What You Need to Know About The Largest Hebrew Israelite Fight Ever Recorded
The "KC Incident" was a massive brawl between two rival One West factions, IUIC and ISUPK. The event took place Saturday, May 20, 2023 in Kansas City Missouri.
When I talk to former members of the old “Hebrew Israelite” school once famously located at 1 West 125th Street in Harlem, New York (once named the Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge), here are some of the tall tales you hear. These … are *some* of the legends of the One West “Hebrew Israelites”:
One man fighting off multiple police officers using nothing but special arm bands and a unique form of martial arts.
A street teacher speaking on his soapbox, only to step off to quickly knock out a heckler, then immediately returning to preaching as the former heckler lay unconscious on the ground.
Pushing drug dealers off their corners by force.
Tossing local thugs out of windows.
Throwing wayward members down a flight of stairs with extra gusto.
Kicking girlfriends out of an apartment and to the curb, after teaching them a more “physical” kind of “lesson”.
Cursing out Jamaican women in the streets.
Jumping unruly passers by on the sidewalk.
Being granted supernatural powers in the future, including super strength and eye laser beams in order to incinerate Arabs, Africans, Europeans, Asians, and Indians.
And on it goes.
Many of the tales are directly intertwined with violence. Some are stories passed down via oral recollections. I’ve heard these stories in personal interviews and even some recorded on video. Sometimes, I have even spoke with additional witnesses who will back up said legend. Not that they can directly prove the account, but that they also heard or “saw” the same story, usually in the 90s.
Now, we add a new legend of violence to the One West storybook: “The KC Incident”. Some have called it a “Royal Rumble”. Others have made comparisons to Summer Slam. What is the KC Incident?
The KC Incident is a physical altercation that took place between Israel United in Christ (IUIC) and Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK) in Kansas City, Missouri on May 20, 2023. It began as a territorial dispute over the corner in front of the Lucile H. Bluford Public Library. The end result: 20-30 IUIC members detained 4 ISUPK members and forcibly held them until the police arrived.
How do we know all this? A local pastor just happened to catch it on film. Leonard “The Watchman” McKinzy is pastor of The Disciples of Christ Ministries, based in KC. He regularly engages in street ministry, serving the community in various capacities. Shortly after these events, I interviewed the pastor about this incident. He told the audience how it all went done. Pastor McKinzy had finished up ministering earlier that day and was driving by 31st and Prospect, a corner on which he had regularly evangelized.
Pastor McKinzy noticed there were TWO Hebrew Israelite groups there, whereas he usually only saw ISUPK during this time of the day. The pastor had seen ISUPK multiple times on that corner. There are videos on the ISUPK channel of them battling the pastor in the scriptures.
SIDE NOTE: WHO WAS THERE FIRST?
In later interviews, some ISUPK members claimed they were the only camp who’s been on 31st and Prospect. During a subsequent livestream, IUIC proved, with multiple videos, that was not an accurate claim. IUIC has been out on that corner as well, off and on, for years. It may be a case of “ships passing in the night”, an idiom referring to individuals who are related in some way but who are not usually in the same place at the same time. I use that idiom because ISUPK does go to that same corner every Saturday, whereas IUIC often alternates. To complicate matters, IUIC usually goes out earlier than ISUPK.
Most observers do not trust IUIC because they lie on opposition. Many of us remember when IUIC nicknamed defector Gina Blue the derogatory name of Gina Blue Waffle, implying she had an STI. Many people are rightfully suspicious of IUIC claims. Even during the KC Incident, when the first cop came, an IUIC member literally said, “HE HAS A WEAPON”.
This has been difficult to sort out. When I first commented on this situation, I was under the impression that IUIC was on that corner many years ago but had not been back in a while. I was wrong; IUIC *had* been out on that corner in recent times, as had ISUPK. It appears ISUPK usually came AFTER the IUIC camp was done. Also, it seems that ISUPK was out there every Saturday, whereas IUIC had more of a rotation pattern.
As he was driving by, the pastor could feel the tension. The pastor parked and began live streaming the tension from his phone, in real time.
At first, the video shows the ISUPK street teacher on the microphone, bad mouthing IUIC regarding the Gerald Duane Lewis case (aka Gadiell Ben Israel). IUIC is clearly in the process of closing down their camp set up. During this process, an IUIC member slightly moved a chair sitting in between the two groups.
An ISUPK member wearing a red shirt rushed over and grabbed the chair away. He also pushed away one of IUIC’s loud speakers out of the IUIC’s members hand. Later, the KC ISUPK members stated that they believed that IUIC had been purposefully pointing their loud speaker in the direction of the ISUPK camp setup to antagonize the ISUPK group. IUIC claimed that was always the direction of the speaker. Again, it’s messy. Why? Because I know for a fact that when I go to speak to IUIC, they absolutely do track me with the speaker. And they crank up the volume right as I arrive. I have seen this multiple times, with my own eyes. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what they were doing that specific Saturday. Regardless, after the ISUPK member pushed the loudspeaker, that same IUIC member shoved the ISUPK member. Then, another ISUPK member ran over and threw what appears to be the first punch. After that, dozens of IUIC members swarmed the various ISUPK members and tackled them all to the ground. IUIC then held ISUPK down till they police arrived. IUIC not only called the cops, but also held the ISUPK members down as the cops cuffed their fellow “Israelite brothers”. And we have video of an IUIC member telling the cop, “HE HAS A WEAPON”.
As you can imagine, this incident has been the talk of the town all that week. In a Clubhouse review of the incident, ISUPK talked super reckless, indicating escalation was a real possibility. Later, ISUPK seemed to step back from some of their stronger statements, spiritualizing some of their apparent calls for war. The Commanding General Yahanna, leader of the ISUPK, has dubbed the individuals involved with the brawl as “The KC 4”, perhaps a nod to the tragic Birmingham Four, victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963.
Predictably, everyone is pointing fingers and giving their side of the story. To a certain extent, IUIC has even been attempting to produce “receipts”, meaning, social media evidence for their territorial claims. In a livestream hosted by IUIC Oklahoma titled “Fixx Ya Face Fridays | The Curse of Comparison and Emulation”, one of the “deacons” declared they would be the bigger camp and let ISUPK have that corner from now on. Hopefully, that means their will be no more violence.
The following Saturday, IUIC did *not* show up in front of the library. However, they did march 200+ foot soldiers around Kansas City, around 63rd and Troost. Their social media tagline since then has been “you can have the corner, we’ll take the world”.
One useful thing the KC Incident has produced is a wealth of historical information. The most notorious of these has been a spotlight being shined on a quasi-mythical 2005 showdown between the camp that would later be named Great MillStone (GMS) and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC). In this encounter, it’s reported that 60 members of the ICGJC jumped 9 members of GMS in retaliation for the latter threatening to kill Tazadaqyah’s biological brother. The late Tazadaqyah was the leader of the ICGJC at the time, and greatly revered by his followers as “The God Sent Comforter”.
Of course, a number of Christian apologists have posted and commented about this bizarre event (eg, this panel hosted by BK Apologist). I’ll share one here by Alton Johnson of Atlanta on a YouTube community Post:
“I pray the Lord continues to create strife within the Hebrew Israelite movement so those who've fallen into this demonic ideology will finally repent and put their full trust in Christ alone instead of their skin color” ~ Alton Johnson, urban apologist
THE SHIELD BLOG
MAY 27, 2023 UPDATED: MAY 29, 2023
CONTRIBUTOR: VOCAB MALONE
PHOENIX, ARIZONA USA
