BY CANDACE WAGNER
PHILADELPHIA - A youthful and spirited crowd of 10,000
rallied and marched April 24 demanding authorities grant
Mumia Abu-Jamal a new trial and not execute him. A similar
number marched in San Francisco the same day.
Abu-Jamal, a well-known radio journalist who is Black, was framed for the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner. He was convicted in a trial featuring numerous violations of his rights and has been on Pennsylvania's death row for 17 years.
Several witnesses have since come forward explaining that they had been coerced by the police into changing their original testimony to implicate Abu-Jamal at the trial. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected Abu-Jamal's post- conviction appeal last year. Leonard Weinglass, Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, filed a motion to review the case April 22 in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abu-Jamal's case has become a focal point for both pro-cop forces and fighters against police brutality and frame-ups. Eight hundred people, including Philadelphia mayor Edward Rendell and Maureen Faulkner, the slain cop's widow, attended a $100-per-plate dinner the night before the march. The dinner raised $75,000 towards a propaganda campaign seeking Abu-Jamal's execution.
Supporters of Abu-Jamal's fight converged on Philadelphia's City Hall from across the eastern half of the United States and from as far as Montana and Texas. Delegations from Canada, and France also attended. Feeder marches came in from Camden, New Jersey, and from North and West Philadelphia.
People who have taken part in recent protests against police brutality helped swell the crowd. Many of those disembarking from New York City buses sported stickers linking the cases of Abner Louima, who was tortured by the New York police; Amadou Diallo, killed when the cops shot 41 bullets at him; and Abu-Jamal.
Families and supporters of other victims of police brutality came to the event in solidarity with Abu-Jamal and to publicize their own fights for justice. Betty Harris, whose son Anthony was shot to death by cops in Arlington, Virginia, in August 1997, brought relatives and friends with signs explaining the crime in Spanish and English.
Margarita and Antonio Rosario, the parents of Anthony Rosario attended. Their son was killed along with his cousin, Hilton Vega, by the New York City police with 22 gun shots in their backs and sides in 1995. Margarita Rosario spoke at the rally.
Anthony Porter, released from prison this February after 17 years on death row in Illinois, also spoke. Several other men on the march had been exonerated after serving many years on death row.
A contingent from Baltimore publicized the campaign for the release from prison of Eddie Conway, a former Black Panther member. Conway has been in prison nearly 29 years. His case closely parallels that of Geronimo Pratt, recently released after 27 years in prison when the frame-up against him began to unravel.
Rafael Cancel Miranda, held in U.S. prisons for more than 25 years for his activities in support of Puerto Rican independence, marched before the "Latinos/as for Mumia" banner. Miranda spoke at the City Hall rally. Throughout the day activists promoted the cause of 16 Puerto Rican political prisoners now in U.S. jails.
Many marchers interviewed by the Militant saw the campaign for a new trial for Abu-Jamal as part of a broader fight against racism in society. Tamara Delaper and Felicia Wright were among the thousands of college and high school students on the march. They came with other members of the Black Action Society of the University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh. "The situation of Mumia is not an isolated incident," Felicia explained. "There are other civil right activists falsely accused."
Brothers Al and Lawrence West live in Philadelphia and have supported Abu-Jamal's struggle for justice from the beginning. "I came today to do something to help our people," Al said. "They are locking us up for nothing. This effects my children."
"Everybody needs to know that the United States didn't give Mumia a fair trial, and that the government isn't always right," said high school student Joel Mansfield, 18. He came from Cleveland, with Liron Shavaby, also 18.
Victor Peralta, 18, who works as a meatpacker in New York, wanted to attend the demonstration but had to work overtime. "I'm sure there were a lot of other young people like me who wanted to go but had other responsibilities," he said.
In a new attack on the defense fight, the Inquirer's editors ran an article under their front page coverage of the action the next day, titled, "Abu-Jamal donation fund may skirt federal tax laws." The article claimed that the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal was improperly funneling donations through a tax-exempt organization. The article interviews an Internal Revenue Service official who says that the arrangement "has a potential for raising serious questions" about compliance with federal tax law.
Abu-Jamal supporters are planning another rally in Philadelphia for July 4.
Rose Ana Berbeo contributed to this article.
BY WAYNE CLINE
SAN FRANCISCO - Thousands of marchers, most of them youth, extended blocks down this city's Market Street as they made their way to the Civic Center Plaza for an afternoon rally in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The march was led by some 25 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The ILWU membership along the West Coast arranged with the shipping companies to schedule the time of their monthly union meetings to coincide with the demonstration. As a result, no ships were loaded on April 24 in ports from Bellingham, Washington, to San Diego. ILWU official Jack Heyman was a featured speaker at the rally along with Angela Davis, actors Ed Asner, and others. A handful of other unionists were also identifiable in the crowd.
Most of the signs at the march were in support of Abu- Jamal. Many linked his fight to win a new trial with a call to end the death penalty. Scores of signs held by marchers also protested the U.S.-led war against Yugoslavia. "I wanted to be here today to protest both the attempt to have Mumia executed and the bombing," said Sacramento State University student Tina Gallegos.