Founded in 1965 by Ron Karenga, US emerged in Southern California shortly after Watts exploded into a riot and Malcolm X was assassinated. As nationalist sentiment grew among African American organizations because of the impact of Malcolm X, US established itself as a cultural nationalist group. It called for racial unity and for black people to free themselves from white oppression by embracing a "recovered" African culture.
For US, that meant Kawaida, a quasi-religious system of beliefs and rituals advocating black pride, unity, culture and self-defense. Upon becoming a member or "advocate" of US, a person was given a Swahili name, urged to wear African clothing and immersed in the group's complex doctrine, practices and organizational hierarchy.
Karenga, a budding scholar of African studies who was fluent in Swahili, constructed Kawaida, says Brown, by adapting rituals and beliefs -- primarily from the Zulus of South Africa -- to the organization's own rituals, beliefs and......
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