Arnold Beverly Shot Officer Faulkner, Not Mumia Abu-Jamal

Arnold Beverly, a confessed hit man for organized crime, swore under oath that on 12/9/81, he shot Officer Faulkner, a whistleblower who was telling federal investigators of corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department. Mumia Abu-Jamal, an award-winning president of a black journalists association, and a taxicab driver who was in the area at the time, was falsely accused and convicted of the murder, of which Beverly has since confessed. On April 24, 2004, Mumia celebrates his 50th birthday while still illegally held in prison.

The best source for news articles on Mumia's case is not the police tabloid, the Philadelphia Inquirer, which the writer of the center column feature has used, but the press of his supporters, especially the socialist and black liberatoin press. See, for example:
http://www.refuseandresist.org/mumia/
and
http://www.afrikan.i-dentity.com/freedom.now/
and
http://www.mumia2000.org/
and
http://www.laboractionmumia.org/
and
http://www.chicagofreemumia.org/
and
http://www.chicagofreemumia.org/begin.html
and New York's
http://www.freemumia.com/
and the only 2 pro-Mumia websites cited, which are inadequate,
http://www.freemumia.org
and
http://prisonradio.org/mumia.html

Mumia Abu-Jamal, as a journalist, had been exposing police corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department. He had been also, while a child of 15 years, a member of the black nationalist organization, the Black Panther Party, which, as part of the peace movement against the Vietnam War, tried to make some changes in this country in favor of the workingclass black community, with a black nationalist program from 1966 to 1974, when a combination of police state terror and lack of an international workingclass program put an end to that effort. Mumia had left the Black Panthers well before 1974. The anti-Vietnam War movement lasted from 1964 to 1975, when on April 30, 1975, the "little people in black pajamas" of Vietnam defeated the mightiest military machine the world had seen since Nazi Germany, namely the USA, at the cost of the lives of 3 million Vietnamese, 1 million plus Cambodians, 58,000 Americans and thousands of other people.

In spite of its weaknesses, the Black Panther Party certainly raised a lot of issues concerning racism and exploitation of the workingclass that needed to be raised. One of the best tools that the Panthers had for this consciousness raising was its newspaper, to which Mumia contributed.

This writer has done a lot of leafletting for Mumia right here in San Francisco and has found that while the black population supports Mumia 100%, most whites do not, and in fact, believe all the racist lies of such police rags as the Philadelphia Inquirer. This is because most whites never experience any contact with the police, beyond the occasional traffic ticket, and that is no accident, as the legal system is viciously racist. It is still quite amazing to be treated with righteous contempt by whites who are very enlightened on other issues, such as rent control. They will even try to defend their position without basic knowledge of the facts, namely where the shooting took place, and the like.

It is not necessary that everyone agree with all of Mumia's writings. He has for example stated he supports the death penalty in Cuba, which is a reactionary position to which too many alleged "progressives" subscribe. The death penalty is always wrong, and it is especially wrong in a society that claims to be socialist as it is the duty of all socialists to provide leadership for the workingclass and advance the agenda and interests of the workingclass, which is to abolish the death penalty.

Nevertheless, Mumia is innocent of the murder of Officer Faulkner and should be freed immediately.

Mumia's case is typical of the daily frame-ups that take place in the American fascist judicial system of the workingclass, especially of the black workingclass, of which Mumia is a member and a proud defender. Mumia's political activities on behalf of the workingclass, especially the black workingclass, are the primary reason he was framed.

It is incumbent upon those of us who are white to drive home daily the reality of the bankrupt social order in which we live, especially the fascist judicial system, in which too many whites, and some non-whites, have an amazing amount of faith, all based on lies. There is simply no basis for anyone who is a member of the workingclass, those of us who sell our labor for less than $70,000 a year, to believe that the judicial system is ever fair, either in the criminal or civil courts. All justice is bought and paid for. The only way to overcome a political frame-up is to organize the workingclass to demand the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and in so doing, we strengthen all of labor's demands, including pro-labor legal decisions, such as abolishing the death penalty and the prison-concentration camp system.

The death penalty and prison-concentration camp system are first and foremost weapons of terror and torture against the workingclass, wielded by the capitalist class, to attempt to break our resistance to their exploitation, so they may maximize their profits, the primary law of capitalism.

The solution is to organize labor to fight for socialism. Part of that struggle is certainly the movement to
TEAR DOWN THE PRISONS, WALL BY WALL,
THE DEATH PENALTY MUST NOW FALL,
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!