Mumia Abu-Jamal Mixtape

Speaker 1: My name is Mumia Abu-Jamal. I'm on death row in Pennsylvania. I'm ex-president of the Association of Black Journalists of Philadelphia. I'm still a continuing revolutionary journalist. I write for anybody who wants me to write for them. And I'm fighting my conviction, fighting the sentence, fighting for my life, and fighting to create revolution in America. Thank you. A state Supreme Court justice has granted Mumia Abu-Jamal's attorneys an 8-day delay on a hearing that was originally set for today on their motion to stay his August execution. One of Abu-Jamal's attorneys, Rachel Wolfenstein, was asked just how he is taking all this so far. He's holding up very well. He's holding up very well. He's a fighter, as everyone knows. In the meantime, the national— Joey Gray— or, he summed it up. Put up or shut up. No evidence, no witnesses, no anything. This is more delay. As was pointed out adequately, they've had 16 years to deliver this. They wait till the warrant was signed. There's nothing here. Free Mumia! Free Mumia! Free Mumia now! Free Mumia! Free Mumia! Free Mumia now! And what he's doing is exposing the filth and corruption in this system, because what people got to understand, what's being pointed out here, what's happening to Mumia right now happens to millions of people across the United States. And, you know, this is no isolated case, but this is the case that shows what's happening to everybody. Free Mumia! Free Mumia! Free Mumia now! I am saying that there is now unfolding concrete evidence of knowledge beyond what should be the norms, what is supposed to be the norms of a separation between the District Attorney's Office and the Department of Corrections. Just as if, for instance— Just as if, for instance, it was from the office of Representative McGeehan and the FOP that have gone against Mumia Abu-Jamal for having the audacity of printing a series of commentaries about what life in prison is like, about the horrors of death row and the inequities of our judicial system. They went on a concerted campaign. Action was taken against Mr. Jamal. In order to stop that, to silence him, and to try and rush him to execution. Save our lives! Think about it. Tom Ridge will make the changes we need. Life means life. Try violent juveniles as adults. Change rape and domestic violence laws. End signed death warrants. Tom Ridge, governor. You'll see which one of us has been the prosecutor. You'll see which one of us has supported the death penalty. Every prosecution is a public and symbolic act, a political act by the state to show the populace the illusion of control. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Momia, he's needed, because we did a lot of things. We started the Black Student Union. We were the founder at Ben Franklin. We were the one that— we were the spearhead in Philly. Our group was able to— our school had never had any black administrators. And in about a year and a half, we were able to get a black principal, black vice principal, black athletic director, a black DJ. And we also tried to change the name of the school to Malcolm X High School. You might have heard of that. But that was our movement. This agitation's been going on for weeks. And something should. I'm not critical of the school board. I'm sure they have a difficult job, like we police, and I'm sure that they're doing their best, and I'm sure that they're going to try to correct it. But let's just talk about Palmer and Mathis. For weeks they've been in the areas of schools inciting kids, Black Power this, Black Power is beautiful. What did the school board do about it? They should do something about it. And I'm hoping they do. But I'll say this for the record: the Philadelphia police are going to do their job. That I promise. Commissioner Rizzo, without consulting us and without our request, saw fit to. Suddenly, uh, turn loose a couple of hundred policemen swinging clubs and beating these children, uh, and, uh, I just don't think that's the way to handle it. What about 1967 and the school board demonstration? Yes, uh— Was Mumia involved with that? Uh, yes. He went down there with those 2,000 students? Yes, yes. He was in that? Yes. Benjamin Franklin, again, our Black Student Union, was the most active of all. They left from our school and came back with the blood and the patches on their head. They ran back to our school. I must say that there was a particular incident which spoke very loud and very clearly to the black community. It was when our students, whom we have been trying to work through due process, attempted to meet at the Board of Education to address that board with some of its grievances, that something happened which was catastrophic. The commissioner ordered his policemen to break it up. And that day, what happened to our young people was something which Philadelphia will always remember. I was there. Let's give Attorney Wineglass a big hand, and all of the other members, all of the other members, all of the other members of the defense team. We are not asking Judge Seibert to release Mumia. We are not asking the governor to pardon Mumia. We are asking for a trial, a fair trial. And if we get that, then there is no question, no question in my mind, that Mumia will be, as he should have been in 1982, acquitted of these charges. Yes! Yes! Yes! The police control the witnesses. The police control the evidence. The law requires them to do it honestly and fairly, and it wasn't done in this case, and it's not done in many cases. And the police department of the city of Philadelphia in 1979 became the first police department in the history of the United States to be sued by the federal government because the police department was out of control. That was the finding by the Justice Department in Washington. When it brought a suit to enjoin this entire police department, the first time in the history of the United States, in 1979, 2 years before Mumia's trial. So you have to look at this case in the context of this police department, in this city, at that time, Rizzo's Philadelphia. As a youth in the '60s, I was impressed by the Black Power movement that was sweeping Black America and the Black world, in Africa and the Caribbean. So, I remember me and a friend of mine, A brother named Eddie Jones and a few other brothers, about 4 or 5 brothers from North Philly, went to a demonstration in South Philadelphia. It's at the Philadelphia Spectrum, which is a big sporting arena. This was 1968, and it was the presidential nomination of George Corley Wallace III. I think that's his name. Oh, wow. But he was running for president on the American Independent Party. In retrospect, it's kind of crazy to think that we would go down to a demonstration in South Philadelphia, which is, like, predominantly white, and protest against George Wallace coming to Philadelphia. But at that time, You know, we believed that it was our city, as well. So we did it. And every one of us got our asses kicked by plainclothes policemen. You've probably heard the tale, I'll beat you so bad your own mama won't know you. Well, it has a particular relevance to me, because as I was laying in the hospital, charged with assault and aggravated assault and beating of a police officer, How old were you? My own mother walked by me, looked me dead in the eyes and kept walking, because she couldn't recognize me. I was beaten unrecognizable. I was in my mid-teens at that time. From that period, from those experiences, from me having to go through the hell of that and seeing the complete lack of power of people, So because there was not a functioning, active Black Panther Party at that time, we founded one and built one in Philadelphia. I was the lieutenant of information. My career as a journalist began with the Black Panther newspaper in Philadelphia, New York, the Ministry of Information, and on the Black Panther newspaper in Cuba. I was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Berkeley, California. There is where I learned how to write, learned how to write from a revolutionary perspective, perhaps. What was your first book? Because of the violent actions of the leadership of the New Left, FBI officials concluded that some additional effort must be made to neutralize and disrupt this revolutionary movement. The COINTELPRO program was a terroristic program. Its function was to terrorize radicals, revolutionaries, opponents of government programs and to stigmatize and isolate them from the general population. They sent letters, smut letters, from husbands to wives, you know. They sent letters to employers, you know, stigmatizing people. They sent letters from one radical organization to another radical organization to try to incite violence between those 2 organizations. There were letters going between the organizations that were not authored by Panthers. They were authored by FBI agents in some dark office in California to incite hatred and division between radical groups. First of all, I think that the people who are saying this are paranoid. You know, who is concerned with being shadowed or followed or wiretapped? Publicly, I give anyone permission to follow me, to tap my phones. So what are we hiding when we have this obsession that we're being followed? I think something's wrong with an individual that thinks this way. But running over people? No way. I just think that when you're involved in the game of politics, that you have friends and you have enemies, and survival of the fittest. I'm a Democrat. Now, let's talk about the rave. We police, we obey the law. We go to a judge to get a search and seizure warrant, or warrants. Now we go to their locations. We announce that we are police, loudspeakers, etc. We knock. They don't open the door. They open fire on us, and 3 of my men are wounded, none of them injured. We had many an opportunity to kill them, but my police don't kill people in cold blood. We leave it to the courts. I'm sorry. The warrant was signed on June 1st, and we were told to come to court on July 24th. We insisted that we come to court early. On July 7th. Finally, we agreed to come to court on July 12th. We've been trying to move this thing up so that things may proceed in an orderly fashion, consistent with local rules. But once we get into court, Judge Sabo disregards local rules. He disregarded a fellow judge's orders on how we should proceed. And he's setting his own schedule. That's what he did in '82. That's why we're here today. When I was on trial, the climate could be called politically charged, because you had just had 9 members of the MOVE organization being sentenced to 30 to 100 years for a crime that everybody knew they did not commit. I mean, 9 people cannot kill 1 man. The strategy of John Africa is a strategy that is right, a strategy that kept every last one of us alive last year during this whole confrontation. But they didn't come in to get you last year. You say, what do you call a blockade? What do you call a blockade where they cut off our food and water? What do you call 100 cops marching down the street to our very gate with a little truck to pull down our fence? If that ain't coming in to get us, what do you call it? The police will be in there to drag them out by the backs of their necks. There will be a confrontation. There will be no barricades. I don't know. It's up to them whether— no barricades, Mike. They're going to be taken by force if they resist. At 6:10 a.m., Mayor Rizzo finally, after 15 months of confrontation, used the force he'd threatened all along. They are— Yeah. They're ripping up the armored car. I have no idea. I just couldn't see. He's hitting them on the head. Kicking them on the head. I know of one instance where one of the MOVE members came out the window with a cartridge case in one hand, a clip, and with a knife in the other, and where he was hit on the top of the head with a Steel helmet. Now, if that's overzealous, so be it. All 12 were charged with 1 count of murder, conspiracy, weapons violations, and 8 counts involving the other 8 officers and firemen who were commissioned to act on the vehicle. Uh, 8 counts of aggravated assault, simple assault, attempted murder, weapons violations, and conspiracy. 9 counts in general, but 8 counts of attempted murder, 1 count of murder. Any outstanding murder warrants? No. At this time, all the charges that have been placed are levied against the 12 in the house. What do you do when you print it? You put it out. It's not reviewed by trained lawyers. It's not taken by trained investigators. And you put it out, and people, who unfortunately have confidence in the media— they're learning, though, not to have— they believe what you read, what you write, what you say. And it's got to stop. And one day, and I hope it's in my career, that you're going to have to be held responsible and accountable for what you do. May I have an official outline of what the charges are, please? Exactly what the charges are against the MOVE organization? August 8th, 1978. What happened? There was a shootout between the MOVE organization— A year before. This is about a year before. Yeah, well, it was a calendar— not quite a calendar year before. There was a shootout between the radical MOVE organization and Philadelphia police. During that particular shootout, a police officer, a stakeout officer named James Randt, was shot, shot in the back. Now, there's dispute as to who shot whom. Of course, MOVE was convicted for it, but the police department, through my sources, which have proven impeccable over 20 years— I mean, this particular source— Right. Tells me that a police officer did it, but that's a whole other issue. The point that I'm trying to make is this. On that day, there was a press conference. And during that press conference, Rizzo, as he always did, went off and accused, again, the leftist liberal media for being responsible for the death of James Randi. But he went off after a question that was raised about the propriety of the raid and the veracity of the charge that MOVE killed a police officer, that was raised by Mumia Abu-Jamal. Okay. So we have a very curious thing happening in Philadelphia. I mean, Philadelphia Police Department was absolutely out of control in the 1970s. What you had in Philadelphia in '81 was the naked state judicial terrorism of the Philadelphia judiciary against the movement. It was like, let's wipe them out. It's impossible for me to say what my feelings were at that time. Sitting in a courtroom, seeing that kind of naked injustice, it rankled me to the core. You know, I said a minute ago I was seduced into the MOVE organization by the lovely and goodness of its people and its members. I was probably enraged as well as sitting in a trial in an official capacity, objective as a journalist, and seeing that the law really didn't matter, that it didn't matter whether a man was innocent or guilty. It didn't matter what the law says your rights were in the MOVE organization. All the rights that are supposedly guaranteed to a The right to self-representation, the right to self-defense in your trial, to defend yourself, were summarily stripped and denied. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever think that it would happen to me, because you always say, what happens to the other fellow? But when I was on trial and I exercised purely constitutional right to defend myself, and it was denied, It went through me like a thunderbolt. I was like, wow, you know, it can happen. It is happening. And it happens every day. People can talk about rights till the cows come home, but when people try to exercise those rights and they're not allowed, you find that those rights were not rights after all. They're rhetoric, platitudes put out there by the government to have people I was working night, a night job as a nurse. One of my other brothers came to the job and said, our brothers are in trouble. One is at the police station and one is in the hospital, and I don't know which is which. I went to the police station and I found out that Bill was the one in the police station, and they told me there that my other brother was at the hospital. And I went to the hospital and he was not there. When I got to the hospital, they took me to a floor, and I walked past this room, or at least I was walking past this room, because I saw this man, this person in there on a stretcher, unrecognizable. I couldn't recognize Mumia. I mean, he was beat up, dried blood all in his hair, all in his face. His face was all swollen up, eyes all swollen up, lips all swollen up. I could not recognize him. It was blood everywhere. There were police officers around the room with guns. When I tried to talk to Mumia, I had to try to stir him up, because he was unconscious. And I kept calling his name and shaking his shoulder. And he kind of opened his eyes, like it was hazy. His eyes were hazy and not focused. And I, you know, I told him who I was, and a little smirk came on his face. And he said, I'm innocent. I didn't kill anybody. That's what the first thing he said to you? That's all he said to me. What did he say? I'm innocent. He said, I did not kill anyone. I'm innocent. And Mumia, when I think back over that, Mumia Because one of the other things he said was, they're trying to kill me. They're trying to kill me. I think Mumia thought he was going to die. From the very beginning of the trial, I attempted to select my own jury. Jury selection, called voir dire, means that you can Talk to the jurors, get a feel for how they feel about legal ideas. Okay? I mean, every lawyer does it every day. It's a very important part of a trial. In fact, I believe it's probably the core of a trial. The district attorney said that I terrorized one juror, and the judge said, okay, he's stripped. You know, and put the lawyer in position. I really didn't want the lawyer to do it. I wanted to do it, because the lawyer's life wasn't at stake, you know. But I had to sit there silently and let another guy do that, who really didn't want to do it, as well. I don't want to go into the evidence, but I did mention some of the points before the judge. Mumia's gun was found at the scene. It was a .38-caliber weapon. But the bullet that the medical examiner removed from Officer Faulkner was a .44-caliber bullet, and that's written in his record. And you cannot fire a .44-caliber bullet with a .38-caliber gun. That fact was never told to the jury. They say Mumia confessed. Boo! To the shooting of Officer Faulkner. But the officer who was with him that night filed an official police report in which he said, the male Negro made no statements. But the jury never heard that. And so, when you go point by point through this record, through this case, with what we now know, We know that Mumia was innocent of the charges from the start. One of the things that links my background with MOVE organization and with the Black Panther Party is that at the sentencing hearing, the sentencing phase of the trial, the prosecutor introduced an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Which was an interview with me when I was a young teen, when I was lieutenant of information of the Black Panther Party, and cross-examined me on that article. My interest was that if the jury were not predominantly white, middle class, older, in their 50s, Black Panther would not have had the kind of impact, a negative impact, if they were young people, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, who had knowledge of the current and contemporary history of Philadelphia. The word Black Panther means different things to different people depending on their perspective, depending on their history, depending on their political orientation. The prosecutor knew that exceedingly well. Well, so that was used to bring back the death penalty, and I saw it when it hit the jury. It was like a bolt of electricity. Pow! I was charged with homicide of a police officer in Philadelphia. In the courtroom, Mumia was denied a fair trial. My name is Mumia Abu-Jamal. I'm on death row in Pennsylvania. I'm ex-president I'm the president of the Association of Black Journalists of Philadelphia. Pennsylvania authorities are proceeding with plans to execute an award-winning journalist whose work focuses on police brutality. I'm fighting my conviction, fighting the sentence, fighting for my life. Keep on marching. Keep on demanding. Keep on working. Keep on singing. Yes! Until he's free and until all of us are free, until justice rolls down like a mighty stream, until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Mumia, we're with you, brother. We're with you today. We're with you tomorrow. We're going to be with you. Until you walk these streets again! My name is Mumia Abu-Jamal. I'm a journalist, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and an African American. I live in the fastest-growing public housing tract in America. Currently, I'm a writer and public radio commentator. I've been a resident on Pennsylvania's death row for more than 15 years. Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former Black Panther, journalist and radio commentator. He wrote about racism, police brutality and repression, especially as experienced by the Black community. He was an outspoken critic of the Philadelphia Police Department who was framed in the death of a white policeman and has been on death row since 1982. Over the years, There has been a growing national and international movement to stop his execution and to free him. They tried to cage me in all the ways they could. They tried to kill me in the street, you know. And every attempt they've made has been a bitter failure for them. And that's why, when you think about it, why are these people so upset that this guy Jamal wrote a book? Well, they're upset because now their sons and grandsons are going to be reading about that nigga, and about revolution, and about the teachings of John Africa, and about the MOVE organization. Well, that's that. So, you know, as long as people is fighting, you know, don't sweat the small stuff. You doing what's right. As long as people are rebelling against this repression. Mr. Jamal is a father, grandfather, and husband. He was born into a poor family in Philadelphia. It was in the 1960s, during the emergence of the Black Power movement, that Mumia and hundreds of thousands of black youth began to develop a broad political consciousness that challenged the national norms of white supremacy. I was beaten into the Black Panther Party. As a youth in the '60s, I was impressed by the Black Power movement that was sweeping Black America and the Black world, in Africa and the Caribbean. So I remember me and a brother named Eddie Jones and a few other brothers, about 4 or 5 brothers from North Philly, went to a demonstration in South Philadelphia. It's at the Philadelphia Spectrum, which is a big sporting This was 1968, and it was the presidential nomination of George Corley Wallace III. I think that's his name. He was running for president on the American Independent Party. In retrospect, it's kind of crazy to think that we would go down to a demonstration in South Philadelphia, which is like predominantly white, and protest against George Wallace coming to Philadelphia. I remember that. But at that time, you know, we believed that it was our city as well. So we did it. And every one of us got our asses kicked by plainclothes policemen. Yeah, I got my ass kicked. You've probably heard the tale, I'll beat you so bad your own mama won't know you. Well, it has a particular relevance to me, because as I was laying in the hospital, charged with assault, And aggravated assault and beating of a police officer. My own mother walked by me, looked me dead in the eyes and kept walking, because she couldn't recognize me. I was beaten unrecognizable. How old were you? I was in my mid-teens at that time. From that period, from those experiences, from me having to go through the hell of that, And seeing the complete lack of power of people to resist that, I was attracted to the Black Panther Party, you know. Plus, you know, stuff I was reading, Ramparts magazine, which turned me on to other radical materials to read. So because there was not a functioning, active Black Panther Party at that time, we founded one and built one in Philadelphia. Yeah. I was the lieutenant of information. So my function was really propaganda, putting out information in support of the party and about the political situation in Philadelphia. So I like to say I was beaten to the Black Panther Party. Trained by the Black Panther Party as a revolutionary journalist, Mumia left in the 1970s, where he published and broadcast Challenging and critical pieces on the Philadelphia Police Department and Mayor Frank Rizzo. The Rizzo years were years of police brutality. The Rizzo years were years when brutality reached epidemic proportions and became internationally infamous. Stopping African American driving cars, it was beating prisoners. It was beating prisoners in handcuffs. This agitation's been going on for weeks. And something should— I'm not critical of the school board. I'm sure they have a difficult job, like we police. And I'm sure that they're doing their best. And I'm sure that they're going to try to correct it. But let's just talk about Palmer and Mathis. For weeks, they've been in the areas of schools inciting kids, black Black power this, black power is beautiful. What did the school board do about it? They should do something about it, and I'm hoping they do. But I'll say this for the record: the Philadelphia police are going to do their job. That I promise. Move it! Stop that! Beyond the brutality and murders, the pervasive use of police frame-ups, planting evidence, perjury, bribing witnesses was the order of the day in Philadelphia during the '70s, '80s and also the '90s. His writings conveyed an interpretation of the daily reality of an entire community under siege and terrorized. It is the analysis that he promoted with that weapon called the pen, that was produced by his mental framework, which was a gift from God, that made him a threat and a soldier in this war that we are still engaged in today. Mumia's articles were now appearing nationally in the black Panther Party newspaper, which was one of the most widely published, sold and read newspapers in the black community. The entire world was now tapped into Frank Rizzo and his regime in blue. As a private individual exercising his rights of free speech, he was marked and filed as an agitator, to be followed, reported on and surveilled by the government. Throughout the Rizzo years, the mainstream media ignored police brutality. There was a study done by a Lourdes group in 1970 that said that the city's daily newspapers, the 2 largest ones at the time, the Enquirer and the Bulletin, deliberately took just the police version of events. There were a handful of journalists who courageously covered it, black as well as white. One of whom, in the late '70s, was an eloquent journalist, one who had been a reporter for much of his life, a gentleman named Mumia Abu-Jamal. It is the analysis that he engaged in that made him a threat to the system. And so, the conspiracy emerged. And it emerged back in 1979. Yeah. 1968 or '69. And they looked at this young brother, and they said, if we don't stop him, we're going to have a problem. So they waited and waited and waited, just like birds of prey, till the appropriate time. This is an enlarged photo. They call him Wesley Cooke. We call him Mumia. Of Mumia back in 1972. Another photo of Mumia. Yes. As a Black Panther. Let's get to the heart of it. This is a document that reflects a request that was made by the FBI back in 1972 for this photo. And guess who that request was made to? The Philadelphia Police Department. These 2 go together. The photo that I showed you— now, this is the real significance— the back of the photo back in 1972. At the bottom of this photo are written 4 letters: D, D-E-A-D. Dead. Even back then, the FBI was involved in this conspiracy, and they are still involved in this conspiracy. What happened the day this tragedy occurred? Picture yourself on that Philadelphia street corner in the early hours of December 9th, 1981. The area is bustling with nighttime activity. Your attention is drawn to the scene of a black man pushed up against a Volkswagen, being viciously beaten with a flashlight by a white police officer. Suddenly, the police officer is shot. Another black man approaches the scene and is himself shot by the officer. No less than 5 witnesses who were at separate locations, unknown to each other, saw someone run from the scene. At least 2 of them said the person who shot the cop fled. Mumia Abu-Jamal was the man shot by the cop. When police arrived moments later, he was found sitting on the curb near the wounded officer, himself bleeding and gravely wounded. I'm sorry. The prosecution's case is based on 3 legs. First, they say, we had 3 eyewitnesses. Secondly, they say, we have the gun. And thirdly, they say, we have a confession. That's right. Mumia confessed. We don't have it in writing, but we have an oral statement that he allegedly made in the hospital when he was brought there, having been critically wounded on that night. But there was a problem with it. Mumia was under guard, of course, and he was handcuffed behind his back, and he was so weak that he had to practically be carried But there was one officer who was with him all the time at his side, and that officer filed a report that night, a report of his activities, having been with Mumia the whole night. And what did his report say? His report said, the male Negro made no statements. The Negro? Well, the defense wanted to call that. Oh, my God. And so, it was written on his report that he is not to be permitted to go to vacation during the trial. No vacation. And when the defense went to call him, the judge said, well, wait a minute, we have to locate him. And Judge Sebo said to the prosecutor, well, maybe he's on vacation. The prosecutor said, I'll check. The prosecutor went out, made a phone call, came back and said, Judge, you're right, he's on vacation. Dr. Anthony Coletta was the emergency room physician who treated both Officer Faulkner and Mumia Abu-Jamal. I would make it clear that I was with Jamal from within a moment or two of him being brought into the emergency room, throughout his entire time in the emergency room, and on into Intensive care unit, and he neither made any confessions to me, nor did he say anything that would be even remotely in the way of a confession to any other individuals. So the police create their own history. And this brutal police department in the city of Philadelphia created its own history. So much is made in the media of the fact that Mumia's gun was found at the scene. A legal gun, legally licensed to Mumia. All right. The gun is a .38 caliber gun. As Rachel has pointed out, the medical examiner who did the autopsy on Officer Faulkner and recovered the bullet described the bullet as being .44 caliber. But the test for seeing if a gun has recently been fired The test is a simple test. What you do is you simply pick up the gun, you put the nozzle to your nose, and you smell. All right! That's how difficult it is. And the unmistakable odor of recently discharged gunpowder lasts not 5 minutes; it lasts 4 to 5 hours. The police had 4 to 5 hours for someone to smell that gun. Apparently, no one smelled it. Or, more probably, they did smell it, and they didn't smell gunpowder. Mm-hmm. But if someone is a suspect and charged with killing a policeman, and you have that suspect in custody within 5 minutes, which they did in this case, What do you do? You take a cotton swab and you swab their hand and you pick up the residue of recently fired gunpowder and you send it to the FBI and they do a neutron activation test and they can tell if that person recently fired a gun. It's a simple kit that does this. They had Mumia They handcuffed his hand to a hospital bed. It was right there. It hadn't been washed. And they are telling us they never put a Q-stick to that hand to get the lead residue or the gunshot residue. I submit either that's gross negligence in the shooting of a policeman, or more likely it did happen. And they didn't recover any residue on Mumia's hand. William Singletary, he was there at the time. He observed what took place. He observed 2 individuals run from the scene. He observed that Mumia Abu-Jamal was not the shooter. He wrote this down when he was questioned by the police shortly after the incident occurred, on not only one occasion, but 2 occasions. And then they had an old Negro detective by Detective Green who was interrogating him. And Detective Green said, Mr. Singletary, my boss says that that's not enough. That's not good enough. You got to come up with another story. And you're a businessman, aren't you? And you want to keep your business, don't you? That's what Detective Green told William Singletary. And so William Singletary, because he was concerned about his business, he ultimately ended up signing a statement that was drafted for him by Detective Green. Cynthia White, back at the time of the trial, was facing 38 criminal— well, she had a record with 38 Criminal charges. Criminal charges. She was serving 18 months in prison. She had about 3 or 4 charges presently pending against her. So she was the perfect candidate for the intimidation mechanism in this conspiracy. So they came to her and they said, Cynthia, if you play ball our way, if you tell the story other than the way that it was, but tell it according to the script that we're going to give you, i.e., that Mumia had a gun and that Mumia shot Officer Faulkner, then we will not only let you work on the streets selling your body, but we will forgive all of the cases that are currently pending against you, and we will even arrange I will testify in exchange that you are released on the case that you are presently incarcerated in. And of course she yielded to that. And she stated in essence at trial that she was there on the scene, observed the shooting, and in fact that she observed Mumia with the gun and shoot Officer Faulkner. That, in fact, as we know now, was not the truth. We've got the testimony of Veronica Jones. And she admitted to us that after lying— and she testified as to why she lied. She had a present pending charges against her. She could have spent substantial time in jail. She had children at the time, young children. And, of course, she succumbed to the pressure, as well. But the most important thing about her testimony is that Veronica Jones has come back. Amen. As Singletary, as other witnesses, she has come back and she has admitted to us that they were falsehoods, but even more importantly, she has indicated to us why they were falsehoods. She is an important witness because she is the Yes. —described how the level of intimidation and the mechanism of intimidation was transpired and how it occurred and how it was carried out and how it gave rise to the withholding of actual evidence in terms of the actual portrayal of events that occurred on the night of December 9th, 1981, that was withheld from this jury that ultimately led to the The conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the sentence of death. We're absolutely not wrong about the trial being unfair. I mean, that's— any rational person who takes a look at, even a brief look at the proceedings, I mean, it is— it was— the judge's behavior was medieval, you know, during this thing. He was so biased and hostile. A mountain of evidence was withheld from the defense. Evidence the jury didn't hear which could have exonerated Mumia. I mean, the slain officer had the driver's license of a third party on his body. 5 witnesses saw one or more men running away from the scene, right? The jury didn't— that was information that was hidden for 13 years. Neither the defense nor the jury who convicted Mumia originally got to hear that information. You certainly cannot convict a man until an unbiased judge and an unbiased jury has heard all of the facts. That's right. Until the judge has heard from all of the witnesses, has been able to weigh all of the evidence, he certainly can't execute him. Give the man a fair chance. Give people that have been persecuted in this land a fair chance to really become equal instead of all that talk. The jail cells in America have been a one-sided crime. And I watched Mumia's lawyer, who did not bond at all, the prosecutor attacked me for being a lover of police slayers, because I had supported Assata. And I was attacked. My credibility was attacked in that courtroom. And I remember, because I watched a lot of Perry Mason myself, right? I looked at the judge and said simply to the judge, this is incorrect. I'm not a lawyer. What Malcolm had done for so many of us is to remove the fear. To remove the fear within our hearts. The fear had resurfaced again in this place called Philadelphia. Right after we beat that death warrant back with a stay of execution, Governor Ridge went on record stating very clearly that when the Supreme Court— he didn't say if the Supreme Court, he said when the Supreme Court turns Mumia's bid down for a new trial, he will immediately sign the death warrant. Right after that, State Senator Dole, State Representative Michael McKeehan also stated very clearly that they were going to introduce legislation to make sure that Mumia did not, you know, escape the death hole of this government. What they introduced through President Clinton, the Effective Death Penalty Act, states very clearly that in order To get a federal habeas corpus. A federal habeas corpus is granted to people relief when a person is showing that the government has not given them a fair trial. After hearing all of our witnesses in 1995, Judge Sabo said he disbelieved all of them and he believed all the police. And so he wrote 130 findings of fact. In which he ruled for the prosecution 130 times and 0 for Mumia. And this Supreme Court of Pennsylvania says, well, now we will look at what Judge Sabo has decided. And they said, under our standards, if there is any evidence whatsoever in the record to support Judge Right. —then we have to stand by his findings. And they pointed to the police testimony and disregarded all of the evidence we presented. And these justices, 5 of them, according to their own count, 5 of the 7 justices acknowledged, in an opinion, That they are justices who were endorsed by the Fraternal Order of the Police, which publicly seeks Mumia's execution. There's not but one way to stop this murder, and it's not for us to continue to put petitions in where nobody can see except the government. We must show this government in mass numbers. And are we making it very clear that on April On September 24th, you're planning on bringing millions of people into Philadelphia. This is not just about the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal. That 90% of all persons receiving the death penalty in Philadelphia are black or Latino, 62% statewide, even though outside of Philadelphia blacks and Latinos comprise only 4% of the population. In Strasbourg, the European Parliament passed a resolution Condemning the death penalty in the United States, but gave specific reference to Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier, applauding these men, but noting also they had been condemned to death because they have exposed the criminal hatred harbored by the U.S. legal and political systems for the poor and people of color. I think I heard no later than just this morning, as I was driving, the boast that this is a nation of laws. And we are so proud of the fact that this is a nation of laws. But how good are these laws when the laws are in the hands of a Judge Seibald? Good. When the laws are in the hands of people who are biased when they're people who have negated and dehumanized people of African descent. While we are speaking about the justice system as it has treated Mumia Abu-Jamal, let us also realize that it is a nation which has been built upon hypocrisy. The United Internationally, a lot of us, especially in Africa, are watching this particular case. America, as the champion of the superpower which champions democratization and human rights, especially in Africa and around the world, ties aid with human rights. Its human rights and democratic record should also look into, as you so rightly pointed out, into its own record at home. Today we want to bring out tens of thousands of people to Philadelphia to say there will be no business as usual in Philadelphia. If we have to, we'll shut this We're out on the campuses and the high schools, the trade unions. We want to get the word out. In every city, if we have to go in and crash media events, we'll do that too. This movement has to break out beyond this core. It has to go out to millions of people across this country. This case has to be something that you can't turn on the news at night without hearing people It's all there is to debate about. You can't turn on the talk show without hearing people talk about it. It is necessary for you to do something, for you to be involved, you know, for you to take some responsibility, not for me, not for any political prisoner, but for yourself, for your family, for your babies. We don't want no more Mumia sitting on death row. What we're saying is we've got to do the work now to put an end to such situations. That's what we've got to commit ourselves to doing. We are joined right now by Mumia Abu-Jamal. who just called in from prison in Pennsylvania. Mumia, we did not expect this call. The last time we had you on, Mumia, a federal judge denied a request for you to get lifesaving medication that could cure your hepatitis C. Can you talk about your health right now and what's happening? Well, you have to admit, I'm doing well. Against your better judgment, perhaps, but it's damn good entertainment, and it's unbelievable. I mean, this is the ultimate reality show. It's so real, it's unreal. I think it reflects clearer than anything we could have imagined the fall of empire. And you know, this is how democracies fall. History repeats itself. First time. First time is tragedy; second time is farce. So, it's interesting. It's entertaining. It's unbelievable. Yet here we are. The last time we had you on, Mumia, a federal judge denied a request for you to get lifesaving medication that could cure your hepatitis C. Can you talk about your health right now and what's happening? Well, I'm— this is one of my itchy days. So despite taking anti-itch medication, the itchiness has reflared. And so it's not a good day. It's not a comfortable day. We kind of got a situation where the judge, I think, performed a Solomonic act in breaking The baby in half. The judge did rule that the protocol of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections was unconstitutional and a violation of the Constitution, and deliberate indifference to the medical needs of at least 6,000 people in Pennsylvania prisons. He reasoned also that I had sued. DOC officials, and that was a violation of what he called sovereign immunity. We respectfully disagreed. But he said what we should have sued was something called the Hepatitis C Care Committee. The fact is, until we had our hearing, we did not know that such a committee existed. So it would have been kind of magical. To kind of stop the hearing and say, "Okay, what are the names of the people of this committee? We want a real you know refile against them because we learned about it on perhaps the third or the fourth day of our temporary restraining order hearing." Yet our lawyers, being very apt and very able, Brett Grote and Bob Boyle, refiled. Against the Hepatitis C Care Committee, but also refiled against the DOC defendants, because they had an opportunity, as administrators and healthcare officials, to say, no, treat this man. They said, no, go by the protocol. And the protocol that was declared unconstitutional on August 31st is still the one in place As of today. So it's still unconstitutional. Mumia Abu-Jamal, mass incarceration is a major issue in this country today. I just came from the premiere of the documentary by Ava DuVernay called 13th, about the 13th Amendment, slavery of 1865 and mass incarceration today. Your thoughts behind bars? Well, I think it's a great documentary. What's your question? It is— remember I talked about tragedy and farce a few moments ago? It is a tragedy that we're now counting down the days of the first African-American— accent on African— president in the history of the United States. And when he leaves, you will still have the greatest incarcerator —on Earth at work and growing and continuing to divest and destroy and diminish the lives of millions of people. The fact that you could have a black presidency and not put a dent in that hellhole is startling, is tragedy, you know, on a grand stage. And yet President Obama went— is the first —sitting president to go into a prison. Yeah. He went into a prison that was empty, because all of the prisoners were emptied from their cells. So he walked into a prison block. Yes, that's true. And it's historic. But it's also true that he walked in an empty prison block. If you have the greatest incarceration on Earth, in this nation, then, you know, why don't you make history by attacking not empty cells, but creating empty cells, by freeing people? And it is a tragedy, because if you think one of the architects, or at least a great mind that helped the architect— and I speak now of William Jefferson Clinton— if you think that her— his wife will destroy what he is proud of, right, then you're tripping. I mean, this is not— this is not a good time to be black in America, and not just because of people walking while black, driving while black, running while black, breathing while black, but because of all —of the hells that people suffer all across America. And the truth of the matter is, it ain't getting sweeter. It ain't getting better. Mumia, it's the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panthers in just a few weeks. Your comments on this, as a former Black Panther yourself? I am happy to announce that we are republishing We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party by publisher, a new publisher called Common Notions of Brooklyn. It's a book that I'm really proudest of, because it tells the story of the Black Panther Party, warts and all, criticisms and all, personal and political. And I think that in an age where Black Lives Matter is the greatest and biggest civil rights movement in decades, it's time for people to learn from that movement. Right. Its high points, its low points, its mistakes, and its successes. Because if you read the 10-point program that Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton wrote in October 1966, it will startle you. It will shock you to see what hasn't changed in 50 years. To quote Young Jeezy, the rapper, we're still living in hell. And so we We must change this reality. And that work continues for all of us. So I was on my way to lunch, on my way to IHOP, and I had to pass D.A. Larry Krasner's office. I saw him doing a press conference. Like, press conference. That was the day that Derrick Shelvin's trial was starting. And I remember walking directly past him and looking. I was like, is that the DA? Is that Larry Krasner? Then I stopped and I turned around. And when you approach, especially like these public officials in Pennsylvania, you know, you have to think twice, right? Like, is it worth the possible harassment? Right. You know, or— you know, so I felt like it was. And I turned around, and he was actually breaking away from the news reporter. And I said, D.A. Larry Krasner? And he said, yeah. And he was like, hey, man, what's going on? You know, 'cause I'm pretty sure they were like heralding him as like some progressive hero, like on the news or whatever. And I think I was I like, hey, man, what's going told on? him I was the grandson of Mumia Abu-Jamal. My name is Jamal Jr. And we just began— I said, like, I would like to, you know, bring up some points to you. And, like, he almost immediately kind of went into, like, his, I guess, like, his coached, like, quotes, you know, I can't get your grandfather out of jail. I just don't have the power to do so. Right. Which, you know, like, we understand that. But the— what we want is for Larry Krasner to not, like, uphold, you know, decades of injustices to Mumia's trial that we all know about, right? Especially, you know, with boxes being found in, like, ODA heads, everything that we found out about Judge Sabo and— Right. You know, one that he upheld, you know. And we just want justice, right? And for somebody to be heralded as the person that's going to, you know, help bring justice to Pennsylvania or Philadelphia, I wanted to kind of like put a face to like the people that like he's kind of like ruling like against. So, you know, I think that's a good question. So, we then— he then had something to say. He was like, you know, I'm just trying to be fair. You know, I've got to be fair to everybody. You know, and the quote was, you know, Mumia hasn't had a fair trial since he had a trial. Right? Right. And like right now, you know, if we're going to have another court proceeding, we want it to be as fair as it can be. Right? We want to admit evidence that, you know, especially with— The luxury of time and technology, you know, evidence that, like, we can use in court, right? Not the same evidence that they were using in court with, you know, purchased, like, witnesses and, you know, just a railroad trial system. So, they talk about Mumia like he's like the pastime or, you know, like a criminal justice system that we're trying to reform so a Mumia can never, like, happen again. But, you know, Mumia's still alive. You know, Mumia can still be home, right? And we all, like, took to the streets and we marched and, you know, we screamed for the criminal justice system to be, you know, like, kind of changed. But we can't forget the people that are still there, you know, the black liberation movement, like, the people that were speaking and that were out before it was, like, you know, like a cool or a fad, right? I think Mumia's case is deeply entrenched in what we're trying to fight for as a nation right now, especially because he's one of the surviving members of that black liberation movement. And Larry Krasner can't play both sides, man. Like, you're going to have to pick a side. It's either, you know, are you going to be the person that everybody, you know, elected you to be? Right. Right? Or are you going to run this middle line and kind of like, you know, cheat us out of our vote? Hey, what's going on, Noel? Oh, it's all right. We're here, 13th and Locust? Yeah, we're here at 13th and Locust. And I just wanted a few updates. How is my grandfather doing post-surgery? Your grandfather had surgery in March for a double bypass. And before that, his health condition was very serious, that he has psoriasis and cirrhosis all over his body and deep scar tissue from that experience, plus the hepatitis C that he recovered from. So Mumia has a variety of conditions, but the double bypass congestive heart failure was the most immediate. And people are very much mobilizing right now to get Mumia the rehabilitation care that he needs. He was checked out of the hospital with no rehabilitation plan, no cardiac diet, and was given the simple instruction, for 100 days, don't lift a book more than 15 pounds. Wow. That is not what people need to recover. It's not enough. He was also in solitary, and that meant that he couldn't exercise. He couldn't do what he needed to do to take care of himself. So the world, I think, has their eyes right on the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. And is trying to move that. Right. Sounds like we got a lot of work to do. When we talk about Mumia Abu-Jamal and the status of his cases, both medical and legal, like, what's the status of his cases? So his medical case is ongoing. And that was from when they almost killed him, when he went into renal failure when they didn't treat his hepatitis C. He was treated with a fast-acting antivirals, and he was able to be cured of Hep C. But now we're running into a situation where we have to absolutely monitor his care. He has some conditions that put him at great risk for further congestive heart failure. And so the prison is not the ideal place for someone to recover, anyone, especially someone who's older. And so Mumia needs Mumia has spent nearly 40 years in prison. I agree. Do you have any questions for me? You know, I was going to tell people also that his legal case is in a dramatic moment. It's stuck right now in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. But he has new evidence that was found by the district attorney and released to his defense team. That new evidence will trigger a new evidentiary hearing could trigger a new trial. So Mumia has all the opportunity to get relief in the courts in Philadelphia right now. I agree. I interviewed Maureen Faulkner, the victim's wife, and she said their goal— they don't think they can keep Mumia in prison. They think Mumia's going to get out. But they want to keep him in as long as possible so that he passes away in prison. And we can't let that happen. Because, really, justice in Philadelphia, it matters. So tell me, why does your grandfather's case, your Pop-Pop's case, make a difference in Philadelphia? Why is it transformative? Well, I think of Mumia Abu-Jamal's case being more of a catalyst of continued injustice in Philadelphia when it comes to legal systems and prison industrialization. Mumia's freedom is essential, right? We can't run around talking about Black Lives Matter and believe Black lives matter without thinking about or supporting the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the most famous political prisoners in the world. And the reason he's one of the most famous political prisoners in the world is because his case How do you see him? Like, what do you see in your grandfather? Well, I see a scholar, a jokester, because he likes to tell jokes and riddles and such. But I also see a guy who is unwaveringly loyal to Black liberation, to liberation of all people, right? And we talk about, you know, like how, like, Malcolm X was extremely loyal to All the liberation of all people. liberation comes through black liberation. But like, my grandfather is— he's solid. You know, it's 100% focused on the freedoms of everyone, as well as the freedoms of his own. How do you think that Philadelphia would deal with Mumia Abu-Jamal getting a new trial? How do I believe that they will deal with it? Yeah. I believe that they're going to, you know, try to do their best to cover their ass. You know, to be honest. But again, like you said, with new evidence, right, with a DA who everyone believes will do his best to, you know, do what he has to do, I think that Mumia has his best shot— you know, actually, his only shot, you know, in 40 years to get freedom. There's no shot in the 1980s, no shot in the '90s. No shots in the double-O's, because of the racism that circles the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and prison industrial complex. But what we're trying to do, what we're really focused on, is understanding that Mumia needs a fair trial. And this will be his only fair trial that he's ever had. You know, we're both in Philadelphia. Yeah. And we're standing right here where it happened. What do you think's the risk for this Why is it so hard for society to realize that Mumia did not get a fair trial? That the corruption that Rizzo, Randell, and Albert Sabo created, that that level of toxic corruption, why is that impenetrable? Why can't we have relief? Well, a lot of it has to do with denial, right? Denial that these systems were even in place. The denial of— It's in the paper every day. Like, if we read the papers in Philadelphia, there's like sex, lies and police detectives, corruption. There's like— they're exonerating people every single week. They're taking down dozens of cops. Yeah. Like, you're here in city watching them just go after the corruption, but then they stop. Yeah. They— They stop, like this close to Mumia. It's a lot of denial. And it's also a lot of individuals not understanding how simple his case is, right? They talk about, like, complexities of the case, but it's very, very simple. Mumia is a free— should be a free man today, if when he was incarcerated they gave him a fair trial, which they did not. We are— we're in this great time where, Individuals are— they're basically seeing the bedbugs, right? They're uncovering all of these corruptions, where we need to not shun away, like, from the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, because, like I said, his case is the catalyst of all of these cases that individuals are becoming, like, free today. The mainstream media and the world at large will never let us know that we're close. And they fight way harder when you're about Yeah. And so, this moment where we can make a difference, like anybody's action can make a difference, talk about like why right now people should step up. Right now people should step up simply because we're in the spotlight, right? People are listening. There was a time where people didn't care, you know, about a fallen Black Panther Party member in a prison. And systems, right? But now, after we are watching Hollywood films and we're watching these great papers, like, come out and talk about, like, the corruption when it came to, you know, black liberation movement members, Mumia is not exempt of that. Like, this is straight-up corruption, and he should be free today. Thank you. Thank you.