Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? A Book Party Curated by author Mumia Abu-Jamal with Mumia Abu-Jamal Dr. Gerald Horne, author of over 30 books on radical Black history Pan Africa, MOVE and International Concerned Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal Johanna Fernandez, Professor of History, Baruch College of CUNY Ash Williams, activist/Charlottes Uprising organizer Immortal Technique, special performance
The nations best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, told supporters that his new book,Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?" reflects the peoples struggles in the invisible sectors of American society.
In a righteously angry collection of commentaries and essays, Mumia Abu-Jamal, an acclaimed incarcerated author and intellectual asks: Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? "Mumia Abu-Jamal's painstaking courage, truth-telling and disinterest in avoiding the reality of American racial life is, as always, honorable," says Alice Walker. In his new book Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?, author and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal explores this question, spanning from the late 1990s to 2017. Each essay explores the violence of policing and the criminal legal system, whether from a historical perspective or through the stories of people who have died by the hands of police. In the first essay, "Hate Crimes," Mumia questions the legitimacy of the idea of hate crimes, pointing out that police are never charged with a hate crime when they brutalize and kill Black and Brown people. His essays discuss the murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, the killing of Tamir Rice by Cleveland, Ohio, police officer Timothy Loehmann, and what the aftermath of these slayings reveals about how the United States views Black people. His conclusion is perfectly summed up in the first two lines of his October 2015 essay titled, "Tamir Rice of Cleveland" -- "Question: When is a child not a child? Answer: When it's a Black child."
Listen to Mumia, himself as he spoke at his book launching about some of the issues he engages with in "Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?", and commentary about police violence and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Youll also hear then from one of the greatest African- American authors and historians in the country, Dr. Gerald Horne, and the extra-ordinary activist Pam Africa.
produced by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash
please notify us if you plan to broadcast this program - knash@igc.org
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