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My father was a police officer. He came home one morning after his night shift with his police coat in shreds. A woman had attacked him with a butcher knife when he tried to break up a domestic dispute. We worried every time he went out the door wondering whether he would ever come back. If he had been killed in the line of duty, I can imagine my mother would have been another courageous Maureen Faulkner. And yet, I decided a long time ago that I couldn’t abide capital punishment even for a convicted cop killer. Capital punishment is often arbitrary and selectively applied, especially in a state like Texas, where the poor and even people with mental retardation have dispassionately been put to death.
It is not as if I feel Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. His conviction seems just to me. I was doing a public affairs talk show one Sunday morning on WYSP-FM discussing the controversial aftermath of the cold-blooded murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner when Ramona Africa called me on the air claimung to have incontrovertible proof of Abu-Jamal’s innocence. I invited her to fax me the proof. I am still waiting. So this column isn’t about me joining the “Free Mumia” movement.
I have always felt that for folks like me who don’t believe in capital punishment, you do your cause a disservice when you make Abu-Jamal your poster boy. On the other hand, if you think capital punishment is meted out unevenly then in a way Abu-Jamal makes your case.
Abu-Jamal will never be executed for two reasons — the endless appeals process in Pennsylvania and his celebrity status. In a state where no one is executed, there is no capital punishment despite the appearance of the law on the books. But a shorter appeals process in Pennsylvania won’t change the arbitrary nature of capital punishment. We all know who would be put to death and who would not, and we are fooling ourselves if we think the decision would be based on the nature of the crime rather than race and the competency of the attorney.
I find the list of celebrities who have joined Abu-Jamal’s cause to be repugnant, even though I share their desire to end capital punishment. Celebrities such as Ed Asner had to convince themselves that Jamal is innocent. It wasn’t enough to argue the capricious nature of the death sentence. They had to make him a hero. Jamal is no hero; he is a convicted killer.
Celebrities tend to embrace inmates who have some kind of artistic talent. Caryl Chessman, the “Red Light” bandit back in the 50s, was convicted of 17 counts of rape, robbery and kidnapping. The case became a sensation with a number of notable authors, and even William F. Buckley, pleading his case. Chessman, who was bright and articulate, defended himself in various articles, including authoring a book. He was finally executed even as another stay of execution was being granted too late to save him from the gas chamber.
There was also Jack Henry Abbott, a career criminal who wrote “In the Belly of the Beast” in prison. Author Norman Mailer was the most notable celebrity who was entranced by Abbott’s literary abilities and won him his freedom. Abbott soon murdered a waiter in a New York restaurant and wound up back behind bars. He committed suicide in 2002.
In many ways, the talented Abu-Jamal reminds me of those notorious cases. He has entranced the celebs in much the same way with his verbal and writing skills. It didn’t take long for Asner, Mike Farrell and others to fall head over heels in love with Jamal, portraying him as the victim instead of the murdered officer that he gunned down. All kinds of imaginary loopholes were spread around. Another faux conspiracy was hatched. It is as if celebs can’t believe that anyone who has some measure of talent can be guilty of murder. The poor and the forgotten languish on death row while these celebs are cheerleading for Abu-Jamal’s innocence around the world. And therein lays the essential unfairness of who is put to death and who isn’t in America.
I respect those victims’ families whose loss hangs over their lives like a perpetual cloud. I cannot argue with those who feel that the death of the convicted killer is the only thing that will bring a semblance of peace and closure to their lives. I especially respect the bravery and persistence of Maureen Faulkner in fighting the lies spread by some of the supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal. But I also cannot forget that, especially for those who were convicted before the discovery of DNA, the innocents who have been condemned to death, some of whom were executed, like in a Texas recent case, before their innocence was proven. Death is too final a punishment for a system that has all too many flaws.
We have a system of government founded on the belief that it is better that some who are guilty escape punishment than for one innocent person to be victimized. If it means that in order to avoid putting an innocent person to death, we have to tolerate the preening and distasteful spectacle of Mumia Abu-Jamal, then with heavy heart, I say so be it. SPR
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