Mumia Abu-Jamal on Martin Luther King, Women, and the Movement

The Feminist Wire Exclusive: Mumia Abu-Jamal offers a timely message for Martin Luther King Day that addresses the gender politics of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements as well as the need for prison abolition, ending violence against women and girls of color, and fighting for LGBT rights. Hear Mumia’s other commentaries at Prison Radio.

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Mumia Abu-Jamal is a world-renowned prisoner, radio journalist, and author of seven acclaimed books. Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death, following his 1981 arrest for allegedly murdering Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. Systemic police corruption and judicial and prosecutorial misconduct in his trial, as well as Abu-Jamal’s steadfast assertion of innocence, have all made this case a global symbol of American justice gone wrong. In 2011, after surviving a grueling 28 years on Pennsylvania’s death row, his death sentence was declared unconstitutional and commuted to life without parole. Abu-Jamal’s demand for a new trial and freedom are supported by heads of state from France to South Africa, Nobel Laureates Nelson Mandela, Toni Morrison, and Desmond Tutu, by the European Parliament, distinguished human rights organizations like Amnesty International, city governments from Detroit and San Francisco to Paris, by scholars, religious leaders, artists, scientists, the Congressional Black Caucus and other members of U.S. Congress, the NAACP, labor unions, and by countless thousands who cherish democratic and human rights the world over.