Notes on Abolish Police and Prisons by Marvin X
"Marvin X is Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland."
--Ishmael Reed, Lecturer Emeritus, UC Berkeley
"Marvin X is the African Socrates teaching in the hood."
--Dr. Cornel West, Harvard University
"Marvin X has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the founders and innovators of the revolutionary school of African writing."
--Ancestor Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), Black Arts Movement Co-founder
Abolish police, well, ok, abolish prisons too. Ancestor Dr. Walter Rodney in his monograph West Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast, told us how an almost utopian society was eventually corrupted, yes, all the institutions, religious, political, judicial, marital, military, et al., by the slave trade. Prior to this horror we learn there were no police and no jails, that a white man, i.e., Arab, could drop his wallet and come back years later to reclaim it. Of course an alternative to jail and prison was banishment, exile from the tribe and/or community, and how could one live without community, but such was the punishment, perhaps the worse punishment for a communally socialized human being. So yes, abolish the police if they cannot be civilized, and there are those who say a security force rooted in the slave catchers (catch a nigger) cannot be reformed since we can see clearly the catch a nigger paradigm is alive and well in 2020. Can a leopard change its spots? We have submitted the Newark NJ Police Model under Mayor Ras Baraka. His mother informed me today (and she's tired of me revealing our private conversations, as is the world!) but she said not one black person has been killed by the police since her son became Mayor of Newark. Indeed, we know the world is full of infinite possibilities, unless one must subscribe to the dictum of BAM Master Teacher and father of Afro-futurism, Sun Ra, "You so evil the devil don't want you in hell! (from Sun Ra lectures at UC Berkeley, 1972, YouTube).
We have put a tremendous burden on the criminal justice system as the panacea for our social ills: to be mental health workers, yes, police and correctional officers as domestic violence counselors, interpersonal relations mediators, etc. Meanwhile the police are rooted in the slave catcher tradition and the correctional officers main job is containment not correction of psychopathic personalities suffering drug abuse as well, the dual diagnosed. Ironically, the police and so-called correctional officers often exhibit the same psychopathic maladies as those they must arrest and contain. And we know in the slave catcher roots of American society, after a certain indoctrination, whites, blacks, brown and yellow ethnic personalities can exhibit equal abuse and inhumane treatment. Often the non-white police and correctional officers must prove themselves by transcending the brutality of their white colleagues. We have witnessed their behavior on the street and in jail and prison. Thus we know color is not the answer. One need only consider the brutality of African police and correctional officers in the Motherland, or Caribbean for that matter.
Sadly, we have doubts that so-called human beings will ever be able to rise above the animal plane, above tribal and ethnic conflict, although the concept of Pan Africanism is utopian due to centuries of colonial and neo-colonialism. As we write, the European colonial powers have imposed themselves into the African Union, yes, while the European Union disintegrates with Brexit as the canary in the coal mine.
And we have not mentioned issues rooted in the patriarchy, but it is there in the deep structure of problems that often lead to criminality, including rape, partner violence, homicide and suicide, alas, let us not mention infanticide, especially of female babies, Africa, Arabia and China are guilty in this regard.
And let us not neglect to mention so-called family honor killings and female mutilation, steeped in national, tribal and religious mythology. With such a multiplicity of issues, one will indeed need to be a superman and superwoman of consciousness to unravel such conundrums that are so pervasive in the global drama that the endgame calling for police and officers from the department of correction most often doesn't correct because it is itself a victim in the matrix of dysfunctional psycho/social behavior by so-called human beings who often degenerate to the degree Sun Ra said, "You so evil the Devil don't want you in hell!"
As a grandfather, I pray for my grandchildren who must come into such a wretched world. I was so relieved when my grandson told me at three years old, "Grandfather, you can't save the world but I can!" I wish I knew the source of his wisdom but I suspect it came from God Almighty! I know I can't save this shit. It was here when I came from my Mother's womb in 1944 as they dropped the Atomic bomb on Japan. It was here why my parents attended the 1945 Peace Conference in San Francisco that established the United Nations. This shit was here in 1948 when the Europeans and a Negro (Dr. Ralph Bunch, UN Secretary) established the apartheid state of Israel. How can Jews out Nazi Nazis? Is this not beyond human comprehension? Again, Sun Ra in his Afro-futuristic wisdom said it best, "These people so evil God don't want them in hell!"
No matter, there is hope with the multi-ethnic protesters of the public lynching of martyr George Floyd. Yes, we see a single spark can start a prairie fire. We see some deaths are lighter than a feather and some deaths are higher than Mt. Tai! George is the supreme example of the Cross and Lynching Tree Rev. James Cone tried to explain to Bill Moyers. "You cannot understand Christianity until you understand the meaning of the cross and lynching tree, which are the same." Jesus was on the cross in the same manner as George Floyd, except Jesus cried out for his Father but George cried out for his Mother!" Oh, Mary, Mother of God!
And let us not neglect to mention so-called family honor killings and female mutilation, steeped in national, tribal and religious mythology. With such a multiplicity of issues, one will indeed need to be a superman and superwoman of consciousness to unravel such conundrums that are so pervasive in the global drama that the endgame calling for police and officers from the department of correction most often doesn't correct because it is itself a victim in the matrix of dysfunctional psycho/social behavior by so-called human beings who often degenerate to the degree Sun Ra said, "You so evil the Devil don't want you in hell!"
As a grandfather, I pray for my grandchildren who must come into such a wretched world. I was so relieved when my grandson told me at three years old, "Grandfather, you can't save the world but I can!" I wish I knew the source of his wisdom but I suspect it came from God Almighty! I know I can't save this shit. It was here when I came from my Mother's womb in 1944 as they dropped the Atomic bomb on Japan. It was here why my parents attended the 1945 Peace Conference in San Francisco that established the United Nations. This shit was here in 1948 when the Europeans and a Negro (Dr. Ralph Bunch, UN Secretary) established the apartheid state of Israel. How can Jews out Nazi Nazis? Is this not beyond human comprehension? Again, Sun Ra in his Afro-futuristic wisdom said it best, "These people so evil God don't want them in hell!"
No matter, there is hope with the multi-ethnic protesters of the public lynching of martyr George Floyd. Yes, we see a single spark can start a prairie fire. We see some deaths are lighter than a feather and some deaths are higher than Mt. Tai! George is the supreme example of the Cross and Lynching Tree Rev. James Cone tried to explain to Bill Moyers. "You cannot understand Christianity until you understand the meaning of the cross and lynching tree, which are the same." Jesus was on the cross in the same manner as George Floyd, except Jesus cried out for his Father but George cried out for his Mother!" Oh, Mary, Mother of God!
--Marvin X
6/12/20