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Imari Obadele (born Richard Bullock Henry) (May 2, 1930 – January 18, 2010) was a Black nationalist, advocate for reparations, and president of the Republic of New Afrika.
After the murder of Malcolm X, they helped form the Malcolm X Society and, dissatisfied by the progress achieved by nonviolent approaches to civil rights movement, came to embrace Black separatism.
Imari Obadele acknowledged he was a graduate of Yale University during the tv program, Firing Line, hosted by William F. Buckley, in episode 126, dated, November 18, 1968.
The Republic of New Afrika also formed a paramilitary unit: the Black Legion. In 1969, the unit was involved in a gun battle in Detroit that killed a police officer.
Imari split from his brother, who came to reject militancy, in 1970, and was also elected president of the Republic of New Afrika. Obadele and the group moved its headquarters to a house in Jackson, Mississippi, despite failing to purchase an plot.
In 1973, he was convicted of conspiracy to assault a federal agent and sentenced to twelve years in prison (of which he served five). Amnesty International described him as a political prisoner, and the group claimed that it had been targeted by the FBI because of its political views. FBI documentation that was later released confirmed that the agency was following the group. Internal FBI memos suggested that Obadele "be kept off the streets" and that he was one of the country's "most violence-prone Black extremists".
In 1987, Obadele and Chokwe Lumumba formed the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA), an organization dedicated to seeking financial compensation for the descendants of former slaves in the United States.
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