NAACP asked to support civil rights investigation for Mumia

The New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition organized a press conference across the street from the national NAACP conference held in mid-town Manhattan on the morning of July 13.

According to the coalition’s press release, the main goal of the picket line was to call on the NAACP “to fulfill a promise it made in 2004, in a resolution that passed unanimously, to the international community for a ‘new and fair trial’” for Mumia. The NAACP is commemorating its centennial anniversary.

The coalition has organized a campaign demanding that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder call for a civil rights investigation into the case of Mumia, a Black political prisoner who has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for more than 27 years.

Holder, who spoke at the NAACP conference on July 13, has the authority to instruct the Department of Justice to conduct such investigations when there is evidence of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. Mumia was railroaded to death row due to suppressed evidence and a racist conspiracy involving the presiding judge, prosecutor and the police during the original trial. Just recently, the Supreme Court refused to rule on one of his appeals.

Members of the coalition met with leaders of the NAACP on July 11 about Mumia’s case. The NAACP is considering introducing a resolution at the conference in support of Mumia’s right to a civil rights investigation. Prominent individuals who have called for a civil rights investigation include actor Ruby Dee, Congressperson Charles Rangel, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and others.

Those who spoke at the press conference included Suzanne Ross and Sundiata Sadiq from the coalition; Rev. Claudia de la Cruz, Iglesia San Romero de las Américas; James McIntosh, Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People; Lynne Stewart, people’s attorney; Nada Khader, WESPAC; Monica Moorehead, Millions for Mumia of the International Action Center; Daniel Myers, National Lawyers Guild and Zayid Muhammad, New Black Panther Party. Pictured above, Rebel Diaz, a Latino hip-hop duo, did a cultural presentation.

The coalition and its supporters plan to leaflet NAACP delegates with Mumia literature until the conference ends. Another rally is planned by the coalition for when President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at the NAACP conference on July 16.