MUMIA: The Mirror Admired and Feared

And who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?

The first time I heard that name I was in prison, and I learned that he was also in prison. I learned that he was a political prisoner, and I was also a political prisoner.
He was in a maximum security prison, and I was in a maximum security prison, too.
He was proud to have been a militant in a rebellious organization, the Black Panthers, and I was proud to have been a militant in a rebellious organization, ERPI*.
He wrote from inside prison, and I also wrote from inside.
He defended himself from inside prison, and I defended myself from inside, too.

When they spoke of him, it seemed like they were speaking of me even though I wasn’t sentenced to death, because if I were in the United States, they would have sentenced me to death and I would have been a victim of racism like him. I would also have been accused of arrogance and unmitigated gall. And they would have accused me of the crime that he commits in prison ––writing books–– because being productive is a crime. And they would have created special rules for me, like the ones they’ve created for him.

And it was true: when they spoke of Mumia, they were, and are, speaking of me, just as they’re speaking of many other people. Mumia is a mirror that we’re proud to look at because what we see is admired and respected; it’s what the rest of us are, if only slightly and in exceptional moments. But he’s also a mirror that’s feared because it shows what can happen when self and duty become one and the same thing.

The mirror admired and respected; that’s Mumia ––an admirable struggle and a death sentence. So it also reflects those who have sentenced him. It reflects their fear of a better world for the many.

That’s why they want him dead; that’s why we want him alive.

We want him alive, and by defending his life, we’re defending our own selves because he is us. He is where he is, not for having acting in his own interest, but on behalf of everyone else. And what he’s learned in prison is due to and for the sake of everyone else. This is also a learning experience for the rest of us.

And we want to learn from it. And we want to see him in a place where his life is not at risk. And we want to see him free because we’ll learn with him, and we’ll be a little more free when we see him on the outside.

It may seem hard, at times, to win freedom when you’re in a prison where they even try to ban your very dreams, but you can get out of there if the dreams from the outside come together with those on the inside.

I know this, because not long ago I was in a place like that, and I was able to get out, and so I’d like to tell him that I think he can get out, too ––that he can, that we can, win out over those bars that are blocking the freedom of his body, like he’s been able to win out over those that block his freedom of spirit. And I include myself in that “we can,” because I want to put my little grain of sand into building that road that will lead him, first, to life and then to freedom. I want to be part of the effort that will allow us to see him close to us, with the infinite pleasure of being near those who are the way we’d like to be.

We can do it ––with his efforts, of course, together with all of ours who gaze into that mirror with pride.

By defending Mumia, we’re defending our own selves!

Free all political prisoners!


December 9, 2009

* Insurgent People’s Revolutionary Army.