Uhuru Means Freedom in Swahili!
“The Uhuru 3 are Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP); Penny Hess, Chair of the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC); and Jesse Nevel, Chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement (USM). In April 2023, the Uhuru 3 were indicted by the US Govt on bogus charges of being “agents of a foreign government” because of the Uhuru Movement’s over 50 years of work to advocate for the liberation and unification of Africa and forcibly dispersed African people everywhere.
“The charges levied on the Uhuru 3 came nine months after the FBI and local police violently raided seven homes and properties of the APSP and Uhuru Movement in St. Louis, MO and St. Petersburg, FL on July 29, 2022. These charges carry prison sentences of up to 15 years each. On Sept. 28, 2023, a Motion to Dismiss the Charges against the Uhuru 3 was presented to US court in Tampa, Florida. The Uhuru 3 are still awaiting a response from the Dept. of Justice. The charges against the Uhuru 3 reveal the historical and ongoing escalation of attacks on free speech rights, freedom to organize, and freedom to struggle for liberation of African, Indigenous and all oppressed peoples of the world.”
Speakers:
Chairman Omali Yeshitela is the founder and leader of the Uhuru Movement, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party. Chairman Yeshitela is the worldwide revolutionary leader and theoretician who has been fighting for freedom, reparations and liberation for African people everywhere for over 60 years. He is the primary target of the FBI attacks on the Uhuru movement and is one of the Uhuru 3 facing federal indictment on bogus charges of being a “Russian agent.”
Leonard Goodman is the attorney representing Penny Hess, one of the Uhuru 3. Goodman is a distinguished criminal law attorney based in Chicago who has won high profile and precedent-setting cases including in the U.S. Supreme Court and the Illinois Supreme Court. He is a prolific published columnist and teaches Federal Criminal Law at DePaul University. He is also the author of the motion to dismiss the indictment against the Uhuru 3 on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Penny Hess is the Chairwoman of the African People’s Solidarity Committee (APSC), the organization of white people under the direct leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party, working for reparations to African people. Penny has been a member of APSC since its founding by the Party in 1976. Penny is the author of the book Overturning the Culture of Violence. She is one of the Uhuru 3.
Jesse Nevel is the Chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement (USM), the mass organization of white solidarity with Black Power, under the leadership of the African People’s Socialist Party. As part of the APSP-led strategy to popularize the demand for reparations, Jesse ran for mayor in St. Petersburg, FL in 2017 on a platform of reparations to the African community. He is one of the Uhuru 3.
Organizational co-sponsors to date: Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition, Chicago Area Peace Action, Los Ronderos de las Redes, Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace and Brainerd Lakes United Environmentalists (BACP-BLUE), Orinoco Tribune.