As police scandals from Los Angeles to Philadelphia continue to unfold, it is hilarious to watch the establishment media try to pretend that this has nothing to do with the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In fact, it has everything to do with his case.
After all, what are these scandals about? They are about the normal police practice of fabricating evidence and framing up defendants. The cops (or their superiors) decide who they think is guilty (or who they want to get) and then they "help justice along a little."
When they get caught, the system tries to say that it was "just a few rogue cops" or "just a few bad apples." In reality, the "bad apples" are the norm, and the most common felony committed by police officers in the United States is perjury.
Philadelphia is a typical example. Six cops have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges. And despite attempts by officials to say that the practice of framing up innocent people is confined to one or two police districts, everyone knows that the practice is universal.
In the current police scandal, an initial batch of 42 criminal cases were dismissed because arresting officers admitted to planting evidence and filing false reports. Before it is all over, hundreds of fradulent cases are going to be thrown out, and dozens of people who were framed up are going to be freed from jail.
The case that has received the most publicity is that of a 54-year-old grandmother, Ms. Betty Patterson, who was sent to jail for three years when cops falsely accused her of selling crack cocaine. She has now been vindicated, but the problem that led to her conviction is far broader than corrupt cops. It flows from the judicial system that serves the wealthy and accepts the testimony of cops in court as the gospel truth.
Bradely S. Bridge, the Philly public defender who brought the first motions to free framed-up suspects, put it this way: "Too much credibility has always been given the police in court."
Lynne Abraham, Philly's notorious District Attorney, explained the real problem caused by the current police scandal: "It has some very destructive consequences. It justifies people's suspicions of the police." That is, the problem is not that the cops regularly mess over people, beat and rob suspects, then pile on false charges. The problem is that people might stop believing in the system if too much of this gets out. In particular, the people might stop believing in the frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
For years, the "guilt" of Mumia was an article of faith for Phildelphia's establishment. The hate propaganda directed at Mumia and at the MOVE organization was so intense that many people in Philadelphia came to believe even the most absurd stories (like cops forgetting to report for two months that Mumia allegedly "confessed").
In this climate of terroristic police actions and brain-washing of the middle-class, many people were fearful of coming forward to expose the extent of police frame-ups. But now the bubble has burst in Philly itself. No longer can it be claimed that police frame-ups do not happen, rather they are the norm. No longer can the evidence presented by Mumia's attorneys be waived aside with a few quotes from the tearful widow.
Once again we must ask: If frame-ups are regularly used by Philly cops in ordinary criminal cases, what would they do to a well-known Black radical journalist with a long record of public criticism of police brutality?
The double standard is blatant: Mumia was shot, beaten, framed up, and sentenced to death. But when Officer Thomas V. Collins was recently caught in his van having sex with a teenage boy, he slapped the woman who discovered him, pulled a gun on her husband, and rammed the couple's truck with his van. When arrested he was quickly released on no bail!
The time has come to free Mumia, and put Philly's crooked cops in jail.
SOURCES: New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Daily News.
Arm yourself with the truth. Get the full set of Mumia Fact Sheets from your local Free Mumia Coalition or from Refuse & Resist!
Download a 120K PDF file of this Fact Sheet use Adobe Acrobat to print a 300 dpi repro quality version to a PostScript printer.
Mumia Index | Mumia Events | R&R Main Page
Contact Refuse
& Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org