Tag Archives: Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal Speaks about His Removal from Death Row

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Hundreds of supporters of the imprisoned journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal gathered on Friday in Philadelphia to mark the 30th anniversary of his arrest for the killing of a white police officer. The event occurred just two days after Philadelphia prosecutors announced they will no longer seek the death penalty for Abu-Jamal. On Friday, Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, called into the event to make his first public remarks since the prosecutor’s decision was announced.

Mumia Abu-Jamal: “For the first time in almost 30 years, I’m not on death row physically. I’m in a new block called an AC block. The cells are somewhat identical to death row, but no one on this block is on death row, including myself. It takes some getting used to, you see. I’m still acclimating myself.”

Abu-Jamal was also asked about his reaction to having his death sentence converted to life without parole.

Mumia Abu-Jamal: “Well, I must admit to some surprise, because I was expecting a hearing. And by that, I mean a sentencing hearing. Even though many friends and supporters and even lawyers said there probably wouldn’t be one, I believed there would be one, and I continued to feel that way until I heard the news. I will be talking to my lawyers in a matter of days, and we’ll be, you know, going over precisely those kinds of questions. Because there will not be a hearing, there is some disappointment, because we thought we could make some things happen in that hearing and really give a good fight. But we’ll have to fight in other ways. I want to thank everybody who really supported us for so many years.”

Via DemocracyNow

DA Dropping Death Penalty Against Mumia Abu-Jamal

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PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors have called off their 30-year battle to execute former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal for murdering a white police officer, putting to an end the racially charged case that became a major battleground in the fight over the death penalty.

Flanked by the police Officer Daniel Faulkner’s widow, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced his decision Wednesday, just two days short of the 30th anniversary of the killing. He said continuing to seek death penalty would open the case to “an unknowable number of years” of appeals.

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

Russell Simmons Still Ain’t Hip-Hop and He Ain’t No Occupier Either!

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by Jared Ball

More than a decade ago Rosa Clemente alerted much of the world to the fact, as she said, that “Russell Simmons: You are Not Hip-Hop!” Her commentary caused a stir back then as many in the hip-hop community and beyond had taken a view of Simmons similar to the one many continue to have today of Barack Obama: A Black man who had taken over an aspect of the world mostly reserved for Whites and who would now make it better for us all. But in each case the man became the mirage he always was and in each case became a browner conduit of people’s hopes, dreams and, of course, money all of which continues to flow outwardly and only in benefit of the same White power elite. So it seemed perfect to see Simmons heckled at a recent Occupy Wall Street gathering and to note the particular Black womanhood of the leading heckler.

Read more at imixwhatilike.com