Articles
Mumia Abu Jamal - An innocent man's struggle
by Dean Ward on 22 February 2005. Read 198 times.
You are about to be introduced into one mans nightmare. An innocent mans
struggle to be taken from the hell his oppressors have forced him into. This
hell he has been placed in is for reasons that are beyond the belief of any man,
woman, child. The fear this man has struck into the eyes, hearts and souls of
his oppressors is the reasoning for his current residence on death row. Is he a
violent man? Is he a PROVED criminal? No, he is Mumia Abu Jamal. A loving
husband, a father to his children, and a political activist. The most feared
black political activist since El Haj Malik Shabazz, also known as Malcolm X.
This is an introduction into a series of real life events that read like a film
script. Here you will be informed of solid facts about the man who was set up
for the murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9th 1981. Most of
us were not born at the time of this incident. I myself was only 13 days old.
But that is no reason to not acknowledge what is still reality today. This is no
reason to hold back on support for such issues. The overwhelming facts that
relate to this issue are baffling beyond any person’s comprehension. 22 years
later, Mumia Abu Jamal is still waiting for his sentence to be carried out.
Here is a list of FACTS about the initial 1982 trial Mumia Abu Jamal was
subjected to for the alleged murder of Officer Faulkner.
- Faulkner was killed with a 44 calibre gun. Mumia was licensed a 38 calibre
hand gun as part of his job as a taxi driver.
- Mumia's 38 calibre gun was NOT tested to see if had been recently fired. His
hands were not examined for traces of gun powder. Mumia’s gun was not, and still
hasn‘t been introduced as the murder weapon in front of a court.
- Not one police officer that was present at Mumia’s arrest mentioned they had
heard Jamal's "confession" until two months after it allegedly occurred. It just
happened to come about after Mumia filed police brutality charges.
- Mumia’s doctor said that he (Mumia), who was unconscious, said nothing. He
reported that a nurse found police officers with loaded guns pointed at Mumia as
he lay unconscious in his hospital bed.
- William Singletary, a Vietnam veteran and local businessman, witnessed the
incident beginning to end, and has testified that Mumia was not the shooter of
officer Faulkner. The police then proceeded to bully him and forced him to
change his story and intimidated him into leaving Philadelphia.
- More key witnesses, Veronica Jones, who now testifies in support of Mumia,
were harassed into giving false testimony by local officers. Two prosecution
witnesses were given special favours, including exemption from criminal
prosecution, for their testimony.
- A police officer who was vital in giving evidence in Mumia’s defence was never
asked to give testimony in court. For the reason that Judge Sabo thought it
“rude” and “a waste of time” to call him at home while he was on holiday. The
court were not even knowledgeable on this officers where abouts at the time. It
turned out he was at home.
Here is the base for an unfair trial-
- Albert Sabo, the judge in Mumia’s trial sentenced more people to death than
any other sitting judge in the US.
- The public defender did not interview any witnesses in preparation for the
trial, and was refused funds for defending a capital case.
- The prosecutor removed 11 qualified African Americans from the jury. He then
argued for the death penalty for the reason being Mumia had previous membership
in the Black Panther Party, a practice later condemned as unconstitutional by
the US Supreme Court. This was also pushed by prosecuting Joseph McGill who
waited until after the jury gave the guilty verdict by question a statement
Mumia had made in his teens as an editor for a Black Panther publication. This
statement was reference to Mao Tse Tung's quote “political power comes from the
barrel of a gun”. McGill forced this quote into the face of the jury, suggesting
(as he had from the start) that Mumia was a radical black nationalist, a violent
militant. The jury, foolishly, accepted this and proposed the still standing
death sentence. Infact, Mumia’s reference to this quote from the well known
communist Mao Tse Tung was regarding the way the American government had gained
political power through the barrel of a gun. He was referring especially to the
1969 shootings of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Both lay dead in their beds,
obviously no resistance occurred. They were however, leading figures in the
Chicago chapter of the Black Panther party. Many others were injured by gunfire
that night. McGill knowingly twisted this quote. Along with others.
- The racial bias of Philadelphia's courts has resulted in 120 people on death
row, 107 of these people are non-white.
If you have read this far, you are thinking that you have just read through the
plot for a Hollywood movie? This is as real as your own life. The struggle to
free Mumia Abu Jamal is as intense today as it was when facts of this farce were
released over 2 decades ago. Put yourself in his position, his wife’s position,
his children’s position, his friends position. A man set up and sentenced to
death for expressing his views. For making the mistake to comment on police
brutality. For the mistake of sharing his voice with the people around him. This
is not an urge for you to get involved in the struggle to free Mumia Abu Jamal
and save his life. This is for your knowledge, your interest, and your
reference. This is for you to acknowledge and at the very least, air words of
support to your friends and family who may well be lacking knowledge of Mumia
Abu Jamal’s life on death row for the past 20 plus years.
-Dean Ward- August 14th 2004
http://www.mumia.org/freedom.now/
http://www.mumia2000.org/
Alternatively, a Google search on “Mumia Abu Jamal” will take you to a worth of
links crammed with information.