 Solidarity event with Mumia Abu-Jamal in New York City, June 23. Photo: Roberto Mercado |
Over 300 people turned out for a June 23 forum in support of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. The meeting, organized by the New York Free Mumia Coalition, took place in Harlem’s Salem Methodist Church.
Featured speakers included Pam Africa, who heads the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Julia Wright, who coordinates the ICFFMJ’s work in France. Renowned poet Sonia Sanchez and Patrice Lumumba Coalition leader Elombe Brath were among the many other speakers at the evening solidarity event.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on Pennsylvania’s death row since 1982 on charges of shooting a Philadelphia cop. He has always proclaimed his innocence. Supporters charge that he was railroaded for his revolutionary journalism and for his role as a youth organizer of the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party.
Abu-Jamal’s case is under review by a federal appeals court after mass mobilizations and legal efforts stopped his execution. Speakers urged supporters to be prepared to mobilize when a decision is announced.
Activists described ongoing efforts to publicize Abu-Jamal’s case. Wright led a successful drive to name a street in a Paris suburb “Mumia Abu-Jamal Street.” Philadelphia activists are mounting a similar campaign in the face of vicious opposition by the notoriously racist Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police. The New York Free Mumia Coalition announced plans for a similar campaign in New York.
On June 27, Abu-Jamal’s lead attorney, Robert Bryan, announced plans for the next hearing in Abu-Jamal’s appeals, centered around his denial of due process and the conduct of racist judge Albert Sabo, who presided over the 1982 case.
“The goal is for Mr. Abu-Jamal to be free,” Bryan wrote. “Yet, we must bear in mind that he is still in great danger. If we lose, he will be executed.”
