“Sister Marpessa, A Griot Passes.”
In African traditional societies, the griot was one who held in memory the history of the tribe, its kings, its wars, its great events that mark it as a community, a nation, or a tribe. Several weeks ago, a woman known as Sister Marpessa returned to the essence after decades of doing the hard work of a griot for the black tribe in America.
She, living in a small town in Delaware, wrote about the black freedom struggles, and she wrote about prisons and prisoners before mass incarceration became a thing. Since the nineties, she and a small community of sisters turned up the internet with articles about these things.
Her love for black people radiated through her fingertips as she wrote her own insights AR0038 - Air Jordan Super.Fly MVP PF 'White' , 100 - The outsole of the Air Jordan 5 Low Doernbecher Freestyle - JmksportShops, her articles, her columns on brothers in Delaware, the MOVE 9, and myself. We were all lucky to have her on the side of freedom.
Several weeks ago, a group of supporters went through her small Delaware home. They presented her with an award shaped like the African continent. On its face was engraved these words: “We love you. We respect you.”
Every tribe needs a griot to tell their stories. The griot is the collective memory of the people. Marpessa Kupendua, wife of [inaudible], mother of many, has returned to the source. She is loved. She is respected.
From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.