THE WIND IN THE SAILS OF MUMIA STREET, FRANCE – a poem and an appeal
imagine
imagine –
it is a long shot
or a long sail –
but just imagine
a Flotilla ship faraway
immobile
a ship made of stone
long, unsinkable
anchored in the ground
a ship
that was christened
twenty years ago
a ship
that long arrived
a ship that became a street
called Mumia Abu-Jamal
breaking news
fades and sinks
breaking History
will float
if provided with the life jacket
of our expressed solidarity
the same movement-wide wind
in the sails of the Global Sumud Flotilla
will carry our messages
the sound of our presence
the steadfastness
of our hope
all the way
to Saint Denis
to make sure
a benchmark ship
will not be vandalized
by those who hijacked
Mumia’s stolen years –
his life
Peace,
Julia
May 12, 2026
A FACTORY CALLED HISTORY-MAKING
to all those throughout the world who are keeping Mumia Abu-Jamal Street in Saint-Denis protected and afloat…
this is a renewed appeal to all abolitionists to write a statement thanking Bally Bagayoko, the first Black Mayor of Saint Denis, France, for commemorating Mumia Street in his City on May 2nd.
Please send your message to me for forwarding.
the way we were taught
History
was that it is
an abstract
removed
boring thing –
an old-fashioned discipline
chronicling the past
we had to learn
in musty books
by rote
knowing we would forget fast
turn to page so and so
and study
why so and so
at so and so battle
did win
i learned History
my mind elsewhere
watching though the classroom window
chestnut trees go bare
little did i dream
back then
History was a thing
we could produce
collectively
from bare hand to bare hand
clocking in
at a factory called
Labor of the People’s Love
little did i realize
that History
its means of production
its raw materials
its assembly line
is closer than the chestnut trees
and
within our reach
in real time
little did i realize
History is in the details
messages sent
one by one
until the storm is perfect,
marches’ synchonicity,
an email long sent
receiving a reply
little did i realize
how many dots could be connected
and
rekindled
just by seizing the time
until i tried
and the world changed
…and in the palm
of our hand
a Victory alighted
to be tamed
(c) Julia Wright May 13, 2026 All Rights Reserved.
OUR HISTORY IS NOT WRITTEN WITH ACID
have you noticed
the colonial obsession
with acid
and explosives?
not Assata’s acid –
not the Love
that is contraband
and eats away all bars
no
the acid of our oppressors –
the lysergic acid they use to try
to pickle
the steadfastness
of our brains
the sulphuric acid
where they hope
to disappear all trace
of warriors who stood tall
the phosphorus acid
that burns
excruciatingly
seeking the marrow
of the bone
the thermobaric gas
that evaporates
children in Gaza
at the wishful wave
of a bomb
acid, acid, acid –
a failsafe solution
to their logistics problem:
the erasure of the telltale evidence
of torture,
and planned execution
the invisibilization
of what we are
the deletion
of what they will never be
the only thing is
the gold tooth of Lumumba
the symbol of Africa’s rage
never dissolved
the only thing is
although Thomas Sankara’s body
remains disappeared
to this day
his legacy
still
reaches far
the only thing is
the absence of remains
to mourn over and cry
turns each funeral
into a dance
with the homeless dead
the only thing is
Pan Africa
becomes
a borderless grave
the only thing is
History is not written with acid
– or it will be erased
(c) Julia Wright May 15, 2026. All Rights Reserved.
OPEN LETTER TO BABA MALCOLM X ON MUMIA STREET IN FRANCE
to Baba Zayid in the hope he will honor the first Black Mayor of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, with a solidarity statement…
Greetings Baba Malcolm X
on this your one hundred and first
Birthday
may you be blessed
Baba,
another birthday
took place
the other day
in the City of France’s dead kings
and living People,
a City called Saint-Denis
Baba,
this birthday was to commemorate
the twentieth year
of the dedication
of one of this French city’s streets
to Mumia
your brother
a brother you stand loving vigil for
from where you are
Baba,
Mumia Street in France
may not measure five acres
and no mule grazes there
but it is a fragment of a square mile reclaimed
in the spirit of what you proclaimed
that Revolution is based on Land
and
Land is the basis of all independence
Baba,
your daughter Malaak Shabazz
who stood in awe
next to those
Mumia-dedicated stones
can tell you
Baba,
in your brother Mumia’s case
in this street
on this stretch of land across the waters
that is his
where we know he will walk
free –
listen
do you not hear
echoes
of the wind in the sails
of his alive and kickin’ hope,?
Baba Malcolm,
if there were a patron Revolutionary
to protect this street
from backlash, vandalism
and amnesia
it would be your everlasting Spirit
brick by brick
wall by wall
garden by garden
we will build
more streets
reclaim more Land
for Mumia Abu-Jamal
and our Political Prisoners
(c) Julia Wright May 16, 2026. All Rights Reserved to the two pioneering groups that obtained the dedication of Mumia Street in Saint-Denis in 2006 : Comité Mumia Saint-Denis and the COSIMAPP.
