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Abu-Jamal Case Spawns Creative Projects

by Linn Washington Jr.
Few events in Philadelphia’s storied history from colonial to contemporary times match the contentious case of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal for spawning creative projects across the globe.

This case now nearing a 26-year-mark is the subject of a new round of projects from locally produced feature-length films to a book about Abu-Jamal’s life written by a professor in France.
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ABU-JAMAL CASE SPAWNS CREATIVE PROJECTS

By Linn Washington Jr., Philadelphia Tribune

Few events in Philadelphia’s storied history from colonial to contemporary times match the contentious case of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal for spawning creative projects across the globe.

This case now nearing a 26-year-mark is the subject of a new round of projects from locally produced feature-length films to a book about Abu-Jamal’s life written by a professor in France.

Next week, a book about the ‘anguish and grief’ of the widow of the Philadelphia policeman Abu-Jamal sits on death row for killing is scheduled for a national launch on the morning network television Today Show.

Late last month, a critically acclaimed British made film examining the Abu-Jamal case – containing startling evidence of his innocence – premiered simultaneously at respected international film festivals in London and Rome.

The Mayor of Rome hosted the screening in that Italian city of this film supported by the Noble Prize winning human rights organization, Amnesty International.

“In Prison My Whole Life” is the first film ever publicly backed by AI.

Another creative project comes from Abu-Jamal himself.

The subject of this sixth book by Abu- Jamal is jailhouse lawyers – inmates who help other inmates prepare legal appeals.

Abu-Jamal’s creative output while confined in death row cells the size of a small bathroom recently resulted in his membership into the prestigious PEN, a worldwide human-rights organization of prominent writers.

“In two decades of knowing each other, I have not seen Mumia so happy,” said Robert R. Bryan, Abu-Jamal’s lead attorney about the PEN membership.

Bryan credits support of famed writers like former PEN President Salman Rushdie and Alice Walker.

“In a quarter of a century of being locked up…Mumia’s literary output has been prodigious,” Bryan noted.

“He has written five outstanding books that are published in various languages, and also writes weekly commentaries that are published and broadcast internationally.”

The San Francisco based Bryan described the “In Prison” film as a “superb movie which does much to expose the many wrongs including racism and politics that have infected the case from the outset…”

The focus of the latest project of Philadelphia-based filmmaker Ted Passon is the very thing that drives many death penalty proponents crazy: the phenomenon of the Mumia Abu-Jamal Case.

Death penalty proponents bristle at the fact that Philadelphia born Abu-Jamal garners international support.

Proponents castigate the calls of Hollywood celebrities and dignitaries of foreign countries that Abu-Jamal receive a new trial.

The under-examined worldwide movement responsible for securing much of the support of celebrities and dignitaries critical of this death row journalist’s conviction is the subject of Passon’s film project.

Often overlooked is Philadelphia’s home base for a pivotal group in this movement – The International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal led by local activist Pam Africa.

“Most [projects] focus on the ‘whodunit’ aspects of the Abu-Jamal case but there is too little attention to the wider phenomenon, the 25-year People’s Movement surrounding this case,” Passon said during a recent interview.

“On paper, the Mumia Movement should not have happened,” Passon said.

“It had no money, no access to powerful politicians or the media. The miracle of this Movement is that it has lasted so long.”

Passon is one of two Philadelphians working on films about the Mumia Abu-Jamal case.

The other Philly film project now in-production comes from Tigre Hill, maker of the well received film on Philadelphia’s 2003 mayoral race “The Shame of a City.”

Hill declined comment on his project beyond saying that “this is a topic with a lot of passion on both sides.”

Philadelphia media personality Michael Smerconish is the author of the new book about Maureen Faulkner, the widow of slain office Daniel Faulkner – “Murdered By Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice.”

Smerconish’s book about Mrs. Faulkner – who is backed by prominent police organizations nationwide – reportedly seeks in part to counter the two decades long ‘rewriting of history’ casting Abu-Jamal as the victim of an unfair trial.

Interestingly, while publicity about Smerconish’s book credits this lawyer for his knowledge of the 1982 trial transcripts to bolster his conviction of Abu-Jamal’s guilt, a book awaiting publication utilizes those same transcripts to reach a different conclusion.

The author of “The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal” – J. Patrick O’Connor – once served as an associate editor for TV Guide when it was headquartered in suburban Philadelphia.

“As I read and reread the available material…I could see that Abu-Jamal’s trial was a monumental miscarriage of justice,” states the introduction of this book by O’Conner, currently editor of an internet-based crime magazine.

Proceeds from the Faulkner-Smerconish book will be dedicated to a charity founded by Mrs. Faulkner while French professor Dr. Claude Guillaumaud-Pujol intends to donate proceeds from her September-published biography to Abu-Jamal defense work.

While Abu-Jamal detractors demean authors like Dr. Guillaumaud-Pujol as pathetically uninformed, she and writer of a 2006 book on the Abu-Jamal case, German professor Dr. Michael Schiffmann, are experts on the US justice system.

Schiffmann’s doctoral thesis is the basis of his book – “Race Against Death” – while Guillaumaud-Pujol’s thesis centered on police brutality and unfair justice in Philadelphia.

Dave Lindorff, Philly-based author of the seminal 2003 Abu-Jamal book “Killing Time” feels the continuing creative interest in this case arises from a “sore” unique to Philadelphia: deep racism.

Lindorff feels this case is “emblematic of everything that’s wrong with Philadelphia.”

--Linn Washington Jr. is an award-winning writer who teaches journalism at Temple University.
§FOP and Mumia (previous interview)
by Linn Washington Jr.
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§What Happened to Freeman and White
by Linn Washington Jr.
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From May 18 Journalists for Mumia press conference.
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