Massachusetts News
By Bryan Rudnick

December 1--The left on campus has a new cause du jour. It is infecting Smith, Holy Cross, Simmons, UMASS, Brandeis and many other colleges in Massachusetts.

This cause is not human rights or saving the environment, but freeing a convicted cop- killer.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a black author/journalist who "conned millions into believing he was framed," claims Dan Flynn of Accuracy in Academia, a non-profit organization that has been covering the Mumia movement on college campuses. Abu-Jamal has supposedly been framed for the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer.

As of the writing, the execution of Abu-Jamal is set for December 2, 1999. The Governor of Pennsylvania has signed the death warrant for Abu-Jamal, but the defense team has been able to get appeals on more than one occasion in the past.

While many of these appeals were lingering, students throughout the country were becoming more aware of Abu-Jamal. Liberal activists have rallied their comrades into protesting for his release, and professors are instructing their students to read his book, Live From Death Row.

Unfortunately, colleges in Massachusetts have fallen prey to this cause. At the campus of Smith, the College’s "Office of Institutional Diversity" and "Smith Friends of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League" have sponsored a three-part movie and discussion series on "The War against Black America." The event is advertised with a graphic on the flyer that demonstrates an African-American male being beaten by a police officer.

On November 19, at least 40 students decided to march, sing and chant in protest over the incarceration of Abu-Jamal. These students carried signs which, according to some observers, looked too professional to have been made by students. These observers speculate that the Office of Institutional Diversity or an off-campus organization produced and financed the signs.

The events at Smith College are not isolated events. A Holy Cross sophomore, David Krongrad, noticed students passing out flyers to support Abu-Jamal, which describe the situation as "the unjustified execution …of an innocent man." Some of these supporters, he noticed, were wearing a T-shirt of the anarchistic rock group, Rage Against the Machine.

Krongrad has expressed his disbelief in the naiveté of his peers. "The issue is inundated with mass propaganda powered by the icons of the music industry who propel college age persons to make rash decisions based not on belief in the innocence of Mumia, rather based on their devotion to a band," says Krongrad.

At UMASSBoston, students have distributed information about Abu-Jamal and have protested for his release. At a socialist table in the student center, Barry Flynn, Chair of the College Republicans, saw information pertaining to Abu-Jamal in mid-October. He conversed with both individuals at this table for some time.

Afterwards, Flynn offered these individuals anti-Marxist literature produced by David Horowitz and a booklet about Abu-Jamal produced by Accuracy in Academia.

As the socialists reviewed the materials, they became enraged, and they referred to Flynn as a "racist" and "fascist." One of them, acting out of rage, hit Flynn in the head with the booklets and was then restrained by his socialist comrade.

Is it possible that Generation X and the Baby Boomers who fill the Ivory Tower can accept a crime on face value? Can they survive a day without finding a cause to protest or blaming society for the problems of everyone rather than helping others to take personal responsibility?

Bryan Rudnick is a student at Brandeis University.
 

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