Original anthem protester Colin Kaepernick is demanding that Pennsylvania authorities release Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.
Abu-Jamal, who is serving a life sentence at State Correctional Institution Mahanoy, in Frackville, Pennsylvania, has been a cause célèbre for leftists for decades. Now it appears that the convict has added the former San Francisco 49ers, second-string quarterback, to his list of supporters.
Kaepernick discussed Abu-Jamal during a video conference on Monday, according to NewsBusters.
“Mumia has been in prison longer than I’ve been alive,” Kaepernick said. “Since 1981, Mumia has maintained his innocence. His story has not changed.
“Mumia was shot, brutalized, arrested, and chained to a hospital bed,” Kaepernick added.
Kaepernick then used the Black Lives Matter movement as a blanket to comfort the convicted cop-killer.
“We’re in the midst of a movement that says Black Lives Matter, and if that’s truly the case, then it means that Mumia’s life and legacy must matter,” Kaepernick said. “And the causes that he sacrificed his life and freedom for must matter as well.”
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s brother, William Cook, was pulled over in a routine traffic stop in 1981 by officer Faulkner. Abu-Jamal, who was a member of the militant Black Panthers at the time, was also on the scene and drew a gun and shot the officer in the back. Then, as the officer lay bleeding on the ground, Abu-Jamal brutally shot the wounded officer in the face. Afterward, Abu-Jamal reportedly told police that he shot officer Faulkner and that he hoped the officer would die. Abu-Jamal was convicted of the murder based, in part, on the eye-witness accounts of four people.
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