Friday, July 19, 2013

Un-dependance Day

No Independence for Innocent Political Detainees
Rally Decries 30+ Years of Unjust Detention for Mumia Abu Jamal



Philadelphia, PA

July 3, 2013

MOVE and other supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal rallied at 5th & Market Streets in Philadelphia on the eve of American Independence Day, to draw attention to the gross injustice against the political prisoner. While tourists from around the nation lined up to view the Liberty Bell a few hundred feet away, MOVE and Mumia supporters rallied in the 90 degree heat to draw attention to the irreparably broken Just-Us System, highlighting the case of Mumia. MOVE children, including some on skateboards, handed out literature to passersby on the case.

Using educational postcards handed to me by Pam Africa, I approached some of the tourists waiting to enter the Liberty Bell exhibit on the Mumia case. Many of the Asians did not speak English (or claimed not to), and eschewed the literature. A few--particularly young Caucasians--seemed genuinely interested when I reminded them that they were about to enter an exhibit symbolizing liberty, but that there was no liberty when journalists like Mumia could be held for exposing police brutality and governmental misdeeds.


The rally was supercharged by Pam Africa, spokesperson for International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu Jamal. In locks and khakis, she is a firebrand, affectionately called Queen Mother Pam, who worked tirelessly for over a decade for Mumia's freedom before it became cause célèbre. Seeing her reminded me how much I wished more Muslims had her consistency in working on political prisoner issues.


Pam Africa's sister, Ramona Africa, was a keynote speaker of the rally, calling powerfully for Mumia's freedom. Ramona is the sole survivor of the May 13, 1985 MOVE house bombing. On that day, a government helicopter bombed the MOVE house from the air—something one would expect in Bagdad, not in the Philadelphia neighborhood where it occurred. The attack killed five beautiful black children who were being raised in intact families and in accordance with MOVE’s holistic, self-reliant lifestyle, designed to instill self-pride and historical awareness in the children. The leader of the group, John Africa, was also murdered in the attack, as were a number of other adults. It is difficult to argue that the government’s aim was other than to terrorize and destroy the organization and its principles.


Short of stature but tall on courage, Ramona bears prominent scars on her forearms, testament to the fact that the government attempted to murder her and her entire extended family--for their espousal of a drug-free/alcohol free, self-sufficient, naturalist life style, which shunned subservience to the White Supremacist Power structure and honored all living beings. Incredibly, Ramona, after seeing so many of her family members perish in the resultant fire, remained undaunted and continued to speak forcefully for the release of the MOVE 9 (members of the MOVE organization captured in the government's long-running vendetta against the organization, and held political prisoner for decades), as well as for the freedom of Mumia Abu Jamal and others held unjustly by the U.S., usually for their political beliefs.


The July 3 rally was further addressed by Theresa Shoatz, daughter of Russell Maroon Shoatz. Russell Maroon Shoatz is a Black nationalist and political activist held by the U.S. government on concocted charges for over 30 years. Sr. Shoatz delivered what was perhaps the most poignant address of the gathering, saying that as long as her father was in solitary confinement, so remained her spirit in solitary; and that as long as her father was subjected to tasteless and nutritionally-devoid food presented by his captors, so tasted she only that horrid prison food.


Br. Shabazz, a representative of UNIA-ACL, spoke powerfully against the oppressive U.S. power structure. A Muslim woman who grew up in Mumia's neighborhood spoke on his integrity and strong stance for the rights of the oppressed even as a youth.


I was invited to the dais by Pam Africa, and had the privilege to speak on behalf of Jamaat al-Muslimeen. I offered solidarity to Mumia, reminded the Muslims and others in the audience that Islam was a faith which commanded its adherents to fight for justice and against oppression, and in particular to ally oneself with the struggle to free political prisoners ("Free the captive"). As an Asian and a Muslim, I apologized to the audience for the absence of "my people" from such vital actions, and the fact that their brainwashed status and alliance with the oppressive power structure would lead them to stand in long lines to view the Liberty Bell (at the very site--the original White House--where George Washington, owner of 316 slaves, had kept 9 of them!), rather than to stand up for a man--Mumia Abu Jamal--imprisoned solely for speaking the truth.


I lamented the failure of the Muslim community at large to come forth in the case of elderly Muslim cleric, hafiz-e-Quran, and political prisoner Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman at the time of his railroading on bogus terror/conspiracy charges, despite the fact that he was extremely well known and respected on the mosque speaking circuit, was entirely peaceful, and his criticisms were directed strictly at the dictatorship in Egypt (and against the looting of Egypt by American multinational corporations). The silence of the Muslim community in this very clear cut case of injustice--the effective live burial into the American Gulag of a blind, diabetic, Muslim elder and Qur'anic reciter, PhD from the most prestigious of Islamic universities, Al-Azhar--was, I said, a green light to the government to launch further broad spread attacks against the Muslim community, targeting anyone who was vulnerable or exhibited a measure of independent thinking. I ended with a prayer for the many political prisoners being held unjustly by the U.S.


A former Black Panther and Philadelphia journalist who reported on police brutality, Mumia has been held on very shoddy charges by the U.S. government for over 30 years, much of this on death row. Vast numbers of people have called for his release, including Hollywood celebrities and Nobel laureates, to no avail.


As I left the gathering, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I had just shared a dais with Pam and Ramona Africa. How many U.S. Muslims, faced with death, destruction of their families and their homes, and the long-term imprisonment of their family members--not for any wrongdoing, but for their beliefs and failure to succumb to the system--would respond with such patience, perseverance, and courage. It is the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims—a good time to reaffirm our commitment to the cause of the mustazafeen.




© 2013 By Nadrat Siddique