The Bruderhof is the sponsor of the Children's Crusade against the death penalty. The sponsors of the march have requested an explanation of the legal basis of the State's position, but none has been forthcoming. The Bruderhof Foundation has decided to assert the rights of the children to demonstrate peacefully outside the prison gates, requesting a temporary restraining order granting them access to Progress Drive, a road that runs near the prison and provides access to the prison and other properties. To march thirty miles and then stop in the middle of nowhere would be meaningless.
Diversity characterizes both the marchers and the endorsers.
People from manyNations and cultures, including members of murder victim's families, are uniting to end capital punishment in the United States. Don Cabana, as well as authors Jonathan Kozol and Sister Helen Prejean are among the many international figures who have endorsed the march known as the Children's' Crusade to Death Row. Mr. Jamal, a well known radio journalist who had exposed the long pattern of police abuse in the city, was sentenced to death 16 years ago for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer. Jenkins was the friend of Cynthia White, the only one who claimed to have seen Abu-Jamal holding a gun at the location where police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot in December 1981. The warrant was stayed because of mass pressure.