In Honor of the Black August
National Prison Strike, 2018
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National Prison Strike, 2018
Marvin X: The Prison Lyrics, 1970
Marvin X underground in Harlem, NY, 1968.
photo Doug Harris
He was wanted by the FBI for refusing to fight in Vietnam. In Harlem he worked at the New Lafayette Theatre as Associate Editor of their Black Theatre Magazine. His Black Arts Movement associates included Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra, Last Poets, Nikki Giovanni, Milford Graves, Haki Madhubuti, Ed Bullins, Robert Macbeth and the Lafayette Theatre family, Larry Neal, Mae Jackson, Barbara Ann Teer, et al.
His chapbook Fly To Allah is a seminal work of the BAM and Muslim American literature, according to Muslim American literature scholar, Dr. Mohja Kahf.
When he was captured returning from a visit to Montreal, Canada, after his release and knew his Harlem sojourn was ended, he penned the following poem before his departure for a court appearance in San Francisco.
Al Hajj Harlem
In sha-allah
I go from here
soon
studied theory practice of blackness
University of Harlem
greater than Timbuctu
farewell Harlem
Mecca of the West
saddened moved
smile
see my children
I am a child
rising taking control
I am moved to be here
a star
Allah's heaven
As Salaam Alaikum
wa rah matu llahi
wa barakatuh.
--Marvin X
After the court convicted and while awaiting sentencing, Marvin X went into his second exile (first was Toronto, Canada), this time to Mexico City and Belize, Central America, from which he was arrested for teaching Black Power and suspected of being a Communist. When the plane from Belize landed in Miami, Florida, he was taken to Dade County Jail, later Miami City Jail, then San Francisco County Jail and sentenced to five months at Terminal Island Federal Prison. He wrote the following lyrics while in San Francisco Country Jail and Terminal Island, 1970.
We are the revolutionaries!
In memory of James McClain, William Christmas and Jonathan Jackson. In their slave revolt of August 7, 1970, at the Marin County Courthouse, shouted, "We are the revolutionaries!"
We are the revolutionaries
Days go slow in here
don't let us out for air
can't even tell morning night
they read our mail
don't have no rights
try to make us feel less than man
don't work don't work
I know who I am
We are the revolutionaries
We are the revolutionaries
They got us down
not for long
feed us food fit for pigs
put us in cells with the insane
never go outside can't tell when it rains
nobody comes to see us, nobody seems to care
in spite of everything we hold on
We are the revolutionaries
jails filled with brothers black and brown
must be conspiracy to keep us down
won't work won't work won't work
gonna break out free the town
Can't make me feel less than man
bars mean nothing
I know who I am
Days go slow in here
don't let us out for air
what kind of people are these
really make you wonder
hurry Allah fire and water
Devils won't give up
til six feet under
We are the revolutionaries
We are the revolutionries
They got us down
not for long
power to the people death to the devil
power to the people death to the devil
We are the revolutionaries
We are the revolutionaries
We're going to make a new world for everybody
We're going to make a new world for everybody.
--Marvin X
Chained and Bound
for Luciano Marcellius 15X Bel-Lee, Terminal Island FOI Captain.
Three of us NOI brothers held an election on the Big Yard. Marcellius said I was
the minister since I was the smartest. He appointed the other brother secretary
and himself Captain. Next Sunday we met in the chapel and I lectured on Africans in the Americas, based on Africa's Gift to America, J.A. Rogers, a book I found in the prison library that was marked Contraband, but I put it in my property when I was released from Terminal Island.
You got me chained and bound
but can't keep me down
Born to be free
have my liberty
by any means necessary
Our time has come
our day is here
black man stand
have no fear
got me chained and bound
but can't keep me down
Dare to struggle dare to win
then the world will be ours again
devil is a paper tiger
rules with the gun
no law and order
til black justice done
Got me chained and bound
can't keep me down
Come my brothers
seize the time
no more dope no more wine
no no no no no no
Got me chained and bound
but you can't keep me down
Come my brothers
breako the chains
no peace til freedom reigns
You got me chained and bound
can't keep me down
no no no no no no no no no.............
Allah Loves a Warrior
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
Want to serve the Mighty God
Got to be a mighty man
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
When battle gets rough
got to be more tough
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
When the deal goes down
Don't turn around
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
If you can't give everything
Can't serve this King
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
Total submission
He asks of you
Make His will your will
that's what you gotta do
Cause Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
You gotta be strong in times like these
can't turn around
can't try to flee
Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward
If you say you believe
don't you know you will be tried
cause Allah loves a warrior
hates a coward.
--Marvin X
from Take Care of Business, musical drama, Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972, music arranged by Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Choreography by Raymond Sawyer. Directed and produced by Marvin X.
Afterword
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Marvin X in Georgetown, Guyana, South America, interviewing Prime Minister Forbes Burnham at his residence, 1972. PM Burnham gave North American Africans citizenship upon request, especially those escaping US white supremacy. Julian Mayfield, Tom Feelings and other artists joined his government. Herman Ferguson was a political refugee from NYC, along with Nassar Shabazz from San Francisco. Other North American Africans who found refuge in Guyana were Mamadou Lumumba and others associated with RAM or the Revolutionary Action Movement.
Marvin X in Georgetown, Guyana, South America, interviewing Prime Minister Forbes Burnham at his residence, 1972. PM Burnham gave North American Africans citizenship upon request, especially those escaping US white supremacy. Julian Mayfield, Tom Feelings and other artists joined his government. Herman Ferguson was a political refugee from NYC, along with Nassar Shabazz from San Francisco. Other North American Africans who found refuge in Guyana were Mamadou Lumumba and others associated with RAM or the Revolutionary Action Movement.
After enduring exile twice and jail, prison, Marvin X was awarded a writing fellowship from the National Endowment of the Humanities that enabled him to visit Afro-Mexicans in Southern Mexico and attend Carifesta, the Caribbean Festival of the Arts, Georgetown, Guyana, 1972, at which he interviewed Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, a socalled Black Power advocate we later learned the American CIA used to forestall another Cuban-style Marxist regime in the Americas. Black Power was more favorable to the USA than Communism. One of our greatest Pan African scholars, Dr. Walter Rodney, was assassinated under PM Burnham's watch, along with the Rev. Jim Jones massacre of 900 mostly North American Africans so desperate to escape US White supremacy they fed their children poison laced Kool Aid. Marvin's interview was published in Black Scholar Magazine and Muhammad Speaks Newspaper.