Alice Walker: (Applause) I grew up in Georgia, and you kind of had to be active to get out of there, at the time. Anyway, I’m so happy to see you. It’s really wonderful to see you. You’ve no idea. (Deep sigh) I went to see Mumia a long time ago. I was sitting there trying to remember what decade it was, what prison it was, because I went to two different prisons. He was moved from one to a second one. But what I remember really clearly…
Unidentified speaker: Huntington.
Alice Walker: What?
Unidentified speaker: Huntington.
Alice Walker: Huntington? Wasn’t there one with the green in there somewhere, green, with the green, with the green something. I went to two. Anyway, what I remember, and what was worth remembering was him, gorgeous, really. And, you know, they make prisoners come through these doors. I guess there are a lot of them, and they strip search people, even though they know that there’s nothing back there in the prison that they would have been able to bring out into where they can talk to you, but they’d done that to him.
And they make them really try to hold up their clothing, you know. You’ve seen this, probably on television (ambient noise), but I had never seen this. So, here comes this gorgeous man, you know, with his chains and seeming to hold his clothing. And I was prepared to be really distressed and upset, and I had felt all of these things because, actually, they had already taken away my bra because it had metal in it. I mean, really like, what would you do with a bra to get someone out of prison? Anyway, (laughter) there I was. And what was so amazing was really important call that day, (laughter) Helsinki (laughter).
Anyway, but what was so remarkable was that I think I was more depressed than he was, or he was trying really beautifully, to keep my spirits from sinking through the floor. I am the kind of person who feels you from thousands of miles away, you know, but just to be sure, I will get on my bicycle and I will go ten thousand miles to see your face, because I really, really want to experience a wonder, basically. That’s what I’ve decided after all these years, that my feeling of enjoyment of beauty is what I treasure deeply.
So, I went and there he was. And he was this brother. You know, he was this brother of our dreams, really kind, even in his condition, you know, bringing forth all of the grace, all of the generosity, (deep sigh) you know, all of that goodness that we hope so much to find in people after we’ve traveled so far and had so many hopes that this person will be who he is. This person will be who she is. So, there we were looking through, you know, all these panes of plastic or glass or whatever they are, as if he could get out. I mean, the prison system, really. We have to get rid of the prisons (applause).
And the person who has the best thinking on this, how we do that, is sitting here, Angela (applause). This woman, has burned much midnight oil trying to figure out how to demolish the prison system. It is so rancid. It is so rotten. It is so, you know, we don’t deserve that. We don’t. I don’t care what we’ve done. We don’t deserve what they’ve set up to punish us. We do not, and it’s stupid. It never enlightens us. It never makes us better people. I mean, if you want to really help someone, transform them. Help them transform into something else, you know. Don’t make them suffer in this way that our system or their system is set up. Anyway, so since that time of meeting Mumia, I have been, you know, very supportive of his writing, of his thinking, of you know, trying to support him in any way that I can, and being always so amazed by the support of Pam Africa and the Africa family.
I had been out of the country when the MOVE house was bombed, and I remember standing on a street, wherever I was in this country, wherever it is, not being able to fully comprehend how in our country they could just bomb a neighborhood with people in it, with children in it, and somehow, you know, act like they could justify it. Can you imagine?
Unidentified speaker: Exactly.
Alice Walker: Can you imagine? I mean, we don’t have to imagine it. This is how we live. They do these horrible things, and then they act as if they’re fine, you know. It’s like killing all these children in Yemen, you know, and somehow, you know, it’s a terrible thing if one person here does something bad, we focus on that, but not on the fact that you just killed, what is it? 28,000 children? So, I am delighted to be able to speak about this person who I hope will be out among us very soon (applause).
I’ve been thinking about what it is that I would like to see him do first thing, you know, walking along somewhere. Would it be watching the sunset, you know, across a pond? Would it be talking to children under a tree? Would it be cuddling with someone he loves? Would it be? What would it be? What would that be like after all these years? And then the other thing that has really intrigued me is how there are certain people in the world, that no matter what is said about them, what awful thing is said about them, you just know it doesn’t apply. And that is one of the things about Mumia. You know, not many people in this room have even seen him, and yet we feel, we feel so strongly that this is a decent person, that this is a good person, that this is someone that we need, you know. We need him. You know, we have to have some people in this world who are willing to be the example of what we can be, and Mumia is one of those people.
You know, there he is. Now, just think about all of the newscasts that he puts out there that most of us have heard. I mean, you know, there’s a saying, ‘Work is love made manifest.’ The man loves us. He would not be doing all that he does if he didn’t love us. And how good this is for us. We need to be loved, you know, we need, we need to have people like Mumia. You know, it’s not — he works a lot. And sometimes you can think of people working a lot, you think, “Oh, they just — he’s in prison, or what else is he going to do?” or “He’s a workaholic,” or this or that or the other thing you say about people who do stuff, but basically, when you work night and day in ill health, good health, whatever health, you’re working. Basically your fuel has to be love. It has to be. And that is why we feel.
You know, people in this room, we haven’t given up. We’ll never give up. You know, I was thinking that, “Why am I always with these people (laughter) with such odd memories?” (Laughter) But it’s because that is just how it is. I mean, you end up, you know – -I’m now old enough to see kind of how you end up, but you end up with, with the people who belong with you. And it’s such a beautiful thing to finally see that, that you struggling, you know, when you’re in your 20s, God knows. Hoo, I wouldn’t go back there. Your 30s, your 40s, you’re trying, you’re working, you’re doing your best, you know, you’re struggling, you’re trying to understand, you know, what is this about? It’s so hard sometimes, and people, goodness knows. All of us in here, I mean, we’ve had it, all of us, right, people. There’s always something wrong with us, but we keep going, you know, we keep going. And in a couple of days, after somebody slapped us down, we get up and we’re actually cheerful, you know, as if to say, “Take that. I’m going to dance. Screw you.” (Laughter)
So, that is a great comfort to know that this man that we love so much, you know, why we’re here, he loves us back. He loves us. And that is so incredible. You know, he’s in there, you know, being mistreated. He’s writing these books, and he’s so bold. Don’t you love that about Mumia. He’s just so freaking forward. ( Applause) You know, they run their little lying newscasts out there for everybody to be completely confused by. And then Mumia will, sitting there in his cell, look right through all of it and send us out the real truth about whatever is happening. And I always wonder about that. I think, “Well, don’t these prison wardens or guards or whoever they are, don’t they ever read anything?” But apparently not. (Laughter)
So, I am just quietly delighted to be here with all of you, because you know we’re loved by someone really marvelous and great, and that keeps us going in our lives. It’s a great gift. And the other thing that we remember is that actually, in every generation, or sometimes just every 100 years, life gives us this. And think about that, what a wonderful, rare, amazing thing that is, that we’re not forgotten. We’re not alone. We have someone who is going to show us really what it can mean to be a human being on this planet with a loving heart and a great soul. (Applause)
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan.
