Life After Death Row

© 2026 by Mumia Abu-Jamal I always look to the ancestors, the old ones who came before us, who lived in these bodies before we were born; those who not only look like us, who walk like us, who talk like us, who dream like us, who feel like us, who weep like us; those who came before, those who suffered that which is today almost incomprehensible. Those are the people I [...]

Nichelle Nichols

by Mumia Abu-Jamal   A sideline about the late, great Nichelle Nichols, who played the original, the first, and the fantastic Lieutenant Uhura of the Starship Enterprise of the original Star Trek. I saw her being interviewed once, and she remarked that she wanted to leave the show; and try out what really moved her. Which is, her dancing. So she wanted to leave. And guess who communicated with her. And I [...]

The Most Important Thing You Can Share is History

© 7/2026 by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/commentary/message-to-galaxy-fellows/ The most important thing you can share -- the North Star you refer to -- is History.  Real history teaches why today is the way it is, today. Malcolm X used to say, History, of all our studies, best rewards our research. When he learned about history, it transformed him. The history of Black people in America opened his head and expanded his mind. It remade [...]

Idiocracy and the Great Grift

© by Mumia Abu-Jamal 06/2026 There's a movie that I saw a few years ago, and it's funny, but it's not funny. And it's very, very funny in the sense of, it will make you laugh. It might make you have a belly-laugh. But when you sit back and think about what it's showing you, your laughter will stop. It's called "Idiocracy." And it's about the rule of really stupid rulers, and [...]

The War Before the War

© by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/commentary/the-war-before-the-war/ As bombs explode and wreak havoc across the Middle East, one wonders, What will come of this? This question arises because of events that happened over 70 years ago. 1953, to be exact, when spies from the CIA and British intelligence hatched a plan to remove Iran's democratically elected leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh, removed from power because he supported the nationalization of his country's vast oil reserves. The [...]

Normalizing Troops in US Streets

© by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/commentary/normalizing-troops-in-u-s-streets/ People always criticize the Congress, at least the Republicans in Congress for being too supine, and too prostrative when it comes to the president. Well, I don't think it's fair to charge just one branch of the government. We live in a country where the Supreme Court, which is the highest judicial power in the US, essentially gave unlimited power and immunity to the president on the [...]

Into the Buzz-saw

© 2026 by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/commentaries/ [In commercial journalism], you either serve the Emperor or you serve the Empire, but you serve power. And if you don't, you get tossed. Think about this -- Into the Buzzsaw, that was one of the best books I ever read about journalism, because it was real cases of real journalists all across the nation, who found out stuff and tried to report it, and collided [...]

That Which Is To Come

© Dec. 26, 2025 by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/commentary/that-which-is-to-come/ It is foolish for us to predict what is to come. For life is full of variables, and none can see the whole. But sometimes, some things, are so clear that they impress themselves upon the mind, and leave a mark that cannot be undone. This seems to be such a time. The turning gears of this machine are not just the ruinous effects [...]

Open The Eyes of Many

©08/2025 by Mumia Abu-Jamal (Spanish translation below) When we shine that bright light, we will symbolically, literally and figuratively, open the eyes of many. And there are guys walking around right now who have glaucoma, who have eye damage, who have lens damage, who have retinal damage due to diabetes, and all of that can be treated, can be cured, or at least held at bay for a pittance. You know, laser [...]

The Death of Pensions

©July 2025 by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/commentary/the-death-of-pensions/ With the judicial seal of approval of the United Airlines plan to ditch its pensions, comes another battle in the long war of capital against labor. By this attack on those who have spent their lives making the fortunes of United, the business community opens yet another front in their rapacious war to gain more and more profits. Now, thousands of disenfranchised workers must turn to [...]

THE IDA B. WELLS MEDIA DEFENSE COALITION

An invitation to join. . . THE IDA B. WELLS MEDIA DEFENSE COALITION As an ad hoc group of Pacifica program producers and other community media advocates, we have been meeting via Zoom for several months to talk through current events and take meaningful collective action against the destructive forces around us. The Trump Administration has targeted media platforms where liberal and progressive voices share information (newspapers, radio, television, college, and the [...]

PDF of May 2025 issue – Vol 31 #11

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