Longshore union interviews Mumia Abu-Jamal
'The struggle for justice goes on'
The following is excerpted from a written interview with
political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal by Jack Heyman, member of
the International Longshore Workers Union Local 10. The
interview appeared in the February 1999 issue of The
Dispatcher--the ILWU newspaper. The ILWU, through resolutions
from its organizational divisions and letters from its
International presidents, has been supporting the case of Mumia
Abu-Jamal for 10 years. Mumia, in turn, from death row, was one
of the prominent endorsers of ILWU's victorious Neptune Jade
case.
The Dispatcher: West Coast maritime employers
attempted by the use of cops and courts to intimidate labor
activist picketers and the ILWU from demonstrating
international labor solidarity in the Neptune Jade case. In the
end we won by organizing a broad united front of individuals
concerned with the erosion of democratic rights and the labor
movement, mobilizing maritime and other workers for action here
and around the world. Do you think similar tactics could be
applied in your defense?
MUMIA: I think a "broad united front" may prove effective in
labor actions and in human rights movements on broader social
issues. Can it be applied in my case? Yes. For the efforts of
the state are designed to isolate us, to construct barriers
between us. All that we can do to demolish those walls is to
the good.
During the recent ABC-TV lock-out of NABET/CWA workers,
you refused to be interviewed by strikebreakers on the news
program "20/20" despite the fact that publicity may have helped
your case. Why?
I had to ask myself, "Would I cross a picket line if I were
living in quasi-freedom, and walking to the studio?" The answer
was an irrevocable, "no."
You joined the Black Panther Party in the 1960s at the
age of 15 and held the position of Minister of Information.
Some 10 years later you were an activist in and elected
president of the Association of Black Journalists in
Philadelphia. As a working journalist you exposed racism and
police brutality. Do you think the police targeted you because
of your work as a journalist?
I think there is no question that I was known and hated [by
the police] for my work as much as for my history. Moreover,
the District Attorney fought frantically--and the clever judge
denied him every time, saying it threatened a reversal--to
introduce, at every phase of the trial, my BPP background to
the predominantly white jury.
Judge Sabo who presided over your trial was known as the
"King of Death Row" for having handed down more death sentences
than any other judge in this country. Since he has been forced
into retirement has this increased your chance for a fair
trial?
Unfortunately, no. The state system allowed him to do his
damage, and then retired him. As a life member of the FOP
[Fraternal Order of Police], he was well placed to do their
bidding. The courts have found that my membership in the BPP
justified my death, but when Sabo was challenged by defense
counsel about his membership in the FOP, his defense was that
he was only a member "for a few years."
In 1995 the scandal of the Philadelphia police department
was front-page news across the U.S.--framing up of innocent
people, corruption, police brutality. Three hundred convictions
were thrown out and many innocent victims set free. This was
followed by an exposé of routine jury rigging by the
Philadelphia District Attorney's office to exclude Blacks. Can
you tell us a few of the more egregious violations during your
arrest, imprisonment and trial?
The police department has said, and the DA's office has
seconded, that neither I nor my brother were beaten. That flies
in the face of logic. They then constructed, out of whole
cloth, a false "confession," claiming that they forgot it for a
few months. They rejected almost every potential Black juror
that came in the door. They assembled a jury composed of
friends and family of cops, tried before a member of the FOP in
black robes, and arranged an appeal before an appeals court
where one "justice"--the same one who served as DA on my direct
appeal--admitted at least five other judges had accepted FOP
"support" in their election campaigns.
When a benefit was held for your defense in July 1995, at
the Philadelphia Hospital and Health Care Workers Union Local
1199C, 300 armed cops besieged the union hall screaming for
your execution. Do you think that police brutality,
particularly against Blacks, is part of a larger system of
repression?
Police are agents of the ruling class, and, as such,
soldiers who serve their interests. They exist, not to protect
the people, but to protect capital. What role do they perform
when workers strike? What role do they perform when the people
demonstrate against any social injustice? Their job is to wage
war against the people, and to instill terror against
anyone--anyone--who resists against the system.
Where does your struggle go from here?
The struggle goes on as it must for freedom, for liberation,
for a peoples' justice that only they can give. Ona Move! Long
Live John Africa!
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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