My name is Mumia Abu Jamal. I’m a journalist, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and an African American. I live in the fastest growing public housing tract in America. In 1981, I was a reporter for WUHY FM and President of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. Currently I’m a writer, a public radio commentator, and a resident on Pennsylvania’s death row for more than 15 years.
Second Speaker
To break free is to begin to heal the broken inner self
to save the soul from dancing with Shaitan but you see the battle wages on
the battle wages beyond as we sit unified, in trying to identify
minutes are ticking away and seconds fly by,
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and I can hear the piercing cry for freedom and thinking twice about staying and dying
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Signing on a petition, posting a flyer. Speaking out for what’s right, raising your hand to question what’s wrong
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and thinking twice could lose yet
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another life
Mumia Abu Jamal, sits fraying beyond the solitary confines of his cell walls for crimes he never committed
but instead
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for words he admitted
speaking out, for the silence
teaching others to find strength
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fighting back against brutality
standing up against injustice,
Mumia Abu Jamal, a people’s hero sits,
awaiting an unwarranted execution.
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signed by injustices draped in death cloths.
Minutes are ticking away and seconds fly by
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let me bring it back home.
He is innocent
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Kang Chang Cow, an innocent civilian. Asian man shot to death in shady Sonoma County circumstances by brutal badges in front of his own home
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They claimed to appear to take a threatening martial arts stance
Kang Chang Cow, father husband neighbor hero to his children.
Let me bring it back home. He is innocent.
As we sit unified and trying to identify
minutes are ticking away and seconds fly by but you see the battle wages on
the battle wages beyond
to break free is to begin to heal the broken inner self
To break free is to save the soul from dancing with Shaitan.
But you see the battle wages on
the battle wages beyond
to break free is to learn about the self
to learn to extend the self
to extend the self beyond the systematic doctrines they feed you
beyond these city walls
beyond your circle of friends
to extend the self to fight for freedom
to fight a system that enlists soldiers to step on those deemed less than pure
to release our rage
unleash our voices
refuse and resist
stand in solidarity.
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Those who persist
to deny us our right to cry for justice,
to fight for freedom
to live for peace.
to live for peace.
As we sit unified in trying to identify
minutes are ticking away and seconds fly by.
Mumia Abu Jamal 2:54
From death row this is Mumia Abu Jamal
