Part Twelve: My Friend the Devil
Marvin X
From afar it looked like things were really jumping in Algiers, including several hijacked planes bringing Panthers to the land. We recall when a group of Panthers arrived with a million dollars but were seized by the authorities because it conflicted with their national interests which all governments secure first. In this case the government was negotiating a billion dollar natural gas contract with the US so they were not going to jeopardize the contract for Negroes with a million dollars. Of course this only added tension and stress to the relationship between the BPP and Algeria, and eventually the embassy closed and the Cleavers moved to France. After seducing the mistress of the president of France, Eldridge was given refugee status after she intervened with her man, the Prez. And then things began to unravel in the Soul on Ice. According to his testimony when he converted to Christianity, Cleaver had been slowing evolving from atheistic Communism. He saw the work of God in his children, how they were a combination of Kathleen and himself. And in France he saw the emptiness in their lives, the daily ritual of eating, sleeping and politics began to lose meaning. He saw darkness in his life, especially one night while eating dinner by candlelight. He had also been to all the Communist and Socialist countries and saw the lack of democratic ideals, where little or no opposition was allowed, only presidents for life. He knew of the torture chambers in many African nations, never forgetting his eighteen years in USA dungeons. But he began to grow disillusioned with left wing politics, in short, he was homesick and broke. In Algeria he was informed that his former lawyer/lover Beverly Axelrod had won by default his royalties from Soul on Ice. He had agreed to share his royalties with her as the price of her helping him get out of Soledad prison. And of course he had promised to marry her but instead fell in love with Kathleen. After winning her suit by default since he could not appear in court in the US, Axelrod gained
rights to the best seller's profits, depriving the Cleavers of much needed finance. Strangely, the day before his memorial service that I officiated in Oakland, a mudslide toppled Axelrod's home in Pacifica. I did not know she was in the audience until I looked at footage of the video from the memorial.
Cleaver began his attempt to return home. He contacted his old friends on the left, but he had caused such devastation in the radical community, especially by terrorizing certain black politicians and the warfare between Huey and himself that left much bloodshed on the streets of America, coast to coast. Eventually the Left sent Ron Dellums, Congressman and now mayor of Oakland to Paris with the message he was not welcome back in America, that he should forget about returning and enjoy his life in France, become a Frenchman. This message sent him into depression. After the Dellums visit, he felt hopeless and useless and wanted to take his life. And then one night in Southern France, he was sitting on the balcony watching the moon. Suddenly he saw the faces of various revolutionaries, Marx, Lenin, Mao, Castro and then Jesus. He broke down, wailing on the thrashing floor. He knew Kathleen had brought along the family Bible, before which he had no need, but he said he searched for the Bible and held it in his hands for dear life. And then he saw the light, something told him he was going home, no matter what the Left said, no matter what anyone said. He knew then Jesus was his Savior and Lord. No more Communism, no more revolution. The storm was over now. He had his attorney begin negotiations on his surrender to the US authorities.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Part Eleven: My Friend the Devil
Marvin X
Of course it wasn't uniforms that made the Panthers shake up the world, but the presence of armed black men and women on the streets of America, which took armed struggle in black liberation to another level, although there was resistance to slavery every day of the centuries we were kidnapped and terrorized on American soil (see the History Channel's documentary Slave Catchers and Resisters). There had been black men and women who took up arms against racism and white supremacy in the South, e.g., Deacons for Defense in Louisiana and of course Robert Williams in North Carolina. While in Houston, we visited the Museum of the Buffalo Soldiers and were especially moved by the 1916 revolt of black soldiers, most of whom were hanged after they avenged the murder of a soldier by racist police in Houston. We wonder why resistance history is not the primary lesson in Black Studies. But the BPP's "street theatre" told the world black men and women had had enough and would fight to the death to defend themselves. This is the significance of the Panthers, that they were willing to defend community at the pain of death, or as we used to say, "No slave should die a natural death."
And of course the cultural revolution backed resistance. Ben Caldwell's play The Job is about a Negro who came to the employment office to say he didn't come looking for a job but came to do a job. He proceded to beat the white employment couselor to death with a baseball bat. Maybe we can understand Mixon of Oakland in this light: all he wanted was a job, yet he obviously came to do a job--we don't know his ideology but we know he was clearly in Al Ansar territory, a Muslim cult founded by a former criminal renamed Master J, who taught his followers from Supreme Wisdom. Nation of Islam Muslims, Five Percenters, Al Ansar and other off shoots of NOI teachings know it is basic teachings to kill four devils, earning one a free trip to Mecca or instant Paradise. Here in the Bay we had the Zebra killings who executed this lesson from Supreme Wisdom. In the early days of the NOI in Detroit, a brother came to the Mosque with a paper bag, telling the minister, "I got me one." He had a white devil's head inside the bag. And in the Bay Area there a innumerable young brothers like Mixon who are steeped in the Al Ansar teachings. As they say here in Houston, "You better ax somebody!"
What I must say about Eldridge, Huey and so many other Panthers who were from the grass roots, and we can say this about the founding members of the Nation of Islam, including and especially Malcolm X (may Allah forever be pleased with him) that Allah went to the lowest of the low to get the people needed to rock the Good Ship Jesus America. The edumaked Negroes wanted to do everything except confront the American beast toe to toe, gun to gun. When Huey Newton confronted that pig shotgun to shotgun, there was a paradigm shift in the history of African liberation, especially after the demise of MLK,Jr and the Civil "Rites" movement. And with respect to Muslims in the Nation of Islam, officials said to me, "We might not carry weapons but we bury weapons." Of course there were instances when Muslims engaged in "armed struggle" as well. When I asked Huey Newton about his connection to the Nation of Islam, he said, "A Party can be part of a Nation." And of course the BPP was not lost on the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He considered the BPP his children, after all they copied his program almost word for word. Compare What the Muslims Want and the Panther Ten Point Program. When I jammed Bobby Seale about this, he went into denial that the Muslims had any influence on the BPP. But when I asked what about the influence of Malcolm X, he was silent and submitted that certainly the NOI influenced the BPP.
But let us get back to Algeria and Papa Rage. We were told on a trip to cohabitate with European women, Cleaver was somehow informed Kathleen had a boyfriend named Rahim. When Papa Rage found out about this, Mr. Rahim went missing in the Algerian desert. The Panther newspaper back in the USA showed photos of Kathleen with black eyes from Papa Rage. Chris Brown and Rihanna are not the first high profile couples who engaged in domestic violence. One of the contradictions of the black liberation movement was our internal violence, especially domestic violence. We talked black power but often went home to beat our women's asses, and this was not lost on the children, many of whom were traumatized as a result and went on to practice this savage art, including members of the hip hop generation. Sonia Sanchez likes to say the hip hop generation is merely putting on stage what we did in private. If you want a literary version of domestic or partner violence see Sonia's great book Wounded in the House of A Friend or my play In the Name of Love, especially the poem Confession of an Ex-Wife Beater.
Now we must bring in Cointelpro at this time because J. Edgar Hoover is clearly in this picture. He had FBI agents writing letters to Kathleen in the persona of a "black sister" informing her of the infidelities of Eldridge, just as the FBI sent tapes of hotel conversations between our beloved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in hotels with women to his wife.
This was done to purposely destroy the family life of black revolutionaries, whether Civil "Rites" leaders as King or revolutionaries like Eldridge. The FBI wrote letters in Black English to create division in the ranks of black revolutinaries. And we reacted according to script. Huey and Eldridge had been driven by FBI division or "dirty tricks" into a war against each other, ultimately creating two armies of black men and women who fought each other coast to coast, with Eldridge's army on the east coast and Huey's on the west. As I've said before, I knew brothers and sisters on both sides of this conflict and it hurt me because so many friends went down in the internecine violence, Samuel Napier being the worst example, since I remember the day he came into Black House as a worker looking for something to do, or in the words of James Brown, to "Get Involved." Samuel was murdered in New York then set afire. Lord have Mercy!
Marvin X
Of course it wasn't uniforms that made the Panthers shake up the world, but the presence of armed black men and women on the streets of America, which took armed struggle in black liberation to another level, although there was resistance to slavery every day of the centuries we were kidnapped and terrorized on American soil (see the History Channel's documentary Slave Catchers and Resisters). There had been black men and women who took up arms against racism and white supremacy in the South, e.g., Deacons for Defense in Louisiana and of course Robert Williams in North Carolina. While in Houston, we visited the Museum of the Buffalo Soldiers and were especially moved by the 1916 revolt of black soldiers, most of whom were hanged after they avenged the murder of a soldier by racist police in Houston. We wonder why resistance history is not the primary lesson in Black Studies. But the BPP's "street theatre" told the world black men and women had had enough and would fight to the death to defend themselves. This is the significance of the Panthers, that they were willing to defend community at the pain of death, or as we used to say, "No slave should die a natural death."
And of course the cultural revolution backed resistance. Ben Caldwell's play The Job is about a Negro who came to the employment office to say he didn't come looking for a job but came to do a job. He proceded to beat the white employment couselor to death with a baseball bat. Maybe we can understand Mixon of Oakland in this light: all he wanted was a job, yet he obviously came to do a job--we don't know his ideology but we know he was clearly in Al Ansar territory, a Muslim cult founded by a former criminal renamed Master J, who taught his followers from Supreme Wisdom. Nation of Islam Muslims, Five Percenters, Al Ansar and other off shoots of NOI teachings know it is basic teachings to kill four devils, earning one a free trip to Mecca or instant Paradise. Here in the Bay we had the Zebra killings who executed this lesson from Supreme Wisdom. In the early days of the NOI in Detroit, a brother came to the Mosque with a paper bag, telling the minister, "I got me one." He had a white devil's head inside the bag. And in the Bay Area there a innumerable young brothers like Mixon who are steeped in the Al Ansar teachings. As they say here in Houston, "You better ax somebody!"
What I must say about Eldridge, Huey and so many other Panthers who were from the grass roots, and we can say this about the founding members of the Nation of Islam, including and especially Malcolm X (may Allah forever be pleased with him) that Allah went to the lowest of the low to get the people needed to rock the Good Ship Jesus America. The edumaked Negroes wanted to do everything except confront the American beast toe to toe, gun to gun. When Huey Newton confronted that pig shotgun to shotgun, there was a paradigm shift in the history of African liberation, especially after the demise of MLK,Jr and the Civil "Rites" movement. And with respect to Muslims in the Nation of Islam, officials said to me, "We might not carry weapons but we bury weapons." Of course there were instances when Muslims engaged in "armed struggle" as well. When I asked Huey Newton about his connection to the Nation of Islam, he said, "A Party can be part of a Nation." And of course the BPP was not lost on the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He considered the BPP his children, after all they copied his program almost word for word. Compare What the Muslims Want and the Panther Ten Point Program. When I jammed Bobby Seale about this, he went into denial that the Muslims had any influence on the BPP. But when I asked what about the influence of Malcolm X, he was silent and submitted that certainly the NOI influenced the BPP.
But let us get back to Algeria and Papa Rage. We were told on a trip to cohabitate with European women, Cleaver was somehow informed Kathleen had a boyfriend named Rahim. When Papa Rage found out about this, Mr. Rahim went missing in the Algerian desert. The Panther newspaper back in the USA showed photos of Kathleen with black eyes from Papa Rage. Chris Brown and Rihanna are not the first high profile couples who engaged in domestic violence. One of the contradictions of the black liberation movement was our internal violence, especially domestic violence. We talked black power but often went home to beat our women's asses, and this was not lost on the children, many of whom were traumatized as a result and went on to practice this savage art, including members of the hip hop generation. Sonia Sanchez likes to say the hip hop generation is merely putting on stage what we did in private. If you want a literary version of domestic or partner violence see Sonia's great book Wounded in the House of A Friend or my play In the Name of Love, especially the poem Confession of an Ex-Wife Beater.
Now we must bring in Cointelpro at this time because J. Edgar Hoover is clearly in this picture. He had FBI agents writing letters to Kathleen in the persona of a "black sister" informing her of the infidelities of Eldridge, just as the FBI sent tapes of hotel conversations between our beloved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in hotels with women to his wife.
This was done to purposely destroy the family life of black revolutionaries, whether Civil "Rites" leaders as King or revolutionaries like Eldridge. The FBI wrote letters in Black English to create division in the ranks of black revolutinaries. And we reacted according to script. Huey and Eldridge had been driven by FBI division or "dirty tricks" into a war against each other, ultimately creating two armies of black men and women who fought each other coast to coast, with Eldridge's army on the east coast and Huey's on the west. As I've said before, I knew brothers and sisters on both sides of this conflict and it hurt me because so many friends went down in the internecine violence, Samuel Napier being the worst example, since I remember the day he came into Black House as a worker looking for something to do, or in the words of James Brown, to "Get Involved." Samuel was murdered in New York then set afire. Lord have Mercy!
Part Ten: My Friend the Devil
Marvin X
Marcus Garvey Park would be the last time I'd see Cleaver for several years. Even though I'd found his speech about Fannie Lou Hamer disgusting then because of my Islamic Puritanism at the time, today I would agree with Cleaver in bowing down at the altar of Fannie Lou, that great revolutionary woman from the Southern liberation movement who challenged the Democratic party for its unabashed racism at the time. Yes, Cleaver, I would kiss her pussy too! In his utter madness but searing insight, Eldridge said, "Nine out of ten women are an insult to a dick." So Fannie Lou Hamer was that one out of ten women who deserved praise and honor for valor and steadfastness in the face of brutal white racist savages in the South.
It must have been not long after his New York speech that Cleaver returned to California to face charges for the shootout with the OPD, or maybe he was supposed to turn himself in as a parole violator but instead he donned the persona of a woman and slipped out of his house in San Francisco to reappear in Castro's Cuba. In Cuba he soon discovered the role of Afro-Cubans in the history of revolutionary struggle in their land. Brother Carlos Moore had written about the African role in the Cuban liberation struggle. And it was in the eastern or African province of Cuba that the revolution began. Cleaver learned the white Cubans took over the leadership from the Afro-Cubans. He would name his son after the great Afro-Cuban revolutionary leader, Antonio Maceo. Of course Robert F. Williams (Negro's With Guns and leader of the Revolutionary Action Movement or RAM) had preceded Cleaver in exile on the island. Williams had grown somewhat disillusioned with the Cuban revolution and slipped away to China. Cleaver said after associating with the Afro-Cubans and telling them about Black Power, the Cuban government grew suspicious of the Panthers and basically wanted them to stop spreading the ideology of Black Power. Eldridge said they had to arm themselves with AK47s against the Cuban government when they attempted to put the Panthers in check. At the time Castro was pushing the line that all Cubans were one, negating any special emphasis of Africa or Afro-Cubanism. This attitude changed when Cuba decided to help Angola by sending troops to fight the colonialists. Suddenly, Cuba fully recognized her Africanity and solidarity with the African revolution. Many Cuban troops died fighting in Angola and confronting the apartheid regime in South Africa which supported the reactionary forces in Namibia.
Eldridge slipped out of Cuba after blasting Castro's Latin racism, but this was Cleaver's MO: to submerge himself into a phenomenon, study it then expose its contradictions. We will see this pattern as my narrative continues. He will go from being a Muslim in prison to Communist to Panther to Christian to Moonie to Mormon to Republican to Science of Mind to Crack Head. His life ended before he was able to deconstruct Crack.
He arrived in Algeria and the Panthers were soon given diplomatic status as the representative of the North American African peoples. Eventually the Panthers were given a building that had previously housed the North Vietnam or Viet Cong embassy--if I'm correct. Thus the BPP was now international and recognized around the world as a national liberation movement. With diplomatic status, the International Section of the BPP was able to meet and greet diplomats from other national liberation movements around the world, including the PLO, the Chinese, North Koreans and liberation movements throughout Africa. Cleaver traveled throughout the world as a diplomat of the North American African nation. Kathleen had arrived in Algeria just in time to give birth to their son, Antonio Maceo Eldrdige Cleaver. Their daughter, Joju would be born while on a visit to North Korea.
It was in Algeria that the BPP had to be taught the role of culture in revolution. After the Algerian International Cultural Festival, the BPP stopped slamming the cultural revolution in America because along with armed struggle there must be a cultural revolution. And as I have written, the BPP had evolved from the Black Arts Movement. Panther leadership had received consciousness in BAM, including Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Emory, Sam Napier, George Murray, et al. They had come through Black House, BAW and the BSU's Communication Project, directed by Amiri Baraka when he was at San Francisco State College/University.
Huey Newton had often said I taught him things, but the only thing I may have taught Huey was street theatre which Black Arts West and Baraka's Black Arts Repertory School in Harlem demonstrated. The BPP took street theatre to its highest level when the Panthers donned their uniform of black berets, black leather jackets and blue shirts.
Marvin X
Marcus Garvey Park would be the last time I'd see Cleaver for several years. Even though I'd found his speech about Fannie Lou Hamer disgusting then because of my Islamic Puritanism at the time, today I would agree with Cleaver in bowing down at the altar of Fannie Lou, that great revolutionary woman from the Southern liberation movement who challenged the Democratic party for its unabashed racism at the time. Yes, Cleaver, I would kiss her pussy too! In his utter madness but searing insight, Eldridge said, "Nine out of ten women are an insult to a dick." So Fannie Lou Hamer was that one out of ten women who deserved praise and honor for valor and steadfastness in the face of brutal white racist savages in the South.
It must have been not long after his New York speech that Cleaver returned to California to face charges for the shootout with the OPD, or maybe he was supposed to turn himself in as a parole violator but instead he donned the persona of a woman and slipped out of his house in San Francisco to reappear in Castro's Cuba. In Cuba he soon discovered the role of Afro-Cubans in the history of revolutionary struggle in their land. Brother Carlos Moore had written about the African role in the Cuban liberation struggle. And it was in the eastern or African province of Cuba that the revolution began. Cleaver learned the white Cubans took over the leadership from the Afro-Cubans. He would name his son after the great Afro-Cuban revolutionary leader, Antonio Maceo. Of course Robert F. Williams (Negro's With Guns and leader of the Revolutionary Action Movement or RAM) had preceded Cleaver in exile on the island. Williams had grown somewhat disillusioned with the Cuban revolution and slipped away to China. Cleaver said after associating with the Afro-Cubans and telling them about Black Power, the Cuban government grew suspicious of the Panthers and basically wanted them to stop spreading the ideology of Black Power. Eldridge said they had to arm themselves with AK47s against the Cuban government when they attempted to put the Panthers in check. At the time Castro was pushing the line that all Cubans were one, negating any special emphasis of Africa or Afro-Cubanism. This attitude changed when Cuba decided to help Angola by sending troops to fight the colonialists. Suddenly, Cuba fully recognized her Africanity and solidarity with the African revolution. Many Cuban troops died fighting in Angola and confronting the apartheid regime in South Africa which supported the reactionary forces in Namibia.
Eldridge slipped out of Cuba after blasting Castro's Latin racism, but this was Cleaver's MO: to submerge himself into a phenomenon, study it then expose its contradictions. We will see this pattern as my narrative continues. He will go from being a Muslim in prison to Communist to Panther to Christian to Moonie to Mormon to Republican to Science of Mind to Crack Head. His life ended before he was able to deconstruct Crack.
He arrived in Algeria and the Panthers were soon given diplomatic status as the representative of the North American African peoples. Eventually the Panthers were given a building that had previously housed the North Vietnam or Viet Cong embassy--if I'm correct. Thus the BPP was now international and recognized around the world as a national liberation movement. With diplomatic status, the International Section of the BPP was able to meet and greet diplomats from other national liberation movements around the world, including the PLO, the Chinese, North Koreans and liberation movements throughout Africa. Cleaver traveled throughout the world as a diplomat of the North American African nation. Kathleen had arrived in Algeria just in time to give birth to their son, Antonio Maceo Eldrdige Cleaver. Their daughter, Joju would be born while on a visit to North Korea.
It was in Algeria that the BPP had to be taught the role of culture in revolution. After the Algerian International Cultural Festival, the BPP stopped slamming the cultural revolution in America because along with armed struggle there must be a cultural revolution. And as I have written, the BPP had evolved from the Black Arts Movement. Panther leadership had received consciousness in BAM, including Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Emory, Sam Napier, George Murray, et al. They had come through Black House, BAW and the BSU's Communication Project, directed by Amiri Baraka when he was at San Francisco State College/University.
Huey Newton had often said I taught him things, but the only thing I may have taught Huey was street theatre which Black Arts West and Baraka's Black Arts Repertory School in Harlem demonstrated. The BPP took street theatre to its highest level when the Panthers donned their uniform of black berets, black leather jackets and blue shirts.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Part Nine: My Friend the Devil
Marvin X
The next time I see Cleaver is in Mount Morris Park, renamed Marcus Garvey Park, in Harlem. I was now a resident of Harlem, or at least a worker in Harlem, while living in the Bronx with playwright Ed Bullins, after slipping into Harlem from Chicago after the assassination of MLK, Jr. Yes, I came up out of the subway at eight avenue, that subway made so famous by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn in their tune Take The A Train. I came up into a sweltering Harlem summer of heat, sweat and funk, a love funk so beautiful that I never imagined such a happening after seeing so many beautiful black people--Chicago was great and there is nothing like Chicago, especially the South side, but Harlem, the capital of Black America, the ground that Malcolm X walked upon, and Duke, Billie, Bassie, Parker, Apollo Theatre, awesome power of my people, the East coast version of what I'd experienced in Oakland on Seventh Street, Harlem of the West. Seventh Street was a small version of what was before my eyes, a sea, a wonderland of Black people from over the world, Africa. Nigeria, Lagos,Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, all there swimming in blackness. And I among them now, a negro from Cali swimming in the sea of my people, loving every moment, under the guidance of Askia Toure, my elder and teacher, telling me about the Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, telling me more about the Sufi teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Rumi, Ghazali and others, about the MuKhadimah of Ibn Khaldun and other Sufi and Islamic masters. And then there was Sun Ra, the master of all masters, my teacher, mentor, friend and guide, who taught me all that one ever needed to know about theatre, the master teacher of BAM, who told us about traveling the space ways, and Milford Graves, master drummer who was so powerful he was banned from downtown, too aggressive, too arrogant, too too too, Milford, my main man, and the Last Poets coming together to take us to the next level into Rap, Abiodun, Ben Hasan, Geylen Kayne, David and Filipe, Barbara Ann Teer and the New Lafayette Theatre, Ed Bullins and Robert Macbeth and crew,the Yoruba king, Baba Serjiman, who moved to Sheldon, South Carolina, Olatunji, master drummer of Nigeria, all there in the Harlem madness and joy, Amiri Baraka, gone home to Newark but slipping back into Harlem to continue his light with Larry Neal, Askia and crew, sane and insane, enjoying the madness of Harlem summer 68, Nikki, Sonia, Haki, June Jordan, Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp and the Ayler brothers, and more, more, Farrakhan at Mosque #7, Akbar Muhammad and Donald Cunningham at the book store, the book store of the world at 125th and 7th Aveneue, Mr. what was his name, the master book seller? Harlem, 1969, a dream come true for a Cali Negro, swimming in the sea of his people. Fuck Vietnam and Fuck America. And there was Cleaver in Mount Morris Park saying he would kiss the pussy of Fannie Lou Hamer as I stood and watched. And Bobby Seale was at 125th and 7th Avenue, reciting my poem Burn, Baby, Burn, and James Foreman trying to lecture to the people on Franz Fanon, and on and on and on. And Dr. Ben and John Henry Clarke rapping on history and consciousness and beyond, etc.,etc.,etc.
Marvin X
The next time I see Cleaver is in Mount Morris Park, renamed Marcus Garvey Park, in Harlem. I was now a resident of Harlem, or at least a worker in Harlem, while living in the Bronx with playwright Ed Bullins, after slipping into Harlem from Chicago after the assassination of MLK, Jr. Yes, I came up out of the subway at eight avenue, that subway made so famous by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn in their tune Take The A Train. I came up into a sweltering Harlem summer of heat, sweat and funk, a love funk so beautiful that I never imagined such a happening after seeing so many beautiful black people--Chicago was great and there is nothing like Chicago, especially the South side, but Harlem, the capital of Black America, the ground that Malcolm X walked upon, and Duke, Billie, Bassie, Parker, Apollo Theatre, awesome power of my people, the East coast version of what I'd experienced in Oakland on Seventh Street, Harlem of the West. Seventh Street was a small version of what was before my eyes, a sea, a wonderland of Black people from over the world, Africa. Nigeria, Lagos,Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, the Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, all there swimming in blackness. And I among them now, a negro from Cali swimming in the sea of my people, loving every moment, under the guidance of Askia Toure, my elder and teacher, telling me about the Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, telling me more about the Sufi teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Rumi, Ghazali and others, about the MuKhadimah of Ibn Khaldun and other Sufi and Islamic masters. And then there was Sun Ra, the master of all masters, my teacher, mentor, friend and guide, who taught me all that one ever needed to know about theatre, the master teacher of BAM, who told us about traveling the space ways, and Milford Graves, master drummer who was so powerful he was banned from downtown, too aggressive, too arrogant, too too too, Milford, my main man, and the Last Poets coming together to take us to the next level into Rap, Abiodun, Ben Hasan, Geylen Kayne, David and Filipe, Barbara Ann Teer and the New Lafayette Theatre, Ed Bullins and Robert Macbeth and crew,the Yoruba king, Baba Serjiman, who moved to Sheldon, South Carolina, Olatunji, master drummer of Nigeria, all there in the Harlem madness and joy, Amiri Baraka, gone home to Newark but slipping back into Harlem to continue his light with Larry Neal, Askia and crew, sane and insane, enjoying the madness of Harlem summer 68, Nikki, Sonia, Haki, June Jordan, Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp and the Ayler brothers, and more, more, Farrakhan at Mosque #7, Akbar Muhammad and Donald Cunningham at the book store, the book store of the world at 125th and 7th Aveneue, Mr. what was his name, the master book seller? Harlem, 1969, a dream come true for a Cali Negro, swimming in the sea of his people. Fuck Vietnam and Fuck America. And there was Cleaver in Mount Morris Park saying he would kiss the pussy of Fannie Lou Hamer as I stood and watched. And Bobby Seale was at 125th and 7th Avenue, reciting my poem Burn, Baby, Burn, and James Foreman trying to lecture to the people on Franz Fanon, and on and on and on. And Dr. Ben and John Henry Clarke rapping on history and consciousness and beyond, etc.,etc.,etc.
Part Eight: My Friend the Devil
Marvin X
We discovered racism was as Canadian as hockey—and they play a lot of hockey in Canada, you can see children on the street playing hockey barefoot in the snow. As Austin Clarke explained in an interview, Canada may not have been involved in the slave trade and she might not have had colonies, but West Indian women workers described the journey from the Caribbean islands to Canada as the Middle Passage. And upon arrival they immediately became indentured servants with few rights of protest to harsh working conditions. One need only read the novels and short stories of Austin Clarke and others to get a taste of racial conditions in Canada. We made the mistake of not understanding racial dynamics when he held a rally at a West Indian night club and referred to the white women as snakes. Little did we know how many biracial children were in the audience, and they reacted to our racial insensitivity. After six months, I had enough of Canada, in fact I had renounced my US citizenship before the American consulate, having had enough of America as well. A fat man gave me a ride to Ottawa to tried to go to a Third World or Communist country. This same fat white man claimed he had helped Robert F. Williams escape to Cuba when he fled North Carolina ahead of lynch mobs because he advocated Negroes With Guns. A fat white man was also supposed to have helped James Earl Ray escape from Canada to England after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Well, we know there are some people who work both sides of the fence, from the right to the left.
After six months I made plans to return underground to the United States. I was homesick especially after receiving a letter from Ethna telling me about the Black Arts scene in Chicago, even sending me a book signed by a poet named Don L. Lee (Haki Madhubuti).
His book inspired me to pack up and make my way across the border to Detroit, where I was greeted by historian Harold G. Lawrence and Ahmed Alhamisi, editors of an anthology on BAM. From Detroit I slipped into Chicago where I worked under an assumed name in the Loop, eventually moving from the North side with Ethna’s sister to a room on the South side, 57th and Kimbark, Blackstone Ranger gang territory, walking home nightly knowing my life was in danger but having no fear, and there was never any incident between myself and the gang bangers. But one day there was a note on my door from Ethna’s sister saying the FBI had been to her house looking for me. I knew it was time to raise up from Chicago, but I didn’t get out of there fast enough. August 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and America became a house on fire when North American Africans reacted nationwide with righteous indignation at the demise of King and his forever-gone era of non-violence. Cities burned coast to coast and Chicago was no exception: the West side went up in flames. When I got up early the next morning to go to work in the Loop, the South side was under National Guard occupation, with soldiers in jeeps, tanks, and military trucks manning intersections, especially along Cottage Grove, a main drive.
Four days later, we heard the news from California that the Panthers had a shootout with Oakland police in which Lil Bobby Hutton was murdered in cold blood and Eldridge Cleaver wounded. From his long experience in the California prison system, Cleaver knew when in confrontation with authorities you come out butt naked. The young hero of revolution, Lil Bobby probably had too much pride to come out naked and when he appeared from the house on 28th and Magnolia, the OPD murdered him in cold blood after he surrendered. The people released a cry of horror at what they witnessed. During the shootout other Panthers had threw down their guns and ran. One Panther leader was found by police hiding under a bed in a woman’s house. This cowardice is not unknown in revolutionary history. There were soldiers who turned heels and ran while fighting battles with Prophet Muhammad of Arabia 1400 years ago. As I wrote in a song, “Revolution is not a pretty thing..” What is worth nothing is that Eldridge told me after the assassination of MLK,Jr., suddenly black men appeared at the Panther office crying for guns to avenge the death of King. He described them as too clean for brothers in the hood. He said they had the look of military men disguised as common brothers from the community. We know Cointelpro or the FBI’s counter intelligence program was in full swing during this time. Furthermore, if anyone had anything to do with the assassination of Dr. King it was the FBI—see BET’s documentary of J. Edgar Hoover in the American Gangster series.
Marvin X
We discovered racism was as Canadian as hockey—and they play a lot of hockey in Canada, you can see children on the street playing hockey barefoot in the snow. As Austin Clarke explained in an interview, Canada may not have been involved in the slave trade and she might not have had colonies, but West Indian women workers described the journey from the Caribbean islands to Canada as the Middle Passage. And upon arrival they immediately became indentured servants with few rights of protest to harsh working conditions. One need only read the novels and short stories of Austin Clarke and others to get a taste of racial conditions in Canada. We made the mistake of not understanding racial dynamics when he held a rally at a West Indian night club and referred to the white women as snakes. Little did we know how many biracial children were in the audience, and they reacted to our racial insensitivity. After six months, I had enough of Canada, in fact I had renounced my US citizenship before the American consulate, having had enough of America as well. A fat man gave me a ride to Ottawa to tried to go to a Third World or Communist country. This same fat white man claimed he had helped Robert F. Williams escape to Cuba when he fled North Carolina ahead of lynch mobs because he advocated Negroes With Guns. A fat white man was also supposed to have helped James Earl Ray escape from Canada to England after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Well, we know there are some people who work both sides of the fence, from the right to the left.
After six months I made plans to return underground to the United States. I was homesick especially after receiving a letter from Ethna telling me about the Black Arts scene in Chicago, even sending me a book signed by a poet named Don L. Lee (Haki Madhubuti).
His book inspired me to pack up and make my way across the border to Detroit, where I was greeted by historian Harold G. Lawrence and Ahmed Alhamisi, editors of an anthology on BAM. From Detroit I slipped into Chicago where I worked under an assumed name in the Loop, eventually moving from the North side with Ethna’s sister to a room on the South side, 57th and Kimbark, Blackstone Ranger gang territory, walking home nightly knowing my life was in danger but having no fear, and there was never any incident between myself and the gang bangers. But one day there was a note on my door from Ethna’s sister saying the FBI had been to her house looking for me. I knew it was time to raise up from Chicago, but I didn’t get out of there fast enough. August 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and America became a house on fire when North American Africans reacted nationwide with righteous indignation at the demise of King and his forever-gone era of non-violence. Cities burned coast to coast and Chicago was no exception: the West side went up in flames. When I got up early the next morning to go to work in the Loop, the South side was under National Guard occupation, with soldiers in jeeps, tanks, and military trucks manning intersections, especially along Cottage Grove, a main drive.
Four days later, we heard the news from California that the Panthers had a shootout with Oakland police in which Lil Bobby Hutton was murdered in cold blood and Eldridge Cleaver wounded. From his long experience in the California prison system, Cleaver knew when in confrontation with authorities you come out butt naked. The young hero of revolution, Lil Bobby probably had too much pride to come out naked and when he appeared from the house on 28th and Magnolia, the OPD murdered him in cold blood after he surrendered. The people released a cry of horror at what they witnessed. During the shootout other Panthers had threw down their guns and ran. One Panther leader was found by police hiding under a bed in a woman’s house. This cowardice is not unknown in revolutionary history. There were soldiers who turned heels and ran while fighting battles with Prophet Muhammad of Arabia 1400 years ago. As I wrote in a song, “Revolution is not a pretty thing..” What is worth nothing is that Eldridge told me after the assassination of MLK,Jr., suddenly black men appeared at the Panther office crying for guns to avenge the death of King. He described them as too clean for brothers in the hood. He said they had the look of military men disguised as common brothers from the community. We know Cointelpro or the FBI’s counter intelligence program was in full swing during this time. Furthermore, if anyone had anything to do with the assassination of Dr. King it was the FBI—see BET’s documentary of J. Edgar Hoover in the American Gangster series.
Rudy Lewis on My Friend the Devil, Part Eight
Marvin,
1967-1968 was a defining period for me as well. I was a student at Morgan State College in Baltimore . I had finished ROTC, which was mandatory at all public Negro colleges for freshmen and sophomore males, with plans of going into the junior program and onto becoming a second lieutenant. The Vietnam war was heating up.
The summer of 1967 changed all that. I was schooled by a Baltimore public librarian who had graduated from Hampton . She put me on a program of readings. That fall Stokely came to Morgan. Up from the country of Southside Virginia , I had never heard a black man speak like that in public, about white people. Other SNCC representatives came to campus. There was an active anti-war group on campus DISSENT. Students were burning their draft cards. I joined Baltimore SNCC, which was then headed by Bob Moore who had come up from Atlanta . But he was a native of Baltimore .
Spring semester came and I dropped out Morgan to join the Revolution. LeRoi Jones came to town invited by the Soul School . Maybe he had become Amiri Baraka by then, I can't remember. I can't recall whether it was before the assassination or after. But I rode with the little general across town to a party on the East side sponsored by VISTA workers after he and his troupe had put a play on at a local church. Stokely was there, as well as other noted persons in the movement.
My student deferment was soon moved up to 1 A, from 2 A. I carried on a protracted struggle with the draft board, first declaring myself a conscientious objector. After appeal I was finally required to report to Fort Hollabird , the local draft induction center. I passed leaflets out on the base. No one attempted to stop me. I was non cooperative with the paper work and the medical exams. After three days, they finally declared me unfit and was handed a 1 Y, unfit physically and mentally for military service. I was committed to not going into the service and would have done whatever was necessary. That was a 180 degree swing from May 1967.
After the death of King we were committed to closing down stores to honor King's death. This campaign inadvertently led to rioting in a black shopping district on gay Street in East Baltimore . That rioting spread like wildfire from one black shopping center to the next. Eventually the National Guard was brought into Baltimore and curfews were announced. The jails became so full that the Civic Center at Baltimore and Howard streets was used to detain young angry blacks.
The Baltimore Rebellion radicalized the entire city. Every Negro became black instantly. That argument was brought to an end. Every bougie Negro became a militant. This was when Spiro Agnew was governor of Maryland . His so called handling of Negro leadership led him to become vice president to Richard Nixon, and later to disgrace.
This radicalization of the city was ripe for 1199, a New York based health care workers union. In less than a year we organized a 5,000-member trade union, mostly women. Black candidates for office grew by leaps and bounds. Through the 70s Black Baltimore never looked back. Then came the 80s and retrenchment. The Uncle Toms wheeler-dealers were resurrected and betrayal of the masses was the watchword of the day.—Rudy
Marvin,
1967-1968 was a defining period for me as well. I was a student at Morgan State College in Baltimore . I had finished ROTC, which was mandatory at all public Negro colleges for freshmen and sophomore males, with plans of going into the junior program and onto becoming a second lieutenant. The Vietnam war was heating up.
The summer of 1967 changed all that. I was schooled by a Baltimore public librarian who had graduated from Hampton . She put me on a program of readings. That fall Stokely came to Morgan. Up from the country of Southside Virginia , I had never heard a black man speak like that in public, about white people. Other SNCC representatives came to campus. There was an active anti-war group on campus DISSENT. Students were burning their draft cards. I joined Baltimore SNCC, which was then headed by Bob Moore who had come up from Atlanta . But he was a native of Baltimore .
Spring semester came and I dropped out Morgan to join the Revolution. LeRoi Jones came to town invited by the Soul School . Maybe he had become Amiri Baraka by then, I can't remember. I can't recall whether it was before the assassination or after. But I rode with the little general across town to a party on the East side sponsored by VISTA workers after he and his troupe had put a play on at a local church. Stokely was there, as well as other noted persons in the movement.
My student deferment was soon moved up to 1 A, from 2 A. I carried on a protracted struggle with the draft board, first declaring myself a conscientious objector. After appeal I was finally required to report to Fort Hollabird , the local draft induction center. I passed leaflets out on the base. No one attempted to stop me. I was non cooperative with the paper work and the medical exams. After three days, they finally declared me unfit and was handed a 1 Y, unfit physically and mentally for military service. I was committed to not going into the service and would have done whatever was necessary. That was a 180 degree swing from May 1967.
After the death of King we were committed to closing down stores to honor King's death. This campaign inadvertently led to rioting in a black shopping district on gay Street in East Baltimore . That rioting spread like wildfire from one black shopping center to the next. Eventually the National Guard was brought into Baltimore and curfews were announced. The jails became so full that the Civic Center at Baltimore and Howard streets was used to detain young angry blacks.
The Baltimore Rebellion radicalized the entire city. Every Negro became black instantly. That argument was brought to an end. Every bougie Negro became a militant. This was when Spiro Agnew was governor of Maryland . His so called handling of Negro leadership led him to become vice president to Richard Nixon, and later to disgrace.
This radicalization of the city was ripe for 1199, a New York based health care workers union. In less than a year we organized a 5,000-member trade union, mostly women. Black candidates for office grew by leaps and bounds. Through the 70s Black Baltimore never looked back. Then came the 80s and retrenchment. The Uncle Toms wheeler-dealers were resurrected and betrayal of the masses was the watchword of the day.—Rudy
Part Seven: My Friend the Devil
Marvin X
And so in 1967 I found myself exiled in Toronto, Canada, actually I was in Hamilton, a suburb. I was given refuge by Ted Watkins, a pro-football player in the Canadian league. Ted was my cousin by marriage, actually his wife Natalie was related to me through my uncle Adam who lived in Modesto. There was a time in the recent history of Modesto when most of the blacks were related by blood or marriage. The late jazz pianist Monte Waters of Modesto was also related by marriage. But my favorite cousin Carol Lee of Modesto, daughter of my mother's brother Adam, connected me with Ted and Natalie who gave me the green light to come to Canada. They greeted me with open arms when I finally connected with them after arriving in Toronto. It wasn't long before I had converted Ted to Islam. He changed his name to Shahid. Another conversion was Canada's angriest Negro, Austin Clarke, a writer who changed his name to Ali Kamal. The great Pan Africanist Jan Carew was steeped in too much ideology to be converted, but Austin, Jan and I came together often for dialogue on events around the world.
My cousin Ted funded a publishing project Al Kitab Sudan which released my first collection of poetry Sudan Rajuli Samia or Black Man Listen. Eventually I moved from Hamilton to Toronto, renting a room from singer Salome Bey and her husband, Howard. I was soon joined by another draftee from San Francisco State College, Oswald, a poet who had published in Black Dialogue. Another brother in exile was from Los Angeles, Norman Rockland, who is still in Toronto today.
Exile is the worse of all possible things, for there is nothing worse than being cut off from ones people, especially when they are struggling to overcome oppression but you cannot be there with them to share their daily round, their pain and suffering. Internationalism is fine but ones national liberation is always ones priority, even though we know oppression is worldwide and thus the fight is everywhere.
So we got down in Canada, organizing and spreading propaganda. Of course the Toronto Star newspaper claimed twenty thousand black Muslims had invaded from the South (USA). There were about three of us brothers, and I was soon joined by Sister Ethna (Hurriyah) who fled an abusive relationship with her husband in Philadelphia. She had left me soon after we returned to San Francisco from Fresno and hooked up with a brother she thought she really loved. Ethna didn't stay long in Toronto because my money was real funny. Surely you know how women are when a man's money is funny. After several weeks of committing adultery, she departed for her hometown of Chicago. I was heart broken but stayed the course, a least for a few months.
I furthered my Islamic training after meeting brothers from the Middle East at Juma prayer service at the University of Toronto. One of those who mentored me was Hussein Shahistani. Hussein was a Shia who taught me my prayers in Arabic and also told me about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt who were persecuted for years under successive governments, including the regime of the great Arab nationalist Gamal Abdul Nasser. The Brotherhood teachings are the ideological and spirtual foundation of Hamas which recently fought a battle in Gaza against the Zionists. Hussein told me not to worry too much about events in the Middle East since they have been going on for thousands of years. He was president of the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada and told me of his desire for a Nation of Islam similar to the notion of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Hussein became a nuclear scientist and returned to his native Iraq. He was persecuted by Saddam Hussein and imprisoned because he refused to work on Hussein's nuclear weapons program. Somehow he survived persecution and today is the Minister of Oil and a close associate of the Grand Ayotollah Sistani.
Meanwhile back in the States, events in the Black Panther Party happened rapidly. The first Panther attack was focused on the Richmond police who killed Denzill Dowell, a young black man. The killing of Dowell made headlines in the first issue of the BPP newspaper, edited by Elridge (Minister of Information) and layed out by Emory (Minister of Culture). Eventually Samuel Napier would become Minister of Distribution. And then there was the invasion of the State Capital with Panthers displaying unloaded weapons which was legal at the time, i.e., until the Panthers. The devil always changes the rules when you master the game. And then there was the shootout between Huey Newton and Officer Fry of the OPD in which the officer was killed and Huey wounded. Reading of events in exile made me happy to be in Toronto, although I wanted to be home to partake in the struggle. Eldridge would tell me years later, "Yeah, Huey shot the pig. We took the gun and threw it into the Bay."
Marvin X
And so in 1967 I found myself exiled in Toronto, Canada, actually I was in Hamilton, a suburb. I was given refuge by Ted Watkins, a pro-football player in the Canadian league. Ted was my cousin by marriage, actually his wife Natalie was related to me through my uncle Adam who lived in Modesto. There was a time in the recent history of Modesto when most of the blacks were related by blood or marriage. The late jazz pianist Monte Waters of Modesto was also related by marriage. But my favorite cousin Carol Lee of Modesto, daughter of my mother's brother Adam, connected me with Ted and Natalie who gave me the green light to come to Canada. They greeted me with open arms when I finally connected with them after arriving in Toronto. It wasn't long before I had converted Ted to Islam. He changed his name to Shahid. Another conversion was Canada's angriest Negro, Austin Clarke, a writer who changed his name to Ali Kamal. The great Pan Africanist Jan Carew was steeped in too much ideology to be converted, but Austin, Jan and I came together often for dialogue on events around the world.
My cousin Ted funded a publishing project Al Kitab Sudan which released my first collection of poetry Sudan Rajuli Samia or Black Man Listen. Eventually I moved from Hamilton to Toronto, renting a room from singer Salome Bey and her husband, Howard. I was soon joined by another draftee from San Francisco State College, Oswald, a poet who had published in Black Dialogue. Another brother in exile was from Los Angeles, Norman Rockland, who is still in Toronto today.
Exile is the worse of all possible things, for there is nothing worse than being cut off from ones people, especially when they are struggling to overcome oppression but you cannot be there with them to share their daily round, their pain and suffering. Internationalism is fine but ones national liberation is always ones priority, even though we know oppression is worldwide and thus the fight is everywhere.
So we got down in Canada, organizing and spreading propaganda. Of course the Toronto Star newspaper claimed twenty thousand black Muslims had invaded from the South (USA). There were about three of us brothers, and I was soon joined by Sister Ethna (Hurriyah) who fled an abusive relationship with her husband in Philadelphia. She had left me soon after we returned to San Francisco from Fresno and hooked up with a brother she thought she really loved. Ethna didn't stay long in Toronto because my money was real funny. Surely you know how women are when a man's money is funny. After several weeks of committing adultery, she departed for her hometown of Chicago. I was heart broken but stayed the course, a least for a few months.
I furthered my Islamic training after meeting brothers from the Middle East at Juma prayer service at the University of Toronto. One of those who mentored me was Hussein Shahistani. Hussein was a Shia who taught me my prayers in Arabic and also told me about the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt who were persecuted for years under successive governments, including the regime of the great Arab nationalist Gamal Abdul Nasser. The Brotherhood teachings are the ideological and spirtual foundation of Hamas which recently fought a battle in Gaza against the Zionists. Hussein told me not to worry too much about events in the Middle East since they have been going on for thousands of years. He was president of the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada and told me of his desire for a Nation of Islam similar to the notion of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Hussein became a nuclear scientist and returned to his native Iraq. He was persecuted by Saddam Hussein and imprisoned because he refused to work on Hussein's nuclear weapons program. Somehow he survived persecution and today is the Minister of Oil and a close associate of the Grand Ayotollah Sistani.
Meanwhile back in the States, events in the Black Panther Party happened rapidly. The first Panther attack was focused on the Richmond police who killed Denzill Dowell, a young black man. The killing of Dowell made headlines in the first issue of the BPP newspaper, edited by Elridge (Minister of Information) and layed out by Emory (Minister of Culture). Eventually Samuel Napier would become Minister of Distribution. And then there was the invasion of the State Capital with Panthers displaying unloaded weapons which was legal at the time, i.e., until the Panthers. The devil always changes the rules when you master the game. And then there was the shootout between Huey Newton and Officer Fry of the OPD in which the officer was killed and Huey wounded. Reading of events in exile made me happy to be in Toronto, although I wanted to be home to partake in the struggle. Eldridge would tell me years later, "Yeah, Huey shot the pig. We took the gun and threw it into the Bay."
Jeannette Drake on Mixon in Oakland
Dear Brother Marvin,
The real tragedy is that NO ONE helps men like Mixon to INTERNALIZE the belief, the faith that God (aka) Jesus and/or The Holy Spirit could have given, found, created and/or delivered him a job.
Jesus did not operate within the confines of a building. His power to deliver is still beyond "reason." The power of The Holy Spirit cannot be fathomed by mortal minds. It has taken me almost 70 years to finally get this! God is Divine Mystery...but I have learned that if I need something, I can get it from God. It is my responsibility to share this knowledge with my fellow human beings.
I have learned that even though I love God, the Father/Mother, Jesus, the son, and the mysterious (sometimes frighteningly powerful HG (Holy Ghost), I am called as a writer/servant to bring people to faith (not necessarily to Jesus). In the past I have been "a street minister"; that is, I wrote and gave out affirmations on the street, according to how I felt led by the spirit. There was no need for me to "preach." My gesture was a one on one touch- such as, "repeat these words ALOUD daily or three times a day, etc. etc. and don't forget to say "thank you God" (I don't remember ever being turned down, except once and that was by a "freaked out" white kid that I perceived to be a runaway. He did not want anyone to come near or hand him anything.) I don't do this daily anymore, but sometimes The Holy Spirit gives me a strong suggestion about a particular person and I follow through or I will feel no peace. My gesture is always the right decision. Sometimes a person may ask a question and I give them a personal example of how God has helped me with basic survival issues.
What we need now are men and women who have strong, INTIMATE relationships with God (as they understand God) who are willing to share their faith, their knowledge, their belief, their testimonies that God loves and that God will get them (the person in distress) a job or food or shelter, etc. (if they have the guts/wherewithal, etc to let God know that they need, expect and BELIEVE He can do this!) The right to make a covenant with God did not end with Abraham.
What is missing is a belief in HP (Higher Power) and persons willing to say I know HP personally. HP can get you a job.
I have many unpublished stories about the necessary things I've gotten from God. They run the gamut from parking spaces in a hospital zone to how to get my acccumulated $3,000 plus electricity bill paid... Hopefully, I will live long enough to use a detail or two.
The video I share with you (which came to me yesterday) is of Reverend Dr. Miles Jones, who died in 2002. He was a professor and theologian, who became my mentor though I was not in seminary. He helped me understand that "my call" was not to bring people to Jesus, but to faith, to believe that they have the right to expect God to love them and to act out of that love...
My recovery has been to understand that I am loved by God. (In those moments when I have thought of suicide or homicide, it is because I have forgotten that God loves me and I have the mistaken notion that I am (or mankind is) in control...) Radically and simply put, my well being is not decided or determined by man. We need "spiritual warriors" who can help young men like Mixon understand the nature of God so that it takes on practical, relevant everyday meaning.
My recovery has been to understand that God is Divine Mystery, yet still accessible 24-7.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGVHfRV2Tb4
Peace and blessings to you.
JEANNETTE
"The true manifestation of Divine Presence will be so explosive it will be like The Holy Spirit...and when it comes, it'll defy your ability to describe it...it's gonna have to be LIKE something...as of fire...as of, it's more than you know...realize...dream of."
Reverend Dr. Miles Jones
JeannetteDrake.com
Dear Brother Marvin,
The real tragedy is that NO ONE helps men like Mixon to INTERNALIZE the belief, the faith that God (aka) Jesus and/or The Holy Spirit could have given, found, created and/or delivered him a job.
Jesus did not operate within the confines of a building. His power to deliver is still beyond "reason." The power of The Holy Spirit cannot be fathomed by mortal minds. It has taken me almost 70 years to finally get this! God is Divine Mystery...but I have learned that if I need something, I can get it from God. It is my responsibility to share this knowledge with my fellow human beings.
I have learned that even though I love God, the Father/Mother, Jesus, the son, and the mysterious (sometimes frighteningly powerful HG (Holy Ghost), I am called as a writer/servant to bring people to faith (not necessarily to Jesus). In the past I have been "a street minister"; that is, I wrote and gave out affirmations on the street, according to how I felt led by the spirit. There was no need for me to "preach." My gesture was a one on one touch- such as, "repeat these words ALOUD daily or three times a day, etc. etc. and don't forget to say "thank you God" (I don't remember ever being turned down, except once and that was by a "freaked out" white kid that I perceived to be a runaway. He did not want anyone to come near or hand him anything.) I don't do this daily anymore, but sometimes The Holy Spirit gives me a strong suggestion about a particular person and I follow through or I will feel no peace. My gesture is always the right decision. Sometimes a person may ask a question and I give them a personal example of how God has helped me with basic survival issues.
What we need now are men and women who have strong, INTIMATE relationships with God (as they understand God) who are willing to share their faith, their knowledge, their belief, their testimonies that God loves and that God will get them (the person in distress) a job or food or shelter, etc. (if they have the guts/wherewithal, etc to let God know that they need, expect and BELIEVE He can do this!) The right to make a covenant with God did not end with Abraham.
What is missing is a belief in HP (Higher Power) and persons willing to say I know HP personally. HP can get you a job.
I have many unpublished stories about the necessary things I've gotten from God. They run the gamut from parking spaces in a hospital zone to how to get my acccumulated $3,000 plus electricity bill paid... Hopefully, I will live long enough to use a detail or two.
The video I share with you (which came to me yesterday) is of Reverend Dr. Miles Jones, who died in 2002. He was a professor and theologian, who became my mentor though I was not in seminary. He helped me understand that "my call" was not to bring people to Jesus, but to faith, to believe that they have the right to expect God to love them and to act out of that love...
My recovery has been to understand that I am loved by God. (In those moments when I have thought of suicide or homicide, it is because I have forgotten that God loves me and I have the mistaken notion that I am (or mankind is) in control...) Radically and simply put, my well being is not decided or determined by man. We need "spiritual warriors" who can help young men like Mixon understand the nature of God so that it takes on practical, relevant everyday meaning.
My recovery has been to understand that God is Divine Mystery, yet still accessible 24-7.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGVHfRV2Tb4
Peace and blessings to you.
JEANNETTE
"The true manifestation of Divine Presence will be so explosive it will be like The Holy Spirit...and when it comes, it'll defy your ability to describe it...it's gonna have to be LIKE something...as of fire...as of, it's more than you know...realize...dream of."
Reverend Dr. Miles Jones
JeannetteDrake.com
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Part Six: My Friend the Devil
by
Marvin X
A few weeks before my Black House exit, a dramatic event had taken place in Cleaver’s life.He had gone to Fisk University to attend a conference with black radicals, including members of SNCC: Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Imam Jamil Alamin( H. Rap Brown), Kathleen Neal and others. The police in Nashville, Tenn marched Cleaver onto a plane back to California for allegedly starting a riot. But the riot was in his soul, his ice was melting, he had met the love of his life, Kathleen Neal, the daughter of a diplomat, but she had chosen revolution and would soon choose Eldridge as her husband, much to the grave disappointment of her family. After all, what black bourgeoisie family would want their daughter to marry a former convict and especially a convicted rapist?
Nevertheless, when he returned from Nashville, nothing but talk of Kathleen came from his lips.We wished he would shut up talking about the sister, but our wish didn’t matter to this madman in love—as though love doesn’t produce madness in everyone. But EC had the love bug, was strung out like a heroin addict or meth freak. Kathleen, Kathleen, Kathleen. We were impressed when she finally arrived at Black House, a fine, high yellow sister. When I finally met Eldridge’s mother, I saw the resemblance between her and Kathleen.
After returning from the Fisk conference, his parole agent put Mr. Soul on Ice under house arrest. I don’t think he was even allowed to cross the Bay Bridge, so when Ramparts magazine wanted him to interview Muhammad Ali about the draft, Eldridge couldn’t go. He arranged for me to go to Chicago instead. It took several days before I caught up with Muhammad Ali at the home of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When I arrived, I was ushered in the living room and sat down while Ali was in conversation with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When Ali came from the room with Elijah, he said his teacher told him not to do the interview because he had said enough about the draft, especially in the white devil’s media which I represented. Ali said to me, “This is the man I’m willing to die for, what he says, I do.” Ali asked me if I needed any money, and of course I say yes. As I recall, he probably handed me a couple hundred dollars. I departed the house without seeing the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, although Sister Clara did come into the room and nod at me. She was the first lady of the Nation of Islam and we are still waiting on an authoritative biography of her, the woman who ran the Nation of Islam for the twelve years Elijah was away: seven years of flight after Master Fard Muhammad appointed him supreme minister upon departing. Even his own brother, Kallot had disagreed with the appointment, along with other brothers who declared they would hunt Elijah down and kill him.
One brother said he would eat one grain of rice a day until he caught Elijah. After seven years, Elijah returned but was then arrested for treason and draft evasion during WWII, so he was away a total of twelve years. His son Wallace or Warithdeen was twelve when his father returned, thus his close identification with his mother Clara and alienation from his father who he finally denounced when he became head of the Nation of Islam.
When I returned to the Bay, Ramparts was naturally disappointed I didn’t conduct the interview, but they got over it and eventually they did a story on Muhammad Ali’s draft case. But it was soon after my meeting with Ali that I found myself on the run behind the draft. While at Black House I had lost my college deferment because I’d dropped out of San Francisco State College/University. But after joining the Nation and even before doing so, I knew I was not about to serve in the white man’s army. Elijah told his followers to go to prison as he had done, but I was also under the influence of the Black Panthers. Eldridge had tainted me with, “We must not only resist the draft but resist arrest as well.” I soon found myself in Toronto, Canada as a draft resister, along with several other brothers.
by
Marvin X
A few weeks before my Black House exit, a dramatic event had taken place in Cleaver’s life.He had gone to Fisk University to attend a conference with black radicals, including members of SNCC: Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Imam Jamil Alamin( H. Rap Brown), Kathleen Neal and others. The police in Nashville, Tenn marched Cleaver onto a plane back to California for allegedly starting a riot. But the riot was in his soul, his ice was melting, he had met the love of his life, Kathleen Neal, the daughter of a diplomat, but she had chosen revolution and would soon choose Eldridge as her husband, much to the grave disappointment of her family. After all, what black bourgeoisie family would want their daughter to marry a former convict and especially a convicted rapist?
Nevertheless, when he returned from Nashville, nothing but talk of Kathleen came from his lips.We wished he would shut up talking about the sister, but our wish didn’t matter to this madman in love—as though love doesn’t produce madness in everyone. But EC had the love bug, was strung out like a heroin addict or meth freak. Kathleen, Kathleen, Kathleen. We were impressed when she finally arrived at Black House, a fine, high yellow sister. When I finally met Eldridge’s mother, I saw the resemblance between her and Kathleen.
After returning from the Fisk conference, his parole agent put Mr. Soul on Ice under house arrest. I don’t think he was even allowed to cross the Bay Bridge, so when Ramparts magazine wanted him to interview Muhammad Ali about the draft, Eldridge couldn’t go. He arranged for me to go to Chicago instead. It took several days before I caught up with Muhammad Ali at the home of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When I arrived, I was ushered in the living room and sat down while Ali was in conversation with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When Ali came from the room with Elijah, he said his teacher told him not to do the interview because he had said enough about the draft, especially in the white devil’s media which I represented. Ali said to me, “This is the man I’m willing to die for, what he says, I do.” Ali asked me if I needed any money, and of course I say yes. As I recall, he probably handed me a couple hundred dollars. I departed the house without seeing the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, although Sister Clara did come into the room and nod at me. She was the first lady of the Nation of Islam and we are still waiting on an authoritative biography of her, the woman who ran the Nation of Islam for the twelve years Elijah was away: seven years of flight after Master Fard Muhammad appointed him supreme minister upon departing. Even his own brother, Kallot had disagreed with the appointment, along with other brothers who declared they would hunt Elijah down and kill him.
One brother said he would eat one grain of rice a day until he caught Elijah. After seven years, Elijah returned but was then arrested for treason and draft evasion during WWII, so he was away a total of twelve years. His son Wallace or Warithdeen was twelve when his father returned, thus his close identification with his mother Clara and alienation from his father who he finally denounced when he became head of the Nation of Islam.
When I returned to the Bay, Ramparts was naturally disappointed I didn’t conduct the interview, but they got over it and eventually they did a story on Muhammad Ali’s draft case. But it was soon after my meeting with Ali that I found myself on the run behind the draft. While at Black House I had lost my college deferment because I’d dropped out of San Francisco State College/University. But after joining the Nation and even before doing so, I knew I was not about to serve in the white man’s army. Elijah told his followers to go to prison as he had done, but I was also under the influence of the Black Panthers. Eldridge had tainted me with, “We must not only resist the draft but resist arrest as well.” I soon found myself in Toronto, Canada as a draft resister, along with several other brothers.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Oakland, Toward Radical Spirituality
We know the spirit world is beyond color, therefore we must pray for all those slaughtered in the streets of Oakland, whether police or citizens. It is indeed sad when officers of the peace are unable to secure the peace of a community, but often become brute beasts in blue uniforms. And in return the citizens must become beasts in self defense, especially when they are already under stress from lacking the necessities of life: jobs, food, clothing and shelter, a stable family environment wherein they can evolve from animal to spiritual consciousness. When violence becomes the order of the day, when the community is mortally afraid of those employed to protect them, when the citizens resort to violence in interpersonal relations, then that society is not of Divine, but is existing on the animal plane, the lowest level of existence, and yet we pretend to be civilized. Yet we act like violent savages at the drop of a hat, the glance of an eye, we are ready to kill, slaughter each other often without the slightest cause, rhyme or reason. In my 1968 interview with James Baldwin, he said, "It's a wonder we haven't all gone stark raving mad." Jimmy, I submit 40 years after your statement, we indeed have now gone stark raving mad. The streets of Oakland are no place to be somebody, they are on par with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mexico, where violence rules the day and every man must be conscious of his surroundings and behavior at any time. The politicians and police are not the only ones to blame, but the entire community. We have churches on every corner yet there is something lacking in their spiritual message, something is being lost in translation from pulpit to congregation to street. How can such massive violence exist in a Christian society or Muslim society for that matter? Why is there so little spiritual transformation evident in the people? The prosperity consciousness in religiosity these days only leads to conspicuous consumption that has led us to the present precipice. Shall we continue in our madness until we slip over the cliff, until we are consumed by our own vomit?
Someone, anyone, step forward and show us the light, the path, the way, for we have become a headless monster, a car without a driver, clearly the politicians cannot solve this conundrum of our lives, the educators are lost in perpetuating the world of make believe called white supremacy. Our economic leaders are lost in their shoestrings, trying to revive a decadent and dying free market capitalist system based on greed, cheap labor and cheap resources. They are determined to ignore their own people in a global conspiracy of pyramid and Ponzi schemes which is the essence international finance.
All brother Mixon wanted was a job. And the tragedy is that there are desperate men and women like him throughout the streets of Oakland, men and women who will find no job and become mad enough to follow his act of desperation and despair. The police had a job watching him. His parole officer had a job watching him. His prison officials had a job securing him. Was he some sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered for all except himself? No wonder his desperation and despair, no wonder his feelings of nothingness and dread. No wonder his spirituality was crushed to the earth, making him a beast of prey, willing to do the ultimate to escape the jails and prison, the American gulag, the neo slavery plantations that exist throughout this nation, wherein the commodity is the souls and bodies of men and women. Up from Slavery, Up from Ignut, up from the animal plane to the Divine. Throw off the shackles of mental slavery that permits us to claim the gun as our savior, the panacea for all that ills our community, when in reality it is only putting on the armor of God that will elevate us out of the dungeon of wickedness and despair. The churches must teach a new way, the schools must teach a new way, discarding that old out of date white supremacy curriculum that over fifty per cent of our children are intelligent enough to reject outright for its abject meaninglessness absurdity. The churches are empty, especially of young men because the message does not touch their spiritual consciousness. They are too smart to be pimped by fake pimps in the pulpit.
The brothers at the barber shop asked me, "OG, what's the difference between the pimp and the preacher?" I replied, "The difference is that the preacher has more whores."
As Brother Fritz Pointer noted below, we can and must police ourselves, the police must be from our community, not living in Dublin, Tracy and Livermore.
These are foreigners who have no love for our community. They are here to enforce white supremacy, white privilege and white power. And nothing shall change but go from bad to worse until the fundamental order is radically restructured. Sun Ra taught me, "The Creator got things fixed, you can't go forward or backward until you do the right thing." So do the right thing, Oakland, the eyes of the world are on you at this hour, as it has been in the past when you raised up to check the power of brute beasts in blue uniforms. This time around, know that we have a problem that is not physical but spiritual, for when we put on the armor of God no one can touch us. Didn't Hammer tell us, "You can't touch this"? Those of you who don't believe in spirituality continue down the physical path when we know the end of this path. Look at America at this hour drowning from excessive belief in the physical and material things of life, while none of this path has brought joy, peace and happiness to this world. As I look around Houston, Texas at the mansions owned by black people, at the same time I see the numerous hospitals here to heal those sick from the trappings of materialism, the mental stress, the cancer and other diseases caused by the belief in the physical things of life, while we know our health is our wealth. What good are these mansions if we act like nigguhs inside them, if the women are in golden handcuffs, abused, neglected and depressed, on the verge of suicide?
We consume, consume, consume, and yet there is never enough. Our closets are full of trinkets we never take out of the bag, still with the tags on them because they were wanted but not needed. And yet there is enough to go around but we dare share, we dare give away anything, but hoard for dear life as though there will be no tomorrow. When we do not reach out to men like Mixon, we see the result, it is no mystery the desperation of his heart, the poverty of his dreams for simple things, basic survival in a land of plenty. Continue to deny his generation and await the Calamity. To avoid the Calamity we must embrace the Religion of the Heart, beyond churches, temples, mosques, but recognize our essense which is spiritual, beyond the physical and material. What is the use of violence when in the end of all wars in political discussion or diplomacy. Why all the violence when ultimately we must do as Isaiah taught, "Reason together."
--Marvin X
Marvin X is the author of Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality. He continued his message in How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
His next book is Up from Ignut, or Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez, the Soulful Musings of a North American African Thinker, Black Bird Press,
Berkeley, 2009. All of you are invited to celebrate his 65th birthday at the Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre, 3201 Adline Ave., Berkeley Ca, May 29, 7pm. Save the date! May 1-3 Marvin X will participate in the Black Studies Forty Years Later Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia. Other participants include Amiri Baraka, Muhammad Ahmed, Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Jimmy Garett.
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: tarika lewis
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 11:54:53 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Letter to A Post Black Negro
Thank you for eloquently articulating all of our sentiments...peace
--Tarika Lewis
--- On Mon, 3/23/09, Marvin X Jackmon wrote:
> From: Marvin X Jackmon
> Subject: Fw: Letter to A Post Black Negro
> To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com, bbstring2@bellsouth.net, bcpdigital@yahoo.com, amirib@aol.com, askia38@yahoo.com, mstanfrd@temple.edu, ubcindc@yahoo.com, "Nathan Hare", drjuliahare@pacbell.net, goodnewspc@aol.com, gmorozumi@yahoo.com, rudolphlewis@hotmail.com, runoko@yahoo.com, "Geoffrey Grier" , wordslanger@gmail.com, "John Woodford" , abspellman@mac.com, ac6123@wayne.yahoo.com, aherd@berkeley.edu, ajackmon@hotmail.com, d.jackmon7@gmail.com, D12M@aol.com, dbrooks@oaklandnet.com, deedrahs@fhlbsea.com, dimensionsdance@prodigy.net, DisabilityParty@yahoogroups.com, carmelita.harris@sfgov.org, cathyharrisspeaks@gmail.com, chelechauxnuff@yahoo.com, cheo@sfsu.edu, e.bullins@neu.edu, eastsideculturalcenter@gmail.com, edbullins@neu.edu, editor@aljazerrah.info, Ehoagland3nb@aol.com, el_my_t@yahoo.com, esailama@carrieproductions.com, "craig erving" , "Dean Terence
Elliott", "Ernest Allen" , "Muhammida El Muhajir" , "Oakland East" , "Dana Rondel" , falim@aol.com, prodeternal@hotmail.com, "Nefertitti Jackmon" , "Ayanna Ade" , normankbrown@hotmail.com, "Jerlean Noble" , mwhoward@bethany-newark.org, ramal.lamar@gmail.com, rasjbaraka@yahoo.com, "abdul raoof nasir" , doriseasley@att.net, RAmemorial@gmail.com, RashidaIsmaili@aol.com, rchrisman@cox.net, WSAB1@aol.com, bgreene@mec.cuny.edu, "benny stewart" , "Cuz Beverly" , miguelalgarin@hotmail.com, misterdaveyd@earthlink.net, "carolyn mixon" , "Michelle Obama" , officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com, "Ademola Olugebefola" , "Omowale Clay"
, occur@sbcglobal.net, "Min. Paul" , "Roscoe Orman" , refa1@hotmail.com, reggiegeneral@yahoo.com, revandriette@ebcrs.org, revelouise@ebcrs.org, "destiny muhammad" , langemx99@yahoo.com, lewistarika@yahoo.com, ibespirit@yahoo.com, ganodee@hotmail.com, gaylemba@aim.com, GeorgeEdwardTait@msn.com, gramsey@sas.upenn.edu
> Date: Monday, March 23, 2009, 8:44 PM
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: "fhpointer@comcast.net"
>
> To: Marvin X Jackmon
> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 9:20:42 PM
> Subject: Re: Letter to A Post Black Negro
>
>
> Marvin:
>
> I appreciate your analysis and insights. In fact, I
> marvel at the detailed information you summon and wield on
> our behalf. That is, on behalf of Black people. What
> you're doing is so very necessary and timely. I must
> say, as one born and raised in Oakland, I understand the
> obscene pride we feel about Lovell Mixon. Obscene because
> people like us, around the world, die like the four
> policeman did everyday, if not every hour, in mass. Pride
> because Lovell accepted the consequences of his actions. I
> don't know if we can ask more than that of human being.
> He also let the OPD know that they are human, merely
> human. This may surprise them to know. As we have said
> years ago, the police must come from the community they
> serve. Until then, like Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
> the people of Oakland are under Occupation. Keep up the
> powerful, courageous writing, Mr. X.
>
> Fritz Pointer
From: rudolph lewis
To: Marvin X; mreynolds@bayareanewsgroup.com; blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com; goodnewspc@aol.com; Amiri Baraka ; Askia Toure ; Tarika Lewis ; lajpr@aol.com; occur@sbcglobal.net; officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com; oyamo@umich.edu; mstanfrd@temple.edu; eastsideculturalcenter@gmail.com; j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com; ubcindc@yahoo.com; eallen@afroam.umass.edu; falim@aol.com; alona3649@hotmail.com; wriles@pacbell.net; walterriley@rrrandw.com; d.jackmon7@gmail.com; blkaugustla@gmail.com; Davey D ; d12m@aol.com; dbrooks@oaklandnet.com; langemx99@yahoo.com; ggrier@researchdatagroup.com; weap@weap.org; ajackmon@hotmail.com; Kalamu ya Salamm ; Kam Williams ; keepersoftheculture@yahoo.com; kelly.vance@eastbayexpress.com; kambonrb@pacbell.net; philipjohnsonward@yahoo.com; ibespirit@yahoo.com; prodeternal@hotmail.com; dnspete27@gmail.com; poetrynmotion@sbcglobal.net; fhpointer@comcast.net; phavia@hotmail.com; Runoko Rashidi
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 12:24:58 AM
Subject: RE: Letter to A Post Black Negro
Marvin, Martin seems to be one of those Negroes who writes with a little white man on his shoulder. Martin is up to his eyeballs in sterile hypocrisy and sham sentiments.
Does he really believe that anyone reading his "people must become people" and "Death is death" that Americans are of that mind set when we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year seeking to murder people in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to kill those who killed Americans? These are sentiments uttered daily by American politicians and American whites: we want the death of those who killed on 9/11!
Just today in the NYTimes the US Special Forces were applauded in killing 5 Afghan "militants," and they didn't call it murder or thought it outrageous when they did not know for certain that these were civilians. Where was Martin and the Oakland paper when Israelis were killing Gazan civilians, more than 1300--men women, and children?
We all know everything is not everything. That kind of equality and equity has never existed for blacks, browns--the Other American. Some deaths are more heavy and valuable than others. The officials and the elite of Oakland will cry huge crocodile tears for the four cops murdered in Oakland streets, tears that did not come for Oscar Grant, outrage that did not occur in high places for the black and poor beaten, abused, and murdered, daily in American cities.
We know in our hearts people are not treated as people especially when their skins are black and brown. Black men are murdered with abandon in American and there is a great reluctance to do anything about it. We all know this on our pulse.
Martin knows as well as anyone that white cops are placed in communities to terrorize black men, women, and children and that white police unions and judges and attorney generals support this terrorism by hook or crook and that often black mayors are afraid of their own police departments. Martin is a phony and a phony with phony sentiments. To place the great Marvin X on the same level as murderous and terrorizing cops is utterly outrageous and the height of pandering to power. He feels free to do that because he thinks he will gain some points from that little white man sitting on his shoulder.
We all want peace and love in our communities. We all would like to respect the security forces in our communities. But it just ain't that way, however evolved Martin may be. But dear Martin, they will be coming after you one of these days and your kiss up words will not save you -- Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marvin X Jackmon"
>
> To: "Martin Reynolds"
>,
> blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com, goodnewspc@aol.com,
> amirib@aol.com, askia38@yahoo.com, lewistarika@yahoo.com,
> lajpr@aol.com, occur@sbcglobal.net,
> officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com, oyamo@umich.edu,
> mstanfrd@temple.edu, eastsideculturalcenter@gmail.com,
> "j vern cromartie"
>, ubcindc@yahoo.com,
> "Ernest Allen",
> falim@aol.com, alona3649@hotmail.com, wriles@pacbell.net,
> walterriley@rrrandw.com, "d jackmon7"
>, blkaugustla@gmail.com,
> Mrdaveyd@aol.com, D12M@aol.com, dbrooks@oaklandnet.com,
> lajpr@aol.com, langemx99@yahoo.com, "Geoffrey
> Grier",
> "Ethel Long-Scott",
> ajackmon@hotmail.com, KALAMU@aol.com, "kam
> williams",
> keepersoftheculture@yahoo.com, "kelly vance"
>, "Malaika
> Kambon",
> philipjohnsonward@yahoo.com,
> ibespirit@yahoo.com, prodeternal@hotmail.com, "Dennis
> Pete", "Dana
> Rondel",
> "Fritz Pointer",
> "Phavia Kujichagulia",
> rudolphlewis@hotmail.com, runoko@yahoo.com
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 8:43:03 PM GMT -08:00
> US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Letter to A Post Black Negro
>
>
> Martin, you always amaze me with your post-black negro
> analysis of affairs in Oakland.
> Oakland has been in a state of war with its citizens at
> least the past forty years, and that war has been
> spearheaded by the police who have never,on any
> occasion,provided security for Blacks, maybe for the
> property-owning class of whites and a few blacks--but we see
> even businessmen like Geoffery Pete can be victims of police
> shakedowns. So when do the police receive justice, certainly
> not in the courts as we saw in the Riders case, and we doubt
> anything will happen with the killer of Oscar Grant. So it
> took the Panthers to rise up to challenge the police
> occupying army during the 60s. Of course the OPD had murder
> squads that killed black people in general and Panthers in
> particular. What the Panthers did was take pressure off the
> community by absorbing the blows so often directed on the
> people. For this the Panthers must be honored.
>
> The police deserve no respect for their decades of death
> dealing in the hood, for supplying drugs and guns to
> destabilize our community. We remember during 1979 they were
> killing a black man a month, climaxing with the death of
> Melvin Black. We organized a rally at the Oakland
> auditorium, bringing in Farakhan, Angela Davis, Oba
> T'shaka, Paul Cobb, Dezzy Wood Jones, Eldridge Cleaver
> and others. Immediately after this rally the police killing
> stopped but soon followed was the appearance of Uzis and
> Crack cocaine which we now know was the US Government's
> program to raise money for the Contra war in Nicaragua.
> Certainly the OPD played its part in the Crack epidemic
> that has continued to this day with drive by shootings and
> drug shake downs by the OPD that your paper and the Chauncey
> Bailey Project has yet to investigate, while continuing to
> play up the Black Muslim Bakery as the sole suspects in the
> assasination of journalist Chauncey Bailey.
>
> In short, I have no respect for the OPD because they are
> part of the problem and your paper appears to have a tainted
> relationship with them as you refuse to investigate
> Chauncey's allegations against the black murder squad on
> the OPD, supposedly headed by the very officer who was the
> lead investigator of the Chauncey Bailey homicide. Thus your
> paper, the Oakland Tribune and the CBP are guilty of shoddy
> journalism, faking professionalism, scaming the public with
> continued slander of Muslims as if they were the sole reason
> for Chauncey's murder when you know better. You know he
> was fired from the Oakland Tribune at the urging of former
> Mayor Jerry Brown because he was "tired of that nigger
> snooping around City Hall and the OPD." Now that he is
> Attorney General of California, Mayor Dellems wants him to
> investigate the murder of Chauncey when it is Jerry Brown
> who needs to be investigated for his role in Chauncey's
> death--what happened to Jerry Brown's
> internet records when he departed City Hall?
>
> From the above, we can see why Oakland is a death house and
> the OPD deserve no respect from the people, nor does City
> Hall, the Attorney General and the Oakland Tribune. All of
> you are part of the problem of wickedness in high places.
> Why do you think when the OPD is guilty of murder and can
> continue doing so under the color of law that the
> people's justice will not rise to the occasion. Your
> courts are a sham and mockery of justice and clearly the
> brother saw the need to execute justice his way. The OPD
> occupying army should be removed from the community as they
> provide no service, solve no homicides and remain a white
> racist bastion of incompentence and disservice to the
> people.
>
> They are disgusting to be present in our community. The
> fact that all the officers shot were white reveals the
> racism of the OPD with their precinct in the heart of East
> Oakland's majority black community.
> --Marvin X
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "Reynolds, Martin"
>
> To: Marvin X Jackmon
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:18:17 PM
> Subject: RE: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
> Death is death and nobody, citizen or cop deserves to
> leave this earth in a hail of gunfire.
> So for you to assert this is somehow a "taste of their
> own medicine" situation, sickens me.
> Not because I agree with ill police tactics or the
> horrific things done via COINTELPRO.
> The neo-cons of America do little to improve our standing
> in the world and at home.
> If the world is to ever become the peaceful, evolved place
> we all hope it one day will, we can't revel in
> the slaying of any human being.
> "Happy to learn a Negro can shoot?" C'mon
> man.
> Statements like that make you appear no better than a cop
> who patrols a community he has no regard for.
> Are you a revolutionary? A neo-political pundit? What?
> You come across as a zealot and utilize the history of our
> people's oppression to justify a warped sense of
> retribution as it relates to this incident.
> I don't for a moment condone actions by the cops that
> are inappropriate, corrupt or criminal.
> But at some point Marvin, people must become people.
> You're "neo-colonial black politicians"
> rhetoric does nothing to move us toward that plateau.
> You preach as though you are offering an equation to equal
> a solution.
> When in fact, you're a symptom of the problem.
>
> M.
> Martin G. Reynolds
> Editor
> The Oakland Tribune
> AME News - Bay Area News Group
> 7677 Oakport St. Suite 950
> 510-208-6433
> 510-390-1779 (cell)
> mreynolds@bayareanewsgroup.com
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marvin X Jackmon [mailto:jmarvinx@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 11:00 AM
> To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com; amirib@aol.com;
> mstanfrd@temple.edu; ubcindc@yahoo.com; NMAAHCinfo@si.edu;
> officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com; ramal.lamar@gmail.com;
> refa1@hotmail.com; reggiegeneral@yahoo.com;
> ibespirit@yahoo..com; Nathan Hare; drjuliahare@pacbell.net;
> goodnewspc@aol.com; Reynolds, Martin; Mrdaveyd@aol.com;
> wordslanger@gmail.com; John Woodford; rasjbaraka@yahoo.com;
> rchrisman@cox.net; falim@aol.com; monti@rivercitymaps.com;
> d.jackmon7@gmail.com; abspellman@mac.com;
> ajackmon@hotmail.com; mjackmon@gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
> Rudy, I have no information on Mixon, but the consensus is
> that people are happy to learn a Negro can shoot. Oakland is
> a great community that was humbled and crushed by
> Cointelpro, then neo-colonial black politicians, Dellums is
> probably the last of the black neo-colonials, after him it
> will probably be the Latino turn to be neo-colonial, then
> the return of the raw colonialist whites who are edging
> themselves back into power on the city council and with
> gentrification.
> But the universe may have a different agenda. --MarvinX
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marvin X Jackmon
> To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 10:53:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
> Oakland Police Die in Gun Battle
>
> I got up this morning to see the news that a brother and
> three police are dead in Oakland, another officer is
> fighting for his life. I am saddened by this news from my
> beloved city by the Bay, city of my childhood, city where I
> learned black consciousness, city of black studies and Black
> Panthers, once one of the most radical cities in America..
> Of late she has become a house of death with the black on
> black homicide, often instigated by the police with weapons
> sold by the police. As they were in the 60s, the police are
> an occupying army of mostly white racist officers, and many
> of the black officers are no better, sometimes even more
> brutal to prove themselves to their white comrades. Chauncey
> Bailey is dead partly because he was writing about black
> police murder squads and shakedowns.. The chief recently
> resigned because journalists were inching closer to his role
> in allowing abuse under his watch.
>
> The killing of three officers by a young brother may be
> symbolic of things to come. As we know the new year began
> with the BART police murder of young Oscar Grant. Yes, the
> universe has a way of righting itself when things go out of
> control. We see the universe stepping in to bring humility
> to the greedy capitalist bloodsuckers of the poor and those
> addicted to wretched materialism. So it is time to reflect
> on this rampant violence in Oakland that has left so many
> people grieving for lost loved ones. And now the police get
> a taste of their own medicine. As thou has done, so shall it
> be done to thee. There is no escape for wickedness,
> especially in high places or low places either. The people
> do not deserve to live under occupation and violence under
> the color of law. Their is a limit to what a people can
> take, especially when they see no justice in the land, when
> the criminals are instituting and administrating the law for
> their own wicked purpose.
>
> The Black Panthers fought forty years ago against the
> police--yet today it is business as usual with the
> "pigs," who banned my open-air classroom at 14th
> and Broadway, at which people noted I made things better
> downtown by talking with spiritually burdened youth and
> adults, counseling them and listening to their problems of
> homelessness, hunger, ignorance, disease and unresolved
> grief, so often brought on by the murder of their loved
> ones. Isn't it strange that youth rioted at the very
> spot where I taught and tried to bring peace, love and
> understanding?
> I did not discriminate when the white mentally ill came by
> wanting a dollar, something to eat or simply a kind word
> like good morning, have a nice day. Often the police would
> stand next to me, yes, I knew they were listening to my
> conversation while they supposedly watched young weed
> dealers making their hustle. For several years the police
> said nothing to me, then after three or four years they
> informed me I was vending my books in a restricted area.
> Restricted for what purpose, there are hardly any stores
> downtown Oakland, it is a virtual cemetery, especially after
> dark while downtown San Francisco is bustling with people
> all night long.
>
> Oakland has a glorious tradition of radical social action,
> but it is a tradition soaked in blood, often the result of
> bad and brutal police relations with the community. Why
> can't Mayor Ron Dellums use the model the US military
> exercised in Iraq when they subdued the insurgents by giving
> them jobs securing their communities? Just as in Iraq, we
> have young men marginalized and alienated from society,
> ready to do any crime to "get theirs," but
> secretly wishing things didn't have to be this way, that
> all they want is economic parity with the rest of society
> that likes to eat in fine restaurants, wear nice clothes and
> take care of their families.. Clearly, the OPD has not and
> cannot secure the community, so why not be radical, Mr.
> Radical Mayor Dellums, hire youth to secure the hood you
> know the police cannot and never will, at least not until
> there is a radical revamping of this rotten, crumbling
> capitalist society, restructuring not only the police, but
> the
> schools, economic, political and religious institutions,
> social relations and in the process ending America's
> cowardly addiction to white supremacy, white privilege
> and the desire to dominate the world.
>
> We pray for all those grieving loved ones who are now
> deprived of their men due to gun violence. We are exhausted
> from attending funerals, but understand death is life and
> funerals are a way to help us understand and transcend the
> pain and suffering of losing the ones we love.
> We pray the people of Oakland will rise to the occasion to
> become the great and valiant community recognized around the
> world for radical social action.
> --Marvin X
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marvin X Jackmon
> To: blackantiwar@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com;
> askia38@yahoo. com; mstanfrd@temple. edu; j_vern_cromartie@
> yahoo.com; ramal.lamar@ gmail.com; Muhammida El Muhajir
>; muhammadspeakslette
> rs@yahoo. com
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:14:06 AM
> Subject: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
>
>
> Gunman kills 3 officers, wounds 4th in Oakland
> By TERRY COLLINS and LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writers
> Terry Collins And Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writers –
> 43 mins ago
> AP – This is an undated photo combo of images released
> by the Oakland Police Department of Oakland Police …
> * Play Video Video:3 officers, suspect killed in Oakland
> shootouts AP
> OAKLAND, Calif. – A police officer was battling for his
> life and three more were dead after a parolee with an
> "extensive criminal history" opened fire at a
> routine traffic stop and hours later gunned down members of
> a SWAT team searching for him.
> The gunman was also killed Saturday, capping a day of
> violence that the Oakland Police Department said was the
> worst in its history. Never before had three police officers
> died in the line of duty on the same day.
> "It's in these moments that words are
> extraordinarily inadequate," said Mayor Ron Dellums at
> a somber news conference Saturday night.
> The mayhem began that afternoon, when two motorcycle patrol
> officers stopped a 1995 Buick sedan in east Oakland, Oakland
> police spokesman Jeff Thomason said. The driver opened fire,
> killing Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, and gravely wounding Officer
> John Hege, 41....
> The gunman then fled on foot, police said, leading to an
> intense manhunt by dozens of Oakland police, California
> Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff deputies.
> Streets were roped off and an entire area of east Oakland
> closed to traffic.
> About two hours later, officers got an anonymous tip that
> the gunman was inside a nearby apartment building.
> A SWAT team had entered an apartment to clear and search it
> when the gunman shot them with an assault rifle, police
> said.
> Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, were
> killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet, police
> said.
> SWAT team members returned fire, killing 26-year-old
> Lovelle Mixon of Oakland, Acting Oakland police Chief Howard
> Jordan said.
> Officer Hege suffered brain damage and may not survive, his
> father, Dr. John S. Hege, said late Saturday.
> "It is a stunning thing to face," he said.
> Grieving officers at the police station hugged and consoled
> each other. People left four bouquets of white roses under a
> granite memorial wall inside the building lobby that lists
> 47 officers killed in the line of duty. The wall shows the
> last officer killed in Oakland was in January of 1999.
> Police said Mixon wielded two different weapons. One gun
> was used at the first scene and an assault rifle was used at
> the apartment building where he was hiding.
> Jordan said Mixon had an "extensive criminal
> history" and was wanted on a no-bail warrant.
> "(Mixon) was on parole and he had a warrant out for
> his arrest for violating that parole. And he was on parole
> for assault with a deadly weapon," said Oakland police
> Deputy Chief Jeffery Israel.
> Police said they did not know exactly why the officers
> initially stopped the suspect, but said it apparently was a
> routine traffic stop.
> People lingered at the scene of the first shooting. About
> 20 bystanders taunted police.
> Tension between police and the community has risen steadily
> since the fatal shooting of unarmed 22-year-old Oscar Grant
> by a transit police officer at an Oakland train station on
> Jan. 1.
> That former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer, Johannes
> Mehserle, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. A
> preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday. Violent
> protests erupted on the streets of Oakland in the weeks
> after Grant's death, further inflaming tensions.
> Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger planned to fly to Oakland on
> Sunday from Washington, D.C., to meet with police and Mayor
> Dellums, the govenor's office said.
>
We know the spirit world is beyond color, therefore we must pray for all those slaughtered in the streets of Oakland, whether police or citizens. It is indeed sad when officers of the peace are unable to secure the peace of a community, but often become brute beasts in blue uniforms. And in return the citizens must become beasts in self defense, especially when they are already under stress from lacking the necessities of life: jobs, food, clothing and shelter, a stable family environment wherein they can evolve from animal to spiritual consciousness. When violence becomes the order of the day, when the community is mortally afraid of those employed to protect them, when the citizens resort to violence in interpersonal relations, then that society is not of Divine, but is existing on the animal plane, the lowest level of existence, and yet we pretend to be civilized. Yet we act like violent savages at the drop of a hat, the glance of an eye, we are ready to kill, slaughter each other often without the slightest cause, rhyme or reason. In my 1968 interview with James Baldwin, he said, "It's a wonder we haven't all gone stark raving mad." Jimmy, I submit 40 years after your statement, we indeed have now gone stark raving mad. The streets of Oakland are no place to be somebody, they are on par with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Mexico, where violence rules the day and every man must be conscious of his surroundings and behavior at any time. The politicians and police are not the only ones to blame, but the entire community. We have churches on every corner yet there is something lacking in their spiritual message, something is being lost in translation from pulpit to congregation to street. How can such massive violence exist in a Christian society or Muslim society for that matter? Why is there so little spiritual transformation evident in the people? The prosperity consciousness in religiosity these days only leads to conspicuous consumption that has led us to the present precipice. Shall we continue in our madness until we slip over the cliff, until we are consumed by our own vomit?
Someone, anyone, step forward and show us the light, the path, the way, for we have become a headless monster, a car without a driver, clearly the politicians cannot solve this conundrum of our lives, the educators are lost in perpetuating the world of make believe called white supremacy. Our economic leaders are lost in their shoestrings, trying to revive a decadent and dying free market capitalist system based on greed, cheap labor and cheap resources. They are determined to ignore their own people in a global conspiracy of pyramid and Ponzi schemes which is the essence international finance.
All brother Mixon wanted was a job. And the tragedy is that there are desperate men and women like him throughout the streets of Oakland, men and women who will find no job and become mad enough to follow his act of desperation and despair. The police had a job watching him. His parole officer had a job watching him. His prison officials had a job securing him. Was he some sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered for all except himself? No wonder his desperation and despair, no wonder his feelings of nothingness and dread. No wonder his spirituality was crushed to the earth, making him a beast of prey, willing to do the ultimate to escape the jails and prison, the American gulag, the neo slavery plantations that exist throughout this nation, wherein the commodity is the souls and bodies of men and women. Up from Slavery, Up from Ignut, up from the animal plane to the Divine. Throw off the shackles of mental slavery that permits us to claim the gun as our savior, the panacea for all that ills our community, when in reality it is only putting on the armor of God that will elevate us out of the dungeon of wickedness and despair. The churches must teach a new way, the schools must teach a new way, discarding that old out of date white supremacy curriculum that over fifty per cent of our children are intelligent enough to reject outright for its abject meaninglessness absurdity. The churches are empty, especially of young men because the message does not touch their spiritual consciousness. They are too smart to be pimped by fake pimps in the pulpit.
The brothers at the barber shop asked me, "OG, what's the difference between the pimp and the preacher?" I replied, "The difference is that the preacher has more whores."
As Brother Fritz Pointer noted below, we can and must police ourselves, the police must be from our community, not living in Dublin, Tracy and Livermore.
These are foreigners who have no love for our community. They are here to enforce white supremacy, white privilege and white power. And nothing shall change but go from bad to worse until the fundamental order is radically restructured. Sun Ra taught me, "The Creator got things fixed, you can't go forward or backward until you do the right thing." So do the right thing, Oakland, the eyes of the world are on you at this hour, as it has been in the past when you raised up to check the power of brute beasts in blue uniforms. This time around, know that we have a problem that is not physical but spiritual, for when we put on the armor of God no one can touch us. Didn't Hammer tell us, "You can't touch this"? Those of you who don't believe in spirituality continue down the physical path when we know the end of this path. Look at America at this hour drowning from excessive belief in the physical and material things of life, while none of this path has brought joy, peace and happiness to this world. As I look around Houston, Texas at the mansions owned by black people, at the same time I see the numerous hospitals here to heal those sick from the trappings of materialism, the mental stress, the cancer and other diseases caused by the belief in the physical things of life, while we know our health is our wealth. What good are these mansions if we act like nigguhs inside them, if the women are in golden handcuffs, abused, neglected and depressed, on the verge of suicide?
We consume, consume, consume, and yet there is never enough. Our closets are full of trinkets we never take out of the bag, still with the tags on them because they were wanted but not needed. And yet there is enough to go around but we dare share, we dare give away anything, but hoard for dear life as though there will be no tomorrow. When we do not reach out to men like Mixon, we see the result, it is no mystery the desperation of his heart, the poverty of his dreams for simple things, basic survival in a land of plenty. Continue to deny his generation and await the Calamity. To avoid the Calamity we must embrace the Religion of the Heart, beyond churches, temples, mosques, but recognize our essense which is spiritual, beyond the physical and material. What is the use of violence when in the end of all wars in political discussion or diplomacy. Why all the violence when ultimately we must do as Isaiah taught, "Reason together."
--Marvin X
Marvin X is the author of Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality. He continued his message in How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
His next book is Up from Ignut, or Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez, the Soulful Musings of a North American African Thinker, Black Bird Press,
Berkeley, 2009. All of you are invited to celebrate his 65th birthday at the Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre, 3201 Adline Ave., Berkeley Ca, May 29, 7pm. Save the date! May 1-3 Marvin X will participate in the Black Studies Forty Years Later Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia. Other participants include Amiri Baraka, Muhammad Ahmed, Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Jimmy Garett.
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: tarika lewis
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 11:54:53 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Letter to A Post Black Negro
Thank you for eloquently articulating all of our sentiments...peace
--Tarika Lewis
--- On Mon, 3/23/09, Marvin X Jackmon
> From: Marvin X Jackmon
> Subject: Fw: Letter to A Post Black Negro
> To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com, bbstring2@bellsouth.net, bcpdigital@yahoo.com, amirib@aol.com, askia38@yahoo.com, mstanfrd@temple.edu, ubcindc@yahoo.com, "Nathan Hare"
Elliott"
> Date: Monday, March 23, 2009, 8:44 PM
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: "fhpointer@comcast.net"
>
> To: Marvin X Jackmon
> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 9:20:42 PM
> Subject: Re: Letter to A Post Black Negro
>
>
> Marvin:
>
> I appreciate your analysis and insights. In fact, I
> marvel at the detailed information you summon and wield on
> our behalf. That is, on behalf of Black people. What
> you're doing is so very necessary and timely. I must
> say, as one born and raised in Oakland, I understand the
> obscene pride we feel about Lovell Mixon. Obscene because
> people like us, around the world, die like the four
> policeman did everyday, if not every hour, in mass. Pride
> because Lovell accepted the consequences of his actions. I
> don't know if we can ask more than that of human being.
> He also let the OPD know that they are human, merely
> human. This may surprise them to know. As we have said
> years ago, the police must come from the community they
> serve. Until then, like Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
> the people of Oakland are under Occupation. Keep up the
> powerful, courageous writing, Mr. X.
>
> Fritz Pointer
From: rudolph lewis
To: Marvin X
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 12:24:58 AM
Subject: RE: Letter to A Post Black Negro
Marvin, Martin seems to be one of those Negroes who writes with a little white man on his shoulder. Martin is up to his eyeballs in sterile hypocrisy and sham sentiments.
Does he really believe that anyone reading his "people must become people" and "Death is death" that Americans are of that mind set when we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year seeking to murder people in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to kill those who killed Americans? These are sentiments uttered daily by American politicians and American whites: we want the death of those who killed on 9/11!
Just today in the NYTimes the US Special Forces were applauded in killing 5 Afghan "militants," and they didn't call it murder or thought it outrageous when they did not know for certain that these were civilians. Where was Martin and the Oakland paper when Israelis were killing Gazan civilians, more than 1300--men women, and children?
We all know everything is not everything. That kind of equality and equity has never existed for blacks, browns--the Other American. Some deaths are more heavy and valuable than others. The officials and the elite of Oakland will cry huge crocodile tears for the four cops murdered in Oakland streets, tears that did not come for Oscar Grant, outrage that did not occur in high places for the black and poor beaten, abused, and murdered, daily in American cities.
We know in our hearts people are not treated as people especially when their skins are black and brown. Black men are murdered with abandon in American and there is a great reluctance to do anything about it. We all know this on our pulse.
Martin knows as well as anyone that white cops are placed in communities to terrorize black men, women, and children and that white police unions and judges and attorney generals support this terrorism by hook or crook and that often black mayors are afraid of their own police departments. Martin is a phony and a phony with phony sentiments. To place the great Marvin X on the same level as murderous and terrorizing cops is utterly outrageous and the height of pandering to power. He feels free to do that because he thinks he will gain some points from that little white man sitting on his shoulder.
We all want peace and love in our communities. We all would like to respect the security forces in our communities. But it just ain't that way, however evolved Martin may be. But dear Martin, they will be coming after you one of these days and your kiss up words will not save you -- Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marvin X Jackmon"
>
> To: "Martin Reynolds"
>
> blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com, goodnewspc@aol.com,
> amirib@aol.com, askia38@yahoo.com, lewistarika@yahoo.com,
> lajpr@aol.com, occur@sbcglobal.net,
> officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com, oyamo@umich.edu,
> mstanfrd@temple.edu, eastsideculturalcenter@gmail.com,
> "j vern cromartie"
>
> "Ernest Allen"
> falim@aol.com, alona3649@hotmail.com, wriles@pacbell.net,
> walterriley@rrrandw.com, "d jackmon7"
>
> Mrdaveyd@aol.com, D12M@aol.com, dbrooks@oaklandnet.com,
> lajpr@aol.com, langemx99@yahoo.com, "Geoffrey
> Grier"
> "Ethel Long-Scott"
> ajackmon@hotmail.com, KALAMU@aol.com, "kam
> williams"
> keepersoftheculture@yahoo.com, "kelly vance"
>
> Kambon"
> philipjohnsonward@yahoo.com,
> ibespirit@yahoo.com, prodeternal@hotmail.com, "Dennis
> Pete"
> Rondel"
> "Fritz Pointer"
> "Phavia Kujichagulia"
> rudolphlewis@hotmail.com, runoko@yahoo.com
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 8:43:03 PM GMT -08:00
> US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Letter to A Post Black Negro
>
>
> Martin, you always amaze me with your post-black negro
> analysis of affairs in Oakland.
> Oakland has been in a state of war with its citizens at
> least the past forty years, and that war has been
> spearheaded by the police who have never,on any
> occasion,provided security for Blacks, maybe for the
> property-owning class of whites and a few blacks--but we see
> even businessmen like Geoffery Pete can be victims of police
> shakedowns. So when do the police receive justice, certainly
> not in the courts as we saw in the Riders case, and we doubt
> anything will happen with the killer of Oscar Grant. So it
> took the Panthers to rise up to challenge the police
> occupying army during the 60s. Of course the OPD had murder
> squads that killed black people in general and Panthers in
> particular. What the Panthers did was take pressure off the
> community by absorbing the blows so often directed on the
> people. For this the Panthers must be honored.
>
> The police deserve no respect for their decades of death
> dealing in the hood, for supplying drugs and guns to
> destabilize our community. We remember during 1979 they were
> killing a black man a month, climaxing with the death of
> Melvin Black. We organized a rally at the Oakland
> auditorium, bringing in Farakhan, Angela Davis, Oba
> T'shaka, Paul Cobb, Dezzy Wood Jones, Eldridge Cleaver
> and others. Immediately after this rally the police killing
> stopped but soon followed was the appearance of Uzis and
> Crack cocaine which we now know was the US Government's
> program to raise money for the Contra war in Nicaragua.
> Certainly the OPD played its part in the Crack epidemic
> that has continued to this day with drive by shootings and
> drug shake downs by the OPD that your paper and the Chauncey
> Bailey Project has yet to investigate, while continuing to
> play up the Black Muslim Bakery as the sole suspects in the
> assasination of journalist Chauncey Bailey.
>
> In short, I have no respect for the OPD because they are
> part of the problem and your paper appears to have a tainted
> relationship with them as you refuse to investigate
> Chauncey's allegations against the black murder squad on
> the OPD, supposedly headed by the very officer who was the
> lead investigator of the Chauncey Bailey homicide. Thus your
> paper, the Oakland Tribune and the CBP are guilty of shoddy
> journalism, faking professionalism, scaming the public with
> continued slander of Muslims as if they were the sole reason
> for Chauncey's murder when you know better. You know he
> was fired from the Oakland Tribune at the urging of former
> Mayor Jerry Brown because he was "tired of that nigger
> snooping around City Hall and the OPD." Now that he is
> Attorney General of California, Mayor Dellems wants him to
> investigate the murder of Chauncey when it is Jerry Brown
> who needs to be investigated for his role in Chauncey's
> death--what happened to Jerry Brown's
> internet records when he departed City Hall?
>
> From the above, we can see why Oakland is a death house and
> the OPD deserve no respect from the people, nor does City
> Hall, the Attorney General and the Oakland Tribune. All of
> you are part of the problem of wickedness in high places.
> Why do you think when the OPD is guilty of murder and can
> continue doing so under the color of law that the
> people's justice will not rise to the occasion. Your
> courts are a sham and mockery of justice and clearly the
> brother saw the need to execute justice his way. The OPD
> occupying army should be removed from the community as they
> provide no service, solve no homicides and remain a white
> racist bastion of incompentence and disservice to the
> people.
>
> They are disgusting to be present in our community. The
> fact that all the officers shot were white reveals the
> racism of the OPD with their precinct in the heart of East
> Oakland's majority black community.
> --Marvin X
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "Reynolds, Martin"
>
> To: Marvin X Jackmon
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:18:17 PM
> Subject: RE: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
> Death is death and nobody, citizen or cop deserves to
> leave this earth in a hail of gunfire.
> So for you to assert this is somehow a "taste of their
> own medicine" situation, sickens me.
> Not because I agree with ill police tactics or the
> horrific things done via COINTELPRO.
> The neo-cons of America do little to improve our standing
> in the world and at home.
> If the world is to ever become the peaceful, evolved place
> we all hope it one day will, we can't revel in
> the slaying of any human being.
> "Happy to learn a Negro can shoot?" C'mon
> man.
> Statements like that make you appear no better than a cop
> who patrols a community he has no regard for.
> Are you a revolutionary? A neo-political pundit? What?
> You come across as a zealot and utilize the history of our
> people's oppression to justify a warped sense of
> retribution as it relates to this incident.
> I don't for a moment condone actions by the cops that
> are inappropriate, corrupt or criminal.
> But at some point Marvin, people must become people.
> You're "neo-colonial black politicians"
> rhetoric does nothing to move us toward that plateau.
> You preach as though you are offering an equation to equal
> a solution.
> When in fact, you're a symptom of the problem.
>
> M.
> Martin G. Reynolds
> Editor
> The Oakland Tribune
> AME News - Bay Area News Group
> 7677 Oakport St. Suite 950
> 510-208-6433
> 510-390-1779 (cell)
> mreynolds@bayareanewsgroup.com
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marvin X Jackmon [mailto:jmarvinx@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 11:00 AM
> To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com; amirib@aol.com;
> mstanfrd@temple.edu; ubcindc@yahoo.com; NMAAHCinfo@si.edu;
> officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com; ramal.lamar@gmail.com;
> refa1@hotmail.com; reggiegeneral@yahoo.com;
> ibespirit@yahoo..com; Nathan Hare; drjuliahare@pacbell.net;
> goodnewspc@aol.com; Reynolds, Martin; Mrdaveyd@aol.com;
> wordslanger@gmail.com; John Woodford; rasjbaraka@yahoo.com;
> rchrisman@cox.net; falim@aol.com; monti@rivercitymaps.com;
> d.jackmon7@gmail.com; abspellman@mac.com;
> ajackmon@hotmail.com; mjackmon@gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
> Rudy, I have no information on Mixon, but the consensus is
> that people are happy to learn a Negro can shoot. Oakland is
> a great community that was humbled and crushed by
> Cointelpro, then neo-colonial black politicians, Dellums is
> probably the last of the black neo-colonials, after him it
> will probably be the Latino turn to be neo-colonial, then
> the return of the raw colonialist whites who are edging
> themselves back into power on the city council and with
> gentrification.
> But the universe may have a different agenda. --MarvinX
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marvin X Jackmon
> To: blackantiwar@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 10:53:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
> Oakland Police Die in Gun Battle
>
> I got up this morning to see the news that a brother and
> three police are dead in Oakland, another officer is
> fighting for his life. I am saddened by this news from my
> beloved city by the Bay, city of my childhood, city where I
> learned black consciousness, city of black studies and Black
> Panthers, once one of the most radical cities in America..
> Of late she has become a house of death with the black on
> black homicide, often instigated by the police with weapons
> sold by the police. As they were in the 60s, the police are
> an occupying army of mostly white racist officers, and many
> of the black officers are no better, sometimes even more
> brutal to prove themselves to their white comrades. Chauncey
> Bailey is dead partly because he was writing about black
> police murder squads and shakedowns.. The chief recently
> resigned because journalists were inching closer to his role
> in allowing abuse under his watch.
>
> The killing of three officers by a young brother may be
> symbolic of things to come. As we know the new year began
> with the BART police murder of young Oscar Grant. Yes, the
> universe has a way of righting itself when things go out of
> control. We see the universe stepping in to bring humility
> to the greedy capitalist bloodsuckers of the poor and those
> addicted to wretched materialism. So it is time to reflect
> on this rampant violence in Oakland that has left so many
> people grieving for lost loved ones. And now the police get
> a taste of their own medicine. As thou has done, so shall it
> be done to thee. There is no escape for wickedness,
> especially in high places or low places either. The people
> do not deserve to live under occupation and violence under
> the color of law. Their is a limit to what a people can
> take, especially when they see no justice in the land, when
> the criminals are instituting and administrating the law for
> their own wicked purpose.
>
> The Black Panthers fought forty years ago against the
> police--yet today it is business as usual with the
> "pigs," who banned my open-air classroom at 14th
> and Broadway, at which people noted I made things better
> downtown by talking with spiritually burdened youth and
> adults, counseling them and listening to their problems of
> homelessness, hunger, ignorance, disease and unresolved
> grief, so often brought on by the murder of their loved
> ones. Isn't it strange that youth rioted at the very
> spot where I taught and tried to bring peace, love and
> understanding?
> I did not discriminate when the white mentally ill came by
> wanting a dollar, something to eat or simply a kind word
> like good morning, have a nice day. Often the police would
> stand next to me, yes, I knew they were listening to my
> conversation while they supposedly watched young weed
> dealers making their hustle. For several years the police
> said nothing to me, then after three or four years they
> informed me I was vending my books in a restricted area.
> Restricted for what purpose, there are hardly any stores
> downtown Oakland, it is a virtual cemetery, especially after
> dark while downtown San Francisco is bustling with people
> all night long.
>
> Oakland has a glorious tradition of radical social action,
> but it is a tradition soaked in blood, often the result of
> bad and brutal police relations with the community. Why
> can't Mayor Ron Dellums use the model the US military
> exercised in Iraq when they subdued the insurgents by giving
> them jobs securing their communities? Just as in Iraq, we
> have young men marginalized and alienated from society,
> ready to do any crime to "get theirs," but
> secretly wishing things didn't have to be this way, that
> all they want is economic parity with the rest of society
> that likes to eat in fine restaurants, wear nice clothes and
> take care of their families.. Clearly, the OPD has not and
> cannot secure the community, so why not be radical, Mr.
> Radical Mayor Dellums, hire youth to secure the hood you
> know the police cannot and never will, at least not until
> there is a radical revamping of this rotten, crumbling
> capitalist society, restructuring not only the police, but
> the
> schools, economic, political and religious institutions,
> social relations and in the process ending America's
> cowardly addiction to white supremacy, white privilege
> and the desire to dominate the world.
>
> We pray for all those grieving loved ones who are now
> deprived of their men due to gun violence. We are exhausted
> from attending funerals, but understand death is life and
> funerals are a way to help us understand and transcend the
> pain and suffering of losing the ones we love.
> We pray the people of Oakland will rise to the occasion to
> become the great and valiant community recognized around the
> world for radical social action.
> --Marvin X
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Marvin X Jackmon
> To: blackantiwar@ yahoogroups. com; amirib@aol.com;
> askia38@yahoo. com; mstanfrd@temple. edu; j_vern_cromartie@
> yahoo.com; ramal.lamar@ gmail.com; Muhammida El Muhajir
>
> rs@yahoo. com
> Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:14:06 AM
> Subject: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
>
>
>
>
> Gunman kills 3 officers, wounds 4th in Oakland
> By TERRY COLLINS and LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writers
> Terry Collins And Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writers –
> 43 mins ago
> AP – This is an undated photo combo of images released
> by the Oakland Police Department of Oakland Police …
> * Play Video Video:3 officers, suspect killed in Oakland
> shootouts AP
> OAKLAND, Calif. – A police officer was battling for his
> life and three more were dead after a parolee with an
> "extensive criminal history" opened fire at a
> routine traffic stop and hours later gunned down members of
> a SWAT team searching for him.
> The gunman was also killed Saturday, capping a day of
> violence that the Oakland Police Department said was the
> worst in its history. Never before had three police officers
> died in the line of duty on the same day.
> "It's in these moments that words are
> extraordinarily inadequate," said Mayor Ron Dellums at
> a somber news conference Saturday night.
> The mayhem began that afternoon, when two motorcycle patrol
> officers stopped a 1995 Buick sedan in east Oakland, Oakland
> police spokesman Jeff Thomason said. The driver opened fire,
> killing Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40, and gravely wounding Officer
> John Hege, 41....
> The gunman then fled on foot, police said, leading to an
> intense manhunt by dozens of Oakland police, California
> Highway Patrol officers and Alameda County sheriff deputies.
> Streets were roped off and an entire area of east Oakland
> closed to traffic.
> About two hours later, officers got an anonymous tip that
> the gunman was inside a nearby apartment building.
> A SWAT team had entered an apartment to clear and search it
> when the gunman shot them with an assault rifle, police
> said.
> Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43, and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35, were
> killed and a third officer was grazed by a bullet, police
> said.
> SWAT team members returned fire, killing 26-year-old
> Lovelle Mixon of Oakland, Acting Oakland police Chief Howard
> Jordan said.
> Officer Hege suffered brain damage and may not survive, his
> father, Dr. John S. Hege, said late Saturday.
> "It is a stunning thing to face," he said.
> Grieving officers at the police station hugged and consoled
> each other. People left four bouquets of white roses under a
> granite memorial wall inside the building lobby that lists
> 47 officers killed in the line of duty. The wall shows the
> last officer killed in Oakland was in January of 1999.
> Police said Mixon wielded two different weapons. One gun
> was used at the first scene and an assault rifle was used at
> the apartment building where he was hiding.
> Jordan said Mixon had an "extensive criminal
> history" and was wanted on a no-bail warrant.
> "(Mixon) was on parole and he had a warrant out for
> his arrest for violating that parole. And he was on parole
> for assault with a deadly weapon," said Oakland police
> Deputy Chief Jeffery Israel.
> Police said they did not know exactly why the officers
> initially stopped the suspect, but said it apparently was a
> routine traffic stop.
> People lingered at the scene of the first shooting. About
> 20 bystanders taunted police.
> Tension between police and the community has risen steadily
> since the fatal shooting of unarmed 22-year-old Oscar Grant
> by a transit police officer at an Oakland train station on
> Jan. 1.
> That former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer, Johannes
> Mehserle, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. A
> preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday. Violent
> protests erupted on the streets of Oakland in the weeks
> after Grant's death, further inflaming tensions.
> Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger planned to fly to Oakland on
> Sunday from Washington, D.C., to meet with police and Mayor
> Dellums, the govenor's office said.
>
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Comment on Marvin X's Letter to the Post Black Negro Editor of the Oakland Tribune
Marvin, Martin seems to be one of those Negroes who writes with a little white man on his shoulder. Martin is up to his eyeballs in sterile hypocrisy and sham sentiments.
Does he really believe that anyone reading his "people must become people" and "Death is death" that Americans are of that mind set when we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year seeking to murder people in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to kill those who killed Americans? These are sentiments uttered daily by American politicians and American whites: we want the death of those who killed on 9/11!
Just today in the NYTimes the US Special Forces were applauded in killing 5 Afghan "militants," and they didn't call it murder or thought it outrageous when they did not know for certain that these were civilians. Where was Martin and the Oakland paper when Israelis were killing Gazan civilians, more than 1300--men women, and children?
We all know everything is not everything. That kind of equality and equity has never existed for blacks, browns--the Other American. Some deaths are more heavy and valuable than others. The officials and the elite of Oakland will cry huge crocodile tears for the four cops murdered in Oakland streets, tears that did not come for Oscar Grant, outrage that did not occur in high places for the black and poor beaten, abused, and murdered, daily in American cities.
We know in our hearts people are not treated as people especially when their skins are black and brown. Black men are murdered with abandon in American and there is a great reluctance to do anything about it. We all know this on our pulse.
Martin knows as well as anyone that white cops are placed in communities to terrorize black men, women, and children and that white police unions and judges and attorney generals support this terrorism by hook or crook and that often black mayors are afraid of their own police departments. Martin is a phony and a phony with phony sentiments. To place the great Marvin X on the same level as murderous and terrorizing cops is utterly outrageous and the height of pandering to power. He feels free to do that because he thinks he will gain some points from that little white man sitting on his shoulder.
We all want peace and love in our communities. We all would like to respect the security forces in our communities. But it just ain't that way, however evolved Martin may be. But dear Martin, they will be coming after you one of these days and your kiss up words will not save you -- Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
Marvin, Martin seems to be one of those Negroes who writes with a little white man on his shoulder. Martin is up to his eyeballs in sterile hypocrisy and sham sentiments.
Does he really believe that anyone reading his "people must become people" and "Death is death" that Americans are of that mind set when we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year seeking to murder people in the Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to kill those who killed Americans? These are sentiments uttered daily by American politicians and American whites: we want the death of those who killed on 9/11!
Just today in the NYTimes the US Special Forces were applauded in killing 5 Afghan "militants," and they didn't call it murder or thought it outrageous when they did not know for certain that these were civilians. Where was Martin and the Oakland paper when Israelis were killing Gazan civilians, more than 1300--men women, and children?
We all know everything is not everything. That kind of equality and equity has never existed for blacks, browns--the Other American. Some deaths are more heavy and valuable than others. The officials and the elite of Oakland will cry huge crocodile tears for the four cops murdered in Oakland streets, tears that did not come for Oscar Grant, outrage that did not occur in high places for the black and poor beaten, abused, and murdered, daily in American cities.
We know in our hearts people are not treated as people especially when their skins are black and brown. Black men are murdered with abandon in American and there is a great reluctance to do anything about it. We all know this on our pulse.
Martin knows as well as anyone that white cops are placed in communities to terrorize black men, women, and children and that white police unions and judges and attorney generals support this terrorism by hook or crook and that often black mayors are afraid of their own police departments. Martin is a phony and a phony with phony sentiments. To place the great Marvin X on the same level as murderous and terrorizing cops is utterly outrageous and the height of pandering to power. He feels free to do that because he thinks he will gain some points from that little white man sitting on his shoulder.
We all want peace and love in our communities. We all would like to respect the security forces in our communities. But it just ain't that way, however evolved Martin may be. But dear Martin, they will be coming after you one of these days and your kiss up words will not save you -- Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
From: John Woodford
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 9:54:33 PM
Subject: Re: My Friend the Devil
Hey, Marvin. Interesting account.
I don't know about all your facts and chronology, but to me the main interpretive statement I agree with is that Sam Napier was a superb fellow. Beyond that, I see a number of things quite differently. Cleaver was no real Marxist-Leninist, or scientific socialist, or whatever you may wish to call the science of political economy that critiques capitalism (and the imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and racism that go with it) and seeks to figure out how to advance beyond it. Despite whatever labels one may toss around, the objective is worthy.
Cleaver, like many either willing or unwitting agents provocateurs, followed a course that played into the hands of the ruling elite. They are probably sorriest to see him go. The BPP had great achievements and potential, and the ruling class wanted to do them in by any and all means necessary. One of those means was Cleaver.
Proctor or any other CPers who thought they could get street cred, i.e. build their party, with the likes of Cleaver, were engaging in a form of opportunism and delusion that turned out to be one of the factors in the CPUSA's shoot-self-in- foot crippling. If you want to see a parallel with the BPP, look at the Russian Narodniks of 1905 and read what Lenin had to say about them in "Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder."
Sam Napier, who was a sincere student of political economy and a fellow admirer of Lenin, told me it was the US organization, not Cleaver's group, that wanted to kill him. This was in Chicago, on his way to NY.
Of course, considering the pedigree of the US organization, perhaps they and the Cleaver group were linked!
No revolution has been based on the so-called lumpen, and I don't think any will be. That's all Superfly/Mad Max fantasy that seems to appeal to Black and white petty-bourgeoisie.
The key insights into resisting and overcoming imperialism arose from Lenin, and none has surpassed him. Despite the shambles the Russians made of their socialist experiment, their failures in no way represent the principles and potential of the courses Lenin laid out. It takes a class-based well-organized party to defeat the capitalists, not one that idealizes violence but one that can defend itself with force if need be.
Mao's writings have little relevance to the U.S. You will note that the West goes along with touting Mao while continuing to portray Lenin as a terrorist and dictator, although he was neither..
Science is no the property of any color, ethnic group or nation. Those who depict scientific socialism as "white" have fallen into a pattern of thinking that accepts rightwingers' and racists' views: i.e., complex matters that require study, thinking and organization are alien to Black folks.
If the people in the capitalist countries are so gullible as to imbibe their view of socialism--and Lenin--from the tit of Uncle Samella, they will slide into common ruin of all classes.
As for religions, they are a matter of personal faith, and none of them has or will guide a complex nation state to societal advance.
j woodford
johnwood@umich. edu
On Mar 21, 2009, at 10:48 PM, Marvin X Jackmon wrote:
Part Four: My Friend the Devil
Eldridge had no knowledge of the Black Panthers until I informed him out of our artistic desire to get rid of him as chair of Black House, even though he had made it happen by putting up the money, but we rejected his desire to push Marxism at any cost, even though he paid the cost to be the boss. I didn't think he was so dogmatic about his mission which was to create a Communist organization. Thus when we realized he was merely using artists to advance his political goals, we objected. For a short time we went along with his sessions on Communism, sometimes they included Rosco Proctor. I think Rosco was secretary of the Communist party of California. We didn't mind reading Mao's Talks at Yenan Forum on Art and Literature or Robert F. Williams Negroes With Guns. But when we tired of the Marxist approach of Cleaver, I suggested he meet some of my friends across the Bay who were arming themselves for self defense against the police. I thought this would be
a way to get rid of Cleaver so we could do our cultural work. Cleaver best describes meeting the Panthers for the first time in his book Post-Prison Writings. But I took him to meet Bobby Seale one night after a radio interview at a station in Jack London Square. I took him by Bobby Seale's house in North Oakland, got Bobby to come outside to Cleaver's car. Bobby got in and the world knows the rest. Hooking up with the Panthers was not the idea Cleaver came out of prison to pursue, but it was still a dream come true, although I knew there would be hell to pay for somebody, in particular Bobby and Huey who I knew were no match for Cleaver's chicanery. Even though Bobby and Huey were well read, they were no match for Cleaver, especially in terms of Marxism. Nor were they on par with Cleaver's organizational skills and especially his ability to move on those in opposition to his mission, even to the point of murder. Who knows how many bodies Cleaver left
behind in the Gulag, or his special skills in getting rid of enemies. Huey may have been a psychopath but still he was no match for Cleaver. I was glad Cleaver was hooking up with the Panthers because it took pressure off us artists. But I felt sorry for what awaited the Panthers because I knew Cleaver was a man who had to be in control, especially because he had superior knowledge and had proven organizational skills as evidenced by the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club, which was a military organization as well.
Around the time I was introducing Cleaver to the Panthers, they were moving on a rival Panther organization the BPP called the Paper Panthers, led by their former associates in Donald Warden's AfroAmerican Association and co-students at Merritt: Ken and Carol Freeman, Ernie Allen, and others who were part of the group of neo black intellectuals at Merritt, including myself, Richard Thorne, Isaac Moore, Ann Williams, Maurice Dawson, John Thomas, Wayne Combash
and others. Several of us were associated with Soulbook, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) publication headed by Robert F. Williams and Max Stanford (now Muhammad Ahmed). But Huey and Bobby had separated from the socalled Paper Panthers because they did not recognize the supremacy of armed self-defense. They eventually gave the Paper Panthers an ultimatum: put up guns or shut up and stop calling themselves Black Panthers. Again, Cleaver gives a good description of this conflict in Post-Prison Writings. I am certain Ernie Allen and Ken Freeman's brother, Donald Freeman (Baba Lumumba) can give their side of the story with documentation. Baba Lumbuma has a letter from the BPP to the Black Panther Party of Northern California that invites them to stop using the Panther name, signed by Huey and Bobby. Eventually there was a confrontation between the two Panther groups in San Francisco at the headquarters of Bill Bradley (now Oba T'Shaka). (I am
writing from total recall so events may be out of chronological order but I think the events happened close to the order I'm describing. There are a plethora of books on the BPP to confirm the sequence of events or correct my amnesia. If the reader has more accurate information, please submit it to me for inclusion in my narrative so I won't be guilty of revisionism. )
After introducing Eldrdige to the Panthers, events at Black House happened in rapid succession, leading toward the end of the cultural component and the establishment of Black House as the San Francisco headquarters of the BPP. Again, I may have the chronological order confused, after all, I am recalling events of forty years ago from memory. Anyway, Cleaver becomes minister of information of the BPP and soon followed the first publication of the BPP newspaper, headlined with the police murder of Denzil Dowell in Richmond. Eldridge and Emory Douglas laid out the paper. Besides Muhammad Speaks, the BPP newspaper would become the most powerful newspaper of the 60s revolution. And of course much of the distribution success can be attributed to Samuel Napier, Minister of Distribution. What I remember most about Samuel was his innocence and sincerity about wanting to get involved and giving his all once involved. I was never more depressed than when I learned
he was murdered in the internecine violence when the BPP factions split between Huey's west coast army and Eldridge's east coast army. Sam was murdered then set afire in New York. When I performed my play One Day In the Life in 1997 at Sista's Place in New York, the brothers pulled me aside and said the following: "Marvin, we love you, but we don't give a damn about Huey Newton," (the play has a scene of my last meeting with Huey--the setting of the one-act play Salaam, Huey, Salaam, by Ed Bullins and Marvin X, New Federal Theatre, 2008). New York is Eldridge's turf, they told me. "His army is still here." When he died May 1, 1998, I organized his memorial service in Oakland, along with Sister Majedah Rahman, a former Panther. Many Panthers did not attend because of their loyalty to Huey. Those who did attend included: Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis,
Richard Aoki (recently deceased, the first Asian Panther), Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Yusef Bey, Imam Alamin, Minister Keith Muhammad, Kathleen and Joju Cleaver. Kathleen said to me after the service, "Marvin, the service was great, but there were just too many Muslims." Well, if it weren't for us Muslims, there would have not been any recognition of Cleaver's contribution to the revolution. Kathleen had agreed to have a poem I wrote read at his funeral in Los Angeles.
But let's get back to the chronology. There was a group of youth who made the basement of Black House their playhouse and apparently there was a lot of things going on down there between the youth, like playing hooky from school and sexual abuse of girls. We got word from some of our bourgeoisie friends, in particular Dezzie Woods and Bennie Ivy that the police were going to raid Black House. The Black bourgeoisie did give financial support to Black House, in contrast to their lack of support for Black Arts West. Maybe the notoriety of Black House made them more giving, especially with the presence of EC in the house, about to become a best selling author. Everybody likes to be around a star.
No one had time for the youth except me, certainly not Eldridge or Ed Bullins, so I was the liaison with the youth, some of whom I have been in contact with until today. Lil Bobby Hutton came to me one day with a directive from the Supreme Commander of the BPP, Huey P. Huey, saying the youth clubhouse had to be closed down. Lil Bobby was 16 and Huey was his hero. Lil Bobby was the third person to join the BPP and became Secretary, a model for youth of today to join the liberation struggle and forsake gang banging, set tripping and other reactionary activities. In my supreme arrogance, I told Lil Bobby, "Fuck the Supreme Commander!" I saw death in his eyes for me. But I felt Huey was an equal and even though the BPP had taken over Black House, they did not control me. Lil Bobby looked at me as if I had cursed God Almighty. "We go deal with you, Padna!" My days in the Black House were growing short. That night all I heard were Black Panthers clicking 45 automatics outside my bedroom door. Of course I was just as mad and psychopathic as any Panther. I was fearless. My attitude was, "Fuck you motherfuckers. Kiss my ass."
Nothing happened except the coming exit of myself and other artists from Black House, including Ed Bullins who would soon take off for New York. The BPP began to terrorize socalled cultural nationalists or those they considered would not take up armed struggle in the manner prescribed by the BPP. Musicians departed the Bay for the East coast. Askia Muhammad was threatened and fled East after coming to teach at San Francisco State College/now University.
Before my exit the BPP was next door in Eldridge's room planning their dramatic and historic to invade the State Capitol in Sacramento. I was planning my
departure from Black House. My next move was into the Nation of Islam, simply because I was wanted to be involved in a black nationalist organization that was spiritual as well. Easter Sunday, 1967, I went to Mosque #26 and joined the NOI.
--Continued-
--Marvin X
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 9:54:33 PM
Subject: Re: My Friend the Devil
Hey, Marvin. Interesting account.
I don't know about all your facts and chronology, but to me the main interpretive statement I agree with is that Sam Napier was a superb fellow. Beyond that, I see a number of things quite differently. Cleaver was no real Marxist-Leninist, or scientific socialist, or whatever you may wish to call the science of political economy that critiques capitalism (and the imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and racism that go with it) and seeks to figure out how to advance beyond it. Despite whatever labels one may toss around, the objective is worthy.
Cleaver, like many either willing or unwitting agents provocateurs, followed a course that played into the hands of the ruling elite. They are probably sorriest to see him go. The BPP had great achievements and potential, and the ruling class wanted to do them in by any and all means necessary. One of those means was Cleaver.
Proctor or any other CPers who thought they could get street cred, i.e. build their party, with the likes of Cleaver, were engaging in a form of opportunism and delusion that turned out to be one of the factors in the CPUSA's shoot-self-in- foot crippling. If you want to see a parallel with the BPP, look at the Russian Narodniks of 1905 and read what Lenin had to say about them in "Left Wing Communism, an Infantile Disorder."
Sam Napier, who was a sincere student of political economy and a fellow admirer of Lenin, told me it was the US organization, not Cleaver's group, that wanted to kill him. This was in Chicago, on his way to NY.
Of course, considering the pedigree of the US organization, perhaps they and the Cleaver group were linked!
No revolution has been based on the so-called lumpen, and I don't think any will be. That's all Superfly/Mad Max fantasy that seems to appeal to Black and white petty-bourgeoisie.
The key insights into resisting and overcoming imperialism arose from Lenin, and none has surpassed him. Despite the shambles the Russians made of their socialist experiment, their failures in no way represent the principles and potential of the courses Lenin laid out. It takes a class-based well-organized party to defeat the capitalists, not one that idealizes violence but one that can defend itself with force if need be.
Mao's writings have little relevance to the U.S. You will note that the West goes along with touting Mao while continuing to portray Lenin as a terrorist and dictator, although he was neither..
Science is no the property of any color, ethnic group or nation. Those who depict scientific socialism as "white" have fallen into a pattern of thinking that accepts rightwingers' and racists' views: i.e., complex matters that require study, thinking and organization are alien to Black folks.
If the people in the capitalist countries are so gullible as to imbibe their view of socialism--and Lenin--from the tit of Uncle Samella, they will slide into common ruin of all classes.
As for religions, they are a matter of personal faith, and none of them has or will guide a complex nation state to societal advance.
j woodford
johnwood@umich. edu
On Mar 21, 2009, at 10:48 PM, Marvin X Jackmon wrote:
Part Four: My Friend the Devil
Eldridge had no knowledge of the Black Panthers until I informed him out of our artistic desire to get rid of him as chair of Black House, even though he had made it happen by putting up the money, but we rejected his desire to push Marxism at any cost, even though he paid the cost to be the boss. I didn't think he was so dogmatic about his mission which was to create a Communist organization. Thus when we realized he was merely using artists to advance his political goals, we objected. For a short time we went along with his sessions on Communism, sometimes they included Rosco Proctor. I think Rosco was secretary of the Communist party of California. We didn't mind reading Mao's Talks at Yenan Forum on Art and Literature or Robert F. Williams Negroes With Guns. But when we tired of the Marxist approach of Cleaver, I suggested he meet some of my friends across the Bay who were arming themselves for self defense against the police. I thought this would be
a way to get rid of Cleaver so we could do our cultural work. Cleaver best describes meeting the Panthers for the first time in his book Post-Prison Writings. But I took him to meet Bobby Seale one night after a radio interview at a station in Jack London Square. I took him by Bobby Seale's house in North Oakland, got Bobby to come outside to Cleaver's car. Bobby got in and the world knows the rest. Hooking up with the Panthers was not the idea Cleaver came out of prison to pursue, but it was still a dream come true, although I knew there would be hell to pay for somebody, in particular Bobby and Huey who I knew were no match for Cleaver's chicanery. Even though Bobby and Huey were well read, they were no match for Cleaver, especially in terms of Marxism. Nor were they on par with Cleaver's organizational skills and especially his ability to move on those in opposition to his mission, even to the point of murder. Who knows how many bodies Cleaver left
behind in the Gulag, or his special skills in getting rid of enemies. Huey may have been a psychopath but still he was no match for Cleaver. I was glad Cleaver was hooking up with the Panthers because it took pressure off us artists. But I felt sorry for what awaited the Panthers because I knew Cleaver was a man who had to be in control, especially because he had superior knowledge and had proven organizational skills as evidenced by the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club, which was a military organization as well.
Around the time I was introducing Cleaver to the Panthers, they were moving on a rival Panther organization the BPP called the Paper Panthers, led by their former associates in Donald Warden's AfroAmerican Association and co-students at Merritt: Ken and Carol Freeman, Ernie Allen, and others who were part of the group of neo black intellectuals at Merritt, including myself, Richard Thorne, Isaac Moore, Ann Williams, Maurice Dawson, John Thomas, Wayne Combash
and others. Several of us were associated with Soulbook, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) publication headed by Robert F. Williams and Max Stanford (now Muhammad Ahmed). But Huey and Bobby had separated from the socalled Paper Panthers because they did not recognize the supremacy of armed self-defense. They eventually gave the Paper Panthers an ultimatum: put up guns or shut up and stop calling themselves Black Panthers. Again, Cleaver gives a good description of this conflict in Post-Prison Writings. I am certain Ernie Allen and Ken Freeman's brother, Donald Freeman (Baba Lumumba) can give their side of the story with documentation. Baba Lumbuma has a letter from the BPP to the Black Panther Party of Northern California that invites them to stop using the Panther name, signed by Huey and Bobby. Eventually there was a confrontation between the two Panther groups in San Francisco at the headquarters of Bill Bradley (now Oba T'Shaka). (I am
writing from total recall so events may be out of chronological order but I think the events happened close to the order I'm describing. There are a plethora of books on the BPP to confirm the sequence of events or correct my amnesia. If the reader has more accurate information, please submit it to me for inclusion in my narrative so I won't be guilty of revisionism. )
After introducing Eldrdige to the Panthers, events at Black House happened in rapid succession, leading toward the end of the cultural component and the establishment of Black House as the San Francisco headquarters of the BPP. Again, I may have the chronological order confused, after all, I am recalling events of forty years ago from memory. Anyway, Cleaver becomes minister of information of the BPP and soon followed the first publication of the BPP newspaper, headlined with the police murder of Denzil Dowell in Richmond. Eldridge and Emory Douglas laid out the paper. Besides Muhammad Speaks, the BPP newspaper would become the most powerful newspaper of the 60s revolution. And of course much of the distribution success can be attributed to Samuel Napier, Minister of Distribution. What I remember most about Samuel was his innocence and sincerity about wanting to get involved and giving his all once involved. I was never more depressed than when I learned
he was murdered in the internecine violence when the BPP factions split between Huey's west coast army and Eldridge's east coast army. Sam was murdered then set afire in New York. When I performed my play One Day In the Life in 1997 at Sista's Place in New York, the brothers pulled me aside and said the following: "Marvin, we love you, but we don't give a damn about Huey Newton," (the play has a scene of my last meeting with Huey--the setting of the one-act play Salaam, Huey, Salaam, by Ed Bullins and Marvin X, New Federal Theatre, 2008). New York is Eldridge's turf, they told me. "His army is still here." When he died May 1, 1998, I organized his memorial service in Oakland, along with Sister Majedah Rahman, a former Panther. Many Panthers did not attend because of their loyalty to Huey. Those who did attend included: Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis,
Richard Aoki (recently deceased, the first Asian Panther), Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Yusef Bey, Imam Alamin, Minister Keith Muhammad, Kathleen and Joju Cleaver. Kathleen said to me after the service, "Marvin, the service was great, but there were just too many Muslims." Well, if it weren't for us Muslims, there would have not been any recognition of Cleaver's contribution to the revolution. Kathleen had agreed to have a poem I wrote read at his funeral in Los Angeles.
But let's get back to the chronology. There was a group of youth who made the basement of Black House their playhouse and apparently there was a lot of things going on down there between the youth, like playing hooky from school and sexual abuse of girls. We got word from some of our bourgeoisie friends, in particular Dezzie Woods and Bennie Ivy that the police were going to raid Black House. The Black bourgeoisie did give financial support to Black House, in contrast to their lack of support for Black Arts West. Maybe the notoriety of Black House made them more giving, especially with the presence of EC in the house, about to become a best selling author. Everybody likes to be around a star.
No one had time for the youth except me, certainly not Eldridge or Ed Bullins, so I was the liaison with the youth, some of whom I have been in contact with until today. Lil Bobby Hutton came to me one day with a directive from the Supreme Commander of the BPP, Huey P. Huey, saying the youth clubhouse had to be closed down. Lil Bobby was 16 and Huey was his hero. Lil Bobby was the third person to join the BPP and became Secretary, a model for youth of today to join the liberation struggle and forsake gang banging, set tripping and other reactionary activities. In my supreme arrogance, I told Lil Bobby, "Fuck the Supreme Commander!" I saw death in his eyes for me. But I felt Huey was an equal and even though the BPP had taken over Black House, they did not control me. Lil Bobby looked at me as if I had cursed God Almighty. "We go deal with you, Padna!" My days in the Black House were growing short. That night all I heard were Black Panthers clicking 45 automatics outside my bedroom door. Of course I was just as mad and psychopathic as any Panther. I was fearless. My attitude was, "Fuck you motherfuckers. Kiss my ass."
Nothing happened except the coming exit of myself and other artists from Black House, including Ed Bullins who would soon take off for New York. The BPP began to terrorize socalled cultural nationalists or those they considered would not take up armed struggle in the manner prescribed by the BPP. Musicians departed the Bay for the East coast. Askia Muhammad was threatened and fled East after coming to teach at San Francisco State College/now University.
Before my exit the BPP was next door in Eldridge's room planning their dramatic and historic to invade the State Capitol in Sacramento. I was planning my
departure from Black House. My next move was into the Nation of Islam, simply because I was wanted to be involved in a black nationalist organization that was spiritual as well. Easter Sunday, 1967, I went to Mosque #26 and joined the NOI.
--Continued-
--Marvin X
Letter to a Post Black Negro
Martin, you always amaze me with your post-black negro analysis of affairs in Oakland.Oakland has been in a state of war with its citizens at least the past forty years, and that war has been spearheaded by the police who have never,on any occasion,provided security for Blacks, maybe for the property-owning class of whites and a few blacks--but we see even businessmen like Geoffery Pete can be victims of police shakedowns. So when do the police receive justice, certainly not in the courts as we saw in the Riders case, and we doubt anything will happen with the killer of Oscar Grant. So it took the Panthers to rise up to challenge the police occupying army during the 60s. Of course the OPD had murder squads that killed black people in general and Panthers in particular. What the Panthers did was take pressure off the community by absorbing the blows so often directed on the people. For this the Panthers must be honored.
The police deserve no respect for their decades of death dealing in the hood, for supplying drugs and guns to destabilize our community. We remember during 1979 they were killing a black man a month, climaxing with the death of Melvin Black. We organized a rally at the Oakland auditorium, bringing in Farakhan, Angela Davis, Oba T'shaka, Paul Cobb, Dezzy Wood Jones, Eldridge Cleaver and others. Immediately after this rally the police killing stopped but soon followed was the appearance of Uzis and Crack cocaine which we now know was the US Government's program to raise money for the Contra war in Nicaragua.
Certainly the OPD played its part in the Crack epidemic that has continued to this day with drive by shootings and drug shake downs by the OPD that your paper and the Chauncey Bailey Project has yet to investigate, while continuing to play up the Black Muslim Bakery as the sole suspects in the assasination of journalist Chauncey Bailey.
In short, I have no respect for the OPD because they are part of the problem and your paper appears to have a tainted relationship with them as you refuse to investigate Chauncey's allegations against the black murder squad on the OPD, supposedly headed by the very officer who was the lead investigator of the Chauncey Bailey homicide. Thus your paper, the Oakland Tribune and the CBP are guilty of shoddy journalism, faking professionalism, scaming the public with continued slander of Muslims as if they were the sole reason for Chauncey's murder when you know better. You know he was fired from the Oakland Tribune at the urging of former Mayor Jerry Brown because he was "tired of that nigger snooping around City Hall and the OPD." Now that he is Attorney General of California, Mayor Dellems wants him to investigate the murder of Chauncey when it is Jerry Brown who needs to be investigated for his role in Chauncey's death--what happened to Jerry Brown's internet records when he departed City Hall?
From the above, we can see why Oakland is a death house and the OPD deserve no respect from the people, nor does City Hall, the Attorney General and the Oakland Tribune. All of you are part of the problem of wickedness in high places. Why do you think when the OPD is guilty of murder and can continue doing so under the color of law that the people's justice will not rise to the occasion. Your courts are a sham and mockery of justice and clearly the brother saw the need to execute justice his way. The OPD occupying army should be removed from the community as they provide no service, solve no homicides and remain a white racist bastion of incompentence and disservice to the people.
They are disgusting to be present in our community. The fact that all the officers shot were white reveals the racism of the OPD with their precinct in the heart of East Oakland's majority black community.
--Marvin X
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Reynolds, Martin"
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:18:17 PM
Subject: RE: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
Death is death and nobody, citizen or cop deserves to leave this earth in a hail of gunfire.
So for you to assert this is somehow a "taste of their own medicine" situation, sickens me.
Not because I agree with ill police tactics or the horrific things done via COINTELPRO.
The neo-cons of America do little to improve our standing in the world and at home.
If the world is to ever become the peaceful, evolved place we all hope it one day will, we can't revel in the slaying of any human being.
"Happy to learn a Negro can shoot?" C'mon man.
Statements like that make you appear no better than a cop who patrols a community he has no regard for.
Are you a revolutionary? A neo-political pundit? What?
You come across as a zealot and utilize the history of our people's oppression to justify a warped sense of retribution as it relates to this incident.
I don't for a moment condone actions by the cops that are inappropriate, corrupt or criminal.
But at some point Marvin, people must become people.
You're "neo-colonial black politicians" rhetoric does nothing to move us toward that plateau.
You preach as though you are offering an equation to equal a solution.
When in fact, you're a symptom of the problem.
M.
Martin G. Reynolds
Editor
The Oakland Tribune
AME News - Bay Area News Group
7677 Oakport St. Suite 950
510-208-6433
510-390-1779 (cell)
mreynolds@bayareane wsgroup.com
Martin, you always amaze me with your post-black negro analysis of affairs in Oakland.Oakland has been in a state of war with its citizens at least the past forty years, and that war has been spearheaded by the police who have never,on any occasion,provided security for Blacks, maybe for the property-owning class of whites and a few blacks--but we see even businessmen like Geoffery Pete can be victims of police shakedowns. So when do the police receive justice, certainly not in the courts as we saw in the Riders case, and we doubt anything will happen with the killer of Oscar Grant. So it took the Panthers to rise up to challenge the police occupying army during the 60s. Of course the OPD had murder squads that killed black people in general and Panthers in particular. What the Panthers did was take pressure off the community by absorbing the blows so often directed on the people. For this the Panthers must be honored.
The police deserve no respect for their decades of death dealing in the hood, for supplying drugs and guns to destabilize our community. We remember during 1979 they were killing a black man a month, climaxing with the death of Melvin Black. We organized a rally at the Oakland auditorium, bringing in Farakhan, Angela Davis, Oba T'shaka, Paul Cobb, Dezzy Wood Jones, Eldridge Cleaver and others. Immediately after this rally the police killing stopped but soon followed was the appearance of Uzis and Crack cocaine which we now know was the US Government's program to raise money for the Contra war in Nicaragua.
Certainly the OPD played its part in the Crack epidemic that has continued to this day with drive by shootings and drug shake downs by the OPD that your paper and the Chauncey Bailey Project has yet to investigate, while continuing to play up the Black Muslim Bakery as the sole suspects in the assasination of journalist Chauncey Bailey.
In short, I have no respect for the OPD because they are part of the problem and your paper appears to have a tainted relationship with them as you refuse to investigate Chauncey's allegations against the black murder squad on the OPD, supposedly headed by the very officer who was the lead investigator of the Chauncey Bailey homicide. Thus your paper, the Oakland Tribune and the CBP are guilty of shoddy journalism, faking professionalism, scaming the public with continued slander of Muslims as if they were the sole reason for Chauncey's murder when you know better. You know he was fired from the Oakland Tribune at the urging of former Mayor Jerry Brown because he was "tired of that nigger snooping around City Hall and the OPD." Now that he is Attorney General of California, Mayor Dellems wants him to investigate the murder of Chauncey when it is Jerry Brown who needs to be investigated for his role in Chauncey's death--what happened to Jerry Brown's internet records when he departed City Hall?
From the above, we can see why Oakland is a death house and the OPD deserve no respect from the people, nor does City Hall, the Attorney General and the Oakland Tribune. All of you are part of the problem of wickedness in high places. Why do you think when the OPD is guilty of murder and can continue doing so under the color of law that the people's justice will not rise to the occasion. Your courts are a sham and mockery of justice and clearly the brother saw the need to execute justice his way. The OPD occupying army should be removed from the community as they provide no service, solve no homicides and remain a white racist bastion of incompentence and disservice to the people.
They are disgusting to be present in our community. The fact that all the officers shot were white reveals the racism of the OPD with their precinct in the heart of East Oakland's majority black community.
--Marvin X
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Reynolds, Martin"
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2009 7:18:17 PM
Subject: RE: [blackantiwar] Oakland Poice Die in Gun Battle
Death is death and nobody, citizen or cop deserves to leave this earth in a hail of gunfire.
So for you to assert this is somehow a "taste of their own medicine" situation, sickens me.
Not because I agree with ill police tactics or the horrific things done via COINTELPRO.
The neo-cons of America do little to improve our standing in the world and at home.
If the world is to ever become the peaceful, evolved place we all hope it one day will, we can't revel in the slaying of any human being.
"Happy to learn a Negro can shoot?" C'mon man.
Statements like that make you appear no better than a cop who patrols a community he has no regard for.
Are you a revolutionary? A neo-political pundit? What?
You come across as a zealot and utilize the history of our people's oppression to justify a warped sense of retribution as it relates to this incident.
I don't for a moment condone actions by the cops that are inappropriate, corrupt or criminal.
But at some point Marvin, people must become people.
You're "neo-colonial black politicians" rhetoric does nothing to move us toward that plateau.
You preach as though you are offering an equation to equal a solution.
When in fact, you're a symptom of the problem.
M.
Martin G. Reynolds
Editor
The Oakland Tribune
AME News - Bay Area News Group
7677 Oakport St. Suite 950
510-208-6433
510-390-1779 (cell)
mreynolds@bayareane wsgroup.com
Oakland Police Die in Gun Battle
I got up this morning to see the news that a brother and three police are dead in Oakland, another officer is fighting for his life. I am saddened by this news from my beloved city by the Bay, city of my childhood, city where I learned black consciousness, city of black studies and Black Panthers, once one of the most radical cities in America. Of late she has become a house of death with the black on black homicide, often instigated by the police with weapons sold by the police. As they were in the 60s, the police are an occupying army of mostly white racist officers, and many of the black officers are no better, sometimes even more brutal to prove themselves to their white comrades. Chauncey Bailey is dead partly because he was writing about black police murder squads and shakedowns. The chief recently resigned because journalists were inching closer to his role in allowing abuse under his watch.
The killing of three officers by a young brother may be symbolic of things to come. As we know the new year began with the BART police murder of young Oscar Grant. Yes, the universe has a way of righting itself when things go out of control. We see the universe stepping in to bring humility to the greedy capitalist bloodsuckers of the poor and those addicted to wretched materialism. So it is time to reflect on this rampant violence in Oakland that has left so many people grieving for lost loved ones. And now the police get a taste of their own medicine. As thou has done, so shall it be done to thee. There is no escape for wickedness, especially in high places or low places either. The people do not deserve to live under occupation and violence under the color of law. Their is a limit to what a people can take, especially when they see no justice in the land, when the criminals are instituting and administrating the law for their own wicked purpose.
The Black Panthers fought forty years ago against the police--yet today it is business as usual with the "pigs," who banned my open-air classroom at 14th and Broadway, at which people noted I made things better downtown by talking with spiritually burdened youth and adults, counseling them and listening to their problems of homelessness, hunger, ignorance, disease and unresolved grief, so often brought on by the murder of their loved ones. Isn't it strange that youth rioted at the very spot where I taught and tried to bring peace, love and understanding?
I did not discriminate when the white mentally ill came by wanting a dollar, something to eat or simply a kind word like good morning, have a nice day. Often the police would stand next to me, yes, I knew they were listening to my conversation while they supposedly watched young weed dealers making their hustle. For several years the police said nothing to me, then after three or four years they informed me I was vending my books in a restricted area. Restricted for what purpose, there are hardly any stores downtown Oakland, it is a virtual cemetery, especially after dark while downtown San Francisco is bustling with people all night long.
Oakland has a glorious tradition of radical social action, but it is a tradition soaked in blood, often the result of bad and brutal police relations with the community. Why can't Mayor Ron Dellums use the model the US military exercised in Iraq when they subdued the insurgents by giving them jobs securing their communities? Just as in Iraq, we have young men marginalized and alienated from society, ready to do any crime to "get theirs," but secretly wishing things didn't have to be this way, that all they want is economic parity with the rest of society that likes to eat in fine restaurants, wear nice clothes and take care of their families. Clearly, the OPD has not and cannot secure the community, so why not be radical, Mr. Radical Mayor Dellums, hire youth to secure the hood you know the police cannot and never will, at least not until there is a radical revamping of this rotten, crumbling capitalist society, restructuring not only the police, but the schools, economic, political and religious institutions, social relations and in the process ending America's cowardly addiction to white supremacy, white privilege
and the desire to dominate the world.
We pray for all those grieving loved ones who are now deprived of their men due to gun violence. We are exhausted from attending funerals, but understand death is life and funerals are a way to help us understand and transcend the pain and suffering of losing the ones we love.
We pray the people of Oakland will rise to the occasion to become the great and valiant community recognized around the world for radical social action.
--Marvin X
I got up this morning to see the news that a brother and three police are dead in Oakland, another officer is fighting for his life. I am saddened by this news from my beloved city by the Bay, city of my childhood, city where I learned black consciousness, city of black studies and Black Panthers, once one of the most radical cities in America. Of late she has become a house of death with the black on black homicide, often instigated by the police with weapons sold by the police. As they were in the 60s, the police are an occupying army of mostly white racist officers, and many of the black officers are no better, sometimes even more brutal to prove themselves to their white comrades. Chauncey Bailey is dead partly because he was writing about black police murder squads and shakedowns. The chief recently resigned because journalists were inching closer to his role in allowing abuse under his watch.
The killing of three officers by a young brother may be symbolic of things to come. As we know the new year began with the BART police murder of young Oscar Grant. Yes, the universe has a way of righting itself when things go out of control. We see the universe stepping in to bring humility to the greedy capitalist bloodsuckers of the poor and those addicted to wretched materialism. So it is time to reflect on this rampant violence in Oakland that has left so many people grieving for lost loved ones. And now the police get a taste of their own medicine. As thou has done, so shall it be done to thee. There is no escape for wickedness, especially in high places or low places either. The people do not deserve to live under occupation and violence under the color of law. Their is a limit to what a people can take, especially when they see no justice in the land, when the criminals are instituting and administrating the law for their own wicked purpose.
The Black Panthers fought forty years ago against the police--yet today it is business as usual with the "pigs," who banned my open-air classroom at 14th and Broadway, at which people noted I made things better downtown by talking with spiritually burdened youth and adults, counseling them and listening to their problems of homelessness, hunger, ignorance, disease and unresolved grief, so often brought on by the murder of their loved ones. Isn't it strange that youth rioted at the very spot where I taught and tried to bring peace, love and understanding?
I did not discriminate when the white mentally ill came by wanting a dollar, something to eat or simply a kind word like good morning, have a nice day. Often the police would stand next to me, yes, I knew they were listening to my conversation while they supposedly watched young weed dealers making their hustle. For several years the police said nothing to me, then after three or four years they informed me I was vending my books in a restricted area. Restricted for what purpose, there are hardly any stores downtown Oakland, it is a virtual cemetery, especially after dark while downtown San Francisco is bustling with people all night long.
Oakland has a glorious tradition of radical social action, but it is a tradition soaked in blood, often the result of bad and brutal police relations with the community. Why can't Mayor Ron Dellums use the model the US military exercised in Iraq when they subdued the insurgents by giving them jobs securing their communities? Just as in Iraq, we have young men marginalized and alienated from society, ready to do any crime to "get theirs," but secretly wishing things didn't have to be this way, that all they want is economic parity with the rest of society that likes to eat in fine restaurants, wear nice clothes and take care of their families. Clearly, the OPD has not and cannot secure the community, so why not be radical, Mr. Radical Mayor Dellums, hire youth to secure the hood you know the police cannot and never will, at least not until there is a radical revamping of this rotten, crumbling capitalist society, restructuring not only the police, but the schools, economic, political and religious institutions, social relations and in the process ending America's cowardly addiction to white supremacy, white privilege
and the desire to dominate the world.
We pray for all those grieving loved ones who are now deprived of their men due to gun violence. We are exhausted from attending funerals, but understand death is life and funerals are a way to help us understand and transcend the pain and suffering of losing the ones we love.
We pray the people of Oakland will rise to the occasion to become the great and valiant community recognized around the world for radical social action.
--Marvin X
Friday, March 20, 2009
My Friend The Devil
A Memoir of Marvin X's Association
With Eldridge Cleaver
It all began at Soledad Prison, sometime during 1966. Black Dialogue magazine was approached by attorney Beverly Axelrod about making a visit to the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club. The editors agreed to make the visit, including myself as fiction editor. The other editors included Art Sheridan, Gerald, Aubrey and Peter LaBrie, Sadaat Ahmed, Joe Goncalves, Duke Williams, et al. We made our way down the coast to Soledad. I was both excited and sad because my brother Ollie was probably an inmate at the time, though I can't remember.
Our staff was taken to the hosting officer's apartment and briefed on what to do and not to do. No contact with inmates, no passing or taking of literature. We agreed but it didn't mean a thing. Soon as we got inside the meeting room we knew what we were going to do. At first we got inside and saw the brothers seated, with the meeting in progress. Eldridge was chair and his lieutenant was Alprentice Bunchey Carter. Bunchy was a very handsome black man, so handsome it belied his leadership qualities as head of the Los Angeles Slauson gang.
But chairman Cleaver was a giant of a man, tell, light skinned and articulate. But more than the words said, I was immediately impressed with the organizational structure with brothers on post with military style discipline. It was probably the first time I'd seen black men so organized. We know now according to brother Kumasi that this was the beginning of the prison movement in California and the nation, this black culture club of mostly young black men confined to the dungeon as so many are today, causing havoc in black family and community life. In this Soledad dungeon would come a prison movement on par with the black student movement, black arts and black studies. As I listened to Chairman Eldridge speak, I said to myself this is a dangerous Negro if allowed to depart these walls. Clearly, he was well read after a total of eighteen years of confinement in the California Gulags. I would learn later he was soaked in Marxist Leninism and literature in general. And when Black Dialogue obtained his writings for publication, especially My, Queen, I Greet You, we suspected this was a man with the passion and writing skills of Baldwin. And of course he must have sensed this comparison and thus his need to denounce Baldwin to take a shot at the black literary crown, although he did it by a homophobic denunciation which led one to suspect his own sexual improprieties, especially after so long in prison.
But at that first meeting, we were humbled to be with the brothers, to share with them by reading our writings from Black Dialogue. At the end of the meeting we all embraced and exchanged materials in violation of the officer's request. We gave them copies of Dialogue and they gave us manuscripts of their writings which were later published in Dialogue and Journal of Black Poetry. As I said, we published My Queen, I Greet You, in Dialogue and Joe Gonalves published the poetry of Bunchy and others in JBP. We left Soledad and headed back up the coast to San Francisco. Thus was established a connection between the prison movement and black students, the black arts movement and eventually the Black Panther Party when I introduced Eldrdige to Bobby Seale soon after his release from prison.
Part Two: My Friend the Devil
Several months passed before I met Eldridge again. Somebody called me to come over Sister Mary Anna's house. Maryanna Waddy was the daughter of painter Ruth Waddy, but more importantly, she was the student, though somewhat older at the time, who aggressively pushed for the name change from Negro Students Association to the Black Students Union. Maryanna was a strong black woman who took no jive, maybe the result of black consciousness taught by her mother. But when I entered her house, Eldridge was there trying to introduce his plans to the community. There seemed to be some tension between him and Maryanna, a black man/black woman power battle. Maybe Maryanna knew about Eldridge's white woman lawyer, Beverley Axelrod, who had smuggled his manuscript Soul on Ice out of Soledad. We would learn that Eldridge had promised to marry her, so his blackness was suspect from the beginning--but we would handle that matter a few months down the road. Maryanna and most of those present, maybe members of the BSU, including those of us from Black Dialogue. If I recall correctly, Eldridge gave me a ride home and we agreed to meet again soon.
Things were going bad for us at Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, across the street from Tree's poolhall and around the corner from the Sun Reporter newspaper, published by the millionaire Communist Dr. Carlton Goodlett. BAW was breaking up because of egos and other psychopathic behavior in our crew which included Ed Bullins, Duncan Barber, Hillary Broadous, Carl Bossiere and Ethna Wyatt. All of us wanted to make BAW happen but our egos got in the way, along with deeper mental problems. In spite of these problems, we did my plays and the plays of Ed Bullins. We had jazz concerts with the Bay Area's best, including Raphael Garrett, Monte Waters, Dewey Redman, Oliver Jackson, B.J., and others. Only thing with the musicians, many had white women which we would not allow in the theatre, since we were black nationalists on the road to becoming members of the Nation of Islam. A long time criminal Muslim came to our theatre to recruit us, Alonzo Harris Batin, who became the guru and mentor of BAW. Batin was a criminal with a heart of gold. He wanted us to join the Nation even though most of the time he was not in good standing and considered a hypocrite. Soon we were indoctrinated by Batin and eventually most of joined the Nation except Ed Bullins. Bullins was into his art and living or at least staying in the Beatnik area of North Beach.
For awhile, Ethna was the glue that held BAW together. She fed us when we were low on money to buy food. She would cook something that would be enough for the crew and she would try to stop us from killing each other as we ego-tripped. Ethna had come from Chicago, maybe during or around the time of that Summer of Love. It seemed many beautiful women fled Chicago to the West coast. Ethna's friend had come, Sandra Williams, helping out at BAW. Danny Glover acted in BAW, performing in Dorothy Ahmed's play Papa's Daughter, about incest. Actress and SFSU student Vonetta McGee performed in Bullins'
play It Has No Choice and another play by Bullins that I can't remember the name.
And then one day the crew called me to the lobby of the theatre to meet a man they said spoke seven languages. After they called me several times to come to the lobby, I came from the theatre to meet a tall, jet black brother with straight hair, Ali Sharif Bey, who indeed did speak several languages, including English, Persian, Spanish, French, Ababic and Urdu. He became our on-site Islamic scholar and teacher, teaching us Arabic and his vast knowledge of Islam based on the Ahmediah sect, the great evangelists of Islam to the West. Ali Sharif Bey would surface later as the runner for the SLA when they kidnapped Patty Hearst. He is the source for my master thesis docudrama How I Met Isa. But in spite of all this community support--none from the Black bourgeoisie until later at the Black House which Eldridge convinced me to help organize since I told him I was tired of the bs at BAW and was ready to do something different. We discussed setting up what eventually became Black House, a political/cultural center on Broderick Street off Divisadero in the Fillmore. Ed Bullins soon joined Eldridge, Ethna and myself. For a few months Black House became the cultural center of the Bay with thousands of conscious hungry black flocking there for culture. Black House participants included Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Chicago Art Ensemble, Sarah Webster Fabio, Reginald Lockett, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier and Little Bobby Hutton. On the poltical side, Eldridge brought in a Communist party leader, Rosco Proctor.
Eldridge had no time for the culture, even though he couldn't help but be influenced by it since it was at the house he financed with his advance from Soul On Ice. He and Baraka had little to say to each other even though Baraka's Communication Project at San Francisco State College/now University, had it's off campus base at Black House. Years later these two men would switch ideologies with Baraka turning Communist and Eldridge finding religion. Eldridge would eventually go from Communist to Christian, to Mormon to Moonie to Religious Science. But at Black House he was strictly Communist and he pushed hard to get us to follow his path, though we resisted until Black House fell apart from ideological differences. Before it fell we had gone to Beverly Axelrod's house to literally remove Cleaver since we found it a contradiction for the chairman of Black House to be sleeping at the White House. One afternoon brother Batin and I made Eldridge move his things from the White House while Miss Ann cried. Among his belongings was that wicker chair, spear and rug made famous in that photo of Huey Newton.
Part Three:
Eldridge and Alonzo Batin were old prison comrades, having shared time throughout the California prison system. They were classic men, so classic they were made the subject of an off-Broadway play by Earl Anthony, produced by Woody King. Batin kept pressure on Eldridge to be black, something EC didn't want to do because he was suffering from the addiction to white supremacy. With all the cultural happenings at Black House, Eldridge preferred to listen over and over to what we called a white hippy folk singer named Bob Dylan.
Black House people didn't give a damn about Bob Dylan, hardly knew who he was, but Eldridge played his music continuously, trying to make us listen to it at every turn. But our favorite singer soon joined us to live at Black House, Willie Dale. Willie was another prison comrade of Eldridge's who sang the Black National Anthem of the 60s, Louis Farrakhan's The White Man's Heaven is a Black Man's Hell. Willie, with his booming voice, could sing it better than Farrakhan. After moving Eldridge fully into Black House, we wanted to secure him a black woman, so Willie's wife, Vernasteen, went down to their home town, Bakersfield, and brought back Marilyn, who came to stay with Eldridge until he met the love of his life, Kathleen.
The Black House became a half way house for black revolutionaries who were first indoctrinated with black consciousness then joined political organizations. Despite his resistance to blackness, Eldridge was touched by simply being in the house with so much culture going on. And then came Emory Douglass from San Francisco City College reading a poem Revolutionary Things. Emory became Black Panther Minister of Culture. Then came Samuel Napier, a worker who wanted to get involved. Sam went on to become Minister of Distribution of the Black Panther newspaper. George Murray was part of Baraka's Communication project, and became the Black Panther Minister of Education. Thus it is my theory, contrary to Larry Neal's assertion that BAM was the sister of BLM, BAM was the Mother who nurtured her children and prepared them with the necessary consciousness for revolutionary struggle, hence the prime importance of the cultural revolution. For a long time I couldn't figure out what Huey Newton meant when he said I taught him things, for it was Huey who had taught me consciousness at Merritt College, but after thinking about it for years, I concluded maybe I did teach Huey simple street theatre which the Panthers executed to the max, with their costumes and political rhetoric. Of course Bobby Seale was in my second play Come Next Summer, 1966, months before he and Huey founded the BPP. He played a young man trying to find himself, ultimately joining the revolution. The San Francisco State BSU's Communication Project, directed by Baraka, recruited several BSU brothers and sisters to do the plays of Baraka, Ben Caldwell, Bullins, and Jimmy Garrett. These actors became real live revolutionaries when they initiated the Third World Strike at SFSU, one of the most violent and the longest in American academic history, again illustrating the necessity of cultural consciousness in liberation. The strike led to the founding of Black and Ethnic Studies at SFSU.
--Continued--
Part Four: My Friend the Devil
Eldridge had no knowledge of the Black Panthers until I informed him out of our artistic desire to get rid of him as chair of Black House, even though he had made it happen by putting up the money, but we rejected his desire to push Marxism at any cost, even though he paid the cost to be the boss. I didn't think he was so dogmatic about his mission which was to create a Communist organization. Thus when we realized he was merely using artists to advance his political goals, we objected. For a short time we went along with his sessions on Communism, sometimes they included Rosco Proctor. I think Rosco was secretary of the Communist party of California. We didn't mind reading Mao's Talks at Yenan Forum on Art and Literature or Robert F. Williams Negroes With Guns. But when we tired of the Marxist approach of Cleaver, I suggested he meet some of my friends across the Bay who were arming themselves for self defense against the police. I thought this would be a way to get rid of Cleaver so we could do our cultural work. Cleaver best describes meeting the Panthers for the first time in his book Post-Prison Writings. But I took him to meet Bobby Seale one night after a radio interview at a station in Jack London Square. I took him by Bobby Seale's house in North Oakland, got Bobby to come outside to Cleaver's car. Bobby got in and the world knows the rest. Hooking up with the Panthers was not the idea Cleaver came out of prison to pursue, but it was still a dream come true, although I knew there would be hell to pay for somebody, in particular Bobby and Huey who I knew were no match for Cleaver's chicanery. Even though Bobby and Huey were well read, they were no match for Cleaver, especially in terms of Marxism. Nor were they on par with Cleaver's organizational skills and especially his ability to move on those in opposition to his mission, even to the point of murder. Who knows how many bodies Cleaver left behind in the Gulag, or his special skills in getting rid of enemies. Huey may have been a psychopath but still he was no match for Cleaver. I was glad Cleaver was hooking up with the Panthers because it took pressure off us artists. But I felt sorry for what awaited the Panthers because I knew Cleaver was a man who had to be in control, especially because he had superior knowledge and had proven organizational skills as evidenced by the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club, which was a military organization as well.
Around the time I was introducing Cleaver to the Panthers, they were moving on a rival Panther organization the BPP called the Paper Panthers, led by their former associates in Donald Warden's AfroAmerican Association and co-students at Merritt: Ken and Carol Freeman, Ernie Allen, and others who were part of the group of neo black intellectuals at Merritt, including myself, Richard Thorne, Isaac Moore, Ann Williams, Maurice Dawson, John Thomas, Wayne Combash
and others. Several of us were associated with Soulbook, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) publication headed by Robert F. Williams and Max Stanford (now Muhammad Ahmed). But Huey and Bobby had separated from the socalled Paper Panthers because they did not recognize the supremacy of armed self-defense. They eventually gave the Paper Panthers an ultimatum: put up guns or shut up and stop calling themselves Black Panthers. Again, Cleaver gives a good description of this conflict in Post-Prison Writings. I am certain Ernie Allen and Ken Freeman's brother, Donald Freeman (Baba Lumumba) can give their side of the story with documentation. Baba Lumbuma has a letter from the BPP to the Black Panther Party of Northern California that invites them to stop using the Panther name, signed by Huey and Bobby. Eventually there was a confrontation between the two Panther groups in San Francisco at the headquarters of Bill Bradley (now Oba T'Shaka). (I am writing from total recall so events may be out of chronological order but I think the events happened close to the order I'm describing. There are a plethora of books on the BPP to confirm the sequence of events or correct my amnesia. If the reader has more accurate information, please submit it to me for inclusion in my narrative so I won't be guilty of revisionism.)
After introducing Eldrdige to the Panthers, events at Black House happened in rapid succession, leading toward the end of the cultural component and the establishment of Black House as the San Francisco headquarters of the BPP. Again, I may have the chronological order confused, after all, I am recalling events of forty years ago from memory. Anyway, Cleaver becomes minister of information of the BPP and soon followed the first publication of the BPP newspaper, headlined with the police murder of Denzil Dowell in Richmond. Eldridge and Emory Douglas laid out the paper. Besides Muhammad Speaks, the BPP newspaper would become the most powerful newspaper of the 60s revolution. And of course much of the distribution success can be attributed to Samuel Napier, Minister of Distribution. What I remember most about Samuel was his innocence and sincerity about wanting to get involved and giving his all once involved. I was never more depressed than when I learned he was murdered in the internecine violence when the BPP factions split between Huey's west coast army and Eldridge's east coast army. Sam was murdered then set afire in New York. When I performed my play One Day In the Life in 1997 at Sista's Place in New York, the brothers pulled me aside and said the following: "Marvin, we love you, but we don't give a damn about Huey Newton," (the play has a scene of my last meeting with Huey--the setting of the one-act play Salaam, Huey, Salaam, by Ed Bullins and Marvin X, New Federal Theatre, 2008). New York is Eldridge's turf, they told me. "His army is still here." When he died May 1, 1998, I organized his memorial service in Oakland, along with Sister Majedah Rahman, a former Panther. Many Panthers did not attend because of their loyalty to Huey. Those who did attend included: Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis,
Richard Aoki (recently deceased, the first Asian Panther), Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Yusef Bey, Imam Alamin, Minister Keith Muhammad, Kathleen and Joju Cleaver. Kathleen said to me after the service, "Marvin, the service was great, but there were just too many Muslims." Well, if it weren't for us Muslims, there would have not been any recognition of Cleaver's contribution to the revolution. Kathleen had agreed to have a poem I wrote read at his funeral in Los Angeles.
But let's get back to the chronology. There was a group of youth who made the basement of Black House their playhouse and apparently there was a lot of things going on down there between the youth, like playing hooky from school and sexual abuse of girls. We got word from some of our bourgeoisie friends, in particular Dezzie Woods and Bennie Ivy that the police were going to raid Black House. The Black bourgeoisie did give financial support to Black House, in contrast to their lack of support for Black Arts West. Maybe the notoriety of Black House made them more giving, especially with the presence of EC in the house, about to become a best selling author. Everybody likes to be around a star.
No one had time for the youth except me, certainly not Eldridge or Ed Bullins, so I was the liaison with the youth, some of whom I have been in contact with until today. Lil Bobby Hutton came to me one day with a directive from the Supreme Commander of the BPP, Huey P. Huey, saying the youth clubhouse had to be closed down. Lil Bobby was 16 and Huey was his hero. Lil Bobby was the third person to join the BPP and became Secretary, a model for youth of today to join the liberation struggle and forsake gang banging, set tripping and other reactionary activities. In my supreme arrogance, I told Lil Bobby, "Fuck the Supreme Commander!" I saw death in his eyes for me. But I felt Huey was an equal and even though the BPP had taken over Black House, they did not control me. Lil Bobby looked at me as if I had cursed God Almighty. "We go deal with you, Padna!" My days in the Black House were growing short. That night all I heard were Black Panthers clicking 45 automatics outside my bedroom door. Of course I was just as mad and psychopathic as any Panther. I was fearless. My attitude was, "Fuck you motherfuckers. Kiss my ass."
Nothing happened except the coming exit of myself and other artists from Black House, including Ed Bullins who would soon take off for New York. The BPP began to terrorize socalled cultural nationalists or those they considered would not take up armed struggle in the manner prescribed by the BPP. Musicians departed the Bay for the East coast. Askia Muhammad was threatened and fled East after coming to teach at San Francisco State College/now University.
Before my exit the BPP was next door in Eldridge's room planning their dramatic and historic invasiion of the State Capitol in Sacramento. I was planning my
departure from Black House. My next move was into the Nation of Islam, simply because I was wanted to be involved in a black nationalist organization that was spiritual as well. Easter Sunday, 1967, I went to Mosque #26 and joined the NOI.
--Continued-
Part Five: My Friend the Devil
Even before I joined the Nation of Islam, my girl/woman/friend/ revolutionary lover Ethna (now Hurriyah Asar) had gone home with me to Fresno and while there she joined the Nation of Islam, just goes to show you how far ahead women are--Ethna was always ahead of me in her dreams and plans--although I am Gemini, there is a slow side to me, so slow it is like a snail. She was a Virgo and well grounded in what she wanted as her dream. She always wanted a nation, a land of her own for us as a people. She was the child of a step mother who was a member of the Chicago Communist Party of the USA, another member of which was Angela Davis. Her mother, now in her 80s, is still a member of the Communist Party of the USA. We need to understand that there are a large percentage of Blacks who have no faith whatsoever in the political system of the USA, despite the election of Obama. Doesn't matter if they are Communists, Muslims, Nationalists or whatever, even common people with no ideology, they are completely alienated from American society and all that she proclaims to the world. There are blacks in the marsh and swamps of Louisiana who have no loyalty to the USA, no matter what you might think.
So Hurriyah (Freedom) was my pardner, guide and mentor as woman, lover, friend. She had her men and lovers and I had mine, but through it all we came together when time allowed and she is my friend now, my very best friend. She has not lost that feminine touch that some many women have that don't know to use, thelanguage of love. Hurriyah can totally disarm me with her language of love, knowing how to whisper to a man and make him conquer the world. This is what men need today. Forget that aggressive talk that turns men off, making women think men need Viagra when men only need the feminine language of love.
Just come at me right with the language of love, not that shit yu learned from the white man or white woman in college. Talk to me in the language that made grandpa stay with grandma for fifty years until death, not that neo-modern language that make Mama leave Daddy with five kids. Then at the death of Dad, Mom wants the urn with his ashes, because she loved him more than anyone could ever understand.
Eldridge told me how his mother wanted the urn of his father at his death, even though she had been divorced from him for years, revealing her unconditional devotion and love to him, the man who meant so much to her, in spite of his negrocities (Baraka term).
While in Fresno Ethna (Hurriyah, Grand lady of BAW) joined the Nation even before I was ready. During this time in Fresno we performed Baraka's Dutchman at Fresno State College, with Hurriyah in white face in the role of Lula. Actually I got a wig from Fresno's biggest pimp, Marcel, who came to see the performance at FSU. He said when he saw Clay (Marvin X) stabbed by Lulait donned on him that he would not know what to do if one of his white ho's stabbed him in his hotel room.. Who was he going to call, the white man, his black brothers? It was then he threw in his good pimping towel and joined the Nation of Islam, eventually becoming an Imam and making his haj to Mecca. This is the power of Black Arts, this is the power of the cultural revolution to save souls like Marcel, to revolutionize pimps and whores.
=--Continued- -
--Marvin X
A Memoir of Marvin X's Association
With Eldridge Cleaver
It all began at Soledad Prison, sometime during 1966. Black Dialogue magazine was approached by attorney Beverly Axelrod about making a visit to the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club. The editors agreed to make the visit, including myself as fiction editor. The other editors included Art Sheridan, Gerald, Aubrey and Peter LaBrie, Sadaat Ahmed, Joe Goncalves, Duke Williams, et al. We made our way down the coast to Soledad. I was both excited and sad because my brother Ollie was probably an inmate at the time, though I can't remember.
Our staff was taken to the hosting officer's apartment and briefed on what to do and not to do. No contact with inmates, no passing or taking of literature. We agreed but it didn't mean a thing. Soon as we got inside the meeting room we knew what we were going to do. At first we got inside and saw the brothers seated, with the meeting in progress. Eldridge was chair and his lieutenant was Alprentice Bunchey Carter. Bunchy was a very handsome black man, so handsome it belied his leadership qualities as head of the Los Angeles Slauson gang.
But chairman Cleaver was a giant of a man, tell, light skinned and articulate. But more than the words said, I was immediately impressed with the organizational structure with brothers on post with military style discipline. It was probably the first time I'd seen black men so organized. We know now according to brother Kumasi that this was the beginning of the prison movement in California and the nation, this black culture club of mostly young black men confined to the dungeon as so many are today, causing havoc in black family and community life. In this Soledad dungeon would come a prison movement on par with the black student movement, black arts and black studies. As I listened to Chairman Eldridge speak, I said to myself this is a dangerous Negro if allowed to depart these walls. Clearly, he was well read after a total of eighteen years of confinement in the California Gulags. I would learn later he was soaked in Marxist Leninism and literature in general. And when Black Dialogue obtained his writings for publication, especially My, Queen, I Greet You, we suspected this was a man with the passion and writing skills of Baldwin. And of course he must have sensed this comparison and thus his need to denounce Baldwin to take a shot at the black literary crown, although he did it by a homophobic denunciation which led one to suspect his own sexual improprieties, especially after so long in prison.
But at that first meeting, we were humbled to be with the brothers, to share with them by reading our writings from Black Dialogue. At the end of the meeting we all embraced and exchanged materials in violation of the officer's request. We gave them copies of Dialogue and they gave us manuscripts of their writings which were later published in Dialogue and Journal of Black Poetry. As I said, we published My Queen, I Greet You, in Dialogue and Joe Gonalves published the poetry of Bunchy and others in JBP. We left Soledad and headed back up the coast to San Francisco. Thus was established a connection between the prison movement and black students, the black arts movement and eventually the Black Panther Party when I introduced Eldrdige to Bobby Seale soon after his release from prison.
Part Two: My Friend the Devil
Several months passed before I met Eldridge again. Somebody called me to come over Sister Mary Anna's house. Maryanna Waddy was the daughter of painter Ruth Waddy, but more importantly, she was the student, though somewhat older at the time, who aggressively pushed for the name change from Negro Students Association to the Black Students Union. Maryanna was a strong black woman who took no jive, maybe the result of black consciousness taught by her mother. But when I entered her house, Eldridge was there trying to introduce his plans to the community. There seemed to be some tension between him and Maryanna, a black man/black woman power battle. Maybe Maryanna knew about Eldridge's white woman lawyer, Beverley Axelrod, who had smuggled his manuscript Soul on Ice out of Soledad. We would learn that Eldridge had promised to marry her, so his blackness was suspect from the beginning--but we would handle that matter a few months down the road. Maryanna and most of those present, maybe members of the BSU, including those of us from Black Dialogue. If I recall correctly, Eldridge gave me a ride home and we agreed to meet again soon.
Things were going bad for us at Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, across the street from Tree's poolhall and around the corner from the Sun Reporter newspaper, published by the millionaire Communist Dr. Carlton Goodlett. BAW was breaking up because of egos and other psychopathic behavior in our crew which included Ed Bullins, Duncan Barber, Hillary Broadous, Carl Bossiere and Ethna Wyatt. All of us wanted to make BAW happen but our egos got in the way, along with deeper mental problems. In spite of these problems, we did my plays and the plays of Ed Bullins. We had jazz concerts with the Bay Area's best, including Raphael Garrett, Monte Waters, Dewey Redman, Oliver Jackson, B.J., and others. Only thing with the musicians, many had white women which we would not allow in the theatre, since we were black nationalists on the road to becoming members of the Nation of Islam. A long time criminal Muslim came to our theatre to recruit us, Alonzo Harris Batin, who became the guru and mentor of BAW. Batin was a criminal with a heart of gold. He wanted us to join the Nation even though most of the time he was not in good standing and considered a hypocrite. Soon we were indoctrinated by Batin and eventually most of joined the Nation except Ed Bullins. Bullins was into his art and living or at least staying in the Beatnik area of North Beach.
For awhile, Ethna was the glue that held BAW together. She fed us when we were low on money to buy food. She would cook something that would be enough for the crew and she would try to stop us from killing each other as we ego-tripped. Ethna had come from Chicago, maybe during or around the time of that Summer of Love. It seemed many beautiful women fled Chicago to the West coast. Ethna's friend had come, Sandra Williams, helping out at BAW. Danny Glover acted in BAW, performing in Dorothy Ahmed's play Papa's Daughter, about incest. Actress and SFSU student Vonetta McGee performed in Bullins'
play It Has No Choice and another play by Bullins that I can't remember the name.
And then one day the crew called me to the lobby of the theatre to meet a man they said spoke seven languages. After they called me several times to come to the lobby, I came from the theatre to meet a tall, jet black brother with straight hair, Ali Sharif Bey, who indeed did speak several languages, including English, Persian, Spanish, French, Ababic and Urdu. He became our on-site Islamic scholar and teacher, teaching us Arabic and his vast knowledge of Islam based on the Ahmediah sect, the great evangelists of Islam to the West. Ali Sharif Bey would surface later as the runner for the SLA when they kidnapped Patty Hearst. He is the source for my master thesis docudrama How I Met Isa. But in spite of all this community support--none from the Black bourgeoisie until later at the Black House which Eldridge convinced me to help organize since I told him I was tired of the bs at BAW and was ready to do something different. We discussed setting up what eventually became Black House, a political/cultural center on Broderick Street off Divisadero in the Fillmore. Ed Bullins soon joined Eldridge, Ethna and myself. For a few months Black House became the cultural center of the Bay with thousands of conscious hungry black flocking there for culture. Black House participants included Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Chicago Art Ensemble, Sarah Webster Fabio, Reginald Lockett, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier and Little Bobby Hutton. On the poltical side, Eldridge brought in a Communist party leader, Rosco Proctor.
Eldridge had no time for the culture, even though he couldn't help but be influenced by it since it was at the house he financed with his advance from Soul On Ice. He and Baraka had little to say to each other even though Baraka's Communication Project at San Francisco State College/now University, had it's off campus base at Black House. Years later these two men would switch ideologies with Baraka turning Communist and Eldridge finding religion. Eldridge would eventually go from Communist to Christian, to Mormon to Moonie to Religious Science. But at Black House he was strictly Communist and he pushed hard to get us to follow his path, though we resisted until Black House fell apart from ideological differences. Before it fell we had gone to Beverly Axelrod's house to literally remove Cleaver since we found it a contradiction for the chairman of Black House to be sleeping at the White House. One afternoon brother Batin and I made Eldridge move his things from the White House while Miss Ann cried. Among his belongings was that wicker chair, spear and rug made famous in that photo of Huey Newton.
Part Three:
Eldridge and Alonzo Batin were old prison comrades, having shared time throughout the California prison system. They were classic men, so classic they were made the subject of an off-Broadway play by Earl Anthony, produced by Woody King. Batin kept pressure on Eldridge to be black, something EC didn't want to do because he was suffering from the addiction to white supremacy. With all the cultural happenings at Black House, Eldridge preferred to listen over and over to what we called a white hippy folk singer named Bob Dylan.
Black House people didn't give a damn about Bob Dylan, hardly knew who he was, but Eldridge played his music continuously, trying to make us listen to it at every turn. But our favorite singer soon joined us to live at Black House, Willie Dale. Willie was another prison comrade of Eldridge's who sang the Black National Anthem of the 60s, Louis Farrakhan's The White Man's Heaven is a Black Man's Hell. Willie, with his booming voice, could sing it better than Farrakhan. After moving Eldridge fully into Black House, we wanted to secure him a black woman, so Willie's wife, Vernasteen, went down to their home town, Bakersfield, and brought back Marilyn, who came to stay with Eldridge until he met the love of his life, Kathleen.
The Black House became a half way house for black revolutionaries who were first indoctrinated with black consciousness then joined political organizations. Despite his resistance to blackness, Eldridge was touched by simply being in the house with so much culture going on. And then came Emory Douglass from San Francisco City College reading a poem Revolutionary Things. Emory became Black Panther Minister of Culture. Then came Samuel Napier, a worker who wanted to get involved. Sam went on to become Minister of Distribution of the Black Panther newspaper. George Murray was part of Baraka's Communication project, and became the Black Panther Minister of Education. Thus it is my theory, contrary to Larry Neal's assertion that BAM was the sister of BLM, BAM was the Mother who nurtured her children and prepared them with the necessary consciousness for revolutionary struggle, hence the prime importance of the cultural revolution. For a long time I couldn't figure out what Huey Newton meant when he said I taught him things, for it was Huey who had taught me consciousness at Merritt College, but after thinking about it for years, I concluded maybe I did teach Huey simple street theatre which the Panthers executed to the max, with their costumes and political rhetoric. Of course Bobby Seale was in my second play Come Next Summer, 1966, months before he and Huey founded the BPP. He played a young man trying to find himself, ultimately joining the revolution. The San Francisco State BSU's Communication Project, directed by Baraka, recruited several BSU brothers and sisters to do the plays of Baraka, Ben Caldwell, Bullins, and Jimmy Garrett. These actors became real live revolutionaries when they initiated the Third World Strike at SFSU, one of the most violent and the longest in American academic history, again illustrating the necessity of cultural consciousness in liberation. The strike led to the founding of Black and Ethnic Studies at SFSU.
--Continued--
Part Four: My Friend the Devil
Eldridge had no knowledge of the Black Panthers until I informed him out of our artistic desire to get rid of him as chair of Black House, even though he had made it happen by putting up the money, but we rejected his desire to push Marxism at any cost, even though he paid the cost to be the boss. I didn't think he was so dogmatic about his mission which was to create a Communist organization. Thus when we realized he was merely using artists to advance his political goals, we objected. For a short time we went along with his sessions on Communism, sometimes they included Rosco Proctor. I think Rosco was secretary of the Communist party of California. We didn't mind reading Mao's Talks at Yenan Forum on Art and Literature or Robert F. Williams Negroes With Guns. But when we tired of the Marxist approach of Cleaver, I suggested he meet some of my friends across the Bay who were arming themselves for self defense against the police. I thought this would be a way to get rid of Cleaver so we could do our cultural work. Cleaver best describes meeting the Panthers for the first time in his book Post-Prison Writings. But I took him to meet Bobby Seale one night after a radio interview at a station in Jack London Square. I took him by Bobby Seale's house in North Oakland, got Bobby to come outside to Cleaver's car. Bobby got in and the world knows the rest. Hooking up with the Panthers was not the idea Cleaver came out of prison to pursue, but it was still a dream come true, although I knew there would be hell to pay for somebody, in particular Bobby and Huey who I knew were no match for Cleaver's chicanery. Even though Bobby and Huey were well read, they were no match for Cleaver, especially in terms of Marxism. Nor were they on par with Cleaver's organizational skills and especially his ability to move on those in opposition to his mission, even to the point of murder. Who knows how many bodies Cleaver left behind in the Gulag, or his special skills in getting rid of enemies. Huey may have been a psychopath but still he was no match for Cleaver. I was glad Cleaver was hooking up with the Panthers because it took pressure off us artists. But I felt sorry for what awaited the Panthers because I knew Cleaver was a man who had to be in control, especially because he had superior knowledge and had proven organizational skills as evidenced by the Soledad Prison Black Culture Club, which was a military organization as well.
Around the time I was introducing Cleaver to the Panthers, they were moving on a rival Panther organization the BPP called the Paper Panthers, led by their former associates in Donald Warden's AfroAmerican Association and co-students at Merritt: Ken and Carol Freeman, Ernie Allen, and others who were part of the group of neo black intellectuals at Merritt, including myself, Richard Thorne, Isaac Moore, Ann Williams, Maurice Dawson, John Thomas, Wayne Combash
and others. Several of us were associated with Soulbook, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) publication headed by Robert F. Williams and Max Stanford (now Muhammad Ahmed). But Huey and Bobby had separated from the socalled Paper Panthers because they did not recognize the supremacy of armed self-defense. They eventually gave the Paper Panthers an ultimatum: put up guns or shut up and stop calling themselves Black Panthers. Again, Cleaver gives a good description of this conflict in Post-Prison Writings. I am certain Ernie Allen and Ken Freeman's brother, Donald Freeman (Baba Lumumba) can give their side of the story with documentation. Baba Lumbuma has a letter from the BPP to the Black Panther Party of Northern California that invites them to stop using the Panther name, signed by Huey and Bobby. Eventually there was a confrontation between the two Panther groups in San Francisco at the headquarters of Bill Bradley (now Oba T'Shaka). (I am writing from total recall so events may be out of chronological order but I think the events happened close to the order I'm describing. There are a plethora of books on the BPP to confirm the sequence of events or correct my amnesia. If the reader has more accurate information, please submit it to me for inclusion in my narrative so I won't be guilty of revisionism.)
After introducing Eldrdige to the Panthers, events at Black House happened in rapid succession, leading toward the end of the cultural component and the establishment of Black House as the San Francisco headquarters of the BPP. Again, I may have the chronological order confused, after all, I am recalling events of forty years ago from memory. Anyway, Cleaver becomes minister of information of the BPP and soon followed the first publication of the BPP newspaper, headlined with the police murder of Denzil Dowell in Richmond. Eldridge and Emory Douglas laid out the paper. Besides Muhammad Speaks, the BPP newspaper would become the most powerful newspaper of the 60s revolution. And of course much of the distribution success can be attributed to Samuel Napier, Minister of Distribution. What I remember most about Samuel was his innocence and sincerity about wanting to get involved and giving his all once involved. I was never more depressed than when I learned he was murdered in the internecine violence when the BPP factions split between Huey's west coast army and Eldridge's east coast army. Sam was murdered then set afire in New York. When I performed my play One Day In the Life in 1997 at Sista's Place in New York, the brothers pulled me aside and said the following: "Marvin, we love you, but we don't give a damn about Huey Newton," (the play has a scene of my last meeting with Huey--the setting of the one-act play Salaam, Huey, Salaam, by Ed Bullins and Marvin X, New Federal Theatre, 2008). New York is Eldridge's turf, they told me. "His army is still here." When he died May 1, 1998, I organized his memorial service in Oakland, along with Sister Majedah Rahman, a former Panther. Many Panthers did not attend because of their loyalty to Huey. Those who did attend included: Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis,
Richard Aoki (recently deceased, the first Asian Panther), Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Yusef Bey, Imam Alamin, Minister Keith Muhammad, Kathleen and Joju Cleaver. Kathleen said to me after the service, "Marvin, the service was great, but there were just too many Muslims." Well, if it weren't for us Muslims, there would have not been any recognition of Cleaver's contribution to the revolution. Kathleen had agreed to have a poem I wrote read at his funeral in Los Angeles.
But let's get back to the chronology. There was a group of youth who made the basement of Black House their playhouse and apparently there was a lot of things going on down there between the youth, like playing hooky from school and sexual abuse of girls. We got word from some of our bourgeoisie friends, in particular Dezzie Woods and Bennie Ivy that the police were going to raid Black House. The Black bourgeoisie did give financial support to Black House, in contrast to their lack of support for Black Arts West. Maybe the notoriety of Black House made them more giving, especially with the presence of EC in the house, about to become a best selling author. Everybody likes to be around a star.
No one had time for the youth except me, certainly not Eldridge or Ed Bullins, so I was the liaison with the youth, some of whom I have been in contact with until today. Lil Bobby Hutton came to me one day with a directive from the Supreme Commander of the BPP, Huey P. Huey, saying the youth clubhouse had to be closed down. Lil Bobby was 16 and Huey was his hero. Lil Bobby was the third person to join the BPP and became Secretary, a model for youth of today to join the liberation struggle and forsake gang banging, set tripping and other reactionary activities. In my supreme arrogance, I told Lil Bobby, "Fuck the Supreme Commander!" I saw death in his eyes for me. But I felt Huey was an equal and even though the BPP had taken over Black House, they did not control me. Lil Bobby looked at me as if I had cursed God Almighty. "We go deal with you, Padna!" My days in the Black House were growing short. That night all I heard were Black Panthers clicking 45 automatics outside my bedroom door. Of course I was just as mad and psychopathic as any Panther. I was fearless. My attitude was, "Fuck you motherfuckers. Kiss my ass."
Nothing happened except the coming exit of myself and other artists from Black House, including Ed Bullins who would soon take off for New York. The BPP began to terrorize socalled cultural nationalists or those they considered would not take up armed struggle in the manner prescribed by the BPP. Musicians departed the Bay for the East coast. Askia Muhammad was threatened and fled East after coming to teach at San Francisco State College/now University.
Before my exit the BPP was next door in Eldridge's room planning their dramatic and historic invasiion of the State Capitol in Sacramento. I was planning my
departure from Black House. My next move was into the Nation of Islam, simply because I was wanted to be involved in a black nationalist organization that was spiritual as well. Easter Sunday, 1967, I went to Mosque #26 and joined the NOI.
--Continued-
Part Five: My Friend the Devil
Even before I joined the Nation of Islam, my girl/woman/friend/ revolutionary lover Ethna (now Hurriyah Asar) had gone home with me to Fresno and while there she joined the Nation of Islam, just goes to show you how far ahead women are--Ethna was always ahead of me in her dreams and plans--although I am Gemini, there is a slow side to me, so slow it is like a snail. She was a Virgo and well grounded in what she wanted as her dream. She always wanted a nation, a land of her own for us as a people. She was the child of a step mother who was a member of the Chicago Communist Party of the USA, another member of which was Angela Davis. Her mother, now in her 80s, is still a member of the Communist Party of the USA. We need to understand that there are a large percentage of Blacks who have no faith whatsoever in the political system of the USA, despite the election of Obama. Doesn't matter if they are Communists, Muslims, Nationalists or whatever, even common people with no ideology, they are completely alienated from American society and all that she proclaims to the world. There are blacks in the marsh and swamps of Louisiana who have no loyalty to the USA, no matter what you might think.
So Hurriyah (Freedom) was my pardner, guide and mentor as woman, lover, friend. She had her men and lovers and I had mine, but through it all we came together when time allowed and she is my friend now, my very best friend. She has not lost that feminine touch that some many women have that don't know to use, thelanguage of love. Hurriyah can totally disarm me with her language of love, knowing how to whisper to a man and make him conquer the world. This is what men need today. Forget that aggressive talk that turns men off, making women think men need Viagra when men only need the feminine language of love.
Just come at me right with the language of love, not that shit yu learned from the white man or white woman in college. Talk to me in the language that made grandpa stay with grandma for fifty years until death, not that neo-modern language that make Mama leave Daddy with five kids. Then at the death of Dad, Mom wants the urn with his ashes, because she loved him more than anyone could ever understand.
Eldridge told me how his mother wanted the urn of his father at his death, even though she had been divorced from him for years, revealing her unconditional devotion and love to him, the man who meant so much to her, in spite of his negrocities (Baraka term).
While in Fresno Ethna (Hurriyah, Grand lady of BAW) joined the Nation even before I was ready. During this time in Fresno we performed Baraka's Dutchman at Fresno State College, with Hurriyah in white face in the role of Lula. Actually I got a wig from Fresno's biggest pimp, Marcel, who came to see the performance at FSU. He said when he saw Clay (Marvin X) stabbed by Lulait donned on him that he would not know what to do if one of his white ho's stabbed him in his hotel room.. Who was he going to call, the white man, his black brothers? It was then he threw in his good pimping towel and joined the Nation of Islam, eventually becoming an Imam and making his haj to Mecca. This is the power of Black Arts, this is the power of the cultural revolution to save souls like Marcel, to revolutionize pimps and whores.
=--Continued- -
--Marvin X
Thursday, March 19, 2009
On Driving While Black in Post Racial Texas
I wouldn't think of driving in Texas, just as I wouldn't think of driving down Oakland's International Blvd. late nights because of the checkpoint Charlie's at every turn. No matter California or Texas, you can and will, more often than not, be stopped for driving while black. This is the reality of post-Black America even with a Black president, or perhaps because of a Black president. Even the right wing in the Democratic party is surging to oppose Obama at every turn, not to mention the die-hard Republicans and right-wing talk show hosts who've vowed to destroy our first black prez.
I imagine only a second civil war will destroy the vestiges of white supremacy in this land, and at the conclusion of which blacks will need to remain armed for the foreseeable future, just as Hezbollah and Hamas know better than to disarm in light of the permanent Zionist threat.
In America white supremacy may have eased on the surface but remains rock hard in the deep structure of American culture. No white person desires to willingly give up white privilege. As my white literary agent told me, "I am not, nor are my friends, trying to recover from white supremacy. We love white privilege and we will bomb the world to keep it."
In the great liberal city of Berkeley, CA, an English instructor at Berkeley City College informed me she was denied tenure for using my book How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy in her classroom. This book is not advocating hatred but it is a manual to recover from American's number one addiction, prescribing a 13 step approach based on the 12-step model of Alcoholic Anonymous, but whites are terrified of this book and blacks are fearful to be caught with it, especially on the job. A black woman in San Francisco's financial district said she wanted the book but was mortally afraid to take it back to work on her lunch break. Another brother told me he would not buy the book from me on his lunch break but would get it on his way home. In Oakland a brother bought the book but made me assure him he wouldn't be fired if he returned from lunch with it.
The irony is that the book's first step is overcoming fear to recover from the addiction to white supremacy. When I completed the manuscript in South Carolina and went to make a copy, the sister at Staples saw the title and said, "You ain't from here!" I asked why she said that. She said because we don't use that word "white supremacy" down here, that's you California nigguhs coming down here talking that shit, upsetting these white folks, then you leave but we got to stay here to deal with them.
The new Attorney General, Mr. Holder, was on the money when he described Americans as racist cowards.
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
Order How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, A Pan African/12 Step Model,
by Dr. M/Marvin X, foreword by Dr. Nathan Hare, afterword by Ptah Allah-El, Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702, $19.95. Not available in bookstores.
________________________________________
From: S. E. Anderson
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:58:14 AM
Subject: [blackantiwar] Driving While Black In PostRacial Texas
http://www.latimes. com/news/ la-na-texas- profiling11- 2009mar11, 0,2572041. story?track= rss
From the Los Angeles Times
Driving through Tenaha, Texas, doesn't pay for some.A lawsuit alleges that the town's police pull over motorists -- especially African Americans -- and extort money and valuables by threatening criminal charges or worse.
By Howard Witt
March 11, 2009
Reporting from Tenaha, Texas — You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana state line if you're African American, but you might not be able to drive out of it -- at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables.
That's because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: Sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.
More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, Ohio, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with or convicted of any crime.
Officials in Tenaha, along a heavily traveled state highway connecting Houston with several popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking, and they call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets.
"We try to enforce the law here," said George Bowers, mayor of the town of about 1,100 residents, where boarded-up businesses outnumber open ones and City Hall sports a broken window. "We're not doing this to raise money. That's all I'm going to say at this point."
But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha's practice something else: highway robbery. The attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit seeking unspecified damages and a halt to what they contend is an unconstitutional perversion of the law's intent, used primarily against African Americans who have done nothing wrong.
Tenaha officials "have developed an illegal 'stop and seize' practice of targeting, stopping, detaining, searching, and often seizing property from apparently nonwhite citizens and those traveling with nonwhite citizens," asserts the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.
The property seizures are not happening just in Tenaha. In southern parts of Texas near the Mexican border, for example, Latinos allege that they are being singled out.
According to a prominent Texas state legislator, police agencies across the state are wielding the asset-forfeiture law more aggressively to supplement their shrinking operating budgets.
"If used properly, it's a good law-enforcement tool to see that crime doesn't pay," said Democratic state Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee. "But in this instance, where people are being pulled over and their property is taken with no charges filed and no convictions, I think that's theft."
Money, minorities
David Guillory, an attorney in nearby Nacogdoches who filed the federal lawsuit, said he combed through Shelby County court records from 2006 to 2008 and discovered nearly 200 cases in which Tenaha police seized cash and property from motorists. In about 50 of the cases, suspects were charged with drug possession.
But in 147 others, Guillory said the court records showed, the police seized cash, jewelry, cellphones and sometimes even automobiles from motorists but never found any contraband or charged them with any crime. Of those, Guillory said he managed to contact 40 of the motorists directly -- and discovered that all but one of them were black.
"The whole thing is disproportionately targeted toward minorities, particularly African Americans," Guillory said. "Every one of these people is pulled over and told they did something, like, 'You drove too close to the white line.' That's not in the penal code, but it sounds plausible. None of these people have been charged with a crime; none were engaged in anything that looked criminal. The sole factor is that they had something that looked valuable."
In some cases, police used the fact that motorists were carrying large amounts of cash as evidence that they must have been involved in laundering drug money, even though Guillory said each of the drivers he contacted could account for where the money had come from and why they were carrying it -- such as for a gambling trip to Shreveport, La., or to purchase a used car from a private seller.
Once the motorists were detained, the police and the Shelby County district attorney quickly drew up legal papers presenting them with an option: Waive their rights to their cash and property or face felony charges for crimes such as money laundering -- and the prospect of having to hire a lawyer and return to Shelby County multiple times to contest the charges in court.
Apparently routine
The process apparently is so routine in Tenaha that Guillory discovered pre-signed and pre-notarized police affidavits with blank spaces left for an officer to fill in a description of the property being seized.
Jennifer Boatright, her husband and two young children -- a mixed-race family -- were traveling from Houston to visit relatives in East Texas in April 2007 when Tenaha police pulled them over, alleging that they were driving in a left-turn lane.
After searching the car, the officers discovered what Boatright said was a gift for her sister: a small, unused glass pipe made for smoking marijuana. Although they found no drugs or other contraband, the police seized $6,037 that Boatright said the family was carrying to purchase a used car -- and then threatened to turn their children, ages 10 and 1, over to Child Protective Services if the couple didn't agree to sign over their right to their cash.
"It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," Boatright said. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there."
Several months later, after Boatright and her husband contacted an attorney, Tenaha officials returned their money but offered no explanation or apology. The couple remain plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit.
Except for Tenaha's mayor, none of the defendants in the federal lawsuit, including Shelby County Dist. Atty. Lynda Russell and two Tenaha police officers, responded to requests for comment about their search-and-seizure practices. Lawyers for the defendants also declined to comment, as did several of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
But Whitmire says he doesn't need to await the suit's outcome to try to fix what he regards as a statewide problem. On Monday, he introduced a bill in the state Legislature that would require police to go before a judge before attempting to seize property under the asset-forfeiture law -- and ultimately Whitmire hopes to tighten the law further so that law-enforcement officials will be allowed to seize property only after a suspect is charged and convicted in a court.
"The law has gotten away from what was intended, which was to take the profits of a bad guy's crime spree and use it for additional crime fighting," Whitmire said. "Now it's largely being used to pay police salaries -- and it's being abused because you don't even have to be a bad guy to lose your property."
I wouldn't think of driving in Texas, just as I wouldn't think of driving down Oakland's International Blvd. late nights because of the checkpoint Charlie's at every turn. No matter California or Texas, you can and will, more often than not, be stopped for driving while black. This is the reality of post-Black America even with a Black president, or perhaps because of a Black president. Even the right wing in the Democratic party is surging to oppose Obama at every turn, not to mention the die-hard Republicans and right-wing talk show hosts who've vowed to destroy our first black prez.
I imagine only a second civil war will destroy the vestiges of white supremacy in this land, and at the conclusion of which blacks will need to remain armed for the foreseeable future, just as Hezbollah and Hamas know better than to disarm in light of the permanent Zionist threat.
In America white supremacy may have eased on the surface but remains rock hard in the deep structure of American culture. No white person desires to willingly give up white privilege. As my white literary agent told me, "I am not, nor are my friends, trying to recover from white supremacy. We love white privilege and we will bomb the world to keep it."
In the great liberal city of Berkeley, CA, an English instructor at Berkeley City College informed me she was denied tenure for using my book How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy in her classroom. This book is not advocating hatred but it is a manual to recover from American's number one addiction, prescribing a 13 step approach based on the 12-step model of Alcoholic Anonymous, but whites are terrified of this book and blacks are fearful to be caught with it, especially on the job. A black woman in San Francisco's financial district said she wanted the book but was mortally afraid to take it back to work on her lunch break. Another brother told me he would not buy the book from me on his lunch break but would get it on his way home. In Oakland a brother bought the book but made me assure him he wouldn't be fired if he returned from lunch with it.
The irony is that the book's first step is overcoming fear to recover from the addiction to white supremacy. When I completed the manuscript in South Carolina and went to make a copy, the sister at Staples saw the title and said, "You ain't from here!" I asked why she said that. She said because we don't use that word "white supremacy" down here, that's you California nigguhs coming down here talking that shit, upsetting these white folks, then you leave but we got to stay here to deal with them.
The new Attorney General, Mr. Holder, was on the money when he described Americans as racist cowards.
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
Order How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, A Pan African/12 Step Model,
by Dr. M/Marvin X, foreword by Dr. Nathan Hare, afterword by Ptah Allah-El, Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702, $19.95. Not available in bookstores.
________________________________________
From: S. E. Anderson
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:58:14 AM
Subject: [blackantiwar] Driving While Black In PostRacial Texas
http://www.latimes. com/news/ la-na-texas- profiling11- 2009mar11, 0,2572041. story?track= rss
From the Los Angeles Times
Driving through Tenaha, Texas, doesn't pay for some.A lawsuit alleges that the town's police pull over motorists -- especially African Americans -- and extort money and valuables by threatening criminal charges or worse.
By Howard Witt
March 11, 2009
Reporting from Tenaha, Texas — You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana state line if you're African American, but you might not be able to drive out of it -- at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables.
That's because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: Sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.
More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, Ohio, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with or convicted of any crime.
Officials in Tenaha, along a heavily traveled state highway connecting Houston with several popular gambling destinations in Louisiana, say they are engaged in a battle against drug trafficking, and they call the search-and-seizure practice a legitimate use of the state's asset-forfeiture law. That law permits local police agencies to keep drug money and other property used in the commission of a crime and add the proceeds to their budgets.
"We try to enforce the law here," said George Bowers, mayor of the town of about 1,100 residents, where boarded-up businesses outnumber open ones and City Hall sports a broken window. "We're not doing this to raise money. That's all I'm going to say at this point."
But civil rights lawyers call Tenaha's practice something else: highway robbery. The attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit seeking unspecified damages and a halt to what they contend is an unconstitutional perversion of the law's intent, used primarily against African Americans who have done nothing wrong.
Tenaha officials "have developed an illegal 'stop and seize' practice of targeting, stopping, detaining, searching, and often seizing property from apparently nonwhite citizens and those traveling with nonwhite citizens," asserts the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.
The property seizures are not happening just in Tenaha. In southern parts of Texas near the Mexican border, for example, Latinos allege that they are being singled out.
According to a prominent Texas state legislator, police agencies across the state are wielding the asset-forfeiture law more aggressively to supplement their shrinking operating budgets.
"If used properly, it's a good law-enforcement tool to see that crime doesn't pay," said Democratic state Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate's Criminal Justice Committee. "But in this instance, where people are being pulled over and their property is taken with no charges filed and no convictions, I think that's theft."
Money, minorities
David Guillory, an attorney in nearby Nacogdoches who filed the federal lawsuit, said he combed through Shelby County court records from 2006 to 2008 and discovered nearly 200 cases in which Tenaha police seized cash and property from motorists. In about 50 of the cases, suspects were charged with drug possession.
But in 147 others, Guillory said the court records showed, the police seized cash, jewelry, cellphones and sometimes even automobiles from motorists but never found any contraband or charged them with any crime. Of those, Guillory said he managed to contact 40 of the motorists directly -- and discovered that all but one of them were black.
"The whole thing is disproportionately targeted toward minorities, particularly African Americans," Guillory said. "Every one of these people is pulled over and told they did something, like, 'You drove too close to the white line.' That's not in the penal code, but it sounds plausible. None of these people have been charged with a crime; none were engaged in anything that looked criminal. The sole factor is that they had something that looked valuable."
In some cases, police used the fact that motorists were carrying large amounts of cash as evidence that they must have been involved in laundering drug money, even though Guillory said each of the drivers he contacted could account for where the money had come from and why they were carrying it -- such as for a gambling trip to Shreveport, La., or to purchase a used car from a private seller.
Once the motorists were detained, the police and the Shelby County district attorney quickly drew up legal papers presenting them with an option: Waive their rights to their cash and property or face felony charges for crimes such as money laundering -- and the prospect of having to hire a lawyer and return to Shelby County multiple times to contest the charges in court.
Apparently routine
The process apparently is so routine in Tenaha that Guillory discovered pre-signed and pre-notarized police affidavits with blank spaces left for an officer to fill in a description of the property being seized.
Jennifer Boatright, her husband and two young children -- a mixed-race family -- were traveling from Houston to visit relatives in East Texas in April 2007 when Tenaha police pulled them over, alleging that they were driving in a left-turn lane.
After searching the car, the officers discovered what Boatright said was a gift for her sister: a small, unused glass pipe made for smoking marijuana. Although they found no drugs or other contraband, the police seized $6,037 that Boatright said the family was carrying to purchase a used car -- and then threatened to turn their children, ages 10 and 1, over to Child Protective Services if the couple didn't agree to sign over their right to their cash.
"It was give them the money or they were taking our kids," Boatright said. "They suggested that we never bring it up again. We figured we better give them our cash and get the hell out of there."
Several months later, after Boatright and her husband contacted an attorney, Tenaha officials returned their money but offered no explanation or apology. The couple remain plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit.
Except for Tenaha's mayor, none of the defendants in the federal lawsuit, including Shelby County Dist. Atty. Lynda Russell and two Tenaha police officers, responded to requests for comment about their search-and-seizure practices. Lawyers for the defendants also declined to comment, as did several of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
But Whitmire says he doesn't need to await the suit's outcome to try to fix what he regards as a statewide problem. On Monday, he introduced a bill in the state Legislature that would require police to go before a judge before attempting to seize property under the asset-forfeiture law -- and ultimately Whitmire hopes to tighten the law further so that law-enforcement officials will be allowed to seize property only after a suspect is charged and convicted in a court.
"The law has gotten away from what was intended, which was to take the profits of a bad guy's crime spree and use it for additional crime fighting," Whitmire said. "Now it's largely being used to pay police salaries -- and it's being abused because you don't even have to be a bad guy to lose your property."
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Precious People
Why have you destroyed my peolple, Bonecrusher? Why have you taken the mud and instead of fashioning it into shape as the Potter does, you turned it into water and waste? Precious people have turned to dust in your hands, oh, Bonecrusher, you did not uplift them but destroyed them in your desire for slave labor and the fruit of their lands. And then you ask do they love God? When the question as posed by Rev. Cone to Bill Moyers is, "Do they love you?" For only God saved them by transcendence and transformation of them into reflections of His higher power. By loving Him they adorned themselves with His armor, protecting themselves from your wrath, Bonecrusher. You do not exempt even your children who walk in darkness, for as Baldwin said, "The murder of my child will not make your child safe." And why, Baraka asks, is it necessary to kill across the planet, who needs and desires this crushing of bones, the slaughter of souls, spilling of blood, who needs this, Mr. Bonecrusher? Yet you rejoice in the robbery and murder of the innocent. A million widows run through the streets of Iraq, but you are not satisfied until another million are fleeing the streets of Afghanistan, or maybe Pakistan and Iran. Will you be satisfied then, Bonecrusher? Even in your lands there is now mass homelessness, joblessness, depression and despair. All caused by your need to devour the precious people of God. And yet you do all that you do in the name of God, in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace, you swallow retirement savings, investments of the poor and needy, you squander, even your rich brothers and sisters you rob, there is no end to your greed. Who will check you, who will humble you into submission to righteousness? No one can challenge your armies, your weapons of mass destruction, yet you claim to be concerned with proliferation while you are the chief proliferator, you and your allies, Mr. Bonecrusher.
Precious people only want to live in peace and work to secure their families, yet you tell them their national security is accomplished by foreign wars, yet when you were attacked you said it was without cause, totally unjustified? Have you not destroyed civilizations, buried cultures then dug them up for your museums? Just remember, Bonecrusher, when you look at the monkey, the monkey is looking at you! Yes, he sees you and seeks to attack you, even as you embrace him at the zoo and in your homes where you have made him a pet, treating him better than you treat the precious people in your midst, your own children even, who depart your mansions to whore in the streets of your cities, desiring street life to the comfort of your mansions, the golden handcuffs of your abusiveness. The lion breaks from his cage to attack you because you have turned him into a pussy cat who meows instead of growls.
Precious people cannot endure much longer, Bonecrusher. You have them in tent cities, homeless shelters and food lines. How long before they break, how long before they react, how long before they revolt against you, Bonecrusher?
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
Why have you destroyed my peolple, Bonecrusher? Why have you taken the mud and instead of fashioning it into shape as the Potter does, you turned it into water and waste? Precious people have turned to dust in your hands, oh, Bonecrusher, you did not uplift them but destroyed them in your desire for slave labor and the fruit of their lands. And then you ask do they love God? When the question as posed by Rev. Cone to Bill Moyers is, "Do they love you?" For only God saved them by transcendence and transformation of them into reflections of His higher power. By loving Him they adorned themselves with His armor, protecting themselves from your wrath, Bonecrusher. You do not exempt even your children who walk in darkness, for as Baldwin said, "The murder of my child will not make your child safe." And why, Baraka asks, is it necessary to kill across the planet, who needs and desires this crushing of bones, the slaughter of souls, spilling of blood, who needs this, Mr. Bonecrusher? Yet you rejoice in the robbery and murder of the innocent. A million widows run through the streets of Iraq, but you are not satisfied until another million are fleeing the streets of Afghanistan, or maybe Pakistan and Iran. Will you be satisfied then, Bonecrusher? Even in your lands there is now mass homelessness, joblessness, depression and despair. All caused by your need to devour the precious people of God. And yet you do all that you do in the name of God, in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace, you swallow retirement savings, investments of the poor and needy, you squander, even your rich brothers and sisters you rob, there is no end to your greed. Who will check you, who will humble you into submission to righteousness? No one can challenge your armies, your weapons of mass destruction, yet you claim to be concerned with proliferation while you are the chief proliferator, you and your allies, Mr. Bonecrusher.
Precious people only want to live in peace and work to secure their families, yet you tell them their national security is accomplished by foreign wars, yet when you were attacked you said it was without cause, totally unjustified? Have you not destroyed civilizations, buried cultures then dug them up for your museums? Just remember, Bonecrusher, when you look at the monkey, the monkey is looking at you! Yes, he sees you and seeks to attack you, even as you embrace him at the zoo and in your homes where you have made him a pet, treating him better than you treat the precious people in your midst, your own children even, who depart your mansions to whore in the streets of your cities, desiring street life to the comfort of your mansions, the golden handcuffs of your abusiveness. The lion breaks from his cage to attack you because you have turned him into a pussy cat who meows instead of growls.
Precious people cannot endure much longer, Bonecrusher. You have them in tent cities, homeless shelters and food lines. How long before they break, how long before they react, how long before they revolt against you, Bonecrusher?
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
For Richard Aoki: 1938-2009
The yellow sun has set in the West
evening has come to the Buddha Panther
Comrade Richard
another son of Merritt College
who joined the Panther Revolution
no hesitation
only dedication to the cause of world revolution
consistent and loyal to the end
model of third world unity
taking his place on the altar of the warriors
to be remembered as the first Asian Panther
Uniting Asia and Africa in America
Richard we love the song you sang
the magic lyrics of your walk
the fire of your speech
determination in time of defeat
We honor you, love you and miss you
will never forget you
your respect
smile
yet serious always
about revolution
change
unity
human possibilities.
Right On!
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Black August LA
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 7:51:24 PM
Subject: [BlackWorldEvents] Richard Masato Aoki: 1938-2009
Richard Masato Aoki, 1938-2009
Fearless Leader and Servant of the People
It is with deep sadness that we inform you that
Richard Aoki, due to complications from
longstanding medical problems, passed away
on March 15, 2009.
Born on November 20, 1938, Richard was a
righteous fighter and a warrior in the truest
sense ? he dedicated his life to his beliefs and
the struggle for human rights. He was a field
marshal in the Black Panther Party, a founding
member of the Asian American Political Alliance,
a leader in the Third World Liberation Front
Strike at UC Berkeley, co-ordinator for the first
Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley, an
advisor for Asians for Job Opportunities, a
counselor, instructor and administrator at Merritt and
Alameda Colleges.
We will remember him for the personal impact he
made on our lives and the social impact he made
on the community movements of people of all colors:
"Based on my experience, I've seen where unity
amongst the races has yielded positive results. I
don?t see any other way for people to gain
freedom, justice, and equality here except by being internationalist."
Richard Aoki
Memorial arrangements are pending and information
will be available at a later date.
Sincerely,
Harvey Dong
Richard Aoki Commemorative Committee.
Email:RAMemorial@gmail.com
This entry was posted on March 16, 2009 at 11:26 am
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
The yellow sun has set in the West
evening has come to the Buddha Panther
Comrade Richard
another son of Merritt College
who joined the Panther Revolution
no hesitation
only dedication to the cause of world revolution
consistent and loyal to the end
model of third world unity
taking his place on the altar of the warriors
to be remembered as the first Asian Panther
Uniting Asia and Africa in America
Richard we love the song you sang
the magic lyrics of your walk
the fire of your speech
determination in time of defeat
We honor you, love you and miss you
will never forget you
your respect
smile
yet serious always
about revolution
change
unity
human possibilities.
Right On!
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Black August LA
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 7:51:24 PM
Subject: [BlackWorldEvents] Richard Masato Aoki: 1938-2009
Richard Masato Aoki, 1938-2009
Fearless Leader and Servant of the People
It is with deep sadness that we inform you that
Richard Aoki, due to complications from
longstanding medical problems, passed away
on March 15, 2009.
Born on November 20, 1938, Richard was a
righteous fighter and a warrior in the truest
sense ? he dedicated his life to his beliefs and
the struggle for human rights. He was a field
marshal in the Black Panther Party, a founding
member of the Asian American Political Alliance,
a leader in the Third World Liberation Front
Strike at UC Berkeley, co-ordinator for the first
Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley, an
advisor for Asians for Job Opportunities, a
counselor, instructor and administrator at Merritt and
Alameda Colleges.
We will remember him for the personal impact he
made on our lives and the social impact he made
on the community movements of people of all colors:
"Based on my experience, I've seen where unity
amongst the races has yielded positive results. I
don?t see any other way for people to gain
freedom, justice, and equality here except by being internationalist."
Richard Aoki
Memorial arrangements are pending and information
will be available at a later date.
Sincerely,
Harvey Dong
Richard Aoki Commemorative Committee.
Email:
This entry was posted on March 16, 2009 at 11:26 am
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
Notes on the Pan African Mental Health Peer Group
Berkeley Continuation High, Session #2
From: ramal lamar
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Cc: Tracey Mitchell; refa1@hotmail. com
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 9:14:58 PM
Subject: Fwd: Questions
Dr. M,
Attached is the question the peer group answered
yesterday. Below is a check in of today's session..
(If you post this one, please edit where you deem necessary)
Today's session was full of humility, excitement and clear
articulation of common experiences of oppression shared by the
brothers. We dealt with when we first realized the fear
associated with success. Not only did all of the brothers participate
but some brothers were so on point that their responses almost forced
others to kind of shut down (I saw glimpses of the how high the walls
were inside of myself keeping others so far away). One brother shared
how he was forced in middle school to take ritalin twice a day after
getting all F's. He described how he would be legally high in a zombie
like manner walking around the campus; then the racist teachers would
whisper evil subliminal messages in his ear, attempting to plant seeds
of failure in his future. He cried and got fearful of success in high
school. But all he wants is be the b-boy he naturally is.That's why part of his '
therapy includes getting some basic alphabetsand proper Zulu training from under
the watchful eye of the Waset Zulu
Nation (Hip Hop Priesthood).
All of the brothers related to these fucked middle school experiences
since most of them all went to school and shared these oppressive
experiences. One brother said the white administrators at Berkeley
High told him in front of his momma that he wasn't shit and wasn't
gonna be shit, and oh how his mama cried. That's when he realized that
he was mis-representing his momma; then they kicked him out of school.
He went on and enrolled at adult school and made up all his shit and
the school still didn't want him to back.
One brother said frankly that he knows what it takes to be successful,
but he has seen so much fucked up shit at such a young age that at
times he just don't give a fuck about nothing and nobody...those
memories stops him in his tracks.
Another brother thanked everyone for being honest in the process and
reminded everyone how similiar our struggles were, how we basically
all been through and will continue to go through the same shit.
Another brother was mad at how he was sent to jail for six months for
missing a court date, but he came to terms with himself and took
responsibility for his own actions.
One brother has a baby on the way and he is in a dilemma on whether to
go out of state to school or to stay local and be a father to is
child. Everyone wants to tell him what to do, but I said if his mama
ain't in the process, then the process ain't real. We'll see the
results.
Through these brothers I see how the white supremacy has affected
them. A few of them still have dreams of robbing the richest white man
and giving to the poor people, some see the glass half empty rather
than half full, and if you recall Dr.M, when we were rolling through
Berkeley to drop off the books at city college, some of them you've
seen in the neighborhood, or at the flea market.
I wish I could eliminate and reverse all that fucked up shit they had
to experience, most of which was beyond them, since they were and are
in many ways young and innocent.
Ramal Lamar
Zulu King from the School of Afrikan Philosophy,
North American Afrikan Mythologist,
University of Poetry
A Project of the Black Arts Movement
Berkeley Continuation High, Session #2
From: ramal lamar
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Cc: Tracey Mitchell
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 9:14:58 PM
Subject: Fwd: Questions
Dr. M,
Attached is the question the peer group answered
yesterday. Below is a check in of today's session..
(If you post this one, please edit where you deem necessary)
Today's session was full of humility, excitement and clear
articulation of common experiences of oppression shared by the
brothers. We dealt with when we first realized the fear
associated with success. Not only did all of the brothers participate
but some brothers were so on point that their responses almost forced
others to kind of shut down (I saw glimpses of the how high the walls
were inside of myself keeping others so far away). One brother shared
how he was forced in middle school to take ritalin twice a day after
getting all F's. He described how he would be legally high in a zombie
like manner walking around the campus; then the racist teachers would
whisper evil subliminal messages in his ear, attempting to plant seeds
of failure in his future. He cried and got fearful of success in high
school. But all he wants is be the b-boy he naturally is.That's why part of his '
therapy includes getting some basic alphabetsand proper Zulu training from under
the watchful eye of the Waset Zulu
Nation (Hip Hop Priesthood).
All of the brothers related to these fucked middle school experiences
since most of them all went to school and shared these oppressive
experiences. One brother said the white administrators at Berkeley
High told him in front of his momma that he wasn't shit and wasn't
gonna be shit, and oh how his mama cried. That's when he realized that
he was mis-representing his momma; then they kicked him out of school.
He went on and enrolled at adult school and made up all his shit and
the school still didn't want him to back.
One brother said frankly that he knows what it takes to be successful,
but he has seen so much fucked up shit at such a young age that at
times he just don't give a fuck about nothing and nobody...those
memories stops him in his tracks.
Another brother thanked everyone for being honest in the process and
reminded everyone how similiar our struggles were, how we basically
all been through and will continue to go through the same shit.
Another brother was mad at how he was sent to jail for six months for
missing a court date, but he came to terms with himself and took
responsibility for his own actions.
One brother has a baby on the way and he is in a dilemma on whether to
go out of state to school or to stay local and be a father to is
child. Everyone wants to tell him what to do, but I said if his mama
ain't in the process, then the process ain't real. We'll see the
results.
Through these brothers I see how the white supremacy has affected
them. A few of them still have dreams of robbing the richest white man
and giving to the poor people, some see the glass half empty rather
than half full, and if you recall Dr.M, when we were rolling through
Berkeley to drop off the books at city college, some of them you've
seen in the neighborhood, or at the flea market.
I wish I could eliminate and reverse all that fucked up shit they had
to experience, most of which was beyond them, since they were and are
in many ways young and innocent.
Ramal Lamar
Zulu King from the School of Afrikan Philosophy,
North American Afrikan Mythologist,
University of Poetry
A Project of the Black Arts Movement
Liberate the Captives
------------------------
Greetings All:
Please send Ruchell some love and birthday greetings (money orders will work too) as he marks another BIG O in California gulags. He's been transfered to a new location at Corcoran. His address follows. I'm also attaching Yogi's address which I forgot to add for his belated birthday cardsi. His was March 10.
I'm also attaching (below) a piece I wrote 4 years ago for the SF Bay View newspaper. (It didn't translate too well and the dates/addresses are old of course).
As some of you already know, these brothers have been denied parole repeatedly, and Yogi just got a 15-year hit, effectively a new sentence. We need to start a letter-writing campaign to the Warden at Pelican Bay to request Yogi be moved to at least a medium security prison closer to S.F. where his family, including his Mom lives. www.hugopinell.org
Ruchell Cinque Magee
#A92051
ASU-126L
P.O. Box 5248
Corcoran, CA 93212
Hugo L.A. Pinell
A88401 D3-221
Box 7500
Crescent City, Ca. 95531-7500
Over 40 birthdays in prison!
by Kiilu Nyasha (2005)
Hugo L. Pinell, affectionately known as Yogi Bear, will be 60 years old on March 10.
Ruchell Cinque Magee celebrates his 66th on March 17.
Yogi entered the prison system in 1964 when he was about 19 years old. Against good advice from a sistah-mama, he turned himself in for having assaulted a young woman while drunk, feeling great remorse. He’s been there ever since.
Ruchell had only been released from “The Farm,†the notorious slave plantation turned prison in Louisiana known as Angola, about six months. He had been captured for relating to a white girl as a teenager in the 1950s in KKK territory – definitely a no-no. He was incarcerated in an adult prison for eight years and then banished from the state, allowing the latter to confiscate property owned by his mother, who passed while he was jailed.
In 1963, he was hanging out with his cousin and friends and got into an argument over a $10 bag of marijuana. His antagonist called the police, who found Magee in the parked car, beat him badly enough to require his hospitalization for three days and jailed him.
At this point, the details hardly matter. Neither of these cases would have garnered the average joe more than a year or two. But these two brothers have refused all these years to sacrifice their dignity, and both have always had the temerity to stand up in self-defense and the defense of their fellow prisoners. Ruchell as a jailhouse lawyer; Yogi as a martial artist – i.e., freedom fighters.
Trophies for Black August
On Aug. 7, 1970, after seven years, two trials and countless petitions filed against his illegal incarceration, Magee joined the other guerrillas in the Marin Courthouse, when Jonathan Jackson stormed the court armed to the teeth and liberated William Christmas, James McClain (on trial for assaulting a guard), and Magee (testifying for McClain). They took the judge, prosecutor and three jurors hostage, thinking they would be insurance, and planned to drive to a radio station to denounce the murderous, racist prison conditions and demand the release of the Soledad Brothers – John Clutchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and George Jackson.
They never got out of the parking lot. The San Quentin guards got there in time to shoot up the van, killing all three guerillas and the judge, seriously wounding the prosecutor and Magee, and slightly injuring one of the jurors.
Angela Davis was hunted down and captured for having legally purchased the guns. Jonathan Jackson had been her bodyguard in her defense activities for the Soledad Brothers in a dangerous climate.
Ruchell was charged with everything they could think of, although they had to drop the murder charge, since he lay unconscious at the scene of the incident.
Magee remains in prison to date. His own jailhouse lawyering got him released from the Pelican Bay SHU back in the early 1990s and he is currently on the Corcoran Prison mainline. As brother Willie Sundiata Tate has often stated, *Ruchell never hurt anyone.*
Aug. 21, 1971, was the day Soledad Brother George Lester Jackson was murdered on the yard of San Quentin State Prison, in addition to three prison guards and two inmate trustees. Six prisoners were singled out and charged with various counts of murder and assault: Fleeta Drumgo,Willie Sundiata Tate, David Johnson, Luis Talamantez, Johnny Spain and Hugo Pinell.
Johnny Spain was the only one convicted of murder, and he has been out of prison since 1988. Yogi was convicted of assault and has spent the last 30-plus years in solitary confinement -- no contact, no phone calls. He has been in Pelican Bay's torture chamber since 1990.
For more details on these Black August events, you can go to www.hugopinell.com, or google Black August + Kiilu Nyasha.
For those of you who are not aware of the level of torture the Pelican Bay SHU metes out, here are a few details. Pelican Bay is located in the Northwest corner of California on the Oregon border in pristine, redwood territory.
The prison is solid gray concrete and the SHU (Security Housing Unit) is completely windowless with only doors for entrance. It looks like a large tomb. It's hi-tech with automatic doors and gates, only artificial light, and even the so-called yard is nothing more than a “dog run†or outdoor closet with 20' high walls covered on top by plexiglas.
SHU prisoners are locked down 24/7 except for a possible hour on the dog run where they can exercise alone with no equipment whatsoever, not even a ball. They are not permitted any arts or crafts and only a very limited number of books and property.
They are chained hand and foot whenever they leave their cells, escorted by two prison guards. Visits are limited to weekends and holidays and no more than two hours. As mentioned earlier, their visits are conducted in a phone booth and they cannot make calls to the outside. In short, Yogi's mother, who has been visiting him for all these years, has not been able to hug her son in at least 30.
The State claims it has no political prisoners, yet these two brothers have done the equivalent of double-life sentences. It doesn't seem to matter how much clean time they have; whenever they go to board, the answer is always the same: come back in two to five years.
What kind of society have we become?
Collectively speaking, we seem to have lost our humanity altogether. How else would we tolerate the caging of human beings under tortuous conditions for scores of years?
When will we speak out vociferously for an end to this horrible system of torture and enslavement?
Please take a minute to at least send these brothers a birthday greeting and give them a lift. They can be reached as follows: Hugo L. Pinell, A88401, D3-221, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95531-7500. Ruchell Cinque Magee, A92051, 3C-127, P.O. Box 3471, Corcoran, CA 93212.
I've been in communication with these righteous soldiers (more or less) since 1971 consistently for the past 15-plus years. I love them both and know in my heart that they would be an asset to our community were they to be released. Enough is enough and too much is too damned much. Write letters, sign petitions, do whatever you can to demand their immediate release. Don't let them spend another birthday behind prison walls.
------------------------
Greetings All:
Please send Ruchell some love and birthday greetings (money orders will work too) as he marks another BIG O in California gulags. He's been transfered to a new location at Corcoran. His address follows. I'm also attaching Yogi's address which I forgot to add for his belated birthday cardsi. His was March 10.
I'm also attaching (below) a piece I wrote 4 years ago for the SF Bay View newspaper. (It didn't translate too well and the dates/addresses are old of course).
As some of you already know, these brothers have been denied parole repeatedly, and Yogi just got a 15-year hit, effectively a new sentence. We need to start a letter-writing campaign to the Warden at Pelican Bay to request Yogi be moved to at least a medium security prison closer to S.F. where his family, including his Mom lives. www.hugopinell.org
Ruchell Cinque Magee
#A92051
ASU-126L
P.O. Box 5248
Corcoran, CA 93212
Hugo L.A. Pinell
A88401 D3-221
Box 7500
Crescent City, Ca. 95531-7500
Over 40 birthdays in prison!
by Kiilu Nyasha (2005)
Hugo L. Pinell, affectionately known as Yogi Bear, will be 60 years old on March 10.
Ruchell Cinque Magee celebrates his 66th on March 17.
Yogi entered the prison system in 1964 when he was about 19 years old. Against good advice from a sistah-mama, he turned himself in for having assaulted a young woman while drunk, feeling great remorse. He’s been there ever since.
Ruchell had only been released from “The Farm,†the notorious slave plantation turned prison in Louisiana known as Angola, about six months. He had been captured for relating to a white girl as a teenager in the 1950s in KKK territory – definitely a no-no. He was incarcerated in an adult prison for eight years and then banished from the state, allowing the latter to confiscate property owned by his mother, who passed while he was jailed.
In 1963, he was hanging out with his cousin and friends and got into an argument over a $10 bag of marijuana. His antagonist called the police, who found Magee in the parked car, beat him badly enough to require his hospitalization for three days and jailed him.
At this point, the details hardly matter. Neither of these cases would have garnered the average joe more than a year or two. But these two brothers have refused all these years to sacrifice their dignity, and both have always had the temerity to stand up in self-defense and the defense of their fellow prisoners. Ruchell as a jailhouse lawyer; Yogi as a martial artist – i.e., freedom fighters.
Trophies for Black August
On Aug. 7, 1970, after seven years, two trials and countless petitions filed against his illegal incarceration, Magee joined the other guerrillas in the Marin Courthouse, when Jonathan Jackson stormed the court armed to the teeth and liberated William Christmas, James McClain (on trial for assaulting a guard), and Magee (testifying for McClain). They took the judge, prosecutor and three jurors hostage, thinking they would be insurance, and planned to drive to a radio station to denounce the murderous, racist prison conditions and demand the release of the Soledad Brothers – John Clutchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and George Jackson.
They never got out of the parking lot. The San Quentin guards got there in time to shoot up the van, killing all three guerillas and the judge, seriously wounding the prosecutor and Magee, and slightly injuring one of the jurors.
Angela Davis was hunted down and captured for having legally purchased the guns. Jonathan Jackson had been her bodyguard in her defense activities for the Soledad Brothers in a dangerous climate.
Ruchell was charged with everything they could think of, although they had to drop the murder charge, since he lay unconscious at the scene of the incident.
Magee remains in prison to date. His own jailhouse lawyering got him released from the Pelican Bay SHU back in the early 1990s and he is currently on the Corcoran Prison mainline. As brother Willie Sundiata Tate has often stated, *Ruchell never hurt anyone.*
Aug. 21, 1971, was the day Soledad Brother George Lester Jackson was murdered on the yard of San Quentin State Prison, in addition to three prison guards and two inmate trustees. Six prisoners were singled out and charged with various counts of murder and assault: Fleeta Drumgo,Willie Sundiata Tate, David Johnson, Luis Talamantez, Johnny Spain and Hugo Pinell.
Johnny Spain was the only one convicted of murder, and he has been out of prison since 1988. Yogi was convicted of assault and has spent the last 30-plus years in solitary confinement -- no contact, no phone calls. He has been in Pelican Bay's torture chamber since 1990.
For more details on these Black August events, you can go to www.hugopinell.com, or google Black August + Kiilu Nyasha.
For those of you who are not aware of the level of torture the Pelican Bay SHU metes out, here are a few details. Pelican Bay is located in the Northwest corner of California on the Oregon border in pristine, redwood territory.
The prison is solid gray concrete and the SHU (Security Housing Unit) is completely windowless with only doors for entrance. It looks like a large tomb. It's hi-tech with automatic doors and gates, only artificial light, and even the so-called yard is nothing more than a “dog run†or outdoor closet with 20' high walls covered on top by plexiglas.
SHU prisoners are locked down 24/7 except for a possible hour on the dog run where they can exercise alone with no equipment whatsoever, not even a ball. They are not permitted any arts or crafts and only a very limited number of books and property.
They are chained hand and foot whenever they leave their cells, escorted by two prison guards. Visits are limited to weekends and holidays and no more than two hours. As mentioned earlier, their visits are conducted in a phone booth and they cannot make calls to the outside. In short, Yogi's mother, who has been visiting him for all these years, has not been able to hug her son in at least 30.
The State claims it has no political prisoners, yet these two brothers have done the equivalent of double-life sentences. It doesn't seem to matter how much clean time they have; whenever they go to board, the answer is always the same: come back in two to five years.
What kind of society have we become?
Collectively speaking, we seem to have lost our humanity altogether. How else would we tolerate the caging of human beings under tortuous conditions for scores of years?
When will we speak out vociferously for an end to this horrible system of torture and enslavement?
Please take a minute to at least send these brothers a birthday greeting and give them a lift. They can be reached as follows: Hugo L. Pinell, A88401, D3-221, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95531-7500. Ruchell Cinque Magee, A92051, 3C-127, P.O. Box 3471, Corcoran, CA 93212.
I've been in communication with these righteous soldiers (more or less) since 1971 consistently for the past 15-plus years. I love them both and know in my heart that they would be an asset to our community were they to be released. Enough is enough and too much is too damned much. Write letters, sign petitions, do whatever you can to demand their immediate release. Don't let them spend another birthday behind prison walls.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
A Praise Song for Askia
Warrior man master wordsmith
lyrical singer of liberation
in the wilderness of north america
slayer of beasts dragons demons of the mind heart soul of trashmen
down from warriors
up from slavery
up from ignot
up from negrocities (baraka term)
Askia we love you the world over
those who know and don't know
love is a spirit thing my man
you are not forgotten in history your hands made
your love songs to African queens your poems made
thrilling us with the magic of your mind
I was there when the walls of Spelman fell from the power of
your poem Venus and Serena
black women wailed with joy
I saw you afraid of your own word power
I was afraid of the earthquake you unleashed
Mighty Man do not be afraid history will deny your deeds
don't worry about acadeem and media freaks of capitalism and slavery
just do the work and in the end
ancestors shall rejoice
the living and yet unborn shall cry tears of joy at the warrior blood in your pen.
Peace and love,
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
2009
Warrior man master wordsmith
lyrical singer of liberation
in the wilderness of north america
slayer of beasts dragons demons of the mind heart soul of trashmen
down from warriors
up from slavery
up from ignot
up from negrocities (baraka term)
Askia we love you the world over
those who know and don't know
love is a spirit thing my man
you are not forgotten in history your hands made
your love songs to African queens your poems made
thrilling us with the magic of your mind
I was there when the walls of Spelman fell from the power of
your poem Venus and Serena
black women wailed with joy
I saw you afraid of your own word power
I was afraid of the earthquake you unleashed
Mighty Man do not be afraid history will deny your deeds
don't worry about acadeem and media freaks of capitalism and slavery
just do the work and in the end
ancestors shall rejoice
the living and yet unborn shall cry tears of joy at the warrior blood in your pen.
Peace and love,
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
2009
Unity, Criticism, Unity
Shall I shoot you out the saddle
Rearrange the computer of your mind
shake yo nuts out the sand of time
relieve you of your comfort zone
drag your corpse out that shallow grave
remove your burial wrap like Lazarus come again
while Mary and Martha moan
softly in the night
the black night of our tears under the cross and lynching tree
let us reason together brothers and sisters
there is no exit
we must debate in civil
lower the bass in our voices
before we stroke or heart attack
even devils converse late into the night
in their secret dungeons and black holes
Up from ignut
yet we can dream plan
but don't forget dry bones in the hood
strange fruit on the tree
broken bones in the swamp
death on the plantations of our mind
resurrect the 200,000 warriors from civil war days
disarmed by reconstruction
and the freedman's bureau
moving on to segregation
up the mountain like Sisyphus
down again into the shallow grave like Lazarus
new beginning in the renaissance
civil rites sun ra said
rites at the cemetery
last rites for pax americana
black power, black arts, black studies
so much to do so little time
we drag our feet again up the hill
sometimes shooting ourselves in the foot
dreaming of other worlds
forget the negro in the hood
free outter space
fight the green revolution
how can you save the planet
the planet has come to devour you
consume you for your iniquities and shame of Mother Earth
let the oceans rise until you wail and drown
let the birds bees ants bite your asses
into righteousness
let the exhaust from your cars take you along freeways of madness
some yakubian architect constructed
half your chilldren never graduate never speak another language
never travel beyond hood and turf
no news reaches their ears beyond the madness of chris brown and rihana
stuck in the BET world of nothingless and dread
and yet we rise
the motion of the ocean carries us if we float on our backs
be still dog peddle
until we come ashore.
-Marvin X
Houston, Texas
Shall I shoot you out the saddle
Rearrange the computer of your mind
shake yo nuts out the sand of time
relieve you of your comfort zone
drag your corpse out that shallow grave
remove your burial wrap like Lazarus come again
while Mary and Martha moan
softly in the night
the black night of our tears under the cross and lynching tree
let us reason together brothers and sisters
there is no exit
we must debate in civil
lower the bass in our voices
before we stroke or heart attack
even devils converse late into the night
in their secret dungeons and black holes
Up from ignut
yet we can dream plan
but don't forget dry bones in the hood
strange fruit on the tree
broken bones in the swamp
death on the plantations of our mind
resurrect the 200,000 warriors from civil war days
disarmed by reconstruction
and the freedman's bureau
moving on to segregation
up the mountain like Sisyphus
down again into the shallow grave like Lazarus
new beginning in the renaissance
civil rites sun ra said
rites at the cemetery
last rites for pax americana
black power, black arts, black studies
so much to do so little time
we drag our feet again up the hill
sometimes shooting ourselves in the foot
dreaming of other worlds
forget the negro in the hood
free outter space
fight the green revolution
how can you save the planet
the planet has come to devour you
consume you for your iniquities and shame of Mother Earth
let the oceans rise until you wail and drown
let the birds bees ants bite your asses
into righteousness
let the exhaust from your cars take you along freeways of madness
some yakubian architect constructed
half your chilldren never graduate never speak another language
never travel beyond hood and turf
no news reaches their ears beyond the madness of chris brown and rihana
stuck in the BET world of nothingless and dread
and yet we rise
the motion of the ocean carries us if we float on our backs
be still dog peddle
until we come ashore.
-Marvin X
Houston, Texas
Notes from the Pan African Mental Health Peer Group
to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
In Berkeley, California, Math Instructor Ramal Lamar
has started a Pan African Mental Health Peer Group with a group of
young men at a continuation high school. The following
are his notes from a session. Dr. M's book How to Recover
from the Addiction to White Supremacy, A Pan African/12 Step
Model is also in use in a Berkeley City College English class.
The book is available from Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way,
Berkeley, CA 94702, $19.95.
From: ramal lamar
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Cc: el_my_t@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 1:17:10 AM
Subject: check in: peer group
Dr. M,
Today's session with the young men went exceptionally well. Taking your
advice we reviewed the introduction, defining white supremacy and
detoxing from white supremacy. We all read the intro and defined white
supremacy. Each of us went around in a circle reading five sentences.
After that we answered 10 of the 19 questions generated from the
introduction. The brothers all agreed that white supremacy is the
number one addiction America falls victim to and each brother in his
own words explained the Afrikan proverb, "a white dog will not
bite another white dog'. One young brother, the chess master, said to
him this proverb meant the white people were evil. What really stood
out was how the brothers were trying to impress each other with their
ability to say all those big academic words that Dr. M. used in the
book. Also there was a general positive atmosphere when posing the
question to each other regarding the nature of wage slavery, Western
free markets, cultural imperialism, and the western ideal. As one
brother noted, "This was the best session ever!"
Soon I'll send you the questions we generated from the first
sections of the textbook. If you see or hear from Ptah before I do ,
tell him that we're gonna need him to read , explain and defend his
Afterword in How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
Ramal Lamar
Negrologist in training
to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
In Berkeley, California, Math Instructor Ramal Lamar
has started a Pan African Mental Health Peer Group with a group of
young men at a continuation high school. The following
are his notes from a session. Dr. M's book How to Recover
from the Addiction to White Supremacy, A Pan African/12 Step
Model is also in use in a Berkeley City College English class.
The book is available from Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way,
Berkeley, CA 94702, $19.95.
From: ramal lamar
To: Marvin X Jackmon
Cc: el_my_t@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 1:17:10 AM
Subject: check in: peer group
Dr. M,
Today's session with the young men went exceptionally well. Taking your
advice we reviewed the introduction, defining white supremacy and
detoxing from white supremacy. We all read the intro and defined white
supremacy. Each of us went around in a circle reading five sentences.
After that we answered 10 of the 19 questions generated from the
introduction. The brothers all agreed that white supremacy is the
number one addiction America falls victim to and each brother in his
own words explained the Afrikan proverb, "a white dog will not
bite another white dog'. One young brother, the chess master, said to
him this proverb meant the white people were evil. What really stood
out was how the brothers were trying to impress each other with their
ability to say all those big academic words that Dr. M. used in the
book. Also there was a general positive atmosphere when posing the
question to each other regarding the nature of wage slavery, Western
free markets, cultural imperialism, and the western ideal. As one
brother noted, "This was the best session ever!"
Soon I'll send you the questions we generated from the first
sections of the textbook. If you see or hear from Ptah before I do ,
tell him that we're gonna need him to read , explain and defend his
Afterword in How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.
Ramal Lamar
Negrologist in training
Monday, March 16, 2009
Subject: RE: Of Black Radicals, Artists and Tenured Negroes
Marvin, thanks for bringing to my attention both of these black studies groups.
Before I responded I googled the Georgia group, The National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) and the Philly group, The Center for African American Research and Public Policy (CAARPP).
The former (NCBS) considered themselves in the following manner:
"Growing fundamentally out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, Africana/Black Studies has become the intellectual extension of that movement."
The latter (CAARPP) considered themselves:
"A think tank for African-American policy with plans for the future."
They (CAARPP) were initially funded with a $100,000 grant from black legislator, Rep. Dwight Evans, Democratic chair of the House Appropriations Committee and candidate for mayor of Philadelphia .
From what I can discern NCBS has more money than CAARP. By their membership fees NCBS seems to be able to take care of business. Their program for their March conference is is over 20 pages long. They publish two journals.
CAARPP publishes an annual report, "State of Black Philadelphia."
One can briefly conclude, despite their pretensions, that neither NCBS nor CAARP are radical organizations. They are not really the "intellectual extension" of any kind of movement. Most of their fundings are derived from conservative organizations and individuals. They are organizations of professionals. And thus by nature they are conservative black professionals.
And as you suggested, they neither live in the ghetto nor are they ghetto organizers. They are academy oriented and are thus only interested in "Black Liberation" as a scholarly topic. They are neither radical nor revolutionaries or offer political leadership for the ghetto or working class blacks.
Peace and love, Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:43:22 -0700
> From: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
> Subject: Of Black Radicals, Artists and Tenured Negroes
> To: bbstring2@bellsouth.net; belriver@aol.com; bgreene@mec.cuny.edu; nhare@pacbell.net; drjuliahare@pacbell.net; goodnewspc@aol.com; amirib@aol.com; ubcindc@yahoo.com; nnorme01@temple.edu; rudolphlewis@hotmail.com; ramal.lamar@gmail.com; refa1@hotmail.com; lmandy@csulb.edu; drnobles@iasbflc.org; runoko@yahoo.com; alona3649@hotmail.com; lewistarika@yahoo.com; kam_williams@hotmail.com; KALAMU@aol.com; kheperashani@gmail.com; theblacklist@hotmail.com; phavia@hotmail.com; mstanfrd@temple.edu; msumchai@peralta.edu; lafrance.howard@temple.edu; falim@aol.com; NMAAHCinfo@si.edu
>
>
> Of Black Radicals, Artists and Tenured Negroes
>
>
> Isn't is strange black radicals and artists will meet in May at Temple University in Philly to discuss Black Studies Forty Years Later? Ledby Muhammad Ahmed
> (Max Stanford) the radicals will have met after another faction of academic Negroes, The National Conference of Black Studies, led by Dr. Maulana Karenga, will meet in Atlanta, March 19-21. These are the grouping of tenured Negroes who have essentially controlled black studies over the past three decades. These Negroes have ruled during a time in which their vows to uplift the community were muted by death in the hood behavior of gangs, drugs, disease, school dropout rates, imprisonment and other factors overwhelmed whatever good they claimed on their watch. In fact, during their watch the concern of life in the hood was redirected toward a cause to save the diaspora superseded saving the hood. Pan Africanism took center field to the strident black nationalism upon which black studies originated in the last years of the 60s. Pan Africanism and Diaspora Studies seems more acceptable to the neo-colonial powers than black nationalism which is more often
> labeled narrow minded because of its focus on North American Africans as opposed to the broader vision of Pan Africanism, although we hear little about Africans or even Caribbean Africans being concerned about North American Africans. This broad, lopsided approach to focus on Pan Africanism has permitted North American Africans to defend the brutal regime of Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the neo-colonial South African regime of the ANC, which has caused continued suffering of the African masses, although Pan Africans have the gull to defend reactionary African regimes when we can see through their often paid in advance propaganda from the president for life dictators such as Mugabe, although he was once hailed as the hero of African liberation. We do not accept that land reform began twenty years after the revolution, and it may take longer in South Africa with the present political turmoil between the ANC and the new ANC splinter group led by Umbeki.
>
> Are there black nationalists in the house? Any North American Africans whose primary concern is with "nigguhs in the hood"? Forget about Obama, Mr. Black President, as he sails down the road to further imperialism with his Zionist cabinet, including Emaneul and Mz Clinton formerly of Jewyork.
>
> If you ain't for yourself, who will be for you? Mama and Daddy taught me charity begins at home and spreads abroad, or think globally but act locally. So where do we go from here? Obama gives us a moment to reflect, a moment of breathing space, maybe the calm before the storm when all the shit will hit the fan in the world of capitalism and slavery. We simply wonder will our intellectuals continue their other-worldism as Dr. Nathan Hare calls the Kemetic dreamers and Pan African romantics, unless we are planning a thousand year journey back to blackness. How in the hell can black American Pan Africans talk about Africa when their academic counterparts can't pick up Sonia Sanchez from the airport? Nor did they pick up Umar Ben Hasan of the Last Poets when they performed at San Francisco State University a few months ago. Ben Hasan had to call his folks from Oakland to pick him up for a gig at SFSU. Don't make me use the word from my next book: Ignut!
>
> In truth, I am forced to do what Elijah Muhammad did years ago: dismiss the intellectuals in favor of the grass roots. I said some years ago, give me one hundred black murderers and we'll TCB, too hell with academic Negroes when it is the common sense brothers and sisters from the hood who will make the motion of history a reality. The intellectual Negroes are confounded at every turn, twisting and turning over Obama, impotent to radicalize Black Studies, paralyzed to advance black liberation beyond conference after conference after conference. When will we, in the words of Bob Marley, "Wake up, stand up, don't give up the fight"?
> --Marvin X
>
>
>
>
Marvin, thanks for bringing to my attention both of these black studies groups.
Before I responded I googled the Georgia group, The National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) and the Philly group, The Center for African American Research and Public Policy (CAARPP).
The former (NCBS) considered themselves in the following manner:
"Growing fundamentally out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, Africana/Black Studies has become the intellectual extension of that movement."
The latter (CAARPP) considered themselves:
"A think tank for African-American policy with plans for the future."
They (CAARPP) were initially funded with a $100,000 grant from black legislator, Rep. Dwight Evans, Democratic chair of the House Appropriations Committee and candidate for mayor of Philadelphia .
From what I can discern NCBS has more money than CAARP. By their membership fees NCBS seems to be able to take care of business. Their program for their March conference is is over 20 pages long. They publish two journals.
CAARPP publishes an annual report, "State of Black Philadelphia."
One can briefly conclude, despite their pretensions, that neither NCBS nor CAARP are radical organizations. They are not really the "intellectual extension" of any kind of movement. Most of their fundings are derived from conservative organizations and individuals. They are organizations of professionals. And thus by nature they are conservative black professionals.
And as you suggested, they neither live in the ghetto nor are they ghetto organizers. They are academy oriented and are thus only interested in "Black Liberation" as a scholarly topic. They are neither radical nor revolutionaries or offer political leadership for the ghetto or working class blacks.
Peace and love, Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
> Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:43:22 -0700
> From: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
> Subject: Of Black Radicals, Artists and Tenured Negroes
> To: bbstring2@bellsouth.net; belriver@aol.com; bgreene@mec.cuny.edu; nhare@pacbell.net; drjuliahare@pacbell.net; goodnewspc@aol.com; amirib@aol.com; ubcindc@yahoo.com; nnorme01@temple.edu; rudolphlewis@hotmail.com; ramal.lamar@gmail.com; refa1@hotmail.com; lmandy@csulb.edu; drnobles@iasbflc.org; runoko@yahoo.com; alona3649@hotmail.com; lewistarika@yahoo.com; kam_williams@hotmail.com; KALAMU@aol.com; kheperashani@gmail.com; theblacklist@hotmail.com; phavia@hotmail.com; mstanfrd@temple.edu; msumchai@peralta.edu; lafrance.howard@temple.edu; falim@aol.com; NMAAHCinfo@si.edu
>
>
> Of Black Radicals, Artists and Tenured Negroes
>
>
> Isn't is strange black radicals and artists will meet in May at Temple University in Philly to discuss Black Studies Forty Years Later? Ledby Muhammad Ahmed
> (Max Stanford) the radicals will have met after another faction of academic Negroes, The National Conference of Black Studies, led by Dr. Maulana Karenga, will meet in Atlanta, March 19-21. These are the grouping of tenured Negroes who have essentially controlled black studies over the past three decades. These Negroes have ruled during a time in which their vows to uplift the community were muted by death in the hood behavior of gangs, drugs, disease, school dropout rates, imprisonment and other factors overwhelmed whatever good they claimed on their watch. In fact, during their watch the concern of life in the hood was redirected toward a cause to save the diaspora superseded saving the hood. Pan Africanism took center field to the strident black nationalism upon which black studies originated in the last years of the 60s. Pan Africanism and Diaspora Studies seems more acceptable to the neo-colonial powers than black nationalism which is more often
> labeled narrow minded because of its focus on North American Africans as opposed to the broader vision of Pan Africanism, although we hear little about Africans or even Caribbean Africans being concerned about North American Africans. This broad, lopsided approach to focus on Pan Africanism has permitted North American Africans to defend the brutal regime of Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the neo-colonial South African regime of the ANC, which has caused continued suffering of the African masses, although Pan Africans have the gull to defend reactionary African regimes when we can see through their often paid in advance propaganda from the president for life dictators such as Mugabe, although he was once hailed as the hero of African liberation. We do not accept that land reform began twenty years after the revolution, and it may take longer in South Africa with the present political turmoil between the ANC and the new ANC splinter group led by Umbeki.
>
> Are there black nationalists in the house? Any North American Africans whose primary concern is with "nigguhs in the hood"? Forget about Obama, Mr. Black President, as he sails down the road to further imperialism with his Zionist cabinet, including Emaneul and Mz Clinton formerly of Jewyork.
>
> If you ain't for yourself, who will be for you? Mama and Daddy taught me charity begins at home and spreads abroad, or think globally but act locally. So where do we go from here? Obama gives us a moment to reflect, a moment of breathing space, maybe the calm before the storm when all the shit will hit the fan in the world of capitalism and slavery. We simply wonder will our intellectuals continue their other-worldism as Dr. Nathan Hare calls the Kemetic dreamers and Pan African romantics, unless we are planning a thousand year journey back to blackness. How in the hell can black American Pan Africans talk about Africa when their academic counterparts can't pick up Sonia Sanchez from the airport? Nor did they pick up Umar Ben Hasan of the Last Poets when they performed at San Francisco State University a few months ago. Ben Hasan had to call his folks from Oakland to pick him up for a gig at SFSU. Don't make me use the word from my next book: Ignut!
>
> In truth, I am forced to do what Elijah Muhammad did years ago: dismiss the intellectuals in favor of the grass roots. I said some years ago, give me one hundred black murderers and we'll TCB, too hell with academic Negroes when it is the common sense brothers and sisters from the hood who will make the motion of history a reality. The intellectual Negroes are confounded at every turn, twisting and turning over Obama, impotent to radicalize Black Studies, paralyzed to advance black liberation beyond conference after conference after conference. When will we, in the words of Bob Marley, "Wake up, stand up, don't give up the fight"?
> --Marvin X
>
>
>
>
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Precious Family
Family is all there is, nothing else exists, no love, no hate, more than family. No matter the pain, shame, envy, lust, murder, let there be family. Revolution is for family, a unity, reconstruction of trust, faith, all for family. No matter the abandonment, mental illness, incest, yet it is family for the new day, for the tradition of ancestors, for the living and yet unborn. Family. Hate them, love them, but they are there live in breathing color, in blood, sweat and tears. Family.
Jesus said to hell with them. Godfather Part II taught us beware of them, they will plot against you, murder you, lie to you. Family. But to see them gathered together, even with their negrocities is a wonder, the generations, the elders, adults, youth, children, grandchildren. This is the best it gets on this earth. Hide from them, run from them, deny them will not suffice for they shall rise again into the sun, they are there in the moon, family, gushing forth like some volcano to spill forth the lava of love in the midst of pain, sorrow, remorse, grief, the love is there in the wind, see it, smell it, family.
My family is the united nations, the African, European, Latin, flowing in the blood of us, tweeking us for some future time of understanding, not now in the chaos of the cross and lynching tree. Family. Beaten by storm and money, depression and memory, yet must come together to form the forbidden tree of unity, like the garden we must no longer eat forbidden fruit, but eat of the tree of truth and righteousness. Family. How will it end, how did it begin, no matter, we are here and beautiful, full of the God spirit beyond ourselves, our fears and years of hidden truth, the closet tales, wails, horror in the night, ghost stories and myths revealed only at the cemetery, the secret trauma of children keep hidden til uncle joe died and cousin mary. We didn't know dad had all those other kids, we didn't know him at all really. He was a preacher and man of the road, but then we found his truth on that fateful day when God reveals all. Family.
Watch the children grow tall, then the grandchildren. What wonder is this, what drama, what awesome revelation of God. The DNA leaves no doubt, the blood of ancestors is alive and well, who can deny, don't even try, the cause is lost to glory of the King.
--Marvin X
Family is all there is, nothing else exists, no love, no hate, more than family. No matter the pain, shame, envy, lust, murder, let there be family. Revolution is for family, a unity, reconstruction of trust, faith, all for family. No matter the abandonment, mental illness, incest, yet it is family for the new day, for the tradition of ancestors, for the living and yet unborn. Family. Hate them, love them, but they are there live in breathing color, in blood, sweat and tears. Family.
Jesus said to hell with them. Godfather Part II taught us beware of them, they will plot against you, murder you, lie to you. Family. But to see them gathered together, even with their negrocities is a wonder, the generations, the elders, adults, youth, children, grandchildren. This is the best it gets on this earth. Hide from them, run from them, deny them will not suffice for they shall rise again into the sun, they are there in the moon, family, gushing forth like some volcano to spill forth the lava of love in the midst of pain, sorrow, remorse, grief, the love is there in the wind, see it, smell it, family.
My family is the united nations, the African, European, Latin, flowing in the blood of us, tweeking us for some future time of understanding, not now in the chaos of the cross and lynching tree. Family. Beaten by storm and money, depression and memory, yet must come together to form the forbidden tree of unity, like the garden we must no longer eat forbidden fruit, but eat of the tree of truth and righteousness. Family. How will it end, how did it begin, no matter, we are here and beautiful, full of the God spirit beyond ourselves, our fears and years of hidden truth, the closet tales, wails, horror in the night, ghost stories and myths revealed only at the cemetery, the secret trauma of children keep hidden til uncle joe died and cousin mary. We didn't know dad had all those other kids, we didn't know him at all really. He was a preacher and man of the road, but then we found his truth on that fateful day when God reveals all. Family.
Watch the children grow tall, then the grandchildren. What wonder is this, what drama, what awesome revelation of God. The DNA leaves no doubt, the blood of ancestors is alive and well, who can deny, don't even try, the cause is lost to glory of the King.
--Marvin X
Regarding Black Studies Forty Years Later
Rudy, I recently spoke to Davey D's class on hip hop at San Francisco State University. D wanted me to make the historical connection between BAM and Hip Hop. Of course for me, I began my journey into black consciousness, black art, black liberation at Oakland's Merritt College after graduating from high school. The first "rappers" (as in H.Rap Brown, now Jamil Alamin) I heard were on the steps of Merritt. They were, among others, Bobby Seale, Richard Thorne, Huey Newton, Ken Freeman, Ernie Allen, Ann Williams, Carol Freeman and others--led by attorney Donald Warden (Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansur) and his Afro-American Association. The "rappers" rapped on black consciousness, discussing issues in E. Franklin Frazier's Black Bourgeoisie, the writings of Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta's ethnography Facing Mt. Kenya, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro's speech History Will Absolve Me, and others topics. Bobby Seale calls us the neo-black intellectuals. A sister who recalls us said she labeled us the petty bourgeoisie intellectuals, nevertheless we were striving for consciousness and doing so outside of the classroom, at cafes and each others rooms. I was formally introduced to Huey Newton at Richard Throne's room. After Richard showed Huey some of my aphorisms, Huey asked me, "Man, what is your program?" I asked the students the same question in Davey D's class. The topic the students were pondering was is hip hop a social movement. And if so, what is hip hop's program? Is it about spreading consciousness as we were about at Merritt and later at San Francisco State College. I displayed my early writings and the publications I was associated with while a student at SF State, such as Journal of Black Poetry, Black Dialogue, Soulbook, Black Scholar and Negro Digest/Black World. Journal of Black Poetry and Black Dialogue was produced by us while poor, starving students at SFSU.
At the same time we produced plays (my Flowers for the Trashman, Jimmy Garrett's We Own the Night) and held poetry readings on campus. Danny Glover was one of our actors.
My point is that we were young people on the move to save ourselves and the world. I don't know if I see hip hop saving people and the world even though it is now world youth culture.
BAM has had a direct impact of what is now called "Rap," but most rap is a long way from what we were rapping about at Merritt and SFSU. Conscious rap has been drowned out by the bitch, ho, motherfucker genre. When I wrote in a poem "motherfuck the police," I was coming from a revolutionary perspective not from some hip hop gang banger's individualistic point of view. And it was from this revolutionary perspective that BAM evolved and the liberation movement, particularly the Black Panther Party who took on the police. The Panthers began as defenders of the community. What I want to stress is that we were youth on the move. And of course it was the same in the South with the brothers and sisters in SNNC.
Students at SFSU evolved from the Negro Students Association to the Black Students Union, then toward the establishment of the first black studies program in America, at least on a major college campus. Huey and Bobby had continued to fight for black studies at Oakland's Merritt College.
So is there a connection between the black liberation movement, BAM, Black Studies (all youth inspired and directed) and Hip Hop? Yes and no. We had ideology and program. Does Hip Hop have ideology and program? BAM, Black Studies and Black Liberation inspired world youth culture as does Hip Hop, but much if not most of Hip Hop culture cannot be called revolutionary. Much of Hip Hop is fad and fashion, styling and profiling. Yes, the Panthers styled and profiled, but with a revolutionary agenda, not for bling bling. The Muslims styled and profiled but with a revolutionary agenda: the establishment of a nation.
--continued--
--Marvin X
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: rudolph lewis
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com; askia38@yahoo.com; runoko@yahoo.com; amirib@aol.com; goodnewspc@aol.com; alona3649@hotmail.com; ajackmon@hotmail.com; muhammadspeaksletters@yahoo.com; harpistfromthehood@hotmail.com; ggrier@researchdatagroup.com; nhare@blackthinktank.com; e.bullins@neu.edu; ramal.lamar@gmail.com; el_my_t@yahoo.com; muhammida@suninleo.com; bbstring2@bellsouth.net; bgreene@mec.cuny.edu; bluerobort@yahoo.com; thirdeyevideo@yahoo.com; karen_baxter@brown.edu; chelechauxnuff@yahoo.com; ibespirit@yahoo.com; mawusi777@sbcglobal.net; kambonrb@pacbell.net; trmk7@aol.com; ubcindc@yahoo.com; mstanfrd@temple.edu; nnorme01@temple.edu; lafrance.howard@temple.edu; falim@aol.com; prodeternal@hotmail.com; docgarrett@hotmail.com; nmaahcinfo@si.edu
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 2:00:05 AM
Subject: RE: Black Studies Conf at Temple
Marvin, a very interesting dialogue between you and Askia. But part of the conversation seems to be missing, namely, your writing about what happened at San Francisco State University.
In any case these dialogues are important. So are reports from these conferences. If the dialogues go no farther than the conference walls, are the organizers and participants fully doing all that must be done. I will not be attending the conference at Temple, but I am interested in the proceedings.
Here are some words once uttered that still find their resonance:
We need facts figures precision and skill. It is work and study that will change the world. The rest is clearly bullshit. Immau Amiri Baraka (1973)
We need conference reports. History of the 60s and 70s is important. But history of yesterday has its importance as well.
Peace and love, Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:04:43 -0700
Bro Askia, even though most of you generals are almost ten years older than I am, I too sometimes suffer from amnesia. This is not intentional because I am conscious of revisionist history these days, so I certainly don't want to be guilty of this, so I thank you for making me aware of ignoring your contribution to our liberation. You taught and fought at San Francisco
State University as well as made a major contribution to BAM in Harlem, no one can deny this.
It is good to hear from you since our last meeting in Boston. I look forward to seeing and participating with you at Temple and also at the Smithsonian, even if I am not on the program.
It was suggested to me today that a group of us need to do a national tour to educate our people on the correct history of BAM, Black Studies and Black Liberation.
Peace and Love,
Marvin X
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Toure Askia
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Cc: Ehoadland3nb@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 8:26:20 PM
Subject: Re: Black Studies Conf at Temple
Dear MarvinX,
What it is, Bro? How you gon' write about San Francisco State Univ. and leave my name
out of it? Gee, as I remember it, both Sis. Sonia and I taught Danny Glover & Benny,
and other young militants. As I remember, that while writing w/Dingane on the Journal,
and making a controversial criticism of Amiri--being, as I remembet it, the only principled
writer to criticize him about some the theories that he forwarded in his plays--which almost
caused a rebellion among Black Dialogue editors--while most people were busily kissing
his feet as a kind of Cult of Personality Messiah--I was almost hounded out of town;
but held firmly without waivering. And Gee, didn't you and I co-found the Huey P. Newton
Defense Committee, when Huey successfully heroically fought his way out of a police
ambush? Let me see, Gee, wasn't that original founding meeting attended by attorney
William Patterson, his comrade, Mr. Crawford, Sis. Nebbie Crawford (his beautiful
daughter); and didn't Baba Patterson lecture two Muslim bros, Marvin & Askia, about
being "narrow Nationalists," and while we disagreed, we never confronted the Elder,
out of respect.. And later, we collectively convinced Jim Lacey to head the Defense
Committee, which he did, after arriving back from NKrumah's Ghana. With all due
respect, Marvin, what goes with the Historical Amnesia? I had to add those missing
portions of that History--or become a missing person--like what happened to me
recently in Harlem, when we collectively honored Amiri--and I thanked him for helping
me develop my voice, and we hugged each other--and when the nigga wrote the
article for the Amsterdam News, he "erased" my name from history--like I wasn't
there, even though Amiri & Askia embraced to warm applause from the audience.
Excuse my "sensitivity" about being erased from history--especially by comrades.
As for as the culture of the Temple Univ. Black Studies Conf., I've been asked to chair
the Cultural Panel by Comrade Dr. Muhammad Ahmad, and I've chosen a beautiful
sista, Bolade Akintolayo from Brooklyn to co-chair of this panel with me. As Always,
you know you're welcome to participate on this panel--and bring the flavor of the W.
Coast Black Arts experience, and also raise the Generation Dialogue w/the Hip-Hop
generation, sistas & bruthas. I accept your timely criticism that much of the Black
Arts experience has been too East-Midwest oriented, omitting key experiences of
both the West Coast and the beautiful, Blues-rooted, as opposed to "dirty," South.
I know and respect you, Marvin X, as much as I did when I welcomed you to Harlem.
Whenever you come to any city I'm in, I'll always uphold your leadership, talent
and experience. Let's go forward together and heal these many wounds among us.
Peace and Power, In Struggle,
Askia Toure
--- On Sat, 3/14/09, Ehoagland3nb@aol.com wrote:
From: Ehoagland3nb@aol.com
Subject: Black Studies Conf at Temple
To: askia38@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 12:47 AM
Brother Askia:
I hope you are well and dong nicely otherwise, Good Brother. I'm sure you have already gotten at least one or two of these emails re: The BAM/Black Studies. But I'm forwarding this sequence to you just in case you haven't gotten all of them.
Do you plan to go to the conference in Philly?
How are things going for your fellow Poets Against The Killing Fields and the new anthology??
As Ever,
Everett
**************
Reply to Marvin X's Up From Ignut
This one is hard...but just an observation...in 1966...i had never met anyone from the continent of Africa in person...i never ate African cuisine,...wore African clothing, heard any African language spoken and knew nothing of the history of Africa...we began to hear the music of Mama Africa, BabaTunde Olatunji and Hugh Masekela...they were the first...and in just the last 40 years in the bay area we have been blessed with the presence of Ghanaians, Senegalese, Nigerians, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Morocco, South Africa, Liberia, Sudan, Mali, the Gambia...Now we eat the food, dance with the drummers, sing the songs in African language, form friendships, families dialog,defend and travel back and forth to Africa...discovered many things our ancestors passed on were African tradition and culture anway...And Ethiopia...I see my Father Mother, Aunties, Uncles...I see their faces, manerisms....Marvin, yeah we do some ignut
things...but we survived the MAAFA...we have deeply embedded scar tissue.. it took a long time to get this way...Reparations...where is my 40 acres and a mule...this would help all of us get counseling!...love ya...
--Tarika Lewis
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 1:01:02 PM
Subject: Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada black president
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada black president
by Marvin X
Black Bird Press, 2009
Ingut Defined
A state of mind wherein common sense is lacking, a degree below simple ignorance or lack of knowledge, for the ignut person may possess great knowledge but unable to put it into practice, therefore his condition is far worse than lack of knowledge.
Examples of Ignut
Marvin X is known to possess great wisdom but sometimes he acts ignut. He recently lost his classic Mercedes because he refused to obtain a driver's license--according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, he has not had a driver's license since 1964. The DMV informed him his privilege to apply for a license was suspended due to outstanding tickets. When he was stopped recently, he was taken to jail and his car went to car jail and later sold at police auction. This was an ignut action on his part: no license, no insurance and a phony license tag from the "black DMV," Ignut. He has since retired from driving.
Micheal Vick went to prison for dog fighting, losing his multimillion dollar pro football contract. Ignut.
Another athlete at a New York restaurant or nightclub shot himself in the foot and will possibly go to jail for gun possession. Ignut.
Chris Brown and his woman involved in domestic or partner violence. After O.J. Simpson, men still don't get it: partner violence for any reason is a no no, even if the woman is at fault--this only means she is ignut too. The Bible says when the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch together. Ignut.
Many Negroes are losing their jobs in the global economic crisis because they refused to heed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's prophesy that the day would come when there would be no jobs, not even for the white man, thus he told so-called Negroes to do for self, make yourself a job and act independent since we came to America to work for free. Once free, we continued until this day to be satisfied with wage slavery, believing we were going to have a job for life, refusing to accept the fact that at best a job is an indirect welfare handout, that most workers retire to a life of poverty and die broke. Ignut.
A baby mama said about her baby daddy: He eats, don't he think his kids need food? He need shoes, don't he think his kids need shoes? He need toilet paper, don't he think his kids need toilet paper? Ignut.
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black President, essays by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702, $1995, scheduled publication date, late May, 2009. Pre-publication price: $l0.00. Book will be sent by priority mail. Not available in book stores. Marvin X hates book stores because they take 40% for doing nothing. Ignut.
Rudy, I recently spoke to Davey D's class on hip hop at San Francisco State University. D wanted me to make the historical connection between BAM and Hip Hop. Of course for me, I began my journey into black consciousness, black art, black liberation at Oakland's Merritt College after graduating from high school. The first "rappers" (as in H.Rap Brown, now Jamil Alamin) I heard were on the steps of Merritt. They were, among others, Bobby Seale, Richard Thorne, Huey Newton, Ken Freeman, Ernie Allen, Ann Williams, Carol Freeman and others--led by attorney Donald Warden (Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansur) and his Afro-American Association. The "rappers" rapped on black consciousness, discussing issues in E. Franklin Frazier's Black Bourgeoisie, the writings of Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta's ethnography Facing Mt. Kenya, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro's speech History Will Absolve Me, and others topics. Bobby Seale calls us the neo-black intellectuals. A sister who recalls us said she labeled us the petty bourgeoisie intellectuals, nevertheless we were striving for consciousness and doing so outside of the classroom, at cafes and each others rooms. I was formally introduced to Huey Newton at Richard Throne's room. After Richard showed Huey some of my aphorisms, Huey asked me, "Man, what is your program?" I asked the students the same question in Davey D's class. The topic the students were pondering was is hip hop a social movement. And if so, what is hip hop's program? Is it about spreading consciousness as we were about at Merritt and later at San Francisco State College. I displayed my early writings and the publications I was associated with while a student at SF State, such as Journal of Black Poetry, Black Dialogue, Soulbook, Black Scholar and Negro Digest/Black World. Journal of Black Poetry and Black Dialogue was produced by us while poor, starving students at SFSU.
At the same time we produced plays (my Flowers for the Trashman, Jimmy Garrett's We Own the Night) and held poetry readings on campus. Danny Glover was one of our actors.
My point is that we were young people on the move to save ourselves and the world. I don't know if I see hip hop saving people and the world even though it is now world youth culture.
BAM has had a direct impact of what is now called "Rap," but most rap is a long way from what we were rapping about at Merritt and SFSU. Conscious rap has been drowned out by the bitch, ho, motherfucker genre. When I wrote in a poem "motherfuck the police," I was coming from a revolutionary perspective not from some hip hop gang banger's individualistic point of view. And it was from this revolutionary perspective that BAM evolved and the liberation movement, particularly the Black Panther Party who took on the police. The Panthers began as defenders of the community. What I want to stress is that we were youth on the move. And of course it was the same in the South with the brothers and sisters in SNNC.
Students at SFSU evolved from the Negro Students Association to the Black Students Union, then toward the establishment of the first black studies program in America, at least on a major college campus. Huey and Bobby had continued to fight for black studies at Oakland's Merritt College.
So is there a connection between the black liberation movement, BAM, Black Studies (all youth inspired and directed) and Hip Hop? Yes and no. We had ideology and program. Does Hip Hop have ideology and program? BAM, Black Studies and Black Liberation inspired world youth culture as does Hip Hop, but much if not most of Hip Hop culture cannot be called revolutionary. Much of Hip Hop is fad and fashion, styling and profiling. Yes, the Panthers styled and profiled, but with a revolutionary agenda, not for bling bling. The Muslims styled and profiled but with a revolutionary agenda: the establishment of a nation.
--continued--
--Marvin X
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: rudolph lewis
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com; askia38@yahoo.com; runoko@yahoo.com; amirib@aol.com; goodnewspc@aol.com; alona3649@hotmail.com; ajackmon@hotmail.com; muhammadspeaksletters@yahoo.com; harpistfromthehood@hotmail.com; ggrier@researchdatagroup.com; nhare@blackthinktank.com; e.bullins@neu.edu; ramal.lamar@gmail.com; el_my_t@yahoo.com; muhammida@suninleo.com; bbstring2@bellsouth.net; bgreene@mec.cuny.edu; bluerobort@yahoo.com; thirdeyevideo@yahoo.com; karen_baxter@brown.edu; chelechauxnuff@yahoo.com; ibespirit@yahoo.com; mawusi777@sbcglobal.net; kambonrb@pacbell.net; trmk7@aol.com; ubcindc@yahoo.com; mstanfrd@temple.edu; nnorme01@temple.edu; lafrance.howard@temple.edu; falim@aol.com; prodeternal@hotmail.com; docgarrett@hotmail.com; nmaahcinfo@si.edu
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2009 2:00:05 AM
Subject: RE: Black Studies Conf at Temple
Marvin, a very interesting dialogue between you and Askia. But part of the conversation seems to be missing, namely, your writing about what happened at San Francisco State University.
In any case these dialogues are important. So are reports from these conferences. If the dialogues go no farther than the conference walls, are the organizers and participants fully doing all that must be done. I will not be attending the conference at Temple, but I am interested in the proceedings.
Here are some words once uttered that still find their resonance:
We need facts figures precision and skill. It is work and study that will change the world. The rest is clearly bullshit. Immau Amiri Baraka (1973)
We need conference reports. History of the 60s and 70s is important. But history of yesterday has its importance as well.
Peace and love, Rudy
Rudolph Lewis, Editor
ChickenBones: A Journal
www.nathanielturner.com
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:04:43 -0700
Bro Askia, even though most of you generals are almost ten years older than I am, I too sometimes suffer from amnesia. This is not intentional because I am conscious of revisionist history these days, so I certainly don't want to be guilty of this, so I thank you for making me aware of ignoring your contribution to our liberation. You taught and fought at San Francisco
State University as well as made a major contribution to BAM in Harlem, no one can deny this.
It is good to hear from you since our last meeting in Boston. I look forward to seeing and participating with you at Temple and also at the Smithsonian, even if I am not on the program.
It was suggested to me today that a group of us need to do a national tour to educate our people on the correct history of BAM, Black Studies and Black Liberation.
Peace and Love,
Marvin X
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Toure Askia
To: jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Cc: Ehoadland3nb@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 8:26:20 PM
Subject: Re: Black Studies Conf at Temple
Dear MarvinX,
What it is, Bro? How you gon' write about San Francisco State Univ. and leave my name
out of it? Gee, as I remember it, both Sis. Sonia and I taught Danny Glover & Benny,
and other young militants. As I remember, that while writing w/Dingane on the Journal,
and making a controversial criticism of Amiri--being, as I remembet it, the only principled
writer to criticize him about some the theories that he forwarded in his plays--which almost
caused a rebellion among Black Dialogue editors--while most people were busily kissing
his feet as a kind of Cult of Personality Messiah--I was almost hounded out of town;
but held firmly without waivering. And Gee, didn't you and I co-found the Huey P. Newton
Defense Committee, when Huey successfully heroically fought his way out of a police
ambush? Let me see, Gee, wasn't that original founding meeting attended by attorney
William Patterson, his comrade, Mr. Crawford, Sis. Nebbie Crawford (his beautiful
daughter); and didn't Baba Patterson lecture two Muslim bros, Marvin & Askia, about
being "narrow Nationalists," and while we disagreed, we never confronted the Elder,
out of respect.. And later, we collectively convinced Jim Lacey to head the Defense
Committee, which he did, after arriving back from NKrumah's Ghana. With all due
respect, Marvin, what goes with the Historical Amnesia? I had to add those missing
portions of that History--or become a missing person--like what happened to me
recently in Harlem, when we collectively honored Amiri--and I thanked him for helping
me develop my voice, and we hugged each other--and when the nigga wrote the
article for the Amsterdam News, he "erased" my name from history--like I wasn't
there, even though Amiri & Askia embraced to warm applause from the audience.
Excuse my "sensitivity" about being erased from history--especially by comrades.
As for as the culture of the Temple Univ. Black Studies Conf., I've been asked to chair
the Cultural Panel by Comrade Dr. Muhammad Ahmad, and I've chosen a beautiful
sista, Bolade Akintolayo from Brooklyn to co-chair of this panel with me. As Always,
you know you're welcome to participate on this panel--and bring the flavor of the W.
Coast Black Arts experience, and also raise the Generation Dialogue w/the Hip-Hop
generation, sistas & bruthas. I accept your timely criticism that much of the Black
Arts experience has been too East-Midwest oriented, omitting key experiences of
both the West Coast and the beautiful, Blues-rooted, as opposed to "dirty," South.
I know and respect you, Marvin X, as much as I did when I welcomed you to Harlem.
Whenever you come to any city I'm in, I'll always uphold your leadership, talent
and experience. Let's go forward together and heal these many wounds among us.
Peace and Power, In Struggle,
Askia Toure
--- On Sat, 3/14/09, Ehoagland3nb@aol.com
From: Ehoagland3nb@aol.com
Subject: Black Studies Conf at Temple
To: askia38@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 12:47 AM
Brother Askia:
I hope you are well and dong nicely otherwise, Good Brother. I'm sure you have already gotten at least one or two of these emails re: The BAM/Black Studies. But I'm forwarding this sequence to you just in case you haven't gotten all of them.
Do you plan to go to the conference in Philly?
How are things going for your fellow Poets Against The Killing Fields and the new anthology??
As Ever,
Everett
**************
Reply to Marvin X's Up From Ignut
This one is hard...but just an observation...in 1966...i had never met anyone from the continent of Africa in person...i never ate African cuisine,...wore African clothing, heard any African language spoken and knew nothing of the history of Africa...we began to hear the music of Mama Africa, BabaTunde Olatunji and Hugh Masekela...they were the first...and in just the last 40 years in the bay area we have been blessed with the presence of Ghanaians, Senegalese, Nigerians, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Morocco, South Africa, Liberia, Sudan, Mali, the Gambia...Now we eat the food, dance with the drummers, sing the songs in African language, form friendships, families dialog,defend and travel back and forth to Africa...discovered many things our ancestors passed on were African tradition and culture anway...And Ethiopia...I see my Father Mother, Aunties, Uncles...I see their faces, manerisms....Marvin, yeah we do some ignut
things...but we survived the MAAFA...we have deeply embedded scar tissue.. it took a long time to get this way...Reparations...where is my 40 acres and a mule...this would help all of us get counseling!...love ya...
--Tarika Lewis
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2009 1:01:02 PM
Subject: Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada black president
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada black president
by Marvin X
Black Bird Press, 2009
Ingut Defined
A state of mind wherein common sense is lacking, a degree below simple ignorance or lack of knowledge, for the ignut person may possess great knowledge but unable to put it into practice, therefore his condition is far worse than lack of knowledge.
Examples of Ignut
Marvin X is known to possess great wisdom but sometimes he acts ignut. He recently lost his classic Mercedes because he refused to obtain a driver's license--according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, he has not had a driver's license since 1964. The DMV informed him his privilege to apply for a license was suspended due to outstanding tickets. When he was stopped recently, he was taken to jail and his car went to car jail and later sold at police auction. This was an ignut action on his part: no license, no insurance and a phony license tag from the "black DMV," Ignut. He has since retired from driving.
Micheal Vick went to prison for dog fighting, losing his multimillion dollar pro football contract. Ignut.
Another athlete at a New York restaurant or nightclub shot himself in the foot and will possibly go to jail for gun possession. Ignut.
Chris Brown and his woman involved in domestic or partner violence. After O.J. Simpson, men still don't get it: partner violence for any reason is a no no, even if the woman is at fault--this only means she is ignut too. The Bible says when the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch together. Ignut.
Many Negroes are losing their jobs in the global economic crisis because they refused to heed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's prophesy that the day would come when there would be no jobs, not even for the white man, thus he told so-called Negroes to do for self, make yourself a job and act independent since we came to America to work for free. Once free, we continued until this day to be satisfied with wage slavery, believing we were going to have a job for life, refusing to accept the fact that at best a job is an indirect welfare handout, that most workers retire to a life of poverty and die broke. Ignut.
A baby mama said about her baby daddy: He eats, don't he think his kids need food? He need shoes, don't he think his kids need shoes? He need toilet paper, don't he think his kids need toilet paper? Ignut.
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black President, essays by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702, $1995, scheduled publication date, late May, 2009. Pre-publication price: $l0.00. Book will be sent by priority mail. Not available in book stores. Marvin X hates book stores because they take 40% for doing nothing. Ignut.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada black president
by Marvin X
Black Bird Press, 2009
Ingut Defined
A state of mind wherein common sense is lacking, a degree below simple ignorance or lack of knowledge, for the ignut person may possess great knowledge but unable to put it into practice, therefore his condition is far worse than lack of knowledge.
Examples of Ignut
Marvin X is known to possess great wisdom but sometimes he acts ignut. He recently lost his classic Mercedes because he refused to obtain a driver's license--according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, he has not had a driver's license since 1964. The DMV informed him his privilege to apply for a license was suspended due to outstanding tickets. When he was stopped recently, he was taken to jail and his car went to car jail and later sold at police auction. This was an ignut action on his part: no license, no insurance and a phony license tag from the "black DMV," Ignut. He has since retired from driving.
Micheal Vick went to prison for dog fighting, losing his multimillion dollar pro football contract. Ignut.
Another athlete at a New York restaurant or nightclub shot himself in the foot and will possibly go to jail for gun possession. Ignut.
Chris Brown and his woman involved in domestic or partner violence. After O.J. Simpson, men still don't get it: partner violence for any reason is a no no, even if the woman is at fault--this only means she is ignut too. The Bible says when the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch together. Ignut.
Many Negroes are losing their jobs in the global economic crisis because they refused to heed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's prophesy that the day would come when there would be no jobs, not even for the white man, thus he told so-called Negroes to do for self, make yourself a job and act independent since we came to America to work for free. Once free, we continued until this day to be satisfied with wage slavery, believing we were going to have a job for life, refusing to accept the fact that at best a job is an indirect welfare handout, that most workers retire to a life of poverty and die broke. Ignut.
A baby mama said about her baby daddy: He eats, don't he think his kids need food? He need shoes, don't he think his kids need shoes? He need toilet paper, don't he think his kids need toilet paper? Ignut.
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black President, essays by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702, $1995, scheduled publication date, late May, 2009. Pre-publication price: $l0.00. Book will be sent by priority mail. Not available in book stores. Marvin X hates book stores because they take 40% for doing nothing. Ignut.
by Marvin X
Black Bird Press, 2009
Ingut Defined
A state of mind wherein common sense is lacking, a degree below simple ignorance or lack of knowledge, for the ignut person may possess great knowledge but unable to put it into practice, therefore his condition is far worse than lack of knowledge.
Examples of Ignut
Marvin X is known to possess great wisdom but sometimes he acts ignut. He recently lost his classic Mercedes because he refused to obtain a driver's license--according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, he has not had a driver's license since 1964. The DMV informed him his privilege to apply for a license was suspended due to outstanding tickets. When he was stopped recently, he was taken to jail and his car went to car jail and later sold at police auction. This was an ignut action on his part: no license, no insurance and a phony license tag from the "black DMV," Ignut. He has since retired from driving.
Micheal Vick went to prison for dog fighting, losing his multimillion dollar pro football contract. Ignut.
Another athlete at a New York restaurant or nightclub shot himself in the foot and will possibly go to jail for gun possession. Ignut.
Chris Brown and his woman involved in domestic or partner violence. After O.J. Simpson, men still don't get it: partner violence for any reason is a no no, even if the woman is at fault--this only means she is ignut too. The Bible says when the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch together. Ignut.
Many Negroes are losing their jobs in the global economic crisis because they refused to heed the Honorable Elijah Muhammad's prophesy that the day would come when there would be no jobs, not even for the white man, thus he told so-called Negroes to do for self, make yourself a job and act independent since we came to America to work for free. Once free, we continued until this day to be satisfied with wage slavery, believing we were going to have a job for life, refusing to accept the fact that at best a job is an indirect welfare handout, that most workers retire to a life of poverty and die broke. Ignut.
A baby mama said about her baby daddy: He eats, don't he think his kids need food? He need shoes, don't he think his kids need shoes? He need toilet paper, don't he think his kids need toilet paper? Ignut.
Up from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black President, essays by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702, $1995, scheduled publication date, late May, 2009. Pre-publication price: $l0.00. Book will be sent by priority mail. Not available in book stores. Marvin X hates book stores because they take 40% for doing nothing. Ignut.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Baraka and Marvin X Converse at 7,000 Feet
Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 11, 2009, Amiri Baraka and Marvin X, both poet/playwrighs and co-founders of the Black Arts Movement, conversed before an audience of seven hundred, sponsored by the Lannan Foundation. Marvin X opened the program with a poetic introduction of Baraka. The audience of mostly whites was delighted at his poetic intro, something they never seen or heard before. His intro included the poems When Parents Bury Children, Poetics 2000 and What If. When Parents Bury Children is about the murder of Shani Baraka, but it is a poem for all grieving parents who've lost children. Poetics 2000 is a lesson on creative writing, including a mention of how Baraka's mother named him LeRoi (the King) but he wanted to be Amiri (the prince). The question is why a so-called Negro would want to be a prince rather than a king, as if his mother didn't know what she was doing. Marvin X concluded his intro with What If, telling the audience this poem reveals the contrast between the two poets. Baraka sees God in nothing, Marvin X sees God in everything.
Baraka came on to read for fortyfive minutes, then their conversation for twenty-five minutes, which included discussion of the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat and Black Art Movements, Obama, and the global economic meltdown. The audience was estatic. Foundation president, Pat Lannon, asked Amiri and Marvin to do something that had never been done in the history of the Lannon Foundation. He asked the two poets if they would continue their conversation after dinner, which they did, discussing events in Cuba and Latin America. Santa Fe will never be the same. The next day Marvin X addressed students at a local high school, urghing them to get to know each other before becoming intimate and avoid partner violence at all costs. Also, be aware of the tone test when stopped by the police: the cops can do one of three things when they stop you: kill you, arrest or release you, depending on the tone of your voice. Most of the students had been at the previous nights event, but they asked Marvin to again read his poem What If. The poet gave free copies of his books to the students and signed autographs, most of whom were Native American and Latin American. The Lannon Foundation promised Marvin X that Santa Fe has not heard the last of him.
Marvin X's book tour continues to Houston, South Carolina, Washington, DC, Philly and New York. In Philly he will participate in the conference Black Studies Forty Years Later at Temple University, May 1-3, along with Muhammad Ahmed (Max Stanford, chair), Amiri Baraka, John Bracey, Jr., Sonia Sanchez, Dr. Ron Walters, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Jimmy Garrett, et al.
He may not return to the West Coast until his birthday celebration at the Black Repertory Group Theatre, May 29. In South Carolina's Gullahland, he will finish work on his next book: Up From Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fa da Black President, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, May, 2009.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 11, 2009, Amiri Baraka and Marvin X, both poet/playwrighs and co-founders of the Black Arts Movement, conversed before an audience of seven hundred, sponsored by the Lannan Foundation. Marvin X opened the program with a poetic introduction of Baraka. The audience of mostly whites was delighted at his poetic intro, something they never seen or heard before. His intro included the poems When Parents Bury Children, Poetics 2000 and What If. When Parents Bury Children is about the murder of Shani Baraka, but it is a poem for all grieving parents who've lost children. Poetics 2000 is a lesson on creative writing, including a mention of how Baraka's mother named him LeRoi (the King) but he wanted to be Amiri (the prince). The question is why a so-called Negro would want to be a prince rather than a king, as if his mother didn't know what she was doing. Marvin X concluded his intro with What If, telling the audience this poem reveals the contrast between the two poets. Baraka sees God in nothing, Marvin X sees God in everything.
Baraka came on to read for fortyfive minutes, then their conversation for twenty-five minutes, which included discussion of the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat and Black Art Movements, Obama, and the global economic meltdown. The audience was estatic. Foundation president, Pat Lannon, asked Amiri and Marvin to do something that had never been done in the history of the Lannon Foundation. He asked the two poets if they would continue their conversation after dinner, which they did, discussing events in Cuba and Latin America. Santa Fe will never be the same. The next day Marvin X addressed students at a local high school, urghing them to get to know each other before becoming intimate and avoid partner violence at all costs. Also, be aware of the tone test when stopped by the police: the cops can do one of three things when they stop you: kill you, arrest or release you, depending on the tone of your voice. Most of the students had been at the previous nights event, but they asked Marvin to again read his poem What If. The poet gave free copies of his books to the students and signed autographs, most of whom were Native American and Latin American. The Lannon Foundation promised Marvin X that Santa Fe has not heard the last of him.
Marvin X's book tour continues to Houston, South Carolina, Washington, DC, Philly and New York. In Philly he will participate in the conference Black Studies Forty Years Later at Temple University, May 1-3, along with Muhammad Ahmed (Max Stanford, chair), Amiri Baraka, John Bracey, Jr., Sonia Sanchez, Dr. Ron Walters, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Jimmy Garrett, et al.
He may not return to the West Coast until his birthday celebration at the Black Repertory Group Theatre, May 29. In South Carolina's Gullahland, he will finish work on his next book: Up From Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fa da Black President, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, May, 2009.
"Left" Obamites Prefer Kool-Aid to Struggle
Black Agenda Report
March 11, 2009
http://www.blackage ndareport. com/?q=content/ %E2%80%98left% E2%80%99- obamites- prefer-kool- aid-struggle
Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford answers Linda Burnham's recent assault on the non-Obamite Left [article posted below], whom she sneeringly refers to as victims of "Left 'anticipatory disillusionment' " and assorted other "psycho-babble. " Burnham sets up Left straw men, to knock them down, all in an attempt to justify her cohort's capitulation to Power. "One great tragedy of the current episode," writes Ford, "is that the [economic] crisis occurred at a moment when the remnants of the Left and Black movements in the U.S. have been neutralized by imperialism' s Black champion." Hilariously, Burnham credits Obama with having "wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian centrism" when, in actuality, "Obama's government IS Clintonian. And the new president is as skilled and ruthless a triangulator as Bill ever was."
by Glen Ford
Lots of folks on the left, it is now apparent, no longer seek anything more than to bask in the sunshine of Barack Obama's smile. No matter how much national treasure their champion transfers to the bankster class, and despite his exceeding George W. Bush in military spending, so-called progressives for Obama continue to celebrate their imagined emergence as players in the national political saga. Having in practice foresworn resistance to Power, they relish in bashing the non-Obamite Left.
In tone and substance, Linda Burnham's recent, widely circulated piece, "Notes on an Orientation to the Obama Presidency" is several cuts above last summer's vicious rant by Amiri Baraka, "The Parade of Anti-Obama Rascals." But both assaults on Left critics of Obama are based on the same false assumptions and willful illogic, and although no one can trump Baraka in argumentative foul play and sheer nastiness, Burnham's article is nonetheless littered with sneers at those who "are stranded on Dogma Beach…flipping out over every appointment and policy move [Obama] makes."
Burnham launches immediately into a denigration of non-Obamites, claiming Obama's election "occasioned some disorientation and confusion" among those on the Left who "have become so used to confronting the dismal electoral choice between the lesser of two evils that they couldn't figure out how to relate to a political figure who held out the possibility of substantive change."
Burnham's method is to invent straw men and then place words and thoughts in their fictitious mouths and brains. Certainly, we at Black Agenda Report were anything but "confused" by either Obama's political conduct or his extraordinary popularity, having placed the young upstart under intense scrutiny beginning in the early Summer of 2003, while he was still a low-ranked candidate for the Democratic senatorial nomination in Illinois. His phenomenal talents, hitched to a transparently corporatist, imperial worldview – and a practiced dishonesty about his rightist alliances – made Obama a person worth watching. The BAR team, then operating out of Black Commentator, had Obama pegged as a potential vector of confusion in Black and progressive ranks long before his worldwide debut at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. And we were right. It is in Burnham's political neighborhood that confusion reigns, not ours.
Burnham claims that many on the Left "were taken by surprise at how wide and deep ran the current for change." Either she's talking about herself, or she hangs around a very cloistered crowd. Or, more likely, Burnham is conflating the word "change" with "Obama" – an effect of drinking too much Kool-Aid. In either case, none of it applies to folks like us at BAR – and there are a number of others on the Left – who more than five years ago understood both Obama's mass appeal and the mass desire for real change, and feared that one would thwart the other.
Left critics of Obama, according to Burnham, fail to recognize that he is not the "lesser of two evils," but rather holds out the "possibility of substantive change." This is a core position, central to the "progressive" Obamite argument. Beyond the fact of having broken the presidential color bar, which in the American context is a positive development on its face, Obama is near-identical to Hillary Clinton on virtually every policy issue, as became evident in the primaries. Their compatibility was revealed as something closer to political intimacy when Obama erected his Cabinet – a house as Clintonian as anything Bill ever built, with plenty of room reserved for friends from the Bush gang. Color aside, whatever kind of "evil" Hillary and Bill are, Obama is.
Burnham outlines what she says is the "active conversation on the left about what can be expected of an Obama administration and what the orientation of the left should be towards it." We will have to take her word for it, although her mischaracterization of Left Obama critics (certainly those at BAR) makes us less than confident that the "conversation" is as she describes. Below are the "two conflicting views" on Obama, on the Left:
"First, that Obama represents a substantial, principally positive political shift and that, while the left should criticize and resist policies that pull away from the interests of working people, its main orientation should be to actively engage with the political motion that's underway.
"Second, that Obama is, in essence, just another steward of capitalism, more attractive than most, but not an agent of fundamental change. He should be regarded with caution and is bound to disappoint. The basic orientation is to criticize every move the administration makes and to remain disengaged from mainstream politics."
The first viewpoint is no doubt held by Burnham. It is essentially mooted by the reality that most Left Obamites only weakly "criticize" and virtually never "resist" Obama's rightist policies and appointments in the crucial military and economic arenas – which was, first, the fear and, later, the main complaint of the non-Obamite Left. The Obama Effect is to neutralize Blacks and the Left (Blacks being the main electoral base of the American Left) by capturing their enthusiasm for Obama's own corporate purposes. Obama and his Democratic Leadership Council allies (and their corporate masters) monopolize the "motion," all the while shutting out even mildly Left voices (as in the recent White House Forum on Health, from which single payer health care advocates were initially barred). Blacks and the Left have not been in any kind of effective forward "motion" since Election Day. As we shall see, Burnham's definition of "motion" does not involve confronting Power, but rather, attaching oneself to it.
Policy-wise, Obama no more "represents a substantial, principally positive political shift" than his political twin, Hillary – again, color aside.
The second viewpoint is supposedly held by the opposition, and partially reflects the views of the BAR team. Yes, Obama is "just another steward of capitalism, more attractive than most, but not an agent of fundamental change." This has been easily observed, since Blacks and the Left have allowed Obama to act upon his corporate and imperial instincts, unimpeded by even the mildest counter-pressures. His presidency takes shape to the Right of Democratic congressional leaders, who have made more noise over Obama's Iraq trickle-out and his clear threats to Social Security and other "entitlements, " than have many Left Obamites.
Obama is not simply "bound to disappoint" – he has already been cause for great disappointment, even among those of us who scoped his essential corporatist nature years ago. Who would have predicted that he would play the most eager Gunga Din for the bizarre Bush/Paulson bank bailout decree, last year? Who would have foreseen that Obama would retain the loathsome international criminal Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense? That he would continue Bush's policies on Africa – Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia, AFRICOM – without missing a beat? That he would so quickly offer to put Social Security "on the table" for "reform" (in the Republican sense of the term)?
But Burnham would have you believe the Left opposition are nothing but nitpickers, inflating executive pinpricks into major assaults. Thus, she seeks to make the opposition look silly, as if we "criticize every move the administration makes." In truth, her argument is designed to excuse her and her Left allies failure to "resist" or confront Obama in any meaningful way.
Like many of her cohorts, Burnham is quick to grant that Obama "is a steward of capitalism," but maintains that "his election has opened up the potential for substantive reform in the interests of working people and that his election to office is a democratic win worthy of being fiercely defended."
Again, if Obama's election opened up the "potential" for reform, so would have Hillary's. They were (and remain) political brother and sister under the skin. The Obamites would be utterly helpless if unable to deploy (and abuse) the term "potential," given the actuality of Obama's presidency. Conveniently, "potential" lives in the future, where it can't be pinned down. That's why Obama's "potential" is a central theme of his Left camp followers – it allows them to claim that the opposition's critiques of their hero might harm the "potential" good he might do in the future.
At any rate, the Obamite Left can claim no credit for Obama's progressive "potential," since they did little or nothing that might have caused him to abandon his relentless rightward drift.
Burnham & Co. want us to accept Obama's corporate orientation as "what he was elected to do." Burnham urges us to be "clear" about Obama's "job description" : "Obama's job is to salvage and stabilize the U.S. capitalist system and to perform whatever triage is necessary to restore the core institutions of finance and industry to profitability. "
That is certainly what Obama and his big campaign funders believe his job is, but a progressive' s task is to cause him to serve the people – an assignment that I am not convinced Burnham and her allies have accepted.
On the international scene (i.e., The Empire), Obama's job – as Burnham says should be clear to "us" – is "to salvage the reputation of the U.S. in the world; repair the international ties shredded by eight years of cowboy unilateralism; and adjust U.S. positioning on the world stage [so far, so good, but here Burnham slips down the proverbial slope] on the basis of a rational assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the changed and changing centers of global political, economic and military power – rather than on the basis of a simple-minded ideological commitment to unchallenged world dominance."
Obama's military budget, bigger than Bush's, his escalation in Afghanistan/ Pakistan, the unraveling of his Iraq "withdrawal" promises, and his provocations in Africa all signal that this president has no intention of relinquishing the goal of global U.S. hegemony. To paraphrase his famous statement on war, "I'm not opposed to imperialism, just dumb imperialism. "
Burnham should bring herself to admit that Obama is, indeed, merely a more charming face pasted on the imperial monster – with the same teeth (weapons), appetite and ambitions. In an indirect way, she does offer a version of the truth, packaged in what sounds like genuine, praiseful admiration:
"Obama has been on the job for only a month but has not wasted a moment in going after his double bottom line with gusto, panache and high intelligence. In point of fact, the capitalists of the world – or at least the U.S. branch – ought to be building altars to the man and lighting candles. They have chosen an uncommonly steady hand to pull their sizzling fat from the fire."
Burnham then sets up the Left straw men, so as to knock them down. These one-note Charlies, real or imagined, are incapable of sophisticated thought and analysis:
"For the anti-capitalist left that is grounded in Trotskyism, anarcho-horizontali sm, or various forms of third-party- as-a-point- of-principleism, the only change worthy of the name is change that hits directly at the kneecaps of capitalism and cripples it decisively. All else is trifling with minor reforms or, even worse, capitulating to the power elite. From this point of view the stance towards Obama is self-evident: criticize relentlessly, disabuse others of their presidential infatuation, and denounce anything that remotely smacks of mainstream politics."
Such people may exist, but they don't resemble BAR or any of our allies and correspondents. Burnham is employing the cheapest trick of argumentation: she picks (or invents) the weakest, most unreasonable, narrow opponent, and savages him. I know of no serious activist that believes "the only change worthy of the name is change that hits directly at the kneecaps of capitalism and cripples it decisively." If that were so, then such activists would have nothing to do for most of their lives, since chances to "cripple" capitalism "decisively" are few and very far between.
But crises of capitalism do occur, and we are living through one of them. Capitulationists are also real, and reveal themselves at the worst possible junctures. One great tragedy of the current episode is that the crisis occurred at a moment when the remnants of the Left and Black movements in the U.S. have been neutralized by the "uncommonly steady hand" of imperialism' s Black champion, to whom Burnham and countless others have, yes, capitulated.
In order to defend the capitulation, the Burnhams of the Left must credit Obama with achievements he has not made, plus the amorphous "potential" achievements to which he has "opened the door" and which will magically occur even in the absence of organized people making a demand. A hilarious Burnham example of an Obama feat: He has "wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian centrism. (Although he himself often leads from the center, Obama's center is a couple of notches to the left of the Clinton administration' s triangulation strategies)…. "
Ha! Burnham imagines "notches" that aren't there. Obama's government IS Clintonian. And the new president is as skilled and ruthless a triangulator as Bill ever was, consistently finding a position to the Right of whatever passes for Left on Capitol Hill, but nestled near to the corporate bosom.
Burnham spends additional pages working the same themes of Left "anticipatory disillusionment" and other psycho-babble to mask her own cohort's capitulation. Many Obama critics did anticipate his center-right behavior, and we were correct – but never disillusioned. Political groupies, however, are fated to suffer disillusion and betrayal.
Burnham reveals inklings of her own emotional state when she gratuitously urges "those who missed interacting with the motion of millions against the right, against the white racial monopoly on the executive branch, and for substantive change," to re-examine their political orientation. In addition to her condescending tone, which seems to assume that her targets have no experience with the "motion of millions" in actual political movements, rather than a corporate-shaped and funded presidential election campaign, Burnham appears to think of the non-Obamite Left as people who didn't RSVP for the best party of the year, and are now resentful.
In the last hundred words of the piece, we discover that her idea of "building the left" requires folding up the tent in or near the Obama camp. Examine this extraordinary passage:
"The current political alignment provides an opportunity to break out of isolation, marginalization and the habits of self-marginalizatio n accumulated during the neo-conservative ascendancy. It provides the opportunity to initiate and/or strengthen substantive relationships with political actors in government, in the Democratic Party, and in independent sectors, as well as within the left itself – relationships to be built upon long after the Obama presidency has come to an end. It provides the opportunity to accumulate lessons about political actors, alignments and centers of power likewise relevant well beyond this administration. And it provides the opportunity for the immersion of the leaders, members and constituencies of left formations in a highly accelerated, real world poli-sci class."
This sounds uncannily like Obamite Prof. Leonard Jeffries' admonition that all Black folks "study Obama-ism." Burnham's gushings are remarkable for their abject surrender, not just to Obama's persona and mystique, but to the institutional trappings and annexes of corporate-tethered rule. She wants us all to take lessons from the corporate-bought structures – to better serve the people? No. Burnham is telling us that now that she's seen the Big Party, she doesn't want to leave. She's tasted that vintage wine, drank the good stuff, and is determined not to go back to movement rations.
I do agree that Burnham can use some political education. "For the anti-capitalist left," she writes, "this is a period of experimentation. There is no roadmap; there are no recipes." Maybe, but there are abiding truths that she has willfully forgotten: "Power concedes nothing without a demand."
Those elements that refuse to make demands of Power ought to stop calling themselves part of the Left. Unless the Left is in power, it is a contradiction in terms.
************ ********
ALAI, América Latina en Movimiento
February 26, 2009
http://alainet. org
Notes on an Orientation to the Obama Presidency
by Linda Burnham
The election of Obama, while enthusiastically embraced by most of the left, has also occasioned some disorientation and confusion.
Some have become so used to confronting the dismal electoral choice between the lesser of two evils that they couldn't figure out how to relate to a political figure who held out the possibility of substantive change in a positive direction.
Others are so used to all-out, full-throated opposition to every administration that they wonder whether and how to alter their stance.
Still others sat out the election, for a variety of political and organizational reasons, and were taken by surprise at how wide and deep ran the current for change.
Now there's an active conversation on the left about what can be expected of an Obama administration and what the orientation of the left should b e towards it. There are two conflicting views on this:
First, that Obama represents a substantial, principally positive political shift and that, while the left should criticize and resist policies that pull away from the interests of working people, its main orientation should be to actively engage with the political motion that's underway.
Second, that Obama is, in essence, just another steward of capitalism, more attractive than most, but not an agent of fundamental change. He should be regarded with caution and is bound to disappoint. The basic orientation is to criticize every move the administration makes and to remain disengaged from mainstream politics.
It is possible to grant that Obama is a steward of capitalism while also maintaining that his election has opened up the potential for substantive reform in the interests of working people and that his election to office is a democratic win worthy of being fiercely defended.
Obama is clear – and we should be too – about what he was elected to do. The bottom line of his job description has become increasingly evident as the economic crisis deepens. Obama's job is to salvage and stabilize the U.S. capitalist system and to perform whatever triage is necessary to restore the core institutions of finance and industry to profitability.
Obama's second bottom line is also clear to him – and should also be to us: to salvage the reputation of the U.S. in the world; repair the international ties shredded by eight years of cowboy unilateralism; and adjust U.S. positioning on the world stage on the basis of a rational assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the changed and changing centers of global political, economic and military power – rather than on the basis of a simple-minded ideological commitment to unchallenged world dominance.
Obama has been on the job for only a month but has not wasted a moment in going after his double bottom line with gusto, panache and high intelligence. In point of fact, the capitalists of the world – or at least the U.S. branch – ought to be building altars to the man and lighting candles. They have chosen an uncommonly steady hand to pull their sizzling fat from the fire.
For some on the left this is the beginning and the end of the story. Having established conclusively that Obama's fundamental task is to govern in the interests of capital, there's no point in adjusting one's stance, regardless of how skillful and popular he may be. For the anti-capitalist left that is grounded in Trotskyism, anarcho-horizontali sm, or various forms of third-party- as-a-point- of-principleism, the only change worthy of the name is change that hits directly at the kneecaps of capitalism and cripples it decisively. All else is trifling with minor reforms or, even worse, capitulating to the power elite. From this point of view the stance towards Obama is self-evident: criticize relentlessly, disabuse others of their presidential infatuation, and denounce anything that remotely smacks of mainstream politics. Though this may seem an extreme and marginal point of view, it has a surprising degree of currency in many quarters.
The effective-steward- of-capitalism is only one part of the Obama story. Obama did what the center would not do and what a fragmented and debilitated left could not do. He broke the death grip of the reactionary right by inspiring and mobilizing millions as agents of change. If Obama doesn't manage to do even one more progressive thing over the course of the next four years, he has already opened up far more promising political terrain. His campaign:
Revealed the contours, composition and potential of a broad democratic coalition, demographically grounded in the (overlapping) constituencies of African -Americans, Latinos, Asians, youth across the racial groups, LGBT voters, unionized workers, urban professionals, and women of color and single white women, and in the sectors of organized labor, peace, civil rights, civil liberties, feminism, and environmentalism. Obama did not create this broadly democratic electoral coalition single-handedly or out of whole cloth, but he did move it from latency to potency and from dispirited, amorphous and unorganized to goal oriented, enthusiastic and organized;
Busted up the Republican's southern strategy, the foundation of their rule for most of the last forty years, and the Democrat's ignominious concession to this legacy of slavery;
Wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian centrism. (Although he himself often leads from the center, Obama's center is a couple of notches to the left of the Clinton administration' s triangulation strategies); and
Rescued political dialogue from its monopolization by hate-filled, xenophobic, ultra-nationalistic ideologues.
This is not change of the anti-capitalist variety, but certainly it is change of major consequence.
If the criterion is that the only change to be supported is that which strikes a decisive blow at capital, then the gap between where we are now and the realignment it would take to strike such a blow is completely and perpetually unbridgeable.
A better set of criteria, in light of the weakness of the left and the decades of hyper-conservatism we are only now exiting, is change that: creates substantially better conditions for working people; broadens the scope of democratic rights for sectors of the population whose rights have been abrogated; limits the prerogatives of capital; constrains runaway militarism and perpetual war; takes seriously the prospect of environmental collapse; and creates better conditions for struggle. This is the potential for change that Obama's presidency has generated. This is the democratic opening. It is potential that will only be realized and maximized if the left and progressives step up and stay engaged.
These are also the criteria to keep in mind as the Obama presidency unfolds, rather than flipping out over every appointment and policy move he makes. Far better to de-link from the 24-hour news cycle that feeds on micro-maneuvers, stop making definitive judgments based on parsing the language of every pronouncement, and keep our eyes on the broader contours of change.
Besides the sectors of the anti-capitalist left that are stranded on Dogma Beach, there are those who see the tide running high but are still watching from the safety of the shore, hesitant to get in the water. There are those who have been so long alienated from mainstream political processes and so disgusted with both political parties and all branches of government that their default response is instinctive distrust. They view Obama's presidency through the lens of anticipatory disillusionment. Their basic orientation is to analyze the administration' s every move with the goal of concluding, "See, we told you so. Obama's gonna burn you. You're gonna be disappointed. " This is a mindset for jilted lovers, not political activists. Let us grant without argument that, from the vantage point of the left, there are many disappointments in store. This is easy enough to predict based not only on Obama's own politics but also on the alignment of forces and institutions in which he is embedded. And so what? We can survive disappointment over this or that policy or concession as long as we are making headway on the broader criteria above.
There are also those who stayed on the shoreline during the campaign because they are wedded to localism as a matter of preference, principle or habit. Others were lodged in organizational forms that, for structural, political or legal reasons, could not articulate with the motion and structures of the presidential campaign. These are complicated issues, bound up as they are with questions of resources and patterns of philanthropy. But for those who missed interacting with the motion of millions against the right, against the white racial monopoly on the executive branch, and for substantive change, their absence should, at the very least, prompt a serious examination of political orientation and organizational form.
Finally, there are those who are struggling to negotiate the existential shoals of a commitment to anti-capitalist politics in a period when the system is manifestly dying but not nearly at death's door (and there have been all too many chronicles of that death foretold); major alternative systems have only recently collapsed or capitulated; and the vision, values and program that might bind together an anti-capitalist left and win broad support are still frustratingly obscure. There's no remedy for this dilemma except to live in the times we're in meeting the challenges we've been given and making the most of every opportunity, rather than anticipating capital's demise or pining for a past beyond recovery.
In this period, then, the left has three tasks.
Our first job is to defend the democratic opening. This is a job we share with broader progressive forces and with centrists. Obama won big and retains the favorable regard of a sizeable majority. And meanwhile the Republican Party is in glorious disarray. But in no way should we take this situation for granted. The new administration faces daunting challenges and outright crises on every front. And while the right is disoriented and weakened, it has not and will not leave the playing field. The principal players and institutions of the right are, at this very moment, plotting how to undermine the administration, challenge every initiative that moves in the direction of democracy, progress and peace, and regroup to seize control, once again, of the state apparatus.
Defense of the democratic opening means many things and ought to be the subject for discussion and strategizing on the left. But in practical terms, first and foremost, it means consolidating and extending the electoral alliance that made the opening possible. Any work that strengthens and broadens the voter engagement of the constituencies and sectors that secured Obama's election is work that defends the democratic opening. This kind of voter education, registration and mobilization work can be done in conjunction with an extremely broad range of local campaigns and initiatives. And anything that hastens the demise of the southern strategy, builds on the wins in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia (along with the significant southwestern shifts in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada), and challenges structural barriers to voter participation (e.g., felony disfranchisement, voter ID laws) is critical. All this is another way of saying that the electoral arena is an essential site of struggle for left and progressive forces in a way it has not been in at least 20 years. And this work, in which we have unity of purpose with the centrists, is vital to widening the Democratic majority in the 2010 congressional races, winning a filibuster-proof Senate majority, ensuring the successful re-election of Obama in 2012, and shaping both the parameters of viable Democratic candidates in 2016 and the outcome of that election.
Our second job is to contribute to building more united, effective, combative and influential progressive popular movements. This places the highest premium on strengthening and extending our ties with broader progressive forces, both inside and outside the Democratic Party, with an eye towards building long-term relationships and alliances among individuals, organizations and sectors. Anything that thickens and enriches the relationships among left and progressive actors in labor, religious institutions, policy think tanks, grassroots organizations, academia etc. is to be supported in the interests of strengthening the capacity of the left-progressive alliance to influence policy, to encourage and shore up whatever progressive inclinations might emerge from within the administration, and to resist administration tendencies to accommodation and capitulation to center-right forces. At this early stage of Obama's tenure it is already evident what some of the most vital left-progressive alliance building ought to focus on. In foreign policy, on war and militarism in general and on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, Iran and non-proliferation in particular. In domestic policy, on health care and on solutions to the economic crisis that hold the financial sector accountable for reckless and predatory practices while addressing the particular vulnerabilities of working people, the poor, women, immigrants and communities of color. And, at the intersection of global and domestic policy, on oil dependency and global warming. All that enhances our capacity to constructively engage in debating and influencing policy on these issues is to the good. All that obstructs or distracts is highly problematic.
We've exited a period of collective psychic depression only to enter one of global economic depression. Each day, as the institutions of finance capital collapse, the corruption, greed and mismanagement of the nation's economic system are further revealed. Broad sectors of the population have been shocked into a more skeptical and critical stance towards capitalism, and the need for some measure of structural change wins near-universal acceptance. The clash of rising expectations (encouraged by the hope and change themes of the Obama campaign) and a sinking economy will likely spark new levels and forms of popular resistance. In this political environment, alliance building will be complicated, messy and filled with political tensions and tactical differences. It is imperative nonetheless.
Our third job, and perhaps the trickiest, is to build the left. First let it be said that unless we are able to demonstrate a genuine commitment and growing capacity to take on the first two jobs, the third is a non-starter, and a prescription for political isolation. In other words, defending the democratic opening in conjunction with the center and building long-term relationships between the anti-capitalist left and broad progressive sectors in the context of the struggle over administration policy must be understood as critical tasks in their own right, not simply as arenas in which to advance an independent left line or to recruit new adherents to an anti-capitalist perspective. Realizing the progressive potential of the Obama win requires the most committed involvement with the twists and turns of politics on the most pressing issues on the administration' s agenda.
This same engagement is critical to rebuilding the left, a long-term process that can be advanced significantly in the context of Obama's presidency if, and only if, the left can skillfully manage the relationship and distinction between its own interests, dynamics and challenges and those of broader political forces. Why is this the case? On the tell no lies front, the left is more isolated and fragmented than it has been in forty years. Truly fine work is being done by leftists in every region of the country and on every social issue. But the left qua left is barely breathing. This is not the place to go into the historical (world historical and U.S. historical), ideological, theoretical and organizational reasons why this is so. But let us, at the very least, frankly acknowledge that it is so. The current political alignment provides an opportunity to break out of isolation, marginalization and the habits of self-marginalizatio n accumulated during the neo-conservative ascendancy. It provides the opportunity to initiate and/or strengthen substantive relationships with political actors in government, in the Democratic Party, and in independent sectors, as well as within the left itself – relationships to be built upon long after the Obama presidency has come to an end. It provides the opportunity to accumulate lessons about political actors, alignments and centers of power likewise relevant well beyond this administration. And it provides the opportunity for the immersion of the leaders, members and constituencies of left formations in a highly accelerated, real world poli-sci class.
In these circumstances, among our biggest challenges is how to attend to building the capacity of the left without succumbing to the siren songs of dogma, the old addictions of premature platform erection, or the self-limiting pleasures of building parties in miniature. For the anti-capitalist left, this is a period of experimentation. There is no roadmap; there are no recipes. Those organizational forms and initiatives that enable us to synthesize experience, share lessons and develop broad orientations and approaches to seriously undertaking our first two tasks should be encouraged. Those that would entrap us in the hermetic enclosures of doctrinal belief should be avoided at all cost.
The Obama presidency is a rare confluence of individuals and events. There is no way to predict how things will unfold over the next 4-8 years. But this much we can foresee: if the opportunity at hand is mangled or missed, the takeaway for the left will be deepened isolation and fragmentation. If, on the other hand, the left engages with this political opening skillfully and creatively, it will emerge as a broader, more vibrant force on the U.S. political spectrum, better able to confront whatever the post-Obama world will bring.
Black Agenda Report
March 11, 2009
http://www.blackage ndareport. com/?q=content/ %E2%80%98left% E2%80%99- obamites- prefer-kool- aid-struggle
Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford answers Linda Burnham's recent assault on the non-Obamite Left [article posted below], whom she sneeringly refers to as victims of "Left 'anticipatory disillusionment' " and assorted other "psycho-babble. " Burnham sets up Left straw men, to knock them down, all in an attempt to justify her cohort's capitulation to Power. "One great tragedy of the current episode," writes Ford, "is that the [economic] crisis occurred at a moment when the remnants of the Left and Black movements in the U.S. have been neutralized by imperialism' s Black champion." Hilariously, Burnham credits Obama with having "wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian centrism" when, in actuality, "Obama's government IS Clintonian. And the new president is as skilled and ruthless a triangulator as Bill ever was."
by Glen Ford
Lots of folks on the left, it is now apparent, no longer seek anything more than to bask in the sunshine of Barack Obama's smile. No matter how much national treasure their champion transfers to the bankster class, and despite his exceeding George W. Bush in military spending, so-called progressives for Obama continue to celebrate their imagined emergence as players in the national political saga. Having in practice foresworn resistance to Power, they relish in bashing the non-Obamite Left.
In tone and substance, Linda Burnham's recent, widely circulated piece, "Notes on an Orientation to the Obama Presidency" is several cuts above last summer's vicious rant by Amiri Baraka, "The Parade of Anti-Obama Rascals." But both assaults on Left critics of Obama are based on the same false assumptions and willful illogic, and although no one can trump Baraka in argumentative foul play and sheer nastiness, Burnham's article is nonetheless littered with sneers at those who "are stranded on Dogma Beach…flipping out over every appointment and policy move [Obama] makes."
Burnham launches immediately into a denigration of non-Obamites, claiming Obama's election "occasioned some disorientation and confusion" among those on the Left who "have become so used to confronting the dismal electoral choice between the lesser of two evils that they couldn't figure out how to relate to a political figure who held out the possibility of substantive change."
Burnham's method is to invent straw men and then place words and thoughts in their fictitious mouths and brains. Certainly, we at Black Agenda Report were anything but "confused" by either Obama's political conduct or his extraordinary popularity, having placed the young upstart under intense scrutiny beginning in the early Summer of 2003, while he was still a low-ranked candidate for the Democratic senatorial nomination in Illinois. His phenomenal talents, hitched to a transparently corporatist, imperial worldview – and a practiced dishonesty about his rightist alliances – made Obama a person worth watching. The BAR team, then operating out of Black Commentator, had Obama pegged as a potential vector of confusion in Black and progressive ranks long before his worldwide debut at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. And we were right. It is in Burnham's political neighborhood that confusion reigns, not ours.
Burnham claims that many on the Left "were taken by surprise at how wide and deep ran the current for change." Either she's talking about herself, or she hangs around a very cloistered crowd. Or, more likely, Burnham is conflating the word "change" with "Obama" – an effect of drinking too much Kool-Aid. In either case, none of it applies to folks like us at BAR – and there are a number of others on the Left – who more than five years ago understood both Obama's mass appeal and the mass desire for real change, and feared that one would thwart the other.
Left critics of Obama, according to Burnham, fail to recognize that he is not the "lesser of two evils," but rather holds out the "possibility of substantive change." This is a core position, central to the "progressive" Obamite argument. Beyond the fact of having broken the presidential color bar, which in the American context is a positive development on its face, Obama is near-identical to Hillary Clinton on virtually every policy issue, as became evident in the primaries. Their compatibility was revealed as something closer to political intimacy when Obama erected his Cabinet – a house as Clintonian as anything Bill ever built, with plenty of room reserved for friends from the Bush gang. Color aside, whatever kind of "evil" Hillary and Bill are, Obama is.
Burnham outlines what she says is the "active conversation on the left about what can be expected of an Obama administration and what the orientation of the left should be towards it." We will have to take her word for it, although her mischaracterization of Left Obama critics (certainly those at BAR) makes us less than confident that the "conversation" is as she describes. Below are the "two conflicting views" on Obama, on the Left:
"First, that Obama represents a substantial, principally positive political shift and that, while the left should criticize and resist policies that pull away from the interests of working people, its main orientation should be to actively engage with the political motion that's underway.
"Second, that Obama is, in essence, just another steward of capitalism, more attractive than most, but not an agent of fundamental change. He should be regarded with caution and is bound to disappoint. The basic orientation is to criticize every move the administration makes and to remain disengaged from mainstream politics."
The first viewpoint is no doubt held by Burnham. It is essentially mooted by the reality that most Left Obamites only weakly "criticize" and virtually never "resist" Obama's rightist policies and appointments in the crucial military and economic arenas – which was, first, the fear and, later, the main complaint of the non-Obamite Left. The Obama Effect is to neutralize Blacks and the Left (Blacks being the main electoral base of the American Left) by capturing their enthusiasm for Obama's own corporate purposes. Obama and his Democratic Leadership Council allies (and their corporate masters) monopolize the "motion," all the while shutting out even mildly Left voices (as in the recent White House Forum on Health, from which single payer health care advocates were initially barred). Blacks and the Left have not been in any kind of effective forward "motion" since Election Day. As we shall see, Burnham's definition of "motion" does not involve confronting Power, but rather, attaching oneself to it.
Policy-wise, Obama no more "represents a substantial, principally positive political shift" than his political twin, Hillary – again, color aside.
The second viewpoint is supposedly held by the opposition, and partially reflects the views of the BAR team. Yes, Obama is "just another steward of capitalism, more attractive than most, but not an agent of fundamental change." This has been easily observed, since Blacks and the Left have allowed Obama to act upon his corporate and imperial instincts, unimpeded by even the mildest counter-pressures. His presidency takes shape to the Right of Democratic congressional leaders, who have made more noise over Obama's Iraq trickle-out and his clear threats to Social Security and other "entitlements, " than have many Left Obamites.
Obama is not simply "bound to disappoint" – he has already been cause for great disappointment, even among those of us who scoped his essential corporatist nature years ago. Who would have predicted that he would play the most eager Gunga Din for the bizarre Bush/Paulson bank bailout decree, last year? Who would have foreseen that Obama would retain the loathsome international criminal Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense? That he would continue Bush's policies on Africa – Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia, AFRICOM – without missing a beat? That he would so quickly offer to put Social Security "on the table" for "reform" (in the Republican sense of the term)?
But Burnham would have you believe the Left opposition are nothing but nitpickers, inflating executive pinpricks into major assaults. Thus, she seeks to make the opposition look silly, as if we "criticize every move the administration makes." In truth, her argument is designed to excuse her and her Left allies failure to "resist" or confront Obama in any meaningful way.
Like many of her cohorts, Burnham is quick to grant that Obama "is a steward of capitalism," but maintains that "his election has opened up the potential for substantive reform in the interests of working people and that his election to office is a democratic win worthy of being fiercely defended."
Again, if Obama's election opened up the "potential" for reform, so would have Hillary's. They were (and remain) political brother and sister under the skin. The Obamites would be utterly helpless if unable to deploy (and abuse) the term "potential," given the actuality of Obama's presidency. Conveniently, "potential" lives in the future, where it can't be pinned down. That's why Obama's "potential" is a central theme of his Left camp followers – it allows them to claim that the opposition's critiques of their hero might harm the "potential" good he might do in the future.
At any rate, the Obamite Left can claim no credit for Obama's progressive "potential," since they did little or nothing that might have caused him to abandon his relentless rightward drift.
Burnham & Co. want us to accept Obama's corporate orientation as "what he was elected to do." Burnham urges us to be "clear" about Obama's "job description" : "Obama's job is to salvage and stabilize the U.S. capitalist system and to perform whatever triage is necessary to restore the core institutions of finance and industry to profitability. "
That is certainly what Obama and his big campaign funders believe his job is, but a progressive' s task is to cause him to serve the people – an assignment that I am not convinced Burnham and her allies have accepted.
On the international scene (i.e., The Empire), Obama's job – as Burnham says should be clear to "us" – is "to salvage the reputation of the U.S. in the world; repair the international ties shredded by eight years of cowboy unilateralism; and adjust U.S. positioning on the world stage [so far, so good, but here Burnham slips down the proverbial slope] on the basis of a rational assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the changed and changing centers of global political, economic and military power – rather than on the basis of a simple-minded ideological commitment to unchallenged world dominance."
Obama's military budget, bigger than Bush's, his escalation in Afghanistan/ Pakistan, the unraveling of his Iraq "withdrawal" promises, and his provocations in Africa all signal that this president has no intention of relinquishing the goal of global U.S. hegemony. To paraphrase his famous statement on war, "I'm not opposed to imperialism, just dumb imperialism. "
Burnham should bring herself to admit that Obama is, indeed, merely a more charming face pasted on the imperial monster – with the same teeth (weapons), appetite and ambitions. In an indirect way, she does offer a version of the truth, packaged in what sounds like genuine, praiseful admiration:
"Obama has been on the job for only a month but has not wasted a moment in going after his double bottom line with gusto, panache and high intelligence. In point of fact, the capitalists of the world – or at least the U.S. branch – ought to be building altars to the man and lighting candles. They have chosen an uncommonly steady hand to pull their sizzling fat from the fire."
Burnham then sets up the Left straw men, so as to knock them down. These one-note Charlies, real or imagined, are incapable of sophisticated thought and analysis:
"For the anti-capitalist left that is grounded in Trotskyism, anarcho-horizontali sm, or various forms of third-party- as-a-point- of-principleism, the only change worthy of the name is change that hits directly at the kneecaps of capitalism and cripples it decisively. All else is trifling with minor reforms or, even worse, capitulating to the power elite. From this point of view the stance towards Obama is self-evident: criticize relentlessly, disabuse others of their presidential infatuation, and denounce anything that remotely smacks of mainstream politics."
Such people may exist, but they don't resemble BAR or any of our allies and correspondents. Burnham is employing the cheapest trick of argumentation: she picks (or invents) the weakest, most unreasonable, narrow opponent, and savages him. I know of no serious activist that believes "the only change worthy of the name is change that hits directly at the kneecaps of capitalism and cripples it decisively." If that were so, then such activists would have nothing to do for most of their lives, since chances to "cripple" capitalism "decisively" are few and very far between.
But crises of capitalism do occur, and we are living through one of them. Capitulationists are also real, and reveal themselves at the worst possible junctures. One great tragedy of the current episode is that the crisis occurred at a moment when the remnants of the Left and Black movements in the U.S. have been neutralized by the "uncommonly steady hand" of imperialism' s Black champion, to whom Burnham and countless others have, yes, capitulated.
In order to defend the capitulation, the Burnhams of the Left must credit Obama with achievements he has not made, plus the amorphous "potential" achievements to which he has "opened the door" and which will magically occur even in the absence of organized people making a demand. A hilarious Burnham example of an Obama feat: He has "wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian centrism. (Although he himself often leads from the center, Obama's center is a couple of notches to the left of the Clinton administration' s triangulation strategies)…. "
Ha! Burnham imagines "notches" that aren't there. Obama's government IS Clintonian. And the new president is as skilled and ruthless a triangulator as Bill ever was, consistently finding a position to the Right of whatever passes for Left on Capitol Hill, but nestled near to the corporate bosom.
Burnham spends additional pages working the same themes of Left "anticipatory disillusionment" and other psycho-babble to mask her own cohort's capitulation. Many Obama critics did anticipate his center-right behavior, and we were correct – but never disillusioned. Political groupies, however, are fated to suffer disillusion and betrayal.
Burnham reveals inklings of her own emotional state when she gratuitously urges "those who missed interacting with the motion of millions against the right, against the white racial monopoly on the executive branch, and for substantive change," to re-examine their political orientation. In addition to her condescending tone, which seems to assume that her targets have no experience with the "motion of millions" in actual political movements, rather than a corporate-shaped and funded presidential election campaign, Burnham appears to think of the non-Obamite Left as people who didn't RSVP for the best party of the year, and are now resentful.
In the last hundred words of the piece, we discover that her idea of "building the left" requires folding up the tent in or near the Obama camp. Examine this extraordinary passage:
"The current political alignment provides an opportunity to break out of isolation, marginalization and the habits of self-marginalizatio n accumulated during the neo-conservative ascendancy. It provides the opportunity to initiate and/or strengthen substantive relationships with political actors in government, in the Democratic Party, and in independent sectors, as well as within the left itself – relationships to be built upon long after the Obama presidency has come to an end. It provides the opportunity to accumulate lessons about political actors, alignments and centers of power likewise relevant well beyond this administration. And it provides the opportunity for the immersion of the leaders, members and constituencies of left formations in a highly accelerated, real world poli-sci class."
This sounds uncannily like Obamite Prof. Leonard Jeffries' admonition that all Black folks "study Obama-ism." Burnham's gushings are remarkable for their abject surrender, not just to Obama's persona and mystique, but to the institutional trappings and annexes of corporate-tethered rule. She wants us all to take lessons from the corporate-bought structures – to better serve the people? No. Burnham is telling us that now that she's seen the Big Party, she doesn't want to leave. She's tasted that vintage wine, drank the good stuff, and is determined not to go back to movement rations.
I do agree that Burnham can use some political education. "For the anti-capitalist left," she writes, "this is a period of experimentation. There is no roadmap; there are no recipes." Maybe, but there are abiding truths that she has willfully forgotten: "Power concedes nothing without a demand."
Those elements that refuse to make demands of Power ought to stop calling themselves part of the Left. Unless the Left is in power, it is a contradiction in terms.
************ ********
ALAI, América Latina en Movimiento
February 26, 2009
http://alainet. org
Notes on an Orientation to the Obama Presidency
by Linda Burnham
The election of Obama, while enthusiastically embraced by most of the left, has also occasioned some disorientation and confusion.
Some have become so used to confronting the dismal electoral choice between the lesser of two evils that they couldn't figure out how to relate to a political figure who held out the possibility of substantive change in a positive direction.
Others are so used to all-out, full-throated opposition to every administration that they wonder whether and how to alter their stance.
Still others sat out the election, for a variety of political and organizational reasons, and were taken by surprise at how wide and deep ran the current for change.
Now there's an active conversation on the left about what can be expected of an Obama administration and what the orientation of the left should b e towards it. There are two conflicting views on this:
First, that Obama represents a substantial, principally positive political shift and that, while the left should criticize and resist policies that pull away from the interests of working people, its main orientation should be to actively engage with the political motion that's underway.
Second, that Obama is, in essence, just another steward of capitalism, more attractive than most, but not an agent of fundamental change. He should be regarded with caution and is bound to disappoint. The basic orientation is to criticize every move the administration makes and to remain disengaged from mainstream politics.
It is possible to grant that Obama is a steward of capitalism while also maintaining that his election has opened up the potential for substantive reform in the interests of working people and that his election to office is a democratic win worthy of being fiercely defended.
Obama is clear – and we should be too – about what he was elected to do. The bottom line of his job description has become increasingly evident as the economic crisis deepens. Obama's job is to salvage and stabilize the U.S. capitalist system and to perform whatever triage is necessary to restore the core institutions of finance and industry to profitability.
Obama's second bottom line is also clear to him – and should also be to us: to salvage the reputation of the U.S. in the world; repair the international ties shredded by eight years of cowboy unilateralism; and adjust U.S. positioning on the world stage on the basis of a rational assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the changed and changing centers of global political, economic and military power – rather than on the basis of a simple-minded ideological commitment to unchallenged world dominance.
Obama has been on the job for only a month but has not wasted a moment in going after his double bottom line with gusto, panache and high intelligence. In point of fact, the capitalists of the world – or at least the U.S. branch – ought to be building altars to the man and lighting candles. They have chosen an uncommonly steady hand to pull their sizzling fat from the fire.
For some on the left this is the beginning and the end of the story. Having established conclusively that Obama's fundamental task is to govern in the interests of capital, there's no point in adjusting one's stance, regardless of how skillful and popular he may be. For the anti-capitalist left that is grounded in Trotskyism, anarcho-horizontali sm, or various forms of third-party- as-a-point- of-principleism, the only change worthy of the name is change that hits directly at the kneecaps of capitalism and cripples it decisively. All else is trifling with minor reforms or, even worse, capitulating to the power elite. From this point of view the stance towards Obama is self-evident: criticize relentlessly, disabuse others of their presidential infatuation, and denounce anything that remotely smacks of mainstream politics. Though this may seem an extreme and marginal point of view, it has a surprising degree of currency in many quarters.
The effective-steward- of-capitalism is only one part of the Obama story. Obama did what the center would not do and what a fragmented and debilitated left could not do. He broke the death grip of the reactionary right by inspiring and mobilizing millions as agents of change. If Obama doesn't manage to do even one more progressive thing over the course of the next four years, he has already opened up far more promising political terrain. His campaign:
Revealed the contours, composition and potential of a broad democratic coalition, demographically grounded in the (overlapping) constituencies of African -Americans, Latinos, Asians, youth across the racial groups, LGBT voters, unionized workers, urban professionals, and women of color and single white women, and in the sectors of organized labor, peace, civil rights, civil liberties, feminism, and environmentalism. Obama did not create this broadly democratic electoral coalition single-handedly or out of whole cloth, but he did move it from latency to potency and from dispirited, amorphous and unorganized to goal oriented, enthusiastic and organized;
Busted up the Republican's southern strategy, the foundation of their rule for most of the last forty years, and the Democrat's ignominious concession to this legacy of slavery;
Wrenched the Democratic Party out of the clammy grip of Clintonian centrism. (Although he himself often leads from the center, Obama's center is a couple of notches to the left of the Clinton administration' s triangulation strategies); and
Rescued political dialogue from its monopolization by hate-filled, xenophobic, ultra-nationalistic ideologues.
This is not change of the anti-capitalist variety, but certainly it is change of major consequence.
If the criterion is that the only change to be supported is that which strikes a decisive blow at capital, then the gap between where we are now and the realignment it would take to strike such a blow is completely and perpetually unbridgeable.
A better set of criteria, in light of the weakness of the left and the decades of hyper-conservatism we are only now exiting, is change that: creates substantially better conditions for working people; broadens the scope of democratic rights for sectors of the population whose rights have been abrogated; limits the prerogatives of capital; constrains runaway militarism and perpetual war; takes seriously the prospect of environmental collapse; and creates better conditions for struggle. This is the potential for change that Obama's presidency has generated. This is the democratic opening. It is potential that will only be realized and maximized if the left and progressives step up and stay engaged.
These are also the criteria to keep in mind as the Obama presidency unfolds, rather than flipping out over every appointment and policy move he makes. Far better to de-link from the 24-hour news cycle that feeds on micro-maneuvers, stop making definitive judgments based on parsing the language of every pronouncement, and keep our eyes on the broader contours of change.
Besides the sectors of the anti-capitalist left that are stranded on Dogma Beach, there are those who see the tide running high but are still watching from the safety of the shore, hesitant to get in the water. There are those who have been so long alienated from mainstream political processes and so disgusted with both political parties and all branches of government that their default response is instinctive distrust. They view Obama's presidency through the lens of anticipatory disillusionment. Their basic orientation is to analyze the administration' s every move with the goal of concluding, "See, we told you so. Obama's gonna burn you. You're gonna be disappointed. " This is a mindset for jilted lovers, not political activists. Let us grant without argument that, from the vantage point of the left, there are many disappointments in store. This is easy enough to predict based not only on Obama's own politics but also on the alignment of forces and institutions in which he is embedded. And so what? We can survive disappointment over this or that policy or concession as long as we are making headway on the broader criteria above.
There are also those who stayed on the shoreline during the campaign because they are wedded to localism as a matter of preference, principle or habit. Others were lodged in organizational forms that, for structural, political or legal reasons, could not articulate with the motion and structures of the presidential campaign. These are complicated issues, bound up as they are with questions of resources and patterns of philanthropy. But for those who missed interacting with the motion of millions against the right, against the white racial monopoly on the executive branch, and for substantive change, their absence should, at the very least, prompt a serious examination of political orientation and organizational form.
Finally, there are those who are struggling to negotiate the existential shoals of a commitment to anti-capitalist politics in a period when the system is manifestly dying but not nearly at death's door (and there have been all too many chronicles of that death foretold); major alternative systems have only recently collapsed or capitulated; and the vision, values and program that might bind together an anti-capitalist left and win broad support are still frustratingly obscure. There's no remedy for this dilemma except to live in the times we're in meeting the challenges we've been given and making the most of every opportunity, rather than anticipating capital's demise or pining for a past beyond recovery.
In this period, then, the left has three tasks.
Our first job is to defend the democratic opening. This is a job we share with broader progressive forces and with centrists. Obama won big and retains the favorable regard of a sizeable majority. And meanwhile the Republican Party is in glorious disarray. But in no way should we take this situation for granted. The new administration faces daunting challenges and outright crises on every front. And while the right is disoriented and weakened, it has not and will not leave the playing field. The principal players and institutions of the right are, at this very moment, plotting how to undermine the administration, challenge every initiative that moves in the direction of democracy, progress and peace, and regroup to seize control, once again, of the state apparatus.
Defense of the democratic opening means many things and ought to be the subject for discussion and strategizing on the left. But in practical terms, first and foremost, it means consolidating and extending the electoral alliance that made the opening possible. Any work that strengthens and broadens the voter engagement of the constituencies and sectors that secured Obama's election is work that defends the democratic opening. This kind of voter education, registration and mobilization work can be done in conjunction with an extremely broad range of local campaigns and initiatives. And anything that hastens the demise of the southern strategy, builds on the wins in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia (along with the significant southwestern shifts in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada), and challenges structural barriers to voter participation (e.g., felony disfranchisement, voter ID laws) is critical. All this is another way of saying that the electoral arena is an essential site of struggle for left and progressive forces in a way it has not been in at least 20 years. And this work, in which we have unity of purpose with the centrists, is vital to widening the Democratic majority in the 2010 congressional races, winning a filibuster-proof Senate majority, ensuring the successful re-election of Obama in 2012, and shaping both the parameters of viable Democratic candidates in 2016 and the outcome of that election.
Our second job is to contribute to building more united, effective, combative and influential progressive popular movements. This places the highest premium on strengthening and extending our ties with broader progressive forces, both inside and outside the Democratic Party, with an eye towards building long-term relationships and alliances among individuals, organizations and sectors. Anything that thickens and enriches the relationships among left and progressive actors in labor, religious institutions, policy think tanks, grassroots organizations, academia etc. is to be supported in the interests of strengthening the capacity of the left-progressive alliance to influence policy, to encourage and shore up whatever progressive inclinations might emerge from within the administration, and to resist administration tendencies to accommodation and capitulation to center-right forces. At this early stage of Obama's tenure it is already evident what some of the most vital left-progressive alliance building ought to focus on. In foreign policy, on war and militarism in general and on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, Iran and non-proliferation in particular. In domestic policy, on health care and on solutions to the economic crisis that hold the financial sector accountable for reckless and predatory practices while addressing the particular vulnerabilities of working people, the poor, women, immigrants and communities of color. And, at the intersection of global and domestic policy, on oil dependency and global warming. All that enhances our capacity to constructively engage in debating and influencing policy on these issues is to the good. All that obstructs or distracts is highly problematic.
We've exited a period of collective psychic depression only to enter one of global economic depression. Each day, as the institutions of finance capital collapse, the corruption, greed and mismanagement of the nation's economic system are further revealed. Broad sectors of the population have been shocked into a more skeptical and critical stance towards capitalism, and the need for some measure of structural change wins near-universal acceptance. The clash of rising expectations (encouraged by the hope and change themes of the Obama campaign) and a sinking economy will likely spark new levels and forms of popular resistance. In this political environment, alliance building will be complicated, messy and filled with political tensions and tactical differences. It is imperative nonetheless.
Our third job, and perhaps the trickiest, is to build the left. First let it be said that unless we are able to demonstrate a genuine commitment and growing capacity to take on the first two jobs, the third is a non-starter, and a prescription for political isolation. In other words, defending the democratic opening in conjunction with the center and building long-term relationships between the anti-capitalist left and broad progressive sectors in the context of the struggle over administration policy must be understood as critical tasks in their own right, not simply as arenas in which to advance an independent left line or to recruit new adherents to an anti-capitalist perspective. Realizing the progressive potential of the Obama win requires the most committed involvement with the twists and turns of politics on the most pressing issues on the administration' s agenda.
This same engagement is critical to rebuilding the left, a long-term process that can be advanced significantly in the context of Obama's presidency if, and only if, the left can skillfully manage the relationship and distinction between its own interests, dynamics and challenges and those of broader political forces. Why is this the case? On the tell no lies front, the left is more isolated and fragmented than it has been in forty years. Truly fine work is being done by leftists in every region of the country and on every social issue. But the left qua left is barely breathing. This is not the place to go into the historical (world historical and U.S. historical), ideological, theoretical and organizational reasons why this is so. But let us, at the very least, frankly acknowledge that it is so. The current political alignment provides an opportunity to break out of isolation, marginalization and the habits of self-marginalizatio n accumulated during the neo-conservative ascendancy. It provides the opportunity to initiate and/or strengthen substantive relationships with political actors in government, in the Democratic Party, and in independent sectors, as well as within the left itself – relationships to be built upon long after the Obama presidency has come to an end. It provides the opportunity to accumulate lessons about political actors, alignments and centers of power likewise relevant well beyond this administration. And it provides the opportunity for the immersion of the leaders, members and constituencies of left formations in a highly accelerated, real world poli-sci class.
In these circumstances, among our biggest challenges is how to attend to building the capacity of the left without succumbing to the siren songs of dogma, the old addictions of premature platform erection, or the self-limiting pleasures of building parties in miniature. For the anti-capitalist left, this is a period of experimentation. There is no roadmap; there are no recipes. Those organizational forms and initiatives that enable us to synthesize experience, share lessons and develop broad orientations and approaches to seriously undertaking our first two tasks should be encouraged. Those that would entrap us in the hermetic enclosures of doctrinal belief should be avoided at all cost.
The Obama presidency is a rare confluence of individuals and events. There is no way to predict how things will unfold over the next 4-8 years. But this much we can foresee: if the opportunity at hand is mangled or missed, the takeaway for the left will be deepened isolation and fragmentation. If, on the other hand, the left engages with this political opening skillfully and creatively, it will emerge as a broader, more vibrant force on the U.S. political spectrum, better able to confront whatever the post-Obama world will bring.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Ron Bentley, True Trooper
There are those who talk
and those who do
not sunshine soldiers
but men of valor
who put life on line
who give all for the cause
nothing spared, nothing in reserve
football player to activist
conscious seeker
lover of knowledge
so sudden to leave
maybe his work was done
what else when we give all
he didn't make the stairs at John D's memorial
strength saved for his own
we did not know
probably, more than likely
Ron knew his end was near
but even then he was on the job
saying farewell to a friend
providing food for the repast
securing the room
arm useless from the strain of life
but fighting, serving to the end
a True Trooper
We love you Ron.
May the struggle continue
in your name.
--Marvin X
3/12/09
Santa Fe, New Mexico
There are those who talk
and those who do
not sunshine soldiers
but men of valor
who put life on line
who give all for the cause
nothing spared, nothing in reserve
football player to activist
conscious seeker
lover of knowledge
so sudden to leave
maybe his work was done
what else when we give all
he didn't make the stairs at John D's memorial
strength saved for his own
we did not know
probably, more than likely
Ron knew his end was near
but even then he was on the job
saying farewell to a friend
providing food for the repast
securing the room
arm useless from the strain of life
but fighting, serving to the end
a True Trooper
We love you Ron.
May the struggle continue
in your name.
--Marvin X
3/12/09
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Sent: Monday, March 2, 2009 4:57:52 PM
Subject: Marvin X Celebrates His 65th Birthday
MARVIN X CELEBRATES 65TH BIRTHDAY/CALL FOR PAPERS
What a picture! You and Imamu Baraka, at the corner of 14th and Broadway,
boldly and coldly pushing Barackphernalia and your books, banners and buttons on brothers
who hadn't read since high school as well as to curious whites.
--Paul Cobb, Publisher, Oakland Post
Recent Books by Marvin X
Love and War: Poems / In the Crazy House Called America / Woman: Man's Best Friend / Beyond Religion Toward Spirituality /
How To Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
* * * * *
Marvin X Celebrates His 65th Birthday
Marvin X is founder of San Francisco’s Recovery Theatre in the Tenderloin, located at Theatre St. Boniface, 133 Golden Gate Avenue. Thousands of Bay Area addicts and alcoholics saw his docudrama of addiction and recovery One Day In The Life. In the ten years since he began his recovery, Marvin X has written five books, including Love and War, poems, 1995, Somethin Proper, autobiography, 1998, In the Crazy House Called America, essays, 2002, Wish I Could Tell You The Truth, essays, 2005 and Land of My Daughters, poems, 2005. On June 10, 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Black Books Exposition.
On May 29, Marvin X, one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement and the father of Muslim American literature, will celebrate his 65th birthday. His students, comrades and friends are organizing a celebration in Oakland. The following are hereby drafted/invited to the committee.
* * * * *
Marvin X Birthday Committee (Invited)
Please contact: Dr. J. Vern Cromartie ASAP: j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com
Abdul Sabri
Alona Clifton
Amina Grant
Amira Jackmon
Aubrey Labrie
Ayodele Nzinga
Bakari
Benny Stewart
Bernard Stringer
Carolyn Mixon
Rev. Cecil Williams
Charlie Walker
Norman Brown
Nicole Cole
David Glover
Marcel Diallo
Ise Lyfe
Bernard Stringer
Suzzette Johnson
Cecil Brown
Danny Glover
Destiny and Chris Muhammad
Earl Davis
Elliot Bey
Fahizah Alim
Jerri Lange
Jerry Vernado
Dr. Julia Hare
Geoffrey Grier
Davey D
Oba T'Shaka
Dr. Wade Nobles
Sunni Shabazz
Majidah Rahman
Phavia Khujichagulia
Tureeda Mikal
Raynetta Rayzetta
Ishmael Reed
Lil Joe
Margot Dashiel
Michael Lange
Nathan and Julia Hare
Paul Cobb
Peter Labrie
Ptah Allah El
Ramal Lamar and Hajr
Rashid Easley
Sean Scott
Dr. James Garrett
Pat Brown
Philip Johnson
Dr. Lige Dailey
Betty Bromfield
Christopher Muhammad
Robert Woods
Ron Bentley
Ron Dellums
Sister Sukura
Tarika Lewis
Terry Collins
Veda Silva
Wanda Sabir
Walter Riley
Wilson Riles
Zahieb Wongozi
Lanice Jones
Dr. Mona Scott
Nefertiti El Muhajir
Muhammida El Muhajir
Dr. Fritz Pointer
Minister Keith Muhammad
Imam Alamin
If you would like to help organize this event, contact Dr. Cromartie: j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com
* * * * *
Paul Cobb's reply regarding Marvin X
Marvin Jackmon:
Since we started in kindergarten together, I will be happy to serve on your surprise birthday committee and will donate some space, time and money--at least $65.00, that is. I will also find a way to present you and your accomplishments on at least one whole page in all 7 editions of the Post and maybe a brief mention in El Mundo.
We do not, nor never will, have sufficient space to acknowledge all of your prolific flourishes and prodigious writings.
We marvel at you Marvin for your marvelous ability to focus your energies on your masterful musings.
You have fought the good fight.
You have kept the faith.
And, in the face of blistering pessimism, you kept us all focused on getting Barack Hussein Obama in the White House. I must say that when most of us doubted that event would occur in our lifetime, you never did.. Most of all you seemed to will us all into its acceptance. You saw and felt it coming.
What a picture! You and Imamu Baraka, at the corner of 14th and Broadway, boldly and coldly pushing Barackphernalia and your books, banners and buttons on brothers who hadn't read since high school as well as to curious whites who dared not pass you by without purchasing your FANONical Black&White skins and masks covered books—the "Black Man's Ice was finally colder."—What a coup!
Both of you, progenitors of the Black Arts Movement, artfully dealing still!
Since we are all at least 65 and alive, now maybe we can create a social security blanket of mutual support. I hope everyone on the committee will pop for $65 each to buy your books to be sent to juvenile hall and/or the "correctional?" institutions—now that's a stimulus package to stimulate us. And, since I shined shoes and sold watermelons with my cousin Roy Overall, in front of your family's floral shop on seventh street, 55 years ago, just as boldly as you still do too, I will present you your flowers and a" letter from home" on May 29.
Happy Birthday to ya!
Paul Cobb
* * * * *
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Marvin X Replies to Paul Cobb, Oakland Post Editor
Paul, thank you for your kind letter of support. I've never had a birthday party that I recall, so I hope I will know how to act. I just want you to know this afternoon I had an earthshaking experience on our old turf, West Oakland. Ayodele Nzingha's Lower Bottom Players presented my first play Flowers for the Trashman at their theatre, 10th and Peralta, across the street from Prescott Elementary and the former St. Patrick's, both of which I attended. As I told the audience, I can still feel the pain of the Nuns beating me across the top of my hands because I wouldn't pay attention. But it was mind blowing to see the young men performing my play that was written about our old hood.
Of course I wanted to be a writer even then. I used to write in the Children's section of the Oakland Tribune. Did you think you would be publisher of the Oakland Post? I told the young actors how proud I was to see them on stage doing something positive. And a young man in the audience told how inspired he was at seeing the performance. Writer Wanda Sabir was there also. Someone said they could see the young brothers knew their lines.. This play must be part of my birthday celebration, along with Ayodele's Death by Love and Geoffrey Grier's The Spot.
These writers came out of my Recovery Theatre and have gone on to establish their own. Geoffery is director of San Francisco Recovery Theatre. These plays are about healing and love, a much needed subject for discussion. As I told the audience, African drama and for that matter, World drama, began in Egypt with the Osirian drama of Resurrection, ten thousand years ago. And we are yet today continuing the myth-ritual drama of resurrection. As my student/colleague, Ptah Allah El says,"We have gone from Warrior to Trashman (Flowers for the Trashman).
We consider ourselves trash, we eat trash and think trashy thoughts. We live in a trashy society. Yet we must arise from Trashman to Warrior man and woman." Thank you again for your support and lifelong friendship.
Any donations should be sent to
Amira Jackmon, Esq., 1220 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702
Marvin X Jackmon (El Muhajir)
* * * * *
Ayodele Nzinga's reply regarding Marvin X
Yo X,
Praises to you Baba, and to Paul Cobb and all the brothers who have reached the grand young age of maturity; a cool six five. I love seasoned warriors. I hearby acknowledge my adopted Baba as a living legend and the source of my overstanding. Baba you are living history. You are the shoulders on which many of us stand. I recognize the honor it is to pay homage to the air I breathe.
I am because we are.
Marvin,
I pledge the requisite $65.00 plus the rounding of the sum to a Big Face (100) in recognition of the space you have helped to create for me to struggle on to embody the legacy you have painstaking maintained and propagated. Flowers for you while you can smell the scent of your legacy living; are you due.
Now Baba, let the folk honor you. Don't talk too much trash. Be patient with those slow to re-member they are the breath of creation and the only hope for salvation as they pause to thank you for the flowers you have given us all for over half a century.
I see you shining. Thank you for hearing but not listening to your Mama who told you to leave us sorry niggers alone. We see you Baba. And for some of us your shine has been among the few sources of light on a dark planet. We all we got; blessing to you and those who see the unquiet desperation, the eternal optimism and the relentless determination in us.
Happy early solar return Baba. Shine on.
Your humble student,
WordSlanger
* * * * *
Marvin X Birthday Celebration
“Maybe we can create a social security blanket of mutual support.”—Paul Cobb, Publisher, Oakland Post
Tentative Schedule
Friday, May 29, 2009
Black Repertory Group Theatre
10AM--5pm
Presentation of Marvin X Papers
Break
6pm
Dinner
Proclamation from City of Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums
Marvin X Video Collage
Flowers for the Trashman (Lower Bottom Playaz)
Message from the People, youth and adults
Open Mike Reading from the writings of Marvin X
Marvin X, the Poet, with Tarika Lewis on violin, Destiny on harp and Tacuma King on percussion
Healing Session on How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
Donations should be sent to
Amira Jackmon, Esq., 1220 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702
Venue
Black Repertory Group Theatre, Berkeley
Call for papers
Critical Papers (five page max) on the writings of Marvin X are requested. Please submit a one-page abstract of your paper by
April 1, 2009. If accepted, you will present your paper at the morning session. Suggested topics: the poet, the dramatist, the essayist,
the performer, the mental health worker, the activist, the philosopher, the self-publisher, the motivator, the street teacher. Papers should be sent to Marvin X Committee, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702.
* * * * *
Up from Ignut Or Pull Yo Pants Up Fa da Black President: The Soulful Musings of a North American African. By Marvin X. Black Bird Press / 1222 Dwight Way / Berkeley CA 94702 / Pre-publication price: $10.00
Subject: Marvin X Celebrates His 65th Birthday
MARVIN X CELEBRATES 65TH BIRTHDAY/CALL FOR PAPERS
What a picture! You and Imamu Baraka, at the corner of 14th and Broadway,
boldly and coldly pushing Barackphernalia and your books, banners and buttons on brothers
who hadn't read since high school as well as to curious whites.
--Paul Cobb, Publisher, Oakland Post
Recent Books by Marvin X
Love and War: Poems / In the Crazy House Called America / Woman: Man's Best Friend / Beyond Religion Toward Spirituality /
How To Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
* * * * *
Marvin X Celebrates His 65th Birthday
Marvin X is founder of San Francisco’s Recovery Theatre in the Tenderloin, located at Theatre St. Boniface, 133 Golden Gate Avenue. Thousands of Bay Area addicts and alcoholics saw his docudrama of addiction and recovery One Day In The Life. In the ten years since he began his recovery, Marvin X has written five books, including Love and War, poems, 1995, Somethin Proper, autobiography, 1998, In the Crazy House Called America, essays, 2002, Wish I Could Tell You The Truth, essays, 2005 and Land of My Daughters, poems, 2005. On June 10, 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Black Books Exposition.
On May 29, Marvin X, one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement and the father of Muslim American literature, will celebrate his 65th birthday. His students, comrades and friends are organizing a celebration in Oakland. The following are hereby drafted/invited to the committee.
* * * * *
Marvin X Birthday Committee (Invited)
Please contact: Dr. J. Vern Cromartie ASAP: j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com
Abdul Sabri
Alona Clifton
Amina Grant
Amira Jackmon
Aubrey Labrie
Ayodele Nzinga
Bakari
Benny Stewart
Bernard Stringer
Carolyn Mixon
Rev. Cecil Williams
Charlie Walker
Norman Brown
Nicole Cole
David Glover
Marcel Diallo
Ise Lyfe
Bernard Stringer
Suzzette Johnson
Cecil Brown
Danny Glover
Destiny and Chris Muhammad
Earl Davis
Elliot Bey
Fahizah Alim
Jerri Lange
Jerry Vernado
Dr. Julia Hare
Geoffrey Grier
Davey D
Oba T'Shaka
Dr. Wade Nobles
Sunni Shabazz
Majidah Rahman
Phavia Khujichagulia
Tureeda Mikal
Raynetta Rayzetta
Ishmael Reed
Lil Joe
Margot Dashiel
Michael Lange
Nathan and Julia Hare
Paul Cobb
Peter Labrie
Ptah Allah El
Ramal Lamar and Hajr
Rashid Easley
Sean Scott
Dr. James Garrett
Pat Brown
Philip Johnson
Dr. Lige Dailey
Betty Bromfield
Christopher Muhammad
Robert Woods
Ron Bentley
Ron Dellums
Sister Sukura
Tarika Lewis
Terry Collins
Veda Silva
Wanda Sabir
Walter Riley
Wilson Riles
Zahieb Wongozi
Lanice Jones
Dr. Mona Scott
Nefertiti El Muhajir
Muhammida El Muhajir
Dr. Fritz Pointer
Minister Keith Muhammad
Imam Alamin
If you would like to help organize this event, contact Dr. Cromartie: j_vern_cromartie@yahoo.com
* * * * *
Paul Cobb's reply regarding Marvin X
Marvin Jackmon:
Since we started in kindergarten together, I will be happy to serve on your surprise birthday committee and will donate some space, time and money--at least $65.00, that is. I will also find a way to present you and your accomplishments on at least one whole page in all 7 editions of the Post and maybe a brief mention in El Mundo.
We do not, nor never will, have sufficient space to acknowledge all of your prolific flourishes and prodigious writings.
We marvel at you Marvin for your marvelous ability to focus your energies on your masterful musings.
You have fought the good fight.
You have kept the faith.
And, in the face of blistering pessimism, you kept us all focused on getting Barack Hussein Obama in the White House. I must say that when most of us doubted that event would occur in our lifetime, you never did.. Most of all you seemed to will us all into its acceptance. You saw and felt it coming.
What a picture! You and Imamu Baraka, at the corner of 14th and Broadway, boldly and coldly pushing Barackphernalia and your books, banners and buttons on brothers who hadn't read since high school as well as to curious whites who dared not pass you by without purchasing your FANONical Black&White skins and masks covered books—the "Black Man's Ice was finally colder."—What a coup!
Both of you, progenitors of the Black Arts Movement, artfully dealing still!
Since we are all at least 65 and alive, now maybe we can create a social security blanket of mutual support. I hope everyone on the committee will pop for $65 each to buy your books to be sent to juvenile hall and/or the "correctional?" institutions—now that's a stimulus package to stimulate us. And, since I shined shoes and sold watermelons with my cousin Roy Overall, in front of your family's floral shop on seventh street, 55 years ago, just as boldly as you still do too, I will present you your flowers and a" letter from home" on May 29.
Happy Birthday to ya!
Paul Cobb
* * * * *
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Marvin X Replies to Paul Cobb, Oakland Post Editor
Paul, thank you for your kind letter of support. I've never had a birthday party that I recall, so I hope I will know how to act. I just want you to know this afternoon I had an earthshaking experience on our old turf, West Oakland. Ayodele Nzingha's Lower Bottom Players presented my first play Flowers for the Trashman at their theatre, 10th and Peralta, across the street from Prescott Elementary and the former St. Patrick's, both of which I attended. As I told the audience, I can still feel the pain of the Nuns beating me across the top of my hands because I wouldn't pay attention. But it was mind blowing to see the young men performing my play that was written about our old hood.
Of course I wanted to be a writer even then. I used to write in the Children's section of the Oakland Tribune. Did you think you would be publisher of the Oakland Post? I told the young actors how proud I was to see them on stage doing something positive. And a young man in the audience told how inspired he was at seeing the performance. Writer Wanda Sabir was there also. Someone said they could see the young brothers knew their lines.. This play must be part of my birthday celebration, along with Ayodele's Death by Love and Geoffrey Grier's The Spot.
These writers came out of my Recovery Theatre and have gone on to establish their own. Geoffery is director of San Francisco Recovery Theatre. These plays are about healing and love, a much needed subject for discussion. As I told the audience, African drama and for that matter, World drama, began in Egypt with the Osirian drama of Resurrection, ten thousand years ago. And we are yet today continuing the myth-ritual drama of resurrection. As my student/colleague, Ptah Allah El says,"We have gone from Warrior to Trashman (Flowers for the Trashman).
We consider ourselves trash, we eat trash and think trashy thoughts. We live in a trashy society. Yet we must arise from Trashman to Warrior man and woman." Thank you again for your support and lifelong friendship.
Any donations should be sent to
Amira Jackmon, Esq., 1220 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702
Marvin X Jackmon (El Muhajir)
* * * * *
Ayodele Nzinga's reply regarding Marvin X
Yo X,
Praises to you Baba, and to Paul Cobb and all the brothers who have reached the grand young age of maturity; a cool six five. I love seasoned warriors. I hearby acknowledge my adopted Baba as a living legend and the source of my overstanding. Baba you are living history. You are the shoulders on which many of us stand. I recognize the honor it is to pay homage to the air I breathe.
I am because we are.
Marvin,
I pledge the requisite $65.00 plus the rounding of the sum to a Big Face (100) in recognition of the space you have helped to create for me to struggle on to embody the legacy you have painstaking maintained and propagated. Flowers for you while you can smell the scent of your legacy living; are you due.
Now Baba, let the folk honor you. Don't talk too much trash. Be patient with those slow to re-member they are the breath of creation and the only hope for salvation as they pause to thank you for the flowers you have given us all for over half a century.
I see you shining. Thank you for hearing but not listening to your Mama who told you to leave us sorry niggers alone. We see you Baba. And for some of us your shine has been among the few sources of light on a dark planet. We all we got; blessing to you and those who see the unquiet desperation, the eternal optimism and the relentless determination in us.
Happy early solar return Baba. Shine on.
Your humble student,
WordSlanger
* * * * *
Marvin X Birthday Celebration
“Maybe we can create a social security blanket of mutual support.”—Paul Cobb, Publisher, Oakland Post
Tentative Schedule
Friday, May 29, 2009
Black Repertory Group Theatre
10AM--5pm
Presentation of Marvin X Papers
Break
6pm
Dinner
Proclamation from City of Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums
Marvin X Video Collage
Flowers for the Trashman (Lower Bottom Playaz)
Message from the People, youth and adults
Open Mike Reading from the writings of Marvin X
Marvin X, the Poet, with Tarika Lewis on violin, Destiny on harp and Tacuma King on percussion
Healing Session on How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy
Donations should be sent to
Amira Jackmon, Esq., 1220 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702
Venue
Black Repertory Group Theatre, Berkeley
Call for papers
Critical Papers (five page max) on the writings of Marvin X are requested. Please submit a one-page abstract of your paper by
April 1, 2009. If accepted, you will present your paper at the morning session. Suggested topics: the poet, the dramatist, the essayist,
the performer, the mental health worker, the activist, the philosopher, the self-publisher, the motivator, the street teacher. Papers should be sent to Marvin X Committee, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA 94702.
* * * * *
Up from Ignut Or Pull Yo Pants Up Fa da Black President: The Soulful Musings of a North American African. By Marvin X. Black Bird Press / 1222 Dwight Way / Berkeley CA 94702 / Pre-publication price: $10.00
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Notes on The John D/Marvin X University House
We propose to establish the John D/Marvin X University House, a space for free thinkers, an educational and social action center wherein intergenerational learning can transpire in an atmosphere of love and healing. Such a center would entertain, discuss and debate all ideas, philosophies and ideologies. It would be an environment to consider the past and plan for the future. The focus or target would be youth and adults with an interest in learning to improve their skills to survive and thrive in the Information Age and the era of spiritual consciousness, beyond religiosity and dogmatism. Such a space would be interdenominational and ecumenical. We would study past mistakes in education and liberation to insure future generations do not make critical mistakes and thus avoid historical discontinuity by ignoring lessons of the past.
The University House would hold sessions on healing from the addiction to white supremacy, manhood and womanhood training, including sexual identity problems and male/female relations, parenting and respect for senior citizens. Political education and economic self-sufficiency would be of primary concern.
We will be a think tank for resolving lingering social issues and problems that are the result of existing in a hostile environment, such as health disparities and parity in economic matters.
The wisdom of elders will be considered in a respectful manner and the ideas of youth will be of equal importance. We will not discount the input of youth since they are coming into a world elders shall never see, thus the focus is on youth, especially at-risk youth, although we want to support the “good children” as well.
While we want to entertain the knowledge of professional educators, we shall also entertain the ideas of community scholars, especially the non-academic variety that possesses common sense sometimes lacking in persons from academia.
Mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress and unresolved grief shall be of prime importance. Criminal justice matters shall be considered, including black on black homicide, murder under the color of law and domestic violence will be high on the agenda. Anger management must be addressed along with psycholinguistics or resolving communication problems resulting from misuse of the alien English language, the residue of colonialism.
The arts, literature, theatre, dance and music must be an essential component of University House, along with martial arts for self defense.
University House shall publish and disseminate through film, video and audio the proceedings for community consumption.
The John D/Marvin X University House shall be maintained collectively through donations of students,teachers, patrons and sponsors. It must be an independent institution so the free expression of radical ideas shall not be inhibited. We welcome community input and suggestions. Projected life of this institution should be fifty to one hundred years.
Sincerely,
Marvin X,
Director
Invited board of directors:
Dr. Nathan Hare
Dr. Julia Hare
Terry Collins
Ronald Bentley
Ramal Lamar
Ptah Allah-El
Eugene Allen
Rashid Easley
Tarika Lewis
Pat Brown
Alona Clifton
Paul Cobb
Will Ussery
Charlie Walker
Walter Riley
Boots Riley
Jerry Vernado
Amira Jackmon
Davey D
Ayodele Nzingha
Geoffrey Grier
Earl Davis
Wadada
Constance Carter
Norman Brown
Emory Douglas
Bobby Seale
Paris
Suzzette Celeste
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marvin X's forthcoming book is UP from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fa da Black President--the Soulful Musings of a North American African, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2009
www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com. jmarvinx@yahoo.com.
We propose to establish the John D/Marvin X University House, a space for free thinkers, an educational and social action center wherein intergenerational learning can transpire in an atmosphere of love and healing. Such a center would entertain, discuss and debate all ideas, philosophies and ideologies. It would be an environment to consider the past and plan for the future. The focus or target would be youth and adults with an interest in learning to improve their skills to survive and thrive in the Information Age and the era of spiritual consciousness, beyond religiosity and dogmatism. Such a space would be interdenominational and ecumenical. We would study past mistakes in education and liberation to insure future generations do not make critical mistakes and thus avoid historical discontinuity by ignoring lessons of the past.
The University House would hold sessions on healing from the addiction to white supremacy, manhood and womanhood training, including sexual identity problems and male/female relations, parenting and respect for senior citizens. Political education and economic self-sufficiency would be of primary concern.
We will be a think tank for resolving lingering social issues and problems that are the result of existing in a hostile environment, such as health disparities and parity in economic matters.
The wisdom of elders will be considered in a respectful manner and the ideas of youth will be of equal importance. We will not discount the input of youth since they are coming into a world elders shall never see, thus the focus is on youth, especially at-risk youth, although we want to support the “good children” as well.
While we want to entertain the knowledge of professional educators, we shall also entertain the ideas of community scholars, especially the non-academic variety that possesses common sense sometimes lacking in persons from academia.
Mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress and unresolved grief shall be of prime importance. Criminal justice matters shall be considered, including black on black homicide, murder under the color of law and domestic violence will be high on the agenda. Anger management must be addressed along with psycholinguistics or resolving communication problems resulting from misuse of the alien English language, the residue of colonialism.
The arts, literature, theatre, dance and music must be an essential component of University House, along with martial arts for self defense.
University House shall publish and disseminate through film, video and audio the proceedings for community consumption.
The John D/Marvin X University House shall be maintained collectively through donations of students,teachers, patrons and sponsors. It must be an independent institution so the free expression of radical ideas shall not be inhibited. We welcome community input and suggestions. Projected life of this institution should be fifty to one hundred years.
Sincerely,
Marvin X,
Director
Invited board of directors:
Dr. Nathan Hare
Dr. Julia Hare
Terry Collins
Ronald Bentley
Ramal Lamar
Ptah Allah-El
Eugene Allen
Rashid Easley
Tarika Lewis
Pat Brown
Alona Clifton
Paul Cobb
Will Ussery
Charlie Walker
Walter Riley
Boots Riley
Jerry Vernado
Amira Jackmon
Davey D
Ayodele Nzingha
Geoffrey Grier
Earl Davis
Wadada
Constance Carter
Norman Brown
Emory Douglas
Bobby Seale
Paris
Suzzette Celeste
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marvin X's forthcoming book is UP from Ignut or Pull Yo Pants Up fa da Black President--the Soulful Musings of a North American African, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2009
www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com. jmarvinx@yahoo.com.
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