The People's Army was a black nationalist political and paramilitary organization based in Watts, California which was founded in 1975 by "General Ahmed". The People's Army originated as an inner-city charitable organization started up by Ahmed with help from a monetary grant by the state of California; Ahmed, inspired by the Black Power movement and the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., called on the Black community to unite and join forces in obtaining equality. Ahmed sought to provide healthcare and other services to the people of Watts, who had been terrorized by the American Mafia for years. However, Ahmed's lieutenant, Colonel Kojah, formed a "protection squad" to fight back against the Mafia, drawing inspiration from the Nazi Party's SS paramilitary wing and having his men don black uniforms and train with rifles. The People's Army effectively seized control of Watts from the syndicate through a series of murders, and they established a detention center for drug addicts and other criminals, a training area at a tennis court, and even took part in armed exercises. Kojah's fascist "protection squad" became little more than a vigilante mob, and Kojah's insubordination and involvement in gambling, drug trafficking, and prostitution led to public relations problems for the People's Army. Kojah also had the People's Army's clinic bombed, preventing Dr. Lisk from treating the victims of the drugs which Kojah and his associates put on the streets. When interviewed by the media, Ahmed strongly denied that his men were responsible for a wave of violence in Watts, even as rumors of a People's Army-provoked race war threatened to lead to the state of California's revocation of its grant to the People's Army as Governor Jerry Brown distanced himself from the group. Ahmed was also asked if the $10,000 he received from the state on a weekly basis "to help the people of Watts" would go towards funding a race war, to which Ahmed responded by saying that $10,000 a week was not enough to help the people of Watts. Ahmed then went to confront Kojah about his involvement in shady dealings such as drug trafficking, travelling to Kojah's mansion and disowning Kojah and his Nazi-inspired faction's criminal activities. In response, Kojah - at the behest of his lieutenant, Major Delmay - kidnapped Ahmed in the middle of the night and shot him on a desert roadside, leaving him for dead. Ahmed recovered and gathered his loyal faction of the People's Army, who, disguised as Protection Squad members, stormed Kojah's mansion and killed Kojah's loyalists. Ahmed then confronted Kojah himself, and he killed Delmay with Kojah's razor-blade after Delmay attempted to jump him. Ahmed then killed Kojah in a fight in the pool, putting an end to the dispute. With much of the People's Army dead, however, the organization soon disbanded, coinciding with the concurrent decline of the Black Panther Party and other black nationalist organizations.
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