© Jennifer E. Beach / AP
An undated photo of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is serving a life sentence.
Tens or even hundreds of thousands of Americans, like those in the visiting room of the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy, drove often for hours on the Fourth of July weekend to visit relatives or friends who are
locked in cages. Millions suffered the painful absence this weekend of a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter or a friend. These people, mostly poor people of color, understand a dark truth about the cruelty and ultimate intentions of the corporate state. They know that "freedom," "justice" and "liberty," especially if you are poor, are empty slogans.
"We live in one of the most un-free systems on earth," said the black revolutionary and author
Mumia Abu-Jamal, whom I visited Saturday.
"Mass incarceration is a reality endured by millions of people in prison and in the systems of repression that exist outside of prison. What does freedom mean to poor people who cannot walk freely down a street? What does freedom mean when they cannot find work? What does freedom mean when there is no justice in the courts? What does freedom mean when black people cannot attend a Bible study in a church without the fear of being murdered? Where is this American freedom they keep telling us about? I don't see it. Black folks are more in danger, and being killed in even greater numbers, than during the reign of terror that was lynching and Jim Crow."
Comment: See also: How do we stop the killing? 1 in 11 U.S. gun deaths is at the hands of police