Six Kansas-based former members of a cult called the United Nation of Islam (UNOI) have been convicted after forcing children to work 16-hour days for no pay while housing them in inhumane conditions. The people had told the children they would burn in “eternal hellfire” if they tried to escape.
The United Nation of Islam (UNOI) was a splinter group from the Nation of Islam, founded by Royall Jenkins in 1978. Officially labeled a cult by a federal judge back in 2018, UNOI housed children in overcrowded, rodent-infested facilities, brutally beat the children, and nearly starved them.
The children worked in a variety of UNOI-owned and operated businesses in Kansas City, including restaurants, bakeries, gas stations, labs, and factories—for no compensation.
During the trial, it was revealed that one child had become so thirsty that she drank toilet water. Another was so hungry that he resorted to stealing food. When UNOI members found out, they held the victim upside down over train tracks, trying to get him to admit what he’d done.
Kaaba Majeed, 50, Yunus Rassoul, 39, James Staton, 62, Randolph Rodney Hadley, 49, Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, 43, and Dana Peach, 60, were all convicted of conspiracy to commit forced labor. Majeed was also convicted on five counts of forced labor. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison as well as mandatory restitution, while the others each face a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison
Originally, the government filed an eight-count indictment against eight defendants in October of 2021. The additional two defendants, Etenia Kinard and Jacelyn Greenwell, pled guilty. Both women were wives of Royall Jenkins, the founder of UNOI who claimed to be Allah and died in 2021. The other six defendants went to trial in August 2023, which just concluded after 26 days.
Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said: “The United Nation of Islam and these defendants held themselves out as a beacon of hope for the community, promising to educate and teach important life skills to members, particularly children. Instead, the defendants betrayed this trust, exploiting young children in the organization by callously compelling their labor.”
Reporting from the Kansas Reflector showed how Kansas City officials and the local school board ignored multiple red flags and enabled the UNOI cult to flourish by donating buildings and a school to the group, despite reports of child abuse to state hotlines and suspicious activities like unqualified teachers and public humiliation of children.
“You have to recognize this was an organization. This is a system, a business, right? A business has to actually engage with political members to do what they have to do,” one of the victims told the Reflector. “So, if that’s the case, how did they do this for years?”
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The post Cult Members Who Forced Kids to Work 16-Hour Days Convicted in Kansas appeared first on VICE.
