Philadelphia is Franz Fanon's "Black Skin, White Masks" in real time

From: SUNDIATA SADIQ sundiata42@optonline.net

PHILADELPHIA IS FRANZ FANON'S "BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASKS" IN REAL TIME

The white ruling class strategy since the end of the ruthless reign
of Frank Rizzo, as former chief of police and then mayor of
Philadelphia, is to replace white faces with black faces and to
support and prop up such black faces to carry out the bidding of that
power elite without regard to the continued oppression of the black
working class of the city of Philadelphia. This phenomenon in Africa
politics is called `Neo- Colonialism,' that is replacing white faces
with black faces to keep the masses of blacks in their place and to
maximize profits for the multi national business community.

In Phildelphia, enter its first black Mayor, first black Police Chief
and now the first black District Attorney.

Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell describes District Attorney
Seth Williams, as lawyer of courage, intelligence and likeability. In
other words, Governor Rendell sees DA Seth Williams as a `good boy.'

As a backdrop, we must remember the 26th anniversary of tragic events
in the City of Brotherly Love. At that time, the power elite
attempted to destroy the MOVE organization with Wilson Goode,
Philadelphia's first black mayor in office. In similar terms to
Rendell's description of Seth Williams, Goode was described as a
likeable, intelligent black man. Nevertheless, Goode did the
unthinkable for his "masters". On May 13, 1985, he gave the order to
the police to drop a bomb on the MOVE house on Osage Avenue that
killed eleven people: men women and children and destroyed an entire
Black neighborhood...

In an article in New York Times Magazine, Lynne Abraham, Williams's
predecessor was called "tough on crime" and "America's deadliest DA"
for her pursuit of the death penalty in capital cases. That article
never mentioned the innocent people who were wrongfully convicted and
sentenced to death during her tenure, who later had their convictions
overturned after spending years on death row. One example is Harold
Wilson, a black man convicted of a triple homicide. Harold Wilson
spent 16 years on death row, until he was exonerated.

Even under the police state conditions imposed by Frank Rizzo, DA
Abraham was unable to affect the legal lynching of Mumia Abu-Jamal,
prize winning journalist, called the "Voice of the Voiceless". During
the reign of terror in Philadelphia under Frank Rizzo, Mumia was
framed for killing police officer Daniel Faulkner on a Philadelphia
street in December 1981. Mumia was ultimately convicted and sentenced
to die in 1995. Since 1982 Mumia has languished in a cell on death
row and fortunately, as a result of a series of appeals, Lynn Abraham
was unable to see the legal lynching carried out.

The credit for preventing this miscarriage of justice goes to the
people of Philadelphia, other cities, towns, villages and folk in the
United States and around the world who rose up in protest.

Enter stage right: Seth Williams who runs for DA of Philadelphia on a
platform where he promised to seek the death penalty for Mumia
Abu-Jamal and prosecute his execution. Of course, that stand gained
Williams the immediate support of the Fraternal Order of Police and
big business. Stunningly, civil rights organizations, such as
Philadelphia chapter NAACP jumped aboard. Adding to the circus, Tigre
Hill, a local black filmmaker, produced a documentary film entitled
"Barrel of a Gun" whose ridiculous premise was that ever since he was
a fifteen year old youth Mumia harbored a desire to kill a police officer.

Last month when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rendered its
decision setting aside Mumia's death sentence, District Attorney
Williams stated on local television that he received a call from
Maureen Faulkner, widow of slain officer Daniel Faulkner. A willing
tool of Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police, she asked DA
Williams to appeal the Third Circuit's unanimous decision to reduce
Mumia's sentence to life in prison without parole stating that she
can only have closure when she knows Mumia is dead.

We watched as "Uncle" Seth Williams half choked saying "I will try Ms
Faulkner because most people don't know the facts like we do."

Neither Seth Williams nor Maureen Faulkner "knows" the facts of this
case. Investigations show that in order to frame Mumia, who had been
a thorn in their side for reporting about police corruption and their
persecution of MOVE, the police began their manipulation of the
evidence in order to frame Mumia as soon as they arrived on the
scene. Amnesty International and other legal experts have issue
reports that show that Mumia's trial was a kangaroo court.

Since Mumia's conviction and imprisonment in the death house of SCI
Green for three decades up to the election of Philadelphia's first
black District Attorney, we still hear the cries throughout the world
the battle cry of `Brick by brick, wall by wall, We gonna free Mumia
Abu-Jamal!"

SUNDIATA SADIQ co chair of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC)
914 672 5807 May 8, 2011

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--Mumia is Innocent! Stop the Frame Up! Free Mumia!--

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, NYC
P.O. Box 16, College Station, NY, NY 10030
212-330-8029, www.FreeMumia.com, info@FreeMumia.com