In 1982, former black panther Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of murdering Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. He stood over Faulkner after a traffic stop and shot him multiple times, including in the face as he laid dying on the ground. Abu-Jamal never denied the killing during his trial. He, and his supporters, are still unapologetic for Faulkner's death. The far-Left has turned Abu-Jamal into a hero and so-called political prisoner. He even has a street named after him in France.
Although he still sits in prison carrying out a life-sentence (his death penalty sentence was overturned by the work of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and by President Obama's former DOJ Civil Rights Division nominee Debo Adegbile in 2011), Abu-Jamal has been invited to give the commencement address for Vermont's Goddard College this weekend. The worst part? He was handpicked by the students. More from the Washington Times:
The college said Abu-Jamal’s speech has been prerecorded by Prison Radio.
“As a reflection of Goddard’s individualized and transformational educational model, our commencements are intimate affairs where each student serves as her or his own valedictorian, and each class chooses its own speaker,” Goddard College Interim President Bob Kenny said in a statement. “Choosing Mumia as their commencement speaker, to me, shows how this newest group of Goddard graduates expresses their freedom to engage and think radically and critically in a world that often sets up barriers to do just that.”
The college said Abu-Jamal received a bachelor of arts degree from the school in 1996, completing his coursework by mail.
Maureen Faulkner, the widow of Officer Daniel Faulkner, recently went on the Kelly File to respond.
"I am absolutely outraged that they would have such an absolutely hate-filled murderer on as a commencement speaker. I mean this man, he murdered my husband with malice and premeditation. He is evil. What does he have to offer?" Faulkner said. "All I can say is he's a murderer and he lost his voice when he put a bullet between my husband's eyes. And I still do not understand this justice system and why they are allowing him to speak."
The college is justifying the invitation by pointing out Abu-Jamal is "an award winning journalist who chronicles the human condition" and that standard policy is to allow whoever the students invite to speak.