Apr 25, 2015 2 min read

In the category of “Now I have heard everything” comes the news that a New Jersey third-grade teacher instructed her class to write get-well letters to Mumia Abu-Jamal, the infamous man who killed Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner in cold blood on Dec. 9, 1981.

Naturally, the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police is incensed by this insensitive and provocative act, as are individuals who support those who place their lives on the line for us every day.

The teacher’s gross lapse of judgment is but the latest in a string of actions seemingly designed to torment Faulkner’s loved ones. Despite clear evidence of his guilt, Abu-Jamal has been feted by many from the Hollywood establishment and others throughout the world as some sort of civil rights leader, an icon who was railroaded by a racist justice system. Vermont’s Goddard College stuck its thumb in society’s eye, selecting the killer to deliver the commencement address to its graduates just last year.

The New Jersey teacher has since sought to save face and her job by apologizing, but one must wonder what possessed her to act as she did. I also wonder whether her sympathy would ever extend not only to killers of law enforcement officers, but to those who survive them. I suspect that in our twisted world, that would not be likely.

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper Saint Clair