Prison Radio
Mumia Abu-Jamal

The video is stunning.

A young white man lies on a black and white carpet, and his face and features reflect deep fear.

He is on his knees, his arms stretched out to heaven, begging for his life.

We see this from the perspective of a cop, a helmeted, heavily-armed cop, his semi-automatic rifle trained on the man, as he barks down at him on the floor.

The man is clad in a T-shirt, shorts, and little else.

The cop shouts: “Crawl to me — crawl!”

The slightly chubby white guy is even whiter with terror causing a tremor in his voice:

“Please don’t shoot me.”

The cop tells him if he has to fall on his face, he’d better do so.

A few seconds pass, and the tape abruptly stops, and as it does one hears a barrage of gunfire.

We are hearing a man die.

An unarmed man. A scared man.

The cop? He was tried on murder and manslaughter charges — and acquitted.

He resigned his position.

So, don’t be surprised if he turns up elsewhere – as a cop.

A snapshot of America: 2017