[Ppnews] Rainbow Flags for Mumia

[Political Prisoner News]

RAINBOW FLAGS FOR MUMIA CALL TO ACTION to The 
Lesbian, Gay, and Bi & Trans Activist Movement: 
EMERGENCY NATL MOBILIZATION TO DEMAND FREEDOM FOR 
MUMIA ABU JAMAL – APRIL 19-20 2008 for 
PHILADEPHIA & SAN FRANCISCO (& other cities)
To endorse, email RF4Mumia at gmail.com

On Thursday, May 27th 2008, the 3rd circuit court 
of Pennsylvania denied a new trial for Mumia 
Abu-Jamal, renowned African American 
activist,  journalist and the only US political 
prisoner on death row. Although there is 
overwhelming evidence proving Mumia’s innocence, 
this ruling has left Mumia’s only legal options 
as life in prison without parole or execution by the state of Pennsylvania .
But just like case of South African freedom 
fighter Nelson Mandela, who was sentenced to life 
in prison, we believe we can and will continue to 
build an international movement to free MUMIA ABU JAMAL.

Mumia Abu Jamal was a founding member of 
the  Philadelphia Chapter of the Black Panther 
Party as a teenager. Years later he began 
reporting professionally on radio stations, such 
as NPR, and was the news director of Philadelphia 
station WHAT. Known as the “Voice of the 
Voiceless”, Mumia won awards for his reporting on 
police brutality and other social and racial 
epidemics that plagued communities of color in 
Philadelphia and throughout the world. In 1981 he 
was arrested and sent to death row for allegedly 
shooting  Philadelphia police officer Daniel 
Faulkner. In 1999, Arnold Beverly confessed to 
killing Officer Faulkner. This confession is 
validated by a lie detector test administered by 
an eminent polygraph expert. Despite concrete 
evidence supporting this confession, the 
Philadelphia District Attorney has refused to 
investigate, and the courts have not even allowed 
it to be heard. We know that Mumia remains in 
jail because he is a political leader.

Rainbow Flags for Mumia (RF4M) is a coalition of 
lesbian, gay, bi and trans people and 
organizations that came together in 1999 to 
demand a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. RF4M has 
since continued to organize LGBT contingents at 
major anti-racist events, linking the struggles 
against LGBT oppression and racist repression in the United States .

   Through his writing, behind the walls of death 
row, Mumia has shown solidarity with oppressed 
peoples all over the world. In a  1999 statement 
denouncing the recent anti-gay murders, including 
the killing of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo., 
Billy Jack Gaither in Sylacauga, Ala., and Henry 
Edward Northington in Richmond, Va., Mumia 
Abu-Jamal wrote: “Is it a coincidence that 
Richmond, the city where a Black man was burned 
to death and decapitated,  follows several months 
later with the decapitation and torture of a gay man? I think not.”
Rainbow Flags for Mumia calls on all LGBT 
organizations and activists to endorse and 
mobilize for April 19 and beyond. With legal 
options exhausted, it is up to us, by any means 
necessary, to ensure that Mumia no longer 
languishes in jail under the threat of execution.

To endorse, email RF4Mumia at gmail.com or call 
646-342-9673 or 212-633-6646. Bring your 
organization’s banners, flags, and placards to an 
April 19th demonstration in Philadelphia , San 
Francisco , or a city near you. Form a Rainbow 
Flags for Mumia chapter in your area; organize a 
forum or an action to demand Mumia’s freedom. For 
more information on Mumia visit: International 
Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal 
www.mumia.org; Millions for Mumia 
www.mumia2000.org; International Action Center 
www.iacenter.org; Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition 
(in NY) <http://www.freemumi>http://www.freemumia.com/


“Our BROTHER MUMIA is UNDER ATTACK” “WHAT DO WE DO?” “ACT UP! Fight back!”
  (Chanted nationally by Queer & non-Queer people 
alike at Mumia Abu-Jamal demonstrations since 1999)





Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20080414/9af13305/attachment.htm>