In the Spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.
STOP the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal!

FREEDOM ROAD SOCIALIST ORGANIZATION

The struggle to save Mumia Abu-Jamal is intensifying.

On one side, the clock is ticking: for the second time, an execution warrant signed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ridge has been set aside, but Mumia’s last round of appeals is underway. On the other side, the movement for Justice for Mumia is growing. Over the last year, thousands of protests nationwide have turned up the heat — but a major leap in the movement is needed if we are going to save Mumia.

MARTIN AND MUMIA

We fight to save Mumia because of what he represents: Mumia is an African American revolutionary – and therefore a nightmare to the white supremacist ruling class of this country.

The rise of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Liberation Movement in the 1960s posed the biggest threat to their rule since the Depression, and sparked countless other movements for change.

Because the capitalists’ system cannot produce equality, let alone justice or economic security for the majority of Black people in this country, voices like Martin’s and Mumia’s will always pose a threat.

The recent conspiracy trial brought by Martin Luther King’s survivors has exposed the government’s ongoing harassment of Dr. King, and the complicity, if not the active involvement, of authorities in King’s murder in 1968 — a time when King was broadening his message to question U.S. capitalism at home and imperialism abroad.

In the same vein, it’s clear that by killing Mumia, the rulers of this country hope to further send a message to the Black community — especially our young people — and all who chafe under the system: if you resist, you will be crushed.

The fight to save Mumia is therefore a battle over whether or not the capitalist state can freely kill sworn enemies of the system. We face no easy struggle, and it will take a massive campaign to win.

IT CAN BE DONE

Mumia can be saved from execution. Political struggles and hard-fought battles have freed imprisoned revolutionaries like Black Panthers Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt and the FALN fighters for Puerto Rican independence after decades behind bars.

And over the last year, the Justice for Mumia movement has scored important gains. Demonstrations in Philadelphia and San Francisco last April, including a day-long strike by the International Longshore and Warehousemen’s Union, and the July 3 disobedience action that saw 100 people arrested at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, have raised awareness and brought new forces into the movement.

Especially encouraging has been the growing involvement of revolutionary, progressive and nationalist forces in the Black community — the key link to stopping Mumia’s execution.

The struggle to save Mumia also intersects with some of the most powerful people’s movements of the day: the fight to end the death penalty; the conscious sections of Puerto Rican and other oppressed nationality movements; opposition to the prison-industrial complex; struggles against police brutality and racism; and progressive voices in the labor movement.

The main task now for the Justice for Mumia movement is outreach — outreach everywhere, but especially the Black community — spreading the word about Mumia’s case, and driving home the need to speak out and act NOW to stop his execution.

The spirit we need is captured well in the most popular slogan of the struggle so far:

Brick by brick,
Wall by wall,
We’re gonna free
Mumia Abu-Jamal!

This leaflet is based on Freedom Road’s longer pamphlet on Mumia, "Brick by Brick: Building a Movement to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal." It was distributed at MLK Day marches in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.