(PHOTO: Pam Africa presents the first issue of The Jamal Journal outside
of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's office on March 12,
2021. Pam has repeatedly attempted to meet with DA Krasner but he has
always refused to meet with her. Photo by Jamal Journal staff photographer Joe Piette)
Dear friends of the Jamal Journal,
By early April, we had run out of the 10,000 copies of the Jamal Journal issue #1 that we printed in late February. In response, we reprinted 10,000 copies of Issue #1 for $1,375 and mailed several boxes to Philadelphia in time for the April 24 Birthday Celebration Weekend. To save on printing costs, the original 40-page version was reduced to 32 pages, with the remaining articles focused almost entirely on the evidence of police, prosecutorial, and judicial misconduct cited in our Color of Change petition to DA Krasner.
This reprint can now be distributed alongside future issues and serve as a 'reference book' for the case facts supporting our DA Krasner petition. Issue #1 remains a powerful non-violent weapon of words, an expression of our strength, of our self-confidence. We know that the truth is on our side, that Mumia is an innocent man who was wrongly convicted at an unfair trial. Let the facts speak for themselves!
The release of Issue #2 has been delayed, but we hope to publish it by mid-June (UPDATE: the delay continues but we hope to release by mid-June). The 32-page newspaper will feature a new article by Pam Africa, Michael Richardson's April series of articles marking the 50th anniversary of elderly Black Panther political prisoner Ed Poindexter's unfair COINTELPRO-rigged trial, and new interviews with Mumia biographer Todd Steven Burroughs, Mumia's spiritual advisor Mark Lewis Taylor of Educators for Mumia, J. Patrick O'Connor, author of "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal," and much more.
In addition, we also want to print a 16-page Issue #2 supplement focused entirely on the upcoming Aug. 8, 1978 anniversary, and the recently passed 36-year anniversary of the May 13, 1985 massacre of eleven members of the MOVE family: Tree, Netta, Delisha, Little Phil, Tomasa, Rhonda, Teresa, Frank, Raymond, Conrad, and John Africa. They will never be forgotten. To provide historical background, we will reprint this 2010 article by Angola 3 News: May 13, 1985 and the Legalization of Murder, already published on our website with a compilation of links to new articles about UPenn and Princeton University's theft and desecration of Tree & Delisha Africa's remains.
We are now fundraising to print Issue #2, including the 16-page MOVE supplement. There is a bulk discount for printing newspapers, so if we can raise enough money, we will be able to print up to 20,000 copies.
Donations
received will also be going towards our postage costs. This is also very
important because with the pandemic-related restrictions that limit
public, in-person events (traditionally the main way for the movement to
distribute newspapers), having the financial resources to mail free stacks of newspapers
around the country is even more important. Because of your past support,
we have been able to provide a limitless supply of free newspapers to
Mumia supporters around the country to share with their communities.
The Jamal Journal's staff has remained all-volunteer, so the entirety of
your donation will go directly towards printing and postage costs.
Please donate here.
(This is one segment of the original artwork created by longtime Mumia supporter Seth Tobocman to support our petition campaign. It is the centerpiece of Issue #1 and can be viewed on our website here.)
DA Krasner! The Time is Now to Confront 39 Years of FOP Racism, Violence, and Corruption!
We continue to demand that DA Krasner stop defending Mumia's unjust 1982 conviction, especially following his landslide primary election victory this week. The residents of Philadelphia have sent a powerful message standing up to the Philadelphia FOP's decades of intimidating the City. With the FOP now reeling and weaker than ever before, DA Krasner should see this as a message from the people of Philadelphia that they will continue to support his efforts to confront FOP racism, violence, and corruption. We the people now want DA Krasner to stand up to FOP bullying like never before: by immediately halting his approval and defense of Mumia's unjust 1982 conviction.
The signs are everywhere that people power is rising in Philadelphia, presenting a critical moment for supporters of both DA Larry Krasner and Mumia Abu-Jamal to tell Kranser that they want him to reconsider his position on Mumia's case. The time to accelerate our organizing efforts is right now!
Just look at the recent mural unveiled on May 11 (just two days before the 36th anniversary of May 13, 1985) across the street from City Hall, right where the Frank Rizzo statue used to stand! The mural covers three sides of the Municipal Services Building, emblazoned with the names of unarmed Black people killed by police. In front of the names are images of protesters, including local cultural figures and community activists opposing police racism and violence. The mural on the east side of the city building features none other than Pam and Ramona Africa alongside other powerful Black women activists from Philadelphia! How is that for an inspiring sight!
--Photos taken by WHYY photographer Kimberly Paynter of the May 11, 2021 mural unveiling are reprinted below, with permission from WHYY:
(Mural artist Russell Craig embraces Pam Africa, a social justice activist and a featured face in his mural on Philadelphia’s Municipal Services Building on May 11, 2021. Photo by Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
(Pam Africa in the center, with her MOVE sisters Janine on the right, and Janet on the left, at the dedication of the Crown mural by artist Russell Craig on Philadelphia’s Municipal Services building. Photo by Kimberly Paynter/WHYY.)
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