We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party (New Edition)

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

Book Overview

"Writing from the barren confines of his death row cell, Mumia Abu-Jamal provides a remarkable testament about the Black Panther Party. . . .an amazing book that illuminates the truth of what his membership in the Party was about, and reveals the extreme price extracted from him for having learned, and for now telling the truth."
--Kathleen Cleaver, from the Introduction

Mumia Abu Jamal, America's most famous political prisoner, is internationally known for his radio broadcasts and books emerging "Live from Death Row." In his youth Mumia Abu-Jamal helped found the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party, wrote for the national newspaper, and began his life-long work of exposing the violence of the state as it manifests in entrenched poverty, endemic racism, and unending police brutality. In We Want Freedom, Mumia combines his memories of day-to-day life in the Party with analysis of the history of Black liberation struggles. The result is a vivid and compelling picture of the Black Panther Party and its legacy.

Applying his poetic voice and unsparing critical gaze, Mumia examines one of the most revolutionary and most misrepresented groups in the US. As the calls that Black Lives Matter continue to grow louder, Mumia connects the historic dots in this revised/updated edition, observing that the Panthers had legal observers to monitor the police and demanded the "immediate end to police brutality and the murder of Black people." By focusing on the men and women who were the Party, as much as on the leadership; by locating the Black Panthers in a struggle centuries old--and in the personal memories of a young man--Mumia Abu-Jamal helps us to understand freedom.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1942173040
• ISBN13: 9781942173045
• Release Date: October 2016
• Publisher: Common Notions
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE PANTHERS BY THE 'VOICE OF THE VOICELESS'

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH Readers this space may have noticed in my profile that I am a supporter of the Partisan Defense Committee, an organization committed to the defense of and freedom for class war prisoners. The author of the book under review death row inmate, former Black Panther and a `voice for the voiceless' Mumia Abu Jamal is currently the most publicized case of that organization as he faces continued threats to his life by the American justice system. Here he has written a lively and informative account of his `original sin', joining the Black Panthers as a teenager, that has since then put him in the crosshairs of the government and its courts. While one can honestly disagree, as this writer does, about the politics of the Panthers (see all my reviews for other Panther-related reviews) and about Mumia's current political perspective this book demonstrates why there is an extremely good reason why he is called ` the voice of the voiceless'. Apparently, when the government gets you in its sights you are their forever, especially if you are black. Mumia is not the only former Black Panther still in prison, only the most prominent (see Partisan Defense Committee website for others supported by that organization). Although his politics have changed their focus since his Panther youth one of the most inflammatory statements made by the prosecution in his Pennsylvania murder trial in 1982- supposedly to support a so-called `motive' for his crime was his youthful membership in the Panthers. Accordingly, that made him some kind of kill-crazy cop hater for life. No, this characterization will not do. Like many black youth at the time the Panthers brought Mumia to political life at a time when thoughtful black militants were looking for a way forward in the black liberation struggle. That the Panthers could not succeed for various reasons described in the book does not negate their political, not criminal influence. One has to look to the government's reaction to the Panthers if one wants to find serious life-threatening criminal activity Along with several other books I have been reading lately this book has made me think back to the days when we of the white left were head over heels in love with the Black Panthers as the epitome of revolutionary manhood (and it was mainly men) and of revolutionary struggle. Well, as we are all painfully aware, those days are long gone although the goals fought for in those days are still desperately in need of completion. Thus, some thoughts about the ups and downs of the Black Panther experience, the most militant and subjectively revolutionary part of the black liberation movement of the 1960's, and its role in the history of black liberation is in order. Mumia provides much anecdotal information, particularly about the rank and file and the effect that the Panther experience had on turning around some very tough lifestyle situations. As any photograph taken of the Panthers from the period

Ready to lose sleep?

This book is excellent!!!! I couldn't put it down!!! Mr.Mumia Abu-Jamal did alot of research in putting this book together as you will see in his large endnotes section!!! Must read for any one interested in learning about the true history of the black panther party!!!!