Media Kit in response to DOJ indictment

The FBI has indicted three leaders of the Uhuru Movement – African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Solidarity Committee Chairwoman Penny Hess and Uhuru Solidarity Movement Chair Jesse Nevel – on bogus charges of serving as pawns of the Russian government, threatening them with up to 10 years in prison. These racist charges imply that black people can’t think or speak for themselves, nor develop a theory, strategy and practical program for African liberation as the Uhuru Movement has done over more than 50 years.

Known as the “Uhuru three” the indictment charges them with “conspiracy” (18 U.S.C. § 371) to commit an offense against the United States… acting as an agent of a foreign government and foreign officials, to wit, the Russian federation…, in violation of 18 USC  § 951(a),” with a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, charges vigorously denied as completely “bogus” by the Uhuru 3.

The indictments came 9 months after a militarized multi-city FBI raid used flash bang devices, drones, armored vehicles, automatic weapons and scores of flak-jacketed soldiers to seize computers, hard drives, phones and files from seven homes and offices of Uhuru Movement leaders.

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The facts are:

We are our own liberators

The African People’s Socialist Party was founded in 1972 and has, for over 50 years, maintained a consistent world view and carried out a consistent program of organizing for the liberation of African people worldwide. It is guided by the political theory of African Internationalism, developed by Chairman Omali Yeshitela and published in numerous books as well as on the pages of The Burning Spear newspaper, issues of which can be viewed in the digital newspapers collection of the University of Florida. Chairman Omali’s development of the concept of the “colonial mode of production” vs. colonialism being a policy is taking hold today.

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We claim our right to organize internationally

Chairman Omali has traveled the world organizing for African liberation and winning support for the African liberation struggle. He has spoken at the United Nations and represented the African Nation at gatherings in Nicaragua; Big Mountain AZ (Navaho aka Dine); South Africa; Sierra Leone; England; Ireland; France; Netherlands; Jamaica; Bahamas; and, yes, Moscow. In 2019, Chairman Omali won the “Africa Debate” at the Oxford Union in England.

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We charge genocide

From its earliest days, the APSP publicized the fact that African people face genocide at the hands of the U.S. government and brought this charge before the world community and the United Nations. The APSP held the first “International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.” in NYC in 1982. The Tribunal heard testimony to show how the U.S. violates the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. For 40+ years, the APSP introduced the reparations demand into black community struggles against police violence, unjust imprisonment, and the denial of decent housing, education, healthcare and economic development, making “reparations” the household word it is today.

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We are beholden only to the African Nation

The APSP has maintained economic self-sufficiency throughout its existence, ensuring that its political agenda serves the interests of its self-defined program for African liberation and is not dictated by any external force. Picking oranges, backyard fish fries and selling The Burning Spear newspaper on the street provided resources for the APSP in its infancy, soon expanding to a bookstore, restaurant, bakery cafe and graphic design business. The APSP’s strategic move to create the African People’s Solidarity Committee and a movement for white reparations to the black community today produces resources from thousands of individual donors from members of the colonizer nation. These reparations combine with financial support from black workers and from granting agencies in the U.S. to fund the APSP’s work.

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FBI attacks black community programs

The FBI is attacking the ability of the black community to feed, clothe, house, educate and protect our community. The Uhuru Movement has created over 50 economic institutions and black community programs over the years to improve the quality of life for African people – bakery cafes, commercial kitchens, fitness gyms, community gardens, a basketball court, doula training program, radio station, farmers market, health fairs, book fairs, outdoor venues and marketplaces, childcare collectives, rainwater harvesting, disaster relief agency, midwifery school, free telehealth program and more. The government has recently enlisted the assistance of several financial institutions to impose economic sanctions attacking these black self-help programs.

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FBI attacks black participation in elections

The FBI is attacking black community efforts to participate in the electoral arena. “They told us we should go to the polls and vote if we wanted to make change; now they arrest us for participating in the electoral system”. For decades, the Uhuru Movement has run candidates for local offices, fighting to bring the needs of the African working class into the electoral arena. Most recently the Uhuru Movement’s electoral work has been defined by the “National Black Political Agenda” created by the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations and popularized through the Coalition’s annual candidate training schools.

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FBI's war on African liberation

The U.S. government has a decades-long legacy of waging war on the African liberation movement. The U.S. Bureau of Investigation (later called the FBI) hired its first black agent in 1919 to infiltrate Garvey’s UNIA, framing him, jailing him, exiling him back to Jamaica and destroying his movement. Scores of black leaders and organizations have been targeted by the FBI, many of them with an accusation of friendship with Russia, including W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Hands Off Uhuru!

Hands Off Uhuru! Campaign is winning support from individuals and organizations throughout the U.S. and the world. The FBI raids, economic sanctions and indictments have prompted ongoing protest actions and statements of outrage spanning the political spectrum.

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What you can do to stop the FBI

Donate to the Legal Defense Fund. Sign the Emergency Response Pledge. Close your account at Regions Bank. Get involved, volunteer your skills. Hit the streets.

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Timeline of events related to state attacks on the Uhuru Movement over the past 8 months:

Links with background on the U.S. government state attacks on the African People’s Socialist Party, Chairman Omali Yeshitela and the Uhuru Movement: