Excerpt: "What's happening in the streets of Philadelphia, that's where the
real story is, because those are the voices you won't hear throughout these
four days of gala, extravaganza, lies and illusion, because you're hearing
the pain of the people, the real concerns of the people, and, really, the
desperation of the people to be heard by the rich and the powerful."
Mumia Abu-Jamal with attorney Rachel Wolkenstein and his wife Wadiya Jamal.
(photo: San Francisco Bay View)
Mumia Abu-Jamal: The True Spirit of Democracy Is Taking Place in the
Protests Outside the DNC, Not Inside
By Democracy Now!
28 July 16
As the Democratic National Convention enters its third day here in
Philadelphia, one of the citys most famous native sons is observing and
covering the proceedings from inside a state prison facility. Former Black
Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal is a well-known prisoner and also an award-winning
journalist whose writing from his prison cell has reached a worldwide
audience through his Prison Radio commentaries and many books. Abu-Jamal was
convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner,
but has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty International has found he
was deprived of a fair trial. Mumia Abu-Jamal joins us on the phone from the
SCI Mahanoy state prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania, along with two of his
supporters, actor Danny Glover and Larry Hamm, chair of the Peoples
Organization for Progress.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. We are "Breaking with
Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." Im Amy Goodman, with Juan
González. Were broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in
Philadelphia, broadcasting outside that convention, so people who arent
credentialed can also join us on the set. We are broadcasting from
PhillyCAM, from Philadelphias public access TV station. Still with us,
Larry Hamm, chair of the Peoples Organization for Progress, and actor,
activist, director Danny Glover, as we turn now to a surprise guest who has
just called in to Democracy Now! Juan?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, we are joined by radio from inside a state prison in
Pennsylvania by Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former colleague of mine here in
Philadelphia. We were both journalists together here in the 1970s, perhaps
the most well-known political prisoner in the United States, an
award-winning journalist, whose writing from his prison cell has reached a
worldwide audience through his prison radio commentaries and many books.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer
Daniel Faulkner, but has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty
International has found he was deprived of a fair trial. Mumia Abu-Jamal
joins us now on the phone from SCI Mahanoy state prison in Frackville,
Pennsylvania.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Mumia.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Hola, hola, Juan, everyone, Larry, everyone. On a move.
LARRY HAMM: Hey, Mumia. On a move.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: How you all doing?
DANNY GLOVER: All right, brother.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Mumia, were interested in your thoughts on the convention
occurring right here in your hometown.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Its a hell of a show. But it is a show. And, you know, I
mean, it has writers and directors and stage managers. And its a hell of a
show. But never forget: Its just a show.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of not only whats happening on the insideI
mean, we just broadcast today
OPERATOR: This is a call from Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution
Mahanoy. This call is subject to recording and monitoring.
AMY GOODMAN: Thats the recording that comes on over the call. So, very
quickly, Mumia, theres not only action on the floor of the Democratic
convention, but thousands of people have been marching in the streets.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I think thats extraordinary. And I think thats where the
real action is. While I said the convention is a showand who can doubt
that?whats happening in the streets of Philadelphia, thats where the real
story is, because those are the voices you wont hear throughout these four
days of gala, extravaganza, lies and illusion, because youre hearing the
pain of the people, the real concerns of the people, and, really, the
desperation of the people to be heard by the rich and the powerful. You look
inside, youll see the powerful. Youll see millionaires, right? We have an
incredible system right nowmillionaires running against billionaires. Well,
whos not in that picture? And thats the 99 percent, the rest of us, you
know.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Mumia, Im sure you also monitored the Republican convention
that occurred last week and Donald Trump emphasizing that he is the law and
order candidate. And Im
OPERATOR: This is a call from Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution
Mahanoy. This call is subject to recording and monitoring.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Go ahead.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And Im sure that it reminded you of a person that we were
familiar with right here in Philadelphia, the mayor of Philadelphia, Frank
Rizzo, who was the ultimate law and order candidate. For those of the
younger generation who are not familiar with Rizzo, any similarities between
some of the stuff that you remember from him and Donald Trump?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I mean, Frank Rizzo was authentically working-class. You
know, he rose from the bottom of the police department to become its
commissioner and then was elected mayor. And, you know, I thought about
Frank Rizzo when I first heard that Donald Trump was running, and I had the
same reaction when I heard that Frank Rizzo was running for mayor: I
laughed. Im like, here was a guy, high school dropoutnothing personal, but
its trueand heres a guy who is like dumb as rocks about everything other
than making moneyor taking money, I should say. But, you know, I stopped
laughing. You know, I thought about when Ronald Reagan ran for president,
this grade-B actor. I laughed. I stopped laughing. And when you look at this
guy, hes like Frank Rizzo with billions and billions of dollars in his
pocket. But if you kind of turned off the screen and listened to the words,
its the same message: fear, fear, fear, fear of the other, fear of blacks.
"And only I can save you." Its kind of a mixture of Frank Rizzo, Goldwater,
Spiro Agnew, Dick Cheney, you know, and Hitler.
AMY GOODMAN: Mumia, you recently did a commentary on the killings of police
officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas. Share your thoughts on this.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Well, I think one of the lines I used in that commentary
is: Why should any of us be surprised? Whenever that happens, what youll
hear, especially among elite opinion on TV, is that this was a madman, this
was a crazy person. If he was mad, how did he get accepted into the Army?
How did he serve tours in Afghanistan or Iraq? Both of these men displayed
military training that they acquired from the U.S. government and as they
became killers in the Third World. When they came back to the United States
and they saw their reality, do you think that drove them crazy? And, you
know, something like 22 veterans commit suicide every day in America. And
thats because of the horrible things theyve been asked to do by empire
abroad. And, you know, when you look at the condition of black people in
Americamass incarceration gone crazy, ghettos being policed as if it is
Fallujah or a foreign nationwhy would you be surprised? They were trained
by the state to do exactly what they did. And they did it.
AMY GOODMAN: Mumia, we are speaking to you from Mahanoy state prison. You
used to be on death row for two decades. I think, ultimately, perhaps,
though it was the judicial system, it was enormous international pressure
that led to you being taken off of death rope. How is your health now? For a
period of time, we didnt know what was happeningdiabetes, eczema. How are
you being dealt with? How is healthcare there? What are you asking for?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Well, for a while there, I didnt know what was happening.
I had diabetes. I had extreme high blood pressure. My skin was falling to my
feet. I was itching in an insane degree. What we learned through this
litigation is that I had hepatitis C, that to this date has not been
treated. Ive probably been given more treatment for my symptomsright?than
perhaps any other prisoner in Pennsylvania. Thats true. But Ive yet to be
treated for that disease.
And the state, in their latest brief to the court, said if the plaintiff
prevails, it will cost the DOC over $600 million. I cant make this up. Its
probably online. Thats only because they claim there are some 6,000 men,
and probably women, in the Pennsylvania system who have hepatitis C, and
very few of them are treated, though, understand, we asked themthe head of
the DOCs medical division, Dr. Peter Noel, "How many people are being
treated with these new antiviral medications?" And he said, "I dont know."
We said, "Well, can you give us your best guess?" He said, "Hmm, five or
six." Five or six out of 6,000.
What we also learned is they have a protocol. It was a secret protocol that
we learned about at that hearing, that men and women who have hepatitis C
must wait until something called esophageal varices are detected. Thats
when youre bleeding from your esophagus out of your mouth, which means, of
course, that your liver is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Thats why
youre bleeding out of your mouth, because you cant processyour liver
cant process your blood. Its rejecting it. Thats when youll be
considered to be put on a list for treatment. Thats stage 4 liver disease.
AMY GOODMAN: Danny, any comments you want to share with Mumia Abu-Jamal?
DANNY GLOVER: Well, first of all, I was just thinking about his health. And
essentiallyand I think, for us to be practical, theyre trying to kill him,
right there, before our eyes. Certainly, his analysis on what has happened
and what is happening here is right on point.
I was at an event at a church on Broad Street, where men and women were
there. Particularly women were there. And certainly, it was for them and the
voices of women. One of the women who was there, her father had been a
political prisoner for 42 years. So, thats the place where everything is
happening. CodePink had a sign saying "feminism, not militarism." They were
promoting that. Thats where the real convention is. They were the people
who are still fighting, who want their voices to be heard. And our
responsibility, the work that Larry does and the work that we have to do as
progressives, is about that.
I was just thinking also about what W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in his 1953
reissue of The Souls of Black Folk, after 50 years, when he talked about how
his thinking at that time was that the question of the century was race. The
question of the century, he said, is still race. But what he didnt know
then is that how people would be able to manage to live and to go on with
their lives, go on with their lives in the midst of all of the pain, in the
midst of allin the midst of all the wars. Thats the thing that we have to
consume ourselves with, in terms of whether its the war in our cities or
the war abroad or the destabilization of governments, etc., etc.
AMY GOODMAN: Mumia Abu-Jamal, I know we just have 15 seconds. Do you believe
the issue of the 21st century, the problem of the 21st century, is still the
color line?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I think its the color line, but its also the class line.
Weve just experienced a black president. But black Americans, in the words
of Young Jeezy, for the most part, are still living in hell.
OPERATOR: You have one minute left.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you for joining us, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Your last 20 seconds that we have for this broadcast?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I would urge anyone who has a computer or a way to acquire
The Nation of February 10th, 2016, the article by Michelle Alexander
entitled "Why Hillary Clinton Doesnt Deserve the Black Vote." It is
incredible. I thank you all. I love you all. Larry, a pleasure hearing you
again, brother.
LARRY HAMM: Its good to hear you, Mumia.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Everybody, I love you. Thank you for this time with you. On
a move.
AMY GOODMAN: Thank you very much. Imprisoned former Black Panther Mumia
Abu-Jamal, speaking to us from prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania. Im Amy
Goodman, with Juan González. Special thanks to Danny Glover and Larry Hamm
and all the team that made this broadcast possible.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Mumia Abu-Jamal with attorney Rachel Wolkenstein and his wife Wadiya Jamal.
(photo: San Francisco Bay View)
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/7/27/mumia_abu_jamal_calls_from_prisonhttp:
//www.democracynow.org/2016/7/27/mumia_abu_jamal_calls_from_prison
Mumia Abu-Jamal: The True Spirit of Democracy Is Taking Place in the
Protests Outside the DNC, Not Inside
By Democracy Now!
28 July 16
s the Democratic National Convention enters its third day here in
Philadelphia, one of the citys most famous native sons is observing and
covering the proceedings from inside a state prison facility. Former Black
Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal is a well-known prisoner and also an award-winning
journalist whose writing from his prison cell has reached a worldwide
audience through his Prison Radio commentaries and many books. Abu-Jamal was
convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner,
but has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty International has found he
was deprived of a fair trial. Mumia Abu-Jamal joins us on the phone from the
SCI Mahanoy state prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania, along with two of his
supporters, actor Danny Glover and Larry Hamm, chair of the Peoples
Organization for Progress.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. We are "Breaking with
Convention: War, Peace and the Presidency." Im Amy Goodman, with Juan
González. Were broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention in
Philadelphia, broadcasting outside that convention, so people who arent
credentialed can also join us on the set. We are broadcasting from
PhillyCAM, from Philadelphias public access TV station. Still with us,
Larry Hamm, chair of the Peoples Organization for Progress, and actor,
activist, director Danny Glover, as we turn now to a surprise guest who has
just called in to Democracy Now! Juan?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, we are joined by radio from inside a state prison in
Pennsylvania by Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former colleague of mine here in
Philadelphia. We were both journalists together here in the 1970s, perhaps
the most well-known political prisoner in the United States, an
award-winning journalist, whose writing from his prison cell has reached a
worldwide audience through his prison radio commentaries and many books.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer
Daniel Faulkner, but has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty
International has found he was deprived of a fair trial. Mumia Abu-Jamal
joins us now on the phone from SCI Mahanoy state prison in Frackville,
Pennsylvania.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Mumia.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Hola, hola, Juan, everyone, Larry, everyone. On a move.
LARRY HAMM: Hey, Mumia. On a move.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: How you all doing?
DANNY GLOVER: All right, brother.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Mumia, were interested in your thoughts on the convention
occurring right here in your hometown.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Its a hell of a show. But it is a show. And, you know, I
mean, it has writers and directors and stage managers. And its a hell of a
show. But never forget: Its just a show.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you think of not only whats happening on the insideI
mean, we just broadcast today
OPERATOR: This is a call from Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution
Mahanoy. This call is subject to recording and monitoring.
AMY GOODMAN: Thats the recording that comes on over the call. So, very
quickly, Mumia, theres not only action on the floor of the Democratic
convention, but thousands of people have been marching in the streets.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I think thats extraordinary. And I think thats where the
real action is. While I said the convention is a showand who can doubt
that?whats happening in the streets of Philadelphia, thats where the real
story is, because those are the voices you wont hear throughout these four
days of gala, extravaganza, lies and illusion, because youre hearing the
pain of the people, the real concerns of the people, and, really, the
desperation of the people to be heard by the rich and the powerful. You look
inside, youll see the powerful. Youll see millionaires, right? We have an
incredible system right nowmillionaires running against billionaires. Well,
whos not in that picture? And thats the 99 percent, the rest of us, you
know.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Mumia, Im sure you also monitored the Republican convention
that occurred last week and Donald Trump emphasizing that he is the law and
order candidate. And Im
OPERATOR: This is a call from Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution
Mahanoy. This call is subject to recording and monitoring.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Go ahead.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And Im sure that it reminded you of a person that we were
familiar with right here in Philadelphia, the mayor of Philadelphia, Frank
Rizzo, who was the ultimate law and order candidate. For those of the
younger generation who are not familiar with Rizzo, any similarities between
some of the stuff that you remember from him and Donald Trump?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I mean, Frank Rizzo was authentically working-class. You
know, he rose from the bottom of the police department to become its
commissioner and then was elected mayor. And, you know, I thought about
Frank Rizzo when I first heard that Donald Trump was running, and I had the
same reaction when I heard that Frank Rizzo was running for mayor: I
laughed. Im like, here was a guy, high school dropoutnothing personal, but
its trueand heres a guy who is like dumb as rocks about everything other
than making moneyor taking money, I should say. But, you know, I stopped
laughing. You know, I thought about when Ronald Reagan ran for president,
this grade-B actor. I laughed. I stopped laughing. And when you look at this
guy, hes like Frank Rizzo with billions and billions of dollars in his
pocket. But if you kind of turned off the screen and listened to the words,
its the same message: fear, fear, fear, fear of the other, fear of blacks.
"And only I can save you." Its kind of a mixture of Frank Rizzo, Goldwater,
Spiro Agnew, Dick Cheney, you know, and Hitler.
AMY GOODMAN: Mumia, you recently did a commentary on the killings of police
officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas. Share your thoughts on this.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Well, I think one of the lines I used in that commentary
is: Why should any of us be surprised? Whenever that happens, what youll
hear, especially among elite opinion on TV, is that this was a madman, this
was a crazy person. If he was mad, how did he get accepted into the Army?
How did he serve tours in Afghanistan or Iraq? Both of these men displayed
military training that they acquired from the U.S. government and as they
became killers in the Third World. When they came back to the United States
and they saw their reality, do you think that drove them crazy? And, you
know, something like 22 veterans commit suicide every day in America. And
thats because of the horrible things theyve been asked to do by empire
abroad. And, you know, when you look at the condition of black people in
Americamass incarceration gone crazy, ghettos being policed as if it is
Fallujah or a foreign nationwhy would you be surprised? They were trained
by the state to do exactly what they did. And they did it.
AMY GOODMAN: Mumia, we are speaking to you from Mahanoy state prison. You
used to be on death row for two decades. I think, ultimately, perhaps,
though it was the judicial system, it was enormous international pressure
that led to you being taken off of death rope. How is your health now? For a
period of time, we didnt know what was happeningdiabetes, eczema. How are
you being dealt with? How is healthcare there? What are you asking for?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Well, for a while there, I didnt know what was happening.
I had diabetes. I had extreme high blood pressure. My skin was falling to my
feet. I was itching in an insane degree. What we learned through this
litigation is that I had hepatitis C, that to this date has not been
treated. Ive probably been given more treatment for my symptomsright?than
perhaps any other prisoner in Pennsylvania. Thats true. But Ive yet to be
treated for that disease.
And the state, in their latest brief to the court, said if the plaintiff
prevails, it will cost the DOC over $600 million. I cant make this up. Its
probably online. Thats only because they claim there are some 6,000 men,
and probably women, in the Pennsylvania system who have hepatitis C, and
very few of them are treated, though, understand, we asked themthe head of
the DOCs medical division, Dr. Peter Noel, "How many people are being
treated with these new antiviral medications?" And he said, "I dont know."
We said, "Well, can you give us your best guess?" He said, "Hmm, five or
six." Five or six out of 6,000.
What we also learned is they have a protocol. It was a secret protocol that
we learned about at that hearing, that men and women who have hepatitis C
must wait until something called esophageal varices are detected. Thats
when youre bleeding from your esophagus out of your mouth, which means, of
course, that your liver is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Thats why
youre bleeding out of your mouth, because you cant processyour liver
cant process your blood. Its rejecting it. Thats when youll be
considered to be put on a list for treatment. Thats stage 4 liver disease.
AMY GOODMAN: Danny, any comments you want to share with Mumia Abu-Jamal?
DANNY GLOVER: Well, first of all, I was just thinking about his health. And
essentiallyand I think, for us to be practical, theyre trying to kill him,
right there, before our eyes. Certainly, his analysis on what has happened
and what is happening here is right on point.
I was at an event at a church on Broad Street, where men and women were
there. Particularly women were there. And certainly, it was for them and the
voices of women. One of the women who was there, her father had been a
political prisoner for 42 years. So, thats the place where everything is
happening. CodePink had a sign saying "feminism, not militarism." They were
promoting that. Thats where the real convention is. They were the people
who are still fighting, who want their voices to be heard. And our
responsibility, the work that Larry does and the work that we have to do as
progressives, is about that.
I was just thinking also about what W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in his 1953
reissue of The Souls of Black Folk, after 50 years, when he talked about how
his thinking at that time was that the question of the century was race. The
question of the century, he said, is still race. But what he didnt know
then is that how people would be able to manage to live and to go on with
their lives, go on with their lives in the midst of all of the pain, in the
midst of allin the midst of all the wars. Thats the thing that we have to
consume ourselves with, in terms of whether its the war in our cities or
the war abroad or the destabilization of governments, etc., etc.
AMY GOODMAN: Mumia Abu-Jamal, I know we just have 15 seconds. Do you believe
the issue of the 21st century, the problem of the 21st century, is still the
color line?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I think its the color line, but its also the class line.
Weve just experienced a black president. But black Americans, in the words
of Young Jeezy, for the most part, are still living in hell.
OPERATOR: You have one minute left.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you for joining us, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Your last 20 seconds that we have for this broadcast?
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: I would urge anyone who has a computer or a way to acquire
The Nation of February 10th, 2016, the article by Michelle Alexander
entitled "Why Hillary Clinton Doesnt Deserve the Black Vote." It is
incredible. I thank you all. I love you all. Larry, a pleasure hearing you
again, brother.
LARRY HAMM: Its good to hear you, Mumia.
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL: Everybody, I love you. Thank you for this time with you. On
a move.
AMY GOODMAN: Thank you very much. Imprisoned former Black Panther Mumia
Abu-Jamal, speaking to us from prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania. Im Amy
Goodman, with Juan González. Special thanks to Danny Glover and Larry Hamm
and all the team that made this broadcast possible.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
