Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?

By: Mumia Abu-Jamal

Narrated by: JD Jackson

In December 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal was shot and beaten into unconsciousness by Philadelphia police. He awoke to find himself shackled to a hospital bed, accused of killing a cop. He was convicted and sentenced to death in a trial that Amnesty International has denounced as failing to meet the minimum standards of judicial fairness.

In Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?, Mumia gives voice to the many people of color who have fallen to police bullets or racist abuse and offers the post-Ferguson generation advice on how to address police abuse in the United States. This collection of his radio commentaries on the topic features an in-depth essay written especially for this book to examine the history of policing in America, with its origins in the White slave patrols of the antebellum South and an explicit mission to terrorize the country's Black population. Applying a personal, historical, and political lens, Mumia provides a righteously angry and calmly principled radical Black perspective on how racist violence is tearing our country apart and what must be done to turn things around.

©2017 Mumia Abu-Jamal (P)2020 Tantor

Business As Usual

I enjoyed the read and appreciated the information, but it was the same old story... White police killing black citizens with little or no regard for life, liberty, justice or retribution The perspective that Former President Obama was nobody's savior and left a lot of people struggling in the same conditions and situations as when he first took office was a welcome change from the common black narrative.

Such an incredible book…..

I really did not remember this work as having been released by Mumia Abu Jamal but a thrilled that it is in my library. The timeline is concise and reminds those of us who study history the depth of the topic. There are so many incidents that it is easy to forget some. The title of the work leaves us with a question that is unanswered by the end of the work. Perhaps I should say the title leaves us with an opportunity to question why Black lives seem not to have mattered. I did enjoy the voice as the tone moved fluidly and the articulation is on point. Wonderful read and should be listened to by any who loves American history.

History

Great breakdown of events. Awesome story telling. Must read for everyone black, white etc. peace

one sided

The topic was true but the finial out come of President Obama presidency was full of the obstructionist in present time. Blaming others for the lack of researching the person that is running for selective office results in people like the 45th president. As long as people put their interest over the office and the people the sword to served. We will continue to have this type of world.