Note to America & the Supreme Court, Re-try Mumia Abu Jamal

Top US court rejects ex-Black Panther's trial bid

This is so frustrating! It has been years, and Mumia Abu Jamal is still in prison, and society has not confronted the major, structural problems with the American justice system. Hasn't John Grisham taught us anything? Is a new trial too much to ask in cases where everything about the original trial was tainted. What is the harm? Who doesn't know that Mumia is telling the truth? And he isn't expecting to be let out, just to get a fair trial. Most white people say race relations have gotten better over the years, so than we should all be able to acknowledge that they used to be worse. Here is one excerpt from the O'Reilly Factor where Bill O'Reilly makes that exact point in his discussion about a statement he made. O'Reilly told The Associated Press,

"If you listened to the full hour, it was a criticism of racism on the part of white Americans who are ignorant of the fact that there is no difference between white and black anymore."

Pay attention to the word ANYMORE. Once we do that, and even under the (bad) assumption that the racial divisions in this country are gone, logic says that Mumia's original trial took place in a climate where there were socially accepted differences between black and white people, at least according to many white people) and that 10 white jurors may have created a specific outcome of that trial. And the outcome may have been different if the jury had a different percentile of white jurors AT THAT TIME or had the same percentile NOW, in this new era where "...there is no difference between white and black anymore."

I realize that there are a million factors to consider. Because, if society recognizes that every case like Mumia's, where the juries racial makeup was a prevalent factor in the juries decision, and therefore the judges ruling, than this changes everything. And if the solution, as I suggest, is to re-try cases such as Mumia's, than we are opening the door to a million re-trials, and a new look at double jeopardy as it stands. From a fiscal point of view this is crazy. And from a constitutional point of view this is virtually impossible, because it means considering the idea that the framers were right, we are all created equal, but that the justice system in this country has not always worked to uphold this concept, and that the constitution itself would have to be amended to fix this aberration.

But what is the alternative, accepting that so many black men have found their lives in the hands of white jurors, back when O'Reilly (an apparent spokesperson for white, male America) would have said that differences did exist between white and black, and doing nothing? South Africa accepted this fact did years ago and did something about it. The state recognized that there was a cultural, political shift after Apartheid was abolished, and realized that Mandela was imprisoned during a different and more racially charged time in history and when that same form of prevailing racism no longer existed their was no reason to hold him to an old cultural standard. And Mandela was free at last.

Why is the U.S. who pride ourselves on being developed and ahead of other nations in innovation and understanding so far behind on this. Why do we keep a man locked up, who very clearly did not commit the crime for which he is being charged, who only wants a chance at a fair trial, something that he is yet to receive.

Mumia Abu Jamal deserves better than this and so does America. We need make it right. Please click on this link to learn more about the case and to help Mumia and America.

*The quote from Bill O'Reilly and the article it came from can be found at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3649826in