The information about Krasner is a real disappointment. I thought he was a
really good guy. Oh well, the system corrupts. As for Abu-Jamal, his story is a
terrible long, drawn out injustice and tragedy.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey ;
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2018 9:53 AM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! All out Feb. 26 and March 27!
https://socialistaction.org/2018/02/20/free-mumia-abu-jamal-all-out-feb-26-and-march-27/
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal! All out Feb. 26 and March 27!
/ 19 hours ago
Mumia_raised_fist_020612_web-1_t580
By JOHN LESLIE
New mobilizations are planned in the case of political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal. The events will take place at a critical juncture in Mumia’s case,
which opened up with the Williams v. Pennsylvania decision, presenting an
opportunity, after so much struggle, to finally win Mumia’s freedom.
This is particularly urgent because Mumia’s health continues to be in danger.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has failed to adequately treat his
liver damage, and a skin condition that causes severe itching is persisting.
Mumia activists are asking that supporters around the world—in Latin America,
Europe and elsewhere—organize actions the weekend before Mumia’s March 27 court
date and publicize the case in their press. Also, organizations across the
United States are urged to build local actions and consider mobilizing to come
to Philadelphia on March 27.
Supporters of Mumia’s struggle for freedom have long known that his original
trial was a sham, based on the collusion of prosecutors, cops, and a corrupt
judge. Time and again, evidence that Mumia is innocent has come to light, but
the criminal injustice system has failed to do the right thing. Instead, the
state’s determination to silence the voice of a fighter for justice has
increased.
Freemumia.com reports: “On April 28 [2017], Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge
Leon Tucker issued an order to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office to
release all records and memos regarding former Philly DA Ron Castille’s
involvement in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case. On May 30, the DA’s office failed to
follow the judge’s order, only releasing documents already available in public
records.
“The order followed a recent landmark Supreme Court decision, Williams v.
Pennsylvania, which ruled that judges must remove themselves from any case that
they had a hand in prosecuting. Ronald Castille was Assistant Philadelphia DA
at the time of Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial and Philadelphia District Attorney when
his office opposed Mumia Abu-Jamal’s direct appeals in 1988. Castille twice
refused to recuse himself when Abu-Jamal’s appeals reached the state’s highest
court” (see Freemumia.com).
A statement released in December 2017—signed by activists, parliamentarians,
labor leaders, and human rights advocates—called for Mumia’s freedom based on a
new legal challenge in the Pennsylvania courts on the grounds that former
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille violated the Williams ruling
when he denied Abu-Jamal’s appeals from 1998-2014.
On Jan. 17, 2018, a court hearing on the question of Castille’s role in Mumia’s
case was delayed. There are two court hearings coming up:
•Feb. 26, 8 a.m. This will be a “status report” for the judge.
Organizers want to make sure there is a strong local presence on the 26th.
•Tuesday, March 27, at 8 a.m. This will be a major mobilization aimed at
pressuring the DA’s office and the criminal justice system. Mumia’s health
situation is dire. It’s clear that the prison system, which was thwarted in its
attempt to execute Mumia legally, is trying to execute him through medical
neglect.
Organizers want to put pressure on “progressive” Democrat Larry Krasner, who
got elected as District Attorney on a platform of criminal justice reform, to
release documents related to Mumia’s case to the public.
Krasner has already backed off on his previous opposition to the death penalty
and has also adjusted his position on juvenile lifers.
Pennsylvania has more people sentenced as juveniles to life without parole than
any other state. In June 2017, nearly 2500 juveniles across the nation had been
sentenced to life without parole under tough-on-crime laws and must be
resentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled these sentences
unconstitutional. Krasner’s office has apparently pushed off the possibility of
release for some of these prisoners for another five years. He has also sought
to mend relations with the Fraternal Order of Police after they condemned him
and his supporters as anti-police.
Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?
Mumia Abu-Jamal joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) at age 14, when he helped
form the Philadelphia chapter of the party. The founding of the Philadelphia
chapter was met with police violence under command of the reactionary police
commissioner (and later mayor) Frank Rizzo. Mumia had been beaten by Philly
cops while protesting against a campaign appearance of the racist George
Wallace in 1968.
During his days in the BPP, Mumia traveled to New York and Oakland to help
efforts to build the party. After leaving the party in 1970, Mumia pursued a
career as a journalist, becoming an uncompromising critic of the actions of the
Philadelphia police and Frank Rizzo, earning the reputation as the “voice of
the voiceless.” Mumia’s reporting on the
1978 attack on MOVE by Philadelphia cops, which led to the imprisonment of nine
members of the organization, garnered a threat from Mayor Rizzo.
“At his press conference following the cop assault, Frank Rizzo, then the
mayor, looked directly at Mumia (Abu-Jamal) and declared that a ‘new breed of
journalism’ was to blame for Ramp’s death [police officer John J. Ramp was
shot, quite likely by fellow officers, during a police attack on MOVE members
in 1978] and that someday those like Mumia were ‘going to have to be held
responsible and accountable’” (“The Fight to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal,” by Rachel
Wolkenstein).
Mumia was convicted of the 1981 murder of a police officer, Daniel Faulkner, in
a frame-up trial with demonstrated collusion between prosecutors and the judge,
who was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police. At the time of the trial,
the judge, Albert Sabo, was overheard, by a white court stenographer, saying
that he was going to “help them [prosecutors] fry that n****r.”
Convicted and sentenced to die, Mumia continued to write and speak out in
defense of the oppressed and victims of this society. The cop unions and
politicians have tried for decades to silence his voice because he represents
resistance to a system that holds the lives of Black and other oppressed
peoples in contempt.
Mass action and grassroots organizing were crucial elements of the effort to
keep Mumia alive over the years. In conjunction with attorneys’ efforts in the
appeals process, human rights advocates and activists mobilized in the streets
in solidarity with Mumia’s fight for freedom. It is not an exaggeration to say
that mass action kept Mumia alive and will eventually free him from prison.
The death sentence against Mumia was vacated in 2001 by a federal judge who
ruled that there were irregularities in the way the jury was instructed in the
original case. The judge, however, failed to order a new trial, which
supporters feel would exonerate him. The state of Pennsylvania continued to
fight to reinstate the death sentence until 2011.
Health update
On Jan. 3, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Mariani granted the motion
filed by Mumia Abu-Jamal for a preliminary injunction ordering the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections (DOC) to begin preparations to treat Mumia’s
Hepatitis C, a life-threatening liver disease. The judge’s order overturned a
lower court decision on the same matter. The denial of such treatment, wrote
Mariani, represented a violation of Mumia’s rights under the U.S.
Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibiting “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Mumia began receiving an anti-viral drug in April 2017, and the treatment
seemed to have overcome the Hepatitis.
Nevertheless, Mumia’s health situation remains serious and has even
deteriorated in recent months. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has
refused to offer adequate treatment for a skin condition that has cracked his
skin and caused it to bleed, while causing severe and debilitating itching.
There are strong concerns about lasting liver damage caused by the Hepatitis C
that the DOC allowed to go untreated for too long.
Socialist Action urges political activists, the labor movement, and all
supporters of democratic rights in the U.S. and internationally to build
demonstrations in their local areas. We also encourage all who can come to
either the February or March court dates to pack the court for Mumia’s freedom.
This is a critical juncture in Mumia’s case. We cannot rely on the capitalist
courts and politicians to grant him justice.
Winning Mumia’s freedom depends on the mass actions of all of those who oppose
oppression.
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February 20, 2018 in Black Liberation, Prisons, Uncategorized. Tags:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
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