“Before this generation goes on to its ancestors, we should, we must, do our level best to pass on our lessons, so that they live in our people’s minds and lives.” – Mumia Abu Jamal
December 9, 2024 marks the 43d anniversary of the unjust incarceration of prolific journalist and African American revolutionary, Mumia Abu Jamal.
We start with a clip from “Manufacturing Guilt, A Short Film About Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Case,” produced in 2013 by Stephen Vittoria and Noelle Hanrahan for Street Legal Cinema and Prison Radio. The film summarizes just a few of the injustices committed against Mumia during his murder trial.
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Next, we have a legal update on Mumia’s case, recorded for WBAI’s Out-FM radio show by Dr. Johanna Fernandez, co-founder of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home. We thank Bob Lederer of WBAI’s Out-FM for sharing this recording.
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Next, Block Report‘s JR Valrey spoke to Jamal Ibn Mumia, the son of political prisoner and prolific journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal, about his father being held captive for 43 years. They discussed the effect his father’s political incarceration had on his life which found him locked up for 15 years himself. They also talked about Pennyslavania’s “Mumia Rule”, and how the government uses it legally against other inmates in the state.
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Attorney Nkechi Taifa, veteran host and producer of WPFW’s Human Rights and Justice, spoke to Dr. Todd Stephen Burroughs, editor of “The Trials of Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Biography in 25 Voices” about an exhibit at Brown University titled, “Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Portrait of Mass Incarceration,” which includes a vast set of Mumia’s records, writings and artwork.
Visit this Brown University website for more information.
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Bob Lederer of Out-FM at WBAI in New York brings us part of the interview recently granted by Mumia Abu-Jamal, the first time he has publicly addressed LGBTQ issues at length. He explained his decades-long evolution from a 16-year-old Black Panther using homophobic language in the 1970s to a queer/trans ally today. Abu-Jamal praised the 1970 statement by Black Panther Party (BPP) leader Huey Newton, just a year after Stonewall and pressure from queer liberationists, giving groundbreaking public support to the then-strong movements for women’s and gay liberation. Abu-Jamal told Lederer: When you think about what Huey said…about gay folks and lesbian and queer folks, I must be honest with you, it was not well received by members of the party….But as usual, this was Huey at his finest.
He also labeled the women who were two-thirds of BPP members as “the glory of the Party, the hardest workers, the most disciplined.”
Abu-Jamal explained how his thinking on queer issues has evolved since 1991, when he thanked Queers United in Support of Political Prisoners (QUISP) for planning a lesbian/gay forum in New York to support him, while noting his belief that “Heterosexual Hookups [are] natural and inherently right.” His exchange of letters with QUISP started a long-term dialogue with LGBTQ activists nationwide that played a role in his later change of views.
Visit prisonradio.org to learn more about Mumia Abu Jamal, and other political prisoners in the U.S.
Mumia’s case is plagued with illegal interference by the government, and we must do all we can to return him to his family and community.
You can write and call officials of the Pennsylvania prison system, demanding that Mumia – who had open-heart surgery three years ago – be given his prescribed diet and exercise, as should all prisoners.
You can also demand that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro grant clemency to 70-year-old Mumia and all elderly prisoners in the state.
For more details, visit bringmumiahome.com and freemumia.com.
Free Mumia! Free Imam Jamil Al-Amin! Free Kamau Sadiki! Hands Off Assata! Free’Em All!
On Monday, December 16, the Uhuru 3 – 83-year-old Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel – will go before Judge William Jung in Federal Court in Tampa for sentencing.
The government wants to put them in prison for 5 years and fine them $250,000 on a conspiracy conviction resulting from their exercise of their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and association.
The government charged that the group’s opposition to U.S. funding of war in Ukraine, petitioning the UN to stop U.S. genocide of African people, and running local candidates on a reparations platform, was expressed under the direction and control of Russia.
On September 12th, a federal jury in Tampa found the Uhuru 3 Not Guilty verdict on the foundational charge of “working as an unregistered agent of the Russian Government”.
In a contradictory verdict, the jury returned a Guilty verdict on the lesser charge of “conspiring to work as an unregistered agent of the Russian government.”
Over 1600 character letters have been submitted to the judge asking for not one day in prison.
Supporters are mobilizing to pack the court on for the sentencing on December 16th, joining WBAI host Betty Davis, former New York City Councilman and New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee veteran Efia Nwangaza, Mark Friedman from Hands Off Cuba, professors from the University of South Florida, Indigenous rights activist Ward Churchill, anti-colonial lawyer Natsu Saito, Pam Africa of the Free Mumia campaign, organizers with the Free Leonard Peltier committee and others traveling from around the U.S..
More information at Handsoffuhuru.org
We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Bob Lederer, Attorney Nkechi Taifa, JR Valrey, Polina Vasiliev, and the host, Akua Holt. Special thanks to Noelle Hanrahan, director of Prison Radio, a multimedia production studio that brings the voices of incarcerated women, men and children to the world outside.
You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening!
