(Press Release) 25,000+ Say No To Mumia Street

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On September 27th 2006 "activists" acting in support of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal began an online petition to gather signatures in their effort to convince the New York City Council to name a street in Harlem after Jamal. To date they have garnered some 500 signatures.

On January 24, 2007, Tony Allen, a former Jamal and supporter and the founder of the "MOVE Watch" website and the Anti-MOVE blog, posted an online petition of his own, which now has received over 25,000 signatures.

It is clear that "the people" reject the idea of rewarding a murderer.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted in 1982 for the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner and was sentenced by a jury of his peers to death. Despite a quarter century of appeals that have reached all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Jamal remains in prison although in 2001, a judge vacated Jamal’s death sentence. Both Jamal and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office have appealed the ruling. Arguments are expected to be heard on these appeals early this year.

In the mid 1990's a host of far-left extremists and more mainstream groups latched onto Mumia and made him a poster child for the anti-death penalty movement. A rigorous campaign of disinformation became to take form as Jamal’s attorneys and ardent supporters spun a web of deception about Jamal’s case that painted him as a "political prisoner" who was on death row for his political beliefs.

However, as the years have wore on more of the facts concerning Jamal have become publicly available including the trial transcripts of his 1982 trial. The appearance of the truth of Jamal’s overwhelming guilt coupled with other issues have caused the movement to free him to severely decline in popularity in the United States.

In many European countries however, the "Mumia myth" persists to this day.

In April of last year a street in France was named for Jamal and prior to that, Jamal was named an "honorary citizen" of Paris. In response, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution with a vote of 368 to 31 condemning the city of St. Denis France for their honoring of Jamal.

The members of the New York City Council have remained mute on this issue despite numerous overtures towards them to take a stand on this issue and declare publicly whether or not they would support the naming of a street after an unrepentant cop-killer, who espouses an anti-American ideology that strays not far away from the 9/11 hijackers.

According to Tony Allen who started the "Say No To Mumia Street" petition:

" It is unconscionable to even consider naming a street in Harlem or any street anywhere after such a despicable human being. Mumia murdered a civil servant in cold blood and has never shown even a remote sense of remorse or regret. Rather he flaunts his "celebrity while his supporters taunt and disparage the family of the murdered Officer Faulkner.

His guilt is apparent to anyone who bothers to fully investigate the case, and those who support him are either woefully misguided or morally blinded by their political agendas. The thought of honoring this man who brutally murdered a young police officer in the prime of his life is ludicrous.

This in a city in which so many of it’s "first responders" surrendered their lives so that others may live on 9/11. A city with thousands of heroes known and so many unknown who would be deserving of an honor that the Jamal devotees want to squander of their murderous hero.
What kind of message do we send to young people by naming a street after a killer? Shoot a cop, write some books, and get your name on a street sign? It is madness.

As a former supporter and activist of who worked on behalf of Jamal for nearly a decade and who now has reversed my position in the face of overwhelming evidence, I must whole heartedly denounce this effort to defile an American street with Jamal’s name and I encourage anyone of conscience to do the same."

For more information on the "Not To Mumia Street" petition go to http://antimove.blogspot.com or email sept27th2002@yahoo.com

The information about Jamal’s case can be viewed at http://danielfaulkner.com

The petition to name the Harlem street for Jamal comes from this website http://freemumia.com