Mumia's Panther Memiors: "We Want Freedom" delivers more than just Black Panther history.
/By Chris Stevenson
If you are looking for a book devoted soley to Abu-Jamal's days in the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party for self-defense, you won't get much until you get towards the end. This is really an adaptation from "Liberation Struggles;" his Master's Degree thesis at California State. The images he invokes is not common of the Civil Rights era-except for the occassional timeline: "If the BPP was a member of the family of Black struggle and resistance, it was an unwelcome member, sort of like a stepchild... the Black Panther Party was the anthesis of Dr. King. The party was not a Civil Rights group [his italics]. He vividly recalls struggles of a bygone period that he sees as having inspired the panthers: "In the spring of 1738, meanwhile 'several slaves broke out of Prince Georges County MD, united themselves with a group of outlying [or escaped] Negroes and proceeded to wage a small-scale guerilla war." In actuality this is an important read for anyone wanting to know about some history of resistence from those who question authority regardless of ethnicity. The fact that many have a problem with Black resistence is immaterial.
This book was number four on my first annual top-ten-must-read book roundup for good reason, panther dialogue is mysteriously lacking at the office water coolers nowadays. Mumia joined the panthers while in his mid-teens (as many other panthers did), youths today have no idea of how America fears the coming of the Black teenager, the power they hold, the potential to change the nation if only they would just break their link with foolish thought patterns instilled in them through pop culture, and major media, their peers, and the need for too many to sell drugs and join gangs. Hence they need to be made aware of the US government's and the corporate commercial power's tedious efforts to keep Black youths in particular distracted, and dumbed-down. An old-schooler like Mumia fills the bill. He devotes a lot of space to the evolution and de-evolution of the party's eternal icon Huey Newton, the stories of Newton studying and distributing Mao Tse-Tung's "red book," memorizing much of the California penal codes, his meeting and subsequent formation of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense along with Bobby Seale in Oakland. These and and the contributions of Eldridge Cleaver, David Hilliard, are pretty much common knowledge among pantherfiles, some history of the group's inception in Philly is touched in Chapter 3.
Philadelphia's history of racism in modern times is well known, Abu-Jamal's own incident-while internationally known-barely scratches the surface of it's proud record of police corruption. He starts off the chapter quoting the famous abolitionist/newspaper publisher Frederick Douglass in a rare statement about the city in 1862: "There is not perhaps anywhere to be found a city in which prejudice against color is more rampant than in Philadelphia."He also cites others who reported on anti-Black sentiments in 19th Century Philly: "what were not ficitional, but strictly factual, were the scores of racist riots against Black achievement... Irish laborers were actively employed in this vile conspiracy against a people of whom they were jealous, because they were more industrious, orderly and obliging than themselves." How ironic that today Whites attach 'fear of Black crime' to any hostile feelings they have toward Blacks, but their history is one where they displayed a great fear toward Black success. The Black crime today is much of a by-product of that, as White violence has simply converted to discrimination, anti-Affimative Action measures, and red-lining. The Philadelphia of young Wesley Cook's era was not much different from the city of hate that Douglass observed.
It was spring time 1969, love was in the air, but for several young Blacks at 1928 West Columbia Ave., it was a different kind of love than what Philly Blacks were accustomed to. What was going down was a love of revolution. A storefront at that location was getting an instant facelift, the local party was being launched in the "City of Brotherly Love" 3 years after it was founded in Oakland. Huey P. Newton would put down his spear, stand up from his chair and go to jail on charges of murder as a result of a shootout: "The date is May 1, 1969, and between fifteen and twenty of us are in the full uniform of black berets, black jackets of smooth leather, and black trousers. As we assemble, a rousing chant of 'Free Huey!' is raised. Leaflets are distributed to passerby... Cameras went off like popcorn, but we had no real idea who the mostly White photographers were. We assumed they were the press, but some had the unmistakeble air of cops about them. It never dawned on us that some were FBI agents building a file on us...from our original fifteen-odd members in the spring of 1869, a year later virtually ten times that number would call themselves members of the Black Panther Party of Philadelphia."
Under the intial leadership of Captain Terry McCarter, and later on Captain Reggie Schell, Minister of Informtion Cook (Abu-Jamal), Barbara Easley Cox, Jon Pinkett, Rosemari Mealy, Rene Johnson, Madelyn Coleman and a host of others, the Philly branch becomes one of the most powerful in the US. It's not a coincidence that women are given particular mention with Abu-Jamal, he devotes much ink to their contributions to the party, including a whole chapter in tribute to them. Truth be told, I can say first hand there is no more loyal a stallwart in Black activism than the Black woman. We men come and go, and try as we may, our "hidden agenda" proves very predictable after a short time. But the sisters are forever. Che Guevara summed it up best: "In the tough life of the fighter, a woman is a comrad who brings the qualities peculiar to her sex but with the ability to work just as hard as a man. She can fight, she is weaker but no less resistant than he is." Mumia's disparaging remarks aimed at Hugh Pearson's "Shadow of the Panther," and what he sees as "flawed conclusions" in relation to Pearson's mention of mysogomy and sexual harassment among the ranks of the panthers is off-base. "Shadow" was nothing more than objective journalism. Unless we force all panther biographers to paint a feel-good utopia regarding them, the dark side must be told in order to learn from our mistakes. Pearson-since then an op-ed writer with the Wall Street Journal-later disclosed to me over the phone back then, that he was troubled by even White conservatives who thought he was siding with them when he was just aiming for objectivity.
An objective view of the original panthers is that in-fighting destroyed them and they were never the same, but they were a good idea at the time.
In the here-and-now Mumia Abu-Jamal is still on death row in PA, contrary to popular belief. According to a letter written by Robert Meeropol; the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the 2001 federal new sentencing hearing was shot down by appeal. A new sentencing date could be set if old nemisis Governor Edward G. Rendell has his way (Rendell was in charge of the prosecution in Abu-Jamal's case in '82. He is represented by Attorneys Robert R. Bryan Professor Judith L. Ritter, and Steven Hawkins.
Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion, and www.theBrownWatch.com his column pointblank appears in www.voiceoffreedom.com Email pointblankdta@yahoo.com
If you are looking for a book devoted soley to Abu-Jamal's days in the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party for self-defense, you won't get much until you get towards the end. This is really an adaptation from "Liberation Struggles;" his Master's Degree thesis at California State. The images he invokes is not common of the Civil Rights era-except for the occassional timeline: "If the BPP was a member of the family of Black struggle and resistance, it was an unwelcome member, sort of like a stepchild... the Black Panther Party was the anthesis of Dr. King. The party was not a Civil Rights group [his italics]. He vividly recalls struggles of a bygone period that he sees as having inspired the panthers: "In the spring of 1738, meanwhile 'several slaves broke out of Prince Georges County MD, united themselves with a group of outlying [or escaped] Negroes and proceeded to wage a small-scale guerilla war." In actuality this is an important read for anyone wanting to know about some history of resistence from those who question authority regardless of ethnicity. The fact that many have a problem with Black resistence is immaterial.
This book was number four on my first annual top-ten-must-read book roundup for good reason, panther dialogue is mysteriously lacking at the office water coolers nowadays. Mumia joined the panthers while in his mid-teens (as many other panthers did), youths today have no idea of how America fears the coming of the Black teenager, the power they hold, the potential to change the nation if only they would just break their link with foolish thought patterns instilled in them through pop culture, and major media, their peers, and the need for too many to sell drugs and join gangs. Hence they need to be made aware of the US government's and the corporate commercial power's tedious efforts to keep Black youths in particular distracted, and dumbed-down. An old-schooler like Mumia fills the bill. He devotes a lot of space to the evolution and de-evolution of the party's eternal icon Huey Newton, the stories of Newton studying and distributing Mao Tse-Tung's "red book," memorizing much of the California penal codes, his meeting and subsequent formation of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense along with Bobby Seale in Oakland. These and and the contributions of Eldridge Cleaver, David Hilliard, are pretty much common knowledge among pantherfiles, some history of the group's inception in Philly is touched in Chapter 3.
Philadelphia's history of racism in modern times is well known, Abu-Jamal's own incident-while internationally known-barely scratches the surface of it's proud record of police corruption. He starts off the chapter quoting the famous abolitionist/newspaper publisher Frederick Douglass in a rare statement about the city in 1862: "There is not perhaps anywhere to be found a city in which prejudice against color is more rampant than in Philadelphia."He also cites others who reported on anti-Black sentiments in 19th Century Philly: "what were not ficitional, but strictly factual, were the scores of racist riots against Black achievement... Irish laborers were actively employed in this vile conspiracy against a people of whom they were jealous, because they were more industrious, orderly and obliging than themselves." How ironic that today Whites attach 'fear of Black crime' to any hostile feelings they have toward Blacks, but their history is one where they displayed a great fear toward Black success. The Black crime today is much of a by-product of that, as White violence has simply converted to discrimination, anti-Affimative Action measures, and red-lining. The Philadelphia of young Wesley Cook's era was not much different from the city of hate that Douglass observed.
It was spring time 1969, love was in the air, but for several young Blacks at 1928 West Columbia Ave., it was a different kind of love than what Philly Blacks were accustomed to. What was going down was a love of revolution. A storefront at that location was getting an instant facelift, the local party was being launched in the "City of Brotherly Love" 3 years after it was founded in Oakland. Huey P. Newton would put down his spear, stand up from his chair and go to jail on charges of murder as a result of a shootout: "The date is May 1, 1969, and between fifteen and twenty of us are in the full uniform of black berets, black jackets of smooth leather, and black trousers. As we assemble, a rousing chant of 'Free Huey!' is raised. Leaflets are distributed to passerby... Cameras went off like popcorn, but we had no real idea who the mostly White photographers were. We assumed they were the press, but some had the unmistakeble air of cops about them. It never dawned on us that some were FBI agents building a file on us...from our original fifteen-odd members in the spring of 1869, a year later virtually ten times that number would call themselves members of the Black Panther Party of Philadelphia."
Under the intial leadership of Captain Terry McCarter, and later on Captain Reggie Schell, Minister of Informtion Cook (Abu-Jamal), Barbara Easley Cox, Jon Pinkett, Rosemari Mealy, Rene Johnson, Madelyn Coleman and a host of others, the Philly branch becomes one of the most powerful in the US. It's not a coincidence that women are given particular mention with Abu-Jamal, he devotes much ink to their contributions to the party, including a whole chapter in tribute to them. Truth be told, I can say first hand there is no more loyal a stallwart in Black activism than the Black woman. We men come and go, and try as we may, our "hidden agenda" proves very predictable after a short time. But the sisters are forever. Che Guevara summed it up best: "In the tough life of the fighter, a woman is a comrad who brings the qualities peculiar to her sex but with the ability to work just as hard as a man. She can fight, she is weaker but no less resistant than he is." Mumia's disparaging remarks aimed at Hugh Pearson's "Shadow of the Panther," and what he sees as "flawed conclusions" in relation to Pearson's mention of mysogomy and sexual harassment among the ranks of the panthers is off-base. "Shadow" was nothing more than objective journalism. Unless we force all panther biographers to paint a feel-good utopia regarding them, the dark side must be told in order to learn from our mistakes. Pearson-since then an op-ed writer with the Wall Street Journal-later disclosed to me over the phone back then, that he was troubled by even White conservatives who thought he was siding with them when he was just aiming for objectivity.
An objective view of the original panthers is that in-fighting destroyed them and they were never the same, but they were a good idea at the time.
In the here-and-now Mumia Abu-Jamal is still on death row in PA, contrary to popular belief. According to a letter written by Robert Meeropol; the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the 2001 federal new sentencing hearing was shot down by appeal. A new sentencing date could be set if old nemisis Governor Edward G. Rendell has his way (Rendell was in charge of the prosecution in Abu-Jamal's case in '82. He is represented by Attorneys Robert R. Bryan Professor Judith L. Ritter, and Steven Hawkins.
Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion, and www.theBrownWatch.com his column pointblank appears in www.voiceoffreedom.com Email pointblankdta@yahoo.com
