NIKKI GIOVANNI DONATES $100.00 TO BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AT LANEY COLLEGE, FEB 7 ALL DAY FREE

Paul Cobb donated $100.00 for the BAM Fest. He suggests 100 people donate between $100.00 and $500.00 for BAM so we can do for self. He will put the pic of all who donate in the Oakland Post. We are looking for 99 people of good will who believe in BAM. FYI, Paul Cobb is a Garveyite, his father and grandfather were Garveyites. I am a Garveyite! As they say in Houston, TX, "You better ax somebody!"


If you are willing to donate any amount, please call Marvin X, 510-200-4164. BAM must be a community supported project. The original Black Arts Repertory Theatre failed in Harlem when grant funds were cut off. BAM must be independent although we will accept funds but will not compromise our revolutionary values and goals, the freedom of our people. 

Thank you for your $100.00: Paul Cobb, Elnora T. Webb, Delores Nochi, Leon and Carolyn Teasley, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Emanuel and Doris Easley, Nikki Giovanni.
Sincerely,
Marvin X and the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour

 

Graphics by BAM poet Kalamu Chache'

Nikki's BAM Classic: Nikki-Rosa

By Nikki Giovanni

childhood remembrances are always a drag   

if you’re Black

you always remember things like living in Woodlawn   

with no inside toilet

and if you become famous or something

they never talk about how happy you were to have   

your mother

all to yourself and

how good the water felt when you got your bath   

from one of those

big tubs that folk in chicago barbecue in   

and somehow when you talk about home   

it never gets across how much you

understood their feelings

as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale

and even though you remember

your biographers never understand

your father’s pain as he sells his stock   

and another dream goes

And though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that

concerns you

and though they fought a lot

it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference   

but only that everybody is together and you

and your sister have happy birthdays and very good   

Christmases

and I really hope no white person ever has cause   

to write about me

because they never understand

Black love is Black wealth and they’ll

probably talk about my hard childhood

and never understand that

all the while I was quite happy

Nikki Giovanni, “Nikki-Rosa” from Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment. Copyright © 1968, 1970 by Nikki Giovanni. Used with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers.


Source: The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (2003)

 REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVISTS ANGELA DAVIS, MARVIN X AND SONIA SANCHEZ

 

BAM Poet Nikki Giovanni sent a $100.00 donation to help the Black Arts Movement Celebration at Oakland's Laney College, February 7, 2015. Marvin X wants to produce a concert at the Paramount Theatre featuring Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Haki Madhubutiu, Askia Toure, Danny Glover, Marvin X and the Last Poets. It will be a benefit for the Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour. Nikki says her first published poem appeared in the West Coast Bible of BAM, The Journal of Black Poetry, published by Jose Goncalves. Other key BAM journals were published in the Bay Area: Black Dialogue, Soulbook and the Black Scholar Magazine. 510-200-4164;EMAIL: jmarvinx@yahoo.com.