Marcel Diallo is the founder and driving force behind Black New World and related projects that are all headed by the non profit making Black Dot Artists Inc. I aim to give a little run down on Marcel within this post.
He began life in Richmond California and was the eldest boy in a family of four children. Marcel studied Philosophy at California Polytechnic and duly graduated before earning a Masters in Consciousness Studies from JFK University. his studies gave a clue to his later activism and his aim to improve the lives of the black community.
He was and is keenly involved in the arts and he began getting involved in the local poetry community which was thriving at the time, this culminated in him opening the now renowned Black Dot Cafe which housed many of his and his contemporaries poetry shows. He was instrumental in the popularization of the poetry scene when he formed Black Dot Artists along with Kele Nitoto and Robert Jackson.
This collaboration really attracted a lot of artists and expanded the scene massively creating a mini cultural explosion, it may have been this time that inspired Marcel. In ninety seven Marcel published an album of his work The Shaman and The Nigga God the same independent record label later did a limited release of another collection entitled Flesh and Blood. A year later black dot cafe was opened and became a cultural and spiritual hot-spot for the area. Established poets and musicians have performed there but it is equally open to developing artists and youth programs trying to foster cultural awakenings. Poetry and hip hop go hand in hand and are equally popular at the venue. Diallo has also self published a book of poetry and hopes to publish another in aid of the projects he is now involved with
The original venue was based in East Oakland but moved to West Oakland after eviction. It is Marcel who dubbed the area The Village Bottoms in a masterstroke of branding that gives an insight into his entrepreneurial spirit. After some community based political and cultural activism previously Marcel accelerated his activism after the turn of the millennium. He began to start multiple projects based on improving the community, housing, employment and culture of the Village Bottoms. He particularly focused on housing, culture and economic development and sustainability.
He set about building a base of like minded black activists who had a shared vision for a black empowered revitalized area. The projects are wildly ambitious and wide ranging and you can read more about the individual projects on this site. This has all led to a high profile for Diallo, he has featured in countless magazines and on CNN, and this has caused an inevitable backlash. There have been numerous accusations thrown at him from being a racist to being a puppet for white developers – opposing views that people in the media have tried to discredit him with. I’m sure there will be more mud to come.