CALL TO SUPPORT MOVE NOW!
(Column written 3/26/01)
Copyright 2001 Mumia Abu-Jamal
"...The system has failed you yesterday, failed you today and have created the conditions for failure tomorrow, for society is wrong, the system is reelin', the courts of this complex are filled with imbalance, cops are insane, the judges enslavin', the lawyers are just as the judges they confront, they are Harvard and Princeton and Cornell and Yale and trained as the judge to deceive the impoverished, trained as the judge to protect the established, trained by the system to be as the system, to do for the system, exploit with the system and MOVE ain't gonna close our eyes to this Monster, ..." JOHN AFRICA, The Judges' Letter
For many who have read many of the writer's writings, they have read numerous references to John Africa, Ramona Africa or the MOVE Organization. Perhaps to many, these are just names, and if known, not well known, as real, living beings or personalities. Many of us read words, and our minds conjure up images or impressions formed by what we learned in school, or by way of the media.
For most folks in modern American (and global) life, we rely on the intervention of strangers (the media) to interpret, inform and, indeed, misinform us of the world around us. We love or loathe those who we have never met, based upon what a perfect stranger has told us. That has ever been the case with MOVE. Most who hold, or express, an opinion on the organization have never met such a person who is a member thereof.
They are real people: men, women and children who are utterly extraordinary, in some ways, because of their extraordinary Belief.
They are alive - now. They work daily to make their life-affirming beliefs a reality.
And they are facing serious threats and dangers from the State as you read this.
Have you ever read about the State's murderous massacre of May 13th, 1985, and felt, in your heart of hearts, that you wish you could have stopped it? Have you seen video footage of August 8th, 1978 and asked yourself, "How could this have happened?"
If you really understand the nature of the State, then you understand how men drunk with power or ambition can, and will, do anything to keep it (or get it). (What did the so-called "election" of 2000 teach you?) Anything. Anything.
You can't stop the past. No one can.
What's past, is past.
But, despite the relative silence from the corporate, establishment media, MOVE is now engaged in a serious conflict with the government over a child custody issue.
What the government is doing, this time quietly, under cover of darkness, is arming, and sending Gestapo-style SWAT troops to MOVE homes, as they seek to intimidate and terrorize MOVE women and children.
Are you going to sit around and wait for yet another May 13th, 1985?
If you are outraged or sickened by such a prospect, take the time to contact MOVE directly. They'll let you know what to do. Ona Move!
Please contact the following:
The MOVE Organization P.O. Box 19709 Philadelphia, PA 19143
Tel: (215) 387-4107 (215) 387-9955
E-mail: seedsofwisdom@hotmail.com onamovellja@aol.comLet's support MOVE NOW!
Text © copyright 2001 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@action-mail.org
web: http://www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT SITE http://www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
To make a tax-deductible donation,
go to http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org
Share this page with a friend