Uhuru 3 and their supporters outside of the Sam Gibbons U.S. District Courthouse in Tampa after their sentencing hearings. [Photo: Douglas R. Clifford | Tampa Bay Times]
The U.S. sought to once again target Black radical forces, by charging violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. The Uhuru 3 were acquitted of those charges but convicted under the prosecutors' favorite charge of conspiracy, thought crime. The decision to sentence the Uhuru 3 to probation and not prison is not complete justice, but ultimately a victory in the ongoing struggle against state repression.
Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace.
Members of the Uhuru Movement, Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel – the “Uhuru 3” – were sentenced to three years probation and community service after being convicted in September 2024 of supposedly conspiring with the Russian government to interfere in U.S. elections. The Black Alliance for Peace recognizes that this sentence is confirmation that the charges against Uhuru members by the Biden Administration Justice Department were baseless. While any sentence handed down from imperialist courts for actions that are supposed to be legally protected are, in themselves, illegitimate, the refusal of the judge to incarcerate the Uhuru 3 is a victory in the fight against a repressive US regime, regardless of which wing of the finance capital bird leads it.
“The attack on the African People's Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement was intended as an attack against the Black liberation movement in a pathetic move to intimidate into silence and non-resistance the most consistent anti-imperialist force in the United States of America - the revolutionary African working class,” stated Ajamu Baraka, Chair of the Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace. “What the state did not understand was that, no matter what the outcome would have been in the sentencing of the Uhuru 3, the resistance efforts on the part of our movement were going to intensify in 2025. Our movement cannot be intimidated by state actions.”
The government’s weak case was punctuated by its own witness admitting, under oath, that no evidence was found that proved the three defendants were agents of the Russian government. But the overwhelming volume of that meaningless “evidence” also confused the jury into finding the three guilty of conspiring to do something that there was no evidence that they did. This is not logical. But logic is never the goal of the government when it comes to silencing dissent, which was certainly the goal of the Biden Administration in this case.
It is interesting to note that it was a Trump-appointed judge who exposed the glaring contradiction in the indictment and conviction of the Uhuru 3. During the sentencing, he declared that the group’s actions were protected political speech that caused no harm, and must be allowed – “or it gets chilled.” The irony of a Trump appointee defending free speech in a trial meant to imprison Africans for exercising it should be lost on no one.
The U.S. left also played a role in this two-year ordeal by acquiescing to the threat of Democrat-led government repression with little resistance and deafening silence. Whether due to fear of being next, because of their belief in the Democrat-created lie of Russiagate, or because of their own internal Russophobia, or worse, anti-communism (even though Russia is not a communist country any longer), the lack of support given to the Uhuru 3 reminds U.S.-based African anti-imperialists that we are largely on our own. We understand, therefore, that our greatest strength is in international solidarity with like-minded and focused peoples around the world.
BAP reiterates its unwavering support for the Uhuru 3 and congratulates them on this outcome. We also recognize that this is but one small victory in a larger, ongoing battle against imperialist repression that we must continue to fight. The 60 Stop Cop City protesters facing RICO charges in Atlanta are next on the firing line of the same repressive Democrat-led government. We should not merely hope for a sympathetic judge, Trump-appointed or otherwise, to stand between the people exercising our rights and the state trying to deny them and criminalize us.
BAP declares that we are at war. We must fight against this system regardless of who is in power. But we are not fighting alone. We fight with the entire anti-imperialist world already engaged in the struggle against a U.S. regime that represses us all.
No Compromise, No Retreat.
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We are joined by Jasiri Fahali Kiyamaa, an organizer of Curbfest, an event advocating for political prisoners. New York City's Curbfest will take place on Saturday, September 7, 2024 in Brooklyn.
