US Organization

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US Organization, or Organization Us, is a Black nationalist group in the United States founded by Ron Karenga in 1965. It was a rival of the Black Panther Party in California. The Panthers referred to the 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.^[1]

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, 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.^{[citation needed]} 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. On January 17, 1969, a shooting between the groups on the UCLA campus ended in the death of several people, including Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter.

In 1971, Karenga, Louis Smith, and Luz Maria Tamayo were convicted of felony assault and imprisoned for allegedly assaulting and torturing two women members of US, Deborah Jones and Gail Davis. A May 14, 1971, article in the Los Angeles Times described the testimony of one of the women: "Deborah Jones, who once was given the Swahili title of an African queen, said she and Gail Davis were whipped with an electrical cord and beaten with a karate baton after being ordered to remove their clothes. She testified that a hot soldering iron was placed in Miss Davis' mouth and placed against Miss Davis' face and that one of her own big toes was tightened in a vise. Karenga, head of US, also put detergent and running hoses in their mouths, she said. They also were hit on the heads with toasters."^[2]

At Karenga's trial, the question of his sanity arose. A psychiatrist's report stated the following: "This man now represents a picture which can be considered both paranoid and schizophrenic with hallucinations and illusions, inappropriate affect, disorganization, and impaired contact with the environment." The psychiatrist reportedly observed that Karenga talked to his blanket and imaginary persons, and believed he'd been attacked by dive-bombers.^[2]

He was sentenced to one-to-10 years in prison on counts of felonious assault and false imprisonment.

In 1971, the organization went dormant while Karenga was in prison. After his release in 1975, he revived it, and it operates to the present.

[edit] References

^ 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.
^ ^a ^b The Dartmouth Review. The Story of Kwaanza