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Writing on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal
"Revolutionary love, revolutionary memory and revolutionary analysis are at work in every page written by Mumia Abu-Jamal … His writings are a wake-up call. He is a voice from our prophetic tradition, speaking to us here, now, lovingly, urgently. Black man, old-school jazz man, freedom fighter, revolutionary-his presence, his voice, his words are the writing on the wall."-Cornel West, from the foreword
From the first slave writings to contemporary hip hop, the canon of African American literature offers a powerful counter-narrative to dominant notions of American culture, history and politics. Resonant with voices of prophecy and resistance, the African American literary tradition runs deep with emancipatory currents that have had an indelible impact on the United States and the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of our most important contributors to this canon for decades, writing from the confines of the U.S. prison system to give voice to those most silenced by chronic racism, impoverishment and injustice.
Writing on the Wall is a selection of more than 100 previously unpublished essays that deliver Mumia Abu-Jamal's essential perspectives on community, politics, power, and the possibilities of social change in the United States. From Rosa Parks to Edward Snowden, from the Trail of Tears to Ferguson, Missouri, Abu-Jamal addresses a sweeping range of contemporary and historical issues. Written mostly during his years of solitary confinement on Death Row, these essays are a testament to Abu-Jamal's often prescient insight, and his revolutionary perspective brims with hope, encouragement and profound faith in the possibility of redemption.
"Greatness meets us in this book, and not just in Mumia's personal courage and character. It's in the writing. This is art with political power, challenging institutional injustice in the U.S. while catalyzing our understanding, memory and solidarities for liberation and love. Writing on the Wall can set the nation aflame-yes, for creating new possible worlds."-Mark Lewis Taylor, Professor of Theology and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of two best-selling books, Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms.
Johanna Fernández is a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of History at Baruch College in New York City.
Cornel West is a scholar, philosopher, activist and author of over a dozen books including his bestseller, Race Matters. He appears frequently in the media, and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as Tavis Smiley.
From the first slave writings to contemporary hip hop, the canon of African American literature offers a powerful counter-narrative to dominant notions of American culture, history and politics. Resonant with voices of prophecy and resistance, the African American literary tradition runs deep with emancipatory currents that have had an indelible impact on the United States and the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of our most important contributors to this canon for decades, writing from the confines of the U.S. prison system to give voice to those most silenced by chronic racism, impoverishment and injustice.
Writing on the Wall is a selection of more than 100 previously unpublished essays that deliver Mumia Abu-Jamal's essential perspectives on community, politics, power, and the possibilities of social change in the United States. From Rosa Parks to Edward Snowden, from the Trail of Tears to Ferguson, Missouri, Abu-Jamal addresses a sweeping range of contemporary and historical issues. Written mostly during his years of solitary confinement on Death Row, these essays are a testament to Abu-Jamal's often prescient insight, and his revolutionary perspective brims with hope, encouragement and profound faith in the possibility of redemption.
"Greatness meets us in this book, and not just in Mumia's personal courage and character. It's in the writing. This is art with political power, challenging institutional injustice in the U.S. while catalyzing our understanding, memory and solidarities for liberation and love. Writing on the Wall can set the nation aflame-yes, for creating new possible worlds."-Mark Lewis Taylor, Professor of Theology and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of two best-selling books, Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms.
Johanna Fernández is a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of History at Baruch College in New York City.
Cornel West is a scholar, philosopher, activist and author of over a dozen books including his bestseller, Race Matters. He appears frequently in the media, and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as Tavis Smiley.
378 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 22, 2014
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771 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 16, 2016
You know those books where you turn down lots of pages because you want to remember something beautiful or pithy or brilliant? i had read about 3/4 of "Writing on the Wall" when i noticed that there were more turned down corners than not. This book is a Bible, a reference, a text on injustice and on those "well adjusted to injustice". Mumia is a prophet; these writings go back 34 years & his ability to presage the future (now past) is genius.
There is so much wisdom & important history here, written excruciatingly well, that i find myself wishing it was mandatory reading & not just a gift to the choir.
For instance, don't you think that every american school kid should know that the Texas Supreme Court has decreed in their, uh, peculiar wisdom that, in a Death Penalty case:
“the Constitution may guarantee a man a lawyer, but there is no guarantee that the lawyer be awake.”
Guess who died.
There is so much wisdom & important history here, written excruciatingly well, that i find myself wishing it was mandatory reading & not just a gift to the choir.
For instance, don't you think that every american school kid should know that the Texas Supreme Court has decreed in their, uh, peculiar wisdom that, in a Death Penalty case:
“the Constitution may guarantee a man a lawyer, but there is no guarantee that the lawyer be awake.”
Guess who died.
July 6, 2020
I give it four and a half stars. It is a very impressive collection of essays on topics such as civil rights, human rights, U.S. history, criminal justice, politics and American values. I always learn something from Mumia.
August 1, 2016
Counterpunch
"Mumia knows what is happening better from behind bars than do many on the outside, because he has access to books … Those of us outside of prison have access to books, too, although many seem to forget it. We could all be as well-informed as Mumia. We could all know what's coming next before it hits us in the face. A good place to start would be by reading the Writing on the Wall."––David Swanson
Our Man in Boston
"A comprehensive anthology of Mumia's short prison commentaries from 1982 to the present, which among other things tracks the ignominious history of police sponsored terror from Haitian immigrant Amadou Diallo (whose body NYPD riddled with of 40 bullets) to 92-year-old elderly Kathryn Johnston, shot to death in her Atlanta home by narcotics officers to 12-year-old Tammir Rice to Eric Garner to Freddie Gray and on and on …"––Robert Birnbaum
CounterCurrents.org
"The publication of Writing on the Wall underscores the failure of the Fraternal Organization of Police and corrupt politicians to silence Mumia Abu-Jamal. In the face of attempts to execute him, smother his voice behind steel walls, slander him in the news media, intimidate supporters, pass laws to try to keep him from speaking out, and most recently, kill him through highly intentional 'medical neglect,' Mumia simply refuses to shut up. Like many other political prisoners slated to die in their dungeons, he has what his captors will never have: spiritual strength, dignity, integrity, love for the people, a commitment to revolution --and the ability to read the handwriting on the wall. His message carries the insights of his own generation of Black revolutionaries combined with truths born in struggles in many parts of the world. The time is right. As emerging movements gain strength, vision, and breadth, Mumia finds, in this book a new channel for sharing his ideas with people eager to bring down walls."––Carolina Saldaña
"Mumia knows what is happening better from behind bars than do many on the outside, because he has access to books … Those of us outside of prison have access to books, too, although many seem to forget it. We could all be as well-informed as Mumia. We could all know what's coming next before it hits us in the face. A good place to start would be by reading the Writing on the Wall."––David Swanson
Our Man in Boston
"A comprehensive anthology of Mumia's short prison commentaries from 1982 to the present, which among other things tracks the ignominious history of police sponsored terror from Haitian immigrant Amadou Diallo (whose body NYPD riddled with of 40 bullets) to 92-year-old elderly Kathryn Johnston, shot to death in her Atlanta home by narcotics officers to 12-year-old Tammir Rice to Eric Garner to Freddie Gray and on and on …"––Robert Birnbaum
CounterCurrents.org
"The publication of Writing on the Wall underscores the failure of the Fraternal Organization of Police and corrupt politicians to silence Mumia Abu-Jamal. In the face of attempts to execute him, smother his voice behind steel walls, slander him in the news media, intimidate supporters, pass laws to try to keep him from speaking out, and most recently, kill him through highly intentional 'medical neglect,' Mumia simply refuses to shut up. Like many other political prisoners slated to die in their dungeons, he has what his captors will never have: spiritual strength, dignity, integrity, love for the people, a commitment to revolution --and the ability to read the handwriting on the wall. His message carries the insights of his own generation of Black revolutionaries combined with truths born in struggles in many parts of the world. The time is right. As emerging movements gain strength, vision, and breadth, Mumia finds, in this book a new channel for sharing his ideas with people eager to bring down walls."––Carolina Saldaña
July 4, 2017
Mumia is such an eloquent and beautiful orator, I was so inspired by his words. I highly recommend this book - easily digestible but also pushes leftist race theory even further beyond what's in the mainstream for white leftists. His writings are nuanced and clearly very thoughtful. I certainly recommend.
March 3, 2021
This collection of prison writings was published in 2015 and includes essays spanning 32 years from January 1982's "Christmas In A Cage" to October 2014's "Goddard Commencement Speech" which Abu-Jamal presented via audio recording.
As one might expect, the writing is uneven at times, but mostly strong and evocative. The breadth and diversity of topics covered is nothing short of amazing, from essays on law to the expected essays on racism, to labor issues, Black history, and journalism.
While I don't agree with everything he writes, I can hear a voice of deep compassion, analytical astuteness, and integrity. To pick out any specific essay to comment on would give at best a lop-sided view. What is clear, as Amnesty International has said for decades now, this man was railroaded into prison; his trial was a colossal miscarriage of justice compounded by a racist judge who was heard to say in his antechamber: "I'm going to help them fry the nigger." And before anyone gets their panties in a bind, that is a direct quote from the book. Sometimes the hateful ugliness needs to be fully exposed.
While I'm at it, I heartily recommend viewing the documentary, Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary
As one might expect, the writing is uneven at times, but mostly strong and evocative. The breadth and diversity of topics covered is nothing short of amazing, from essays on law to the expected essays on racism, to labor issues, Black history, and journalism.
While I don't agree with everything he writes, I can hear a voice of deep compassion, analytical astuteness, and integrity. To pick out any specific essay to comment on would give at best a lop-sided view. What is clear, as Amnesty International has said for decades now, this man was railroaded into prison; his trial was a colossal miscarriage of justice compounded by a racist judge who was heard to say in his antechamber: "I'm going to help them fry the nigger." And before anyone gets their panties in a bind, that is a direct quote from the book. Sometimes the hateful ugliness needs to be fully exposed.
While I'm at it, I heartily recommend viewing the documentary, Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary
July 31, 2018
I spent the past few years reading Mumia's various writings and am glad that I completed with this book. The way he writes on the issues of recent with the knowledge and wisdom of his own experience and perspective provides only a glimpse of his brilliance. His incarceration is clearly an effort to silence him, but lucky for us, he has not/will not be silent. I will be forever grateful and will continue to say, until he is free, "Free Mumia!"
October 28, 2020
No matter how good his essays or social commentary happens to be, that feeling of staring at a pig with lipstick on never goes away. If he just said "I did it" maybe that would change things.
Mumia is and was guiltier than O.J. Simpson. At least O.J. wasn't found AT the crime scene with blood and DNA all over him.
Mumia is and was guiltier than O.J. Simpson. At least O.J. wasn't found AT the crime scene with blood and DNA all over him.
January 15, 2026
Wide ranging collection of essays that cover the prison industrial complex, racism in America, imperialism, the civil rights movement, activism, elections, all sorts of things. I’m consistently amazed at how tapped in Mumia Abu Jamal is considering he’s been incarcerated for decades, his analysis even of our current moment is shockingly apt. Very worthy read and free Mumia!
December 12, 2021
An enraging, thought-provoking, and prescient collection, Mumia Abu-Jamal speaks with candidness that only those wronged by an unjust and violent system can muster - all while in the belly of the carceral state.
FREE MUMIA!!!
FREE MUMIA!!!
February 24, 2019
some of Mumia’s most currently relevant and powerfulessays.
brief and focussed.
this pieces allow for no ambiguity.
read everything by this brilliant man.
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
brief and focussed.
this pieces allow for no ambiguity.
read everything by this brilliant man.
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
October 15, 2022
Free Mumia.
July 20, 2024
Informative and interesting.
February 2, 2017
"But brothers and sisters of the row, I write not of death,but of life....Love fiercely. Learn a new thing...keep your mind alive. Keep your heart alive. Laugh! ... No matter what the world says of you, see the best in each other and radiate love to each other" - Mumia upon his death sentence being ruled as unconstitutional.
"To look at an artist's creation is to look at an artist's reflection" - Mumia
"How many great movements in human history have been launched by governments? How many have been stifled and scuttled by governments?" - Mumia
"There is something quite quaint and faintly disturbing heading Americans speak of their nation as a 'democracy'." - Mumia
"Fanon, if he were still alive, would weep." - Mumia
"To look at an artist's creation is to look at an artist's reflection" - Mumia
"How many great movements in human history have been launched by governments? How many have been stifled and scuttled by governments?" - Mumia
"There is something quite quaint and faintly disturbing heading Americans speak of their nation as a 'democracy'." - Mumia
"Fanon, if he were still alive, would weep." - Mumia
August 26, 2016
So very sad. Our justice system is so broken.
September 19, 2023
Short pamphlet read. Free at a political conference.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews