He was born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954, and was given the name Mumia in 1968 by his high school teacher who hailed from Kenya. He added Abu-Jamal, which means “father of Jamal,” after the birth of his son, Jamal, from his first wife in 1971.
He was charged with assault for trying to disrupt a George Wallace for President rally in 1968, a credential that doubtless curries great favor with the Hollywood set. The next year he helped form the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party, dropping out of high school and marrying three times. He earned his high-school equivalency diploma, the last formal education Abu-Jamal ever received. He worked various, mostly brief, stints at local radio stations, in which Abu-Jamal espoused the propaganda of radical groups with which he was affiliated, especially the anti-government, anti-technology organization, MOVE. Abu-Jamal was also active in the Marijuana Users Association of America.
After Faulkner was murdered in 1981, Abu-Jamal tried to represent himself at trial, but was removed after he refused to accept the judge’s rulings on points of law. He was so disruptive, the judge kicked him out of the courtroom repeatedly. When things finally got rolling, the prosecution presented four eyewitnesses to the crime: a prostitute, a motorist, a pedestrian and an unlicensed cab driver on parole for arson. Who else would be wandering the streets at 4:00 A.M.? Needless to say, the testimony has been discredited by Abu-Jamal’s people.
He did not testify in his own defense, declaring years later, “At my trial I was denied the right to defend myself. I had no confidence in my court-appointed attorney, who never even asked me what happened the night I was shot and the police officer was killed; and I was excluded from at least half the trial. Since I was denied all my rights at my trial I did not testify. I would not be used to make it look like I had a fair trial.”
He was tried. He was convicted. The entire, ugly episode appeared over. In reality, Mumia Abu-Jamal was just getting warmed up.
It was only after Abu-Jamal was behind bars that he truly began to live. Not terribly successful as a journalist while on the outside, once on the inside he became a world-renowned author and speaker, producing such works as Live From Death Row, a collection of commentaries published in 1995 by Addison-Wesley, who paid Abu-Jamal a $30,000 advance. This caused Faulkner’s widow, Maureen, to claim that the sum, which went to Abu-Jamal’s defense fund and his family, defied Pennsylvania’s Son of Sam law that bars criminals from profiting from crime. One day, the dead man’s widow hired an airplane to buzz company headquarters with a banner affixed to the rear that read, “Addison-Wesley Supports Cop Killer.”
But even the appellation “cop killer” has angered some of Abu-Jamal’s fans, who insist the term makes it look as if he habitually kills police officers, while he’s only been convicted of killing a single cop.
Abu-Jamal appears amused by such sideshows, having found fame, influence and a seat high atop the celebustocracy at the center of a movement dedicated to toppling the American justice system. His disciples have gone so far as to claim the authorities found a way to frame Abu-Jamal for having been a Black Panther. Such theories, frankly, give the man more importance than he ever enjoyed when he was a mere cab driver, struggling reporter, and dedicated pot smoker.
Those who believe the ivory tower is fuzzy-headed and out of touch were handed ample ammunition in June 1999, when Evergreen State College, a four-year liberal arts institution in Olympia, Washington, extended Abu-Jamal an invitation to provide a commencement address.
Washington Governor Gary Locke canceled his scheduled appearance at the college in protest. House majority leader Tom DeLay declared Abu-Jamal was selected by “twisted radicals” who “perverted their vocation to better mankind through teaching.” Lynne Abraham, who prosecuted Abu-Jamal in 1982, said, “To dignify a graduation ceremony with the words of a convicted killer is an obscenity.”
But college president Jane Jervis was determined to put her college on the map, insisting that Abu-Jamal served “to galvanize an international conversation about the death penalty, the disproportionate number of blacks on death row, and the relationship between poverty and the criminal justice system.” Not a mention about the wisdom of giving a platform to a convicted murderer.
In the end, Abu-Jamal provided a taped address. He spoke for thirteen minutes.
To this day, Abu-Jamal has never spoken about the case for which he was convicted, except to declare his innocence. His brother, William, also has not talked about what happened the fateful night of December 9, 1981, except to say that neither he nor his brother shot Officer Faulkner.
But who did?
In 1999, Vanity Fair magazine published a lengthy story in which an Abu-Jamal supporter, Phillip Bloch, claimed his one-time idol confessed to murdering the police officer. Bloch said that during a prison visit in 1992, he asked Abu-Jamal if he regretted killing Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal replied simply, “Yes.” Bloch said he spoke out because he was concerned about the intense vilification of the dead man. The vilification continues today.
Abu-Jamal’s fans went crazy. They set out to debunk the story and discredit Bloch, and also took off on a similar piece aired by ABC TV’s 20/20. Abu-Jamal himself said cryptically, “A lie is a lie, whether made today or ten years later.” In a fit of snark, he also thanked Vanity Fair for keeping alive the controversy over his case.
Maureen Faulkner’s voice has largely been mute over the years. Except for weak stunts like hiring a plane to protest the publication of Abu-Jamal’s book, she has been violently out shouted by the Mumiaphiles, and badly outspent. However, in 2007 a small publisher printed her memoir, written with conservative talk show host Michael Smerconish, Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice. True to form, pro-Abu-Jamal protesters assembled outside NBC’s Today show during Mrs. Faulkner’s appearance to promote the book, demanding equal time. They didn’t get it.
* * *
Maureen Faulkner has been sentenced to live with a pain that will continue as long as Abu-Jamal’s Celebutard Nation continues its assault on her husband’s memory.
* * *
Maureen Faulkner has been sentenced to live with a pain that will continue as long as Abu-Jamal’s Celebutard Nation continues its assault on her husband’s memory. Her ache will endure as long as the stars whip up a gullible public. Her agony will live, as long as Abu-Jamal speaks, publishes and breathes.
I’m afraid she will suffer for a long time to come.
19
Sheehan Is Unbelieving
CINDY SHEEHAN
On September 11, 3,000 Americans were killed. So does that make George Bush ten times the bigger terrorist than Osama bin Laden?
—Cindy Sheehan, January 2006
THIS HARD-CORE CELEBUTARD achieved fame not for being particularly smart, colorful, gorgeous or talented, but for being a mom, a role that bestows on her instant credibility and, her fans hope, untouchability. For Sheehan lost her son in Iraq.
Sheehan, born Cindy Lee Miller on July 10, 1957, has offered herself up as the face of the anti–Iraq War movement, becoming the instant darling of not only the radical left, but of various deep-thinking celebrities, from Michael Moore to Susan Sarandon. In August 2005, this woman from northern California won international exposure when she pitched her tent outside President George W. Bush’s ranch near Crawford, Texas, creating Camp Casey after her son, an Army specialist who died in 2004 at age twenty-four.
Sheehan’s goal was to confront the president, with whom she’d talked once before. But after a month in which she entertained some 1,500 people, including movie stars and members of Congress, Sheehan confessed she was glad Bush didn’t stop by—it would have stalled the glorious attention coming her way.
The world’s most famous mom is like a movie screen onto which followers project whatever it is they want to see. In truth, Cindy Sheehan is not the brightest bulb to grace the chandelier. That has not stopped a fascinated media mob from asking her to state opinions on issues for which she has no busin
ess spouting, from the attacks on the World Trade Center—which she suspects came down in a controlled demolition—to opining that too much coverage was wasted on the “little wind” generated by Hurricane Rita.
During Sheehan’s initial encampment at Camp Casey, her husband of twenty-eight years, Patrick, filed for divorce. But while Cindy Sheehan has deemed it appropriate to drag the president’s family into her activism—“If it’s such a noble cause, why aren’t his daughters over there?”—she has bristled when asked if her new career as a celebrity-friendly symbol drove away her spouse. She finally admitted that her husband couldn’t handle the ferocity of her quest, to which she appears to have grown addicted. She also cut ties with her in-laws because they “voted for the person who killed their grandson.”
But if Sheehan’s ardent supporters, which include David Letterman, like to see her face, they aren’t always crazy about what comes out of it.
She accused the media of giving too much coverage to Hurricane Rita, instead of Cindy Sheehan, in her Daily Kos diary in September 2005. “I am watching [CNN] and it is 100 percent Rita…even though it is a little wind and a little rain.”
And in March 2005, an e-mail purportedly from Sheehan was forwarded to ABC’s Nightline that said her son “joined the Army to protect America, not Israel.” Sheehan has insisted the e-mail was altered to make her look bad. Yet two other people have stepped forward saying the wording was consistent with that in e-mails sent directly by Sheehan.
I guess being a world-class activist makes you an expert on all things. In an interview on Alex Jones’ radio show, she lent support to the mad theory that the World Trade Center was not brought down by planes. “I’m not an expert and I haven’t had time to research it,” she said, “but it does look to me like a controlled demolition from a very amateur eye.”
I don’t like to question a woman’s patriotism. Well, not usually. But in January 2006, Cindy Sheehan embraced America-hating Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at the sixth annual World Social Forum in Caracas. The world press steered clear of the event, hosted by a dictator known the world over for imprisoning critics, wet-kissing terrorists, and shutting down the free press.
And she calls Bush a terrorist.
Teflon Mom was asked by MSNBC’s Hardball fill-in host Norah O’Donnell if she would rather live in Venezuela under Chavez. You could hear the peace movement—well, all except butcher-hugger Sean Penn—cringe at her reply.
“Yes, Hugo Chavez is not a dictator like you introduced him,” she replied stupidly. “He’s been democratically elected eight times. He is not anti-American, he has helped the poor people of America…”
* * *
Sheehan said she was going on a two-month hunger strike to protest the war. By the way, she survived.
* * *
Sheehan said she was going on a two-month hunger strike to protest the war. By the way, she survived.
In May 2007, Sheehan suspended her quest. “I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost.”
But Cindy shortly neglected her knitting.
Just when you thought she couldn’t get any loopier, Sheehan transformed from peace activist into full-blown defender of (alleged) killers. She popped up in Egypt in February 2008 at a protest in which she asked the country’s first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, to stop a military trial against accused Islamic terrorists, money launderers and assorted evil guys.
“I am here to protest the trial of civilians in front of a military tribunal as this is a violation to international law. As a mother of a son who was killed in the war, I presented a letter to Ms. Suzanne Mubarak to realize how those women and children are suffering.” And they’ll suffer even more, Cindy, if the bad guys go free.
Some women just need attention, I guess. But really, Cindy, find a hobby.
20
Attack of the Bloviator
ALEC BALDWIN
I believe that what happened in 2000 did as much damage to the pillars of democracy as terrorists did to the pillars of commerce in New York City.
—Baldwin compares the September 11, 2001, terror attacks to the election, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida, 2002
THE NEW YORK POST Page Six gossip column calls Alec Baldwin “The Bloviator” for his loud and unasked-for ruminations on everything from terrorism, which he compares to the disappointing results of the 2000 election, to his daughter, whom he compares to a “pig.” Perhaps Page Six is too kind.
Born Alexander Rae Baldwin III on April 3, 1958, in Massapequa, New York, Baldwin is the son of Carol and Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr., a high school teacher. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Alec Baldwin, as he was eventually known, is the oldest and most celebrated of the four acting Baldwin brothers, famed for his roles in movies (The Hunt for Red October) and television (30 Rock). But Baldwin told The New York Times in October 2006 that he wants to run for governor of New York, commenting about that other acting governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, “I’m Tocqueville compared to Schwarzenegger.”
Baldwin tested his political chops, his temper and his sanity, when he went cuckoo on Late Night with Conan O’Brien eight days before President Bill Clinton was to be impeached in 1998, declaring:
“If we were in another country…we would stone [Republican Representative] Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families.”
It wasn’t until later, when Baldwin went after his own daughter in a terrifying rage, that we learned the true extent of his scariness. In what’s become a familiar pattern of hit and retreat, Baldwin apologized for the remarks about Hyde.
NBC promised never to re-air the show.
Baldwin’s then-wife, actress Kim Basinger, told a German magazine, Focus, in 2000 that Baldwin promised to leave the United States if George W. Bush beat Al Gore for the White House. When that happened and Baldwin remained stateside, the actor at first denied Basinger had talked to the magazine, but later flip-flopped and acknowledged that she did. Baldwin then changed his comment to suggest he would not leave the country now.
“I think my exact comment was that if Bush won it would be a good time to leave the United States. I’m not necessarily going to leave the United States.” Too bad.
In a piece written for the online Huffington Post in 2006, Baldwin called Vice President Dick Cheney a “terrorist.”
“He terrorized our enemies abroad and innocent citizens here at home indiscriminately.”
He wound up taking it back, and replacing the statement with one in which he said Cheney is “a lying, thieving oil whore and a murderer of the U.S. Constitution.” He’s also called President Bush a “trust fund puppet” and Cheney a “constitution hating sociopath.” Glad we cleared that up.
Baldwin outdid himself when he compared the 2000 presidential election to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks to a college audience in Tallahassee, Florida.
“I know that’s a harsh thing to say, perhaps, but I believe that what happened in 2000 did as much damage to the pillars of democracy as terrorists did to the pillars of commerce in New York City.”
A man who feels free to call an elected official a “terrorist,” and to downplay a series of murderous attacks on New York (he didn’t mention the Pentagon or Pennsylvania) as wreaking damage only to “the pillars of commerce” might consider being careful with his tongue. Otherwise, some might suspect he harbors secret savage tendencies.
Need proof? Here is a transcript of a voice mail Alec Baldwin left in April 2007 for his eleven-year-old daughter, Ireland, at the California home of his ex-wife Kim Basinger.
BALDWIN: Hey, I want to tell you something, okay? And I want to leave a message for you right now. ’Cause again, it’s 10:30 here in New York on a Wednesday, and once again I’ve made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone to call you at a specific
time. When the time comes for me to make the phone call, I stop whatever I’m doing and I go and I make that phone call. At eleven o’clock in the morning in New York and if you don’t pick up the phone at ten o’clock at night. And you don’t even have the f*cking phone turned on. I want you to know something, okay?
I’m tired of playing this game with you. I’m leaving this message with you to tell you you have insulted me for the last time. You have insulted me. You don’t have the brains or the decency as a human being. I don’t give a damn that you’re twelve years old, or eleven years old, or that you’re a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn’t care about what you do as far as I’m concerned. You have humiliated me for the last time with this phone.
And when I come out there next week, I’m going to fly out there for the day just to straighten you out on this issue. I’m going to let you know just how disappointed in you I am and how angry I am with you that you’ve done this to me again. You’ve made me feel like sh*t and you’ve made me feel like a fool over and over and over again. And this crap you pull on me with this f*cking phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother and you do it to me constantly and over and over again. I am going to get on a plane and I am going to come out there for the day and I am going to straighten your ass out when I see you.
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