http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2...range_teacher_who_ha.html#incart_river_mobile
Activists come to defense of Orange teacher who had third-graders write to former death row inmate
(BTW,
I had no idea she looked like that)
Local activists are rushing to the defense of an elementary school teacher who is facing possible termination after having her third-grade students write "get well" letters to controversial former death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Marylin Zuniga, a teacher at Forest Street Elementary School, is currently suspended with pay while Orange school officials weigh whether to fire or discipline her as a result of the assignment.
Larry Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress, spoke out on the issue during a discussion on police brutality and other issues at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark Monday night.
He urged the approximately 500 attendees, including prominent professor and activist Dr. Cornel West, to gather outside Orange High School prior to a Board of Education meeting to support Zuniga.
"She tried not only to instruct her children in terms of skills, but also tried to help them understand what it means a compassionate human being," he said. "We need to support this young woman...her heart is the right heart."
Johanna Fernandez, a professor at Baruch College in New York City and advocate for Abu-Jamal's innocence who delivered the children's letters to Abu-Jamal on April 6, was also in attendance at the discussion, and echoed Hamm's call for solidarity and support.
"Unless we mount a struggle right here in Newark, she will be fired," she told the crowd.
In comments outside the event, Fernandez and others said they felt she was being unfairly criticized because of Abu-Jamal's status as a prisoner, and that much of the debate in the media had failed to account for the backgrounds of many of Zuniga's students.
Nyle Fort, a local activist who described himself as a close friend of Zuniga's, said the idea to write the letters actually came from a group of students in her class who were already aware of Abu-Jamal and recent news that he had been hospitalized due to complications from diabetes.
He added that many students in the class, which is entirely black and Hispanic, have relatives in prison, which could remove any stigma others might have about having them write to an inmate.
"I think it's really important to realize that black and brown schools have fundamentally different relationships to prison and the people inside of them than in white neighborhoods," he said.
"The idea that a young person that's in third grade should not be talking to an inmate fundamentally does not work in our neighborhoods."
Abu-Jamal, 60, is serving a life sentence for killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. He was originally placed on death row after his conviction the following year, but a federal appeals court ordered that he receive a new sentence in 2008. He is now serving life without the possibility of parole.
In announcing Zuniga's suspension last week, Orange officials stressed that they had no knowledge of the letters until reports about them surfaced in the media. In a statement, Superintendent Ronald Lee said the assignment was "in no way condoned nor does it reflect curriculum, program or activities approved by the district."
Fernandez, however, took issue with the outcry, characterizing the assignment as an act of bravery.
"It takes courage and determination and conviction for someone like Ms. Zuniga to have responded to the call of her students," she said.
Fernandez added that letters to Nelson Mandela might have drawn a similar reaction when the former South African president was branded as a terrorist by U.S. authorities. She has repeatedly compared Abu-Jamal to Mandela, who was given the label while serving a 28-year prison term for his political work fighting apartheid and racial inequality in the country.
Fort drew a different parallel, citing the favorable academic treatment of explorer Christopher Columbus, which he said spoke to the "racial dynamics at play" in the issue concerning Zuniga.
"The idea that it's not controversial to teach children about Christopher Columbus, who is an architect of genocide, who is a serial rapist, who is a founder of white supremacy, but they can't write letters to Mumia, is unbelievably hypocritical," he said.
Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Activists come to defense of Orange teacher who had third-graders write to former death row inmate
(BTW,
I had no idea she looked like that)Local activists are rushing to the defense of an elementary school teacher who is facing possible termination after having her third-grade students write "get well" letters to controversial former death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Marylin Zuniga, a teacher at Forest Street Elementary School, is currently suspended with pay while Orange school officials weigh whether to fire or discipline her as a result of the assignment.
Larry Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress, spoke out on the issue during a discussion on police brutality and other issues at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark Monday night.
He urged the approximately 500 attendees, including prominent professor and activist Dr. Cornel West, to gather outside Orange High School prior to a Board of Education meeting to support Zuniga.
"She tried not only to instruct her children in terms of skills, but also tried to help them understand what it means a compassionate human being," he said. "We need to support this young woman...her heart is the right heart."
Johanna Fernandez, a professor at Baruch College in New York City and advocate for Abu-Jamal's innocence who delivered the children's letters to Abu-Jamal on April 6, was also in attendance at the discussion, and echoed Hamm's call for solidarity and support.
"Unless we mount a struggle right here in Newark, she will be fired," she told the crowd.
In comments outside the event, Fernandez and others said they felt she was being unfairly criticized because of Abu-Jamal's status as a prisoner, and that much of the debate in the media had failed to account for the backgrounds of many of Zuniga's students.
Nyle Fort, a local activist who described himself as a close friend of Zuniga's, said the idea to write the letters actually came from a group of students in her class who were already aware of Abu-Jamal and recent news that he had been hospitalized due to complications from diabetes.
He added that many students in the class, which is entirely black and Hispanic, have relatives in prison, which could remove any stigma others might have about having them write to an inmate.
"I think it's really important to realize that black and brown schools have fundamentally different relationships to prison and the people inside of them than in white neighborhoods," he said.
"The idea that a young person that's in third grade should not be talking to an inmate fundamentally does not work in our neighborhoods."
Abu-Jamal, 60, is serving a life sentence for killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. He was originally placed on death row after his conviction the following year, but a federal appeals court ordered that he receive a new sentence in 2008. He is now serving life without the possibility of parole.
In announcing Zuniga's suspension last week, Orange officials stressed that they had no knowledge of the letters until reports about them surfaced in the media. In a statement, Superintendent Ronald Lee said the assignment was "in no way condoned nor does it reflect curriculum, program or activities approved by the district."
Fernandez, however, took issue with the outcry, characterizing the assignment as an act of bravery.
"It takes courage and determination and conviction for someone like Ms. Zuniga to have responded to the call of her students," she said.
Fernandez added that letters to Nelson Mandela might have drawn a similar reaction when the former South African president was branded as a terrorist by U.S. authorities. She has repeatedly compared Abu-Jamal to Mandela, who was given the label while serving a 28-year prison term for his political work fighting apartheid and racial inequality in the country.
Fort drew a different parallel, citing the favorable academic treatment of explorer Christopher Columbus, which he said spoke to the "racial dynamics at play" in the issue concerning Zuniga.
"The idea that it's not controversial to teach children about Christopher Columbus, who is an architect of genocide, who is a serial rapist, who is a founder of white supremacy, but they can't write letters to Mumia, is unbelievably hypocritical," he said.
Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanIversNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
cant send letter to murder 
