New York, New York
30/01/13 16:13
Written by Stephen Vittoria
(Somewhere over the Rainbow at 37,000 feet)
I have this dream. It’s February 1, 2013 and it’s in the city that sits hard between the rivers East and Hudson. It’s inside the historic Riverside Church, the place where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had arguably his finest moment – a moment when King became a superhero, a moment when King climbed on the back of empire and spoke bravely about the evils of capitalism, the evils of militarism, and of course the evils of racism. At Riverside Church in April of 1967, exactly one year before the day he was murdered in Memphis, King sharpened his pen and drove it right into the heart of the American Empire. He masterfully merged the various evils of his day – the murder spree in Southeast Asia, the bludgeoning of the poor by predatory capitalism, and the terror exerted for centuries by a racist nation – into one cohesive and connected message of peace and sanity for humankind. The so-called liberal press of the day – The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and all the other fish wraps – eviscerated King in a barrage of vindictive fury. But King never missed a step. He withstood the hurricane winds of rage that whipped out of the white supremacist noise machine – for King knew, after climbing his mountain that the Empire had run amok. King knew that the battle lay before him.
It is here where this dream materializes. Riverside Church, 1 February 2013… and in this dream the film “Long Distance Revolutionary” doesn’t exist. There is no need for it to exist because in the pulpit – the same pulpit King undressed the Empire forty-five years ago – stands Mumia Abu-Jamal. Fifty-eight years old. Dreads. Glasses. And of course rough and tumble clothes. His booming message to a packed chamber echoes and expands King’s denunciation of the Empire, of war, of poverty, of the injustices that plague this nation and this world. Like I said, in this dream, there’s no reason for a two-hour documentary because Mumia is a free man – there’s no need for a film to capture his life, his revolutionary fight, his courageous message, his rage against the machine. Because Mumia walks free and has been a current day Frederick Douglass for decades… an amalgamation of many great and courageous revolutionaries but in a style and manner all his own.
Also in this dream, America is a little bit better; the fight for healthcare, living wages, environmental justice, and the never-ending battle against war and violence is a little farther down the road. And we’re there because the powers that be have not silenced and shackled Mumia for thirty-plus years, the powers that be have not moved mountains to surgically remove his black presence, as well as his ability to fight and speak for others.
But the reality of February 1, 2013 is that Mumia Abu-Jamal is not free. He continues to exist – along with so many others – in a living and breathing hell. Indeed, his spirit runs free, his soul beckons the light, and his words are read and heard around the world by some, but his shackles, the ties that bind, the terror of thirty-plus years on Death Row, in solitary, marginalize and diminish his impact. History will recognize his impact but history can be cruel in its timing. It’s like what Dick Gregory says in the film:
“One day we will find out that he was the voice of America – the voice of America is a fraud.”
The dream, at least for this moment, is gone. Mumia remains inside what Cornel West calls, “a prison cell in the U.S. repressive apparatus.” But this dream turned nightmare has a temporary silver lining, a band-aid, a bridge loan for you economics majors out there… and it is “Long Distance Revolutionary,” opening in New York City this weekend, February 1 at Cinema Village in the most famous of villages.
Many believe the film is the definitive work on this man’s life. I’m honored when I read that because the narrative that has been perpetuated by the ugly and soulless mainstream public relations machine – also known as the American media – has been a mix of racist lies and outright gibberish.
The corrupt swine may have effectively silenced and unplugged Mumia’s full potential as an agent of revolutionary change, but not this weekend, not this week in the greatest village in the greatest city on earth, the center of the universe, hard between rivers East and Hudson.