Abu-Jamal and three friends, all African Americans from the city ’s North Side, protested a South Side rally for segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace, then governor of Alabama.
The first of his many brushes with the Philadelphia police department came when he was 14 years old. One of six children, Abu-Jamal became involved in political activism at a very early age. The man at the center of the controversy, Mumia Abu-Jamal, was born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954, in Philadelphia. his symbol status illustrates how much attention can be given to an individual while other go unnoticed. He has become a symbol of a criminal justice system that responds well to those with money but reacts with callousness to those with little. criminal justice system that moves steadily toward greater use of the death penalty as other industrialized nations continue to condemn it. According to Emerge, “He has become a symbol of a U.S. Since his incarceration, Abu-Jamal has come to represent a side of the United States that is ugly at best. The battle between Abu-Jamal ’s supporters -a diverse group that includes a number of celebrities -and those who want to see his death sentence finally carried out -an equally diverse group led by the widow of the officer he allegedly murdered -speaks volumes both about the state of race relations in the United States today and about the efficiency and fairness of our legal and penal systems. Others see the former award-winning journalist as a political prisoner being punished for his radical views and harsh criticism of the powers that be. Some view the former Black Panther as a vicious criminal, who killed a police officer and is now justly sitting on death row awaiting execution. It is very difficult to find anybody familiar with the story of Mumia Abu-Jamal who does not have a strong opinion one way or the other about the case. “Image not available for copyright reasons ”
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