These days, even commencement speakers aren't safe from criticism aimed at their political or personal beliefs. President Obama, for example, gave the 2009 Notre Dame graduation speech and endured shouts of "baby killer!" in response to his position on abortion rights.
This graduation speech from a death-row inmate sparked a national outcry nearly 2 decades ago
Mumia Abu-Jamal's speech in 1999, recorded from prison, sparked a national outcry.
But the outcry over Obama's speech doesn't come close to the controversy that erupted when
Abu-Jamal was on death row at the time of the graduation, so Evergreen played a 13-minute tape-recorded speech for the audience. Abu-Jamal was removed from death row in 2011 and is currently
That decision spurred vehement outcry from many students, police officers, public officials offended by the decision, and some students walked out from the speech. Former Washington governor Gary Locke canceled his scheduled appearance.
For its part, Evergreen said it asked Abu-Jamal to speak ''to galvanize an international conversation about the death penalty, the disproportionate number of blacks on death row, the relationship between poverty and the criminal justice system,'' according to the New York Times in 1999.
Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter who's black, was convicted in 1982 of murdering white Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner after he pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother. He has a large number of supporters who claim he was framed for the murder, and, after a review of the case, Amnesty International found it did not meet international fair trial standards.
The speech that generated so much controversy centered on living a deliberate life and embracing the revolutionary struggle:
Abu-Jamal has maintained his innocence, but the Supreme Court in Philadelphia upheld his conviction twice. He was sentenced to death, but in late 2011 prosecutors agreed to stop pursuing the death penalty and to take him off of death row.
He's serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but he's continuing to cause controversy behind bars.
In April 2017, Abu-Jamal was again in court hoping a judge would overturn appeals previously denied, CBS Philly reported. The judge will give a decision at a later date.
You can listen to the entirety of
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng