"live From Death Row" Author Faces Execution
"Live From Death Row" Author Faces Execution
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Live From Death Row
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
Addison Wesley, 1995, 215 pages
Reviewed by J.D. Melish
History graduate student at the U-M
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Writing in the concise, panoramic style reminiscent of Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, Mumia Abu-Jamal ("Mu" to his fellow death row inmates) intersperses. a thoroughly researched and footnoted condemnation of the U.S. criminal justice system with flashbacks from his life as an African-American activist turned media professonal:
"There I was in the 1970s, a bored, slightly petit bourgeois, burnt-out ex-Black Panther...While walking to work one day, I passed in front of an idling cop car... [the driver] pointed a finger at me...bang--bang--bang--the finger jerked, as if from recoil...He and his pal laugh. Car rolls. Whatta joke, I thought, as I sat down to type up an interview with...the Pointer Sisters, post-'salty peanuts' phase."
Abu-Jamal's book takes us on a journey across his life, from political awakening at age 14, through an increasingly engaged and professional journalist's career, to life on death row, where he has been since 1982 after being convicted for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer.
Before his conviction Abu-Jamal covered community development and culture as a radio reporter in Philadelphia and was President of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. His writings have been published in The Nation and the Yale Law Review. Abu-Jamal is also a former Black Panther and supporter of the radical group MOVE.
With an eye for juicy quotes, Abu-Jamal's book examines the 1857 Supreme Court "Dred Scott" decision, which, in the Court's words, ruled that blacks in the U.S. ""had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."" Then we move to 1987, and the "McCleskey" decision in which the Supreme Court accepted the validity of statistical evidence proving racism in the criminal justice system. However, Abu-Jamal points out, the Court refused to act on this because, again in the Court's words, ""[T]aken to its logical conclusion, [McCleskey] throws into serious question...our entire criminal justice system.""
"Live From Death Row" was published in March of this year. Shortly thereafter, Abu-Jamal's execution by the State of Pennsylvania was set for August 17, 1995. Lacking the financial resources of O.J. Simpson, only recently has Abu-Jamal obtained competent lawyers to investigate his case. Two facts seem to be undisputed: first, that on December 9, 1981, police officer Daniel Faulkner was beating Abu-Jamal's son in the street with a flashlight; second, that after Abu-Jamal intervened, Faulkner lay dead.
Recent investigations have uncovered the fact that four witnesses stated that a third man shot Faulkner and fled. Such testimony was either "lost," changed under police questioning, or the witness refused to appear in court. Further, Abu-Jamal's assigned lawyer has since been disbarred, while Abu-Jamal's judge holds the U.S. record for death sentences. Finally, the prosecution's star witness was very likely coerced by the police: a prostitute, she apparently received in exchange for her testimony the dropping of cases pending against her. Because of his activism and reporting of Philadelphia police discriminations and brutality, it seems clear that Bu-Jamal was framed.
The Pennsylvania Governor's Office reports that within six days of issuing the order to execute Abu-Jamal, the Governor received over 20,000 faxes, letters, and cards of protest (probably resulting from Amnesty International's support of Abu-Jamal, as well as condemnation of Abu-Jamal's execution order by people such as Jessie Jackson and Whoopi Goldberg).
Protests against the executions of Abu-Jamal, generally of several hundred people, have been held in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other U.S. cities. Internationally, U.S. embassies and consulates have been the targets of demonstrations over Abu-Jamal and our continued use of the death penalty, with the rally in Berlin supported by Esther Bejarano, chair of the Auschwitz Survivors Committee.
Yet, given the current climate (one of Abu-Jamal's dictums is that "Law is simply politics by other means") his lawyer is far from optimistic. In the words of actor Ossie Davis, "We need Abu-Jamal desperately...we cannot afford to let them take such a voice from us without putting up a fight of enormous proportions."
Ann Arbor's Emergency CARE (Committee Against the Racist Execution) demonstrates every Friday, 5pm, at City Hall (Fifth and Huron). For more information call 313-913-9538 or email pleir@umich.edu. Also, call Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Ridge at (717) 787-2500 and protest. Coordinating the campaign is the International Concerned Family & Friends of the Abu-Jamal Abu-Jamal, P.O. Box 19709, Philadelphia, PA 19143. Phone and fax: 215-476-8812.