Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

Emcee: William Kunstler is a longtime civil rights activist. He has long been active in First Amendment and civil rights cases.

William Kunstler: Before I read my portion, I just want to indicate a couple of things. Three years after Mumia was on death row, the city of Philadelphia, through its mayor, who happened to have been an old client of mine, Wilson Goode, dropped a fire bomb on the MOVE house in Philadelphia to further an eviction of MOVE from their premises. 11 people were incinerated, several of them babies, and 62 Black homes were burnt down.

I went down to Philadelphia. I represented the descendants, or heirs, of those who were killed, but more importantly, we filed a petition with the local court in Philadelphia asking that the Mayor, the Chief of Police, and others be indicted under a statute which is murder in the fourth degree for extremely gross, negligent homicide. Of course, a judge dismissed the petition, and the judge’s name was Judge Sabo. Judge Sabo was the judge who presided over Mumia’s trial. They could murder 11 people, burn down 62 homes and not one soul will answer to any court, to any jury, to any judge for that outright murder. They go free – Mumia was then entering his fourth year on death row.

As you know, many of you, he was invited by National Public Radio, All Things Considered, our liberal so-called “bastion.” They retained him for 12 three-minute commentaries. They canceled them. None of them were aired, and they canceled them because the police claimed that you couldn’t put a convicted murderer, or shouldn’t, on the airwaves. And so his 12 three-minute segments were never heard. All Things Considered, and NPR could not reach down and find the necessary courage to air this man’s words. So we will air them here. I’m going to read one of those that would have gone over the air had they lived up to their commitment. It’s called “Acting Like Life’s a Ball Game.”

These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.