Brothers, sisters, friends, compañeros y compañeras, the IMAJ, the BSU, La Lucha and all. Thank you all for being there, for being present in body, mind and heart. The struggle today is, as it must be, multifaceted. It is a political act, it is social, it is legal, and more. That’s because repression is all those things and more. Many have heard or read of my comments lately, which have repeatedly referred to the much-discussed Citizens United case, decided recently by the Supreme Court. In a nutshell, my remarks have dealt with the total lack of legal precedent upon which that case rested. Now for most present who aren’t law students, what I’ve said may seem confusing. “Precedents? Hey, what’s this guy talking about?” But in essence, precedents are but links in a chain, links built on logic and reason. If a link is severed, the claim falls short.
Citizens United held that corporations were included in the constitutional rights of the First Amendment, such as free speech, based in large part upon prior precedents which recognized corporations as persons entitled to 14th Amendment rights or due process of law. Most cases on claims of corporate personhood trace their line back to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 6 S. Ct. 1132, decided in 1886, which is the primary precedent upon which all others rest.
Here’s the problem. It doesn’t say what the courts say it says. I urge you all to read it, to see for yourself. That’s why I provided the case citation. If Santa Clara County is faulty, all that follows is also. Some will say, “How can this be, or why?” I present this abundantly clear example to demonstrate how easily and how carelessly the law is made, and how ultimately, it is merely opinion granted judicial fiat.
And it also shows how errors can persist for over 100 years, because a majority of the judges are simply favorable to the notion that corporations should be given maximum protections. But as activists, historians and students of social movements, we should all heed the lesson of Howard Zinn, who noted in several of his works that while the court was using the 14th Amendment to protect corporations, it was ignoring the rights, protection and immunities of Black Americans for whom the constitutional amendment was written in the first place. Learn that lesson well. So build the movement. I thank you all. On the MOVE. Long live John Africa. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
