We recently celebrated the 69th birthday of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a long-time political prisoner. To provide crucial updates on his case, Professor and author, Johanna Fernandez appeared on Hard Knock Radio. For those who may not be aware, here is a brief summary based on what is written on the website Love Not Phear.
Professor Fernandez teaches the history of social movements at Baruch College of the City of New York. She is also the author of the book “The Young Lords: A Radical History” and the editor of Mumia’s book “Writings on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal.” Mumia has been in prison for 41 years and in 2019, boxes of evidence were discovered in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office that had been withheld from Mumia and his attorneys since his 1982 trial. This evidence revealed bribed witnesses and race-based jury selection bias.
However, Mumia’s Judge, Lucretia Clemons, recently announced her “Intent to Dismiss” Mumia’s petition to have this important evidence examined in an evidentiary hearing. Despite the evidence of injustice and lack of a fair trial, Judge Clemons postponed her ruling on Mumia’s petition for another 60-90 days, and ultimately dismissed the case on March 31, 2023. Professor Fernandez pointed out that Judge Clemons has often spoken about being a devout Catholic and her family’s history of suffering from racial injustice and domestic terror from white supremacist organizations, including a family member being hung. It is infuriating that she could ignore the glaring injustices surrounding Mumia’s case.
Professor Fernandez suggested that Judge Clemons may be fearful of the powerful Fraternal Order of Police lobby, which has been pressuring her. Fernandez also noted that many Democrats have been hesitant to deal with Mumia’s case and other political prisoners, and even progressive district attorney Larry Krasner has been dragging his feet and needs to be pushed. Fernandez emphasized that it will take people power and organizing to turn things around, and encouraged people to visit the website www.lovenotphear.com for more updates on Mumia’s case. She also mentioned that her film “Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal” is now available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDm4AKexuuw&t=1025s.
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