The neoliberal era and the new war on Black America. Punish him for writing, although they couldn’t prevent him from becoming aīeacon of light for the greatly diminished progressive movement at the dawn of andĪbroad, Mumia continued his work as a militant journalist live from death row. State’s larger counterrevolution against progressive movements in the U.S.

The MOVE community organization, murdering 11 men, women, and children,Īfter his unjust incarceration, which was part of the Of Philadelphia that the city felt confident to mobilize its deadly force on Local coverage that it was only after his arrest and removal from the streets Would also earn a Peabody Award in radio journalism. Marked by the state for neutralization, as he noted in the 1993 interview, but Other than the fact, of course, that through the Party I was trained in that field and was able to write from a revolutionary perspective. And they have inherent worth as human beings…This is the kind of consciousness that drove me toward journalism. When media journalism and propaganda is used to reflect a positive side of people, the side of people resisting oppression, the side of people’s inherent worth, no matter what their property or economic value is, then that in itself is revolutionary, because this system tends to denigrate people who are poor-when most people on the planet are poor. When one reads the daily press or listens to what is broadcast on the regular “white” radio stations and TV stations, you will perceive a picture, a slanted picture of Black life that reflects it in the most improper terms. …a tool to change people’s consciousness, a tool to give people insight, and in another way a kind of affirmation that their lives have value and purpose. In his explanation Mumia reveals important, practical insights about militant journalism, which he sees as

In a 1993 interview, Mumia explains his views on journalism and how it can be mobilized as a powerful political tool as part of the process of building a mass movement. As a former member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP, Mumia learned the art of militant or revolutionary journalism at a young age.Īfter the Panthers Mumia continued his work as a militant journalist reporting on Philadelphia’s peoples’ movements and the state’s deadly repression against them. He’s spent the majority of those years on death row. Mumia Abu-Jamal has spent nearly 40 years unjustly imprisoned after he was framed and convicted of killing a white police officer in Philadelphia. This article accompanies Liberation School’s new study guide for Mumia Abu-Jamal’s book, Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?

Live from Death Row by Mumia Abu-Jamal