If you knew when and where Martin Luther King, Jr., was to be executed by the government, what would you do?

While our local TV and newspapers obsessed with John Glenn last Friday, Mumia Abu-Jamal--arguably the world's best-known political prisoner--lost a critical appeal that may seal his death at the hands of the state of Pennsylvania. Governor Thomas Ridge has pledged to immediately sign a death warrant.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected in total arguments from Abu-Jamal's legal team protesting the bizarre and often outrageous conduct of the district attorney and Judge Albert Sabo throughout Mumia's trial and subsequent appeals for the 1981 shooting and killing of a Philadelphia policeman. Abu-Jamal, a respected African-American radio journalist in the city at the time, has steadfastly maintained his innocence and charged that his railroaded prosecution and guilty verdict were the results of a combination of racism, political persecution, and perjured testimony forced by the police.

While reaasonable people may differ on whether Abu-Jamal is guilty (and, after all, a person is only supposed to be found guilty if no reasonable doubt exists), no doubt exists that the original trial and appeals were a stunning farce of justice. Moreover, the trial occurred in a context of a city riddled with since-revealed police corruption and endemic racism that has resulted in an unusually high number of African-Americans on death row. At minimum, Abu-Jamal deserves a new, and fair, trial.

Instead, with his appeals at the state level now exhausted, Mumia's fate appears to have been sealed by Bill Clinton. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, one of the Clinton Administration's many little- noticed (by liberals) and pernicious attacks on civil liberties, precludes any appeal based upon the merits of the case, and so expedites other appeal routes that preparation of a successful appeal is highly unlikely. The entire body of state rulings on the case, including the state supreme court's denial, will be presumed correct.

For years, it has been clear that rulings surrounding Abu-Jamal's case have been political, not judicial, in nature. Mumia has bee the focus of an enormous international campaign demanding his freedom. At the same time, within the state of Pennsylania, tremendous pressure has been exerted by police and tough-on-crime forces for a highly visible execution of this black "cop-killer."

Mumia's celebrity, critics charge, has been a particularly grating case of "radical chic." There is no doubt that his cause has been helped enormously by the support of white activists--many of whom not otherwise visibly active on death row issues--who have been moved by Abu-Jamal's articulateness and the striking injustice of his case. But Mumia's possible execution, and the visibility it gives to the vicious underside of America's escalating war on the disenfranchised over the last two decades, means far more.

Put bluntly, if Mumia is killed, Philadelphia will burn. So may the inner cities, and (if there is selectivity) federal courthouses and Pennsylvania tourism bureaus, in many other cities. as well as embassies and consulates worldwide. That a man with so many resources can, against overwhelming evidence, be condemned to die will be the final straw confirming for many-- not just African-Americans, and not just Americans--the basic moral bankruptcy and ongoing racism of the U.S. gulag. Unlike, say, O.J. Simpson, there is far more evidence of innocence in Mumia's case--and far more evidence of a prosection motivated by racism and political persecution. There is, of course, much less media attention. That will change if a death warrant is signed and cities start burning, but expect little serious entertainment (in the white media) of the notion that Abu-Jamal is innocent, or even deserves the chance to prove it.

If there is any chance of avoiding execution, it must come--as the judicial lynching thus far has--through political pressure. Already, protests are starting in numerous cities--in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New York last weekend, with rallies set for this weekend in dozens of others. Seattle needs to add its voice to this chorus. A march is already planned for this Saturday (see Calendar); more info on upcoming events and organizing in this area is available through the newly reconstituted Seattle Mumia Defense Committee (206-728-9781) or by e-mailing ets@scn.org. Mumia Abu-Jamal is viewed by many as a hero, a figure comparable in stature to a King or Mandela. The question posed at the beginning of this article remains: what would you do?