Mimi Rosenberg: Welcome to Sprouts: Radio From the Grassroots, a weekly program that showcases radio production by independent community media. We bring you local stories to a global audience, produced at a different location each week. I’m Mimi Rosenberg of WBAI 99.5 FM Radio in New York and the tri state areas. Today on Sprouts, we spotlight the unstoppable movement demanding freedom for world renowned journalist, author and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, presently writing his doctoral thesis on Frantz Fanon; an innocent man who has spent decades behind bars, enduring state repression, medical neglect and the elder abuse that so many aging prisoners face.
This is a fight, brick by brick and wall by wall to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, 71 years old and behind the walls 42 years — 29 plus years in solitary. This is a time to march, to march, to march to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Joining us are Noel Hanrahan, lawyer, investigator and founder director of Prison Radio, who has brought Mumia to the airwaves of the Pacifica network and has amplified it worldwide ever since; Dr. Ricardo Alvarez, longtime physician for Mumia and organizer with P.E.A.C.E., a group dedicated to parole justice, ending elder abuse, ensuring care and exposing systemic neglect in prisons; and Steve Bernhaut, architect of the 100 mile march for Mumia’s freedom, a member of Newark’s People’s Organization for Progress, who credits the Pacifica airwaves with helping to shape his political consciousness. While together, they shine a fierce light on the struggle to win freedom, care and justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal and for all political prisoners. But S.O.S. for Mumia.
Mimi Rosenberg: First, a message from Mumia Abu-Jamal, the griot freedom fighter, for equal rights and justice. 71 years – 42 years behind the walls, 29 plus in segregation.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: When we shine that bright light, we will symbolically, literally and figuratively, open the eyes of many. And there are guys walking around right now who have glaucoma, who have eye damage, who have lens damage, who have retinal damage, due to diabetes. And all of that can be treated, can be cured, or at least held at bay for a pittance. You know, laser surgery is about $7,000, right? And we’ve been waiting eight months. It could have been, you know, $1,000 a month on layaway (laughing) and taken care of months ago, and it wouldn’t be a problem, right? But when you wait, wait, wait, things get worse, worse, worse. And that, I think, goes back to the question of a medical model. We need to question the medical model. And you know, the job of health care in these vast institutions, amidst mass incarceration, is not to make money for private companies, but to serve the health needs of men who cannot have their health needs served by anyone else. They shouldn’t be profiteering. They should be serving the health needs of this aging population. And so, when we shine that bright light we will symbolically, literally and figuratively, open the eyes of many. With love, not fear. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mimi Rosenberg: This was one of the first times that I’ve heard Mumia, a bit circuitously, but nevertheless, referencing his own medical needs. He is so generous a spirit, so magnanimous. Noel, who has been the collector and projector of Mumia’s voice for decades, why you thought it was important to play this particular piece of sound from Mumia? And Noel, thank you, thank you.
Noelle Hanrahan: Mumia has always been a journalist who is really speaking from the community and speaking to people that need information, and he’s never held back. And so, when he was on the streets working in Philadelphia, when he was reporting for WHYY in the national news, he was somebody who we relied on. And I think, after his incarceration, after his frame up for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981, he continued to reach out to us, and he continued to engage us, and he continued to report. Like you said, Mimi, most of his material is an analysis of society that helps us, that educates us, that walks with us as we do what we do in this world, to try and make this world a better place, and to resist oppression and to resist the kinds of forces that have been trying to tamp down our communities. Mumia was with us when he was out here. He was with us when he was inside, and the testimony to the power of his voice is the kind of censorship he faces, which is extreme. And in this moment when we’re organizing the march, and when Steve is organizing the march, and when people are turning their attention to Mumia Abu-Jamal, he speaks of two things.
He speaks of his own inability to get health care inside, his being blind for no reason, no reason. There was no medical reason for him to have not received treatment immediately in November and December and January of last year for post cataract surgery, which is easy. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t have received that. Now he’s expanding it to all of the other inmates and people inside prison who need that treatment, who are blind, who the prison knows are blind, but not receiving treatment. We kind of call that the Mumia effect. When we stand up for Mumia’s rights inside to get medical care, we enable many more people to get that. So, that piece is because he still is facing the possibility of severe loss of eyesight, because he is — when we got an expert to review his records in June, in June, even though he’d been suffering for eight months, when we were able to get an expert to review the records, he came up with additional issues that they should have caught earlier; diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma that need treatment and currently he is not receiving treatment. But he’s the person that we count on to give us information and to work with, and we will leave no one behind. And it’s not enough just to produce Mumia’s books and his audio commentaries, it’s deeply important for us to understand that he needs to be released. He needs to get out of prison. So, I think that is our goal, and we are on the way towards that goal, very much so.
Mimi Rosenberg: Dr. Ricardo Alvarez, help us understand, as a longtime physician, working with Mumia; can can you talk about, yes, your relationship with him, and also your work with with P.E.A.C.E, focusing on what you’ve defined as elder abuse and the medical neglect of aging prisoners that shapes the urgency of bringing home Mumia now?
Dr. Ricardo Alvarez: Thank you so much for this invitation. One of the things that I think Mumia always teaches, and I had not seen him for some probably 25 years, and the first time I actually saw him in person when I went to visit him, was messages of gratitude. So, we really ground ourselves in gratitude. And I have to say that in terms of what I understand to be my medical relationship, I just want to take a moment and just to acknowledge that Mumia is surrounded by powerful women healers. So, I just want to take a moment and say, and you know what I mean? I mean showing up day after day. And you know, Pam Africa is a central elder within the movement who really encourages us to make the kinds of connections across disciplines, professions, to work together in a way where we ground ourselves in what’s a love story.
Mumia’s essential message is a health message; that it is healthy for us to see each other in a light in which we see beauty in another. And he, as a prisoner in captivity, is in relationship to a state for which, as a trauma informed medical professional of 30 years experience, I can tell you, you know, compellingly speaks about a level of abuse for which he has such a legitimate basis of institutional distrust that it’s actually healthy for him to have a deep understanding of just how much harm he has suffered to the very organs of his body. And I think what shifted in the movement is– and I want to say this is an international movement.
So right now, and Steve’s going to speak to this, it’s all-hands-on- deck for Philly. Philly is a unique place in the history of penology in this country and Mumia is right at the center of the origin myth of this nation. That’s where he came up. Those are his grounds. And I think what’s happening now is I see such a deep maturity in the movement, in the way in which people are working respectfully and understanding the challenges to say, ‘Hey, when we orient around’ speaking as Jalil Mutakim says, ‘the language of the oppressor,’ through data, through analysis, we really have in the last decade, two decades, very rich literature and policy statements that tell a story of institutional elder abuse that’s basically rooted in the reality that our elders are safe for return. Mumia tells that story beautifully in terms of examining the youth. I want to pause there just to allow a chance for Steve to speak as well, but that was beautiful Noel, what a spot on, that piece, and that’s some of the medicine that Mumia gives us.
Mimi Rosenberg: Well, Mumia is poetry, and he inspires as much from certainly you, Dr. Alvarez and from Noel Hanrahan and Steve Bernhaut. For you, because the march that you’re organizing and are the architect of, the March for Mumia, to unite to free Mumia and all political prisoners, is a poetry of the soul of the movement. How were you first drawn into the struggle for Mumia’s freedom, and what inspired you to help organize this 100, at least, mile march that’s mobilizing communities to bring Mumia home?
Steve Bernhaut: As you mentioned, where my political education came from originally — listening to WBAI in the airways of Pacifica and learning about mass incarceration, hearing Mumia, his voice, slowly but surely reading his books and hearing his short commentary that really dismantled American exceptionalism and the historical myths of this country that I was taught at university and the way I was educated, I started to realize I was missing a big component. So, being moved by Mumia, over the last 20 years, I’ve been going down to Philly a lot to support whether it was court hearings or rallies, whatever. And then it culminated this July 3, when we were in Philadelphia and we were marching through the streets, and I saw the solidarity that Mumia received, whether it was the sanitation workers that were on strike at the time, or the teachers’ union that was supporting the striking workers, the community was for Mumia. And the idea came, ‘how can we bring this outside of Philly?’ We knew that Philadelphia knew about Mumia, but how do we bring it to the rest of Pennsylvania? And that’s where the idea of the march came from.
It’s a 103 mile march from Philadelphia to SCI Mahanoy, over 12 days, starting Black Friday, November 28, and arriving at the correctional institution in Frackville on December 9. And information is on marchformumia.org – people can go there to learn how to participate, either on a single day or on all 12 days of the march. And you can go to that website to learn how to volunteer. We need logistics. We need outreach. And for those people who aren’t in the area who will not be able to come to participate or volunteer, you can share. You can download the flyer on the website and share it on your social media and get word out there. And you can also donate to help fund people that are doing the march.
Mimi Rosenberg: You’re listening to Sprouts: Radio From the Grassroots, a weekly program bringing you local radio productions of global interest. I’m Mimi Rosenberg, WBAI Radio 99.5 FM New York, with March for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mimi Rosenberg: Noel, I want to go back to you. Mumia, I described earlier as a griot, and I think you have been his drum for many, many years, and they keep trying to take away the drum, that message of communication for people of African ancestry, that historic messaging and communication vehicle. And you are still that drum. And I want to know about what that drum message is communicating now, for people who are unfamiliar with the case of Mumia. What caused you to gravitate to him, and what does his particular case say about white supremacy, about state repression, and the quest for self determination of people of African ancestry In this country? Tell us the story that Mumia is not here to tell us now.
Noelle Hanrahan: Let me tell you a quick story about that, and how that’ll illustrate it. Mumia Abu-Jamal was working at a radio station WURD in Pennsylvania in 1978. He was interviewing Robbie Meeropol, who was the son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who had been executed by our government and the state repression that dealt with, and that, you know, illuminated in 1954. He was interviewing Robbie, who had been six years old when his parents were executed in Sing Sing. That was Mumia Abu-Jamal. That is the kind of reporter that Mumia was. And the question that Mumia asked Robbie was, “Do you think that this could happen again in America, that someone like your parents could be executed?” And Robbie Meeropol said, “Yes, it could happen again, given the racism of this culture and the nature of this culture.” And then Robbie has told us recently, he was like, “Yes, it did happen. It happened to Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was framed for a murder and given a death warrant and spent 29 years on death row and is now doing death by incarceration.”
So, when you work with a journalist who is that talented, and as a white woman, as a lesbian, as someone who grew up in Pacifica, as a Pacifica radio investigative reporter, those are the kinds of stories that we know we need to tell, no matter what the backlash. So, I know that I can do production work and radio work way more powerfully if I am aligned with the future that I want to see, which is people like Mumia Abu-Jamal being free and also working towards the culture – creating the culture that we deserve to live in. And that means that we have to be hard nosed investigative journalists. We have to hold the state accountable, that the fifth estate – the process of journalism and radio – is not the pablum that we normally see on the pop TV news and in the magazines and in the New York Times, which is just an organ of the state. We have to do it. It’s people power. It’s all of us. And Mumia showed us that from the very beginning. So, I do think that’s why I’m attracted to this kind of work, because I know it’s part of creating the future we deserve.
And also, I want to say that right now in Pennsylvania, it’s ground zero. Prisoners have created the movement that is going to carry us home. So, the Abolitionist Law Center, the Amistad Law Project, the Human Rights Coalition, Lifelines, all of the people who are inside. Their families have elected Larry Krasner, have helped pass amendments against solitary confinement in Allegheny County. They have built power. Saleem Holbrook, the Executive Director, former juvenile lifer of the Abolitionist Law Center, was appointed to Josh Shapiro’s transition team. We have the capability and the power, and I just want to honor Steve for taking it to Central PA, you know, broadening it out from whom normally sees what we need them to see. I went to see Mumia the other week, and there was a flyer for the march in the Dutch Kitchen Cafe, and that’s right in Frackville. So, I am proud of people for taking the risk to bring it out. I think it’s super important. And Pennsylvania and Philadelphia are ground zero. We’re going to win here.
Mimi Rosenberg: We’re going to win with the likes of Mumia guiding us, with the likes of Noel and Ricardo and Steve. And Dr. Alvarez, you’ve worked with Mumia for a long time, and I can hear the passion and the love that you express for him. What does he politically represent to all of us? There’s the case itself and the state repression, and many of us have become prison abolitionists. Your thoughts on really the case for bringing Mumia Abu-Jamal home – what do people have to understand about who this person is and how cruel and vicious the state is to Mumia and so many, indeed all, of those behind the walls in a barbaric system that is the prison industrial complex?
Dr Ricardo Alvarez: First, I want to just take a moment as his medical consultant to identify his relationship of his body to his healing. He’s a 71 year old diabetic, hypertensive, with liver cirrhosis, open heart surgery, severe skin conditions, in which he was placed in four point restraints in hospitals. He’s now dangerously suffering from glaucoma, diabetic proliferative retinopathy and post cataract complications which threaten blindness if not treated immediately. So, from a practical place, when Mumia opens with his commentary, he’s speaking about what it means to be in relationship to captivity and maintain one’s health as best as you can. Now, as a trauma informed provider, he has had rich conversations about inviting what he calls the paradigm shift, where we start to come together across disciplines. You see legal counsel working with medical counsel. We work with philosophers, we work with historians. Johanna’s work is absolutely brilliant in setting him up…
Mimi Rosenberg: And that’s Johanna Fernández, yeah?
Dr Ricardo Alvarez: Johanna Fernández, that’s right. I mean, her work is brilliant, setting him up in archive so you see his voice coming out through powerful advocacy and relationships of love. You see that his voice is being historically archived. There’s a way of engaging when Mumia gives counsel around brother Leonard, it’s to say this is history…
Mimi Rosenberg: Brother Leonard being Leonard Peltier?
Dr Ricardo Alvarez: Yes, yes, thank you, Mimi for filling that in. So let me, let me say, on a practical level, when we say that he’s been harmed, we’re not debating this. This is what is changing now in the movement as the court and the legal process has now basically been the final nail in the attempted coffin. We’re no longer debating he’s been harmed. It’s in the medical record, the liver cirrhosis and the diabetic coma were iatrogenic, induced by a failure to provide medical care. But there’s something I would say is probably a great way to defend Mumia. From a trauma informed view, for any political, legislative, professional, correctional, judicial being or body to speak of Mumia, they must acknowledge that Mumia is an internationally renowned journalist critical of police brutality, who was arrested on December 9, 1981 by the 6th Precinct in Philadelphia Police Department, one of the most corrupt police departments in the history of America. A third of the officers who signed on to his arrest, were subsequently convicted for perjury, extortion, evidence tampering and corruption. Now that’s what I call defense. If someone seeks to speak, they must speak with an open heart. Mumia’s messages are encouraging us to be citizens in relationship to our institutions where we understand them as public institutions. And he invites us to connect with other griot journalists. So, it’s a very rich community and ecosystem of this abolition space that is making all kinds of connections.
Mimi Rosenberg: And Steve, I can just imagine the kind of connections that are going to be created between people on the march, people supporting and helping to build it. But Steve, you tell us about the kind of relationships that you hope are built on this march, and why you think this activity will stimulate further people to get on board that freedom train, that long journey, the long distance revolutionary Mumia, to bring him home. Your final thoughts?
Steve Bernhaut: Well, the relationships are already building. The amount of people who’ve signed on to volunteer their time to plan this action is extraordinary, and the youth are taking the lead, which is really what we need. And we’ve met all throughout Berks County and Schuylkill County, former inmates that knew Mumia in the institution who are out and are now joining on to provide food, to provide support, it’s just going to be a great community builder. All of the action information is on marchformumia.org and if you have specific questions, send an email at marchformumia@gmail.com.
Mimi Rosenberg: Well, that’s our conversation for the moment, with Noel Hanrahan, Dr. Ricardo Alvarez and Steve Bernhaut reminding us that the fight for justice, dignity and freedom, it’s never abstract. From Mumia Abu-Jamal’s decades long struggle for survival and care behind bars to the ongoing fight for the rights of all political prisoners, this is a movement that demands our attention, our voices and our solidarity. Together, we March for Mumia and to bring him home to the beloved community and to make him whole. Thank you all for the work that you do for Mumia Abu-Jamal. And you are going to go to find out more one time again, Steve, what’s that website?
Steve Bernhaut: marchformumia.org
Mimi Rosenberg: Beautiful. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do, brick by brick, wall by wall, we’re going to return him to the beloved community. Thanks so much for being with us.
(Musical break)
Mimi Rosenberg: That’s it for Sprouts. You’ve been listening to March for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Sprouts is a weekly program produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the globe. The program is coordinated and distributed by Pacifica Radio. If you or someone at your station has a radio production that you wish to showcase globally on Sprouts, contact our air traffic controller, Ursula Rutenberg, at ursula@pacifica.org.
Mimi Rosenberg: I’m Mimi Rosenberg in New York. Thank you for listening. And Sprouts, of course, we’ll be back next week.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
