<html>
<body>
<font size=5><b><br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=3>FEBRUARY 9TH 2004: STOP THE EXECUTION! MARCH ON SAN
QUENTIN!</b> <br>
<b>march begins at 7:00pm at Remillard Park in Larkspur: Located on East
Sir Francis Drake Blvd, just South of Larkspur Ferry terminal. We will
join up with the anti-execution rally at 8:00pm at the South Gate of San
Quentin.</b> <br><br>
</font><font size=5><b>CALL THE GOVERNOR AT (916) 445.2841 OR FAX LETTERS
TO (916) 445.4633<br><br>
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov<br><br>
TELL THE GOVERNOR THAT YOU OPPOSE THE RACIST DEATH PENALTY & THIS
EXECUTION!<br><br>
<br>
For more information:www.savekevincooper.org<br><br>
(510) 895.0332<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
</font><font size=3>CALIFORNIA KILLING: THE CASE OF KEVIN COOPER</b>
<br>
=========================================== <br>
[Col. Writ. 1/9/04] Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal <br><br>
A man named Kevin Cooper has been given a date to die:
<br>
On Feb. 10, 2004, the State of California plans to kill him, <br>
by pumping him full of poison. <br><br>
Cooper, convicted back in 1984 of the slaying of 3
members <br>
of the Ryen clan, and a visiting family friend, was also charged <br>
with stabbing an 8-year old boy, but luckily the child survived.
<br><br>
Why lucky? Well, apart from the obvious reason
(his sheer <br>
survival), Joshua Ryen saw who attacked him, and upon <br>
recovery told police that it was 3 white or Latino men who slew <br>
his family, his friend, and tried to kill him. <br><br>
When young Josh saw TV news accounts of the attacks,
he <br>
turned to a cop who was present, and exclaimed, when the <br>
picture of Kevin Cooper flashed across the screen, "That <br>
wasn't the guy who did it. It was 3 Mexicans." <br><br>
... out of the mouths of babes, eh? <br><br>
But, San Bernardino officials didn't care; what does
it <br>
matter that the lone surviving victim cleared their suspect? <br>
It meant nothing. They had their man -- and on the 10th of <br>
February, they wanna kill him. <br><br>
Kevin Cooper, now a man of 45 years, has spent the
last <br>
19 years of his life on California's Death Row, for a series <br>
of brutal crimes -- that he did not commit. <br><br>
Cooper turned his cell into a school room; studying
writing, <br>
politics and African-American history. He has grown into a <br>
vibrant, talented and educated individual -- yet California <br>
still wants to extinguish his light. <br><br>
It is important to note that he is an African-American
<br>
man. That wasn't lost during his Dec. 1984 trial, around which
<br>
time demonstrators, calling for his death, hung a toy gorilla <br>
in effigy. Indeed, the media coverage was so hyped, the <br>
demonstrations so hostile, that the trial was moved to <br>
San Diego. <br><br>
Not only was the only living eyewitness ignored; but
<br>
shortly after the murders, a local woman came forward to <br>
tell police that she thought her boyfriend was involved in the <br>
grisly killings. Why? When he came home the night of the
<br>
slayings, she said, he was wearing a pair of overalls, <br>
drenched in blood. The woman turned them over to the <br>
cops. Before the day was over, the overalls were pitched <br>
into the station's dumpster. Did it matter that the man was <br>
wearing a t-shirt the color and brand of the t-shirt found in the <br>
scene -- it also, bloody? No. Did it matter that he owned a <br>
hatchet, like a weapon used in the Ryen home, and it was <br>
conveniently missing from the couple's home. No. <br><br>
None of it mattered. <br><br>
They wanted, and focused on, Kevin Cooper; nothing
<br>
else mattered. <br><br>
Police and prosecutors told jurors that a bloody shoe-
<br>
print found at the scene conclusively proved Cooper's guilt. <br>
Were the jurors told that Deputy William Baird had a pair <br>
of prison shoes in his (crime) lab, which were Cooper's <br>
size? What they also didn't know was that the Deputy, <br>
post-trial, was fired for stealing five pounds of heroin from <br>
the evidence locker -- *five pounds* -- both to use and <br>
to sell -- to drug dealers! <br><br>
Kevin Cooper is on Death Row, awaiting a date with
<br>
death, based on 'investigators' such as these! <br><br>
Incredible! <br><br>
Welcome to the American Way of Death! <br><br>
Help save--no; help Free Kevin Cooper! <br><br>
Copyright 2004 Mumia Abu-Jamal <br><br>
(Visit</font><font size=3 color="#0000EE">http://www.savekevincooper.org</font><font size=3>)
<br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3><a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>