Dear RN list, Dec. 11
Here is a compilation of 4 recent messages with more information about Mumia
Abu-Jamal and the struggle to free him.
all the best, Jan
For those of you sending seasons greetings, here is Mumia Abu-Jamal's
address: AM 8335, SCI Green, 1030 E. Roy Furman, Waynesboro, PA 15370 USA
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From: •••@••.•••
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 14:16:58 EST
Subject: Fwd: !*MOBILIZE! (11/28/98) Call to Action/Updates for MUMIA
CONTACT:
Pam Africa - (215) 476-8812
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 19709
Philadelphia, PA 19143
<snip>
From: Kiilu Nyasha <•••@••.•••>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 23:44:03 -0800
-----------------------------------------
FREE MUMIA
AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
Stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Abolish the death penalty!
End police brutality!
RALLY * MARCH * RALLY
SAT. DEC. 12
NOON - 2 pm: 14th & Broadway
MARCH TO MOSSWOOD PARK
3 p.m. - 5:00 pm: MacArthur & Webster
WHO IS MUMIA?
Award-winning broadcast/print journalist -- "voice of the voiceless;"
Co-founder & Minister of Information of the Black Panther Party's
Phila. Chapter at 15; staunch opponent of racism, police brutality,
and murder; MOVE supporter; outspoken champion of justice &
human rights; author of Live from Death Row and Death Blossoms
plus numerous columns and commentaries; an innocent
husband, father, grandfather on death row for 18 years.
WHY IS MUMIA ON DEATH ROW? WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
Racism, injustice, police misconduct, incompetent public
defense, and judicial bias rendered an unfair trial in 1982
and a false conviction of murdering a cop during a 1981
incident of police brutality when Mumia himself was critically
wounded. The Phila. police have a long, notorious history of
brutality and corruption. Mumia earned their enmity from the
time he first began speaking truth to power. Hundreds of FBI
documents prove he was targeted for elimination despite having
no criminal record prior to this frame-up. Seventy-five death-row
prisoners have been released upon proof of their innocence on
appeal. If we allow the State to murder another freedom
fighter in our name, what will stop them from killing your sisters,
brothers, sons or daughters? Mumia has been there for us since
he was a teenager. It's time for us to be there for him. Join the
fight to save Mumia's life now!
SPONSORS: Youth of Color Task Force, Black Radical Congress,
Refuse & Resist!
for more information call: 510-595-4619 or 510-652-6263
=======================>
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 13:05:48 -0800
From: •••@••.••• (Ester Parker)
Subject: Please Pass On To Every You Know
On October 29, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against Mumia
Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new trial. Governor Ridge, who signed the death
warrant in 1995, is likely to do so again any day now. This would schedule
Mumia's execution within 30 days. Mumia's lawyers are appealing his case
to the federal courts but the reactionary 1996 Effective Death Penalty Act has
severely restricted this process. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! ACT NOW!!!
Call, write, fax or e-mail the Pennsylvania governor to demand a new and fair
trial for Mumia and no death warrant.
Tom Ridge
Main Capital Building
Room 225
Harrisburg, PA 17120
e-mail: •••@••.•••
phone: 717-787-2500
Fax: 717-772-8284
==========================>
MUMIA SPEAKS: From a 9/4/95 prison kkkamp visit:
"People say they don't care about politics; they're not
involved or don't want to get involved, but they are. Their
involvement just masquerades as indifference or inattention.
It is the silent acquiescence of the millions that supports the
system. When you don't oppose a system, your silence
becomes approval, for it does nothing to interrrupt the system.
"People use all sorts of excuses for their indifference.
They even appeal to God as a shorthand route for supporting the
status quo. They talk about law and order. But look at the system,
look at the present social `order' of society. Do you see God?
Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and
instead of law there is only the illusion of security. It is an illusion
because it is built (in the US, for example) on a long history
of injustices: racism, criminality, the genocide of millions of
native Americans and the enslavement of millions of blacks."
As for the mainstream news reports, "What is objective journalism?
Many journalists are not reporters at all, but professional opinion-
makers whose job it is to form your and my opinions. 'Power' seems
to be money, prestige, $300 suits, a new car.... "But does anyone
ask what it really is? It is love, truth, sanity, nature, commitment, unity."
"People forget that we don't need the system, or the accessories
we think are essential for living. We need only the things God
gave us: love, family, nature...We must transform the idea so that
the system is transformed. That's the challenge. It's do-able, but
only if we ourselves do it...."
<snip>
===============================>
Check www.mumia.org for continuous updates!
"When you're committed to doing that which is right, the power
of righteousness will never betray you."
- JOHN AFRICA, MOVE Org. Founder and Coordinator
FREE MUMIA AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS AND EXILES!
*****************************************************************************
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 23:12:20 EST
From: Refuse & Resist <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Hear Mumia's Voice!
Please Forward:
Just released - brand new compact disc of essays written and read by Mumia....
"All Things Censored, Volume I"
What will happen if Mumia’s voice is heard by millions of people? The
answer is obvious. The people who hear Mumia will be moved to consider his
case, and the use of the death penalty. And as the entire history of the
criminal justice system shows, it is very hard to execute someone whose
humanity shines out.
Featured on "All Things Censored" CD (and LP), are 16 of Mumia’s essays
introduced by Dorothy Allison, Cornell West, Ronald Hampton, Sister Helen
Prejean, Howard Zinn, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Alice Walker, William Kunstler,
Ramona Africa, Juan Gonzalez, Martin Sheen, Robert Meeropol, Assata Shakur,
Manning Marable, Judi Bari, and John Edgar Wideman.
That is why Mumia's voice is important. Reflective, humorous, anecdotal,
and focused, it is the voice of a professional journalist and gifted
storyteller. That voice can penetrate even concrete, bend the power of law
towards justice, and melt institutional cowardice.
Play the voice!
"All Things Censored, produced by Noelle Hanrahan / Prison Radio / Quixote,
is a powerful and positive work of art that I fully support."
-Mumia Abu-Jamal, December, 1998
TO ORDER:
To order, send $15.00 (includes shipping and handling) to:
Prison Radio / Quixote
P.O. Box 411074
San Francisco, CA 94141
•••@••.•••
415-648-4505
415-647-5949 fax
Wholesale price for orders over 10 copies: $6.50 per unit.
Please also specify CD or LP.
To order by credit card, please provide the type of card (Visa/Mastercard),
the card number, expiration date, and name on the card.
-----------------------
Background Information on "All Things Censored, Volume I"
". . . the broadcasting of truth to a certain extent redeems the suffering
of the former victims. At least to a degree, it answers and honors the
scream after all, it upends the torturer’s boastful claim that no one will
ever know." —Lawrence Wechsler, A Miracle, A Universe
Every day, in municipal, state, federal, and corporation-administered
prisons, inmates are beaten, abused, tortured, even killed. Yet rarely does
anyone on the outside find out, because in state after state, authorities
are denying the rights of prisoners to speak out or be interviewed by those
beyond the walls.
In the context of this concerted gagging of the prison population, the
decision by National Public Radio to silence the voice of Mumia
Abu-Jamal—not only canceling its agreement to broadcast a series of his
commentaries but literally locking the tapes in a safe so that no one will
ever hear them—was not a trivial matter. That a media institution such as
NPR would act forcefully to block the broadcasting of an articulate voice
>from within prison sends a signal to the world at large. It means that the
mainstream media is willing to accept the continuing actions by the prison
system to block contact between prisoners and the press.
If prisoners can’t communicate with the press, how will information on
prison abuses reach the outside world? The answer is that it won’t, except
in rare instances such as at Corcoran Prison in California, where two
courageous guards dared to report that other guards were staging and
videotaping lethal gladiator-style fights between prison inmates; or at
Brazoria County prison in Texas, where a videotape made by the prison
itself for "training" purposes came to light that showed guards beating
prisoners and letting dogs bite prisoners.
Had Mumia’s commentaries been mediocre, had the message been worn or vile,
NPR might have just gone ahead and played them. It was their sheer power of
expression that made them—quite simply—dangerous.
By the time he was arrested at age 27, Mumia was already a seasoned
broadcast journalist. Having begun his journalism work at the age of 14 as
lieutenant minister of information for the Philadelphia chapter of the
Black Panther Party, he then worked for the Party newspaper in Oakland,
California, in the summer of his sixteenth year. After returning to
Philadelphia, he worked for National Public Radio (including "All Things
Considered"), Mutual Black Network, National Black Network, public radio
station WUHY (now WHYY), and other outlets. Eventually he became president
of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journalists.
After the recordings for "All Things Considered" were made, NPR staff
producer Laura Westly described Mumia as "one of the best three
commentators we have ever recorded." Mumia’s essays provided an unblinking
view from within the rapidly expanding world of prison, exposing in vivid
detail the overt brutality and subtle degradation committed inside the
walls. In addition, he wrote political commentary and painted intimate
verbal portraits of North Philly life—especially the experiences of his
parents and others of their generation who had joined the great migration
of African Americans from the Jim Crow South.
Reading Mumia’s words is one thing, hearing him speak is something else.
This is the sort of voice that rises at rare moments in America: not only a
writer with a fresh perspective on America, but a spoken eloquence that
connects with hearts as well as minds.
The details of how pressure was applied to NPR to cancel the series, and
how the decision to bend to that pressure was made within NPR, have never
been fully reported. On May 16, 1994, the day after the series was
canceled, then Majority Leader Bob Dole rose on the floor of the Senate to
expressed his approval of the cancellation. Dole noted that "this episode
raises questions not only for NPR but for the taxpayer funded Corporation
for Public Broadcasting which has oversight authority over NPR and provides
much of its funding." Urging tighter supervision of NPR, he asked, "How can
be we make certain that similar mistakes will be averted in the future?"
In response to NPR’s cancellation, Mumia and the Prison Radio Project filed
suit, noting that while Supreme Court decisions had allowed some
restrictions on free speech in prisons if mandated by vital security
considerations, the Court also insisted in Procurnier v. Martinez that
"reasonable and effective means of communication remain open, and no
discrimination in terms of content be involved."
Since NPR’s cancellation of Mumia’s commentaries, the circle of censorship
has continued to widen. In 1997 acclaimed poet Martin Espada, winner of the
American Book Award for Imagine the Angels of Bread, was commissioned by
NPR to write a poem responding to a news event in a particular city he
visited during National Poetry Month. Espada responded with a poem from
Philadelphia about Mumia’s case entitled "Another Nameless Prostitute Says
the Man Is Innocent." Immediately, Espada’s poetry was canceled. NPR’s
Diantha Parker, who had commissioned the poem, complained, "He should have
known better."
Espada mused, "I wonder what poems I must write to be allowed on the radio
again."
With the commentaries for "All Things Considered" buried in NPR’s vaults,
the Prison Radio Project hurried to record what may be the very last
recordings of Mumia’s essays before the Pennsylvania Department of
>Corrections completely banned all prison interviews in late 1996.
This CD contains a variety of essays recorded by Mumia from August 1993 to
October 1996. Topics range from personal anecdote ("Mother Loss") to
historical recounting ("True African American History"), from cultural
commentary ("A Rap Thing") to legal analysis ("When Ineffective Means
Effective"), from philosophical musing ("De Profundis") to political
critique ("War on the Poor"). They reveal an encyclopedic mind ranging
across a vast landscape of sources, including scholarly material, popular
culture, the minute details of prison life, and memories of people and
events many years in the past.
With the shutting off of Mumia’s spoken voice by the mainstream media and
by the prison system, the Prison Radio Project has embarked on an effort to
enlist prominent individuals to read his essays. These recordings are now
being played on a regular basis on Pacifica Network’s "Democracy Now." On
the "All Things Censored" CD, Mumia’s essays are introduced by Dorothy
Allison, Cornell West, Ronald Hampton, Sister Helen Prejean, Howard Zinn,
Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Alice Walker, William Kunstler, Ramona Africa, Juan
Gonzalez, Martin Sheen, Robert Meeropol, Assata Shakur, Manning Marable,
Judi Bari, and John Edgar Wideman.
What will happen if Mumia’s voice is heard by millions of people? The
answer is obvious. The people who hear Mumia will be moved to consider his
case, and the use of the death penalty. And as the entire history of the
criminal justice system shows, it is very hard to execute someone whose
humanity shines out.
That is why Mumia’s voice is important. Reflective, humorous, anecdotal,
and focused, it is the voice of a professional journalist and gifted
storyteller. That voice can penetrate even concrete, bend the power of law
towards justice, and melt institutional cowardice.
Play the voice!
_________________________________
Refuse & Resist! - 305 Madison Avenue #1166 - New York, NY 10165
voice: 212-713-5657 - email: •••@••.••• - http://www.calyx.com/~refuse
for subscribe/unsubscribe info about rnr_announce, send the email message
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**********************************************************************
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 12:03:28 -0800
From: Chuck0 <•••@••.•••>
Organization: Mid-Atlantic Infoshop
To: "•••@••.•••"
<•••@••.•••>,
•••@••.•••
Subject: AAC: Man of the Year
Please go to this page and vote Mumia Abu-Jamal as "Man of the Year"
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/moy/index.html
Please spell it exactly like this: Mumia Abu-Jamal
Please pass this along to friends
***********************************************************************
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 10:59:12 -0500
From: "PNellen,_HH+D'df/GER_" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Notification From Chumbawamba: A Special UK ...
--------------- Forwarded Story ---------------
Headline: Notification From Chumbawamba: A Special UK ...
Wire Service: BW (Business Wire)
Date: 08. Dez 1998
Notification From Chumbawamba: A Special UK Acoustic Evening to Raise
Awareness for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Entertainment Editors, Music Writers
NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Dec. 8, 1998--
On the 12 December 1998, at London's Mean Fiddler Chumbawamba
will take part in a special evening in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
According to Chumbawamba:
Award-winning journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal
was convicted in 1982 of killing a white Philadelphia police
officer. Despite witnesses saying that he didn't shoot the
officer, and no forensic evidence offered and prosecution
witnesses admitting they lied at his trial due to police
intimidation, Mumia has had his appeal for another trial turned
down. The Pennsylvania governor is set to sign Mumia's death
warrant imminently and the execution will take place between 30
and 90 days after signing. The police have put massive political
pressure on the US state to execute Mumia (including their
placement of a full page ad in The New York Times demanding his
death). At his trial, the prosecution demanded the death penalty
because Mumia's previous membership of the Black Panther Party
proved his political leanings. The case against Mumia Abu-Jamal
is politically motivated and unless there's an international
outcry, the US state of Pennsylvania will execute him for a crime
he didn't commit.
In the US, many artists (including Jesse Jackson, Alice Walker, Noam
Chomsky, The Fugees, Rage Against The Machine and Chuck D) have campaigned
against Mumia's execution. In the UK, many artists are voicing opposition
to this "miscarriage of justice." Chumbawamba have invited British
performers to take part in a special evening in support of Mumia and those
who have agreed to perform on his behalf are listed below:
Chumbawamba (with Mattie from Credit To The Nation) The Mekons The Alabama
Three (called A3 in the US) The Mighty Wahl The Oyster Band Matthew and
Andy (from the late lamented Dodgy) Benjamin Zephaniah Cookie The Men
They Couldn't Hang Ben Wilson Rob Newman Mark Thomas
According to Chumbawamba, the evening is to raise awareness in the UK
about Mumia's case and encourage protest and opposition to this
"miscarriage of justice."
The ticket price is (pound) 5 and all proceeds are going to the Mumia
Abu-Jamal Defense Fund. The idea behind the evening is to raise awareness
about Mumia and encourage protest on his behalf.
Note to Editors: For more background information regarding Mumia
Abu-Jamal, please contact Julie Jackson, 212/590-2155.
--30--jc/ny
CONTACT: Chumbawamba press contact:
Ellen Zoe Golden/EZG Media-Marketing
212-590-2155
or
Mumia Abu-Jamal press contact:
Pam Afrika
215-476-8812
KEYWORD: NEW YORK
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENTERTAINMENT
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