My name is Omar Askia Ali AKA Edward Sistrunk. I’ve been incarcerated since 1971.
In an article of the Philadelphia Daily News, 5/18/17, page 16, state that a man named Joseph Langley, incarcerated in 1953, which adds up to 64 years ago, as a 15 year old juvenile lifer, who is now 80 years old. The judge informed him that she did not want him to die in prison, so she’s putting him out of jail since the new law that juveniles have to be re-sentenced.
Pennsylvania locks up more people than any other state in America. Statistics state that about 14 million whites and 2.6 million African-Americans report using illegal drugs, 5 times as many whites are using drugs as black people, yet black people are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of whites. African-Americans are virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense, 52.7 months, as whites do for a violent offense of 61.7 months.
With this said recently, the Philadelphia Daily News quoted primary race DA race was won by Larry Krasner, everything that he states prisoners have heard about him is right on point. His connections to some of the- rally for him went back two decades with people who care deeply about what’s right and wrong. As he says, he does, he is anti-establishment and his civil rights work as included representing members of Black Lives Matter.
A few months ago, a letter from the Conviction Review Unit within the district attorney office, which will review my case, and I also received a response from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, who acknowledged my petition in which I presented a- a complaint against the United States pertaining to others and myself being tried by an all-white jury.
However, with the possibility of a new DA, Mr. Krasner still needs his feet held to the fire because politicians have a tendency to vacillate once in office. [inaudible] winning in the crowded democratic primary in Philadelphia for DA is being hailed across the country as a victory for progressive values. In the age of Trump, I still believe vigilance needs to be maintained.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.