My mom has been gone for over 15 years. Mother’s Day is therefore, bittersweet to me. That’s also so because of May 13, 1985 when MOVE mothers, fathers, and children were bombed, burned, and shot to death by minions of the state in Philadelphia. Mother’s Day has a somewhat mixed meaning for me now. In other ways, and on other days, I marvel at the power of mothers to bring forth, teach, shape, and lovingly mold all of us, into living, thinking, and hopefully feeling, sensitive beings. Several days ago, a major TV network reported that, if a mother’s work was put into today’s dollar terms, her annual wage would be about 150,000 bucks. Sounds about right. In fact, it’s a bargain, for the work that they do. Mother’s Day should be more than a day for cards, roses, dinners, or expressions of maudlin feelings. Mother’s Day should be what mothers are about; life and love. How about a day-long global moratorium on war, on violence, both state and personal, and on conflict? Well, there’s certainly different cultures where Mother’s Day isn’t celebrated. It shouldn’t take too long to spread it around. Mothers aren’t limited to Americans. Moms come in every nation, African, Asian, Latin, and European. It’s moms, who make us human. Why not try being human to celebrate them? Moms will love that. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are produced by Noel Hanrahan for Prison Radio
