Twenty-six years ago, a police officer was brutally murdered on the cold, dark streets of Philadelphia. Patrolman Daniel Faulkner, making a routine traffic stop at about three o'clock on the morning of December 9, 1981, was knocked to the ground and shot several times in his upper body and face. Four eyewitnesses to the cold-blooded homicide have identified the murderer as, Wesley Cook (AKA Mumia Abu Jamal). Mr. Cook was convicted of first degree murder the following year, and sentenced to death in the Electric Chair.
 
Well, here we are, 26 years later, and instead of an execution, we have something akin to a coronation. Mr. Cook has received money for the sales of books, written while in prison, and he has been allowed to write a column in which he regularly rants about 'racial injustice in America.' In addition, his fight against the death penalty, for which he has had the support of several Hollywood celebrities, has proved fruitful because, a few years ago, a judge reduced his penalty to life in prison. Now, his “fan club” is trying to get him released.
Maureen Faulkner, widow of the slain officer, recently wrote, “Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain and Injustice.” She should know; a part of her was murdered that fateful day.
 
When I think about the facts of this case, I have to agree with Mr. Cook; there is racial injustice in this country. Mr. Cook, a black man, murdered Officer Faulkner, a white man, and to this date Officer Faulkner has not received justice. Cook, a former member of the Black Panthers and an avid supporter of anti-government, and anti-police groups, was observed firing a shot into Faulkner's back as the officer was struggling with Cook's brother William, the driver of the vehicle. The wounded officer spun around, drew his revolver, and fired back, hitting Cook in the upper torso. At that point, the officer fell to the ground, writhing in pain from the back wound. Cook staggered a few feet, then, walked up to the helpless cop and fired at his chest. Faulkner was twisting furiously on the ground, trying to avoid the bullets. Ultimately, Cook placed the gun barrel within inches of the cop's face and fired again. Witnesses have stated that a few quick spasms signaled the end of Faulkner's life.
 
After Cook fired the fatal bullet, he attempted to leave the scene, but his wound kept him from going very far. He was sitting on the curb with the murder weapon in his hand when the police arrived. When warned to drop the gun, he attempted to take aim at one of the responding officers, who, rather than shoot him, knocked the gun to the ground.
At the emergency room of the hospital, as Cook was violently resisting the police who brought him there for treatment of his wound, witnesses heard him shout: “I shot the (expletive) and I hope the (expletive) dies.” One can scarcely imagine having more evidence for a trial and conviction than the incontrovertible facts presented here. During the trial, Mumia Abu Jamal (He became an African tribal leader as soon as he found himself in a cell), repeatedly disrupted the proceedings on a daily basis with loud outbursts and verbal threats. An extremely patient judge and prosecutor dealt with his desperate attempts to make the trial about race, even allowing him to run his own defense and interview potential jurors. In the end, the racially mixed jury convicted Mumia of First Degree Murder and recommended the death penalty. Up to that point, the system was working. If Mumia had been taken from the courtroom, brought to the place of execution, and been forced to pay with his life, justice would have been done.
But, this is America, the country that people like Mumia and others are quick to criticize as barbarous and primitive. In this country, the system of appeals is practically endless, and the race card has more stopping power than a .44 Magnum. Mumia is black and that entitles him to proclaim that the only reason for his plight is his color.
 
Imagine if the situation were reversed. The white guy stood over the black guy and fired bullets into his face in front of 4 witnesses. Do you think the judge and the D.A. would be so patient with his courtroom antics? How many Hollywood celebrities do you think would be making appeals to save his life? Would he still be alive and able to spread his racist dogma in newspapers and magazines? Nah! He'd be toast!!
Mumia is right. This is a racist country.