Mumias Columns & Prison Radio comments

[col. Writ. 6/21/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 Ralph Pointer, the husband of lawyer – and now federal prisoner, Lynne Stewart, is on a mission.’
To save the life of his wife.
His wife, Lynne, was an almost legendary lawyer, who brought her whole heart and all of her legal training, to the defense of the down pressed, of many movements for social justice of the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and […]

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[speech writ. 6/14/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The name Ami︡︡e C︡esaire still rings in the Black world, for the power of his works still resonate with relevance.
In 1955, this son of Martinique published his Discourse on Colonialism a work as bold as it was brief, put out by the celebrated publishing house, Presence Africaine, headed by Alioune Diop.
Still relevant? Monthly Review Press republished it in 2000, […]

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[col. writ. 6/12/13] © ’12 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 In the wake of the revelations of intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, that the U.S. government reaped billions of Americans’ records and noted tens of millions of American cell phone records, apologists for the Patriot Act’s draconian snooping programs rushed to defend this governmental intrusion by citing court and congressional approval and oversight.
It sounds good. But what does it really […]

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[col. writ. 6/9/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 As the revelations of government surveillance seem to grow by the day, so too do the defenders of this policy.
In past years, under the administration of George W. Bush, the Total Information Awareness Program evoked sharp and critical opposition, especially by elites.
The contrast between that period, when the program was contemplated and discussed, and the present, when it is […]

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[col. writ. 6/6/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 New Item:  According to London’s The Guardian, U.S. Intelligence agencies have reviewed telephone records of some 121 million Americans.
 Imagine if such news emerged during the height of the Bush presidency?
 The outcry would’ve been stupendous.
 Newspaper headlines, 10 points high, would blare about how “outrageous!” was such a program.
But that was then; this is now.
Government agencies crawl through phone lines, and […]

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[col. writ. 5/31/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 [Book Review: A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home, by Laura Gottesdiener (Brooklyn: Zucotti Park Press, 2013) {pp. 182}]
 Can a book be both beautiful and terrible?
Adorning its front cover is a beautiful little girl, her hair neatly sectioned into intricate cornrows, the ends of her braids festooned with bright, plastic baubles.
But the […]

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[col. writ. 5/27/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The word Guantanamo has become a watchword for the world.
It is a temple of stated terror, of Imperial fear and American hypocrisy.
 Since 2002, it has been transformed from a US Naval Base on Cuban soil (against the wishes of the Cuban government, it must be said), to a global torture chamber and an interrogation center.
Opened under Bush/Cheney and maintained […]

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[col. writ. 5/23/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 Tornadoes – two miles wide.
 Whipping – whipping –ripping – breaking – lives, wood, brick, steel, hearts and families asunder.
 Buildings as big as malls, shredded like children’s toys.
Cars, trees, children – my God –children! – tossed through the air like leaves.
And while man didn’t create these primal, natural forces, modern, industrial life with its myriad of pollutants has made it […]

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[Col. writ. 5/18/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 It was with deep and profound shock and sorrow that I received the news of the tragic – one might say incomprehensible – death of Malcolm Malik Shabazz, the grandson of Black Nationalist leader and icon, Malcolm X.
Born Oct. 8, 1984, several decades after the assassination of his grandfather, Malcolm had the lean, angular beauty of his famed forebear, […]

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RAPE CULTURE
[col. writ. 5/9/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The events arising out of Cleveland, Ohio, are so shocking, so unexpected that they cause us to pause – and to question.
 How well do I know my neighbors?
How well do I know anyone?
We don’t, of course.  We see one’s comings and goings, but Americans don’t really like meddling or mingling much.
In earlier times, men said: ‘A man’s home […]

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[col. writ. 5/9/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The events arising out of Cleveland, Ohio, are so shocking, so unexpected that they cause us to pause – and to question.
How well do I know my neighbors?
How well do I know anyone?
We don’t, of course. We see one’s comings and goings, but Americans don’t really like meddling or mingling much.
In earlier times, men said: ‘A man’s home is […]

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[col. writ. 5/4/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 In the street, he was known as ‘Cat’ – a young man living in the hustling life.
That’s all he knew.
But Dec. 15, 1995 changed his life.
His life became one no longer in his control, for several months thereafter he and another man were charged with killing Tarajai Williams, in an alleyway next door to a bar in Harrisburg’s Hill […]

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[col. writ. 5/1/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 With a voice that seemed equal parts grit and sand, Richie Havens was an original. Although known to the industry (and DJs) as a folk singer, anyone who listened to him, both that magical voice and his frenetic guitar playing, know instantly that he was much, much more.
To most fans, his performance at the famous 1969 upstate New York […]

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Audio: Mumia_Abu-Jamal_MayDayBerlinPSA (mp3)
 

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[col. writ. 4/18/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The riveting documentary, “Central Park Five”, was an explosive example of what scholar Michelle Alexander has termed, “The New Jim Crow” (the title of her recent book), but, upon reflection, we find that it wasn’t so ‘new’, after all.
Five young Black and Latino boys, charged with raping a white woman, were sacrificed on the unholy altar of political expediency […]

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