Mumia Abu-Jamal Press Packet

Dear Anchors and Producers at The Today Show:

The letter by the Journalists for Mumia and other many groups supporting justice for Mumia is below. This is an excellent letter that presents truth and reality and provides informative links. However, there are a few additional issues I wish to address for your and Maureen Faulkner's consideration.

I have great sympathy for Maureen Faulkner losing her husband, especially to violence. I can only imagine her tragic suffering. Yet, I would hope that her suffering would motivate her to search for truth and reality. I would hope that her suffering would not blind her to the suffering of others who have endured injustice. I would hope that her suffering would enable her to reach into the deepest crevices of her soul and drive her to seek justice for all, including Mumia's family who have suffered greatly.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Faulkner seems content to dwell in a small world of self pity instead of searching for truth. The mainstream media seems only too willing to allow her to do this. This does her no good, and it does not serve the memory nor the honor of her deceased husband. Wouldn't her husband's wish be that she seek his true murderer? Wouldn't Mrs. Faulkner realize this if she truly wanted to see the real murderer punished? There is overwhelming evidence that Mumia did NOT kill her husband. Much of that evidence is mentioned in the letter below and is completely accessible to Mrs. Faulkner, as it is to you.

I can understand why Mrs. Faulkner might live in fear of her husband's fellow police officers and how they might have threatened her and/or manipulated her with deception and lies. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is well known for its corruption and its violence. If you have done your research, you know this. There is some indication that Officer Faulkner was reporting FOP corruption to higher authorities. If that were true, the FOP would not be his friend, but his enemy--and a very formidable enemy. As Robert Wells reported in a Counterpunch article, September 30, 2006 (http://www.counterpunch.org/wells09302006):

"When Officer Daniel Faulkner was killed in 1981, three simultaneous FBI investigations into the Philadelphia police were taking place, one focused specifically on the Center City division. When the indictments came down, it was the biggest police corruption case in the history of the nation to that time. In the same year that Mumia was convicted more than thirty policemen from the Center City division went to prison, including a Deputy Commissioner, division commanders, Captains, Inspectors, Lieutenants, Sergeants, and rank-and-file officers. A third of these officers were involved in Mumia's arrest and prosecution. The Inspector who supervised Mumia's arrest was never called to testify at the trial; the day after Mumia was convicted he resigned from the department and was subsequently indicted and convicted for corruption."

Why are the FOP policemen so desperate that they have to threaten Mumia supporters? For example, last April 24, at a Free Mumia rally, the police used illegal threats against various important speakers and organizers? ( Betsey Piette http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Announcements/ATT00277.htm)

"Police first targeted the Clef Club-- an African-American jazz club that receives public funding-- and forced it to cancel its contract to host the Mumia event. However, the Third World Coalition at the American Friends Service Center stepped up and provided an alternative meeting space.

"The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) put pressure on invited speakers, including actor/activist Danny Glover and Delacy Davis, founder of Black Cops Against Police Brutality, who told the rally he had received over 20 death threats from Philadelphia police officers in the last few weeks. Glover and Davis also spoke at a press conference prior to the evening rally.

"Pam Africa, head of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, says that when all this couldn't stop the rally from taking place, she was informed by the head of police Civil Affairs Unit that '400 plain-clothed police carrying weapons' would march on the Friends Center to 'confront' the rally."

Why would the FOP be so violently threatening? Why are they so afraid of the truth? Why is Maureen Faulker so afraid of the truth?