photographic art by Ted Pontiflet, Oakland CA, Joyce Gordon Gallery Exhibit
Marvin X confesses, "After I saw Ted Pontiflet's photographic art of James Baldwin, I had to reconstruct my esthetics of Blackness and admit that no matter how much I had imagined James Baldwin as an ugly man, yet positioned with African sculpture in the background, I was forced to say he was beautiful in the African esthetic tradition, thus cast out my Eurocentric esthetics or concept of beauty."
In my December, 1968, interview with James Baldwin at his New York apartment, yes, without heat, he told me a host of things on Blacks in America and throughout the world, especially those ex-patriots in Paris, in particular Richard Wright, the man he dethroned as the heavy weight champion of Black literature. I will get to his comments on Richard Wright in a moment, but one of the most important things he said to me was, It's a wonder we all haven't gone stark raving mad as Black people in America. It's a miracle for a Black father to raise a Black son under these conditions and I applaud the men who are able to do so.
"How can these people talk about the Prince of Peace while they bomb the hell out of the Vietnamese during these Holy Days? Your condition proves they don't believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ!"
It was James Baldwin's script that Spike Lee used to make his film Malcolm X. But in 1968 there were many people who questioned Baldwin's ability to write such a script about a man who symbolized Black manhood. When I asked him about their reaction, he retorted, "Hey, I pay my rent, I write what I want!"
As per Richard Wright, he felt Richard Wright lost his roots in exile; he became disconnected from the reality of Black life in America, even in Africa for that matter. When he went to Africa, he misinterpreted some things that I came to understand about Africa and my relationship to Africa. When I came to understand my father, I understood he was an African priest/preacher transferred to America, and he ruled his church and his family as part of an African village of which he was the king. I don't think Richard understood he was not an African but an American, for better or worse. I understood this and had no problems with it! I knew I had to make peace with the America nightmare, I had to understand those airless rooms Americans live in." In one of his essays, he wrote, "The idea of white supremacy has led white people to rationalizations so fantastic it reaches the pathological."
We can transcend this mentally retarded bullshit of white supremacy illusion. Don't get sucked into it. Amiri Baraka told us how the Sirens call you but you must not answer. If you answer, then they got that ass. You then submit to all the messages of the Sirens, calling you to madness and insanity.
Dr. Hare says, "If you don't want the harlot, don't go to the harlot's door." He adds, "Without those willing to be slaves, there can be no masters."
What does the Qur'an say, "Only because the devil called you, you came." You do not need to heed the whispering of the devil who whispers into the hearts of men and jinn."
And the Christians tell us, "Resist the devil and he shall flee from you."
There are those of you who submit willingly to the devil, only because you don't exercise the power of resistance. We must say, "Aoozo Bil-laa-hi mi-nash shay-tann-nir rajeem. Translated: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed devil.
The devil is an illusion we submit to when we are in a weak mental and spiritual condition. We submit to the world of make believe, believing it is the real deal yet it is an illusion from the world of make believe and conspicuous consumption or materialism, a dream world for dreamers who must be awakened from their dream state.
The Playaz began production of The American century Cycle in 2010 after producing Gem of the Ocean in 2009 and falling into relationship with the spirit and intention of August Wilson, America's greatest playwright living or dead. In 2010 I announced our intention to be the first company to ever fully stage the Cycle. In 2015, with Hedley up and running my troupe and I are poised on the edge of the completion of a ritual never fully enacted. We play for the Master in most humble gratitude for his generous blessings upon us as we have struggled to manifest this work. It has been a journey that has taken us places we could not have imagined and even more important it has brought us home.
We are producing Hedley and Golf in our new house in uptown Oakland. The journey from our own out door theater in West Oakland to a residency in an indoor 100 seat black box in uptown has been a tumultuous journey full of pathos, falling to rise higher, refusing to fail, striving and daring to fly in the dark to find our light. We are going to be the first to formally stage the Cycle in chronological order. No other company has ever done so. The Green Room recordings were done after we started our journey with Wilson and they come as close to chronological production as anything ever done but they are recordings of readings. Some companies have staged all ten works in the order Wilson wrote them. No company has ever achieved what we are poised to accomplish.
"You die by how you live". August Wilson- Gem of the Ocean
In some ways its been a lonely journey. Not a lot of attention has been given our effort. We are a small company that started out as a Gypsy theater performing in non-traditional spaces including half way houses for reentry populations and shelters for the homeless. A 100 seat outdoor theater was built for us in West Oakland where we did 13 Seasons of theater. We did Shakespearean adaptations, established the Shakespeare in the Hood series, toured Mack A Gangsta's Tale to violence riddled areas of Oakland and Richmond, CA. We did an original work, Mama at Twilight: Death by Love that frankly examined the HIV growth in black communities by interrogating gendered roles and community taboos. We established our brand around telling stories that facilitated vitally important community discussion. We honed our craft and survived and very quietly became one of the greatest opportunity for black actors and theater makers in the East Bay. The community organization that partially funded our work stopped funding our productions mid way through our production of The Century Cycle and we became the only theater company to produce in The African American Museum and Library at Oakland CA. where we independently produced Fences. We then took up residency in The Flight Deck where we produced Two Trains Running and Jitney.
We are so very proud to reach the conclusion of our commitment to August Wilson who in many ways has guided our growth, instructed our direction, and renewed our commitment to our craft, our communities, and our selves. Wilson is the only work we have not felt a need to make site specific as is our habit. In Wilson we see ourselves and we see ourselves as part of the nation in the nation behind the veil in North America, and the universal nature of Wilson's site specific Cycle (all the plays take place in the Hill Distinct of Pittsburgh PA with the exception of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom). We recognize and have come to overstand Wilson's song of North America; its our lives, we have lived it, bled it, and learned to sing it with honor and dignity as we have walked with Wilson.
If you have seen our work you know we do Wilson with integrity and passion. If you have not a great theater experience is waiting for you. Join us at our new theater to be a part of our red carpet season as we conclude The Century Cycle Project.
Book tickets for King Hedley, II and Radio Golf today: http://www.lowerbottomplayaz.com/box-office.php
This letter is to serve as an official statement from National Central Committee of the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense from the office of the National Chair Krystal Muhammad.
It has come to the attention of the NBPP and the Nu Afrikan community that an Elder Black Panther, Dhoruba Bin Wahad , Kalongi Jama Changa and several other activist were subjects of assault on August 8, 2015 in Atlanta, Ga.
during a Black Power event hosted by Hashim Nzinga. We do not condone the use of excessive force on any Nu Afrikan or human being ESPECIALLY an elder.
For the record Malik Zulu Shabazz is not the leader of the New Black Panther Party as of October 2013 when he resigned his post as NBPP National Chair and called for the election of a new National Central Committee of the NBPP. A national summit was then called for Nov 30 – Dec 1, 2013 in Atlanta, Ga.
Days after Malik's resignation he then got on public blogtalk radio and called for martial law on the NBPP and for calling off the elections. He then went on to say he was appointing Hashim Nzinga as National Chair and a few other officers as owning the NBPP into perpetuity. Despite Malik’s counter-revolutionary declaration , a national NBPP Summit was convened November 30 – Dec 1, 2013 in Atlanta, Ga . The NBPP leadership and rank and file members held an Nu Afrikan democratically centered election. As a result , Krystal Muhammad was elected as National Chair and a new National Central Committee.
As stated previously , we the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense do not condone the use of excessive force on any New African or human being ESPECIALLY an elder. Furthermore none of the members of our formation were involved or present during this unfortunate incident. Black Power!
Sincerely,
Krystal Muhammad, NBPP National Chair
Bobby Johnson, NBPP National Minister of Defense
Sharif Amenhotep, NBPP National Field Marshall
Nat Turner, NBPP National Minister of Information
Leonardo Muhammad, NBPP National Spokesman
David X, NBPP National Minister of Communication
Queen Sheena, NBPP National Director of Community Programs
Khadijah Shakur, NBPP National Minister of Health
Keisha X, NBPP National Minister of Finance
Jumoke Ifentayo, NBPP National Minister of Culture
Queen Azania, NBPP Deputy National Field Marshall
Zayid Muhammad, NBPP National Minister of Culture, Emeritus
From: Michael Novick mnovick.kpfklsb@gmail.com; Subject: Passing of brother Dedon Kamathi Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2015, 2:28 PM
Dedon Kamathi
I just received a call with the sad news of the passing of brother Dedon Kamathi, long time host of Freedom Now here at KPFK, a former member of the Pacifica National Board and the local board, former member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense out of San Diego and an international figure in the struggle for the liberation of Africa and of all oppressed and exploited people. This is a great and grievous loss for the movements and for Pacifica. As we get more details, we will keep people informed of where and how to express their condolences.
Marvin X on Dedon Kamathi:
We are deeply saddened by news of Dedon's transition. We recall his recent interview of Norman Richmond and myself on the anniversary of the Vietnam War. May he rest in peace.
These are nice words but rather late. I just want to know about any charges of "assault" on the members of the NBPP who carry this attack out? And a public notion of the reasons for the attack at an open table discussion that was to be led by the NBPP in ATL.
Now, its almost September and I am receiving in my E-mail of platitudes on the physical safety of elders and nothing about the performance "militancy" of the NBPP or it counter-revolutionary practice of selling "wolf tickets" in an attempt to create a popular base or presence. For it must be noted that this attack still would been counter-revolutionary even "if" Dhoruba was 26 or 36 or 46.
At this point, I haven't seen the deeper questions addressed or a deeper political analysis given. What needs to be assessed what role has Messianic leadership had played in the catalyst in the development of the NBPP through Khalid Abdul Muhammad after he broke with Mister Louis Farrakhan.
Nonetheless as we look at our history, we can see that the Messianic forces can only apply violence upon Black people and confronting the state is only been a pipe dream of theater.
As we look at our history, we now have a second platitude of selling wolf tickets this October in calling for the need for ten fearless thousand men in the vacant posture of "Justice or Else." It must be noted that Farrakhan in his history has never done anything to give retribution of racists or state violence against Black people, he's never busted a grape in that area of struggle. The only activity in Farrakhan history was creating the social and public environment and the "rationalization" for the assassination and murder of Brother comrade Malcolm X.
What has to be noted in carrying out any political decision it is never a public call for 10,000 fearless men this only create chaos to be calm down by the newly emerging broker-of-discontent to keep the calm.
I once thought the NBPP was trying to fulfill that role through Khalid. But Khalid early passing that never came to flower in a real way. While, our community has a number of so-called historians, but they are as helpful as a colorful broken clock. As we examine our history we all need a systematic and historic assessment of the nature and character of Black opportunism. And to give clarity on the practice and conclusions of its betrayal of smothering a truly radical offensive.
Peace Your Brother
Sekou
The "Real" New Black Panther Party comments on the beating of Elder Dhoruba bin Wahad, et al.
Greetings and Black Power,
This letter is to serve as an official statement from National Central Committee of the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense from the office of the National Chair Krystal Muhammad.
It has come to the attention of the NBPP and the Nu Afrikan community that an Elder Black Panther, Dhoruba Bin Wahad , Kalongi Jama Changa and several other activist were subjects of assault on August 8, 2015 in Atlanta, Ga.
during a Black Power event hosted by Hashim Nzinga. We do not condone the use of excessive force on any Nu Afrikan or human being ESPECIALLY an elder.
For the record Malik Zulu Shabazz is not the leader of the New Black Panther Party as of October 2013 when he resigned his post as NBPP National Chair and called for the election of a new National Central Committee of the NBPP. A national summit was then called for Nov 30 – Dec 1, 2013 in Atlanta, Ga.
Days after Malik's resignation he then got on public blogtalk radio and called for martial law on the NBPP and for calling off the elections. He then went on to say he was appointing Hashim Nzinga as National Chair and a few other officers as owning the NBPP into perpetuity. Despite Malik’s counter-revolutionary declaration , a national NBPP Summit was convened November 30 – Dec 1, 2013 in Atlanta, Ga . The NBPP leadership and rank and file members held an Nu Afrikan democratically centered election. As a result , Krystal Muhammad was elected as National Chair and a new National Central Committee.
As stated previously , we the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense do not condone the use of excessive force on any New African or human being ESPECIALLY an elder . Furthermore none of the members of our formation were involved or present during this unfortunate incident. Black Power!
Sincerely,
Krystal Muhammad, NBPP National Chair
Bobby Johnson, NBPP National Minister of Defense
Sharif Amenhotep, NBPP National Field Marshall
Nat Turner, NBPP National Minister of Information
Leonardo Muhammad, NBPP National Spokesman
David X, NBPP National Minister of Communication
Queen Sheena, NBPP National Director of Community Programs
Khadijah Shakur, NBPP National Minister of Health
Keisha X, NBPP National Minister of Finance
Jumoke Ifentayo, NBPP National Minister of Culture
Queen Azania, NBPP Deputy National Field Marshall
Zayid Muhammad, NBPP National Minister of Culture, Emeritus
Tonya does not want to have anymore children. Not in a world where "their friends might kill them, the police might kill them, in a world that don't respect life." She says her 17 year old daughter with a baby is falling down a hole that it will take her a lifetime to dig her way out of. As a part of her argument for an abortion she details the story of a mother learning that her son has been shot down. She receives the news as she is washing his clothes and preparing his dinner not knowing he will never eat the meal or wear the laundry she has washed. It is delivered as part of a chilling monologue that helps to explain why the Lower Bottom Playaz offer a different brand of Wilson than you may have come to expect.
We play Wilson from the experience of our lives. We have lived beyond the playwrights observations and see his descriptions of the now pass as vivid depictions of our lived reality. The realty of drive-bys in the eighties has given way to the police terror and continued inter-group violence on steroids. We have seen the connection from the pass to the present that Wilson intends and we see beyond it to an even more blasted and blistered current moment.
Tonya's monologue is a political position. She is in resistance to death with her refusal to bear life. Her decision is also influenced by her man's choices. His choices are influenced by his reality. But his answer is to make something/life in the absence of all it takes to insure and sustain that life. He insist they try even if they have to call the undertaker.
She has a baby daddy in jail and fears her current man who has done time for murder is on a path back to jail. He, King Hedley, II is trying to make life grow in the rocky soil he has inherited. He never considers remaking the box his life came in --he is bound by his perception of personal history, national history, blood, and honor and out of that lens of those contexts and grim necessity he is using what he has been given to create what he perceives he needs. His ability to do so is impacted by other men who have their own rocky soil. It seems everyone's garden in the land of rocky soil is watered by blood. Tonya's babies father's have blood on their hands as she fears, instructed by her lived experience, the possibility of her unborn child being bled of life.
King wants the baby in order to put something in the world. He plants a seed in the less than optimal soil of his backyard and sees it struggle to grow and reasons a child deserves a chance at life, he advised Tonya against putting it in a coffin before it draws breath. He wants to plant a seed in life even if the soil is not all it could be. How else can we go forward? How else can we get to the top of the mountain?
King Hedley, II is a tale about men and blood honor. It is a tale of women and longing for a life with good soil where love family and dreams can grow. It is a saga about struggle, the weight of things older than us, resistance and the prayer for redemption.
See it at the Flight Deck now through September 6, 2015.
Notes on Blood as a motif in King Hedley II
Blood is a motif in King Hedley, II. It is a strong and instructive note. It signals the life and death struggle to create and maintain life in marginalized spaces. The tension between the discussion of abortions and blood feuds destined to end in blood carry us through this speeding train ride that can only end in a tremendous wreck. What else can happen when the doors are all barred and life is on the other side.
King's desire to sit on top of the mountain -- with the key given the righteous requires -- he wipe the blood off his hands. He is told the key is forgiveness but he is bound by codes of honor which dictate his actions. Blood for blood is a mantra carried by his reflection in the character of Mister. Mister outlines the tenets of honor and explains that blood spilled requires the spilling of blood, especially in the defense of your blood. It is a matter of honor. If a man kills your blood you ain't supposed to be looking at him long. Someone must die. Blood is energy, it is life, your bloodline is your most intimate legacy, you are required to defend it.
What pathology is engendered at the event of the interruption of a man's ability to care for his blood. How then does one proceed with honor in the world? At what point is crossing the line to ensure your blood survives permissible? What would you do to insure your unborn child's right to live in a world big enough to dream in? At what point does the world get so small that the thought of new life, rather than inspiring joy, births fear and desperation along with the consideration of killing it before it breathes? Who turned the world around like that and how do we find a way to thrive in a world where the path to life is blocked by barbed wire or something even harder to cut through?
One of Wilson's greatest skill displays in the work of The American Century Cycle, is to show you the world-changing as the North American stands in the same place, or even more disturbing as the ground beneath him literally shrinks. The lack of work and the great difficulty encountered by those who dream of thriving in a country they helped to build with blood and sweat. Blood on the ground but no way into the dream. King remarks that he was once worth $1200.00 during slavery but in 1985 he is reduced to $3.35 an hour he says he is going backwards. Mister observes the woman with the store got a bigger store and bigger house to go with it, he speculates, if she could drive she would have a bigger car. As the country moves forward North American African's have moved further from center.
In our current moment the ruthless gentrification of formerly affordable communities and the continued economic inequity experienced by large numbers of North American Africans coupled with a cannibalistic educational system/carceral system and an escalation of inter-group violence informed and encouraged by systemic violence perpetrated against them magnifies the moment in which our characters live. We know this dark moment goes on, gets deeper, becomes as consuming as an ocean.
King Hedley like many young men today carries a gun because he fears violence being enacted upon him. He has killed one man and is looking to kill the man's kin to stop him from retaliating against him. He is also about to become a father for the first time. While the sooth sayer calls on him to wash the blood from his hands I wonder how he might go about that. Some of the blood on his path is older than him. The sooth sayer says he can right the house of his father even though it may be torn asunder, but even the sooth sayer calls for the remission of blood. Blood is the new life coming extending King's blood line and ultimately his possibles in life. The question of honor may require him to shed blood in order to live long enough to help sustain this new life.
Come and see who survives and what the blood cost of honor is. See King Hedley, II now through September 6.
Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz on the Dhoruba Bin Wahad Incident & Criticism On BPP/BLA History
Official Statement of Dr. Malik Zulu Shabazz on the Dhoruba Bin Wahad controversy
On August 8, 2015 I was speaking in Atlanta as an invited guest at the New Black Panther Summit on Police Terrorism and explaining my experiences from the streets and combatting the police brutality in Ferguson, Baltimore, South Carolina as well as inside the courtroom since last year. I was speaking on my 27 years on the front lines.
Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Kalongi Jima Changa plotted to disrupt and conduct "operation shutdown" to stop my speech and to shutdown the NBPP summit.
DBW and KJ led a group of at least 8 armed men to the stage to take the stage and to take me physically off the stage and shutdown the panther summit.
DBW AND KJ detailed their plan to stop the NBPP summit and MZS in their pre summit press release "Operation Shutdown" and other communication sources where DBW and KJ shockingly believed they had exclusive control of the police brutality issue and NO OTHER GROUP would be allowed to have a meeting on that subject unless they had the approval of DBW and KJ. A form of Black facism in the Black community. KJ was convicted of a similar offense in the Black community in 2005 by the POCC under the leadership of Fred Hampton Jr.
DBW has a 45 year history of armed intimidation against political figures in the Black community he does not agree with. DBW started his disputes by bucking the Black Panther Party founder, Honorable Huey P. Newton in 1971 and opposing his leadership. The legendary Sam Napier, BPP newspaper editor in New York, was a tortured, kidnapped and a murdered casualty to this tragic conflict. DBW has admitted in books and interviews to "feeling like a Black cop" while executing actions against Black drug dealers and other figures he does not like. True indeed. DBW has suffered in prison and committed heroic acts and been targeted by cointel-pro. All that is true. But none of that is a pardon or pass for his extensive acts and attempts of aggression and intimidation in the Black community.
I have sat with DBW many times. At one point he was like a big brother to me. But the political opposition to the very existence of the NBPP by some BPP turned him harshly toward me and now towards the NBPP. DBW's "OPERATION SHUTDOWN" was a wild and desperate and irresponsible and reckless attempt to physically harm me and physically take over the New Black Panther annual Summit with his armed posse.
Therefore, knowing DBW history and his current intentions, I suspected an AUDUBON BALLROOM type of situation was developing. Minister Malcolm X was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom.
I spied the takeover plan and plot as I was speaking and asked DBW to wait and I would deal with his issues. As I have sat with him many times to discuss issues and as I have a long track record of patiently answering any questions asked of me at at a public event.
In the middle of my keynote speech, with his squadron of armed men at the stage, DBW, in response to my simple request for him to wait until I completed my speech and I would answer his question; DBW screamed at the top of his voice , "NO NIGGER WE GONNA DEAL WITH THIS SHIT NOW NIGGER!" and DBW moved to take over.
Instinctively and self defensively I said, without yelling, "get his ass out of here". I was simply asking for him and his group of armed sizable men, to be escorted from the room. This was a general request made to hotel security or anyone who would help. I do not have any supervisory authority or control over the New Black Panther Party. The New Black Panther is under the capable leadership of Minister Hashim Nzinga, my and Dr. Khallid Muhammd's former chief of Staff. I am the National President of Black Lawyers for Justice.
After my request to have DBW and KJ and their squad of. men removed from the stage, I was solely focused on scanning the room for the possible gunman or whoever was sent to physically attack me. I do not know what happened in specific to DBW amongst the crowd.
Reports from eye witnesses says that DBW threw a punch at his escort, which then caused a reaction and a fight between NBPP AND DBW squad members and a melee ensued.
Other eyewitnesses say DBW had a knife or dropped a knife and that's what set everything off. An NBPP Investigation is pending.
So brothers and sisters this is what really happened. A physical plan to attack my person and to shutdown the NBPP was hatched by DBW and KJ. It went terribly wrong for DBW and KJ. These were risky and grossly reckless, aggressive actions by DBW and KJ. Their actions put not only my life at risk but also Nation of Islam and several hundred Black community children and women at risk.
DBW strategy was risky and dangerous and filled with emotion and hatred for his own brothers. He must take responsibility for his own reckless actions. I hate what happened, but bear no responsibility. Responsibility lies squarely with DBW as the aggressor and initiator and the misleader of his men . DBW acted in the manner of a gangster a thug and a fascist. And his actions are in line with the aims and objectives of the counterintelligence program. His actions fit the COINTELPRO Pattern to disrupt and cause fighting amongst Black groups.
DBW actions could have set off a wider war. DBW attacked me and I am a member of the family of the Nation of Islam and I am a close son of Minister Louis Farrakhan and I am the real son of Dr Khallid Muhammad. DBW duped members of the 5 per centers into his plan and we have nothing but love for the Nation of Gods and Earths. Also we have never had any physical incidents with BPP members despite some issues between us.
So therefore DBW actions were reckless and could set off adverse actions all across several Black organizations. So yes, I ask the question, "who is DBW working for? And is his work In the BLA haunting him or hanging over his head?" Why is DBW so obsessed with me and the NBPP? Why does DBW track my cities and my speeches and plot his plans and operations with an intense hatred and focus on me ? Why me? Why is the real enemy all over my back and uncle toms nationwide DBW at the same time. Why? I ask myself why?
DBW did not conduct himself as an elder. He acted as a thug and gangster and he set off a tragic chain of events with his aggressive and provocative actions. DBW did not act as a wise elder. He acted like a young gangster moving against his rivals in 1971.
In conclusion, check my track record. I am not a thug nor am I a gangster. I have no record of bringing harm to Black people. I am a patient man and a gentle man but I am not a weak man and I am not a punk. I will secure my safety and I will defend my self. I have a divine duty to safeguard my life because my life is not my own my life belongs to God and the Black Nation and I am needed on duty to help our people. I will NOT submit to anyone's assassination attempt.
If you doubt any word I say contact eye witnesses who were at the event. Contact Mukasa Ricks. Mukassa Ricks is the founder of Black Power and a right hand to Kwame Ture. Mukassa is an original Panther from Lowndes county. Elder Mukassa saw it all and has officially ruled against DBW and his actions as being at fault for this tragedy.
In the 60s some Panthers did the same thing to Stokley Carmichael. They accused Kwame Ture and his men of being racist and "too Black " and reactionary. Even though Kwame and his men organized the Panther Party for them nationwide. They verbally and in writing, attacked Kwame Ture, called him an agent, and they disrupted his meetings. Sadly some BPP kept harassing and attacking US and Dr Maulana Karenga, saying they were "reactionary cultural nationalists" and making attempts to forcibly shut Black Nationalists down. History is repeating itself.
This is an official statement of Malik Zulu Shabazz, esq
The school board examined a plan Wednesday to add a comprehensive sex education curriculum The district’s Sociology for Living class ended in 2011 Fresno County has some of the highest teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection rates
Listen up Fresno high schoolers: sex education could soon be coming to a classroom near you. Fresno Unified officials are talking about restoring sex education across the city’s high schools under a plan that would add lessons about sexually transmitted infections, contraception and healthy relationships.
At the district’s school board meeting Wednesday, trustees took up a proposal that would bring back all those topics by January. They didn’t take a vote and the issue will likely get more discussion this summer or fall.
The measure comes after local organizations like teen health group Fresno Barrios Unidos and the ACLU of Northern California urged district administrators to restore the lessons. It’s also on the heels of legislation that’s passed the state Assembly and is winding through the state Senate that would make comprehensive sex education mandatory in middle and high schools.
If the bill becomes law, it would mark a huge shift in what’s required of California public schools. Fresno students already get the absolute basics. State law currently requires middle and high schools to provide education about how to prevent HIV/AIDS.
But schools are not mandated to offer “comprehensive” sex education, or age-appropriate, unbiased, medically accurate information. To be comprehensive, students must learn about abstinence, sexually transmitted infections and contraception.
Fresno County has the state’s fourth-highest rate of teens with chlamydia and gonorrhea infections, a figure that’s consistently 20%-25% higher than state averages.
Fresno Unified’s plan would use a curriculum called Positive Prevention Plus to teach those topics. Local health advocates who attended Wednesday’s meeting praised the curriculum and said they were encouraged by the district’s effort.
Socorro Santillan, executive director of Fresno Barrios Unidos, urged trustees to partner with organizations like hers to help teach students. The group already has programs for parents and has taught workshops at some high schools.
Others who attended, like UCSF Fresno resident Dr. Janae Barker, said it’s a matter of public health. Barker said she’s constantly witnessing teens who repeat their mistakes: they never learn about safe sex and prevention and wind up contracting syphilis or getting pregnant. Among a group of at-risk teen girls she’s worked with at Fresno High, she said, “it was amazing the things they didn’t know. There are kids in that class, two of which are currently pregnant, one who is on her second pregnancy.”
Fresno high schools used to have a class called Sociology for Living, a health and life skills class that was axed for budget and other reasons in 2011. It was at one time a graduation requirement and taught students about some sexual health topics and about marriage and family issues. In 2011, school board members found a compromise to cut the class, but retain the subjects students were taught. That may have happened for a while, but school officials said this spring that comprehensive sex education is no longer offered.
It was amazing the things they didn’t know. There are kids in that class, two of which are currently pregnant, one who is on her second pregnancy.
UCSF Fresno resident Dr. Janae Barker, who is working with a group of Fresno High at-risk teen girls
Public health officials and community health organizers have been scratching their heads asking why sex education wasn’t restored earlier. Fresno County still has the fourth-highest rate of teens with chlamydia and gonorrhea infections, a figure that’s consistently 20%-25% higher than state averages. For people of all ages, Fresno County ranks second for both chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Among school districts in Fresno County, students within Fresno Unified have the highest rates of both infections, Fresno Department of Public Health statistics show. Clovis and Central Unified are next on the list.
At the meeting, trustee Carol Mills said she hopes the district will move sooner than later to bring sex education back into both the middle and high schools. She’s talked to middle school nurses who have told her about eighth-grade girls becoming pregnant, a fact Mills said is almost “incomprehensible, although I know it exists.”
Many of the trustees said schools can’t alone be expected to turnaround such dire statistics. But overall, most were supportive of the plan.
Trustee Brooke Ashjian, who attended the meeting via conference call, questioned whether students would learn about lesbian, gay, bisexual and other sexual orientation and gender issues. He also questioned whether traditional relationships and marriage values would be taught. Those questions will likely be hashed out in future board discussions.
Generally, you expect to see preventable diseases decline in advanced societies. Not so with some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in California.
Syphilis cases in the Golden State jumped by 18 percent from 2010 to 2011, according to new data released by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). There was also a 5 percent increase in chlamydia cases and a 1.5 percent increase in gonorrhea cases.
Across the board, the STD rates among African Americans continue to be strikingly high, especially in comparison to the other racial groups.
In regards to why African American women contract STDs at far higher rates than women of other races, Robert Fullilove, a clinical sociomedical professor at Columbia University Health and chairman of the HIV/AIDS committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on "Fresh Air" that it is partly because fewer African American men are available.:
Because of incarceration, homicide and AIDS, Fullilove said, "A large number of marriageable men were taken out of the community. When you have this kind of population imbalance, many of the rules that govern mating behavior in the community are simply going to go out the window." "The competition for a man becomes so extreme ... all of the prevention measures [like condom usage] that we've been trying to create over the last 30 years go out the window."
But Heidi Bauer, chief of the health department's STD control branch, told The Huffington Post that Fullilove's theory is hard to prove, and that the department has not found a smoking gun explaining any of the disease increases. It may be that individuals have more partners and use fewer condoms or that, especially given cuts to local health departments and clinics, there is less access to care, she said. Regarding education, Bauer said that California law mandates HIV education but that schools have a lot of autonomy over what other curriculum, if any, they provide -- as long as it's accurate.
The health department is concerned with the increase in state rates because these STDs can lead to infertility, passing a disease on to a newborn and increasing the risk of HIV, Bauer told HuffPost. Across all races, chlamydia affected the highest number of people in California, with about 164,000 cases reported in 2011.
Across the board, the chlamydia rates were about twice as high for women than for men. This is largely because the disease is often asymptomatic, but women are screened annually up to age 25 and therefore diagnosed more often, Bauer explained. The rates were highest for men and women between 20 and 24 years old, with the exception of African American women, with whom the highest rate is women between 15 and 19 years old. Here is the racial breakdown:
Chlamydia rates (per 100,000 population):
African American - 1,030.3
Latino - 332.6
Native American - 216.4
White - 141.9
Asian/Pacific Islander - 118
There were 27,000 gonorrhea cases in California in 2011. Gonorrhea rates were higher -- sometimes twice as high -- for men than for women (except for Native Americans) because of men having sex with men and because women with gonorrhea often don’t have symptoms. The highest gonorrhea rates were in San Francisco (276.5), followed by Fresno (127.2) and Sacramento (126.7). Here is the racial breakdown:
Gonorrhea rates (per 100,000 population):
African American - 303.8
Latino - 40.7
Native American - 37.7
White - 33.3
Asian/Pacific Islander - 17.2
There were about 2,500 syphilis cases, and men had vastly higher rates as it largely affects men who have sex with men. The highest syphilis rate was in San Francisco (46.2), followed by Berkeley (14.8). It is the only STD out of the three discussed where whites had the second-highest rate:
In my 1968 interview with ancestor James Baldwin, he said, "It's a wonder we all haven't gone stark raving mad." Oh, Jimmy, your prophesy has come true today, 2015: the virus of white supremacy (type I and II, Dr. Nathan Hare, Foreword, How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, Dr. M, aka Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 2007) is pervasive in North American Africans and Europeans. As a nation we are totally unable to navigate the perilous mental landscape with an iota of soundless or saneness. We are thus the performer on the tightrope about to fall headlong into the chasm or precipice of our own making. Like the hog returning to slop, we wallow in the madness of the times. And yes, the only light at the end of the tunnel is the train coming at us. And sadly, the engineer is busy text messaging as the oncoming train collides with our train and we are derailed and suffer death along with many injuries, physical and mental. We assumed or presumed the engineer was of sound mind, just as we assume our political leaders are of sound mind yet they are not, for they are enslaved to lobbyists of every stripe, pushing every agenda imaginable to advance themselves despite the fact they vowed to promote the consent of the governed upon election or reelection. Their duplicity feeds our madness and derails our mental equilibrium, causing us to descend even deeper into the chasm, confounded us with a plethora of lies and half truths.
We have been programmed by the monkey mind media to profess loyalty to the world of make believe the media magicians present to us. Thus, we are hoodwinked into believing their fake world. Dr. Nathan Hare says we must understand the Fictive Theory, i.e., everything the white man says is fiction until proven to be fact. This is a most difficult proposition when we have become addiction to white supremacy, i.e., the white man's ice is colder than the Black man's. There are those who will not use their credit cards with Black web sites but have no fear with submitting their credit cards to Amazon.com. I've had customers who declined to use my Square swipe, they rather go to the ATM machine and pay the fee because they don't trust my Square swipe.
Fear and lack of truth is discussed in Step I of my manual How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy. Since this is a Pan African manual of recovery, an African recently said, "Marvin X, we need a book entitled The Mis-education of the African. Talk about those Oxford Africans who are brainwashed worse than American Negroes. Marvin X, I tell you the truth, I rather be a Negro than an African. I would be totally shocked by his statement except an African woman told me the same thing recently. With his and her statements, I am confounded yet humbled by the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who told us we were the light of the world, as per Africans and Arabs, especially Arab Muslims. He preached to us to be our aboriginal selves and we would be leaders of the new world now coming into reality.
Master Sun Ra taught us we would not go forward or backward until we did the right thing, i.e., accepted our role in the world, along with our responsibility as the leaders as we enter the new era or the new cycle of history or mystery (Sun Ra) , yes, as we begin another 25, 000 year cycle of time.
So let us be clear on how we can navigate the perilous mental landscape in the now of our lives. Know thyself said the Africans, followed by the Greek students of the Africans (see Stolen Legacy, George M. James). Knowledge of Self is the first knowledge on the road to us regaining our mental equilibrium.
We cell phones, we can now Google African Knowledge of Self! We can Google any knowledge from anywhere in the world. This makes the Bible saying, "The people were destroyed for lack of knowledge," even more relevant because there is no excuse for ignorance except the desire to remain ignorant. And there are those who desire to remain ignorant. Some of those brothers who stop by my Academy of da Corner, will say proudly, "Oh, Bro, I don't read books, my woman reads." Imagine the depths of this statement, a prescription for some horror story in male/female relations "further on up the road," as that old Blues song tells us. Can't remember if this is a Bobby Bland or BB King song.
I am horrified when brothers come to my Academy and ask for work. As I watch them, I can see their primary objective is my female assistant. I observe that his pants are hanging off his behind, so I know he can't work with me if he has a problem pulling up his pants. Would anyone hire him with his pants sagging showing his drawers. If the white man won't hire him, I don't blame the white man. I know if I came in my Father's house with my pants sagging, I would get a serious beat down. Alas, we know many if not most of these brothers have no knowledge of their fathers, and this fact contributes to their difficulty is navigating their perilous mental landscape.
Manhood training is thus a necessity is regaining our mental equilibrium, and the same for women. What are the fundamentals of manhood and womanhood and who is qualified to teach us this essential lesson of life? The most recent lessons came from the Nation of Islam's FOI and MGT training classes.
The Nation of Islam, no matter the negatives, it attempted to instruct us in manhood and womahood training rites and rituals. In truth, we need to bow down and kiss the ground for the teachings of the Nation of Islam that gave us Black Studies 101 and manhood/womanhood training as well. Socalled academic Black Studies never gave us basic manhood and womanhood training. If one doesn't know the purpose and meaning of manhood and womanhood, all other knowledge is to no avail. When I taught Black Studies at Fresno State University, 1969, Message to the Black Man was my text and as per my journalism class Muhammad Speaks was my text. Yes, Gov. Ronald Reagan removed me from campus by any means necessary. He did the same to Angela Davis at UCLA the same year. And as a Communist, what do you think her texts were? Ask her!
I conclude with the question, How do we navigate the perilous mental landscape before us at this hour?
Firstly, we must be fearless. We must overcome our fears in order to navigate successfully.
We are so thankful our ancestors taught us to be fearless, e.g., David Walker, Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Noble Drew Ali, Marcus Garvey, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, et al.
On the West Coast, Huey P. Newton taught me to be fearless, along with Bobbly Seale, Little Bobby Hutton and Eldridge Cleaver, Geronimo and Bunchy Carter, Elaine Brown, Kathleen Cleaver, Queen Mother Moore, Clara Muhammad, et al.
The poor righteous teacher does not teach for money, fame or fortune. His message is truth and truth alone. Marvin X told Jet Magazine, "I don't want the Christian truth, Muslim truth, Communist Truth, I want the whole truth, so help me God!"
No matter how the political correct consider him, i.e., some say he is not a Muslim--although there are those who consider him the father of Muslim American literature (Dr. Mohja Kahf), though there are those who know he is one of the fathers of the Black Arts Movement, precursor of Rap or the Hip Hop movement (See the anthology Black Fire and the Black Arts Movement Reader SOS.
Amiri Baraka said, "Marvin X, aka El Muhajir, is one of the outstanding...African writers and teachers in America. He has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the innovators and foudners of the new revolutionary schools of African writing."--Amiri Baraka
"When you listen to Tupac Shakur, E-40, Too Short, Master P or any other rappers out of the Bay Area of Cali, think of Marvin X. He laid the foundation and gave us the language to express Black male urban experiences in a lyrical way." --James G. Spady, Philadelphia New Observer
Many don't know where to place Marvin X, for sure he transcends the American and European literary tradition.
Bob Holman called him, "The USA's Rumi. Then added he was Saddi and Hafiz."
Ishmael Reed said, "He is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland." For sure, Marvin X teachers at 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland. But his mission is far beyond teaching, he is a mental health counselor for the many suffering trauma and grief." My teaching is thus about literacy, literature, consciousness, partner relations, parent/child relations and more. --Marvin X, August 28, 2015
After months of debate, the City Council unanimously voted this week to create a Department of Race and Equity to address systemic racism and inequality in the City of Oakland.
This victory for the Department of Race and Equity makes Oakland one of few cities around the country, along with Portland and Seattle, that have created departments to ensure equality and fairness for all residents.
Among other issues, the department will need to look at unequal enforcement of city zoning policies, said Brooks.
“It’s the planning and the zoning decisions that have allowed for auto body shops to be next door to somebody’s house, that allow for environmental issues to impact communities of color, that allow for West Oakland to have (a higher) asthma rate because of the bad conditions,” she said.
“We need a Department of Race and Equity because we have normalized the conversation of race,” Brooks said.
If murder of police is assassination, what is the killing of unarmed Black men but assassination under the color of law! We don't need police in our communities who kill unarmed young Black men and women.
We just attended August Wilson's play King Hedley II, at the Flight Deck Theatre in Oakland, produced and directed by Dr. Ayodele Nzinga. King Hedley's wife seeks an abortion because she refuses to bring a child in this world only to be murdered by another Black person or by the police.
Even more ironic is the play's director, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, who has four sons (three of them in the production) and has told this writer how fearful she is whenever her sons leave the house, fearful they may not return home due to Black on Black homicide or police homicide under the color of law.
Imam Jamil Al Amin (H. Rap Brown) told us long ago violence is as American as cherry pie. Violence in America shall not stop until America ends her trillion dollar global military killing machine that needs permanent war to feed the military/corporate bandits, yes, the one per centers, aka, blood suckers of the poor.
Shannon J. Miles is a tragic figure but his tragic flaw is rooted in American white supremacy. White Supremacy is the supreme American Tragedy due to classic hubris, greed, jealousy and envy.
Officer Darren Goforth died a tragic death and with each passing day, we envision only more murder under the color of law and the response of the oppressed people who will find a way to strike back at those who represent and perpetuate oppression, who think they can literally get away with murder with fake grand juries and district attorneys in league with the police.
The police are not the real enemy but the political/economic institutions that allow them to murder under the color of law. Every slave has the human right to resist the slave master and those who help maintain the slave system, from the slave catchers of yesterday to the police of today.
The police should remove themselves from our communities until they understand their role as peace officers, which they may be constitutionally unable to do since they represent a vicious system of wage slavery and mass incarceration of the unemployed, drug addicted and mentally ill.
The police can and must do better or simply remove themselves from our communities.
As the Black Panther Party said long ago, "You are either part of the problem or part of the solution." On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the BPP, we learned we don't have the power to confront the police, we cannot make war with them because they will bring in all the power of the state military and intelligence agencies to crush us into the dustbin of history. The condition of Oakland, California is partly due to the counter-revolution that the US waged against the Black Panther Party in particular and North American Africans in general. How else can one explain the reactionary culture of Oakland that was devastated by the introduction of Crack cocaine and guns, additionally germ and chemical warfare was utilized to break the back of the Black Liberation Movement, to crush any idea of radical and revolutionary change. Oakland is inundated with intelligence agents, agent provocateurs and snitches in abundance. The police mantra is, "Give up three and you go free!"
Nevertheless, we must resist at every turn because persecution is worse than slaughter, says the Qur'an. In the tradition of the American revolution, Liberty or Death!
--Marvin X
29 August 2015
Man arrested in killing of Houston deputy, faces capital murder charge
By Kevin Murphy and Alex Dobuzinskis
(Reuters) - Sheriff's deputies on Saturday arrested a 30-year-old man who will be charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting death of a deputy at a Houston gas station, a killing the sheriff tied to anger against police.
Shannon Miles was picked up for questioning early on Saturday following the Friday night shooting, which was captured on surveillance video, Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman told reporters. He noted that Miles is black and has a history of prior arrests for trespassing and resisting arrest. Earlier on Saturday, Hickman had linked the shooting of deputy Darren Goforth, who was white, to anti-police rhetoric across the country in the wake of deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white officers.
On announcing the charges against Miles later in the day, Hickman said the department assumed that Goforth was "a target because he wore a uniform."
"We have not been able to extract any details regarding a motive at this point," Hickman added. "As far as we know, deputy Goforth had no previous contact with the suspect, and it appears to be clearly unprovoked."
Hickman said a handgun had been recovered and that a ballistics test matched it to bullets recovered from the scene.
Goforth, a 10-year veteran of the force, was pumping gas into his patrol car when the gunman approached from behind and shot him in the back, then shot him more times as he lay on the ground, sheriff's officials said.
The fatal shooting in Houston comes more than eight months after two New York police officers were ambushed and shot to death in Brooklyn by a gunman who had said he wanted to avenge the deaths of black men in confrontations with police.
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said at the time of the shooting, which followed large-scale protests over deaths of African-Americans at the hands of officers, that police were unfairly subjected to public anger.
Hickman was blunt in his defense of law enforcement in the midst of protests against police by movements such as Black Lives Matter, which has complained of police violence and mass incarceration of blacks.
"We've heard black lives matter; all lives matter. Well cops' lives matter too," Hickman said. "Our system of justice absolutely requires a law enforcement presence to protect our communities, so at any point where the rhetoric ramps up to the point where calculated cold-blooded assassination of police officers happen(s), this rhetoric has gotten out of control," Hickman added.
Some commentators on social media objected to Hickman's statements.
"When Blacks get legally killed we are constantly told it's not about race. But the sheriff in the DarrenGoforth case IMMEDIATELY invoked race," tweeted African-American author and lecturer Tariq Nasheed.
She was a sick mother who hated her daughter because she was not a boy. She had three sons but found her daughter disgusting, a little bitch with a pussy like mine. I love my boys but that little bitch gotta go.
So she persecuted her daughter at every turn, locked her in her room, beat her daily and starved her. Mama was a sick puppy who came from the womb of a sick mother who was mentally ill and illiterate. Fuck them books, she told her children. Don't bring nothing home from that damn school.
Them motherfuckers don't know shit. I know everything ya'll need to know. Listen to what I tell you. She told her children they would never be shit, just like their no good daddy, a dope fiend ass motherfucker who loved dope more than he loved her and his children.
Every time I look at that little bitch daughter of mine, I get sick cause she looks just like her daddy.
I'm so happy my boys look like me. They my pride and joy, not that little bitch lookin' like her no good motherfuckin daddy. Left me here with these four kids so he could do his dope. I wish that motherfucker soon have a heart attack and overdose so I can have some peace in my life. Yeah, I lock that little bitch in her room, think I wanna see her. I don't want to look at her ass lookin like her fuckin daddy. Give me a motherfuckin break!
I wish Child Protective Services would come and get these little bastards, well, they can take that little funky ass bitch with her pussy. Yeah, I turned her on to my boyfriends, let them get at that bitch. She ain't good fa nothing, noway. What the hell she gonna be but a ho'? Little slut, yeah, I let my boyfriends get some of that ass, so what? Her pussy ain't gold! If I had my way, I'd sell that little slut. But my boys, I love my boys. They my pride and joy. And most of all, they look like me, not like their no good motherfuckin daddy.
How in the fuck can I deal with four kids in my mental state. I know I'm crazy. Ma mama is crazy. Ma grandma is crazy. Yeah, I come from a long line of crazy motherfuckin women who kicked they men's asses. That's right, we dominated our nigguhs. They didn't fuck wit us. Ma granny would shoot a nigguh before the sun came up. Mama would shot a nigguh fore the sun came down. Yeah, we some bad bitches, from a long line of bad bitches, all the way back to Great Granny C who came off the slave ship kickin ass. Better ax somebody. She told the white slave master she ain't doin a motherfucker thang and he can kiss her black ass, yeah, her unruly black ass.
Slave master didn't fuck with Great Granny C. She ran off the plantation and her master put her ass on a wanted sign:
Wanted
Dead or Alive
$500.00
Uppity Wench
recalcitrant, incorrigible
yellow black wench
Will not follow orders
Must beat her daily
Intelligent even though she can't read
good child bearer but must be watched so she don't kill her babies
I didn't get a chance to meet Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner, but I was blessed to meet Pan Africa and Mumia Abu Jamal. All praise is due Allah I met them in my lifetime as the direct spirit of Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner. Pam and Mumia, I appreciate you for holding high the banner of Black Liberation in the United Snakes of America. --Marvin X 30 August 2015, Oakland Cali
Black voices featured in "Talking Back," a dynamic new anthology by activists of color
Talking Back contributor Lillian Thompson
Talking Back: Voices of ColorEdited and with an introduction by Nellie Wong
$15.00, 240 pages, paperback, 5.5" x 8.5", index
Red Letter Press, 2015 Print version: ISBN 978-0-932323-32-3 Ebook: ISBN 978-0-932323-33-0
A new anthology, Talking Back: Voices of Color (Red Letter Press, 2015),presents an unusually diverse group of writers speaking out on issues affecting communities of color. Contributors share tales of survival, explore little-known history, and offer insightful cultural reviews. Nellie Wong, a widely published Bay Area poet and social justice activist, is the book's editor and author of the introduction, a striking meditation on the importance of "talking back" in asserting identity and power on an individual and collective level.
Like Wong, the book's contributors are involved in community organizing. Based in a number of locations, their identities include Asian/Pacific American, Black, indigenous North American and Aboriginal Australian, Latino, Palestinian, immigrant, feminist, youth, elder, LGBTQ, students, unionists, former prisoners, and more. Their aim is to communicate and mobilize. Speaking from and to the grassroots, their offerings are readable, persuasive, free from academic jargon, and rich with personal experience.
Black readers will find themselves represented in a number of articles. Duciana Thomas recounts her participation in the fight to preserve working-class education. School teacher Lillian Thompson shows how charter schools perpetuate inequality.Mark Cook, a political prisoner for 24 years, describes the slave-labor conditions in U.S. prisons. Black Panther leader Eddie Conway speaks out in a prison interview. John Hatchett tells how he, as a faculty advisor, helped female students at Bennett College plan the historic Greensboro sit-ins. Sarah Scott reviews the novel We Need New Names, dealing with the experience of African immigrants. Ralph Poynter describes how his wife, attorney Lynne Stewart, became a political prisoner and calls for the release of all political prisoners.Nellie Wong pays tribute to radical Black, gay poet Langston Hughes.
African American scholar, unionist, and former civil rights organizer James Wright calls the book "a treasure" by a "rainbow of radical authors." Alice Goff, a Black immigrant labor leader and community activist, predicts that even readers who don't share the opinions of the authors may "come away with a different perspective and possibly be moved to question the status quo."Another reviewer, Arab American artist and writer Happy Hyder, says the book's "fearless and varied voices" reveal "the true meaning of political action." Sociologist Dr. Jesse Díaz, Jr. says the book will lead to increased understanding of the activist of color's "toils for equality and justice." Karin Aguilar-San Juan, an associate professor and Filipina American lesbian, describes the writings as resonant with "pain and rage… light and power and hope."
Talking Back: Voices of Color can be ordered from www.RedLetterPress.org, Amazon.com, Powells.com or request from your local book seller.
429 pages Paper ISBN: 978-1-58367-445-1 Cloth ISBN: 978-1-58367-446-8 June 2014 Also available as an e-book Monthly Review Press
The histories of Cuba and the United States are tightly intertwined and have been for at least two centuries. In Race to Revolution, historian Gerald Horne examines a critical relationship between the two countries by tracing out the typically overlooked interconnections among slavery, Jim Crow, and revolution. Slavery was central to the economic and political trajectories of Cuba and the United States, both in terms of each nation’s internal political and economic development and in the interactions between the small Caribbean island and the Colossus of the North.
Horne draws a direct link between the black experiences in two very different countries and follows that connection through changing periods of resistance and revolutionary upheaval. Black Cubans were crucial to Cuba’s initial independence, and the relative freedom they achieved helped bring down Jim Crow in the United States, reinforcing radical politics within the black communities of both nations. This in turn helped to create the conditions that gave rise to the Cuban Revolution which, on New Years’ Day in 1959, shook the United States to its core.
Based on extensive research in Havana, Madrid, London, and throughout the U.S., Race to Revolution delves deep into the historical record, bringing to life the experiences of slaves and slave traders, abolitionists and sailors, politicians and poor farmers. It illuminates the complex web of interaction and influence that shaped the lives of many generations as they struggled over questions of race, property, and political power in both Cuba and the United States.
In his pathbreaking book, Gerald Horne reveals how the histories of Cuba and the United States, from the slave trade to Jim Crow and the Cold War, have always been closer and more turbulent than the ninety miles separating them across the Straits of Florida. Indeed, one cannot possibly understand the journey from bondage to freedom in America without wrestling with its consequences for the people of African descent in Cuba. Their story is our story, and thanks to Horne, we can now study its flow in a single, and profound, narrative.
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
An important intellectual event … Hopefully, someone will discover over there, in the capital of the Empire, these works by Professor Horne. And may they find time to read them.
—Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, former ambassador of Cuba to the United Nations and president of Cuba’s National Assembly
Gerald Horne is one of our most original historians.
—Ishmael Reed, John D. MacArthur Fellow
Gerald Horne’s epic history will help many readers understand the special relationship between slavery, African Americans, and Cuba over the centuries. Horne continues in the deep tradition of Frederick Douglass, who described Cuba as ‘the great western slave mart of the world.’ Horne is in the forefront of historians laboring to revise the entire story of the Americas until the broken pieces are mended.
Horne offers new insights and thoughtful analysis of the comparative and at time complementary circumstances of slavery and racial animus in Cuba and the United States, and in the process reveals a new dimension to the complexities of the Cuba-U.S. problematic. Race to Revolution is a very much welcome and important contribution to the scholarship on the workings of trans-national systems.
—Louis A. Pérez, Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Gerald Horne is John and Rebecca Moores Professor of African-American History at the University of Houston. He is the author of more than two dozen books, including The Counter-Revolution of 1776, Negro Comrades of the Crown, Mau Mau in Harlem?, From the Barrel of a Gun, and Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930-1950.
Defying Expectations, Mayor Ras Baraka Is Praised in All Corners of Newark
Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark speaking at Occupy the City, an anti-violence rally and march, in August.Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times
NEWARK — Mayor Ras J. Baraka came into office last summer practically taunting his doubters.
“Yeah,” he said in his inaugural address, “we need a mayor that’s radical.”
They had predicted that he would be anti-business and anti-police, that Mr. Baraka, the son of Newark’s most famous black radical, would return a city dogged by a history of riots and white flight to division and disarray.
A year later, Mr. Baraka is showering attention on black and Latino neighborhoods, as he promised he would. But he is also winning praise from largely white leaders of the city’s businesses and institutions downtown. He struggles with crime — all mayors here do — but he has also championed both the Black Lives Matter movement and the police, winning praise for trying to ease their shared suspicion.
The radical now looks more like a radical pragmatist.
Newark is still stubbornly two cities: gleaming new glass towers downtown, block after block of abandoned plots and relentless poverty in its outer wards, with five killings within 36 hours this month. But for all the expectations that Mr. Baraka would divide the city, those on both sides of the spectrum say that he has so far managed to do what his predecessors could not: make both Newarks feel as if he is their mayor.
The mayor at an awards ceremony for the Newark Fire Department.Credit Bryan Thomas for The New York Times
Development plans are reaching into long-ignored neighborhoods. Projects stalled for years are moving forward, and new industries are taking root: a vertical farm, an incubator space and an investment fund for technology start-ups.
Mr. Baraka closed a $93 million hole in the city budget without layoffs. In June, Gov. Chris Christie agreed to start returning the schools to local control — something the governor had denied Cory A. Booker, Mr. Baraka’s more polished predecessor. The governor had rejected Mr. Baraka’s bid for control a year ago, deeming him “kind of hostile.”
“He’s like the local boy who grew up and said, ‘I need to fix my city.’ How do you not get inspired by that? How do you not root for a guy like that?” said Joseph M. Taylor, the chief executive of Panasonic Corporation of North America, which was lured to Newark by Mr. Booker. “I didn’t think anybody could top Cory Booker, but if anybody can, it’s Mayor Baraka.”
Not everyone is on board. Some local politicians, even those who support Mr. Baraka, say the positive reception partly reflects the low expectations set during a nasty election last spring, in which outside groups spent at least $5 million trying to defeat him. They say the talent pool at City Hall is shallow, and that Mr. Baraka has surrounded himself with friends and family members — in particular, his brother, Amiri Baraka Jr., who serves as his chief of staff — who engage in a kind of street politics that have dragged Mr. Baraka into distracting feuds.
The candidate Mr. Baraka defeated, Shavar Jeffries, continues to criticize the mayor’s inability to stanch crime, dismissing Mr. Baraka’s anti-violence rallies as empty gimmicks. And presuming Mr. Baraka can complete the return of schools to local control, they remain some of the nation’s most troubled and low-performing.
Attendees at Occupy the City, an anti-violence march. The mayor has enlisted the help of residents in trying to curb crime.Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times
But others point to changes large and small. The mayor had the walls painted and brighter light bulbs installed at City Hall. Residents welcomed his gestures like offering movie nights in Military Park, which is newly renovated with help from private groups and Prudential, whose sleek new headquarters opened this month across the street.
“These small things are what we need,” said Kourtney Awadalla, 28, an office worker who lives in the North Ward.
She had come with her 7-year-old daughter to an Occupy the City rally the mayor held in early August, blocking off streets at the city’s crossroads for thousands of residents who marched against violence. “We’re used to them blocking off streets because someone got shot, not someone blocking off streets for a positive thing,” Ms. Awadalla said.
The mayor has created a Civilian Complaint Review Board to address accusations of mistreatment by the police, and a municipal identification program. He also rewrote the zoning code for the first time in 60 years, and businesspeople praised him for speeding up the bureaucracy at City Hall.
Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., the Essex County executive who leads the Democratic machine that lined up against Mr. Baraka in the nonpartisan elections last year, stood with him at a news conference in June and declared that he had made a mistake not supporting him.
The mayor's father, Amiri Baraka, on his way to jail in 1968 after he was sentenced for illegally possessing two revolvers during the 1967 riots in Newark.Credit Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
“I thought he would be divisive,” Mr. DiVincenzo said in an interview. “That’s where I was wrong.”
“A boy from Clinton Avenue and 10th Street,” as he describes himself, Mr. Baraka, 46, grew up in one of the more celebrated households of Newark. His father was Amiri Baraka, the poet, playwright and black nationalist who moved back to the city to help galvanize the black nationalist movement. Maya Angelou read poems to the young Ras Baraka; Nina Simone sang him lullabies.
As principal of Central High School, he pushed out gangs and raised test scores. And as a City Council member representing the South Ward — Newark’s largest and poorest — he styled himself as the anti-Booker, criticizing the mayor for spending too much time on television and travel and not enough tending to the needs at home. His campaign refrain: “When I become mayor, we all become mayor.”
Still, Mr. Baraka can seem uncomfortable with attention. Introduced warmly at a recent event to open a new community center in the West Ward, he looked up briefly to nod at the applause, then resumed staring at an indeterminate place on the floor.
About his city, he expresses emotion fiercely and openly. In May, after a spate of killings, he sent out an anguished email over the public alert system, describing his difficulty sleeping as he thought about the violence. He called for residents, especially Newark’s men (“the ladies” always show up, he said), to join him in “occupying” a different block each week, trying to push out illegal activities.
The mayor at an anti-violence march this month. He has gained attention for his efforts to unite the city.Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times
“Everybody has a responsibility,” he shouted to the thousands gathered at the intersection of Market and Broad Streets for Occupy the City, wearing a T-shirt proclaiming “We Are Newark.”
“The mayor has a responsibility, yes,” he said. “The police have a responsibility, yes. But so do our fathers, so do our mothers, so do our brothers. The question is, are you living up to your responsibility?”
The stubborn poverty of Newark’s residents has long made the city reliant on its downtown corporate tenants for its tax base and prompted complaints that mayors lavish attention on them to the detriment of the rest of the city. (Mr. Baraka’s father was a leader of this charge.)
Downtown is largely a 9-to-5 population of whites who commute from the suburbs. Residents in other parts of the city are more likely to refer to the riots that convulsed Newark in 1967 as “the rebellion,” an uprising against white oppression.
In the heart of downtown, the administration has pushed forward Triangle Park, a 24-acre parcel with a park and retail, residential and office space that will connect Pennsylvania Station, the restaurants of the Ironbound section, and the Prudential Center, an entertainment arena and home of the New Jersey Devils. The city conceived the project 10 years ago, but much of the land has remained weedy lots. Construction is expected to begin next year.
Mr. Baraka, left, during a Newark mayoral debate with Shavar Jeffries, right, in April 2014.Credit Julio Cortez/Associated Press
“The progress that has been achieved in the last 90 days has been more than what was done in the last five years,” said Hugh Weber, the president of the Prudential Center and the Devils.
The city has also helped move along the construction of One Theater Square, a 22-story residential tower that was supposed to be built soon after the Performing Arts Center was finished in 1997. The project, expected to complete its financing in October, will be the city’s first new market-rate housing in five decades.
A free-standing Starbucks — the city’s only one announced its closing in 2008 — will soon open in the new Prudential complex, as will a Nike store. A Whole Foods is under construction in the old Hahne & Company department store space nearby, and Rutgers will occupy 57,000 square feet there with university arts programs, gallery space and a community photo studio.
The Baraka administration passed an ordinance requiring developers who get tax abatements and companies with city contracts to hire Newark residents for 51 percent of their jobs.
This spring, Mr. Baraka designated two of the most blighted areas in the South and West Wards of the city “model neighborhoods,” flooding them with police and code enforcement officers to address problems like poor lighting and abandoned structures that can foster crime.
He established nine Centers of Hope with social services and activities in abandoned community centers, and enlisted downtown institutions, such as the Devils and the Performing Arts Center, to bring programs to the neighborhoods. Well before Ferguson, Mo., drew attention to police-community relations, Mr. Baraka had begun leading groups of police officials and clergy members to walk and talk with residents in some of the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Mr. Baraka meets often with his police director. But he has also set up street teams of residents to help defuse tensions that can escalate into shootings and death. In one recent case, a young man reported that someone was threatening to kill him because he owed $250. The team took money from a hardship fund and gave it to the man making the threat, but told him that if there was further trouble, he would be arrested.
Todd R. Clear, the provost and a professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University-Newark, confessed to having worried about the new mayor coming in. “Now I’m really engaged, I’m all in,” he said, impressed by the mayor’s “phenomenal” energy in dealing with crime, his willingness to enlist help and push the police and residents out of their traditional postures.
“I am as encouraged about what’s going on in Newark with public safety as I’ve ever been, and I’ve been here since 1979,” he said.
“He realizes that he can’t do this out of City Hall,” Mr. Clear said. “This is sort of like making everyone mayor.”
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