A CD Review by George Tirado

pstrongibReViewSforTheRevOluTiOn/b A PNN column for all your literary,visual and audio art needs../i/strong/p p/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/394/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby George Tirado /p pIf you don't know that 175 Progress Drive isbr / death row, then you would never know that Mumia Abubr / Jamal lives there . If you don't know his storybr / it is simple. Mumia was convicted in 1982 of thebr / killing of Dan Falkner a Philadelphia cop in a trialbr / that was mostly fiction. He was convicted, and givenbr / the strongest possible sentence; Death. /p pAs Assatta Shakur puts it early on the CD."I understood why thebr / United States government wants to put him to death,br / Why because it is simple, he is dangerous to every mindbr / closed to change, to a racist government that hasbr / taken from him his first amendment right to freebr / speech, his family, and if they had their way, hisbr / life./p pEvery piece on this CD, is a voice screaming tobr / be heard whether it is spoken word by Marc Bamuthibr / Joseph talking about gun shots in "All I Hear",. tobr / Michael Franti who reads "Manhood" , to Martin Espadabr / reading "Another Nameless Prostitute says the man isbr / Innocent" It is the pain I feel that is shown herebr / people crying out one way or another for Justice./p p But what I find comforting is the fact thatbr / actors, rap and rock stars would put their ownbr / reputations on the line for this man, why because hisbr / voice is so comforting./p pThere's something about this CD. so that when youbr / have heard enough there still is more, and I findbr / myself staring off cringing and frightened from what I*mbr / hearing. How prison officials move a death rowbr / prisoner, Dan Hill, to a cell block in a city prison whichbr / happens to house the man who killed his daughter.br / Hoping one will kill the other for sport, or how lawyersbr / tell their own clients they don’t like them and eitherbr / because of drugs or alcohol fall asleep in court and pay no attention to their clients.br / Even in court case*s dealing with the death penalty./p p Mumia is a social conscience here to reeducate usbr / and reverse what corporate American media has done tobr / us. His is the still voice in the storm of Racism loudbr / enough to start a social conscience in the communitybr / of color that has not been seen in years since thebr / 60’s./p p If it were up to me I would send a copy of thisbr / CD. To the board of Education in Oakland to Mayorbr / Jerry Brown and the rest of the people who feel Mumiabr / is not enough of a hero to speak to our kids graduatingbr / from high school. Would they rather have our kids lookbr / up to dope dealers, racists or something worse,br / politicians ?. This man needs to be free. /p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p