Mumia Abu-Jamal talking:
It’s a hell of a show. But it is a show. And, you know, I mean, it has writers and directors and stage managers. And it’s a hell of a show. But never forget: It’s just a show.
I think that’s extraordinary. And I think that’s where the real action is. While I said the convention is a show—and who can doubt that?—what’s happening in the streets of Philadelphia, that’s where the real story is, because those are the voices you won’t hear throughout these four days of gala, extravaganza, lies and illusion, because you’re hearing the pain of the people, the real concerns of the people, and, really, the desperation of the people to be heard by the rich and the powerful. You look inside, you’ll see the powerful. You’ll see millionaires, right? We have an incredible system right now—millionaires running against billionaires. Well, who’s not in that picture? And that’s the 99 percent, the rest of us, you know.
Frank Rizzo was authentically working-class. You know, he rose from the bottom of the police department to become its commissioner and then was elected mayor. And, you know, I thought about Frank Rizzo when I first heard that Donald Trump was running, and I had the same reaction when I heard that Frank Rizzo was running for mayor: I laughed. I’m like, here was a guy, high school dropout—nothing personal, but it’s true—and here’s a guy who is like dumb as rocks about everything other than making money—or taking money, I should say. But, you know, I stopped laughing. You know, I thought about when Ronald Reagan ran for president, this grade-B actor. I laughed. I stopped laughing. And when you look at this guy, he’s like Frank Rizzo with billions and billions of dollars in his pocket. But if you kind of turned off the screen and listened to the words, it’s the same message: fear, fear, fear, fear of the other, fear of blacks. “And only I can save you.” It’s kind of a mixture of Frank Rizzo, Goldwater, Spiro Agnew, Dick Cheney, you know, and Hitler.
– the killings of police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas.
I think one of the lines I used in that commentary is: Why should any of us be surprised? Whenever that happens, what you’ll hear, especially among elite opinion on TV, is that this was a madman, this was a crazy person. If he was mad, how did he get accepted into the Army? How did he serve tours in Afghanistan or Iraq? Both of these men displayed military training that they acquired from the U.S. government and as they became killers in the Third World. When they came back to the United States and they saw their reality, do you think that drove them crazy? And, you know, something like 22 veterans commit suicide every day in America. And that’s because of the horrible things they’ve been asked to do by empire abroad. And, you know, when you look at the condition of black people in America—mass incarceration gone crazy, ghettos being policed as if it is Fallujah or a foreign nation—why would you be surprised? They were trained by the state to do exactly what they did. And they did it.
– How is your health now?
for a while there, I didn’t know what was happening. I had diabetes. I had extreme high blood pressure. My skin was falling to my feet. I was itching in an insane degree. What we learned through this litigation is that I had hepatitis C, that to this date has not been treated. I’ve probably been given more treatment for my symptoms—right?—than perhaps any other prisoner in Pennsylvania. That’s true. But I’ve yet to be treated for that disease.
And the state, in their latest brief to the court, said if the plaintiff prevails, it will cost the DOC over $600 million. I can’t make this up. It’s probably online. That’s only because they claim there are some 6,000 men, and probably women, in the Pennsylvania system who have hepatitis C, and very few of them are treated, though, understand, we asked them—the head of the DOC’s medical division, Dr. Peter Noel, “How many people are being treated with these new antiviral medications?” And he said, “I don’t know.” We said, “Well, can you give us your best guess?” He said, “Hmm, five or six.” Five or six out of 6,000.
What we also learned is they have a protocol. It was a secret protocol that we learned about at that hearing, that men and women who have hepatitis C must wait until something called esophageal varices are detected. That’s when you’re bleeding from your esophagus out of your mouth, which means, of course, that your liver is, for all intents and purposes, dead. That’s why you’re bleeding out of your mouth, because you can’t process—your liver can’t process your blood. It’s rejecting it. That’s when you’ll be considered to be put on a list for treatment. That’s stage 4 liver disease.
The problem of the 21st century, is the color line, but it’s also the class line. We’ve just experienced a black president. But black Americans, in the words of Young Jeezy, for the most part, are still living in hell.
I would urge anyone who has a computer or a way to acquire The Nation of February 10th, 2016, the article by Michelle Alexander entitled “Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote.” It is incredible. I thank you all. I love you all. Larry, a pleasure hearing you again, brother.
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Mumia Abu-Jamal
former resident of Pennsylvania’s death row for 29 years. For decades, Abu-Jamal has argued racism by the trial judge and prosecutors led to his conviction for the killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He is an award-winning journalist who chronicles the human condition.
— source democracynow.org