Keyshia Cole Rocks Oakland

photo Princess O. Davis


Keyshia Cole Day in Oakland

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Marvin X reads poem dedicated to Keyshia Cole. The poet was accompanied
by Aries and Toya Jordan. As he ended his reading, Keyshia came on stage and the crowd went wild. Keyshia gave a wonderful micro-concert that revealed her awesome talent. Her remarks showed her love of community and she promised this is just the beginning of her giving something back. We need more conscious artists to advance the cultural revolution among North American Africans.

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Keyshia Cole's event organizer was Muhammida el Muhajir,
daughter of Marvin X.

photo Princess O. Davis

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

Muhammida El Muhajir
Hip Hop, the New World Order

British Hip Hop Interviews Hip Hop Producer, Muhammida El Muhajir Written by Esh

Thursday, 17 March 2011

Muhammida El Muhajir was the first person to make a documentary about global Hip Hop. I was lucky enough to get hold of her and find out about her amazing experiences around the world. Introduce yourself… Muhammida: My name is Muhammida El Muhajir and I’m a producer and the director of the documentary Hip Hop: The New World Order. Why did you make the movie? Muhammida: I was initially inspired to make the film, primarily because here in America we don’t get a lot of information on things that are happening outside of our country, unless it’s… tragedy, you know, we don’t really hear about what young people in other countries are doing. You can find out but you really have to do a lot of research. Whereas I feel in the international countries they all are aware of what’s happening in America, with American youth and our pop culture, and I just knew that Hip Hop was having a really tremendous impact on young people here in our country, and I imagined it was having similar impacts in other countries as well, but we just didn’t get a lot of the information. Being here, you’d be at nightclubs and you’d see these Japanese kids, all decked out with timbs and gold teeth, so what’s happening over there that they are so into it. Also here in the States, for the most part, Hip Hop was looked at pretty negatively, you know, it’s very violent, it talks about women, all things that are very true, but I don’t think people were looking at the positive influences it was having. How did you go about deciding which countries and artists to put in the film? Muhammida: As far as the countries, I thought about places that it was interesting, that Hip Hop was there, or places where it was really popular. So, those were the countries that I went to: I went to Japan, Cuba, France, UK, Germany, Holland, South Africa and Brazil. So, again just being on this side of the water I didn’t have a lot of information about which artists were really big. Usually I would have one or two contacts and once I got to the country I’d find out who’s who and what’s what and be led to the right people like some kind of crazy Hip Hop domino effect. You made some good contacts then? Muhammida: Most of the artists that I interviewed and started some sort of relationship with, they for the most part are like the forefathers of Hip Hop in their respective countries. So it just so happened that those people are the people who set the foundation for Hip Hop in many of their countries. So we talk about Japan, DJ Muro, Zeebra, K Dub Shine, all those guys who are still very influential in the Hip Hop scene there, but were there at the beginning. That goes for pretty much each country. The documentary was a totally independent project so it’s been about 10 years - I’ll stop and I’ll go off on some other project and come back to it. But now it’s like a historical reference. I think that there are a lot of other documentaries that have come out since that time, but I don’t think anything really touches on all those people and all those countries and really shows it - it was a guerilla style project so very intimate - you, me, my little camera and these guys at their homes or in their studios or in their car so you get a kind of birds eye view of these guys talking about their experience, and just seeing them, eating balls of super noodles or whatever it is. It was an interesting glimpse into their lives. I interviewed the director of The Furious Force of Rhymes, Joshua Atesh Litle, who was the 2nd person to do a global Hip Hop documentary… Muhammida: Actually I think I was the first person to do it. Mine came out in various stages, but before I started on my project I have never really seen or heard something similar, maybe something about Hip Hop in Cuba or little things… but I think what people have done has been amazing and just to see the growth and the interest in international Hip Hop, I am really excited about that. So you’re still a fan of international Hip Hop? Muhammida: Yes. I haven’t had an opportunity to see your movie in full yet… Muhammida: Part of that problem is, as I said, it was a totally independent project so it has not been distributed yet, so I’m working on that for next year. Again, I put it on the back burner, but now it is a historical reference piece and when people are studying the art and the culture of Hip Hop, it can be a very useful reference, in addition to a lot of the other projects that you mentioned and have highlighted. What year did you begin with the film? Muhammida: I went to Japan in 1998, that was the first country I went to. It wasn’t like an ongoing project where I shot continuously. I was working full time, so maybe I’d take a holiday and go to another country. It was my own money, I’d raise money… so it was shot over a period of about three years. Hip Hop has a political angle, did you put that in your film too? Muhammida: What I put in my film was, I really tried to show how in each country people are using this art form. For what forms of expression is Hip Hop being used as a vehicle? So all the things that people here hate about Hip Hop are really the things that make it uniquely American. Those are all the things that are part of American culture and society that people are hating… It’s really not the Hip Hop. Hip Hop is a gun that you could use to kill, to do violence, or it could be used to protect your family… it’s not Hip Hop itself that’s violent or negative or misogynistic, it’s really the American experience. Here, we are one of the most violent countries in the whole world. So that experience is going to be reflected in our Hip Hop. I think that other countries where materialism and consumerism and all those issues are not a factor - their Hip Hop does not reflect that. No other place in the world is like it is here in America. I dig that people were using it as a political platform. Artists like Racionas MCs in Brazil - when (former Brasilian president) Lula ran, he tapped into their power and popularity, and that’s a huge force, that can be used for positivity and really it’s become a youth movement. I titled my film Hip Hop: The New World Order because I saw it as this new force and this new movement. If it was used in the proper way it could really make a lot of social change. So being in New York, the Hip Hop capital, do you get a lot of attention for the film? Muhammida: Well definitely in the past, people are looking for it. I get calls every week or so from Universities or somewhere that’s looking to purchase it or screen it and I’ve screened in the past and got lots of press internationally. The people are definitely waiting for it to come… The title, Hip Hop: The New World Order, has some interesting parallels with the music right now… Muhammida: Speaking about conspiracy theories and things like that, people here are looking at this commercial sort of Hip Hop in America as a way to forward some of those capitalism platforms and promote all the things that being in a capitalist country, benefits the system, the consumerism, the ‘me me me’ attitude. Just a lot of those things that are characteristics of this society and help it propel forward whether it’s positive or negative. Then you hear stories about this artist or that artist who are part of the Masons, all those things, on YouTube, so you never know… Part of this New World Order is that we gonna have this common government and common financial and political system, and I thought it was kind of a play on that with Hip Hop because traveling around the world, you see that through Hip Hop, kids are having this commonality of language, of style, of dress. Because I was down with Hip Hop, I was immediately connected to other people - despite language barriers or anything else we had that in common and that immediately bonded us. Tell me about your personal experiences of Hip Hop before you made the movie… Muhammida: I grew up with Hip Hop. I am about the same age, maybe a couple of years younger than what we consider modern day Hip Hop. I am a fan, an observer, an analyst I would say, all those things. I worked in the music industry, I worked in the film industry, I was a casting director. I’ve been involved in Hip Hop and in music in a lot of different levels working with artists and record labels so I’ve had a very close relationship with the music and the culture. Which artists would you recommend right now? Muhammida: I have always loved artists who have been able to really combine social commentary with the art and do it a very cool way so it’s not totally preachy, but you can jam to it to. So I always loved Dead Prez for that, they’ve really been at the forefront of that. I love Mos Def, and some of the new guys out here like Lupe, and I’m still following some of the international artists, mainly the ones that are featured in my film, Anónimo Consejo in Cuba, Oxmo Puccino, he just put out a live album… I mentioned the relationship I had with some of the artists. Oxmo Puccino was in New York and I filmed him just at a café somewhere in New York, it was just crazy. And with Zeebra riding around in his jeep in the streets of Toyko. I love to see the growth that those artists have had… Roots Manuva in London. People who are really innovators in the music and the culture, worldwide - Blak Twang in the UK. A few months ago I ran into DJ Vadim on the streets of New York. These are people who are like the major power players in international Hip Hop, and I was really grateful to have them all as part of the project. Even some of the American artists like Questlove who was in Tokyo when I shot him. Method Man, who really gave a humorous perspective on international Hip Hop with his experiences travelling abroad… Dead Prez were also in the film and I shot them in South Africa, they were pretty much the first US artists to go to South Africa and do a concert. Some really historic things happening in Hip Hop are incorporated into the piece. I cant wait to see it! By: Esh | IBMCs on Facebook Trailer on youtube:

Marvin X Speaks

Marvin X Speaks

July 16 Muslim Reunion, Defermery Park

July 17 Celebration for Geronimo Ji-Jaga, Defermery Park

July 23 McClymonds High School Reunion, Class of '61 50th Anniversary, Washington Inn

July 29 Pan African Mental Health Peer Group, Friday, 7pm, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley

August 25 Introduces singer Keyshia Cole with a poem. Event planner was Muhammida El Muhajir, his daughter.

Marvin X at West Oakland's Defermery Park for Geronimo Ji-Jaga, July 17, 2011

Reading with Marvin X are Toya and Aries Jordan, students at Marvin X's Academy of da Corner. Coming Soon from Academy of da Corner Reader's Theatre: The Mythology of Love, a womanhood/manhood rite of passage by Marvin X.

Upcoming Events

July 29, 7pm

The Pan African Mental Health Peer Group to Recover from White Supremacy Type II,
Friday, July 29, 7pm, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley, off San Pablo.

August 4, 1pm Elders Council

The next meeting of the West Oakland Renaissance Committee/Elders Council is Thursday, August 4, 1pm at the Post Newspaper Office, 14th and Franklin, 12th Floor, downtown Oakland.

For more information, email: jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Marvin X is Now Available for Booking

Mr. Ed Howard, Business Agent, Marvin X Booking Agency. Mr. Howard is an engineer, businessman. He grew up in West Oakland.

To book Marvin X or any Bay Area Black Authors, contact Mr. Howard at kakakiki@pacbell.net.

Marvin X


"The USA's Rumi!"
--Bob Holman,
Bowery Poetry Club,
New York City

"He has always been in the forefront
of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is
one of the innovators and founders
of the revolutionary school of African
writing."--Amiri Baraka

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





Requested fee: $7,000.00, plus travel, lodging and transportation. Fee is negotiable.
Contact his agent, Mr. Ed Howard, www.marvinxbookingagency.blogspot.com or email him : kakakiki@pacbell.net

Marvin X received his A.A. from Merritt College, Oakland, 1964.

Received his BA and MA in English from San Francisco State University, 1974-75.

He is one of the founders of the Black Arts Movement, having founded Black Arts West Theatre, San Francisco, 1966, and the Black House, 1967, with playwright Ed Bullins and essayist Eldridge Cleaver. He also worked at the New Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, New York, 1968. His plays have been produced coast to coast and worldwide. Most recently, his play Salaam, Huey Newton, Salaam was performed in New York, 2009, at Woody King's New Federal Theatre. His play One Day in the Life, a docudrama of his addiction and recovery, is the longest running African American drama in Northern California history, 1996-2002.

As producer, he organized the Oakland Black Men's Conference, Oakland Auditorium, 1980; the Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness, San Francisco State University, 2001; San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair, 2004. Presently he is organizing the Bay Area Black Authors who celebrated the 75th birthday of Amiri Baraka at the San Francisco Jazz Heritage Center in the Fillmore, 2009.

He has received awards from the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Los Angeles Black Book Expo gave him a lifetime achievement award.

Marvin X has served as lecturer and visiting professor at the following universities and colleges:
Fresno State University, 1969
University of California, Berkeley, 1972
Mills College, 1972
San Francisco State University, 1974
University of California, San Diego, 1975
University of Nevada, Reno, 1979
Laney College, 1981
Merritt College, 1981
Kings River College, 1982

Marvin X has given lecture/readings at the following colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
University of Mass.
Yale University
Medgar Evers College
Morehouse College
Spelman College
University of Arkansas
University of Virginia
University of Houston
Howard University
Temple University
University of Penn
New York University
UCLA
Compton College
Southwest College
L.A. City College
Sacramento City College
Sacramento State College
Fresno City College
San Francisco City College
Berkeley City College
Alameda City College

First Poet's Church Visits Center of Hope Church

Sunday, March 27, 2011

First Poet's Church Visits Center of Hope Church

Bishop Ernestine Reems,

Founder, Center of Hope Church

Oakland CA

Marvin X, Prime Minister of Poetry, First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists

Ptah Mitchell, Minister of Poetry and Education, First Poet's Church

Aries Jordan, Minister of Poetry and Intergenerational Affairs

First Poet's Church Visits

East Oakland's Center of Hope

On Sunday, the First Poet's Church ministers of poetry, Aries Jordan, Ptah Mitchell, and prime minister Marvin X, visited East Oakland's legenary Center of Hope, founded by Bishop Ernestine Reems. Rev. Brandon Reems is acting pastor. But have no illusion that the 82-year old Bishop Reems has lost her Holy Ghost spirit. At one point this International Day, with the congregation dressed in African attire and a Japanese choir in the house, Bishop Reems told her congregation they were Isrealites and needed to be killed for their iniquities. She told them, "Don't be looking at me crosseyed. Sometimes I want to kill you!"

The Queen Mother slipped off her shoes at one point in her sermon, then continued, "You got to see yourself as a winner. Think as a winner, knowing you are annoited to win." The Church choir gave an up tempo version of We Shall Overcome that fit in with the rapidly moving events around the world. It was the most powerful version of the Civil Rights classic Marvin X had ever heard. When her son, Bradon, took over the pulpit, he read from Second Chronicles, wherein we are told to be still and let the Lord fight our battles. Just be still. If you move you just mess things up when God is got the entire situation under control. Get out the way and let God fight this battle. You've done all you can do. This is why you are so frustrated and depressed, because you are fighting when you simply need to be still. Marvin X thought about the words of his mentor, now ancestor, John Douimbia, "Marvin you fought battles you didn't even need to fight."

Bishop Reems had made a similar point in her sermon. "You women worried about a no good man, just let God handle him. You just pray and see if God don't bring that no good man home and he won't even know why he's home. Yes, let the Holy Spirit bring him home. Just be still and prayerful."

Look at the motion in the ocean, in the mountains and hills, rivers and streams. Look at the motion in the people around the world standing up for righteousness. We see some of them simply stand still and refuse to move, and yet this is enough to make tyrants leave town.

When the First Poet's Church ministers were called, only Marvin X was supposed to read a poem, but he said a few opening remarks on the recent visit to juvenile hall, arranged by Rev. Brandon, and how he was overwhelmed with emotion seeing the babies locked up for serious crimes. Rev. Brandon told him later that the visit by the poets to juvenile hall is the talk of the town, that he hated to admit the youth said they wanted to hear from the poets rather than the Rev. Marvin X's classic Fable of the Black Bird has shaken the incarcerated youth.

Rather than read himself, Marvin X deferred to his associate ministers, Ptah and Aries Jordan. Ptah read a spiritual poem on having God inside yourself, rather than tripping on the outside, homicide, suicide, eastside, westside, northside, southside. When Aries discovered she had left her book of poems on the pew, she decided to sing a song from her church days. The two junior ministers of poetry rocked the church in the heart of East Oakland, next door to the infamous Castlemont High School. In her sermon, Bishop Reems had questioned why do we pay taxes but don't have the same quality schools as white areas of the Bay? Castlemont is one of the poorest schools in Oakland. Bishop Reems was so estatic with the poets she invited us to return for a program featuring our group of poet/authors that will address youth issues. Before Marvin X stepped down with his ministers of poetry, he reminded Bishop Reems she had contacted him many years ago, 1977, when he worked with then Born Again Christian Eldridge Cleaver. At her request, Marvin encouraged Eldridge to make his first appearance at a black church, Center of Hope. Bishop Reems said she would be honored to help Marvin establish the First Poet's Church of the Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists.
--Marvin X, Prime Minister of Poetry, First Poet's Church
www.firstpoetschurch.blogspot.com

Chronology of Marvin X ( El Muhajir)

Chronology of Marvin X (El Muhajir )

1944 Born May 29, Fowler, CA to Owendell and Marian M. Jackmon, second child. Sits atop desk as father and mother publishes Fresno Voice, the Central Valley’s first black newspaper. Father was a Race man who served in WWI. He introduced Christian Science to wife who becomes a lifelong follower of Mary Baker Eddy. Mr. Jackmon remained a Methodist. Marvin attended Lincoln and Columbia elementary schools in Fresno. In Oakland where the family moved, he attended Prescott, McFeely and St. Patrick elementary schools, also Lowell Jr. High. Wrote in the children’s section of the Oakland Tribune.

1962 Graduated with honors from Edison High School in Fresno. Classmate and girlfriend was poet/critic/professor Sherely A. Williams (now deceased). Marries Pat Smith, Catholic school girl, first son born, Marvin K. Attends Merritt College in Oakland where he meets Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Ken Freeman and Ernie Allen. Introduced to Black Nationalism. Wins short story contest in college magazine, story published in SoulBook, revolutionary nationalist publication.

1964 Second son born, Darrel, now deceased. Graduates with AA in sociology. Attends San Francisco State College.

1965 At the request of novelist John Gardner, San Francisco State College drama department produced first play, Flowers for the Trashman. Called the best playwright to hit SF State by Kenneth Rexroth. Worked as TA for novelist Leo Litwak.

1966 Writings begin to appear in Soulbook, Black Dialogue, Negro Digest (Black World), Black Scholar, Journal of Black Poetry, Black Theatre, and Muhammad Speaks.

Black Dialogue staff visits Eldridge Cleaver and Bunchy Carter in Soledad prison. Marvin is present. Black Dialogue publishes Cleaver’s essay, “My Queen, I Greet You,” later it appears in Soul On Ice. Co-founds Black Arts West Theatre with Ed Bullins, Ethna Wyatt, Duncan Barber, Hillery Broadus and Carl Boissiere.

1967 Co-founds Black House political/cultural center in San Francisco with Eldridge Cleaver, Ed Bullins and Ethna Wyatt. Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Sarah Webster Fabio, Chicago Art Ensemble, Avotja, Reginald Lockett, Emory Douglass, Samuel Napier, Lil Bobby Hutton, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, attend Black House.

Black Panthers plan invasion of state capital at Black House. Marvin joins Nation of Islam, flees to Toronto, Canada to protest draft and resist Vietnam War.

1968 Goes underground to Chicago shortly before assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lived on Southside during riots. Meets Don L. Lee, Gwen Brooks, Hoyt Fuller,

Phil Choran, Carolyn Rogers, Johari Amini and others of Chicago BAM (Black Arts Movement. In Harlem joins Ed Bullins at the New Lafayette Theatre. Works as associate editor of Black Theatre magazine. Associates with Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Sun Ra,

Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Last Poets, Barbara Ann Teer, Milford Graves. Publishes Fly to Allah, poems that later establish him as the father of Muslim American literature, according to Dr. Mojah Kahf of the University of Arkansas department of English and Islamic Studies.

1969 Apprehended returned from Montreal, Canada, charged with draft evasion. Defended by Conrad Lynn. Returns to California to stand trial and teach at Fresno State University until removed at the insistence of Governor Ronald Reagan, “by any means necessary.” Angela Davis is also removed from teaching at UCLA. Student protesters burn computer center at Fresno State. Students from throughout California attend draft trial in San Francisco.

1970 Convicted, flees into exile a second time, this time to Mexico City and Belize. Marries Barbara Hall, a student from Fresno State College, in Mexico City. Revolutionary artists Elizabeth Catlett Mora and Poncho Mora witness civil ceremony. Deported from Belize because his presence was not beneficial to the welfare of the colony of British Honduras. While in custody, police ask him to teach them about black power. Sentenced to five months in Federal prison, Terminal Islam. Serves as Muslim minister.

1971 First daughter born, Nefertiti. Founds Black Educational Theatre in Fresno. Performs musical version of Flowers as Take Care of Business. Reactionary negroes kill choir director in theatre, put hit out on poet. He flees to San Francisco, opens Black Educational Theatre in Fillmore District, joined by Sun Ra’s Arkestra. Produced five hour musical version of Take Care of Business, with cast of fifty at Harding Theatre on Divisadero, choreography by Raymond Sawyer and Ellendar Barnes.

1972 Produced Resurrection of the Dead, a myth/ritual dance drama with Plunky, Babatunde Lea, Victor Willis as lead singer (Village People), dancers included Raymond Sawyer, Jamilah Hunter, Nisa Ra, Thomas Duckett. Lectures at University of California, Berkeley in Black Studies. Marries UCB student, Nisa (Greta Pope), second daughter born, Muhammida El Muhajir. Awarded National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.

Travels to southern Mexico, Oxaca, Trinidad and Guyana. Interviews prime minister Forbes Burnham. Interview appeared in Black Scholar. Published Woman—Man’s Best Friend, poems, proverbs, lyrics, parables, Al Kitab Sudan Press.

1973 Third daughter, Amira Sauda, born to Barbara (Hasani). Returns to San Francisco State University, awarded BA. Earns MA in one semester, English/Creative writing. Teaches at SF State, black literature, journalism, radio and television writing.

1975 Lectures at Mills College, Oakland. Produced musical version of Woman—Man’s Best Friend. Upward Bound program pressured director Connie Wye to halt production. She refused, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and expired.

1976 Organizes Eldridge Cleaver Crusades. Hires staff of Black Muslims for Cleaver’s ministry. Meets Donald Rumsfeld, Charles Colson, Jim and Tammy Baker, Rev. Robert Schuller. Deals with Rev. Billy Graham, Rev. Falwell, Pat Roberson, Cal Thomas, Pat Boone, Hal Linsey, Art DeMoss.

1978 Returns to Fresno. Falls in love with Sharon Johnson, childhood friend. See autobiography Somethin Proper.

1979 Lectures at University of Nevada, Reno. Awarded two National Endowment for the Humanities planning grants. Produced Excellence in Education Conference. Participants included Eldridge Cleaver, Dr. Harry Edwards, Dr. Wade Nobles, Fahizah Alim, Sherley A. Williams, Ntizi Cayou, Dr. Ahimsa Sumchi. Publishes Selected Poems. Returns to Oakland to organize Melvin Black Human Rights Conference at Oakland Auditorium to stop police killing of black men. Participants included Minister Farakhan, Angela Davis,

Paul Cobb, Eldridge Cleaver, Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al Mansour, Dr. Yusef Bey, Dezzie Woods-Jones. Police killings stop but drive by shootings begin along with introduction of Crack.

1980 Produced National Conference of Black Men at Oakland auditorium. Participants included Dr. Yusef Bey, Dr. Nathan Hare, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Oba T’shaka, Dr. Lige Dailey, John Douimbia (founder), Betty King, Dezzie Woods-Jones.

1981 Taught drama at Laney College. Did production of In the Name of Love. Taught manhood training at Merritt College.

1982 Taught English at Kings River Community College, Reedly CA. Retires from Teaching with 97% student retention rate. Meets Marsha Satterfiend.

1983 Vends on streets of San Francisco, organizers vendors (mostly white) under his non-profit corporation. Harassed under color of law, “too much power for a nigguh” in downtown San Francisco, especially in the Union Square shopping area.

1984 Vends political buttons at Democratic and Republican conventions. San Francisco Chronicle called him the “Button King.” In Dallas, the Republicans observed his salesmanship and said, “If he makes one more dollar, he’ll be a Republican.” Descends into the muck and mire of hell: Crack drives him into the mental hospital several times.

1989 Writes article on Huey Newton, based on last meeting in Oakland Crack house. Article becomes source of Ed Bullins’ play, Salaam, Huey, Salaam. Article is beginning of autobiography, Somethin’ Proper.

1990 Begins recovery at San Francisco’s Glide Church with Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani. Transcribes testimonies of Crack addicts. Writes docudrama of his addiction and recovery One Day In The Life.

1995 Transition of Marsha Satterfield at 41 years old, cancer. Poet flees to Seattle, WA. Works on autobiography. Publishes Love and War, poems.

1996 Produces One Day In The Life with Majeeda Rahman’s Healthy Babies Project, a recovery program for woman and children. Play performed at Alice Arts Theatre.

1997 One Day In the Life opens at Sista’s Place in Brooklyn, New York, also Brecht Forum in Manhattan and Kimako’s Blues in Newark, New Jersey, home of the Barakas.

1997 Attends National Black Theatre festival, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Meets Carolyn Turner. She provides him with time and space to finish autobiography, plenty of sweet tea and dirty rice, in the tradition of the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

1998 Transition of Eldridge Cleaver. Kathleen Cleaver approves poem “Soul Gone Home” to be read at funeral in Los Angeles. Marvin and Majeeda Rahman organize memorial service in Oakland. Participants included Emory Douglas, Tarika Lewis, Richard Aoki, Dr. Nathan Hare, Reginald Major, Dr. Yusef Bey, Minister Keith Muhammad, Imam Al Amin, Kathleen and Joju Cleaver. Publication of autobiography Somethin Proper.

1999 Establishes Recovery Theatre. Begins run of One Day in the Life. Gets support from Mayor Willie Brown of San Francisco after Uhuru House performance. One Day becomes longest running black play in the Bay. Ishmael Reed says, “It’s the best drama I ever saw.”

2000 Meets Suzzette Celeste, MSW, MPA.

2001 Produces Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness at San Francisco State University. Participants included: Nathan and Julia Hare, Rev. Cecil Williams,

Dr. Cornell West, Amiri and Amina Baraka, Ishamel Reed, Askia Toure, Avotja, Eddie Gale, Rudi Wongozi, Rev. Andriette Earl, Dr. Theophile Obenga, Elliott Bey, Destiny, Tarika Lewis, Phavia Kujichagulia, Suzzette Celeste, Tureeda, Geoffrey Grier, Rev. Otis Lloyd, Kalamu ya Salaam, Ptah Allah-El. Funded by Glide Church and Vanguard foundation.

Video of Kings and Queens screened at New York International Independent film festival. In Newark on 9/11, stopped at airport by police. Daughter Muhammida’s documentary Hip Hop the New World Order, screened on 9/12.

2002 Transition of son Darrel at 38, suffered manic oppression. Publication of In the Crazy House Called America, essays.

2004 Produced San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair. Participants included Amiri and Amina Baraka, Nathan and Julia Hare, Al Young, Askia Toure, Kalamu ya Salaam, Ishamel Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Reginald Lockett, Charlie Walker, Jamie Walker, Davey D, Opal Palmer Adisa, Devorah Major, Fillmore Slim, Rosebud Bitterdose, Sam Hamod, Tarika Lewis. Published Land of My Daughters, poems, and Wish I Could Tell You The Truth, essays. Published issue of Black Bird Press Review newspaper.

2006 Writes Sweet Tea, Dirty Rice, poems; Up From Ignorance, essays; Beyond Religion, Toward Spirituality, essays; Mama Said Use The Mind God Gave You, autobiographical novel. Archives go to Bay Area university. Transition of friends: Dr. Salat Townsend, Paul Shular, Alonzo Batin, Dewey Redman and Rufus Harley.

* * * * *

Marvin X Speaks at San Francisco State University,
Wednesday, Feb 23, 4pm,
Burk Hall, Room 352

I learned more in two hours from listening to Marvin X than I did in two months in the class!
--A white student at SFSU



Marvin X is available for speaking, performance
at colleges and universities
Must have a free speech clause in contract.

Marvin X Now Available for Booking Nationwide

Marvin X Now Available for Booking Nationwide

poet, playwright, lecturer, producer, organizer, essayist, editor, publisher One of the founders of the Black Arts Movement, considered the father of Muslim American literature, spiritual visionary, male/female relations counselor, radical social activist

He is a Master Teacher in many fields of thought—religion and psychology, sociology and anthropology, history and politics, literature and the humanities. He is a needed Counselor, for he knows himself, on the deepest of personal levels and he reveals that self to us, that we might be his beneficiaries…. --Rudolph Lewis, Editor, Chickenbones.com Recent engagements: California College of the Arts, San Francisco State University, Laney College, Oakland, Yoshi's, San Francisco, Howard University, Temple University, Medgar Evers College, Schomburg Library, Harlem, University of California, Berkeley, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, University of Virginia, Morehouse, Spelman, Berkeley City College, Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tentative Schedule, 2011 January Yoshi's, San Francisco February FEB 19th, Joyce Gordon Gallery, producer of Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Festival and Chauncey Bailey Book Fair Feb 23 San Francisco State University March Alameda County Juvenile Hall March 19, Producer of Women's Rite of Passage, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland CA

March 27, Speaks at Center of Hope Church, Oakland CA April African American Museum/library, Oakland Fresno State University Gullah Sentinel Book Signing, Beaufort, South Carolina May University of Houston Howard University, Washington DC Umoja House, Washington, DC Temple University, Philadelphia PA Schomburg Library, Harlem

June

July

Center of Hope Women's Conference Marvin X in St. Louis at Akhbar Muhammad Book Fair

Invite Marvin X for Black History Month

He's living Black History! He makes history 24/7 While you sleep, he's working! James Sweeney says, "He's the most free black man in non-free America!" Journalist Charlie Akins says, "He's the soundest thinker in America." Marvin X has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the innovators and founders of the revolutionary school of African writing. --Amiri Baraka Marvin X is the USA's Rumi!--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York City He's Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland. If you want to learn about inspiration and motivation, don't spend all that money going to workshops and seminars. Just go stand at 14th and Broadway and watch Marvin X at work.--Ishmael Reed He’s the new Malcolm X! Nobody’s going to talk about his book, HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE ADDICTION TO WHITE SUPREMACY, out loud, but they’ll hush hush about it. —Jerri Lange, author, Jerri, A Black Woman’s Life in the Media If you want to reshape (clean up, raise) your consciousness, this is a book to savor, to read again and again—to pass onto a friend or lover. ….Malcolm X ain’t got nothing on Marvin X. Still Marvin has been ignored and silenced like Malcolm would be ignored and silenced if he had lived on into the Now. Marvin’s one of the most extraordinary, exciting black intellectuals living today—writing, publishing, performing with Sun Ra’s Musicians (Live in Philly at Warm Daddies, available on DVD from BPP), reciting, filming, producing conferences (Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness, 2001,San Francisco Black Radical Book Fair, 2004, Journal of Pan African Studies Poetry Festival and Chauncey Bailey Book Fair, 2011); he’s ever engaging, challenging the respectable and the comfortable. He, like Malcolm, dares to say things fearlessly, in the open (in earshot of the white man) that so many Negroes feel, think and speak on the corner, in the barbershops and urban streets of black America…. —Rudolph Lewis, Editor, ChickenBones: A Journa

…People who know Marvin X already know him as a peripatetic, outspoken, irreverent, poetic “crazy nigger,” whose pen is continually and forever out-of-control. As a professional psychologist, I hasten to invoke the disclaimer that that is in no way a diagnosis or clinical impression of mine. I have never actually subjected this brother to serious psychoanalytical scrutiny and have no wish to place him on the couch, if only because I know of no existing psycho-diagnostic instrumentality of pathology of normalcy that could properly evaluate Marvin completely. —Dr. Nathan Hare, Black Think Tank, San Francisco The Black Arts Movement at Yoshi's, San Francisco Last night at Yoshi's in the Fillmore, Amiri Baraka and Roscoe Mitchell performed a concert partially devoted to the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Baraka photo Kamau Amen Ra Baraka is godfather of the Black Arts Movement or BAM, and Roscoe Mitchell of the Chicago Arts Ensemble is a BAM Master as well. They were joined by poet Marvin X who opened both sets with a poem. Marvin X's Black Arts West Theatre, 1966, was a block or two down from Yoshi's at Turk and Fillmore. With playwright Ed Bullins, essayist Eldridge Cleaver (Soul on Ice) and Ethna X, companion of Marvin X, they established the political/cultural Center called Black House. The Black House on Broderick Street was the center for radical culture in the Bay Area, 1967. Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Emory Douglas, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Lil Bobby Hutton, Sarah Webster Fabio, Avotcja, Samuel Napier, Ellendar Barnes, Dezzie Woods Jones, Bennie Ivy, Norman Brown, Walter Riley, Rosco Proctor, and numerous arts and politicos congregated at Black House. The Chicago Arts Ensemble had performed. Roscoe remembers the Black House, especially the food. Ethna X (Hurriyah) and Amina Baraka created the food. Tonight was the rare coming together of BAM artists from three regions, although BAM was bi-coastal. Baraka from Newark, New Jersey, Roscoe from Chicago and Marvin X from the San Francisco Bay. Marvin X also worked at the New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem and with Sun Ra. Sun Ra created music for two musicals of Marvin's Take Care of Business (aka Flowers for the Trashman) and Resurrection of the Dead. After Marvin's opening poem, Roscoe began with percussion work. He tinkered with bells and other sounds, preparing the way for Baraka, but this opening was himself at his greatest. Calmly he went about his musical work. A musician who accompanies a poet must be humble to the word, he cannot become self-consumed so that we do not hear the word. Such a musician is thus highly conscious of the word as he is of himself. But the focus is on the word and he respects the word and wants to enhance the word, accent the word. Roscoe is the man for the job. The first set he was reserved, it was a kind of rehearsal, though there is a natural harmony between the poet and musician, most especially with Amiri Baraka, who highly appreciates music and musicians. This is the BAM tradition. At Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore, we used to let the musicians be free. They asked to be free. During our productions they might roam the stage, the audience and go outside on the street to join the sounds of the street traffic and cars, often doing a call and response with car horns: Dewey Redman, Donald Rafael Garrett, Monte Waters, Earl Davis, BJ, Oliver Johnson, were some of the Black Arts West musicians. Baraka joined Mitchell with tales and poems of his childhood in Newark, what a weird child he was, reading Japanese poetry and coming up with Lowku, the Negro version of Haiku Ku because we don't have time to count syllables. Baraka is the court jester, the comedian, the joker who is more than serious, for he is too bright to be taken lightly, the opposite of the people in one of poems, white racists, who are too ignut to understand what's happening to them, too ignut to be white even. Baraka began his tribute to MLK with the wedding of MLK and Coretta Scott. He weaved his narrative by chronicling major events of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement. It was a history lesson every child should know, the dates, the events, the names of warriors, martyrs and devils Rosa Parks, Bull Conners, Black Power, Freedom Riders, Student Sit-ins, Black Power, Non-violence. Baraka, 77 this year, transformed from poet to actor, playwright, singer, doing all the parts of blacks and whites. He sang all the freedom songs throughout his narrative, revealing his knowledge of black Christian culture, for it was the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement, after all, non-violence is a Christian concept, born of Jesus Christ, although at one point Baraka mentioned that Christians need do a body count as a result of their religion. It was interesting to hear and see Baraka tell the story of MLK from his perspective, a participant/observer, analyst, organizer, living historian, walking history himself. He told the time MKL knocked on his door in Newark, during the Poor People's campaign, Martin had a stubble beard with no tie on. The King said to the king, Le Roi, you don't look like such a bad fellow! Baraka does not attempt revisionist history, but tells it like it was, even free of strident ideology, propaganda, just the story. All the time Roscoe is dancing from horn to horn, never upstaging but accenting always, a call and response in the African and BAM tradition, which are one. Only after Baraka ended the King narrative with his assassination did Roscoe take off on his horns, and this was especially during the second set. He took us to a lyrical land of sound and beauty, letting us know he is one of the true Masters of creative sound. The audience gave the brothers much applause and appreciation. Ninety per cent of those present were whites. A brother whispered to me in the lobby, "Man, I never heard or seen anything like this in my life!" Baraka could have used some help reading all the parts. Indeed, after the last set, he asked me rhetorically, Marvin why didn't you help me do this? --Marvin X 1/18/11

Baraka and Marvin at Yoshi's photo Julian Carroll Catch Marvin X and poets in the Journal of Pan African Studies, Poetry Issue, edited by Marvin X, during Black History Month: Saturday, February 19, 3-6pm, Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland. Marvin X on Danny Glover and the Black House DANNY GLOVER: ... But interesting enough, the first time that I saw Huey P. Newton and had any idea who the Black Panther Party was in 1966, when he came to the Black House and was reading poetry at the Black House. Huey P. Newton—that’s some footage we should have had—reading poetry at the Black House. And at the Black House, Ed Bullins lived. Eldridge Cleaver lived at the Black House. They were two people who lived at the Black House. So, there was—you could see this, and now we’re looking—certainly looking back in retrospect, but you could see this emerging movement happening around, really, what I believe was extraordinary moments of, as I said before, redefining and reimagining democracy, organizing, using those skills. Stokely was an organizer. Those members of SNCC were organizing. So, the Black Power movement was about extending that whole sense of organizing and community organizing. Playwright Ed Bullins The Black House by Marvin X The Black House was organized by Marvin X and Eldridge Cleaver. Around the same time Cleaver was released from Soledad Prison, late 1966, Marvin X and his partner, Hurriyah (Ethna X) were escaping chaos at Black Arts West Theatre, co-founded by Marvin, Ed Bullins, Hurriyah, Duncan Barber, Hillery Broadous and Carl Bossiere. Art Sheridan had suggested Marvin hook up with playwright Ed Bullins. Marvin's first play had been produced by the Drama Department at San Francisco State College, now University. Ed had some plays going in North Beach, so they hooked up and started Black Arts West near Turk and Fillmore, around the corner from the Sun Reporter Newspaper office, owned by Dr. Carlton Goodlett. Black Arts West Theatre produced the plays of Bullins and Marvin X. Two of the actors were Danny Glover and Vonetta McGee (RIP). Danny performed the role of Papa in a play by Dorothy Ahmed, Papa's Daughter. Vonetta performed in How Do You Do, a play by Ed Bullins. When Marvin left Black Arts West Theatre, he soon hooked up with Eldridge Cleaver--the first person Cleaver got with after his release. With Cleaver's advance from his best seller Soul on Ice, he and Marvin rented a Victorian on Broderick Street and established Black House, a political/cultural center. They were soon joined by playwright Ed Bullins and singer Willie Dale, who'd done time with Cleaver at San Quentin. Black House became a kind of half-way house for persons who got black consciousness from the arts and went into the political movement, especially the Black Panther Party. Emory Douglas came through and became BPP Minister of Culture. Samuel Napier came, got juiced on culture and became the BPP Minister of Distribution of the newspaper. George Murray got his consciousness performing in Baraka's black arts communication project at SF State and black house. George became BPP Minister of Education. Bobby Seale had gotten consciousness at Merritt College in Oakland, along with fellow students Marvin and Huey P. Newton. Bobby performed in Marvin's second play Come Next Summer before founding the BPP. Marvin tried to get Huey in his theatre but Huey declined. Yet Huey claimed he learned from Marvin. Maybe his reading poetry at Black House can be attributed to Marvin's influence. For sure, the politicos learned from the artists. For this reason, Marvin X says the arts was the mother rather than the sister of the political movement. Larry Neal calls the Black Arts Movement the sister of the political liberation movement. Henry Louis Gates says the Black Arts Movement was short-lived, but time and influence are different matters. The Black Arts Movement fundamentally altered art and literature in America, far beyond the influence and impact of the earlier Harlem Renaissance. Black House fell from differences between the artists and politicos. Even before the Black Panthers called anyone who wouldn't pick up the gun reactionary, there were ideological differences. For example, Amiri Baraka and Eldridge Cleaver were at Black House but never talked, partly due to Cleaver's Marxism and Baraka's so-called Cultural Nationalism. Ironically, Baraka became a Marxist and Cleaver a spiritualist. The fall of the Black House was insured after Marvin rejected an order delivered by Lil Bobby Hutton from Huey Newton that the youth clubhouse in the basement must be closed due to out of control youth. Marvin told Lil Bobby, "Fuck the Supreme Commander!" Shortly after this, the artists were evicted and Black House became the San Francisco headquarters of the BPP. Before the artists were evicted, those who performed included Sarah Webster Fabio, Avoctja, Chicago Arts Ensemble, Sonia Sanchez, Askia Toure, Ed Bullins, Reginald Lockett, Marvin X, Willie Dale and students from Baraka's Communications Project at SFSU, including Jimmy Garrett, Benny Stewart, George Murray, Ellendar Barnes, Jo Ann Mitchell, et al. For more on Black House, see: Marvin X, Somethin' Proper, autobiography of Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1998. Marvin X, Eldridge Cleaver, My friend the Devil, Black Bird Press, 2009. Eldridge Cleaver, Post-Prison Writings. More Comments About the Author/Activist Marvin X has been a witness to history. He shows that an excellent minority writer can raise issues that the mainstream publishers and book reviewers find hard to grapple with…. He, Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and others were also casualties of the chemical attack on African Americans in the form of Crack and alcohol waged by corporations and a government that placed questionable foreign policy goals above the health of its citizens…. Many of those who inspired the cultural revolution of the 1960s remain stuck there. This volume shows that Marvin X has moved on. —Ishmael Reed, novelist, poet, essayist, publisher, Oakland Iraq…how did we get there and how do we get back? The consciousness-altering book of poems that tells the tale, in no uncertain terms and yet always via poetry, is the astonishing Land of My Daughters: Poems 1995-2005 by Marvin X. Marvin X is the USA’s Rumi, and his nation is not “where our fathers died” but where our daughters live. The death of patriarchal war culture is his everyday reality. X’s poems vibrate, whip, love in the most meta- and physical ways imaginable and un-. He’s got the humor of Pietri, the politics of Baraka, and the spiritual Muslim grounding that is totally new in English—the ecstasy of Hafiz, the wisdom of Saadi. It’s not unusual for him to have a sequence of shortish lines followed by a culminating line that stretches a quarter page—it is the dance of the dervishes, the rhythms of a Qasida. —Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York City

Marvin X Writes Eight Books in 2010

The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, Volume I

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

Hustler’s Guide to the Game Called Life, (Wisdom of Plato Negro, Volume II)

Mythology of Pussy and Dick, toward Healthy Psychosocial Sexuality, 416 pages.

This book is the most wanted title in the Marvin X collection. Youth in the hood fight over it and steal it from each other. Girls say it empowers them, and the boys say it helps them step up their game. Mothers and fathers are demanding their sons and daughters read this. Paradise Jah Love says they fight over it as if it's black gold!

I Am Oscar Grant, essays on Oakland, $19.95. Critical essays on the travesty of American justice in the cold blooded murder of Oscar Grant by a beast in blue uniform.

Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez and Yoself, essays on Obama Drama, $19.95.

Marvin X is on the mark again with his accurate observation of the Obama era. The black community was so excited with Obama being the first Black Prez that they forgot he was a politician-not a messiah. Marvin X brings the community back to the reality of what Obama stands for-at the moment! He has not given up on Da Prez, he simply wants people to see what he stands for and what he still has an opportunity to do for our communities. Make sure you put Pull Yo Pants Up Fada Black Prez & Yo Self on your to-buy list It will be the best book you will read in 2010!--Carolyn Mixon

Marvin X, Guest Editor, Poetry Issue, Journal of Pan African Studies, 480 pages

In honor of the Journal of Black Poetry, Marvin X collects poetry from throughout the Pan African world. This massive issue is a classic of radical Pan African literature in the 21st century. Amiri Baraka says, "He has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the innovators and founders of the new revolutionary school of African writing."

Notes on the Wisdom of Action or How to Jump Out of the Box. In this collection he calls upon the people to become proactive rather than reactionary, to initiate the movement out the box of oppression by any means necessary, although Marvin X believes in the power of spiritual consciousness to create infinite possibilities toward liberation.

Soulful Musings on Unity of North American Africans, 150 pages

Marvin X explores the possibilities for unity among North American Africans. To Book Marvin X: jmarvinx@yahoo.com Now available on DVD Marvin X at Yoshi's San Francisco Marvin X at San Francisco State University, 09 Marvin X On Domestic Violence (Morehouse College, ATL) The Kings and Queens of Black Consciousness, San Francisco State University Marvin X at the Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre, Berkeley Marvin X, In the Crazy House Called America Concert, Buriel Clay Theatre, San Francisco Marvin X Talks With Fillmore Slim at the Black Radical Book Fair, San Francisco Marvin X at the Barber Shop (Git Yo Mind Right) Marvin X Live In Philly At Warm Daddies One Day In The Life, a docudrama of addiction and recovery, by Marvin X Available from Black Bird Press, 1222 Dwight Way, Berkeley CA94702 . Send $14.95, plus $5.00 for mailing.