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Full-page ad in The Nation & Mumia update/two court victories
Download The Nation ad pdf
(see text-only copy below)
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Funds needed for the ad! See below
Dear Friends of Mumia,
This is an urgent appeal for funds to cover the cost of the attached full-page ad scheduled for publication in The Nation magazine. The add will appear two weeks before the scheduled May 17 oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The ad will raise funds for Mumia's legal and political defense. Initiated by The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, it is the product of the joint effort of five Mumia solidarity organizations. The sponsors are listed and the text is self-explanatory. In the event that you cannot open the pdf attachment, we have included the ad in straight text below.
As you will note, we have secured a list of nationally prominent ad signers, from Harry Belafonte, Angela Davis and Alice Walker to Danny Glover, Howard Zinn, Lynne Stewart, Michael Ratner and several others.
A few days ago Mumia's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan announced two important court victories. The first was a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals to grant an additional hour to the time for oral presentations on May 17. This means that Mumia's attorneys will have a full hour, thus allowing time for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Lawyers Guild attorneys to present the material in their amicus curiae briefs in support of Mumia's central arguments.
Second, the same court rejected a motion by Pennsylvania prosecutors to recuse (remove) the entire Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The motion's spurious argument were, according to Robert R. Bryan, a cover to circumvent what is considered the second most liberal circuit court in the country and move the proceedings to a more conservative jurisdiction.
These two victories set the stage for the May 17 oral arguments and the mass demonstrations in Philadelphia and San Francisco on that date.
The enclosed Nation ad has all the details about these two critical demonstrations. As always, the Mobilization to Free Mumia believes that Mumia's life and freedom rests in our continued capacity to mobilize in massive numbers to make the price of Mumia's continued incarceration impossible.
Building the mass movement for Mumia coupled with the continuing battles in the legal arena are the best way to win the incredible victory that Mumia's freedom will represent.
Please contribute generously to the publication of the attached ad. Note that the pdf file contains the two-color ad in the format prepared for The Nation.
In solidarity,
Laura Herrera and Jeff Mackler, Co-coordinators
The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
415-255-1085
[Note: "help 'em fry the n----r" is misspelled only to avoid email profanity filters that would prevent this message from reaching some recipients if the text were to be copied for email distribution]
--------------------------------------------
ONE COURT DECISION:
EXECUTION OR THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
Stand with Mumia Abu-Jamal May 17 in Philadelphia
On May 17, 2007 Mumia Abu-Jamal's lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, will present oral arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia. Despite a mountain of evidence of his innocence, a U.S. criminal "justice" system saturated with race and class bias has reduced his case to just four issues: exclusion of Blacks from the jury panel, racial bias, improper instructions to the jury regarding the death penalty and prosecutorial misconduct.
In a 1982 frame-up trial that has been condemned by groups and individuals including Amnesty International, the European Parliament, the NAACP, the National Lawyers Guild, President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, President Jacques Chirac of France, the Congressional Black Caucus, hundreds of U.S. and international trade unions and the Detroit, San Francisco, and Paris, France city councils, Mumia was falsely convicted of the murder of a Philadelphia police officer.
Six eyewitnesses stated that the real killer fled the murder scene while Mumia himself was found near dead next to the slain police officer. Critical evidence of Mumia's innocence was destroyed or withheld. "Witnesses" never at the murder scene were coerced to state that they were present. Police distorted events and material evidence at the murder scene. Mumia himself was excluded from the majority of his own trial.
Mumia was the victim of a political frame-up. He is an award-winning journalist, whose widely-respected social commentaries are today broadcast on 124 radio stations. In 1981, as a radio commentator and President of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, he was a leading human rights critic of the Philadelphia Police Department, many of whose officers had been indicted and convicted on charges of corruption, witness intimidation and the planting of evidence.
Mumia's judge, Albert Sabo, was overheard by court stenographer, Terri Maurer Carter, to say in his antechambers about Mumia, "Yeah, and I'm going to help 'em fry the n----r."
Mumia has been on death row nearly 25 years. He has become a worldwide symbol in the fight against the barbaric and racist death penalty. Pennsylvania authorities seek, for the third time, to impose the death penalty and murder Mumia by lethal injection. We must make the political price of this execution and continued incarceration too high to pay. We stand with Mumia as he fights for his legal right to a new trial and for his life and freedom.
Join us in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 17, 9:30 am at the U.S. Courthouse, 6th and Market Streets, Philadelphia. On the East Coast call: 215-476-8812. On the West Coast, we mobilize at the U.S. Court of Appeals Building, 7th Street and Mission, San Francisco, 4-6 pm. Call: 415-255-1085
Pam Africa; Ed Asner; Harry Belafonte; Heidi Boghosian, Exec. Dir, *National Lawyers Guild; Angela Davis; Hari Dillon, President, Vanguard Public Foundation; Eve Ensler; Bill Fletcher Jr., Co-founder, *Center for Labor Renewal; Danny Glover; Frances Goldin; Rick Halperin, President, *Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; Dolores Huerta; Barbara Lubin, Dir., *Middle East Children's Alliance; Jeff Mackler; Robbie Meeropol, Exec. Dir., *Rosenberg Fund for Children; Michael Ratner, President, *Center for Constitutional Rights; Lynne Stewart; Alice Walker; Cornel West; Howard Zinn *Organization listed for identification purposes only.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE EFFORT TO SAVE MUMIA'S LIFE!
Please make checks payable to: Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, 298 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. - freemumia.org; alerts@freemumia.org
____ Enclosed is my contribution of: ___ $1,000; ___$500; ___$250; ___ $100; ___ $50; ___ $25; ___other, to help pay for the cost of this ad and for Mumia's legal and political defense.
Name (Print): _______________________
Organization (if any): _________________
Title: ___________________
Address: ________________City: ___________ Zip: ___
Phone: _____ - ________ email: ___________________
Sponsors: The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (Northern California); International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC); Chicago Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal; Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal