Black Arts Movement Poet Marvin X at Gaza Rally, Seattle WA
To: Marvin X, Black Arts Movement District, Oakland CA
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 9:26 AM
Subject: Pushing for 1,000 signatures before our statement is published next week!
Peace everyone,
We wanted to give you a couple of updates on publishing the statement:
- The statement will debut in Ebony next week!
- The statement will remain open for additional signatures until the end of Monday
- We currently have 700 individuals and 29 organizations signed on and we'd like to reach 1,000 over the next five days
If we can add 100-150 signatures by Friday, we'll be in pretty good shape! Can everyone reach out to 5-10 people or organizing lists today? If everyone only gets one new person to sign, we'll still be at 1,500!
We encourage organizations to sign the statement as well. If your org has already signed on, please send another blast asking for individual signatures.
Sample appeals for signatures are below, as well as a list of the orgs and some of the notable figures who have signed so far.
We recognize we've said that the statement is being closed/re-opened/published a few times now and appreciate your patience--it's taken us more time than expected to iron things out, but the statement has only grown stronger in that time.
Kristian & Khury
Here are some sample social media messages. We still recommend posting on Facebook/mailing lists over Twitter, as the latter opens us up more to getting trolled by anonymous people.
700 Black activists, artists, and scholars have signed this statement of solidarity with Palestine. Help us get to 1,000 over the next five days!
A group of Black activists, artists, scholars, and writers are circulating a solidarity statement with Palestine. We're trying to add 300 signatures by Monday. Will you read, sign and share it? http://www.blackforpalestine.com/
Join Angela Davis, Cornel West, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and me in signing this Black Statement of Solidarity with Palestine! http://www.blackforpalestine.com/
Here is a list of organizations and notable signatories to help with your efforts:
Individuals
Angela Davis
Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Boots Riley
Cornel West
dream hampton
Emory Douglas
Jasiri X
Mumia Abu Jamal
Phil Hutchings
Robin DG Kelley
Rosa Clemente
Sundiata Acoli
Talib Kweli
Tef Poe
Marvin XOrganizations
Amistad Law Project
Assata's Daughters
Baltimore Bloc
Barry University Black Student Union
Black Arts Movement District, Oakland
Black Autonomy Federation-North East Branch
Black Bottom, LLC
Black Student Alliance at Yale
Black Student Alliance Executive Board
- St. Louis University
Black Unity Group
BlaQue UCLA
C
oalition of African Lesbians Columbia University Black Students' Organization
Columbus Coalition on Mental Health, Addiction & Mass Incarceration
Dorothy Cotton Institute
Friends of the Congo
Hands Up United
Muslim American Society - South Florida
Muslims for Economic, Racial and Reproductive Justice Network for the Elimination of Police Violence
New Afrikan Independence Party
Organization for Black Struggle
Peace by Piece
Spoken Word Alliance at Tufts
Stanford NAACP Executive Committee
The Dream Defenders
Tribe X
UCLA Afrikan Student Union
Ujima People's Progress Party
Wisdom Within Health & Wellness
Abraham is not my father, Palestine is not my home
But I would fight any man
Who kicked me out of my house
To dwell in a tent
I would fight
To the ends of the earth
Someone who said to me
I want your house
Because my father lived here
Two thousand years ago
I want your land
Because my father lived here
Two thousand years ago.
Jets would not stop me
From returning to my home
Uncle toms would not stop me
Cluster bombs would not stop me
Bullets I would defy.
No man can take the house of another
And expect to live in peace
There is no peace for thieves
There is no peace for those who murder
For myths and ancient rituals
Wail at the wall
Settle in "Judea" and "Samaria"
But fate awaits you
You will never sleep with peace
You will never walk without listening.
I shall cross the River Jordan
With Justice in my hand
I shall return to Jerusalem
And establish my house of peace,
Thus said the Lord.
PALESTINE by Marvin X (El Muhajir)
I am not an Arab, I am not a JewAbraham is not my father, Palestine is not my home
But I would fight any man
Who kicked me out of my house
To dwell in a tent
I would fight
To the ends of the earth
Someone who said to me
I want your house
Because my father lived here
Two thousand years ago
I want your land
Because my father lived here
Two thousand years ago.
Jets would not stop me
From returning to my home
Uncle toms would not stop me
Cluster bombs would not stop me
Bullets I would defy.
No man can take the house of another
And expect to live in peace
There is no peace for thieves
There is no peace for those who murder
For myths and ancient rituals
Wail at the wall
Settle in "Judea" and "Samaria"
But fate awaits you
You will never sleep with peace
You will never walk without listening.
I shall cross the River Jordan
With Justice in my hand
I shall return to Jerusalem
And establish my house of peace,
Thus said the Lord.
© 1972 by Marvin X, published in Black Scholar Magazine, circa 1970
Two Poems for the People of Syria
how much water can run from rivers to sea
how much blood can soak the earth
the guns of tyrants know no end
a people awakened are bigger than bullets
there is no sleep in their eyes
no more stunted backs and fear of broken limbs
even men, women and children are humble with sacrifice
the old the young play their roles
with smiles they endure torture chambers
with laughs they submit to rape and mutilations
there is no victory for oppressors
whose days are numbered
as the clock ticks as the sun rises
let the people continue til victory
surely they smell it on their hands
taste it on lips
believe it in their hearts
know it in their minds
no more backwardness no fear
let there be resistance til victory.
--Marvin X/El Muhajir
Syrian poet/professor Dr. Mohja Kahf
Oh Marvin, how much blood can soak the earth?
The angels asked, “will you create a species who will shed blood
and overrun the earth with evil?”
And it turns out “rivers of blood” is no metaphor:
see the stones of narrow alleys in Duma
shiny with blood hissing from humans? Dark
and dazzling, it keeps pouring and pumping
from the inexhaustible soft flesh of Syrians,
and neither regime cluster bombs from the air,
nor rebel car bombs on the ground,
ask them their names before they die.
They are mowed down like wheat harvested by machine,
and every stalk has seven ears, and every ear a hundred grains.
They bleed like irrigation canals into the earth.
Even one little girl in Idlib with a carotid artery cut
becomes a river of blood. Who knew she could be a river
running all the way over the ocean, to you,
draining me of my heart? And God said to the angels,
“I know what you know not.” But right now,
the angels seem right. Cut the coyness, God;
learn the names of all the Syrians.
See what your species has done.
--Mohja Kahf
www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com
jmarvinx@yahoo.com