To Johanna with love, may you rest in peace and power

By Julia Wright (guest) posted on August 5, 2026

Johanna Fernandez with Mumia Abu-Jamal.

The following poem is dedicated by activist Julia Wright to the revolutionary spirit of Dr. Johanna Fernandez, an Afro-Dominican prison abolitionist and author who died at the age of 54 on July 30 after a long bout of cancer. In 2010 she wrote and produced the documentary “Justice on Trial.” Fernandez was a leading organizer of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, which was founded in 2012 to demand the release of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Fernandez was the author of “The Young Lords: A Radical History,” released in 2014. She was a history professor at Baruch College and the City University New York Graduate Center.

there is no way
we will let
your unwavering flame go out –
a flame you passed on
to us
a flame we will keep
alive
in a world shunning
books as weapons
you left us
a book that is
both love and spear
on a patriarchal Left
still shunning women
as leaders
you became
a leader
teaching us
not to bow to abuse
sexism or fear
as a woman warrior
you obtained
damning files on the New York police
nobody could get released
you wrote
you taught
you marched with us
you carried Mumia’s words
to the encampments
for Gaza
you hosted the international front
because
your spirit was always strong
even when
your flesh had begun to falter
you went to the U.N.
and obtained
for Mumia
the amicus curiae
Judge Lucretia Clemons
tossed away
above all
you loved Mumia
and moved mountains
so that his words and manuscripts
would become
the university archives
generations to come
would get to touch
Johanna
today
the whole abolitionist movement
will light candles for you
from the Young Lords
to the Panthers
to all those helping to free
our political prisoners –
so many candles
that their light
reaching Mumia
will fill his eyes
with the unflickering
love not phear
death will never blow out