Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

As the first phase of the trial of police officer Daniel Holdzclaw comes to a close, one is forced to take stock of what the trial and it’s (lack of) coverage means.

Holdzclaw, a 28- year old white Oklahoma cop, was recently convicted of 18 charges of sexual assault, rape, sodomy and related offenses, the targeting and raping of some 13 Black women, from teens to a woman in her 50s!

An Oklahoma jury recommended the man be sentenced to some 260 years in prison!

If you winked, however, you would’ve missed it.

A serial rapist — of 13 females! When isn’t that a story?!

When the 13 woman are Black women.

Only one cable network, the Black-owned TV1 news program, hosted by former CNN contributor Roland Martin, covered the case, using internet reports from persons in court.

No one else. Not one.

Why not? Apparently, Black Lives Don’t Matter.

Holdzclaw used his uniform, his badge, his service revolver, to stop, intimidate, and rape over a dozen women – sometimes in his own patrol vehicle – and amazingly, he raped a teenager on her porch!

And people wonder why cops can’t be trusted!

It took DNA and GPS evidence to bust this dude; but how can anyone even contemplate something so sick?

Easy. Most of the victims were poor Black women; some charged with being sex worker, others charged with drug violations — in other words, the vulnerable!

This cop carefully chose those who he knew had no social power, and little ability to resist.

And media silence reinforced that negative narrative; by belittling the worth of these women.

If they had covered it, they would’ve cast a harsh national light on police practices.

They chose not to.

Like a cop standing over a body in the road, they essentially said “Keep moving. There’s nothing to see here …keep it moving.”