By Chris Thompson
On 27th April 2024, Green Party presidential candidate, Dr Jill Stein spoke at the University City Library in St. Louis at a community forum alongside Chairman Omali Yeshitela, leader of the Uhuru (“Freedom”) Movement, who is facing 15 years in prison on bogus charges for his life-long work for the liberation of African people.
Stein blasted the U.S. government’s attacks on the Uhuru Movement as “an absolute outrage.”
Yeshitela and Uhuru solidarity leaders Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, known as the Uhuru 3, were indicted by the Biden DOJ on bogus charges of being “foreign agents” for exercising free speech to advocate for liberation and reparations for the Black community.
Hours after speaking at the library, Stein was arrested on the Washington University campus for joining with students to stand in solidarity with the heroic Palestinian resistance.
Green Party members and other supporters were gathered at the Uhuru Solidarity Centre for a meet-and-greet when they received reports of Stein’s arrest.
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Chairman Yeshitela noted that Stein’s strong opposition to the government’s assaults on the Uhuru 3 and her solidarity with Palestine both represent “unity with the struggles against colonialism” led by Africans and Palestinians fighting for their liberation and self-determination.
Barbara Chicherio of the Green Party and Uhuru Solidarity Movement organisers were among the hundreds of people who rallied outside the St. Louis County Jail in Clayton, Missouri where Stein and over 80 students were detained until 3 AM.
Immediately after her release from jail, Stein encouraged her supporters to attend the trial of the Uhuru 3 in September in Tampa, FL and praised Chairman Yeshitela as “an incredible educator and advocate to end colonialism, to end this failing empire.”
The trial of the Uhuru 3 is set for September 3 in Tampa, FL. Each of them faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted in a case that legal experts have described as a massive threat to the First Amendment.
