A Nation Within a Nation: Komozi Woodard’s masterpiece on Black Nationalism, Amiri Baraka, Government Repression and Black Nationalist Politics

A veteran and a poet, the renowned academic of the Black Arts Movement LeRoi Jones did not make his entrance into politics intentionally. As the Civil Rights Movement grew more and more intense in inner cities; the city of Newark, New Jersey was reaching its own crisis point. When a police officer brutally beat a Black cab driver in 1967, the growing discontent at deindustrialization and overwhelming White political power in a half-Black city exploded. Protestors gathered outside of the police station, barricades were put up, and stores looted. An image not too far from events today, the National Guard of New Jersey quickly moved to occupy the city. One episode of violence saw the National Guard opening fire on a public housing complex- Woodard explains “Although no one was arrested for sniping, the image of an urban guerilla was a convenient excuse as the troops opened fire on the Black community… A number of these victims were killed in their own homes…” (Woodard, 82) It was during this period of revolt that Baraka himself would be brutalized and falsely charged by police with illegal firearm possession that Baraka decided to get involved in his community’s politics. As is a common theme in Robin Kelley and Earl Lewis’ To Make Our World Anew, A Nation Within a Nation often contains instances both of the Black Power Movement in its various stages and the numerous instances of government repression that occurred as Black people fought for their future.

Baraka was a controversial man- not without his problems with regards to anti-semitism and other moral flaws. What is less flawed, though, is Baraka’s drive to create a better world for Black people. The rise of the United Brothers, an organization first formed after the Newark Uprising of 1967, followed by the Committee for a United Newark (CFUN) and the Congress of Afrikan People (CAP) all demonstrate a consistently democratic form of community organizing as well as consistent success in the Black Power Movement- CAP eventually became an organization which attracted activists not only from all over the country, but all over Africa and Latin America. As Woodard might put it, the 60s and 70s were high time for nationality formation among Black people.

The rise of the feeling among Black people of a national consciousness, seeing one’s self as belonging to a certain nation, is a key element explored by Woodard in Nation Within a Nation. Another concept developed in Woodard’s work is the Modern Black Convention Movement (MBCM), the 60s and 70s development of democratically organized Black Power conventions to set agendas for Black people at large in the political arena. Michael O. West, a writer for the African American Intellectual History Society, explains the concept as follows:

…the modifier — in this case “modern” — is crucial; that is, modern as opposed to original or classical…. as a tool for organizing, and theorizing, African American liberation on a national scale, Black Power, with Newark in the vanguard, revived a tried and tested political mechanism, the convention movement… (West, 1)

The Black Power movement, particularly in Newark, utilized a unique form of organization based on cadres of people dedicated to the Black Power Movement as well as a system of local mass meetings which convened to determine issues among the Black community.

This system of mass organizing was what makes the Black Power Movement of Baraka distinct from those of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which both predate Baraka’s movement. A progenitor of modern Black Nationalism, Garvey’s UNIA exercised much top-down control on its organizational strategies. For example, Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, seems to have favored his fellow West Indians over African Americans. Dawn-Marie Gibson, in her History of the Nation of Islam, elaborates: “However, the UNIA was less than uniform in its commitment to Garvey’s controversial repatriation program. Garvey’s alleged favoritism toward his West Indian followers and refusal to concede to Islam as the official religion of the UNIA created discord within the movement.” (Gibson, 7) The movement of Garvey included, in part, certain elements which created disunity among Black people in the United States. Specifically, Garvey’s allegations of favoritism toward West Indians and the UNIA’s refusal to accept Islam drove many Black Americans to find issue with it.

It was not just this refusal to accept Islam that may have contributed to interreligious conflict- Muslim Black Americans were still a minority among a majority of Black Christians. Considered a prophet in the Rastafari tradition, Garvey preached an unorthodox afro-centric Christianity. French scholar of Jamaican culture Jérémie Kroubo Dagnini elaborates on Garvey’s beliefs in his Rastafari: Alternative Religion and Resistance against “White” Christianity, where he writes:

Garvey believed in a Black God, the “God of Ethiopia” as he used to call him, and promoted an Afrocentric version of Christianity. He often referred to Ethiopia, Egypt and Africa in his numerous speeches and sermons… Even more, his Pan-African actions and speeches coupled with his prophecy resulted in the fact that some of them saw him as the reincarnation of Moses about to bring exiled Africans back to their Promised Land: Africa. (Dagini, 1)

The Christianity of Garvey was unorthodox compared to the more mainline Black Christian movements in the United States such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church. This liberatory pan-African Christianity- viewing the plight of Black people as analogous to biblical treatment of the Israelites, viewing God as explicitly Black, may have contributed to a sense of alienation among more orthodox Black Protestants in the United States. However apt Garvey’s views were for a pan-African liberation organization, there were aspects of Garvey’s religious views that could have contributed to disunity within the UNIA.

These issues with disunity among Black Nationalist movements did not end with the UNIA. The Nation of Islam, with its veneration of its founder Fard Muhammad and second leader Elijah Muhammad, encouraged cults of personality around single powerful leaders. Adherents of the NOI believed that Fard and Elijah both were manifestations of God in human form. Perhaps the best example of the authoritarian nature of the NOI is the situation surrounding the split between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm’s eventual assassination. Kelley and Lewis elaborate on the nature of the split as follows:

As long as Malcolm remained in the Nation of Islam, he was compelled to conceal his differences with Elijah Muhammad . But as Malcolm became more pop -

ular, the tensions between the two men became increasingly evident. The final

blow came when Malcolm discovered that the NOI’s moral and spiritual leader had

fathered children by two former secretaries. The tensions became publicly visible

when Muhammad silenced Malcolm for remarking after the assassination of

President John F. Kennedy that it was a case of the “chickens coming home to

roost… When Malcolm learned that Muhammad had planned to have him assassinated, he decided to leave the NOI. (Kelley, Lewis, 241)

Malcolm, although he was a great asset to the Nation of Islam because of his devotion and great oratory skill, was a danger to Elijah Muhammad’s NOI because of his personal disagreements. It was after Malcolm left the NOI that he began getting targeted by loyalists within the organization. On February 21 of 1965, Malcolm, having been separated from his bodyguards, was shot to death by members of the Nation of Islam.

This issue of disunity among Black Nationalist movements was one problem that the MBCM sought to resolve. In his introduction, Woodard writes:

In the mass assemblies of the Modern Black Convention Movement,

the different socioeconomic classes in the black community revealed

something of their political physiognomy as it seemed as if each force

was compelled to candidly articulate and fight for its own interests in the

struggle for power. At first in his leadership capacity, Amiri Baraka atte-

mpted to restrain the tensions between the competing political interests

in the Modern Black Convention Movement. (Woodard, 4)

A primary goal of Baraka’s mass assemblies was to unite Black people among themselves as a nationality first. In his mission to unify, Baraka wanted to ease tensions between the various factions inside the Black Power Movement. Black elected Republicans and Democrats, cultural nationalists such as those in the Nation of Islam and revolutionary communists such as those in the Black Panther Party were all part of the same Black whole in Baraka’s doctrine. Though Baraka and his loyalists within the Congress of Afrikan People eventually fell to this factionalism, becoming the Revolutionary Communist League (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) in 1974, the efforts made by Baraka to unite Black people yielded great results.

These great results may best be seen in the first Congress of Afrikan people, held in 1970 in Atlanta. On their heels from a great electoral victory in Newark, which elected several candidates selected by the Committee for a Unified Newark, CFUN wanted Black Power politics to reach the national stage. Woodard elaborates on the makeup of the Atlanta conference:

Considering the goal of establishing a federation of nationalists, the widespread unity of that political camp in Atlanta was encouraging. The congress drew together for the first time such figures from the fragmented black nationalist camp as the widow of Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz; the national representative of Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam; a spokesman for Stokely Carmichael, Howard Fuller (Owusu Sadaukai) of Malcolm X Liberation University and the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU); Imari Abubakari Obadele of the Republic of New Africa (RNA), and Imamu Baraka of CFUN. (Woodard, 164)

This event was unprecedented. Betty Shabazz, widow of the assassinated Malcolm X, united with the Nation of Islam on this occasion. Louis Farrakhan, leader of the NOI, an organization that long enforced the rule of being apolitical, united with radicals such as Stokely Carmichael’s representative and the Republic of New Afrika during the Atlanta summit. The Black Nationalist movement, at that time, had solved its long issue of factionalism as seen in the UNIA and the NOI.

As with any movement seeking to change the political landscape, the MBCM and Amiri Baraka attracted a lot of unwanted attention from the authorities. The Counterintelligence Program, usually abbreviated COINTELPRO, was responsible for much of this unwanted attention. COINTELPRO is described by Kelley and Robin as follows:

The FBI devoted much of its energies to collecting information on “radical” organizations. Under COINTELPRO, FBI agents also

used fake press releases to spread false rumors about social activists; hired under -

cover agents to commit crimes in the name of the more militant Black Power

movements; violently attacked competing organizations; and created an atmo -

sphere of tension, confusion, and division within the organizations under surveillance. (Kelley, Robin, 268–269)

This type of repression of Black Nationalist organizations was, then, not unheard of. Leader of the UNIA, Marcus Garvey, was deported back to Jamaica while leading the organization. Fard Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam, mysteriously disappeared at the height of his career in the organization. Though it is not known for sure what happened to Muhammad, one of the many theories surrounding his disappearence is that he was killed for rabble-rousing by the local police.

COINTELPRO was different from these prior instances of repression, though. It took a uniquely sinister character in how it sowed discontent and sometimes even warfare between Black Nationalist and civil rights organizations. One example where COINTELPRO could have been in action is given by Woodard, regarding a war between the Black Panther Party and the US Organization, both of which were Black Nationalist groups. Woodard writes:

[Earl Anthony] in Spitting in the Wind [he] confesses that while

acting as an FBI agent provocateur inside the Panther leadership, in establishing the Los Angeles Party, he intentionally recruited from the gangs at war with those that had joined Karenga’s US Organization. Besides those observations, there are numerous reports that the FBI’s COINTELPRO program played on the friction between the two political factions. Cointelpro sent phony messages back and forth between the Panthers and US Organization, provoking several shootouts. (Woodard, 119)

The FBI, according to multiple accounts, utilized COINTELPRO to start infighting within Black Nationalist organizations. This is a disturbing trend between the US government and organizations, especially ones which advocate for Black civil rights and Black advancement. Amiri Baraka himself was once a target of the FBI during his organizing career- particularly because the FBI wanted to avoid a “Black Messiah,” a leader who can unite Black people, springing up out of the Civil Rights Movement. Woodard provides a photo of an FBI report on the Atlanta summit, which reads:

In view of the prominence of [Amiri Baraka] at the Congress of African peoples (CAP) in Atlanta, Georgia, this investigation must be intensified…One source said [Baraka] was regarded as the “Black Messiah” at CAP. Submit reports in this case as often as necessary… at least quarterly. (Woodard, 172)

Not only had the FBI conducted surveillance on Baraka’s Congress of Afrikan people, but it also called for more surveillance reports on Baraka’s movement. As with figures such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the movement of Baraka was regarded as something dangerous by authorities. As had happened with the deportation of Garvey in 1927, it seems to have been a goal of our government to suppress Black Nationalist movements and especially to prevent a “Black Messiah” from emerging.

Disunity had long been an issue in the Black Nationalist movement. Starting with Garvey’s UNIA, allegations of favoritism toward certain nationalities as well as the explicitly Christian nature of the organization contributed to factional conflict. This trend continues with the Nation of Islam and the rise of Malcolm X- his assassination at the hands of the NOI exemplifies the intensity of these factional divisions. As well as that, historical Black Nationalist movements tended not to have much in the way of a democratic character- both the UNIA and NOI were run in a top-down fashion. The structure of Baraka’s organization, made up primarily of mass assemblies, was a welcome change. Baraka’s CAP was also a brief suspension of these factional tensions, and it was able to unify the many disparate groups that make up Black America.

Another issue that had long plagued individuals fighting for the advancement of Black people was government repression. The UNIA, whatever issues with disunity it may have had, suffered most with Marcus Garvey’s deportation from the United States. This trend of activists being suppressed continued into the 60s and 70s, when the FBI ran massive surveillance programs targeting civil rights activists. COINTELPRO was a likely factor in the war between the US Organization and the Black Panthers, and Amiri Baraka himself was the target of FBI surveillance at one point.

Studying history, it is common to notice patterns in events. To Make Our World Anew introduces many of these patterns, such as the strain civil rights organizations often felt under government repression and factional conflict. A Nation Within a Nation, a case study of Amiri Baraka and his Black Power movement only makes these patterns more apparent.

Works Cited

Dagini, Jérémie Kroubo. Rastafari: Alternative Religion and Resistance against “White” Christianity. Espaces et aires protégés: gestion intégrée et gouvernance participative, 2009.

Gibson, Dawn-Marie. A History of the Nation of Islam: Race, Islam, and the Quest for Freedom. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2012.

Kelley, Robin, and Earl Lewis. To Make Our World Anew: Volume II: A History of African Americans Since 1880 Oxford University Press, 2005.

West, Michael O. Nation Time: ‘A Nation Within a Nation’ At Twenty. African American Intellectual History Society, 2019.

Woodard, Komozi. A Nation Within a Nation: Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and the Black Power Politics. University of North Carolina Press, 1999.