FW: National Alert to LGBTST communities-please post widely

["bob brown" <vacirca@xxxxxxxxx>]

"solidarity means sharing the same risks" - Che
( la solidarita significa correre gli stessi rischi)

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From: "RainbowFlags4 Mumia" <rainbows4mumia@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: rainbows4mumia@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: National Alert to LGBTST communities-please post widely
Date: Fri, Aug 20, 1999, 11:16 PM



National Emergency Alert from Rainbow Flags for Mumia
Lesbians, Gay, Bi, Two-Spirit, and Trans People for Mumia Abu-Jamal
39 West 14 St., #206, New York, NY 10011, Phone: (212) 633-6646, Fax: (212)
633-2889
Web: http://www.peoplescampaign.org Email: rainbows4mumia@xxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Friends,

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, there is a possibility that
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge could sign a new death warrant for
African-American journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal as early
as August 1999.   We are writing to alert every progressive lesbian, gay,
bi, and trans organization and activist to this very serious threat to
Mumia?s life.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former Black Panther and a lifelong fighter against
racism, repression and police brutality. He is a widely published author and

radio commentator who is known as the ?voice of the voiceless.?

As lesbians, gay men, bisexuals two-spirit and trans peoples, we experience
first-hand police brutality and repression--from raids in trans and gay bars

to the police attacks and brutality against us. We understand what it means
to be harassed, arrested, and jailed for just being who we are.   But Mumia
Abu-Jamal is not only an activist against racism and police brutality, he
has also come out against the violence against our communities.
?The sickening attacks on gay people in cities across the nation recently is

a reflection of the sickness that simmers at the core of the American soul.
Is it a coincidence that Richmond, the city where a Black man was burned to
death and decapitated, follows several months later with the decapitation
and torture of a gay man? I think not.
This cruel and savage violence must be stopped -but it won't be the cops
that stop it.
The people are the solution!      So my thanks to the Rainbow!  Ona Move! ?
Mumia Abu-Jamal (March 18, 1999)

The execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal would be the killing of a political
activist with State sanction. It would be a green light to right-wing forces

that provoke attacks like those against James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Billy
Jack Gaither in Alabama, Rita Hesser in Boston, and Edward Northingham in
Richmond.

We are calling on all sectors of the LGBTST community to plan and
participate in activities for Mumia Awareness Week, September 19-25, 1999,
to mount a national emergency response to the anticipated signing of new
death warrant. Already scheduled activities include the September 21st
?International Youth and Student Day for Mumia? and ?A Day of Actions in 100

Cities? on Saturday, September 25th.
Rainbows Flags for Mumia, is a coalition of over 200 organizations and
individuals of the lesbian, gay, bi, two-spirit and trans people who are
organizing to stop the execution and to demand a new trial for Mumia
Abu-Jamal.  On April 24th, over 1,000 LGBTST activists representing over 25
cities and colleges marched in Philadephia and San Francisco at the Millions

for Mumia demonstrations. Rainbow Flags for Mumia also organized contingents

and activities during the Pride celebrations in over seven cities across the

country.

Endorsers of April 24th included The National Lesbian and Gay Task Force,
African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change, Pride At Work,
Urvashi Vaid, Intl. Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, The Natl.
Latina/o LGBT Organization, Jewell Gomez, Nancy Nangeroni, Transgenders
United for Equality, Housing Works, Inc., Southerners for New Ground,
Jessica Xaiver, Morris Kight, and The NYC Anti-Violence Project.

Enclosed is the Mumia Awareness Week national call. In this critical and
decisive moment, we are urging for the participation and support of the
LGBTST community in Mumia Awareness Week, September 19-25 1999.

Together, we can strike a blow against anti-gay and trans violence.
Together, we can stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Sincerely,
David Acosta
Scott Berry
Leslie Feinberg
Mandy Carter
Jesse Heiwa
Joo-Hyun Kang
Minnie Bruce Pratt
Barbara Smith






A Call to Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Awareness Week

SEPTEMBER 19-25 1999 AWARENESS

There is a growing awareness that the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is a travesty
of justice. His case has become the focus of a growing international
movement. The issues bound up in this case include the death penalty, racial

bias in the U.S. criminal justice system, and the punishment of political
dissent. Where people stand on this case has become a benchmark of where
they stand on social justice.

The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is now in the federal courts. This is the year
of decision. Hence we call for a week for justice, September 19-25, to
prevent an unjust execution from putting a stain on society for decades to
come. To project the questions surrounding this case onto a national scale,
we call on all people and organizations concerned with justice and human
rights to examine this case, to develop plans and materials, to take up this

issue to their communities and constituencies, and to make plans to
contribute to this week for justice.

This week will include a wide variety of national and local initiatives
around Mumia's case, culminating in a day of activities in 100 cities. The
effect will be to make this case, and the issues bound up in it, into a
household word and a political dividing line in the United States and
internationally.

"Every generation should have a moral assignment, and one of ours must be
justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.?
? Ossie Davis

Suggested Activities ?Mumia Awareness Week

Joining together to make Mumia?s case into a major national issue in society

for a concentrated period of time . . .

There was national attention when:

The Oakland Education Association incorporated a lesson plan on Mumia and
the death penalty in the Oakland public schools.

Rage Against the Machine held a sellout benefit concert for Mumia?s legal
defense.

The Longshoremen?s Union held meetings on the case during the working day
that shut down ports from San Diego up to Oregon.

And Evergreen State College chose to hear a message from Mumia at their
commencement.

Now during September 19-25 we are going to:

Hold programs and actions in ?100 Cities for Mumia Abu-Jamal.?

Hold a national Youth and Student Day for Mumia in hundreds of schools and
campuses.

Proclaim a national ?Faith Weekend? for Mumia, in which religious
communities take up this issue.

Promote a national day to wear symbols of sup-port for justice in Mumia?s
case and place his picture in windows across the country.

Here is what you and your organization can do:

First and foremost, make the decision NOW to participate, and have your
activity listed as part of the national effort. Every group will take the
activity most effective in their community -- but we hold in common a
refusal to become complicit by doing nothing.

Lawyers and law students: programs at law schools that invite legal
commentators to address the questions raised in this case. A national
statement by concerned lawyers could be published that week.

Faith communities: national religious bodies send material on the case to
their local congregations. Study groups and religious services on the theme
of Mumia and capital punishment by major religious groups of all faiths
during the week of September 19-25.

African-American community: bring the issues in this case to Black
fraternities and sororities, churches, and the traditional civil rights
movement. Ask the Congressional Black Caucus to undertake to hold public
hearings on Mumia?s case. Energize the Black media to sound a clarion call
against the threat to Mumia.

Campuses and high schools: programs, debates and classroom assignments. Hang

banners and set up a mock death row. Call on campus newspapers to publish
background information, and campus and community radio stations to play
Mumia?s commentaries. Translate these materials in many languages.

Artists and performers: Build on the ?Mumia 911? programs being held on
September 11 to create works of art and ?imaginative graphic appearances.?
Hold public readings from Mumia?s books in bookstores.

In our communities: Take Mumia?s case into the housing projects, community
centers, and basketball courts. Creative acts of civil disobedience, as when

people of conscience chained themselves to the White House fence to protest
apartheid and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela.

Press and radio: place letters and op-ed pieces in hundreds of community
newspapers: Latino, Asian, women?s, alternative, lesbian and gay press in
that week. Bombard the U.S. with international support for Mumia. Organize
major media appearances and talk show programs.

Culminating on September 25: with a day of public activities, with
everything from silent vigils, to fo-rums, to car caravans, to night time
torch-light parades and demonstrations in 100 cities. Building on the April
24 ?Millions for Mumia? mobilizations, we now have the capacity to reach
into every community. Our actions, combined with the impact of and the
controversy over the entire week of activity, will make Mumia?s case an
unavoidable issue in society.

MUMIA AWARENESS WEEK (mailing address):
511 Ave. of the Americas, #186, New York, NY 10011
www.j4mumia.org Phone 212-924-8585

To give donations in support of the Mumia Awareness Week, please make checks

out to the ?Black United Fund -Mumia? w / ?September week? in the memo
field. Mail to: BUF 2227 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19132-4502

To obtain a list of organizations planning activities for this week or to
obtain the list of cities with "100 Cities for Mumia" activities planned,
Email: info@xxxxxxxxxxx
Call: 212-924-8585
Mail to: 511 Ave. of the Americas, #186, New York, NY 10011

Volunteers and funds urgently needed!
To find about Mumia organizing in your area please call:

International Action Center-East Coast
39 West 14th Street, Room 296
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.iacenter.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax:   212 633-2889

International Action Center-West Coast
2489 Misson, #28
San Francisco, CA 94110
phone: 415 821-6545
fax: 415-821-5782
email: iac@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.iacenter.org

Other Mumia Contacts:

Intl. Concern Family and Friends for Mumia Abu-Jamal
215 476-8812
www.mumia.com

Rainbows Flags for Mumia
Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Two-Spirit, Trans People for Mumia
39 West 14th Street  Room 206
NY, NY 10011
212 633-6646
rainbows4mumia@xxxxxxxxxxx
Contact: Imani Henry or Deirdre Sinnott

Youth and Students for Mumia
39 West 14th Street  Room 206
NY, NY 10011
212 633-6646
npcny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Contact: Vivan Martin, Sarah Sloan, Imani Henry, Andrea MacManus

The New York Free Mumia Coalition
212 330-8029

Mumia  Awareness Week National Number
212-924-8585
www.j4mumia.org

LIST OF CONTACTS FOR ?100 CITIES FOR MUMIA?For September 25,
the culminating day of Mumia Awareness Week,
Atlanta 770-989-2536
Boston 617-522-6626
Buffalo 716-855-3055
Chicago 773-381-6507; 312-683-5194
Cleveland 216-631-5338
Columbus 614 424 ? 9074
Des Moines 515-243-0765
Detroit 313-628-4932
Honolulu 808-598-4653
Houston 713-523- 8454
Los Angeles 323-962-8084, 323-653-4510
New Paltz (NY) 914 255-7173
New York 212-330-8029
Milwaukee 414-374-1034
Madison,Minneapolis 651-649-4579
Nashville 615 332-8543
Paris (France) 011 33 14 579-8844
Paterson, NJ 973-278-0919
Pensacola,FL 850-458-5350
Philadelphia 215-476-8812
Providence 401-467-2288
Richmond 804-355-6914, 804-358-0236
Rochelle Park (NJ) 201-670-0318
Rochester (NY) 716-436-6458
San Diego 619-616-8574
San Francisco 415-821-0459
Selma 334 -874 ?0065
Stevens Point (WI) 608-788-0459
Springfield (MA) 413-538-8537
Washington, DC 703-750-2231





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