Frackville, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9 — Mumia says it’s about love. What else could have given 17 people the passion to hike 103 miles for 12 days across Pennsylvania, from Philadelphia to the Mahanoy prison in Frackville? They arrived on Dec. 9, marking 44 years since December 1981, when Black Panther journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal was framed for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.
The warmth in their hearts gave the Marchers4Mumia the stamina to endure a bone-chilling, bitter cold wave with the added danger of marching through Trump country.
Why else would they have chosen this holiday season when every TV and newspaper is blasting a daily distraction of “Black Friday” gift sales? A Black woman on the march noted that the hardship endured on the march was nothing compared to the brutal conditions that break down the health of prisoners. Mumia has been denied proper medical care in prison, permanently risking his eyesight.
Of course, the marchers were motivated by hatred too, of a racist system that has locked Mumia Abu-Jamal in a “steel box” ever since he was shot in the abdomen by police after stopping the taxi he was driving to help his brother in the street. The march has been fueled by Mumia’s prolific reports written from inside the walls about the privatized U.S. prison system that incarcerates a wildly disproportionate number of African Americans.
It’s hatred for the flagrant injustice in the case of a Black journalist who truthfully reported the Philadelphia police attacks on the peaceful MOVE organization, which culminated in the 1985 bombing of a Black community. It’s their outrage over the notoriously racist prosecution in Judge Sabo’s court, which has been internationally protested by the international writers’ organization PEN, the National Writers Union, and Amnesty International. A number of Marchers4Mumia have spent their lives building the movement for Mumia.
In 2019, a discovery of cartons of evidence proving that Mumia’s guilt was intentionally manufactured by the police was found hidden in a closet. The court dismissed calls for a trial with a ruling that the evidence appeared “too late.” The menacing, vain efforts of the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police to silence all support for the freedom of Mumia have not buried suspicion of the police role in the death of their new recruit, officer Daniel Faulkner.
Love for Mumia, who is a powerful advocate for health care for all the aging prisoners, was manifest in the superb organization that enabled the march. The secure provision of housing, food and support vans along the route, as well as widespread solidarity, including donations made to the March4Mumia.org site, made it all possible. Frequently, along their route, the marchers managed to get calls directly from Mumia in prison.
Supporters from afar joined the beginning of the march in Philadelphia on Nov. 28 and again at the Dec. 9 press conference and rally at the prison. They came from Baltimore, New York and multiple towns in New Jersey. Two representatives from the French movement for Mumia, Libérons Mumia, visited him in prison and spoke at the rally.
On the last day, Dec. 9, over 50 supporters joined the march, chanting and singing protest songs, for the last three miles to the entrance of Mahanoy prison in Frackville. Mumia greeted them by phone. They stood in line to introduce themselves and tell Mumia where they were coming from. There was a lot of support along the highway, especially from truck drivers, with only a couple of hostile reactions.
Dozens more gathered together at the prison entrance for a rally and press conference featuring marchers Larry Hamm, Dr. Alvarez, and Jian White as well as Dr. Joseph Harris, Pam Africa, Yahne Ndgo, Gabe Bryant, Cindy Lou Miller, Jacky Hortaut from France representing Libérons Mumia, and Rubina Tareen from Schuylkill County.
Speakers addressed the main demands of the long march, including ending medical neglect of incarcerated people, releasing elderly prisoners, and freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal. “Free them all” was a popular chant.
The protest march was organized by the March for Mumia coalition, which included the Mobilization4Mumia, People’s Organization for Progress, International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, The Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, Abolitionist Law Center, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, Detroit Jericho Movement, Philly Muslim Freedom Fund, Workers World Party, le Collectif français LIBERONS MUMIA, amigos de Mumia, Prison Radio, The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and Struggle-La Lucha.
After marching for 12 days, Zayid Muhammad reported on the Democracy Now! radio show: “We’re taking that long walk, because the walk for freedom is a long walk. And we do it with an intense, extra-motivated passion, because we just lost a bold freedom fighter in Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin in the clutches of the state, and that should not have happened. So, under no circumstances can we allow the state to take any more of our freedom fighters. It’s time to get Mumia all the healthcare he needs.”
Larry Hamm said: “We are marching to draw attention to Mumia’s medical problems, to demand that he get the surgery and medical treatment he needs. We are marching for the care of all prisoners in an aging prison population. We’re marching today to demand freedom for Mumia and all political prisoners.”
Speaking to a Struggle-La Lucha reporter in Philadelphia on the first day of the march, Lisa Davis, the vice chair of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations, and a member of the Uhuru Movement!, told how “they tried to put three leaders of the Uhuru Movement! in prison for 10 to 15 years, just for speaking out and condemning the U.S. proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, but also against colonialism and the whole damn system of imperialism. They specifically came after Uhuru leader Omali Yeshitela.
“And this case was under the Democrats. They also came after me in South Orange, New Jersey, where I was at a weekly pro-Palestine protest. A Zionist came running up after me, yelling and screaming. When I attempted to defend myself from this extremely racist guy, the police picked on me. I happen to be the only Black person in the protest and the one they went after.
“The police fabricated what happened, even though it was on video. The judge ruled that whether or not I organized the protest, I was responsible. He fined me $300 with an additional $66 for court fees. And then $10 more to pay the damn thing online with only 20 calendar days to appeal. Then I had to pay for the court transcripts, including those for the prosecutor. Yeah. So they’re not for poor people at all. They’re certainly not for Black people.”
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