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Books by Marvin X
Love and War: Poems /
In the Crazy House Called America /
Woman: Man's Best Friend /
Beyond Religion Toward Spirituality
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Plato on Obama Drama
By Marvin X
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Dr. M is Plato teaching on
the streets of Oakland.—Ishmael
Reed, novelist, essayist, poet |
Now that Super
Tuesday has passed and the Democratic candidates,
Hillary and Obama, are yet neck and neck, where do we go
from here? Perhaps our so-called leaders who are backing
Hillary Clinton, that motley crew of Democratic
sycophants, need to ask themselves this question: should
they not jump the ship of Hilbillery, the ship of fools,
and join the North American African masses who are 90%
for Obama, or shall they go down in history as leaders
who need to be led. Let black history be their guide:
the old guard civil rights leaders were caught napping
when the cry of Black Power electrified the masses and
redirected the freedom movement of the 50s and 60s.
Our present
political leaders are perhaps deaf, dumb and blind to
the level of dissatisfaction and the need for radical
change that Obama symbolizes. Yes, he may be
transformative but the old guard doubt he will be able
to make the transactions they customarily obtain from
the Democratic Party power brokers.
The political
leaders have been the gatekeepers who are a failure at
delivering bacon to their people. They gave them no
political education or economic education to protect
them from the sub prime tragedy. They have no real
solution to stop 50% of our children from dropping out
of school. They have no solution to stop the violence
coast to coast, with a major portion of the 16,000
annual murders in America being our sons and daughters.
They have been impotent to address the high gas prices,
apparently they are too proud to ask president Chavez of
Venezuela to aid North American Africans, although we
know he is willing to help our community out of our
dependency complex and fatal attraction with Ustatos
Unidos del Norte America .
Other than making
transactions to benefit themselves, what bacon do they
deliver, what relief from our misery? Yet they insist we
blindly follow their direction into outer space.
Hilbillery took women off welfare into prostitution and
other crimes, increasing the prison population among
women and men when he made crack addicts and petty
dealers serve long prison terms for what is a mental
health problem and economic justice issue. Yet he/she is
our savior?
For sure, the
identity starved, self esteem depleted and economically
exploited North American Africans have cast their vote
with Obama.
He is clearly the
man of the hour, the new kid on the block, thus our
black leadership would do well to look at the man in the
mirror and decide to change their course.
Dissatisfaction
brings about change. Obama will be a change whether he
wins or not. Call it a dress rehearsal for the
future—just in case he doesn’t make it this time. Look
into the future; imagine how far he might go with solid
backing from his North American people. We might be able
to convince our Latino brothers and sisters to join
forces with us rather than the old guard, which would
permit us to forge a powerful movement of the
disinherited, a real movement for change in this nation
that has not been seen since the 60s when Blacks united
with Latinos, whites, Native Americas, Asians and others
to take a great leap forward from segregation and wage
slavery.
Latinos can act
white if they want, along with our leaders they shall
see the day when our unity will be needed and sought,
but perhaps to no avail. Yes, we may need to discard our
leaders and traditional allies and ultimately go the
path of Nationalism. Of course this is beyond the Obama
paradigm which can only envision us in an American
configuration. Thinking outside the box of American
politics is wishful if not delusional, our traditional
leaders would say, including Obama, although his roots
clearly transcend these United States.
But if Obama can
help resurrect our spirits with hope and the possibility
of change in the status quo, why not back him with our
full support. You might say, do not put your eggs in one
basket, so then political leaders, continue in your
inordinacy placating pharaoh, but your people are moving
on. Our allies must either shit or get off the pot as
well. Either you are with us or against us, or shall we
say you are either part of the solution or part of the
problem. You decide and be prepared to pay the
consequences in this political game of life.
We know politics
has no permanent friends, only permanent interests. We
must clearly state our agenda, define our interests, our
priorities, which we should present to Obama as well. We
know what change is, but thank him for reminding us.
Obama must do some
hard thinking to offer us a way out of this morass, this
conundrum that is forever eluding our grasp. He has nine
months to deal with Hilbillery, enough time to birth a
child. Call this child Freedom.
Obama heralds the
era of the Post Black Negro in America . Obama, biracial
product—after 400 years of amalgamation, what would one
expect? What about a pure Gullah Geeche Negro? Khalid
Muhammad!
Let us be
sophisticated. We know the treachery of Mulattoes, and
we know the treachery of pure Africans in Kenya, Sudan,
Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria,
Rwanda, and Congo. We know the treachery of North
American Africans, down to the present moment; they are
making deals with the devil. But we see them from whence
they see us not. And we are not of the unjust people. We
are of the suffering righteous.
What we need are
righteous men and women to come to the front of the
line, to stand up and represent Divinity, the divine man
and woman of spiritual consciousness who can rule
without taking a bribe, without telling lies. Find me
the righteous man and I shall save the town!
Of the mulatto
class, the class preferred by the power structure in
dealing with blacks—there is danger here. Chancellor
Williams told us it was Mulattoes who ushered in the
destruction of African Civilization 6,000 years ago in
Egypt. And Haiti had Dessalines deal with Mulattoes in
their revolution here in the Americas. Toussaint had to
tell Dessalines after his slaughter, “I told you to
prune the tree, not to uproot it!”
But let us be
clear: Mulattoes, Pure Blacks, Biracial, does not
matter. It is the condition of the heart, the condition
of the spirit. Are you a devil or do you represent the
Divine?
Answer this, then
we shall proceed.
posted 7 February 2008
The next meeting of Dr. M’s Pan African Mental Health
Peer Group to Recover from the Addiction to White
Supremacy/lunacy, is Saturday, February 16, 4pm, 1425
Oregon Street, Berkeley (at Sacramento Street). Call
510-355-6335 for more information.
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MSNBC—Delegate count after Super Tuesday- Obama
leads with 861 to Clinton's 855.
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Campaign Manager David
Plouffe: By winning a majority of delegates and a
majority of the states, Barack Obama won an important
Super Tuesday victory over Senator Clinton in the
closest thing we have to a national primary. From
Colorado and Utah in the west to Georgia and Alabama in
the south to Senator Clinton’s backyard in Connecticut,
Obama showed that he can win the support of Americans of
every race, gender, and political party in every region
of the country. That’s why he’s on track to win
Democratic nomination, and that’s why he’s the best
candidate to defeat John McCain in November.—Barackobama.com
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Obama: The
Shock of the Red—“We won in places
nobody thought we could win,” an exultant Federico Pena,
the former Denver mayor, told a victory crowd on Tuesday
night. Obama’s audience a few days earlier – more than
18,000 — was so big that thousands who couldn’t get in
huddled on a frozen lacrosse field to hear him. Now
broaden the picture and look at the vote among white
males, traditionally the hardest sell for a Democrat.
While losing California, Obama won white men in the
Golden State, 55 to 35, according to exit polls, and
white men in New Mexico, 59-38. Looking ahead to
Saturday, when Washington State, Nebraska, and Louisiana
hold contests, Obama should add another three states to
the 13 he won on Tuesday. They’re all caucus states,
each with distinct advantages for Obama. His problem –
and it’s a big one – is among Latino voters, and older
women. He got crushed by Hillary among Hispanics in
California and New Mexico. To win the West, Latinos have
to be in your camp.—NYTimes
Blog
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Clinton and Obama Trade Victories—Clinton claimed four of the five biggest prizes in
Super Tuesday's 22-state Democratic competition. She
also captured Arizona, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Those victories helped stem what appeared to be
gathering momentum around Obama's candidacy since he won
in South Carolina on Jan. 26.
But Obama won in more places than his New York rival,
racking up victories in his home state of Illinois, as
well as Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia,
Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, and Utah. His narrow
victory in Missouri came after Clinton appeared
on the brink of winning there. Only the outcome in New
Mexico remained unresolved early this morning. In many
of the states Clinton won, Obama had surged from far
behind to narrow the gap in the days before Super
Tuesday. Her ability to hold off his charge brought a
sense of relief to her campaign advisers, but the
likelihood that neither would emerge with a significant
advantage in delegates was a sign that their
roller-coaster competition would continue.—Washington
Post
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Can Mrs Clinton Lose? (Peggy Noonan)—With
Mr. Obama the campaign will be about issues. "He'll
raise your taxes." He will, and I suspect Americans may
vote for him anyway. But the race won't go low. Mrs.
Clinton would be easier for Republicans. With her
cavalcade of scandals, they'd be delighted to go at her.
They'd get medals for it. Consultants would get rich on
it. The Democrats have it exactly wrong. Hillary is the
easier candidate, Mr. Obama the tougher. Hillary brings
negative; it's fair to hit her back with negative. Mr.
Obama brings hope, and speaks of a better way. He's not
Bambi, he's bulletproof. The biggest problem for the
Republicans will be that no matter what they say that is
not issue oriented--"He's too young, he's never run
anything, he's not fully baked"—the mainstream media
will tag them as dealing in racial overtones, or
undertones. You can bet on this. Go to the bank on it.
The Democrats continue not to recognize what they have
in this guy. Believe me, Republican professionals know.
They can tell.—
Wall Street Journal
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New York
Feminists for Peace and Barack Obama—Over 400 New
York feminists and peace activists—among them actors
Kerry Washington and Kathleen Chalfant and writers Katha
Pollitt and Thulani Davis—have signed a letter endorsing
Senator Barack Obama in the upcoming New York primary.
The letter started circulating on Friday, February 1st
and the responses are still pouring in. Stating that war
and peace are as much "women's issues" as healthcare,
the environment and occupational equality, the letter
signers cite Obama's early opposition to the war as key
to their endorsement. Obama's stance on the war is also
cited by the signatories as one of his most valuable
assets in a post-primary campaign, as it will better
position him to defeat a pro-war Republican nominee.
Also noted are the positive tone of the Obama campaign
and the dramatic engagement it has produced among young
American voters. The petition is now available online,
where additional signatures can be posted.
NY Feminists for Peace
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Why Latinos and
Asian Americans Went for Hillary—A CNN exit poll
last night indicated that Latinos in California went for
Hillary by a 2-1 margin, and Asian Americans went for
her 3-1. Democratic polls showed Hillary winning Latinos
by 3-1. . . . The reason Hillary won is because the
Latino and Asian American votes remain emergent, not yet
insurgent. Emergent voting blocs respond to leaders in
their community. If the candidate wins the leader, she
wins her followers. Insurgent voting blocs instead
respond to calls for change, and may focus more on
single issues or agendas. If a candidate stakes out a
good position, she captures the community. Hillary
played the politics of emergence. Early, she locked down
important leaders in the Latino and Asian American
communities. . . . All of them—from Villaraigosa to the
Asian American precinct captain—were responding to what
might be called aspirational politics. The individuals
become proxies for the community. You hear them say in
their campaigns, "When I win, you win."
Clinton's main
advantage is that she has the access to power and the
party structures that deliver promises to officials and
operatives. Obama doesn't. Emergent politics favors
individuals seeking power. Think of it this way:
Hillary, the woman candidate, is bringing Latino and
Asian American leaders into the old-boy's network.
Huffington Post
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The Democrats’ Salvation—Obama
agrees to an extent. “I know how hard change is,” he
says. But he promises to transcend the old fights—the
liberation narrative again—by building a “bottom-up”
movement to create inexorable pressure for reform that
would draw in even Republicans. “Good intentions are
not enough,” he said in his Wilmington speech. They need
to be “fortified with political will or political
power.” Obama marries a softer rhetorical line on
Republicans with a more sweeping and activist analysis
of how change happens. He thus manages to go to
Clinton’s right and left at the same time.
That’s why Obama is on the move in
a way that worries Clinton’s lieutenants. She promises
toughness, competence, clarity and experience in a year
when Democrats are seeking something closer to
salvation. One of the politicians who spoke before Obama
at the rally, Delaware state Treasurer Jack Markell,
cited the New Testament letter to the Hebrews in which
St. Paul spoke of “the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.” It was a revealing
moment: While Clinton wages a campaign, Obama is
preaching a revival.—Truthdig
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Next Up for the
Democrats Civil War—Mrs. Clinton did pile up her
expected large margin among Latino voters in California.
But her tight grip on that electorate is loosening. Mr.
Obama, who
captured only 26 percent of Hispanic voters in
Nevada last month, did better than that in every state
on Tuesday, reaching 41 percent in
Arizona and 53 percent in
Connecticut. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign’s
attempt to drive white voters away from Mr. Obama by
playing the race card has backfired. His white vote
tally rises every week. Though Mrs. Clinton won
California by almost 10 percentage points, among
whites she beat Mr. Obama by only 3 points. The question
now is how much more racial friction the Clinton
campaign will gin up if its Hispanic support starts to
erode in Texas, whose March 4 vote it sees as its latest
firewall. Clearly it will stop at little. That’s why you
now hear Clinton operatives talk ever more brazenly
about trying to reverse party rulings so that they can
hijack
366 ghost delegates from Florida and the other rogue
primary, Michigan, where Mr. Obama wasn’t even on the
ballot. So much for Mrs. Clinton’s
assurance on New Hampshire Public Radio last fall
that it didn’t matter if she alone kept her name on the
Michigan ballot because the vote “is not going to count
for anything.”—NYTimes
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The Democrats'
Class War—In most states, polls show Hillary Clinton
is beating Barack Obama among voters making $50,000 a
year or less—many of whom say the economy is
their top concern. . . . Obama has let
Clinton characterize the 1990s as a nirvana,
rather than a time that sowed the seeds of
our current troubles. |
He barely criticizes the Clinton
administration for championing job-killing trade
agreements. He does not question that same
administration's role in deregulating the financial
industry and thereby intensifying today's boom-bust
catastrophes. . . . After a rare Obama attack on Hillary
Clinton for supporting policies that eliminated jobs,
Bill Clinton quickly likened Obama's campaign to
Jackson's, and the Clinton campaign told the Associated
Press Obama was "the black candidate." These were
deliberate statements telling Obama that if he talks
about class, they'll talk about race. And so, as Marable
says, Obama's pitch includes "no mention of the class
struggle or class conflict." It is "hope" instead of an
economic case, bromide instead of critique. The result
is an oxymoronic dynamic.—CredoMobile
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Who are the
Super Delegates—They are a combination of Democratic
Party officials, governors, and congressmen. The super
delegates are in short the leaders of the party. This
structuring has to do with power and control—who will
decide the direction of the party and its platform and
its direction. Hillary is now counting the "polled"
Super Delegates in her
Delegate Count, as is the NYTimes. Will the leadership clubs of the party or
the people on the ground—members of the party who voted
in the various states—make the decision who should be
the party's nominee? Or
will the party be run like a corporation or will it be
run "democratically"? One can indeed argue that these
officials and these party stalwarts have a
responsibility to make sure that their party gets in the
White House. But their leadership has failed for the
last 8 years. There's one among them, Barack
Obama, belonging to the same group as the Clintons, the
DLC, who has found seemingly a formula that works—he has
energized the primaries, found the right rhetoric,
brought into the process young people, a great-swath of
the American voting public. Should his efforts
be thwarted because the "stalwarts" and the
"experienced" "know better"? It is tantamount to a
counter revolution top down. I do not think that too
many Democrats will tolerate it—Rudy
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Campaign Focus
Shifts to Chesapeake Bay Region—Mr. Obama gathered
momentum through the weekend with victories in Maine,
Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington State. . . . “I know
this is a challenging campaign, I recognize that,” she
said. “And it’s a good problem to have, isn’t it?” Mrs.
Clinton left Washington immediately after the visit,
heading to Baltimore . . . . “I’m still ahead in
delegates and in the popular vote. We’re each picking up
delegates. And I commend Senator Obama on his recent
victories. But I think if you look at the states that
are upcoming, I am very confident. I am absolutely
looking to Ohio and Texas . . .” Before the Ohio and
Texas primaries on March 4, though, Mrs. Clinton has to
face five other contests, including primaries in
Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia on
Tuesday and the Wisconsin primary and Hawaii caucuses on
Feb. 19. Mr. Obama was supposed to fly to North Carolina
on Monday night to meet with former Senator
John Edwards, who dropped out of the race and whose
endorsement both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton are
seeking.—NYTimes
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Stealing the
Nomination—Both the Dems and the GOP had declared
that—as far as they were concerned—the
only states permitted to hold a primary or caucus before
Feb. 5 were Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South
Carolina. But Michigan went ahead with a Jan. 15 date
and Florida with Jan. 29. The Republican National
Committee sanctioned the states by removing half of
their delegates—while the DNC stripped both
states of all their delegates. . . .But now that the
race is so tight—it is mathematically close to
impossible for either candidate to win a majority before
the Democratic National Convention in August—a
move is afoot to recognize those two delegations.
Obviously, if the results of the January "beauty"
contests stood, it would be a great windfall for Sen.
Clinton. But at what cost to the Democratic Party's
credibility—to say nothing of the democratic
process? At the very least, Dean and the DNC need to
impose a process that would allow both Clinton and Obama
to make their cases to Michigan and Florida
voters. Either that or keep intact the existing rules.
Fair's fair, after all.—NYPost
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Three More Primaries in the Bag—Senator Barack Obama
rolled to victory by big margins in Virginia (64
to 35%), Maryland (60
to36%) and the District of Columbia (75
to 24%)
on Tuesday, extending his winning streak over Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton to eight Democratic nominating
contests since Saturday.
Mr. Obama’s victories gave him a lead over Mrs.
Clinton among pledged delegates . . .Obama aides
calculate that he also leads in delegate counts that
include so-called superdelegates, the party officers and
elected officials who control 20 percent of the total
delegates to the Democratic convention. . . . An
exultant Mr. Obama told a rally in Madison, Wis.: “This
movement wont stop until there’s change in Washington.
Tonight, we’re on our way.” . . . . Mrs. Clinton . . .
signaled that she would not vigorously contest two
Democratic races next week, a primary in Wisconsin and a
caucus in Hawaii . . . If she loses in those two states,
she will be 0 for 10 in nominating contests from Feb. 5
to March 4, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont
hold primaries.—NYTimes
Obama's truth
sets us free—There are many reasons for Obama's
phenomenal rise, not the least being he is a racial
Rorschach test as well as a gem of a speaker. But it is
the zinging content of his speeches that have shaken the
country and mark him as a threat to the old order,
starting with Clinton herself. When Obama talks, as he
did yesterday in Maryland, of voters being "tricked,
bamboozled, fooled and hoodwinked," he is condemning her
generation. When he says voters "are tired of the
politics of the past, tired of spin, tired of PR," he
doesn't have to name names. We've all known this side of
the Clintons, and yet, because we accepted it, they
succeeded. And because they succeeded, others copied
them. The result is a disaster, with apathy and cynicism
toward government our secular religion. Hillary's little
lies about her campaign remind me of the way Bill
started his presidential race in 1992. In March of that
year, a Daily News reporter asked him whether he had
ever used drugs. Clinton answered firmly, "I have never
broken the laws of my country." Technically true, but in
plain English, a lie. The desired implication - that his
answer was no - was misleading because he later admitted
he had smoked marijuana in London. Even then, Clinton
had to suggest he was innocent, saying he never inhaled.
NYDailyNews
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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ChickenBones Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
posted 8 February 2008
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