Omali Yeshitela is a longtime civil rights activist from St. Petersburg, Florida and founder of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement , a rapidly growing and international organization promoting freedom for African people worldwide.
Early background
Omali Yeshitela (then Joe Waller) participated in the civil rights movement in is youth during the 1950s and 1960s as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. At the height of the civil rights movement in St. Petersburg, Waller was jailed for a peaceful act of civil disobedience in 1966, when he tore a racially offensive mural in City Hall depicting degrading caricatures of African Americans. Waller languished for two and a half years in jail and prison. After his release, he was stripped of his right to vote for decades until Governor Jeb Bush and three members of Florida's Cabinet restored his voting rights in 2000.
Uhuru Movement
After his release, Yeshitela founded the St. Petersburg-based Uhuru movement. The guiding principle of this movement, with growing affiliates nationwide, is that political and economic development—not police crackdowns—will bring peace to African American neighborhoods.
Yeshitela is also the founder of CUSP (Citizens United for a Shared Prosperity). This group is active in St. Petersburg and has a more local focus. It is an organization for those who believe that for St. Petersburg to fully live up to its potential, the community must create an environment of peace and unity based on shared prosperity and social justice.
Yeshitela came under national attention in October-November 1996 when riots in predominately African American South St. Petersburg were triggered by the police killing of Tyron Lewis, an 18-year-old unarmed African American motorist. Yeshitela condemned the killing as the culmination of a long pattern of repressive and racist measures by the St. Petersburg Police Department in African American neighborhoods, and rallied support for the victim's family in the black community. As a result of the riots, the city came under federal scrutiny, leading to a meeting between Yeshitela and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, who was sent to the city following the disturbances by President Bill Clinton. After meeting with the veteran civil rights leader, Cisneros(Who later pled guilty to charges of lying to the FBI regarding hush money to a mistress) warned the city council that the African American community's problems with the police were deeply rooted and that the demands of the community must be heard and called Yeshitela one of the most "admirable leadership figures" he had ever encountered. [1] According to the former HUD Secretary, Yeshitela is "a person who touches lives in a serious way." "I found him a thoughtful person who had some important things to say," said Cisneros.
Post riots, he served on St. Petersburg Mayor David Fischer 's Challenge 2001 Steering Committee and on the St. Petersburg Housing Authority's Hope VI Advisory Committee, two projects dedicated to attracting jobs and investment to South St. Petersburg. He has also chaired the political action committee of the Coalition of African American Leadership, made up of a number of black churches and civil rights groups in the area, and served on the board of radio station WMNF community radio.
Mayoral run
Along with eight other candidates, Yeshitela made a strong run for mayor in February 2001. Although he did not make it to the runoff, he won every African American and mixed precinct but one in the entire city.
Personal
A small businessman, Yeshitela owns consulting practice, W & Associates based in St. Petersburg that works on issue campaigns and helps to start non-profit organizations. Yeshitela is a divisive figure in South St. Petersburg. Yeshitela is a committed vegetarian, and is a non-drinker and non-smoker.
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