Photos: Hands Off Uhuru
On July 27, nearly 2 years to the day after the FBI conducted heavily-armed raids on seven Uhuru (freedom) Movement homes and offices, the “Hands Off Uhuru!” campaign held a multi-site event from the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida and the Uhuru Solidarity Center in St. Louis, Missouri, two of the buildings that were targeted in the 2022 raids.
The program was broadcast to a worldwide audience that saw free speech advocates, attorneys, supporters and volunteers pledge their commitment to continue building an anti-colonial free speech movement throughout the U.S. and internationally, in preparation to pack the court for the September federal trial in Tampa, Florida.
In April 2023, 9 months after the FBI’s attacks, African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel – known as the Uhuru 3 – were indicted on baseless charges of acting as unregistered “foreign agents” conspiring with Russia to “sow discord” and “interfere in elections” in the United States.
Government prosecutors cite the Uhuru 3’s call for reparations, accusation of U.S. genocide against Black people and opposition to U.S. wars as evidence of foreign Russian control. Yeshitela calls this a “racist denial of Black people’s agency. We can think for ourselves and define our own agenda!”
First Amendment lawyers and analysts warn that this is a precedent-setting case that will put an end to constitutional protections of everyone’s free speech rights. Alleged “crimes” consist exclusively of giving speeches, attending conferences, printing articles and running for elected office. If convicted each of the Uhuru 3 face up to 15 years in prison.
The DOJ’s primary target, Chairman Omali Yeshitela called for supporters to come to St. Petersburg for Freedom Summer 2024. “The Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 was held during a pre-cyberspace period when real organizers worked among real people providing organization and political education. It won ordinary oppressed and sometimes terrified Africans into organized mass resistance; it launched the political participation of the most downtrodden sector of our people.”
“The St. Petersburg, Florida Freedom Summer of 2024 is taking place in the embers left burning from the revolutionary period of the 1960s that was eventually crushed with mass and targeted jailings, assassinations and the imposition of a deadly drug economy. Today’s moment in history is characterized by a convergence of political and historical forces that represent an uneasy equilibrium for this parasitic social system. We will not allow a dreaded and oppressive past to block the emergence of a righteous future of black liberation and happiness.”
One of the Uhuru 3 attorneys, Mutaqee Akbar, stated that, “This trial is an attack on the freedom of speech, an attack on self-determination, and an attack on us being responsible for ourselves… To say that the Russian government is responsible for these ideas … for the (Uhuru) movement to charge the United States with genocide … To say the Russian government is responsible for us to speak out against this is a slap in the face.”
Another Uhuru 3 attorney, Leonard Goodman, concurred. “Working on this case I’ve come to learn about this organization and the good work they do in St. Louis and in St. Petersburg, FL. Of course, we’re fighting to win so that they can continue to do the important work in the communities. But it’s also a case about free speech and their voice is important. They’ve been around for fifty years. They’re a voice of dissent. They’re an antiwar voice, an anti-colonialist voice. At certain times their words are a thorn in the side of the U.S. government and that’s not a reason to suppress speech. That’s not a reason to put people in prison. These principles are important. We’re lucky in this country that we have a first amendment. I think part of what this case is about is preserving those rights for the future. If they can do this to the Uhuru Movement and take away their rights to free speech and their right to dissent, they can do it to anyone.”
Lisa Davis, Vice Chair of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations emphasized, “It is ludicrous for [the prosecutors] to accuse [Chairman Omali Yeshitela] of working under the auspices of the Russian government. The indictment was written in such a way as to be a disgraceful attack on the African community. It was written to take away our agency and to say that we have no ability to think for ourselves.”
Numerous activists, authors and elected officials shared their views on the case, including former St. Louis alderman Jesse Todd, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee veteran leader Efia Nwangaza, U.S. presidential candidates Jill Stein of the Green Party and Cornel West.
Julie Shivalkar from Project South explained, “Section 951 is being manipulated to target social movements and criminalize free speech. The current indictments are the latest in a line of politically motivated targeting of individuals and organizations. For this reason we demand that the charges against the Uhuru 3 be dropped immediately.”
Asa Anpu of the African People’s Socialist Party in Everton West, South Africa promised a response from the African continent, “In South Africa we unite in going to the American embassy on September 3rd.”
For Frank Lawrence from the Free Julian Assange Committee, “The Assange case was significant as it posed a threat to free speech, free press and our right to know what our government is doing in our name particularly when it comes to matters of war and peace. And I can’t stress enough that the Uhuru 3 case is of similar significance. This case is also an attack on free speech. It’s an attack on the right to organize and moreover it’s an attack on our right to dissent. Not only on our right to dissent on domestic policies but also to dissent from U.S. foreign policies.”
The entire event, recorded live, can be viewed on the Burning Spear TV Youtube channel: Two Years Later: The Power of the People will win! Victory for the Uhuru 3!
The Uhuru Movement is holding a national rally in St. Petersburg, FL on August 31 and calls on supporters to pack the federal courthouse in Tampa, FL when the trial begins on September 3. More info at handsoffuhuru.org
