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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 2, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Mumia's voice heard at Million Family March
On Oct. 16, hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the Mall in Washington for the Million Family March. The event was organized by the Nation of Islam, the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and many other groups.
The All-Peoples Congress and the International Action Center distributed over 15,000 bulletins about the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal at the march. They also handed out flyers in solidarity with the Palestinian uprising and others calling for an upcoming pro-Abu-Jamal, anti-repression demonstration at the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2001.
Activists reported very positive response from the crowd. Many signed up to go back and organize for Abu-Jamal in their own communities. "We see the march as a positive sign that the fight against racism and economic injustice is growing," said an organizer from the Baltimore APC.
The marchers also heard Abu-Jamal's voice. An audio taped message from the former Black Panther was played from the stage.
Abu-Jamal said, "Although we all come from various and differing perspectives, faiths and beliefs, our problems seem to be far more similar than different. When a Black man gets pulled over for the unwritten offense of DWB, or Driving While Black, it doesn't matter if that driver is a cop or a cosmetologist, a Muslim or a Methodist, a Republican or a Rastafarian.
"The late great Malcolm X explained that our repression didn't stem from our various religious, political or fraternal associations, but from our being Black in a white supremacist and racist nation. That truth has not changed.
"Do you really think that voting for one or the other politician that's running for president will really mean anything close to liberation for our people? The party which once carried Lincoln's flag is now the party of the right wing. The party which now claims most Black voters once openly called itself the white man's party. They've changed masks, but their objective remains the same--white supremacy.
"The politics of the prison industrial complex, the politics of the death penalty, the politics of repression--do you think that will change because you pull a little tiny lever in November? Change will come when we fight for our families. For as Frederick Douglass taught us, power concedes nothing without demand. He also taught us that without struggle there is no progress."
--Sharon Black Ceci
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