Rep. Eric Swalwell urged the release of formerBlack Pantherand convictedcop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamalin a 1999 op-ed for his college newspaper, according to a report.
Swalwell, the California Democrat who is among several candidateslooking to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote the column under the byline “The Radically Poetic,”according to the Daily Mail.
“America, it’s time to wake up,” Swalwell wrote while a student at Campbell University in Harnett County, North Carolina.
“I encourage everyone to research for themselves the stories of these prisoners and others who, at the very least, deserve a fair trial.”
Swalwell referred to Abu-Jamal andanother convicted cop killer, Leonard Peltier, as “political prisoners” who were being victimized by America’s “systematically corrupt justice system.”
In the column cited by the Daily Mail, Swalwell encouraged readers to visit the website of rock bandRage Against the Machinefor more information about the two cases.
Swalwell has frequently highlighted that he is the son of a police chief, often invoking his father’s law enforcement career to underscore his support for public safety and first responders.
On the campaign trail and in public statements, he has cited being “the son of a cop” as shaping his views on criminal justice and community safety.
Swalwell’s father, Eric Nelson Swalwell Sr., served as police chief of Algona, Iowa, in the mid-1980s after working with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department in California during the politically turbulent Berkeley unrest and thetrial of civil rights activist Angela Davis.
His tenure in Algona ended in 1985 after herefused to void parking tickets issuedat a county fair despite alleged pressure from local officials, a standoff that led to a six-month legal battle and his eventual firing.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
