How do you punish a man on death row? Do you bring him back from the dead and add a few more days, years to his sentence? That is the dilemma facing the Pennsylvania penitentiary authorities with Mumia Abu-Jamal, he is already in the most punitive section the system allows. What the system dislikes more than lies is the truth. Mumia Abu-Jamal is guilty of telling the truth, he told the truth in his earlier book, Live from Death Row, he told the truth about the US Penal System.
Every day of your life, no doubt, you've heard of 'freedom of speech' and 'freedom of the press'. But what can such 'freedom' mean without the freedom to read, or to hear, what you want?
Mumia Abu-Jamal faces death for a crime he claims, and many believe him, that he did not commit.
Death Blossoms is a collection of essays, the thoughts of Mumia Abu-Jamal as he faces death. His body may be imprisoned, manacled, subject to 24 hour surveillance, but his mind is not. The essays are a weird mix of self-reflection, philosophy, political thought, quasi-religion and environmentalism. Each essay contains the essence of distilled wisdom, brought back from wandering in the desert of American racism and materialism.
Mumia Abu-Jamal expects further punishment for writing Death Blossoms but he refuses to be silent. Why is the writings of a man on death row so feared?
Highly recommended.
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