Mumia Abu Jamal

RAPE CULTURE
[col. writ. 5/9/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The events arising out of Cleveland, Ohio, are so shocking, so unexpected that they cause us to pause – and to question.
 How well do I know my neighbors?
How well do I know anyone?
We don’t, of course.  We see one’s comings and goings, but Americans don’t really like meddling or mingling much.
In earlier times, men said: ‘A man’s home […]

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[col. writ. 5/9/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The events arising out of Cleveland, Ohio, are so shocking, so unexpected that they cause us to pause – and to question.
How well do I know my neighbors?
How well do I know anyone?
We don’t, of course. We see one’s comings and goings, but Americans don’t really like meddling or mingling much.
In earlier times, men said: ‘A man’s home is […]

Weiterlesen...

[col. writ. 5/4/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 In the street, he was known as ‘Cat’ – a young man living in the hustling life.
That’s all he knew.
But Dec. 15, 1995 changed his life.
His life became one no longer in his control, for several months thereafter he and another man were charged with killing Tarajai Williams, in an alleyway next door to a bar in Harrisburg’s Hill […]

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[col. writ. 5/1/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 With a voice that seemed equal parts grit and sand, Richie Havens was an original. Although known to the industry (and DJs) as a folk singer, anyone who listened to him, both that magical voice and his frenetic guitar playing, know instantly that he was much, much more.
To most fans, his performance at the famous 1969 upstate New York […]

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Audio: Mumia_Abu-Jamal_MayDayBerlinPSA (mp3)
 

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[col. writ. 4/18/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The riveting documentary, “Central Park Five”, was an explosive example of what scholar Michelle Alexander has termed, “The New Jim Crow” (the title of her recent book), but, upon reflection, we find that it wasn’t so ‘new’, after all.
Five young Black and Latino boys, charged with raping a white woman, were sacrificed on the unholy altar of political expediency […]

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[col. writ. 4/18/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 The incipient, yet growing protests at Philadelphia’s Temple University around the governance of its highly-prized African Studies Dept. is not about academic freedom, nor about departmental regulations and proper protocol, although it has been couched in such terms.
It’s about something far more fundamental.
It’s about power.
The power of institutions and the power of memory.
In many ways, Temple’s African Studies department […]

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[col. writ. 4/15/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 When we speak of ‘freedom of the press’, one of the promises of the Constitution’s 1st Amendment, we usually do so with an air of self-praise and self-applause.
Alexis de Tocqueville, one of the greatest observers of America, saw this feature of this nation, and criticized it in his classic 1835 work, Democracy in America.
But the Constitution speaks to the […]

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[col. writ. 4/14/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
 Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not big on my birthday.
Many years, I forget it entirely.
So, don’t expect a big birthday speech.
But, every so often, I think of a birthday that is hard to forget.
It’s April 24th, 1996, when the President of the United States signed into law an act known as the AEDPA (or Anti-terrorism Effective Death […]

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[col. writ. 4/12/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal
  The North Korean military announce a series of missile tests, implicitly suggesting some will (may) be nuclear.
The U.S. press dusts of its red banner headlines and reporters pose as armchair psychiatrists who dutifully diagnose North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong-Un, as crazy.
Sound familiar?
Over a decade ago, the same forces deemed Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, a clever and able politician, […]

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