Youth in Action: A Poem for Mumia

A Poem for Mumia

 

Bulldozing through ignorance, violence,

bigotry, shame, hatred, and silence

To reach truth

To embrace beauty

To give life a place to live

Demanding the most simple rights

Means revolution

In the land of the oppressed

Home of the coward –

who stole even the paper upon which

he wrote our stolen history

with invisible ink.

On the other end

Mumia’s pen

Is filled with dark permanence

The truth of which he writes

Cannot be washed away

It is rooted in goodness

Sealed in justice

And encased in reality

Inescapable generosity

His very existence is an offering of hope.

Fighting fistless

Screaming through bullet-proof glass

And still he delivers the punch

His message heard loud and clear

From Philadelphia

To South Africa:

“I am a man you cannot kill.”

“For my spirit is already in the people.”

Kill me

And you kill yourself.

The old will recognize your true

murderous nature

The young will lose all hope in your system

And what happens when hope is lost?

If it is true hope

The spirit dies

If it is false hope

The spirit finds a new path

The mind’s eye opens

And the mission is clear:

Alleviate the suffering

Eliminate the source

Greed, fear, lust, and power

Dawning contemporary robes

Undertaking new identities

As capitalism, sexism, homophobia, racism,

and classism

All of these evils spewing forth from

Mommy’s mouth and Daddy’s lips

To baby’s ear

Regenerating violence

As every fifteen minutes

A woman in America is beat.

As every time I leave my house

I’m treated like a piece of meat.

As every third Black man will soon be

off the street

And behind bars!

This Keynsian bullshit’s leaving scars

And what does our generation have

To anoint the slayed flesh?

To mend the broken bones?

Our father who art in prison

Hallowed be thy name

Though your belly bears no womb

You have given birth

Though you are Abu to only a few

You have many children

For all those who have read your words

Heard your voice

Or know your story

Have been taught a lesson in reality

Have been given a dose of nourishment

Have been cared for by your unseen hands.

You have been unable to embrace your wife

For as long as I have been alive

But I am your daughter.

A father is one who creates new life energy

And this you have awakened in me.

A father is one who gives reinforcement when

the soul is tired

Indeed you have invigorated me.

A father is one who weeps with his

wounded children

In fact, you swallowed our defeats.

A father is one who protects and defends his

young

And still your heart melts steel

To hold us close in one hand

And fight our predators with the other.

As your children

We will do the same for you.

Millions for Mumia

Children for Abu

Justice for Jamal!

-RAINY DEMERSON

(UCLA YSA)

 

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