Of Pistols and Prayers

Of Pistols and Prayers
by Ise Lyfe



Watching this young man on stage took me back to my undergraduate days at San Francisco State College, 1965, when the drama department produced my first play Flowers for the Trashman.

In Ise Lyfe, I saw myself as a young man in the theatre after the drama department production, when I dropped out of college to establish my own theatre in the Fillmore District, Black Arts West Theatre, along with playwright Ed Bullins and others.

Watching Ise do his thing on stage, producing, directing, writing and acting, along with his crew of mostly young people, was indeed a pleasure. It is a pleasure to see youth doing anything positive, but especially being creative rather than destructive, trying to spread consciousness to his generation in dire need of such.

It is for this reason that I don’t want to be too critical on the brother, although I do have a few constructive remarks that may help him in the future. Firstly, I saw no need for him to come on and exit the stage in almost rapid succession. Stay yo ass on stage and present your message, even scene changes can be done on stage: let us see you transform or change persona on stage. The very process is part of the drama. Further, we don’t need to hear your voice off stage. Say what you got to say on stage, up front and personal. In our face. And not too much video. Again, we want to see you, not a video message, no matter it is a mixed media production. We didn’t come to look at a screen but to see you. You are the reason for the season.

The music was nice and worked in harmony with Ise, sometimes in perfect harmony. It was especially nice to see my favorite musician on stage, Destiny Muhammad, harpist from the hood. The long segment with the DJ was, for me, totally unnecessary and could be deleted. The central focus is Ise, nobody else. After all, this is a one man show. We don't need to hear nothing from the DJ.

For sure, Ise has the potential to be a great actor. We see he can transform into a myriad personas. And the poetry is good conscious hip hop. We can only suggest, and this goes for hip hop spoken word in general, discover the director, other than oneself, for the director can see what the actor can’t. He can tell the actor things he never imagined, no matter how talented. The actor can often suffer a kind of blindness, perhaps caused by ego, so don’t be too arrogant not to employ a director. In my case, I would at least utilize an associate director, although they would do so reluctantly, declaring, “Marvin, you ain’t gonna let me direct, you know that!” Still, I would at least call upon them for advice.

And we say to Ise Lyfe, welcome to the world of black theatre. It’s your turn, go for it! We encourage youth and adults to catch this production of a young man trying to do the right thing, i.e., being creative and attempting to spread consciousness. To escape this morass, we may indeed need a pistol and a prayer. A white man suggested the three Gs: guns, gold and getaway plan.
--Marvin X
Marvin X is one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement.

The Sisyphus Syndrome

The Sisyphus Syndrome




A jazz Opera by Amiri Baraka
Music by David Murray
Choreography Traci Bartlow
Eastside Cultural Center

Review by Marvin X


Sisyphus is the Greek god condemned to roll the rock up the hill for eternity. Each time he ascended, he was blocked by the forces of evil and the rock fell to the ground. DuBois and others have used the Sisyphus myth-ritual to describe the history of North American Africans. Each generation that makes progress on the path to freedom is blocked by the forces of reaction and the next generation must reinvent the wheel of justice, freedom and self-determination. Amiri Baraka’s Opera takes us up the mountain and down in the manner of Sisyphus. He shows us the trials and tribulations of a people striving for dignity, only to be obstructed by evil, call it racism, imperialism, capitalism, slavery, whatever.

Baraka has always been our myth-maker, from the Dead Lecturer (poems),
Dutchman (play), A Black Mass (play) and Slaveship (play), not to mention numerous other works attacking, revising and transcending Western mythology to tell the story of our existence in this wilderness. The Sisyphus Syndrome is his most recent attempt to lecture us in the didactic manner of BAM (the Black Arts Movement). Sonia Sanchez asked, “Will Your book free us?” Baraka answers emphatically, “Yes.” He proceeds to describe the problem through the dramatic form called Opera, a utilization of voice, song, music, dance, set design, video and sound. Of course BAM drama is ritual theatre, the merging of actors and audience, thus it is communal—there is no audience but rather a community of people gathered to learn, to heal and transform. Baraka is the shaman who gathers his tribe around the village fire, yes, Round Midnight, to envision a new day. What happened, what should happen and what will happen if we finally get it right, if we understand events, symbols and signs, the blocks along the mountain path to freedom, the joys, the celebrations of victories, then defeat, depression, more oppression, but finally, in the transformation and ascension to the mountain top Dr. King preached about the night before his assassination, April 4, 1968. Baraka catalogues the history endured and victories celebrated. Sisyphus is thus a lesson from the wise elder, the healer, for finally, Baraka’s myth is about healing and love, unity and love. He gives a shout out to Muslims, Christians, Socialists, Communists, and vegetarians to unite in a Black United Front. The chorus tells us this, the poetry as well, sometimes recited by the poet himself.

His book of poetry is classic Baraka, abstract at times, plain and simple other times, but it is poetry that is didactic and lyrical. He thus returns theatre to the Shakespearean tradition of the poetic drama. But he transcends Shakespeare, with the elements of ritual, the energy of the Holy Ghost church. While the words instruct and inform, the dance and music take us to the deep down funk of our lives. Baraka would call it Funklore. In one tune we hear that funky Al Green beat. And there is a rendition of my favorite tune Round Midnight signaling a low moment in our history, maybe the betrayal of Reconstruction, the lynching, torture and terror of American genocide.

In the BAM tradition, David Murray weaves his music as a weapon of freedom, literally using his horn as a device to check the devil, the forces of evil. David does a dance with Skelekin. We see the role of musician as shaman, protector of the tribe. We see the people’s army marching and dancing to music. The music once again propels us up the mountain, sometimes it is a gentle nudge, sometimes a shout, a scream, a moan, but in tandem with the choreography of Traci Bartlow, the music is for war, just as her movements are forward motion, the principle activity in the Sisyphusian myth-ritual, as interpreted by Baraka. Traci employs modern, African, jazz and hip hop movements to tell the myth. She is outstanding as choreographer, dancer and assistant director. Rashidi Byrd was excellent with his hip hop movements.

And there is love, for there shall be no revolution without love. Baraka reminds us of love and unity throughout, and the dancers exemplify by embracing each other and the audience or tribe, weaving in and out of the audience to make it feel, touch, taste and hear the Motion of History, a Baraka title.

The video symbols are apt since we are in the video Age, but because the images are a powerful montage of history and current reality, we are forced to learn from them, for they enter our consciousness along with the other dramatic elements to break the rock of ignorance. No one can sit in the audience and participate in this drama without a raising of consciousness, without desiring a further course in black studies, the history of imperialism and its counterpoint, revolution.

We applaud the acting of President L. Davis as Sisyphus. He is on the way to an acting career. His voice alone should take him there. Do we not hear a James Earl Jones in the making? His nemesis, Skelekin, Amil Islam, is another powerful young actor we expect
to be transformed by his role as Block Man. We suspect all the actors will be transformed by this production, artistically and spiritually, even the young actors from the Youth Guerilla Theatre, who completed the intergenerational aspect of the myth-ritual drama.

We thank the producers, Eastside Arts, for making this production possible. It is a much needed continuation of the Black Arts Movement. And as we exit the theatre, exhausted but joyful at the conclusion, we must suggest a reading of How To Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy, for we cannot leave the theatre to do nothing, rather the Opera’s intent is to get us involved in the dance of unity and radical consciousness. How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy is the antidote to problems presented in Sisyphus Syndrome: detoxify, recover and discover your role in the cultural revolution. We encourage you to attend our Pan African Mental Health Peer Group to recover from the addiction to white supremacy.

Dewey Redman and the Black Arts West Theatre

We fondly remember Dewey Redman at the Black Arts West Theatre playwright Ed Bullins and I founded at Turk and Fillmore, San Francisco, 1966, along with Ethna Wyatt, Karl Bossiere, Duncan Barber and Hillery Broadous. Into our theatre came a plethora of jazz musicians to accompany our plays, including Dewey Redman, Monte Waters, Donald Rafael Garrett, Earl Davis, BJ, Paul Smith, et al. They took authority of the music department by telling us to go ahead and do our thing, they would accompany us by coming on stage and accenting our words, or going out into the audience or even out the door to address the Fillmore Street crowds, including the bumper to bumper cars passing along Fillmore.

Dewey and bassist Donald Garrett were probably the most free in teaching us what would become known as Ritual Theatre, that smashing of the wall between stage and audience, merging them into the oneness so well known in the Christian ritual. The difference between the church ritual and the Black Arts ritual was that we came to smash tradition, not enforce it. Of course, we must know tradition before we can smash it. So Dewey, Donald and the rest taught us tradition then how to transcend it.

They forced us to abandon our concept of European theatre, dragging us, sometimes screaming and hollering, back and forward to our African dramatic tradition, freeing us once and forever.

Of course, the ultimate transformer of our dramatic consciousness was Sun Ra, the Grand Master of African theatre. Sun Ra taught the necessity of African mythology as the basis of ritual expression, and with his Arkestra demostrated the unity of music, dance, poetry and mixed media.
--Marvin X
Black Arts West Theatre, 2011

Marvin X's forthcoming drama is Mythology of Love, a womanhood/manhood poetic rites of passage, featuring Ptah Mitchell as Eternal Man and Aries Jordan as Eternal Woman.



Dewey Redman, A Biography



Dewey Redman (born Walter Dewey Redman in Fort Worth, Texas, May 17, 1931; d. Brooklyn, New York September 2, 2006) was an American jazz saxophonist, known for performing free jazz as a bandleader, and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett.

Redman played mainly tenor saxophone, though he occasionally doubled on alto saxophone, played the Chinese suona (which he called a musette) and on rare occasions played the clarinet.

His son is saxophonist Joshua Redman.

After high school, Redman briefly enrolled in the electrical engineering program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, but became disillusioned with the program and returned home to Texas. In 1953, Redman earned a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Arts from Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University. While at Prairie View, he switched from clarinet to alto saxophone, then, eventually, to tenor. Following his bachelor's degree, Redman served two-years in the US Army.

Upon his discharge from the Army, Redman began working on a master’s degree in education at the University of North Texas. While working on his degree, he taught music to fifth graders in Bastrop, Texas, and worked as a freelance saxophonist on nights and weekends around Austin, Texas. In 1957, Redman earned a Masters Degree in Education with a minor in Industrial Arts from the University of North Texas. While at North Texas, he did not enroll in any music classes.

Towards the end of 1959, Redman moved to San Francisco, a musical choice resulting in an early collaboration with Donald Rafael Garrett.

Redman was best known for his collaborations with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, with whom he performed in his Fort Worth high school marching band. He later performed with Coleman from 1968 to 1972, appearing on the recording New York Is Now, among others. He also played in pianist Keith Jarrett's American Quartet (1971-1976), and was a member of the collective Old And New Dreams. The American Quartet's The Survivor's Suite was voted Jazz Album of the Year by Melody Maker in 1978.

He also performed and recorded as an accompanying musician with jazz musicians who performed in varying styles within the post-1950s jazz idiom, including bassist and fellow Coleman-alum Charlie Haden and guitarist Pat Metheny.

With a dozen recordings under his own name Redman established himself as one of the more prolific tenor players of his generation. Though generally associated with free jazz (with an unusual, distinctive technique of sometimes humming into his saxophone as he played), Redman's melodic tenor playing was often reminiscent of the blues and post-bop mainstream. Redman's live shows were as likely to feature standards and ballads as the more atonal improvisations for which he was known.

Redman was the subject of an award-winning documentary film Dewey Time (dir. Daniel Berman, 2001).

On February 19 and 21, 2004, Redman played tenor saxophone as a special guest with Jazz at Lincoln Center, in a concert entitled "The Music of Ornette Coleman."
Redman died of liver failure in Brooklyn, New York on September 2, 2006. He is survived by his wife, Lidija Pedevska-Redman, as well as sons Tarik, and Joshua Redman also a jazz saxophonist. The father and son recorded two albums together.

Obama Drama: Black Obama Speaks from the Outhouse

Paradise Free Jahlove 10:59am Jun 28

Black Obama Speaks!

This is a special report from your Nubian Network News, channel X! We have breaking news, the Black President that many of you thought you were voting for, Black Obama has escaped from Obama Lite! And he is now approaching the mike:

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Brother and sisters, without further ado, if I may speak for Uncle Sam - and I am, as my first order of business I want to say to you...that I apologize for slavery!!!!

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I apologize for making you work for 400 years without a paycheck! And then giving you pay checks which should have clearly been marked "insufficient funds"! And then calling you lazy!

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Speak the truth! Yes we can!

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I apologize for the Middle Passage...and the millions who lost their lives...and for the horrific and deplorable conditions of the Slave Ship; conditions of which many of you are still suffering today in the bowels of the slave ship America!

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I apologize for not notifying many of you until two years after I signed the Emancipation Proclamation that you were free! And then keeping you in bondage by transfering you from chattel slavery to land slavery and economic slavery and wage slaver and mental slavery and slavery behind bars!

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And I apologize for Jonestown and Rosewood and Greensboro and Black Wall Street and for what happened to those Four Little Black Girls in Birmingham and for Malcolm and Martin and Medgar and Marcus and all the Rodney Kings and Oscar Grants and Haiti and the slow and pitiful responses to Katrina which showed on a larger scale what has been happening to you in your neighborhoods for centuries everyday!

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Stand up for justice! Yes we can!

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I apologize because NOW IS THE TIME for reparations!

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NOW IS THE TIME to bring the troops home!

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NOW IS THE TIME to make love and not war!

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NOW IS THE TIME to drop food and not bombs!

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NOW IS THE TIME to get the Ugly American to stop terrorizing South America, Asia and Africa!

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NOW IS THE TIME to stop being a beast in the Middle East!

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NOW IS THE TIME to come home and put our own house in order, harmony and peace! And stop pointing hypocritical fingers at our neighbors!

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NOW IS THE TIME to set Mumia and all Political Prisoners free...and stop being so cowardly and racists against those seeking freedom and justice from oppression!

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NOW IS THE TIME to bring back the original Black Statue of Liberty, representative of a people who came up from slavery and broke free from tens of thousands of chains of bondage with bravery!

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NOW IS THE TIME! And not until each and every American is free will America be free...free to truly say, "Bring me your tired, your poor and your hungry!" For then we will be a living example of a country who knows how to provide food and shelter and peace to everyone!

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NOW IS THE TIME! NOW IS THE TIME! NOW IS THE TIME!

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(c) 6-26-2011, by Paradise

Obama Drama, Scene #3: Interview with Marvin X

Marvin X Interviews President Obama

Marvin X, Thank you Mr. President for agreeing to meet with me.

Prez, The pleasure is all mine. I've been reading your blogs and find them quite interesting.

MX, I hope you don't say what Minister Farrakhan said about my comments on him.

Prez, What did he say?

MX, He said I raked him over the coals.

Prez, I agree with Minister Farrakhan. You can be quite hard hitting.

MX, They call me the sledgehammer.

Prez, Indeed you are.

MX, Call it tough love.

Prez, OK.

MX, Furthermore, I supported you wholeheartedly from the beginning. You obviously haven't seen my book Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yoself.

Prez, No I haven't.

MX, But I must agree with our mutual friend Dr. Cornell West. I'm sure you are aware that he said we must protect you, respect you, but check you.

Prez, Yes, I heard his remarks. And you know what I said, "You brothers need to cut me some slack."

MX, Prez, you don't need slack. You need us riding your back like Roy Rogers on Trigger.

Prez, Don't you think I have enough pressure on me?

MX, Well, I once forced the resignation of the president of Fresno State University. Well, actually he said he was pressured from above (Gov. Ronald Reagan) and below (student protests after the college refused to hire me). So we see you are the type of guy who must be pressured from above and below, from the right and the left.

Prez, How much pressure you think a person in my position can take?

MX, You got Mechelle to chill you out!

Prez, You're right about that.

MX, But I wrote about her putting a foot in your ass when you get weak.

Prez, I don't think that's necessary

MX, Well, you seem to capitulate at every turn. You call it the nature of politics, of course.

Prez, Well, I certainly don't call it capitulation. That's a bit harsh. I try to negotiate and compromise with my opposition.

MX, Prez, It seems to me you give in too quickly, sometimes when it ain't even necessary.

Prez, Marvin, it's the nature of the beast I'm dealing with.

MX, Ever heard of playing hardball? I mean I was happy you got the health insurance plan through but at what price, selling out to the insurance lobby?

Prez, I don't call it selling out, it was compromise, the best we could do under the circumstances.

MX, Prez, why have you not created a jobs program? You bailed out the banks and corporations but not the people, why?

Prez, Marv, you know I have a most difficult job and we tried a stimulus package, and it worked to some extent.

MX, But, Prez, there are still millions of unemployed. Yet at the same time you are promising terrorist jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan if they lay down their arms. Should the American unemployed take up arms to get your attention?

Prez, Marv, please, what are you suggesting, revolution?

MX, If that's what it takes to get you to consider the consent of the governed. Is not the first priority of this nation the people, not corporations and banks?

Prez, Well, corporations are people now.

MX, Prez, you know what I mean.

Prez, Of course.

MX, How can you provide funds for educating, housing and employing terrorists abroad but not at home? It just doesn't make sense, Mr. Prez.

Prez, You're right, Marv.

MX, Now you're getting ready to raise one billion dollars to keep your job, but you can't find a few billion for the millions of unemployed

Prez, You're right, Marv. I can do better. Let me regroup with my advisers and think about it.

MX, Yeah, Prez, I want to support you reelection but I find it most difficult. And the brothers on the street as well. They were happy when you won, they said it was great to know they could look up to someone besides a rapper. But lately they are saying fuck you, Mr. Prez.

Prez, I'm sorry to hear that.

MX, You should know this is what they're saying, Fuck you!

Prez, I often wonder about the mood in the hood.

MX, You should wonder before something terrible happens to your country because of your neglect and misplaced priorities. Can I ask you something personal?

Prez, Go for it!

MX, Do you feel like a white man or black man?

Prez, Well, when I'm with Mechelle, I feel black. When I'm with my Secretary of State, Hilliary, I feel white.

MX, I thought Hillary was black, along with her husband, Dirty Bill.

Prez, Marv, let's not name call, please.

MX, OK. On a more serious matter, how long did you know Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan?

Prez, We had him under surveillance for some time.

MX, Years, months?

Prez, a long time.

MX, Should I congratulate you for slaying the dragon?

Prez, That's up to you.

MX, Well, you probably deserve a feather in your cap. A couple of Brownie points.

Prez, Marv, thanks.

MX, But, Prez, where's the body?

Prez, We threw it in the ocean.

MX, C'mon, Prez, do I look like Willie Foofoo?

Prez, Marv, we did, trust me.

MX, Prez, I'm an ex-dope fiend. I know how people lie.

Prez, Marv, are you calling me a liar?

MX, I didn't say that, Prez, but my elder, Dr. Nathan Hare, taught the fictive theory. Everything the white man (and black man or white/black man) says is fiction until proven to be a fact. Where are the facts, Prez?

Prez, Marv, trust me. We thought it best to dispose of the body in the ocean.

MX, But who's going for this, Prez, it sounds shaky.

Prez, We concluded that was the best way to end the matter of a man who murdered three thousand Americans.

MX, Prez, how many Muslims have you murdered since you became President?

Prez, I can't answer that.

MX, Between Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, how many, especially with the collateral damage?

Prez, Can't answer that. It was all in defense of America.

MX, Is a few ignorant men living in mountain caves really a threat to America?

Prez, They can be.

MX, C'mon, Prez. Let's change the channel. What happened with the closing of Gitmo?

Prez, We tried but couldn't pull it off.

MX, What about the secret prisons in America?

Prez, I'm not aware of them.

MX, Maybe you should check with homeland security?

Prez, Our priority is the safety of Americans.

MX, Does this include murdering American citizens rather than bringing them to trial?

Prez, Not necessarily.

MX, What about the man in Yemen you are trying to kill who is an American citizen?

Prez, He's a special case.

MX, But he's an American.

Prez, Marv, don't press the issue.

MX, That's exactly what I'm doing.

Prez, Don't press it, Marv.

MX, Let's discuss the Middle East for a moment. I've written about your speech in Cairo and Indonesia. I've imagined what you will say about Muslims tomorrow, May 19. You know as long as you occupy one inch of Muslim land there shall be Muslims who view you as a Crusader and they will vow to fight you to the death.

Prez, Marv, I'm aware how Muslims feel about us occupying their lands. And we plan to vacate all Muslim lands at the earliest possible date.

MX, Does this include having your friends in Israel do the same?

Prez, Well, that's a matter for the Israelis, not us.

MX, But you are their very best friend. You support them right or wrong, true?

Prez, I wouldn't say that. But we have an enduring relationship.

MX, Don't you see the day is rapidly arriving when they cannot claim to be the only democracy in the area, that they will bow down to the God of Justice, not peace but justice?

Prez, Events are rapidly changing in North Africa and the Middle East. Therefore we must all make a paradigm shift in our thinking and behavior, including Israel.

MX, What about your friends in Saudi Arabia?

Prez, They will need to make substantial changes as well.

MX, And Bahrain?

Prez, It's a special case. We have strategic interests there.

MX, You seem to be saying America practices selective suffering. You now support the Egyptian revolution, the Tunisian, Yemen, but not in Saudi Arabia or Israel, Jordan, Bahrain.

Prez, Marv, we have our interests that must be secured first.

MX, What if and when these nations explode in your face, overnight, as is happening as we speak. Seems like you'll be running after the football or playing catchup?

Prez, We'll do what we must when we must.

MX, Thank you, Mr. Prez.

--Marvin X

5/18/11

Black Bird Press News and Review

http://www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/

Marvin X Writes Obama's Speech to Muslims

As-Salaam-Alaikum
I, Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States of America, come before you tonight in the name of Almighty God Allah. We, the America people, are pleased to see the people of North Africa and the Middle East rising up against our long time friends in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere.

Of course we instituted a no fly zone over Libya but it is most difficult to do the same in Gaza. The recent unity of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is nice but simply not in the interests of our dear friends in Israel, nor is it in the long term strategic interests of America and her friends throughout the region, especially our brothers in the House of Saud.

While we endorse the cries for freedom in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen, we cannot support the people in Bahrain. We suspect they are simply agents for Iran and therefore we cannot support their cries for freedom. We have no plans of moving our Fifth Fleet from Bahrain, especially since it is a counterweight to Iranian provocations. We therefore endorse the sending of Saudi troops to crush the Shia uprisings in Bahrain.

As per Saudi Arabia, we love democracy but it is simply not in our interests to have the Saudi regime destabilized because of a few unhappy citizens, again, many of them are agents of Iran, especially those Saudi women who want to drive cars.

As per Iran, we call for democracy in that nation, even though we accept full responsibility for overthrowing the democratically elected leader, Mossedeq, and installing the Shah who oppressed his people for many years.

We know you share our joy with the elimination of the hated terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Even though we created him and supported him, the time came for his removal, even though we were aware he was living in a mansion with his three wives in Pakistan. He served us well, but the time came for his disposal. You know how we handle those who outlive our usefulness, e.g., Saddam Hussein.

We promised a total troop removal from Iraq, but circumstances may prevent this unless it is expedient for my upcoming election. We hope the people of Iraq understand, especially that guy Sadr and his army of the poor in Sadr City who fought with us to no avail.

Our regional partners, namely the Sunni neighbors of Iraq, have warned us not to leave Iraq under a Shia regime, again this will only benefit Iran, the enemy of world peace. Not Israel and certainly not America who is the champion of world peace as you all know throughout the Muslim world, not matter that we are now occupying Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and making inroads into Libya. You may be surprised to learn that it is not the oil we want in Libya but the water. Yes, water will be a precious commodity in the coming days. We pray to Allah you can understand why we do what we do.

As per Afghanistan, we have promised the Taliban if they lay down their arms, we will give them schooling, housing and employment. We wish we could offer the same to our boys and girls in the hoods of America who are terrorizing their communities with drugs and guns, but our budget crisis will not allow education, housing and jobs for the boys and girls in the hood, although we can do this for the Taliban. As you know we did this in Iraq and this was the real cause of the decrease in violence, not the socalled surge of Baghdad under General Betrayus.

As you know, General Betrayus will be taking over the Central Intelligence Agency. We appreciate his role in prolonging the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We feel he has been successful in routing the 100 to 500 Al Quida in Afghanistan, especially after we sent him thirty thousand additional troops.

Finally, our friends in Pakistan may have some misgivings about the unilateral move we made to eliminate Osama bin Laden, but we want them to get over it and not make any silly moves like seeking revenge with their nuclear option.

I close in the name of peace, As-Salaam-Alaikum.
President Barack Hussein Obama

Obama Drama: Scene #2: Speech to Muslims

Marvin X Writes Obama's Speech to Muslim World

As-Salaam-Alaikum

I, Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States of America, come before you tonight in the name of Almighty God Allah. We, the America people, are pleased to see the people of North Africa and the Middle East rising up against our long time friends in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere.

Of course we instituted a no fly zone over Libya but it is most difficult to do the same in Gaza. The recent unity of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is nice but simply not in the interests of our dear friends in Israel, nor is it in the long term strategic interests of America and her friends throughout the region, especially our brothers in the House of Saud.

While we endorse the cries for freedom in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen, we cannot support the people in Bahrain. We suspect they are simply agents for Iran and therefore we cannot support their cries for freedom. We have no plans of moving our Fifth Fleet from Bahrain, especially since it is a counterweight to Iranian provocations. We therefore endorse the sending of Saudi troops to crush the Shia uprisings in Bahrain.

As per Saudi Arabia, we love democracy but it is simply not in our interests to have the Saudi regime destabilized because of a few unhappy citizens, again, many of them are agents of Iran, especially those Saudi women who want to drive cars.

As per Iran, we call for democracy in that nation, even though we accept full responsibility for overthrowing the democratically elected leader, Mossedeq, and installing the Shah who oppressed his people for many years.

We know you share our joy with the elimination of the hated terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Even though we created him and supported him, the time came for his removal, even though we were aware he was living in a mansion with his three wives in Pakistan. He served us well, but the time came for his disposal. You know how we handle those who outlive our usefulness, e.g., Saddam Hussein,

We promised a total troop removal from Iraq, but circumstances may prevent this unless it is expedient for my upcoming election. We hope the people of Iraq understand, especially that guy Sadr and his army of the poor in Sadr City who fought with us to no avail.

Our regional partners, namely the Sunni neighbors of Iraq, have warned us not to leave Iraq under a Shia regime, again this will only benefit Iran, the enemy of world peace. Not Israel and certainly not America who is the champion of world peace as you all know throughout the Muslim world, not matter that we are now occupying Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and making inroads into Libya. You may be surprised to learn that it is not the oil we want in Libya but the water. Yes, water will be a precious commodity in the coming days. We pray to Allah you can understand why we do what we do.

As per Afghanistan, we have promised the Taliban if they lay down their arms, we will give them schooling, housing and employment. We wish we could offer the same to our boys and girls in the hoods of America who are terrorizing their communities with drugs and guns, but our budget crisis will not allow education, housing and jobs for the boys and girls in the hood, although we can do this for the Taliban. As you know we did this in Iraq and this was the real cause of the decrease in violence, not the socalled surge of Baghdad under General Betrayus.

As you know, General Betrayus will be taking over the Central Intelligence Agency. We appreciate his role in prolonging the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We feel he has been successful in routing the 100 to 500 Al Quida in Afghanistan, especially after we sent him thirty thousand additional troops.

Finally, our friends in Pakistan may have some misgivings about the unilateral move we made to eliminate Osama bin Laden, but we want them to get over it and not make any silly moves like seeking revenge with their nuclear option.

I close in the name of peace, As-Salaam-Alaikum.

President Barack Hussein Obama

Obama Drama: Scene #1: Speech on Afghanistan

A fictional speech by President Obama on Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Good evening, my fellow Americans. You some silly motherfuckers. Do you think I'm gonna bring a bunch of troops home from Afghanistan when my generals tell me they can make a few more billion dollars if we keep the troop level up. I'm not gonna do that, hell naw. As long as my name is Barack Hussein Obama. Yes, who sane Obama, but you insane if you think the thirty thousand troops I sent over there to kill those mountain goats are coming home anytime soon.

Oh, I might bring home two or three thousand, mostly the wounded with their brains shot out, those with no legs, no arms, we'll send them home, but you know it takes 30 thousand to capture or kill 100 to 500 Al Quida, yes, do the math, 30 thousand men at the cost of one million dollars each--now we don't pay them damn fool grunts no million dollars, but the generals get most of it for their retirement and when they come home to set up defense related corporations. You know the drill, don't you? You know politics and capitalism is dirty, filthy and funky like a ghetto ho. Hee hee hee. vote for me, I'll set you free!

You know we gotta take care of our generals, since they protect us round the world so you dumb somebitches can ride around in your SUVs, playing soccer mom and your husbands can ride through the ghetto at night picking up little black girls for prostitution. Now if you fuck with my little girls, I'm coming after that ass like I did that boy, our boy, Osama bin Laden.

Yes, I got that motherfucker. Hell, it was close to election time so I had to do something. Shot that motherfucker between the eyes and had my boys fuck his three wives fore we got outta Pakistan.

Back to Afghanistan. It is ten billion dollars a month to chase them mountain goats up and down them fuckin mountains, some ten thousand feet to twelve thousand feet up. But we makin progress so we can't leave now. Too much money involved and too much dope. Karzai and his brother is dealing too much dope and it's too good to cut and run now, except for a little drawn down fore election time, hee hee hee. Vote for me, I'll set you free, you dumb motherfuckers, especially my nigguhs.

How ma nigguhs doing in da hood? Ya'll still got yo shirt on, pants? I know you ain't got no job, ain't got no house, but you know I had to help my boys on Wall Street. I ain't stupid now, hell, I'm a Harvard nigguh, my nigguhs. Gotta help my brotherhood of thieves and robbers. If ya'll stop going to prison and come to Harvard, we'll show you how to be real criminals.

And they lettin all nigguhs and poor people into Harvard for free, what's wrong wit ya nigguhs? Get yo ass out dem prison cells and come to Harvard so you can be trained to be a real criminal. Look, we ain't gonnna keep payin no $200,000 a year to keep you little snotty nose motherfuckers in juvenile hall. We go put you in Harvard. I'll talk to my man Skip Gates bout giving you a little black studies, none of dat radical shit, some miller lite shit, but I want you to major in crime, how to rob motherfuckers in broad daylight, cheat people out da homes, jobs, take everything, don't leave a motherfucker nothing. Take his wife too. Hee hee hee, vote for me, I'll set ya free!

Back to Afghanistan. I told them mountain goats if they lay down their arms I will pay for them to go to school, get them housing and get them jobs. But them motherfuckers too dumb, can't count to ten. They can fight like hell when they wanna, but they don't want no schoolin, remind me of you nigguhs in da hood. But they worse than you nigguhs, these mountain goats won't even let the women go to school, lease you boyz in da hood ain't dat stupid. Vote fa me, I'll set ya free.

Now you boyz and girls in da hood might wonder why I don't give you motherfuckers jobs if you lay down yo guns and stop terrorizing you mama, daddy, grandpa and grandma, yo woman and babies, yes, you nigguhs is killing yo babies too--sometimes ya'll bad as them mountain goats bombing everything with they good suicide asses. Talkin bout they go get some virgins in Paradise. Do the women get dicks in Paradise? Hee, hee hee. Vote fa me, I'll set ya free!!!!

Let me finish this bullshit speech up so I can hit my cigarette, maybe a little one on one too. Mechelle make me go to a special little room she fixed up for me in the White House to do my thang. You know how them bitches is, always wanna fix up some shit fa a man. Bitch, I'm the motherfuckin Prez, bitch! Better leave me the fuck alone and take care of dem guls and yo mama.

Back to Afghanistan. We go bring home two or three thousand troops and don't fuck with me about it. Matter of fact, kiss my black yellow ass, especially you Republicans and that Cornel West bitch! American people, good night. Prosperity is just around the corner, soon a chicken in every pot. Hee hee hee. Vote for me, I'll set you free!

--Marvin X

6/23/11

Marvin X is known variously as Plato, Rumi, Mark Twain, the Sludgehammer, human earthquake. He's written thirty books, eight last year. jmarvinx@yahoo.com

http://www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/

From Mythology of Love: Testimony, A Love Song

Testimony, a Love Song

Eternal Man
I remember when I met you, woman
The feeling has never left me
What is the magic of you, what is the mystery
Every day, you are there,
In my hair
In my skin
I hear you blowing in the wind

Eternal Woman

I remember when I first me you, man
You were strong then
Your hair was neat
Your fingernails were clean and cut
Your skin was glowing
Your ears were clean
You were confident, secure
Your voice was strong and commanding
I was proud to meet you
Had heard of you, heard your name
Knew you were a man of truth
You know I did everything to please you
Spoiled you, worshipped you above God
That was my sin
If the years have taught me anything
You are very much human
Sometimes less than human
When you beat me
Sometimes more than human
When you made love to me.

Eternal Man

I have learned to listen to you, woman
You been right many times
When I was wrong
You knew what to do from the beginning
I didn’t but pretended I did
You begged me for years
Do right, nigguh, do right
What did I say
Shut up, bitch!
And kicked your ass
Only a fool would hurt a flower
Only a fool would destroy a rose.

Eternal Woman

If you love me so much
Why you treat me like you do
If you love me so much
Why you treat me like you do?


Eternal Man

I make no excuses
Word is bond
If you cannot believe my words
We have no bond
I will keep trying til my words are truth
I went blind
No longer saw God
No longer cared for Him
Lost faith in myself, most of all
But look
The Spirit of God is upon me!

Eternal Woman

You act like the same nigguh to me
You don’t respect me as a woman
You don’t respect me as a human
It’s your way or no way
True, you haven’t beat me lately
But you act like you will
If I oppose you
Who can live like this?
I refuse to live in fear
I refuse
If you can’t make me feel secure
I will find someone else who can
If you cannot make me feel at peace
I will find someone else who can
If you cannot treat me with respect
I will find someone else who can!

Eternal Man

I understand
And I submit
To truth
I submit
To God.

Eternal Woman

I’m going to see, man
You’ve told me millions of words
I will see
I want to believe you, but it’s hard
I want to trust you
But it’s hard
You’ve lied so much
You’ve done such terrible things to me
You’re the worse person I know
What else is wrong with you?
You’re too aggressive
You’re too extreme
You drink too much
You fuck too much
You cuss too much
You shout too much!

Eternal Man

Why you let me love you again and again
If I’m so terrible
King Kong
I want to take you serious
But sometimes
You are full of hot air and gibberish!



Eternal Woman

You’re right
There is some good in you
We have good times together
Sometimes
You’re really a good person
But you always negate the good
With some terrible stuff
Sometimes you make me nervous
Sometimes I can’t relax with you
Sometimes I don’t’ feel safe and secure with you
Get yourself together
Don’t blow up every minute
I’m trying to control myself
I’m not perfect either
I have my faults
You know them better than anyone
I’m working on myself
Work on yourself
Take care of your business
And come at me right!
Where is your faith in Allah
You profess to the world
Keep your word, demonstrate your word
By your actions
And I’ll be your friend forever
I’ll be your very best friend.

Call for West Coast Black Arts Theatre Festival

Invited Participants

Sean Vaughn Scott
Ise Lyfe
Geoffrey Grier
Michael Lange
Linda Johnson
Ayodele Nzinga
Destiny Muhammad
Tarika Lewis
Thomas Simpson
Donald Lacy
D'wayne Wiggins
Joyce Gordon
Geoffrey Pete








Marvin X Calls Black Arts West Theatre Festival
Marvin X, godfather of the West Coast Black Arts Movement, is calling a Black Arts West Theatre Festival in honor of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre founders Stanley E. Williams and Quentin Easter, also in honor of Margo Norman, who transitioned recently. Margo performed in the plays of Ed Bullins shortly before he hooked up with Marvin X to establish Black Arts West Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore District.

Before Black Arts West came on the scene, there was Aldridge Players West, with Adam David Miller, et al. After Black Arts West, there was John Doyle's Grassroots theatre and Michael Cattlett's theatre.

And then came the Lorraine Hansberry. In 1972, Marvin X established Black Educational Theatre in the Fillmore, and in the late 90s, Recovery Theatre in the Tenderloin and throughout the Bay and Northern California. His play One Day in the Life is the longest running play in the history of North American Africans in Northern California. It ran from the late 90s into the new millennium.

Other theatres came and went, and few were able to survive on the meager budgets grant agencies doled out. The Lorraine Hansberry was the exception, partly because of their non-political stance as per the cultural revolution. But when they produced a performance of Marvin X's One Day in the Life, they transcended the apolitical. They'd also produced a work on the Black Panther Party, along with their signature work of August Wilson.

No matter the politics of Stanley and Quentin, and for that matter August Wilson, Marvin X considers them comrades in the arts. Any black artist with an iota of consciousness is all right with me. Actually, I appreciate artists period! Of course I appreciate revolutionary arts even more. But any black artists must have some degree of radical consciousness since he must confront and submit himself to the art of Western mythology.

Even the Lorraine Hansberry theatre brothers told Marvin X, "Marvin, the Black bourgeoisie would like to support you, but they cannot accept your language, if you could only alter your language they will support you." But when Marvin X submitted to the black bourgeoisie request, they did not accept his B script. Even Quentin Easter cried, "Marvin, you have taken all the chocolate out the milk!"

Marvin recalls one night at the Lorraine Hansberry: "The theatre was packed to overflow. Actually, when Stanley came he said, oh, no, this is a fire hazzard! People were seated on the stage."

Usually, I would go into the audience during my monologue, but not this night, the audience was seated onstage for lack of seats. They were from recovery programs from throughout the Bay Area. The Theatre District was horrified when all these recovering addicts took intermission on Sutter Street in the midst of the theatre district.

But more than this, Dr. William H. Grier was in the house. For those who don't know, Dr. William H. Grier is the co-author of Black Rage, the classic psychological study of North American Africans in the 60s. One of his sons is David Allen Grier, but his son Geoffery was playing the role of Black Panther c0-founder Huey P. Newton in my play One Day in the Life.

In truth, Geoffery was never able to match the psychopathic personality of Huey Hewton. Even though Geoffery had been a Crack fiend with me in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, he found it difficult to match the psychopathology of Huey Newton.

But Dr. Grier, being the psychiatrist he was, asked me how I was feeling before the play began.
I responded with a statement that didn't hardly satisfy the doctor. He told his son Geoferry, "I don't know what's wrong with Marvin. He has Mayor Willie Brown introducing his play. He has a packed house. He has a Jaguar car packed outside, yet he's singing the blues."

Dr. Grier, it's called Divine Discontent. In ghetto language, it's called an ungrateful bastard.

No matter, let us put together a Black Arts West Theatre Festival in honor of Stanley Williams, Quentin Easter and Margo Norman, now ancestors in the Black Theatre Movement. Of course, we can never forget Nora Vaughn and her Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre.
--Marvin X
7,11,10

Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre

Ptah Mitchell


Aries Jordan


























Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre to perform Mythology of Love


On the first day of Summer, Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre rehearsed on the northwest campus at 14th and Broadway. Professor Lumukanda was absent so Plato Negro, aka Marvin X, took over his classroom to rehearse Mythology of Love, his womanhood and manhood rites of passage. The script for Mythology of Love is based on his 1981 Laney College theatre production of In the Name of Love, a ritual drama that examined polygamy, domestic violence and other aspects of male/female relations.

Mythology of Love is a poetic drama based on selected poems of the poet called "The USA's Rumi," (Bob Holman). Eldridge Cleaver said of In the Name of Love, "Marvin X has returned theatre to the Shakespearean tradition of poetic drama."

Mythology of Love lead actors include Aries Jordan as Eternal Woman and Ptah Mitchell as Eternal Man. Michelle LaChaux will act and sing in the production. The rehearsal went well on the first day of summer in the Bay. Aries and Ptah have the potential to excel in their roles since they are familiar with each other, thus have a level of respect on the personal and artistic level, both are poets and budding dramatists, who will perform original material at the Mythology of Love Festival. This project will more than likely become a three day event that will include the work of Bay Area playwrights Opal Palmer Adisa, Ayodele Nzinga, Geoffery Grier, Ise Lyfe, Michael Lange and others.

Actors interested in this production should contact Marvin X: jmarvinx@yahoo.com. Send a resume and pic.

BAM Fundamentally Changed America

Woody King, Detroit BAM,
producer, New Federal Theatre, NYC


Marvin X
poet,playwright, essayist
c0-founder of Black Arts West
Theatre, Fillmore District and
Black House,
San Francisco
Member of New Lafayette Theatre,
Harlem, NY, 1968-69





Barbara Ann Teer,
National Black Theatre Founder
(RIP)



Poet Askia Toure
A Key Figure in BAM





















Playwright Ed Bullins,
one of most prolific playwrights in
America
C0-founded Black Arts West Theatre
and Black House with Marvin X
(Black House founders included
Eldridge Cleaver, Ethna X. Wyatt
(Hurriyah Asar)



Omar Ben Hasan and Abiodun of Last Poets
Continued the poetic tradition, laid the
path for "Rap"












Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee) poet of
the Chicago BAM




Amina and Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones),
BAM founders







poet/playwright
Sonia Sanchez,
Queen of BAM


poet Nikki Giovanni, a major player
of BAM


Sun Ra, BAM Master
musician, philosopher
mythologist, poet
dramatist of the
highest order













Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Harvard Negro Intellectual in Crisis








Sometimes referred to as "the artistic sister of the Black Power Movement," the Black Arts Movement stands as the single most controversial moment in the history of African-American literature--possibly in American literature as a whole. Although it fundamentally changed American attitudes both toward the function and meaning of literature as well as the place of ethnic literature in English departments, African-American scholars as prominent as Henry Louis Gates, Jr., have deemed it the "shortest and least successful" movement in African-American cultural history.

-- "Black Creativity: On the Cutting Edge." Time (Oct. 10 1994): 74-75.

It is sometimes most difficult for outsiders, especially from academia, to understand what was essentially a grass roots artistic movement that advanced the radical consciousness of North American Africans. How can one say BAM "fundamentally changed American attitudes both toward the function and meaning of literature as well as the place of ethnic literature in English departments," and in the same breath call it the "shortest and least successful" movement in African-American cultural history. Perhaps its failure is that it did not totally liberate the black masses from domestic neo-colonialism. Will hip hop rap finish the work?
--Marvin X

White America Discovers Marvin X

White America Discovers Marvin X--Fifty Years Later


Marvin X and his Academy of Da Corner rocked the San Francisco Theatre Festival today. Not only did the largely white audience enjoy his very first play Flowers for the Trashman, 1965, produced by the drama department at San Francisco State University, but they enjoyed as well his current production of The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables.

Additionally, the audience was blessed with the productions of his two top drama students, Ayodele Nzingha, Lower Bottom Playaz, and Geoffrey Grier, San Francisco Recovery Theatre. Both playwrights, actors and directors evolved from the mentoring of Marvin X.

Ayodele as actress, director and producer was consummate in her rendition of Opal Palmer Adisa's Bathroom Graffiti Queen. Since an actor can only excel when given a proper script, we must acknowledge the fine writing of Opal Palmer Adisa. But the actor takes the script to the next level of excellence and Ayo surpassed the script with her acting ability.

Her Lower Bottom Playaz performed in grand manner Marvin X's first play Flowers for the Tashman. The playwright was totally pleased with the young men who delivered the drama in the classical form it deserved after a half century in the Black Arts Movement.

Ayo's Mama at Twilight remains a touching story of denial and faith in the family drama about HIV/AIDS. The Lower Bottom Playaz of West Oakland, childhood home of Marvin X, have had time to become well skilled in the presentation of their repertory. All the actors must be congratulated. Someone mentioned they were especially happy to see the young men's performance in Flowers for the Trashman.

Geoffrey Grier's plays, Jet, The Spot, and Night at the Blackhawk, are equally honorable and worthy of praise. We especially enjoyed his production of Amiri Baraka's Dutchman. The audience enjoyed it as well. Even though we may have wanted a younger actor to perform the role of Clay, the person who did it was so skillful we excused his age.

It was amazing to see that Flowers for the Trashman and the Dutchman are indeed classics that have withstood the test of time. Fifty years later they are still relevant and powerful dramas of black consciousness in America. Lula said to Clay that it's all about your manhood. And so it is.

The day ended with the Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables by Marvin X. The mostly white audience sat in anticipation as members of Academy of the Corner Reader's Theatre gathered on stage. Marvin X opened with singer/guitarist Rashidah Sabreen's original song A Real Love, joined by Marvin's poem What is Love. The audience sensed they were in for something different.

Paradise Jah Love came with Parable of the Penguin, then Parable of Oakland's Day of Absence, recounting the day the Oscar Grant verdict was announced. It was a communal ritual read also by Talibah, who joined with her drum. It the background was the music of Elliott Bey's synthesizer. Rashidah added dance numbers. The group held up poster pictures of Oscar Grant.

Mechelle LaChaux performed Parable of the Cell Phone. The audience went stone wild. Mechelle is an actress and singer, so her linguistic flexibility is unmatched. Marvin X's language will put Tyler Perry in pre-school. Critic Wanda Sabir said his language will "knock the socks off old ladies." Well, there were several senior women in the audience who didn't miss a linguistic beat.

We think the hottest piece was Parable of the Woman in the Box, performed by choreographer/dancer Raynetta Rayzetta, accompanied by Rashidah. Raynetta is X's favorite choreographer/dancer. She had the audience inside the box with her, as someone said.

X ended with his poem You Don't Know Me, accompanied by a Rashidah Sebreen original song.

White America has discovered Marvin X! Yes, fifty years later!

The USA's Rumi...the politics of Baraka, the ecstasy of Hafiz, the wisdom of Saadi....
--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York City

If you want to learn about motiviation and inspiration, don't spend all that money going to workshops and seminars, just go stand at 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, and watch Marvin X at work. He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.
--Ishmael Reed

Marvin X is available for readings/lectures on a variety of topics. jmarvinx@yahoo.com.

BAM in San Francisco Theatre Festival

The Black Arts Movement in San Francisco Theatre Festival



As we in the Black Arts Movement mourn and celebrate the transition of our sister, Barbara Ann Teer, to the ancestors, it is merely a coincidence--if you believe in such things--that the West coast BAM will perform a variety of works at the San Francisco Theatre Festival, Sunday, July 27, from 11am til 5 pm. It was a son of BAM, Geoffrey Grier of Recovery Theatre San Francisco who urged the producers of the festival to include elements of BAM and its descendants, so we have scenes from Geoffrey’s play The Spot, Ayodele Nzinga's Death by Love, Amiri Baraka's Sisyphus Syndrome, and Marvin X free-style monologue based on his book HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY. Grier and Nzinga are products of Marvin X's Recovery Theatre production of his One Day In The Life. Grier portrayed Black Panther cofounder Huey P. Newton and Nzinga co-directed and was the Crack Ho, in this docudrama of addiction and recovery based on the life of Marvin X.

His actors, as he urged them to do, have gone on to establish their own theatres in the BAM tradition of theatre as therapy and healing. Grier, after learning of Sister Teer's transition, called Marvin X to tell him her passing made him realize his mission that X tried to teach him for several years. He is rededicating himself to the original mission of X's Recovery Theatre. In fact, Grier's The Spot deals with blacks in the hood and those caught in the criminal justice system. Yes, a subject and problem in need of healing solutions.

Ayodele's subject is AIDS and how it impacts the family. Thus, these children of BAM are squarely in the tradition whether they know it or not. Sometimes artists get caught in their egos and forget the origin of their mission. Ayodele may be more humble than Grier in acknowledging their mentor, Marvin X. She is doing her PhD thesis on his role in the Black Arts Movement.

Other North American Africans in the Festival include Michael Lange (brother of Love Boat’s Ted Lange) and Afro-Solo, a black gay company.

If you can’t make the festival, catch Marvin X next Saturday, August 2, 4pm in Oakland at the African American Library/Museum, 14th and Martin Luther King, Jr., downtown Oakland. He will discuss and sign his latest book HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY, A PAN AFRICAN 12 STEP MODEL.

Bobby Seale on Black Theatre

On February 19, 2011
Bay Area Black Authors, and
Post Newspaper Group
presented
Journal of Pan African Studies
Poetry Festival and Chauncey
Bailey Book Fair at
Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland


photos Gene Hazzard



















Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale and Marvin X. Before founding the BPP, Bobby performed in Marvin's Black Arts West theatre, 1966.

















Ministers of Poetry Phavia Kujichagulia and Marvin X


















Bobby Seale gagged
and chained
in court after charged
with disturbing the peace
of the 1968 Democratic
Convention in Chicago

Poet Charles Blackwell









Bobby Seale stole the show at yesterday's poetry festival and book fair, sponsored by Bay Area Black Authors and the Post Newspaper Group at the Joyce Gordon Gallery. The main purpose of the event was to purchase books from local authors for donation to the incarcerated at juvenile hall, country jail and prisons. The PNG purchased ten books from selected authors.

A woman commented to organizer Marvin X, "This is so beautiful and peaceful." We think she reflected the consensus of opinion on the event that had a full house in spite of the rain.

Black Panther Party co-founder, Bobby Seale was called to speak by his friend from Merritt College, 1962-64, Marvin X. Bobby was to told to speak for five minutes, but once he began reciting Bay Area and Black Panther history, the MC, Brother Ptah told Marvin X later, "He was not about to interrupt the Chairman and co-founder of the BPP. "Marvin X, you were the only one with enough stature to tell Bobby give up the mike." Bobby talked about a half hour.

But we didn't want to stop Bobby from giving his narrative on how he and Huey came together to found the organization that became one of the biggest threats to the national security of the United States during the 60s, according to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

After Marvin X recited the list of books that Huey Newton, Bobby and he studied outside of class at Merritte College while they unknowingly became the new black intelligentsia of the 60s, he called out for Bobby to help him remember such books as:

Huey P. Newton, BPP co-founder

Myth of the Negro Past, Melville J. Herskivits
Negro Slave Revolts, Herbert Aptheker
Neo-Colonialism, the last stage of imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah
History Will Absolve Me, Fidel Castro
Black Bourgeoisie, E. Franklin Frazier
Black Reconstruction, W.E.B. DuBois
Wretched of the Earth, Franz Fanon
Facing Mt. Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta

Bobby told how he came into black consciousness while working as an engineer and a Merritt College student. It is quite astounding to her black history from the horse's mouth, not filtered by revisionism. And Bobby's memory is precise, down to names, dates and times covering fifty years of history.

The audience was in a trance at his presence and presentation. He recalled his relationship with Marvin X, even recited Burn, Baby, Burn, a poem by Marvin X on the Watt's Rebellion in 1965. There are those who say this is Marvin X's greatest poem. Marvin X has never told Bobby he was in the audience when Bobby recited Burn, Baby, Burn in Harlem, 1968, in front of the Theresa Hotel, New York's Academy of da Corner at 7th Avenue and `125th Street. By this time there was a rift between the Black Arts Movement and the Black Panthers, so they were not speaking. It was an ideological issue over the use of whether or not to use arms in the black liberation movement.

The BPP denounced so-called cultural nationalists and intellectuals for not picking up arms. The BPP did not come to an understanding of the role of culture and art in the liberation of a people until they attended the Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers, Algeria, then they softened their attack on artists and cultural activists.


Marvin X introduced Eldridge Cleaver to his friends Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. EC immediately joined the BPP. Bobby Seale has said Marvin kept Eldridge from the BPP, then in another breath blames Marvin for bringing the Minister of Information to the BPP. Marvin did indeed take Eldridge to the the BPP to get him out of the Black House, the political cultural center they had founded, along with playwright Ed Bullins and Marvin's mate, Ethna X (Hurriyah). But when EC joined the BPP, they immediately kicked out the artists and established the Black House as the San Francisco headquarters of the Black Panther Party.


Ironically, Huey Newton said, "Marvin X was our teacher, many of our comrades came through his Black theatre, including Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver (Black House), Emory Douglas, Samuel Napier, George Murray."

This art work by Elizabeth Catlett Mora demonstrates the necessary unity between art and political liberation, as well as the necessity of male/female unity. During his second exile, Marvin X came to Mexico City seeking refuge from refusing to fight in Vietnam. Elizabeth and her husband gave him refuge. When he walked in their casa, Elizabeth was working on this piece.

Bobby told how he used to recite the poem as a prologue in X's second play Come Next Summer. Bobby played the lead role. He told of his arrest for reciting Burn, Baby, Burn on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, at the height of the socalled Free Speech Movement.

On the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, Bobby started a one man riot, breaking windows and kicking in doors. His talk ended with a recitation of the preamble to the US Constitution. The audience was ecstatic.

Another highlight was Phavia Kujichagulia's reading of her poem about the Human Race and her classic Yo,Yo, Yo, with the classic refrain on the feminine gender, "If you think I'm just a physical thing, wait til you see the spiritual power I bring." Marvin X used the line as the leit motif in his controversial pamphlet on male/female sexuality that Oakland youth and adults claim it empowers them.



San Francisco's first North American African poet laureate, devorah major, also read her entry in the JPAS. Her father, Reginald Major, was a BPP supporter who authored a book on the Panthers.


Ed Howard was introduced as a member of the West Oakland Renaissance Committee, a group of elders who grew up in West Oakland. Also acknowledged was Leonard Gardner, another member of the group that includes Maxine Ussery, Paul Cobb, Larry Moore, Joe Johnson,
Marvin X, et al. Ed Howard tried to redefine language usage with his call to utilize the term "slave system" rather than refer to us as slaves, since impossible for slaves to build the American civilization. How could slaves design and build the White House? How could slaves fight and die in the American revolution? How could slaves publish a newspaper in 1827, Freedom's Journal?

Queen Mother Jerri Lange read from her book Jerri: A Black Woman's Life in the Media, a narrative of her life as one of the first black women to have a television show in the Bay Area.

Fritz Pointer, professor emeritus of English at Contra Costa College (brother of the Pointer Sisters), read his entry in the Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry issue, guest edited by Marvin X. JPAS Senior Editor, Itibari M. Zulu read his poem about wanting to be like Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Fritz's poem claimed that Oakland residents experienced an "obscene pride" when Mixon shot four OPD officers. Sadly, Fritz claimed, many citizens rejoiced after suffering years of abuse from police under the color of law, down to the present moment with the BART police murder of Oscar Grant, the OPD killing brother Jones and others. Indeed, the Black Panther Party was formed in response to the Richmond police killing of Denzil Dowell. The first issue of the Black Panther Newspaper headlined the Denzil Dowell murder.

Dr. Fritz Pointer

Music was provided by DJ Jah D, drummer Kwic Time and Blues living legend, Augusta Collins.
Ptah Allah El, author of two book under the mentoring of Marvin X, read his controversial poem Black Studies Went to College But Never Came Home. Another author being mentored by Plato Negro, Ishmael Reed's title for Marvin X, is Aries Jordon, who released her first book of poetry at the event. Her entry also appears in the Journal of Pan African Studies that Ptah calls the New Bible because it comes as we enter the new millennium and is an expression of Pan African Consciousness as we end this 25,000 year cycle of history. The JPAS thus presents advance history in accordance with African culture and civilization. Aries Jordon read a poem addressed to the elders and said she still awaits a response.

Members of Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre read from the JPAS: Geoffrey Grier
read an entry from Michael Simanga of Atlanta, Eugene Allen read Letter to the Governor of Mississippi by New York Poet Shaggy Flores, Jermaine Marsh read Dr. Nigger, by Dr. Neal Hall
of Philadelphia. Paradise Jah Love read his classic They Love Everything About Me but Me!"


Poet Marvin X did not read poetry but grabbed his famous grandson Jah Amiel and had the three year old recite the Arabic prayer Surah Al Fatihah after him, then told him, "Now go to you mama!" who was seated nearby. Amira, one of his three daughters, is a an attorney, a Yale University and Stanford Law School grad. Grandfather X told the audience at two years old, Jah Amiel told him, "Grandpa you can't save the world but I can."

Singer, actress Mechelle LaChaux closed out the Reader's Theatre segment performaning Parable of the Cell Phone by Marvin X, about a woman talking on the cell phone in her casket.
The audience went wild with applause.

Of course the event was also a tribute to slain Oakland Post Editor, Chauncey Bailey. Marvin X addressed Chauncey in his opening remarks, quoting what James Baldwin said on the assassination of Malcolm X, "The hand that pulled the trigger didn't buy the bullet." Marvin maintained those accused of killing Chauncey should be expanded beyond the Black Muslim Bakery Brothers to include the Oakland Police Department, since one of their officers mentored the Bakery brothers. Why would the sons of Dr. Yusef Bey kill the man who worked with their father for years at Soulbeat Television?

Marvin alleged it was because the brothers were inspired by their OPD mentor who was supposedly a member of the OPD group of black officers shaking down drug dealers, money laundering, planting false evidence, false arrests, and possible homicide (including the murder of Chauncey Bailey) under the color of law.

The mentor of the BMBB was in charge of the crime scene, no doubt a conflict of interest. This officer refused to interrogate an eye witness at the crime scene. A security guard at the scene recognized the officer as one of the police who used to shake him down back in his hustling days.

Bay Area Black Authors, in cooperation with the Post Newspaper Group, is planning an anthology of essays called The Black Bailey Project, in contrast to the Chauncey Bailey Project that has served as the establishment's version of events in the Chauncey Bailey matter.

Author Ishmael Reed uses the term Jim Crow Media to describe racism in the press. Marvin X says the establishment press represents and defends the state, not the people. The Chauncey Bailey Project has made millions of dollars spreading the state, (including the OPD and City Hall's version) of why Chauncey Bailey was killed: because he was investigating the Black Muslim Bakery bankruptcy proceedings--that was public information, along with the sexual allegations of the founder, Dr. Yusef Bey, though he was deceased.

Ironically, a woman at Saturday's event confronted Marvin X about the Black Bailey Project version. She reminded him that Chauncey had written an article in defense of Dr. Bey when he was indicted for sexual improprieties. If Chauncey defended Dr. Bey, this is more reason why his sons would not rush to kill him, unless they were motivated by their mentor, OPD officer Longmire.

In his remarks, Marvin X drew from Shakespeare's Othello. Chauncey Bailey's case is similar to how Iago planted seeds in the mind of Othello to make him kill his beloved Desdemona when she in fact, had been a faithful wife. Iago was motivated by pure racism, jealousy and envy. The OPD was motivated by fear that Chauncey's investigative journalism would reveal corruption at the OPD and City Hall. Indeed, then Mayor, now Governor Jerry Brown, is alleged to have said, "I'm going to stop that nigger from snooping around the OPD and City Hall." When Jerry Brown departed City Hall his internet records disappeared. Then comes Mayor Ron Dellums who calls upon Jerry Brown, in his persona of Attorney General, to investigate the Chauncey Bailey OPD investigation, when the AG, himself, needed to be investigated! By the way, we never learned the results of AG Jerry Brown's investigation. Don't hold your breath!

Bay Area Black Authors return to the Joyce Gordon Gallery during Women's History Month when the women poets in the Journal of Pan African Studies will read, along with a performance of Opal Palmer Adisa's drama Bathroom Graffiti Queen, a one-woman play directed and performed by Ayodele Nzingha. This Women's History event will be on Saturday, March 19, 3-6pm at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th Street at Franklin, downtown Oakland.
For more information: jmarvinx@yahoo.com, www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com.