Even Playing Field

08/12/12 22:58 Filed in: Inside Look

Written by Stephen Vittoria
(Philadelphia)

Today, for five very plugged-in hours, Chris Hedges and I visited Mumia Abu-Jamal at the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy, a dank prison buried deep in the woods of eastern Pennsylvania. First, a bit about Chris…

… who is an oddity in American journalism today: he muckrakes in the courageous tradition of I.F. “Izzy” Stone, Upton Sinclair, and many other historic journalists – names that the current lapdogs in the American press wouldn’t know if the names were stapled to their forehead. Chris has become one of the most widely read journalists anywhere – respected by many for his gutsy stance against the ongoing evils of empire. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Chris was an overseas bureau chief for the New York Times until his outspoken criticism of Washington’s rush to slaughter and war in Iraq led to a confrontation with Times management and his subsequent resignation. At the Occupy AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) protest in Washington D.C., he stood up and bravely exposed AIPAC for being “a mouthpiece for right-wing ideologues… who believe that because they have the capacity to war wage they have a right to wage war, whose loyalty, in the end, is not to the citizens of Israel or Palestine or the United States but the corporate elites, the defense contractors, those who make war a business.” The Los Angeles Press Club named Hedges Online Journalist of the Year in 2009 and 2011. Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and has taught at Columbia, New York, and Princeton Universities. He’s written twelve books. I thoroughly enjoyed the best-selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.”

Back to SCI Mahanoy on a rain-drenched, 33 degree December day. As we’re checking in, it dawns on me: I’m starting to get to know the guards. I’m not sure if that’s good, bad, or just normal. Me: “Hey, how you doing? Him: “Good. Jamal?” Me: “Yeah, AM8335.” Him: “Yeah, I know.” Ion tests, pat down, x-ray machine, and it’s that long walk down that long hallway. Chris also visits prisons a lot. In fact he teaches inside prisons. A worthy endeavor.

As is always the case with Mumia, as soon as a new acquaintance sits down with him it's as if they've known each other for twenty years. We spoke in depth about the continued vicious march of Manifest Destiny - 21st century style - as well as the crisis of the American Empire. Chris is about to teach a class at Union Theological Seminary about empire and war, and Mumia and I are writing our new book "Murder Incorporated," so we had a scary confluence of similar ideas and thoughts. We shared lists of books that research on this broad topic (read: ugly reality) cannot do without.

We talked about the US Government's infiltration and disruption of the Occupy Movement, reminiscent of similar actions undertaken during the dark days of COINTELPRO. Chris has been an important voice for Occupy and had some intriguing first hand stories. We talked a lot about the big bizness of the prison industrial complex and the stranglehold net it throws over Black youth across the country. We even talked about the three images you would always find proudly displayed in the parlor of black homes during the sixties: MLK, JFK, and a blue-eyed Jesus. It was decided that JFK was the imposter of the three, unless Oliver Stone is in the room.

And as always, there were lots of laughs... Mumia and I caught up on The Walking Dead, the damn photo machine was broken again, we ate lunch from the venerable vending machines, and we bid goodbye. As we were walking back down the long hallway it occurred to me (again) that this was a great meeting of the minds (mine excluded) of two great journalists - one who's reported from every corner of the planet and one who's reported during the same time period from a deep hole in America's gulag. And the amazing part is that they operate as equals with pen, paper, and guts... and Chris would agree, with Mumia at a ridiculous disadvantage of existing in hell. And yet, his journalism happens, his historical swipe of the pen happens. Chris (God bless him) has everything at his fingertips. Mumia nothing - except his extraordinary intellect and innate talent. The rest for Mumia, as far as I'm concerned, is Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman and James Baldwin pulsing through his veins like those before them pulsed through their veins.

Bringing these two great journalists together for five hours proved one thing to me, something I already knew, but the confirmation is nice: Mumia Abu-Jamal, the journalist, the writer, the historian, can play on an even playing field with anyone, even giants. That is why his voice must continue to be heard, continue to reach around the world. It's like what former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark says in "Long Distance Revolutionary" - "Mumia’s words should be taught to schoolchildren. We’d be a better people and a better country."