Featherman: Why is an NJ teacher having her children send get well cards to Mumia?
Why did a New Jersey public school teacher have her 3rd grade class send get well cards to a convicted cop-killer?
Convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal has a group of well-wishers from both an Orange, New Jersey third grade class as well as from high school students from the Philadelphia Student Union.
In an April 5 tweet, Forest Street School teacher Marilyn Zuniga posted, "Just dropped off these letters to comrade Johanna Fernandez. My 3rd graders wrote to Mumia to lift up his spirits as he is ill. #freemumia."
Fernandez, a professor of Black Studies at Baruch College in New York, wrote on her Facebook page that she traveled with Pam Africa to Mahanoy state prison in Schuylkill County on Apr. 6 to see the wheelchair-bound former broadcaster:
Last Thursday, Mumia tried to go to the bathroom in the infirmary. Because he was so weak, he was not able to sustain himself on his feet. He slid down to the floor and waited there, helplessly and unable to call for assistance, for 45 minutes until he was found by a doctor and another prisoner.
We shared a touching moment with Mumia in an effort to raise his spirits. Two teachers delivered letters to us that their students had written to Mumia. One batch came from a 3rd grade class taught by Ms. Marylin Zuniga in Orange, New Jersey. The other batch was from a group of high school students in the Philadelphia Student Union, which fights for school reform and is led by Mr. Hiram Rivera.
Zuniga's Website at the Orange public school says she's a "language arts and social studies teacher."
What exactly is on Ms. Zuniga's syllabus everyday? Communism? Hatred of law enforcement? What exactly is she indoctrinating our kids with? And since it's done at a public school, how much of it is being done at taxpayer expense?
The idea of 7 and 8-year-olds writing "get well" notes to a convicted cop killer doesn't sit well with me – nor should it with you. Did Zuniga explain to her class why Mumia is in jail?
Can you imagine the uproar if those same 7 and 8 year olds wrote "get well" cards to Michael Slager, the South Carolina officer accused with the murder of Walter Scott?
"Comrade" Zuniga owes us an explanation.
Photo: In an image posted to Facebook, Pam Africa (left) and Johanna Fernandez (right) pose with an ailing Mumia Abu Jamal at Mahanoy state prison in Schuylkill County on April 6, 2015.
Contact John Featherman at john@featherman.com