Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary. A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal 2013
Distributed by First Run Features, 630 Ninth Avenue, Suite 1213, New York, NY 10036; 212-243-0600
Produced by Katyana Farzanrad, Noelle Hanrahan, Stephen Vittoria
Directed by Stephen Vittoria
DVD, color and b&w, 120 min.
Sr. High - General Adult
Activism, African Americans, Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, Death Penalty, Journalism, Prisoners, Sociology
Date Entered: 01/02/2014
Reviewed by Monique Threatt, Indiana University, Herman B Wells Library, Bloomington, IN“Make the lightnings carry your messages.” – Mark TwainThis feature-length documentary is an eye-opening look at political activism, and racism in the United States. Vittoria’s film provides a well-balanced and in-depth look at one of today’s revolutionary outspoken political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Hailed as the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia proves to be anything but love for the huge influx of black southern migrants during the 1940s. Born in 1954, Wesley Cook grows up within a nurturing family in one of several Philadelphia housing projects. At an early age, he changes his name to Mumia, a Swahili name. He is an intelligent and inquisitive child beyond his years. He often reads to neighboring children, and develops a relationship with his pastor from his church. He is able to ride along to various churches with the pastor to observe how people interact, and how they show love towards one another. It is suggested that during this time, Mumia is developing his journalistic skills.
It is also around this time that the Civil Rights Movement is gaining momentum. Students and civilians around the world are banding together in support of social change, especially in the United States. Mumia admires the emerging leadership, and is particularly drawn to the powerful confidence and leadership of Muhammad Ali. At 14 years old while demonstrating against inhumane conditions, Mumia is the victim of a brutal police beating. It is at that moment that he decides to become a founding member of The Black Panther Party of Philadelphia. He is also recruited to be the writer for its newspaper. He reports about a segment of society that is not represented in mainstream news. Declared a threat, and political enemy of the state, Mumia and the Black Panther Party soon are targets of FBI’s COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) whose mission is to terrorize and dismantle radical groups, and agitators. As one talking Head comments, the orders were that “while white radicals had to be disrupted, the black radicals had to be destroyed.”
In the early 70s as Mumia attends Goddard College in Vermont. Police brutality under the leadership of Philadelphia’s racist Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo hits an all-time high. His illegal and unorthodox brutality even draws disdain from the federal government. The mainstream media provides Rizzo and his police thugs a platform to spew racial hatred and separation. Philadelphia becomes a hostile police state targeting predominately Blacks, The Panther Party, MOVE (a black liberation group founded by John Africa), and what Rizzo considers hippies sympathetic to the cause. One of the journalists who attends Rizzo’s “war on crime” press conferences is Mumia. Mumia later writes about these injustices and speaks out against the brutality. He gains some employment and recognition by getting his own news radio program at Temple University, and then later at other black radio stations, and community newspapers. However, during this time, Mumia is constantly the subject of ridicule and scrutiny from journalists who try to denigrate his contributions to journalism. He is constantly asked to cut his dreadlocks, or change his political views to appeal to a wider audience. But, Mumia is a man of principle and is not easily swayed to conform to appease the masses.
To support his growing family, Mumia moonlights as a cab driver. One fateful night on December 9, 1981, during a traffic stop involving a car owned by Mumia’s younger brother William Cook, Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner and Mumia exchange gunfire. Mumia is injured, and Faulkner dies. Mumia is brutally beaten by police officers before being arrested and taken to the hospital. Less than a year later, Mumia is found guilty and sentenced to death. Amnesty International declares that Mumia’s trial ‘was irredeemably tainted by politics and race and failed to meet international fair trial standards.”
Transported to an antiquated maximum-security prison, Mumia is subjected to non-population contact, and spends 23 hours of each day alone in his cell to write about the injustice and suffering of others. He is offered a chance to provide commentary for the news program Democracy Now, but state senators condemn his participation in any news or recorded program. He is, however, able to get his manuscript, “Live from Death Row” to a publisher which helps to catapult his story to the global community. Mumia continues to write and publish books while imprisoned despite the constant legal criticism and attacks from the Department of Corrections, federal senators, and right-wing conservative news stations who constantly attack his character and try to silence his voice.
With his story, Mumia has garnered worldwide recognition and support from numerous countries. He is a symbol of bravery and justice and his story inspires the less fortunate to fight for equal and human rights at all costs. It is his love for the human race which inspires him to write daily about human suffering. He often engages in classroom discussions, yet not having access to the Internet. He has written in long-hand over 1,000 commentaries which are picked up and broadcast across the world. After the completion of this film, Mumia’s death sentence is overturned to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The film includes prison interviews, archival footage, dramatic readings and first-hand accounts of events. This is truly a remarkable and interesting look at a very remarkable person whose love for the human race has placed him in the middle of an explosive and controversial era in American history. Talking heads and readings include Cornel West, Alice Walker, Dick Gregory, Angela Davis, Amy Goodman, Giancarlo Esposito, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, Tariq Ait Ben Ali, Tameka Cage, and many others. Music written and performed by Robert Guillory. Cinematography by Erik Sorensen. I highly recommend this film for public, school and academic libraries.