On February 25th a retirement party was held at a union restaurant in San Francisco for Jack Heyman, longtime militant in ILWU Local 10. Heyman, a member of the Labor Action Committee, was instrumental in organizing the 1999 port shutdown and march in San Francsico for Mumia, during which 25,000 marched, against Mumia’s execution. This action was the first port shutdown in defense of a political prisoner in the United States. Here are Mumia’s remarks for the party:
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an innocent man on death row. Yet the State of Pennsylvania, and the federal government, still want to “legally” kill him. This is shown by the US Supreme Court, which in April 2009 rejected Mumia’s appeal without comment, despite mountains of evidence of his innocence. (More info below.)
Now, on November 9th 2010, a hearing has been held on the question of Mumia’s sentence: death, or life in prison without the possibility of parole. We don’t know the outcome in the Third Circuit Court–the judges will take their sweet time with that.
What we know is:
MUMIA IS INNOCENT!
MUMIA NEEDS TO BE FREE, RIGHT NOW!
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL faces his likely last court hearing on November 9th, 2010, at the Third Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia. This hearing is about sentencing only.
Why is this happening?
Targeted by the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO counter-intelligence and disruption program since the age of 15, and now by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Mumia Abu-Jamal is seen as an enemy of the state. His innocence is considered irrelevant, and in US courts, following recent rulings, innocence is no defense.
The US Supreme Court has already thrown out, without comment, Mumia’s last appeal against his frame-up conviction before a racist judge in a blatantly unfair trial in 1982. This rejection meant the Supreme Court had to ignore mountains of evidence of Mumia’s innocence, as well as precedents such as its own ruling in Batson v Kentucky, which was supposed to prevent racism in jury selection.
1. Oakland, October 23rd 2010:
PORT SHUTDOWN FOR OSCAR GRANT!
Rally: 12 Noon, City Hall, 14th and Broadway
OUTRAGE!
An Innocent Black Man Shot in the Back by Police and…
Killed for No Reason!
Killer Cop Gets Off With Involuntary Manslaughter!
Photographic evidence Proves : It Was Murder!
Oscar Grant was a father of a young daughter, a working person in Oakland, and innocent of any crime! He was shot while he was held face-down with his hands behind him, by BART cop Johannes Mehserle!
August 2010. The case of internationally renowned death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal is now before the Third Circuit Court–on the sentencing issue only. Mumia’s 1982 kangaroo-court conviction for a crime he did not commit has already been upheld by the US Supreme Court. The sentencing issue revolves exclusively around reinstating Mumia’s death sentence, or putting him away for the rest of his life, without the possibility of parole. A ruling could come very soon.
In this context of an imminent new threat to execute Mumia Abu-Jamal, a handful of supposed death-penalty “opponents” has proposed, in a “Confidential Memorandum,” dropping Mumia’s name from anti-death penalty activities. Why? Because mentioning Mumia “alienates” potential “allies,” such as the Fraternal Order of Police! The cops, you see, might go for abolishing the death penalty that they have hitherto supported if they could be convinced that it is “too expensive.” This outrageous move to drop mention of Mumia in anti-death penalty activities was made by certain leaders without consulting their own boards of directors or memberships–hence, “the secret memo.”