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Marvin X: The subject is Dante

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Marvin X spoke in Fresno for Black History Month, he returned for Juneteenth

Marvin X at Fresno CA Juneteenth: Dante is my subject today


After opening remarks, Marvin X declared his subject today is Dante. We want to talk about Dante. The whole world is concerned about Dante. President Obama has a program for Dante. The schools and prisons are having a time with Dante. The community is in terror of Dante. Dante has many issues: he wants to wear his pants hanging off his behind. Now who wants to see his funky ass, who wants to see his dirty drawers, he told the audience in his hometown in the central valley that gathered to celebrate Juneteenth. And you OGs are afraid of Dante, afraid to say a word to him. Marvin declared 99% of time he tells Dante to pull his pants up, he does so, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with a laugh. Sometimes Dante will walk pass and he will read my mind and pull up his pants, without me saying a word, eye contact worked.

They say Dante is ignut, mentally retarded, suffers attention deficient disorder, to say nothing of his full blown addiction to white supremacy. Yet Dante is a genius, he can rap for hours without missing a line, but the schools can't get him to read and write, yet he can rap endlessly.

They (and who is the mythical they?) say Dante is useless and shiftless, yet he has created hip hop culture emulated and imitated around the world. Although there are those who denounce the word Nigguh, Dante has made Nigguh a multimillion dollar word, and every body in the world, those in youth culture, call themselves Nigguh, Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Arabs. Everybody wants to be a Nigguh except certain Nigguhs. Marvin X was informed after his speech that some in the audience departed because of his usage of the N word. In Marvin's world, he isn't being effective if some in the audience are not provoked to leave, sometimes screaming, hollering and tearing off their clothes! Such was the reaction to his recovery classic One Day in the Life.

He said Dante is valuable commodity who is now traded on the stock exchange, similar to oil, hogs, beef and corn. He is worth $60,000 per year per inmate incarcerated. Marvin said why not send them to Harvard, it has free admission for the poor. If they go to Harvard, they can learn how be real criminals, thieves, robbers and pimps. Harvard will make them global bandits, like President Obama, who walks about checking off his kill list weekly. But Dante wants to be a petty killer, a petty pimp, who terrorizes the hood but won't cross the line to kill white people. He will beat his woman have to death because he thinks he owns her body, especially her pussy that he claims is his, but he doesn't have a pussy, Dante doesn't bleed five days a month.

Dante wants to pimp his woman, even his sister and first cousin, even his moma, yeah, he pimps on a bicycle while living at his mama's house! Dante, please go to Harvard so you can learn how to pimp like the big boys!

Nigguh wanna pimp
can you pimp a Jew
can you pimp Arabia
Africa, Latin America
can you pimp teachers
preachers politicians judges
nigguh wanna pimp
nigguh please....
can you pimp the father, son and holy ghost
nigguh wanna pimp, yeah....

Marvin X told of speaking with youth at the Riker's Island youth prison in New York. He asked the youth how much it cost to keep them in prison for a year. One said ten thousand, another said twenty thousand, but a guard said $60,000. And the boot camp cost more, but if one graduated, he was provided a free college education. Think Dante took advantage of it, of course not, once Dante was back in the hood with the hood rats.

As we said, Dante is really a genius, a very smart guy, so smart he outsmarts himself. Then he wants to write Marvin X for books, free of course, but Dante adds his commissary lists. Marvin X said he doesn't mind sending books but he ain't filling out no commissary requests.

He asked the audience who visits Dante, who puts money on his books? His mama and his girl, rarely does his father visit him. Actually, she mother is mother and father. Marvin X said it was so in his case growing up, but he managed to come out all right, the author of thirty books. For sure, he said, this society does not want Dante to be another Marvin X or Malcolm X, or George Jackson or Tookie Williams. Any potential persons of this type are tracked from childhood like prison prophet Mumia Abu Jamal who was tracked from the age of 14. As was noted at his 60th birthday celebration in Philly, Mumia is free (he who is free in mind is free indeed--he just needs to be released).

Marvin's talk was interrupted with music, signaling his time was up, even though he was the featured speaker and rappers had been on stage talking loud but saying nothing for an extensive amount of time. He ended by noting that there had be 28 shootings in 30 days in Fresno, but not one white man had been killed. He was later informed the people at the police booth were disturbed. There were those who went to his defense. NAACP President Pamela Young said, "We know how Marvin is, Marvin was just Marvin." A Mexican lady came to his booth afterwards to tell him how much she appreciated his remarks and that youth need to hear him but she only objected to his use of the N word. And so it is.

Let's see what happens Sunday at Berkeley's Juneteenth. Marvin X will kickoff the event at 12 noon with a reading. Berkeley Juneteenth is at Adeline and Alcatraz, south of the ASHBY BART station.




A tale of two revolutionary artists: Marvin X and Emory Douglas

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Marvin X and Emory Douglas at the reception for Emory's  exhibit at Joyce Gordon Gallery
Marvin X will close out the exhibit on June 28, 3pm, with a reading/discussion.


Photographer Malaika Kambon caught Marvin X and his new Boo, Tonnean

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 Meet Tonnean, Marvin X's new assistant. In a long-distance conversation, Philadelphia musician Elliot Bey told Tonnean, "Ok, Tonnean, don't let nothing happen to Marvin X on your watch!"
photo Malaika Kambon

 Tonnean accompanied Marvin X at the reception for the Emory Douglas Exhibit at Oakland's Joyce Gordon Gallery, June 6, 2014.
photo Malaika Kambon


 Couple enjoy a funny moment at the Joyce Gordon Gallery. Marvin X will close out the exhibit with a reading on June 28, 3pm.

Marvin and Emory, friends since they met at the Black House political/cultural center in San Francisco, co-founded by Marvin X, Eldridge Cleaver, Ed Bullins and Ethna Wyatt (Hurriyah Asar), 1967. Emory and Eldridge went on to become members of the Black Panther Party.

Obama sending 275 troops into the Iraqi Quagmire

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News Updates from CLG
16 Jun 2014
Previous edition: US, UK create joint team to prepare for air strikes in Iraq - report (Google subscribers: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.)
Breaking: Obama tells Congress U.S. deploying up to 275 troops to Iraq --President notifying Congress under War Powers Resolution 16 Jun 2014 President Barack Obama told Congress on Monday the United States was deploying up to 275 military personnel to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the country's embassy in Baghdad after militants seized control of the north of the country. "This force is deploying for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens and property, if necessary, and is equipped for combat," Obama said in a letter to lawmakers. "This force will remain in Iraq until the security situation becomes such that it is no longer needed." 
Pentagon Sends Another Ship Into Arabian Gulf Amid Iraq Turmoil 16 Jun 2014 The Pentagon is sending another ship to the Arabian Gulf to give President Barack Obama "additional options to protect American citizens and interests [oil] in Iraq," an official said Monday. The amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde - which carries Osprey combat helicopters - will join other U.S. naval ships already in the gulf, including the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. According to one senior defense official, "If the President orders airstrikes, we have plenty of firepower in the Gulf."
Sunni militants capture northern Iraqi town 16 Jun 2014 The mayor and residents of a northern Iraqi town close to the Syrian border say Sunni militants have captured the town of Tal Afar. Mayor Abdulal Abdoul told The Associated Press that his town, located 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, was taken just before dawn on Monday. The town has a population of some 200,000 people, mostly ethnic Shiite and Sunni Turkomen.
'Blair has finally gone mad': London mayor ridicules ex-PM over Iraq 16 Jun 2014 Tony Blair's essay on how the Middle East should blame its own religious dynamics for its troubles - instead of Western attempts at intervention - has seen London Mayor Boris Johnson launch a scathing attack on the "unhinged" former PM. Johnson's strong condemnation is a reaction to the arguments made in the former British Prime Minister's piece entitled 'Iraq, Syria and the Middle East,' where claims range from placing blame on the Shiite government in Iraq to the inherent religious dynamics within the Middle East region, even to Syria for allowing the recent attack on Mosul to take place from within its borders, as well as Shiite fighters from Iran - all to explain why militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) are making such progress these days.
Important repost: Iraqi Sunni scholars: Iraqi rebels, not ISIS, who face the Iraqi army 14 Jun 2014 The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI) said on Friday that describing the rebels who drove the Iraqi army from several cities as operatives of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) is incorrect. They decried the designations as an attempt to abort the uprising in the country. In the statement reported by the Jordanian Assabeel newspaper, AMSI said that the ISIS label is a clear distortion which does not change the reality that Iraqi rebels are the main component of this uprising...Despite claims that it was the ISIS which took over the cities and towns, several Iraqi sources have pointed out that tribal rebels as well as other Iraqi fighters constitute the main force currently fighting the Iraqi army, in addition to some affiliated to ISIS. 
Two detained with 'homemade explosive device' near Russian consulate in Odessa 16 Jun 2014 Ukrainian police have detained two men with a package presumably containing a homemade explosive device near Russia's consulate in the city of Odessa. The explosive has been sent for inspection, the local Ministry of Interior reports. "Today, on June 16, on the corner of Posmitnogo and Genuezskoi, two individuals were detained [who were] carrying a package in which there was a subject similar to an improvised explosive device. These persons were detained a few hundred meters from the General Consulate of the Russian Federation in Odessa, where at that time a rally was being held," police said in a statement.
Guantánamo Bay tribunal to hear arguments over suspected FBI probe --Defence for 9/11 accused: FBI tried to make expert informant 16 Jun 2014 A US war crimes tribunal [kangaroo court] will hear arguments on Monday over a suspected FBI investigation that may have created a conflict of interest for lawyers representing Guantánamo Bay inmates accused of orchestrating the 11 September 2001 attacks. The Guantánamo Bay military commission is weighing a defence motion whether to abate or modify proceedings against the five inmates charged for their alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks, which killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The tribunal was adjourned in April after defence lawyers said FBI agents tried to turn a defence team expert on classified materials into an informant.

Augusta Lee Collins performs at Tommy T's

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​Singer/Songwriter/Producer/Recording Artist/Actor/Drummer

West Coast Blues Hall Of Famer
Augusta Lee Collins

will be performing

Friday June 20, 2014
6:30Pm ~ 9:30Pm
@
PIZZA PAZZA
3905 Piedmont Avenue
Oakland, CA
NO COVER
--------------------------------------------------

Saturday June 21, 2014
Doors open 10Am
Shows starts 11Am~5Pm
@
TOMMY T'S COMEDY CLUB
12401 Folsom Blvd.
Rancho Cordova, CA

Contact Augusta @ 510.695.9339

Photo by Eric Muetterties

Is it time for PM Maliki to Go or shall Iraq fall into pit of sectarian division?

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There are no good guys in the Middle East, even their so called friends are of questionable character and would not clear a background check of their past, present or future behavior. For sure, so called friends such as the US is simply not an honest broker. Whoever wins the present battles, it is not likely the masses shall enjoy an iota of peace. And with America now returning to the fray ( as if she ever left, especially with 16,000 at the US Embassy) the fires can only get hotter, but in the near future do not look for a political solution. They (and you know who they are) are clearly setting the stage for the removal of PM Maliki, and bring in the long time favorite boy Ahmad Chalabi, a double agent at best, much like Maliki, caught between the West (US) and East (Iran).




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In the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Shiite tribal fighters on Monday chanted slogans against  the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. CreditNabil Al-Jurani/Associated Press

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BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has presented himself as the man who could bring Iraqis together, but with the collapse of his army before a Sunni militant assault, he has taken on only one role — that of commander in chief of Iraq. 
He is spending much of his time on the military side of the presidential compound, while some of his close civilian aides have taken to wearing starched military fatigues. He spends the better part of his day running the war.
He meets with military commanders, travels to the front lines, makes speeches at recruiting drives rallying young Shiite men and, not infrequently, falls into fits of anger, according to members of his inner circle.


What he does not do, by all accounts, is spend much time on the political reconciliation with the Sunni Arabs and Kurds that his international allies in Washington and Tehran have insisted is his country’s only possible salvation. Even his top aide in charge of reconciliation said Monday that he thinks it is all but hopeless at this point.

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Iraq’s Leader in a Nutshell

Elected in 2006 as a compromise candidate, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki now heads a shaky Shiite-led government in a fractured country facing a mortal threat from Sunni insurgents.
  • From an educated middle-class Shiitebackground; married with five children; known as Jawad al-Maliki through much of his career.
  • Active in sectarian politics since he was a college student in the early 1970’s, when he joined the mainly Shiite, Islamic Dawa Party.
  • After Saddam Hussein cracked down on Dawa in 1978, he fled to Syria, where he started a branch party; he returned in 2002, just before the American-led invasion.
  • Was deputy chairman of the de-Baathification commission that purged members of Saddam’s party from public life, earning the enmity of many Sunnis.
  • Accepted by Sunni, Shia and Kurdish parties as a compromise choice for prime minister in 2006 after his mentor resigned.
  • Worked to win over Sunni tribal leaders and campaigned against sectarianism in 2007-2009.
  • Built and maintained close ties with Iran,where he spent considerable time while in exile.
  • Split with former allies and formed his ownpolitical coalition in 2010.
  • Did not reach agreement with the United States to retain American troops in the country.
  • Has come under growing criticism for amassing personal power and favoring Shiite interests.

“Now there’s a war, there’s not reconciliation,” said Amir al-Khuzai, a longtime friend of Mr. Maliki’s.
“With whom do we reconcile?” he said.
President Obama has made it clear that the United States will not provide military support unless Mr. Maliki engineers a drastic change in policy, reaching out to Sunnis and Kurds in a show of national unity against the Sunni militants, whose shock troops are the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Without that, analysts say, the country is at risk of a renewed sectarian war in which Baghdad could lose control over nearly a third of the country for the foreseeable future.
But Mr. Maliki is showing few signs of changing his ways. Just as he did in a similar, though not nearly as threatening, crisis in 2008 in Basra, he is pinning his hopes on the military option. He is determined to use the Shiite fighters he trusts to stabilize the country and, he hopes, rout the Sunni insurgents and reimpose the government’s control over its territory.
In a rare show of concord, Mr. Obama has been joined by President Hassan Rouhani of Iran in pleading with Mr. Maliki to work with the Sunni Arabs and Kurds. As the Iraqi leader continues to resist those calls, though, the outside powers and prominent Iraqi politicians are increasingly questioning whether he will ever take such steps and, if not, whether to jettison him in favor of someone who will.
One of those waiting in the wings should Mr. Maliki falter, Shiite politicians say, is the one-time darling but longtime nemesis of the United States, the mercurial Ahmad Chalabi.
For now, Mr. Maliki’s public message to Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani is that it is just not possible to work with the Kurds and Sunnis right now, that the army first needs to retake lost ground.
Mr. Maliki, 63, has long shown a stubborn streak, an unwillingness to bend his principles. He spent much of his life as a dissident, working to oust the former president, Saddam Hussein. He came from a modest Shiite family, but as a young man joined the anti-Baathist Dawa Party and was one of the few who escaped in 1979 when Mr. Hussein ordered the arrest of all its members.
He lived in exile for 24 years, and secrecy became a way of life, in order to avoid arrest. The experience left him wary of all but his closest associates. He did not appear destined for higher office but was encouraged to run for prime minister in 2006 by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, in part because he was viewed as incorruptible.

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Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq led a meeting with military officers during a visit to the city of Samarra on Friday. Creditvia Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mr. Maliki surprised the United States and other Western governments by sending his army forces in 2008 against Shiite militias loyal to the anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr, which at the time were destabilizing the country. But in more recent years he has not appeared willing to repeat that step and has hewed more to sectarian policies.
At times it has looked almost as though Mr. Maliki was going out of his way to alienate the Sunnis. After the Sunni tribes helped to defeat Al Qaeda in 2008, he cut off much of their funding.
In search of insurgents, Mr. Maliki has authorized mass arrests of Sunnis and held many of them in prisons outside the law. He has also accused a prominent Sunni politician, Tariq al-Hashimi, of running a death squad, driving him into exile in Kurdistan, and has similarly gone after other prominent Sunnis.
Shiite politicians have said there are some immediate gestures Mr. Maliki could make that would help ease the tensions. He could release the thousands of Sunni prisoners detained by his security forces and being held without trial. He could make common cause with Sunnis and Kurds with statements against the Sunni militants, and he could work with them to bolster the military instead of turning to Shiite militias.
Convinced that there is a conspiracy to undermine him, Mr. Maliki speaks often of “failed politicians” who are working with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, while his associates describe “dirty deals” between the Kurds, ISIS and the Sunnis. The accusations are then answered in kind by Sunnis who have lost patience and now simply want the prime minister to resign.
Many Shiite politicians are deeply uncomfortable with Mr. Maliki’s more indiscriminate condemnations. “To say the Kurds are supporting ISIS is not a useful narrative,” said a former member of Mr. Maliki’s government. “We need the Kurds. Even the Iranians are telling him that.”
Mr. Maliki’s most recent general condemnations of non-Shiites came Sunday at a recruiting drive for volunteer fighters in Mahmudiya on the outskirts of Baghdad. Wearing a white shirt and dark jacket, he spoke with determination. “Politicians that have failed are standing next to ISIS," he said. “We will fight you with free men.”
The worry is that, barring reconciliation, Iraq will split into a Sunnistan and a Shiastan, said a former ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker. Preventing that, he said, will take a heavy American diplomatic hand.
“Either we intervene at the White House and the secretary of state level or this is going to devolve into a bloody stalemate,” he said, “a line of demarcation between north and south, to be determined, but probably just north of Baghdad and the establishment of a de facto Al Qaeda state, and that’s completely terrifying.”

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Obama’s Options in Iraq

Obama’s Options in Iraq

President Obama faces tough choices as Sunni militants seek to solidify control over large areas of Iraq.
CreditSusan Walsh/Associated Press

The suggestion of many is that Mr. Maliki has lost so much credibility that the best thing that could happen would be to form a new government with a different leader who might inspire more trust. But for now Mr. Maliki is not stepping down, and it seems unlikely that there would be enough unity to anoint a successor anytime soon.
Many Shiite politicians, worried about the fate of the country, have begun offering alternatives to Mr. Maliki’s approach. Mr. Chalabi, a Shiite with ties to many groups, wants to change the narrative so that instead of accusing the army (Mr. Maliki has been threatening to arrest officers who left their posts in Mosul) he is reaching out to Kurds, thanking them for receiving refugees and recommending a national reconciliation.
“The collapse in Mosul is not the fault of the soldiers and officers,” said Mr. Chalabi. “It’s the fault of a corrupt and incompetent command structure.”
He added: “We need a plan, but it must be drawn by a leadership that’s not tainted by incompetence and corruption. We need a plan to defend Baghdad and continue operations with the Kurds.”
For now the government’s dominant view is that the most recent security deterioration is the result of a conspiracy of Sunnis and Kurds, and because of that there is no point in appealing to them at the senior level. That does not mean that Mr. Maliki has lost faith in all Sunnis. He still has words of praise for the Sunni tribes with whom he has long worked, and who have fought and lost large numbers in battling Qaeda-type extremists in western Iraq.
But Mr. Maliki has little faith in the Sunni political leaders, said Mr. Khuzai and other Shiite colleagues.
As recently as last week in the wake of the fall of Mosul, Mr. Maliki appeared to have a chance to create a unified multisectarian, multiethnic block to fight ISIS and those who support it. In a long late-night meeting with Sunni and Kurdish leaders, it appeared they might emerge with a unified stand. Hours passed, and when they emerged there was no agreement.
It turned out the Sunnis proposed raising in effect a Sunni army, a sort of new version of the tribal Awakening Councils that fought Al Qaeda in 2007 and 2008. But that idea was rejected by Mr. Maliki, even as the Shiite militias were beginning to organize.

While the idea of separate Sunni and Shiite armies is an indication of the depths of the sectarian divide, Mr. Maliki’s inability to use the moment to try to build trust is telling, and his outright rejection left the Sunni leaders with nothing to deliver to their supporters.
So the speaker of Parliament, Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, delivered a scathing assessment of Mr. Maliki, further deepening the divide.
“We don’t want this prime minister; we reject him,” Mr. Nujaifi said. “We tried to take him down on more than one occasion."

10 Facts about the Mumia Abu-Jamal Case

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Dear Colleagues and Friends:
In case you missed it at last January's Feminist Wire site, we are sending around to our Educators list Johanna Fernandez's "10 Facts about the Mumia Abu-Jamal Case." They still serve as important talking points regarding the present state of Mumia's case and the struggle to bring him home. See the links below on how you can be involved. - EMAJ

10 Facts about the Mumia Abu-Jamal Case

January 21, 2014. Originally posted, The Feminist Wire
 
By Johanna Fernandez 
Fernandez-10 Facts
1. Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. Mumia has been wrongfully imprisoned for 32 years. He spent the first 28.5 years of his imprisonment on Pennsylvania’s death row. In 2011, his death sentence was confirmed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and he is now serving a sentence of “life in prison” without parole. He is charged with the 1981 murder, in Philadelphia, of police officer Daniel Faulkner.
2. How does Mumia’s story of incarceration begin? Early in the morning of December 9, 1981, while driving his cab, Mumia happened upon the arrest of his brother by a police officer. Mumia stopped his car to see what was going on. Out of that encounter, a police officer, Daniel Faulkner, was shot and killed by somebody. Mumia was found semi-conscious, sitting nearby with a bullet from Faulkner’s gun in his stomach. Mumia’s gun, which he acquired because he had recently been held-up while driving his cab, was allegedly found nearby. Eventually he was tried, convicted of murder in the 1st degree, and put on a fast train to execution in the absence of hard evidence. The police failed to conduct the routine paraffin test on Mumia’s hands to determine if he had fired the gun; a critical fragment of the bullet retrieved from Officer Faulkner’s body was somehow lost and therefore could not be decisively matched to Mumia’s gun.
3. The Fourth person at the crime scene was concealed at trial: On the night that Officer Daniel Faulkner was shot, there were four persons at the crime scene. Four witnesses reported seeing this person fleeing from the crime scene. But the presence at the crime scene of that fourth person was concealed at trial by the prosecutor, Joe McGill, and the trial judge, Albert Sabo. In fact, the presence of that fourth person, the passenger in the Volkswagen which Officer Faulkner had stopped, was acknowledged by prosecutor Joe McGill in another trial that was happening concurrently, surrounding the same crime scene. This key, exculpatory evidence – that there was another person at the crime scene who was the passenger – was hidden from the defense and the jury. Former TV Guide reporter and independent crimes-investigation journalist Patrick O’Connor argues convincingly in his rivetting book about the case, that that fourth person, Kenneth Freeman, killed Officer Faulkner.
4. 15 of the 35 police officers involved in collecting evidence in Mumia’s case went to jail for evidence-tampering. In 1979, the Department of Justice filed an unprecedented lawsuit against Philadelphia’s mayor and 21 top city and police officials. Its conclusions? That the police department’s behavior – which included shooting nonviolent suspects, abusing handcuffed prisoners, and tampering with evidence – “shocks the conscience.” The officers who arrested and later brutalized Abu-Jamal came from the 6th District, which was under yet another federal investigation for police corruption by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, with the approval of the U.S. Department of Justice under Ronald Reagan. As a result, over one third of the 35 officers involved in Mumia’s case, including the top officer at the crime scene, Inspector Alfonzo Giordano, were subsequently convicted of rank corruption, extortion and tampering with evidence to obtain convictions.
Fernandez-10 Facts 2
5. The newly discovered Polakoff photographs disprove the prosecution theory of the case. The first photographs taken of the crime scene were taken by a regularly published freelance photographer in Philadelphia, Pedro Polakoff. Polakoff repeatedly called the police to give them the photographs, but the police never responded. Polakoff assumed that Mumia was guilty and forgot about the issue. In 2006, these photographs were discovered and studied by Dr. Michael Schiffman of Heidelberg University in Germany. The photos disprove the prosecution’s entire theory of the case. They also show that the police lied and tampered with evidence. For example, officer James Forbes, who testified in court that he had properly handled the guns allegedly retrieved at the crime scene, is photographed holding the guns with his bare hands, destroying all potentially significant fingerprints. Most importantly, the Polakoff photos also point to the presence of a fourth person at the crime scene: Officer Faulkner’s hat is pictured resting on top of the Volkswagen on the passenger-seat side of the vehicle, suggesting that he may have had a conversation with the passenger.
6. Mumia was convicted with the help of a manufactured confession. The prosecution pegged the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner on Mumia based on the perjured testimony of three witnesses who said, more than 60 days later, that Mumia confessed to the shooting while in the hospital. This was contradicted, however, by the testimony of Dr. Anthony Coletta, who was with Mumia from the moment he entered the hospital. Dr. Coletta said that Mumia was barely conscious and in a state of shock, and that the trauma produced by Mumia’s bullet wound and the beating he had endured at the hands of the police meant that medically, Mumia was incapable of speaking. In addition, the police report written on the night of the incident by the officer assigned to Mumia at the hospital, Gary Wakshul, states that “The Negro male made no comment.”
7. Mumia’s trial was presided over by a notoriously biased and racist judge, Albert Sabo. In a jaw dropping illustration of judicial bias, Terry Carter, a court stenographer, testified in an affidavit that she heard Sabo say to another person in the anteroom of his court, “I’m going to help them fry the nigger,” referring to how he was going to instruct the jury. Distinguished among his peers because he sent more people to their execution than any other judge in the country, Sabo earned the reputation of a “hanging judge,” and the overwhelming majority of Sabo’s victims were black defendants. The 10,000 pages of trial record in Mumia’s case clearly indicate racial prejudice.
8. Mumia was tried by an overwhelmingly white jury. Mumia’s best chance at finding relief through the courts, in the form of a new trial, came during proceedings in the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007, where his legal team, argued the “Batson Claim,” which grants a new trial to defendants who can prove discrimination in jury selection. In Mumia’s case, eleven out of fourteen peremptory challenges –afforded to the prosecution to eliminate jurors –were used to eliminate prospective black jurors. But in a shocking 2 to 1 decision that overturned its own precedents, the Third Circuit Court voted against granting Mumia the Batson Claim. However, the sole dissenting Judge, Thomas Ambro, wrote an eloquent statement, acknowledging the unequal application of the law in the case of Abu-Jamal. Judge Ambro wrote that the decision to deny Abu-Jamal the Batson Claim “goes against the grain of our prior actions.” Judge Ambro’s opinion further revealed his frustration with his colleagues in the Third Circuit Court when he wrote, “I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents.”
9. Mumia had long been a target of the State. It is well documented, in declassified FBI memos that the Philadelphia police, in consultation with COINTELPRO had for many years, tried to peg a crime on the former Black Panther and radical radio journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal. At the time of his arrest, Mumia’s muckraking radio journalism on police brutality and corruption in City Hall, and his friendly reporting on the radical MOVE organization made him a thorn in the side of the establishment and a target of the state. One of the least known facts of the case remains that the investigation of Officer Faulkner’s fatal shooting was conducted not by the police department’s homicide unit, but rather by its Civil Defense Unit, the local police arm of J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO, which was vastly expanded in 1967 when Frank Rizzo became Police Commissioner of Philadelphia. This was also the unit that helped produce a 700-page surveillance record of Mumia and  in 1973 attempted to pin the double murder of the Governor of Bermuda and his aide on Mumia. In 1981, Mumia found himself in the middle of a crime scene while in defense of his brother and moonlighting as a cabdriver. Now the Philadelphia police had their man, and they were going to do everything in their power to frame him.
10. This is not just about Mumia. Because Mumia is known the world over for his commentaries and writings on inequality and because he has spent so much of his time in prison offering a radical critique and analysis of mass incarceration, a victory in Mumia’s case would open up a much larger conversation in the mainstream about the crisis of mass and political imprisonment in the United States.
***
Help FREE MUMIA. Visit the links below:
Connect with the Bring Mumia Home campaign on twitter.
Sign the petition to Free Mumia on change.org.
_________________________________________________________________
Fernandez
Johanna Fernandez is professor of history at Baruch College of the City University of New York, a former Fulbright Scholar, and one of the coordinators of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, and Co-Coordinator of Educators for Mumia (EMAJ). She is also author of the forthcoming When the World Was Their Stage: A History of the Young Lords Party, 1968-1974.

Video: Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra at Malcolm X Jazz Festival

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"Marvin X, this was some powerful stuff you did and everybody knows it was powerful."

--Umar Bin Hasan, the Last Poets



This is the second leg of the 27 city tour in honor of ancestor Amiri Baraka. We began in late February at the University of California, Merced Black Arts Movement Conference. You can invite us to your city.

For booking call: 510-200-4164/email a letter of invitation to jmarvinx@yahoo.com.



Marvin X will appear at the tribute for Amiri Baraka at Oakland's Eastside Arts Center, Friday, June 20, 7pm. Location: 23rd and International Blvd.



Marvin X will appear at the Joyce Gordon Gallery on Saturday, June 28, 3pm. He will read and discuss his Mythology of Pussy and Dick, a life saving essay on male/female relations. A brother told Marvin recently, "Man, I hesitated to read your pamphlet for a long time, but I guess I read it just in time--because it saved my life!"



On July 12, he will read and sign books at the Life Enrichment Bookstore, 5023 Rainer Ave.S, Seattle WA, 3pm







Attorney Amira Jackmon wins case against the Port of Oakland

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The Port of Oakland's Fight For Living Wages  Oakland's Fight For Living Wages 

The owners of fast-food franchises at Oakland Airport argue that they are small businesses that should be exempt from the city's living wage law. Will the courts ultimately agree?

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On March 5, 2002, more than 75 percent of Oakland voters approved a measure requiring businesses that contract with the Port of Oakland to pay their employees a living wage. That meant employers would have to pay roughly four dollars more per hour than the California minimum wage at the time. Notably, the measure would affect merchants doing business at Oakland International Airport, which the port owns and operates.
The living wage law, however, included a key loophole — one that is now at the center of an intense legal battle between the port, a local union, and a number of retailers at the airport: that is, businesses with twenty or fewer employees would be exempt from the requirements. And for years now, the owners of Subway and Jamba Juice outlets at the airport have not complied with a key aspect of the port's living wage: giving employees twelve days of paid time off per year. The operators of these chain outlets argue that, based on the number of workers they employ at the airport, they are small businesses that should be exempt from the law.
The port, however, argues that these employers are subject to the living wage law and have been violating it. In 2006, before both the Subway and Jamba Juice franchises moved in, the port further expanded its policies by mandating that all new tenants comply with living wage requirements, regardless of the number of workers they employ. This requirement was included in the port's subsequent requests for proposals and lease agreements with new retailers. From the port's perspective, the Subway and Jamba Juice franchises have both violated the terms of their leases — and the law — by repeatedly denying workers paid time off, including sick leave. But a recent order from a judge signals that the port could face an uphill legal battle.
The case carries significance beyond these specific businesses. For starters, the dispute highlights some of the difficult obstacles municipalities can confront when trying to enforce living wage policies. And these kinds of wage laws, experts note, are only effective if relevant government agencies have powerful mechanisms to address and correct violations. In the case of Oakland Airport, the ultimate resolution of this drawn-out battle could set an important precedent for the wage obligations of contractors tied to a major economic engine for the city and region. And while the port has invested significant resources into investigating these employers and pushing them to meet living wage standards, it's unclear if the courts will ultimately take its side.
When the Express first reported on these airport labor disputes in 2012, employees of the Subway and Jamba Juice — with support from Unite Here Local 2850 (the union that represents local workers in hotels, airport concessions, and food service) — were accusing their employers of numerous labor violations and anti-union actions. The employers are CMC Food Services LLC, which runs the Jamba Juice, and NNF Grewal Incorporated, which runs the Subway. The union and a group of employees alleged that workers were not only denied paid time off, but that their employers were retaliating against them for speaking out and taking steps to organize. Both employers fired workers after they filed wage complaints. After a lengthy administrative investigation, port investigators determined early last year that CMC and Grewal had violated living wage provisions and retaliated against their employees. But the business owners challenged these findings in an Alameda County Superior Court petition filed last June, launching complex litigation that has advanced this month, with the parties presenting oral arguments on June 30.
Notably, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo has called into question the legality of the port's 2006 policy mandating that all new tenants — even those with fewer than 21 employees — comply with living wage requirements. That policy, Grillo wrote in a recent order, is in "direct conflict" with the small business exemption originally written into the city charter in 2002: "Where the Charter has expressly exempted small businesses from the Living Wage requirements, the Port cannot require in a contract what it is expressly precluded from imposing in a regulation." A city department cannot ignore city charter in this manner, the judge continued, arguing that the living wage provisions in the Subway and Jamba Juice contracts must then be considered void. While not a final ruling, the business owners are applauding the judge's opinion.
"To us, this is a major statement of the law," Amira Jackmon, Berkeley-based attorney representing CMC and Grewal, said in an interview. "The court said that if these businesses have fewer than 21 employees, they cannot be made to abide by the [living wage] law. ... That's at the heart of the port's case." She added: "All we are asking the port to do is stay within the law."
If the judge ultimately sides with Subway and Jamba Juice, the chain outlets — and all other similar businesses at the airport — could be exempt from not only having to provide paid time off, but also from having to pay the current living wage of $13.75 an hour (the law allows employers to pay $11.96 an hour if they offer health benefits).
Robert Bernardo, Port of Oakland spokesperson, declined to comment on the living wage dispute. In court documents, the port's attorneys have argued that the language of the living wage law in city charter does not bar the port from enacting additional ordinances that impose obligations on small businesses. The port has also argued that CMC and Grewal waived their rights to living wage exemptions when they signed leases that included specific living wage requirements. Elizabeth Hinckle, attorney for Unite Here — which is not a party to the litigation but has represented employees in living wage claims said, "We don't see any conflict between the city charter and the port's actions," but declined to comment further. Representatives from Subway and Jamba Juice did not respond to requests for comment.
Regardless of the complex legal nuances of the case, from the perspective of the union and impacted employees, this is simply a matter of earning decent wages from employers who should be able to afford them — especially considering their business assets and the amount of money they've spent fighting the port. Navdeep and Gurinder Grewal, the husband-and-wife duo who run NNF Grewal, operate numerous Subway restaurants throughout Oakland and San Leandro — at one point as many as ten different locations, according to the union. CMC Food Services runs both a Jamba Juice and Gordon Biersch restaurant at Oakland airport.
For low-wage employees, the stakes are high. If the businesses were to meet the port's demands, said Sarah Norr, a researcher with Unite Here, "it would not make these into high paying jobs. It would give you paid sick days so you can afford to stay home with the flu when you work with sandwiches." 
From a policy standpoint, it only makes sense that there are consistent regulations at the airport, so that all airport employees can earn living wages and receive paid time off regardless of which chain franchise employs them, said Jennifer Lin, research director for the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE). "It's important that no worker is left out at the end of the day." EBASE released a report in 2003, one year after the original living wage measure passed, showing that the adoption of the policy resulted in more than four hundred airport workers receiving wage increases.
Hakima Arhab, a 29-year-old Subway employee, was fired in 2012 after she filed a living wage complaint. She was re-hired about a year later and is still working at the airport Subway today — even though there have been no changes in sick day policies. "This has been almost two years. My co-workers are so frustrated," Arhab told me by phone during a recent break. "Even when I'm sick, I come to work." Arhab, who lives in Oakland and is currently attending Laney College, said she simply can't afford to take unpaid days off. "My income is so small." According to Norr, Arhab lost out on more than $16,000 worth of wages between the time that she was wrongfully terminated and her reinstatement. When she was rehired, she was paid that amount in back wages as part of a settlement of a National Labor Relations Board Complain that is separate from the current litigation. The Grewals were not available for comment, according to Jackmon, their attorney. Jackmon confirmed that NNF Grewal does not offer any paid time off to the airport Subway employees, but said the Grewals are examining the policy and may adjust it in the future.
Joe Cook, president of CMC, emphasized in an interview that his employees are paid at least $13.75 per hour — which is the current port living wage rate — and said employees get five days of paid time off after a year of employment. "The Port of Oakland since 2012 has been trying to prosecute us and has been trying to paint a picture that we are not doing what we are supposed to do," he said. "We have fully complied with the living laws because we are exempt." Between CMC's Jamba Juice and Gordon Biersch operations at the airport, Cook oversees a total of roughly fifteen employees. "This is my only source of income. It's the only thing I have in this world," he said. "We're a small business." Since 2007, Cook said he has lost roughly 37 percent of his sales due to declining traffic at the airport. "We're barely paying our bills," he added.
Regarding allegations of retaliation, Jackmon pointed me to the port's own investigation, which noted that the Jamba Juice employee whom CMC fired two days after she filed a living wage complaint had left in the middle of a shift without permission, leaving the store staffed by inexperienced workers. The port, however, still ultimately determined that the termination constituted retaliation. Jackmon also refuted claims of retaliation by NNF Grewal.
Jackmon and Cook both argued that the union has spearheaded this living wage fight as a way to pressure employees of these businesses to organize and join the union. And that is why they continue to fight this battle, they said. If their operations were unionized, Jackmon said, "My clients would be put out of business."

Attorney Amira Jackmon is a graduate of  Yale and Stanford Law School. She is the youngest daughter of Marvin X. Amira was agent for the Drs. Nathan and Julia Hare archives that were acquired by the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
AAA

From the Archives of Dr. Nathan Hare: Ossie Davis, Dr. Nathan Hare, Bobby Seale, Dr. Carlton Goodlett

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Back in the day. Ossie Davis, me and Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale in my apartment when I was founding publisher of The Black Scholar. To the right of Bobby Seale was Dr. Carlton Goodlett, the namesake of the street on which the City Hall of San Francisco sits.

Later on Ossie appointed me to the North American Zonal Committee of FESTAC (Second Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture0 and took out a two-year subscription to a periodical I published from 1979 to 1982,’Black Male/Female Relationships.’”


Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X's Fictional Interview With President Obama

Marvin X At the Black Caucus of California Community Colleges, Fresno City College

Free Her Rally, June 21, 2014

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For Immediate Release



  
PRESS RELEASE
Washington DC, June 14, 2014-Thousands of concerned citizens and dozens of national organizations from across the country will converge on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 21st to demand an end to the mass incarceration of women. The FREE HER Rally will assemble at the Sylvan Theater on the National Mall, Independence Avenue & 15th, from 10:00 am-2:00 pm.
The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), a leading research, policy and advocacy organization, along with its sister grouping, The Black Family Summit and their 24 national organizational affiliates (list of affiliates below) are strongly supporting the "Free Her" rally.

"This protest in the nation's capital will serve to shine a light on the alarming growth rates in the incarceration of women of color, most for minor offenses related to the so-called War on Drugs," said Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute. "This mass incarceration of our sisters and mothers is tearing apart the fabric of family life in black and brown communities across the country. We call on the Obama Administration to immediately intervene and put an end to this horrible situation."
The objectives of the rally are:
  1. To raise awareness of the alarming increase in the rate of incarceration of women in the United States and its impact on our children and communities.
  2. To demand an end to voter disenfranchisement for people with felony convictions and to encourage the passing of the Smarter Sentencing Act.
  3. To ask President Obama to commute the sentences of women and men in the federal system who have applied for commutations.
"On April 23, 2014, the Justice Department announced President Obama's intention to commute the sentences of eligible people serving federal non-violent sentences," says Andrea James, founder and director of Families for Justice as Healing, the principal organizer of the rally. "Now is more important than ever to stand together and join our voices as one to encourage the President to commute the sentences of women serving non-violent sentences. Allow them to return to their children and communities."

Between 1980 and 2010, the number of women in prison increased by 646% overall, with a disproportionate impact on women of color. Black women are incarcerated at nearly 3 times the rate of white women, and Hispanic women are incarcerated at 1.6 times the rate of white women. Most incarcerated women are imprisoned for non-violent drug and property crimes, with many women charged and convicted of conspiracy and other related counts, even though they had minimal or no involvement in the offenses that led to their arrests.

Incarcerated women have unique health and safety issues, which prisons are often unprepared to address appropriately, according to Families for Justice as Healing. Women swept into the prison system disproportionately suffer from abuse and sexual violence. They are particularly vulnerable to being re-traumatized by strip searches, solitary confinement, and staff sexual misconduct. Prisons and jails also often fail to handle reproductive needs appropriately, providing inadequate prenatal and abortion care. Pregnant women are often subjected to dangerous, demeaning, and unnecessary shackling during labor and delivery.

Locally hosted by the D.C. Office of Returning Citizen Affairs, the rally will include organizations, speakers, and individual participants from around the country. In addition to the Black Family Summit organizations, other participating groups include Alpha Kappa Alpha, ACLU of Washington, D.C., Boston Feminists for Liberation, Free Marissa Alexander Movement, the Fully Informed Jury Association, , Mommie Activist, Mothers in Charge, Pittsburgh Northside Residents Coalition, and Women Who Never Give Up.

After the June rally, the FREE HER campaign will continue, with participants calling, emailing and sending postcards to encourage the President and the attorney general to do the right thing and to raise awareness among everyday people of the need to end the war on drugs and the mass incarceration of women.

About Families for Justice as Healing:
Families for Justice as Healing is a criminal justice reform, legislative advocacy organization. At Families for Justice as Healing, we organize formerly incarcerated women to join the movement toward creating community wellness alternatives to incarceration, to heal and rebuild families and communities.  Our membership advocates a shift away from expansion of the prison system and toward creation of community wellness alternatives to incarceration. We seek public health alternatives to current U.S. drug policies and legislation that focus on criminalization, the war on drugs and mass incarceration.

About IBW:
The Institute of the Black World 21st Century is a leading research, policy and public advocacy organization committed to building the capacity of Black communities in the U.S. to work for social, political, economic and cultural upliftment, the development of the global Black community and an enhanced quality of life for all marginalized people. IBW focuses much of its work on ending the War on Drugs, reforming drug policies and advocating for reforms in racially-biased criminal justice policies.

Black Family Summit Member Organizations:
  • National Association of Black Social Workers, Inc.
  • National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice
  • National Association of Black Psychologists
  • Black Psychiatrists of America
  • National Dental Association
  • National Medical Association
  • National Black United Front
  • National Black Law Enforcement of America
  • International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters
  • International Black Women's Congress
  • National Baptist Convention USA Disaster Preparedness Project
  • All Healers Mental Health Alliance
  • The Royal Circle Foundation
  • Center for Nu Leadership on Urban Solutions
  • National Black Leadership Commission on Aids DC/Vicinity
  • National Conference of Black Lawyers
  • National Voting Rights Museum
  • Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference
  • Nigerian Association of Social Workers
  • Fathers Incorporated
  • Mothers for Peace
  • Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association
  • Blacks in Law Enforcement of America.
  • Families For Justice As Healing

Ajamu Baraka on US in Iraq

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 Today at 12:39 PM
Ajamu Baraka Discusses American Involvement In Iraq
June 15, 2014 10:06 PM
FILE PHOTO (Photo Credit: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images)
FILE PHOTO (Photo Credit: Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images)
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chris-mooreChris Moore
Every Sunday from 4-9 pm, Chris Moore has the last word. Chris Moore’s...

PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA)- With news of ISIS gaining momentum in Iraq, some are questioning the effectiveness of America’s involvement in the Middle East.
Veteran human rights activist and associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies Ajamu Baraka joined host Chris Moore to discuss Iraq, Syria and the impact of the United States’ residency in Iraq.
While on the program, Baraka criticized US foreign policy over the last 20 years. 
“The foreign policies of the US in the last two decades, as it relates to Iraq and most of the nations in the so-called middle east, has been disastrous,”  he said, adding, “what has occurred in Iraq was predictable.”
He went on to say that military tactics so far have not seemed to help.
“It’s clear that the military option has not worked. You’ve had military interventions now throughout the entire Middle East,” he said. “You see the results … complete and utter chaos.” 
He also argues that America’s involvement was the result of a devious strategy to escalate a minor political irritant  into a major concern for Americans.
When asked what the efficacy of pulling our troops out to let Iraq solve their own problems would be, he replied “The efficacy would be that the US has less blood on it’s hands. We have to make a determination; whose interests are we in fact supporting when we support these ventures to these foreign countries?”
Hear the full interview here:
Ajamu Barak Discusses Iraq Conflict
450667634 Ajamu Baraka Discusses American Involvement In Iraq
radio140x93 Ajamu Baraka Discusses American Involvement In Iraq
NewsRadio 1020 KDKA
More on Baraka’s writings and viewpoints can be found at blackagendareport.org, or ajamubaraka.com.

Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X reads and discusses his controversial Mythology of Pussy and Dick, Joyce Gordon Gallery, June 28, 3pm.

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Black Bird Press News & Review: Marvin X reads and discusses his controversial Mythology of Pussy and Dick, Joyce Gordon Gallery, June 28, 3pm.





 Revolution is a family affair. When families unite, the revolution is won! Oppression has all but destroyed the positive, healthy male and female. Through the process of revolution, the male and female are reconstructed, resurrected and radicalized into no nonsense personalities.
 Lula: Clay, it's all about you. Everything we've been discussing the whole time is about you!


 The Mythology of Pussy and Dick Blues. Yes, every dog has his day or her day! And surely what goes around comes around. Tough love will avoid sick love. 

 We must be prepared to defend the nation, women and children. In war, woman are called booty! As booty they can be raped, kidnapped but the main object of the oppressor is the men and boys. They are the biggest threat to the oppressor. Call this the gender game in war. When the women are more aggressive than the men, it is due to the oppressor striking fear into the men so that they are passive, weak and pitiful. The women must don the persona of the male and become the warrior queen.



 Amina and Amiri shared 47 years of marriage. Many of us are lucky to do 47 days! In the Nation of Islam, they used to call them 30 day wonder marriages. Couples married long enough to get their rocks off in a legal way to avoid the number one sin in the NOI: fornication and adultery. After the nut, then what? NOI couples knew they did not know each other and were incompatible so the marriage was annulled or they divorced. 

Drs. Julia and Nathan Hare have been married 57 years. When Julia became ill and confinement was the recommendation, Dr. Nathan Hare, "I don't know how to confine the woman I've been with for 57 years.

Mythology Defined

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Mythology Defined


Myth is all there is, like air, without myth we cannot breathe, therefore we die. Myth is the essence of religion. There are no rituals without myth--myth is the story, the word, hence the foundation of ritual. We take the myth and create the drama as in the original Osirian drama of resurrection, first the story then the enactment of the story, followed by the absorption of myth into the social-psychology of a people. Myth then becomes the foundation of culture, the purpose of existence and the goal of after-life.

Yes, culture is all that we do but all that we do is based on the myths we live by. When we suggest transcending myth it is an awesome challenge to the psyche and thus to the society. What white person wants to give up the myth of white supremacy. It is the essence of their being. Shall they become black? But black is not simply a color, it is a culture that is bound by myth as well. When we suggest giving up myth, we realize the task is daunting, for what shall a person stand upon, what rock, what reality?

We want the schools to change but again it shall involve dismantling the American mythology, all the lies, stories, dreams, holidays, statues, images, symbols that abound the society--in short, a decolonialization must occur—or call it detoxification. The teachers cannot teach a different way because they are victims of myth as well, trapped in their madness which is the essence of all they have been taught and certified to teach.


The black American psychologists are grappling with the problem of myth as I write. At their last national conference in Oakland they spoke about casting out Eurocentric psychology and returning to the ancient African healing philosophy. They want to transcend European psychotherapy for a more holistic approach that will embrace the entire being of the spiritually ill person, for sure, the mental is related to the physical to the social to the political to the economic. But as with education, how shall the mental health workers get certified to teach African healing when they have been trained in Eurocentric psychology? And what is the mythological foundation of African healing?


Imagine throwing out white education, but the question is can they heal the black mind with white psychology? As much as we applaud the psychotherapeutic peer group approach, prescribed in my manual How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, even the peer group is not sufficient unless the group bonds together in a holistic manner to overcome the myriad ills due to oppression.

The myth of love is an example of how we are entrapped in mythology. Love becomes an ever changing illusion based on materialism and economic security, thus it is a physical thing that in the end causes us to cry, "What does love have to do with it?" But in reality love is all there is. God is Love! Yet we spend a lifetime seeking that which is our essence. Surely we must be on the wrong path or in the wrong house of love. And after a lifetime with the beloved, we wonder was it in vain, a waste of energy, a pitiful existence with a beloved who hated our guts, was jealous, envious, greedy, yet this was our mate, this was us.


And so detoxification is in order to begin our recovery from sick mythology. We resist and deny anything is amiss but we must summon the strength to make a change, to jump out the box toward a brighter day. We fight leaving the comfort zone for it is all we know, like the slaves upon emancipation: where shall we go, what shall we do without the master? He was our everything, our god, our lover, our enforcer, our rapist even. But deconstructing alien mythology is the only way out, just as the dope fiend must stop using dope upon the pain of death. Now some choose death, the die-hards who claim dope is the best thing that ever happened to them. So they are not satisfied until they fall into the pit. The society addicted to sick mythology is no better than the common dope fiend. It is determined to commit mass suicide. America is not alone in this manner. It is the same with Israel, North Korea, Iran and elsewhere. Mythology (call it ideology if you wish) will be the final determinant of the political actions in the above nations.


Will they transcend their mythology and live or persist in their inordinacy until they die? The sooner we get beyond myth into a progressive, radical and revolutionary state of mind, the better we shall all be. But it would be a step forward if we simply stopped believing in the superiority of myth. This notion of superiority is probably worse than the myth itself. The myth of white supremacy is no better or worse than other myths, but the problem is when whites want to spread their myth and force it upon others who have their own mythology.


As far as I am concerned, let the whites in the American south keep their confederate flag, just don’t subject it upon me and my people. Keep that shit in yo house, your church or wherever you dwell and I don’t. And if I fly the Star and Crescent, leave me the hell alone. But let’s go deeper into the world of myth for a story is composed of words, thus we must consider linguistics or language when attempting to transcend myth, for the devil is in the language. We may therefore find ourselves in need of a new language in order to transcend myth, for we speak a mythical language, and just as we do not understand the mythology, we do not understand the language. To have a common language suggests we have agreed upon definitions, but again, what do you mean by love, and are you prepared to love your enemy? Can you love yourself, and who or what is yourself? Who is the black self, what is it?

We grappled with this problem in the 60s in trying to define a black esthetic. What is beauty and truth to us? Suddenly the Negro was ugly and black was beautiful, and for a moment there was a consensus and a people moved forward. And then came the breakdown and the consensus was gone. The natural hair style was no longer en vogue. Ugly became beautiful. Ugly was freedom, although we never got a consensus on what freedom meant, nor do we have one today. What is freedom to you is not freedom to me. You say freedom is a job, and that’s the totality of your freedom. Other people fight for land, natural resources, self determination, but you say just give you a job and you are satisfied. So how can we unite?


You say freedom is having sex between persons of the same sex. Nothing else matters to you in life. But we ask what does sex have to do with it? Were you put aboard the slave ships so you could have sex with the same gender loving persons, is this why your ancestors suffered in the cotton and cane fields, was it for sexual freedom, or what is possibly something that went far beyond pussy and dick, getting a nut in the dark or in some alley, bathroom, park? Again, we need to define some terms before we can move forward into the new era. Let’s list some terms and define them—and how can we do this when terms are ever shifting, for language is dynamic and fluid, Negro, Colored, black, African, Bilalian, Moorish, et al. We are forever changing our identity because we cannot come to a consensus as a people. At least the white people know they are white, they may not know anything else, but they know they are white.


You don’t know if you are black or white, man or woman—for the sands are constantly shifting under your feet—the result of your insecurity, personal and communal. It is an identity crisis of the most profound degree imaginable. So myth is composed with language, from myth to ritual, from ritual to reality, but language is the foundation. The child’s world only becomes real when it takes command of its “mother tongue.” Within the mother tongue is myth which is composed of surface and deep structure terminology and meaning, the said and the unsaid, the seen and the unseen.


We are that child that has yet to master language, hence our world is chaos without solid, safe and secure definitions, leading us not to know what is real and unreal, a confusion of self and kind. We are not certain our brother is a friend or foe. We are not sure if our mate is friend or foe, lover or hater. In a moment of passion we may hear words we never thought was in the heart of our lover, or we may use such words ourselves. Now there is more doubt and insecurity in an already fragile relationship, that more than likely originated in lust rather than anything that can be called love. And so we see the task before us, a psycho-linguistic mythological conundrum that will take centuries to resolve since in the global village our mythology is bound with other mythological tribes and nations, some of which seek our life blood.


We may be forced out of our slumber to shed the old raggedy clothes of worn out mythology, whether religious or political, sexual or social. Elijah told us the wisdom of this world is exhausted—one need only look around and listen to the language, the babble blowing in the wind, in spite of all the technology, all the human advancement. Surely, in spite of it all, reverse evolution has set in, a kind of atrophy, a freezing of the mental apparatus, a paralysis of thought while the very hour challenges us with the need for grand vision to make that great leap forward into the new millennium.--Marvin X


 from Mythology of Pussy and Dick (expanded version) by Marvin X,

publication date, late 2014, Black Bird Press, Berkeley.


On Saturday, June 28, 3pm, Marvin X will read and discuss his Mythology of Pussy and Dick at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin Streets, Oakland. Donation $20.00. Refreshments served.

Call 510-200-4164. 

Reems Health @ Job Fair

Free Russell "Maroon" Shoatz

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TONIGHT!




















http://www2.citypaper.com/sb/89555/coverpanther_05.jpgFREE RUSSELL "MAROON" SHOATZ & ALL U.S. GOVERNMENT HELD POLITICAL PRISONERS/POW'S!
http://www.notmytribe.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/abcf-political-prisoners-free-russell-maroon-shoatz.jpghttps://utmaroonformation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/maroon.jpg?w=636&h=289


The NYC Campaign to Free Political Prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz invites you tomorrow to .... Rise Up 4 Maroon!



Saturday, June 21, 2014
First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn


116 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights
6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

ALL AGES!
(Childcare provided upon request – please let us know!)
$10 (includes food – no one turned away!)


Featuring Performances By:

~ Prince Cy’Riq (Zulu Youth)

~ Dread Blaq
~ Art Start
~ Ni Dios Ni Amo


Join us on June 21st for an evening of music, arts, poetry, and delicious food in celebration of U.S. held.political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz release into general population from solitary confinement after over 22 consecutive years of torture! 
This was a historic people’s victory of the international campaign mobilized around Maroon and one small step in the continued struggle to free all of our elders incarcerated, and ALL political prisoners.

The next step must be to demand full freedom NOW for Russell Maroon Shoatz! 

Let’s RISE UP for Maroon and take a stand for freedom as we work toward building a better world!



For more info, contact: freemaroonNYC@gmail.com



#FreeMaroon #Rise4Maroon #LetOurEldersGo



Russell "Maroon" Shoatz, Jr. and Marvin X in Philly





Wellness in Hunters Point, San Francisco and Oakland

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 YMCA Hunters Point/Bay View Wellness Director Michael Bennett and Marvin X
"The most revolutionary act a Black Man can perform is lose thirty pounds," says Geoffery Grier.

YMCA Hunters Point/Bay View Wellness Director Michael Bennett and Marvin X. Marvin is a member of the YMCA. Michael promises to get him back in shape, partly the result of his sedentary lifestyle, but laziness too. One can have bad habits and good habits, it takes the same energy. So increase the good habits and downsize the bad habits. I believe in the Harm Reduction Model, i.e., if you must do bad habits, try to keep one's balance, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Reduce the harm to yourself, family and community. If you insist of doing toxic things, we must detox to neutralize the effect of the toxicity, whatever it is, whether drugs, alcohol, sex, white supremacy, religion, ideological dogmatism. I go to the gym. I am doing light workout. I love the steam room, jacuzi and swimming pool. Even if I only wiggle my legs in the water, it is better than no exercise at all.
 
"The most revolutionary act a Black Man can perform is 


lose thirty pounds," says Geoffery Grier.




BVHP Y
Health and Wellness Program
Presents…..
Stay in Shape
Summer Events
                                  
MLK Park Clean-up*
in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco
Saturday, June 28, 2014
*please note the location change to MLK Park
(it will NOT be at Youngblood Coleman Park)
Location: MLK Park and Playground, SF
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Self-Care Day with BMAGIC
Friday, July 11, 2014
Location: the Presidio
Time: Register at the BVHP Y at 10:00 am
Leave BVHP Y at 10:30 am
Community Trailhead Walk
in collaboration with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Time:  Leave BVHP Y at 10:00 am
San Francisco Marathon
Volunteers Needed to help at the BVHP Y Water Station
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Location: Meet at the BVHP Y
Time:  TBA
For more information, please contact:
Michael Bennett, BVHP Y Director of Physical Activity and Nutrition,
at 415-794-9274 or mbennett@ymcasf.org

Wellness in Oakland


Registration Ends: 
5th Annual Job & Health Fair Friday, June 27th, 2014, from 11am-3pm, at the Center of Hope Community Church, located at 8411 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, California

Event Details

The E.C. Reems Community Services & Healthy Communities would like to invite you to be a part of our 5th Annual Job & Health Fair, entitled, “Live Life The Way You Imagined, “Healthy and Employed”. E.C. Reems Community services would like to help eliminate or minimize employment barriers. However, doing so requires new ways of looking at old issues relating to attitudes and behaviors, as well as fresh ways of communicating individual strengths to employers.

E.C. Reems Community Services has remained committed and resilient to educating and empowering individuals though out the community. Please check us out this Friday, June 27th, 2014, from 11am-3pm, at the Center of Hope Community Church, located at 8411 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, California.

E.C. Reems Community Services will provide health tips, introduce the community to employers, discuss ongoing health issues and share resources to keep individuals in the community, particularly the economically and socially disenfranchised population informed about health and employment.

AT THIS EVENT, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:
  • Visit with local federal and/or state agencies to receive information and talk with representatives about health care, medical benefits, education, housing, employment opportunities and more;
  • Visit with local employers about job opportunities;
    • Leave resumes and/or job applications with employers;
    • Have a short interview with employers about your job skills
  • Apply for state and federal benefits
  • Receive information and talk with representatives about loans, health care, and education benefits
  • And much more!

Of course, none of this would be possible, without supporters like you. We are grateful for your support and appreciate the trust it reflects. We look ahead to a year of unparalleled stakes for workers, their health and the economy overall.

Registration is FREE to all job & health seekers. We welcome the opportunity to partner with you on such a worthy cause.

For more information or to register as a Vendor for this 5th Annual Job & Health Fair, please visit us at http://ernestinereemsministries.org or email ecreemscommunityservices@gmail.com.


Rev. Blandon Reems,  authors Aries Jordan, Toya Carter and Marvin X make spiritual wellness visit to Alameda County Juvenile Hall bearing books for the youth. Book project was supported by Paul Cobb and the Post Newspaper Group. Marvin X's planned 27 city tour of the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra, will have a holistic health and wellness component. 




Black Bird Press News & Review: Reflections of a "Human Earthquake" Victim

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