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May 15, 2015

New Jersey: Teacher Fired over Student Letters to Mumia Abu-Jamal 
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A third-grade teacher in Orange, New Jersey, has been fired a month
after she was suspended for letting her students write get-well cards to
imprisoned journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. Marilyn
Zuniga said her students wanted to send letters to Abu-Jamal after she
shared one of his quotations with them and later told them he was ill.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer, but
Amnesty International has said he was deprived of a fair trial. Zuniga's
firing comes after she received a wave of support from educators across
the country — and from her own students, including eight-year-old
Cashmere Jones.

Cashmere Jones: "She has been a great teacher to me and all the other
classmates, and they all really want to see her again."

 

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