excerpted from a posting on soc.rights.human
Strength and Warmest Greetings to the Mumia Supporters!...
Friday I closed the office and went to Bro. Mumia's court hearing. I am not going to repeat all of the details that have been written up about it, I will just briefly try to give you my personal impression. When Bro. Cornell West described the Wednesday hearing as Mississippi 1955, while many of us know this to be true, to experience it is quite a different story! The last Mumia hearing I attended was around 1987 or 1988 and they were supposed to bring Mumia in for it and it was postponed at the very last minute so I never got to see him.
First of all when I got to the 6th floor the cops had it barricaded off around the perimeter of Courtroom 653. Being me, I started to climb over it and was quickly pulled back by the cops. I went up to the 7th floor and walked down to the 6th floor stairwell. More cops. I went down to the 5th floor and walked up a deserted, musty stairwell and got past the barricade. I got at the end of a l-o-o-o-ng line of Mumia supporters waiting to get into the courtroom and finally got in when Pam Africa pulled myself and some other folks who put out Mumia information from the line, so I was EXTREMELY fortunate to end up near the front of the courtroom.
The FOP members and supporters had BEEN seated for quite some time and had quite a few more chairs than the defense side of the courtroom. A lone black cop sat with them. It took a LONG time for them to finally allow the Mumia supporters from the line outside to come in. There were Asian and German observers sitting on the defense side of the room. Many, many strong bros. and sis. from NY with their SMOKIN' Panther shirts on with the Panther on the front and "POWER TO THE PEOPLE" on the back. Some of the cops wore shirts that said "The Jury Said Death...Do It".
We could hear the strong chants outside from the Mumia supporters. Mumia's first wife, sons and grandson sat directly in front of me. Pam Africa was sitting at the defense table, as she so richly deserved as that sister is SUCH a strong and dedicated worker, she is TRULY amazing. At around 10:30 (it was supposed to start at 9:00) Mumia entered the courtroom. Pam and Mumia embraced tightly at the table for several seconds and I'm telling you that embrace was emotional for all of us who know all the work and struggles Sis. Pam has gone through for Mumia all these years, especially knowing that they have been communicating through glass for so long. The defense side of the room cheered, called out, told him we loved him, "Aluta Continua!" he faced us smiling and raised his fist. Mumia looks STRONG. It was a tremendous, indescribable moment.
Sabo came in scowling like a pure DEMON and began the charade of a hearing by hollering about proper decorum and threatening to throw us out if we made a sound. Let me tell y'all, he did not even PRETEND he had any interest whatsoever in hearing what the defense had to say, in FACT, he was given his cues on what to say from the D.A. table (which included a Chris Darden wannabe). Anyhow, he treated Mumia's attorney like pure shit, making fun of everything he said, joking back and forth with the head lawyer at the D.A. table and at one point even interrupted Weinglass (Mumia's lawyer) and told him "I've heard enough outta you, be quiet!"
It was UNBELIEVABLE to witness the way he treated Weinglass, as if he was an imbecile, or better yet, a sellout. His responses to Weinglass were dripping with sarcasm and venom. For example, Weinglass tried to explain how he was waiting on something from the D.A.'s office regarding the day's hearing and did not receive it until 10:30 p.m. the night before, after the D.A. had four weeks notice to turn it over. "Counsel you can take aaalll the time you need to review it, yuk, yuk!", Sabo said laughing. Weinglass repeatedly asked Sabo to proceed in an orderly fashion, to follow the rules that had been set up by Judge Papallini(sp?). Sabo said it was HIS courtroom and he didn't have to follow ANY rules, and even had the NERVE to quip "justice delayed is justice denied"!
I mean he is not EVEN trying to hide it, in fact is BRAGGING about it in open court! He took his instructions on how to respond to Weinglass from the D.A.'s arguments, and just tossed back to Weinglass whatever the D.A. said. He delighted the FOP members and D.A. with his humorous responses to Weinglass. He was "the entertainer." At one point our side let out a collective groan and he threatened to clear the courtroom. When Weinglass reported that some of his investigators felt threatened by the Philly FOP, the FOP side, D.A. and Sabo fell out in laughter. I am not joking!
Many of us left at the recess out of pure frustration and rage, and to let some other folks from the line come in. One of Mumia's sons came out crying and his first wife left and returned in tears. As y'all know by now, the stay has effectively been denied although Sabo stated he would take it "under advisement." But we know he's just eating up the clock, I mean it is so BLATANT. Court resumes Tuesday where the defense will be demanded to produce evidence. He is gaming with Mumia's life like it ain't nothing but another day, another nigger soon to be dead, time to join the "good ole boys" and celebrate! It is so SICKENING, it is such an OUTRAGE!
We rallied outside for a good while and EVERYBODY was fired up from witnessing that shitstem at work inside the court. Quite a few folks joined us and the crowd swelled. There were so many good, strong speakers, Bro. T.J. from the Coalition to Free Black Political Prisoners was REAL strong, and of course the MOVE family is ALWAYS uncompromising in their speaking. One of the more dramatic moments was when a very young Latino brother expressed what we ALL felt out there in the courtyard by ripping up that filthy American flag rag and stomping it into the ground, because even at his young years he realizes there AIN'T no justice for the black, Latino and poor and that is more EVIDENT by the week, ESPECIALLY in Philadelphia, "up south" as Mumia calls it, Philadelphia seems to be setting the tone for the entire nation!
We then marched up 17th St. to the Wyndham Hotel where Ridge, Dole and Gingrich were having some kind of meeting. We were SURROUNDED by cops, some of whom looked like they just shucked off their "Kill Mumia" t-shirts and put on their blue shirts and badges straight from court. We had a GOOD crowd, we were all very ENRAGED from court that morning, from the very young to the very old, all races, all religions. At the hotel they sent out their best dressed black folks to block the door and sneered down on us INITIALLY, but I did see some expressions change as the speakers poured out their eloquence. When Prof. Mark Taylor began running down the list of the academicians that were standing strong for Mumia they were visibly impressed. When Rev. Bevel took the mike they listened intently as well. The cops were closing in on us and hemming us in so we headed back to City Hall. It was burning HOT, over 100 degrees as y'all well know! Many of us were worried about the elderly supporters but they are some strong, tough bros. and sis. let me tell you!
message continues...
NOW IS THE TIME!
Sis. Marpessa
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