photo Ken Johnson
I Am American
Dedicated to my brother Ollie (January 21)
daughter Nefertiti (January 29)
I am American
no citizen of the United States
gave up years ago
Toronto, 1967
protesting US in Vietnam
no Viet Cong called me a nigger!
willing to be US citizen again
will pledge. I AM AMERICAN
NORTH AMERICAN AFRICAN!
exiled
underground Chicago
BAM CHICAGO
HAKI DON L. LEE
CAROLYN ROGERS
MOTHER GWEN
HOYT FULLER BLACK WORLD NEGRO DIGEST
AFRO ARTS THEATRE
MOVING ON TO HARLEM
KILLED MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR IN MY MIDST
GOT UP SOUTH SIDE WITH NATIONAL GUARD IN MY MIDST
ESCAPE TO HARLEM
Harlem Black Arts Movement
Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra, Last Poets, Amiri, Askia, Haki, Barbara Ann Teer, Milford Graves, et al.
crucified at Fresno State University Black Studies
Angela Davis on the cross at UCLA, 1969
I am American
exiled second time Mexico City
exiled Americans from the Americas!
brothers and sisters
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil
call me Pele Pele Pele on the streets Mexico City
touch my hair for good luck
I am American
Mexico City founded by Africans
AFRICAN young men exiled
from
president for life regimes in the Americas
resistance MEN
women too
wife with me from US Fresno State University
mostly young men
planes landing Chapultepec Park
cerca de Paseo de la Reforma
cerca de Metro
lovers in the park Sundays
we in love
Hasani B and me
running from American imperialism
Hasani B
pregnant with Nefertiti
beautiful one has come
"My parents were in flight when I was conceived. I am thus a freedom child."
Nefertiti El Muhajir
beautiful one in flight
I am American
cannot speak with brothers in exile
Spanish pochito pochito
Jorge
Choco, Columbia
Enrique Venezuela
My Spanish pochito
muy pochito
no Portuguese
Poder Negro
Poder Negro
Black Power!
revolutionary amigos.
comprende
black power!
I am American
I flee Mexico City
Belize
Yucatan, Vera Cruz, Merida, Chetumal
land of Yanga
el Africano Mexicano
Yanga so bad the Spanish gave him a town
San Lorenzo de los Negroes
Vera Cruz
I flee against advice of Elizabeth Catlett Mora
revolutionary artist
begged me not to go
negroes in raw colonialism
she said
American
young hard headed
easy to lead in the wrong direction
hard to lead in the right direction Elijah said
I am American
want to hear English
tired of Spanish
basta ya!
I want to see los Negroes
in Belize
esclavos
pero Negroes
yo esclavo tambien
I am American
my land the Americas
all of it
before Columbus
Maya Aztec Incas Olmec
I was here
by canoe Ghana, Mali, Songhay
land of Sonni Ali, Askia the Great
bling blingMansa Musa
thousand camels with gold on his haj to Mecca
I am American
Belize Negroes speak English
pero muy rapido pero English
Espanol tambien
I am American
Norte Americano Africano
Simon Bolivar Americano
Simon Simon Simon
I am American
North Central South American
Caribbean American
I am American
Toronto, Montreal
Georgetown, Caracas
Slums Mexico City
shacks Belize
madness Kingston
cocaine Port of Spain
Trinidad
C. Eric Williams
Capitalism and Slavery
Guyana
interviewed PM Burnham at his residence
Africans with AK47s at his gate
genocide of Jonestown
assassination Dr. Walter Rodney
can we forgive the reactionaries
never turn into Buddha heads
put down their butcher knives
I am American
Belize
join the revolution of Evan X and Shabazz
on trial for sedition
government games old people play
they say
this is
sedition
covered trial for Muhammad Speaks
my sin
a 1970 Wikileaks
emperor has no clothes
people
no water no electricity no toilet
no nothing
why I left America with no gold
they want American gold
why I leave without gold
America gold
slaves and gold
I am American
people are rich in Belize
poor rich
joy and peace, sun and land
gardens paradise
islands in the sun
I live on Gales Point
shack
no water no electricity no bathroom
happy
wife pregnant and happy
sand flies
mosquitoes love her blood
bathe in the river
out house on the other side of the island
catfish collect waste
people do not swim on that side of the island
do not eat catfish
I am American
people beg me teach black power
do not check in village headman
drunk man sings
day comin ta git ya in da mornin
been down here teachin dat black power
day comin in da mornin, boy
wife and I laugh
wish dat drunk nigguh git way from our door
they in the morning
I am American
get on the boat to city
five hour jungle ride
police on boat
under arrest
don't know it
police undercover
say nothing
get to the city
say nothing
police come friends house
call me out
grab rifle
black panther shoot out
put rifle down
surrender
mulatto greets me outside
under arrest
Ministry of Home Affairs
Minister reads deportation order
presence not beneficial to welfare British Colony of Honduras
deported to United States on plane Miami
4pm.
Until then under arrest.
Mulatto takes me to police station
sit down. No cell,
no handcuffs.
Black police gather around
in circle police
what's up.
broder man, teach us about black power!
I am American
police victims too
teach us broder man.
I say
Marcus Garvey came in 1923
get Queen of Englabd off yo walls.
It's 1970 and you still got that white bitch on yo walls.
Get that bitch off yo walls!
police crack up!
you all ite broder man
point out uncle tom police
black man wit white heart
black man wit white heart!
I am American
Plane come.
Mulatto pushed me on plane.
refuse to leave without wife. plane door slammed.
Fly south Tegucigalpa, Spanish Honduras.
ask asylum .
Espera un momento, Negro!
marched back to plane.
land in Miami. Two gentlemen greet me at airport. Escort me to my hotel suite Dade County Jail.
put in pit with dead, deaf dumb blind negroes.
call them brother.
we ain't yo brother, nigguh.
I am silent.
I Am American!
gentlemen come
transfer me to Miami City jail, Federal facility.
I AM AMERICAN!
White Cuban drug dealers greet me.
What do you want, my brother?
money, food?
We send out for food to the restaurant, what do you want?
I am American
hamburger, fries milkshake!
No problema, hermano!
give money to call my wife.
She is home in America. Father sent for her.
I am American
Cubans say whatever you need let us know.
I am American
Simon Bolivar
Che
Fidel
Toussaint
Nat Turner
Grabriel Prosser
Harriet Tubman
Garvey
Elijah
Malcolm
Stokely (Kwame Toure)
CLR James
Padmore
Chavez
Morales
I am American.
--Marvin X
1/29/11
www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Now available for readings/lectures/performance