It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our Comrade and Brother, Akinshile Sayero Oshosi, formerly known as Dennis Knowles, on July 20, 2025.
Born November 28, 1953, Brother Sayero spent most of his life in the U.S. Midwest, raising hell in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where he had a long organizing history. About five years ago, Comrade Sayero came to the Uhuru Movement through the CEO of Louisiana United International (LUI), Sister Belinda Parker-Brown, and he became a member of the Black is Back Coalition (BIB) for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations.
But prior to his joining, he had been following the very strategies set forth by the BIB’s electoral campaign school, which calls on the everyday African worker to utilize the electoral arena to push agendas that speak to the interests of black people. He functioned as Benton Harbor’s City Commissioner and fought against laws that removed political power from local municipalities by placing power into the hands of state-appointed “emergency managers.”
Sayero led a recall petition to fight back against such laws, participated in protests directly confronting the governor at the time, Rick Snyder, and stood with Reverend Edward Pinkney when he was being wrongfully charged with law forgery, precisely for leading impactful recall campaigns that exposed Benton Harbor’s government in bed with the Whirlpool corporation.
As a member of BIB, he dove right into the work surrounding political prisoners, and joined us here on The Spear’s staff as a writer and transcriber. He also facilitated getting some of the profound articles we’ve published from Brother Makandal, who currently writes and organizes from inside an Oklahoma prison. Sayero also assisted on the blog talk radio program What’s Happening on WBAI, alongside Betty Davis and Ralph Poynter.
Despite health concerns, Brother Sayero showed up to the meetings with enthusiasm, ready to kick the ass of the white ruling class. He fought to the very end and will be missed deeply.
Long live Comrade Sayero.
