BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18736626 SEQUENCE:18840550 CREATED:20130511T091200Z DESCRIPTION:Protest Banning of Mumia film in Newark New Jersey!\n\nWe demand that Shaquille O'Neal Come Clean on his role in this ban!\n\nFREE MUMIA NOW!\n\nCome out to the Warriors Playoff Game, Oakland Arena,\n11:30 am, Sunday the 12th of May!\n\nThe Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal\nasks you to support Oakland Teachers for Mumia in this call.\n\nJoin us at the east entrance ticket window, \nor on the foot bridge to the Arena from BART.\n\nThis is not a picket of the Warriors, the NBA, or Arena workers!\n\nThis is an informational protest of the banning of the Mumia film,\n"Long Distance Revolutionary," in Newark NJ.\n\nHere's why we demonstrate:\n\nThe\nnew film about Mumia Abu-Jamal, "Mumia - Long Distance Revolutionary,"\nwhich has been successfully showing in theaters all across the US, was\nbanned from a theater in Newark NJ recently, apparently at the behest of\nbasketball legend Shaquille O'Neal.  The film was set to open last\nApril 26th, but after extensive preparations had been made, it was\nsuddenly cancelled.  Suspicion falls on O'Neal, who is the co-owner of\nthe CityPlex-12 where the film was to be shown, and is a strong\nsupporter of the Newark Police Department, as well as other cop shops\nnationally.\n\n"Long\nDistance Revolutionary," which chronicles the life of the respected\njournalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as the viciously racist police\nregime obtaining in Philadelphia at the time of the crime for which he\nwas sent to death row, has had sold out performances in New York, LA and\nOakland, as well as showing well in 23 other cities.  But it was\ncancelled in Newark as a "cold business decision," according to theater\nmanagement.  O'Neal, who has a former Newark police officer as his\nsecurity chief, had met with his owner-partners just prior to the\ncancellation.  \n\nEver\nsince the police-orchestrated framing of Mumia—which began at the scene\nof the shooting of a police officer in Philadelphia's inner city in\nDecember 1981—the Fraternal Order Of Police (FOP) has been trying to\nkill Mumia.  The Justice Department conspired in the frame-up of Mumia. \nAnother man confessed to the 1981 killing, and fingered corrupt cops as\nthe real instigators of this murder, but the courts refused to hear\nit.  Cops all over the country fume to this day that the execution of\nMumia has now been set aside, in favor of life without the possibility\nof parole.  Shaquille O'Neal now appears to be part of the on-going\ncampaign to shut Mumia up forever.   We say: Free Mumia Now!\n\nMORE INFORMATION BELOW...\n\nMore\ninformation on this outrageous banning of an important documentary\nfollows in two articles, below.  Journalist Linn Washington, and Nation\nblogger Dave Zirin, detail the circumstances of this censorship of\nMumia. \n\n1. From: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/1698\n\nShaq Attack on Mumia:\nNBA Star Censors Film on Famous Radical Inmate\nTue, 04/23/2013 - 09:00\nby: \nLinn Washington Jr.\n \nWas it simply a “cold business decision” or a callous act of censorship?\nThis\nis the question swirling around legendary pro-basketball player\nShaquille O’Neal who put a power move on Stephen Vittoria blocking this\nrespected filmmaker’s showing of his latest documentary at the movie\ncomplex O’Neal co-owns in downtown Newark, NJ, the city where both of\nthese men were born.\nRepresentatives\nof O’Neal’s movie complex have claimed in private conversations with\nNewark activists that they cancelled Vittoria’s film solely because it\nis inconsistent with their screening practice, countering claims their\ncancellation sought to squelch the film because of its content.\nVittoria planned to show his latest documentary “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary” at the CityPlex-12 on April 26.\nBut\nas the final publicity/ticket sales push for the scheduled screening\nwas about to go into high gear, Vittoria discovered on April 11 that\nCityPlex-12 management had cancelled the booking and halted all\nmarketing efforts. Theater officials reportedly even fired a staff\nmember who had worked with Vittoria.\n“No\nofficial reason was given or has been given for the cancellation,”\nVittoria said. “We found out through a source at the theater that\nshortly after a meeting between theater owners Boraie Development and\nShaquille O’Neal the film was cancelled.”\nThe\nsuddenness of the cancellation, accompanied by initial silence on the\nreason why, fueled speculation that the cancellation involved the film’s\nsubject matter, thus triggering claims of censorship.\nVittoria’s\ncritically acclaimed film is about imprisoned journalist/author Mumia\nAbu-Jamal. Unlike past films that focus on ‘whodunit’ aspects of this\ncontentious case, Vittoria’s film examines the ‘who’ of Abu-Jamal.\nAn\nimprisoned journalist, Abu-Jamal has written over a half dozen\nacclaimed books and thousands of commentaries during his decades in\nprison – most spent on death row – following his 1982 conviction for\nkilling a Philadelphia policeman. Abu-Jamal worked as an award-winning\nradio reporter bprior to his 1981 arrest.\nOne\nof the many favorable reviews of Vittoria's film states that it “puts a\nhuman face on its subject, for so long now just an\nanti-capital-punishment icon…” A New York Times review of “Long\nDistance” credited illuminating views about Abu-Jamal in the film from\nleading activists like Dick Gregory and academics like Michelle\nAlexander.\nO’Neal\nhas a long-term interest in law enforcement, associating himself in a\nreserve capacity with police agencies in Los Angeles and Miami, two\ncities where he played professional basketball before retiring in 2011\nwith an impressive string of NBA championships, scoring titles and MVPs.\nOne\ncontroversy in the Abu-Jamal case is abuses by Philadelphia police,\nincluding officers tampering with murder scene evidence and intimidating\neyewitnesses.\nIn\n1981, the year of Abu-Jamal’s arrest, Philadelphia police charged five\npersons with high-profile murders, proclaiming each guilty. However,\nevidence later proved the innocence of four of those five –- including\nreleasing one from death row –- leaving only Abu-Jamal still imprisoned.\nCourts have repeatedly rejected Abu-Jamal's appeals despite evidence of\ninnocence (inclusive of police improprieties) -- evidence that far\nexceeded what was uncovered in those four other flawed and overturned\nconvictions.\nVittoria\nsaid he “expected some backlash to the film because of the truth tends\nto aggravate the wealthy and corporate elite as well as those who\nsupport a false narrative about Mumia Abu-Jamal.” He called the\ncancellation of the film a “cowardly move” by the CityPlex-12 and a\n“direct insult” to the people of Newark.\nNewark\nactivist Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for\nProgress, stated he met with CityPlex-12 management urging them to\nreconsider the cancellation, even pledging to employ the coalition of\n170 organizations and churches he has assembled to ensure a sold-out\nperformance.\nHamm\nhas stated that management told him the cancellation was a “cold\nbusiness decision” arising from the complex’s claimed practice of only\nshowing Hollywood studio-produced films. Hamm notes that management did\nacknowledge having shown at least one independent film.\nLast\nAugust, CityPlex-12 served as the venue for the Paul Robeson Awards of\nthe Newark Black Film Festival that honored films all independently\nproduced. That film festival, launched in 1974, has utilized the\nCityPlex movie complex for screenings since 2001, beginning under\nprevious ownership.\nVittoria\nand his supporters counter CityPlex-12 claims of ‘cold business\ndecision’ arising from fear of economic loss by noting the ticket sales\nsuccess of “Long Distance Revolutionary” when it opened in NYC on\nFebruary 1 as #3 in the country for documentaries,adding that it was #1\nfor documentaries during the March 1 opening in Los Angeles and was #1\nduring the March 8 opening in the San Francisco Bay Area.\nThe\nmulti-screen CityPlex-12, which is the only movie theater in downtown\nNewark, features a premiere hi-tech auditorium, dubbed the SHAQ-DX, in\nreference to O’Neal’s nickname Shaq.\nThis\nmovie facility that underwent a multi-million-dollar\nrenovation/expansion before formally reopening last fall, received rave\nreviews from Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker, who considers this venue part\nof his efforts to revive the long-depressed city, the largest in New\nJersey.\nThis\nNewark movie cancellation controversy is not the first high-profile\nincident igniting charges of censorship directed against Abu-Jamal. In\n1994, for example, National Public Radio cancelled airing commentaries\nby Abu-Jamal on prison life that the public network had commissioned him\nto write from death row. NPR bowed to pressure from police and\nright-wing politicians like then powerful U.S. Senator Bob Dole, who\nthreatened to slash NPR’s federal funding if it went ahead with the\nproject.\nCensorship\neven extends to others examining Abu-Jamal. In 1997 NPR canceled airing\na poem it commissioned from award-winning poet Martin Espada when the\nsubject of Espada’s work was Abu-Jamal’s then death-row plight.\nPhiladelphia’s mainstream media has placed a blackout on two insightful\nbooks on the Abu-Jamal case: the 2003 Killing Time extensive\nexamination by investigative reporter Dave Lindorff, who lives in a\nPhiladelphia suburb, and J. Patrick O’Connor’s 2008 The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal that names the probable killer of Officer Daniel Faulkner. \nWhile\npressure from police drives much of this censorship, Abu-Jamal’s\ncritiques of America’s discriminatory status-quo is a salient element in\nthe censorship, which resembles the censorship once directed at\nlegendary black activists like singer-actor Paul Robeson and author\nRichard Wright. That New York Times review of Vittoria’s\ndocumentary cites Abu-Jamal’s “radicalized” views, saying they are\ndistrustful of “the political system…and the very notion that America is\nat heart the land of the free.”\nIntense\ncensorship drove Robeson into destitute obscurity in the decades before\nhis 1976 death in Philadelphia. And censorship/racism drove Wright to\nflee the U.S. for France in 1946, spending the remainder of his life\nthere. Perhaps not surprisingly, Wright’s writer daughter, Paris-based\nJulia Wright, is a leading activist in France for Abu-Jamal.\nNewark activists plan protests in front of the CityPlex-12.\n“We\ncondemn the decision to cancel this film on Mumia to the fullest and we\ncall upon all of our Mumia supporters…to rally around our community’s\nright to artistic self-determination,” states a press release issued by\nNewark activist Zayid Muhammad, who has been active in the Abu-Jamal\ncase since 1990.\nNote:\nLinn Washington Jr. is a recurring interview subject in Vittoria’s\ndocumentary film. Washington has followed the Abu-Jamal case since\nAbu-Jamal’s December 9, 1981 arrest.\n2. From the Nation:\n\nDid Shaquille O'Neal Just Box Out Mumia?\nDave Zirin on April 25, 2013 - 11:13 AM ET\n \nWhy\ndid Newark’s only movie theater, co-owned by Shaquille O’Neal, just\npull a scheduled showing of a documentary about Mumia Abu-Jamal? No one\nis talking, but this is a story that stinks worse than the Jersey\nswamps. For the unfamiliar, Mumia Abu-Jamal is perhaps the most famous\nof the 2.4 million people behind bars in the United States. He has spent\nthe last three decades as not only a prisoner but a political lightning\nrod, with the Fraternal Order of Police demanding his execution after\nthe killing of Philadelphia Officer Daniel Faulkner. Following thirty\nyears on death row, Mumia’s sentence was commuted to life without the\npossibility of parole last year.\nMumia’s\nsupporters, which include Amnesty International, the European Union and\nNelson Mandela, have continued to point out both the inconsistencies in\nthe state’s case and the prosecution’s use of political and racially\nbased arguments—leaning on his history as a Black Panther and radical\njournalist—to assure his conviction. Numerous books and documentaries\nhave made this case. The documentary in question here is something\ndifferent. Titled MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary,\nits focus is on his contribution as an author and commentator from\nbehind bars. The film is a trenchant look at the way people can produce\npolitics and art in the most dire of circumstances. (Full disclosure: I\nam briefly interviewed in the film, discussing my correspondence with\nMumia about the intersection of sports and politics.)\nThe\nfilm has, by documentary standards, been a box-office success, with\nsold out shows in Los Angeles, Oakland and New York City. The director\nand producer, Stephen Vittoria, was especially excited to bring it to\nNewark, the city of his birth. As he said to me, “I know what Newark has\nbeen through. I know what the people of Newark have been through…. The\ncity and people of Newark deserve economic redevelopment as well as\naccess to culture. It seemed like a perfect locale to show the film. The\ntheater announced it and it was ready to play.”\nThe\ntheater in question, Cineplex 12, Newark’s only major theater, was more\nthan ready. They had put an extraordinary amount of resources into\nmaking the film a splash, setting up an exclusive press screening,\npitching stories to all the state’s major newspapers and planning a\nhigh-profile opening night featuring Newark’s famed poet Amiri Baraka.\nIt’s remarkable for a movie theater to put this much public relations\nweight behind any film’s opening, let alone a documentary.\nHours\nbefore the tickets were available for sale, something even more\nremarkable took place. Higher-ups at the theater had the showing\ncancelled. Was Shaq part of that decision? I can’t say definitively\nbecause everyone’s lips are buttoned tighter than a pair of black jeans\nin Hoboken. Here, however, is what we do know. Shaq, who was raised for a\nperiod in Newark and still has family in the city, is the Cineplex’s\nco-owner. According to very good authority, Shaq, alongside his security\nchief, former Newark police officer Jerome Crawford,\nspoke with the co-Cineplex owners of Boraie Development about the film.\nRepeated efforts to get comment from O’Neal about the content of that\ndiscussion as well as the decision to not show the film have gone\nunanswered, but here are some other things we know for sure.\nWhen O’Neal purchased the theater, he held a press conference\nalongside Newark Mayor Corey Booker, and pointedly thanked “the Newark\nPolice Department” which “helped raise” him. The future Hall of Famer\nhas long held court about his dreams of becoming a police officer. He\nhas been sworn in as a “reserve police officer”\nin both Miami and Los Angeles. When in action, the results have been\nvery unfortunate. On a ride-along, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an internal affairs report was issued\nafter Shaq was accused of shoving the head of a suspect in a toilet and\nflushing repeatedly. He was cleared of these charges and his connection\nto the police has gone unbroken, including charity work with the\nFraternal Order of Police. The FOP, once again, has spent decades\nagitating for Mumia’s execution.\nShaq\nand the theater aren’t commenting about the cancellation of the Newark\nshowings, but Mumia is. He said, “Now it seems there are a lot of people\nin power who don’t want you to see Long Distance Revolutionary.\nAsk yourself, why? Newark, New Jersey, is more than just a depressed\ncity. It was once the place where famed black leader and controversial\nfigure Paul Robeson lived, studied and became the Paul Robeson who\nbecame the center of history. Controversy isn’t a bad thing—it’s a good\nthing, but it’s always what the controversy is about. A lot of people\ndon’t want you to see Long Distance Revolutionary…. Ask yourself, why? And then make your own decision. I know you’ll make the right one.”\nI\ndo hope Shaquille O’Neal and the executives at Boraie Development\nanswer for themselves. They should disavow the mere thought that they\nwould Bigfoot a film just because they find it offensive. What’s\nparticularly sad is that Shaq could use his ample powers of speech and\nconsiderable cultural platform to speak out against the film if he’s so\ninclined. Here’s a scenario for Shaq: show the film. Then go onstage\nafter the debut to explain why he thinks that Mumia should be punished\nand the film disrespects the police. Let him publish an oped in the Newark Star-Ledger.\nHe should, if inclined, kick the film’s butt like it was Greg Ostertag.\nBut don’t do this. Whether you ordered the film not to run or are just\nlooking the other way, don’t deny the city of Newark, which you claim to\nlove, a film just because you have the power to do so. Those aren’t the\nactions of The Big Aristotle. They’re the actions of a big bully.\nThe long aftermath of 9/11 is a tale of torture, disappearance and war crimes. Read David Cole’s take in this week’s issue of The Nation.\nRelated Topics: Racism and Discrimination | Sports | Media\n\nThis message from:\nThe Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal\nPO Box 16222, Oakland CA 94610.  www.laboractionmumia.org\n510.763.2347.\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/11/18736626.php SUMMARY:Protest Ban of Mumia Film at Shaq O'Neal's Theater in Newark, NJ LOCATION:Oakland Coliseaum: East entrance ticket window, or on foot bridge to the Arena from BART URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/11/18736626.php DTSTART:20130512T183000Z DTEND:20130512T203000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR