Human Earthquake hits Sacramento suffering 95 degree heat

The Human Earthquake hit Sacramento, adding to the 95 degree heat--with no breeze, something the Human Earthquake loves about the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area. But no breeze in Sac, the capital of California, as if the Human Earthquake is not used to the Central Valley weather, having been raised in Fresno where it used to be 113 degrees at midnight.

The Human Earthquake was not a stranger to Sacramento, having lived in the Oak Park District during his addiction to Crack cocaine in the 90s. For a time he lived on La Soledad Ave. with his Black Arts Movement mentor Alonzo Harris Batin. Alonzo Batin, a career criminal, recruited the Black Arts West Theatre crew into the Nation of Islam, including Duncan Barber, Hillery Broadous, Ethna Wyatt and Marvin X. BAW members playwright Ed Bullins and Carl Bossisere (cousin of Michael and Ted Lange) did not join but were also impacted by the BAM guru Batin, who'd spend time in San Quentin with Eldridge Cleaver, author of Soul on Ice, that Marvin X introduced to Black Panther co-founders Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Another Black Panther named Earl Anthony, aka, Earl the Squirrel, wrote a play about Eldridge and Alonzo Batin, produced off-Broadway by Woody King. As per the Oak Park District, Marvin suggested it would be nice to name a street in honor of the Black Arts District.

The Human Earthquake also has a plethora of cousins in Sacramento, two were present at the Sacramento Black Book Fair reception at Underground Books and the Guild Theatre, Stan Murrill and Michael Benjamin. Michael is a member of the Sacramento Black Arts Movement. He has produced and directed plays in Sac for decades, often working with Paul Carter Harrison. He is quick to let people know he and Marvin X are family!


Of course, he calls his muse, former Sacramento Bee writer Fahizah Alim, Lois Lane. But in fact she was Superwoman for Sacramento North American Africans. When in trouble, Blacks in Sac called Fahizah to voice their problems with white supremacy. She is a Marvin X student. He is accompanied at the Sacramento Black Book Fair by two current students mentored at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, Aries Jordan and Prosperity Carter. Fahizah describes his writing as "orgasmic"!

After the reception at Underground Books, two panel discussions were held next door at the Guild Theatre; a panel on the Voting Rights Act with Professor Bill Strickland and Professor Pinderhughes and a panel on the Black Arts Movement with Professor Emeritus Eugene Redmond and BAM co-founder Marvin X, aka, The Human Earthquake. You've already heard Professor Strickland's remarks on the trade bill. In his conclusion on the Voting Rights Bill, the professor confessed he had to submit to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who said the white man is the devil!
Professor Pinderhughes essentially said the same, they are obstructionists, devious, diabolical, in the attempt to keep Blacks and other minorities from voting.

The Black Arts Movement panel began with Marvin X: in the words of Paul Robeson, we are artistic freedom fighters. Art and culture prompted the Black Power revolution of the 60s, thus the power of art and culture. He quoted Mrs. Amina Baraka, "Everybody who say they was in the Black Arts Movement wasn't in the Black Arts Movement."

Larry Neal said BAM was the sister of the Black Arts Movement. Marvin X said BAM was the mother of the Black Power Movement. He quoted Huey Newton: "Marvin X was my teacher. Many of our comrades came through his Black Arts Theatre, i.e., Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier, et al."

He told of a recent speech by Virtual Murrell, representing Bobby Seale, who said at the 50th Anniversary of Peralta Colleges in Oakland, including Merritt College where Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, and Marvin X were students: "It was when Marvin X brought his play Flowers for the Trashman to Merritt in support of the Soul Students Advisory Council, that the Merritt student movement took off, powered by the Black Arts of Marvin X."

As a demonstration of how cunning and vile the addiction to white supremacy can be, Marvin X told the Sacramento folks that a white man seated at his table ($175.00 dinner) said to him after the remarks by Virtual Murrell, "If I'd known you were somebody important, I would have had a conversation with you!"

The audience  succumbed to the Human Earthquake. After his presentation, Marvin X was mobbed by the audience. A young married woman said she was in love with him. Marvin X told her, "If you are in love with me, leave your husband tonight and come with me." A 60 year old woman let him know she was ready to rock and roll with him. He told her, "It ain't about your age, it's about your energy. I know some 29 year old women who are tired and need to take some Geritol! A 23 year old woman told me, "I thought you was an old man!"

 Marvin X at his Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, renamed the Black Arts Movement District. He claims his classroom is the most dangerous in the world. FYI, in was the site of the Oscar Grant rebellion, Occupy Oakland and Black Lives Matter. During Occupy Oakland, the poet was tear gassed.
photo Adam Turner


We suspect Marvin X will be mobbed whenever he speaks Saturday and Sunday at the SAC Book Fair. SAC was inspired by the energy in his words, and the truth!