In
this world today, when we perhaps we would need it most, there is a
lack of good people. People with good morals, and people that are not
afraid to stand up for what they believe in. One of the few good
people we have left is Mumia Abu Jamal. Mumia has been behind bars
for 32 years and is still standing up for us. He is still fighting
the fight. We need more people like Mumia Abu Jamal if we are going
to have a chance.
Mumia
Abu Jamal was born Wesley Cook on April 24th, 1954 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When he was 14 years old he joined the
Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party. He got involved and
worked with the party newspaper. but later left the party in 1970.
After
leaving the B.P.P. he became a journalist, and even reached the
height of becoming president of the Philadelphia Association of Black
Journalists.
As
a journalist in Philadelphia, Mumia heard about this group of people
who called themselves the Move Organization Mumia learned more and
more about this group and was later really interested in the Move
Organization and John Africa and he kept reporting about the
Organization and their actions.
After
a while Mumia found it hard to get work because some considered his
stories too provacative or simply not what the establishment wanted
reported. So Mumia in order to support his family started to drive a
cab at night. One night Mumia was robbed, and after that he started
carrying protection. One night while Mumia was driving his cab, he
saw a police officer beating up his brother, and he got out of the
car to see if he could calm the situation. This is when Mumia was
shot, and then shot again. On that night, December 9th 1981,
police officer Daniel Faulkner lost his life.
A
woman claimed that she saw Mumia shoot the officer. When other police
got to the scene they did not really follow protocol, and Mumia was
taken to a faraway hospital and roughed up by the police somemore
before a doctor intervened and Mumia was finally treated.
The
investigation that followed was a joke, the trail was strictly
corrupt, and Judge Sabo was a racist. I used to think that innocent
men did not go to jail, but now after studying many cases I believe
many men and women in jails today are innocent.
Veronica
Jones the woman that originally claimed to have seen Mumia commit the
shooting, more recently changed her story and said she was pressured
by police to testify against Mumia. There is even a man named Arnold
R. Beverly that says and signed a sworn affidavit, stating that he
shot the police officer, but that does not seem to matter to them.
Mumia
was on Death Row until his death sentence was changed in 2012 to a
life sentence without the possibility of parole . He is now 60 years
old and has been in jail for 32 years. This man is not a violent man.
No violent man would care this much about the world, He has
published various books while being behind bars, and has over a
thousand radio broadcasts. One can only imagine all the good he could
get done if he was let out, I think he could make the world a better
place. After more than three decades behind bars, they should let him
out so he can return to his family immediately.
Write
to Mumia:
Mumia
Abu Jamal
#AM
8335
SCI
Mahanoy
301
Morea Road
Frackville,
PA 17932
