Marvin X spoke at his alma mater
San Francisco State University
12/4/18
Poet/activist Marvin X with San Francisco State University Students after his lecture/discussion in Davey D's class on Hip Hop
photo Davey D
This afternoon (12/4/18) Marvin X spoke for two hours in Davey D's class on Hip Hop, informing students on the connection between the Black Arts Movement and Hip Hop.
Before he began, Davey D showed the video of Marvin X reading at Yoshi's San Francisco, introduced by Amiri Baraka before Baraka and Roscoe Mitchell of the Chicago Art Ensemble performed. Marvin read his poem In the Name of Love.
Although Marvin X participated in the Black Arts Movement coast to coast, West coast folks want to claim him, although he was critical in the formation of BAM coast to coast. His writing career began at Oakland's Merritt College when he won a prize in Merritt's literary magazine. His short story Delicate Child was reprinted in the Revolutionary Action Movement's journal SoulBook, edited by Kenny Freeman, aka Mamadou Lumumba. SoulBook was a critical journal of the revolutionary black nationalist movement.
Davey D asked him to explain differences between Black Arts Movement West and East. The poet said firstly, as per the West coast, we must begin at Merritt College on Grove Street, aka MLK,Jr., Drive and the Afro American Association under the leadership of Khalid Abdullah Al Mansour, aka Attorney Donald Warden. We cannot discuss culture and consciousness without explaining the importance of the AAA. It was critical to African and Black consciousness in the Bay. The Black Panther Party evolved from the AAA, the Black Arts Movement and Black Studies. Kwanza no doubt originated with the AAA, especially since Maulana Ron Karenga was the Los Angeles representative of the AAA.
The AAA held rap sessions on the steps of Merritt or Oakland City College, along with book sessions in the community and on street corners. Merritt students, whether associated with the AAA or not, were influenced by it and also had independent study sessions on such topics as the deconstruction of such books as Black Bourgeoisie by E. Franklin Frazier,Wretched of the Earth by Dr. Frantz Fanon, Facing Mt. Kenya by Jomo Kenyatta and Neo-colonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah. We also studied the writngs of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong.
---continued--
Marvin X on Tour
Now booking coast to coast
Now booking coast to coast
Marvin X reading at University of Chicago Sun Ra Conference, 2015
photo Burrell Sunrise
photo Burrell Sunrise
December 4
San Francisco State University, Davey D's Hip Hop Class, 4pm
December 5
Reading at the Beat Museum with other anti-capitalist poets from anthology Overthrowing Capitalism Vol.5, Columbus and Broadway, North Beach, San Francisco
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Marvin X opened the event with his contribution to the anthology: Sunrise Over Damascus
photo Deon Whitmore
Sunrise Over Damascus
Sunrise Over Damascus
Saul fell on damascus road
became paul
persecutor to liberator
paul's christology mythologized slavery
servants be obedient to your masters
official sermon of black slave preachers
mlk's mentor howard thurman mama told him
boy read me the bible
stop when you get to paul
don 't wanna hear bout obedient servants
yes mama
howard thurman said
mlk plagiarized his mentor in I have a dream
sunrise over damascus
primordial city rich history
down road to Jerusalem
house of peace with no peace
land of Canaan
brother of Egyptians
then came Abraham
Sarah Hajar
Jews Arabs
Isaac Ishmael
ancient times no peace
no peace now
land of prophets
Jeremiah Isaiah
told us wickedness
where are the prophets of now
so needed at the gates of Jerusalem Damascus
Lebanon Egypt Iraq Persia
armies near Jerusalem to destroy what
what is not destroyed already
the people are dead souls in the dead sea
cedars of lebanon burn sweet incense of death
frankincense myrrh burn in the holy temple for naught
biblical prophesy
end is near
who is there to see sunrise over damascus
isis
israel
saudi arabia
russia
lebanon
turkey
usa usa
iran
gulf states
egypt
turkey
kurds
where is saladin the kurd
who is richard lionhearted
who is not
neo-crusade
persia rises again
from Tigris Euphrates to Mediterranean
can we stop history
fulfill whose mythology
jewish christian islam
myth is myth
my story his/her story
sunrise over damascus
a million dead
how many poison gas dead
dead is dead
no matter how
blood bones is blood bones
a million dead
bullets bombs poison gas no matter
what mind game is this
dead are dead
no matter how
no matter why
we cry for syria
we cry
sunrise over damascus.
--Marvin X
4/13/18
Marvin X holding the Beat classic poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg
photo Deon Whitmore
Beat sign
December 15
Reading from Notes of Artistic Freedom Fighter Marvin X, Charles Wright Museum, Detroit, Michigan
Saturday, 2-4pm.
January 2019
Brothers Network brings Marvin X to Philly for reading and book signing. Musical genius Elliott Bey will
provide sounds to accompany his beloved Master Teacher.
TBA
February 2019
BAMFEST Oakland
Dr. Ayodele Nzinga Producer
Marvin X, BAM Co-founder
Senior Consultant
In Concert: Marvin X reading from his dramatic works
TBA
Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam
Woman on Cell Phone
Fictional interview with President Obama
Driving Miss Libby
Parable of the Heart
Note: Marvin X will exhibit his archives as a founding member of the National Black Arts Movement, the most
radical literary and artistic movement in American history.
Late 2019
Austin, Texas
Marvin X reading, accompanied by the Sun Ra Arkestra on the 400th Anniversary of Africans arriving in the Americas as captured Africans in the American Slave System (Ed Howard term, Oakland).
TBA
Now booking for lecture/dramatic readings coast to coast at colleges, conferences, festivals, workshops
Contact Marvin X:
send letter of invitation to:
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com