The 10th Annual Electoral School held in St. Louis, MO, on June 6-7, 2026, brought insight into how to seize moments in the electoral process by leveraging candidates, developing a recall campaign and more. The school was organized by the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations (BIBC). BIBC is a member- and organization-based agglomeration of 14 organizations.
Chairman Omali Yeshitela, leader of the BIBC and Uhuru Movement, called for the formation of the BIBC in 2009 at a time when then-U.S. President Barack Obama rode a wave into the White House amid assumptions from some that a black face at the helm of the white power imperialist system somehow would make it less oppressive. The coalition’s recent school came at a pivotal moment in a special period.
“The Ballot and the Bullet: It’s The Whole Damn System. We’re Not Going Back,” was the theme, with the implication that U.S. President Donald Trump is not the whole problem within the colonial mode of production, but rather it is the entirety of the colonial mode of production. In addition, the theme implies we must fight back against attempts to gut voter registration and the right to vote. Presenters highlighted strategies and tactics for running a successful political campaign, from discussing ballot initiatives to running for a political office seat.
“We fought to be free,” the Chairman stated as he reminded the school attendees and panelists that the vote is a tool and not the end game. Event participants included Paul Pumphrey, co-founder of Friends of the Congo; Betty Davis, co-founder of the New Abolitionist Movement; Luwezi Kinshasa, African Socialist International (ASI) Secretary-General; Belinda Parker Brown, CEO of Louisiana United; Kamm Howard, Director of Reparations United; Tafari Mugeri, National Director of Organization of Africa for the African Socialist International; Zaki Baruti, President General of the Universal African Peoples’ Organization; Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African Peoples’ Solidarity Committee; Jesse Nevel, Chairman of the Uhuru Solidarity Committee; Jesse Todd, the former alderman of St. Louis and more.
Steering Committee member Zaki Baruti gave a presentation on proportional representation that, in part, means that African people ought to have other African people holding office from the national to local seats. According to Baruti, proportionally, we should have 10-14 Africans as U.S. Senators. He clarified that this won’t bring freedom, but this is a strategic tool in order to fight against the political system. We must study the three branches of the federal government, he noted, as this is important tactically to knowing your enemy. Baruti ran from the Missouri gubernatorial twice in the 1980s after he could not encourage any African to run. His campaign was victorious in the sense that the liberation message was disseminated among the broad masses.
Kamm Howard spoke about ballot initiatives and that this is considered direct democracy, whereas the people in any community impact what becomes a law. Whether it is a ballot measure or an office seat, “this is a struggle against colonialism and not just for an office. The 19- point platform of the BIBC can also be used as a guide when developing ballot measures,” he said. Ballot measures are ways to bypass the neocolonists or sell-out African politicians on local levels. The work in this political arena should be about freedom and Black Power, Howard reminded the audience.
Charles and Inez Barron provided valuable insight into how to “beat the machine,” referring to the democratic party as the machine. Charles spoke to how it is important to strategically run candidates for committee seats who are in line with radical traditions. Barron noted that throughout the more than 30 years holding state and local offices, one of the criticisms was that candidates for committee seats were not addressed and therefore counter revolutionaries occupied the spaces. Ideological development is critical for a succession plan, he said and moving forward this development must occur. There are issues that we fight like dead theft, but it is the whole damn system that we fight against, said Barron.
Inez Barron addressed the work of getting out the vote, building a team, researching the opposition and securing legal representation in your campaign efforts. In order to ensure that you get the results from voters, your target audience has to be engaged with seven times such as through robocalls, literature drops, et cetera. These are efforts that the campaign manager coordinates.
The candidate should have a good track record of community involvement because it makes it easier for the community to relate to, she said. The candidate must also be selfless. Legal expertise is essential so that everything about the campaign is in accordance with municipal regulations.
Furthermore, developing relationships with the local press, doing town halls and doing on the ground work are crucial to the success of a campaign, Barron shared in her presentation. Finally, research of the opposition and voting trends are keys to success. She said candidates need to review data on prime voters, super prime voters, what has been the opposition’s voting record on issues and what committees the opposition served on or chaired.
Funding and tech utilization are a must- have in today’s political campaign contests. Akilé Anai—the Director of Agitation and Propaganda of the African Peoples’ Socialist Party and former candidate for city council in St. Petersburg, Florida—mentioned that the groundwork is the most effective way to reach the voters. She noted that social media such as Tik Tok can play a role in getting the message out as a supplement. The work that the candidates have done and are doing in the community should be highlighted on the social network(s) of one’s choice.
Technology is also useful for managing the overall campaign strategy such as collecting names, outreach reporting, phone bank lists, developing scripts and more relevant to your target audience.
Also important to a winning campaign is fundraising as part of how the community is supporting your efforts. However, all potential donations to your campaign must be scrutinized. Candidates may elect not to t accept funds from particular donors because one’s campaign cannot be bought. To cap off the end of your campaign, celebrate the people who supported you and keep the lines of communication open and remain engaged in community ground work, said Anai.
In addition to teaching strategies and tactics for the electoral arena, panelists and the leadership talked about the history of African people’s struggle for freedom and not just the vote itself.
The call read by Chairman Omali highlighted key historical points showing, in part, how African people arrived in this particular period. On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voter Registration Act of 1965.
The Chairman mentioned the Dred and Harriet Scott Supreme Court case of 1857, where the judge stated that Africans “had no rights that a white man had to respect.” That was clearly the case when we’ve seen terror attacks by white people who burned and hung African people, ripped our body’s limb by limb and collecting parts of our dismembered bodies.
Nevertheless, in light of this terror, we uphold the heroic struggle of African people. It has always been colonialism that defined our struggle and makes our struggle necessary. The Mississippi Summer Project was launched in 1964, led by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and came about because African people sought freedom and came to use voter registration as a means. SNCC united with Malcolm X’s call for black nationalism and invited him to Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965, according to the Chairman.
The further elucidated Malcolm was at a crucial point in his political life. He saw the importance of moving beyond some of the divisions, religious and otherwise, that prevented a greater capacity for coalition in the struggle for black freedom.
It would be a turning point because it spoke to the Ballot or the Bullet speech that Malcolm had already delivered. Malcolm had met with Coretta Scot King, letting her know that he supported Martin, while at the same time SNCC forces mobilized and organized in the countryside.
The U.S. government found this unacceptable, particularly at a time where the African working class was beginning to be more mobilized and independently organized. Malcolm would be assassinated the next month and King three years later.
The year King was murdered, he engaged in the Poor People’s Campaign that was headed to march on Washington, D.C., with the demand to address the terrible conditions of the African working class. King also threatened that the people wouldn’t leave Washington, D.C. until their demands were met.
In Lowndes County, Alabama, the original Black Panther Party—the Lowndes County Freedom Organization—advanced the freedom work in 1965. This formation had a black panther as its logo and called for armed self-defense in the face of brutality from police and other white nationalists. The Oakland, California, formation of the Black Panther Party for Self-defense would go on to use the same logo in 1966.
Political education was key to the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project.
“We always resisted, from the shores of Africa to the shores of America …. in a struggle of liberation and sovereignty,” said Efia Nwangaza, Esq, former SNCC organizer and founder of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination. She noted that the U.S. and its spread of colonialism is a criminal enterprise.
Freedom Schools were established in Mississippi during the 1960s, representing dual and contending power. These Freedom Schools are the precursor to the Headstart programs we now see throughout the U.S., said the Chairman.
“Citizenship” was imposed upon us under the Reconstruction amendments, contrary to international law. We were not given the right to return to Africa, stay or relocate to another country. The 13th-15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution were passed in the 1860s, and with the 15th amendment, African men, at least on paper, could vote. However, this did not free African people.
Freedom for African people is never on the ballot. The ballot is just a tool. The strategy is always to occupy political space and influence the masses with political education, even in the face of terror.
For example, Betty Davis, co-founder of the New Abolitionist Movement, noted that the state of Alabama wants to slash districts and make them favorable for white voters, while at the same time, two Africans were recently found hanging from trees in this same state. This is the terror Africans face that won’t be solved simply through voting.
“We have always fought for our total liberation,” said the Chairman. The role of the BIBC and the school is to give coherence to the electoral arena and work to destroy the system. We are not engaged in a struggle simply for voting.
Throughout the school, it was mentioned that Africans must vote in our own independent interest and take note of the fact that in 1920 in New York’ s Madison Square Garden, African people voted for the Red, Black and Green flag as our national flag that was proposed by Marcus Garvey. This is what the Electoral Schools are about.
The BIBC developed a 19 points platform on which candidates have run. If candidates seek endorsements from the coalition, they must unite with the platform and further demonstrate their unity when on the campaign trail. Several candidates called on the coalition’s endorsement but were not voted on at the time.
The school concluded with an all-out call to forces to join the Uhuru 3— three members of the Uhuru Movement who were raided by the FBI in July 29, 2022 pre-dawn raids and charged with bogus charges of being “agents of the Russian government” then subsequently beat all the charges with the exception of a conspiracy charge that they are appealing—in Atlanta on July 21-22 for a special event on July 21 and the oral hearing on July 22 at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia. Court convenes on July 22 at 9:00 a.m., and the Uhuru 3 case is first on the docket.
The hearing will take place in Courtroom 339 at the Elbert P. Tuttle U.S. Court of Appeals Building, located at 56 Forsyth St NW, Atlanta, GA.
We call on all supporters of African liberation, anti-colonial free speech and the right to organize to stand with the Uhuru 3 as this historic free speech struggle advances.
