If you are either from or of the Philadelphia area, chances are you know much better than to bring up Mumia Abu-Jamal in mixed company. From a distance, the Mumia case might appear to be a harsh study in race politics … completely polarizing along surface lines. But a closer inspection reveals there’s something much deeper at work here; something indicative of the ongoing struggle between institutional thought and revolutionary opposition.
Was Mumia Abu-Jamal guilty? Was he a victim of the system? Should Mumia be afforded the right to a new hearing? Despite the fact Mumia was both tried and convicted more than 30 years ago, the public outcry – ringing out across both bows – has not quieted one smidgeon in the three decades since. At the center of it all is Mumia himself, left to rot in Mahanoy Prison, after his death sentence was commuted in early December, 2011.
As a result of his incarceration, Abu-Jamal has come to symbolize much more than he ever might have on the outside. Yet, the man is still considered an irrepressible scourge by local critics, many of whom (e.g., Buzz Bissinger, Michael Smerconish, and Ed Rendell among them) refused to be interviewed for Revolutionary, a documentary which – despite some effort on the part of Stephen Vittoria – falls decidedly pro-Mumia.
Long-Distance Revolutionary does not concern itself with whether Mumia is innocent or guilty. It does not dawdle over evidence, nor devote more than a few spare frames to the early morning hours of December 9, 1981 – hours during which Mumia was subsequently convicted of shooting Daniel Faulkner at close range. Instead, the film tends to focus on who and what Mumia was in the years leading up to his arrest, and – more importantly – who and what he has become in the years since. Vittoria covers Mumia’s induction into the Black Panthers, his affiliation with the MOVE Organization, as well as his rise to become President of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, and his well-documented fall from grace. Revolutionary plays that off the strong-arm tactics of Frank Rizzo, a pair of ultra-violent confrontations between Philadelphia Police and the MOVE Organization, and the ongoing prevalence of white supremacist beliefs originally outlined in The Philadelphia Negro.
If Long-Distance Revolutionary is striving to make any case, it is the case for what Mumia Abu-Jamal could have been … would have been, had it not been for violent waves of hatred; had Abu-Jamal continued his ascent, had he not been black-balled by bureaucracy, spurned completely by white colleagues … had he not been parked along the dark side of 12th & Locust on that cold and fateful evening; or – perhaps better still – had that cold and fateful evening never happened altogether.
The only real sticking point being, it did.
It did.
And, depending upon your perspective, that is either the eternal shame or the eternal rub of it.
(Mumia: Long-Distance Revolutionary opens this Friday, February 1st, at New York City’s Cinema Village.)
One Comment
Kag
I worked just over 17yrs as a Private Law Enforcement Officer and Private Investigator in Philadelphia , and their was a time that i beiveled that everyone that was in jail was there because they must have been guilty. In May 1995 I was attacked by a drunken crackhead with a 14 Butcher Knife in my own property within the 14th District after calling the Police about six times in two days and telling them the man had threatened my life , told me he had killed 3 people by running them down with a car and he had gotten away with it, that he also threatened to burn down a rental property while all the tenants were asleep. That just as Anton suggested that everyone needs to read the Trial Transcripts , before passing judgement that actual guilt occured , perhaps that would be best. Three Police Officers were NOT truthful at my Trial and two of them had told me the night of my arrest’ that they would make sure I’m found guilty at trial.They then made an attempt to Frame me for First Degree Murder. When the prosecutions Key Witness Police Officer Arthur Lee Badge #1961 finished testifieing about the Crime Scene , at trial I told one my lead defense council that we have evidence to prove that he just lied about the Crime Scene , that we have the Original Statement that this Officer gave to Homicide Detective Harris , the statement of Police Officer Tyrone Hill Badge # 4988 as given to Homicide Detective Hoffner Badge #9001 , and the statement of Police Officer Jeffrey Hannan Badge # 2982 as given to Homicide Detective Schol Badge #9253 , THAT ALL THREE STATEMENTS contradict 100% of the Testimony Given at TRIAL by this Officer Arthur Lee concerning the Crime Scene and whether or NOT the Crime Scene had been altered prior to it’s being Photographed by the Forensic Photographer. { I personally witnessed Officer Jeffrey Hannan walking through a pool of blood and removing his shoes before leaving the house , later the Butcher Knife was photographed on top of a Bloody Shoeprint and the prosecutor inferred it was proof that a knife was planted at the scene , when actually the knife had been moved about the scene BEFORE it was finally photographed } My Attorney CLAIMED he couldn’t locate the 3 DETECTIVE Reports at the Defense Table although I saw them in front of him Just BEFORE the Officer testified, THERFORE the opportunity to Discredit The Key Prosecution Witness for PERJURY was LOST at TRIAL and the District Attorney had continually Argued on Appeal that the EVIDENCE of PERJURY should have been presented at TRIAL and should NOT be considered on APPEAL. But that’s NOT all , the TRIAL JUDGE STATED on Record in the Trial Transcripts that she UNDERSTOOD that I had fired my weapon in SELF DEFENSE , but that she just couldn’t understand why I didn’t fire a warning shot first , or WAIT until I was STABBED first because , I may NOT have sufferred a Deadly Stab. YES , I still possess the STATEMENTS of these Officers and have my Transcripts to PROVE I was Innocently Convicted of 3rd Degree Murder after the Prosecutor failed to Frame me for First Degree Murder KNOWING that Officer Lee and other officers LIED as the Three Statements were OBTAINED from the District Attorneys Office via the Discovery Process Trial was 21 -23 Dec. 1995 , Sentenced on 18 Feb. 1997 after remaining on Bail to allow time to prepare for incarceration. {Non Jury Trial , jerked by my Attorney real bad } Is their an ATTORNEY here willing to do Pro BONO and argue a Post Conviction Appeal based upon the Mooney Principle , Mooney V. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103 , 55 S. Ct. 340, 79 L. Ed. 791 { 1935 } { The knowing use by the State of perjured testimony to obtain conviction and the deliberate suppression of evidence to impeach that testimony is a deprivation of due process. The COURT has held that due process has not been satisfied if a State has contrived a conviction through the pretense of a trial which in truth is but used as a means of depriving a defendant of liberty through a deliberate deception of court and jury by testimony known to be perjured { see also Alcortra v. Texas , Napue v. Maryland , Giles v. Maryland } This is 2011 , 16 years later and I have yet to see JUSTICE.{ Six Months AFTER my Trial the same JUDGE heard a similar case from the 14th District and that MAN was acquitted on Self Defense , he was a Caucasian Business man. } If an Attorney reading this can HELP me overturn my Conviction as an Innocent PLEASE Call me at 267-230-8497 0r 215-228-6437. { I served 5 1/2 years in prison and walked off the rest after being Parolled in June 2002 , finished 5- 10 year sentence on 7 Feb. 2007 }