Kalonji Changa: Peace and Black power, family. Welcome to Black Power Media. I am your host, Kalonji Changa. We’re coming to you live and direct with a broadcast featuring one of the voices of the voiceless. We’re honored to be joined by a man who has lived at the epicenter of this struggle for decades; legendary journalist, author and political prisoner for over 42 years, Mumia Abu-Jamal. Once again, we are live and direct. We back again with our good brother, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the man with the plan. We want to talk today about the roots of resistance. What we did is we took some questions from our viewers, from our listeners, and we’re going to pose them to Mumia, and we’ll see if somebody want to rock with. How you doing today, Mumia?
Kalonji Changa: I am well, I am well, thank you.
Kalonji Changa: No doubt, no doubt, good to have you here. Love to have you under better circumstances, but this what we working with for the for the moment. Some questions that come from some of our folks. I’m sure some of these you’ve been asked before, and some you may not, but one of the questions was: looking back at your youth in Philadelphia, what was the specific lightning bolt moment, or encounter with the Black Panther Party, that shifted you from a curious observer to a committed organizer.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: I’ve written before that I was kicked into the party. I was being facetious, in a sense, 1968, George Wallace comes to town. He’s running–
Facility announcement: This is a call from Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution, Mahanoy. This call is subject to recording and monitoring.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: –running for president, and he’s campaigning in Philadelphia. So, three or four of us from North Philly go down to where he’s having his rally, and we protest, you know. We in there hollering Black songs. Well, you know, the security got crazy. People were throwing things at us, calling us all kinds of N-words and all that. So, when they got us out, you know, we went to the bus to go back downtown, and, well, it didn’t end up well for all of us, because all of us were beaten by police, plain clothes and hostile. And I’m sure anyone who’s ever been beaten by cops knows, you know, what that’s about. And when a sister showed me a magazine called Ramparts magazine. I believe it was called Ramparts, and then she gave me a copy of the newspaper, The Black Panther. And I looked at them. I could not believe, you know, that people this beautiful, and you know, organized, existed in the world. I got hungry for it. And luckily for me, around the same time, some brothers began organizing, and I, you know, I just jumped into the group and helped found the local chapter in Philadelphia.
Facility announcement: This is a call from Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution, Mahanoy. This call is subject to recording and monitoring.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: To be a young person at that time, which was a revolutionary time in America and around the world, was one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had and I have no regrets. I loved it. I got sent around the country in different chapters and branches. Saw Black people from different parts of the U.S.A., from the North as far as Boston and the South, as far South as Winston Salem, and it was just wonderful. The East, West, the whole nine,
Kalonji Changa: Wow, to hear you seeing George Wallace in Philadelphia, sounds, sounds rather insane. That sounds like a nightmare, to an extent. I want to ask like, your top three freedom fighters, who would they be?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Say it again?
Kalonji Changa: I said, your top three freedom fighters, who would they be, and how do their specific strategies influence your worldview today?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: It would have to be people like Kwame Nkrumah, Frantz Fanon, Huey Newton, you know, people like that, and for different reasons but they’re all freedom fighters, and they all played a role in the Black Freedom Movement, either here or in Africa. Kwami Nkrumah became the first independent Prime Minister of Ghana. Frantz Fanon, of course, played a role in the Algerian revolution and then wrote The Wretched of the Earth. You know, when it was first published, that book was called the ‘Bible of the Black Revolution.’ and Huey and Bobby in October of 1966 organized the Black Panther Party and really gave purpose and direction to the lives of thousands of Black youth in 44 chapters and branches across the country, by giving birth to the Black Panther Party and attracting young people who want to be a part of it. And you know, The Black Panther Party made some real gain in terms of reaching the people, serving the people, and struggling for Black freedom in America.
Kalonji Changa: Right on, right on. We talk about Fanon, and we’ve had Mireille Fanon, who you are familiar with, on the show in the past. What about, you know, Fanon, being a man who was, for all practical purposes, he made his transition at age 36.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Ah, man.
Kalonji Changa: What was it about Fanon? Because when you talk about — for me, my own admittance, if I were to say my favorite book, it would definitely be Wretched of the Earth and Battle of Algiers would be my favorite film. It felt like a soundtrack. But for you, yeah, what was it that– Why Fanon and Algiers? I mean, we understand some of the other folks, but, but for you, what motivated you to say, you know, Fanon is my kind of bag.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Well, I think a lot of people, especially who were part of the Black Freedom Movement and groups like the Black Panther Party; remember, there were other groups in other parts of the country that had similar, if not almost identical, ideas. Fanon meant a lot because–not so much or only because of his ideas, which were profound. The cat was a psychiatrist, okay. He knew the workings of the mind. He was a psychologist, a psychiatrist. He was a revolutionary. He was all those things. And for a lot of people, it meant something to them to see a Black man coming from the West, right, moving to Africa, North Africa, but Africa, to be sure, and working against colonialism and imperialism and fighting for freedom in an African country, the seat of Algeria. That meant something to young Black people who saw a man on the cover of that book who could have been their cousin, their uncle, their brother, their father, you know. And one of the reasons why members of the Party were so committed to reading and studying Fanon’s ideas in The Wretched of the Earth was because Bobby was clever enough to give Huey a copy of that book when they were forming the Black Panther Party in October of 1966. Bobby would later write that Huey read “The Wretched of the Earth” six times.
Kalonji Changa: Wow
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Six times. So, it permeated his conscience, and it colored how he saw the world, how he developed his ideological framework, and how he understood, you know global, not to mention national revolutions. And you know, the Party was always deeply criticized for depending on what was called the lumpen, right, the very poor; the people who don’t have an investment in the working class, but are considered– Lumpen is actually the German word for lumpenproletariat, means the people beneath the working class, in a way; the hustlers, the prostitute, that kind of thing. What does Fanon say about the lumpen? He says that because they are not tied to the colony, they are the spearhead of the revolution. Well, Huey read that, and it made sense to him, and it really did impress his ideas about ideology, who to get to, who to organize, and how to build on people who would be fighters against the colonialists and the Imperial. So, you know, Fanon had a deep and profound impact on Huey’s reading and thinking, and therefore, through Huey, he had impact on all members of the Party who were required to read Fanon when they joined the party.
Kalonji Changa: Right on, right on. I definitely appreciate you sharing that, you know, and again, that’s you know, I would agree to you that agree with you, that would probably still be what I would call a ‘revolutionary Bible.’ For a young person today who is overwhelmed by the information age, would that be the book you would consider the North Star for understanding systemic oppression? Or would you point them in another direction?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: No, I would I would, if I, you know, created a book list, that would be at the top of the book list. Why? You know, Fanon was notoriously a truth teller. He did not bite his tongue, and he was a comrade to people like Kwame Nkrumah and other leaders of liberation movements in Africa, and he predicted what would happen if African states —
Facility announcement: You have one minute left.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: — took the soft path instead of the hard path, and did not truly change their societies and cut off contacts with the former colonial leaders and the economic powers and everything he has said, if you read The Wretched of the Earth, you’ll look in Africa and see it from North to South, because the colonialists, he said, never give up, right? And they never repent, because they always want to take over and run stuff and exploit people. And that’s the nature of the beast man. He did not fight his tongue. He gave it up, raw dinner. And that’s you know, we’re in this moment today. I call it the ‘neo-imperialist moment.’ They’re going round stealing oil from countries, y’all!
Facility annoucement: Thank you for using Securus. Goodbye.
Kalonji Changa: No doubt, brother. Appreciate you. That was our good brother Mumia Abu-Jamal. We had a wonderful discussion around Fanon, Frantz Fanon. Indeed, Wretched of the Earth is one of the most powerful books that you can run across. Definitely make sure, if you don’t own Wretched of the Earth, make sure you get it. And if you already have it make sure you share it, you know, because indeed, as Mumia put it, Wretched of the Earth is definitely a ‘revolutionary Bible.’ Again, you’re checking out Black Power Media. We want to remind you that we are in an alternative platform. We are a platform that, you know, we all should know about. Of course, it’s often shadow banned because of the fact that, you know, we’re talking about things you won’t hear just everywhere. Again, we appreciate you watching Black Power Media. If you haven’t already, hit the subscribe button and click the notification bell so you never miss a live broadcast. We also want you to stay connected with us by signing up for our email list, which is at blackpowermedia.org. You can get all the updates that the algorithm is trying to hide. And we also want to remind you that Black Power Media is a viewer funded platform. We don’t ask the corporate advertisers. We answer to you. If you value this content, please show your support by heading over to blackpowermedia.org/donate. That’s blackpowerrmedia.org/donate. Or join our community of workers at patreon.com/blackpowermediareloaded. That’s patreon.com/blackpowermediareloaded. Your contributions keep this independent Black engine running. We are bucking up on our fifth year anniversary here at Black Power Media, which will be February 17. So, make sure you look out. Be on the lookout for some of what we bring to the table. I’m your host. Kalonji, Changa, we want you to stay on the right side of the barricades until next time. We’ll see you soon. We say free Mumia and free —.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
