They
call Shaquille O’Neal a “Blue Fly”. It’s
the label given those who support the police.
Shaq has a reputation for wanting to be a police officer. He has offered
his services as a volunteer police officer, and once jammed a suspects head down
a toilet. He’s also a honorary member of the Fraternal Order of the Police
(FOP).
Supporters
of the Oakland Teachers for Mumia, the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia,
and the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee joined forces at the Oracle
Arena, the home of the Golden State Warriors, during an NBA playoff game to
protest the actions of “Shaq”. The group
claims “The Big Diesel” has taken his “Bly Fly” status too far.
The
documentary Mumia – Long Distance Revolutionary,
was set to show at a movie theater in Newark, New Jersey before being cancelled
at the last minute. Protesters claim the
plug was pulled after “Shaq”, who co-owns the Newark Theater, flew into town to
meet with staff. Supporters of Mumia
Abu-Jamal are protesting “Shaq’s censorship of the important movie.
Mumia
Abu-Jamal, born Wesley Cook, is serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of
Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. His was sentenced to death after
his 1982 trail. That sentence was commuted
to life imprisonment in 2012. Since his
conviction, Abu-Jamal has become the most influential voice from death-row.
His
conviction has polarized the nation.
Members of FOP have criticized efforts to promote Abu-Jamal as a model
from his prison cell. A street is named
after Abu-Jamal in France. Calls to
release Abu-Jamal are heard around the world.
Supporters of Abu-Jamal cite Philadelphia’s historically racist police
regime as the culprit behind Abu-Jamal’s conviction.
People
believe he’s innocent.
The
cry for justice has been heard since a trial spiked with dubious management.
The legal case of Abu-Jamal is one thing.
The censorship of a movie about his life is another. Not only was the
movie cancelled in Newark, the manager responsible for arranging the showing
was fired.
Sorry
“Shaq”, that type of censorship goes against the principles that make America a
nation that celebrates freedom. The
practice of censorship is downright unconstitutional. Yes, it’s problematic when business interests
interfere with freedom of speech.
The
documentary has been received with sold out performances in New York, Los
Angeles, Oakland, as well as showing in 23other cities. “Shaq” and the other
owners of the theater may have felt pressured to cancel the documentary after
the recent decision to place Assata Shakur on the Most Wanted Terrorist
List. Shakur was convicted of the murder
of a Newark, New Jersey police officer before escaping to Cuba where she
remains in political exile.
It’s
meaningful that the protest took place in Oakland, CA, the home of the Black
Panther Party. The arrests and
convictions of both Abu-Jamal and Assata Shakur, the fight to tell their
stories, and the protests on Oakland, unveil a part of American history that
many want censored. It’s a history they
would rather see go away.
History
is complicated. America’s grappling with
race is difficult to hearken when juxtaposed against the unjust ways of the
American criminal justice system. Maybe
it’s puzzling to face the cruelty of a system that functioned with separate
rules to manage order – one for black people, and another for the rest.
Maybe
that’s a truth that people aren’t prepared to face.
Censorship
is a way to make it all go away. Censorship
binds all that hypocrisy and deep seeded racism that drove a generation of black
people to fight the power in ways that questioned the authority of the
police. Yes, it’s a complex matter. It’s deeper than black and white, and, yes,
there’s enough wrong to expose everyone involved. The wrong has to be exposed. You must tell the untold story, even when it
brings to the forefront problems with the police.
The
censorship of Mumia – Long Distance
Revolutionary in Newark, NJ transcends a former basketball player with
enough money to purchase a theater. At
issue is the telling of America’s untold stories. It is about how the telling of those stories
is often compromised by business interests. It is also about how those business
interest whitewash the intent of our constitution.
When
power, money and political interest come against the telling of a story, we no
longer exist in a free nation. The
telling of truths can’t be limited to those who stand on the side of power and
money. If so, America becomes less of a
free nation.
You
may not like Abu-Jamal’s story, but, in America, we don’t censor the rights of
those to tell their point of view.
Contact
your local theater about showing Mumia –
Long Distance Revolutionary
Sign
petition to free Mumia:
http://www.change.org/petitions/release-mumia-abu-jamal
Let's discuss just two issues:
ReplyDeleteCensorship - The act of suppressing or deleting information deemed objectionable on moral, political, military, or other grounds.
The Mumia movie is being screened at multiple venues and his books and articles have been publicly available for years. He's hardly been censored. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor that "firmly established principles" of free speech law, including "the right to decide not to disseminate" the speech of others is valid. Thus, the decision by Shaquille O'Neal to not show the film at a single movie theater he owns is fully compliant with free speech law and does not meet the definition of censorship. The same rule applies when a newspaper editor declines to publish one of your columns. That's not censorship of your views, which are readily available in a number of public forums, but just a business decision that is protected by the law.
The Mumia movie will be shown in Durham, NC. No police will bar the door for those who wish to see this propaganda piece. Which is as it should be.
Plus, nobody wants either the historical or current issues of the Black Panthers to be "censored." In fact, much of society wants them aired, if only to expose the ineffective and often illogical thinking that comprised the movement. Racists everywhere would welcome publicity of the methods and violence of the Black Panthers. So, your argument falls flat in that regard.
The second issue is whether Mumia is guilty of the crime for which he was convicted (a conviction upheld by multiple appeals courts). There are numerous on-line forums that discuss this issue. None that support him take issue with his own outrageous intimidating and politicizing behavior at his original trial nor with the multiple ways in which he undermined the accomplished attorney that he himself selected. In other words, you believe that only racism was responsible for his conviction and absolve Mumia himself of any responsibility for is own actions. Two relatively impartial web sites discuss his case http://www.danielfaulkner.com/original/Pages/CaseFacts.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumia_Abu-Jamal .
How do we sign a petition to free a man without solid evidence he is not guilty? How do we ask authorities to overturn a conviction that Mumia HIMSELF helped to occur? Is it because he is black? Or that his work with the Panthers had noble intentions?
Does branding this case as "polarizing" a nation not become hyperbole? Most people in the nation neither know about or care about Mumia, therefore are unable to be polarized in the issue.