Coast to Coast:
Mumia Awareness
Revolutionary Worker #1025, October 10, 1999
As we go to press: The Supreme Court is about to hand down its verdict on Mumia's
previous appeal--a petition for a writ of certiorari. If they turn down this petition, the
Governor of Pennsylvania may sign a death warrant.
Meanwhile, Mumia's legal team are preparing to file their last legal appeal--for a writ
of habeas corpus--sometime this month in Philadelphia's District court. This will demand
that a federal judge hear the evidence and witnesses that were barred by the Pennsylvania
courts--and grant Mumia a new trial. At the recent torchlight march in Los Angeles,
Mumia's lawyer Leonard Weinglass described this move into the federal courts as the
beginning of "our final fight for Mumia's life."
As the struggle enters a new and crucial phase, people everywhere need to be active,
alert and prepared to respond.
From September 19 to 25, people stepped out for Mumia Abu-Jamal across the U.S. and the
world--fighting to expose the machinery of injustice that is trying to execute Mumia
Abu-Jamal. This was a week of straining to raise this struggle to a higher level.
Thousands participated actively in at least 96 cities. Their energetic and creative
outreach touched many hundreds of thousands--both directly and through local media
coverage in many cities.
The response to these efforts was encouraging--when people heard about the government
attempt to silence Mumia, they expressed interest and deep concern--and significant
numbers hooked up for future activities.
Very diverse forces worked together in this common cause--many of them for the first
time. New organizations formed during the week itself--including a student group at
Princeton, a teachers' coalition in Los Angeles, and the Pensacola Committee to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal. Important efforts were made to take Mumia's case out broadly in the Black and
Latino communities.
The week of activities culminated in significant demonstrations on September 25. In RW
#1024 we reported on some of the largest of those events--in New York, Los Angeles,
Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Detroit, Madison, Montreal, and Paris.
Since then we have a better picture of the many other actions--the teach-ins,
vigils, video showings, leafleting, tables, meetings, mailings, debates, resolutions,
forums, car caravans, postering and intense discussions that made up Mumia Awareness Week.
We cannot possibly report on all the activities we have heard about--and we certainly have
not heard about all the activities that happened.
What we will do here is give a sense of this effort--through snapshots of the major
events, soundbites of participants and some brief shout-outs from this week of awareness.
We want to offer thanks to all the activists, reporters and correspondents who made this
report possible, including especially the national office of Refuse & Resist!
"Mumia, bless his heart, has become a symbol around the world not to free
Mumia, but to end the death penalty. He's a symbol because he's courageous, because he's
articulate, because he's got guts. He's a very gentle, wonderful, intelligent man.... This
guy is not going to stop saying who he is and he's not going to stop saying that we've got
to change this country from the ground up. And without you and without us we're not going
to get him out and we damn well are not going to let them kill him, are we?"
Frances Goldin, literary agent for Mumia,
Columbia University, Sept. 22 |
"The case of Mumia highlights the racist and arbitrary character of the death
penalty especially when applied to people of color.... With your commitment, with your
activism, with your struggle to end the death penalty and to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, we will
begin the process of transforming this entire country."
Prof. Manning Marable,
Columbia University, Sept. 22 |
"My dad, Dr. David Gunn, was an abortion provider in Pensacola, Florida. My
father was stalked, harassed, and intimidated for years before his murder... As my dad got
out of his car, Mr. Griffin, the killer, sneaked up behind him and shot him three times in
the back. The scenario above clearly represents a premeditated assassination. However, as
opposed to Mumia, Mr. Griffin comes from a well-connected, prominent, `white' family; the
death penalty was never a factor in his prosecution... If you have the misfortune of being
an African American revolutionary, the blindfold of justice is removed, she drops her
balanced scales and she attacks wildly with a double edged sword."
David Gunn Jr., for Refuse & Resist!,
Atlanta, Sept. 25 |
"I support not only freeing Mumia, not simply a new trial. But I also insist
that that is not enough. We must be committed to overthrowing this justice system which
means that ordinary people are exploited and executed for no reason at all."
| Rev. James Lawson, Los Angeles, Sept. 25 |
"The power structure must be made to fear the consequences of carrying through
this execution from many sides: from millions of people who previously believed in the
system losing faith in its justice, to international condemnation, to disruption of
schools and work places, to the threat of another Los Angeles rebellion. But the threat
that this system would suffer a very high price must be real and growing."
C. Clark Kissinger, Refuse & Resist!,
contributing RW writer. |
On Campus, In the Streets
"At first, people were like, `What the hell? Why are you giving me a sheet of
paper to read. I'm not interested.' But I urged them to read at least the first segment,
and just about every single person became enwrapped in the story and were shocked to
discover what was/is going on in this country. I got many, `This is going on here?!' and
`Wow, how could this possibly be true?'
"
"We have to take history in our hands."
Student, third world Liberation Front,
UC Berkeley |
"I'm here to say that we want solutions, not executions. We've had enough of
this philosophy of hypocrisy, all right?"
| High school student, NYC, Sept. 25 |
"He's looking death in the face and he's still pushing on. And that's an
inspiration to me. I look up to him."
| Student, Eugene Lang College |
Mumia Awareness Week was marked by events on college and high school campuses.
Contingents of students and youth were at the frontlines of actions all week. In New York
City, they energized the march with their chant "Mumia is fearless so are we!"
In Chicago, the rowdy youth contingent startled the police by taking the street on Sept.
25.
Over 150 people packed a Columbia University lecture hall for a "Live from Death
Row" forum organized by the Campaign Against the Death Penalty and featuring Manning
Marable and Frances Goldin. Two prisoners of Illinois' Death Row 10 spoke by phone and
described how torture had been used to extract confessions.
Four hundred attended a day-long teach-in at the Community College of Philadelphia. A
teach-in at Princeton featured authors Robin D.G. Kelley and Farah Jasmine Griffin.
On Sept. 25, on the University of California campus in Berkeley, over 100 people
attended "The Road to Freedom: The Fight for Justice Enters the Crucial
Stage"--organized by the twLF and the Black Radical Congress.
That same day in Los Angeles, UCLA students joined activists from all over the city in
a powerful torchlight march of 400 people through the streets around their Westwood
campus.
Consciousness-raising activities and protests were held at many other colleges and
universities including: University of Maryland, several campuses of the University of
Wisconsin, Long Beach City College, Monterey Bay Cal State, Georgia State, Spelman
College, Emory University, Morehouse University, Perimeter, L.A.'s Cyprus College, Santa
Monica City College, Vassar College, San Bernardino Valley College, San Francisco State,
Cuyahoga Community College, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University,
Detroit's Wayne State, University of Hawaii, Tennessee State University, Wesleyan
University, Minneapolis' Macalester College and Augsberg College, Casanova College NY,
Staten Island College NY; Oberlin College, Temple University and Hunter College NY.
After a successful street demonstration in Weymouth, Massachusetts, 30 kids followed up
with a high school walk-out. Three were arrested, and the principal threatened to turn
names over to police. But one report says everyone remains totally "psyched."
In Oakland, California, there were activities for Mumia at Fremont High, Castlemont
High, Oakland High, Oakland Tech, King Estates Middle School and other schools.
On September 21, students and teachers from Oakland held a press conference. Students
from Castlemont High described the importance of Mumia's case--and said they too faced
police brutality. Teacher Bob Mandel said that 20 California public school districts now
discuss Mumia in class. The Bay Area's major papers reported on these activities--the Oakland
Tribune ran the headline: "Abu-Jamal Case Back on Front Burner." Teach-ins
were held at Boston's Belmont High School and New Vista High School in Boulder, Colorado.
Philippine students and other supporters of the Bayan Cultural Group organized a Sept.
21 solidarity night of 100 people in L.A. dedicated to Mumia Awareness Week.
Meanwhile in Honolulu, Refuse & Resist! reached thousands of people at the Big Mele
punk music festival.
Into the Communities
"If we're going to win Mumia's freedom, it's going to take more than courts
and more than law. It's going to take us. There have been lots of great victories
won in this country and many of them have finally been realized in the courts, but only
after tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding justice."
James Lafferty, Executive Director
of the L.A. Chapter of the National
Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles, Sept. 25 |
"Just spending a year in County jail, seeing all the injustices, I know what
Mumia's saying is true... This society is not just against one person. It's profit before
people, so it's against everybody."
| Young Black man from South Central L.A. |
"You have to be a John Brown in spirit and in action because we are not going
to allow them to take this brother from us."
Herman Ferguson, New Afrikan
Liberation Movement |
"Things like this, to stop the execution of Mumia and to stop the execution of
Cabrini Green, it's in common."
| Ocirius, from Cabrini Green housing projects |
Mumia supporters went deep into oppressed communities--into neighborhoods, housing
projects, and shopping districts.
On Sept. 22, a march of youth, students and revolutionaries went through the Chicago's
famous Cabrini Green projects. A correspondent describes how the march went from building
to building--and suddenly interrupted police who were raiding a highrise. Cops doing their
dirty moves--suddenly facing people marching their way with militant banners and signs.
Our correspondent wrote: "This was something very new to some of the students who had
come, but they recognized that these raids are almost everyday occurrences in CHA. The
raids are all part of the same repressive system that is targeting Mumia, and that is
trying to tear down people's homes and hearts."
On Sept. 25, over 160 people marched up and down the major Black shopping district
along L.A.'s Crenshaw Boulevard--getting lots of support from the people who crammed the
streets.
That same day, hundreds of people gathered in Harlem, launching a day-long march
through Manhattan. In Boston, 100 people marched through the downtown shopping district.
In Oakland, an attention-getting 15-car caravan went out into Latino and Black
communities. One participant wrote, "Everywhere the caravan went it got an
enthusiastic response--with people running up to get flyers, honking their horns or
throwing their fist in the air and shouting `Free Mumia!"'
Across the Bay, three car caravans moved through key proletarian and immigrant
communities in San Francisco like the Mission District and Bayview--featuring speakers in
English, Spanish and Cantonese. The night before, on Sept. 24, 300 packed into Mission
Culture Center to discuss mobilizing for Mumia among gay and lesbian people.
In Cleveland, there were major efforts to reach out to the Black projects near the main
Sept. 25 rally site--including two car caravans. Anti-Racist Action organized a successful
car caravan in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, people were mobilizing in many smaller cities and rural areas: Louisville,
Kentucky saw a downtown 24-hour-a-day Court House vigil every day of Mumia Awareness Week.
The Maine Support Network for Mumia Abu-Jamal had a booth during the three days of Common
Ground County Fair--where according to one correspondent, "the crowd was about as
diverse as it gets in Maine." Pensacola, Florida saw a full week of activities. And
50 people marched through downtown Denver.
Families of the Stolen Lives
"We are the parents and other family members of people killed by police or
racist mobs or railroaded to prison on false charges. Our experience has taught us some
things about the criminal justice system in this country. We know that when the police
confront young people of color at night on the streets of our cities, they often brutalize
them and even kill them. We know that cops, district attorneys and judges often hide
evidence of our children's innocence and use manufactured evidence to railroad them to
jail...."We are well qualified to speak on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal because his
experience is the same as ours."
From a statement by many families
of those victimized by cops. |
Families of police victims, like Nicholas Heyward Sr., Willie Horton Sr., Iris Baez,
Margarita Rosario, Cornelius Hall and many, many others have endorsed this public
statement calling for stopping the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. It was read at many
events for Mumia across the U.S.
In city after city, these family members played an important role in the Mumia
Awareness Week--including in Chicago, where they were prominent at the citywide march on
September 25.
People from FAMLE (Families against Murder by Law Enforcement) spoke at a trade union
gathering at the San Francisco longshoremen's hall--including Teamster Danny Garcia, whose
brother Mark Garcia was murdered by police.
The Power of Word and Pen
Writers, poets and hip-hop artists took their stand with Mumia. On Sept. 24, the
international writers organization PEN organized a panel discussion on "Mumia and the
Death Penalty." Seventy people came to hear journalists Emil Guillermo, Ishmael Reed,
Kiilu Nyasha, Buddhist writer Melody Chavis, activist Jeff Mackler and others.
The Bay Area Chapter of the National Writers Union joined with Wanda Sabir of the Bayview
newspaper and local Mumia coalition to host readings for Mumia at several sites throughout
the Bay Area. There were readings at Café La Pena, the Black Repertory Group, East
Oakland's Deja Brew and World Ground coffeehouses, and poet Jack Foley dedicated his KPFA
readings to Mumia. On Sept. 24, about 60 people gathered for hip hop and spoken word at
Revolution Books in Berkeley.
A petition is circulating among writers and poets in the Bay Area demanding a new trial
for Mumia. It is sponsored by the National Writers Union, Bay Area, Media Alliance, PEN
Oakland, Pacific News Service, Independent Press Association, PEN American Center, and
International Black Writers. This petition has already attracted hundreds of signatories
including: Alice Walker, Isabel Allende, Ben Bagdakian, Adrienne Rich, Ishmael Reed, Tim
Redmond, Lawrence Ferlingetti, Bill Wong, Tim Graham, Chrystos, Maxine Hong Kingston,
Diane di Prima, Chinosole, Elizabeth Martinez, Gary Snyder, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz,
Alejandro Murguia, Tillie Olsen, Norman Soloman, Cecile Pineda, Herbert Apthecker, Barbara
Kingsolver, Frances Beal, Robert Allen, Noelle Hanrahan, Peter Coyote, Ron Takaki, Lucy
Jane Bledsoe, Piri Thomas, Jennifer Harbury, Abena Songbird, Reese Erlich, Joyce Jenkins,
Julia Sudbury, Elaine H. Kim, Peter Phillips.
In South Africa, 437 delegates signed a petition of support for Mumia Abu-Jamal at the
conference of Azanian Peoples Organization (AZAPO) and its allied organizations.
Masses in the Media
Mumia made it into prime time at least once during Awareness Week--when comedian Chris
Rock mentioned him during a skit.
Though the white-out remained intense and outrageous at the national level, there were
many times when the struggle of people broke into the local airwaves and newspapers
including local TV news shows in New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, San Diego, and Los
Angeles. Mumia's events were covered in several major city newspapers, including the San
Francisco Chronicle and Examiner.
The Black press and radio talk shows gave widespread coverage. New York's Daily
Challenge had a full front page on Awareness Week. Pacifica radio stations reported
and participated extensively, and so did many college newspapers and radio stations.
On October 3, "Free Mumia" appeared in the Boondocks Sunday comic
strip.
Religious Support
"This society needs Mumia. We need his voice of clarity. We need his critical
judgment. We need his honesty. We need the truth in journalism that he represents. And it
is precisely because he is a voice of justice, a voice of clarity, represents a critical
examination of the society for all of the injustices in it that he's attempting to be
silenced."
Rev. Lucius Walker, Interreligious Foundation
for Community Organization, Pastors for Peace |
In Chicago, Sept. 22, 20 clergy representing all major religions gathered for an
interfaith prayer breakfast--to discuss Mumia's case and hear Standish Willis of the
National Conference of Black Lawyers.
Black churches in Oakland and other places participated in activities for Mumia on
Sunday, September 19.
In San Francisco a meditation sitting was held for Mumia in Golden Gate Park by the
Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Marin.
Philadelphia's American Friends Service Committee has sent a mailing to pastors and
congregations supporting Mumia's case and held a day-long video showing against the death
penalty on September 25.
Trade Union Support
Sixty people attended a forum on "Labor's Fight to Free Mumia" at the West
Coast longshoremen hall (ILWU) in San Francisco. Members of Local 214, San Francisco
Letter Carriers, Amalgamated Transit Union #1574, Oakland Education Association and
Carpenters Union #713 expressed support for Mumia. Meanwhile, Jack Heyman of the ILWU
joined with Fred Glass from the California Federation of Teachers to support the Oakland
student-teacher press conference for Mumia.
On Sept. 23, the 1199 hospital workers union hosted a video showing of A Case for
Reasonable Doubt at their New York headquarters.
*****
"The stakes are sky high in the battle to stop the authorities from using
their legal system to murder Mumia. The capitalists who rule over us have made their
determination to execute Mumia crystal clear. They bribed and intimidated witnesses to
railroad him onto death row 17 years ago. They've ignored evidence and witnesses his
defense has brought out into the light of day. They concocted two phony confessions. They
told the Black United Fund of Pennsylvania, a Black charitable organization, `Step back
from this case, or we'll crush you!' They got their Fraternal Order of Pigs in Philly
drawing up a hit list of artists and others who've supported Mumia's case and threatening
them with boycotts and other shit.
If we don't step up our efforts to do what's needed to beat back their murderous
move on our brother Mumia, we'll lose a very precious life and a very powerful voice
against injustice. Think of what a heavy blow that would be--how it would weigh on the
many people who've drawn hope from Mumia's words and his example of uncompromising
resistance. Think of how that would impact the youth, the new generation of fighters, many
of whom were inspired to join the struggle by Mumia. We've got to escalate the struggle to
stop their attempt to execute him."
| Carl Dix, RCP National Spokesperson |
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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