Five-Percent Nation

[[File:Five-Percent (NOGE) Symbol.png|thumb|165px|Five-Percent (NOGE) Symbol]]
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The '''Five Percent Nation''' (also known as the '''Nation of Gods and Earths''') is a primarily [[African-American]] spiritual [[philosophy]] and group (that rejects the "[[religion]]" title) founded by Clarence 13X in 1964. Five-Percenters often support [[pseudoscience]] and [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] and have [[black supremacy|black supremacist]] leanings.<ref>http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/what-i-learned-from-the-five-percenters "fuck white people"</ref>

==Foundation==
Clarence Edward Smith {{lived|1928|1969}} was an African-American and a [[Korean War]] veteran. After returning from war, Clarence discovered that his wife had joined the [[Nation of Islam]] and he elected to join them too. He embraced much of their teachings, but rejected what they had to say on the topic of [[gambling]], and doubted that the group's founder, {{wpl|Wallace Fard Muhammad||,}} was [[Allah]] as he was [[One-drop rule|light skinned]]. Clarence left the religion and began preaching his alternate ideas on the streets, gaining a small following. In 1964, he was shot, but survived, and began having [[delusions of grandeur]] centered around his own alleged [[immortality]]. Unsurprisingly, he was subsequently diagnosed with [[schizophrenia]]. Despite this, his following only grew and is still going strong over 40 years after his fatal shooting by an unknown assailant in 1969.<ref>[http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/the-five-percent-nation-a-brief-history-lesson-news.11319.html The Five Percent Nation: A Brief History Lesson] by Shirley Ju, ''HotNewHipHop'', 21 July 2014</ref>

==Teachings==
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The Five-Percenters reject many elements of traditional Black Muslim thought. Firstly, they agree with all sane people that African-Americans did in fact come from [[Africa]], not the [[Middle East]]. They believe in the Recent African Origin hypothesis of humanity's origins and hold that the original humans were, individually and collectively, a race of [[god]]s known as [[Allah|ALLAH]] (which they believe stands for "Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head", because you can always count on [[cranks]] with an agenda to make up [[bullshit]] etymologies).<ref>http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5614846</ref> On top of this, however, they subscribe to [[racialism|racialist]] thought. Black people are still gods, but all other "races" are non-god [[mutation]]s. Like the Nation of Islam, Five-Percenters hold that the "white race" was created to be warriors by a [[scientist]] called Yakub (the [[Jacob]] of the [[Bible]] and [[Koran]]), and that they eventually spun out of control and ended up dominating the world. Needless to say, this is complete [[pseudohistory]] and has black supremacist implications, as much as Five-Percenters (including their curious white members) deny it.

Due to Five-Percenters' belief that black people are gods, both individually and collectively, they reject the Nation of Islam's teachings that black people need to submit themselves to a god. Reflecting this, they are often individualistic and hedonistic. Despite this, they retain a [[Sexism|strong belief in traditional gender roles]], holding that black men are "gods" and black women are "earths" meant to "assist" them.

Five-Percenters have their own alphabetical and numerical systems known respectively as the "Supreme Alphabet" and "Supreme Mathematics". They don't make a whole lot of sense.

==Link to hip hop==
Many prominent [[hip-hop]] artists are Five-Percenters<ref>http://www.britannica.com/topic/Five-Percent-Nation</ref>, or  are at least inspired by Five-Percenter thought and culture. Five-Percenter terms like "G" (short for "God", not "gangster"), "word is bond", and "cypher" have made their way into hip hop slang. Even famous individuals like Busta Rhymes are members.

==Five-Percenters and the law==
[[J. Edgar Hoover]] considered the Five-Percenters to be a [[gang]]. Still today, there is a debate among law enforcement officials about the Five-Percenters. Some consider them to be a positive influence on low-income African-American people, while others consider them to be dangerous miscreants.<ref>http://www.scalc.net/decisions.aspx?q=4&id=3297</ref> Many black men within the penal system convert to the Five-Percent Nation, which [[prison]]s have made an inexplicable crackdown on, banning prisoners from spreading Five-Percenter [[propaganda]] within prisons.

==References==
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[[Category:Black nationalism]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Racism]]

Categories: Black nationalism, Religion, Racism