Mumia Abu-Jamal: Radio, for all intents and purposes, is free, and people, when they do engage, they’ve invited you into their home, and they want to hear something worthwhile. They don’t want to be hustled, but they want to hear something that communicates to them that you care about their lives, and you care about them, and you care what happens to them, and that’s why you’re communicating to them, for them, you know, because when you do that, they know they’re being served. Not like a politician, you know. “The American people are very smart.” How many times you heard a politician say that? And you know, in your gut, that no politician really believes that. They’re just saying that to placate an audience.
When we’re on the radio, right, and we’re saying what’s true, you can almost hear people’s heads popping because they get fed so much ****, only to sell them things, and they rarely get people speaking to the truth of what’s happening right before our eyes, you know. They’re being sold. And you know, the master seller is the President of the United States, and it’s popcorn, man.
Noelle Hanrahan: Why is Black community radio your genesis, and also all the airwaves that you graced in the Delaware Valley? Why are those spaces special?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: I think they’re special because of the people who listen really and –
Noelle Hanrahan: Mumia, you did the Lansdowne housing projects, you did the Wheels of Soul, you did kids mothers who were shot, you grilled Rizzo. People respond to hearing their perspective, finally, on the air.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Right, because they know that if they can hear it and feel it, they know it’s coming from a true place, and if you’re being really service oriented to the people, then they can feel where you’re coming from, where you’re going; and you know, what you are listening from your subject, who you’re talking to, you’re interviewing. And I always kept the people in mind, always, when I was working at radio stations. Black radio stations, white radio stations, it didn’t matter to me what kind of station it was. What I always thought about is, ‘What is the head of the person who’s listening to this?’
Noelle Hanrahan: And you said, it explodes their brains when you tell them the truth, like just the truth, just what you see and what they see, not the mirage that the rest of the media is covering up — what they see.
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Right, well, see, because, you know, back in those days, I really knew that if I said some of the things I would say, I would get fired, but I didn’t care. I mean, you know, I wasn’t happy about it, but I didn’t care, because I knew I could do the job. I could get another job, I could go somewhere else and do the work. The work was more important than, you know, a paycheck because, listen, Black radio never paid much money. People think because you on the radio, you rich, no buddy. It don’t work like that. At least it didn’t when I was in it. And so, you do it for the work. You do it because you are serving the people in that gig, you know. And it’s, it’s almost like, you know, playing music to them, right? You’re serving them every day, every hour. You know what? I used to think, you guys are not paying nothing. But guess what? I’ll pay you, because I enjoyed it so much. I enjoyed meeting people from every walk of life. With love, not fear, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
