Bands defy 'cop killer' hysteria
By Norm Dixon
The popular band Rage Against the Machine was forced to live up to its name when it confronted hysteria following its decision to play a benefit concert for US death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Rage Against the Machine, rap group Beastie Boys, Bad Religion and Public Enemy's Chuck D were among the big names who played for Mumia in the US state of New Jersey on January 28. Indigo Girls and Black Sabbath also offered to play. More than 20,000 people attended the sold-out concert, and more than US$300,000 was raised.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a radical African-American journalist, was charged in 1981 for the murder of a Philadelphia cop [see article, page 16]. Despite gross inconsistencies in witnesses' evidence and other anomalies, Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to death. There is a growing movement in the US and around the world to demand a new trial.
The success of the concert came despite a campaign by politicians and the establishment media to sabotage the event. The New Jersey governor, Christine Todd Whitman, called the event "despicable" and urged concert-goers to boycott. New York Republican state senator Serphin Maltese said those who bought tickets were "pro-cop killer". The National Association of Police Organisations accused concert organisers of making a hero of "a convicted cop killer".
The commander of the New Jersey State Police, responsible for providing security outside the arena, openly opposed the holding of the concert and implied that state troopers would be there under protest. "We're putting our troopers in with a hostile crowd", he was quoted as saying.
The management of the concert arena said it would refund money to anybody who bought tickets without knowing the concert was to benefit the campaign for Abu-Jamal. It said it would like to cancel the concert but the arena's status as a public place prevented it doing so legally.
The media joined the attack. Right-wing "shock-jocks" all echoed the "cop killer" refrain. General manager of Manhattan radio station K-Rock apologised on air for the station's "big-time mistake" in promoting the concert.
The New York Post ran an article with a headline that squealed: "Concert Benefits a Cop-Killing Vermin". The columnist volunteered to "squeeze the needle" to execute Abu-Jamal and quoted Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police's Richard Costello's sinister threat: "I hope if there is a 911 [emergency] call to that concert, all the cops going to the scene would observe the traffic light laws".
Despite the hysteria, fewer than 500 people asked for refunds.
The Beastie Boys dedicated their first song to Abu-Jamal and declared: "We all stand in strong opposition to the death penalty". They finished their set with the words: "Mumia did not receive a fair trial ... if you can't receive a fair trial, it's a police state."
Rage Against the Machine lead singer Zach de la Rocha thanked the bands and the audience "for not being intimidated by the police and all the threats, and coming here and standing up for Mumia Abu-Jamal". He reminded the crowd that the case was at a "critical phase" and urged everybody to get active:
"Look around, acknowledge the power in this room ... It is really only a few politicians and cops around the country who want to keep Mumia in jail and sentence him to death. What can they do against 21,000 crazy motherfuckers like us!"
Chuck D joined Rage Against the Machine for several numbers. "The jail cells in America have been a one-sided crime all the way back to slavery", he declared to wild applause.
Pam Africa, from the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, urged the cheering crowd to "go back into your schools and homes and spread the message. The government is in a conspiracy to commit cold-blooded, premeditated murder, and we are trying to stop them. We intend to stop them!"
Monica Moorehead, spokesperson for Millions for Mumia, a national coalition planning mass demonstrations on April 24 in Philadelphia and San Francisco, accused the police and politicians of trying "to create an atmosphere of intimidation" to cause the cancellation of the concert and discourage supporters of a new trial for Mumia "because a new trial will prove that police and prosecutorial misconduct was rampant in his original trial. A new trial will hear from witnesses who will testify that the police bribed, coerced and threatened them in order to verify the skewed police account at the original trial."
"The police-led campaign of intimidation has backfired", Moorehead said. "What has resulted is a new level of publicity and awareness of Mumia's case."
For more information about the campaign, visit <http://www.mumia.org>.