From: Philly Daily News - 9/9/99
MUMIA TO MAG: STORY'S A "LIE"
Rips "confession" article in letter
Convicted killer and international cause celebre
Mumia Abu-Jamal has used this month's letters to the
editor page of Vanity Fair magazine to brand his
alleged "confession" to a prison visitor "a lie."
The magazine stoked the fires of controversy with
an article last month alleging that 10 years ago
Abu-Jamal expressed regret that he had murdered
a Philadelphia policeman to Philip Bloch, a
Pennsylvania Prison Society volunteer.
Jamal writes that a "lie is a lie" and accuses Bloch
of wanting "his 15 minutes of fame, in which case
I hope he has received it."
Sarcastically, Abu-Jamal writes, "I thank Vanity Fair,
not for its work but for stoking this controversy,
because controversy leads to questioning, and one
can only question this belated confession."
Abu-Jamal, a former radio newsman convicted in the
1981 shooting death of policeman Daniel Faulkner,
also charges that he was not asked for comment before
the article was published. "Welcome to snuff
journalism," he declares.
Abu-Jamal's charge is answered in an editorial reply
by the author of the article, Philadelphia-based
writer Buzz Bissinger.
Bissinger says he wrote repeatedly to Abu-Jamal seeking
an interview and received no answer. Bissinger said
he contacted the inmate's lawyer, Leonard Weinglass,
and "read him virtually verbatim the portion of the
article dealing with Bloch's assertion ... I asked him
to relay the information to Abu-Jamal to see if he had
any comment. Once again, I heard nothing back."
Abu-Jamal's death sentence is under appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
--------------
To write a Letter to the Editor or Guest Opinion,
mail to Philadelphia Daily News, Box 7788, Philadelphia,
PA 19101, fax to 215-854-5691 or e-mail to
dn.opinion@phillynews.com. Include your address
and day and evening telephone numbers. Mailed/faxed
letters must be signed. Your submission may (probably
will) be edited by the Daily News staff.
==============================================>
From: "leslie jones" <youth4mumia@hotmail.com>
ONA MOVE!
peace everyone......
please help spread the word............
1. MUMIA 911 (Saturday, September 11th)
2. Leonard Peltier Birthday Party (Sunday, September 12th)
3. Youth Meeting (Friday, September 10th)
......................................................................
MUMIA 911
National Day of Art to STOP THE EXECUTION of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Saturday, September 11, 1999 (9-11)
Broad & Spring Garden Streets
PHILADELPHIA
12 Noon - 6 PM
FREE!
CALLING ALL ARTISTS! The International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia
Abu-Jamal will be setting up a flatbed in front of the State Office Building
(right across from the FOP) to let EVERYONE know that artists in
Philadelphia support Mumia! We will have spoken word, music, movement, and
visual art. Come and contribute to the community banners we will be
creating to use in the PHILADELPHIANS FOR MUMIA demo on September 25th!
The bill is still open for performers, young & old! If you would like to
share your work, or simply SPEAK OUT call 215-248-2101.
With their national boycott, the FOP is attempting to intimidate artists
from supporting MUMIA 911. We won't allow that to happen! Come and show
your support for Mumia! WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
......................................................................
THE INDIAN WARS ARE NOT OVER!
It's 1999. Why is Leonard Peltier Still In Prison?
Celebrate the birthday of political prisoner and AIM leader Leonard Peltier!
Join us for an evening of revolutionary artistic expression...
Sunday, September 12, 1999 (Leonard's Birthday!)
Calvary Church
48th & Baltimore Avenue
PHILADELPHIA
4 PM - 9 PM
Donation $5
featuring rhytms rhymes music movement videos information
including....
Timi & the Dub Warriors (Roots & culture)
The Architects (west philly's vibes & sounds)
The Seeds of Wisdom (Young People of the MOVE Organization)
Ryakin Riptua of MOMSUG (hip hop from the streets of illadelph)
Leonard Peltier is a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM), who has
been wrongfully imprisoned by the US government for 23 years. He is serving
a double-life sentence for the murders of two FBI agents who the US Attorney
handling the case has admitted, in court, that the government does not know
who committed the murders.
The proceeds will benefit the Leonard Peltier Freedom Runners who will be
leaving from the "liberty" bell in Philadelphia on October 29th, heading for
Washington, DC, to kick off the November 1999 DEMAND for Executive Clemency
for Leonard!
plenty of free parking!
take the #34 trolley from city hall and get off at 48th Street
food will be available for a donation...
For more information call 215-386-4209.
......................................................................
YOUTH MEETINGS ARE STARTING AGAIN!
THIS Friday (as in today!)
September 10, 1999
4601 Market Street - 5th Floor (Mumia Office)
PHILADELPHIA
6:30 PM
we'll be talking about Mumia Awareness Week Sept 19th - 25th and other
ideas for youth activism in Philly around the issues pertaining to Mumia's
case...
JOIN US!
for more information call 215-248-2101 or email youth4mumia@hotmail.com
take care...........
======================================>
From: Laura Esquivel <LESQUIVEL@C13.CI.LA.CA.US> (by way of Michael Novick
<part2001@usa.net>)
Pass it on...... (also Ozomotli FREE this Friday, 9/10, noon at Grand
Performances/California Plaza Watercourt, 350 S. Grand)
ArtSpeaks! Concert for MUMIA 911 on 9/11
When: This Saturday, 9/11/99
What time: From Noon until midnight
Why: ArtSpeak is part of the MUMIA 911 National Day of Art to Stop the
Excecution of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Where: Watts Labor Community Action Committee - The Center 10950 S.
Central Ave, LA (at Century Blvd.) Staffed parking availiable for a fee.
Directions: Take the 105 freeway, Exit Central Ave, from the east turn
right onto Central, from the west turn left onto Central
How much is it: a measly $12 for a zillion bands, good politics, a great
cause and incredible music,art, video,spoken word and more.
Where do I get tickets: Presale tix are availiable at Fatbeats/Arons/Beat
Non-Stop/Eso-Won Bookstore/Espreso Mi Cultura/Midnight Special/Libros
Revolucion/Rhino Records/WLCAC
For more info and to volunteer call 310/854-4681
A production of the Artist Network of Refuse and Resist!
Who's gonna be there: All yor friends and some great music performances,
spoken word, videos, and visual art!
Performances by:
OZOMATLI, MEDUSA, AFRIKAN PEOPLE'S ARKESTRA, KAMAU DAAOOD, LEON MOBLEY &
DA LION, OSCAR BROWN JR., BLACKALISIOUS, CUT CHEMIST, BLUES EXPERIMENT,
MONEY MARK, THE PEAS, OUT SOUT, SELF SCIENTIFIC, CVE LEGION, WOZANI,
GLOBAL PHLOWTATIONS, SLO RIDER, GARTH TRINIDAD, AZTLAN UNDERGROUND,
LUDLOW, DR. OOP, CARLOS NINO, GARY PHILIPS, ABSTRACT RUDE, JERRY QUICKLEY,
PAUL CALDERON, SONIA MARIE, TACO SHOP POETS, DEEP RED, NIKIA BILLINGSLEA,
AND MANY MORE SURPRISE GUESTS
======================================>
From: sittingtree@juno.com
Tucson Mumia 911 Adhoc Committee
Tucson, Arizona
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Southern Arizona People's Law Center (520) 623-7306
Tucson Arts Brigade (520) 792-6483
www.mumia911.org
911 FOR MUMIA!
The Tucson Mumia 911 Committee is sponsoring a "Mumia 911!" rally and
march on Saturday September 11th (9/11). We will gather at 5pm in Cesar
Chavez park (corner of 18th St. and Stone Ave) and walk from the park to
Police Headquarters (270 S. Stone), where there will be a peaceful rally
featuring the "theater of the oppressed". Speakers include Paul Guttone
of the Southern Arizona People's Law Center, Ray Jarvis of the NAACP, and
Ann Nichols from the Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Performers include Bruce Phillips, the Tucson Labor Chorus and the Tucson
Arts Brigade.
"911 for Mumia" is a national citizens coalition demanding a new, and
fair trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a stop to his execution, and an end to the
death penalty. On September 11, 1999 artists will stage concerts, art
exhibitions, theater events, performances and readings across the country
for one unified purpose: to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
=========================================>
THE PAN-AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION CENTER
211 SCB BOX 47, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
DETROIT, MI 48202-- E MAIL: ac6123@wayne.edu
UPDATED CALENDAR OF EVENTS (Includes Mumia 911)
This is not a complete Calendar of events and will be updated as we
receive more information.
SAT, SEPT 11 -MUMIA 911 -THE DAY OF ART FOR MUMIA.
SAT, SEPT 11 - 8-10pm - DISTRESS CALL (Open Mic) & WRITING ON THE WALL
FOR MUMIA at the Aroma Cafe [Kerchaval & Parker (near Van Dyke)in
Detroit]. Call 313-579-2233 for more info
SAT, SEPT 11 - 11:30pm - MUMIA 911 Featuring Mick Vranich & the Detroit
Crew at the Johanson Charles Gallery 1345 Market St between Russell &
Rivard in Detroit (near Eastern Market). Call 313-567-8628.
WED, SEPT. 15 - 11:35 - 12:50 WRONGLY CONVICTED -WSU Law School, room
105. For more info call 313-963-0843.
WED, SEPT. 15 - 6pm WRONGLY CONVICTED -U of D Mercy Law School, Room 244
for more info call 313-963-0843.
TUES, SEPT 21 - 11:30am Anniversary Protest for Justice in the Lamar
Grable Case - Tactical Mobile Unit HQ, Brush N of I-75 in Detroit for
more info call 313-527-6463 313-331-7794.
TUES, SEPT 21 - 1pm STUDENT/ YOUTH ACTION DAY FOR MUMIA - Rally at Gullen
mall on Wayne State University Campus. Call 313-628-4932 for more info.
TUES, SEPT 21 - 4pm Rally and March at Kerchaval and Field in Detroit,
site of Lamar's death.
TUES, SEPT 21 - 7pm Vigil at Field and Kerchaval in Detroit, site of
Lamar's death. for more info call 313-527-6463 313-331-7794.
FRIDAY, SEPT 24 -4:30 - 6pm -100 CITIES FOR MUMIA -Rally at the Tunnel to
Canada (Jefferson & Randolph) Bring signs and noise makers! Social
gathering to follow. for more info. call 313-628-4932 or 313-869-8383.
FRI. OCT 22 -3pm NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY -March
at City-County Bldg. Detroit, MI Evening rally to be announced. for more
info call 313-527-6463 313-331-7794.
=================================================>
From: iacenter@iacenter.org
Upcoming events to Build MUMIA Awareness Week
Sept 19-25th
This following is a list of activities and meetings in New York building for
Mumia Awareness Week, September 19-25. For more information about Mumia
Awareness Week, to find out about national organizing, to be an organizing
center, or to find an organizing center in your area, respond to this email
or call
212-633-6646 or 212-924-8585.
Friday Sept 10th
High School and college Outreach
Meet at 1:30pm
2-4pm
HELP! leaflet at the following locations:
(1) Chambers Street Train Station (1,2,3,9 Line) above ground
call 212 633-6646 Youth & Students for Mumia for more details
(2) Lower East side H.S. 14th St.& 1st Avenue
call Hunter College Slam 212 772-4262
*More locations to be announced: (The Bronx, Queens & Brooklyn)
If you can cover your high school/college/area and need flyers please call:
212
633-6646
Friday, September 17 1999
2-4 pm Student and Youth Outreach Day
locations TBA
NY YOUTH & STUDENT Meetings for Mumia Awareness Week
Sunday, September 12
Youth & Student Meeting to Build Activities
for Mumia Awareness Week
12noon to 2pm @ Mumia Awareness Week office:
39 W. 14th Street, #206 (between 5th and 6th Ave.)
Call 212 924-8585 or 212 633-6646
Also, Sunday, September 12
Youth Meeting to Organize for
Student Walk-outs on Sept 21st & 24th
3pm @ Refuse & Resist office:105 Chambers St. (corner of Church), buzz 2A
call The Code 718 398-1766 / 718 949-5153
or Refuse and Resist 212 385-9305
BUILD MUMIA AWARENESS WEEK SEPTEMBER 19-25
212 924-8585 national number
National Peoples Campaign/Millions for Mumia
39 West 14th Street, #206
New York, NY 10011
212 633-6646 212 633-2889 FAX
email: npcny@peoplescampaign.org
http://www.peoplescampaign.org
======================================>
From: Refuse & Resist <rnradmin@calyx.net>
(The following statement is being circulated by activists in Chicago.)
A MESSAGE FROM INNOCENT PEOPLE
WHO HAVE BEEN FREED FROM DEATH ROW
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
There are innocent men and women on death row in this country. We know, for
we were numbered among them. Many of us endured for years in the narrow and
isolated confines of a barren cell designed to murder our spirits, as the
State struggled to win final legal sanction to steal our lives.
Such is the case with Mumia Abu-Jamal, an award-winning journalist, an
outspoken opponent of racism and police brutality, a militant champion of
justice for Black people, a man who fo decades has been the voice of the
dispossessed and the disenfranchised -- and an innocent man on death row in
Pennsylvania.
We know Mumia's struggle, because no one knows better than we of the lengths
to which the criminal "justice" system will go to in its relentless quest to
take a life. Many of us are intimately familiar with the daily degradation
of Mumia's seventeen years on death row: locked in his cell for 23 hours
each day, forbidden to embrace or even see his family members, prohibited
from being filmed or audio taped by reporters, slapped into punitive
detention for writing and publishing his views, refused the right to
confidentially communicate with his attorneys. We were sustained in our
struggle for justice, as Mumia is, by the tireless support of our families,
friends, and people of principle who organized to liberate us from the
machine that tried to slay us. And above all else we were sustained, as
Mumia is, by the only real certainty we were allowed on death row - the
knowledge that we were innocent.
The State sought to poison us, electrocute us or hang us with the
machine-like indifference it reserves for people it has determined to be
worthless and therefore disposable -- in this country, overwhelmingly poor
people and people of color. If our murders could be used to enhance a
political career or a partisan policy debate, then so much the better. But
the State seeks to murder Mumia with a ruthless and relentless fervor that
has publicly defied any pretext of fairness or decency. Let us be clear: the
State's campaign to murder Mumia is designed above all else to silence a
Black man who dares to speak truth to power. As Mumia himself has said, the
State does not just seek his death, it seeks his silence.
It is for these reasons that we call on all people of conscience to speak
out, to organize against this travesty of justice, and to demand Mumia's
freedom. To allow Pennsylvania to murder Mumia is to allow the State to
succeed in slaughtering another innocent and in silencing a voice for the
voiceless. We know that the State will not concede its wrongdoing without a
struggle. We know that the authorities who have sought to murder this man
will not submit to justice unless we, the people, organize to fight the
State's abuse of power. Join us. Stand with Mumia Abu-Jamal, our brother and
our friend, and demand that the State of Pennsylvania set him free.
Kirk Bloodworth
(Maryland, Convicted 1984, Released 1993)
Joseph Burrows
(Illinois, Convicted 1989, Released 1994)
Perry Cobb
(Illinois, Convicted 1979, Released 1987)
Muneer Deeb
(Texas, Convicted 1985, Released 1993)
Gary Gauger
(Illinois, Convicted 1993, Released 1996)
Verneal Jimerson
(Illinois, Convicted 1985, Released 1996)
Troy Lee Jones
(California, Convicted 1982, Released 1996)
David Keaton
(Florida, Convicted 1971, Released 1973)
Ronald Kline
(New Mexico, Convicted 1974, Released 1976)
Carl Lawson
(Illinois, Convicted 1990, Released 1996)
Wilbert Lee
(Florida, Convicted 1963, Released 1975)
Bradley P. Scott
(Florida, Convicted 1988, Released 1991)
Delbert Tibbs
(Florida, Convicted 1974, Released 1977)
Darby (Williams) Tillis
(Illinois, Convicted 1979, Released 1987)
Dennis Williams
(Illinois, Convicted 1979, Released 1996)
===============================================>
IT'S TIME TO PICK UP THE PACE!
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 19709 - Philadelphia, PA 19143
Ph: 215-476-8812 / Fax: 215-476-7551
Web: www.mumia.org / E-mail: mumia@webcom.com
MUMIA MUST LIVE!