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Submitted by: Jason Corwin<br>
============================<br><br>
Title: Michael Moore- Bush dissed the NAACP and you- they did the
right<br>
thing, will you?<br>
or<br>
Michael Moore- Show and Prove-A man’s life hangs in the balance.<br>
Or Michael Moore-You’re Not a Stupid White Man When It Comes to Mumia
are<br>
You?<br><br>
You’re here in Philly, Mumia Abu Jamal’s hometown-What do you have to
say<br>
to Mumia, Michael?<br><br>
Almost exactly one year ago, Michael Moore released the book
"Dude,<br>
Where’s My Country?" to much acclaim. Defenders and supporters
of<br>
world-renowned journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal
noted<br>
that in a blatant display of ignorance, after writing about injustices
in<br>
America, Moore stated that people could curry favor with conservatives
by<br>
declaring that Mumia was guilty. If it’s any comfort to Moore,
Bill<br>
O’Reilly and others in the mainstream media went on an anti-Mumia
tirade<br>
at just the same time because Mumia was bestowed honorary citizenship
by<br>
the city of Paris.<br><br>
Presently the victim of one of the most blatant cases of injustice in
the<br>
American legal system, Mumia and his supporters have struggled to
expose<br>
the blatant racism and oppression meted out by the Philadelphia
Police<br>
Dept., DA’s office and court system. His case has garnered
international<br>
attention due to lack of any physical evidence, a sham of a railroad
trial<br>
in which the judge told a colleague "yeah, and I’m gonna help them
fry the<br>
nigger" with legal experts noting more than 25 Constitutional
violations<br>
that the courts have refused to deal with; not to mention the fact
that<br>
ANOTHER MAN HAS CONFESSED TO THE KILLING for which Mumia awaits
execution-<br>
the first openly state-sponsored political execution in this country
since<br>
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. The death sentence that was argued for
by the<br>
DA was based on Mumia’s having helped found the Philadelphia chapter
of<br>
the Black Panther Party in his teens. Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case
highlights<br>
the corruption, racism and suppression of freedoms that has plagued
this<br>
country and creates the conditions for Michael Moore to write and
make<br>
films about.<br><br>
Moore attempted to minimize the outrageousness of his statement in
this<br>
book by professing opposition to the death penalty and
acknowledging<br>
Mumia’s eloquence. Arrogantly, he stated "he probably did
shoot that cop.<br>
There I said it." Sadly, he revealed a tendency that has
existed in the<br>
white left for a long time-when under pressure from conservatives,<br>
liberals and leftists will turn their backs on the legitimate struggles
of<br>
people of color-the largest recipients of American injustice. After
being<br>
booed in many places of his book tour because of this statement,
and<br>
challenged about it by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now (after she was<br>
challenged for failing to do her job as a journalist and question a<br>
controversial statement like this when he first came onto her show<br>
promoting the book) Moore admitted he made a grievous error. He
said that<br>
he was trying to be funny and satiric in that part of the book and that
he<br>
realized it was not only just not funny in light of an innocent
person’s<br>
struggle to avoid being MURDERED for the crime of being an eloquent<br>
spokesperson against injustice, but that it was just plain wrong and
that<br>
he would have it removed from future printings of the book.
The<br>
seriousness of this life-threatening act cannot be understated, as
many<br>
people interested in issues of justice, fairness, and equality have
been<br>
attracted to Moore’s take on current affairs. The popularity of his
films<br>
and books necessitate that he come correct in regards to perhaps the
most<br>
infamous and world-renowned case of racism and injustice in modern<br>
America.<br><br>
We are demanding that Michael Moore, if he is to take any place in
the<br>
national and international consciousness regarding social and
political<br>
justice, must clearly state his position on Mumia to the people of<br>
Philadelphia. Mumia’s one of our great advocates for justice and we
don’t<br>
have time for BS when his life is at stake. While a lot of pundits
say<br>
that people in Philly don’t support Mumia, and that his case is
only<br>
popular outside of here where it’s suggested people don’t know all
the<br>
details, we know that is not the case. While the local and national
media<br>
have been complicit in demonizing Mumia and his supporters to the
point<br>
that the majority of anti-Mumia sentiment here comes from the white<br>
working class and vested interests in the notoriously corrupt city<br>
government from the mayor to the cop on the beat. Michael Moore’s<br>
constituency is white "middle American" people and he needs to
take a<br>
strong stand against the censorship and persecution that has been<br>
conducted against Mumia. When we’ve conducted "Honk for
Mumia" street<br>
rallies, the love and support for Mumia in Philly is evident and<br>
clear-among a diverse spectrum of people. While in Philly there are
white<br>
labor activists and other everyday white folks who feel that at a
minimum<br>
he did not get a fair trial, it is clear in this backwards city who
uses<br>
fear as a tactic and generates the most hate against Mumia and his<br>
supporters.<br><br>
This is no small deal, as there has been a concerted campaign of
character assassination, <br>
intimidation, and censorship here in a city that<br>
claims to be the birthplace of American freedoms. From local
street<br>
vendors and community members to the Roots, Sting, Michael Sheen,
Rage<br>
Against the Machine and former Mumia defense attorney Leonard
Wienglass<br>
have all had this police-instigated terror campaign waged against them
in<br>
one form or another. Some have stood strong in Mumia’s defense, but
many<br>
caved in under the fear generated by this anti-Mumia McCarthyist<br>
witchhunt. At one time, before he was the current mayor, John
Street<br>
expressed that Mumia’s conviction was clearly unjust. You’d be
hard<br>
pressed to get him to share that sentiment these days. Even the
venerable<br>
NAACP when confronted recently at their national convention here with
the<br>
question of whether to publicly support Mumia or not did the right
thing<br>
and came out with a strong resolution for all chapters to support
Mumia<br>
and oppose the death penalty. Perhaps Bush’s diss of their
convention was<br>
telling them just what time it is. Is Bush and the right wing
telling<br>
you, Michael Moore, what time it is?<br><br>
Michael Moore, are you afraid of stupid white men? We hope not as
you<br>
travel the country speaking out against censorship of your work, and
the<br>
republicans who want you arrested in Michigan. We’re sure you would
be<br>
comforted in knowing that with all the money your speaking
engagements,<br>
book and film sales are generating, that you can make a strong stand
for<br>
what needs to be fixed in this country by giving a meaningful
contribution<br>
to Mumia’s defense-verbally and financially.<br><br>
The price paid for freedom in this country by the people of color
who’ve<br>
been systematically killed, enslaved, discriminated against,
ridiculed,<br>
and censored is too great perhaps for you to comprehend. While the
powers<br>
that be have tried to have your movie censored, though to no great
avail,<br>
and you probably find the republicans wanting your arrest in your
home<br>
state to be a sign of the times-the complications and obstacles you
have<br>
overcome in doing what you do are far away from the sacrifices of
those<br>
who have died and watched families grow up from behind plexiglass
and<br>
prison bars in the pursuit of freedoms "your country"
says on paper and<br>
in proclamation are supposed to be legal.<br><br>
We are not interested in you being a good liberal and giving to the
cause<br>
to ease your guilt. If you want to be down you need to be down like
John<br>
Brown. Remember him? If you are really to be for justice in a
time of<br>
crisis in this country you need to remember the commitment of John
Brown,<br>
as well as the commitment of your friends Rage Against the Machine,
who<br>
never backed down when they came to Philly. At the same
venue-the<br>
Electric Factory, where in 1999 Ozomatli expressed solidarity with
Mumia<br>
and had white kids and event security people throwing beer and bottles
at<br>
them, a few years prior, Rage backed the club ownership down from<br>
censoring Mumia supporters who were their invited guests. They had
former<br>
NJ governor Christine Whitman and Howard Stern going ballistic in
the<br>
media in an attempt to shut down a benefit concert for Mumia just a
few<br>
months prior to the Ozomatli incident.<br><br>
Remember the price paid by the white people who’ve taken strong stands
in<br>
solidarity with all oppressed people. John Brown gave his life to
end<br>
slavery. The white anti-imperialist political prisoners like Tom
Manning<br>
have experienced their own Abu Gharibs here in America for daring to
stand<br>
on the front lines with people of color. Remember Leonard Peliter,
America’s <br>
Nelson Mandela to many, passed up for clemency by the last<br>
Democrat in the Oval Office, despite clear of evidence before him of
FBI<br>
terror tactics and misconduct in the case. Remember that there are
many<br>
more just like them, men and women who have languished in this
country’s<br>
prisons for decades, all for taking a strong stand in defense of
what’s<br>
right. Thousands of years of collective experience censored from
the rest<br>
of humanity while their own humanity struggles under the weight of a
white<br>
supremacist police state nightmare.<br><br>
Remember, by all means, Mumia Abu-Jamal- father, grandfather,
world-class<br>
journalist-facing government sanctioned murder for daring to speak
the<br>
truth. His commentaries are as needed and as relevant to our
current<br>
situation as they ever were. His legal case is at a critical stage
and<br>
the activists working on his behalf do a lot with very little
resources,<br>
as many white leftists stopped supporting him after he was forced to
fire<br>
Leonard Weinglass for failing to keep one of his colleagues from writing
a<br>
book and profiting off of the case he was supposed to be working on.
<br>
Remember all this, as your credibility depends on what you do with
this<br>
information. If you do the right thing maybe then you will begin
to<br>
understand where your country really is. Does this white man speak
with<br>
forked tongue?<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
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