Reply #23: Free Mumia marchers [View All]

[Recursion]

I have no opinion on the guilt or innocence of Mumia Abu Jamal, and I'm not mentioning this to start a fight on that. I'm mentioning this because when we lined Pennsylvania Avenue in early 2001 to protest the coronation of George W. Bush, a large group of people showed up with "Free Mumia" signs.

Not the time. Not the place. Nothing to do with what the protest was about. But everybody over here on the left has their own pet issue that they think is somehow much more systemic than the rest of the left does (NORML types think all our problems will be solved with marijuana legalization. Free Mumia types think freeing him will expose all the lies of the past 40 years and usher in a new era of freedom. Code Pink thinks getting Americans shocked about the costs, human and material, of the wars will solve our problems). They're all laudable goals, but there comes a point, frankly, when we all need to shut the hell up and focus on one immediate problem at a time. But we on the left have no message discipline.

Free Mumia... with every fill-up of 10 gallons or more...