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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 20, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Message to the People's Tribunal from political prisoner in exile, Assatta Shakur

I think the People’s Tribunal is important because I believe that it is only the people that will bring justice in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, in the case of political prisoners and in the case of oppressed people.

I think that it is the people who must speak. The Philadelphia police department, the Philadelphia court system has proven to be one of the most vicious, one of the most racist in the world.

It is a known fact that the police department in Philadelphia frames people. It is a known fact that the police department in Philadelphia invents evidence. It is a known fact that the judge that sentenced Mumia to death sentenced more people to death than any other judge in the United States and that out of 31 people that judge sentenced to death, 29 were people of color. That is the most blatant racism that you can call to mind.

So I think that what this Tribunal represents is a chance for the people to speak loudly, to talk about their experiences, and to condemn, not only the Philadelphia police system, not only the Philadelphia court system, not only the Pennsylvania court system, but the entire system of injustice in the United States.

So I think it is important for the people to testify, it is important for the people to come forth, and it is important for us to understand that we must build a popular movement, a people’s movement for social justice.

Assata Shakur
Havana, Cuba
October 1997

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