Honoring Black History Month means The fight to free Mumia Abu-Jamal

These excerpts are from a talk by Dolores Cox, an International Action Center volunteer, presented at a Black History Month forum at the Solidarity Center in New York City on Feb. 6. Go to workers.tv to hear the entire talk.

The plight of Mumia Abu-Jamal is included in this Black History Month forum because what’s happening to him is part of the history of Black people in the U.S. and throughout the African Diaspora. This includes a history of oppression, repression, enslavement, apartheid, domestic terrorism, exploitation, racial discrimination, marginalization, resistance, and a continuing struggle for liberation, civil and human rights, social justice and equal protection under the law.

Most here know who Mumia is and are familiar with his situation. He’s a political prisoner, one of many and the most prominent. He has been a Black revolutionary and a freedom fighter for social justice most of his life. He is one of our heroes and one of us. And we’re indebted to him for all that he stands for and all he’s given us. This is why we must continue the fight to keep him alive and free him. He is too important to forget or to allow his voice to be permanently silenced.

In 2008 Mumia appealed to the Supreme Court regarding the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold his conviction. In April 2009 the Supreme Court refused to hear his case and gave no explanation for their decision.

This past Jan. 19 the Supreme Court decided to put aside the ruling made by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, a lower federal court. By doing this, the Supreme Court laid the basis for a reinstatement of the death penalty by vacating two previous lower rulings which had overturned the death sentence for Mumia. Go to http://tinyurl.com/yk4s7q3 to read more on the legal situation for Mumia.

This leaves us -- the people -- to exercise whatever powers we have to stop the killing of Mumia. This means an all-out campaign demanding a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Justice Department on the 28 years of persecution of Mumia.

The civil rights investigation is one of the last arguments Mumia has to stay his execution. Everything will be suspended during the investigation [if granted]. In 2000, a delegation organized to go to the Justice Department requesting an investigation. Petitions were accepted and a promise given to reply to them. But the Clinton administration decided not to take up the case as the courts were still considering it.

The emphasis now is to request a civil rights investigation. An additional lawyer from Pittsburgh is in the process of preparing a legal brief to the U.S. Justice Department regarding repeated, gross violations of Mumia’s civil and human rights. A brief will challenge the government’s conspiracy against Mumia.

The conspiracy against Mumia began when he was a teenager and demonstrated against Alabama’s racist governor, George Wallace. From that point on, the FBI began surveillance and targeting of Mumia that escalated after he joined the Black Panther Party. The FBI’s Cointelpro creator, J. Edgar Hoover, stated that potential Black leaders needed to be “neutralized.”

In 2000, Amnesty International cited numerous, gross violations of Mumia’s civil rights and irregularities by both police and prosecutors as well as violations of constitutional law and international standards of justice and the appearance of judicial bias during the appeals review. Since that time, various courts have set new precedents, overturned precedents, reversed precedents and reinstated old precedents in Mumia's case -- all in an obvious political attempt to make Mumia an exception to the rules -- and end his life.

What can you do to save and free Mumia? Step up the campaign for a civil rights investigation. Flood the U.S. Justice Department with phone calls demanding an investigation. Tell them that the investigation is essential since the courts have failed to provide any justice for Mumia. Point out racist issues both in the original trial and in the state appeals process, manifested by racial bias of jury selection and Judge Albert Sabo’s racist statement on Mumia: “I’m going to help fry the n----r.” Call the U.S. Department of Justice at the following numbers: main switchboard (202) 514-2000; public comment line (202) 353-1555. E-mail: webmaster@usdoj.gov.

Go to http://tinyurl.com/crf5hy to sign an online letter and petition to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a civil rights investigation for Mumia. Also, sign an international petition addressed to President Obama calling for his intervention on obtaining a new and fair trial for Mumia at http://tinyurl.com/yjapvxw.

More well-known, big name supporters and endorsers are needed along with labor unions, churches, students, sororities/fraternities and grassroots activist groups -- everyone you can think of! Spread the word! Go to freemumia.com and millions4mumia.org to get updates of activities and developments.

Free Mumia and all political prisoners! Stop the frame up! Abolish the death penalty! Abolish the prison industrial complex!