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jamal_with_son.jpg
photo: Jamal Hart with his son.
WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM?
by: Jamal Hart
“Known worldwide as an almost mythical birthplace of liberty, the hope
and freedom acted as a kind of psychic magnet, drawing the poor and
oppressed from the class-bound aristocracies of Europe in rivers of
emigration as well as Black captives escaping from southern bondage
and Black freedmen and women fleeing a humiliating and soul-sapping
southern apartheid. The Philadelphia that the stalwart Frederick
Douglass beheld with snarled contempt would more than double in size
in half a century rising from 650,000 people in 1860 to 1.5 million by
1914.”
-“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn. Quoted from
“We Want Freedom” by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Firstly, I would like to take this time to request a moment of silence
for all of our fallen heroes and sheroes who made the ultimate
sacrifice for our freedom against the oppression of this wicked
injustice system among innocent people.
I humbly would like to thank each and every one of you who came out in
support of this year’s Class-War Prisoners event. Your solidarity is
greatly respected. I give the greeting in many tongues to everyone in
attendance by saying As-Salaam-Alaikum, Hotep, Ona MOVE, and Greetings
to the masses who sacrificed their time to attend this important
event. You have been chosen to become informed, abreast and intuned
with a constant struggle that connects us all. I thank the Partisan
Defense Committee for their massive support and love over the years
throughout this atrocious ordeal. I stand in total solidarity with
the labor force and with all people who take a stand against injustice
and oppression.
I want you all to know that I have been constantly pushing for
liberation quite vigorously and many of you inspire me to push harder
and remember the words of a great freedom fighter Sis. Harriet Tubman
who said, “I started with this idea in my head. There’s two things I
have a right to: Death or Liberty.” (Quoted from the book “We Want
Freedom” by Mumia Abu-Jamal).
From the beginning, as many of you know all too well, we are fighting
for Mumia Abu-Jamal to be exonerated to freedom. We the people here
today and abroad will not compromise in the liberation and freedom of
him from behind enemy lines. The supporters constantly expressed this
urgent message: FREEDOM OVER A NEW TRIAL!
So many times we have witnessed the vile injustice orchestrated in
those so-called rooms of justice (AKA the courtrooms). Too many have
been unjustly persecuted and railroaded either because of the color of
their skin, a poor person or even a combination of both. God forbid
they publicly oppose this outright oppression! They will be
prosecuted, ridiculed and even have their character defamed to a
demoralized state by this mendacious legal system.
By you being here today either to support this movement or join it for
the first time, you are showing your awareness and solidarity to
expose and demolish the unsavory racist courts the police state and
racist Death Penalty Act that feeds off the working poor. We must
collaborate and fight to achieve the one goal to free Mumia and all of
our freedom fighters including myself from behind enemy lines.
The senseless murders at the hands of these racist rogue law
enforcement officers nationwide are robbing the lives of our youth,
women and men to feed their taste for blood like vampires. We cannot
allow these injustices to go unchecked and accept their lies thereby
causing their behavior to be justified.
The Courts from the lower level to the Supreme Court wants to act as
if they cannot see that Mumia Abu Jamal is innocent. All of the
evidence is clear and convincing and it is either overlook or
dismissed by these rogue courts. However, when a rogue police officer
opens fire on innocent working class people and immigrants, somehow
they get swift justice and are freed of all charges.
As a man who didn’t think twice to become the voice of the voiceless,
Mumia stepped up to the plate to expose this demonic system. A system
that was and still continues to enforce intense oppression on African
Americans throughout this nation by murderous police officers who hide
their venomous ways behind their shields. It then allows them to
freely practice corruption, extortion and murder among other
unpleasantries. A prime example of this is what happened on Osage
Avenue on May 13th, 1985 where 11 MOVE members were brutally murdered
by this murderous government. Another example is the attempted
assassination of my dear father Mumia on December 9th, 1981 in
downtown Philly when these rogue police officers not only shot him,
but beat him even while inside the emergency room of Jefferson
University Hospital. WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM?
Comrades, the only way we will get freedom for our political prisoners
who are suffering in the prison hells of this country is to come
together becoming a solid force for the poor and working class. We
must reach one to teach one and educate the masses on the political
history of America’s oppression.
Many of you assisted in change history in America by voting for the
first African-American President showing the world that anything is
possible in America. As that was an accomplishment, so should the
goal of galvanizing the people and educate them on the case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal and too many more being railroaded by a mendacious legal
system.
Comrades, we all know that these are trying times. We must step up to
the plate and push harder until my dear father Mumia is ultimately
free! At some point we need to get a grip and demand the freedom of
this innocent man.
Lastly, I remind all of you as I remind myself everyday that we must
not allow our adversaries to wag the tail of a dog and allow them to
spoon-feed us with their deceiving lie that America does not have any
political prisoners.
I am before you today in spirit to express to you that the only way
Mumia will be free is for all of us to mobilize like never before and
demand that freedom he and all of our freedom fighters so rightfully
deserve. We must let them know that we will never give up! There is
NO compromise!
FREE MUMIA NOW!!!
This was read at the Partisan Defense Committee's Holiday Appeal held
on December 13, 2008 in New York City.
Jamal has been incarcerated since 1996. Please write to show a brother
some love at the following address:
Jamal Hart #50597-066
FCI Loretto
P.O. Box 1000
Loretto, PA 15940-1000
WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM?
by: Jamal Hart
“Known worldwide as an almost mythical birthplace of liberty, the hope
and freedom acted as a kind of psychic magnet, drawing the poor and
oppressed from the class-bound aristocracies of Europe in rivers of
emigration as well as Black captives escaping from southern bondage
and Black freedmen and women fleeing a humiliating and soul-sapping
southern apartheid. The Philadelphia that the stalwart Frederick
Douglass beheld with snarled contempt would more than double in size
in half a century rising from 650,000 people in 1860 to 1.5 million by
1914.”
-“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn. Quoted from
“We Want Freedom” by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Firstly, I would like to take this time to request a moment of silence
for all of our fallen heroes and sheroes who made the ultimate
sacrifice for our freedom against the oppression of this wicked
injustice system among innocent people.
I humbly would like to thank each and every one of you who came out in
support of this year’s Class-War Prisoners event. Your solidarity is
greatly respected. I give the greeting in many tongues to everyone in
attendance by saying As-Salaam-Alaikum, Hotep, Ona MOVE, and Greetings
to the masses who sacrificed their time to attend this important
event. You have been chosen to become informed, abreast and intuned
with a constant struggle that connects us all. I thank the Partisan
Defense Committee for their massive support and love over the years
throughout this atrocious ordeal. I stand in total solidarity with
the labor force and with all people who take a stand against injustice
and oppression.
I want you all to know that I have been constantly pushing for
liberation quite vigorously and many of you inspire me to push harder
and remember the words of a great freedom fighter Sis. Harriet Tubman
who said, “I started with this idea in my head. There’s two things I
have a right to: Death or Liberty.” (Quoted from the book “We Want
Freedom” by Mumia Abu-Jamal).
From the beginning, as many of you know all too well, we are fighting
for Mumia Abu-Jamal to be exonerated to freedom. We the people here
today and abroad will not compromise in the liberation and freedom of
him from behind enemy lines. The supporters constantly expressed this
urgent message: FREEDOM OVER A NEW TRIAL!
So many times we have witnessed the vile injustice orchestrated in
those so-called rooms of justice (AKA the courtrooms). Too many have
been unjustly persecuted and railroaded either because of the color of
their skin, a poor person or even a combination of both. God forbid
they publicly oppose this outright oppression! They will be
prosecuted, ridiculed and even have their character defamed to a
demoralized state by this mendacious legal system.
By you being here today either to support this movement or join it for
the first time, you are showing your awareness and solidarity to
expose and demolish the unsavory racist courts the police state and
racist Death Penalty Act that feeds off the working poor. We must
collaborate and fight to achieve the one goal to free Mumia and all of
our freedom fighters including myself from behind enemy lines.
The senseless murders at the hands of these racist rogue law
enforcement officers nationwide are robbing the lives of our youth,
women and men to feed their taste for blood like vampires. We cannot
allow these injustices to go unchecked and accept their lies thereby
causing their behavior to be justified.
The Courts from the lower level to the Supreme Court wants to act as
if they cannot see that Mumia Abu Jamal is innocent. All of the
evidence is clear and convincing and it is either overlook or
dismissed by these rogue courts. However, when a rogue police officer
opens fire on innocent working class people and immigrants, somehow
they get swift justice and are freed of all charges.
As a man who didn’t think twice to become the voice of the voiceless,
Mumia stepped up to the plate to expose this demonic system. A system
that was and still continues to enforce intense oppression on African
Americans throughout this nation by murderous police officers who hide
their venomous ways behind their shields. It then allows them to
freely practice corruption, extortion and murder among other
unpleasantries. A prime example of this is what happened on Osage
Avenue on May 13th, 1985 where 11 MOVE members were brutally murdered
by this murderous government. Another example is the attempted
assassination of my dear father Mumia on December 9th, 1981 in
downtown Philly when these rogue police officers not only shot him,
but beat him even while inside the emergency room of Jefferson
University Hospital. WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM?
Comrades, the only way we will get freedom for our political prisoners
who are suffering in the prison hells of this country is to come
together becoming a solid force for the poor and working class. We
must reach one to teach one and educate the masses on the political
history of America’s oppression.
Many of you assisted in change history in America by voting for the
first African-American President showing the world that anything is
possible in America. As that was an accomplishment, so should the
goal of galvanizing the people and educate them on the case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal and too many more being railroaded by a mendacious legal
system.
Comrades, we all know that these are trying times. We must step up to
the plate and push harder until my dear father Mumia is ultimately
free! At some point we need to get a grip and demand the freedom of
this innocent man.
Lastly, I remind all of you as I remind myself everyday that we must
not allow our adversaries to wag the tail of a dog and allow them to
spoon-feed us with their deceiving lie that America does not have any
political prisoners.
I am before you today in spirit to express to you that the only way
Mumia will be free is for all of us to mobilize like never before and
demand that freedom he and all of our freedom fighters so rightfully
deserve. We must let them know that we will never give up! There is
NO compromise!
FREE MUMIA NOW!!!
This was read at the Partisan Defense Committee's Holiday Appeal held
on December 13, 2008 in New York City.
Jamal has been incarcerated since 1996. Please write to show a brother
some love at the following address:
Jamal Hart #50597-066
FCI Loretto
P.O. Box 1000
Loretto, PA 15940-1000
