From the Exponent Archives: Who is Mumia Abu Jamal?

This was the second to last article I wrote for the Exponent before being permanently banned.


On December 6th, the Today Show will be interviewing Maureen Faulkner about her new book Murdered By Mumia. Maureen Faulkner, whose husband was tragically murdered in 1981, will go on the T.V. program and rail against the man accused of killing her husband, Mumia Abu Jamal.

She will complain about how Mumia is a “celebrity” and how he has gotten the support of the Pope and various leftists of the world. What she will fail to mention is that Mumia is probably innocent. The bullets found in the body of Officer Faulkner, according to the police’s own ballistics tests, do not match Mumia’s firearm.

Several witnesses have come forward and said they saw another person do it. Someone else has even confessed to the crime. But such is never mentioned in the media. Instead, when Mumia’s namecomes up, the phrase “cop killer” is sprawled at us, and discussion is closed.

Never do those calling for Mumia to be put to death challenge the evidence which points to Mumia’s innocence. Never do they admit the fact that those who testified against Mumia at his trial were coerced by police terror and have admitted that their testimony was false. Never do they admit that the judge in the trial was a former member of the Fraternal Order of Police, who was hardly capable of giving justice to someone accused of killing one of his brothers in blue. Never do they admit that the people who support Mumia and call for his freedom are doing so because they overwhelmingly think he is innocent of the crime.

Mumia Abu Jamal, prior to being accused of shooting Officer Daniel Faulkner, was a radio journalist. His main target of exposure was the horrific police brutality that went on in Philadelphia. Mumia is a socialist and was a member of the Black Panther Party as a teen. Mumia is a brilliant writer, speaking for those who often have novoice--those locked behind the prison bars.

But on the Today Show the supporters of Mumia who have so much of a popular base that a street has been named for Mumia in Paris, will get no publicity. Rather, Maureen Faulkner and the right-wing talk show host who helped write her book will be given the entire section of the program to emotionally pump-up a racist desire for revenge against a “cop killer” and rail against leftists for supporting him.

The attacks on Mumia are very personal to me. When I was just a teen starting to discover the world of radical politics, I learned so, so much from Mumia’s writings. His short, concise, essays, which explode with truth and criticism of this society, have been so inspiring. Mumia is innocent of his crime, and he is a voice we cannot afford to lose. Shame on those who wish to silence the people defending Mr. Jamal.

Brick by Brick! Wall by Wall! Free Mumia Abu Jamal!

Note: Due to the mass protest of hundreds of people outside of the "Today Show" when Maureen Faulkner was interviewed, NBC was forced to actually challenge her arguements. They even showed footage of the protest, showing Workers World Party signs, as well as the signs of the Internationalist Group, and the Partisan Defense Committee.