Co-Author of New Memoir Unveils the Torture of Los Angeles-Based Revolutionary Deborah Jones

Edward Henderson | California Black Media (CBM) – Black revolutionaries of the 1960s and 1970s faced unimaginable discrimination, violence, obstruction and hostility from law enforcement, people who opposed their ideologies and activities — and even undercover agents of the federal government.  But what happens when the pain, torment and sabotage come from individuals they fought alongside, who they regarded as colleagues and “comrades?” The newly released memoir “What We Stood For: The Story of a Revolutionary Black Woman,” written with the assistance of Thandisizwe Chimurenga, reveals the untold story of Los Angeles-based activist and advocate Deborah Jones. It details the harrowing experiences of Jones, 73, as a member of the Us Organization, one of the leading Black Power groups in California and the United States, from 1968 to 1970. The US Organization was a political rival to the Black Panther Party. Two years after Jones joined the Us Organization’s Taifa (Nation) Dance Troupe, Maulana Karenga, cofounder of the organization known for creating the African American holiday of Kwanzaa, accused Jones and Gail “Idili” Davis, another member, of trying to poison him. According to Jones, that accusation is false and baseless. According to the account in the book, the women were...