Document signed by some members of the faculty, staff, alumni, and community and distributed to the graduation ceremony at The Evergreen State College in response to the specious ads in the previous weekend's Olympian paid for by the FOP and signed by Maureen Faulker. * * * * AN OPEN LETTER TO MRS. DANIEL FAULKNER AND JUSTICE FOR POLICE OFFICER DANIEL FAULKNER, INC. 6/9/99 First, we would like to extend our sincerest condolences to Mrs. Maureen Faulkner on the loss of her husband, Daniel, in 1981. The loss of a loved one is always a severe blow which takes years to recover from, and that loss should not be ignored. However, your presence in Olympia and your open letter (paid ads) in the Olympian this past weekend were not meant to elicit sympathy and condolences, but to disrupt the 1999 commencement of The Evergreen State College. Your purpose for doing so is that you believe that the murderer of officer Faulkner is one of the featured speakers at the commencement. You are mistaken. The featured speaker is Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal is a “convicted cop-killer” only in the same sense that Nelson Mandela was a “convicted terrorist.” Abu-Jamal was fraudulently convicted and framed and has never been convicted on evidence beyond a “reasonable doubt.” Despite what you list as “facts” in your paid ad, an examination of the actual facts of the case demonstrates this. There are several police inconsistencies about his gun not matching the lethal weapon; his jury was severely limited in the number of Black jurors allowed; his counsel was ineffective; his judge (a member of the police union) has sentenced more people to death than any other sitting judge in the U.S.; witnesses were coerced by the police during his trial and during his appeals; and his so-called “confession” was suddenly remembered by the local police two months after he was alleged to have stated it. The attending physician, who was with him the entire time, has stated that he uttered no confession. His appeals to rehear the evidence have been heard by the same judge, Albert Sabo, who originally denied him a fair trial. Obviously in a short letter it is not possible to “prove” the above assertions, any more than your organization proved the so-called “facts” in your ad. I would suggest that the interested reader check out various sources such as www.mumia.org; www.prisonactivist.org; www.iacenter.org. These web sites will provide numerous links. Books to be examined include Leonard Weinglass, Race for Justice; Refuse and Resist, Resource Book on the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal; and Abu-Jamal’s books, Live from Death Row and Death Blossoms. Also see the documentary Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt? Several of us have been following this case for years, including examining your web site which lays out the prosecution case, and have found it to be full of the same disinformation which framed the original case and also adds new racist dimensions (such as the attacks on the NAACP and the absurd “study” on how the death penalty is not racially influenced). The very fact that the “facts” of the case are seriously in dispute is reason enough, in itself, for the necessity of a new trial by a judge of impeccable impartiality and integrity. In the open letter-paid ad, it is stated that only the “misguided few” support Abu-Jamal’s request for a new trial. As you know, this case has the interest of millions around the world. Among the multitudes of “misguided few” who have studied the case, and who have publicly called for a new trial are noted authors Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Maya Angelou, Manning Marable, Alice Walker, Salman Rushdie, former political prisoners Geronimo Pratt, Angela Davis, and South African President Nelson Mandela. Also supporting Abu-Jamal are former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, artists Ossie Davis and Pete Seeger, religious leader Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Holocaust expert Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. Also among those supporting a new trial are civil rights leaders Julian Bond and Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. The TESC class of 1999 is in good company. Among the organizations which have publicly supported a new trial are the European Parliament, the International Parliament of Writers, the National Black Police Association, Amnesty International, The African National Congress, and unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers, nationally and internationally. Why would these esteemed individuals and respected organizations support the call for a new trial? After careful examination, they have come to the conclusion that, at best, the original trial of Abu-Jamal was seriously flawed by judicial and/or prosecutorial misconduct, or at worst, Abu-Jamal was framed for political reasons. It is disingenuous to suggest that these and other “misguided few” are extraordinarily ignorant or are deliberately causing harmful mischief by supporting a “convicted cop killer.” It is also the gravest violation of free speech for your organization to demand that his important voice be silenced so that others can not make their own judgements. The Philadelphia police may have silenced his voice on NPR, but it will not succeed here. Abu-Jamal’s case raises the specter of the 12 persons who have been released from death row in Illinois because others have been able to prove their innocence (including at least one who was saved because of the work of college students), and the 75 who have been proven innocent and released in the U.S. since it reinstated the death penalty in the 1970’s. How many others, who are innocent, are now on death row? How many others have been executed? As your organization knows, Abu-Jamal was personally targeted by Mayor Frank Rizzo of Philadelphia and by the COINTELPRO program of the FBI. Abu-Jamal is a political prisoner in the tradition of Angela Davis and Nelson Mandela. Like them, he is very controversial but also considered an international hero by many, because of his activities in the Black community before and during his imprisonment-not for any crime that he was “convicted” of. If he is executed two tragedies will occur: a man who has not been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt will be executed and the killer of officer Faulkner will likely never be brought to justice. Like the graduation speaker of seven years ago, imprisoned Native American leader Leonard Peltier (who also supports Abu-Jamal), the issues around him are more important than one person. The issues include a criminal justice system where people of color are systematically imprisoned and executed disproportionate to their numbers and the validity of the death penalty itself. The current rate of incarceration for males of African descent in the U.S. is four times that of South Africa under the worst days of Apartheid. The issues include basic fundamental justice for a man, a people, and a nation. We are very proud of the class of 1999, as it prepares to enter the “real world,” and in fact is already part of that world. Sincerely, Concerned Faculty and Staff: Lawrence J. Mosqueda, Peter Bohmer, Jeanne Hahn, Laurie Meeker, Angela Gilliam, Lin Nelson, Anne Fischel, Sarah Ryan, Ruth Hayes, Peter Dorman, Arun Chandra, Michael Vavrus, Helen Lee, Jacinta McKoy, Wendy Ortiz, Paquita Garatea; Alumni: Amy Dread, Jess Grant; Community: Tom Bernard, John Regan, Mike Betz
