by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com, (610) 931-8810
We are all reading about the Mumia Abu-Jamal case.
There a many invisible victims in this case who we don't think about enough.
And then, also in this case, there are the bullies who do terrible damaging things to others and themselves.
While folks are saying or writing that the case about Mumia taking the life of Philadelphia Police Officer, Daniel Faulkner, is an “open and shut case,” they ignore the real though often invisible victims. Officer Faulkner's widow, Maureen, is a real victim. The surviving family members are real victims. And anyone else who has been taken advantage of can relate to the suffering of Mrs. Faulkner. Folks who ignore Mrs. Faulkner's sudden public tragedy do not really even have the right to talk about the death of Mr. Daniel Faulkner.
As a freelance writer and investigative reporter for several weekly newspapers, it has startled me about how few are seeking to write of the main players who have been ignored as victims when this shooting first took place many years ago. And who is at fault for not making sure that Maureen Faulkner is both comforted and encouraged to get through this?
Many court justices are basically courtroom-predators and many newspaper reporters are simply writer-predators. Both often enjoy presenting disturbing facts that titillate the public. Many are not interested in caring about someone who is grieving through a loss of a love one. Neither believes in the African proverb theory about how it takes a whole village to raise a child. In Africa many people there understood that a predator-being is only interested in doing one thing: destroying a human being. And since the predator has instincts of hate and bias against all of the human race including blacks and whites, etc., everything looks good for a killing.
In the Mumia case, I am speaking up. After 25 years, I think it fit and proper for both the judges and reporters to apologize for their behavior in this case. Why isn’t the village of Philadelphia demanding an outing of these judges and writers so that victims to come may be protected from ever having to fall under their bully authority? The judge who presided over the Abu-Jamal case seemed to not be interested in whether justifiable sentence or anger is the case when a police officer is killed. Sad to say, mainly for the widow victim, a witness Terri Maurer-Carter, who was not interested in white or black racial issues, allegedly overheard Judge Albert Sabo say he would help the prosecution "fry the nigger." This is just one of the reasons the grieving family members must face this jumbo nightmare over and over again in public view.
When this alleged blunder was revealed, every police officer, political advocate for social justice, and staff of the Office of the District Attorney should have organized to show a public oneness.
No one needed a courtroom-predator’s help. Justifiable anger should have been pointed at the judge not the police, nor the District Attorney, Lynn Abraham. The question is not whether Mumia's sentence is right or wrong, innocent or guilty. The question is why did the judge conduct himself in a way to mess up the case? And from what is understood, this same predator judge was brought back to hear the case again. Why did he make it harder for the tears of the Faulkner family?
When someone deals with a loss, any non-caring human says “I know how you feel, but still the guy who is living was treated badly.”
So many letters of apology and encouragement should be going out to Mrs. Faulkner by the FOP, the District Attorney‘s Office, and any party that says it stands for nonviolence. All should support the right to avenge the death of a brother - and I mean husband too. As a Minister first and a Philadelphia Police Clergy Officer second, I so clearly see where therein the biblical text which may be used as a canon at times that an insult such as being involved with the death of another, does allow for conferences. The consequences of these conferences must be faced. No one really knows how it feels to miss someone you love dearly unless it happens to you.
I support the FOP position in the Mumia case solely because when it comes to judicial misconduct. A young district attorney usually would have complained about how many cases these judges are ruining. They would have been outraged and wanted those judges removed from the bench but find that's all but impossible. When a street is named after anyone alleged to have killed a police officer the police are invisible victims, too. Black and white politicians in general are not afraid to speak up about this because they too realize that many times biased judges are the real root of mis-honoring a person.
Judges know this. They are not dumb. Sharing the grief process with Mrs. Faulkner is what all-caring folks who are aware of the husband’s death should be doing. As a minister and as a parent, I would hope to be the first, even though late, to send my condolences and thoughts of some type of possible encouragement to Mrs. Faulkner. And if she ever reads or hears about this because of the newspaper‘s power to be used for the good instead of hate, perhaps other victims can find support for what terrible madness has fallen upon them without choice. Mrs. Faulkner didn’t have anything to do with the process of putting Mumia in prison. Why can’t folks rally around her to share instead of doing what the wrongful judges want?
Many unfeeling folks try to get a rise out of both black and white folks while all they do is sit back and not cry.
