J.R.: This is another edition of The Block Report with the Minister of Information J.R. and West Coast Chairwoman Rashida of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee. Today we’re talking to political prisoner and a prolific revolutionary journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal, who’s speaking to us live from Pennsylvania’s death row.
Rashida: Describe what death row is like, how the police treat you, your access to the outside world of loved ones and the physical area your’e being held captive in.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Death row is like a prison within a prison within a prison. All death rows, at least in Pennsylvania and perhaps all across the country, are in the maximum security prisons, and they’re isolated from other prisoners. They even isolated from people in the hole. That’s why I say it’s a prison within a prison within a prison. In terms of how people are treated, I mean, it differs from man to man, from person to person, but, you know, ain’t no such thing as a good death row. I don’t even think such a thing is possible. Because people are so isolated, because they’re so isolated from the world, there are many people here in Pennsylvania, and certainly I’m sure, in other places all across the country who never, you know, hear from or see their loved ones, their families. Many prisons, like, for example, this place is situated about as far as you can get from –
Facility automated message: This call is from a correctional institution and is subject to monitoring and recording.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: This place is probably as far as you can get from the city of Philadelphia and still stay in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s hundreds of miles away. I’m sure that for many people in Texas, it’s the same thing, and for many people in parts of California, depending on whether you’re in Northern or Southern California, it’s the same thing. So, it’s isolation. It’s about as isolated as you can get and still stay on the planet in many ways.
J.R.: Can you give us an update on the new developments in your case?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: The Court of Appeals agreed to hear what’s called the Batson Issue, among other issues, but the Batson issue deals with jury selection. Under the Batson case, it is a violation of the Constitution to wrongfully, unconstitutionally, racially remove Black people from jury service. If one Black juror is illegally and improperly removed, that constitutes such a violation. In our case, it was over fourteen, So, you know, but that’s the big part of that. There are other issues, but Batson is the biggest.
Rashida: In the case of Tookie Williams, there was a lot of evidence in his legal case, that points to his innocence, and he also maintained his innocence throughout the twenty-four years he was being held captive. In light of that, what do you think about the position of so-called supporters that were calling for people to save Tookie, or simply don’t kill Tookie, but not to free Tookie?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: You know, you can always have supporters from different political perspectives. You gonna have some that are radical, some that are, you know, straight up warriors, and some people that are not, some people that are liberals. I mean, when you really think about people calling to save Tookie, what they were really saying was lock him up for the rest of his life, because they weren’t talking about freeing him. And that’s the real tragedy, even when you talk about the clemency hearings and the proceedings and so forth. I think that there is no question that his trial was unfair. He may have been innocent, but it’s also true that political pressures determine whether he lived or died.
If you read the statement of the government, he [Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger] essentially, as I said in a few weeks ago; he essentially used his politicization and his consciousness being raised as a basis for saying you should kill the man. He said, you know, to name Dhourba bin Wahab, Malcolm X, or Angela Davis or Nelson Mandela was the reasons, and me, was reasons to kill the man, you know. And the truth of the matter is, if he had said Buddha or Jesus Christ, it wouldn’t have mattered. You know what I mean? But he used his Black consciousness as a additional aggravating circumstance to determine that he was not worthy of life. That’s politics, that’s racism, that’s whites.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
