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April 20-26, 2006

City Beat

Two Minutes With...Pam Africa

MOVE's minister of confrontation; chair of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal

On Friday, a 4 p.m. "Honk for Mumia" event coincides with a visiting French delegation's request to meet with Mayor John Street and Gov. Ed Rendell at City Hall. Their aim: Pressure officials to reconsider the conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the former Philadelphia journalist found guilty of the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. (His death sentence was vacated in 2001.)


The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is currently determining whether Abu-Jamal will be granted a new trial or sent back to death row, which is the district attorney's preference. Speaking about the event is Pam Africa, who will be part of a U.S. delegation to Sainte Denis, France, for the April 29 dedication of a newly constructed street leading to Nelson Mandela Stadium. It will be named in Abu-Jamal's honor.

City Paper: Is this a peaceful protest?

Pam Africa: It depends how [the mayor's office] handles it. If he says he's not going to meet with us, then we're all going into City Hall and holding a press conference.

CP: Haven't the French knocked on City Hall's doors before?

PA: [On] Feb. 11, 2005, Street agreed to meet, then sent out an official to give them a Liberty Bell, one of those $1.99, $2.99 or $3.99 trinkets. That's not why they came; they came to talk about injustice.

CP: It's a federal case now. Why bother the locals?

PA: He's the mayor, and Rendell was the DA in 1981, and they've got to tell the truth. As president of City Council, and as a lawyer, Street told us Mumia didn't have a fair trial. Once he ran for mayor, he wouldn't say anything anymore.

CP: The movement is about more than Mumia, right?

PA: It's about us all. It's about justice and fairness. It's about people in office doing what's right, and if they say they are, then let them explain this—how they'd let Philadelphia drop a bomb on us. Now, God forbid, if they execute [Mumia] …

CP: Isn't there a honk session every other Friday?

PA: The horns get very, very loud. Wherever Lynne Abraham's at, we'll be at.

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