On November 12, 2009, we delivered approximately 20,000 letters to the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, following a press conference at which Amnesty International, the NAACP, the National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights, the Riverside Church Prison Ministry, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and members of the Muslim community participated.

We are now embarking on the second stage of this campaign, fully aware that this is not an easy struggle, but one that will take consistent and prolonged efforts by the grassroots movement for justice for Mumia. The court system has closed its doors to the possibility of a new trial for Mumia and has left only alternatives for him: execution or life in prison without parole. The demand for a civil rights investigation was tried once before, but the Department of Justice at the time said the case was still in state courts and many appeals were still possible. That is no longer the case. The U.S. Supreme Court has supported the Third Circuit's rejection of a new trial. We must force the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation into the outrageous frame-up of Mumia, which dates back to when he was only a teenager and the question of a crime wasn't even raised. This has been a four decades' long history of a conspiracy to silence yet another Black visionary, truth-telling voice, in this case with the ultimate silencing by execution.

HERE IS THE LETTER to Attorney General Eric Holder calling for a meeting with him on April 26 to discuss the history of this case. We will also have a press conference on that day as well as a demonstration in front of the Department of Justice. Be there on Monday, April 26, two days after Mumia's 56th birthday.