On January 20, 2012, our Party’s Chairman Omali Yeshitela received the attached extortionist email from Nyisha Moncrease, a young African woman who had participated in the Uhuru Movement in the past two years in Oakland, CA.
Nyisha came to the Uhuru Movement as a volunteer with the African People's Education and Defense Fund (APEDF), one of the non-profits of our Movement. She was later contracted by Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles for marketing work. While working in Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles, Nyisha coordinated the APEDF Marcus Garvey Upliftment Project (MGUP) last summer and Uhuru Vintage. Nyisha was considered to be a friend of the African People’s Socialist Party and increasingly a comrade of importance in the Uhuru Movement.
To our disappointment and concern, the communiqué from Nyisha, posted below, shows that our initial assumptions about her were very much off base.
The email from Nyisha was filled with untruths that were designed to attempt to stop the ongoing work of the Uhuru Movement and intimidate the Chairman and members of the Movement. Nyisha implies that she is making some vague threats against the Movement if the Chairman does not personally call her in response to her email.
Nyisha given access to opportunities and resources in Movement
Last summer Nyisha coordinated the Marcus Garvey Upliftment Project (MGUP) out of the Uhuru House, a program that operated under the auspices of the African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF), the nonprofit wing of our Movement.
The Party summed up at the time that MGUP was an important program and we encouraged the use of all the Movement’s resources, including full access to the Oakland Uhuru House, the phone, staff and material and technical support from the African People’s Solidarity Committee. Because of her work and initiative Nyisha was nominated and chosen for our Movement’s Comrade of the Quarter award in September 2011.
Through APEDF Nyisha was able to develop Uhuru Vintage as a fundraiser for the MGUP program and Uhuru Vintage was also allowed to operate out of the Oakland Uhuru House. All clothes collected by the Uhuru Furniture store were given to this program for development, not to Nyisha Moncrease as an individual.
In early January, the Party’s Office of Economic Development and Finance met with Nyisha to discuss with her the development of Uhuru Vintage as a subsidiary of the Party’s Black Star Industries (BSI). As an institution of BSI, Uhuru Vintage would function as a part of the Party’s overall strategy for economic development that allows partnerships with members of the community who want to operate and develop institutions in their communities.
The Party thought it would be a great opportunity for Nyisha and Uhuru Vintage to operate under the Party’s Black Star Industries.
As an institution developed in partnership with Black Star Industries, Nyisha and her partner could have up to 49 percent ownership of Uhuru Vintage according to the BSI contractual agreement under which the Party controls at least 51 percent of the institution.
This relationship is to guarantee the integrity of institutions being carried out under the name of the African People’s Socialist Party or the Uhuru Movement. Under this agreement, Nyisha and her partner would be able to earn a living once the institution was fully developed.
All institutions operating under the name of the Uhuru Movement must forward the stated political goals of the Party for economic development as part of the struggle of the African community to gain dual and contending economic power in the struggle to liberate Africa under the leadership of the African working class.
Nyisha did not unite with the Party having a controlling interest of 51 percent in Uhuru Vintage and demanded a relationship equal to the Party.
After much discussion with Nyisha we decided not to go forward with Uhuru Vintage at this time because of the disunity on the part of Nyisha.
The Party made it clear that if Nyisha wanted to start her own vintage clothing business that would be fine, but it could not be called Uhuru Vintage and could not function out of the Uhuru House. It could no longer receive clothing donated to the Uhuru Furniture stores nor have access to the numerous resources the Party had made available to Uhuru Vintage and it could in no way claim to represent the Uhuru Movement.
To be clear, not one cent was given back to the Uhuru Movement by Nyisha Moncrease from the Marcus Garvey Upliftment Project or Uhuru Vintage. All resources gained from these programs were kept by Nyisha.
We are attaching the email from Nyisha in full below so Nyisha can speak for herself, but we do feel that we need to comment on, contextualize and correct the deliberate misinformation in the email.
This memo by the African People’s Socialist Party is to alert the general public of Nyisha’s actions and threats to disrupt the ongoing forward motion of the work of the Party. We apologize for even involving others in this mess but wanted to get the issue behind us because it appears from Nyisha's diatribes and actions that she has every intention of trying to disrupt our work through attempting to poison the opinions of our supporters.
Actions similar to police agents of COINTELPRO as Party makes leaps
Nyisha’s actions are similar to those of a police agent carrying out the goals of COINTELPRO, which included the mandate to prevent Black Liberation organizations “from gaining respectability by discrediting them”…and to “prevent the long-range growth of militant black organizations, especially among the youth.”
Nyisha states in her communiqué, “I suggest you give me a call or I will take direct action. Uhuru appears to be directly in line with white supremacy.”
With her threats of undefined “direct action,” Nyisha attacks the Chairman who has led the Party for 40 years, well before Nyisha was even born.
Clearly the Party is the only force that has tirelessly fought colonial white power, upholding the interests of the African working class and the unification of Africa and African people around the globe in the face of countless attacks from the imperialist State, white nationalists and the police over the years.
It is no surprise that such an attempt to disrupt our rapidly escalating work would come right now in the form of this distraction as the crisis of imperialism is deepening daily in face of the rising resistance of African and oppressed peoples around the world to 500 years of colonial terror, enslavement, genocide and poverty.
This attack comes as leaders of the Party’s organization All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) are traveling to Sierra Leone, West Africa.
AAPDEP is meeting with and will soon tour Nurse Mary Koroma who has built an AAPDEP Maternal and Infant Wellness Clinic in Sierra Leone, West Africa with over 400 members and numerous programs including building schools, farms and economic development programs.
This distraction from Nyisha comes as no surprise as our Party is building the African Socialist International (ASI) rapidly throughout Europe, having just held a successful and dynamic commemoration of the assassination of African revolutionary martyr Patrice Lumumba in Frankfurt, Germany with attendees from Britain, France, Belgium, the U.S. and from throughout Germany.
Our Party is building for our National Plenary in St. Petersburg, FL on February 18, in the city of African resistance where the Party has led a Movement that pushed back police murders of young African men for eight years and has defended every case of police violence, a place where the Chairman ran for mayor and where the Uhuru House was designated by the city as the Embassy to the African world.
Currently our Party is building throughout the U.S., having just run Diop Olugbala for mayor of Philadelphia, and currently supporting comrade Alex Morley as a candidate for parliament in the Bahamas.
Our Party is building in Colombia, with growing influence in the Congo and throughout Africa. The Party’s organizations are building everywhere, including the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) and the African People’s Solidarity Committee, the organization of white people operating under our Party’s leadership and strategy.
The Party’s Agit-Prop department continues to print The Burning Spear newspaper — published since 1968 — and has built Uhuru News and Uhuru Radio, which are gaining more and more subscribers from around the world.
Party has long history of leading struggle in Oakland
In the late 1970s, before Nyisha was born, our Party came to Oakland where African people were catching hell following the U.S. government’s military defeat of the Black Revolution of the 1960s.
Our Party was the only organization that exposed the brutal conditions of the African community in a city that bore the brunt of the U.S. government’s brutal infestation of deadly drugs as a means of salting the earth to make sure African workers would never rise up to struggle again.
Poverty, homelessness, police terror and mass imprisonment were rampant, with no organization representing the masses of African people. For about 12 years in the 1980s and early 90s Oakland was the national headquarters of our Party.
In a very short time we built an entire Movement and opened the Uhuru House on MacArthur Blvd in East Oakland as our organizing center.
During this time the Uhuru Movement launched the struggle for Measure O — the Community Control of Housing Initiative that won 29,000 votes on the ballot in 1984 by a campaign organization of numerous volunteers who delivered more than 300,000 fliers to the doorsteps of Oakland residents.
Oakland was the center of countless Uhuru Movement campaigns including the Tent City for the homeless in downtown Oakland and the takeover of an abandoned house in East Oakland for a homeless family a generation before the rise of the Occupy Movement.
Struggles for housing, economic development and reparations and against police murders of African workers were led by the Party in Oakland. Struggles and campaigns in solidarity with Mexican, Indigenous and Filipino peoples were waged.
During these years, a young Tupac Shakur rehearsed at the Uhuru House, Huey Newton made his last public presentation, passing the torch from the Black Panther Party to the Uhuru Movement, and countless forums, campaigns, meetings, marches demonstrations, press conferences and actions took place.
The Party moved its headquarters back to St. Petersburg, FL in 1993 because of the growth of the Party and the Movement in the East Coast and increasingly in Europe.
Despite the move of the Party’s national office and staff we left the Uhuru House and the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in Oakland, along with the Uhuru Furniture Store, Uhuru Foods and a branch of the African People’s Solidarity Committee working under our leadership.
The Party has always recognized the weakness of our forces and the fact that there was subsequently no active unit of the Party in Oakland.
Nevertheless — contrary to Nyisha’s claim that no programs have been carried out at the Uhuru House in the past 10 years — many events and programs were held at the Uhuru House subsequent to the departure of the Party’s National Office.
Tours and events featuring our Chairman, Party organizers and international visitors, in addition to health programs, campaigns against police brutality, tutorial programs and much more have consistently been held at the Oakland Uhuru House.
Nyisha claims in her email that no Party resources went to MGUP this past year. This is untrue as the Uhuru House was completely opened up for use by MGUP, which incurred $800 per month in utilities, garbage and phone bills in the process of keeping the building open and operating.
Again, Movement resources, trainings, outreach literature and skills of the African People’s Solidarity Committee were consistently provided for this program.
Clearly, Nyisha’s plans were to raise money for herself personally at the expense of carrying out the goals of the Party to forward the African Revolution. Her stance is self-serving and subjective, as opposed to serving the interests of the masses of African people.
Nyisha claims there were no community gardens when in fact a garden was created in the back of the Uhuru House before she was even part of the Movement, in addition to gardens created in St. Petersburg, FL where 10 gardens were created last summer during the St. Petersburg Summer project alone.
Nyisha claims the staff of Uhuru Furniture is “majority volunteers.” As a 501 C3 nonprofit, Uhuru Furniture is indeed made up of paid staff along with hundreds of volunteers over the years who have helped make it a success.
She claims there are “no kitchens.” Currently the African People’s Education and Defense Fund is in a fundraising campaign to complete its program for the Jiko community kitchen in St. Petersburg. The kitchen currently lacks only a hood and a stove to become a certified kitchen to be used as an economic development resource for the community.
Our Party has also publicized our plan to renovate the Oakland Uhuru House and build a Jiko kitchen that would be both a community resource and the operating kitchen of Uhuru Foods, a Black Star industry of the Party. We plan to hold a summer project in Oakland in July to win many volunteers to complete this project while at the same time winning monetary and in-kind donations. Nyisha is well aware of this project.
Nyisha claims that “people want to know where the money is going.” Uhuru Furniture and Uhuru Holiday Pies, coordinated in Oakland, are fundraisers of the nonprofit APEDF and its programs, including the Uhuru Houses in Oakland and St. Petersburg, the TyRon Lewis Community Gym and other educational and community work.
Uhuru Foods is a fundraiser for the work of the Party, raising money for the demanding task of building organizations of the African Revolution on four continents.
Renew commitment to African Revolution!
Our Party is disturbed to have to interrupt our very pressing work taking on the conditions of African people everywhere and building the Uhuru Movement to address this very distracting and annoying struggle with Nyisha. Our Party is committed to the liberation of African people above all else.
In this struggle we call on all members, supporters and friends of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement to renew our commitment to the African Revolution.
We have defended the Party and our Movement from numerous attacks, including fire bombings of our houses, threats on our lives from white nationalists and police on radio shows and websites, police breaking into our buildings, arrests of our organizers and various attempts to intimidate us. We have been through this for years and never stopped our work and forward motion.
Our Party struggles for the political line of African Internationalism and the leadership of the African working class to gain independence in our lifetime. We struggle for Party discipline and unity and we are prepared to win our liberation by any means necessary. Attempts to disrupt and discredit this Movement cannot stop us.
We will not rest until Africa is free, African people are liberated and our 500 year legacy of enslavement, genocide and colonial exploitation and terror for the benefit of imperialism is overturned.
One Africa! One Nation!
Touch One! Touch All!
Black Power to the African community!
Below find the unedited text of Nyisha Moncrease’s threatening email to Chairman Omali Yeshitela:
Mr.Omali Yesitela.
It will not be that easy for the the Uhuru Movement to mistreat and exploit people…. I suggest you give me a call, or I will take direct action. Uhuru appears to be directly in line with white supremacy.
NO Programs produced in Oakland Ca, within the last 10 years or so NONE of your finaces went to MGUP last year, yet it was falsely advertised FALSE Advertisements around gardens you DO NOT HAVE Recording studios that are actually storage spaces NO KITCHENS
NO PROGRAMS FROM HERE TO FLORIDA
LOW GYM MEMBERSHIP
MAJORITY OF EMPLOYEES INDEPENDETLY CONTACTED ( no benefits) STAFF MAJORITY VOLUNTEERS
PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE MONEY IS GOING
The list goes on…..
I have emails, POA's, receipts, curriculum AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT , IM ON ALL YOUR AGIPROP
ALL UFC REGULARS KNOW ME WELL
I'VE SPOKEN ON BEHALF OF THIS MOVEMENT MANY TIMES every APEDF memebr in Oakland is pretty much white,so im the face of UHURU for Oakland
TRUST ME WHEN I SAY
OAKLAND HATES THE UHURU MOVEMENT FROM WHITE TO BLACK AND YOU KNOW THIS
HOWEVER….
I do nOt hate the Uhuru Movement, all I have done was sacrifice, and suffer as a revolutionary to give back to this movement, and to MY COMMUNITY WE CLEANED OUT THAT BUILDING
(IT WAS DIRTY AS FUCK, NO GARBAGE SYSTEM, NO CLEAN PHONE RECORD, BAD CREDIT WITH THE PHONE LINES AND THE INTERNET!) UHURU BETTER HAD PICKED UP THE TRASH BILL…IT WAS YOUR SHIT!!! WE WERE NOT PAID ONE CENT FOR CLEAN OUT and did not ask for a dollar!
WE USED UNUSED UHURU RESOURCES (Similar to the black panthers with Safeway) TO CLOTH OUR COMMUNITY
FEED OUR COMMUNITY
EDUCATE OUR COMMUNITY
UPLIFT OUR COMMUNITY!!!!
SOMETHING THE UHURU MOVEMENT HAS CLEARLY FORGOTTEN HOW TO DO
I have worked hard and went hard for this movement the moment I started VOLUNTEERING ( I CAME IN AS A VOLUNTEER)
I've planned forums,festivals,spoke at events, wrote articals in healthy connections. I DID NOT RAISE THE CONTRIDICTIONS I SAW FROM THIS ORGANIZATION I FIXED THEM… SACRIFICE AND STRUGGLE ( I GOT THAT FROM YOU CHAIRMAN)
Deputy Chair knew for almost 3weeks I would be coming to Florida, SHE PLANNED THE THE TRIP I was under the assumption I would be there to thouroughly institutionalize UV,Develop UV, Talk about marketing and economic development in general around the grand reopening of the gym,other programs etc, etc. In fact I even suggested to her that APEDF become a membership org, It gives people who are not in line with the politics a chance to particpate in developing programs and it also brings more support to the APEDF and it's institutions…
I told her that I would be working on UV and MGUP work for about 3 to 4 hours daily so I would need an agenda. She did not provide me with one
I also assumed we would be meeting with you about all of the economic development ideas I had, she said no you were to busy. I was dismayed by that because as I stated she knew for almost a month that I would be coming and why. Once she brought me to meet with you, she set me up to discuss "racism",which was not a problem in the end because you helped to expanded my world view, it was however NOT THE POINT OF MY TRIP OR OUR MEETING.
I did not receive a week of pay to come to Florida FOR NOTHING. It was a coincidence I was there at the Solidarity Plenary,though I was more than happy to receive the politics (I love to hear you speak in general.) Once I was doing the UV and MGUP work I told your wife from jump I would be doing, she chatised me saying I was not there to learn… OVERALL I WAS NOT THERE TO LEARN I WAS THERE TO WORK! ASPS PLENARY IS FEB 18TH! Futhurmore while you and your wife was very generous for letting me stay in your apartment, and kind enough to seldomly check in on me for food. There was NO food in the house,NO working stove, and NO EASILY ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TRANSPO… So for Ish to actually be hospitable and make sure I eat and that im ok, It was extremly insulting to be accused of "hanging out" when I was genuinly being FED. Everytime I made a move in florida, I texted your wife or spoke with her, I also NEVER went out…
As for UV I was willing to do anything she had asked of me but I was trying to explain to the "deputy chair" of your organization that administrative protocols and procedures needed to be developed to properly continue UV, as well as a POA needed to be established to begin sales in Florida, We also needed to prepare an outline and POA for the plenary
SHE assume I could just hand her over everything we were doing in Oakland and make it happen in Florida. I explained to your "wife" that while UFC Philli and UFC Oakland have similar structures and marketing, each institution has to fit the strategy around the taregting demographic.I assume she became intimidated.
From there she said FORGET IT ALL….
Any personal conversation I had with Ona around African Liberation (i.e understanding Pan Africanism, African Internationalism, the ideology of racism etc…) was just that, a personal convo that appeared to be TWO women who were both trying to understand the political education and our experience… I never asked this movement for a dollar and every cent I have received from Uhuru I EARNED..30+_ Hours a week at UFC.
She called herself repeating a week and 2hours worth of conversation to you in one night (which I could not see how she could do,when she herself was confused.) Then very unprofessionally in the car on the way to the airport told me you had said we would not do UV, that you said you could "read" people but that "everything" else was still ok…We cried in that car, talked deeply, I told her how beautiful and intelligent of a sistah she is, to not be afriad because she GOT THIS, she strong and im on her team… Because I did not allow you all to continue to exploit me and my ideas at your convinence, I returned to Oakland with all locks on the Oakland Uhuru House being changed due to some Bullshit ass security issue WE ALREADY DISCUSSED!
I was told MGUP would have to "apply" and send over a "POA" (AS THOUGH WE DIDNT SHOW YALL WHAT THE HELL IT IS, IN FACT ''WE'' FLEW ONA AND NYKEBA OUT HERE!)
I WAS THEN TOLD WE WOULD HAVE NO ACCESS TO THE BUILDING AND THAT OUR BELONGINGS WOULD BE PICKED UP AND DROPPED OFF… ( though we just did school supplies drives, pie give aways,and had a book expo planned for Feb)
You have left me in a very vulnerable position…I will expose bullshit,and I do not take it lightly. UHURU HAS ALL FUNDRAISERS AND NO PROGRAMS IN OAKLAND YOU KNOW THIS…I SUGGEST YOU GIVE ME A CALL ME.
