Temple students’ forum on political prisoners

Philadelphia

A forum entitled “Solidarity and Political Prisoners” was held to educate students and others about the case of Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal on Feb. 22 at Temple University in Philadelphia. The event was sponsored by the Black Student Union at Temple, and endorsed by Students for Justice in Palestine, the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home and Mobilization4Mumia.

The program opened with an oral commentary by Abu-Jamal that was first given to University of Pennsylvania students during their encampment for Palestine on May 3, 2024. Participants then held break-out sessions to discuss their understanding of “political prisoners” and what they knew about Abu-Jamal.

Tone, an organizer with the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, gave a presentation on political prisoners noting that many people in the U.S. are unaware of the large number of U.S. political prisoners, including Abu-Jamal. She broke down differences between individuals like Abu-Jamal who are imprisoned because of their political beliefs and others who become politicized while incarcerated.

The program took a moment to celebrate the release of Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier on Feb. 18, after nearly 50 years of unjust incarceration. Former political prisoner and MOVE 9 member Eddie Africa, who attended the program, spoke of meeting Peltier when they were both briefly incarcerated at the same prison.

State manufactured guilt

A portion of the 2013 documentary “Manufacturing Guilt” gave more background on Abu-Jamal’s case, including the state’s manipulation of evidence that would have proven his innocence. The film shows how Abu-Jamal was framed and sent to death row for a killing he did not commit, while the police who engaged in misconduct to imprison him were eventually fired from the force.

Following the film, Zachary Mattis, president of Temple’s Black Student Union, and Richi Arun with Students for Justice in Palestine participated in a discussion on movement building on campus. Both stressed the importance of the most oppressed leading and giving direction to movements, whether to free Palestine or to fight against racism in the U.S.

Arun raised the high number of Palestinian political prisoners, with 40% of Palestinian men incarcerated at some period in their lives. He noted that Black men in the U.S. also have a 25% chance of being incarcerated, pointing out that all prisoners are political whether they were youth from Philadelphia or youth in Palestine.

Mattis discussed the barriers organizers face, stating that a lot of students are incubated on campus, frequently unaware of the gentrification going on in surrounding communities, often led by the administration at Temple. He noted that the new Temple President John Fry previously supported gentrification in Black neighborhoods when he served as president at Drexel University. Fry is already calling for an “innovation corridor” to be built along North Broad Street near Temple.

The program ended with a live call from Abu-Jamal who took questions from Mattis, Arun and other students attending the event.