Mumia Abu-Jamal speaks to New York meeting

New York — More than a hundred people came to the People’s Forum in Midtown Manhattan on Jan. 12 to hear the latest developments in the struggle to free Mumia Abu-Jamal.

On the meeting’s stage were boxes that represented the six boxes with documents on Mumia’s case that were only recently “discovered” in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office.

The meeting’s highlight was Mumia speaking from prison via telephone. The world famous political prisoner discussed Judge Leon Tucker’s ruling giving him the right to appeal because of judicial bias.

Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille refused to recuse himself from hearing an appeal for Abu-Jamal despite having served as Philadelphia DA. Mumia pointed out that not only Castille, but also several other justices hearing his case, belonged to the super racist Fraternal Order of Police. What sort of justice is that?

Abu-Jamal denounced Donald Trump’s war against im/migrants. Mumia pointed out that the Black survivors of the U.S. wars against the Seminole Nation found refuge in Mexico, where slavery had been abolished decades before the U.S. Civil War.

Pam Africa described how Mumia has suffered from painful medical neglect in prison, including the prison authorities’ refusal to treat his hepatitis C condition. Yet Mumia continues to write and fight for the people, Pam Africa emphasized.

Other speakers included civil rights lawyer Robyn Spencer, Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford and professor Johanna Fernández of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home.