Poet/playwright, BAM co-founder Marvin X after a previous lecture/discussion with UC Merced students. Marvin X, in his ephemeral academic career, taught at Fresno State University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Mills College, San Francisco State University, University of Nevada, Reno.
He speaks at colleges and universities coast to coast. He spoke at the University of Chicago's Sun Ra Conference (Goggle). He appears in Stanley Nelson's film: Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution, PBS. Marvin's archives were acquired by the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. His archives are currently on exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California's Respect Hip Hop.
He speaks at colleges and universities coast to coast. He spoke at the University of Chicago's Sun Ra Conference (Goggle). He appears in Stanley Nelson's film: Black Panthers, Vanguard of the Revolution, PBS. Marvin's archives were acquired by the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. His archives are currently on exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California's Respect Hip Hop.
Email from Kim McMillan, PhD, University of California, Merced
Hi Marvin,
Hi Marvin,
That was a fascinating read. Perhaps consider creating a play on your life. My students truly were appreciative and in awe of your fearlessness. The one student named Wheeldin really wanted to know if you met his grandfather who was teaching Black Studies at Fresno State while you were there. Normally, I would show your email to my students. They are talented, sweet, and extremely sensitive. However, I am not sure they would want anyone to know they cried over your work. ![*:) happy]( "*:) happy")
In 2015, when we did Flowers for the Trashman at the Merced Multicultural Center, we had an Asian young man playing the role of Joe. He had the audience in tears, including me. At the reception, a few audience members told him that they related to the experience of being or knowing someone innocent and incarcerated. One theatre-goer said, "This was better than going to see professional actors because you knew the students believed what they were saying." Theatre that speaks Truth to Power is healing.
Thank you for being there for my students. You have never said no when I have asked you to speak. You and several others from the Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party have come to UC Merced to educate young people about our history. I am very grateful.
Peace,
Kim
Marvin X telephone interview with students in Dr. Kim McMillan's Theatre class, UC Merced
7/5/18
7/5/18
After a telephone interview with UC Merced students, instructor Dr. Kim McMillan left a
message on Marvin X's voicemail informing Black Arts Movement poet/playwright and
co-founder of BAM how deeply his plays touched her theatre students, especially his 1964
BAM classic Flowers for the Trashman. She said they were in tears after reading Flowers.
One student cried after reading the script that deals with family relations. She was glad her
family healed before the death of a member as occurs in Flowers when the father suffers a
heart attack before he can reconcile with the son. McMillan said another student cried after
he read Flowers. "And he was a big guy, Marvin, 6'3'."
message on Marvin X's voicemail informing Black Arts Movement poet/playwright and
co-founder of BAM how deeply his plays touched her theatre students, especially his 1964
BAM classic Flowers for the Trashman. She said they were in tears after reading Flowers.
One student cried after reading the script that deals with family relations. She was glad her
family healed before the death of a member as occurs in Flowers when the father suffers a
heart attack before he can reconcile with the son. McMillan said another student cried after
he read Flowers. "And he was a big guy, Marvin, 6'3'."
"I just want you to know how your works affected my students. And I thank you for your
interview with them that was frank and real." During the telephone interview, Kim said she
wished she could have interacted with playwrights while attending San Francisco State
University, Marvin's alma mater as well.
interview with them that was frank and real." During the telephone interview, Kim said she
wished she could have interacted with playwrights while attending San Francisco State
University, Marvin's alma mater as well.
The initial question from students was not about his dramatic works but his Parable of Love,
from The Wisdom of Plato Negro, parables/fables, Marvin X. When Marvin X asked students
what moved them about the Parable of Love, Kim read the second to last paragraph of the
parable that dealt with family reconciliation:
from The Wisdom of Plato Negro, parables/fables, Marvin X. When Marvin X asked students
what moved them about the Parable of Love, Kim read the second to last paragraph of the
parable that dealt with family reconciliation:
"...So even parents who are estranged, separated or divorced can and must let children see
they can be civil, even if they are not friends, even if they hate each other. Don't make the
child hate the father because you hate him, or hate the mother. Let's show our children love,
and maybe then they will emulate our positive behavior and raise up from their animal actions...."
they can be civil, even if they are not friends, even if they hate each other. Don't make the
child hate the father because you hate him, or hate the mother. Let's show our children love,
and maybe then they will emulate our positive behavior and raise up from their animal actions...."
Of course Parable of Love is related to his play Flowers. The last lines in Flowers for the
Trashman has the main character, Joe, saying to his ghetto friend, Wes, "I want to talk with
my sons, Wes, know what I mean? I want to talk with my sons...."
Trashman has the main character, Joe, saying to his ghetto friend, Wes, "I want to talk with
my sons, Wes, know what I mean? I want to talk with my sons...."
Students wanted him to expand on the subject of family love. He said, "Flowers for the
Trashman deals with a young man trying to understand his father but in his college-student
youthfulness and ignorance, it was only in later years that he came to appreciate his father
for what he was and was not!" In a poem, Marvin X wrote
...I did not know my father
until I became him
then I knew him well....
He could have quoted a line from BAM co-founder, poet-playwright, Ancestor Amiri Baraka
who said, "We send our children to these colleges and universities but they come back home
hating us and everything we're about, but they don't even know what we're about!"
The main character in Flowers, Joe, clearly didn't understand and therefore could not
appreciate his father, a self employed Garveyite with a florist shop on 7th and Campbell
Streets in West Oakland, in the 50s known as Harlem of the West!
Marvin told students, "Love and understanding happens over time, with maturity. What we
thought about our parents when we are 20 will not be what we think about them when we
are 40, 50, 60!""If you have not come to love and appreciate them upon maturity, you
continue to suffer the malady Amiri Baraka described."
Trashman deals with a young man trying to understand his father but in his college-student
youthfulness and ignorance, it was only in later years that he came to appreciate his father
for what he was and was not!" In a poem, Marvin X wrote
...I did not know my father
until I became him
then I knew him well....
He could have quoted a line from BAM co-founder, poet-playwright, Ancestor Amiri Baraka
who said, "We send our children to these colleges and universities but they come back home
hating us and everything we're about, but they don't even know what we're about!"
The main character in Flowers, Joe, clearly didn't understand and therefore could not
appreciate his father, a self employed Garveyite with a florist shop on 7th and Campbell
Streets in West Oakland, in the 50s known as Harlem of the West!
Marvin told students, "Love and understanding happens over time, with maturity. What we
thought about our parents when we are 20 will not be what we think about them when we
are 40, 50, 60!""If you have not come to love and appreciate them upon maturity, you
continue to suffer the malady Amiri Baraka described."
Students asked about his one-act play (co-authored with Ed Bullins), Salaam, Huey Newton,
Salaam. (See Best Short Plays of 1990).The play (a scene from his full length docudrama
One Day in the Life) deals with his last meeting in a West Oakland Crack house with
co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Dr. Huey Newton, with whom Marvin had befriended
at Oakland's Merritt College, hotbed of West Coast Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism,
when he arrived after graduating with honors (He is a lifetime member of CSF, the State high
school honor society) from Edison high school , Fresno CA, 1962. He told students how
Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and others, especially members of the African American
Association, under the leadership of Attorney Donald Warden, aka Khalid Abdullah Tariq
Al Mansour, rapped, i.e., extemporaneous or free-style speaking, about black nationalism on
the steps of Merritt College. The AAA helped give birth to the Black Panther Party, Black Arts
Movement, Cultural Nationalism, including Kwanza, and Black Studies.
Salaam. (See Best Short Plays of 1990).The play (a scene from his full length docudrama
One Day in the Life) deals with his last meeting in a West Oakland Crack house with
co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Dr. Huey Newton, with whom Marvin had befriended
at Oakland's Merritt College, hotbed of West Coast Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism,
when he arrived after graduating with honors (He is a lifetime member of CSF, the State high
school honor society) from Edison high school , Fresno CA, 1962. He told students how
Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and others, especially members of the African American
Association, under the leadership of Attorney Donald Warden, aka Khalid Abdullah Tariq
Al Mansour, rapped, i.e., extemporaneous or free-style speaking, about black nationalism on
the steps of Merritt College. The AAA helped give birth to the Black Panther Party, Black Arts
Movement, Cultural Nationalism, including Kwanza, and Black Studies.
But students wanted to know how Huey, Eldridge, Marvin and others succumbed to Crack
cocaine as described in Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam. Marvin said, "When we produced
the full length version of the play in Brooklyn, New York, at Sista's Place, 1996, Viola
Plummer, leader of Sista's Place, said there was no excuse for black revolutionaries
succumbing to Crack addiction, since we had knowledge of America's use of drug warfare,
as used by the Europeans dumping opium on the Chinese, or Alcohol on the Africans
and Native Americas. Now, if you want, I can say I got addicted because I was 40 and in
the mid-life crisis: disillusioned with teaching, marriage, religion, politics, revolution, everything.
Crack came at a time when I was making so much money hustling I didn't know what to do e
except fuck it off on dope!" His father always told him to be the best at whatever he wanted to
do. When he got addicted to Crack, his father said, "Son , you ain't even a good dope fiend!
You so smart you should be a billionaire, but you fucked up, boy; you so smart you
outsmarted yourself!"
Did Marvin X become a good dope fiend?
While on Crack he became a street vendor at the crossroads of San Francisco, Market and
Powell, Cable Car turnaround. He made and hustled incense, oils, drug paraphernalia,
political buttons, cashmere wool scarves, sun glasses, umbrellas, anything to support his
Crack habit contrary to his father.
And a good dope fiend will find a way everyday to satisfy his habit. He is a most
highly motivated individual. After the San Francisco Police Department harassed Black
vendors from selling on the street, Marvin X incorporated his comrade and partner from the
from the Black Arts Movement West San Francisco and at the Berkeley Flea Market,
Ethna X. Wyatt, aka, Hurriyah Asar. soon after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
changed the rules so that only non-profit organizations and street artists could vend on the
streets.
After writing the incorporation papers to establish Hurriyah as a 501 (c) 3 Non-profit, Hurriyah
and Marvin X were still harassed under the color law by the SFPD. The Chief Attorney for the
San Francisco Police Department, Lawrence Wilson, told Hurriyah and I during a court
recess, "If you beat us in court, we'll go to the Board of Supervisors and
change the rules." (FYI, Lawrence Wilson, Chief Attorney of the SFPD was busted for dealing drugs out of his house and was sent to State Prison, eventually he died of AIDS.)
And we beat him, and he went to the Board of Supervisors and they
changed the rules! Alas, Native Americans told you the white man speaks with a forked
tongue! After the SFPD continued to cite Hurriyah and myself for selling on the street
legally, Hurriyah left the Bay Area to live on an island in South Carolina.
Since her non-profit papers were still legal, I used them to become the Chief Street vendor.
Yes,I controlled street vending in downtown San Francisco, especially the lucurative Union
Square shopping district. Yes, the white boys paid me to work under my non-profit papers.
And the SFPD pigs turned beat red when the white boys presented them a niggah's papers.
The SFPD said the same thing about me controlling Union Square that the New York police
said about Malcolm X controlling Harlem, "He got too much powser for a nigger!"
Yes, the white boys were paying me to be on the street legally. And the white boys gave me
more than monthly fees, they gave me all the products I wanted, especially their cashmere
wool scarves their organizations were selling. I was selling Union Square turf like a real
estate broker. We made a map of where and what white boys could sell here and there in
Union Square.
At Market and Powell, the old men, among others, stood around all day watching and
conversing on activities at the Market and Powell Cable Car turnaround. They estimated I
made $300.00 per day and said, "He the richest nigga in downtown San Francisco,"
although all my money was going to the dope men who lined up at my booth daily since they
knew I made cash money daily, thus I was a sitting duck for dope dealers as I wallowed in my
mid-life crisis!
During the 1984 Democratic Convention, he sold so many buttons the San Francisco
Chronicle labeled him The Button King.
When he went to Dallas, Texas to sell at the 1984 Republican Convention, the first night he
sold buttons in Dallas a police officer asked, "Where you from?" When Marvin X replied,
"I'm from here!" The pig said, "Naw ya ain't, ya ain't from here!" Why you say I ain't from
here, Sir? He replied, "Cause ya smart!" After Republicans stood and watched him vend,
one said, "If you make two more dollars, you'll be a Republican!"
cocaine as described in Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam. Marvin said, "When we produced
the full length version of the play in Brooklyn, New York, at Sista's Place, 1996, Viola
Plummer, leader of Sista's Place, said there was no excuse for black revolutionaries
succumbing to Crack addiction, since we had knowledge of America's use of drug warfare,
as used by the Europeans dumping opium on the Chinese, or Alcohol on the Africans
and Native Americas. Now, if you want, I can say I got addicted because I was 40 and in
the mid-life crisis: disillusioned with teaching, marriage, religion, politics, revolution, everything.
Crack came at a time when I was making so much money hustling I didn't know what to do e
except fuck it off on dope!" His father always told him to be the best at whatever he wanted to
do. When he got addicted to Crack, his father said, "Son , you ain't even a good dope fiend!
You so smart you should be a billionaire, but you fucked up, boy; you so smart you
outsmarted yourself!"
Did Marvin X become a good dope fiend?
While on Crack he became a street vendor at the crossroads of San Francisco, Market and
Powell, Cable Car turnaround. He made and hustled incense, oils, drug paraphernalia,
political buttons, cashmere wool scarves, sun glasses, umbrellas, anything to support his
Crack habit contrary to his father.
And a good dope fiend will find a way everyday to satisfy his habit. He is a most
highly motivated individual. After the San Francisco Police Department harassed Black
vendors from selling on the street, Marvin X incorporated his comrade and partner from the
from the Black Arts Movement West San Francisco and at the Berkeley Flea Market,
Ethna X. Wyatt, aka, Hurriyah Asar. soon after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
changed the rules so that only non-profit organizations and street artists could vend on the
streets.
After writing the incorporation papers to establish Hurriyah as a 501 (c) 3 Non-profit, Hurriyah
and Marvin X were still harassed under the color law by the SFPD. The Chief Attorney for the
San Francisco Police Department, Lawrence Wilson, told Hurriyah and I during a court
recess, "If you beat us in court, we'll go to the Board of Supervisors and
change the rules." (FYI, Lawrence Wilson, Chief Attorney of the SFPD was busted for dealing drugs out of his house and was sent to State Prison, eventually he died of AIDS.)
And we beat him, and he went to the Board of Supervisors and they
changed the rules! Alas, Native Americans told you the white man speaks with a forked
tongue! After the SFPD continued to cite Hurriyah and myself for selling on the street
legally, Hurriyah left the Bay Area to live on an island in South Carolina.
Since her non-profit papers were still legal, I used them to become the Chief Street vendor.
Yes,I controlled street vending in downtown San Francisco, especially the lucurative Union
Square shopping district. Yes, the white boys paid me to work under my non-profit papers.
And the SFPD pigs turned beat red when the white boys presented them a niggah's papers.
The SFPD said the same thing about me controlling Union Square that the New York police
said about Malcolm X controlling Harlem, "He got too much powser for a nigger!"
Yes, the white boys were paying me to be on the street legally. And the white boys gave me
more than monthly fees, they gave me all the products I wanted, especially their cashmere
wool scarves their organizations were selling. I was selling Union Square turf like a real
estate broker. We made a map of where and what white boys could sell here and there in
Union Square.
At Market and Powell, the old men, among others, stood around all day watching and
conversing on activities at the Market and Powell Cable Car turnaround. They estimated I
made $300.00 per day and said, "He the richest nigga in downtown San Francisco,"
although all my money was going to the dope men who lined up at my booth daily since they
knew I made cash money daily, thus I was a sitting duck for dope dealers as I wallowed in my
mid-life crisis!
During the 1984 Democratic Convention, he sold so many buttons the San Francisco
Chronicle labeled him The Button King.
When he went to Dallas, Texas to sell at the 1984 Republican Convention, the first night he
sold buttons in Dallas a police officer asked, "Where you from?" When Marvin X replied,
"I'm from here!" The pig said, "Naw ya ain't, ya ain't from here!" Why you say I ain't from
here, Sir? He replied, "Cause ya smart!" After Republicans stood and watched him vend,
one said, "If you make two more dollars, you'll be a Republican!"
Another question from UC Merced Students
What about his trials and tribulations after refusing to fight in Vietnam?
Answer: When his English Professor, John Gardner, the great novelist and Medievalist, gave
his script to the Drama Department (an unusual honor for an undergraduate, although
Professor and Beat Poet Kenneth Rexroth proclaimed Marvin X, "The best playwright to hit
San Francisco State University!"
When SFSU Drama Department Director Thomas Tyrell, suggested Marvin tone down the
script, he refused (tone it down is the story of my life from the consensus of conservative
whites and Negroes),
Although he appreciated the SFSU Drama Department for producing his first play, he soon
dropped out of SFSU to establish Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, 1966, along with
playwright Ed Bullins, et al. BAWT was at Turk and Fillmore, across the street from Tree's
Pool Hall. On the corner of Turk and Fillmore, the China man sold two/three dolla fish
samishes that we survived on along with the cooking of Ethna X. Wyatt, the radical
Queen of Black Arts West, Marvin X's revolutionary partner from among a group of
revolutionary black young women from Chicago that Summer of Love, although Ethna
arrived in San Francisco around 1965-66.
Just know Ethna's/Hurriyah's feminine/spiritual energy kept us brothers from killing each
other: Marvin X, Ed Bullins, Duncan Barber, Carl Bossiere, Hillary Broadous.
Thank you, Ethna X Wyatt/Hurriyah Asar,
But when Marvin X dropped out of college, his draft deferment was violated and he was sent
draft papers, although he had no plans of fighting in Vietnam for he was in total agreement
with Muhammad Ali,"No Vietcong never called me a nigger!"
Marvin X joined the Nation of Islam in 1967, Mosque #26, San Francisco, after
departing from the Black House Political Cultural Center, founded by Eldridge Cleaver and
himself, later joined by Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt, aka Hurriyah Asar, et al.
What about his trials and tribulations after refusing to fight in Vietnam?
Answer: When his English Professor, John Gardner, the great novelist and Medievalist, gave
his script to the Drama Department (an unusual honor for an undergraduate, although
Professor and Beat Poet Kenneth Rexroth proclaimed Marvin X, "The best playwright to hit
San Francisco State University!"
When SFSU Drama Department Director Thomas Tyrell, suggested Marvin tone down the
script, he refused (tone it down is the story of my life from the consensus of conservative
whites and Negroes),
Although he appreciated the SFSU Drama Department for producing his first play, he soon
dropped out of SFSU to establish Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, 1966, along with
playwright Ed Bullins, et al. BAWT was at Turk and Fillmore, across the street from Tree's
Pool Hall. On the corner of Turk and Fillmore, the China man sold two/three dolla fish
samishes that we survived on along with the cooking of Ethna X. Wyatt, the radical
Queen of Black Arts West, Marvin X's revolutionary partner from among a group of
revolutionary black young women from Chicago that Summer of Love, although Ethna
arrived in San Francisco around 1965-66.
Just know Ethna's/Hurriyah's feminine/spiritual energy kept us brothers from killing each
other: Marvin X, Ed Bullins, Duncan Barber, Carl Bossiere, Hillary Broadous.
Thank you, Ethna X Wyatt/Hurriyah Asar,
But when Marvin X dropped out of college, his draft deferment was violated and he was sent
draft papers, although he had no plans of fighting in Vietnam for he was in total agreement
with Muhammad Ali,"No Vietcong never called me a nigger!"
Marvin X joined the Nation of Islam in 1967, Mosque #26, San Francisco, after
departing from the Black House Political Cultural Center, founded by Eldridge Cleaver and
himself, later joined by Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt, aka Hurriyah Asar, et al.
Elijah Muhammad told his followers to go to prison as he did, rather than fight for the white
devil. But Marvin was also under the influence of the Black Panther Party that said, "We
must not only resist the draft but arrest as well." Marvin X fled the US to Toronto, Canada,
soon joined by fellow draft resisters Oswald X, fellow student from SFSU and Norman
Richmond from Los Angeles.
devil. But Marvin was also under the influence of the Black Panther Party that said, "We
must not only resist the draft but arrest as well." Marvin X fled the US to Toronto, Canada,
soon joined by fellow draft resisters Oswald X, fellow student from SFSU and Norman
Richmond from Los Angeles.
But once Marvin discovered racism is as Canadian as hockey, he returned underground to
the US.
the US.
He is thankful for his Canadian exile that allowed him to be mentored by two of the greatest
Pan African and Caribbean writers: Austin Clarke and Jan Carew.
Pan African and Caribbean writers: Austin Clarke and Jan Carew.
Six months in Canada was enough for the poet who slipped underground to Chicago,
connecting with the Chicago Black Arts Movement, Gwen Brooks, Carolyn Rogers, Johari
Amini, Don L. Lee, aka Haki Madhubuti, Hoyt Fuller of Negro Digest/ Black World; Phil
Choran's Theatre, Chicago Arts Ensemble, and Muhammad Speaks Newspaper, edited by
Richard Durnham.
connecting with the Chicago Black Arts Movement, Gwen Brooks, Carolyn Rogers, Johari
Amini, Don L. Lee, aka Haki Madhubuti, Hoyt Fuller of Negro Digest/ Black World; Phil
Choran's Theatre, Chicago Arts Ensemble, and Muhammad Speaks Newspaper, edited by
Richard Durnham.
"I was in Chicago when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. I was living on the south-
side, 57th and Kimbark, having just moved from the north-side. The west-side burned, but
when I got up the next morning and walked to 63rd and Cottage Grove, the streets were
under National Guard occupation.
side, 57th and Kimbark, having just moved from the north-side. The west-side burned, but
when I got up the next morning and walked to 63rd and Cottage Grove, the streets were
under National Guard occupation.
Shortly after the death of MLK, Jr., I received a note from my friends on the north-side saying
the FBI had been to their house looking for me. I then contacted playwright Ed Bullins who
was playwright in residence at Harlem's New Lafayette Theatre and his invited me to Harlem
as associate editor of Black Theatre Magazine. Swimming in the sea of my people in Harlem
(never seeing white people for weeks unless one ventured downtown), I had no fear of the
FBI on my tail. But on a visit to see a female in Montreal, Canada, I gave my true identity
returning to the US and was arrested on the bus at a checkpoint and found myself in
Plattsburg jail, upstate New York. After getting releleased through the efforts of the legendary
Civil Rights lawyer Conrad Lynn, I eventually returned to San Francisco to stand trial (See
Black Scholar Magazine for my Court Speech, 1970).
the FBI had been to their house looking for me. I then contacted playwright Ed Bullins who
was playwright in residence at Harlem's New Lafayette Theatre and his invited me to Harlem
as associate editor of Black Theatre Magazine. Swimming in the sea of my people in Harlem
(never seeing white people for weeks unless one ventured downtown), I had no fear of the
FBI on my tail. But on a visit to see a female in Montreal, Canada, I gave my true identity
returning to the US and was arrested on the bus at a checkpoint and found myself in
Plattsburg jail, upstate New York. After getting releleased through the efforts of the legendary
Civil Rights lawyer Conrad Lynn, I eventually returned to San Francisco to stand trial (See
Black Scholar Magazine for my Court Speech, 1970).
Simultaneously, before leaving Harlem, I was invited to teach Black Studies at Fresno State
College, now University, 1969. Black Studies hired me to teach three classes: black literature,
journalism, drama. Seventy students enrolled. Then it was brought to the attention of Gov.
Ronald Reagan that I was lecturing at FSU even though I refused to fight in Vietnam. As
Governor, Reagan was president of the State College Board of Trustees. The Fresno Bee
reported that upon entering the State College Board of Trustees meeting, Reagan wanted to
know, "How we can get Marvin X off campus by any means necessary?" Yes, he actually
quoted Malcolm X. Also, at this same time he was removing Angela Davis from teaching at
UCLA because she was a Communist. He wanted me removed because I was a Black
Muslim, who would not allow whites in my classes." Yes, under NOI teachings, I believed in
separation not integration. But FSU was full of Mormons who also believed in separation at
the time. Fresno Superior Court banned me from teaching at FSU, issuing a restraining order
baring me from stepping onto campus. But a white Student Christian Center across from the
campus allowed me to hold classes and I gave final grades to my 70 students even though
FSU said I was never hired!
College, now University, 1969. Black Studies hired me to teach three classes: black literature,
journalism, drama. Seventy students enrolled. Then it was brought to the attention of Gov.
Ronald Reagan that I was lecturing at FSU even though I refused to fight in Vietnam. As
Governor, Reagan was president of the State College Board of Trustees. The Fresno Bee
reported that upon entering the State College Board of Trustees meeting, Reagan wanted to
know, "How we can get Marvin X off campus by any means necessary?" Yes, he actually
quoted Malcolm X. Also, at this same time he was removing Angela Davis from teaching at
UCLA because she was a Communist. He wanted me removed because I was a Black
Muslim, who would not allow whites in my classes." Yes, under NOI teachings, I believed in
separation not integration. But FSU was full of Mormons who also believed in separation at
the time. Fresno Superior Court banned me from teaching at FSU, issuing a restraining order
baring me from stepping onto campus. But a white Student Christian Center across from the
campus allowed me to hold classes and I gave final grades to my 70 students even though
FSU said I was never hired!
After losing my case to teach at FSU and my draft case in San Francisco, I departed into
my second exile, this time in Mexico City. I told the UC Merced students, "I am thankful that
Mexico gave me refuge along with other young revolutionaries from throughout the Americas.
In Mexico City, I found myself with young revolutionary brothers from Dominican Republic,
Cuba, Belize, Columbia, Venezuela, and elsewhere. My Mexico City contact was the great
revolutionary artist Elizabeth Cattlett Mora, a Black Communist who could only give me
shelter for a short time since she knew she and her famous husband muralist Poncho Mora
were under surveillance. After all, there had been a student massacre at the university a
few months before I arrived. When parents went to the university to check on their students,
the parents disappeared. Then too Tommy Smith and John Carlos had come to the Mexico
City Olympics in 1968 to raise their fists in the Black Power salute that shook up the world.
my second exile, this time in Mexico City. I told the UC Merced students, "I am thankful that
Mexico gave me refuge along with other young revolutionaries from throughout the Americas.
In Mexico City, I found myself with young revolutionary brothers from Dominican Republic,
Cuba, Belize, Columbia, Venezuela, and elsewhere. My Mexico City contact was the great
revolutionary artist Elizabeth Cattlett Mora, a Black Communist who could only give me
shelter for a short time since she knew she and her famous husband muralist Poncho Mora
were under surveillance. After all, there had been a student massacre at the university a
few months before I arrived. When parents went to the university to check on their students,
the parents disappeared. Then too Tommy Smith and John Carlos had come to the Mexico
City Olympics in 1968 to raise their fists in the Black Power salute that shook up the world.
Elizabeth Catlett or Betty Mora told me I would be all right in Mexico City if I stayed out of
their politics which I did, for the most part. But after connecting with the African and
Caribbean ambassadors and, selling them black books as my hustle to survive,
they invited me to a party at the American Embassy. Black and bold, I attended even though
the FBI was looking for me. In short, I was unafraid after Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and
Eldridge Cleaver taught me fearlessness, the primary lesson of the Black Panther Party.
Elijah Muhammad taught us to fear no one but Allah.
their politics which I did, for the most part. But after connecting with the African and
Caribbean ambassadors and, selling them black books as my hustle to survive,
they invited me to a party at the American Embassy. Black and bold, I attended even though
the FBI was looking for me. In short, I was unafraid after Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and
Eldridge Cleaver taught me fearlessness, the primary lesson of the Black Panther Party.
Elijah Muhammad taught us to fear no one but Allah.
But I soon tired of Spanish and connected with brothers from Belize, Central America,
against advise of Betty Mora who was horrified I wanted to depart for Belize that was still
a colony of Great Britain, aka British Honduras. "Marvin, please don't go, they are not even
in neo-colonialism, they are still in raw colonialism, don't go!"
against advise of Betty Mora who was horrified I wanted to depart for Belize that was still
a colony of Great Britain, aka British Honduras. "Marvin, please don't go, they are not even
in neo-colonialism, they are still in raw colonialism, don't go!"
Being the hard-headed so-called Negro, I ignored her advice and with my pregnant wife ,
FSU student Barbara Hall, that I snatched from FSU, mother of my daughters Nefertiti and
Amira: when she joined me in exile, we soon married in Mexico City (Betty and Poncho
were witnesses at the civil ceremony).
My sojourn in BH or Belize was short-lived as I did not follow the instructions of my contacts in Belize, Evan X. Hyde and Ishmael Shabazz, leaders of the Black Power Movement. And of course I made the further mistake of covering their sedition trial for Muhmmad Speaks Newspaper of which Herbert Muhammad had made me Foreign Editor after I connected with his sons in Mexico City. They were students at the University of the Americas, described as the din of iniquity by a sista.FSU student Barbara Hall, that I snatched from FSU, mother of my daughters Nefertiti and
Amira: when she joined me in exile, we soon married in Mexico City (Betty and Poncho
were witnesses at the civil ceremony).
We became fast friends and I was invited to party at their casa. Now, in truth, Elijah Muhammad's grandsons were the talk of Mexico City in the North American African community of exiles or expatriates. The consensus was that Elijah or Sonny did not believe in the teachings of his grandfather, which I must confess, he did not from my observation. At his house party, he danced with a white woman, while his brother had a Mexican woman in a long dress. His brother wanted to be an airplane pilot and became the personal pilot of Elijah Muhammad.
In hindsight, I suspect my time in Belize was to be short-lived after reporting in Muhammad
Speaks Newspaper on the sedition trial of Evan X. Hyde and Ishmael Shabazz....
Speaks Newspaper on the sedition trial of Evan X. Hyde and Ishmael Shabazz....
--Continued in Notes of Artistic Freedom Fighter Marvin X, Part One, Black Bird Press, 2018
