US Organization

Last updated

US Organization, or Organization Us, is a Black nationalist group in the United States founded in 1965. It was established as a community organization by Hakim Jamal together with Maulana Karenga. It was a rival to the Black Panther Party in California. One of the early slogans was, "Anywhere we are US is." "US" referred to "[us] black people" in opposition to their perceived oppressors ("them").

Contents

Foundation (1965)

After the assassination of Malcolm X in February 1965 and the Watts riots the following August, the Black Congress was founded as a community-rebuilding effort in Watts. Two BC members, Maulana Karenga and Hakim Jamal, began a discussion group focused on black nationalist ideas, called the "circle of seven." Hakim Jamal, cousin of Malcolm X, created a magazine entitled US. It was a pun on the phrase "us and them" and the standard abbreviation of "United States", referring to "Us Black People" as a nation. [1] [2] This promoted the idea of black cultural unity as a distinct national identity. [3]

Jamal and Karenga founded the US Organization. They published a magazine Message to the Grassroot in 1966, in which Karenga was listed as chairman and Jamal as founder of the new group. [3]

Aims

Its aim was to promote African-American cultural unity. Haiba Karenga and Dorothy Jamal, the wives of the two founders, ran the organization's "US School of Afroamerican Culture", to educate children with the group's ideals. However, their husbands soon differed about how to achieve the group's aims. Jamal argued that the ideas of Malcolm X should be the main ideological model for the group, while Karenga wished to root black Americans in African culture. [3]

Karenga became the main active force in the group, organizing projects such as teaching Swahili and promoting traditional African rituals. [3] Jamal believed that these had no relevance to modern African-American life, so he left "US" to establish the rival Malcolm X Foundation, based in Compton, California. Karenga became the driving force behind "US."

The group's ideals revolve around what Karenga called "the seven principles of African Heritage" which he summarized as "communitarian philosophy": Unity (Umoja), Self-Determination (Kujichagulia), Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima), Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa), Purpose (Nia), Creativity (Kuumba), and Faith (Imani).

Creation of Kwanzaa (1966)

Karenga's ideas culminated in the invention of the Kwanzaa festival in 1966, designed as the first specifically African-American holiday. It was to be celebrated over the Christmas/New Year period. [4] Karenga said his goal was to "give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."

The holiday celebration is centered on rituals honoring the seven principles. [5]

For Karenga, a major figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of the holiday also underscored an essential premise that "you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose and direction." [6] [7]

Rivalry with the Black Panthers (1969)

The Black Panthers and US had different aims and tactics but often found themselves competing for potential recruits. The Federal Bureau of Investigation intensified this antipathy as part of its COINTELPRO operations, sending forged letters to each group which purported to be from the other group, so that each would believe that the other was publicly humiliating them. [8] This rivalry came to a head in 1969, when the two groups supported different candidates to head the Afro-American Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. [9]

According to Louis Tackwood, a former informant with the Los Angeles Police Department's Criminal Conspiracies Section and author of The Glass House Tapes, Ronald Karenga knowingly provided financial and material support by LAPD, with Tackwood as liaison, for US operations against the Black Panthers. [10]

Gun battle at UCLA

On January 17, 1969, a gun battle between the groups on the UCLA campus ended in the deaths of two Black Panthers: John Huggins and Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter. This led to a series of retaliatory shootings that lasted for months. Later in 1969, two other Black Panther members were killed and one other was wounded by US members. [9] A Memorandum of the Los Angeles field office of the FBI dated May 26, 1970, confirmed that the surge of conflict that left four Panthers dead suited their objectives and more would be encouraged:

It is intended that US, Inc. will be discreetly and appropriately advised of the time and locations of BPP activities in order that the two organizations might be brought together and thus grant nature the opportunity to take her due course. [10]

The Panthers referred to the US organization as the "United Slaves", a name never actually used by members of US but which is often mistaken for the group's official name. [11]

Conviction of Karenga (1971)

In 1971, Karenga, Louis Smith, and Luz Maria Tamayo were convicted of felony assault. Karenga was sentenced to one to ten years in prison on counts of felony assault and false imprisonment. [12] Karenga was imprisoned at the California Men's Colony, where he studied and wrote on feminism, Pan-Africanism, and other subjects. The US Organization fell into disarray during his absence and was disbanded in 1974. He was granted parole in 1975. [13]

Karenga has declined to discuss the convictions with reporters and does not mention them in biographical materials. [14] During a 2007 appearance at Wabash College, he again denied the charges and described himself as a former political prisoner. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwanzaa</span> African-American holiday created in 1966

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. It was created by activist Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West and Southeast Africa. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966. Estimates of how many Americans celebrate Kwanzaa have varied in recent years, from as few as a half a million to as many as 12 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-African flag</span> Flag using the Pan-African colours

The Pan-African flag is a tri-color flag consisting of three equal horizontal bands of red, black, and green. The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) formally adopted it on August 13, 1920, in Article 39 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World, during its month-long convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Variations of the flag can and have been used in various countries and territories in the Americas to represent Garveyist ideologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maulana Karenga</span> American professor, convicted felon and founder of Kwanzaa (b. 1941)

Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga, previously known as Ron Karenga, is an American activist, author and professor of Africana studies, best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Arts Movement</span> 1960s–1970s art movement

The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from the incredible accomplishments of artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-Africanism</span> Movement to encourage and strengthen bonds between people of African ancestry

Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black power movement</span> African-American social, political & cultural movement in the United States

The black power movement or black liberation movement was a branch or counterculture within the civil rights movement of the United States, reacting against its more moderate, mainstream, or incremental tendencies and motivated by a desire for safety and self-sufficiency that was not available inside redlined African American neighborhoods. Black power activists founded black-owned bookstores, food cooperatives, farms, media, printing presses, schools, clinics and ambulance services. The international impact of the movement includes the Black Power Revolution in Trinidad and Tobago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunchy Carter</span> American activist

Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter was an American activist. Carter is credited as a founding member of the Southern California chapter of the Black Panther Party. Carter was shot and killed by a rival group, Ron Karenga's "Us", and is celebrated by his supporters as a martyr in the Black Power movement in the United States. Carter is portrayed by Gaius Charles in the 2015 TV series Aquarius.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molefi Kete Asante</span> American academic (born 1942)

Molefi Kete Asante is an American professor and philosopher. He is a leading figure in the fields of African-American studies, African studies, and communication studies. He is currently a professor in the Department of Africology at Temple University, where he founded the PhD program in African-American Studies. He is president of the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies.

The Millions More Movement was launched by a broad coalition of African American leaders to mark the commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Million Man March. A mass march on Washington, DC, was held on October 15, 2005, to galvanize public support for the movement's goals. The march was open to men, women, and children and focused on creating lasting relationships between participating individuals, faith-based organizations, and community institutions. The movement only rallied a few thousand protesters and was seen as a disappointment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinara</span> Candleholder used in Kwanzaa celebrations

The kinara is a seven-branched candleholder used in Kwanzaa celebrations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Mtume</span> American jazz and R&B musician (1946–2022)

James Forman, known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality.

National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of the field of Africana/African American/Black Studies. It is a not-for-profit organization established in 1975. The National Council for Black Studies was founded by Dr. Bertha Maxwell-Roddey, the founding director of the Black Studies/Afro-American and African Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Black power is a political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used by black people activists and proponents of what the slogan entails in the United States. The black power movement was prominent in the late 1960s and early 1970s, emphasizing racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions to nurture, promote and advance what was seen by proponents of the movement as being the collective interests and values of black Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Panther Party</span> US black power organization (1966–1982)

The Black Panther Party was an American Marxist–Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California. The party was active in the United States between 1966 and 1982, with chapters in many major American cities, including San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia. They were also active in many prisons and had international chapters in the United Kingdom and Algeria. Upon its inception, the party's core practice was its open carry patrols ("copwatching") designed to challenge the excessive force and misconduct of the Oakland Police Department. From 1969 onward, the party created social programs, including the Free Breakfast for Children Programs, education programs, and community health clinics. The Black Panther Party advocated for class struggle, claiming to represent the proletarian vanguard.

<i>Revolutionary Suicide</i>

Revolutionary Suicide is an autobiography written by Huey P. Newton with assistance from J. Herman Blake originally published in 1973. Newton was a major figure in the American black liberation movement and in the wider 1960s counterculture. He was a co-founder and leader of what was then known as the Black Panther Party (BPP) for Self-Defence with Bobby Seale. The Chief ideologue and strategist of the BPP, Newton taught himself how to read during his last year of high school, which led to his enrollment in Merrit College in Oakland in 1966; the same year he formed the BPP. The Party urged members to challenge the status quo with armed patrols of the impoverished streets of Oakland, and to form coalitions with other oppressed groups. The party spread across America and internationally as well, forming coalitions with the Vietnamese, Chinese, and Cubans. This autobiography is an important work that combines political manifesto and political philosophy along with the life story of a young African American revolutionary. The book was not universally well received but has had a lasting influence on the black civil rights movement and resonates today in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves around the social, political, and economic empowerment of black communities and people, especially to resist their cultural assimilation into white culture, and maintain a distinct black identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hakim Jamal</span> American activist (1931–1973)

Hakim Abdullah Jamal was an American activist and writer. He was an associate of Michael X and wrote From the Dead Level, a memoir of his life and memories of Malcolm X. During his life, Jamal was romantically involved with several high-profile women, notably Jean Seberg, Diana Athill, and Gale Benson.

Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) was a Marxist-Leninist, black nationalist organisation which was active from 1962 to 1968. They were the first group to apply the philosophy of Maoism to conditions of black people in the United States and informed the revolutionary politics of the Black Power movement. RAM was the only secular political organization which Malcolm X joined prior to 1964. The group's political formation deeply influenced the politics of Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and many other future influential Black Panther Party founders and members.

Harambee was an African American newspaper published in the 1960s by the Los Angeles Black Congress, an umbrella organization for diverse groups which included the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Freedom Draft Movement, the Afro-American Association, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Ron Karenga's US Organization, John Floyd's Black Panther Political Party, and others. It was instrumental in publicizing the Black Panther idea and symbol in Los Angeles. It was originally created in August 1966 by Ron Karenga, for the organization US. Karenga then donated the publication to the Black Congress. Its first issue commemorated the anniversary of the 1965 Watts Rebellion. Activist Elaine Brown was a reporter for the newspaper. Editors included Ron Karenga and John Floyd. The name Harambee is Swahili for "Let's Pull Together."

The Afro-American Association (AAA) was an influential organization founded in 1962 that started as a study group teaching African and African American history, later hosting speakers, meetings, forums, and other activities. Historian Donna Murch has described it as “the most foundational institution in the Black Power movement.”

References

  1. ↑ "Living Legends of Black History: Maulana Karenga". Archived from the original on 2013-03-21.
  2. ↑ Hayes, III, Floyd W.; Jeffries, Judson L., Black Power in the Belly of the Beast, Chicago: University of Illinois Press, pp. 74–75
  3. 1 2 3 4 Scott Brown, Fighting for US: Maulana Karenga, the US organization, and Black cultural nationalism, NYU Press, 2003, p. 38
  4. ↑ Alexander, Ron (1983-12-30). "The Evening Hours". New York Times". Retrieved 2006-12-15.
  5. ↑ Kwanzaa celebrates culture, principles Archived July 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Mayes, Keith A. (2009). Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition. pp. 63–65. ISBN   978-0415998550 . Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Kwanzaa – celebrates its 50th year anniversary". UnityFirst. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Gentry, Curt, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. W. W. Norton & Company (2001) p. 622
  9. 1 2 Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. (New York: Doubleday, 1992) p. 184
  10. 1 2 Schreiber, Brad (2016). Revolution's End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN   978-1510714274. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018.
  11. ↑ Floyd W. Hayes III and Judson L. Jeffries. "Us Does Not Stand for United Slaves!" in Black Power in the Belly of the Beast, edited by Judson L. Jeffries. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2006) 74–75.
  12. ↑ Scholer, J. Lawrence (January 15, 2001). "The Story of Kwanzaa". The Dartmouth Review .
  13. ↑ "Whatever happened to ... Ron Karenga". Ebony. 30 (11): 170. September 1975.
  14. ↑ Swanson, Perry (November 22, 2006). "Backers say past of founder doesn't diminish Kwanzaa". The Gazette (Colorado Springs) .
  15. ↑ Stewart, Brandon (December 1, 2007). "The Story of Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa's Founder". Wabash Conservative Union. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.