In a email this morning, my sister writes: "Good Afternoon Brother, I was thinking about something and knew if anyone I know would know... it would be you... once Obama takes office, would he have the authority to pardon Mumia?"
With George Bush pardoning John Forte recently and New York Governor David Patterson pardoning Slick Rick, why not?
Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution says: "The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons [note: a reprieve reduces the severity of a punishment without removing the guilt of the person reprieved, a pardon removes both punishment and guilt] for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."
That said, I would like to formally start a roll call here, petitioning President Obama to pardon Mumia Abu-Jamal and set him free. If you support this please leave a comment voicing your support, with your REAL name. The more comments voicing support, the more exposure for this idea, and the more momentum we can build.
Please do not repost this on your blog, please direct folks here so we can gather as many voices of support as possible in one place.
Obama's true test: pardon Mumia.
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8 comments:
I am very interested to see how this plays out. And you're right, it is going to be considered the true test by many.
this was a question that many people i knew wanted to ask during the youtube debates....but knew it wasnt strategic.
he cant do it until his second term is over.
or if he loses then right before he goes out of office after his first term.
HMMMMMMMMMM
a comment on this post from facebook, and my response...
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[The Comment:] "let me try to understand this. pardoning Mumia is the most quintessential or 'true' test you can think for the incoming President? - above and beyond restoring jurisprudence at Guantanamo? more pressing than repealing prisoner torture abuses? more urgent than the dire conundrum of working out how to drag millions of americans out of a multi-trillion dollar deficit? i'm just trying to comprehend.
is it that you feel that pardoning Mumia is the truest test of Obama's Presidential virtue, or would it represent to you the defining gesture of his racial allegiance to a historically aggrieved Black America? -janasa xx"
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[The Response:] It'd be probably the most simple, basic gesture he could make, thus making it an indicator of his willingness to do other things such as "restoring jurisprudence at Guantanamo", or closing Guantanamo (and close means not opening another black torture site in its place, which is what has been rumored). In other words, if Obama can't find the integrity to pardon Mumia, don't expect him to do something as drastic as give civil rights to so-called terrorists.
I agree with your response^. This would be very telling. And such a petition would need to start from now in order to have the backing it needs by the time Obama gets in a position to make the decision for a pardon -- be it four years or eight. So I'm with it. -Kamille Whittaker
I would definitely support it. Whether or not I believe he will is a different story. At least not as a first-term option. Here goes anyways -
Aye Yo, Obama! Free MUMIA!
- signed Yvette Fibleuil
i agree he probably won't do it until the end of his final term in office.
but i was just thinking... imagine if malcolm x was in jail right now... all the mofos wearing his tshirts and shit... writing books... claiming him... would they even care?
at the end of the day mumia is that and he's alive right now. and we forget that.
if obama doesn't pardon mumia, how can i have respect for someone like that? truly, without hate, i really ask that question from the bottom of my heart. because i'd really want to but just absolutely couldn't respect that person.
at the very bottom line, obama would be no different than F.W. deKlerk -- just a man with power keeping the worlds best and brightest locked up for purely political reasons.
and that would just be... sinful. lol. seriously tho.
Yvette u funny!
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