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UNIA NEWS & VIEWS
Issue #1
April 25th 2004.
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT-GENERAL REDMAN BATTLE
Minister Ahmed Assalaam
Washington, D.C.
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Honorable Redman Battle
President General and Administrator
C/O Mary Bota, Secretary General
UNIA & ACL August 1929 of the World
Re: Letter of Expulsion Dated March 20, 2005
Dear Mr. Battle:
In reply to your aforementioned Letter of Expulsion, I am submitting the foregoing objection by responding as follows:
Your decision and letter has come after I have filed and formally served you with an Official Grievance, wherein, and pursuant to, the Constitution of August 1929 of the World with Amendments of 1938, I requested a hearing be held on these very same matters before the Bar of Convention (i.e., general members of the Great Association), at the 2005 UNIA & ACL International Convention fully assembled.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution you and defendant Senghor Baye El are personally barred from making any decision to expel me and other complainants from the Great Association. However, your actions come as no surprise and is only indicative of the truth of the matters presented in my Grievance against you, including, but not limited to: your self centered desire to expel every active member who raised open opposition against you during the 2004 Parent Body Elections; as well as, your quest for absolute authority which lies far beyond the Constitutional boundaries that clearly restrict any such authority from being conferred in this manner.
As justification for my expulsion your letter states: due to your failure to turn over Division 330 charter documents, bank book, keys and other artifacts to the new officers of Division 330, you leave me no alternative but to expel you from the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League August, 1929 of the World effective immediately.
For reasons herein stated your actions are completely without merit. Upon receipt of your previous certified letter which is also a subject of my Grievance against you, I personally left a detailed message on the Secretary General's home voice mail, and I also personally spoke directly with you over the telephone concerning and in valid explanation of the reasons you now state as your justification for my expulsion.
Since you have now chosen to take this action against me, I am left with no other alternative but to go on record one more time. Except as otherwise stated in the conclusion of this letter, after this I intend to rest my case until shortly before, as well as during the course of, the 2005 International Convention.
I am not, nor have I ever been, in possession of the charter documents you refer to. In fact, the charter documents are and have long been in the rightful possession of Kingsley I. Bryan a division trustee, who pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution is delegated with the authority to act as an official repository on behalf of the division. Just because a new division president is appointed or elected does not mean that the actual charter passes from hand to hand, but is entrusted to stay in one place for safekeeping, with the division's trustee who Constitutionally maintains a lifetime appointment.
I am not in possession of the bank book you request and in fact, this demand should be presented to Imamu Kuumba, both past and current Treasurer of Division 330. Imamu maintains the division's financial logs, and has done so for at least the past four years. Prior to division elections he reported during a division business meeting that there was only ten dollars ($10.00) in the division's account. After receiving your last certified letter I found out that the bank had closed the account because your newly and unlawfully appointed division officers failed to make any deposits and the $10.00 was used by the bank for monthly maintenance fees.
While you're at it, would you make inquiry of the division 330 Treasurer regarding my over ten years of dues payments which were credited for out of pocket expenditures incurred and other personal financial renderings I made on behalf of division 330?
In addition, I discovered that although an official resolution signed by all newly elected officers in 2000 was filed with and used by the bank, Mr. John Cauley aka Johnnie, aka J. C., aka John El Badr, aka El Badr; past and current division trustee who was supposed to get the sign off signature of Sister Wadijah Ricks and take the signature card back to the bank, never did and the checking account was never officially transferred leaving me powerless to do anything if I could.
However, Brother Kingsley I. Bryan, 1st Vice President and Trustee will give the Treasurer any checks he may have to this account.
I would also like to state, it is very unusual that not one of your so called new officers of Division 330 has even attempted to contact me regarding the items you are requesting. If they were legitimately elected, well versed in constitutional protocol, or even rudimentarily endowed with courage and basic ethics, they would make some kind of effort towards remediation and unification.
Continuing on, I am not sure what keys or artifacts you are referring to and request that you be more explicit. If you are referring to the keys to the division's office then please let me remind you that prior to my tenure as President the division never had an official stationary location, and the office is actually my personal duly leased and licensed residential office wherein I have paid rent since February 1996. When I took office in 2000, I let the division set up and share my space rent free for four years. I am under no obligation to give up keys to my personal residential office to you or anyone else.
For all other references I suggest you review the United States Codes and Regulations involving the laws of Trust, or just take a look at the organizing documents for the International Headquarters you occupy in Philadelphia, which was in the actual possession of the UNIA & ACL long before you even became a member of the Great Association. As far as any artifacts, again you have to be more specific in order for me to reasonably reply to your request, however, (1) I am not in possession of any artifacts that belong to the UNIA & ACL; (2) again, to my specific knowledge Mr. John El Badr Cauley past and current division trustee, is the holder of record of any artifacts belonging to the division or Great Association.
If by chance you are referring to the items which others shared and/or loaned to Brother Mwariama Kamau in order for him to research and conduct the Recognition of Honor Program during the 2004 Convention, I respond by stating: People have the personal right and most certainly do develop personal collections after years of service in the Great Association. It would be absolutely unethical as well as illegal for anyone to give you something that rightfully belongs to someone else, and on moral grounds if this is your request I strongly object to anyone doing this!
Again I remind you to just take a look at the artifacts contained within the International Headquarters you occupy in Philadelphia, which not only survived the fire but was in the actual possession of the UNIA & ACL long before you even became a member of the Great Association.
Although not included in your Letter of Expulsion I would like to object to the slander of my name and reputation by the statements and insinuations that I misappropriated any funds during the 2004 International Convention! Actually, out of a great love and commitment to the race, both brother Mwariama and myself personally expended thousands of dollars from our own pockets to make the Convention a success, which went unrecorded and apparently unnoticed by you.
I did not request a UNIA & ACL check to be written in my name and as a matter of good business practice and of fact I first objected, but Mrs. Ferguson and yourself insisted you issue the check to me, I endorse it, then you cash it in order to maintain your records. I was then to distribute the funds to Sister Burnetta for cooking and serving the food all week, and Brother Umrani for providing transportation throughout the week of Convention. Each of them will attest to the fact that this is exactly what I did with the money, and nothing else.
Regarding the accountability report I submitted on Convention floor prior to the Banquet, of course it did not adequately reflect division 330 income and expenditures for the entire 2004 International Convention. It was only an accurate accounting up to the last few days prior to the close of Convention. Per request of the Secretary General Sadie Madison, previously all official reports were submitted to Mary Bota, who had visited and greatly contributed to the disruption and disharmony of the division over several months leading to Convention.
On the day of the Banquet Mary Bota sat at the door and collected money for tickets, etc. She did not report or give me a receipt for the money she collected. In fact, when I requested of her, yourself, and Mrs. Ferguson an official report of the funds Mary Bota collected from ticket sales, the Mass Meetings, etc., I was told that the Parent Body did not have to report funds it collected during Convention to me or any other division.
My question then to you is: if you took it upon yourself to collect money for a Convention that we were officially hosting and did not report the amount to me, how can you hold me liable to the Great Association for an incomplete financial report?!
In conclusion, I sincerely believe that the Right Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey is turning over in his grave by your flagrant and repetitive illegal use of the U.S. Postal Service in carrying out your undertakings. Please let me remind you that the U.S. Postal Service is what they used to frame, imprison, and deport Mr. Garvey.
I already have humbly asked that you refrain from sending any more certified letters to my place of employment which has absolutely nothing to do with the UNIA & ACL. Yet you repeatedly jeopardize all, this second time being your letter of Expulsion. For the love of Almighty God and our beloved race, I do not understand why you would continue to risk involvement of the U.S. government or sources outside of the Great Association by using them in a manner that you are aware is contrary to their laws under which we are currently bound.
Finally, it is obvious that your thoughts of the good for self far supercede your consideration for the good of all. The recent slanderous and malicious defamation of my name, character, and personal religious beliefs through flyers publicly posted and circulated by Senghor Baye El (aka) Alvin Ricks; emails and the unlawful use of the Internet through engaging in criminal activity (violating FCC Regs.) by Senghor Baye El and Tyree Amala (aka) Renee Scott (aka) The Web Queen, as well as publication and international circulation in the Garvey's Voice (the official publication of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, August 1929 of the World), produced by yourself Redman Battle, Senghor Baye El, and Zama Cook; has placed me in a position where I must defend myself on these matters outside of the jurisdiction of the UNIA & ACL and initiate a civil action against the above named persons and entities within the courts of the United States of America.
It is a sad day for the race.
UNIA NEWS & VIEWS Vol.1
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