by Tammy Gomez

When I think of FREE SPEECH.

FREE used to be the word. It was the perfect term to apply to the following abstraction: the concept of man/woman existing and playing/working/creating in a liberated space or liberated state as a liberated, self-determining -- or FREE -- being.

FREE, anymore, is a quasi-taunt or a barker's seductive cry. It is jeered over AM/FM radiowaves; printed in black ink on newsprinted metropolitan dailies; flashed in neon and professionally-lettered signage in shop windows, over doorways, and above us all on the skyscraping edifices of commerce and on roadside billboards: FREE kittens, FREE lunch, sugar-FREE, FREEway, sodium-FREE, FREE t-shirts, FREE cigarettes, smoke-FREE, FREE admission, guilt-FREE, FREE for all. The term FREE, hence, has come to represent the condition of HAVING or NOT HAVING something, creating a popular use for the word FREE that has nothing to do with the spiritual, creative, and political dimensions of personhood and has everything to do with adding -- for use by a capitalist culture of consumerism -- one more word to a late 20th century U.S. vocabulary focused so happily on ACQUIRING AS MUCH AS WE WANT FOR NOTHING.

Hey! I just realized that, to my knowledge, no one (e.g., Nike, Mattel, or GE) has appropriated the classic Roger Daltrey scream (from The Who's Tommy soundtrack) "I'M FREE!" for a television commerical. But it's inevitable. Some ad agency audio engineer is probably tinkering digitally with Daltrey's full-throated melodic declaration at this second; "I'm FREE!" could send lots of shoppers crazy for wrinkle-FREE slacks or some such product. Maybe it will accompany the visual display of 200 bunnies shooting across a grassy meadow, newly-Energized by four brand new double AAs. That's the way of FREE enterprise.

But before we get locked into a cynical mindswell, why not consider that "I'm FREE" could possibly remain completely FREE of advertising connotation and manipulation for the body-hunger satiation of a pleasure-driven mindless nation population?

Whoa.

Who is FREE, besides, of course, the Who's Roger Daltrey? And how can we determine WHO if we can't remember HOW we used to be FREE or how we previously used the term in its original meaning?

I think it induces less anxiety to wait in a crowded parking lot for a FREE cowboy boot than it does to reflect on the U.S. national anthem phrase "land of the FREE." Which is perhaps why my parents dragged our red-white-and-blue festooned asses over to a western boot store in Arlington, Texas, directly after our curbside viewing of a 4th of July Parade many many years ago. The western boot store was represented in the Parade by a horse-drawn pioneer days-style stagecoach bearing a very provocative banner. On the banner blazed the words "FREE Boots Today!" Of course, several hundred parade-watchers, clamoring for FREEdom in any form, noted the retail store address and made our way expectantly to the steaming paved parking lot where we waited patiently, without question, for the boots to arrive and to become our very own. As it turned out, the brilliant (yeah, right) method of distribution involved flinging the boots -- one at a time -- over the heads of the crowd and down, down, down to inevitably topple upon someone's arm or a popsicle-streaked child's face (as actually happened). If you were lucky enough to catch one FREE boot, you then had to negotiate the crowd to find the individual who'd been hit by the matching boot, and from then on it was anybody's guess as to who ended up with the complete pair of FREE boots. After about two sweaty hours of trying to both catch the FREE flying boots and avoid being knocked unconscious by them, we truly learned that FREEdom had a price.

And I thereafter realized that we clamor for FREE things, no matter what humiliations we have to endure to achieve or acquire them. Which brings me to the point that is most pressing and depressing me these days: the preponderance of incidents wherein an individual is oppressed and his/her words are suppressed. It is this discriminatory use of the muzzle on FREE speech -- censorship -- that has me feeling around my mouth ever so often. Has the muzzle been clamped upon your voice yet?

Please allow me to introduce (or re-introduce) you to Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Indiana 10, and Martin Espada, who all have faced resistance when exercising their First Amendment rights.

Mumia Abu-Jamal (journalist) -- The publication of his highly-acclaimed book of essays, Live from Death Row, served to kick open the cellroom door, offering a much-needed glimpse into the day-to-day quality of existence for death row prisoners in the U.S. However, after the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) initiated a campaign of hate-motivated censorship tactics (even threatening the book publisher), their public pressure resulted in NPR's decision to drop Mumia's recorded voice from their broadcasts just one month after they had hired him as a regular commentator for All Things Considered. Mumia continues to sit on Pennsylvania's Death Row, waiting for people to hear and believe his claim of innocence.

The Indiana 10 (Indiana State prisoners) -- For performing an act of non-violent resistance behind bars, the Indiana Department of Corrections has charged 10 men with "conspiracy to riot" and "threatening" prison personnel. On May 28, 1996, these men merely agreed to maintain a period of complete silence during mealtime to "voice" their dissent and to show brave solidarity with Tommie Smith (aka Ziyon Yisrayah), whose execution by the state was imminent and inevitable. (After several execution stays, Smith was finally "killed" on August 1996.) The Indiana 10 wielded neither hand-crafted shanks nor calloused fists of rage; they merely sat silently without eating. Now they have been removed from the general population and face 3-5 year extensions to their original sentences for having an opinion about the death penalty and its unjust use in the case of Tommie Ziyon Smith.

Martin Espada (poet) -- National Public Radio may have permanently severed ties with Espada, a regular contributor to their nationwide broadcasts, because of one poem. NPR reneged on its agreement to air a commissioned piece by Espada when it was discovered that it paid positive tribute to Mumia Abu-Jamal. This was a big no-no as the public radio network struggled to keep corporate and government funding levels intact by eschewing content and perspectives that might offend conservative tastes.

Mumia (prisoner-journalist), Martin (poet-commentator), and the Indiana 10 (prisoner-activists) still struggle to be heard; their voices cry "FREEdom!" But they are not alone.

There are other situations like this; I learn about them every day through alternative channels of communication/information that reduce the local daily to a quite laughable excuse for employing the hundred or so Austinites it takes to keep hundreds more cloaked in a swath of silence thicker than cellblock walls (or your earwax) on a cold night. Who would dare to command our silence? Can we FREEly speak about censorship of truth in America? And who among us is willing to stand and demand protection of our right to speak that truth?

Thank you. You are now FREE to go.

"A rare and courageous voice speaking from a place we fear to know: Mumia Abu-Jamal must be heard."
-- Alice Walker

In remembrance of Ziyon Yisrayah, let his last words forever be written upon our hearts: "All that is necessary for evil to prevail, is for man to do nothing."

[Tammy M. Gomez is a poet/activist and producer/host of Mandatory Prison Talk on Tuesdays 4:00-4:30pm, KO.OP (91.7 FM) Radio, Austin, Texas.]