Uhuru 3 Free Speech Trial Begins With Jury Selection, Opening Arguments

By Hands Off Uhuru Photos: Hands Off Uhuru\YouTube Screenshots Day one of the free speech “trial of the century” began with a press conference across the street from the Federal Courthouse in Tampa. Free speech defenders and social justice activists from across the U.S. expressed their support for the Uhuru 3—Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, falsely accused of being secret pawns in a Russian government conspiracy to “sow discord” and “interfere in elections.” The press conference was hosted by Mwezi Odom, Chair of the Hands Off Uhuru! Campaign. She declared that the government’s false accusation that the Uhuru 3’s call for reparations, a petition against the U.S. charging genocide against Black people and the group’s opposition to U.S. wars were carried out under the control of the Russian government to be a “racist denial of Black people’s agency. We can think for ourselves and define our own agenda!” Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for U.S. president, was there, herself having also been targeted for her views on Russia and critical of U.S. war policies. Stein declared, “The attack on the Uhuru 3 is fundamentally an attack on free speech, on our right to oppose endless wars and...