Parable of Jack Johnson
Heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, circa 1910. When a Southern town charged him a then ridiculously expensive $50 for speeding, he peeled off a $100 bill from his bankroll and said "Keep it. I intend to come back this way."
General Egyptsia, Membership Manager of the Black Vendors Association
photo Jim Dennis
Today Marvin X was double parked at Lake Merritt, conversing with General Egyptsia, the Manager of the Black Street Vendors Association. She was bringing him up to date on the vendor situation at the Lake. Since the City of Oakland has not been able to remove Black Street Vendors from the lake at the request of lake residents and merchants, simply because the grass roots Vendors have stood their ground. You know that ole' church song from the Civil Rights movement, I Shall Not Be Moved! Grass Roots hustlers don't give a damn about the politics of vending at the Lake. It's a survival thang with the hustling Street Vendors. Also, a few of them have heard there's a State Law SB946 on Street Vending, the result of the 30,000 Latinos and Latinas on the streets of Los Angeles who Unified to make Governor Jerry Brown sign. But common sense makes the grass roots Vendors Stand Their Ground!
Marvin X, the sole Black Street Vendor on the streets of Oakland for years at 14th and Broadway, who defied police harassment under the color of law, was awarded a grant to organize Black Street Vendors.
As he double parked to get an update from General Egyptsia, the Oakland PD, aka, pigs, came up behind him and over the loudspeaker commanded him to move or get a citation. Being recalcitrant and incorrigible, Marvin X thought about replying to the pigs in the manner of our ancestor Jack Johnson.
If you know Black History, the story goes that the first Black heavyweight champion was stopped for speeding through town in his expensive car, with a white woman on board. When the pigs told him the fine, he paid double, informing them he would be speeding on the way back!
Marvin X thought about telling the Oakland pigs to give two citations since he will be back later and most likely will be double parked!
--Marvin X
7/2/22
Marvin X, Violinist Tarika Lewis and Percussionist Tacuma King in the Tenderloin, SF.