Mumia Abu-Jamal | |
|---|---|
 Abu-Jamalc. 1980 | |
| Born | Wesley Cook (1954-04-24)April 24, 1954 (age 71) Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 8[3] |
| Conviction | First degree murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death; commuted tolife imprisonment |
Mumia Abu-Jamal (bornWesley Cook;[3] April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder ofPhiladelphia police officerDaniel Faulkner. While on death row, he wrote and commented on the criminal justice system in the United States. After numerous appeals, his death sentence was overturned by a federal court. In 2011, the prosecution agreed to a sentence oflife imprisonment without parole. He entered the general prison population early the following year.
Beginning at the age of 14 in 1968, Abu-Jamal became involved with theBlack Panther Party and was a member until October 1970, leaving the party at age 16. After leaving, he completed his high school education, and later became a radio reporter. He eventually served as president of thePhiladelphia Association of Black Journalists (1978–1980). He supportedMOVE, aPhiladelphia-based organization, and covered the 1978 confrontation in which one police officer was killed. TheMOVE Nine were the members who were arrested and convicted of murder in that case.
Since 1982, the murder trial of Abu-Jamal has been seriously criticized for constitutional failings;[4] some have claimed that he is innocent, and many opposed his death sentence.[5][6] The Faulkner family, politicians,[7] and other groups involved with law enforcement, state and city governments[8] argue that Abu-Jamal's trial was fair, his guilt beyond question, and his death sentence justified.
When his death sentence was overturned by a federal court in 2001, he was described as "perhaps the world's best-known death-row inmate" byThe New York Times.[9] During his imprisonment, Abu-Jamal has published books and commentaries on social and political issues; his first book wasLive from Death Row (1995).
Abu-Jamal was born Wesley Cook inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, where he grew up. He has a younger brother named William. They attended local public schools. In 1968, a high school teacher, a Kenyan man instructing a class onAfrican cultures, encouraged the students to take African or Arabic names for classroom use; he gave Cook the name "Mumia".[10] According to Abu-Jamal, "Mumia" means "Prince" and was the name of several Kenyananti-colonialAfrican nationalists who fought in theMau Mau uprising beforeKenyan independence.[11]
Abu-Jamal has described being "kicked ... into the Black Panther Party" as a teenager of 14, after suffering a beating from "whiteracists" and a policeman for trying to disrupt a 1968 rally for Independent candidateGeorge Wallace, former governor ofAlabama, who was running on a racist platform.[12][13] From then, he helped form the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party with Defense CaptainReggie Schell,[14][15] and other Panthers. He was appointed as the chapter's "Lieutenant of Information," responsible for writing information and news communications. In an interview in the early years, Abu-Jamal quotedMao Zedong, saying, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".[16] That same year, he dropped out ofBenjamin Franklin High School and began living at the branch's headquarters.[15]
He spent late 1969 in New York City and early 1970 inOakland, living and working with BPP colleagues in those cities; the party's headquarters based in Oakland.[17] He was a party member from May 1969 until October 1970. During this period, he was subject to illegal surveillance as part of theFederal Bureau of Investigation'sCOINTELPRO program, with which the Philadelphia police cooperated. The FBI was working to infiltrate black radical groups and to disrupt them by creating internal dissension.
After leaving the Panthers, Abu-Jamal returned as a student to his former high school. He was suspended for distributing literature calling for "black revolutionary student power".[18] He led unsuccessful protests to change the school name toMalcolm X High, to honor the major African-American leader who had been killed in New York by political opponents.[18]
After attaining hisGED, Abu-Jamal studied briefly atGoddard College in ruralVermont.[19] He returned to Philadelphia.
Cook adopted the surname Abu-Jamal ("father of Jamal" inArabic, a type of name known as akunya) after the birth of his first child, son Jamal, on July 18, 1971.[10][20] He married Jamal's mother Biba in 1973, but they did not stay together long.[21] Their daughter, Lateefa, was born shortly after the wedding.[22] The couple divorced.
In 1977, Abu-Jamal married again, to his second wife, Marilyn (known as "Peachie").[20][23] Their son, Mazi, was born in early 1978.[24] By 1981, Abu-Jamal had divorced Peachie and had married his third (and last) wife, Wadiya. They were married for over 40 years, until she died unexpectedly on December 27, 2022.[23][25][2]
By 1975, Abu-Jamal was working in radio newscasting, first atTemple University'sWRTI and then at commercial enterprises.[18] In 1975, he was employed at radio stationWHAT, and he became host of a weekly feature program atWCAU-FM in 1978.[26] He also worked for brief periods at radio stationWPEN. He became active in the local chapter of the Marijuana Users Association of America.[26]
From 1979 to 1981, he worked atNational Public Radio (NPR) affiliateWHYY. The management asked him to resign, saying that he did not maintain a sufficiently objective approach in his presentation of news.[26] As a radio journalist, Abu-Jamal was renowned for identifying with and covering theMOVEanarcho-primitivist commune inWest Philadelphia'sPowelton Village neighborhood. He reported on the 1979–80 trial of the "MOVE Nine", who were convicted of the murder of police officer James Ramp.[26] Abu-Jamal had several high-profile interviews, including withJulius Erving,Bob Marley, andAlex Haley. He was elected president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.[27]
Before joining MOVE, Abu-Jamal reported on the organization.[28] When he joined MOVE, he said it was because of his love of the people in the organization. Thinking back on it later, he said he "was probably enraged as well".[28]
In December 1981, Abu-Jamal was working as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia two nights a week to supplement his income.[27] He had been working part-time as a reporter forWDAS,[26] then anAfrican American oriented andminority-owned radio station.[29]
At 3:55 am on December 9, 1981, inPhiladelphia, close to the intersection at 13th andLocust Streets,Philadelphia Police Department officer Daniel Faulkner conducted atraffic stop on a vehicle belonging to and driven by William Cook, Abu-Jamal's younger brother. Faulkner and Cook became engaged in a physical confrontation.[30] Driving his cab in the vicinity, Abu-Jamal observed the altercation, parked, and ran across the street toward Cook's car.[4] Faulkner was shot in the back and face. He shot Abu-Jamal in the stomach. Faulkner died at the scene from the gunshot to his head.
Police arrived and arrested Abu-Jamal, who was found to be wearing a shoulder holster. His revolver, which had five spent cartridges, was beside him. He was taken directly from the scene of the shooting toThomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he received treatment for his wound.[31] He was next taken to PoliceHeadquarters, where he was charged and held for trial in thefirst-degree murder of Officer Faulkner.[32]
The prosecution presented four witnesses to the court about the shootings. Robert Chobert, a cab driver who testified he was parked behind Faulkner, identified Abu-Jamal as the shooter. Cynthia White testified that Abu-Jamal emerged from a nearby parking lot and shot Faulkner. Michael Scanlan, a motorist, testified that from two car lengths away he saw a man matching Abu-Jamal's description run across the street from a parking lot and shoot Faulkner. Albert Magilton testified to seeing Faulkner pull over Cook's car. As Abu-Jamal started to cross the street toward them, Magilton turned away and did not see what happened next.
The prosecution presented two witnesses from the hospital where Abu-Jamal was treated. Hospital security guard Priscilla Durham and police officer Garry Bell testified that Abu-Jamal said in the hospital, "I shot the motherfucker, and I hope the motherfucker dies."[33]
A.38 caliberCharter Arms revolver, belonging to Abu-Jamal, with five spent cartridges, was retrieved beside him at the scene. He was wearing a shoulder holster. Anthony Paul, the Supervisor of the Philadelphia Police Department's firearms identification unit, testified at trial that the cartridge cases and rifling characteristics of the weapon were consistent with bullet fragments taken from Faulkner's body. Tests to confirm that Abu-Jamal had handled and fired the weapon were not performed. Contact with arresting police and other surfaces at the scene could have compromised theforensic value of such tests.[34][35]
The defense maintained that Abu-Jamal was innocent, and that the prosecution witnesses were unreliable. The defense presented ninecharacter witnesses, including poetSonia Sanchez, who testified that Abu-Jamal was "viewed by the black community as a creative, articulate, peaceful, genial man". Another defense witness, Dessie Hightower, testified that he saw a man running along the street shortly after the shooting, although he did not see the shooting itself. His testimony contributed to the development of a "running man theory", based on the possibility that a "running man" may have been the shooter. Veronica Jones also testified for the defense, but she did not testify to having seen another man. Other potential defense witnesses refused to appear in court. Abu-Jamal did not testify in his own defense, nor did his brother, William Cook. Cook had repeatedly told investigators at the crime scene: "I ain't got nothing to do with this!"[36]
After three hours of deliberations, the jury presented a unanimous guilty verdict.
In the sentencing phase of the trial, Abu-Jamal read to the jury from a prepared statement. He wascross-examined about issues relevant to the assessment of his character by Joseph McGill, the prosecuting attorney.
In his statement, Abu-Jamal criticized his attorney as a "legal trained lawyer", who was imposed on him against his will and who "knew he was inadequate to the task and chose to follow the directions of this black-robed conspirator [referring to the judge], Albert Sabo, even if it meant ignoring my directions." He claimed that his rights had been "deceitfully stolen" from him by Sabo, particularly focusing on the denial of his request to receive defense assistance fromJohn Africa, who was not an attorney, and being prevented from proceedingpro se. He quoted remarks of John Africa, and said:
Does it matter whether a white man is charged with killing a black man or a black man is charged with killing a white man? As for justice when the prosecutor represents the Commonwealth the Judge represents the Commonwealth and the court-appointed lawyer is paid and supported by the Commonwealth, who follows the wishes of the defendant, the man charged with the crime? If the court-appointed lawyer ignores, or goes against the wishes of the man he is charged with representing, whose wishes does he follow? Who does he truly represent or work for? ... I am innocent of these charges that I have been charged of and convicted of and despite the connivance of Sabo, McGill and Jackson to deny me my so-called rights to represent myself, to assistance of my choice, to personally select a jury who is totally of my peers, to cross-examine witnesses, and to make both opening and closing arguments, I am still innocent of these charges.
Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death by the unanimous decision of the jury.
Amnesty International has objected to the introduction by the prosecution at the time of his sentencing ofstatements from when he was an activist as a youth. It also protested the politicization of the trial, noting that there was documented recent history in Philadelphia ofpolice abuse andcorruption, includingfabricated evidence anduse of excessive force. Amnesty International concluded "that the proceedings used to convict and sentence Mumia Abu-Jamal to death were in violation of minimum international standards that govern fair trial procedures and the use of thedeath penalty".[4]
TheSupreme Court of Pennsylvania on March 6, 1989, heard and rejected a direct appeal of his conviction.[37] It subsequently denied rehearing.[38] TheSupreme Court of the United States denied his petition forwrit ofcertiorari on October 1, 1990,[39] and denied his petition for rehearing twice up to June 10, 1991.[40][41]
On June 1, 1995, Abu-Jamal'sdeath warrant was signed by Pennsylvania GovernorTom Ridge.[41] Its execution was suspended while Abu-Jamal pursued state post-conviction review. At the post-conviction review hearings, new witnesses were called. William "Dales" Singletary testified that he saw the shooting, and that the gunman was the passenger in Cook's car. Singletary's account contained discrepancies which rendered it "not credible" in the opinion of the court.[41]
The six judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled unanimously that all issues raised by Abu-Jamal, including the claim ofineffective assistance of counsel, were without merit.[42] The Supreme Court of the United States denied a petition forcertiorari against that decision on October 4, 1999, enabling Ridge to sign a second death warrant on October 13, 1999. Itsexecution was stayed as Abu-Jamal began to seek federalhabeas corpus review.[41]
In 1999,Arnold Beverly claimed that he and an unnamed assailant, not Mumia Abu-Jamal, shot Daniel Faulkner as part of acontract killing because Faulkner was interfering withgraft and payoff to corrupt police.[43] As Abu-Jamal's defense team prepared another appeal in 2001, they were divided over use of the Beverly affidavit. Some thought it usable and others rejected Beverly's story as "not credible".[44]
Private investigator George Newman claimed in 2001 that Chobert had recanted his testimony.[45] Commentators noted that police and news photographs of the crime scene did not show Chobert's taxi, and that Cynthia White, the only witness at the original trial to testify to seeing the taxi, had previously provided crime scene descriptions that omitted it.[citation needed] Cynthia White wasdeclared dead by thestate of New Jersey in 1992, but Pamela Jenkins claimed that she saw White alive as late as 1997. The Free Mumia Coalition has claimed that White was apolice informant and that she falsified her testimony against Abu-Jamal.[46]
Kenneth Pate, who was imprisoned with Abu-Jamal on other charges, has since claimed that his step-sister Priscilla Durham, a hospital security guard, admitted later she had not heard the "hospital confession" to which she had testified at trial.[47] The hospital doctors said that Abu-Jamal was "on the verge of fainting" when brought in, and they did not hear any such confession.[48]
In 2008, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rejected a further request from Abu-Jamal for a hearing into claims that the trial witnessesperjured themselves, on the grounds that he hadwaited too long before filing the appeal.[49]
On March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rejected his appeal forretrial. His defense had asserted, based on a 2009 report by theNational Academy of Sciences, thatforensic evidence presented by the prosecution and accepted into evidence in the original trial was unreliable.[50][51] This was reported as Abu-Jamal's last legal appeal.[52]
On April 30, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Abu-Jamal would not be immediately granted another appeal and that the proceedings had to continue until August 30 of that year.[53] The defense argued that former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief justiceRonald D. Castille should haverecused himself from the 2012 appeals decision after his involvement as Philadelphia District Attorney (DA) in the 1989 appeal.[54] Both sides of the 2018 proceedings repeatedly cited a 1990 letter sent by Castille to then-GovernorBob Casey, urging Casey to sign the execution warrants of those convicted of murdering police. This letter, demanding Casey send "a clear and dramatic message to all cop killers," was claimed as one of many reasons to suspect Castille's bias in the case.[55] Philadelphia's current DALarry Krasner stated he could not find any document supporting the defense's claim. On August 30, 2018, the proceedings to determine another appeal were once again extended and a ruling on the matter was delayed for at least 60 more days.[56]
In April 2019, Krasner agreed to drop his opposition a new appeal effort for Abu-Jamal, thus paving the way for a new hearing.[57] In March 2023, Philadelphia-based Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons would block this latest appeal effort.[58]
The Free Mumia Coalition published statements by William Cook and his brother Abu-Jamal in the spring of 2001. Cook, who had been stopped by the police officer, had not made any statement before April 29, 2001, and did not testify at his brother's trial. In 2001 he said that he had not seen who had shot Faulkner.[59] Abu-Jamal did not make any public statements about Faulkner's murder until May 4, 2001. In his version of events, he claimed that he was sitting in his cab across the street when he heard shouting, saw a police vehicle, and heard the sound of gunshots. Upon seeing his brother appearing disoriented across the street, Abu-Jamal ran to him from the parking lot and was shot by a police officer.[60]
In 2001, JudgeWilliam H. Yohn, Jr. of theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania upheld the conviction, saying that Abu-Jamal did not have the right to a new trial. Hevacated the sentence of death on December 18, 2001, citing irregularities in the penalty phase of the trial and the original process of sentencing.[41] He said that "thejury instructions and verdict sheet in this case involved an unreasonable application of federal law. The charge and verdict form created a reasonable likelihood that the jury believed it was precluded from considering anymitigating circumstance that had not been found unanimously to exist."[41] He ordered the State of Pennsylvania to commence new sentencing proceedings within 180 days,[61] and ruledunconstitutional the requirement that a jury be unanimous in its finding of circumstances mitigating against a sentence of death.[62]
Eliot Grossman and Marlene Kamish, attorneys for Abu-Jamal, criticized the ruling on the grounds that it denied the possibility of atrial de novo, at which they could introduce evidence that their client had been framed.[63] Prosecutors also criticized the ruling. Officer Faulkner's widow Maureen said the judgment would allow Abu-Jamal, whom she described as a "remorseless, hate-filled killer", to "be permitted to enjoy the pleasures that come from simply being alive".[64] Both parties appealed.
On December 6, 2005, theThird Circuit Court of Appeals admitted four issues for appeal of the ruling of the District Court:[65]
TheThird Circuit Court heard oral arguments in the appeals on May 17, 2007, at the United States Courthouse in Philadelphia. The appeal panel consisted of Chief JudgeAnthony Joseph Scirica, JudgeThomas Ambro, and JudgeRobert Cowen. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania sought to reinstate the sentence of death, on the basis that Yohn's ruling was flawed, as he should have deferred to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which had already ruled on the issue of sentencing. The prosecution said that theBatson claim was invalid because Abu-Jamal made no complaints during the original jury selection.
The resulting jury was racially mixed, with 2 blacks and 10 whites at the time of the unanimous conviction, but defense counsel told the Third Circuit Court that Abu-Jamal did not get a fair trial because the jury was racially biased, misinformed, and the judge was a racist. He noted that the prosecution used eleven out of fourteenperemptory challenges to eliminate prospective black jurors.[66][67] Terri Maurer-Carter, a former Philadelphiacourt stenographer, stated in a 2001affidavit that she overheard Judge Sabo say "Yeah, and I'm going to help them fry thenigger," in the course of a conversation with three people present regarding Abu-Jamal's case.[68] Sabo denied having made any such comment.[69]
On March 27, 2008, the three-judge panel issued a majority 2–1opinion upholding Yohn's 2001 opinion but rejecting the bias andBatson claims, with Judge Ambro dissenting on theBatson issue. On July 22, 2008, Abu-Jamal's formal petition seeking reconsideration of the decision by the full Third Circuit panel of 12 judges was denied.[70] On April 6, 2009, theUnited States Supreme Court refused to hear Abu-Jamal's appeal, allowing his conviction to stand.[71]
On January 19, 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to reconsider its decision to rescind the death penalty.[72][73] The same three-judge panel convened in Philadelphia on November 9, 2010, to hear oral argument.[74] On April 26, 2011, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its prior decision to vacate the death sentence on the grounds that the jury instructions and verdict form were ambiguous and confusing.[75] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case in October.[76]
On December 7, 2011,District Attorney of PhiladelphiaR. Seth Williams announced that prosecutors, with the support of the victim's family, would no longer seek the death penalty for Abu-Jamal and would accept a sentence oflife imprisonment without parole.[77][78][79] This sentence was reaffirmed by theSuperior Court of Pennsylvania on July 9, 2013.[80]
After the press conference on the sentence, widow Maureen Faulkner said that she did not want to relive the trauma of another trial. She understood that it would be extremely difficult to present the case against Abu-Jamal again, after the passage of 30 years and the deaths of several key witnesses. She also reiterated her belief that Abu-Jamalwill be punished further after death.[81]
In 1991, Abu-Jamal published an essay in theYale Law Journal on the death penalty and his death row experience.[82] In May 1994, he was engaged byNPR'sAll Things Considered program to deliver a series of monthly three-minute commentaries on crime and punishment.[83] The broadcast plans and commercial arrangement were canceled following condemnations from, among others, theFraternal Order of Police[84] and Senate Minority LeaderBob Dole.[85] Abu-Jamal sued NPR for not airing his work, but a federal judge dismissed the suit.[86] His commentaries were later published in May 1995 as part of his first book,Live from Death Row.[87]
In January 1996, Abu-Jamal completed aB.A. degree viacorrespondence classes atGoddard College,[88] which he had first attended for a short time as a young man. Soon after, in May of 1996, the now defunctNew College of California School of Law presented him with anhonorary Doctorate of Law degree "for his struggle to resist the death penalty."[89][90]
Abu-Jamal has been invited as acommencement speaker by a number of colleges and has participated via recordings. In 1999, he was invited to record a keynote address for the graduating class atEvergreen State College inWashington state. The event was protested by some.[91] In 2000, he recorded a commencement address forAntioch College.[92]
On October 5, 2014, he gave the commencement speech atGoddard College, via playback of a recording.[93] As before, the choice of Abu-Jamal was controversial.[94] Ten days later, the Pennsylvania legislature passed an addition to the Crime Victims Act called "Revictimization Relief." The new provision was intended to prevent actions that cause "a temporary or permanent state of mental anguish" to those who have previously been victimized by crime. It was signed by Republican governorTom Corbett five days later. Commentators suggested that the bill was directed to control Abu-Jamal's journalism, book publication, and public speaking, and that it would be challenged onfree speech grounds.[88][95] The law quickly faced multiple legal challenges from plaintiffs including Abu-Jamal, prison and human rights activists, publishers, and individual reporters. In April 2015, it was ruled unconstitutional and struck down for being overly vague and broad, and for restricting free expression based on content.[96]
With occasional interruptions due to prison disciplinary actions, Abu-Jamal has for many years been a regular commentator on an online broadcast sponsored byPrison Radio.[97] He is also published as a regular columnist forJunge Welt, aMarxist newspaper inGermany. For almost a decade, he taught introductory courses inGeorgist economics by correspondence to other prisoners around the world.[98]
Abu-Jamal has written and published numerous books during his imprisonment,[90] includingLive From Death Row (1995), a diary of life on Pennsylvania's death row;All Things Censored (2000), a collection of essays examining issues of crime and punishment; andDeath Blossoms: Reflections from a Prisoner of Conscience (2003), in which he explores religious themes. His 2004 bookWe Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party is a history of the Black Panthers that draws on his own experience and research and discusses the federal government'sCOINTELPRO program, which worked to infiltrate and disrupt black activist organizations.
In 1995, Abu-Jamal was punished withsolitary confinement for engaging in entrepreneurship contrary to prison regulations. Subsequent to the airing of the 1996HBO documentaryMumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?, which included footage from visitation interviews conducted with him, thePennsylvania Department of Corrections banned outsiders from using any recording equipment in state prisons.[19]
In litigation before theU.S. Court of Appeals, in 1998, Abu-Jamal successfully established his right while in prison to write for financial gain. The same litigation also established that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections had illegally opened his mail in an attempt to establish whether he was earning money by his writing.[99]
When, for a brief time in August 1999, Abu-Jamal began delivering his radio commentaries live on thePacifica Network's weekdayDemocracy Now! radio newsmagazine program, prison staff severed the connecting wires of his telephone from their mounting mid-broadcast.[19] He was later allowed to resume his appearances, and hundreds of his broadcasts have since been aired on Pacifica Radio.[100]
Following the overturning of his death sentence, Abu-Jamal was sentenced to life in prison in December 2011. At the end of January 2012, he was shifted from the isolation ofdeath row into thegeneral population atState Correctional Institution – Mahanoy.[101]
In August 2015, Abu-Jamal's attorneys filed suit in theU.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleging that he has not received appropriate medical care for his serious health conditions.[102] In April 2021, he tested positive forCOVID-19 and was scheduled for heart surgery to relieve blocked coronary arteries.[103]
In 2022,Brown University'sJohn Hay Library acquired Abu-Jamal's personal papers as part of its Voices of Mass Incarceration collecting initiative. According to a Brown University archivist, the Abu-Jamal collection "is the largest and only collection relating to a person who is still incarcerated."[104][105]
Labor unions,[107][108][109] politicians,[6] advocates,[110] educators,[111] theNAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund,[18] andhuman rights advocacy organizations such asHuman Rights Watch[112] andAmnesty International have expressed concern about the impartiality of the trial of Abu-Jamal.[4] Amnesty International neither takes a position on the guilt or innocence of Abu-Jamal nor classifies him as apolitical prisoner.[4]
The family of Daniel Faulkner, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia,[8] politicians,[8][7] and theFraternal Order of Police have continued to support the original trial and sentencing of the journalist.[113] In August 1999, the Fraternal Order of Police called for an economicboycott against all individuals and organizations that support Abu-Jamal.[114] Many such groups operate within thePrison-Industrial Complex, a system which Abu-Jamal has frequently criticized.[115][116]
Partly based on his own writing, Abu-Jamal and his cause have become widely known internationally, and other groups have classified him as a political prisoner. About 25 cities, includingMontreal,Palermo, andParis, have made him anhonorary citizen.[27][8]
In 2001, he received the sixth biennialErich Mühsam Prize, named after ananarcho-communist essayist, which recognizes activism in line with that of its namesake.[117] In October 2002, he was made an honorary member of the German political organizationUnion of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime.[118]
On April 29, 2006, a newly paved road in the Parisian suburb ofSaint-Denis was named Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal in his honor.[119] In protest of the street-naming,U.S. CongressmanMichael Fitzpatrick and SenatorRick Santorum, both members of theRepublican Party of Pennsylvania, introduced resolutions in bothHouses of Congress condemning the decision.[120][121] The House of Representatives voted 368–31 in favor of Fitzpatrick's resolution.[122] In December 2006, the 25th anniversary of the murder, the executive committee of theRepublican Party for the 59th Ward of the City of Philadelphia—covering approximatelyGermantown, Philadelphia—filed two criminal complaints in theFrench legal system againstthe city of Paris and the city of Saint-Denis, accusing the municipalities of "glorifying" Abu-Jamal and alleging the offense "apology or denial of crime" in respect of their actions.[8][7]
In 2007, the widow of Officer Faulkner co-authored a book with Philadelphia radio journalistMichael Smerconish titledMurdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Pain, Loss, and Injustice.[123] The book was part memoir of Faulkner's widow and part discussion in which they chronicled Abu-Jamal's trial and discussed evidence for his conviction. They also discussed support for the death penalty.[124]
In early 2014, PresidentBarack Obama nominatedDebo Adegbile, a former lawyer for theNAACP Legal Defense Fund, to head thecivil rights division of the Justice Department. He had worked on Abu-Jamal's case, and his nomination was rejected by the U.S. Senate on a bipartisan basis because of that.[125]
After Goddard College invited Abu-Jamal to give a recorded commencement speech in 2014 and an outcry by the police union against this, the Revictimization Relief Act was introduced, passed and signed into Pennsylvania law. It allowed victims and prosecutors to sue if a perpetrator causes a "state of mental anguish" by perpetuating "the continuing effect of a crime on the victim." The law was struck down in April 2015 as a vague and overbroad restriction on free speech.[95][96]
On April 10, 2015, Marylin Zuniga, a teacher at Forest Street Elementary School inOrange, New Jersey, was suspended without pay after asking her students to write cards to Abu-Jamal, who was ill in prison due to complications fromdiabetes, without approval from the school or parents. Some parents and police leaders denounced her actions.[126] Conversely, some community members, parents, teachers, and professors expressed support for Zuniga and condemned her suspension.[127] Scholars and educators nationwide, includingNoam Chomsky,Chris Hedges andCornel West among others, signed a letter calling for her immediate reinstatement.[128] On May 13, 2015, the Orange Preparatory Academy board voted to dismiss Marylin Zuniga after hearing from her and several of her supporters.[129]
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