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Showing posts from December, 2011

The Mumia Abu-Jamal Story

Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, and an activist and journalist, was tried in 1982 for the murder of Daniel Faulkner, a Philadelphia police officer. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death, only for the death sentence to be eventually declared unconstitutional and vacated. In December of 2011, the Philadelphia District Attorney made an announcement that there would be no further attempts to seek the death sentence for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Instead, Abu-Jamal’s sentence would be allowed to revert to a sentence of life without parole. THE VACATION OF ABU-JAMAL’S SENTENCE Abu-Jamal’s case has been the subject of heated debate over the decades, pitting those who see it as proof of a racially-biased justice system against those who see it as evidence that justice can prevail. The December 9 th 2011 announcement by the Philadelphia District Attorney, Seth Williams, was met with celebration by Abu-Jamal’s supporters worldwide. The nearly three decades that he had spen

Teaching through humiliation: tough love or cruelty?

Today a popular East African radio show host received a message from one of her fans, an aspiring writer who was seeking advice about how to get published. The young writer made the mistake of sending the radio show host a message ridden with grammatical errors and typos. How did the radio show host respond? She posted the young writer’s message, complete with her name, age and alma mater on her Facebook wall, with a statement to the effect that nobody would take a self-proclaimed writer seriously if she couldn’t be bothered to write her message properly. The radio show host had a point about the importance of such details as grammar and spelling in letters of inquiry about jobs and about opportunities for publication. Hiring managers routinely disqualify candidates who send them documents that are full of errors. In their experience, people who don’t pay attention to detail in their formal communication are bound to carry the same casual attitude into the job. This is especially the