Marcel Diallo
Encyclopedia
Marcel Diallo is an American musician, poet, artist and community builder, known for his founding of the Black Dot Artists Collective, The Black New World and his revitalization efforts in West Oakland's historic, predominantly African-American Prescott neighborhood aka the Lower Bottoms.
In 2009, Diallo was implicated in an Internet
fraud
and libel scandal
against another Oakland activist.
, the eldest of four children. After graduating from California Polytechnic State University
, San Luis Obispo with a B.A. in philosophy, Diallo moved back to the Bay Area, settling in Oakland while earning a Master's Degree at John F. Kennedy University
in Consciousness Studies. In Oakland he became involved in Oakland's cafe poetry scene. He opened a poetry venue, The Black Dot Cafe in 1998. He has four sons with his longtime partner.
In 1997, Diallo released his first album, The Shaman and The Nigga God, on Akashic Records
, a Bay Area independent hip-hop label. A later release from the same label, Flesh and Blood, was reviewed by writer Eric K. Arnold as being a slept-on album. However, none of his albums have been re-released with wider distribution.
In 1998, Marcel Diallo opened the Ritual Space and Black Dot Cafe in East Oakland. Some well known artists featured were Boots Riley from The Coup
, Eddie Gale
, Amiri Baraka
, The Last Poets
, Kahil El Zabar, Marvin X, The Grouch and Bicasso from Living Legends, and Piri Thomas
. The space also featured an open mic night called The Word and a youth workshop called Beats, Flows & Videos. Esoterism was a strong theme at both venues where yoga, meditation, vegan lifestyle workshops and other spiritual services were offered alongside traditional hip hop concerts.
When Black Dot artists collective got evicted from their East Oakland location, they relocated to West Oakland. Though the artists collective had previously done arts-activism work such as the No on Prop 21 campaign, it would become concentrated in one neighborhood with their new location in 2000. Coined the Village Bottoms by Diallo, the artists collective focused on community and economic development, as well as affordable housing and anti-gentrification education in West Oakland. The area, which currently involves mostly Pine and Wood streets is being revitalized by a community of active volunteers into a Black cultural district, similar to that of Leimert Park in Los Angeles and Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District in Newark, New Jersey. The area, which has been a multi-ethnic community, but remained primarily African-American after World War 2, saw its economic infrastructure change drastically upon the building of the BART station, Cypress Freeway, and Post Office. Over the years, the area grew one of the worst reputations in Oakland as the Lower Bottoms. Project of Diallo's organization the Village Bottoms Community Building and Development Corporation, have been an urban farm, cultural arts businesses, performance venues, cooperative/collective grocery services, affordable housing, and public arts parades and programs.
Marcel Diallo has remained one of Oakland's most controversial arts figures. He is co-founder of Eastside Arts Alliance, a multicultural organization in the Lower San Antonio District and currently works with Ecocity Builders. Much of his criticism seems to have come from an article written by David Downs in the East Bay Express, where Diallo is featured on the cover. In that article, Downs presents Diallo and the artists from the Art Murmur as opposites, with Diallo taking aim at the "hipsters" which are often young whites relocating to the East Bay. Other criticsm seems to stem from the concept of the cultural district, which some residents label exclusionary. Diallo and many of his non-black supporters have been quoted in countless mainstream media stating that the revitalization of Oakland's oldest Black neighborhood is for the benefit of all residents of Oakland, regardless of race, color or creed. San Francisco Chronicle. He was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine in January 2007 saying, ' It's not just for blacks, said Diallo. "Everybody needs a black cultural district. Just like everybody needs a Chinatown." San Francisco Chronicle.
and create art for exhibits at Bay Area galleries. In 2000, Diallo was selected to exhibit a visual arts installation titled, Scrapyard Ghosts, at ProArts Gallery in Old Oakland. He has since opened various galleries in Oakland's Prescott neighborhood. He has also exhibited and taught at the California College of the Arts
in San Francisco. His curatorial exhibits have featured some of the Bay Area's renown artists such as former Black Panther Emory Douglas
, West Oakland sculptor Bruce Beasley, Eesuu Orundide, Keba Konte, Githinji Wa Mbire, Kevin Slagle, Don Fortescue and others.
He has also worked with artists Amiri Baraka
, The Last Poets
, David Murray
, Kahil El Zabar, Sonia Sanchez
, Kamau Da'oud, Marvin X, Piri Thomas
, Micheal McClure, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Guillermo Gómez-Peña
, and Don Cheadle
.
In 2000, Diallo was featured in Source Magazine's Dreaming Americans series.
He has self-published one book of poetry. His forthcoming book Black New World Manifesto, featuring prose and poems with a forward by Amiri Baraka
is due for release by Black Dot Cafe Press in 2009.
account in the name of Oakland artists' advocate Max Allstadt. The account was used to impersonate Allstadt and send emails full of racist and homophobic invective to black community leaders, journalists, and public officials. Evidence that Diallo was the most likely perpetrator of this attack was reported by Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express
in November, 2009.
Gammon wrote that Allstadt sits on a community board that voted against funding Marcel Diallo's Village Bottoms Farms project. The Express also said that court documents included affidavits from Comcast
and Google
stating that the racist email that attempted to frame Allstadt had originated from Marcel Diallo's residence. Additionally, articles on San Francisco Chronicle
's website and in the Express wrote that Diallo's property records revealed massive debts and unending foreclosures. According to the Express, the only reason Diallo had not been evicted from his residence was that a wealthy white developer named Rick Holliday had bailed Diallo out and rented his house back to him.
The Shaman & The Nigga God (1997)
SPACE: Rhyme Ritual Trio (1998)
Live @ The CyberCafe (1998)
Shadows & Moonlight (1998)
Overdue Babies (2003)
Honey Suga Love (2009)
Reparations!, Asian Resource Gallery, Oakland Chinatown, 1999 (artist)
Sampling Oakland/ Eastside Story, YBCA, 2006 (guest curator & artist)
OSHUN, Cornelia Bell's Black Bottom Gallery, Oakland, 2007 (artist)
Decolonization! An installation of Self-Rule, Cornelia Bell's Black Bottoms Gallery, Oakland, 2007 (curator & artist)
Betcha Bottom Dollar: An Underground Currency Game, Cornelia Bell's Black Bottom Gallery, Oakland, 2007 (curator & artist)
Black Panther: The Cultural Ministry of Emory Douglas, ART@THE CANNERY, Oakland, 2008 (curator & artist)
West Oakland at The Moment, ART@THE CANNERY, Oakland, 2008 (curator & artist)
Ekpu & The Fattening House: The Art of Inyang Ntofon, ART@THE CANNERY (curator)
BAN5/ The Black New World Recipe Book One: Sanctified Gumbo, Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, 2008 (guest curator & artist)
Maximum Rocknroll, Published by Maximum Rock 'n' Roll, 2006
Z magazine By Institute for Social and Cultural Communications Published by Institute for Social and Cultural Communications, 2000
Building Arts, Building Community? Informal Arts Districts and Neighborhood Change In Oakland, California, by the Center for Community Innovation University of California, Berkeley, 2008. http://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu/publications/Arts-Community.pdf
In 2009, Diallo was implicated in an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
and libel scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
against another Oakland activist.
Biography
Diallo was born and raised in Richmond, CaliforniaRichmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
, the eldest of four children. After graduating from California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, is a public university located in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. The university is one of two polytechnic campuses in the 23-member California State University system....
, San Luis Obispo with a B.A. in philosophy, Diallo moved back to the Bay Area, settling in Oakland while earning a Master's Degree at John F. Kennedy University
John F. Kennedy University
John F. Kennedy University is a nonprofit, private university located in Pleasant Hill, California, with satellite campuses in Campbell, Berkeley, and Costa Mesa. It was founded in 1964 to focus on providing continuing opportunities for non-traditional higher education. Enrollment is approximately...
in Consciousness Studies. In Oakland he became involved in Oakland's cafe poetry scene. He opened a poetry venue, The Black Dot Cafe in 1998. He has four sons with his longtime partner.
Career
Diallo began as an open mic poet/emcee. He founded the Black Dot Artists' Collective in 1996 with poet Robert Jamal Jackson and percussionist Kele Nitoto. The three artists began an open mic called Rhyme Ritual at The Java House in Oakland that attracted artists involved in the Bay Area's spoken word and poetry scene.In 1997, Diallo released his first album, The Shaman and The Nigga God, on Akashic Records
Akashic Records
The akashic records is a term used in theosophy to describe a compendium of mystical knowledge encoded in a non-physical plane of existence. These records are described as containing all knowledge of human experience and the history of the cosmos...
, a Bay Area independent hip-hop label. A later release from the same label, Flesh and Blood, was reviewed by writer Eric K. Arnold as being a slept-on album. However, none of his albums have been re-released with wider distribution.
In 1998, Marcel Diallo opened the Ritual Space and Black Dot Cafe in East Oakland. Some well known artists featured were Boots Riley from The Coup
The Coup
The Coup is a political hip hop group based in Oakland, California. It formed as a three-member group in 1992 with emcees Raymond "Boots" Riley and E-Roc along with DJ Pam the Funkstress. E-Roc left on amicable terms after the group's second album but appears on the track "Breathing Apparatus" on...
, Eddie Gale
Eddie Gale
Eddie Gale is an American trumpeter known for his work in free jazz, especially with the Sun Ra Arkestra.-Biography:Early in life, he studied trumpet with Kenny Dorham...
, Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
, The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
, Kahil El Zabar, Marvin X, The Grouch and Bicasso from Living Legends, and Piri Thomas
Piri Thomas
Piri Thomas was a writer and poet whose autobiography Down These Mean Streets became a best-seller.-Early years:...
. The space also featured an open mic night called The Word and a youth workshop called Beats, Flows & Videos. Esoterism was a strong theme at both venues where yoga, meditation, vegan lifestyle workshops and other spiritual services were offered alongside traditional hip hop concerts.
When Black Dot artists collective got evicted from their East Oakland location, they relocated to West Oakland. Though the artists collective had previously done arts-activism work such as the No on Prop 21 campaign, it would become concentrated in one neighborhood with their new location in 2000. Coined the Village Bottoms by Diallo, the artists collective focused on community and economic development, as well as affordable housing and anti-gentrification education in West Oakland. The area, which currently involves mostly Pine and Wood streets is being revitalized by a community of active volunteers into a Black cultural district, similar to that of Leimert Park in Los Angeles and Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District in Newark, New Jersey. The area, which has been a multi-ethnic community, but remained primarily African-American after World War 2, saw its economic infrastructure change drastically upon the building of the BART station, Cypress Freeway, and Post Office. Over the years, the area grew one of the worst reputations in Oakland as the Lower Bottoms. Project of Diallo's organization the Village Bottoms Community Building and Development Corporation, have been an urban farm, cultural arts businesses, performance venues, cooperative/collective grocery services, affordable housing, and public arts parades and programs.
Marcel Diallo has remained one of Oakland's most controversial arts figures. He is co-founder of Eastside Arts Alliance, a multicultural organization in the Lower San Antonio District and currently works with Ecocity Builders. Much of his criticism seems to have come from an article written by David Downs in the East Bay Express, where Diallo is featured on the cover. In that article, Downs presents Diallo and the artists from the Art Murmur as opposites, with Diallo taking aim at the "hipsters" which are often young whites relocating to the East Bay. Other criticsm seems to stem from the concept of the cultural district, which some residents label exclusionary. Diallo and many of his non-black supporters have been quoted in countless mainstream media stating that the revitalization of Oakland's oldest Black neighborhood is for the benefit of all residents of Oakland, regardless of race, color or creed. San Francisco Chronicle. He was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine in January 2007 saying, ' It's not just for blacks, said Diallo. "Everybody needs a black cultural district. Just like everybody needs a Chinatown." San Francisco Chronicle.
Continuing creative efforts
Though Diallo's activism seems a primary focus, he continues to curate at places like Yerba Buena Center for the ArtsYerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is a multi-disiplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, national, and international artists and the Bay Area's diverse...
and create art for exhibits at Bay Area galleries. In 2000, Diallo was selected to exhibit a visual arts installation titled, Scrapyard Ghosts, at ProArts Gallery in Old Oakland. He has since opened various galleries in Oakland's Prescott neighborhood. He has also exhibited and taught at the California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...
in San Francisco. His curatorial exhibits have featured some of the Bay Area's renown artists such as former Black Panther Emory Douglas
Emory Douglas
Emory Douglas worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s...
, West Oakland sculptor Bruce Beasley, Eesuu Orundide, Keba Konte, Githinji Wa Mbire, Kevin Slagle, Don Fortescue and others.
He has also worked with artists Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
, The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
, David Murray
David Murray
David Murray may refer to:In politics and society*David Murray, 1st Viscount of Stormont *David Murray, 4th Viscount of Stormont *Sir David Murray, 2nd Baronet *David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont...
, Kahil El Zabar, Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez is an African American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books...
, Kamau Da'oud, Marvin X, Piri Thomas
Piri Thomas
Piri Thomas was a writer and poet whose autobiography Down These Mean Streets became a best-seller.-Early years:...
, Micheal McClure, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Guillermo Gómez-Peña was born in Mexico City and moved to the US in 1978, where he established himself as a performance artist, writer, activist, and educator. He has pioneered multiple media, including performance art, experimental radio, video, performance photography and installation art...
, and Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
.
In 2000, Diallo was featured in Source Magazine's Dreaming Americans series.
He has self-published one book of poetry. His forthcoming book Black New World Manifesto, featuring prose and poems with a forward by Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
is due for release by Black Dot Cafe Press in 2009.
Allegations of fraud, libel
In March 2009 Marcel Diallo allegedly registered a GmailGmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
account in the name of Oakland artists' advocate Max Allstadt. The account was used to impersonate Allstadt and send emails full of racist and homophobic invective to black community leaders, journalists, and public officials. Evidence that Diallo was the most likely perpetrator of this attack was reported by Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express
East Bay Express
The East Bay Express is an Oakland-based weekly newspaper serving the Berkeley, Oakland, and East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
in November, 2009.
Gammon wrote that Allstadt sits on a community board that voted against funding Marcel Diallo's Village Bottoms Farms project. The Express also said that court documents included affidavits from Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
stating that the racist email that attempted to frame Allstadt had originated from Marcel Diallo's residence. Additionally, articles on San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
's website and in the Express wrote that Diallo's property records revealed massive debts and unending foreclosures. According to the Express, the only reason Diallo had not been evicted from his residence was that a wealthy white developer named Rick Holliday had bailed Diallo out and rented his house back to him.
Discography
Album/EPsThe Shaman & The Nigga God (1997)
SPACE: Rhyme Ritual Trio (1998)
Live @ The CyberCafe (1998)
Shadows & Moonlight (1998)
Overdue Babies (2003)
Honey Suga Love (2009)
Exhibitions
West Oakland Today/Scrapyard Ghosts, ProArts Gallery, 1998 (artist)Reparations!, Asian Resource Gallery, Oakland Chinatown, 1999 (artist)
Sampling Oakland/ Eastside Story, YBCA, 2006 (guest curator & artist)
OSHUN, Cornelia Bell's Black Bottom Gallery, Oakland, 2007 (artist)
Decolonization! An installation of Self-Rule, Cornelia Bell's Black Bottoms Gallery, Oakland, 2007 (curator & artist)
Betcha Bottom Dollar: An Underground Currency Game, Cornelia Bell's Black Bottom Gallery, Oakland, 2007 (curator & artist)
Black Panther: The Cultural Ministry of Emory Douglas, ART@THE CANNERY, Oakland, 2008 (curator & artist)
West Oakland at The Moment, ART@THE CANNERY, Oakland, 2008 (curator & artist)
Ekpu & The Fattening House: The Art of Inyang Ntofon, ART@THE CANNERY (curator)
BAN5/ The Black New World Recipe Book One: Sanctified Gumbo, Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, 2008 (guest curator & artist)
Further reading
Black Artists in Oakland by Jerry Thompson, Duane Deterville, 2007, Arcadia Publishing, ISBN 0738547255Maximum Rocknroll, Published by Maximum Rock 'n' Roll, 2006
Z magazine By Institute for Social and Cultural Communications Published by Institute for Social and Cultural Communications, 2000
Building Arts, Building Community? Informal Arts Districts and Neighborhood Change In Oakland, California, by the Center for Community Innovation University of California, Berkeley, 2008. http://communityinnovation.berkeley.edu/publications/Arts-Community.pdf