[Marxism] he Mumia Case Support from NAACP, But a Movement in Shambles

[Mike Friedman <mikedf@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff07162004.html

July 16, 2004

The Mumia Case Support from NAACP, But a Movement in Shambles
By DAVE LINDORFF

The NAACP, after years of ducking taking a public stand on the case of
Pennsylvania death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, voted on an "emergency
resolution" near the end of its annual convention in Philadelphia Thursday
to call for a new trial for the black journalist/activist, and to urge
local NAACP chapters to work toward that goal.

The resolution didn't come easily. Mumia supporters found that delegates
who had hoped to introduce the measure had been decertified and barred from
the convention, which met in the Philadelphia Convention Center. They also
found that a planned panel on the death penalty, at which they had intended
to raise Abu-Jamal's case, had been unexplainably cancelled. Only when MOVE
activist Pam Africa and some other MOVE supporters threatened to picket the
convention and even attempt to crash the delegates assembly, holding a
white flag, did the organization-the nation's oldest civil rights
group--relent. Even then, a behind-the-scenes bureaucratic effort was made
to water down a draft resolution of support by removing the specific call
for a new trial and making it a call for a review of all death penalty
cases. Finally, with the help of several delegates, including David Graham
Du Bois (a descendent of W.E.B. Du Bois) and Mayor John Street's son
Sharif, NAACP Chair Julian Bond was persuaded to endorse and sign a
resolution draft that made the specific call for a new trial.

The NAACP's endorsement of the call for a new trial is an important victory
for Abu-Jamal, whose 23-year-old case is moving forward into the last
stages of his appeal--this time in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. For
while the venerable civil rights organization has supported Abu-Jamal in
the courtroom-it filed an amicus brief in 2000 in support of his federal
appeal-it had not until now put the organization on record as demanding for
a new trial.

Abu-Jamal, though his attorney, noted the support which the NAACP has
offered in his case over the years, and said, "I am humbled by and very
grateful for the NAACP1s support. The NAACP has taken stands through the
years on behalf of so many people who have been victimized in society
because of their race. I hope this resolution will help many others in
situations similar to mine."

His lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, added, "I think to have the support of
the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the U.S. is of enormous
importance to this case. Along with my client, I am very grateful to the
NAACP for taking this stand."

[...]

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