Black Panther, Convicted Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal A Dr. King-Like Hero?

A California labor union wants a California school board to include former Black Panther and convicted cop-killer Mumua Abu-Jamal in their curriculum. The union backs a plan to not only use Abu-Jamal to paint the justice system as racist to school children, but also to compare him to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Abu-Jamal was convicted in the 1981 killing of 24-year old Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, and the case has long-been a crusade of the radical left. Dr. Johanna Fernandez, a history professor at Baruch College CUNY and coordinator for Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, appeared on “The Kelly File” with Megyn Kelly Tuesday night to defend the radical social justice agenda. After several attempts to shout over the Fox News host to avoid answering her questions, Fernandez was shut down when Kelly cut the interview.

Jason Riley, author of the new book Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed, said it would be sad to introduce Abu-Jamal into a curriculum as a role model for black children alongside Dr. King. He said that now, “black parents will also have to guard children against the school curriculum that is going to be celebrating black criminality.” Riley said that would be teaching another generation of black children to see themselves as victims, calling it beyond shameful.

The last time Abu-Jamal was in the news was earlier this year, when President Obama nominated former NAACP lawyer Debo Adegbile to head up the Civil Rights Division. As acting director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Adegbile succeeded in getting the cop-killer’s death sentence overturned, but conviction has been upheld numerous times.

Though Adegbile was ultimately blocked by a 47-52 vote in the Senate, the story was once-again resurrected.

Maureen Faulkner, the widow of the Philadelphia officer killed by Abu-Jamal, was outraged when the president nominated Adegbile, saying he was “the wrong person for the job.” When Senate Democrats experienced political blowback, they were forced to drop their support for Adegdile and she gracefully thanked Democratic senators who “broke ranks and had the courage to do the right thing.”

Fernandez, who came across as an angry, aggressive woman on “The Kelly File,” also appeared on Hannity during the nomination controversy. When she put forward the same talking points, Katie Pavlich, a Fox News Contributor who had been covering the story, refuted each of them line-by-line.

(Below: In a heated debated hosted by FNC’s Sean Hannity, Katie Pavlich (Fox News Contributor) and Dr. Johanna Fernandez (History Prof. Baruch College CUNY) debate the facts about Abu-Jamal.)