LOS ANGELES (NNPA)—Najee Ali, the well-known activist who has taken up a variety of causes in the last decade, has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to witness-tampering in a criminal case against his daughter.
Through a personal friend, who asked not to be identified, Ali released the following statement: “I am innocent and have been falsely accused. I was only appealing to the family on the street to try and help my daughter.”
The friend, who spoke to Ali by phone would not elaborate on Ali’s situation and declined to explain why the 45-year-old director of Project Islamic HOPE pled guilty to the charges.
The charges against Ali’s daughter—two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of leaving the scene of an accident—stem from an incident involving her vehicle and a group of motorcyclists on the San Bernardino Freeway.
Ali was arrested and charged March 11 with attempting to intimidate a witness and attempting to bribe a witness. According to the district attorney’s office, Ali engaged the witness outside an Alhambra courthouse during his daughter’s preliminary hearing earlier this year.
Immediately after his sentencing last week, Ali—a former gang member who has credited his Muslim faith with transforming his life—was taken into custody and placed in isolated detention at the downtown Twin Towers jail facility because of his notoriety, officials said.
Ali would have received two years in prison, but his sentence was doubled because of a prior robbery conviction in 1992. The judge also found that Ali violated his probation for 2004 felony hit-and-run and perjury convictions, and was sentenced to four years to run concurrently with the sentence for attempted bribery.
“That’s a real shocker,” said Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. “He did a very foolish thing, which is not to be condoned, and paid a heavy price. But I think we have to look at the whole person and this a tragedy for the community. He’s been a ubiquitous presence and it won’t be easy to replace him.”
Hutchinson recalled first meeting Ali 10 years ago outside the Magic Johnson Theaters. “He was protesting a blaxploitation movie,” said Hutchinson. “I thought to myself, ‘Who is this guy raising his voice like that?’ Over the years we’ve had our policy differences, but I’ve always been struck by his passion.”
Born Ronald Todd Eskew, Ali vaulted to prominence in 1998 when he helped mobilize public outrage over the case of 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson, who was murdered at a Nevada casino. He has since taken up a variety of causes—ranging from regular pro-defense protests outside the Michael Jackson sexual molestation trial to calls for reform of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Lita Herron, who has stood by Ali during a number of demonstrations, paid emotional tribute to her fellow activist. “He was a pioneer and gave the Black community a voice,” said Herron, president of the Youth Advocacy Coalition. “He’s made some ill-advised decisions, but I’m not going to indict him in any negative way. I think we’re all trying to do a difficult job representing the voiceless, who are crying out in frustration.”
Meanwhile, at an Aug. 18 Inglewood City Council meeting, activist Morris “Big Money” Griffin vowed to carry on Ali’s recent cause in the shooting death of postal worker Kevin Wicks by an Inglewood police officer. The two had been spearheading a move to rename a local post office after the father of two.
“Here we are now looking at a man who has literally been taken off our streets, that was a catalyst in helping us,” said Griffin. “He’s gonna be missed, however, we’ve got to surge on.”
