MUMIA ABU-JAMAL TEACH-IN
Last Revised: 4/29/99
for Seminar:
Thinking about Mumia Abu Jamal's Live from Death Row
The article we are reading today is the introduction to a book of editorials called Live from Death Row. The work was written by Pennsylvania Death Row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal. Jamal has been on Death Row since the early 1980's after having been tried and convicted in the shooting death of Philadelphia police officer, Daniel Faulkner
The imprisonment of Mumia Abu Jamal has long been a matter of controversy. Mumia's supporters have suggested that the original trial was a frame-up, complete with a "hanging judge" and intimidated witnesses. Civil liberties advocates maintain that, if guilt isn't established beyond the shadow of a doubt, the defendant in any criminal case, be it misdemeanor or felony, is entitled to a new trial. Many feel there is considerable room for doubt, and hence, are calling for a new trial for Jamal. In December of last year, Mumia was denied a new trial by the State of Pennsylvania. An execution date can again be set for Jamal at any time. And so it is, that, on the 24th of April of this year, many thousands of people across the country will be converging on the cities of Philadelphia and San Francisco to again issue a call for a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal.
In this short article, Jamal gives a brief overview of the justice and correctional systems in the United States. In doing so, he raises the issue of police violence, which was once again brought to this city's attention quite dramatically two months ago with the death of Amadou Diallo.
Whatever side one stands on in this controversy surrounding Mumia Abu Jamal, no one can deny that his voice has been significant in calling attention to the issues of prisoner's rights and judicial inequity in the United States. Read through this article, come back to this paper, and discuss the following questions in your seminar group:
1. Early in his article, Jamal quotes Roger Taney, the
Supreme Court Justice whose decision in the Dredd Scott Case before the Civil
war is remembered for the words, "A black man does not have any rights a white
man is bound to respect".
In our own time,
the issue of disproportionate numbers of Black men in prison is often dismissed
with the phrase, "If you do the crime, you have to do the time".
Are the issues of
"law and order" all that simple? What
do you think?
2. Jamal has claimed many times that a review of the facts
surrounding his case is important in the defense of the right to "a free and
impartial trial of one's own peers".
What does this right
mean? Why would it be important?
3. Do you agree with Jamal's argument that justice is only available to the rich the very wealthy In our society? If so, what are some of the things a democratic culture could do to transform- or grow, out of such a contradiction?
Materials:
An Introducation to Mumia Abu-Jamal: Two Views
"Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?" from Refuse and Resist sourcebook
(you will neet Adobe Acrobat Reader in your computer to read and print this link)Mumia Abu-Jamal According to the Justice for Daniel Faulkner Website
Preface from Live from Death Row by Mumia Abu-Jamal, New York: Avon Books, 1995
