PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS WILL PARTICIPATE IN 100 MILE MARCH FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

POP CHAIRMAN LAWRENCE HAMM WILL MARCH FOR MUMIA

The People’s Organization For Progress (POP) will participate in a 103 mile march to draw attention to the worsening medical condition of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. It will begin Friday, November 28, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The “March For Mumia” will starts 9:00at Uncle Bobbie’s Cafe & Books, 5445 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia. The event is sponsored by the March For Mumia coalition. 

“We are marching to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated. 

“We are also marching to demand an end to the abuse that Mumia and other political prisoners experience, and that they receive the proper medical attention and care they need,” Hamm said. 

The participants will walk 103 miles over twelve days until they reach the SCI Mahanoy Corrections Facility in Frackville on December 9th, where Abu-Jamal is incarcerated. Hamm said he will attempt to march to entire route. 

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist and author who has written more than a dozen books. He is a revolutionary, political activist and former leader of the Black Panther Party. 

Abu-Jamal, 71 years-old, has been incarcerated for 44 years. In 1981, he was convicted for the murder of Daniel Faulkner a Philadelphia police officer. 

His death sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. He has always maintained his innocence. His case, the issue of his innocence, and his fight for freedom has garnered international support over the decades. 

Many well known political activists, celebrities, and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have demanded a new trial for Abu-Jamal. He has become a prominent personality in the fight to end racism, mass incarceration, inhumane treatment of prisoners, and the death penalty. 

“We believe that Mumia is innocent and should be free. We demand freedom for all political prisoners. At a minimum Mumia should have a new trial,” Hamm said. 

Over the years POP has held demonstrations rallies and programs to draw attention to Abu-Jamal’s struggle for freedom and his fight for medical care. More than a decade ago Hamm personally visited Abu-Jamal at the prison in Frackville. 

“Mumia has been an elder for some years and has been experiencing very serious health challenges. He is in danger of going blind if he does not have surgery and treatment for diabetic retinopathy. We are marching to demand the Department of Corrections provide it,” he said. 

The People’s Organization For Progress is part of the March For Mumia coalition. Besides Hamm other POP members will be marching including community organizer and poet Zayid Muhammad, and activist Steven Bernhaut.

“We invite everyone to join us for the march whether you can march one day or twelve days, or whether you can march one mile or 100 miles. Even if you can’t march come out and cheer us on. We need your support,” he said. 

“When I march for Mumia I will also be marching for an end to mass incarceration, the death penalty, and slave labor in our prisons. I will be marching for all those treated unfairly and inhumanely by the criminal justice system,” Hamm said. 

For more information contact March For Mumia at (862)240-6589, or MarchforMumia@gmail.com. Visit the website at MarchforMumia.org. To contact Lawrence Hamm call the People’s Organization For Progress at (973)801-0001. 

Colin Kaepernick calls for release of former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal

Colin Kaepernick has publicly expressed support of the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal at a press conference held by the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home this week. Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981. He has served 38 years of a life sentence at a southwest Philadelphia prison thus far.

Watch Kaepernick's statement at the conference below:

After 3 plus decades in prison Mumia Abu-Jamal granted right of appeal

A judge in Philadelphia has reinstated appeal rights to former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal — convicted of killing a city police officer more than 30 years ago — who has long maintained his innocence as his case gained international attention.

Advocates of Abu-Jamal praised the decision by Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Leon Tucker as a significant development toward winning the freedom of a man whose case generated decades of protest and thousands of supporters in the "Free Mumia" movement.

"This is an unheard of legal victory," said Rachel Wolkenstein, former lawyer and longtime activist for Abu-Jamal. "This is the best opportunity we have had for Mumia's freedom in decades."

Abu-Jamal has been incarcerated since his 1982 conviction for killing white Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in a racially charged case. The judge who issued the latest decision called the case one of the most polarizing shootings in the city's history. In 2011, prosecutors dropped the execution case against Abu-Jamal because of flawed jury instructions and instead agreed to a sentence of life in prison.

For years, Abu-Jamal's attempts at securing a new trial were denied. In the latest legal argument, his lawyers argued that Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille should not have presided over Abu-Jamal's appeals battles. Castille was formerly Philadelphia's district attorney whose office fought to keep the activist and prolific writer behind bars.

Castille refused calls from Abu-Jamal's supporters to recuse himself from hearing the appeal, saying he never directly worked on the case. In 2012, Abu-Jamal's advocates thought he lost his final appeal when the state Supreme Court rejected a claim challenging the validity of forensic evidence that was used to convict him.

In his legal opinion on Thursday, Tucker said Castille made the wrong choice, because even the appearance of being biased can be damaging to the judicial system.

"The claim of bias, prejudice and refusal of former Justice Castille to recuse himself is worthy of consideration as true justice must be completely just without even a hint of partiality, lack of integrity or impropriety," Tucker wrote.

Tucker's ruling has breathed new life into the hopes of Abu-Jamal's supporters that he may one day be granted freedom.

[SOURCE: NPR]