Meeting in solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal

Pam Africa Photos: Roberto Mercado

Pam Africa and Julia Wright, leaders of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, were featured speakers at a packed meeting at Salem Methodist Church in Harlem June 23 for an evening of international solidarity with Abu-Jamal, a revolutionary political prisoner on Pennsylvania’s death row.

Abu-Jamal was convicted of the first-degree murder of a white Philadelphia police officer on July 3, 1982. His original trial was deeply flawed, with at least 29 constitutional violations, including racist behavior on the part of the presiding judge and prosecutor against Abu-Jamal, who is Black. There are federal appeals in motion, based on these violations, to try to win him a new trial.

Julia Wright

Wright, whose father was legendary African American writer Richard Wright, had traveled from her home in France to speak in New York and elsewhere. She discussed the significance of the April 29 ceremony, attended by Africa and other U.S. activists, where a new street in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis was named for Abu-Jamal.

Africa, who is also the Minister of Confrontation for the MOVE organization, spoke about the recent struggle with the Philadelphia chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, which opposes the street naming and also wants to bring back the death penalty for Abu-Jamal. The FOP got some of their allies in the U.S. Congress to put forth a reactionary resolution to pressure the French government to revoke the name “Rue Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

When members of the Phila delphia City Council voted to support this resolution, Africa and other Abu-Jamal supporters went to several council meetings to demand a public hearing on the issue. Africa’s message to the June 23 Harlem audience was to resist the efforts by the FOP and others to silence the movement on the issue of the street.

Other speakers at the Harlem event included Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition; long-time Puerto Rican activist Esperanza Martell; former Black Panther Rosemari Mealy; poet Sonia Sanchez, who read a message of support for Abu-Jamal from actor Ruby Dee; and Suzanne Ross co-chair of the New York Free Mumia Coalition, which sponsored the event.

Abu-Jamal sent a special, inspiring taped message to the event praising Julia Wright and Richard Wright.

—Monica Moorehead