For Immediate Release: Feb 16, 2023
Contact: Amanda Hart, ahart@uesf.org, 510-631-4437
SAN FRANCISCO — The United Educators of San Francisco are joining labor unions and other community activists this week, calling for the immediate release of Mumia Abu Jamal from prison. The UESF Executive Board passed a resolution on February 1 supporting Mumia. The resolution, which passed unanimously, states, “Mumia Abu-Jamal was framed for the killing of a Philadelphia police officer for his relentless, award-winning reporting on racist police violence – a national problem which the murders of Tyre Nichols in Memphis and Keenan Anderson in L.A. once again bring to the fore.”
There is a hearing on Feb.16 to address newly revealed boxes of evidence that were never reviewed—a potentially significant development in Mumia’s case. On February 16, the ILWU #10 will shut down the Ports of Oakland and San Francisco to demand his immediate release. Oakland Education Association and other union locals in California also support the movement to free Mumia. UESF is urging educators to join in this act of solidarity by teaching about Mumia’s case and the issues of police violence on February 16.
UESF President Cassondra Curiel said in a letter sent to Judge Lucretia Clemons, who is reviewing the new evidence, “We believe that the responsibility for dismantling the school to prison pipeline and ending the mass incarceration of Black Americans belongs to all of us. United Educators of San Francisco stands firmly in affirming that Black Lives Matter, and to this end we use our collective voice to advocate for justice and demand the immediate release of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
