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In response to Mumia’s Commencement speech at Goddard College earlier this month, Pennsylvania legislators passed a Bill this week, the “Revictimization Relief Act, “which will allow victims, District Attorneys, and the Attorney General to sue prisoners for speaking if it causes “mental anguish.”
This is a clear attempt to silence Mumia, by passing bills supposedly intended to help victims. The FOP simply wants to shut prisoners up and shut Prison Radio down!
Prison Radio has vowed to continue to broadcast his words, regardless of threats or intimidation. Prison Radio has pledged that if the DA or AG sues Mumia and gets an injunction we will have dozens of notable people stand in for him and read his work so that his words will continue to reach the airwaves.
Also consider that Mumia has recorded over 3,000 essays and published seven books (2 more will be released in 2015) in nine languages, and has three major broadcast and theatrical movies of which he is the subject. The latest movie “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary” is currently airing on the STARZ network, sold out theaters from coast to coast, and has been translated into German and Spanish, and has sold 20,000 DVDs.
The Abolitionist Law Center is representing Mumia and Prison Radio. ALC legal director Bret Grote: “The ‘Silence Mumia Law’ should be understood in the wake of the Ferguson rebellion, as race and class-based mass incarceration – and the role of police in enforcing it via arbitrary arrests, frame-ups, and extrajudicial killings – is being questioned more than ever, and the Fraternal order of Police and the government are scrambling to re-establish the lie that police forces and other institutions of state violence are righteous protectors of public safety that are beyond question.”
TAKE ACTION!
1) Call PA Governor Tom Corbett and demand that he veto SB508.
(717) 787-2500 (215) 560-2640 [email protected]
“This bill is an unconstitutional attempt to silence prisoners and specifically Mumia Abu-Jamal and violates the First Amendment”
2) Send a positive note to the two PA state senators who took a principled stand against this bill. These folks spoke out eloquently on why the assembly should not pass this bill. We know that the Fraternal Order of Police have threatened and pressured them. click here for the address
Pennsylvania Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery) called the bill “the most extreme violation of the First Amendment imaginable.”
Watch the video of the FOP and PA state senate authorizing legislation for injunction to silence Mumia. 10/6/14 full press conference with Gov. Corbett, DA Phil Seth Williams, etc.
Dear friends, please realize that we are carrying a heavy burden. We are putting up 2-3 Mumia’s essays each week and we are now engaged in a legal battle of great import. The first amendment stands in the balance. We have a matching grant of $45K – yes, that is right! 45K. We need to match this grant by Nov. 15th. Can you help us?
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