moore on mumia

[Dan Scanlan <dscanlan@xxxxxxx>]

from Carl Gunther of Songwriters for Change...

I was just in a bookstore and leafed through a copy of Moore's new
book.  I found that near the back of the book, in the notes section
for chapter 10 (the chapter in which Moore states his opinion that
Mumia is guilty) there were in fact references to Web sites which
Moore apparently believes support his position regarding Mumia's
guilt.  At least, their being listed as references for Moore's
position on the Mumia case led *me* to believe that I would find
information there that was indicative of Mumia's guilt.

I've taken a look at the referenced sites and here is what I have
found:

Moore's first reference is:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/reports/mumia

This is of course Amnesty International's Web site.

On this page within that report:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/reports/mumia/intro.html

I found the following statement at the top of the second paragraph:

"In light of the contradictory and incomplete evidence in this case,
Amnesty International can take no position on the guilt or innocence
of Mumia Abu-Jamal."

The rest of the report is primarily concerned with the unfairness of
the trial and the need for a new trial, which Amnesty is urging.
In the course of arguing in favor of a new trial, the report
documents the extensive inconsistencies in the case of the
prosecution.  In its summation, the report states:

"Juries can only be accurate assessors of events if they are given a
complete view of the facts - including any differing explanations and
interpretations of events - and are made aware of the possible
reasons for the bias of witnesses. These factors were clearly missing
in Abu-Jamal's trial."

In short, I could not find a single sentence in this report that
supports Michael Moore's contention that Mumia is guilty as charged,
and in fact the report specifically denies that such a conclusion can
be reached, and presents information that thoroughly undermines the
case of the prosecution.

Moore's second reference is:

http://www.ncadp.org

This is the site of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty.

There were no obvious links on the site's main page to information
about Mumia's case.  However, by searching the ncadp.org domain for
the word "Mumia" using www.google.com's advanced search page, exactly
two links were found.

The first is:

http://www.ncadp.org/html/dec18.html

Like the Amnesty report, this page provides zero support for Moore's
thesis that Mumia is guilty.  In fact, the page quotes the executive
director of NCADP as stating that ?This case is a textbook example of
racism within our criminal justice system. And it is a textbook
example of the fundamental issue of fairness and whether we as a
society are executing innocent people.?

So, far from supporting Moore's contention of Mumia's guilt, the
NCADP page stops just (barely) short of directly proclaiming his
innocence.

The second page ( http://www.ncadp.org/html/press_releases.html ) is
just a listing of press releases that contains a reference to the
page just mentioned above.

Moore's third and final reference is:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

This is the site of the Death Penalty Information Center.  A search
of the site for "Mumia" reveals five pages.

The first is a listing of books, all critical of the prosecution's
case against Mumia and containing nothing to support a contention of
guilt.

The second and third are oblique references containing nothing
regarding the case.

The fourth and fifth both contain the same quote from writer E.R.
Shipp implying that due process was not followed in the Mumia case,
and saying nothing about Mumia's guilt.

I believe that by listing the above sites as references with respect
to his statements asserting Mumia's guilt, Moore has created the
false impression that Amnesty International, the National Coalition
Against the Death Penalty, and the Death Penalty Information Center
in some way support his position, when in fact they do not.  I
believe it is essential that Moore should publicly correct this
misleading impression.  If Moore does not do this voluntarily then
hopefully the above organizations will correct it themselves and will
demand that Moore issue a statement to that effect.

As for Moore himself, it is still not at all clear why he believes
that Mumia is guilty.  Certainly, given the Amnesty report cited in
his own book, he cannot claim ignorance of the facts of the case.
So, Michael, what *is* your reason for making this claim?  People
make mistakes - did you?  Or is there some information that you have
not yet revealed?  You *must* respond to this, because it is not
going to go away.

Regarding Amy Goodman, in fairness it must be said that Mumia's case
did not come up at all during her interview with Moore, so the main
criticism would be that she should have raised the issue and didn't -
an error of omission, not commission.  And she asked most of the
right questions regarding Wesley Clark.

Let's not be too ready to attack people who overall have a brilliant
record.  Including Michael Moore.  Moore needs to answer for what he
has said, and needs to be urged to repair the damage that he has
done.  But let's not forget all of the constructive contributions
that he has made because of this one (very serious) offense.

Carl
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