to call for the police to stop killing us when we won't stop killing ourselves."Marvin X can be reached at 510-355-6339. .
Reply From Gerald Ali
Excellent post, but to consider, Marvin as a Muslim, who accepts ? that ''Allah is a revealer'', so what was revealed ?
Study the videos, all of them.
Many people took photos, some videos, many were not African American, but they shouted at the police to stop, -- point one......... ......revealed. ........
So now add up all the points. Unity can be strength. Sum of the parts greater than the whole.
Its not just one officer that needs to be arrested, not according to the videos.
To shut down 'BARTS' will need a concerted push, but certainly in the right direction.
Three officers involved at time of shooting, but not at first, only two, including the one who pulled a gun.
Two officers with four detainees, plus one laying on the ground to the left.
Then another officer approaches from the left of the video, apparently through a doorway.
This officer goes directly to the four detainees, who were sitting on the floor, backs to the wall.
He goes directly to the Oscar Grant who was shot, pointing at him, WHY ?
Oscar Grant stands up, only to be pushed down
He's the first to grab Oscar, and pull him, then the other also took a hand, they shoved him to the floor, face down, the one who had just arrived HELD the detainee, whilst the other took out a gun. Point two......... ......... .revealed. ......... .
The short back and sides officer, who pointed at Grant, had his left hand on Grants head, holding his face to the floor, right till the shot went off, so any excuse of it being a taser falls, one cannot taser a detainee when another officer is holding him, otherwise both will be tasered. -- point three....... ........revealed .........
So two need to be charged. Or am I incorrect ?
So why did he go straight to the one, Grant, who ended up being shot, had he known him earlier ?
The third officer, keeps looking in the other direction, watch him closely, he looks just as the gun is drawn, and looks away, as if he doesn't want anything to do with it. He then disappears out of camera, and another short haired officer appears, -- point four........ .......revealed. ........
This officer had also handcuffed the other detainee, who also stood up.
The officer who shot Grant has resigned, apparently on his lawyers advice, so it seems his lawyer though he'd ended his career as a police officer, so the next question, is why the other officers, knowing police procedure in cases where a gun is discharged, the next phases is an examination, often whilst a police officer is suspended, why didn't they take the officers gun away ?
Tarika Lewis, is talking sense, it also fits Marvins earlier post, asking people what they should do.
Mass action is better if it can be organised, the ''anarchists' were just frightened people, its a way of saying ''stay away'', its a symptom of fear, which can be fully overcome by concerted action.
"A little non-violence will go a long way to making BART and the Oakland government understand we will not tolerate the murder of our people."
On this point she is wrong, its anyone of any community, people on the train were all shouting, colour made no difference. Study the Gaza demonstrations, countries around the world joined in, colour means NO difference, the world can change if enough want it to.
20th of this month in Washington will bring 'who knows how many people' together, but hopefully with one voice they will call for change, do likewise, set an example.
''An American is an American, till it comes to ''our people'', so whats it to be ?
Relativity is the answer, in some cases ''our people' is correct, but not with policing.
Marvin X told Comrade Tarika, "We need to also stop brothers killing brothers. It is hypocritical for us to call for the police to stop killing us when we won't stop killing ourselves."
Get them all to join the police force, let them shoot each other.
Articles and videos on links >>>
New video of BART shooting emerges offering clearest view so far (and audio)
http://carlosmiller .com/2009/ 01/09/new- video-of- bart-shooting- emerges-offering -clearest- view-so-far- and-audio/
SLOW MOTION FILM >>>
http://carlosmiller .com/2009/ 01/09/slow- motion-video- of-bart-shooting -video-shows- more-details/
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
-----
.
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 4:51 PM
Subject: [blackantiwar] Black Panther Calls for BART Shut Down
Black Panther Says Shut Down BART
Tarika Lewis, first female member of the Black Panther Party, called for a shut down of the BART transit system to force Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff to bring murder under the color of law charges against the officer who killed Oscar Grant on New Year's day. "We can force the DA to bring charges by hitting the BART system with a boycott or "slow down" by holding up trains with masses of people, " she told Marvin X on Saturday. We don't need the violence, she said, referring to the anarchists who burned cars and broke windows during protests last week. "A little non-violence will go a long way to making BART and the Oakland government understand we will not tolerate the murder of our people." She added, "We must also reach out to the police officers with a little sensitivity training so they understand they serve the people, the people don't serve them."
Marvin X told Comrade Tarika, "We need to also stop brothers killing brothers. It is hypocritical for us to call for the police to stop killing us when we won't stop killing ourselves."Marvin X can be reached at 510-355-6339. .
Reply From Gerald Ali
Excellent post, but to consider, Marvin as a Muslim, who accepts ? that ''Allah is a revealer'', so what was revealed ?
Study the videos, all of them.
Many people took photos, some videos, many were not African American, but they shouted at the police to stop, -- point one......... ......revealed. ........
So now add up all the points. Unity can be strength. Sum of the parts greater than the whole.
Its not just one officer that needs to be arrested, not according to the videos.
To shut down 'BARTS' will need a concerted push, but certainly in the right direction.
Three officers involved at time of shooting, but not at first, only two, including the one who pulled a gun.
Two officers with four detainees, plus one laying on the ground to the left.
Then another officer approaches from the left of the video, apparently through a doorway.
This officer goes directly to the four detainees, who were sitting on the floor, backs to the wall.
He goes directly to the Oscar Grant who was shot, pointing at him, WHY ?
Oscar Grant stands up, only to be pushed down
He's the first to grab Oscar, and pull him, then the other also took a hand, they shoved him to the floor, face down, the one who had just arrived HELD the detainee, whilst the other took out a gun. Point two......... ......... .revealed. ......... .
The short back and sides officer, who pointed at Grant, had his left hand on Grants head, holding his face to the floor, right till the shot went off, so any excuse of it being a taser falls, one cannot taser a detainee when another officer is holding him, otherwise both will be tasered. -- point three....... ........revealed .........
So two need to be charged. Or am I incorrect ?
So why did he go straight to the one, Grant, who ended up being shot, had he known him earlier ?
The third officer, keeps looking in the other direction, watch him closely, he looks just as the gun is drawn, and looks away, as if he doesn't want anything to do with it. He then disappears out of camera, and another short haired officer appears, -- point four........ .......revealed. ........
This officer had also handcuffed the other detainee, who also stood up.
The officer who shot Grant has resigned, apparently on his lawyers advice, so it seems his lawyer though he'd ended his career as a police officer, so the next question, is why the other officers, knowing police procedure in cases where a gun is discharged, the next phases is an examination, often whilst a police officer is suspended, why didn't they take the officers gun away ?
Tarika Lewis, is talking sense, it also fits Marvins earlier post, asking people what they should do.
Mass action is better if it can be organised, the ''anarchists' were just frightened people, its a way of saying ''stay away'', its a symptom of fear, which can be fully overcome by concerted action.
"A little non-violence will go a long way to making BART and the Oakland government understand we will not tolerate the murder of our people."
On this point she is wrong, its anyone of any community, people on the train were all shouting, colour made no difference. Study the Gaza demonstrations, countries around the world joined in, colour means NO difference, the world can change if enough want it to.
20th of this month in Washington will bring 'who knows how many people' together, but hopefully with one voice they will call for change, do likewise, set an example.
''An American is an American, till it comes to ''our people'', so whats it to be ?
Relativity is the answer, in some cases ''our people' is correct, but not with policing.
Marvin X told Comrade Tarika, "We need to also stop brothers killing brothers. It is hypocritical for us to call for the police to stop killing us when we won't stop killing ourselves."
Get them all to join the police force, let them shoot each other.
Articles and videos on links >>>
New video of BART shooting emerges offering clearest view so far (and audio)
http://carlosmiller .com/2009/ 01/09/new- video-of- bart-shooting- emerges-offering -clearest- view-so-far- and-audio/
SLOW MOTION FILM >>>
http://carlosmiller .com/2009/ 01/09/slow- motion-video- of-bart-shooting -video-shows- more-details/
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Sunday, January 11, 2009
Flowers for the Trashman, A One-Act PlayAuthor: Marvin Jackmon (Marvin X)
Director's Notes
Author's first produced (Drama Department, San Francisco State University, 1965) and published play. Included in the Black Fire anthology, 1968. An example of Black Arts Movement work that seeks to render issues of immediate importance to the Black Community. It is a performative work that has a sharp relevance to the relationships that shape and plague manhood in North American African communities today. As in all good art the theme, while applied specifically, has universal implications that manage to break even the imposed strictures of gender within the piece to speak elegantly about separation within intimates spaces.
Director: Ayodele Nzinga, MFA
Artistic Director of the Sister Thea Bowman Theater,
The Lower Bottom Playaz,
Associate Director Recovery Theater and student of Marvin X.
Marvin X wrote Flower's for the Trashman in the turbulent 1960's. It is his first produced and published play. When asked permission to stage the piece he asked, "Why?" Why is a piece of work over 40 years old relevant at this time.The answer lies in part in the enigmatic timelessness of the piece. Something becomes a classic because of its ability to endure by translating itself across time. This is a trait inherent in fine art. It is so because the best art seats itself in the basic foundation of the human story. Significant art seeks to know something essential to human nature, it worries itself and us with the making of the human condition. This art can be cathartic, it can disturb, remind or simply call into view from the shadows of unconsciousness; elephants on universal tables.Created in the historical context of the Black Arts Movement, (BAM), Flowers for the Trashman, is an example of work consciously intended to be preformative, created for and about subjects/issues paramount to the formation/sustaining of independent black communities concerned with self articulation/reflection that intends to provoke action. I submit Marvin X's work also passes the litmus for fine art. In it's reflection of intimate estrangement it probes familial relations on the very personal and universal /archetypal level. The work is aligned with an issue of humanness that will be dated only by a shift in the human condition itself. Thus the work satisfies the specific requirements of its lens: black male relationships, while working beyond this specificity/boundary as well. The reflection of Blacks in America mirrors the societal dilemmas of American society writ large. While essentially an introspection of father/son communication, Flowers for the Trashman is also a vehicle to examine intimacy, isolation in company, and boundaries on a much larger level. The very specific gender of the piece is also fluid; it is the situation itself that is compelling and larger than the beautifully simple text. The main character asks, "How can we be so far apart...? So far apart, yet so close---so close together?" This is the interrogation the work attempts. It is voiced in the final quarter of the piece and sums its query emphatically. This question should be of interest to us as a nation as we cry for change. If we knew the answer perhaps the illusive unity we seek could manifest. If we asked this in our houses, our churches, our academic spaces, halls of government, in our communities, out on the turfs of the world where we all breathe the same air; what could we learn about appreciation of difference, each other and the path to unity?We are in the information age. We hyper communicate in multi modes yet in the midst of this explosion of ways in which to communicate; the art of intimate human exchange goes unattended. We get our news from the corporate media and other secondary sources, we miss the primacy of getting our news from each other. We travel together though the event of our lives with earphones, cell phones, and laptops. We socially network with people we will never meet and who may not be the people they claim to be. Yet our co-workers, neighbors, partners, children, parents go unknown in large and significant ways. The way we are is easy to see, the how we got there, often dies with us. The average child can tell you more about his favorite artist than he can his own family. The everyday adult knows how to talk at children but spends little time talking to them as equal humans with viable information about themselves and their environment to offer. We are alone, traveling together on a blue ball spinning in space, more connected than ever before, and yet we are alone, isolated in our individual stories of self, without an appreciation of how the individual stories inform each other we suffer in isolation. There is space in Marvin's transparent working of the very personal for us to consciously consider the lack of intimate communication on a variety of levels. All these levels serve the function in BAM directives and serve as a space for introspection on unity and its possibility from the personal to the universal.I am choosing to direct the piece out of my own passion for communication, my appreciation for the artistry of my mentor and appreciation of the classics. An active love of the classic demands the work be kept alive and allowed to do its work. By mounting classic art we enable its longevity by gifting it to new generations. "I never direct a piece of work if I don't know the folks on the page."
Ayodele Nzinga, MA, MFA
Director's Notes
Author's first produced (Drama Department, San Francisco State University, 1965) and published play. Included in the Black Fire anthology, 1968. An example of Black Arts Movement work that seeks to render issues of immediate importance to the Black Community. It is a performative work that has a sharp relevance to the relationships that shape and plague manhood in North American African communities today. As in all good art the theme, while applied specifically, has universal implications that manage to break even the imposed strictures of gender within the piece to speak elegantly about separation within intimates spaces.
Director: Ayodele Nzinga, MFA
Artistic Director of the Sister Thea Bowman Theater,
The Lower Bottom Playaz,
Associate Director Recovery Theater and student of Marvin X.
Marvin X wrote Flower's for the Trashman in the turbulent 1960's. It is his first produced and published play. When asked permission to stage the piece he asked, "Why?" Why is a piece of work over 40 years old relevant at this time.The answer lies in part in the enigmatic timelessness of the piece. Something becomes a classic because of its ability to endure by translating itself across time. This is a trait inherent in fine art. It is so because the best art seats itself in the basic foundation of the human story. Significant art seeks to know something essential to human nature, it worries itself and us with the making of the human condition. This art can be cathartic, it can disturb, remind or simply call into view from the shadows of unconsciousness; elephants on universal tables.Created in the historical context of the Black Arts Movement, (BAM), Flowers for the Trashman, is an example of work consciously intended to be preformative, created for and about subjects/issues paramount to the formation/sustaining of independent black communities concerned with self articulation/reflection that intends to provoke action. I submit Marvin X's work also passes the litmus for fine art. In it's reflection of intimate estrangement it probes familial relations on the very personal and universal /archetypal level. The work is aligned with an issue of humanness that will be dated only by a shift in the human condition itself. Thus the work satisfies the specific requirements of its lens: black male relationships, while working beyond this specificity/boundary as well. The reflection of Blacks in America mirrors the societal dilemmas of American society writ large. While essentially an introspection of father/son communication, Flowers for the Trashman is also a vehicle to examine intimacy, isolation in company, and boundaries on a much larger level. The very specific gender of the piece is also fluid; it is the situation itself that is compelling and larger than the beautifully simple text. The main character asks, "How can we be so far apart...? So far apart, yet so close---so close together?" This is the interrogation the work attempts. It is voiced in the final quarter of the piece and sums its query emphatically. This question should be of interest to us as a nation as we cry for change. If we knew the answer perhaps the illusive unity we seek could manifest. If we asked this in our houses, our churches, our academic spaces, halls of government, in our communities, out on the turfs of the world where we all breathe the same air; what could we learn about appreciation of difference, each other and the path to unity?We are in the information age. We hyper communicate in multi modes yet in the midst of this explosion of ways in which to communicate; the art of intimate human exchange goes unattended. We get our news from the corporate media and other secondary sources, we miss the primacy of getting our news from each other. We travel together though the event of our lives with earphones, cell phones, and laptops. We socially network with people we will never meet and who may not be the people they claim to be. Yet our co-workers, neighbors, partners, children, parents go unknown in large and significant ways. The way we are is easy to see, the how we got there, often dies with us. The average child can tell you more about his favorite artist than he can his own family. The everyday adult knows how to talk at children but spends little time talking to them as equal humans with viable information about themselves and their environment to offer. We are alone, traveling together on a blue ball spinning in space, more connected than ever before, and yet we are alone, isolated in our individual stories of self, without an appreciation of how the individual stories inform each other we suffer in isolation. There is space in Marvin's transparent working of the very personal for us to consciously consider the lack of intimate communication on a variety of levels. All these levels serve the function in BAM directives and serve as a space for introspection on unity and its possibility from the personal to the universal.I am choosing to direct the piece out of my own passion for communication, my appreciation for the artistry of my mentor and appreciation of the classics. An active love of the classic demands the work be kept alive and allowed to do its work. By mounting classic art we enable its longevity by gifting it to new generations. "I never direct a piece of work if I don't know the folks on the page."
Ayodele Nzinga, MA, MFA
Friday, January 9, 2009
Celebrate the fall of America
Celebrate the fall of America. Let the Ancestors be praised that we are their eyes for all their tears in the night and in the days of sorrow and pain from plantation to plantation, from every lynching tree and every hurtful thing we have endured in the wilderness of North America. I celebrate and praise the fall of the American empire, the demise of the great capitalist whore, Babylon, the mighty beast, the serpent who deceived the world.
We love Obama but to hell with America and all she stands for. To hell with the greedy capitalist free market slave economy, a global trashing floor of wretched wage slaves whose labor and national resources are pimped to the death. Let the filthy bitch America fall into the dustbin of history. Let the Aboriginal peoples reclaim the land and let Mother Earth rejoice as the usurpers fall by the wayside, drowning in their own puke.
Let us dance in the streets like we did last summer. No more blues but only the praise songs to the Most High for bringing Ole Massa to his knees. May Wall Street continue to crumble into the dust. May General Motors eat their cars for breakfast. May Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drink their mortgages for bitter wine. May the wicked schools drown in the iniquity and the teachers end lessons for the glorification of the blood suckers of the poor.
Celebrate and sing the birth of a new day coming soon without the filthy, greedy capitalist swine in our midst. Let the wretched of the earth arise from the blood soaked lands as the robber barons make their way to outer space.
Let the wretched claim the means of production, take over the cities with people’s governments of, for and by the masses, not the filthy bourgeoisie captivated with conspicuous consumption. Praise be the resurrection of the dead, deaf, dumb and blind.
Serve a libation for all the souls lost in the oceans, rivers, swamps and creeks. All the suffering spirits in the trees and fields of this hell on earth. Let us praise the persistence and fortitude of our Ancestors upon whose feet we stand and dance with joy that the day of the devil is over and gone forever.
Yeah, massa is sick and we praise the bitter pill he must swallow for his death dealing deeds upon the righteous. As thou hast done so shall it be done to thee. This is the Day of Judgment. Praise be the resurrection of the dead.
Those who love the master, let them go the way of the master. Let them take their trinkets of rocks, animal skins and plastic with them as they enter perdition. Let them drink the cup of sorrow, the bitter brew of misery for their crimes against humanity.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Celebrate the fall of America. Let the Ancestors be praised that we are their eyes for all their tears in the night and in the days of sorrow and pain from plantation to plantation, from every lynching tree and every hurtful thing we have endured in the wilderness of North America. I celebrate and praise the fall of the American empire, the demise of the great capitalist whore, Babylon, the mighty beast, the serpent who deceived the world.
We love Obama but to hell with America and all she stands for. To hell with the greedy capitalist free market slave economy, a global trashing floor of wretched wage slaves whose labor and national resources are pimped to the death. Let the filthy bitch America fall into the dustbin of history. Let the Aboriginal peoples reclaim the land and let Mother Earth rejoice as the usurpers fall by the wayside, drowning in their own puke.
Let us dance in the streets like we did last summer. No more blues but only the praise songs to the Most High for bringing Ole Massa to his knees. May Wall Street continue to crumble into the dust. May General Motors eat their cars for breakfast. May Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drink their mortgages for bitter wine. May the wicked schools drown in the iniquity and the teachers end lessons for the glorification of the blood suckers of the poor.
Celebrate and sing the birth of a new day coming soon without the filthy, greedy capitalist swine in our midst. Let the wretched of the earth arise from the blood soaked lands as the robber barons make their way to outer space.
Let the wretched claim the means of production, take over the cities with people’s governments of, for and by the masses, not the filthy bourgeoisie captivated with conspicuous consumption. Praise be the resurrection of the dead, deaf, dumb and blind.
Serve a libation for all the souls lost in the oceans, rivers, swamps and creeks. All the suffering spirits in the trees and fields of this hell on earth. Let us praise the persistence and fortitude of our Ancestors upon whose feet we stand and dance with joy that the day of the devil is over and gone forever.
Yeah, massa is sick and we praise the bitter pill he must swallow for his death dealing deeds upon the righteous. As thou hast done so shall it be done to thee. This is the Day of Judgment. Praise be the resurrection of the dead.
Those who love the master, let them go the way of the master. Let them take their trinkets of rocks, animal skins and plastic with them as they enter perdition. Let them drink the cup of sorrow, the bitter brew of misery for their crimes against humanity.
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Subject: NO ONE KNOWS MY PAIN...
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:26:48 -0800
No one knows what it's like to sit in a bathtub with someone who is suppose to love you and give you a pink rag to play with while they molest you. No one knows what it's like to have an eight year older brother night after night in your bed molesting you. So that you begin to pee in the bed for 11 years as a defense mechnism. No one knows what it's like to be raised by two raging alcoholics. Vomit everywhere. Screaming and yelling on a daily basis. Food being smashed in your face as often as sees fit. Being called mean, fussy, and ugly on a daily basis. Beaten on a daily basis until one is bleeding. Watching your siblings endure the same physical violence. Violence that should land one in jail for life. Spiritual abuse whereby one is taken to church every Sunday, yet never given a Bible just constantly told they are going to hell. And never told how to get to heaven. No way out! No one knows what it's like to go to school from kindergarden straight threw college and be teased, taunted and slapped around. And, when you take the issues to mom and dad, they say, "It's your fault the kids hate you." No one knows what it's like to go through three severely abusive male relationships whereby one is physically, emotionally, and sexually abused on a daily basis. No one knows how one feels to take there childhood sexual abuse to the streets. Being a whore for men to use all over again. To be abused as a prostitute. To dance in a strip bar for money. To do pornagraphy for money and daily entertainment. No one knows what the memories of having men as a major part of the abuse in their life. No one knows what it's like to be ostricized by the church because you are different. You are so disturbed that the word of God sends you on a hallucinating journey and delusional journey to freedom from it all. No one knows what it's like to want to die from a little child to end all the pain. No one knows what it's like to have no friends and when you do get some if they don't reject you, you reject them because rejection has become you. You have become a rejection junkie. No one knows what it's like to have a college education, yet be slow at the same time. Unable to count money or change. Unable to run any type of financial issues. No one knows what it's like to be diagnosed schizophrenic because of all the rejection one has experienced. No one knows what it's like to live a life in and out of mental hospitals. No one knows what it's like to have electric shock treatment to erase the memories of the past only for them to surface more vividly three months later. Leaving one more suicidal then three months prior. No one knows what it's like to want to die daily. Just end it all. No one knows what it's like to have parents send you a Christmas card and not sign it. No one knows what it's like to have parents throw your belongings out onto a oil filled drive-way because they hate you. Leaving you unable to attend Clark Atlanta University Masters Program. Destroying your future. No one knows what it's like to have a beautiful baby girl by a Pimp who raped, used and abused you. But, you had the baby because one prior abortion was all your mind could handle at age 18. No one knows what it's like to be bashed over the pulpit of a church that you love, sitting head down thinking only of death for true freedom. While the entire congregation sit and laugh. Until you run out with your six month old child in your arms barely able to hold your composure. No one knows what it's like to return with a heart of forgiveness only for it to continue to happen again and again and again. But, since rejection is your name you take it and take it and take it. Waiting for God to tell them to stop. But, no one stops. It gets worse and worse and worse. You have given your heart to this church, your 10% tithes faithfully, your time in many ministries only to be ostricized by the entire congregation. No one knows what it's like to live a life with no friends or family because no one likes you only because you are scared to the bone. All which began when you entered this evil world. You get saved at age 18 looking for peace, yet peace on earth seems even further away. You spend six years of your life as a compulsive shoplifter, spending most of your time in Christian Bookstores looking for answers in stolen Bibles and books. Just disturbed. Just disturbed. No one cares. Yet, everybody knows. People look at you like you are evil, but you are only a disturbed individual from a life of abuse. No one wants to be your friend. No one wants to admit that you are part of their family. Only because you are scared. You live to die. You think it all will end but the only end to this is death. Freedom will come when you get to heaven. "For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with what shall reign in heaven." You know that it is coming soon, real soon, but you would rather speed up the process by killing yourself. Only because the Bible says you cannot out sin the Grace of God if you are saved. So, what do you have to lose. Nothing at all. Family, they hate you. Friends, don't have any of them, people, they don't like you. Husband and children, they would be better off without a schizo in the house. Church, well that has become a dead in. Know one knows what it's like to be Madlyne Monica Barnes Bobo. Trapped in a world of pain. Severe pain... If you feel I need to forgive, then set the example of forgiving me first! Home was the foundation that molded me. The molestation, the alcoholism, the spiritual abuse, the emotional abuse. I was beaten until I was 23. Not realizing that, Madlyne was a women and not a child anymore. Food smashed in my face by a mother who suppose to love her daughter. Just abuse, abuse, abuse is my name. Yes, I am split. I both love and hate. I am both good and evil. Teedy and Albert, you taught me well. You taught me how to love men that would treat me just like you did. I hate you for it. Yet, I love you because that is what my God tells me to do. "For love covers a multitude of sin." Sin that is so great that one needs to be sitting in jail rotting to death. Where was family when all this was taking place. Didn't you all see a withdrawn child who you knew needed to be rescued. Where were you? You left me to die. How could you? You knew. I know you did. Everybody knew Teedy and Albert. Wasn't I more important. Didn't you see my fears, my tears, my pain. You had to, yet you stood by and watched. You are just as guilty. Now I live a life of a schizo unable to get out of bondage. I want to be set free. So, if you want to do anything for me now, pray that I don't go through with killing myself. Because I have the potential, but I have not yet the guts. No one knows my pain,Madlyne Monica Barnes Bobo
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:26:48 -0800
No one knows what it's like to sit in a bathtub with someone who is suppose to love you and give you a pink rag to play with while they molest you. No one knows what it's like to have an eight year older brother night after night in your bed molesting you. So that you begin to pee in the bed for 11 years as a defense mechnism. No one knows what it's like to be raised by two raging alcoholics. Vomit everywhere. Screaming and yelling on a daily basis. Food being smashed in your face as often as sees fit. Being called mean, fussy, and ugly on a daily basis. Beaten on a daily basis until one is bleeding. Watching your siblings endure the same physical violence. Violence that should land one in jail for life. Spiritual abuse whereby one is taken to church every Sunday, yet never given a Bible just constantly told they are going to hell. And never told how to get to heaven. No way out! No one knows what it's like to go to school from kindergarden straight threw college and be teased, taunted and slapped around. And, when you take the issues to mom and dad, they say, "It's your fault the kids hate you." No one knows what it's like to go through three severely abusive male relationships whereby one is physically, emotionally, and sexually abused on a daily basis. No one knows how one feels to take there childhood sexual abuse to the streets. Being a whore for men to use all over again. To be abused as a prostitute. To dance in a strip bar for money. To do pornagraphy for money and daily entertainment. No one knows what the memories of having men as a major part of the abuse in their life. No one knows what it's like to be ostricized by the church because you are different. You are so disturbed that the word of God sends you on a hallucinating journey and delusional journey to freedom from it all. No one knows what it's like to want to die from a little child to end all the pain. No one knows what it's like to have no friends and when you do get some if they don't reject you, you reject them because rejection has become you. You have become a rejection junkie. No one knows what it's like to have a college education, yet be slow at the same time. Unable to count money or change. Unable to run any type of financial issues. No one knows what it's like to be diagnosed schizophrenic because of all the rejection one has experienced. No one knows what it's like to live a life in and out of mental hospitals. No one knows what it's like to have electric shock treatment to erase the memories of the past only for them to surface more vividly three months later. Leaving one more suicidal then three months prior. No one knows what it's like to want to die daily. Just end it all. No one knows what it's like to have parents send you a Christmas card and not sign it. No one knows what it's like to have parents throw your belongings out onto a oil filled drive-way because they hate you. Leaving you unable to attend Clark Atlanta University Masters Program. Destroying your future. No one knows what it's like to have a beautiful baby girl by a Pimp who raped, used and abused you. But, you had the baby because one prior abortion was all your mind could handle at age 18. No one knows what it's like to be bashed over the pulpit of a church that you love, sitting head down thinking only of death for true freedom. While the entire congregation sit and laugh. Until you run out with your six month old child in your arms barely able to hold your composure. No one knows what it's like to return with a heart of forgiveness only for it to continue to happen again and again and again. But, since rejection is your name you take it and take it and take it. Waiting for God to tell them to stop. But, no one stops. It gets worse and worse and worse. You have given your heart to this church, your 10% tithes faithfully, your time in many ministries only to be ostricized by the entire congregation. No one knows what it's like to live a life with no friends or family because no one likes you only because you are scared to the bone. All which began when you entered this evil world. You get saved at age 18 looking for peace, yet peace on earth seems even further away. You spend six years of your life as a compulsive shoplifter, spending most of your time in Christian Bookstores looking for answers in stolen Bibles and books. Just disturbed. Just disturbed. No one cares. Yet, everybody knows. People look at you like you are evil, but you are only a disturbed individual from a life of abuse. No one wants to be your friend. No one wants to admit that you are part of their family. Only because you are scared. You live to die. You think it all will end but the only end to this is death. Freedom will come when you get to heaven. "For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with what shall reign in heaven." You know that it is coming soon, real soon, but you would rather speed up the process by killing yourself. Only because the Bible says you cannot out sin the Grace of God if you are saved. So, what do you have to lose. Nothing at all. Family, they hate you. Friends, don't have any of them, people, they don't like you. Husband and children, they would be better off without a schizo in the house. Church, well that has become a dead in. Know one knows what it's like to be Madlyne Monica Barnes Bobo. Trapped in a world of pain. Severe pain... If you feel I need to forgive, then set the example of forgiving me first! Home was the foundation that molded me. The molestation, the alcoholism, the spiritual abuse, the emotional abuse. I was beaten until I was 23. Not realizing that, Madlyne was a women and not a child anymore. Food smashed in my face by a mother who suppose to love her daughter. Just abuse, abuse, abuse is my name. Yes, I am split. I both love and hate. I am both good and evil. Teedy and Albert, you taught me well. You taught me how to love men that would treat me just like you did. I hate you for it. Yet, I love you because that is what my God tells me to do. "For love covers a multitude of sin." Sin that is so great that one needs to be sitting in jail rotting to death. Where was family when all this was taking place. Didn't you all see a withdrawn child who you knew needed to be rescued. Where were you? You left me to die. How could you? You knew. I know you did. Everybody knew Teedy and Albert. Wasn't I more important. Didn't you see my fears, my tears, my pain. You had to, yet you stood by and watched. You are just as guilty. Now I live a life of a schizo unable to get out of bondage. I want to be set free. So, if you want to do anything for me now, pray that I don't go through with killing myself. Because I have the potential, but I have not yet the guts. No one knows my pain,Madlyne Monica Barnes Bobo
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday December 23, 2008
Contact: Geoffrey Grier – Director, Crisis Intervention SF Recovery Theatre
415-643-6011 www.sfrecoverytheatre.org
***Press Release***
SF Recovery Theatre:
Marvin X Play in White Face
San Francisco, CA – On February 5th through February 14th 2009 SF Recovery Theatre will present “Night at the Blackhawk,” an evening of drama by Bay Area Black playwrights in honor of Black History month at the CBD Community Center, 134 Golden Gate, in the Tenderloin district, the location of Marvin X's docudrama One Day in the Life.
Marvin X's first play, Flower for the Trashman, will be performed with two characters in white face, according to director Ayodele Nzinga. It is her decision to have black actors perform the minor roles of a white man and jailer using black actors in white face. "Negroes are half white, anyway," says Marvin X, "if not physically then most certainly psychologically. Maybe it will call attention to our need to recover from the addiction to white supremacy."
Flowers for the Trashman will feature Ptah Allah El and Ramal Lamar as lead characters. The play is a classic of the Black Arts Movement and was first performed by the drama department at San Francisco State University while Marvin was an undergraduate, 1965. It is included in the classic anthology of BAM, Black Fire, edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal, Black Classic Press. Geoffrey Grier of San Francisco Recover Theatre is the producer of an evening of theatre that includes selections from his drama The Spot and Ayodele's Death by Love.
Tuesday December 23, 2008
Contact: Geoffrey Grier – Director, Crisis Intervention SF Recovery Theatre
415-643-6011 www.sfrecoverytheatre.org
***Press Release***
SF Recovery Theatre:
Marvin X Play in White Face
San Francisco, CA – On February 5th through February 14th 2009 SF Recovery Theatre will present “Night at the Blackhawk,” an evening of drama by Bay Area Black playwrights in honor of Black History month at the CBD Community Center, 134 Golden Gate, in the Tenderloin district, the location of Marvin X's docudrama One Day in the Life.
Marvin X's first play, Flower for the Trashman, will be performed with two characters in white face, according to director Ayodele Nzinga. It is her decision to have black actors perform the minor roles of a white man and jailer using black actors in white face. "Negroes are half white, anyway," says Marvin X, "if not physically then most certainly psychologically. Maybe it will call attention to our need to recover from the addiction to white supremacy."
Flowers for the Trashman will feature Ptah Allah El and Ramal Lamar as lead characters. The play is a classic of the Black Arts Movement and was first performed by the drama department at San Francisco State University while Marvin was an undergraduate, 1965. It is included in the classic anthology of BAM, Black Fire, edited by Amiri Baraka and Larry Neal, Black Classic Press. Geoffrey Grier of San Francisco Recover Theatre is the producer of an evening of theatre that includes selections from his drama The Spot and Ayodele's Death by Love.
What Are You Going to Do?
I was asked this question last weekend by a sincere brother. He asked the question with such sincerity I was momentarily stuck on stupid thus unable to answer. And as there were other people listening for my answer, I ran out the door laughing at the brother’s nerve of putting me on the spot like that. What are you going to do? He was referring to the cold blooded murder of the young black man by the Oakland transit police on New Year’s day. What a way to begin the New Year in Oakland. A friend’s son was on the train and snapped a photo of the incident as did many other persons at the scene. The mother said her son called terrified at what his cell phone had captured. What are you going to do?
Who did the brother in the office think I am? Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X? I think it is not a question for one person but for a community. Collective action is the only way we can solve problems in our community. Furthermore, I am an old man, battle weary, almost broken by the long train of events in the history of Oakland, America and the world. Let me flip the script, “World, what are you going to do about Gaza?” And I ask the people of Oakland the same question, “What are you going to do about Gaza-Oakland?” Our children are slain in the streets by brute beasts in blue uniforms. Our children are slain by each other in the streets. What are you going to do?” Mayor Ron Dellums took to the streets last night to quell the rioters who tore up downtown Oakland.
For all of Oakland’s ills, the Mayor has one response, “Investigation. Investigation. Investigation.” The murder of Chauncey Bailey, investigation, investigation of the investigators of the investigation, says the Mayor. But what are you going to do, Mr. Black man, Miz Black woman?
There used to be and still is the police tone test in Oakland. When stopped the police can do one of three things depending on your tone of voice: kill you, take you to jail or release you. Apparently and obviously Oscar Grant failed the tone test, or maybe he failed the body movement test. When down on the ground remain absolutely still, maybe then you will survive police bestiality.
My teacher Sun Ra taught me, “The Creator got things fixed. If you don’t do the right thing, you can’t go forward or backward.” Oakland knows what to do. Do the Sankofa, reach back into your past and come forward. Make use of black history, don’t read about in, use it in the present. People of Oakland, you have the example of the Black Panther Party. Patrol your neighborhoods yourself. Patrol the police since we know they are murderers and will always be killers until the people are the police, the peace keepers.
What are you going to do? Take over the schools so Johnny, Dante and Shamika can read. Take over the jobs in the community or don’t allow any workers to be employed in the hood. How many jobs is Obama going to make available in the hood? How many jobs are you going to demand for the hood? What are you going to do? Are you going to demand equity in health care, in the so-called Green revolution.
The death of Oscar Grant is a tragedy that shall continue until you (we) do something. Oakland shall remain Gaza until we do something together, not individually. Even if I think of myself as a one man army, I know better. It takes a community. It takes radical thinking and letting go of fear. I am not only horrified at the violence in Oakland and the world, but I am equally horrified at the fear of our people. Two days ago I was vending my books on the streets of San Francisco. A black woman wanted my book but she absolutely refused to take the book back to her job for fear of getting fired. It is not the first time I have seen such fear in our people, especially those with “good” jobs. When I tell them we are not in Mississippi and Alabama, they don’t care. They are scared to death here in the North. We must overcome fear or else. Oscar Grant was a peacemaker who was slain like Jesus, or as Rev. Cone would say he was a victim of the cross and the lynching tree, crucified on the ground.
Oakland is Gaza, a war zone. Parents warn your children the street is no place to be somebody. Tell them to put on the armor of God when they go into the streets. Be aware of their surroundings, their friends, and the police. Be ever on the alert. This is war. Will you party in a war zone? Are the people of Gaza partying while being bombed to hell? Why are you out partying? I am not going to caught anywhere in Oakland late nights. Even in the house, bullets are known to come through the walls. What are you going to do? Run for your life. The people of Gaza said they have nowhere to go. If the people of Oakland have nowhere to go then stand and fight to the death. What are you going to do?
You want to change the schools yet you have no black teachers. I attended a state education conference last year with four thousand teachers, perhaps two hundred were black. And of the two hundred how many had consciousness? What are you going to do? Obama said he will give you free scholarships to college if you agree to return to your community to uplift it. What are you going to do? In New York, inmates on Rikers Island prison were given free college scholarships if they graduated from the boot camp.
Few took advantage of it. What are you going to do?
The economy is not pretty. There are no jobs. What about micro loans for unemployed youth and adults? This is being done all over the world to lift people out of poverty. The man who started it just received the Nobel Peace prize. What are you going to do?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
I was asked this question last weekend by a sincere brother. He asked the question with such sincerity I was momentarily stuck on stupid thus unable to answer. And as there were other people listening for my answer, I ran out the door laughing at the brother’s nerve of putting me on the spot like that. What are you going to do? He was referring to the cold blooded murder of the young black man by the Oakland transit police on New Year’s day. What a way to begin the New Year in Oakland. A friend’s son was on the train and snapped a photo of the incident as did many other persons at the scene. The mother said her son called terrified at what his cell phone had captured. What are you going to do?
Who did the brother in the office think I am? Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X? I think it is not a question for one person but for a community. Collective action is the only way we can solve problems in our community. Furthermore, I am an old man, battle weary, almost broken by the long train of events in the history of Oakland, America and the world. Let me flip the script, “World, what are you going to do about Gaza?” And I ask the people of Oakland the same question, “What are you going to do about Gaza-Oakland?” Our children are slain in the streets by brute beasts in blue uniforms. Our children are slain by each other in the streets. What are you going to do?” Mayor Ron Dellums took to the streets last night to quell the rioters who tore up downtown Oakland.
For all of Oakland’s ills, the Mayor has one response, “Investigation. Investigation. Investigation.” The murder of Chauncey Bailey, investigation, investigation of the investigators of the investigation, says the Mayor. But what are you going to do, Mr. Black man, Miz Black woman?
There used to be and still is the police tone test in Oakland. When stopped the police can do one of three things depending on your tone of voice: kill you, take you to jail or release you. Apparently and obviously Oscar Grant failed the tone test, or maybe he failed the body movement test. When down on the ground remain absolutely still, maybe then you will survive police bestiality.
My teacher Sun Ra taught me, “The Creator got things fixed. If you don’t do the right thing, you can’t go forward or backward.” Oakland knows what to do. Do the Sankofa, reach back into your past and come forward. Make use of black history, don’t read about in, use it in the present. People of Oakland, you have the example of the Black Panther Party. Patrol your neighborhoods yourself. Patrol the police since we know they are murderers and will always be killers until the people are the police, the peace keepers.
What are you going to do? Take over the schools so Johnny, Dante and Shamika can read. Take over the jobs in the community or don’t allow any workers to be employed in the hood. How many jobs is Obama going to make available in the hood? How many jobs are you going to demand for the hood? What are you going to do? Are you going to demand equity in health care, in the so-called Green revolution.
The death of Oscar Grant is a tragedy that shall continue until you (we) do something. Oakland shall remain Gaza until we do something together, not individually. Even if I think of myself as a one man army, I know better. It takes a community. It takes radical thinking and letting go of fear. I am not only horrified at the violence in Oakland and the world, but I am equally horrified at the fear of our people. Two days ago I was vending my books on the streets of San Francisco. A black woman wanted my book but she absolutely refused to take the book back to her job for fear of getting fired. It is not the first time I have seen such fear in our people, especially those with “good” jobs. When I tell them we are not in Mississippi and Alabama, they don’t care. They are scared to death here in the North. We must overcome fear or else. Oscar Grant was a peacemaker who was slain like Jesus, or as Rev. Cone would say he was a victim of the cross and the lynching tree, crucified on the ground.
Oakland is Gaza, a war zone. Parents warn your children the street is no place to be somebody. Tell them to put on the armor of God when they go into the streets. Be aware of their surroundings, their friends, and the police. Be ever on the alert. This is war. Will you party in a war zone? Are the people of Gaza partying while being bombed to hell? Why are you out partying? I am not going to caught anywhere in Oakland late nights. Even in the house, bullets are known to come through the walls. What are you going to do? Run for your life. The people of Gaza said they have nowhere to go. If the people of Oakland have nowhere to go then stand and fight to the death. What are you going to do?
You want to change the schools yet you have no black teachers. I attended a state education conference last year with four thousand teachers, perhaps two hundred were black. And of the two hundred how many had consciousness? What are you going to do? Obama said he will give you free scholarships to college if you agree to return to your community to uplift it. What are you going to do? In New York, inmates on Rikers Island prison were given free college scholarships if they graduated from the boot camp.
Few took advantage of it. What are you going to do?
The economy is not pretty. There are no jobs. What about micro loans for unemployed youth and adults? This is being done all over the world to lift people out of poverty. The man who started it just received the Nobel Peace prize. What are you going to do?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Who Are These Jews?
Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb and lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Even Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abraham’s children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
The peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers like the Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
No water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet claim they come in peace
Where is the peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants
The media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not fair
While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
It may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never intend to allow Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
So your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
of the Synagogue of Satan?
You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
If Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way not yours
America’s
Egypt’s Saudi Arabia’s Jordan’s
Their way
Maybe then rockets will be silent
Maybe then you will live in peace
Maybe then the world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love and brotherhood.
be aware the battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than you, your guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
In the white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home
Past time for Palestinian State
Don’t you see the world wearing Kafiyas
Not knowing it is the scarf of suffering people
The scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal and dine in Europe
Leaders who sell out to Satan in the night
While people live in refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead since they are blind
Who are these Jews?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb and lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Even Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abraham’s children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
The peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers like the Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
No water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet claim they come in peace
Where is the peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants
The media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not fair
While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
It may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never intend to allow Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
So your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
of the Synagogue of Satan?
You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
If Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way not yours
America’s
Egypt’s Saudi Arabia’s Jordan’s
Their way
Maybe then rockets will be silent
Maybe then you will live in peace
Maybe then the world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love and brotherhood.
be aware the battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than you, your guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
In the white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home
Past time for Palestinian State
Don’t you see the world wearing Kafiyas
Not knowing it is the scarf of suffering people
The scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal and dine in Europe
Leaders who sell out to Satan in the night
While people live in refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead since they are blind
Who are these Jews?
--El Muhajir (Marvin X)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Funeral Arrangements for Marvin X
Recitation of adhan, Fatiha and Iklas
Reading of Al Rahman, Surah 55
Video of Marvin X life and work
Music:
In My Solitude Duke Ellington
Nature Boy Nat King Cole
Kind of Blue Miles Davis
A Love Supreme John Coltrane
Reasons Earth, Wind and Fire
Open Mike Reading of Marvin X’s Poetry with music and dance accompaniment
One Hundred Nude Dancers with AK47s
Music by Destiny, Tarika Lewis and Tacuma King
Spiritual message by Dana Rondel
Spiritual message from Marvin K and Nefertiti Jackmon
Open Mike (five minutes) from family and friends
Readings from the Writing of Marvin X by Students Ptah, Ramal, Geoffrey Grier, Ayo
Closing Remarks
Donations should be sent to the Marian M. Jackmon Foundation for the Preservation of the Writings of Marvin X, c/o of Amira Jackmon, Esq.
Recitation of adhan, Fatiha and Iklas
Reading of Al Rahman, Surah 55
Video of Marvin X life and work
Music:
In My Solitude Duke Ellington
Nature Boy Nat King Cole
Kind of Blue Miles Davis
A Love Supreme John Coltrane
Reasons Earth, Wind and Fire
Open Mike Reading of Marvin X’s Poetry with music and dance accompaniment
One Hundred Nude Dancers with AK47s
Music by Destiny, Tarika Lewis and Tacuma King
Spiritual message by Dana Rondel
Spiritual message from Marvin K and Nefertiti Jackmon
Open Mike (five minutes) from family and friends
Readings from the Writing of Marvin X by Students Ptah, Ramal, Geoffrey Grier, Ayo
Closing Remarks
Donations should be sent to the Marian M. Jackmon Foundation for the Preservation of the Writings of Marvin X, c/o of Amira Jackmon, Esq.
The Honorable John Douimbia, founder of the Black Men’s Conference
Makes Transition
John Douimbia, founder of the 1980 Black Men’s Conference at the Oakland Auditorium, made his transition recently. It appears he had been dead for several weeks before the coroner was notified, and then only after a friend arrived from out of town to inquire about him. Apparently neighbors and friends had been going in and out of his home “tomb robbing” while he lay dead.
A former merchant seaman, he was affectionately known as John D. Before moving to the West coast, John D, also known as the Count, lived in Harlem and was a hustling friend of Malcolm X. After his release from prison and joining the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X came to Los Angeles and reconnected with John. John invited Malcolm to a meeting packed with white socialists. Malcolm was impressed with John’s organizing and asked if he would help organize the temple in San Francisco. John told Malcolm when he returned from overseas he would look into the matter, which he did. He is one of the pioneers of Mosque 26, although many would consider him a so-called hypocrite, since that was the label put on all those with independent thoughts. John had a long held dream of a secular organization of Black Men. For over twenty years he discussed his dream with various Bay Area brothers, but nothing happened until he ran into Marvin X, and together they planned and organized the Black Men’s Conference, 1980. Participants included Dr. Nathan Hare, Oba T’s Shaka, Dr. Wade Nobles, Paul Cobb, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Lige Dailey, Michael Lange and others. Dezzie Woods-Jones, Betty King and Edith Austin also helped organize the event. The idea went coast to coast with brothers organizing similar meetings in Philadelphia and New York. Fifteen years later, Minister Farakhan organized the Million Man March.
John Douimbia dressed immaculately every day as he walked the streets of San Francisco. The only man who out dressed John was his friend Willie Brown.
His prophetic last words were told to Marvin X and Rashid Easley, “Watch that guy Obama.” “When John told us to watch Obama we didn’t know who he was, had never heard of him,” says Marvin X. John was a perennial figure in San Francisco politics and was a long-time member and officer of the NAACP. The Black men of the Bay Area are eternally indebted to John D.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Call Marvin X for more information: 510-355-6339.
Makes Transition
John Douimbia, founder of the 1980 Black Men’s Conference at the Oakland Auditorium, made his transition recently. It appears he had been dead for several weeks before the coroner was notified, and then only after a friend arrived from out of town to inquire about him. Apparently neighbors and friends had been going in and out of his home “tomb robbing” while he lay dead.
A former merchant seaman, he was affectionately known as John D. Before moving to the West coast, John D, also known as the Count, lived in Harlem and was a hustling friend of Malcolm X. After his release from prison and joining the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X came to Los Angeles and reconnected with John. John invited Malcolm to a meeting packed with white socialists. Malcolm was impressed with John’s organizing and asked if he would help organize the temple in San Francisco. John told Malcolm when he returned from overseas he would look into the matter, which he did. He is one of the pioneers of Mosque 26, although many would consider him a so-called hypocrite, since that was the label put on all those with independent thoughts. John had a long held dream of a secular organization of Black Men. For over twenty years he discussed his dream with various Bay Area brothers, but nothing happened until he ran into Marvin X, and together they planned and organized the Black Men’s Conference, 1980. Participants included Dr. Nathan Hare, Oba T’s Shaka, Dr. Wade Nobles, Paul Cobb, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Lige Dailey, Michael Lange and others. Dezzie Woods-Jones, Betty King and Edith Austin also helped organize the event. The idea went coast to coast with brothers organizing similar meetings in Philadelphia and New York. Fifteen years later, Minister Farakhan organized the Million Man March.
John Douimbia dressed immaculately every day as he walked the streets of San Francisco. The only man who out dressed John was his friend Willie Brown.
His prophetic last words were told to Marvin X and Rashid Easley, “Watch that guy Obama.” “When John told us to watch Obama we didn’t know who he was, had never heard of him,” says Marvin X. John was a perennial figure in San Francisco politics and was a long-time member and officer of the NAACP. The Black men of the Bay Area are eternally indebted to John D.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Call Marvin X for more information: 510-355-6339.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Mythology of Evil in the Universe
We are soon coming to the end of evil in the universe. There are light waves in the atmosphere acting upon the consciousness of all living things, humans, plants and animals, even the rocks and mountains, oceans, seas and rivers shall throw off all wickedness in high places and low places. It is the time of the Aboriginal people of the earth to take control since they are the only human beings capable of living in the age of divine light.
The people who walk in darkness shall return to their black holes in the universe, far away from earth which is not their original home. In this coming age of light and love, all evil shall not be allowed to hang around for one micro second. It must go from the earth since it is not the original home of evil beings. They had their time and must depart somewhere away from the aboriginal people of light and love.
All those beings that practice evil, hatred, lies, greed, murder, fear, doubt, envy, jealousy shall not enter the new era of light and love. Only those who possess higher spiritual consciousness shall walk the earth. Those of animal or lower consciousness shall be taken away in the storm of light entering from the cosmos.
We see the sea level is rising to erase the evil ones from the earth, the ones full of desire for things, rocks, animal skins, plastic toys and cars, endless trinkets of the lower mind that is afraid to advance itself into the upper room of consciousness.
The women who are attracted to the allusions of this world shall not enter the new consciousness, nor shall their husbands who are hostage to their wives’ quest to satisfy their devil lust for conspicuous consumption. These women are not only collaborators with the devil but may be so full of evil that they cannot raise themselves to the new consciousness of light and love. They are like Sarah, wife of Prophet Lot, who was ordered to leave the wicked town and not look back, but her magnetic attraction to evil forced her to turn around and thus she became a pillar of salt.
It will not matter how men and women profess their love of each other, for so long as they maintain the desire to do anything to obtain the illusions of this world, to harbor selfishness, greed, lust, hatred, lies and murder, their so-called love shall be of no value in the era of high consciousness that is eminent.
We can see from the political-religious wars on the planet, mainly those practiced by Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, that religion shall not be practiced in the era of light and love. Those who practice religion shall be the first to disappear from the earth when the fullness of light enters from the cosmos. Their religions have made them practice mass murder upon each other and other sects within their religions, thus they have disqualified themselves from the life of divine light and love.
The religious people have defied all their prophets, saviors and messiahs. They have done the complete opposite of the prophetic message. At this very hour the Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims are murdering each other in the Middle East and Far East. None of them can claim divine consciousness; rather they are devils shielding their evil behind the name of God. Thus, they cannot be permitted to enter the new era. Such ignorance cannot be allowed among those of true light and love. The religious devils shall be taken up into a whirlwind and dispersed to some planet where they can dwell in their wickedness and hypocrisy until they learn the civility of spirituality, simple human kindness their holy books tried to instruct, yet they were hard of hearing and there was pride in their hearts. They wanted to covet God for themselves, their tribes, nations, ethnic groups, genders and sects. They have killed to worship God in this manner, causing blood to flow upon the earth. And thus they must eternally weep, mourn, wail and continue their slaughter until they are taken away to a place for the security of the universe. There is a place in space for them. Shall they return to the black hole or perhaps some dead planet like themselves?
The earth shall return to the Aboriginal beings of light and love. No material weapons, no amount of propaganda and lies shall prevent the resurrection of the Aboriginal people, who are the only natural inhabitants of earth.
We see President Obama entering the White House, not for the first time since he built the White House, was the architect of the White House, thus the universe made way for him to return home to the house of royalty. The devils cannot harm him, although they may afflict him in the manner of Job. Michelle may cry out to him, “Curse God and die.”
But he will keep the faith and enter the upper room of light and love. The beings of higher consciousness shall walk with him as he takes authority of the universe, checking the power of evil and wickedness.
--Marvin X
We are soon coming to the end of evil in the universe. There are light waves in the atmosphere acting upon the consciousness of all living things, humans, plants and animals, even the rocks and mountains, oceans, seas and rivers shall throw off all wickedness in high places and low places. It is the time of the Aboriginal people of the earth to take control since they are the only human beings capable of living in the age of divine light.
The people who walk in darkness shall return to their black holes in the universe, far away from earth which is not their original home. In this coming age of light and love, all evil shall not be allowed to hang around for one micro second. It must go from the earth since it is not the original home of evil beings. They had their time and must depart somewhere away from the aboriginal people of light and love.
All those beings that practice evil, hatred, lies, greed, murder, fear, doubt, envy, jealousy shall not enter the new era of light and love. Only those who possess higher spiritual consciousness shall walk the earth. Those of animal or lower consciousness shall be taken away in the storm of light entering from the cosmos.
We see the sea level is rising to erase the evil ones from the earth, the ones full of desire for things, rocks, animal skins, plastic toys and cars, endless trinkets of the lower mind that is afraid to advance itself into the upper room of consciousness.
The women who are attracted to the allusions of this world shall not enter the new consciousness, nor shall their husbands who are hostage to their wives’ quest to satisfy their devil lust for conspicuous consumption. These women are not only collaborators with the devil but may be so full of evil that they cannot raise themselves to the new consciousness of light and love. They are like Sarah, wife of Prophet Lot, who was ordered to leave the wicked town and not look back, but her magnetic attraction to evil forced her to turn around and thus she became a pillar of salt.
It will not matter how men and women profess their love of each other, for so long as they maintain the desire to do anything to obtain the illusions of this world, to harbor selfishness, greed, lust, hatred, lies and murder, their so-called love shall be of no value in the era of high consciousness that is eminent.
We can see from the political-religious wars on the planet, mainly those practiced by Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, that religion shall not be practiced in the era of light and love. Those who practice religion shall be the first to disappear from the earth when the fullness of light enters from the cosmos. Their religions have made them practice mass murder upon each other and other sects within their religions, thus they have disqualified themselves from the life of divine light and love.
The religious people have defied all their prophets, saviors and messiahs. They have done the complete opposite of the prophetic message. At this very hour the Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims are murdering each other in the Middle East and Far East. None of them can claim divine consciousness; rather they are devils shielding their evil behind the name of God. Thus, they cannot be permitted to enter the new era. Such ignorance cannot be allowed among those of true light and love. The religious devils shall be taken up into a whirlwind and dispersed to some planet where they can dwell in their wickedness and hypocrisy until they learn the civility of spirituality, simple human kindness their holy books tried to instruct, yet they were hard of hearing and there was pride in their hearts. They wanted to covet God for themselves, their tribes, nations, ethnic groups, genders and sects. They have killed to worship God in this manner, causing blood to flow upon the earth. And thus they must eternally weep, mourn, wail and continue their slaughter until they are taken away to a place for the security of the universe. There is a place in space for them. Shall they return to the black hole or perhaps some dead planet like themselves?
The earth shall return to the Aboriginal beings of light and love. No material weapons, no amount of propaganda and lies shall prevent the resurrection of the Aboriginal people, who are the only natural inhabitants of earth.
We see President Obama entering the White House, not for the first time since he built the White House, was the architect of the White House, thus the universe made way for him to return home to the house of royalty. The devils cannot harm him, although they may afflict him in the manner of Job. Michelle may cry out to him, “Curse God and die.”
But he will keep the faith and enter the upper room of light and love. The beings of higher consciousness shall walk with him as he takes authority of the universe, checking the power of evil and wickedness.
--Marvin X
Dr. Nathan Hare on the Devils and Marvin X
From: Nathan HareTo: Marvin X Jackmon Sent: Sunday, January 4, 2009 11:28:28 PMSubject: RE: The Devils and Marvin X
Responding and glad to know you’re still out there writin’ and fightin’ – as Ishmael Reed might say. “Up from Ignut” sounds like a very good idea, long as cynics can’t claim you didn’t make it up. As for “The Devils and Marvin X” too much would depend on Marvin X, and Marvin X would already be there listed as the author. Besides, the X would suggest you’re talking about white people and Marvin X, which is also an idea in itself.
Meanwhile, you would do well to get the approval of any black devils who are still alive, as the devils who are dead are resting somewhere between you and your god, and He will take care of you; but if any one of your devils is still alive it might turn out that God won’t be able to help you, as there seems no god who is alive who is any match for the multitude of devils today, I guess precisely because God is singular and the devils are multiple. You could call the book “The Devils Who Made Me Do It,” except that readers wouldn’t know what you meant by “do it,” i.e., do what?
Looks like one way or another you have two interesting book ideas. But be careful and watch your back; devils don’t play; and ignut is a serious epidemic that thrives on a deadly virus, not to be messed with..
I came up this year with probably my worst motto yet, from a literary or intellectual standpoint, but it’s worth a try in the toils and snares of life, so I pass it on to you and others: “Get it in line in 2009, less’n all you want to do is whine
--Nathan
The Devils and Marvin X
On Sunday morning a childhood friend of Marvin X called to tell him of a dream he had last night. The dream was about all the friends Marvin X has had throughout his turbulent
life. The friend said he didn't know how Marvin X is still alive after being associated with such wicked devils as the following:
Amiri Baraka
Ed Bullins
Huey Newton
Eldridge Cleaver
Sun Ra
Farrakhan
Charlie Walker
Alonzo Batin
Paul Cobb
Dr. Yusef Bey
Actually, his friend isn't the first to say this. Marvin's mother, may she rest in peace, said,"Boy you got the worst friends in the world. Them nigguhs ain't nothing and you don't need them nigguhs--them nigguhs need you! They just using you. Boy, you better use the mind God gave you! And if you don't, God's gonna take your mind from you!"
The friend who called about his dream said Marvin X should forget his forthcoming book UP FROM IGNUT and rush out a book about The Devils and Marvin X. With a chapter on each devil, the book is sure to be a best seller, according to the friend.
From: Nathan Hare
Responding and glad to know you’re still out there writin’ and fightin’ – as Ishmael Reed might say. “Up from Ignut” sounds like a very good idea, long as cynics can’t claim you didn’t make it up. As for “The Devils and Marvin X” too much would depend on Marvin X, and Marvin X would already be there listed as the author. Besides, the X would suggest you’re talking about white people and Marvin X, which is also an idea in itself.
Meanwhile, you would do well to get the approval of any black devils who are still alive, as the devils who are dead are resting somewhere between you and your god, and He will take care of you; but if any one of your devils is still alive it might turn out that God won’t be able to help you, as there seems no god who is alive who is any match for the multitude of devils today, I guess precisely because God is singular and the devils are multiple. You could call the book “The Devils Who Made Me Do It,” except that readers wouldn’t know what you meant by “do it,” i.e., do what?
Looks like one way or another you have two interesting book ideas. But be careful and watch your back; devils don’t play; and ignut is a serious epidemic that thrives on a deadly virus, not to be messed with..
I came up this year with probably my worst motto yet, from a literary or intellectual standpoint, but it’s worth a try in the toils and snares of life, so I pass it on to you and others: “Get it in line in 2009, less’n all you want to do is whine
--Nathan
The Devils and Marvin X
On Sunday morning a childhood friend of Marvin X called to tell him of a dream he had last night. The dream was about all the friends Marvin X has had throughout his turbulent
life. The friend said he didn't know how Marvin X is still alive after being associated with such wicked devils as the following:
Amiri Baraka
Ed Bullins
Huey Newton
Eldridge Cleaver
Sun Ra
Farrakhan
Charlie Walker
Alonzo Batin
Paul Cobb
Dr. Yusef Bey
Actually, his friend isn't the first to say this. Marvin's mother, may she rest in peace, said,"Boy you got the worst friends in the world. Them nigguhs ain't nothing and you don't need them nigguhs--them nigguhs need you! They just using you. Boy, you better use the mind God gave you! And if you don't, God's gonna take your mind from you!"
The friend who called about his dream said Marvin X should forget his forthcoming book UP FROM IGNUT and rush out a book about The Devils and Marvin X. With a chapter on each devil, the book is sure to be a best seller, according to the friend.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Devils and Marvin X
On Sunday morning a childhood friend of Marvin X called to tell him of a dream he had last night. The dream was about all the friends Marvin X has had throughout his turbulent
life. The friend said he didn't know how Marvin X is still alive after being associated with such wicked devils as the following:
Amiri Baraka
Ed Bullins
Huey Newton
Eldridge Cleaver
Sun Ra
Farrakhan
Charlie Walker
Alonzo Batin
Paul Cobb
Dr. Yusef Bey
Actually, his friend isn't the first to say this. Marvin's mother, may she rest in peace, said,"Boy you got the worst friends in the world. Them nigguhs ain't nothing and you don't need them nigguhs--them nigguhs need you! They just using you. Boy, you better use the mind God gave you! And if you don't, God's gonna take your mind from you!"
The friend who called about his dream said Marvin X should forget his forthcoming book UP FROM IGNUT and rush out a book about The Devils and Marvin X. With a chapter on each devil, the book is sure to be a best seller, according to the friend.
On Sunday morning a childhood friend of Marvin X called to tell him of a dream he had last night. The dream was about all the friends Marvin X has had throughout his turbulent
life. The friend said he didn't know how Marvin X is still alive after being associated with such wicked devils as the following:
Amiri Baraka
Ed Bullins
Huey Newton
Eldridge Cleaver
Sun Ra
Farrakhan
Charlie Walker
Alonzo Batin
Paul Cobb
Dr. Yusef Bey
Actually, his friend isn't the first to say this. Marvin's mother, may she rest in peace, said,"Boy you got the worst friends in the world. Them nigguhs ain't nothing and you don't need them nigguhs--them nigguhs need you! They just using you. Boy, you better use the mind God gave you! And if you don't, God's gonna take your mind from you!"
The friend who called about his dream said Marvin X should forget his forthcoming book UP FROM IGNUT and rush out a book about The Devils and Marvin X. With a chapter on each devil, the book is sure to be a best seller, according to the friend.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Obama Drama
Act Two, Scene I: The White House
As my friend James W. Sweeney said from the beginning of the Obama drama, he is transformational but it remains to be seen if he can be transactional, can he make transactions for the masses. We know he is a sharp politician, as sharp as any who have worn the name, thus he is skilled at deception. So now that the world has seen his powers as a community organizer, we can only wait with great anticipation to see how he can sway the house and senate to approve his "radical change" agenda. For sure, Obama is not out to destroy capitalism but to clean it up or save it as it sits in the emergency room like a Negro at Harlem hospital trying to get to the intensive care unit, sitting in ER with blood oozing from multiple gunshots. Like a skilled surgeon, he must deal with bullets in the brain of capitalism, in the heart and other vital organs.
Not only must he be a surgeon but a magician, for he will need to work many tricks and perform many a balancing act to put the white house in order. The financial system, corporations, housing, jobs, health and multiple wars are a few items he must deal with immediately and simultaneously. He is progressive on some of these issues, reactionary on others, such as enlarging the war in Afghanistan and now Pakistan. Will he have troops out of Iraq in 16 months, doubtful if he follows his generals on the ground.
And then there are the haters coming at him from the right and the left, the black and the white. He will have to don the persona of Job to overcome the haters. In the manner of Job he will thus suffer many afflictions but his life will be spared. Michelle may tell him as Job's wife told him, "Curse God and die."
Obama may end up like the many "black presidents" we have throughout the continent of Africa and the Caribbean, worthless and pitiful, a neo-colonial Negro in the tradition of other Negro politicians we have had since the 60s.
But perhaps there are winds blowing from the East that shall transcend Obama, forcing him into positions he never imagined and nor did we. There is motion in the spiritual world that moves faster than the speed of light. We can pontificate and Obama can negotiate, yet the winds blowing will determine the endgame, for if he cannot wash some of the mud off his shoes and those of the many snakes who are his advisers, he shall simply be a rider, perhaps, even Captain, of the Titanic, going down with it while Shine swims on.
Revolutionaries should consider him an opportunity to advance our agenda--once we get a consensus on what it is, and we are far from knowing that since we suffer a psycholinguistic crisis, caught in the conundrum of ideological madness.How can we call ourselves intellectual leaders when we are out of harmony with the desires of our people who voted 98% for Obama. We may call them deaf, dumb and blind, but clearly, as my dad told me, some of us are so smart we outsmart ourselves in our revolutioinary idealism and romanticism.
--Marvin X
Act Two, Scene I: The White House
As my friend James W. Sweeney said from the beginning of the Obama drama, he is transformational but it remains to be seen if he can be transactional, can he make transactions for the masses. We know he is a sharp politician, as sharp as any who have worn the name, thus he is skilled at deception. So now that the world has seen his powers as a community organizer, we can only wait with great anticipation to see how he can sway the house and senate to approve his "radical change" agenda. For sure, Obama is not out to destroy capitalism but to clean it up or save it as it sits in the emergency room like a Negro at Harlem hospital trying to get to the intensive care unit, sitting in ER with blood oozing from multiple gunshots. Like a skilled surgeon, he must deal with bullets in the brain of capitalism, in the heart and other vital organs.
Not only must he be a surgeon but a magician, for he will need to work many tricks and perform many a balancing act to put the white house in order. The financial system, corporations, housing, jobs, health and multiple wars are a few items he must deal with immediately and simultaneously. He is progressive on some of these issues, reactionary on others, such as enlarging the war in Afghanistan and now Pakistan. Will he have troops out of Iraq in 16 months, doubtful if he follows his generals on the ground.
And then there are the haters coming at him from the right and the left, the black and the white. He will have to don the persona of Job to overcome the haters. In the manner of Job he will thus suffer many afflictions but his life will be spared. Michelle may tell him as Job's wife told him, "Curse God and die."
Obama may end up like the many "black presidents" we have throughout the continent of Africa and the Caribbean, worthless and pitiful, a neo-colonial Negro in the tradition of other Negro politicians we have had since the 60s.
But perhaps there are winds blowing from the East that shall transcend Obama, forcing him into positions he never imagined and nor did we. There is motion in the spiritual world that moves faster than the speed of light. We can pontificate and Obama can negotiate, yet the winds blowing will determine the endgame, for if he cannot wash some of the mud off his shoes and those of the many snakes who are his advisers, he shall simply be a rider, perhaps, even Captain, of the Titanic, going down with it while Shine swims on.
Revolutionaries should consider him an opportunity to advance our agenda--once we get a consensus on what it is, and we are far from knowing that since we suffer a psycholinguistic crisis, caught in the conundrum of ideological madness.How can we call ourselves intellectual leaders when we are out of harmony with the desires of our people who voted 98% for Obama. We may call them deaf, dumb and blind, but clearly, as my dad told me, some of us are so smart we outsmart ourselves in our revolutioinary idealism and romanticism.
--Marvin X
>On Amiri Baraka's We Are Already in the Future
Amari Baraka wrote:> > At election's denouement, to the Right the outraged, self loathing of the loser & the losers, including one dude standing mutely in Michigan, a Republican delegate, in a Klan suit, describing Obama as an "Islamic communist". To the Left, the self important drears who had urged us to throw our votes away, as they objectively, in the name of their "principles" , gave votes to John McCain. >>> Let us be clear - Baraka is the one with an alliance with the Republican Party in Klan Uniform - Baraka is a Democrat and the Democratic Party is in a by-partisan union with the Republican Party, with Robert Gates and the other military officers, Generals and Admirals together with Zionists and academic representatives of capitalism is the content of Obama's Cabinet picks.What people throw away they throw into trash, thus the syllogism conclusion is that Cynthia McKinney is trash and the Green and Reconstruction parties are trash cans.. > > > Even dizzier, we supposedly hear from the left right corkscrew terrorist , Al Qaeda insults that Obama is a "house slave" But as I sd in an instant rejoinder, "Anyone who thinks suicide is revolutionary ain't all that bright to begin with. And as for that slave calling, best they refrain from drawing our attention to the fact that some of the Arab ruling class always thought of Black people as slaves". But we are willing to be momentarily cool, remembering Mao's dictum, "fight your enemies one by one". > > >Today, as Palestinian "Arabs" are being bombed to death in the hundreds, with Obama's approval, Baraka comes out in defense of Obama, whose presidency is the personification of US imperialism, and as he defends U.S. imperialism.
Baraka in his person and write-ups provides himself as an imperialist lickspittle by presenting anti-Arab and anti-Islam demagogy lso propaganda for the Obama promised deployment of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan. Obama participates in the imperialist propaganda campaign together with his by-partisan comrade the Republican Bill O'Railey by attacking Muslims as terrorists and Arabs as anti-Black racists. This association of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists is consciously in context of the Israeli campaign of genocide, ostensibly to "wipe out terrorists" [as they actually are killing for the most part hundreds of civilians, including women and children.in context of today's news in which all the Democrats in journalism and television are calling Hamas of being "terrorist" Baraka is now a mouthpiece for U.S. imperialism.>
> >> But back to reality. We have just won an election. We, meaning the masses in the US, indeed the people of the world. (I was in Italy, France, Spain, Norway during the period leading up to and through the election. In Italy just before the election at my readings I urged the Italians to call the states, since I knew they had a bunch of relatives over here, and tell them to vote. In city after city the crowds all seemed to cheer for Obama's victory.) And whoever seeks to downplay that victory is fool or enemy. >>>> Baraka's anecdotal fallacy doesn't constitute a logical argument. But, Baraka is right on one thing, where he wrote "whoever seeks to downplay that victory is fool or enemy": socialists, communists and anarchists are indeed enemies of U.S. imperialism, therefore Obama and his lickspittle Baraka, are their enemies
The European working classes are socialists and communists and they recognized Baraka for what he is: an agent of U.S. imperialism. By being the international lickspittle for the Democrats, urging Europeans to write letters urging them to vote for the imperialist wanna-be Chief Buffalo Soldier qua Commander in Chief, this time the Buffalo soldiers will not be killing native Americans - which Obama praised in his "Yes, I can" ( "The Little Engine that Could: "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can") speech.
The Little Engine that Could, also known as The Pony Engine, is a moralistic children's story that appeared in the United States of America. The book is used to teach children the value of optimism and hard work. Some critics would contend that the book is a metaphor for the American dream.
The tale with its easy-to-grasp moral has become a classic children's story and was adapted in 1991 as a 30-minute animated film produced in Wales and co-financed in Wales and the USA. The film named the famous little engine 'Tillie' and expanded the narrative into a larger story of self-discovery.
In the tale, a long train must be pulled over a high mountain. Various larger engines, treated anthropomorphically, are asked to pull the train; for various reasons they refuse. The request is sent to a small engine, who agrees to try. The engine succeeds in pulling the train over the mountain while repeating its motto: "I-think-I-can".
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ The_Little_ Engine_That_ Could
Anyone moved by this rhetoric are as gullible children in Kindergarten or 1st grade understanding levels.
But, on the contrary Baraka knows exactly what he;s doing! In context of Israel murdering and maiming Palestinians, with Obama's support for this killing Muslims and Arabs, today the Israelis are using US supplied money and weapons to kill Palestinians, Baraka comes out denouncing Islamic and Arabs "terrorists" and suicide bombers, attributing it is socialists and communists who claim "terrorism" is "revolutionary. One must demand of Baraka that he present any articles from any socialist or communist press where they defined revolution as terrorism.> > >> > We shd understand the white supremacy junkies on the right. Their last pop was Old Dutch cleanser and seltzer water, so they have had almost to cold turkey off that WS they been shootin up, though still dizzy from its fumes. But the Left or soi disant wd be Left or some who style themselves, what? , progressive, moderate, wheeze wheeze. Some of these, certainly the vote wasters, sound almost as pitiful. As one pitiful pundit warns us, "Obama's election is to save capitalism…not bring equality to the society." What a silly person. >>> > To the contrary, it is Baraka and his Democratic and Republican "brothas and sistas" who call themselves "the Left ... progressive, moderate, wheeze wheeze"! The actual labor "left" call themselves socialists, communists and anarchists. Baraka's "homeys" - Obama and Colin Powell respectively call themselves "progressives" and "moderates". But again, I note in passing here that Baraka again refers to those who voted for Cynthia McKinney as throwing their votes into trash (waste)
Anyway, just a few notes to what Adaoma wrote, with which I agree. I will be back tomorrow to take on Baraka's concept of "revolution".> > > > > > Greetings All: This article came from Iskandar's lovely website. The link is at the end of the article. > > > The author in this piece is defensive and rightly so. He endorsed, campaigned for Obama as a "centrist" and as one who would empathize with so-called "progressives". The cabinet choices and appointments to committees, such as Rahm Emanuel, Lawrence Summers and Robert Gates contradict Amiri and shows that Amiri misrepresented Obama.> > Amiri suggested that voting for another Democrat was, this time, the revolutionary thing to do. After all, Amiri is a self-proclaimed Marxist, activist and revolutionary, though he does not define "revolution" like a Marxist??!! The productive forces are still in the hands of the capitalist, since the election, last I looked.> > This idea that "The left" or "progressives" can some how unite and put pressure on Obama to do anything is ridiculous. There was nothing in Obama's campaign that indicated that "the Left" or "Progressives" had audience with him. He distanced himself from everyone with which he was identified, ex. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers.> > Where is "The Left" in Obama's cabinet? Where are the "progressives" on any of his teams. Obama never pretended to be anything but a Democrat, holding the party line.> > The new administration should not be protected from scrutiny and criticism, as Amiri wishes. It should not be dipped in gold and put in a museum to be admired through all the ages for being a novelty, the "First Black". Novelties wear off and reality sets in.> > The reality of working people and the the global community that this new administration impacts is the disabling economic depression, bloody wars and the threat of more of the same. The appointments, policies, political decisions, mandates and executive orders should of this administration should be critiqued by masses. It should be analyzed in light of our interests. Only then can parties form that serve worker's interests... without critique they will never form.> > The two party system represents the interests of capital, which is evident in their bipartisan support for appropriating workers money to fund the bail out of finance and industrial capital. > > Those who endorse, campaign and vote are responsible for their choices and for the next 4 to eight years of the "election denoument". Amiri is responsible and must be held accountable for this new administration and all it does. > Adaoma> > > > > > We Are Already In The Future!> > > At election's denouement, to the Right the outraged, self loathing of the loser & the losers, including one dude standing mutely in Michigan, a Republican delegate, in a Klan suit, describing Obama as an "Islamic communist". To the Left, the self important drears who had urged us to throw our votes away, as they objectively, in the name of their "principles" , gave votes to John McCain.> > > Even dizzier, we supposedly hear from the left right corkscrew terrorist , Al Qaeda insults that Obama is a "house slave" But as I sd in an instant rejoinder, "Anyone who thinks suicide is revolutionary ain't all that bright to begin with. And as for that slave calling, best they refrain from drawing our attention to the fact that some of the Arab ruling class always thought of Black people as slaves". But we are willing to be momentarily cool, remembering Mao's dictum, "fight your enemies one by one".> > But back to reality. We have just won an election. We, meaning the masses in the US, indeed the people of the world. (I was in Italy, France, Spain, Norway during the period leading up to and through the election. In Italy just before the election at my readings I urged the Italians to call the states, since I knew they had a bunch of relatives over here, and tell them to vote. In city after city the crowds all seemed to cheer for Obama's victory.) And whoever seeks to downplay that victory is fool or enemy.> > We shd understand the white supremacy junkies on the right. Their last pop was Old Dutch cleanser and seltzer water, so they have had almost to cold turkey off that WS they been shootin up, though still dizzy from its fumes. But the Left or soi disant wd be Left or some who style themselves, what? , progressive, moderate, wheeze wheeze. Some of these, certainly the vote wasters, sound almost as pitiful. As one pitiful pundit warns us, "Obama's election is to save capitalism…not bring equality to the society." What a silly person.> > First of all the very election of Obama has done more to bring some aspect of equality to the society than reams of pseudo leftist posturing. Which, all returns in, is meant merely to show the writer is smarter than you are. But what, dreary pundits, wd a McCain victory have done? And suppose your wasted vote had contributed to such? To always be on the outside nitpicking away with not one sign of useful political practice or construction, this is too often what the Left has become. I say it again, people who have never and cannot elect a dog catcher but who are full of immense ideas about politics. Bah, Humbug!> > No single election, my friends, will ever bring us Socialism, if that's what you really seek. The struggle is protracted, hasn't that been said? We have yet even to convince the "revolutionaries" they are in the United States. But Obama is not even in office yet these pundits of pitifulness already have the hole card on what his governance cannot or will not do. This is especially irritating from those commentators who counseled us not to vote for him in the first place. One wonders if they think their counsel, which meant nothing, is more valuable than having an actual person of color with the widest mandate in history actually elected president?> > > But to run off howling about it's not this and it's not that, when we do not yet have a viable analysis of what it really is! Not to understand how that victory was achieved is to willfully miss a rare opportunity of learning how to master the capitalist electoral system. One of the reasons we do not yet understand how to harness the electoral process to a revolutionary and socialist agenda is that too many of the very people who should be leading such a process denounce and/or avoid it. To do what? Make statements and demonstrate. To withdraw from the most acceptable way of gaining power in the society defies understanding by any rational means. Except for the hold that infantile leftism and anarchism have on too many wishing to present themselves as revolutionary.> > Barack Obama raised hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it as a result of using the internet culture, for fundraising and organizing. Let the foolish Right agonize over their attempt at denigrating "Community Organizer". Now they have at least felt a C.O. foot planted up their B &A Hinds.> > Obama raised 150 million dollars in October alone! He beat both Hilary Clinton & John McCain fund raising. At one point he wanted to buy one hour of time on CNN to lay out a complete campaign message, but CNN vetoed it. And here we thought that money was the ultimate boss. What the Right cannot forget nor the milksop Left is that Obama was/is smarter than both of them! And more in tune with the popular mind, not only of the 98% of the Afro American population but, obviously of the great majority of Americans. This, in itself, is a fantastic new precedent that must be acted upon immediately, before the corporate right media and all our "independent" smarty pants commentators cloud over the main issues.> > The "bottom line" of Obama's campaign was his initiation at the grass roots level in his appeal. The 04 Democratic convention is widely seen as the opening of his campaign and I can accept that, but even to be there to do that. A first term senator of color from Illinois. How did he get to be a Senator in the lst place? I watched the biopic on CNN and what I got from it is a skill developed as a, what?, community organizer. To organize significant groups around their own interests and with that connecting them in motion around some larger issue. Obama carried his Chicago, his Illinois constituency with him and as he made more powerful meaningful connections, like an extension cord, his total reach and power expanded.> > For the Left, they should never speak another word about "politics" unless they can understand and explain to their own constituents, how this Black man, Ok, this person of color, Ok, this half white dude, became President of the United States. Because it is just such grounding in basic everyday electorally oriented politics that the Left denounces and eschews. To all our detriments. In the main, the Left holds rallies and makes statements. Community Organization is almost as foreign to them as the Right. (But then the Right does its "community organization" through their media.)> > Usually, when the Left talks about "the people" or "the masses" they come out of some comic book academic manual confusing the US, the most highly developed 21st century monopoly capitalist society, with 19th century Russia or early 20th century China. Both largely peasant societies with small but developing working classes. The US is neither.> > The US is both debtor and predator state, at the same time. With a highly developed yet debt burdened working class who are told every day that they are the middle class. There is a middle class, a petty bourgeoisie, a very very affluent sector, who are the lieutenants and paid liars, the middle management who are also deeply in debt. There is also a petty petty bourgeois, the teachers, government workers, civil servants, office workers, &c. Racism still internally divides these classes horizontally, with the Afro American people still at the bottom, yet those same Afro American people, nearly 50 million, have a gross national product of 600 Billion dollars a year , the 16th largest in the world.> > There have already been Four Revolutions in the United States. The first in the 18th century, for "independence" (quotes because in some ways it never completely happened. Check out British holdings in the US). The 2nd in the 19th century, the Civil War, which ended chattel slavery (& w/the 13th, 14th 15th amendments) and competitive capitalism, ushered in monopoly capitalism and began to free the white worker from the land.> > The 3rd revolution was the 50's to 70's Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements which ended petty apartheid & segregation (Civil Rights Bill, Voting Rights Bill, Brown vs. Bd of Ed). Though a case could be made that this was an extended motion that was initiated by the post Civil War move out of the south by millions of Black people transforming the Afro American people from a largely peasant rural people to a working class. An urban proletariat.> > The Obama election is the 4th Revolution! What is needed now is for the would be Left, the revolutionaries, , the progressive sector of the body politic, the Communists to correctly analyze and project widely just what kind of revolution this is. But more than that, lay out exactly what is to be done at this point, the entry to a new stage of US social development, like we used to say, What is the key link, to make the next forward motion.> ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********> > We shd know that the stage of society to which we are moving toward would be some kind of Peoples Democracy. Fundamentally, this is the social base of Obama's victory, the so called Post racial coalition. We understand that there is yet no such reality existing concretely in the institutions and relations of US society, except that is the oncoming force that won the 4th Revolution and it is this force that must harnessed as a living material entity in transforming US society.> > This would place us near the most advanced stage of bourgeois democracy. We can see Monopoly capitalism crashing down around their and our heads! We have agreed to give the rulers a trillion dollars so they can continue to be rich and the rulers. But for the would be Leftists to tell us that Obama's Only or that his "primary function is to save capitalism by building a united front to rescue capitalism NOT to bring about a more egalitarian, antiracist anti sexist pro environment society". Why would anyone who was actually struggling for Democracy say that? It sounds like the sour grapes of the people who wanted us to waste our votes , but even though they tailed 98% of the Afro American and half of the rest of the American people, still want to give us advice and instructions. Actually, it is they who need advice and instructions.> > To make such a one sided infantile Leftist or Trot like analysis of the election would only turn that overwhelming majority whom you tail anyway, even more sharply and outspokenly against you. There is neither balance nor real analysis in that statement. Just an attempt to be again, more revolutionary than the people. But the task of the revolutionary is to lead the people by taking what they already know and giving it back to them with the focus of the present the past and the future.> > Plus to see Obama's victory as simply a victory for monopoly capitalism is so thoroughly anarchist that it rejects the most important essence of the entire Obama drama, i.e. it was the highest stroke of the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements yet. We bled to integrate lunch counters, buses, public toilets, water fountains, was that struggle just to create a united front to save monopoly capitalism? Do you think Obama's victory less than those? It was a concrete victory for Democracy. Don't you understand that you cd say the victory of the North in the civil war was just to preserve capitalism? Yes, at a higher level. But don't you think the concomitant advance of the Afro American people worth noting?> > So to say Obama's only function is to save monopoly capitalism, we say,"I'm glad you can dig it, but that's not all… "To claim merely an anarchist or infantile position and not deepen the analysis so we can understand that monopoly capitalism cannot survive unless it adopts some aspects of social democracy. Obama's election is the first aspect of that social democracy. In the same way that FDR's "New Deal" could not survive, even as a method of maintaining monopoly capitalism unless it adopted important features of socialism, social democracy, i.e., social security and Unemployment insurance, the WPA public Works project to put people back to work. Even the artists. I said before that what Obama must bring us is "A New New Deal"! That is why it is so important that he hit the ground running, in much the same way that Roosevelt did in his first 100 Days. (See ….) I was glad to hear that he was reading accounts of the emergency bills Roosevelt passed before the reactionary congress could block him. Obama faces the same exigency. We need a "fast break" strategy with a few"alley oop" dunks perhaps. Before the opposition can resolidify itself.> > We have a great unity among the people now with Obama's victory and we and the people must move forward with that catalyst. We must unite principally against still existing racism and white supremacy. We must also unite against the domination of monopoly capitalism over the people's needs. The theft of a trillion dollars has infuriated the people, certainly we can unite them, build a united front around the need to destroy surviving racism and white supremacy and for creating greater regulations on monopoly capitalism. If we give the investment banks a trillion dollars we should own those investment banks. If we give another two hundred fifty billion to the auto industry, we should own that auto industry.> > We cannot wipe away monopoly capitalism with one election but our minimum program must include regulation of it, Public ownership reversing the trend of outsourcing, and sending factories out of the country, usually out of working class and minority neighborhoods. Certainly we can build a united front around these things.> We should be listing those things we can do, those things that Obama's election has enabled us to do rather than spending time telling people that what they and he did was nothing!> > In attacking monopoly capitalism we shd support small capitalism and minority capitalism and fight that those businesses and institutions in working class and minority communities get the dollars that we are giving the investment banks and auto industry.> The development of small capitalism in those communities and state ownership of these financial institutions would be steps forward in terms of the development of a Peoples Democracy.> > Is this socialism,> No, but we must first regulate and weaken monopoly capitalism, in tune with the peoples newly awakened appetite for expanded democracy and their hard times which we know and can make them better understand is caused by the domination of monopoly capitalism and imperialism, including the Iraq war.> > It is up to us, the Left, to build on the powerful democratic coalition Obama's campaign and election have already built. We must strive to make such a democratic coalition more than just an temporary election campaign call and fight to turn such ideas and momentary commitment into a powerful new base on which to focus Obama's first term, but also to build this into a permanent aspect of US society. The anti war forces are another key aspect of this coalition and a means to call for a refocusing of the 10billion dollars a month now spent on the Iraq war.> > We shd try to build a broad united front out of the consensus coming out of the 63% of the electorate that voted for Obama! One wonders how people in the Black Left who were at the North Carolina meeting and some others, can really call for an smaller united front than the hundred or so people who were there. What we need is a unity based on real struggle over actual objectives and motives, i.e. being "open and above board" without "conspiracy and intrigue".> > There are forces who dropped out of the Black Radical Congress because they were angry about alleged CPUSA "domination" , domination of what, and to what end? Just as a somewhat earlier canard that they cdn't be in any group where there were white people. We wonder is this some fear of not being able to struggle for the correct line in these forces presence?> > Too often it seems that some of the Black Left are really nationalists straining for a new identity by claiming to be Left but never Marxist Leninists. Some are Black Nationalists who claim "Left" by being influenced by Trotskyist or Anarchist stands.> > At any rate we need an even broader United Front guided by genuine revolutionaries, communists not Trot influenced Black Leftists.> > +++++> There are questions about Obama's appointments even before he is inaugurated. Just as there were questions about him refusing public funding. On the second issue, it shd be obvious by now that Obama saw the public funding, as it is now constructed, to be a ruse to cripple his fund raising, while the Republicans would run ragtime and out raise him, just as Hillary would have done.> > On the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, we should try to understand that this was a very smart choice. The constant calumny against Obama that he is a Muslim. The Right kept screaming his middle name, Hussain, in hopes that would stop the Obamacoaster that enveloped the country. The constant questions about his support for Israel or from the other side about his relationship to the "Zionist entity" were a constant negation Obama faced. Even now, after the election, the fool, al Qaeda's Zawahari, hurls insults about Obama. Just as some ignorant American anarchists threaten to disrupt the inauguration because of "Obama's Zionism & Militarism".> > Rahm Emanuel's selection is due to confound those who are not thoughtful about just what challenges Obama faces. The ever lurking actual Zionists will always make trouble until they can have what they really want, not peace, but the entire Middle East as a fiefdom ruled by Israel.> > The Emanuel appointment stops Zionist mischief at the door. Karl Rove's television appearance blasting Emanuel as "combative, ill tempered and foul mouthed" and that he was Obama's worst appointment , were very encouraging to me. Let the rumor mongers and mischief makers and other nattering nabobs try to cause havoc at the gates. I trust Emanuel to handle that as chief of staff, both the constant undermining questions of the Zionists as well as the others who want to make Obama a Zionist. To be a friend of the Israeli people is no crime, to foster a Zionist dictatorship over the Middle East would be a crime. We cannot see Obama doing the latter.> > The first necessity of the Obama precedent is to put out a call for a nationwide Democratic Coalition, to heighten even further the attack on white supremacy and racism. Even to fight to get these made illegal, unlawful. This would be the essence of the Post racial coalition, which has already shown its potential power with the election of the President. The Kennedy years could have set something of a precedent, but his assassination along with the assassinations of Malcolm X, Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy, peaked with the election of Nixon and then the takeover at the end of the 70's by the Reagan steamroller which has been with us in essence until today.> > Those assassinations were a Right wing coup, an oil smelling coup that at its denouement was the invasion of the Middle East and the outright takeover of the oil fields, plus the move of the financial markets to Dubai, as alternate to London and Wall St. Monsters covered with and bathing in oil . The crash of the financial markets in the US and to some extent worldwide can mark the end of this domination if we will move on the new precedent of Obama's election.> > Not only must this new Democratic Coalition take on White supremacy and Racism but to oppose and struggle to end the domination of monopoly capitalism over the people of the US, end the war in Iraq and in essence its domination of the world. State ownership, nationalization, new funding for non monopoly and small business. This democratic coalition must be built into a permanent electoral presence as well to combat the still powerful and ruthless forces of white supremacy and the domination of society by monopoly capitalism.> > The Public Works' New New Deal would see Katrina damaged New Orleans as a top priority and seek to reconstruct the entire gulf ravaged area from Louisiana to Texas. The sagging infrastructure of bridges and tunnels and urban structures must be repaired. This is one solution to chronic unemployment. Certainly these inner cities are in need of public dollars for employment and reconstruction. Just as in the depression 30's Roosevelt's new deal even supported the arts, we must see that our new Democratic Coalition demands the same kind of support after years of the Republicans attacks on public support of the Arts.> > =We want to build a new Democratic Coalition as an engine for the bringing of a People's Democracy. Any narrowing of the "Post racial coalition" that elected Obama is a mistake. We must fight to make it real. Those who think that tailing "Labor" mostly the labor bureaucrats or pushing economism as a substitute for political organizing and fielding candidates for every position we are able to are merely continuing the marginalization and irrelevance of the Left. The call for an anti racist anti monopoly Democratic Coalition is correct and necessary and the only move that will give the genuine revolutionaries leadership of the progressive political struggle in the US.> Amiri Baraka> 11/29/08> http://mbantunyanko mpong.wordpress. com/2008/ 12/03/guest- commentator- amiri-baraka/
Amari Baraka wrote:> > At election's denouement, to the Right the outraged, self loathing of the loser & the losers, including one dude standing mutely in Michigan, a Republican delegate, in a Klan suit, describing Obama as an "Islamic communist". To the Left, the self important drears who had urged us to throw our votes away, as they objectively, in the name of their "principles" , gave votes to John McCain. >>> Let us be clear - Baraka is the one with an alliance with the Republican Party in Klan Uniform - Baraka is a Democrat and the Democratic Party is in a by-partisan union with the Republican Party, with Robert Gates and the other military officers, Generals and Admirals together with Zionists and academic representatives of capitalism is the content of Obama's Cabinet picks.What people throw away they throw into trash, thus the syllogism conclusion is that Cynthia McKinney is trash and the Green and Reconstruction parties are trash cans.. > > > Even dizzier, we supposedly hear from the left right corkscrew terrorist , Al Qaeda insults that Obama is a "house slave" But as I sd in an instant rejoinder, "Anyone who thinks suicide is revolutionary ain't all that bright to begin with. And as for that slave calling, best they refrain from drawing our attention to the fact that some of the Arab ruling class always thought of Black people as slaves". But we are willing to be momentarily cool, remembering Mao's dictum, "fight your enemies one by one". > > >Today, as Palestinian "Arabs" are being bombed to death in the hundreds, with Obama's approval, Baraka comes out in defense of Obama, whose presidency is the personification of US imperialism, and as he defends U.S. imperialism.
Baraka in his person and write-ups provides himself as an imperialist lickspittle by presenting anti-Arab and anti-Islam demagogy lso propaganda for the Obama promised deployment of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan. Obama participates in the imperialist propaganda campaign together with his by-partisan comrade the Republican Bill O'Railey by attacking Muslims as terrorists and Arabs as anti-Black racists. This association of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists is consciously in context of the Israeli campaign of genocide, ostensibly to "wipe out terrorists" [as they actually are killing for the most part hundreds of civilians, including women and children.in context of today's news in which all the Democrats in journalism and television are calling Hamas of being "terrorist" Baraka is now a mouthpiece for U.S. imperialism.>
> >> But back to reality. We have just won an election. We, meaning the masses in the US, indeed the people of the world. (I was in Italy, France, Spain, Norway during the period leading up to and through the election. In Italy just before the election at my readings I urged the Italians to call the states, since I knew they had a bunch of relatives over here, and tell them to vote. In city after city the crowds all seemed to cheer for Obama's victory.) And whoever seeks to downplay that victory is fool or enemy. >>>> Baraka's anecdotal fallacy doesn't constitute a logical argument. But, Baraka is right on one thing, where he wrote "whoever seeks to downplay that victory is fool or enemy": socialists, communists and anarchists are indeed enemies of U.S. imperialism, therefore Obama and his lickspittle Baraka, are their enemies
The European working classes are socialists and communists and they recognized Baraka for what he is: an agent of U.S. imperialism. By being the international lickspittle for the Democrats, urging Europeans to write letters urging them to vote for the imperialist wanna-be Chief Buffalo Soldier qua Commander in Chief, this time the Buffalo soldiers will not be killing native Americans - which Obama praised in his "Yes, I can" ( "The Little Engine that Could: "I think I can, I think I can, I know I can") speech.
The Little Engine that Could, also known as The Pony Engine, is a moralistic children's story that appeared in the United States of America. The book is used to teach children the value of optimism and hard work. Some critics would contend that the book is a metaphor for the American dream.
The tale with its easy-to-grasp moral has become a classic children's story and was adapted in 1991 as a 30-minute animated film produced in Wales and co-financed in Wales and the USA. The film named the famous little engine 'Tillie' and expanded the narrative into a larger story of self-discovery.
In the tale, a long train must be pulled over a high mountain. Various larger engines, treated anthropomorphically, are asked to pull the train; for various reasons they refuse. The request is sent to a small engine, who agrees to try. The engine succeeds in pulling the train over the mountain while repeating its motto: "I-think-I-can".
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ The_Little_ Engine_That_ Could
Anyone moved by this rhetoric are as gullible children in Kindergarten or 1st grade understanding levels.
But, on the contrary Baraka knows exactly what he;s doing! In context of Israel murdering and maiming Palestinians, with Obama's support for this killing Muslims and Arabs, today the Israelis are using US supplied money and weapons to kill Palestinians, Baraka comes out denouncing Islamic and Arabs "terrorists" and suicide bombers, attributing it is socialists and communists who claim "terrorism" is "revolutionary. One must demand of Baraka that he present any articles from any socialist or communist press where they defined revolution as terrorism.> > >> > We shd understand the white supremacy junkies on the right. Their last pop was Old Dutch cleanser and seltzer water, so they have had almost to cold turkey off that WS they been shootin up, though still dizzy from its fumes. But the Left or soi disant wd be Left or some who style themselves, what? , progressive, moderate, wheeze wheeze. Some of these, certainly the vote wasters, sound almost as pitiful. As one pitiful pundit warns us, "Obama's election is to save capitalism…not bring equality to the society." What a silly person. >>> > To the contrary, it is Baraka and his Democratic and Republican "brothas and sistas" who call themselves "the Left ... progressive, moderate, wheeze wheeze"! The actual labor "left" call themselves socialists, communists and anarchists. Baraka's "homeys" - Obama and Colin Powell respectively call themselves "progressives" and "moderates". But again, I note in passing here that Baraka again refers to those who voted for Cynthia McKinney as throwing their votes into trash (waste)
Anyway, just a few notes to what Adaoma wrote, with which I agree. I will be back tomorrow to take on Baraka's concept of "revolution".> > > > > > Greetings All: This article came from Iskandar's lovely website. The link is at the end of the article. > > > The author in this piece is defensive and rightly so. He endorsed, campaigned for Obama as a "centrist" and as one who would empathize with so-called "progressives". The cabinet choices and appointments to committees, such as Rahm Emanuel, Lawrence Summers and Robert Gates contradict Amiri and shows that Amiri misrepresented Obama.> > Amiri suggested that voting for another Democrat was, this time, the revolutionary thing to do. After all, Amiri is a self-proclaimed Marxist, activist and revolutionary, though he does not define "revolution" like a Marxist??!! The productive forces are still in the hands of the capitalist, since the election, last I looked.> > This idea that "The left" or "progressives" can some how unite and put pressure on Obama to do anything is ridiculous. There was nothing in Obama's campaign that indicated that "the Left" or "Progressives" had audience with him. He distanced himself from everyone with which he was identified, ex. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers.> > Where is "The Left" in Obama's cabinet? Where are the "progressives" on any of his teams. Obama never pretended to be anything but a Democrat, holding the party line.> > The new administration should not be protected from scrutiny and criticism, as Amiri wishes. It should not be dipped in gold and put in a museum to be admired through all the ages for being a novelty, the "First Black". Novelties wear off and reality sets in.> > The reality of working people and the the global community that this new administration impacts is the disabling economic depression, bloody wars and the threat of more of the same. The appointments, policies, political decisions, mandates and executive orders should of this administration should be critiqued by masses. It should be analyzed in light of our interests. Only then can parties form that serve worker's interests... without critique they will never form.> > The two party system represents the interests of capital, which is evident in their bipartisan support for appropriating workers money to fund the bail out of finance and industrial capital. > > Those who endorse, campaign and vote are responsible for their choices and for the next 4 to eight years of the "election denoument". Amiri is responsible and must be held accountable for this new administration and all it does. > Adaoma> > > > > > We Are Already In The Future!> > > At election's denouement, to the Right the outraged, self loathing of the loser & the losers, including one dude standing mutely in Michigan, a Republican delegate, in a Klan suit, describing Obama as an "Islamic communist". To the Left, the self important drears who had urged us to throw our votes away, as they objectively, in the name of their "principles" , gave votes to John McCain.> > > Even dizzier, we supposedly hear from the left right corkscrew terrorist , Al Qaeda insults that Obama is a "house slave" But as I sd in an instant rejoinder, "Anyone who thinks suicide is revolutionary ain't all that bright to begin with. And as for that slave calling, best they refrain from drawing our attention to the fact that some of the Arab ruling class always thought of Black people as slaves". But we are willing to be momentarily cool, remembering Mao's dictum, "fight your enemies one by one".> > But back to reality. We have just won an election. We, meaning the masses in the US, indeed the people of the world. (I was in Italy, France, Spain, Norway during the period leading up to and through the election. In Italy just before the election at my readings I urged the Italians to call the states, since I knew they had a bunch of relatives over here, and tell them to vote. In city after city the crowds all seemed to cheer for Obama's victory.) And whoever seeks to downplay that victory is fool or enemy.> > We shd understand the white supremacy junkies on the right. Their last pop was Old Dutch cleanser and seltzer water, so they have had almost to cold turkey off that WS they been shootin up, though still dizzy from its fumes. But the Left or soi disant wd be Left or some who style themselves, what? , progressive, moderate, wheeze wheeze. Some of these, certainly the vote wasters, sound almost as pitiful. As one pitiful pundit warns us, "Obama's election is to save capitalism…not bring equality to the society." What a silly person.> > First of all the very election of Obama has done more to bring some aspect of equality to the society than reams of pseudo leftist posturing. Which, all returns in, is meant merely to show the writer is smarter than you are. But what, dreary pundits, wd a McCain victory have done? And suppose your wasted vote had contributed to such? To always be on the outside nitpicking away with not one sign of useful political practice or construction, this is too often what the Left has become. I say it again, people who have never and cannot elect a dog catcher but who are full of immense ideas about politics. Bah, Humbug!> > No single election, my friends, will ever bring us Socialism, if that's what you really seek. The struggle is protracted, hasn't that been said? We have yet even to convince the "revolutionaries" they are in the United States. But Obama is not even in office yet these pundits of pitifulness already have the hole card on what his governance cannot or will not do. This is especially irritating from those commentators who counseled us not to vote for him in the first place. One wonders if they think their counsel, which meant nothing, is more valuable than having an actual person of color with the widest mandate in history actually elected president?> > > But to run off howling about it's not this and it's not that, when we do not yet have a viable analysis of what it really is! Not to understand how that victory was achieved is to willfully miss a rare opportunity of learning how to master the capitalist electoral system. One of the reasons we do not yet understand how to harness the electoral process to a revolutionary and socialist agenda is that too many of the very people who should be leading such a process denounce and/or avoid it. To do what? Make statements and demonstrate. To withdraw from the most acceptable way of gaining power in the society defies understanding by any rational means. Except for the hold that infantile leftism and anarchism have on too many wishing to present themselves as revolutionary.> > Barack Obama raised hundreds of millions of dollars, much of it as a result of using the internet culture, for fundraising and organizing. Let the foolish Right agonize over their attempt at denigrating "Community Organizer". Now they have at least felt a C.O. foot planted up their B &A Hinds.> > Obama raised 150 million dollars in October alone! He beat both Hilary Clinton & John McCain fund raising. At one point he wanted to buy one hour of time on CNN to lay out a complete campaign message, but CNN vetoed it. And here we thought that money was the ultimate boss. What the Right cannot forget nor the milksop Left is that Obama was/is smarter than both of them! And more in tune with the popular mind, not only of the 98% of the Afro American population but, obviously of the great majority of Americans. This, in itself, is a fantastic new precedent that must be acted upon immediately, before the corporate right media and all our "independent" smarty pants commentators cloud over the main issues.> > The "bottom line" of Obama's campaign was his initiation at the grass roots level in his appeal. The 04 Democratic convention is widely seen as the opening of his campaign and I can accept that, but even to be there to do that. A first term senator of color from Illinois. How did he get to be a Senator in the lst place? I watched the biopic on CNN and what I got from it is a skill developed as a, what?, community organizer. To organize significant groups around their own interests and with that connecting them in motion around some larger issue. Obama carried his Chicago, his Illinois constituency with him and as he made more powerful meaningful connections, like an extension cord, his total reach and power expanded.> > For the Left, they should never speak another word about "politics" unless they can understand and explain to their own constituents, how this Black man, Ok, this person of color, Ok, this half white dude, became President of the United States. Because it is just such grounding in basic everyday electorally oriented politics that the Left denounces and eschews. To all our detriments. In the main, the Left holds rallies and makes statements. Community Organization is almost as foreign to them as the Right. (But then the Right does its "community organization" through their media.)> > Usually, when the Left talks about "the people" or "the masses" they come out of some comic book academic manual confusing the US, the most highly developed 21st century monopoly capitalist society, with 19th century Russia or early 20th century China. Both largely peasant societies with small but developing working classes. The US is neither.> > The US is both debtor and predator state, at the same time. With a highly developed yet debt burdened working class who are told every day that they are the middle class. There is a middle class, a petty bourgeoisie, a very very affluent sector, who are the lieutenants and paid liars, the middle management who are also deeply in debt. There is also a petty petty bourgeois, the teachers, government workers, civil servants, office workers, &c. Racism still internally divides these classes horizontally, with the Afro American people still at the bottom, yet those same Afro American people, nearly 50 million, have a gross national product of 600 Billion dollars a year , the 16th largest in the world.> > There have already been Four Revolutions in the United States. The first in the 18th century, for "independence" (quotes because in some ways it never completely happened. Check out British holdings in the US). The 2nd in the 19th century, the Civil War, which ended chattel slavery (& w/the 13th, 14th 15th amendments) and competitive capitalism, ushered in monopoly capitalism and began to free the white worker from the land.> > The 3rd revolution was the 50's to 70's Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements which ended petty apartheid & segregation (Civil Rights Bill, Voting Rights Bill, Brown vs. Bd of Ed). Though a case could be made that this was an extended motion that was initiated by the post Civil War move out of the south by millions of Black people transforming the Afro American people from a largely peasant rural people to a working class. An urban proletariat.> > The Obama election is the 4th Revolution! What is needed now is for the would be Left, the revolutionaries, , the progressive sector of the body politic, the Communists to correctly analyze and project widely just what kind of revolution this is. But more than that, lay out exactly what is to be done at this point, the entry to a new stage of US social development, like we used to say, What is the key link, to make the next forward motion.> ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ********> > We shd know that the stage of society to which we are moving toward would be some kind of Peoples Democracy. Fundamentally, this is the social base of Obama's victory, the so called Post racial coalition. We understand that there is yet no such reality existing concretely in the institutions and relations of US society, except that is the oncoming force that won the 4th Revolution and it is this force that must harnessed as a living material entity in transforming US society.> > This would place us near the most advanced stage of bourgeois democracy. We can see Monopoly capitalism crashing down around their and our heads! We have agreed to give the rulers a trillion dollars so they can continue to be rich and the rulers. But for the would be Leftists to tell us that Obama's Only or that his "primary function is to save capitalism by building a united front to rescue capitalism NOT to bring about a more egalitarian, antiracist anti sexist pro environment society". Why would anyone who was actually struggling for Democracy say that? It sounds like the sour grapes of the people who wanted us to waste our votes , but even though they tailed 98% of the Afro American and half of the rest of the American people, still want to give us advice and instructions. Actually, it is they who need advice and instructions.> > To make such a one sided infantile Leftist or Trot like analysis of the election would only turn that overwhelming majority whom you tail anyway, even more sharply and outspokenly against you. There is neither balance nor real analysis in that statement. Just an attempt to be again, more revolutionary than the people. But the task of the revolutionary is to lead the people by taking what they already know and giving it back to them with the focus of the present the past and the future.> > Plus to see Obama's victory as simply a victory for monopoly capitalism is so thoroughly anarchist that it rejects the most important essence of the entire Obama drama, i.e. it was the highest stroke of the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements yet. We bled to integrate lunch counters, buses, public toilets, water fountains, was that struggle just to create a united front to save monopoly capitalism? Do you think Obama's victory less than those? It was a concrete victory for Democracy. Don't you understand that you cd say the victory of the North in the civil war was just to preserve capitalism? Yes, at a higher level. But don't you think the concomitant advance of the Afro American people worth noting?> > So to say Obama's only function is to save monopoly capitalism, we say,"I'm glad you can dig it, but that's not all… "To claim merely an anarchist or infantile position and not deepen the analysis so we can understand that monopoly capitalism cannot survive unless it adopts some aspects of social democracy. Obama's election is the first aspect of that social democracy. In the same way that FDR's "New Deal" could not survive, even as a method of maintaining monopoly capitalism unless it adopted important features of socialism, social democracy, i.e., social security and Unemployment insurance, the WPA public Works project to put people back to work. Even the artists. I said before that what Obama must bring us is "A New New Deal"! That is why it is so important that he hit the ground running, in much the same way that Roosevelt did in his first 100 Days. (See ….) I was glad to hear that he was reading accounts of the emergency bills Roosevelt passed before the reactionary congress could block him. Obama faces the same exigency. We need a "fast break" strategy with a few"alley oop" dunks perhaps. Before the opposition can resolidify itself.> > We have a great unity among the people now with Obama's victory and we and the people must move forward with that catalyst. We must unite principally against still existing racism and white supremacy. We must also unite against the domination of monopoly capitalism over the people's needs. The theft of a trillion dollars has infuriated the people, certainly we can unite them, build a united front around the need to destroy surviving racism and white supremacy and for creating greater regulations on monopoly capitalism. If we give the investment banks a trillion dollars we should own those investment banks. If we give another two hundred fifty billion to the auto industry, we should own that auto industry.> > We cannot wipe away monopoly capitalism with one election but our minimum program must include regulation of it, Public ownership reversing the trend of outsourcing, and sending factories out of the country, usually out of working class and minority neighborhoods. Certainly we can build a united front around these things.> We should be listing those things we can do, those things that Obama's election has enabled us to do rather than spending time telling people that what they and he did was nothing!> > In attacking monopoly capitalism we shd support small capitalism and minority capitalism and fight that those businesses and institutions in working class and minority communities get the dollars that we are giving the investment banks and auto industry.> The development of small capitalism in those communities and state ownership of these financial institutions would be steps forward in terms of the development of a Peoples Democracy.> > Is this socialism,> No, but we must first regulate and weaken monopoly capitalism, in tune with the peoples newly awakened appetite for expanded democracy and their hard times which we know and can make them better understand is caused by the domination of monopoly capitalism and imperialism, including the Iraq war.> > It is up to us, the Left, to build on the powerful democratic coalition Obama's campaign and election have already built. We must strive to make such a democratic coalition more than just an temporary election campaign call and fight to turn such ideas and momentary commitment into a powerful new base on which to focus Obama's first term, but also to build this into a permanent aspect of US society. The anti war forces are another key aspect of this coalition and a means to call for a refocusing of the 10billion dollars a month now spent on the Iraq war.> > We shd try to build a broad united front out of the consensus coming out of the 63% of the electorate that voted for Obama! One wonders how people in the Black Left who were at the North Carolina meeting and some others, can really call for an smaller united front than the hundred or so people who were there. What we need is a unity based on real struggle over actual objectives and motives, i.e. being "open and above board" without "conspiracy and intrigue".> > There are forces who dropped out of the Black Radical Congress because they were angry about alleged CPUSA "domination" , domination of what, and to what end? Just as a somewhat earlier canard that they cdn't be in any group where there were white people. We wonder is this some fear of not being able to struggle for the correct line in these forces presence?> > Too often it seems that some of the Black Left are really nationalists straining for a new identity by claiming to be Left but never Marxist Leninists. Some are Black Nationalists who claim "Left" by being influenced by Trotskyist or Anarchist stands.> > At any rate we need an even broader United Front guided by genuine revolutionaries, communists not Trot influenced Black Leftists.> > +++++> There are questions about Obama's appointments even before he is inaugurated. Just as there were questions about him refusing public funding. On the second issue, it shd be obvious by now that Obama saw the public funding, as it is now constructed, to be a ruse to cripple his fund raising, while the Republicans would run ragtime and out raise him, just as Hillary would have done.> > On the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, we should try to understand that this was a very smart choice. The constant calumny against Obama that he is a Muslim. The Right kept screaming his middle name, Hussain, in hopes that would stop the Obamacoaster that enveloped the country. The constant questions about his support for Israel or from the other side about his relationship to the "Zionist entity" were a constant negation Obama faced. Even now, after the election, the fool, al Qaeda's Zawahari, hurls insults about Obama. Just as some ignorant American anarchists threaten to disrupt the inauguration because of "Obama's Zionism & Militarism".> > Rahm Emanuel's selection is due to confound those who are not thoughtful about just what challenges Obama faces. The ever lurking actual Zionists will always make trouble until they can have what they really want, not peace, but the entire Middle East as a fiefdom ruled by Israel.> > The Emanuel appointment stops Zionist mischief at the door. Karl Rove's television appearance blasting Emanuel as "combative, ill tempered and foul mouthed" and that he was Obama's worst appointment , were very encouraging to me. Let the rumor mongers and mischief makers and other nattering nabobs try to cause havoc at the gates. I trust Emanuel to handle that as chief of staff, both the constant undermining questions of the Zionists as well as the others who want to make Obama a Zionist. To be a friend of the Israeli people is no crime, to foster a Zionist dictatorship over the Middle East would be a crime. We cannot see Obama doing the latter.> > The first necessity of the Obama precedent is to put out a call for a nationwide Democratic Coalition, to heighten even further the attack on white supremacy and racism. Even to fight to get these made illegal, unlawful. This would be the essence of the Post racial coalition, which has already shown its potential power with the election of the President. The Kennedy years could have set something of a precedent, but his assassination along with the assassinations of Malcolm X, Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy, peaked with the election of Nixon and then the takeover at the end of the 70's by the Reagan steamroller which has been with us in essence until today.> > Those assassinations were a Right wing coup, an oil smelling coup that at its denouement was the invasion of the Middle East and the outright takeover of the oil fields, plus the move of the financial markets to Dubai, as alternate to London and Wall St. Monsters covered with and bathing in oil . The crash of the financial markets in the US and to some extent worldwide can mark the end of this domination if we will move on the new precedent of Obama's election.> > Not only must this new Democratic Coalition take on White supremacy and Racism but to oppose and struggle to end the domination of monopoly capitalism over the people of the US, end the war in Iraq and in essence its domination of the world. State ownership, nationalization, new funding for non monopoly and small business. This democratic coalition must be built into a permanent electoral presence as well to combat the still powerful and ruthless forces of white supremacy and the domination of society by monopoly capitalism.> > The Public Works' New New Deal would see Katrina damaged New Orleans as a top priority and seek to reconstruct the entire gulf ravaged area from Louisiana to Texas. The sagging infrastructure of bridges and tunnels and urban structures must be repaired. This is one solution to chronic unemployment. Certainly these inner cities are in need of public dollars for employment and reconstruction. Just as in the depression 30's Roosevelt's new deal even supported the arts, we must see that our new Democratic Coalition demands the same kind of support after years of the Republicans attacks on public support of the Arts.> > =We want to build a new Democratic Coalition as an engine for the bringing of a People's Democracy. Any narrowing of the "Post racial coalition" that elected Obama is a mistake. We must fight to make it real. Those who think that tailing "Labor" mostly the labor bureaucrats or pushing economism as a substitute for political organizing and fielding candidates for every position we are able to are merely continuing the marginalization and irrelevance of the Left. The call for an anti racist anti monopoly Democratic Coalition is correct and necessary and the only move that will give the genuine revolutionaries leadership of the progressive political struggle in the US.> Amiri Baraka> 11/29/08> http://mbantunyanko mpong.wordpress. com/2008/ 12/03/guest- commentator- amiri-baraka/
Friday, January 2, 2009
From: Marvin X Jackmon To: mreynolds@bayareanewsgroup.comSent: Friday, January 2, 2009 6:49:30 PM
Subject: Re: The Phony Chauncey Bailey Project
Martin, why do I need to do your work, especially when I am not being paid? Chauncey discussed his final project, the bakery and the police killers, robbers and drug dealers, with many people in the community. They have told me this. Why has not the project written anything about the contents of his notes or investigated the points he raised? The police incompentence is not the issue, not the real issue since it did not cause his death, except for that socalled stupid delay by the chief, followed by his lies.
The truth is that Chauncey was set up by certain family members who knew when information got to other family members, there would be a violent reaction. So even Bey IV and his crew were set up then "coached" by the OPD who had issues with Chauncey because they knew he was investigating them as well.
Chauncey fell into a trap of family intrigue move complex than the greatest Shakespearean dramas, try Macbeth, King Lear or Hamlet.
The Middle East crisis, your paper and the CBP are related since they deal with Muslims, Zionism and murder. The CBP has spread hatred against Muslims with its emphasis on Muslim bakery boys who had advisors on the OPD. So far the CBP has only dealt with Muslim involvement and the OPD with respect to administrative issues. Chauncey Bailey was only one Negro killed in Oakland in 2007, how many more might have died as a result of the OPD killers? How many innocent are in jail and prison as a result of the OPD planting false evidence? In short, like Zionist propaganda that is focusing the world on the four Israelis dead while ignoring the 400 dead in Gaza, the CBP is focusing on one killing when the matter is much deeper. What if half the black homicides in Oakland turned out to be police murders? Or a tenth of them--clearly this is a greater story than the Bakery boys, even the OPD association with the boys. Will you await information from the wire services on the wider slaughter on the streets of Oakland, which is similar to Gaza since blacks are under occupation by wicked police, politicians, preachers,teachers and journalists.
And you wonder why your paper is dead or dying--it's because it is deviod of truth and guilty of bias. Look at the recent uproar over the lesbian kidnapped and raped in Richmond. It is all over the news as a hate crime, but the murder of blacks is a small matter unless it is an "important Negro" from the bourgeoisie, may Chauncey rest in peace. The murder of a black by a black is a hate crime since the victims and the murderer suffer hatred as a result of their white supremacy addiction.
--Marvin X
From: "mreynolds@bayareanewsgroup.com"To: : Re: The Phony Chauncey Bailey Project
Sir, if Paul Cobb has some notes from Chauncey to share with the Bailey Project, he knows how to reach me. He and I have had dozens of conversations since Chauncey was killed and he has had ample time to share any vital information with me or Project reporters. For you to imply we have not inquired about any relevant information, such as his notes, is lunacy.For your part in taking repeated pot-shots at the validity and veracity of the Bailey Project and its reportage, I would suggest perhaps actually speaking with Project editors or reporters before making baseless accusations in your latest missive in the Post. Your "column" would appear to be a thinly veiled tip sheet wrapped up in unfounded criticism that spills over to the on-going Middle East crisis, for which we use the wire services to cover. A debate over their slant or tone is certainly worthy of discussion, although stories I have seen quote both sides amply. Again, if you would like to contribute something to the efforts of the Bailey project or would like an actual comment from the Project, my phone number and email are listed on the cover of the Tribune's Metro section 365 days a year. Paul has my cell number.-- Martin G. ReynoldsEditor, The Oakland Tribune
The Phony Chauncey Bailey Project
As we enter the new year, the Chauncey Bailey Project continues its sham reporting of the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey. The more they uncover about the police role in his murder, the more they hide. We wonder when will they get to the root cause of his murder: not his story on the goings on at the Muslim bakery but most importantly, the black police murder and shake down squad, similar to the white police "Riders gang" who was found not guilty, if you can believe this sham justice system, sister of the sham police department and the sham white media.
We can see in its coverage of the Gaza genocide the white media is a hostage of Zionism. We see how they put the Gaza story on the back pages of their papers, e.g., San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune. Rather that inform readers about the slaughter of Palestianians in Gaza by the Zionists, the Oakland Tribune's headline was socalled new evidence on the Chanucey murder, or the police connection to the Muslim bakery. Will we ever get to the notes Chauncey left on the Oakland police department? Why hasn't the CBP revealed the notes. They need only check with Oakland Post publisher Paul Cobb. Has the CBP interviewed the eyewitness to the murder, the man Chauncey used to feed every morning on his way to work? Have they interviewed the brothers in prison who will testify about the black officers who used to shake them down for drugs and jewelry, and who planted false evidence on them? They claim the officers in charge of the crime scene are the same ones who used to shake them down. There was another former drug dealer at the crime scene who recognized the black officers who used to shake him down. Is there a conspiracy between the police and the media--is this possible?
Isn't it laughable that the Oakland Police delayed their raid on the bakery so members of the Swat team could return from a backpacking trip--in the meantime a journalist is murdered? The whole matter smells fowl. It stinks from Mayor Ron Dellums' office as well. We have previously said his call for State Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the investigators is a joke--especially when as Mayor Jerry Brown conspired to have Chauncey Bailey fired from the Oakland Tribune since he was tired of that "nigger snooping around city hall and the police department." Jerry Brown must be investigated himself for possible wrong doing as Mayor, such as the theft of the city treasury, that phony Fox theatre project and the Ice rink loan scam.
Imagine the priority of an ice rink for Oakland Negroes suffering homicide, unemployment, miseducation and disparities in health care.
Will my brother and fellow journalist Chauncey Bailey ever receive justice? It is doubtful since the case was bundled on purpose from the beginning by the investigating officers. The CBP has made some effort to uncover important facts such as the misplaced interview with the girlfriend of Bey IV (was she a police informant?) and the contradiction of the police chief regarding the delay of the raid on the bakery which was scheduled on August 1 but strangely delayed until August 3, the day after Chauncey was murdered.
--Marvin X
Marvin X is one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement and the father of Muslim American literature. His play Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam, was recently performed in New York. Visit his blog: www.marvinxwrites.com. Also visit www.nathanielturner.com and www.aalbc.com.
Subject: Re: The Phony Chauncey Bailey Project
Martin, why do I need to do your work, especially when I am not being paid? Chauncey discussed his final project, the bakery and the police killers, robbers and drug dealers, with many people in the community. They have told me this. Why has not the project written anything about the contents of his notes or investigated the points he raised? The police incompentence is not the issue, not the real issue since it did not cause his death, except for that socalled stupid delay by the chief, followed by his lies.
The truth is that Chauncey was set up by certain family members who knew when information got to other family members, there would be a violent reaction. So even Bey IV and his crew were set up then "coached" by the OPD who had issues with Chauncey because they knew he was investigating them as well.
Chauncey fell into a trap of family intrigue move complex than the greatest Shakespearean dramas, try Macbeth, King Lear or Hamlet.
The Middle East crisis, your paper and the CBP are related since they deal with Muslims, Zionism and murder. The CBP has spread hatred against Muslims with its emphasis on Muslim bakery boys who had advisors on the OPD. So far the CBP has only dealt with Muslim involvement and the OPD with respect to administrative issues. Chauncey Bailey was only one Negro killed in Oakland in 2007, how many more might have died as a result of the OPD killers? How many innocent are in jail and prison as a result of the OPD planting false evidence? In short, like Zionist propaganda that is focusing the world on the four Israelis dead while ignoring the 400 dead in Gaza, the CBP is focusing on one killing when the matter is much deeper. What if half the black homicides in Oakland turned out to be police murders? Or a tenth of them--clearly this is a greater story than the Bakery boys, even the OPD association with the boys. Will you await information from the wire services on the wider slaughter on the streets of Oakland, which is similar to Gaza since blacks are under occupation by wicked police, politicians, preachers,teachers and journalists.
And you wonder why your paper is dead or dying--it's because it is deviod of truth and guilty of bias. Look at the recent uproar over the lesbian kidnapped and raped in Richmond. It is all over the news as a hate crime, but the murder of blacks is a small matter unless it is an "important Negro" from the bourgeoisie, may Chauncey rest in peace. The murder of a black by a black is a hate crime since the victims and the murderer suffer hatred as a result of their white supremacy addiction.
--Marvin X
From: "mreynolds@bayareanewsgroup.com"
Sir, if Paul Cobb has some notes from Chauncey to share with the Bailey Project, he knows how to reach me. He and I have had dozens of conversations since Chauncey was killed and he has had ample time to share any vital information with me or Project reporters. For you to imply we have not inquired about any relevant information, such as his notes, is lunacy.For your part in taking repeated pot-shots at the validity and veracity of the Bailey Project and its reportage, I would suggest perhaps actually speaking with Project editors or reporters before making baseless accusations in your latest missive in the Post. Your "column" would appear to be a thinly veiled tip sheet wrapped up in unfounded criticism that spills over to the on-going Middle East crisis, for which we use the wire services to cover. A debate over their slant or tone is certainly worthy of discussion, although stories I have seen quote both sides amply. Again, if you would like to contribute something to the efforts of the Bailey project or would like an actual comment from the Project, my phone number and email are listed on the cover of the Tribune's Metro section 365 days a year. Paul has my cell number.-- Martin G. ReynoldsEditor, The Oakland Tribune
The Phony Chauncey Bailey Project
As we enter the new year, the Chauncey Bailey Project continues its sham reporting of the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey. The more they uncover about the police role in his murder, the more they hide. We wonder when will they get to the root cause of his murder: not his story on the goings on at the Muslim bakery but most importantly, the black police murder and shake down squad, similar to the white police "Riders gang" who was found not guilty, if you can believe this sham justice system, sister of the sham police department and the sham white media.
We can see in its coverage of the Gaza genocide the white media is a hostage of Zionism. We see how they put the Gaza story on the back pages of their papers, e.g., San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune. Rather that inform readers about the slaughter of Palestianians in Gaza by the Zionists, the Oakland Tribune's headline was socalled new evidence on the Chanucey murder, or the police connection to the Muslim bakery. Will we ever get to the notes Chauncey left on the Oakland police department? Why hasn't the CBP revealed the notes. They need only check with Oakland Post publisher Paul Cobb. Has the CBP interviewed the eyewitness to the murder, the man Chauncey used to feed every morning on his way to work? Have they interviewed the brothers in prison who will testify about the black officers who used to shake them down for drugs and jewelry, and who planted false evidence on them? They claim the officers in charge of the crime scene are the same ones who used to shake them down. There was another former drug dealer at the crime scene who recognized the black officers who used to shake him down. Is there a conspiracy between the police and the media--is this possible?
Isn't it laughable that the Oakland Police delayed their raid on the bakery so members of the Swat team could return from a backpacking trip--in the meantime a journalist is murdered? The whole matter smells fowl. It stinks from Mayor Ron Dellums' office as well. We have previously said his call for State Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the investigators is a joke--especially when as Mayor Jerry Brown conspired to have Chauncey Bailey fired from the Oakland Tribune since he was tired of that "nigger snooping around city hall and the police department." Jerry Brown must be investigated himself for possible wrong doing as Mayor, such as the theft of the city treasury, that phony Fox theatre project and the Ice rink loan scam.
Imagine the priority of an ice rink for Oakland Negroes suffering homicide, unemployment, miseducation and disparities in health care.
Will my brother and fellow journalist Chauncey Bailey ever receive justice? It is doubtful since the case was bundled on purpose from the beginning by the investigating officers. The CBP has made some effort to uncover important facts such as the misplaced interview with the girlfriend of Bey IV (was she a police informant?) and the contradiction of the police chief regarding the delay of the raid on the bakery which was scheduled on August 1 but strangely delayed until August 3, the day after Chauncey was murdered.
--Marvin X
Marvin X is one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement and the father of Muslim American literature. His play Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam, was recently performed in New York. Visit his blog: www.marvinxwrites.com. Also visit www.nathanielturner.com and www.aalbc.com.
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