By Edward Henderson
Contributing Author
Black revolutionaries of the Sixties and 70s confronted unimaginable discrimination, violence, obstruction and hostility from regulation enforcement, individuals who opposed their ideologies and actions — and even undercover brokers of the federal authorities.
However what occurs when the ache, torment and sabotage comes from people they fought alongside, who they considered colleagues and “comrades?”
The newly launched memoir “What We Stood For: The Story of a Revolutionary Black Girl,” written with the help of Thandisizwe Chimurenga, reveals the untold story of Los Angeles-based activist and advocate Deborah Jones. It particulars the harrowing experiences of Jones, 73, as a member of the US Group, one of many main Black energy teams in California and the US, from 1968 to 1970.
The US Group was a political rival to the Black Panther Occasion.
Two years after Jones joined the US Group’s Taifa (Nation) Dance Troupe, Maulana Karenga, cofounder of the group identified for creating the African American vacation of Kwanzaa, accused Jones and Gail “Idili” Davis, one other member, of making an attempt to poison him.
In accordance with Jones, that accusation is fake and baseless.
California Black Media spoke with co-writer Thandisizwe Chimurenga about her course of working with Jones on the memoir and a number of the delicate topics it consists of.
Jones declined an interview request and deferred to Chimurenga.
Chimurenga says, with the e book, she and Jones need to affiliate faces with the anonymous ladies folks typically point out had been tortured by the US Group.
“They’ve names. They’re precise folks. That is what their life is like,” Chimurenga stated. “That is what Deborah says occurred to her. I wished to place the face and the title and her story on the market. She’s not only a anonymous cudgel.”
Chimurenga, who helped present background and context in sure areas, was launched to Jones in 2019 when Jones shared her story as a part of Cal State Northridge’s Tom and Ethel Bradley Middle Black Energy Archives Oral Historical past Challenge.
The writing course of took about two years to finish, Chimurenga says. She began with transcripts of the oral historical past given by Jones and continued with subsequent interviews by way of Zoom, in individual and over the telephone. She additionally utilized interviews with different revolutionaries from the interval who supplied further context for Jones’ story alongside along with her influence.
“What We Stood For: The Story of a Revolutionary Black Girl” is out there now by way of Diasporic Africa Press and Amazon.
Edward Henderson is a reporter for California Black Media.
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