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Welcome to the United
States of America, the land of hypocrisy, denial, and
subterfuge.
Intense economic and race war in fact continues unabated in
this nation unabashedly fostered, sadly, by U.S. President
Barack Obama, who is himself the aloof and blissfully
oblivious target of increasing racial bigotry. What a
terrible irony! It is stunning, but no accident, how the
obvious is repeatedly missed by so many in ‘America.’ The
details in the cases of U.S. political prisoners Mumia
Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier make this abundant arrogance,
hypocrisy, and dangerous obliviousness that is so prevalent
in this land - crystal clear.
Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal however, are so much
more than political prisoners in ‘America.’ Their three
decades-long wrongful imprisonment represents the very heart
and soul of ongoing hypocrisy, racism, and growing injustice
in this nation. Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier are not
simply names to banter about. As with many other political
prisoners in this country, these two cases represent the
collective barometer that indicate the utter and dismal
failure of the judiciary and politicos of this nation to
“change” their ways and come to their human senses.
Leonard Peltier, a former head of the American Indian
Movement (AIM), and Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former leader in the
Black Panther Party (BPP), both demonstrated the unmitigated
audacity to stand up for unfettered justice - which is in
reality the ultimate sin in this nation. They both were
falsely accused of having killed police agents of repression
and they both had enormously crucial and important evidence
suppressed by government prosecutors in their skewed, so -
called free and democratic trials here in the empire’s
corporate ‘America.’ They both were (and continue to be -
even in prison) the targets of local, state, and federal
authorities - to be discredited, kept imprisoned, and if
possible - ultimately murdered.
 The
crux of the Leonard Peltier case is not only the government
subterfuge and concomitant suppression of crucial evidence,
but also the legitimate sovereignty rights of Indigenous
peoples collectively on this continent. Indigenous
sovereignty rights is something that the U.S. Government and
much of the collective psyche of this country has studiously
avoided, refusing to honestly and fairly address for over
five hundred years.
Likewise, the crux of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case is not only
the government subterfuge and suppression of crucial
evidence, but the audacity of Mr. Abu-Jamal to, as a human
rights activist in word and deed, boldly expose the economic
and racist hypocrisy of the U.S. Government, in his quest on
behalf of the collective human rights of people here and
abroad.
For thirty years now the corporate U.S. so - called ‘news’
media has used, and continues to use, a combination of
falsehoods, omissions, and obfuscation to perpetuate this
despicable outrage against Mr. Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier.
Thus is this outrage also continually perpetrated against us
- the majority of peoples in this nation and on this planet;
not only pertaining to the Leonard Peltier and Mumia
Abu-Jamal cases of injustice but also as pertains to the
daily corporate media onslaught of distraction and
disinformation in general both nationally and
internationally. Make no mistake about this!
Leonard Peltier recently very clearly and quite correctly
wrote that “now” he is Barack “Obama’s political prisoner.”
Indeed he is, as is Mumia Abu-Jamal, just as the bloody wars
in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere are now
Obama’s wars. Stop the intellectual masturbation and get
real - people! These two political prisoners represent the
barometers of our very souls. Indeed, until we ourselves
uncompromisingly change it, we are all the emotional and
information prisoners of this present economic, social, and
political Republicrat [i.e. Republican and Democratic Party]
nonsense on the road to certain national and global
disaster.
Whether we view our primary concern as being obtaining
universal single payer health care, over-all social &
economic justice, labor union busting, the environment,
housing, increasing unemployment, or the ongoing U.S. bloody
wars abroad, etc., the cases of Leonard Peltier and Mumia
Abu-Jamal encompass all of these important concerns. Think
about it! They are all linked and intertwined. We must
understand this.
Our Mother Earth cannot continue to exist without social /
political (including environmental) and economic justice and
real change, and we cannot continue to exist without our
Mother Earth. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a
Harvard graduate to understand this.
In the spirit of ‘Crazy Horse’ and with the determination of
all justice loving people; spit out the poisonous political
‘Kool’ Aid and fight hard to make our hopes and dreams
become reality. As we do this, let us actively remember
Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal, for in doing so we
remember and honor the very best in ourselves. Onward then
sisters and brothers! Onward… There remains much work to be
done.
BlackCommentator.com
Editorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of
the Black Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of
the Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and
the only American to have successfully self - authored his
civil/political rights case to the United Nations under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In connection with his political
organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression,
etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally
televised PBS NewsHour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer
NewsHour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the book,
Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist
and Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by
Howard Zinn]. (Click
here to read excerpts from the book). We wish to thank Mr. Pinkney
for his support and encouragement, as well as for allowing
us to reprint this commentary which was originally published
in The Black
Commentator, a weekly Internet magazine featuring
commentary, analysis, and investigations on issues affecting
African Americans (www.BlackCommentator.com).
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