Mumia Abu-Jamal was incarcerated on Pennsylvania's death row for 30 years. His case has generated more controversy and received more attention, both national and international, than that of any other inmate currently under sentence of death in the United States of America.
Mumia Abu Jamal, black, was convicted and sentenced to death in July 1982 for the murder of white police officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence. Since the trial, those advocating his release or retrial have contested the validity of much of the evidence used to obtain his conviction. These accusations have been countered by members of the law enforcement community and their supporters, who have agitated for Abu-Jamal's execution while maintaining that the trial was unbiased.
Based on its review of the trial transcript and other original documents, human rights organization Amnesty International believes that the interests of justice would best be served by the granting of a new trial to Mumia Abu-Jamal. This pamphlet explains why.
Seven Stories lost a good friend, one of the great warriors of independent publishing culture, with the passing of Frances Goldin on Saturday. In her later years, electric wheelchair bound, Frances used to pass out large buttons that read something like, "Down with the rich," saying, "I'll give you one if you promise to wear it." It was no small ask. She was an organizer at heart. Being involved in book culture was her way of organizing people on the side of human rights and social justice. And she was very good at this.
Frances Goldin at Occupy Wall Street, 2011 (c. Ryan Joseph)
This morning's NYTimes obit mentions but underplays her devotion to one of her clients, Mumia Abu Jamal, whom she visited regularly on Death Row, and for whom she got arrested at every opportunity. She succeeded in most of her life goals, the only one remaining at her death was Mumia's freedom, something she sought with her whole being. She shall be missed. But her mission continues, in the countless important books she found homes for, in the agents whom she mentored and who continue the work at her agency, including Ria Julian and Sam Stoloff, and in all of us who knew her and learned from her.
Dan Simon
Publisher, Seven Stories Press
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL is a worldwide campaigning movement that works to promote all the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards. In particular, Amnesty International campaigns to free all prisoners of conscience; ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners; abolish the death penalty, torture, and other cruel treatment of prisoners; end political killings and “disappearances”; and oppose human rights abuses by opposition groups. Their collection of reports, interviews, correspondence, and narratives from arround the world are gathered in Autodafe.
