by Phil Wilayto, for The Virginia Defender, September 4, 2024
TAMPA, FL, Sept. 4 — The trial of the Uhuru 3 opened this morning at U.S. District Court in downtown Tampa, Judge William Jung presiding. The defendants in the highly politically charged case are facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted of charges that they have been operating as unregistered agents of a foreign government, Russia.
The three defendants are Omali Yeshitela, the longtime chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party; and white supporters Penny Hess, chair of the African People’s Solidarity Committee, and Jesse Nevel, chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement. .
As noted in a post by the Hands Off Uhuru! Coalition, the 82-year-old Yeshitela “has protested every U.S. war that has taken place during his lifetime.” That includes the current U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, which is what attracted the attention of the FBI and is the real reason for the trial.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, “The Uhurus are formally known as the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement. The word Uhuru means freedom in Swahili. They operate as the activist arm of their umbrella organization, the African People’s Socialist Party, which has long been a political and social force in St. Petersburg.”
A fourth defendant is a former member of the Uhuru Movement.
About 80 Uhuru 3 supporters turned out for a press conference yesterday morning across the street from the courthouse where jury selection was to take place.
You can watch a recording of the press conference posted to Facebook HERE.
Among those demanding that all charges be dropped were Pam Africa, leader of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Jill Stein, presidential candidate of the Green Party; Efia Nwangaza, executive director of the Malcolm X Center for Self Determination in Greenville, S.C.; former New York City councilman and former Black Panther Charles Barron; and Benjamín Prado, under-secretary of Unión del Barrio of California. Mwezi Odom read a support statement from Jenipher Jones, an attorney with the Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee, and Jacqueline Luqman of Washington, D.C., brought a statement from Black Alliance for Peace Chair Ajamu Baraka, who arrived today for the trial.
About the same number of people packed the courtroom today.
The well-organized Uhuru Movement is posting daily summaries of the trial, which is expected to last several weeks. The posts can be found at: https://handsoffuhuru.org.
The last line of today’s post reads: “Come to Tampa and stand with the Uhuru 3! Pack the court and put the State on trial!”
*Featured Image: Mwezi Odom, Chair of the Hands Off Uhuru! Campaign, opens the press conference held Sept. 3 across the street from the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa. Photo credit: Phil Wilayto
Phil Wilayto is editor of The Virginia Defender newspaper and coordinator of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign. In 2016 he organized a delegation of U.S. peace activists that traveled to Odessa, Ukraine, to stand in solidarity with the people of that city on the second anniversary of the Odessa Massacre. He can be reached at: