Mumia Abu-Jamal means so much to so many people. Growing and maturing in Philadelphia has helped to give me a clear view of the Black Liberation struggle. Maneuvering through life in Philadelphia in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s also gave me an insight into African Revolutionaries who simply loved their people.
I can vividly remember listening to the strong, confident, and informative voice of Mumia’s commentaries on the radio as I navigated my teenage and young adult endeavors. Mumia was always and still is a household name and a colossal example of manhood and scholarship amongst conscious Africans.
Mumia’s sacrifices of freedom, family, and health over the past decades have been a testament to the Love he has for his people.
Mumia’s commentary, journalism, and perspectives on police brutality and the MOVE organization were publicly prolific, popular, and quite effective in raising awareness among Black residents in Philadelphia. Mumia was always very deliberate in his ideological and fact-filled delivery of Police Commissioner/Mayor Frank Rizzo and the city’s deliberate operations against the members of MOVE.
Prior to a large part of my education of MOVE through Mumia’s public reporting, I had the distinct honor of meeting and embracing MOVE member Mike Africa in 1992. I was the keynote speaker at a Prayer Breakfast at Huntingdon State Prison organized by my cousin, Minister Ibrahim Ali Muhammad. Mike Africa was a political prisoner at Huntingdon State Prison and was in charge of the program’s audio-sound system.
I believe that Mumia Abu Jamal’s trial was a pre-determined and racist frame-up. He was denied the lawyer of his choice and the resources to prepare for a proper defense. White jurors were chosen to determine Mumia’s fate. Mumia was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death by Judge Albert F. Sabo on May 25, 1983. He was convicted by a hand-picked jury for the murder of policeman Daniel Faulkner. The District Attorney temporarily secured a death sentence for Mumia with an argument that “he should be condemned to death simply for his political history and beliefs, claiming that his membership in the Black Panther Party and use of slogans such as political power grows out of the barrel of the gun and power to the people twelve years earlier, proved he was a committed cop killer.”
On July 12, 1995, Mumia would go on to state that “a blind man can see that I didn’t receive a fair trial. You have seen a trial where a man has been denied his right to select a jury, to defend himself, to have a counsel of his choice, or to have competent counsel of the state’s choice. You have seen a trial where evidence of my innocence was withheld, false evidence utilized–all presided over by a card-carrying member of the F.O.P.-Fraternal Order of the Police, where the presumption of innocence was an inside joke.”
Mumia would also go on to state that “The same District Attorney’s office prosecuting this blatantly unjust death sentence looked at the bloody carnage of May 13, with 11 men, women and children bombed into oblivion and saw no crime, no violations of any law. The same District Attorney’s office that intentionally removed 11 Black jurors from my jury pool had the nerve to select an investigative grand jury in the May 13 bombing of my brothers and sisters, only to recommend that they file no charges in a case of premeditated mass murder. From such an entity, what can the word “justice” really mean? True justice requires more than a stay of execution. It requires a complete dismissal of this political prosecution! It requires more; it requires the committed mobilization of our communities to resist a system that is more repressive than South Africa’s, to abolish this death penalty!”
In March of 1989, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied Mumia’s appeal to the state judicial process. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist made it clear that he considered death row appeals as an outrageous waste of time. At the actual trial, the prosecution had serious problems proving that Mumia had killed the cop. Witnesses did not describe Mumia as being the man who fired the fatal shot. They described a short Black man, approximately 200 pounds, wearing an afro hairstyle. Mumia Abu Jamal is 6 ft one, 170 pounds, and wears long locs.
In 2001, District Judge William Yohn overturned the death sentence, citing inconsistencies in the original sentencing process. In December 2001, prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced they would abandon their efforts to try to have Mumia put to death, in part because several witnesses had died or were no longer available to testify. The decision left Mumia to serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. During this time, his attorneys continue to seek a new trial. Currently, Mumia is serving a Life sentence at Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution Mahanoy.
The “Free Mumia” movement, demanding a new trial for Mumia, emerged in the early 1990’s. The movement has brought worldwide attention and major support to the case. Despite his incarceration and health issues, Mumia has remained active in the Liberation struggle as an author, political advisor, and social commentator. Mumia’s messages of self-determination, Black unity, African History, and the disparities in the U.S. judicial system can still be heard on national radio programs as well as college and University commencements. His writings and journalism have raised a new generation of thinkers and political activists.
Mumia’s powerful books include Truth and Consequences, Brota la Vida, Message to the Movement, Faith of our Fathers, Murder Incorporated, The Classroom and the Cell, Writings on the Wall, Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners, Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?, Still Black-Still Strong, All Things Censored, We Want Freedom, Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms.
Write to Mumia at Smart Communications/PA DOC Mumia Abu-Jamal AM8335 SCI Mahanoy P.O.box 33028 St. Petersburg FL 33733
Mumia-Abu Jamal’s support networks include Mobilization 4 Mumia (215) 724-1618 mobilization4mumia @gmail.com and International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) Pam Africa: (267) 760-7344
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