Sunday, May 11, 2008
I knew Mumia when he was Wesley Cook. Plus: The L.A. Times' "blow job"; don't ask, don't tell about Stuart Little.
Jan 5, 2000 | Black
like who?
BY DEBRA DICKERSON
(12/21/99)
I have never been to a Free Mumia rally or signed a petition. I am not a MOVE sympathizer. I have police officers in my family, and I think the death of Daniel Faulkner was tragic. But I also went to elementary school with the Cook boys, Wesley and William. I knew them only as kids in the neighborhood. The Cook boys were respected by adults and kids alike in our neighborhood for the way they carried themselves. Wesley was a good student and a super-responsible big brother who kept Billy in line.
I also understand the terror that went with being a young black person in Philadelphia in the 1960s and '70s. I understand why Wesley and many of our peers felt the need to become Mumia and join the Panthers. Keep in mind that he was 15. Between the gangs and the police, the rule of law was scarcely in evidence. The police routinely harassed the Panthers and other dissidents, without regard to due process. Those who report on Mumia's case seem to forget that. One of the searing moments in my memory is a 1971(?) front page photo from the Philadelphia Bulletin. The members of the local BPP chapter were standing barefoot and naked in the street, having been rousted in the middle of the night and stripped by Philadelphia's finest. The mayor, former police commissioner Frank Rizzo, guffawed, "The big Black Panthers with their pants down!"
When he became a journalist, Mumia was one of the few who had the courage and independence to report on cases of police brutality and corruption. In the early 1990s, hundreds of convictions were reversed because of improper police procedure. Perhaps if there had been more journalistic investigation of police practices in the preceding years, those improper practices might have been revealed sooner.
I understand the ambivalence Debra Dickerson describes on the part of many African-Americans. I do not know what happened on December 9, 1981. But I believe that in light of the treatment of dissidents in that period, and the ambiguities in the case, Mumia Abu-Jamal deserves a new trial.
-- Kim Pearson
I recently attended the post-WTO police rally in Seattle. Organized by the police, it was intended to show that the people of Seattle really did approve of the police beating and gassing of peaceful protesters. It was also a chance for WTO protesters who were abused to speak directly to citizens who knew nothing more than what they saw on the evening news.
A 6-foot-long banner for Mumia spoiled any real chance to get the protesters' message across to the public. Though Mumia had no part in the WTO protest, supporters of a new trial carried his message into this forum. This gave the police an excellent chance to dismiss the protesters, and to cast doubt on their version of the WTO protest. Over the voices of the protesters, the police proclaimed, "There is one difference between you and the people over there. You are here to support your police. They are here to support a cop killer."
I was there to protest the violence of the police during the WTO, but the Mumia supporters gave the police a new diversion from the truth.
-- Chris Knight
Wow. I hadn't realized that my complacency made such an impact. I was born in the '60s and my parents were active in the civil rights movement. My father, Washington Butler Jr., was the third black elected official in the state of Tennessee and the first black to run for governor. Our pastor, the Rev. Billy Kyles, was personal friends with Dr. Martin Luther King.
Having been born into such a progressive environment, I at one time thought that racism had been overcome and that we were all better off as a result. Ha! Wouldn't that be nice. I can't speak for anyone but myself. I support Mumia but haven't become too involved with his struggle. My personal philosophy is to spend my time and energy making a positive impact in the lives of those with whom I come in contact every day rather than trying to change the world as a whole. Maybe that's a cop-out but it's the best that I can do.
To Mumia I'd like to say, don't cut your dreads, man. That's a sign of a depth of commitment which most will never know. Somewhere, that counts for something. Keep fighting.
-- Landry Butler
To assume that black people should be interested in the Mumia case because it involves a black man is racist in itself. It is essential to acknowledge how the intersection of race and class affects who among us supports Mumia and who does not.
People who are struggling to make a decent living for themselves and their families do not have the time or mental energy to worry about folks who go out and court trouble. The majority of black people in the United States fit into this category -- working-class or even poor people who simply want to keep their families safe and well-fed.
Those of us fortunate enough to be middle-class African-Americans expend a great deal of energy working to retain our position in society and ensure our families' happiness. Most of us share a belief system that stresses family, religion and trying to "live right." People like Mumia Abu-Jamal and his supporters would be hard pressed to convince us to spend our precious time and hard-earned financial resources on the likes of him.
-- Renee McKinney
Debra Dickerson's article on the Mumia Abu-Jamal case outlines the two most prevalent theories surrounding the case: that Jamal is innocent but has been railroaded, and that Jamal is guilty and is cynically manipulating the radical left. A careful study of the facts of the case, however, brings up a third possibility: that Jamal is probably guilty but has been railroaded nevertheless, is certainly due a new trial, and probably does not deserve the death penalty.
I'm not sure whether Jamal is guilty or innocent, but I believe the evidence is overwhelming that he did not receive anything even remotely resembling a fair trial. In an excellent article on the case, Stuart Taylor Jr. (hardly a leftist) of the American Lawyer writes, "Jamal is probably an unrepentant killer," but also says that the facts of this case are "complicated enough" that he is "joining the 'Save Mumia' movement, here and now." He puts forward a vast array of evidence, ranging from direct testimony of witnesses that they were coerced by the police to strong evidence that there was "rampant police perjury." Furthermore, there were most likely mitigating circumstances: Faulkner probably shot Jamal before Jamal shot the officer.
-- Mitsuharu Hadeishi
Did Mumia Abu-Jamal kill a police officer in cold blood? The overwhelming circumstantial evidence -- plus his refusal to give a plausible alternative explanation that would exonerate him -- indicates that he did, and for that he must suffer the consequences.
Dickerson (whom I presume is white) spends much time and space arguing that blacks do not support Mumia, citing their disdain for his radical politics and fear of his angry demeanor. But it never really required the views of blacks to look at the case objectively and come to the inevitable conclusion that Mumia Abu-Jamal murdered a police officer in cold blood, and since that time has taken white liberal activists for a ride.
-- Michael Lee
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