------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- REBEL AGAINST RACISM! By Monica Moorehead and Larry Holmes Martin Luther King III, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, issued a powerful statement on Jan. 12, 2000, about the case of Black revolutionary, political prisoner and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. The statement was written in honor of King's father, the slain civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 72 this Jan. 15. It reads in part: "First of all, at the SCLC we are unequivocally opposed to capital punishment. The conductors of the evil system of injustice made Abu-Jamal a political prisoner and now they have planned his execution. As 'conscience-raising members' of the global society, we cannot afford to sit back and let an innocent man die." "The world must know that the judge purposely withheld 'crucial evidence' from Abu-Jamal's case," King wrote. "Experts say this evidence alone could have brought an acquittal. We can no longer afford to allow bias in the criminal justice system to continue. "We must stand by Abu-Jamal's side, just as we stood by the sides of Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis, Ben Chavis and Joann Little." He continued: "I do not believe it is incidental that I find myself protesting for the life of this innocent man one month after my family and I received the verdict from a multicultural jury that said my father's assassination was part of a conspiracy. Martin Luther King Jr. was brutally murdered because he spoke out against social injustices. "Today we must unite together in the name of justice to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a young man who was respected in the community for reporting stories about economic and social injustices. "We must come together as a family in the spirit of my father, who said, 'the arc of the universe is long but is bent towards justice,' and never give up until we save the life of our brother, Mumia Abu-Jamal," King concluded. This moving statement of support for Abu-Jamal should have been printed in every major newspaper across the country. The question is: Why wasn't it? CORPORATE MEDIA WHITEOUT King has stated on more than one occasion that he firmly believes that Abu-Jamal is innocent and should not be executed. And King is certainly not viewed as a radical, a revolutionary or someone who is against the capitalist system. Such a statement could go a long way toward attracting broader support for Abu-Jamal. One would think that a statement from the leader of a well- respected civil-rights group, as well as a son of the most famous civil-rights leader, would warrant some attention from the mainstream media. But with few exceptions there was dead silence. The same can be said for the media whiteout of the barbaric execution of Wanda Jean Allen in Oklahoma Jan. 11. Allen was an African American lesbian who was poor and mentally disabled. She was the first Black woman to be executed in the United States since 1954. Even the New York Times, the mouthpiece of the so-called liberal capitalist establishment, did not see fit to report on this atrocity. Think of how millions of women took a great interest in the sexual-harassment case that Anita Hill brought before the 1992 Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. In the same way, millions of women would have taken a great interest in Allen's case and organized against her execution, had it been reported in the major media. Then there's the issue of how George W. Bush ascended to the presidency. His victory came about mainly due to the political disenfranchisement of thousands of Black voters in Florida. Bush--along with his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Attorney General Katherine Harris and other Republican Party leaders--carried out a racist conspiracy. This has been well documented. But the big-business media have done their best to downplay this fact since the U.S. Supreme Court voted five to four in Bush's favor and halted the Florida recount. RULING CLASS FEARS ANTI-RACIST REBELLION What do Mumia Abu-Jamal's case, Wanda Jean Allen's execution and the Florida vote theft all have in common? They are all manifestations of racist repression. The corporate-dominated media know racism is at the core of these issues and more. So why do they ignore it or actively cover it up? Because it's in the best interests of safeguarding capitalist rule to give little or no attention to racist repression. At the heart of maintaining the U.S. capitalist system--a form of class rule based on production for profit and the exploitation of wage labor--is a racist ideology based on white supremacy. What do the media and the billionaire ruling class fear more than anything? They fear rebellion of all types. What the bourgeois class especially wants to avoid is working-class rebellion based on unity against racism. That's why they fear Abu-Jamal. He symbolizes rebellion. Support for his cause transcends racial and class lines, especially where young activists and revolutionaries are concerned. Abu-Jamal is a longtime Black revolutionary. He understands that racism and repression do not exist in a vacuum, but are integral components of the capitalist system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. They are part and parcel of the system that denies oppressed people their basic democratic rights--including the right to vote. Not only does Abu-Jamal speak out militantly on these subjects. He also inspires young people in the United States and worldwide to rebel against the entire capitalist system. That's why the corporate media have tried to marginalize and vilify Abu-Jamal, labeling him a "cop killer" at every opportunity. They hope to scare away any mass support for the former Black Panther, so they can proceed with their plan to silence his revolutionary voice through state- sanctioned murder. Abu-Jamal is a modern day Gabriel Prosser, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey and John Brown all rolled into one. These heroic individuals were all Southern slaves except Brown. They were all executed for attempting to organize their brethren to rise up against their oppressors in the name of liberation and social justice. The worldwide workers' movement and all progressives, especially inside the United States, must do everything necessary to stop the legal lynching of Mumia Abu-Jamal. CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS PROTESTS The ruling class wants to carry out racist repression but avoid the rebellion of the masses against this oppressive system. They dispatch the police as occupying armies from Harlem to Watts to try and keep the oppressed masses in check. But they know that rebellion is the inevitable reaction to exploitation and repression. It's no wonder that the U.S. ruling class was so nervous when members of the Congressional Black Caucus staged a protest and walkout against the selection of George W. Bush as president at a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. The CBC members saw this as a golden opportunity to again raise the specter of voter disenfranchisement. This protest was one kind of rebellion. The bourgeoisie had hoped that the Florida vote theft had finally been swept under the rug rather than have it once again become a focus of national attention. The Black Caucus's action also served to demonstrate the bankruptcy of the Democratic Party, whose leadership is just as tied to big business as the Republicans. Not a single white Democrat showed any solidarity with the Black Caucus's challenge to the Florida electoral votes-- including Al Gore, who presided over the session. Ever since Bush stole the election, the president-select and his advisors have worked overtime to portray him as a "compassionate conservative." First of all, there is no such animal. Second, this bogus image has been further exposed by what happened in Florida, by Bush's right-wing cabinet nominations, by his pro-death-penalty stance, by his close ties with the Pentagon and Big Oil, and much more. All these factors have not only angered large sectors of the people, but will help motivate many of them to take to the streets. The capitalist class knows this all too well. It wants to take every precaution to avoid any kind of political embarrassment for Bush during his Jan. 20 inauguration. BUSH'S WORST NIGHTMARE The authorities in Washington are taking extraordinary, illegal and repressive measures to try to scare away demonstrators and the general public or make it impossible for them to protest against the inauguration parade. The ruling class is taking special aim at Washington's 80- percent African American population. Three-fourths of African American youths who live in the district are in the criminal-justice system's clutches. Imagine seeing thousands of Washington's Black youths together with other protesters of all nationalities holding placards and banners--lining the parade route to raise Abu- Jamal's case, oppose the racist death penalty and the Florida vote theft, defend women's right to choose, protect the environment and much more. It's the Bush administration's worst nightmare. This would be another kind of rebellion--this time by the masses as they brave thousands of federal and local police agencies and the Secret Service, who plan to set up checkpoints and other obstacles to keep the people from unifying against their common enemies: Bush and his reactionary cabinet. But these repressive measures can't silence the struggle. This was demonstrated by the birth of a dynamic new youth movement against corporate globalization and injustice. As racist repression and exploitation deepens, so will the resistance to it. As hard as it tries, the ruling class is incapable of keeping a lid on the boiling pot of racism. Some day it will explode in a giant rebellion against the whole rotten capitalist system. Bush's blatantly racist, anti-poor and anti-worker policies will become a lightning rod for winning more soldiers to the people's struggle, regardless of ideology or social background, to free our brother Mumia Abu-Jamal, end the death penalty and abolish all forms of racist repression. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
