Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

And here we go again.

A man armed with semi-automatic weapons unleashes his pent-up rage and alienation on his fellow Americans. He kills nearly a dozen people – men, women and babies – and wounds scores of others.
It need not be said that he is American. That is presumed. And while events such as these occasionally occur in other lands (as in Norway a year ago), they are most often an American expression.

Now, Aurora, Colorado joins the parade of death, of Columbine, of Virginia Tech and other points of massacre.

According to police accounts, the accused dyed his hair red, and called himself “The Joker”, a mad villainous character from the comic book-made-movie series figure, “Batman”.
“The Joker” slays a dozen people.

What next, the Penguin?

How utterly American!
There is something dark and foreboding in the American soul. A lust for violence that has not been sated by the genocide of Indian tribes, nor centuries of the legalized terrorism waged against Africans; nor the numerous wars waged abroad.

It is in our religious hymns, our national anthem, our entertainment and in our psyches.

War.

Violence.

Death.

Destruction.

It is in our Imperial foreign policy, and in our domestic policy (think prison industrial complex), as well.

And now, like a tennis championship title, a new name is etched on the memory of millions of Americans.

Aurora, Colorado.

Score: 12 and 59.

We’re No. 1!

Again.