Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Marvin X Poem: Let A Million Men March

                  Powerful Poetry
The New Black Panther Party in Texas at the state capitol

 Black Arts Movement artistic freedom fighters at University of California, Merced, BAM Conference, 2014, produced by Kim McMillan and Marvin X


 BAM/Black Power freedom fighters Angela Davis, Marvin X and Sonia Sanchez

 BAM/Black Power freedom fighters Amiri Baraka (RIP), Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, BAM baby Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, BAM baby Ahi Baraka and Marvin X at Academy of da Corner, downtown Oakland, 14th and Broadway, renamed the Black Arts Movement District.




 Free Imam Jamil Al Amin, H. Rap Brown--free all the Black Liberation Army freedom fighters!

 Marvin X fought to teach Black Studies at Fresno State University, 1969, but was removed on orders of Gov. Ronald Reagan. He also had Angela Davis removed from teaching at UCLA the same year because she was a Black Communist. Marvin X was a Black Muslim. photo Fresno Bee

 Marvin X and Danny Glover were students at San Francisco State University, 1964-66. Danny was an actor in Marvin's Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, 1966.
photo South Park Kenny Johnson


Amiri Baraka's Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School, Harlem NY 1965

 UC Berkeley Black Revolutionary students Black Out!


 General Sun Ra, artistic freedom fighter


Ancestor  Revolutionary scholars Dr. John Henry Clarke and Dr. Ben

 Bay Area Black artistic freedom fighters outside Joyce Gordon Gallery, in the Black Arts District, 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland.
 photo Gene Hazzard and Adam Turner

 Black Arts Movement generals, Amiri Baraka and Marvin X

 Black Airmen in World War II

 The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/school in Harlem, NY, founded by Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Larry Neal, Sun Ra, et al., 1965

 Student Menhuaim at Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, renamed the Black Arts Movement District, celebrating the return of Master Teacher Marvin X.

Let A Million Men March





Black American soldiers in World War I. Marvin X's father fought in World War I
Let A Million Men March
let them march
one million strong
march their fears out the sands of time
march four hundred years of
american slime and mud off their feet
march chains off their brains
march insane to sane
march for ancestors of middle passage and triangular trade
for nat turner, vesey, prosser, tubman
for the living and the yet unborn
for wives and children forgotten, abused, abandoned
for the joy of reconciliation and reunion
for brotherhood sorely lacking and urgently requested
march for a new community of respect, peace and unconditional love
transcending hate and violence
violence in the streets and violence in the home
march against drive-by killings and turf wars
yu want turf my brother?
march for land and reparations
let them march, let them parade
for spiritual and material satisfaction
for sober thoughts and sober actions
march to end mind altered states
march to the White House gates
announce the new man has arrived
the slave died an unnatural death
the clown is dead
tom is dead
we have de cupped the beggars, tying their hands
those who oppose us, get back in the alley, shut up your chatter
let them march home refreshed by the waterfall of unity
the sun of brotherhood
the river of responsibility.
8/2/95

 from Love and War Poems by Marvin X
Blackbird Press. 1995
 Cover art by Emory Douglas, Black Panther Party Minister of Culture

“There comes a time,” Marvin X wrote, “when a man’s conscience will no longer allow him to participate in the absurd!” (Black Scholar. April-May 1971)

No comments:

Post a Comment