PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS (POP)
PO BOX 22505
NEWARK, NJ 07101
973 801-0001
CONTACT: LAWRENCE HAMM

NOVEMBER 26, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS WILL PARTICIPATE IN 100 MILE MARCH FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

POP CHAIRMAN LAWRENCE HAMM WILL MARCH FOR MUMIA

The People’s Organization for Progress (POP) will participate in a 103-mile march to draw attention to the worsening medical condition of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. It will begin Friday, Nov. 28, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The “March For Mumia” will start at 9 a.m. at Uncle Bobbie’s Cafe & Books, 5445 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia. The event is sponsored by the March For Mumia coalition.

“We are marching to demand freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress, stated.

“We are also marching to demand an end to the abuse that Mumia and other political prisoners experience, and that they receive the proper medical attention and care they need,” Hamm said.

The participants will walk 103 miles over twelve days until they reach the SCI Mahanoy Corrections Facility in Frackville on December 9th, where Abu-Jamal is incarcerated. Hamm said he will attempt to march to entire route.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is a renowned journalist and author who has written more than a dozen books. He is a revolutionary, political activist and former member of the Black Panther Party.

Abu-Jamal, 71 years old, has been incarcerated for 44 years. In 1981, he was convicted for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, a Philadelphia police officer.

His death sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. He has always maintained his innocence. His case, the issue of his innocence, and his fight for freedom have garnered international support over the decades.

Many well-known political activists, celebrities, and human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have demanded a new trial for Abu-Jamal. He has become a prominent personality in the fight to end racism, mass incarceration, inhumane treatment of prisoners, and the death penalty.

“We believe that Mumia is innocent and should be free. We demand freedom for all political prisoners. At a minimum Mumia should have a new trial,” Hamm said.

Over the years POP has held demonstrations rallies and programs to draw attention to Abu-Jamal’s struggle for freedom and his fight for medical care. More than a decade ago Hamm personally visited Abu-Jamal at the prison in Frackville.

“Mumia has been an elder for some years and has been experiencing very serious health challenges. He is in danger of going blind if he does not have surgery and treatment for diabetic retinopathy. We are marching to demand the Department of Corrections provide it,” he said.

The People’s Organization For Progress is part of the March For Mumia coalition. Besides Hamm other POP members will be marching including community organizer and poet Zayid Muhammad, and activist Steven Bernhaut.

“We invite everyone to join us for the march whether you can march one day or twelve days, or whether you can march one mile or 100 miles. Even if you can’t march come out and cheer us on. We need your support,” he said.

“When I march for Mumia I will also be marching for an end to mass incarceration, the death penalty, and slave labor in our prisons. I will be marching for all those treated unfairly and inhumanely by the criminal justice system,” Hamm said.

For more information contact March For Mumia at (862) 240-6589, or MarchforMumia@gmail.com. Visit the website at MarchforMumia.org. To contact Lawrence Hamm call the People’s Organization For Progress at (973) 801-0001.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Steven Bernhaut, 201-960-9204; marchformumia@gmail.com

Website: http://www.marchformumia.org

MARCHERS TO KICK OFF 103-MILE WALK FROM PHILADELPHIA TO FRACKVILLE, PA TO HIGHLIGHT PRISON ABUSES AND TO FREE MUMIA 

“Many people say it is insane to resist the system, but actually, it’s insane not to.” — Mumia Abu- Jamal

Philadelphia, PA — Starting at 9 a.m., Friday, Nov. 28, activists, community leaders, and families of the incarcerated will gather next to Uncle Bobbie’s Bookstore at The Market Square Monument, 5447 Germantown Ave, Germantown, Philadelphia to embark on a March for Mumia, a 12-day mobilization demanding freedom for journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, and calling attention to the systemic crisis of elder abuse, medical neglect, and politically targeted incarceration.

After libations and a few speakers, marchers carrying signs will  walk 7.1 miles up Germantown Ave. through Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill and eventually to Miles Park in LaFayette Hill, where participants will share food and solidarity.

For 11 more days, marchers will walk for 3-6 hours daily for 7-12 miles until they reach SCI Mahanoy in Frackville, PA on Dec. 9. Once there, participants will present a list of demands to the facility’s Superintendent, Bernadette Mason. 

Abu-Jamal, 71 years old, suffers from chronic health conditions—including heart disease and vision loss—worsened by what his family and supporters describe as medical neglect by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly known as Black Power activist H. Rap Brown), following complaints of elder abuse and medical neglect by his family and supporters, died Nov. 23 after 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Al-Amin’s and Mumia’s conditions reflect the broader crisis of this country’s aging prison population amid decades of medical neglect, as our brothers and sisters behind bars are routinely denied adequate care and proper food.

The March seeks to highlight these abuses and demands an end to the systemic neglect of elderly and sick incarcerated people across the U.S. and the immediate release of Mumia Abu-Jamal and other political prisoners.

Born in 1954, Abu-Jamal grew up in Philadelphia amid racial segregation and police violence. As a teenager, he joined the Black Panther Party and later became an award-winning journalist known for exposing systemic racism and police abuse. His reporting challenged Philadelphia’s power structure, earning him recognition—and hostility—from local authorities.

In 1981, Abu-Jamal was arrested and convicted of the shooting death of a Philadelphia police officer. His 1982 conviction was tainted by racial bias, coerced testimony, and judicial misconduct. Although a federal court overturned his death sentence in 2001, he remains imprisoned for life without parole. Despite decades of appeals and evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations, the state has blocked every attempt to grant him a fair trial.

Prominent voices including Amnesty International, the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela, Toni Morrison, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the International Transport Workers Union and the Congressional Black Caucus, among others, have long called for justice for Mumia and for his release. 

March organizers and endorsers unite under a shared belief in the dignity of all human beings. It’s time to end a system that treats people as disposable.

Visit http://www.marchformumia.org for more details.

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