The Uhuru 3, their lawyers and supporters outside the courthouse after the sentencing hearing. Photo: Burning Spear.
“No one’s going to prison; no one’s going to be fined,” stated U.S. District Court Judge William Jung on Monday, December 16, 2024 in the sentencing of the “Uhuru 3.” Applause, cheers and tears rose up in the courtroom and hallway that overflowed with supporters from across the political spectrum and around the U.S.
The Uhuru 3 are African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Solidarity Committee Chairwoman Penny Hess and Uhuru Solidarity Movement Chair Jesse Nevel. In September they were found not guilty of acting as unregistered Russian agents. In an unfounded and contradictory verdict, they were found guilty of conspiring to act as Russian agents. They are appealing the conspiracy conviction.
Judge Jung sentenced them to three years probation and 300 hours of community service on the conspiracy conviction. They had faced a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine each.
But the judge agreed with the motions filed by their attorneys that the case revolved around their First Amendment right to free speech. He described the contradictory nature of the 951 statute and his concerns about infringement on First Amendment rights. “If not for the requirement to register as a foreign agent, everything in the indictment would be legal and protected speech.”
The sentence was a victory in the “Hands Off Uhuru!” fightback campaign’s 2 and ½ year battle against bogus U.S. government charges. 83-year-old Chairman Omali stated: “The only reason we didn’t get prison time is because we fought back against this government attack. We fought! Our lawyers were outstanding! The jury affirmed that we work for Black people, not Russia.”
It is a precedent-setting case, the first time a foreign agent law has ever been used to target pure political speech. The Hands Off Uhuru! Fightback Coalition is launching a campaign for the repeal of the foreign agent laws.
Judge Jung acknowledged receipt of over 1600 “character” letters in support of the Uhuru 3 and took note of the overflowing courtrooms throughout the trial and at the sentencing hearing.
The hearing was held on the 17th floor of the Federal Courthouse in Tampa in the building’s largest courtroom. Over 100 supporters packed the courtroom and overflowed into the hallway. When the sentencing hearing concluded and supporters in the courtroom came out to share the news, the hallway erupted in chants of “Not one day!”
At a press conference before the sentencing and then emerging out onto the steps of the courthouse afterwards, the Uhuru 3, their lawyers and some of their high profile supporters spoke to a jubilant crowd.
Former New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron recalled the story told by an African performer at an Uhuru 3 support rally the previous day. “Yesterday Sister SYTE told us about an elephant that was being attacked by a lion, and the elephant stomped his elephant foot on the ground and it was heard 6,000 miles away by other elephants.
“Well, the warriors of the Uhuru Movement stomped their feet on the ground and we came from New York, from Chicago, from California, from Florida and all over the nation. The stomp was heard in Africa, in the Caribbean and all over the world and we have come today to say ‘listen, our struggle has just begun. Let’s get back into the streets’. We were not on trial, the American justice system was on trial. The only solution is revolution.”
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector and whistle blower said, “I am not you, you are not me. It’s not what separates us that brings us here. It’s about what unites us. Omali knows more about the constitution than I do because he learned it the hard way. It was written for people like me, not for people like him because his people were slaves and they had to learn it by fighting over and over again. This is the battle for freedom of speech. If you take away freedom of speech there is no America, and there’s no greater warrior for freedom of speech than Chairman Omali Yeshitela and the Uhuru 3.”
Efia Nwangaza, veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee argued that, “Black Power, all power to the people, represents the closing of the gap between defeat of the human rights struggle of ‘60s and the revival of today. It’s our duty to stand up.”
Caleb Maupin, leader of the Center for Political Innovation declared that, “the FARA absurd piece of legislation needs to be overturned. It’s a threat to all Americans who advocate peace. A full pardon needs to be granted to the Uhuru 3.”
Zaki Baruti, St. Louis-based leader of the Universal African People’s Organization said “it’s a damn shame this government spent millions [on the Uhuru 3 case] when we got homeless out here. We need to investigate the FBI. They need to be up in the court rather than the Uhuru 3.”
Chairman Omali addressed the crowd of supporters. He said, “We express our appreciation to all of you for being here along with us and giving these incredible lawyers this foundation to stand on, to be able to walk into the lion’s den with great confidence. They did a splendid job. I want to acknowledge the power of the people. We don’t just dislike the world we live in. Our objective is to build a new world right under their feet. We’re not instructed by the Russians. We’re instructed by our history. Africa will be free.”
Uhuru 3 member Penny Hess declared, “This is a victory for the reality that the Party created the white solidarity movement in part to break the isolation the U.S. government has imposed on the African liberation movement. We are part of the strategy of the African People’s Socialist Party to go into the white community to win reparations. The U.S. and this system was built on the enslavement of African people and the genocide of the Indigenous people. If white people want to join the future, we need to be under the leadership of those who have been oppressed and colonized for our benefit.”
The other white member of the Uhuru 3 is Jesse Nevel. He recounted, “On July 29, 2022, they came with hundreds of agents. How much money was spent on that day alone? You have the National Security Division of the Justice Department coordinating the prosecution. You have an untold amount of resources and focus that the U.S. government tried to bring down against the movement of African people for liberation. And they got their asses handed to them.
“That is a testament to all of you, but above all, it is a testament to the relentless indestructible leadership of Chairman Omali Yeshitela, the African People’s Socialist Party, Deputy Chair Ona Zené Yeshitela. I consider it the greatest honor of my life up to this point, to have been targeted, alongside my two heroes, the leaders who have been the greatest inspiration to my life—Chairman Omali Yeshitela and Chairwoman Penny Hess. This is the time now for all white people who want to take a stand, to join the Uhuru Solidarity Movement.”
Other notable speakers and supporters gathered in front of the federal courthouse included Unión del Barrio Secretary General Adriana Jasso, Kamm Howard of Reparations United, Pam Africa from the MOVE organization, Fred Hampton Jr., Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee veteran Efia Nwangaza, Paulette Dauteuil of the Ad Hoc Committee to Free Leonard Peltier, Paul Pumphrey of Friends of the Congo, revolutionary professor and Indigenous rights activist Ward Churchill, anti-colonial law professor Natsu Saito and Frank Lawrence from the Committee to Free Julian Assange.
