Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning Pennsylvania journalist who spent many of his early years in media exposing police violence against minority communities. In 1982 he was tried, found guilty and sentenced to death for the shooting of a police officer. Currently, Mumia is on Pennsylvania Death Row, where he has been for the past twenty-one years. Decades later, Mumia’s trial is still among the most well-known and controversial death row cases. Throughout the years, many argue that Mumia is a sentenced murderer who is not worthy of the accolades he receives. Yet, domestic as well as international support has argued that Mumia did not receive a fair trial and evidence points to his innocence.
Mumia's fight for a new trial has won the support of tens of thousands around the world, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, The European Parliament, Alice Walker, Sister Helen Prejean, Amnesty International, and many others. Recently, Mumia was made an honorary citizen of Paris.
During the last 21 years, while he has been locked up 23 hours a day, Mumia has penned three books including the acclaimed book of essays, Live From Death Row. Recently, Mumia has written his first work of history, “Faith of Our Fathers: An Examination of the Spiritual Life of African and African-American Peopleâ€. This book searches the diverse spiritual life of African people, who, dispersed from their motherland, molded a love of freedom and resistance to racism, into religious practice. As he fights for his own freedom, Mumia writes about the freedom struggles of millions throughout history and adds to a rich tradition of Black Liberation Theology.
You can hear a complete archive of Mumia's essays at www.prisonradio.org
