Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 22, 2015

Clarence 13X (1928–1969) was the American founder of the Five-Percent Nation, a group that split from the Nation of Islam (NOI). After army service during the Korean War, he served in the NOI before founding the new group in 1963. Believing that God could be found within every black man, he took the name Allah. He and a few assistants retained some NOI teachings but with novel interpretations; he allowed the consumption of alcohol, and at times, the use of illegal drugs. Clarence 13X was shot by an unknown assailant in 1964 but survived the attack. After an incident several months later in which he and several followers vandalized stores and fought with police, he was arrested and placed in psychiatric care; doctors said that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia because he referred to himself as Allah. He was released after a 1966 ruling by the Supreme Court placed limits on confinement without trial. Although he initially taught his followers to hate white people, he eventually began to cooperate with white city leaders. He was fatally shot in June 1969 by an unknown assailant. He has been held in high regard by Five Percenters, who celebrate his birthday as a holiday. (Full article...)

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