Among recent attacks on the Uhuru Movement have been those of so-called “private investigator” William E. Warner, whose targets have included individual members of the movement and family members of Chairman Omali Yeshitela. Warner has been engaged in a concentrated campaign of slander and disinformation, posting daily blog posts launching attacks with the express intent to “shut down” the Uhuru Movement and UhuruNews.com.
Warner — who lives at 4505 Perry Ridge Place, Sarasota, Florida 34233 and whose phone number is (941)926-1926 — has included in his attacks the postings of pictures and personal and employment information of members and leaders of the Uhuru Movement, as well as family members of Chairman Omali Yeshitela. These postings at www.billwarnerpi.com and pibillwarner.wordpress.com have clearly been intended not only to intimidate these individuals, but to also, in some cases, compromise their employment and personal security.
Warner has apparently been involved in surveillance of the Uhuru Movement for at least the past three years, but this most recent concentrated campaign of attacks came off the heels of two recent instances of resistance to the regular police occupation of the African community in St. Petersburg, Florida in which three cops have been killed.
Warner’s actions are in line with a current government counterinsurgency campaign not unlike the FBI’s COINTELPRO in the 1960s that had the stated objectives “to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder.”
This U.S. government counterinsurgency included the assassination of leaders like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and at least 30 members of the Black Panther Party and the imprisonment of many more during the 1960s. Subsequent to the military defeat of the Black Power Movement of the 1960s, this counterinsurgency began to be waged against the general African community and included the government flooding of the African community with crack-cocaine and a “war on drugs” that used the government-imposed drug economy as justification for police containment of the community. Its aim has since become trained on the Uhuru Movement, which, under the leadership of the African Socialist International, provides leadership in the struggle for self-determination for African people across the world.
This counterinsurgency attack includes the attacks on the sons of Chairman Omali Yeshitela who were targeted and arrested in an assault by 30 ski mask wearing, assault rifle-toting police thugs who cordoned off a section of the African community during their assault. While this military assault was allegedly for marijuana, all arrested in the assault have since had all charges dropped with the exception of Mwamba Yeshitela, whose prosecution is a political one aimed at discrediting his last name. Police have also continued to harass Mwamba Yeshitela.
Private investigator William Warner — who also runs a tile laying business, Warner Bros Carpet and Tile, along with his wife, Velma E. Warner — has also participated in a radio show hosted by Todd Alan “Bubba the Love Sponge” Clem, who has dedicated hours of his show to slandering the Uhuru Movement and on a February 25, 2011 airing of the radio show called for the assassination of Chairman Omali Yeshitela.
Despite Warner’s bragging that he will “shut down” the Uhuru Movement and www.uhurunews.com, neither he nor the government counterinsurgent campaign can stop the forward struggles of African workers and oppressed peoples in the U.S. and around the world against colonial domination and military occupation. Nor will they stop the leadership that the Uhuru Movement provides to the African working class community.
Uhuru!
