by: Tyneisha, Miya and Rhapsody ScintillaWednesday, 16 April 2008
Members of New York and Boston FIST
Mumia’s career as a journalist began when he was a teenager writing forthe Black Panther NewspaperThe following is a commentary from three members of the youth groupFight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) on the eve of the April 19march and rally in Philadelphia to demand the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
There is a man in the state of Pennsylvania who has a street in Francenamed after him. That man is Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist and ex-memberof the Black Panther Party, an organization classified as „terrorist“ bythe U.S. government. A former Black Panther, Mumia is now in his 26thyear on Pennsylvania’s death row.
Mumia is a hero to Black youth and all people seeking liberation. The“voice of the voiceless,“ he chronicles the legacies of people’sstruggles worldwide. One of the greatest threats to U.S. imperialism isthe uprising of „young Mumias“ from the streets of Philadelphia to thestreets of Paris.
At the age of 15, Mumia joined the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia,one of the most racist and repressive cities in the country. He becamethe lieutenant of information for the Philadelphia chapter and laterworked with the New York and Oakland chapters. Mumia performed a varietyof duties, ranging from selling the Black Panther newspaper to armedsecurity duty.
With his fellow Panthers, Mumia was a leader in the Black Liberationstruggle of the late 1960s and earlier 1970s, which was demanding theright of Black people to self-determination, self-defense and,ultimately, complete liberation.
Since his time in the BPP, Mumia has dedicated his life to the educationand liberation of Black people in the U.S. and across the world. He is ajournalist and was integral in calling media attention to the attacks ofthe Philadelphia Police Department on local Black Panthers and the MOVEorganization, including the 1985 bombing of the MOVE compound. In thatact of state terrorism, 11 Black people died, including four children.
Is this man not a hero? Is Mumia not a freedom fighter? Why are there noholidays for him and other leaders of the Black Liberation struggle? Didhe not dedicate his life to the liberation of the most oppressed?
In history the word „hero“ has been used to define a variety of people.The men considered to be the „founding fathers“ of the United States areoften referred to as heroes, but it is undisputed that these men wereactive in racist institutions, including slavery.
George Washington owned slaves and at one point had teeth removed fromthe mouths of slaves in order to have them implanted in his own jaw.Thomas Jefferson raped Sally Hemings, a teenage slave he owned, said tobe his wife’s half sister. In 1858 Abraham Lincoln, the man creditedwith emancipating Black people from slavery, stated the following:“While they [Black people and white people] do remain together theremust be a position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any otherman am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.“
These three men, along with many other wealthy white men in U.S.history, have been labeled heroes. Youth and students across the countryare taught daily that they are the type of people we should celebrate.Their histories of racism, sexism, capitalism and heterosexism arecovered up and the mass murder and displacement they are responsible foris called the establishment of the United States.
But those are the oppressor’s heroes. Who are ours? Who are the heroesof people of color, women, lesbian/bi/gay/trans/queer folks and theworking masses? One of them is definitely Mumia Abu-Jamal.
In 1981 Mumia was framed for the murder of Daniel Faulkner and sentencedto execution. The U.S. government, the Fraternal Order of Police and theracist mainstream media have waged a campaign against Mumia for 27years, portraying him as a terrorist and a murderer. But the people’sstruggle has kept him alive.
The negative portrayal of Mumia and the Black Liberation movement as awhole is an aspect of the overall war against Black people, specificallyBlack youth. Like the omission from the history books of the 1935 WileyCollege debate team, recently portrayed in the film „The GreatDebaters,“ the criminalization of Mumia is a deliberate attempt to erasethe contributions of Blacks in the United States.
Combined with disproportionate military recruitment and incarceration,as well as the blatant murders of Black youth by the state, theeradication of Black Liberation history is a strategic tool in theoppression of Black people. Cases like the Jena 6, the Jersey 4, thestate murders of Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo, as well as the case ofJohn White, are all a part of the attack on Black people and our basichuman right to self-defense. One must ask: Why is it that when people ofcolor are forced to defend ourselves, it is considered by the state tobe an unheroic, criminal act?
The Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 1970s and Mumia Abu-Jamal areour heroes and revolutionaries. They are the leaders of our nationalliberation. We as youth, especially Black youth, see the BPP as proof ofBlack agency in history, in opposition to the education we receive thatportrays Black people as a historically passive people.
Though many of us can name Mumia as our hero, there are far too many ofus who have no idea who he is and what he has contributed to humanhistory. It is a product of the state’s attempted eradication of allliberation movements fighting against U.S. imperialism, specificallythose led by people of color.
In the words of Mumia: „I’m fighting every day, not just for my freedom,not just for my liberation, but for all of our liberation. UnabashedlyI’ll fight for revolution because I think revolution is our onlysolution. I’m not shy about using that word.“
Mumia: father, grandfather, journalist, freedom fighter, visionary,revolutionary. Mumia is not just a hero but a flame-sparker, and we arethe Inheritors of the Fire.
© 2008 Workers World. This story was originally published April 16,2008, by Workers World, 55 W. 17th St., New York NY 10011,
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