Kalimu Endesha
Template:TOCnestleft Kalimu Endesha Independent Political Organization Professional Greater St. Louis Area. His partner was the late Johari Kamili. His son is Halisi Lester.
Congress of African Peoples
League for Revolutionary Struggle
Kalimu Endesha Commentary: What direction for the National Black United Front? First Published: League for Revolutionary Struggle's Unity, Vol. 6, No. 10, June 17-July 14, 1983.
Organization for Black Struggle
The year 2005 marked the 25th anniversary of St. Louis’ largest grassroots community organization. Founded in 1980 by a small group of local activists, the Organization for Black Struggle has grown into a force to be reckoned with in the community. Whether it’s police brutality or unjust incarceration, OBS is committed to fight for the rights of the disenfranchised.
“We organize for the purpose of waging black struggle, and that is on all different levels,” founding member Kalimu Endesha said. “Even though St. Louis is majority black, basically we are still powerless. We’re the voice for the powerless. We can help folks organize around police brutality or being railroaded into the prison-industrial complex.”
Since its inception, OBS has succeeded on many fronts, perhaps none more memorable than the release of wrongfully convicted Ellen Reasonover. Endesha, founding member Jamala Rogers and board member Thomas Mines all agreed this was a defining moment for the organization.[1]
Reggie Clemons case
On Friday, April 7 2006 about 20 members of the Organization for Black Struggle (OBS) staged a protest outside the Clayton law office of Nels C. Moss Jr., the prosecutor in the sensational Chain of Rocks Bridge cases. During Friday’s demonstration, OBS members and supporters held signs that read “Nels Moss: GUILTY of Conspiracy to Commit MURDER!”
April 7, 1991 was the day St. Louis police knocked on the door of the suburban St. Louis home of Vera and Rev. Reynolds Thomas and asked to question their son, Reggie Clemons, about his whereabouts on the night of April 4, when two young women fell to their deaths from the Chain of Rocks Bridge. Fifteen years later, Clemons is yet to return.
Though Moss’ prosecution was marred by inconsistencies and misconduct, Marlin Gray has already been executed for the crimes and Clemons remains on death row. Antonio Richardson is serving life without parole. All are black. A then 15-year-old white youth, Daniel Winfrey, turned state’s evidence against the others and received a 30-year sentence. He is eligible for parole in 2007.
OBS founding member and field coordinator Kalimu Endesha said, “Nels Moss is the perpetrator of the truth not coming out. He’s a poster child for prosecutorial misconduct.”[2]