On April 22, 2008, the New York Times published a highly-flawed column in which a Professor Levitts raised a number of questions about Mumia's fight for due process and freedom, and about the movement that is supporting Mumia. The column made simplistic use of the recent book by Smerconish and Faulkner, Murdered By Mumia, and displays a breezy ignorance about the facts of Mumia's case. Read the response by EMAJ co-coordinators, Cage, Fernandez and Taylor.

On March 26, the Third Circuit of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, released its 118-page ruling on the latest claims by Mumia, which had been pending since May 2007, when the Third Circuit heard arguments. The ruling denies all Mumia's claims, save the one concerning the penalty hearing, which the Federal District Court had already granted. The result is that the ruling mandates a new penalty hearing, to determine life imprisonment or execution. One circuit judge, Ambro, dissented vigorously on the Third Circuit's rejection of Mumia's Batson claim. The majority ruling of the Third Circuit is still an outrage, especially because it went against the knowledge it had through this dissenting colleague, and dismissed Mumia's Batson claim (that Black jurors were discriminated against in the process of juror selection). Mainly, the Third Circuit ruled against the Batson claim for two reasons: (a) because the claim was not submitted in a "timely" manner, contemporaneous with prosecutors' discrimination against black jurors, and (b) because Mumia's lawyers had not made a prima facie (apparent and even minimal) argument for the discrimination. Concerning the first reason, dissenting Judge Ambro points out that in finding Mumia's claim to not be timely simply because it wasn't "contemporaneous," the Third Circuit went against its own precedents. In other words, on other cases, the Third Circuit had not been so strict. Ambro nails the point: "Our Court has previously preached the merits of Batson claims on Habeas reveiw in cases where the petitioner did not make a timely objection during jury selection ... and I see no reason why we should not afford Abu-Jamal the courtesy of our precedents" (p. 87, emphasis added). Concerning the second reason, Ambro develops his dissenting view even further by turning to the McMahon training tape, a video produced by a previous Philadelphia prosecutor's office about how to keep certain kinds of Blacks off of a jury where there is a black defendant. Ambro reads this video as sufficient grounds for establishing a prima facie case for discrimination. Ambro especially notes prosecutor McMahon's insulting and blatant assertions in the training video about younger Black women and why they should be avoided when selecting jurors. Said McMahon in that tape: "In my experience, black women, young black women, are very bad. There's an antagonism...and so younger black women are difficult, I've found" (91). Nevertheless, the Third Circuit could overlook such language, and rule against their dissenting colleague and against Mumia. It is outrageous, and we need to be in the streets and in other venues, firmly and intelligently exposing the political regime that produces such "legal" decisions. Go HERE for information on demonstrations and events for Mumia.  [Mark Taylor, EMAJ.]

The MOVE 9 - now a remaining 8 members - come up for parole in 2008, with the crucial parole hearings occuring in April 2008. Go HERE to Hans Bennett's Journalists for Mumia site to find out how you can write letters on behalf of MOVE members. Journalist and Temple University journalism professor, Linn Washington, Jr., has also been giving interviews and lectures on the treatment of MOVE in Philadelphia. Check out his material and write your letters today. You can also sign an online petition for the MOVE 9.

Read here the 21 FAQs on the Polakoff Photos, the earliest photos of the crime scene of Officer Daniel Faulkner's death. To produce these FAQs, EMAJ and Journalists for Mumia (J4M) worked together, in consultation with Professor Michael Schiffmann who discovered them. Many people have been asking questions about the photos. What are they? What is their significance? Where have these photos been ever since they were taken at the crime scene? Read these carefully and print them out as you wish.

One of the coordinators of EMAJ, Mark Taylor of Princeton Theological Seminary, reviews the new book by Maureen Faulkner and Michael Smerconish, Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice. Read the FULL REVIEW here on the EMAJ site, or at OpEd News which has just picked it up.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The New Jersey Assembly approved legislation Thursday to abolish the state's death penalty, making Gov. Jon S. Corzine's signature the only step left before the state becomes the first in four decades to ban executions. Assembly members voted 44-36 to replace the death sentence with life in prison without parole. The state Senate approved the bill Monday. Corzine, a Democrat, has said he will sign the bill within a week.  Read more on the story from the NJ COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY, members of which have been working strenously and effectively for years. On how this victory might enable other states to follow in New Jersey's steps, read the COMMENTARY HERE, and see also the reflections on the campaign by Celeste Fitzgerald, Director of the NJ Coalition for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.

The Today Show interviewer, Matt Lauer, referenced the Polakoff photos that EMAJ has been trying to get into the press this year, and that Journalists for Mumia (JMAJ) has been pursuing so successfully of  late with their press conferencing and press contacting. Kudos to JMAJ ! Let's all keep the pressure on. The Today Show, the highest rated morning news show in the country, even displayed the Polakoff photos briefly and raised the issues of the photos in interview with Smerconish and M. Faulkner. Moreover, street protestors for Mumia were outside the studio in NYC, leading the interviewer to ask Maureen Faulkner if she ever thought the protestors might have a case. So, good work, New Yorkers for Mumia. Watch the TODAY SHOW VIDEO HERE. (for more on the Polakoff photos, see the EMAJ site boxes below).  Read Hans Bennett's superb and rich account of the entire Today Show event, and how it emerged from previous organizing for Mumia. There's also a strong review of the Faulkner/Smerconish book, by Dave Lindorff, here

Rueters news has done a story on the press conference held by Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal (JMAJ) to counter the distortions being circulated by Michael Smerconish and Maureen Faulkner in their new book, Murdered by Mumia. Read the Reuters story HERE. The press conference on Tuesday, December 11, was moderated by Hans Bennett of JMAJ, and featured some of the best writers and organizers who have studied Abu-Jamal's case for years: David A. Love, Dave Lindorff, Linn Washington, and Pam Africa. You can hear an audio recording of the press conference HERE. 

 * See the box immediately below, on this web site, about the Polakoff photos discovered and analyzed by University of Heidelberg scholar, Michael Schiffman. The Polakoff photos, never considered formally by any judge or jury, were taken at the crime scene before the police photographers arrived at 13th and Locust Sts.

Other special features below include: 

- a trailer for an upcoming film on Mumia.

- information about the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals deliberations on Mumia's case.

- guidelines for how you can add your name to the campaign asking U.S. House of Representative, John Conyers, to open investigations into Mumia's case.

- essays by educators, Paul Robeson Ford (U. of Chicago) and Tameka Cage (U. of Pittsburgh), on key aspects of Mumia's case.

EMAJ here posts a special PRESS RELEASE about Michael Schiffman's 2007 discovery of photos, the Polakoff photos, which show the crime scene where Officer Faulkner was killed and where Mumia was beaten and arrested for the killing. These were taken before any of the police photos that were used at Mumia's trial. The police and prosecutors refused all offers from the photographer to use these photos. The Polakoff photos show a crime scene in 1981 that was almost completely unsecured by police, with officers holding crime weapons in their bare hands though they denied doing so at trial, and, with someone evidently having changed the position of Officer Faulkner's hat at the scene for later dramatic effect at trial. These photos constitute more evidence which jurors never saw, adding to the sense of public analysts and leaders in human rights organizations, in the U.S. and abroad, that Mumia did not receive a fair trial. Read the PRESS RELEASE HERE. (The final page of the press release offers a one page summary of the key points regarding the existence of these photos.) To actually see some of these photos, go to the Journalists for Mumia web site at Abu-Jamal-News.com.

Come October a new movie on Mumia Abu-Jamal appears at the London Film Festival and then Rome Film Festival. View the TRAILER HERE. Amnesty International has endorsed the film as part of its standing call, since 2000, to grant Mumia his first, fair trial. Among Amnesty's comments on the film are these words: "We've documented Mumia Abu-Jamal's plight several times before and we strongly welcome this film as a fresh opportunity to focus attention on his situation. We hope that the film's viewers will back our call for a fair retrial for Mumia Abu-Jamal - and also support our work opposing the death penalty in the US and around the world." The film will be showing on U.S. colleges and universities.  * The 90-minute film profiles Mumia Abu-Jamal's case through the eyes of 25-year-year-old William Francome, born on the day of Abu-Jamal's arrest.  The film, entitled In Prison My Whole Life, was directed by Marc Evans and produced by Livia Firth and Nick Goodwin Self. EMAJ has yet to screen the film, but hopes to organize around it on U.S. campuses in the future.

Mumia's attorney and the movement are expecting a decision on Mumia's case to come down any day (certainly this Fall), from the Third Circuit court. Go HERE for more information.

Now that the May 17th hearing has come and gone, the U.S. Third Circuit Court continues deliberation on Mumia's briefs. It may take weeks before the Circuit Court's ruling is released. Read the full brief (124 pages)submitted by the lawyer team, and also the NAACP Amicus brief (31 pages) submitted by NAACP Legal Defense Team Lawyer, Christina Swarns, who also argued for the NAACP brief at the May 17 hearing. Keep in touch with all the Mumia sites about developments (LINKS, above).

EMAJ held its Teach-In on Mumia's case at Drexel University on May 16. In spite of hard-driving rain, 55 people attended. The real success was securing campus space in Philly, where the FOP has frightened so many other sponsors out of providing space. Kudos to Jeffrey Rousset, Drexel Senior, who worked with Johanna Fernandez (EMAJ, Carnegie Mellon Univ.) to nail down this space. Tameka Cage, also a Teach-In speaker, helped us plan the event. Stay tuned for word about EMAJ's next steps. Mark Taylor.

Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a new support group for Mumia organized by Hans Bennett and Michael Schiffman, announced yesterday that the U.S. Third Circuit Court has ruled against the Philly D.A. Office which had asked that all judges on the Circuit Court be disqualified. The Court also granted Mumia's attorney's request for a half an hour extra time to make oral arguments on May 17th. Read HERE the communique from Journalists for Mumia. Keep planning to be in Philadelphia on April 24th and May 17th. MT

The FOP intimidated the Cleff Club sufficiently to force them to cancel the planned birthday observance for Mumia. But the meeting will continue at the American Friends Service Committee building at 15th St. and Cherry Street. Danny Glover, Sonia Sanchez, and Ramona Africa will be present. Read more HERE. Journalist LINN WASHINGTON shows why the FOP's bullying tactics are "perilously close to terrorist threats." See "Imus Isn't the Only Issue to Address."

Recently the D.A. of Philadelphia filed a motion seeking to disqualify all judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mumia's lawyer has responded (read here). The lawyer is interviewed in a very helpful essay by independent journalist HANS BENNETT, "Interview: Mumia's Attorney Responds to D.A.'s Attorney."

EMAJ draws from all disciplines, with a number of its educators coming from theological and religious studies, including such figures as James Cone, Harvey Cox, Cornel West, Mark Cladis, Dwight Hopkins, Anthony Pinn (and myself, Mark Lewis Taylor). Here we feature a new essay by University of Chicago Divinity School doctoral student, PAUL ROBESON FORD. Ford explores Mumia's theology in "FAITH SEEKING UNDERSTANDING, LIVE FROM DEATH ROW."

Read Tameka L. Cage's Go Tell It On the Mountain," about teaching Mumia's life and work. Cage writes, "When Mumia was unjustly convicted for murder in 1982, I was five years old, preoccupied with imagination and doused with the innocence and curiosity of a toddler. Twenty-five years later—the number of years Mumia has been on death row—I remain filled to the brim with imagination." Read the full essay to see how Cage, now a visiting professor of English at Bucknell University, critically teaches Mumia today.

See the IMPORTANT NEW MESSAGE about the Fraternal Order of Police's recent targeting of U.S. House member Donald Payne (Dem., NJ) for his principled "No" vote against U.S. House Resolution 1082. Payne voted against this Resolution (passed, Dec. 2006), which sought to punish the French suburb of Paris, St.-Denis, because it had named a street in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Then, see the box immediately below and sign the Open Letter to Conyers to protest that Resolution. Please, whether or not you are in Don Payne's congressional district, please fax to him a word of thanks, using our form letter HERE. Or phone him directly at (202) 225-3436.

You can affix your name to the Open Letter circulating in the U.S. and the world, demanding that John Conyers of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary open formal hearings to reconsider the House Resolution, passed, December 6, 2006, that condemns St-Denis, France, for naming a street in honor of Mumia. Signatures for this Open Letter are being collected in France and it is now on the way to Africa, even as it circulates in the U.S. READ & SIGN THE OPEN LETTER TO CONYERS HERE.

Read Philadelphia Tribune columnist and Temple University journalism professor, Linn Washington, Jr.'s new column, "Abu Jamal's Agony: 25 Years and Counting," in THE BLACK WORLD TODAY.  Washington exposes the hypocrisy of PA Congressmen passing resolutions against St. Denis, France, while doing nothing about racist drug laws in the USA. Article available HERE.

368 U.S. Congress people voted for H. R. 1082, censuring St. Denis, France, for naming a street after Mumia. Our struggle for Mumia will not be won simply by writing congress, but these congressional Representatives also need to be challenged. Check the Roll Call Here, and find out how the Rep in your district voted. EMAJ provides here A SAMPLE LETTER to use as content for your own fax or phone contact. Find out who your Representative is here, then find contact info for your Congressperson HERE. Keep on!

The Independent journalist who has been analyzing Mumia's case for five years, HANS BENNETT, has a new essay out on two new reports alledging now, after 25 years, that Mumia confessed to killing Faulkner in 1981. Bennett ably challenges these reports, exploring why they are being offered up now. Rest assured, those working to execute Mumia will serve up these latest voices and spread the false claim that Mumia confessed. So, read Bennett's essay here, and be ready to respond.

Read FIVE RECENT COLUMNS from Mumia, now posted on the EMAJ web site. Mumia writes on "The Taming of the Democrats, " "John Kerry and the Politics of Wusses," "Saddam's Sentence,"  "Iraq: Echoes of Vietnam," and "The Road to Oaxaca." Check out these and more columns by Mumia at other sites, too.

Read Temple University Professor Linn Washington (also writer for the Philadelphia Tribune), and his reporting on the latest ways Philadelphia cops have been contradicting themselves about Mumia, departing now even from the script of the prosecution at Mumia's trial. Linn Washington's article is "Still More Keystone Kops Antics: The Mumia Abu-Jamal Case after 25 Years."  Check out the very latest updates from Mumia's attorney HERE.

A gala fundraiser will be held for Pam Africa as she turns 60 on this November 18, 2006. READ HERE the information about the event at the Salem Methodist Church in Harlem. This link will also enable you to download a flyer about the celebration. See you there!

HERE ON OUR WEB SITE you can read Robert Bryan's latest report on the legal proceedings in Mumia's case. This is his summary of a brief filed on the previous day, including the text of the brief itself. Mumia's case may move especially quickly in the coming months, so stay closely attuned to this and other Mumia web sites. Check for one example, Michael Schiffman's site in Germany.

Follow THIS LINK to read a recent interview with Mumia. It is a Block Report Interview, conducted by Minister of Information JR of the POCC. To listen to the interview, find THE AUDIO HERE.

MUMIA: MORE LIES FUEL MOVEMENT FOR FREEDOM By Linn Washington Jr.  Washington's article begins this way: "A vivid example of abject stupidity is the outraged reactions of some local, state and federal officials to the April 2006 naming of a street in a suburb of Paris, in honor of Mumia Abu-Jamal." READ ALL OF THE ESSAY HERE.     Also, from Mumia's attorney, read his latest LEGAL UPDATE about the appeal in the Third Circuit Court.

Musician, Michael Franti's new CD, YELL FIRE, brings beauty and inspiration to our struggles for justice and peace today. A steady advocate for Mumia over the years, Franti focuses in song many issues of Mumia's life and work. Read on this site, Mark Taylor's 2000 EMAJ interview with Franti. Keep up with Franti at his SPEARHEAD VIBRATIONS web site.

Over 130 of the UK’s most distinguished lawyers are signatories to a letter initiated by Ian Macdonald QC and Legal Action for Women, to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals about the racism in the original trial and subsequent hearings of Mr Mumia Abu-Jamal. Find the UK PRESS RELEASE HERE. The international support for Mumia continues to grow, with support generated by members of the general public and by distinguished jurists and scholars. 

Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal's struggle, represented by the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ) and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (FMAJC) held a press conference on June 1st in Philadelphia. Click and VIEW THE VIDEO HERE. For more information about the controversy over "Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal," the new street named for Mumia in St.-Denis, France, see the announcements and links in the below panels.

A new report documents the culture of violence and abuse plaguing many U.S. prisons and the damage they do to the wider society. The 2.2 million imprisoned suffer the consequences, and often so do whole communities when traumatized returnees are released, as are some 600,000 prisoners each year from U.S. prisons. The report, Confronting Confinement, is a 126-page document that is a new important resource.

The Philadelphia City Council and two U.S. Representatives from Philadelphia, urged on by the Fraternal Order of Police, have waged a new, more intensive campaign against Mumia since the naming of a street in Mumia's honor in St.-Denis, France ("Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal"). The F.O.P. has issued angry press releases, and two Pennsylvania congresspeople have proposed House Resolution 407, with the Philadelphia City Council backing, which calls for the U.S. to sanction, condemn and/or boycott the French city. Both the French city Mayor and its City Council have refused to back down in the face of Pennsylvania authorities' pressure. Check out the UPDATE from International Concerned Family and Friends. In their update you can also learn how you can write to express your support for Mumia. (See also the previously posted essay by Ed Herman about the Philadelphia Inquirer's "sheer editorial bias" on this matter.)

Check out Ed Herman's trenchant critique and summary of the way The Philadelphia Inquirer has written about Mumia in the most recent weeks. The controversy now has centered on the naming of a Paris Street for Mumia, but much more is involved. Herman is a Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania. Herman is an expert on media ideology, has authored several books, and co-authored Manufacturing Consent with Noam Chomsky. See his article now, here.

EMAJ is now online with its web site. For the latest GOOD LEGAL NEWS ABOUT MUMIA (12.06.05) see this site's legal update HERE NOW. Check the "Educators List" to confirm that your name is listed as you wish it to be.  Read Mumia's recent columns on this web site at Mumia Columns in our  "Mumia Index." The most recent is "The United States of Torture."

As a new academic year begins, let us make sure Mumia's writing and work are referenced in our teaching and publishing. Let us keep him foregrounded as the colleague he is - in our shared ventures of inquiry, teaching, communication and political struggle for justice and peace. The U.S. wars abroad and the wars at home make his struggle and perspective as important as ever. Many educators have found that Mumia's work is one resource that often catalyzes student reflection upon the linkages between the U.S. prisons and the U.S. military, between those doing prison time and all those suffering this war time.

In the spirit of Mumia's own writings, this site does not just foreground Mumia's stuggle, but also the larger struggle for justice and peace of which his is a part. For one entry into the connections between Mumia and a larger struggle of our time, go to the above right and click on Mumia's recorded speech under "Images of Incarceration" to listen to his commentary on the Abu-Ghraib prison/torture facility. EMAJ ONLINE will change the homepage image of incarceration periodically. 

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Ona Move!

This is just a note to send my hearfelt thanks to all of you; you from every corner of the nation and globe, in your hundreds, and tens of thousands, have gathered, protested, marched and sat in . . . how I thank you!

Your loving yet militant support has been an inspiration.

We are not done yet!

As we struggle on, the issues of unfairness remain; an unfair judge; an unfair process, a jury unfairly stripped of people of color.

These injustices have still not been fairly and truly redressed.

With your help, we'll not just struggle, but win!

Only in America can a court reporter hear a judge say, "I'm going to help them fry the nigger!" report it, and the judiciary turns a blind eye!

And yet, we struggle on, for life and liberty, which, with your help, we'll gain.

Thank you.

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Summer 2005