nationalism :: essays research papers

Founded in 1965 by Ron Karenga, US emerged in Southern calcium 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 resign 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 subdivision or "advocate" of US, a person was given a Swahili name, urged to clothing African clothing and immersed in the groups complex doctrine, practices and organizational hierarchy.Karenga, a budding prentice of African studies who was fluent in Swahili, constructed Kawaida, says Br receive, by adapting rituals and beliefs -- primarily from the Zulus of South Africa -- to the organizations ow n rituals, beliefs and holidays. Kwanzaa, a holiday created by US in 1966, is now observed by millions of African Americans.Browns portrait is historically sharp and honest. He includes a treatment of the damaging effects of sexism and of Karengas cult of personality.Browns research is also sensitive to misconceptions that have plagued US past, such as the name standing for "United Slaves." The name, Brown says, simply "stands for grisly People the pronoun US as opposed to them, the white oppressors."Browns study of US emerges as a keen observation of how a relatively small group became a central force in a mass movement through its ideologic influence. "The groups approach to organizing," Brown writes, "which resisted mass recruitment into its ranks . . . saw no occupy for a large membership. Their goal was to ideologically influence other organizations with its united- front approach, and hence direct the course of the coming cultural revolution. " Brown illustrates this best in the persona "The New Ark Laboratory," in which he cites US alliance with writer-activist Amiri Baraka and several organizations in Newark, N.J., which not entirely helped elect the citys first black mayor but also rancid Newark into a stronghold for the Kawaida doctrine when US fell into decline in the proterozoic 70s.Brown is equally attentive to the stumbling blocks faced by US. For instance, the section " operative Unity and the US-Panther Conflict" gives a dynamic history of the escalating tensions between US and the dismal Panther Party, as well as Karengas political missteps that jeopardized US anti- establishment credibility.nationalism essays research papers 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 itse lf 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 groups 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 organizations own rituals, beliefs and holidays. Kwanzaa, a holiday created by US in 1966, is now observed by millions of African Americans.Browns portrait is historically sharp and honest. He includes a discussion of the damaging effects of sexism and of Karengas cult of personality.Browns re search is also sensitive to misconceptions that have plagued US past, such as the name standing for "United Slaves." The name, Brown says, simply "stands for Black People the pronoun US as opposed to them, the white oppressors."Browns study of US emerges as a keen observation of how a relatively small group became a central force in a mass movement through its ideological influence. "The groups approach to organizing," Brown writes, "which resisted mass recruitment into its ranks . . . saw no need for a large membership. Their goal was to ideologically influence other organizations with its united- front approach, and thus direct the course of the coming cultural revolution. " Brown illustrates this best in the section "The New Ark Laboratory," in which he cites US alliance with writer-activist Amiri Baraka and several organizations in Newark, N.J., which not only helped elect the citys first black mayor but also turned Newark into a strongho ld for the Kawaida doctrine when US fell into decline in the early 70s.Brown is equally attentive to the stumbling blocks faced by US. For instance, the section "Operational Unity and the US-Panther Conflict" gives a dynamic history of the escalating tensions between US and the Black Panther Party, as well as Karengas political missteps that jeopardized US anti- establishment credibility.