The Biden Administration Fails to Win Imprisonment of the Uhuru 3

The Biden Administration Fails to Win Imprisonment of the Uhuru 3

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

Banner photo: Uhuru 3 and supporter outside of the Sam Gibbons U.S. District Courthouse in Tampa after their sentencing hearings. (Courtesy, Douglas R. Clifford | Tampa Bay Times)

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

After being forced to acquit Omali Yeshitela, Jesse Nevel, and Penny Hess – the “Uhuru 3” – on being agents of Russia, a U.S. federal court jury resorted to the sham conviction of “conspiracy,” in what amounted to them being guilty of internationalism and the work of liberating African people. The state’s claim is that the defendants are guilty of “planning to sow discord and inflame American political tensions at the behest of Russia,” a charge carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Although the conspiracy charge is being regarded as the less serious of the two changes, it presents a threat to all anti-imperialists and internationalists working in the bowels of the capitalist, U.S. settler state. “Conspiracy” is a U.S. legal fiction that can mean almost anything. From the definition, it is clear that determining what counts as conspiracy is often left up to the creativity of prosecution. In other words, “conspiracy” should be understood as the state deploying anything vague and circumstantial to use against our movement when it cannot get a conviction on anything else. 

The Black Alliance for Peace sounds the alarm about the danger this particular ruling represents – the severe undermining of the human right to free speech and the free flow of information. It is the creation of Orwellian, totalitarian legal precedence in support of “thoughtcrimes,” the offense of thinking in ways not approved by the U.S. settler state.

The trial of the “Uhuru 3,” members and supporters of the African People’s Socialist Party, is “proving to be one of the most important First Amendment cases thus far in the 21st century,” according to the group’s attorney Jenipher Jones. The case also exposes the fact that the U.S. has no regard for human rights. It violates Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which protects the right to freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of association, as does Article 19 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

It is also significant that a small Pan-Africanist group is the first to face legal charges and other overt repression for speaking out against the racist and imperialist policies of the U.S. regime. 

After the verdict Omali Yeshitela said:

“The most important thing is that they were unable to convict us for working for anybody except Black people, that's the most important thing. They could not convict us for working for anybody except black people. They had to say we were not working for the Russians and I am willing to be charged and found guilty of working for black people.”

But BAP suspects that this is a test case for what is to come from the racist U.S. settler state. All activists and anti-imperialists should be concerned about what has happened to the “Uhuru 3.” 

As we declared in our September 10th statement: “BAP and our movement will not be intimated. We recognize that the complete abandonment of constitutional and human rights by the U.S. and other Western states represents an irreversible crisis of legitimacy. We will continue to stand in support of the right to resist as a core human right.”

No Compromise!
No Retreat!

BAP Coordinating Committee