Two Uhuru members lash out at police Chief Chuck Harmon during a heated Tiger Bay Club appearance.
By LEANORA MINAI
Published February 25, 2004
[Times photos: Cherie Diez]
Tami Simms-Powel, left, executive director ot the St. Petersburg Tiger Bay Club, tries to quiet Uhuru members Abasi Baruti and Penny Hess as Hess shouts a question to St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon on Tuesday.
Lee DeCesare, who invited two Uhuru members to the Tiger Bay Club luncheon, listens as Chief Chuck Harmon answers questions at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon
ST. PETERSBURG - After dining on chicken breast in an artichoke cream sauce, two Uhuru members stood up in the ballroom of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
They shouted questions at St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon, who finished speaking Tuesday to the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club crowd.
"I want to ask about the case of Keith Stewart, who faces five years in prison," shouted Uhuru member Penny Hess, 58. "There's police brutality. ... "
"Out of order! Excuse me! Take it outside!" Tiger Bay Club members cried.
Soon, people were standing, and the political club luncheon, known for "Fang & Claw" questions of guest speakers, turned raucous. An undercover police detective escorted Hess and fellow Uhuru member Abasi Baruti out of the ballroom.
"If you can't even pretend to be civilized, we can't accommodate you, I'm sorry," Doug Fairbanks, Tiger Bay Club president, told the Uhuru members as they were ushered out.
The meeting resumed with Harmon fielding questions on issues such as the death penalty and homeland security. His visit was interrupted a second time by two other Uhuru members in the back of the room. They also were escorted out of the ballroom.
"It wasn't unexpected," Harmon said later. "It's about trying to get attention for a cause, and I think that's what they were trying to do."
The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, an activist group that raises social and economic issues affecting Africans and African-Americans, has accused police and BayWalk security of racial profiling and harassing blacks.
As Tiger Bay Club members arrived at the yacht club, Uhuru members were standing outside, picketing on behalf of Stewart. He is one of three black men arrested at BayWalk in October on charges of inciting a riot at the entertainment complex.
"We're calling for charges against this brother to be dropped," Baruti, 23, said outside. "We recognize that Harmon is part of the ruling class in St. Petersburg, which is why he's here at the yacht club."
Moments later, Lee DeCesare, a Tiger Bay Club member and wife of Madeira Beach Mayor Tom DeCesare, invited Baruti and Uhuru member Hess inside as her guests and bought their $20 lunches. They sat at a front table with St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Tish Elston.
Only Tiger Bay Club members are allowed to ask questions, and some seized the chance to ask Harmon about the Stewart case.
Diane Bailey, a St. Petersburg attorney who has sued the Police Department on behalf of clients, asked Harmon why he has not initiated an internal affairs investigation of Stewart's arrest. Stewart, 34, has alleged excessive police force during his arrest.
"It's tough to do when I have the police unions on the other side saying, "You can't be the complainant in this. This is a force case, where the person's capable of making this complaint,"' Harmon replied.
Tiger Bay Club members didn't appear too upset over the Uhuru's protests. Fairbanks, the club president, called it "great fun."
DeCesare, who invited the Uhurus, approached Harmon as people left the yacht club.
"I had no idea they would do that," she told Harmon. "But I'm delighted they did."
- Leanora Minai can be reached at minai@sptimes.com or 727 893-8406.
