April 19th United Front Rally to Defend Mumia Abu-Jamal

April 20—Up to 250 people joined in militant protest at the Oakland united-front rally initiated by the Partisan Defense Committee and the Labor Black League for Social Defense yesterday under the call: “Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent! Free Mumia Now! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!” Speakers included Ray Boudreaux, Richard Brown, Hank Jones and Francisco Torres of the SF 8, Jason Payne of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee, representatives of AFSCME Local 444 and the Oakland Education Association. Several members of the ILWU Local 10 whose union endorsed the united-front rally were also in attendance as were members of ATU Local 1555. Students mobilized from San Francisco State to UC Berkeley to Laney College as well as a group of youth from Sebastopol. As the PDC rally moderator said in concluding the protest: “The courts, cops and prosecutors—with the support of capitalist politicians, Democrats and Republicans—want to silence Mumia forever because they see in him the specter of black revolt, a defiant opposition to the oppression of black people which is a cornerstone of American capitalism.” He added: “Our demand is immediate freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal and the power to do that lies in the hands of the multiracial working class. Free Mumia, now!”