FREE MUMIA!

For almost 30 years he has been a victim of our corrupt judicial system. He remaines locked down for 23 hours a day and denied contact visits with his family after being wrongfully convicted of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Before that, he was an active member of the Black Panther Party, an award winning journalist, who earned then title of the "voice of the voiceless," and President of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journalists. He STILL is a father of eight, a grandfather, an author of several books, an activist, and for some people, like myself, he's a hero.

Today, there was a hearing held to establish whether or not they would reestablish the death penalty in his case or if he would spend the rest of his life in prison. The truth is, he never should have been there in the first place. All of the evidence points to his innocence and another man even came forward and confessed to murdering Officer Faulkner. If this is the case, then what could be the reason that he is still sitting in prison? Maybe its his affiliation with the Black Panther Party and the MOVE organization, perhaps it was his coverage of the MOVE 9 conspiracy, or it could be skin color alone. It is likely to be a combination of all of those things.

DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS
Facts About The Trial
* The policeman was killed with a 44 caliber gun. Abu-Jamal's gun which he was licensed to carry as a night-time taxi driver, was a 38 caliber.

* The police never tested Abu-Jamal's gun to see if it had been recently fired. They never tested his hands to see if he had fired a gun. They have never shown Abu-Jamal 's gun to be the fatal weapon.

* No police officers present at Abu-Jamal's arrest claimed to have heard Jamal's "confession" until two months after it allegedly occurred. This was right after Abu-Jamal had filed police brutality charges.

* Abu-Jamal's doctor said that Abu-Jamal, who was unconscious, said nothing. He reported that a nurse found police with loaded guns pointed at Mumia as he lay unconscious in his hospital bed.

* William Singletary, a Vietnam veteran and local businessman, saw the whole incident and has testified that Abu-Jamal was not the shooter. However, the police forced him to change his story and intimidated him into leaving Philadelphia.

* Other key witnesses, such as Veronica Jones -- who now testifies in support of Abu-Jamal, were harassed into giving false testimony. Two prosecution witnesses were given special favors, including exemption from criminal prosecution, for their testimony.

Elements in an unfair trial:

* The Judge, Albert Sabo, sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge in the US.

* The public defender didn't interview a single witness in preparation for the trial, and didn't have funds for defending a capital case.

* The prosecutor removed 11 qualified African Americans from the jury. He also argued for the death penalty because of Mumia's membership in the Black Panther Party, a practice later condemned as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court.

* The racial bias of Philadelphia's courts has resulted in 120 people on death row, all but 13 non-white.

[ALL INFO TAKEN FROM www.freemumia.org]

Today, while I was waiting for the live broadcast from the rally for Mumia to begin, I was wasting time on Twitter, trying to get my 150+ of my followers to join the Free Mumia Movement. As I glanced to the right of my screen I noticed that despite how many people were tweeting "#freemumia," FREE WIZ (as in rapper Wiz Khalifa) was a trending topic. I also began to think about how much Gucci Mane's release from prison was celebrated, how many FREE WEEZY shirts I saw, and how publicized Lil Wayne's release was, and now, how many people were in an uproar that Khalifa was arrested for drug possession AFTER admitting his guilt on twitter. All three of these people were guilty of committing a crime and yet, there was a public outcry over their imprisonment; but an innocent man, who falls victim to 450 years of grudges, is easily forgotten. To me, the message that sends to our youth is "rappers trump political prisoners." It's time to make a stand and get involved in movements that can make a difference in the country we live in; in the very justice system that fails our youth on a regular basis. Its time to reevaluate our priorties and make a stand for something that matters.

GET INVOLVED
Visit www.freemumia.com & www.freemumia.org to find out how.
Follow the movement on twitter @MumiaAbuJamal and on Facebook at Mumia Abu Jamal.
Sign the petitions, attend the rallies, join the movement in a city near you. Don't have one? Start a chapter & spread the word.
It's time to fight to get this innocent man out of prison and back home where he belongs.
*~Writers Ink~*

NOTE: All pictures can be linked to their original site by clicking on them. All references can be linked to their original site by clicking on the highlighted words.