Mumia Abu-Jamal

What struck me about his case was that he was exonerated and that he had been on death row with political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. I also recognized that Amin's case was a drop in the bucket compared with the number of Black people who were - and are - locked up unjustifiably in these Amerikkkan concentration camps.

He wasn't the first and he will not be the last; that is why we wanted to bring his story to the SF Bay View. We want our readers to learn about these cases with the intent of getting involved with the fight against this system as a whole and specifically to stop the mass incarceration of Black, Brown and poor people - now over 2,000,000 behind bars and counting.

Check out Amin as he discusses with us his history of growing up in the poor Black neighborhoods of Philly in the ‘60s and ‘70s under the infamous repressive regime of Frank Rizzo, his exoneration as well as his relationship with political prisoner and prolific revolutionary journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal. Check out Amin in his own words.

MOI JR: Can you tell us the circumstances surrounding you being locked up?

Amin: Yes, because the city of Philadelphia police officers and its homicide units had a policy of racially profiling poor Blacks and murdering them by any means necessary, to silence the blood of the poor in our Black communities. I also had friends who dealt with drugs and some of them had used them.

MOI JR: How did you get exonerated?

Amin: Well, in 1999, my three death sentences were overturned when the trial court determined that my first trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present my mitigating evidence.

MOI JR: I was granted a new trial in 2003 based on Jack McMahon's practices of race discrimination in the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, a decision the District Attorney's office didn't appeal. The trial court ordered the death penalty could not be sought in my new trial.

After (I'd spent) 16 years on Pennsylvania's death row, new DNA evidence was revealed for the first time and witnesses came forth. On Nov. 15, 2005, I was acquitted of all charges. I became the nation's 122nd state prisoner freed from death row and the sixth Pennsylvania death row prisoner to be freed since 1992.

MOI JR: Can you tell us about the Mumia Abu-Jamal that you knew while you were on death row?

Amin: The brother Mumia Abu-Jamal I knew on Pennsylvania's death row is the same innocent Black man we know in prisons all over the world today. He taught me the power of the pen and to speak up for what is right in this society and against hatred for mankind and our mother earth. He taught me what it is like to fight for one's civil rights in a prison of racism.

Mumia Abu-Jamal helped me to see what true democracy would look like without institutionalized racism. Just through the power of his pen and with his mind, body and courage, he can make us see. Free Brother Mumia now!

MOI JR: Knowing Mumia personally, what do you think about mainstream media's demonization of him?

Amin: That is the present day system of injustice in the U.S. today, as we know its history - Willie Lynch mentality, divide and conquer. We as one people in the struggle for true democracy in America must continue our fight for equal justice in this system of institutionalized racism in 2008.

Brick by brick, wall by wall, we must endure our struggle to overthrow injustice and to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners. Power to the People!

Email POCC Minister of Information JR at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and visit www.blockreportradio.com, hiphopwarreport.com and myspace.com/blockreportfilm.

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