Considering the generous deal they had just received from the justice system, Keith Stewart and his supporters didn't sound very happy. Stewart originally was charged with a felony count of inciting a riot, stemming from an incident last October as police were arresting a drunken man at St. Petersburg's BayWalk. Police say Stewart, a relative of Uhuru movement leader Omali Yeshitela, incited the late-night crowd of about 200 by shouting, "We're going to beat some cop a-- tonight" and "We're going to burn the city down."
Monday, Stewart accepted an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and got probation, with adjudication withheld. The agreement outraged some police officers, who said it could complicate their efforts to control crowds during future incidents. Yet Stewart, Yeshitela and Stewart's attorney say Stewart was innocent and accepted the plea agreement only because he would not have gotten a fair trial.
In truth, the legal system went to great lengths to be fair to Stewart, who already had two similar charges on his record. Although the First Amendment and Florida law do not protect actions that create a clear and present danger, prosecutors correctly decided not to press a case with implications for citizens' right to free expression. A few days before Stewart's plea agreement, BayWalk officials wisely revised the entertainment complex's code of conduct, loosening restrictions on fashions associated with gang activity. By focusing on conduct rather than dress, the new BayWalk code, like the Stewart plea agreement, is sensitive to legitimate First Amendment concerns.
There were good reasons for both decisions, but appeasing the Uhurus was not one of them. Nothing in the Stewart agreement should encourage any citizen to interfere with police or incite violence, and BayWalk's new code puts the complex on stronger legal footing when it attempts to prevent future illegal behavior.
The Uhurus' peaceful protests spurred the positive changes in BayWalk's code of conduct, but the group's interference in the Stewart case will win no sympathy. Local residents, especially those in the African-American community, have wearied of Yeshitela's repeated attempts to turn personal and family grievances into revolutionary causes. As for Stewart, he is 34 years old and has a pregnant girlfriend. Even if he weren't on probation, he'd have better things to do than hanging around bars late at night and screaming at police.
