A Call from Pam Africa for Mumia!

From Mumia NYC:

WE NEED YOUR HELP … AGAIN … FOR JUSTICE FOR MUMIA!

March 19, 2010

Dear Friends and Supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal

The time has come to ante up for Mumia. We are writing to invite you to join our Civil Rights Investigation Campaign (CRIC) on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal with your checkbooks and credit cards. As many of you know, the campaign is urging the Justice Department to open an investigation into the decades-long violations of Mumia's civil rights. As you also know, Mumia recently suffered a setback when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for the Philadelphia district attorney, vacating earlier rulings that had overturned the death penalty and granted a new sentencing-phase trial. Now, the Third Circuit Court will decide whether or not to execute Mumia without having a new sentencing trial. It's no exaggeration to say that Mumia's life is in grave danger … more than ever.

We believe that this campaign, which has already won national and international support and generated tens of thousands of letters and petitions to Attorney General Eric Holder, can positively change Mumia's fate. The campaign's supporters include the NAACP, the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, dozens of international unions, WESPAC; actress Ruby Dee; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Professors Cornel West, Noam Chomsky, and Henry Louis Gates; U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel; and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (for current lists of national and international organizations and individuals who support the campaign, see our Web site under Join the Campaign and scroll to the bottom).

But the campaign can't move forward to fulfill its promise and possibilities without material support. We must produce more palms cards, fliers, petitions, and buttons; make banners; rent buses Washington; pay for use of the Press Club. We pay for our meeting space, invest in video supplies, overnight mail documents to Mumia to assure delivery, copy materials and, even prepare to host some of the scheduled international visitors and participants in the meeting with the Department of Justice. Now is the time to do everything we can to fight for Mumia's life.

We will return to Washington, DC, on April 26 (two days after Mumia's 56th birthday) with busloads of supporters and boxloads of petitions in Phase 2 of the CRIC. (Phase 1 ended on November 12, 2009, when we delivered thousands of petitions to the Justice Department chief of the Civil Rights Division.) This time we hope to meet with officials to make our case in person.

We can't control the courts. But we can invest in an alternative strategy that may very likely have results leading to a new trial. And exoneration.

Here's how you can help. You can make a tax-deductible donation to the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC) by going to our Web site,www.freemumia.com, and clicking on "Please donate to the struggle for Mumia's freedom" at the right. PayPal takes it from there. Or you can send a check made out to "IFCO/Free Mumia Coalition" to the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC), P.O. Box 16, College Station, New York, NY 10030. All monies will be shared by the International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition (NYC). We also hope you can be with us in Washington, DC on Monday, April 26.

We understand that the fight for freedom is not free. It takes some money. Many of you have come forward in the past and contributed to this critical fight. We hope you can help us help Mumia again this time.

Free Mumia and All Political Prisoners! Ona Move!

Pam Africa
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal