;)
We Want Freedom | Praise
"This gripping revelatory account of the valiant struggles and achievements
of the Black Panther Party is a superb antidote to the defamatory 'histories'
put out by some earlier writers. Mumia fashions a multi-dimensional story with
fine style, ideological clarity, and great humanity—as is his way."
—Michael Parenti, author of The Assassination of Julius Caesar and
The Terrorism Trap
"Mumia's keen analysis of the Panthers provides readers with a unique
understanding of an organization J. Edgar Hoover deemed the 'greatest threat
to internal security in the country.' Rewarding too is his fresh assessment
of the role of women in the Party, which thoughtfully draws on the work of the
late Safiya Bukhari."
—Herb Boyd, editor of Race and Resistance and Black Panthers for
Beginners
"Mumia Abu-Jamal has forged from the furnace of death row a moving, incisive
and thorough history of the Black Panther Party. This book is required reading
for any who would seek to understand race, revolution, and repression in the
United States. With now half the US population born after the years described
within, and given the resurgence of overt and covert government suppression
of dissent, true accounts of the popular struggles of the late 60s and early
70s are needed now more than ever. Abu-Jamal carefully imparts the history as
passionate participant, skilled journalist, and critical historian. That he
has accomplished this without interruption to his prolific written and recorded
commentaries, his continuing struggle against political persecution within an
unjust criminal justice system, and despite the death penalty that hangs over
his head daily, is further testimony to the need we all share to stop his planned
execution."
—Amy Goodman, journalist, Democracy Now!
"Mumia is a soldier in the war for the soul of America. He is fighting
the good fight with the same weapons his ancestors fought with: words. He sings
with his words; he sings with his heart; he sings with the truth. Mumia is a
free man, no matter what his address because he is a man who knows who he is:
a child of challenging God."
—Nikki Giovanni, poet
"Mumia Abu-Jamal speaks in a voice as timeless as the resistance to oppression
he personifies. His words, his mind—indeed, his life itself—stand as inspirations
to all of us who yearn for liberation, exemplifying the continuities of struggle
joining one generation to the next in our common effort to attain the dignity
of human freedom. This book is as necessary as it is unavoidable. It simply
must be read by everyone endowed with the least twinge of social conscience."
—Ward Churchill, author of Acts of Rebellion, Perversions of Justice,
and On the Justice of Roosting Chickens
"Writing eloquently from his prison cell, Mumia Abu-Jamal gives us a fascinating
and unusual history of the Black Panther Party. His chapters 'A Woman's Party'
and 'COINTELPRO' would be enough to make this book an invaluable addition to
anyone's reading list."
—Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"This book amazed and delighted me. I'm still not sure how Mumia has managed—from
a maximum-security prison cell—to encompass in one book the broad scope of US
history, a global perspective, and many intimate, first-hand accounts of life,
love and politics in the Black Panther Party. Mumia tells this story with such
energy and passion that reading it, I felt I'd returned to the storefronts and
battlefronts of the 60s and 70s. This is the Black Panther Party—and the social
movements to which it was connected—in its historical context, its hopes and
triumphs, as well as its tragedies and limitations. It is a story fundamental
to understanding the US of the 20th and 21st centuries, and I am eternally grateful
to Mumia Abu-Jamal for having written it."
—Laura Whitehorn, former political prisoner
"We Want Freedom is a welcome addition to the Oakland centered
accounts of the Black Panther Party. Mumia Abu-Jamal provides a provocative
and insightful narrative of local Panther activism in Philadelphia. He presents
a superb and thoughtful critique of a myriad of organizational dynamics, including
tensions between local Party affiliates and national headquarters, gender relations,
and intrafactional conflict within the BPP. Mumia's We Want Freedom enriches
our understanding and appreciation of the Black Panther Party. His work will
undoubtedly inspire his former Party comrades to document their experience of
local Panther activism in the various communities across the United States."
—Charles E. Jones, chair of the Department of African American Studies, Georgia
State University and editor of The Black Panther Party Reconsidered
"Weaving his experiences in the Black Panther Party into the tapestry
of Africans' history in America, Mumia Abu-Jamal's book is essential reading
for all of us involved in the struggle for freedom."
—George Katsiaficas, editor of Liberation, Imagination, and the Black
Panther Party
"We Want Freedom demonstrates once again Mumia Abu-Jamal's leadership
and commitment to activism and social change. Abu-Jamal's accounts of the strengths
and triumphs of the Black Panther Party give readers hope. However, for those
who view the governments' repression of the Black Panther Party as unique, the
book also gives an opportunity to see what the USA PATRIOT Act portends for
social justice activists of today."
—Tonya McClary, American Friends Service Committee National Criminal Justice
Program
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