Do you see law and order? There is nothing but disorder, and instead of law there is the illusion of security. It is an illusion because it is built on a long history of injustices: racism, criminality, and the genocide of millions. Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it is insane not to.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the concept of law and order, suggesting it masks deeper injustices and necessitates resistance.
Mumia Abu-Jamal's quote challenges the notion of law and order as a benign framework for society. Instead, he argues that this perception is a mere illusion, underpinned by a history of systemic injustices such as racism and genocide. The quote emphasizes that accepting the status quo without questioning its fairness is truly the irrational stance, advocating instead for resistance to an unjust system.
In practice
In a speech about social justice at a rally.
At the risk of quoting Mephistopheles I repeat: Welcome to hell. A hell erected and maintained by human-governments, and blessed by black robed judges. A hell that allows you to see your loved ones, but not to touch them. A hell situated in America's boondocks, hundreds of miles away from most families. A white, rural hell, where most of the captives are black and urban. It is an American way of death.
Many claim that it is insane to resist the system; but actually, it is insane not to.
Prison is a second-by-second assault on the soul, a day-to-day degradation of the self, an oppressive steel and brick umbrella that transforms seconds into hours and hours into days.
The historical mission of our times is to re-invent the human—at the species level, with critical reflection, within the community of life-systems, in a time-developmental context, by means of story and shared dream experience.
Because God knows, searches and clearly understands the minds, hearts, thoughts, and nature of all, his supreme kindness and clemency do not permit anyone at all who is not guilty of deliberate sin to suffer eternal punishments.
The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.
The ministry of mercy, then, is the best advertising a church can have. It convinces a community that this church provides people with actions for their problems, not only talk. It shows the community that this church is compassionate.
The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
The clearest sensation that a human being has when he experiences the holy is an overpowering and overwhelming sense of creatureliness. That is, when we are in the presence of God, we are humbled and become most aware of ourselves as creatures. This is the opposite of Satan's original temptation, "You shall be as gods.
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