Urgent Alert! Uhuru Movement leaders were arrested last night in Alabama. On the way to the airport they stopped for gas near their home, which is in the vicinity of the Alabama A&M University, where the Black Arts Festival had just concluded.
There they saw police harassing an African couple. They exercised their legal right to photograph and observe the police activity. The police became agitated at being exposed and proceeded to brutalize, handcuff and arrest ("obstructing justice" and "resisting arrest"):
- Dr. Aisha B. Fields, Director of the All African People's Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP)
- Kobina Bantushango, International Membership Coordinator of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM)
- Dr. Michelle Strongfields, AAPDEP Health Care Team Coordinator. Dr. Strongfields was hospitalized today for injuries inflicted by the police.
The police threatened to seize the 3 children that were in the car - ages 4, 1, and 7 months - who were eventually secured in the hands of relatives.
Dr. Fields is a physicist who recently coordinated the installation of community-owned rainwater harvesting systems in Sierra Leone. She was joined there by her mother, Dr. Strongfields, a Cuban trained Doctor of Medicine, who conducted training in the prevention and treatment of water-borne illnesses, which are a major cause of death in West Africa. Kobina Bantushango leads campaigns in defense of the rights of African people, building the Uhuru (freedom) Movement.
Every year, the City of Huntsville imposes heavy-handed policing in the area of the Black Arts Festival, which draws over 35,000 participants. The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement calls for an end to the policy of police containment and military occupation of the African community.
Do your part to defend the democratic rights of African people! Call the government officials responsible and demand they immediately drop the charges against Dr. Aisha Fields, Thomas Buchanan and Dr. Michelle Strongfields:
Councilman Richard Showers (256)427-5011
Mayor Loretta Spencers (256) 427-5000
District Attorney Tim Morgan (256) 532-3460
Send contributions to the legal defense. Make checks to
"Uhuru" and mail to:
"Legal Defense" c/o
Uhuru House
1245 18th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33705
For more information, in the U.S., contact (727) 821-6620
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