[col. writ. 2/10/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal   One day, one day relatively quite soon, the administration under President Barack Hussein Obama will come to an end, and enter the realm of history. Eight years will have passed, true. But it will pass with a swiftness that is difficult to articulate. Barack Obama, son of a Kenyan goatherd and unsuccessful civil servant, this most unlikely of candida...

  [col. writ. 2/213] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal If we examine today’s public school systems, especially those in Black and Latina communities, it is hard to envision a system that could be worse, or more dysfunctional. We have, in fact, a mis-education system, one designed to do more harm than good. Many cities are experiencing a 50% drop out rate. In cities like Baltimore, these dropout rates soar ...

  [Speech writ. 1/30/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal I’ve been asked to write on education and incarceration and the linkages between them. I’ve heard and read of the ‘pipeline’ between the two; but I don’t really agree with this imagery. I’ll tell you why: several days ago, I received a letter from a young man who dropped out of school around the 10th grade. Why? It isn’t just that he was bored, but...

[col. writ. 1/20/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal   For the second time in American history, a Black man takes the office of U.S. President – a feat not thought possible just a few years ago. The re-election of Barack Hussein Obama to the nation’s highest office is indeed a watershed moment and a tribute to a man who is a true master of the game of politics. Few politicians could’ve prevailed against th...

    ([4mk 1/30/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal Marpessa Kupendua is an internet warrior, who, with lightning keystrokes, fights racists, rednecks and dragons – and she has been doing so for years. She and I, and her husband Jahfree, have known each other since our young adulthood. And she has been, and is, this movement’s Ida B.Wells-Barnett-writer, agitator, organizer, journalist, and activist –reb...

  [col. writ. 1/18/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal Several years ago, in a hotly contested case, Brown v.Plata, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to uphold a lower court ruling declaring California’s state prisons an unconstitutional violation, which threatened the mental and physical health of prisoners. One of the reasons for this declaration of unconstitutionality was the state’s overcrowding situati...

  [mem. Writ. 12/18/12] ©’12 Mumia Abu-Jamal   Unless you lived in North Philly, in the projects east of Richard Allen, and north of Spring Garden, perhaps the name of Ruth ‘Ma’ Ballard would be unfamiliar to you. But if you lived there; if you had the pleasure of knowing her, of seeing her smile, of hearing her sweet southern voice, you’d know that you’ve met someone special.   Children of the n...

  (Memor. Writ. 1/9/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal The news struck like thunder in bright sunlight. Unexpected. Unbelievable. Shocking. David Wycoff, anti-death penalty lawyer, died suddenly on Saturday, January 6th, completely unexpectedly. For years, he worked at the Philadelphia Capital Habeas Unit, where he practiced as a defense lawyer for the most defenseless of people: those on Death Row. He ...

  [col. writ. 1/6/13] © ’13 Mumia Abu-Jamal If we listened to, or watched, corporate media, we heard a giant sigh of relief when the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ was narrowly averted. But as we’ve said, the whole shebang was a congressional creation; a work of political theatre and false alarm to protect those at the very top – the wealthy (and super wealthy). What is lost here is that all the ...

  [PSA writ. 12/30/12] © ’12 Mumia Abu-Jamal On April 4, one year to the day of his assassination, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made one of his finest speeches as he denounced poverty, violence and imperial war. He did it at a place called Riverside Church in Manhattan. It’s time to return to Riverside – this time for a Gala Celebration for the Int’l Action Center’s 20th anniversary and the...