Mumia Abu Jamal

Beyond Punishment

This nation was inspired and conceived through the efforts of revolutionaries. When our colonies reached the pinnacle of their tolerance for tyranny they justifiably rebelled. The founding fathers of our nation have been heralded as divine symbols of excellence and virtue, but simply said they were terrorists. America refers to them as patriots or "Sons of Liberty", I call them mere rabble-rousing extremists or better yet "The Anti-Redcoat Mafia". Legendary names such as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams should inspire the same connotations as Timothy McVeigh, and even Osama Bin Laden (yes, I said Bin Laden). Who ever said history does not repeat itself? Mumia Abu Jamal once said, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." I say, "A revolution may cause bloodshed but it will stop the bleeding!" And so we begin.

Mumia Abu Jamal is easily the most infamous political prisoner of our time. Chants of "FREE MUMIA!" ring in all corners of the world due to his international supporters. His story is as complex as it is simple. Partially because Mumia is as vocal as he is silent. Some call him a cop killer, others a voice of the voiceless (Bisson, 2000). I simply call him a man. A man that leads a life that few men could endure. Living a lifetime in solitary confinement, no sunshine, no joy, and no hope. Like all men Mumia should be free, free to laugh, free to cry, free to live. Mumia's life has become the property of a criminal justice system that solely justifies the systematic criminalization of lives.

Mumia Abu Jamal was a well-known, award-winning Philadelphia journalist and activist. At the age of 15, he had been a founding member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party; in 1969, he became its communications secretary. In the mid-1970's, Mumia broadcasted on National Public Radio, the Mutual Black Network, and the National Black Network. In 1980, he was elected chair of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journalists. In January 1981, "Philadelphia" magazine named him "one of the people to watch in 1981"(Komisar, 1998).

At around 4 a.m. on December 9, 1981 Mumia was driving his cab in the Philadelphia red light district (Mumia was forced to assume a 2nd job because his wages as an alternative radio journalists were far from sufficient). As he approached the corner of 13th and Locust he saw his brother William in a physical confrontation with Policeman Daniel Faulkner. Mumia ran across the street to intervene. Several shots were heard. Both Faulkner and Mumia were shot. On July 3, 1982, Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted for the murder of Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. Mumia had no prior criminal record. Beyond those facts, there are over half a dozen versions of the facts, though some are far more compelling than others:

THE INCIDENT

"His shift had nearly reached its midpoint when he pulled his patrol car, 612, behind a light blue Volkswagen Beetle near the dimly lit corner of 13th and Locust Streets. Faulkner had apparently stopped the Beetle for some sort of traffic violation. But at 3:51 A.M. something caused Faulkner to radio for a wagon-a clear indication that he had decided to make an arrest.

612: 1 have a car stopped ... 12, 13th and Locust.

Radio: Car to back 612, 13th and Locust.

612: On second thought send me a wagon 1234 Locust.

A police car then swung out in the direction of Faulkner. But as it was doing so, a passerby frantically stopped the vehicle, and an officer immediately put out a broadcast over the radio.

"We just got information from a passerby, there's a policeman shot."

Nine seconds later, when police arrived at the scene, they found that Officer Faulkner was not in the act of making an arrest. Instead, he was sprawled on the sidewalk with two bullet wounds. According to eyewitness accounts and testimony by ballistics experts and the pathologist who examined his body, the first bullet had been fired from approximately 19 inches away. It tore into the left side of Faulkner's upper back, one inch to the left of the midline, almost at the base of his neck. According to the prosecutions reconstruction of the incident, Faulkner returned fire and actually hit the man who had just shot him.

While Faulkner was down on his back, the shooter walked over to him, stood at point-blank range, and continued to fire. One of the bullets hit Faulkner in the face. It erupted in a flash that a witness could clearly see, and Faulkner's entire body jerked from the impact. The bullet, fired from a distance of approximately 12 inches, entered his face five inches below the top of his head, exploded through his nose, tore through the bones of his face, through the bones above his eyes, through his entire brain, through the right parietal bone in the back of his head, and lodged in the right occipital bone. If there was anything merciful about the way. Faulkner died on the night of December 9, 1981, it was this, taken from the testimony of the medical examiner who performed the autopsy:

"Complete instantaneous disability and death." -Vanity Fair.

"As an outspoken critic of Mayor Frank Rizzo and the police for their racism and brutality, he was marked as their enemy and targeted for surveillance and harassment. The police and FBI watched him throughout the 60's and 70's as shown by 900 pages of FBI files uncovered by Mumia's legal team. Although Mumia's activities were legal and should have been protected under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, he was repeatedly arrested on trumped up charges that could not be substantiated.

But when Mumia was 27, an incident occurred that finally gave the state the opportunity to silence him for good: He was sentenced to death after being falsely declared guilty of killing a police officer.

At 4:00 a.m. on December 9, 1981, Mumia, while moonlighting as a cab driver, came upon his brother William being pummeled with a flashlight by police officer Daniel Faulkner. Mumia stepped out of his cab, and within moments he had been shot in the chest by a bullet from Faulkner's gun. Faulkner himself was shot and fatally wounded. Eyewitnesses reported seeing one or two men (who did not match Mumia's description) shoot the officer and run from the scene. At that point Mumia had been critically wounded and was on the ground bleeding. When more police arrived, they kicked Mumia, savagely beat him, then pulled him up by the arms and rammed his head