A Sad Anniversary

22 years ago today, Mumia Abu Jamal killed police officer Daniel Faulkner. Today, Abu Jamal is the hero of the bleeding heart left, while Faulkner is nearly forgotten. Next time you read about some celebrity-led "Free Mumia" event consider the following:

As a member of the Black Panthers, Jamal called for a "black revolution" and stated that "power grows from the barrel of a gun."

Five eyewitnesses, within minutes of the shooting, gave substantially identical accounts of the incident, and each identified Abu Jamal as the assailant. One eyewitness, less than thirt feet from the scene testified that Abu Jamal knelt down so that he could fire his final shot directly into the wounded officers face from less than a foot away.

Three of these witnesses personally identified Abu Jamal as the shooter. They didn't just pick him out by appearance, they identified him by name.

Jamal was apprehended 10 feet from the scene of the shooting. The gun found next to him was owned by Jamal and registered in his name. The gun contained five spent casings identical in brand, caliber, and type to bullets retrieved from Officer Faulkner's brain. The rifling characteristics of the bullets in Officer Faulkner matched the characteristics of Jamal's gun.

William Cook, Jamal's brother (who Officer Faulkner was trying to arrest at the time), was an eyewitness to the shooting. To this day, he has not testified that someone other than his brother was the assailant, nor has he proclaimed his brother's innocence.

During his trial, when Officer Faulkner's blood-stained shirt was displayed in evidence, Jamal turned and grinned the officer's widow.

Free Mumia indeed.