Regardless of What Kaepernick Says, Mumia Should Remain in Prison

   Colin Kaepernick would have us free Mumia Abu-Jamal. That's the latest news on Kaepernick. Mumia killed a police officer way back in 1981. The effort to free him has become a cause celebre. This week, after news broke that Kaep had joined the long list of people calling for Mamia's release, CNN's Michael Smerconish went on air, inviting Kaep to talk to him or the slain officer's widow. Smerconish suggested the topic was something he knows a little about. You might say I wrote the book, he said, and held up a book titled, Murdered by Mumia: A Life Sentence of Loss, Pain, and Injustice. Even those in the neighborhood where Mumia lived do not stand behind him, Smerconish suggested.

   A closer study will/would probably show Smerconish right. A Wikipedia entry, though, gives us some insight. "Labor unions, politicians, advocates, educators, the NCAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and human rights advocacy organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have expressed concern about the impartiality of the trial of Abu-Jamal." Therein, perhaps, we get the crux of the matter. It is not that Mumia is not guilty, but that his trial might not have been fair. 

  How important is it, that we clean up our justice system, that we run it fair, that we do not run on the principle that, You're guilty, so it doesn't matter if we treat you "fair."

  Still, would it be right to free Mumia? He is clearly guilty. The trial might have been flawed, and we should see the urgency in making sure this doesn't happen, but we should still consider that perhaps Mumia should remain in prison.

  Also of interest: All the links to videos showing Kaepernick speaking -- have been taken down. "Sorry, this video is no longer available," it says. I did find one still up, but the rest have all been scrubbed. We should be concerned about this grave incursion into free speech. Kaep should be allowed to speak. What he says should not be censored. He is standing up for someone who truly wrongfully murdered a police officer -- yes -- but that should not erase his right to his opinion.