Mumia Abu-Jamal

Re “Judge Stays Execution in Police Killing,” Aug. 8: The issue to writers around the world is that Mumia Abu-Jamal’s previous publications were used as evidence toward the absurd claim that the shooting was premeditated. I spoke about this recently at Rutgers University, New Jersey, at the 1995 Delegates Assembly of the nearly 5,000 member National Writers Union. The NWU authorized $2,500 in support of justice and solidarity for our fellow writer.

As you say, “According to court records . . . Abu-Jamal, a radio journalist, was moonlighting as a cab driver when he happened by . . .. “ Happening by equals stumbled into the scene by chance equals no premeditation. The prosecution used Abu-Jamal’s writings--he is a winner of the prestigious Peabody Award--to suggest that he always intended violence against police, whom he has criticized for the infamous MOVE bombing in Philadelphia.

When a nation loses its fundamental freedoms, writers are the first to be jailed and executed. In the Cambodian genocide, all writers were murdered, and then anyone who owned a book or wore eyeglasses, who might happen to be literate. To quote Benjamin Franklin, we must all hang together, or we will assuredly hang separately.

JONATHAN VOS POST

Pasadena