LET'S DO THE BAM THANG!

November 9, 2015, 8:08 am

≫ Next: The Whispers at Paramount

≪ Previous: MTABR PROMO

$

0

0

 SOS!

Calling all Black artistic freedom fighters, groups, activists, students, educators, workers, lovers of Black Art: Please confirm your presence at Oakland City Hall, Room 3, 3:30, Monday, November 16, 2015, for the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Business District planning meeting, chaired by Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney. 

Let's do the BAM Thang!

For confirmation/ information, please call me 510-200-4164. jmarvinx@yahoo.com

 SOS SOS

Calling all Black Artistic freedom fighters, persons, groups, activists, students, educators, workers, lovers of Black Art: Please confirm your presence at Oakland City Hall, Room 3, 3:30, Monday, November 16, 2015, for the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Business District planning meeting, chaired by Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney. Let's do the BAM Thang!

For more information, please call me 510-200-4164. jmarvinx@yahoo.com

---

The Whispers at Paramount

November 9, 2015, 8:53 am

≫ Next: Wish List for Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic Districts coast to coast

≪ Previous: LET'S DO THE BAM THANG!

$

0

0

Wish List for Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic Districts coast to coast

November 9, 2015, 9:59 am

≫ Next: White folks funny as a Gerald 2X cartoon in Muhummad Speaks Newspaper

≪ Previous: The Whispers at Paramount

$

0

0

Suggested Elements of the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic District for downtown Oakland

The following are some of my thoughts toward the establishment of a comprehensive plan for the BAM District, downtown Oakland. Please let me know your thoughts. This project is bigger than any one person. Indeed, it must be a communal plan for the next fifty to one hundred years. 
--Marvin X, Planner, BAM District, Oakland
contact:
Marvin X
510-200-4164
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com



1. Property in the BAM District placed in land trust to ensure longevity of district, thus not subject to developers and gentrification. District placed under immediate rent control.

2. Special residents in the BAM District housing receive life estate, e.g., chronic homeless, mentally ill, addicts in recovery, artists, senior citizens, recently released from incarceration and others with special needs.

3. Artists, business persons, vendors, meet to agree on principles of understanding for those in the district, e.g., a positive attitude must prevail at all times. Keep negativity to a minimum.

4. All persons in BAM District must attend peer group mental health sessions to recover from the addiction to white supremacy Type I and II.

5. Saturday African Market Day, including Farmer's Market and Arts & Crafts vendors. Street vendors during the week as well, as in San Francisco, Berkeley and elsewhere to enable economic stability for BAM artists and craft persons, entrepreneurs and youth to acquire business acumen.

6. Banners up immediately after declaration of BAM District, e.g., flag, icons of BAM and political heroes/sheroes, local, national and international, i.e., Pan African champions of freedom and justice.

7. A children's village at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza.

8. Educational tour of district for all Oakland students to learn the North American African contribution to Oakland and the world.

9. Budget for planning and operating district for five to ten years.

10. Immediate pilot project between Clay and Franklin along 14th to test project virtues and flaws of business persons, vendors, artists, educators, street mental health workers, security persons.

11. Tour guides.

12. Board of Directors and bylaws for operating district.

13. Establish BAM District as tourist site.

14. Music and art display and performance along the corridor.

15. Free speech area at Frank Ogawa/Oscar Grant Plaza and/or Lake Merritt amphitheatre.

16. In honor of Marvin X (Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland--Ishmael Reed) establish a permanent structure for Academy of da Corner at 14th and Broadway, Legba Square. Establish endowment fund so Marvin X can continue his mission of educating, inspiring and motivating Oakland youth and adults. "Don't spend all that money going to seminars and workshops on motivation and inspiration. Just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X at work. He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland, "says Ishmael Reed.  Bob Holman says, "Marvin X is the USA's Rumi! The wisdom of Saadi, the ecstasy of Hafiz!"  Rudolph Lewis comments, "He's a Master Teacher in many fields of thought. One of America's great story tellers. I'd put him ahead of Mark Twain!"

17. Every adult member of the BAM District must mentor at least one youth so the baton can be passed to them ASAP.

18. The BAM District should acquire and maintain a fresh spirit of radical consciousness, not one steeped in reactionary and/or conservative notions from the past. For sure, the elders should dispense their wisdom freely so youth are aware of our traditions and how to expand on it as we pass the baton to them. BAM Master Sun Ra said, "The children are the elders." Indeed, at two years old, my grandson said to me as we walked to Lake Merritt from Academy of da Corner, "Grandpa, you can't save the world, but I can!" At the Laney College BAM 50th Celebration this year, my daughter's comments went viral during the panel Black Arts/Black Power Babies, an inter-generational dialogue.
"We're ready and able, so pass the baton, Dad!"

 Nefertiti, Marvin X's oldest of three daughters, jammed him at Laney College BAM 50th Celebration, "Dad, you say pass the baton but you won't pass it. We're qualified and ready, so pass the baton!"
photo Kenny Johnson

Kujichagulia said, "Yes, I brainwashed my children to prevent them from acquiring the addiction to white supremacy Type II. Her daughter Taiwo speaks on BAM/Black Power Babies panel. Mother Kujichagulia is so proud!
photo Kenny Johnson

Hello Marvin X,
You are invited to the following event:

Black Arts  Culture and Business District - Planning Session

Event to be held at the following time, date, and location:

Monday, November 16, 2015 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM (PST) City Hall 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza Hearing Room 3 Oakland, CA 94612 View Map

Attend Event

Event registration is by invitation only. Register with your email address to attend this event.

Council President McElhaney is bringing together a group of African American artists, culture keepers and downtown business owners to help craft a vision of a downtown that honors and lifts up our unique heritage and history as a center of black arts and culture.

We hope you can make it!

Cheers,
Erika Broyard, Assistant to Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney

White folks funny as a Gerald 2X cartoon in Muhummad Speaks Newspaper

November 9, 2015, 11:41 am

≫ Next: Blues for a child

≪ Previous: Wish List for Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic Districts coast to coast

$

0

0

"Of course I'll fight for my country. Soon as I'm the citizen of one."

Blues for a child

November 9, 2015, 4:41 pm

≫ Next: Black Power Salute Mexico City, John Carlos and Tommy Smith

≪ Previous: White folks funny as a Gerald 2X cartoon in Muhummad Speaks Newspaper

$

0

0

I lost a child in America
makes me feel so bad
beautiful son
smartest child ever had
love all ma children
greatest any man ever had
love all my children
greatest a man ever had
losing my son
worst thing happen to a dad
no healing ever
no closure
no end of pain in the night
miss my son so much
yet I understand his plight
39 years old
Malcolm and Martin the same
homicide and suicide the same
Dr. Nathan Hare maintain
situational disorder my son
manic depression 
oppression
depression in the land
fight the power!
--Marvin X
11/9/15

Black Power Salute Mexico City, John Carlos and Tommy Smith

November 9, 2015, 6:55 pm

≫ Next: Marvin X poem: I AM AMERICAN

≪ Previous: Blues for a child

$

0

0

Civil Disobedience

Black medallists raise fists for Civil Rights Movement

by John Gettings

Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos raise fists for Black Power in 1968. (Source: AP)

It was the most popular medal ceremony of all time. The photographs of two black American sprinters standing on the medal podium with heads bowed and fists raised at the Mexico City Games in 1968 not only represent one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history but a milestone in America's civil rights movement.

The two men were Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Teammates at San Jose State University, Smith and Carlos were stirred by the suggestion of a young sociologist friend Harry Edwards, who asked them and all the other black American athletes to join together and boycott the games. The protest, Edwards hoped, would bring attention to the fact that America's civil rights movement had not gone far enough to eliminate the injustices black Americans were facing. Edwards' group, the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), gained support from several world-class athletes and civil rights leaders but the all-out boycott never materialized.

Still impassioned by Edwards' words, Smith and Carlos secretly planned a non-violent protest in the manner of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the 200-meter race, Smith won the gold medal and Carlos the bronze. As the American flag rose and the Star-Span

Smith later told the media that he raised his right, black-glove-covered fist in the air to represent black power in America while Carlos' left, black-covered fist represented unity in black America. Together they formed an arch of unity and power. The black scarf around Smith's neck stood for black pride and their black socks (and no shoes) represented black poverty in racist America.
While the protest seems relatively tame by today's standards, the actions of Smith and Carlos were met with such outrage that they were suspended from their national team and banned from the Olympic Village, the athletes' home during the games.

A lot of people thought that political statements had no place in the supposedly apolitical Olympic Games. Those that opposed the protest cried out that the actions were militant and disgraced Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, were moved by the duo's actions and praised them for their bravery. The protest had lingering effects for both men, the most serious of which were death threats against them and their families.

Smith and Carlos, who both now coach high school track teams, were honored in 1998 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their protest.

An interesting side note to the protest was that the 200m silver medallist in 1968, Peter Norman of Australia (who is white), participated in the protest that evening by wearing a OPHR badge.

Marvin X poem: I AM AMERICAN

November 9, 2015, 7:59 pm

≫ Next: Draft for the Black Arts Movement Founder's Concert and Awards Ceremony, TBA 2016

≪ Previous: Black Power Salute Mexico City, John Carlos and Tommy Smith

$

0

0

MASTER TEACHER MARVIN X IN A POETIC MOMENT WITH OAKLAND MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF WHO PROCLAIMED THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT AT LANEY COLLEGE CELEBRATION, FEB. 7, 2015
photo Ken Johnson


I Am American

Dedicated to my brother Ollie (January 21)
daughter Nefertiti (January 29)

I am American
no citizen of the United States
gave up years ago
Toronto, 1967
protesting US in Vietnam
no Viet Cong called me a nigger!
willing to be US citizen again
will pledge. I AM AMERICAN
NORTH AMERICAN AFRICAN!

exiled
underground Chicago
BAM CHICAGO
HAKI DON L. LEE
CAROLYN ROGERS
MOTHER GWEN
HOYT FULLER BLACK WORLD NEGRO DIGEST
AFRO ARTS THEATRE
MOVING ON TO HARLEM
KILLED MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR IN MY MIDST
GOT UP SOUTH SIDE WITH NATIONAL GUARD IN MY MIDST
ESCAPE TO HARLEM

Harlem Black Arts Movement
Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra, Last Poets, Amiri, Askia, Haki, Barbara Ann Teer, Milford Graves, et al.

crucified at Fresno State University Black Studies
Angela Davis on the cross at UCLA, 1969

I am American
exiled second time Mexico City
exiled Americans from the Americas!
brothers and sisters
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil
call me Pele Pele Pele on the streets Mexico City
touch my hair for good luck

I am American
Mexico City founded by Africans
AFRICAN young men exiled
from
president for life regimes in the Americas
resistance MEN
women too
wife with me from US Fresno State University

mostly young men
planes landing  Chapultepec Park
cerca de Paseo de la Reforma
cerca de Metro
lovers in the park Sundays
we in love
Hasani B and me
running from American imperialism
Hasani B
pregnant with Nefertiti
beautiful one has come
"My parents were in flight when I was conceived. I am thus a freedom child."
Nefertiti El Muhajir
beautiful one in flight

I am American
cannot speak with brothers in exile
Spanish pochito pochito
Jorge
Choco, Columbia
Enrique Venezuela
My Spanish pochito
muy pochito
no Portuguese
Poder Negro
Poder Negro
Black Power!

revolutionary amigos.
comprende
black power!

I am American

I flee Mexico City
Belize
Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Merida, Chetumal
land of Yanga
el Africano Mexicano
Yanga so bad the Spanish gave him a town
San Lorenzo de los Negroes
Vera Cruz

I flee against advice of Elizabeth Catlett Mora
revolutionary artist
begged me not to go
negroes in raw colonialism
she said
American
young hard headed
easy to lead in the wrong direction
hard to lead in the right direction Elijah said

I am American
want to hear English
tired of Spanish
basta ya!
I want to see los Negroes
in Belize
esclavos
pero Negroes
yo esclavo tambien
I am American

my land the Americas
all of it
before Columbus
Maya Aztec Incas Olmec
I was here
by canoe Ghana, Mali, Songhay
land of Sonni Ali, Askia the Great
bling blingMansa Musa
thousand camels with gold on his haj to Mecca

I am American
Belize Negroes speak English
pero muy rapido pero English
Espanol tambien
I am American
Norte Americano Africano
Simon Bolivar Americano
Simon Simon Simon

I am American
North Central South American
Caribbean American
I am American
Toronto, Montreal
Georgetown, Caracas

Slums Mexico City 
shacks Belize
madness Kingston
cocaine Port of Spain
Trinidad
C. Eric Williams
Capitalism and Slavery
Guyana
interviewed PM Burnham at his residence
Africans with AK47s at his gate
genocide of Jonestown
assassination Dr. Walter Rodney
can we forgive the reactionaries
never turn into Buddha heads
put down their butcher knives

I am American
Belize
join the revolution of Evan X and Shabazz
on trial for sedition
government games old people play
they say
this is
sedition
covered trial for Muhammad Speaks
my sin
a 1970 Wikileaks
emperor has no clothes
people
no water no electricity no toilet
no nothing

why I left America with no gold
they want American gold
why I leave without gold
America gold
slaves and gold

I am American
people are rich in Belize
poor rich
joy and peace, sun and land
gardens paradise
islands in the sun
I live on Gales Point
shack
no water no electricity no bathroom
happy
wife pregnant and happy
sand flies
mosquitoes love her blood
bathe in the river
out house on the other side of the island
catfish collect waste
people do not swim on that side of the island
do not eat catfish

I am American
people beg me teach black power
do not check in village headman

drunk man sings

day comin ta git ya in da mornin
been down here teachin dat black power
day comin in da mornin, boy
wife and I laugh
wish dat drunk nigguh git way from our door
they in the morning

I am American
get on the boat to city
five hour jungle ride
police on boat
under arrest
don't know it
police undercover
say nothing 
get to the city
say nothing
police come friends house
call me out
grab rifle
black panther shoot out
put rifle down
surrender
mulatto greets me outside
under arrest
Ministry of Home Affairs
Minister reads deportation order
presence not beneficial to welfare British Colony of Honduras
deported to United States on plane Miami
4pm.

Until then under arrest.
Mulatto takes me to police station
sit down. No cell,
no handcuffs.
Black police gather around
in circle police
what's up.
broder man, teach us about black power!


I am American
police victims too
teach us broder man.
I say
Marcus Garvey came in 1923
get Queen of Englabd off yo walls.

It's 1970 and you still got that white bitch on yo walls.
Get that bitch off yo walls!
police crack up!
you all ite broder man
point out uncle tom police
black man wit white heart
black man wit white heart!


I am American
Plane come.
Mulatto pushed me on plane.
refuse to leave without wife. plane door slammed.

Fly south Tegucigalpa, Spanish Honduras.
ask asylum .
Espera un momento, Negro!
marched back to plane.


land in Miami. Two gentlemen greet me at airport. Escort me to my hotel suite Dade County Jail.
put in pit with dead, deaf dumb blind negroes.
call them brother.
we ain't yo brother, nigguh.
I am silent.
I Am American!

gentlemen come
transfer me to Miami City jail, Federal facility.
I AM AMERICAN!

White Cuban drug dealers greet me.
What do you want, my brother?
money, food?
We send out for food to the restaurant, what do you want?
I am American

hamburger, fries milkshake!
No problema, hermano!
give money to call my wife.
She is home in America. Father sent for her.

I am American
Cubans say whatever you need let us know.

I am American
Simon Bolivar
Che
Fidel
Toussaint
Nat Turner
Grabriel Prosser
Harriet Tubman
Garvey
Elijah
Malcolm
Stokely (Kwame Toure)
CLR James
Padmore
Chavez
Morales

I am American.
--Marvin X
1/29/11
www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Now available for readings/lectures/performance

Draft for the Black Arts Movement Founder's Concert and Awards Ceremony, TBA 2016

November 10, 2015, 6:47 pm

≫ Next: Africa, China's Second Continent!

≪ Previous: Marvin X poem: I AM AMERICAN

$

0

0

COMING SOON, 2016

THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 
CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DISTRICT
proudly presents

BAM FOUNDER'S CONCERT 
and
LITERARY AWARDS CEREMONY

PARAMOUNT THEATRE
Oakland CA

Presenting the Amiri Baraka Artistic Freedom Fighter Award

[ 

Nikki Giovanni* Last Poets* Marvin X* Sonia Sanchez* Haki Madhubuti* Askia Toure'

PERFORMANCE BY THE BAM POET'S CHOIR AND ARKESTRA

ALSO 
PASSING THE BATON CEREMONY
Black Arts/Black Power Babies Awards

 
 Author: Ta Hanise Coates

 
 















Mayor Ras Baraka, Newark, NJ

Muhammida El Muhajir, global producer, filmmaker

Alase Oba Adefunmi Adejuyigbe

King, Yoruba African Village, Sheldon, SC

Needed:
Sponsors
funders
promoters
Supporters
volunteers
performers
Call: 510-200-4164
jmarvinx@yahoo.com

---

Africa, China's Second Continent!

November 10, 2015, 7:35 pm

≫ Next: Marvin X new poem: I Cannot tell you of love

≪ Previous: Draft for the Black Arts Movement Founder's Concert and Awards Ceremony, TBA 2016

$

0

0

China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa by Howard W. French Reviewed by Nicolas van de Walle     Over one million Chinese citizens have moved to Africa in the last two decades, where they have established a wide array of businesses, from small farms to large construction companies. In this perceptive account, backed by numerous and often insightful interviews with people in a dozen African countries, French makes clear that the Chinese presence in Africa is not solely the result of Chinese government policies. A surprising number of his subjects reveal that they left China because they found life in Africa more attractive and do not intend to return home. Although many of them rely on networks of fellow Chinese immigrants for capital and know-how, they often complain to the author about their countrymen, particularly those who hail from different parts of China. Still, French concedes that this substantial wave of emigration cannot be completely disassociated from China’s strategic and commercial ambitions in the region. Although French declines to render a simplistic positive or negative verdict on the effect of the Chinese presence on the region, he does argue that it expresses China’s quasi-imperial approach to promoting its global influence and power.

Marvin X new poem: I Cannot tell you of love

November 25, 2015, 2:30 pm

≫ Next: Poem by Fritz Pointer: Heightened Awareness

≪ Previous: Africa, China's Second Continent!

$

0

0

I cannot tell you of love

When you do not seek love

Cannot see love roaring in the surf

In the quiet mountains

You cannot convince me

Mountains hate

Bees birds little children

Even beaten lovers love again the same night

Their pain is love

How did we get here

Through the door of love

Ancestors sustained us

With love

Black lives matters

A call to love

There is no hate 

Black lives precious sacred as

All lives

No selective suffering

When we recognize

The poor are rich in love

See the lovers pushing shopping cart

Drinking together rut gut wine

But loving

Homeless lovers

Asleep in the alley

Hugging tightly against the frozen night

But loving like the rich

Or better 

With purity not money

Sincerity not money

Not even knowledge

Except the truth of love

The actions of love

Let haters hate

Drink their vomit

Until they are no more

And lovers dance

And praise the God

Of Love.

Marvin X

Poem by Fritz Pointer: Heightened Awareness

November 25, 2015, 2:33 pm

≫ Next: Poem: Ain't Nothing Changed by Rudolph Lewis

≪ Previous: Marvin X new poem: I Cannot tell you of love

$

0

0

Heightened Awareness

By Fritz Pointer

Where do bomber pilots worship?

Do they genuflect before boarding their bomber planes?

Do they sing “Onward Christian Soldiers Marching On To War?”

            In a Choir like I did?

Do they attend mass

            In a Cardinal Francis Spellman-like cathedral

            To hear a priest say:

            “This is a war for civilization…This is Christ’s war against…”

                        Name your enemy.

This Catholic Cardinal, this “Man of the cloth”  - as they say

            Blessed the bombs, the missiles, the guns

            That sent 2 million Vietnamese and 4 million Cambodian souls

             “To a better place”

            Sprinkled them with Holy “Shit”

            In the name of the Father, the Son and the Ghost

And, bomber pilots are not Terrorists

            Because they go to church not mosque

            Because bombing from planes is more Christ-like?

                        And such priests  represent the “Prince of Peace”

                        “With the cross of Jesus”…blah, blah, blah.

Obama sends drones to kill Muslim clerics who speak ill of America.

            Where does he go to pray before this?

            What hymn does he sing?

II

Je Suis Paris

I am France

Je Suis Damascus

I am Syria

Je Suis Kabul

I am Afghanistan

Je Suis Moscow

I am Russia

Je Suis Manhattan

I am New York

Je Suis Khartoum

I am Sudan

Je Suis Narobi

I am Kenya

Je Suis Beirut

I am Lebanon

Je Suis Columbine and Aurora

I am Colorado

Je Suis Tripoli

I am Libya

Je Suis Nablus

I am Palestine

Je Suis Kiev

I am Ukraine

Je Suis Charleston

I am North Carolina

Je Suis Sana’a

I am Yemen

Je Suis Newtown

I am Connecticut

Je Suis Yola and Kano

I am Nigeria

Je Suis Ciudad Juarez

I am Mexico

Je Suis Baghdad

I am Iraq

Je Suis Bamako

I am Mali

Je Suis Boston

I am Massachusetts

Je Suis N’djamena

I am Chad

Je Suis Kerawa

I am Cameroon

III

Je Suis Charlie Hebdo

Je Suis Amadou Diallo and Orlando Barlo, Sean Bell and Sandra Bland Oscar Grant and Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Dante Price,  Trevon Martin and Ranisha McBride, Walter Scott and Darus Simmons  Mike Brown and Freddie Gray, Andy Lopez and Ramarley Graham,  Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell …

I am Prince Jones and Samuel Dubose, Aaron Campbell and  Jonathan Ferrell, Justin Sipp and Alan Blueford  …

Hanging from an oil-stained Cross, Crescent and Star

Je Suis !  Je Suis!!  Je Suis Humanity!!!

I am!  I am!! I am Humanity!!!

11/21/15

Poem: Ain't Nothing Changed by Rudolph Lewis

November 25, 2015, 2:41 pm

≫ Next: Meaning of the Red, Black and Green Flag

≪ Previous: Poem by Fritz Pointer: Heightened Awareness

$

0

0

Ain’t Nothing Changed

                                  --- For Ben Carson

                          

Ain’t nothing changed but you, Brother—

searchlights, night helicopters, hunting runaways:

shock & awe sameness. Satan still enlightens, still

passes along the apple of knowing in evening

news, a veil of innocence applauding how we change

faces, how Wall Street masks its account on islands.

Heads crowned with fresh hoarfrost yet rambling

in high-spun circles as the defenseless are dragged

from their moment, from their sunny yesterdays.

We grow apart as armies conquer & occupy.

Ain’t nothing changed but you, Brother—you no

longer call me with urgency, with hot words

like NationTime! / The Revolution Is On!

Tongues sniff the air for Italian patent leather

shoes grinding like jackboots—you whipped

into dark suits & red ties, broad denture grins

for PR cameras, mirrors of error dancing in eyes

of black athletes, trapped balling for billionaires

clawing through to the bone, crawling on floors.

But you, Brother, you’re playing golf at the club

with MJ & Tiger. For you, no gunship clouds skies

raining fire on head-holding dreams, no blackness.

Scavenging birds crowd into laboring landscapes

while success prophets celebrate suburban havens.

Ain’t nothing changed but you Brother—a retiring ceo,

daylight comes, daylight goes, leveraging pyramids,

staging annual bus trips to graves of Martin & Malcolm.

Nothing but blue vertigo, barbs of steel wire enclosures

& tanks—colloquiums, councils justifying war,

flying machines crushing Gaza & Baghdad . Nothing’s

changed, Brother—we won’t give up & we won’t let go.

--Rudolph Lewis

Meaning of the Red, Black and Green Flag

December 5, 2015, 1:38 pm

≫ Next: Black Arts Movement Distrtict tentative Agenda for City of Oakland Plannning Meeting, December 7, 2015

≪ Previous: Poem: Ain't Nothing Changed by Rudolph Lewis

$

0

0

The Red Black and Green flag is an act of love. Prior to the flag, there was a song called Everybody got a flag except a Coon. Marcus Garvey then presented the Red Black and Green to show the world Africans have a flag, Red for the blood shed, Black for the people, Green for the land we must have as a nation of people. We add the heart for the precious love in our lives. God is Love, so we are in God, God is within us.

The Red Black And Green is sacred to us. We honor the tri colors and want the world to know we are a nation of people under the Red Black And Green. We see the Red Black Green flying coast to coast as we strive toward freedom in the present era. We ask the children to accept the heart in the Red Black and Green as per the Black Arts Movement District. Why the heart?

The heart has been an essential part of the Black Arts Movement/Black Liberation Movement, i.e., Black Power Movement. Revolution is for love, love of family, love of community, love of self, but love always and forever, love. No hate up in here, only love survives and transcends hate, jealously, envy. Let us then move beyond hatred, beyond jealousy, envy toward the pure sprit of love.

Let the BAM banner fly up and down the BAM District. Let the people know they are loved. Let the people know they have a sacred space. Let them know there is a space where their bodies are sacred and holy and will not be violated. Let the people know there is a space where their creativity is respected; where their economic genius is respected, especially in the BAM African Market Women’s Bazaar along the BAM corridor, which they shall organize and operate, in the African/Afrikan tradition
Let the artists form the Union of BAM Artists. Let the business people from their association. Perhaps there must be a General Assembly of Black Arts Movement associates. Let us do this now and for the the generations to come. Ache.

Black Arts Movement Distrtict tentative Agenda for City of Oakland Plannning Meeting, December 7, 2015

December 5, 2015, 5:49 pm

≫ Next: Publisher wants to release Marvin X's next book of poetry

≪ Previous: Meaning of the Red, Black and Green Flag

$

0

0

1. The need for the BAM land trust is top priority. Just as the Eastside Arts Cultural Center is under a land trust, we want a parity of buildings in the BAM District under the land trust. We call upon Black developers to work with us, e.g., Amy Groves and/or Thomas Dolan. Foundations can help us secure buildings in the BAM District, investment bankers, Silicon Valley corporations can assist us, e.g., Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, et al.

Municipal bonds can be sold to acquire properties. Bonds attorney Amira Jackmon suggests creating jobs for BAM people as bonds salespeople.

We need an assessment of City of Oakland properties that BAM District can acquire for performance space, artist space and housing, businesses, including proposed buildings at 14th and Alice that we understand are part of the Oakland Downtown Plan.

2. Banners up before Xmas along the BAM corridor. Let us start with the Red, Black and Green that Marcus Garvey created during the Harlem Renaissance. We have added the heart because all we do we do in the name of love.

3. Immediately establish the African Women’s Market for vendor’s along the corridor. We suggest a pilot project between Clay and Franklin. We suggest women from the African Diaspora Bazaar organize and operate the African Women’s Market, under the leadership of Aishah Boone.

4. Develop the BAM Business Plan and incorporation papers. Establish Board of Directors and project directors for the various BAM entities. Separate profit from non profit projects.

5. Organize the BAM Union of Artists, modeled after the National Writers Union, AFL/CIO. The Union of Artists will be a membership organization to promote the works of artists in all genres, painters, poets, writers, playwrights, dancers, musicians, graphic artists, directors, technicians. The union will help artists in legal matters such as contracts, royalties, commissions, grants, loans, housing, publishing, printing, exhibits, housing, emergency funds, health insurance, life insurance, mental health and physical health matters.

6. Immediate BAM planning grant so we can work on making the BAM District a reality at the earliest.

7. Tour guides hired for BAM District tours ASAP.

8. Create employment opportunities for artists, craftpersons, entrepreneurs, youth and children.

9. Partner with business community for expertise, especially the African American Chamber of Commerce and the Oakland Chamber of Commerce.

10. Students from the College of Alameda have asked to partner with BAM to establish the BAM Love Zone, a sacred space for lovers only. We would hope the entire BAM District would be a Love Zone.

11. Establish a BAM General Assembly of all BAM members.
12. Establish Elders Council to advise
13. Women’s Council
14. Young Adult Council
15. Children’s Council

These are some of my thoughts. Please let me know your thoughts or agenda items that you feel should be a priority for the December 7 meeting.
—Marvin X, BAM Planner

Publisher wants to release Marvin X's next book of poetry

December 5, 2015, 6:45 pm

≫ Next: If you only knew how beautiful you are

≪ Previous: Black Arts Movement Distrtict tentative Agenda for City of Oakland Plannning Meeting, December 7, 2015

$

0

0

At the Pen Oakland Literary Awards Ceremony at the Oakland Main Library today, the publisher of Poetic Matrix Press tentatively agreed to publish Marvin X's next collection of poetry. Marvin's last collection was Land of My Daughters, 2009, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, CA.

Stay turned for the forthcoming poetic collection by Marvin X, known variously as "Plato teaching oh the streets of Oakland" (Ishmael Reed); "The USA's Rumi, Saadi, Hafiz...." (Bob Holman); "The father of Muslim American Literature"(Dr. Mohja Khaf).

At the PEN Oakland Literary Awards, Jack Foley mistakenly said there were no Muslims being awarded today. When Marvin X came up to receive his Lifetime Achievement Award, along with BAM poet/musician Avotchja, Marvin noted that he is a Muslim poet, in fact, considered the "Father of Muslim American literature" (Dr. Mohja Khaf), along with other Black Arts Movement Poets, including Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Muhammad Toure', et al. According to Dr. Khaf, "The Black Arts Movement poets are the foundation of Muslim American literature."

After receiving his award, Marvin X read his classic poem What If, a poem any Muslim would recognize, although Marvin transcends Islam in the poem by including an essential dose of pantheism or African religion. Ishmael Reed puts Marvin X in the Yoruba tradition, while others place him in the Islamic literary tradition. In truth, Marvin X defies all traditions by embracing all traditions.

When I write, I write to write, I do not write in sectarian traditions or any religious tradition. "I am the pen, Allah is the ink."

Sometimes I have had a writing plan for a book until the Holy Spirit took over and I saw I was only the pen and Allah was the ink. It was then that I forgot my plan and let the Holy Spirit guide my hand. I wish somebody could understand. I wish somebody could hep me tonight.
--Marvin X
12/5/15

James Sweeney has noted, "Marvin X is the freest Black man in non-free America." Indeed, being Black listed from Academia has allowed Marvin X to speak freely on any subject that comes to his mind, and for sure his mind is global. Former California Poet Laureate Al Young introduced Marvin X. Al said, "I've known Marvin at least half a century, and we have watched him evolve and expand his consciousness. In his memoir on Eldridge Cleaver: My Friend the Devil, Marvin X revealed not only things we didn't know about Eldridge, but Marvin was more than honest about himself, his own foibles and flaws. What else can we ask of a writer?"

---

If you only knew how beautiful you are

December 5, 2015, 8:12 pm

≫ Next: MARVIN X GETS PEN OAKLAND LITERARY AWARD FOR A LIFETIME WRITING THIRTY BOOKS

≪ Previous: Publisher wants to release Marvin X's next book of poetry

$

0

0

I wish black people knew how beautiful they are
no matter negrocities
beautiful people
strange fruit cross lynching tree
century after century
in the sun in the rain pain
a miracle
silence of centuries
strange tongue
songs without memory
songs broken smashed
drama of resurrection
Kemit drama of resurection
ISIS OSIRIS
Yoruba tales a  thousand years
drama of a thousand years
ancestor tales so rich vivid
look at them before the king
they crawl before the king
and he embraces them
the tale of a thousand years
we hear music
 “Blues” from Mali
Why do you let me hear the music
that rocks my soul
why do this to me?
rock my world
take me back a thousand years
look at me sitting on the river bank
my queen and me
look at me dancers before me
telling the story of our tribe
a thousand other tribes
warrior dances
women dances
the dance of priests and priestess
let the come before the Oba
let them crawl before the holy one
let the holy one accept them
Please, do not let me hear the Kora
Do not let me hear the kora
do not shake my world like that
kora is memory vivid and true
I walk around Timbuktu
I teach at the University
Fluent in many languages
we translate for the world in darkness
while we walk in the sun and students
will not leave us alone

I wish black people knew how beautiful they are
something even slavery could not destroy
though it tried in every way every day
to no avail
even the whip could not prevail
destroy the beauty of blackness
a soul force energy beyond time and matter
atomic particles quantum physics
high mathematics
equal justice righteousness peace
Ma’at yes
MIzan (Arabic) balance

so let us travel the space ways
honor Sun Ra Arkestra
travel the space ways
beyond this world
if you find earth boring
the same old same place
take a trip to outter space
next stop is Jupiter Jupiter
You want to get off at Saturn
Let’m off, Saturn!

Black people so beautiful
that’s why they hate us
we beautiful
in spite of our negrocities (Baraka term)
beauty
we can be ugly
slipping into darkness fear
do not let fear consume us
the only thing to fear is fear itself
beyond fear is freedom discipline
beyond fear all things are possible
beyond fear nothing is impossible
if we say yes to life yes to joy yes to love
yes to success yes yes yes.
say yes and be blessed
say yes be blessed
and yet as I write
some are saying no no no
say yes my friends
stop showing God your fist
open your fist so blessing can flow into your hand heart
Did you know God is in the blessing business
but even when He/She comes to bless you are depressed
won’t open your hand to receive
how can God bless you with closed hand
how can God bless you when you are full of the pain of yesterday
let it go let it go let it go
be beautiful
beautiful
black and beautiful.
—Marvin X
11/30/15

I wish black people knew how beautiful they are
no matter negrocities AB term
don't steal my term Marvin X

we are beautiful strange fruit
no matter 
cross lynching tree
century after century
beautiful in the sun rai
we speak is pain
that we can speak at all is a miracle
after the silence of centuries
strange tongue given to us
and yet we sing songs without memory
songs from the past broken smashed
imagine the drama of resurrection
Yoruba tales from a thousand years
the “Blues” from Mali
Do not let me hear the kora
do not shake my world like that
kora is my memory vivid and true
I walk around Timbuktu
I teach at the University
Fluent in many languages
we translate for the world in darkness
while we walk in the sun and students
will not leave us alone

I wish black people knew how beautiful they are
something even slavery could not destroy
though it tried in every way every day
to no avail
even the whip could not prevail
destroy the beauty of blackness
a soul force energy beyond time and matter
atomic particles quantum physics
high mathematics
equal justice righteousness peace
Ma’at yes
MIzan (Arabic) balance

so let us travel the space ways
honor Sun Ra and his Arkestra
travel the space ways
beyond this world
if you find earth boring
the same old same place
take a trip to outter space
next stop is Jupiter Jupiter
You want to get off at Saturn
Let’m off, Saturn!

Black people so beautiful
that’s why they hate us
cause we beautiful
in spite of our negrocities (Baraka term)
in our beauty we ugly
slipping darkness fear
do not let fear consume us
oh my children move beyound fear
fear is in your heart mind
fear controls you unless you jump out of the box like jack
jump jump
you can do it jump

the only thing to fear is fear itself
beyond fear is freedom discipline
beyond fear all things are possible
beyond fear nothing is impossible
if we say yes to life yes to joy yes to love
yes to success yes yes yes.
say yes and be blessed
say yes be blessed
and yet as I write
some are saying no no no
say yes my friends
stop showing God your fist
open your fist so blessing can flow into your hand heart
Did you know God is in the blessing business
but even when He/She comes to bless you are depressed
won’t open your hand to receive
how can God bless you with closed hand
how can God bless you when you are full of the pain of yesterday
let it go let it go let it go
be beautiful
beautiful
black and beautiful.
—Marvin X
11/30/15

MARVIN X GETS PEN OAKLAND LITERARY AWARD FOR A LIFETIME WRITING THIRTY BOOKS

December 7, 2015, 9:16 pm

≫ Next: Marvin X and Aries Jordan on The Black Arts Movement District, downtown Oakland CA, photo essay by Adam Turner

≪ Previous: If you only knew how beautiful you are

$

0

0

Marvin X and Aries Jordan on The Black Arts Movement District, downtown Oakland CA, photo essay by Adam Turner

December 8, 2015, 7:26 pm

≫ Next: Marvin X's East Coast style biblotherapueutic revolution rocks Oaktown

≪ Previous: MARVIN X GETS PEN OAKLAND LITERARY AWARD FOR A LIFETIME WRITING THIRTY BOOKS

$

0

0

The BAM/City of Oakland planning committee voted to make The Black Arts Movement Disrtrict the official name of the proposed BAM District, a cultural and economic area along the 14th Street corridor, downtown Oakland. The BAM District will give honor and respect to Oakland's radical tradition of artists as artistic freedom fighters (Paul Robeson). According to Ishmael Reed, "If not for the Black Arts Movement, Black culture would be extinct!" BAM co-founder Marvin X says, "We give all praise to the Harlem Renaissance artists who expressed Black consciousness, inspired by the teachings of Marcus Garvey. We who are part of the Black Arts Movement give praises to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Think of writers Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Sonia Sanchez, Last Poets, Askia Toure, Sun Ra and Marvin X, all influenced by Islam. Muslim American literature originated with the BAM poets, writers, musicians, painters, dancers, actors. BAM artists were "sisters of the Black Power Movement" (Larry Neal). Marvin X says BAM was the Mother of the Black Power Movement because many students and young people came through BAM, then joined the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Party, Black Students Union. Even the American Prison Movement was influenced by BAM after the staff of Black Dialogue Magazine visited the Soledad Prison's Black Culture Club, chaired by Eldridge Cleaver and Alprintice Bunchy Carter.

BPP co-founder Dr. Huey P. Newton said, "Marvin X was my teacher. Many of our comrades came through his Black Arts Theatre: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier."

The Black Arts Movement District gives honor and respect to the artistic and political freedom fighters who fought to liberate Oakland and America from the addiction to white supremacy. We think of dancer/choreographer Ruth Beckford, Ellendar Barnes, Raymond Sawyer, Ed Mock, Judith Holton, Suzzette Celeste, Deborah Vaughn, Halifu Osumare, Malika Jamillah, Nisa Ra, et al. We think of Avotcja, Adam David Miller, Sarah Webster Fabio, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Julia Hare, Bob Chrisman, Robert Allen, Abdul Sabrey, Aubrey LaBrie, Duke Williams, Saadat Ahmad, et. al. We especially recognize actor Danny Glover who was with us at San Francisco State University and was a member of Black Arts West Theatre, San Francisco. Danny is in the Paul Robeson tradition of the Artistic Freedom Fighter.

As was noted in the BAM/City of Oakland planning meeting: BAM was/is an international Black Arts Movement, that expressed itself nationally and internationally, from Europe to Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, Africa and elsewhere.

Oakland's Black Arts Movement District serves as the model of a national and international/Pan African artistic movement. Those who think BAM is something from the past are simply lost and turned out on the way to grandmother's house (Whispers). They need to get a healing and come into the present era. After all, we are yet free and thus the mission of BAM continues until freedom is won. Oh, Ancestor Harriet Tubman, speak to us tonight, "...I could have freed more slaves if they had known they were slaves...."

--Marvin X, BAM Planner, December 7, 2015

Next meeting: Oakland City Hall

January 4, 2016, 2PM-5PM

Be there or be square!

Information: 510-200-4164

Graphics design by Adam Turner

 

Oakland City Council President Lynette McElhaney addresses planning session on establishing an Arts Commission and the Black Arts Movement District

Oakland Post Publisher Paul Cobb making a point. "Lynette, why didn't you include or sync the BAM agenda with your agenda?" 

Anyka Barber, Director of Betti Ono Gallery, Elder Paul Cobb and Aries Jordan, all BAM District planners

 Menhuaim Ayele, holds a Masters in Architecture, is author of  a book on creating an Afrikatown. His dream is coming true! He is a member of the BAM District planning team. To left of Menhuaim is Duane Deterville, Editor of Black Artists in Oakland. He is a member of the BAM District planning team.







The next meeting of the Black Arts Movement District is January 4, 2016

BAM Notes by Aries Jordan

On Monday 12/7/15 the 2^nd planning  meeting for the Black Arts Movement District began with a review of norms and the ambitious agenda to finalize recommendations for BAM District and Arts Commission. Participants acknowledged the past efforts of  many culture keepers who  also  envisioned a Black cultural district in Oakland . Participants were also  challenged to move past grievances and grief towards a collective vision for  the next  100 years.  The large group was broken into  two working groups to explore the scope of  BAM district and   reestablishment  of the Oakland Arts commission. Both groups passionately shared the need for  protection for Black artist and businesses leaders in Oakland and beyond. 

A consensus was reached on the name “Black Arts Movement”  District  for the 14^th street corridor.  The Black Arts Movement is  a part of Oakland’s history of resistance to oppression and was a catalyst for the spread of Black consciousness in the 1960’s.  The BAM district would serve as a place for cultivation of Black art and economic prosperity. The BAM  group  identified the creation of a BAM Land trust as a top priority; also, an assessment of City of Oakland Properties that BAM district can acquire for performance space, artist space, housing, business space. 

The BAM members envisioned a green space that incorporated Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.  The BAM committee also proclaimed that they will support and not compete with our brothers and sisters in east Oakland working on creating a Black Arts Movement district

The Oakland Arts Commission group made recommendations on the process going forward which included partnering with the Oakland's Department of  Race and Equity to ensure protection of existing Black cultural institutions. Moreover, it was also clear that once the Oakland Arts commission is re-established the arts fund needs to be restricted for sustainability, including a citizen review board.

Lastly, the group recommended the establishment of Oakland Entertainment Commission to address the challenges of obtaining permits and licensing. The meeting concluded with closing remarks from City Council President Lynette McElhaney on next steps for the  proposed legislation before the City Council.  Participants departed the meeting  with a sense of hope, fierce determination and commitment to move thoughtfully and swiftly to turn the BAM District into a reality.  

--Aries Jordan

Marvin X's East Coast style biblotherapueutic revolution rocks Oaktown

December 14, 2015, 7:47 pm

≫ Next: Karen Armstrong - Religion and the History of Violence

≪ Previous: Marvin X and Aries Jordan on The Black Arts Movement District, downtown Oakland CA, photo essay by Adam Turner

$

0

0

Master Teacher Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland.
Marvin X has given out thousands of books freely to the people. Lately, Dr. Nathan and Dr. Julia Hare gave him permission to give a five book collection of their writings at whatever price God puts in the people's heart. Many do not understand when God tells them to give whatever God puts in their hearts. Some give $100.00, some give $50.00, some give $40, some give $20.00. But it doesn't matter.

Dr. Nathan and Julia Hare authorized Marvin X to tell the people to give what God puts in their hearts. Now what part of English do you understand??????

Most people give $100.00 to $50.00, those who are able to give less give $40-to $20.00. It's okay.
Give what God tells you to give and what you are able to give. Thank you. May God bless you. ASA, Marvin X, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Julia Hare

 Marvin X and his associate and Master Teacher Sun Ra, outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre,
San Francisco, 1972, on Ofarrel between Fillmore and Webster at the Greek Orthodox Church, renamed the Black Educational Theatre. Sun Ra arranged the music for the musical version of Marvin's play Flowers for the Trashman, renamed Take Care of Business of TCB. Sun Ra and Marvin X produced a five hour performance (without intermission) with a cast of fifty, including the Sun Ra Arkestra and dancers, the Raymond Sawyer dancers and the Ellender Barnes dancers, and the cast of TCP by Marvin X.

 Marvin X in Seattle WA rally in support of Palestine

 Syrian poet/scholar/novelist Dr. Mohja Kahf. She invited Marvin X to read at the University of Arkenssas. She proclaims the Black Arts Movement artists are the foundation of Muslim American literature and art.

 On February 7, 2015, the City of Oakland issued a proclamation in honor of the Black Arts Movement. Mayor Libby Schaaf issued the proclamation in the presence of Marvin X, his daughter Nefertit and grandchildren Naeema and Jahmael, along with the President of Laney College, Dr. Elnora Tina Webb. The Mayor honored Dr. Nathan Hare as the Father of Black Studies in America.
The Marvin X biblotherapueutic (healing through reading books) has finally come to the attention of the West Coast. At his Academy of da Corner, Lakeshore station, the Buppy/Yuppy section of Oakland, he was acknowledged for doing an East Coast thang, i.e., from Harlem to Wash. DC, conscious literature is vended on the streets, especially in Harlem, Brooklyn, Newark, and Philly. Marvin X is often seen vending his books up and down the East Coast. A little brother from Oakland saw him in Philly outside the Gallaria, the downtown mall frequented by Philly's North American Africans. The brother couldn't believe Marvin X was in Philly doing what he does in downtown Oakland, usually at 14th and Broadway, although Marvin also works Lakeshore Ave. and the cross roads of the Black/African Bay Area, the Berkeley Flea Market at the ASHBY BART Station.

Today the Blacks on Lakeshore let him know they know how conscious literature is vended on the streets of Harlem, Brooklyn elsewhere up and down the East Coast. These bi-coastal North American Africans were elated to see Marvin X has that East Coast style of spreading conscious knowledge.

Marvin X didn't hesitate to let them know he does his thang coast to coast, including the Midwest and Dirty South. After working the Fulton Street Mall in Brooklyn, Marvin X stopped at a conscious book stand that sold conscious tapes as well. Since the brothers weren't familiar with him, he shared some of his works freely, books and DVDs. As he departed Fulton Street Mall, a young brother ran up to him saying, "OG, my padnas selling books and tapes said you just left their stand and you got a different point of view. That's what I'm looking for, a different point of view." The young brother spent $30.00 buying Marvin X's different point of view. Ironically, before arriving in Brooklyn, Marvin X had visited the Yoruba African Village in Sheldon, South Carolina. While there a another young man saw him and said, "Marvin X, I know who you are! My friend is your friend on Facebook, and even though I am not your friend, he sends me your writings, and I must admit, you have a different point of view. We appreciate you, Marvin X."

At Marvin X's Academy of da Corner, Lakeshore, he deals with a variety of people, including Christians, Muslims, Native Americans, Whites, Gypsies, Gay/Lesbian, and those who claim to be nothing or none of the above. He tries to treat them all with unconditional love, as he is a follower of His Holliness Guru Bawa, along with Elijah Muhammad, Prophet Muhammad, Rumi, Saadi and Hafiz, and don't leave out Sufi Master of Senegal, Bamba, who has the Holy City Touba, more sacred than Mecca to West African Muslims.

While Marvin X is placed into the Muslim literary tradition, Ishmael Reed says Marvin X must be considered in the Yoruba tradition since he is in that tradition of the artist as teacher, better known as didactic literature, or literature with a purpose, usually moral, probably why Ishmael Reed called him, "Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland." Reed said of Marvin X, "If you want to learn about motivation and inspiration, don't spend all that money going to workshops and seminars, just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X at work. He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."

We suggest you catch Marvin X at work, whether at 14th and Broadway (currently being renamed the Black Arts Movement Cultural and Economic District) or on Lakeshore or at the Berkeley Flea Market, catch him and see if you can escape his aura. Although Marvin X has been literally giving away his books for free, alas, he said God told him to give away a thousand copies of his collection of essays Wish I Could Tell You The Truth. He felt vindicated when two young brothers passed him on Lakeshore but turned around to introduce themselves to him saying, "Brother Marvin X, we just want to shake your hand because we found half of your book Wish I Could Tell You The Truth and it changed our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

More recently, a young brother said to him at the Berkeley Flea Market, "Marvin X, thank you for taking so much pressure off me. After reading your Mythology of Pussy and Dick, I can now get my life together. I don't have to worry about owning my woman's vagina. I can own myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And even old men have told Marvin, "Marvin X, I hate to admit this, but I learned something from your Mythology of Pussy and Dick." And the young girls says, "Marvin X, you taught me I had pussy power. I didn't know this before reading your essay. Thank you."
 

Karen Armstrong - Religion and the History of Violence

December 17, 2015, 10:34 pm

≫ Next: Karen Armstrong - Religion and the History of Violence

≪ Previous: Marvin X's East Coast style biblotherapueutic revolution rocks Oaktown

$

0

0

Karen Armstrong is one of my favorite scholars of theology and spirituality. I love her because she has that eclectic vision so necessary to unravel the conundrums of the present intellectual morass. We are happy to hear her explain her understanding of religion and violence. Too often we want to attribute world issues to one cause or another, sometimes politics, religion, economics, ecology, but Karen is careful to sift through all such isms, schisms, ideologies and mythologies to arrive at some modicum of truth that we can savor. She is not always optimistic at the human condition. After one lecture on her current book, she said she felt dreadful. We share her dread, for the world has become very dreadful. She notes that men are essentially predators or killers. She told how men kill and plunder often because they are bored. This hit us in the gut because we recall when some young men in the ghetto told us, "OG, you what we do when we get bored? We get our bulletproof vests, UZIS and ride through the hood killing nigguhs." This made me consider that we have become lower than the KKK, at least they killed because they hated us, certainly not because they were bored. But I tried to think deeper on this predatory condition of men. As I grew up in the country where men used to go hunting, I wondered was it because in our move to urbanity we were unable to exercise the hunter myth/ritual. In the absence of deer, duck, pheasants, quail and other animals to hunt, we must now resort to hunting each other, brothers hunting brothers in lieu of animals. How can we back up from this precipice and return to some level of civility? Is there any possibility of us reclaiming our divinity which I am want to maintain is our essential nature although this notion of the predatory nature being our essence appears to be on a slippery slop of nothingness and absurdity.-- Marvin X