Mumia’s daughter Goldii speaks to the people during the mass march and rally in Philly while Mumia’s hearing was being held inside the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on May 17. Photo: Minister of Information JR

Goldii's father has been a political prisoner most of her life. In this interview we discussed Mumia's meaning to Black people and how his political incarceration has affected his family. Check it out.

MOI JR: What has your life been like after your father Mumia Abu Jamal got locked up? What kind of hardships do you guys face? And have you had your own set of interactions with the police by just being his daughter?

Goldii: No. No interactions with the police personally. My mom has. She has experienced phone taps, people interrupting her telephone calls, police officers watching the house and things like that.

Yeah, it has affected me too. But just having a father absent affects every part of your life. I mean birthdays, graduations, all kinds of stuff. And it is sad. And it is a horrible experience, having to live your life without one of your parents. I mean your parents are pivotal in your life and in your development.

And for them to not be there physically? Emotionally he has been there, and tries the best that he can, but that physical presence is the most important thing. And since we don't have contact visits, it is inhumane. It is inhumane; it is not natural to not be able to touch your children or touch your father. And it hurts.

MOI JR: What was it like growing up? Did your mom "protect you" from the politics or did you learn about the Black Panthers first hand due to the fact that your father is one of the most well known Black Panther political prisoners?

Goldii: We were all in it (laughing). We were in the marches, in the protests, in the streets and everything. That's my life. That's all that I know.

We were in court cases dealing with the MOVE organization. She protected us in a sense, but in many ways we were exposed to a whole lot of things that made us so much more intelligent than a lot of people, because otherwise you just accept what you see on the news. You accept everything that the media feeds you.

But when you have this kind of situation and you're growing up in it, you pretty much know that a certain percentage that you're getting from the media is garbage. We were definitely into the politics and into the whole movement and everything. Yeah, we learned about the Black Panthers and the MOVE organization at home, just from living it, you know?

MOI JR: Now that May 17 has passed and you were out there marching in the streets on behalf of your father, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, what is it that you as his daughter, you as one of the supporters, and as the family, what is it that you want the people to know?

Goldii: That Mumia is innocent. He deserves a fair trial. The police corrupted his case completely. The FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) have slandered his name, and they're trying to make him look like a killer and he is an innocent man. I mean it's overdue. It's time for him to get out of there.

MOI JR: We were talking earlier about you growing up. Does it help that your father is a huge international symbol for political prisoners? I mean there's posters everywhere, more so than probably any other prisoner in the United States. Does that hurt or does that help under the circumstances that the police have your father basically kidnapped on trumped up charges?

Goldii: Well, it helps in a way because it gets people's attention. And for people who are intelligent and of sound mind, people who can make their own judgments based on evidence, it's definitely important. But at the same time others may consider it, "This is just a media thing" or like "He had his fair trial," so like let's go on with it. But no, as long as we have people out there in the streets, it is imperative to his case that we have the power of the people. That is what is going to speak.

MOI JR: Why do you say that?

Goldii: Because without the people, they can't harm Mumia. If the people don't allow it, if the Amerikkkan people just stand up and say, "Look, this is not going to be tolerated." If people worldwide, not just Amerikkkans, stood up and said, "Look, this will not be tolerated." This is against your constitutional rights.

His rights were violated completely. So just overthrow it. "Give him another trial" - if the people just say that and the people are there and they are protesting and the power is there and there is no exception, and "We are not going to accept anything less," they won't be able to move. They won't be able to do anything.

But it is just the matter of getting more information out there. And the media has tried to stop it, but we're doing what we can, you know?

MOI JR: How has the media's response been since after May 17?
Goldii: It has been very minimal. They don't want to expose too much of Mumia's trial. They just want to say, "Oh, he was convicted of killing a police officer and he's in court today" and that's it. That's all you hear.

You don't see the hundreds of thousands of people out in the street. You don't hear about the educators that are for Mumia, the politicians that are for Mumia, the educated people in Amerikkka that could actually look at the case and see that the evidence is not there. They want to ignore those things. The media doesn't expose too much of that.

Just like they did with the MOVE case, they want to make him seem like some kind of radical, some kid out in the street that is just bussing at the cops for no reason. They want you to see what they want you to see. And unless you are smart enough to look into the situation and to educate yourself about it, chances are a lot of people just accept what they see because it is convenient.

That is the Amerikkkan way. It is just laziness. You don't want to learn about it. You just adopt what they send to you, and they know that. They'll just feed you on a plate, and you'll accept it.

MOI JR: How do you feel about the support of the people? I know that on May 17, there were people from all over the world. I know we were on the back of this truck that was the stage, and the sista from South Africa was out there leading chants. People from the MOVE organization were there, people from New York. We were there from California. I know that Chairman Fred and a crew came in from Chicago. How do you feel about the people's support at this critical juncture?

Goldii: Man, the energy is so powerful, it just takes you somewhere else. It's amazing, and it is beautiful to see the support. You see Black people, white people, people not from the United States. Just like you said, people from Cali, from Philly, everywhere. The love and support for Mumia is amazing. I remember, I think it was back in ‘95, and we were in court, and I tell people this all the time:

You know those little court microphones that you have to illuminate your voices for the judges and the lawyers and everything? They were speaking on the microphones in the courtrooms, but you couldn't hear anything. We were on like the fifth floor in the smallest courtroom in the spot, and all you could hear was the people outside chanting, and it was so amazing. Even though the microphones were loud in the courtroom, you couldn't hear anything but "Free Mumia now" from outside, and we were on the fifth floor.

It just gives you a boost of energy. It's amazing. It's a beautiful thing to see these people out here. They stopped whatever they're doing in their life and they feel like it is important. And that's because it is, and whatever happens to Mumia is going to affect us all. It affects every single person in the United States, and we can't just allow it. We can't tolerate it.

MOI JR: I'm glad that you hit on that. That brings me to my next question. I know that Mumia Abu Jamal is your father, but what does he mean to our struggle as Black people and as oppressed people in Amerikkka?

Goldii: Man, that is a pretty deep question. He means everything. It is so important that we don't allow this, that we stand up and we unite in his struggle right now - in our struggle, our family's struggle - to let them know that they can't do this because everything that affects Mumia's case is going to affect you, it's going to affect me, it is going to affect us. They are going to continue to do this as long as they can.

Any powerful political Black activist in the United States, you're only celebrated after you're dead - like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. I mean they weren't looked at, how they are now, but you can't do anything anymore after you die. So your power is gone, so it's like "All right, let's have Martin Luther King Day. Let's celebrate him, and he was so great and everything," you know?

MOI JR: He's safe now.

Goldii: Right. Exactly. But Mumia is not, because when he comes to Philly, they lock the jails down. They lock them down, because they know the people and the brothas in there respect him so much, and they're scared because they think that the brothas are going to flip out. He symbolizes our freedom - as a whole, as Black people and as poor people.

MOI JR: What are some of your last words that you want to say to the people? What is it that Goldii has to say to the people, the daughter of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal?

Goldii: Free Mumia! Free MOVE 9! Mumia ain't no killer. Ask the deputy who did it. And I just want to thank everybody for everything that you have done. Please continue to work. It's not over. It's not over. We have a lot of work to do, and we're going to do it. And we're going to do whatever we can. And so thanks. And I thank you, JR, for this opportunity to just speak out to people about how it is on this side and how it affects our family and everything.

MOI JR: We have to team up ‘til we win. Last but not least, can you introduce the people to your song "Trapped Door"?

Goldii: This is just an account from testimonies and pretty much everything that I know about the case - well, not everything, but as much as you could put into a song. But it's a lot of important details regarding the case and how it was police intimidation. And the prosecutor and the judge tallied up and had their little conversations, illegal conversations, regarding the case and everything. You know about the prostitutes and how they were paid off to walk the streets. It just gives you a lyrical and visual account of what happened on Locust Street that night in 1981 in Philly.

Email POCC Minister of Information JR at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and visit www.blockreportradio.com, hiphopwarreport.com and myspace.com/blockreportfilm.

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