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Black supremacist sect based in Pennsylvania From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK) is an American non-profit organization and black supremacist,[1][2][3] extremist religious sect[4] based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.
The group is part of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement,[1][2][3][4] which regards black people as descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.[3][4] The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the ISUPK a hate group, citing its extremist ideology and black supremacist rhetoric.[1][2][3]
The group is a part of the One West Camp movement, an offshoot of the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ,[3] and uses a variation on the former name of that group.[3] Alongside numerous other sects and organizations within the Black Hebrew Israelite movement,[4] ISUPK expounds extremist, black supremacist, religious anti-Semitic, and anti-white racist beliefs,[4] as well as homophobic, transphobic, and sexist beliefs.[4]
In 2022, The Real Black Sabbath was released. It is a documentary by British journalist Harry Robinson covering the beliefs and practices of the ISUPK, focusing on the Oklahoma branch of the school.[5] The film won the award for 'Most Inspirational Film' at the 2022 Oregon Documentary Film Festival[6] and 'Best Oklahoma Film' at the 2022 Southwest Center Film Festival.[7]
In 2023, media reported that a woman of Palestinian descent was arrested in Indianapolis after crashing her car into a building affiliated with ISUPK, having mistaken it for a school officially linked to the State of Israel. The ISUPK is actually opposed to the state of Israel.[8]
ISUPK has demonstrated many times at the corner of Seventh and H Streets in Washington, D.C., since 2004,[9] but residents complain that the group amplifies its open-air preaching to more than 90 decibels and that its message is offensive.[10] Some homeowners say that the group accuses white and gay people of destroying historically black neighborhoods, and at least one resident has complained of being called a "cracker, a slave owner, [and] a white devil," but they reiterate that the volume of the group's message, rather than the message's content, is the real problem.[11]
The ISUPK's volume and the volume of other groups prompted Washington's municipal government to consider passing an ordinance in order to "resolve the issue."[12] The measure would have limited the volume of daytime noncommercial speech to 70 decibels, but it died because of free-speech concerns.[13] ISUPK's regional director, General Yahanna, defended the group, saying that residents' real issue was not sound, but the content of the group's message.[12] The group identifies its message as saving local residents' souls and discouraging people from drugs and crime; it regards its separatist teachings as the real objection which residents have.[11]
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