The group buying LRA land has ties to the African People’s Socialist Party, whose chairman was indicted last month on charges of working with Russian agents to spread propaganda.
ST. LOUIS — After hesitating, the city’s land bank will allow the sale of three properties to a group with ties to an organization whose leader faces federal charges of working with Russian intelligence operatives to spread propaganda and sow discord in the U.S.
Leaders with the African People’s Education and Defense Fund claim the charges against African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela have nothing to do with their organization’s community development efforts in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ, where they have invested more than $1 million to replace crumbling buildings with a new basketball court, outdoor music venue and event space.
The group’s president, Ona Zené Yeshitela, accused Land Reutilization Authority director Lance Knuckles of trying to undo the LRA’s April board approval granting options to purchase two vacant buildings and a lot on West Florissant Avenue, where it has purchased other properties for neighborhood projects. In fact, she said, Knuckles wanted to connect her organization with its marketing team and use it as “a model example of what community organizations can do for the LRA.â€
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But then, she said Knuckles called her a few days after the April vote and said the LRA was going to rescind the options after someone complained that the African People’s Education and Defense Fund was under investigation.
“I expressed to Mr. Knuckles that APEDF was not under any investigation, and APEDF nor any of its board members had been named in any outstanding or pending investigation,†Ona Zené Yeshitela said during a Tuesday morning press conference outside LRA headquarters at 1520 Market Street downtown.
Ona Zené Yeshitela is married to Omali Yeshitela, and the APEDF shares an office with the African People’s Socialist Party on West Florissant Avenue. The African People’s Socialist Party website lists the APEDF as one of its affiliated programs, and the party’s news outlet, “The Burning Spear,†has links to the APEDF website.
The federal indictment against Omali Yeshitela, two others in the party and Russian operatives allege they worked together to promote pro-Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine, and Yeshitela has said that “Ukraine has been an instrument for carrying out a war by the colonial powers ... against Russia.†The Burning Spear has articles with headlines such as and .â€
Ona Zené Yeshitela said Tuesday that after her discussion with Knuckles regarding the federal investigation of her husband’s group, she received a letter May 15 alleging that the APEDF did not conduct adequate community engagement and staff would request the LRA board rescind the options.
“This letter had nothing to do with the discussion Mr. Knuckles and myself had seven days earlier,†Yeshitela said.
The LRA staff was poised to reconsider the sale options at its Wednesday meeting. An item on Wednesday’s under “miscellaneous†references a “change of recommendation†on the three West Florissant properties the board approved last month.
But by Monday night, Knuckles and other city leaders appeared to back down. In an email from Knuckles to APEDF attorney Life Malcolm shared Tuesday by a spokesman for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Development Corp., which manages the LRA, Knuckles apologizes for “any misunderstanding regarding the nature of the community outreach requirements.â€
Knuckles wrote that we “are now comfortable in moving forward with an option for the properties listed above and are willing to withdraw the staff request to the LRA Board of Commissioners seeking reconsideration of the previous approval.â€
In an interview Tuesday, Knuckles called the concerns about community engagement a “clerical error†and said the organization actually met the rules as written. And he said he had “an obligation to raise the question†about the Omali Yeshitela indictment but “by no means was the situation driven by that.†The APEDF and its leaders are not facing any charges themselves, Knuckles said.
“We are a land bank tasked to sell parcels in hopes to get them reactivated,†Knuckles said. “If you asked the question about, do they have capacity? My response would be, they’ve done it before.â€
Knuckles noted that LRA is only approving an option for a sale and the APEDF will have to demonstrate it has the capital needed to complete its proposed projects.
Omali Yeshitela founded his organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, and expanded to ºüÀêÊÓƵ in 2017. It has run candidates for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Board of Aldermen and worked to rebuild an area of town that scarcely sees new investment. Near its ºüÀêÊÓƵ base at 4101 West Florissant, marked by a giant Pan-African flag, the properties the APEDF has purchased from LRA and others along West Florissant are some of the best maintained in the area.
Malcolm, at the press conference Tuesday, said the APEDF’s work reinvesting in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ neighborhoods is “completely distinct†from the African People’s Socialist Party and will not affect its work in North ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
“The indictment of the chairman has nothing to do with APEDF’s work in the community,†he said.
But fundraising for its projects could prove more difficult. The and Facebook and GoFundMe have also begun to block fundraising efforts.
APEDF has run into opposition purchasing LRA properties before. After fielding a candidate against former Alderman John Collins-Muhammad, the alderman blocked LRA’s sales to the APEDF. Collins-Muhammad was later sentenced to prison after an FBI sting nabbed him and two other aldermen for accepting bribes in exchange for, among other things, their support in LRA land sales.
The African People’s Socialist Party “has always been transparent, just as APEDF has,†Malcolm said Tuesday. “The LRA has not been so transparent. The focus should be them.â€