Disaster at the Heart of Empire © 2020 by Mumia Abu-Jamal, 10/14/20 As Americans slink toward the elections, a sense of disquiet haunts the land. It's a feeling of heightened caution, the shadow of fear radiating from a proto-fascist government, one riddled with disease, the fruit not just of the coronavirus, but of unease, unwellness, a mind burdened by weight. This must be what fascism feels like: Deep, gnawing [...]
A LITTLE MATTER OF HISTORY {col. writ. 7/26/20 ©’20 Mumia Abu-Jamal When I was a young man (a boy really), I found barber shops to be fascinating places, for there, men gathered in an air of relaxed familiarity, and discussed things they didn’t do elsewhere. I heard tales of ancient African empires, of unknown roads of Black history, and often the name of the brilliant self-taught historian, J.A. Rogers. I’d [...]
CHILDREN OF THE CORN {col.writ.7/13/20} © 2020 by Mumia Abu-Jamal When we think of politicians, we too often see them as great, even mighty figures, seemingly larger than life. That’s because of how the media projects them - and far too often, protects them. But in times like these, times of plague, crises, massive failures of institutions, and yes, of death, we begin to see them differently. For some, the spell [...]
After One Hundred Thousand © 2020 by Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.prisonradio.org/media/audio/mumia/after-one-hundred-thousand-220-mumia-abu-jamal One asks, when the counter strikes 100,000, [what happens]? Nothing. One hundred thousand American dead. That means, for all intents and purposes, nothing much. But does the counter stop counting? Or does it continue rolling on, like the mighty Mississippi River? Is one hundred thousand an end, or just another number? And as summer begins to emerge, and people rush [...]
LOCKED UP AND LOCKED DOWN! (col. writ. 4/10/20) ©2020 by Mumia Abu-Jamal For nearly a month now, all prisoners in PA State prisons, over 40 thousand men and women, have been locked down. What does locked down mean? When I was on Death Row, all of us were locked down, as the saying went “23 & 1”: or for twenty-three hours a day, with one hour for out-of-cell exercise - [...]
Things Fall Apart © by Mumia Abu-Jamal March 27, 2020 The great African writer, Chinua Achebe, I believe, wrote a novel of the ravages of colonialism, which bore the title, "Things Fall Apart." He borrowed the title from the famed Irish poet, William Butler Yeats, who wrote: "Things fall apart. The center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." * We see, outside our doors, our windows, a world we [...]
Australia: The Fire This Time © by Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1/26/20 Australia, the fire this time. Tongues of fire licked the trees of New South Wales, a state in SouthEast Australia. Like a beggar at a feast, red flowers of flame jumped across the nation, eating all in its path. A living expression of what Aussies call, ‘Fire Season’. Honestly. ‘Fire Season’. This, the time of Australian summer is the hottest summer since [...]
WHEN IMPEACHMENT ISN’T ENOUGH by Mumia Abu-Jamal, 11/17/19 audio recorded by Noelle Hanrahan transcribed by Fatirah Aziz The Impeachment Hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives have begun, and with them, a step into history. Will Donald Trump be impeached? I think the answer will be ‘yes’, and by so doing Trump will join 2 of his predecessors - Presidents William Clinton and Andrew Johnson, for both men were impeached, [...]
When Trans Women Die By Mumia Abu-Jamal In recent weeks, we have seen naked violence unleashed against transwomen directed against them by the state in the form of police beatings and by rightist forces in this emerging fascist movement in America. What does this mean? Why now? I believe it comes now for specific strategic purposes, for transwomen stand on the periphery of the gay rights movement, not its nucleus. This means [...]
BIG PHARMA + BIG MONEY = NO BLAME [col. Writ. 9/15/19 (c)’19 Mumia Abu-Jamal In recent days, we’ve heard of proposed settlements in civil suits involving big pharmaceutical companies, the very sources of opioid products (like (c) OxyContin, for example), that has left tens of thousands of people gripped in the hold of addiction. Similarly, these products have led to tens of thousands of deaths, some 70,000 annually, according to some [...]
EYES: PASSING OF A HEALER [col. Writ. 6/7/19 (c) ’19 Mumia Abu-Jamal] The name, Dr. Patricia Bath, is perhaps unfamiliar to you, as it was to me just a few days ago; but a colleague shared obituaries from several newspapers, and I could only be moved by the extraordinary life and achievements of Dr. Bath. She earned her medical degree from Howard University Medical School, and began her internship in the [...]
MURDER INCORPORATED Book Two: America’s Favorite Pastime (Spoiler alert -- It’s WAR!) "empire\genocide\manifest destiny" by Mumia Abu-Jamal and Stephen Vittoria, foreword by S. Brian Willson, Afterword by David Swanson; Prison Radio, POB 411074 San Francisco CA, 2019, $20 ISBN: 978-0-9989600-6-7 Reviewed by Michael Novick, Anti-Racist Action-LA This second volume of a distinctly non-academic 3-book history of US imperialism by political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and film-maker Stephen Vittoria makes it clear that "endless [...]
