Dwight York

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Dwight York

Dwight D. York (born June 26, 1945 or 1935)^[1] is an author, musician and a black supremacist leader^[2] who founded various fraternal orders, religious, and black nationalist groups collectively referred to here as Nuwaubians. York and the Nuwaubians came under increased government scrutiny in the early-1990s after building Tama-Re, an ancient Egyptian-themed “city” featuring pyramids, temples, and living quarters for hundreds of his followers, in Putnam County, Georgia near Eatonton. He was arrested in May of 2002, charged with over 100 counts of child molestation and other charges, and was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to 135 years in prison.

York incorporates a “©™” suffix into his signature on a Liberian Consulate document

[edit] Background

[edit] Origins and genealogy

York’s biography is difficult to determine, as much of the story he and his followers have told is mythical rather than historical. York has gone to great lengths to establish genealogical toeholds in various important lines of descent.

York was born in Boston, Massachusetts^[3] or New Jersey^[4] or New York^[1] or Baltimore^[5] according to some accounts, or in Omdurman, Sudan the way he tells it.^[6] His mother is Mary C. York née Williams, now also known as Faatimah Maryam, who at the time was married to David Piper York, though York claims that his biological father was Al Haadi Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, whom Williams is said to have met while she was a student in the Sudan.^[6] Mary and her son are said to have left the Sudan because of threats from other members of the Mahdi family.^[7]

York claims that the name he was given at birth was “Isa Al Haadi Al Mahdi” and that he only acquired the name “York” (without a first name) a month later when the family returned to Boston.^[6] David and Mary York have four other children: David, Dale, Debra and Dennis.^[8]

David Piper York is said to be a descendant of “Ben” York of the Lewis and Clark Expedition^[8] (whom scholars refer to as “York,” though he is sometimes called Ben York in works of historical fiction). In order to preserve Dwight York’s claim to be in Ben York’s bloodline, while also claiming that his real father was Al Haadi Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, an additional claim is made — that Mary Williams and David York are second cousins: Mary Williams’s mother, Leila Williams nee Miller (a Washita Native American) is said to have been Ben York’s granddaughter on her father’s side.

In one telling, Ben York is the son of Old York, also known as Yusuf Ben Ali, and these Yorks were named after Black-A-Moors from the English House of York.^[9] In another telling, Ben York’s mother is said to have been one Warda Saliym ‘Rose’ Idriys, “a Yamassee Native American Moor”, whose father is Old York/Yusuf Ben Ali, making Ben York Old York’s grandson.^[10] Idriys was also the “daughter of Sharufa Salim Idriys, of the Idrisid Dynasty”^[9]

A grandfather on Dwight York’s father’s side (Al Haadi Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi’s) was As Sayyid Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi. This would make York also a descendant of Muhammad Ahmad.^[11]

On his mother’s side, Clarence Daniel “Bobby” Williams, Mary C. York’s father, is described as “an Egyptian Moor named Salah Hailak Al Ghala, a merchant seaman from a little village called Beluwla, in Nubia of Ancient Egypt”^[9] but another geneaological tree shows Bobby Williams’s father as unknown and his mother as “Madam Decontee” of the Bassa tribe of Liberia.^[8] Clarence is credited with having named York “Isa” at birth.^{[citation needed]}

These various, convoluted, and probably invented lines of descent are important to York’s various claims to be simultaneously a Yamassee Native American chief, a Celtic Moor from the house of York, a Nubian Egyptian, a Liberian yet with royal Sudanese blood, and so forth (and those are just a few of the lines of descent he claims on this planet).

[edit] Early life and ministry

York says:

I was raised in Massachusetts until the age of 7. At the age of 7 Shaikh Hasuwn escorted me to Aswan, Nubia.… My father had appointed Shaikh Hasuwn to be my guardian. His job was to protect and properly raise me in Al Islaam.… My grandfather, As Sayyid Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, the Imaam of the Ansaars in the Sudan until 1959 AD, upon looking into my eyes foretold that I was the one who would possess “the light.” It was here where I was raised by Shaikh Hasuwn and my uncle on my mother’s side, Abdullah. I returned to the United States, State Street (Mosque) to be exact at the age of 12 in the year 1957 AD. I spent my adolescent years in Teaneck, New Jersey…^[12]

According to The Washington Times:

Mr. York was sentenced to probation in early 1964, after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of raping a 13-year-old girl. But he was arrested again in October 1964, and his conviction in January 1965 for assault and other charges [possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting an officer] earned Mr. York a three-year sentence in state prison. Paroled in October 1967, Mr. York joined the Black Panthers…^[13]

In the late 1960s York, calling himself “Amunnubi Rooakhptah,” invented a quasi-muslim black nationalist movement based on the “Science of Nuwaubu.”^{[citation needed]}

York as “Imaam Isa”

He changed his name to “Imaam Isa Abdullah” and started his “Ansaar Pure Sufi” ministry to the “Nubians” in Brooklyn in 1967.^[1] The group became the “Nubian Islaamic Hebrews”^[14] or “Nubian Hebrew Mission”^[15] in 1969.

After York returned from a pilgrimage to Egypt, the group became “Jazzir Abba,” and then the “Ansaaru Allah Community” in 1970^[16] (which a 1993 FBI report accused of being a “front for a wide range of criminal activity, including arson, welfare fraud and extortion.”).^[17]

One observer wrote:

The women of the Ansaaru Allah Community focus on memorizing history as their Imam sees it, learning Arabic (many of them are quite fluent), incorporating Sudanese etiquette into their mannerisms and memorizing the Qur'an. They participate in the compilation of the various texts produced by the community and also work in the recording studio owned by the community. Other than this work, the women’s main source of income comes from US government public assistance and monies earned by the men in various enterprises such as food shops, jewelry and merchandise stories, and street vending.^[16]

Another source says:

He was based in Coney Island for a time, and operated a bookstore and a printing press on Flatbush Ave. in the 70s. In the 80s he was based in [Brooklyn], on Bushwick Ave. York’s students are best remembered by New Yorkers as practitioners of orthodox Islam – members of certain New York Five Percent Nation, Nation of Islam and Arab Islamic mosques still regard the Nuwaubians as a rival faction – but at different times they followed the paths of Christianity and Judaism. Operations relocated to Liberty, NY, near the Catskills, around 1991, then to Georgia in 1993.^[18]

York’s groups later took on a new array of names and functions — religious, fraternal, and tribal – including the “Yamassee Native American Tribe,” “the Washitaw Tribe,” “The Egyptian Church Of Karast or Christ,” “The Holy Tabernacle Ministries,” “The United Nuwaubian Nation Of Moors,” the “Holy Seed Baptist Synagogue,” “the Ancient Mystic Order of Melchizedek,” and “the Ancient Egiptian Order”. York himself had his name legally changed to Malachi York in 1983, but also tried on a myriad of titles and pseudonyms, including The Supreme Grand Master Dr. Malachi Z. York, Nayya Malachizodoq-El, and Chief Black Eagle (the Nuwaubian Moors are said to be descendants of the Olmecs via Egypt over an ancient land bridge to Georgia^{[citation needed]}).

By 1985, York had added miracle-performance to his repertoir. He would materialize sacred, healing ash in front of his followers, much in the fashion of Sathya Sai Baba.^[19]

In 1988 York was convicted for obtaining a passport with a false birth certificate.^[20]

The group Passion (York is in the center)

[edit] A musical career

“Don’t Stop My Love” by Passion

Dr. York has recorded with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Delfonics, McFadden & Whitehead, and Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King and has been said to have ghostwritten songs such as “Love Train” by The O’Jays, “Wake Up Everybody” by Teddy Pendergrass, and “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. He also formed his own groups Jackie and The Starlights, The Students, and Passion as the lead singer.

He later launched his own label named Passion, recording himself as the solo artist “Dr. York”.

His debut release was the single “It’s Only A Dream” which came from the album New York (Hot Melt Records 1985). The artistic contributions on the album included background vocals from Ted Mills of the group Blue Magic. The track “Plain As Black And White” proved popular on U.K. soul radio.

He also teamed up with Sarah Dash for the duet “It’s Too Late”, and recorded with T.C. Curtis on the Hot Melt label in the U.K.

Dr. York said he did this with hope to “reach a mass majority of my people through my music.”^[21]

He later also claimed grander musical contributions, stating at one point that “you were listening to my hits back in the 60’s and did not know it, nor did you know that songs which were considered ‘message music’ in the 70’s were written by me.”^[12]

[edit] Religious & philosophical doctrine & practice

Main article: Nuwaubianism

York has taught an ever-changing and multifaceted doctrine over the years, with influences and borrowings from many sources, that includes a baroque cosmology, unconventional theories about race and human origins, cryptozoological and extraterrestrial speculations, black nationalism, conspiracy theory, and religious practices invented or borrowed from many existing religions.

[edit] The “Tama-Re” compound

Main article: Tama-Re

The Tama-Re compound was an Egyptian-themed set of buildings and monuments established near Eatonton, Georgia by York and his followers in 1993 that was mostly-demolished after being sold under government forfeiture in 2005.

[edit] Convicted of child molestation

York exercised tight control over the sexuality of his followers. One source notes:

[W]hile extolling the virtues and importance of family life and the conjugal relationship, he denies such relationships to his followers except at strictly controlled intervals. He urges his female followers to pattern themselves on the Islamic paradigms of the wife and the mother, apparently desiring the creation of stable family units. But in reality the husbands and wives are segregated in dormitories, separated also from their children. York permits spouses to cohabit only once every three months. They are permitted to meet in the “Green Room” by prior appointment only.^[22]

York, dressed here as Chief Black Thunderbird Eagle, a Moorish Cherokee of the Yamassee tribe, addresses the child sexual abuse charge on a spoken-word CD

In 2002, York was arrested and charged with over a hundred counts of sexually molesting dozens of children, some as young as four years old. He pled guilty in 2003 in a plea bargain that was later dismissed by the judge, and then was convicted on 23 January 2004 – the judge having rejected his desire to be returned for trial to his own tribe: “All I am asking is that the court recognize that I am an indigenous person. I am a Moorish Cherokee, and I cannot get a fair trial if I am being tried by settlers or Confederates.”^[23]

He asserted to the court that he was a “secured party,” and answered questions in court with the response: “I accept that for value.” This may have been a heterodox legal strategy based on patriot mythology.^[24]

He was convicted of multiple RICO, child molestation, and financial reporting charges and sentenced to 135 years in prison. His case was appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but that court upheld the convictions on 27 October 2005.^[25] A U.S. Supreme Court appeal was denied in June, 2006^[26].

Malik Zulu Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party (who says that York “is a great leader of our people and is a victim of an open conspiracy by our enemy”^[27]) and Liberian Senator Francis Y.S. Garlawolu have been among those working on a variety of avenues of appeal, and the Southern Regional Director of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition also pledged his support.^[28]

York’s followers assert a number of defenses, including that their leader Malachi Z. York who was charged and convicted is not the same person as the Dwight D. York who is listed in court documents as the criminal (one of York’s sons is named Dwight, and sometimes the claim is made that it is York’s son and not York himself who is or should be the real defendant),^[6] or that York was set up by his son Jacob York in coordination with al Qaeda-linked American mosques jealous of York’s influence among black Muslims.

In October 2004, he wrote a letter from prison to his followers that read, in part:

On August 12, 2004, just days before court, 3 visitors came to me, Crlll, Alomar, and Saad, they healed me. They came from Zeta Reticuli. I had not seen them since I was a child in Teaneck, New Jersey. They don’t age at all. Anyway, they told me the game is almost over. Those that truly love you are coming together for you. They are passing the Great Test. I asked them why I could not just walk out? They said, “Because there is an order to the Kosmos that must never be altered” … Many inmates have seen me float. That is why they keep moving me away. It is because people Canaanites as well are converting inside.^[29]

York believes that his betrayal, arrest, trial and imprisonment (and eventual release) were foretold in chapter 10 of Zecharia Sitchin’s The Wars of the Gods and the Men, with York being represented by Mar-duq in that story.^[30]

Liberian Senator Francis Garlawolu and Dwight York’s daughter Richelle D. York in front of the Liberian Embassy

[edit] York as a Liberian Diplomat

York’s followers have dropped the theory that York should be considered immune from prosecution due to his status as a sovereign aboriginal Native American Moor, but now advance his claim that since 1999 York has been a Consul General of Monrovia, Liberia under appointment from then-President Charles Taylor and should therefore be given diplomatic immunity from prosecution and extradited as a persona non grata to Liberia.^[31] (In June 2005 a new web site: http://www.officialnaia.org/ – the Nuwaubian Administration of International Affairs – was inaugurated to better represent this new incarnation of York.)

York explains his shift from defending himself as a sovereign “indigerness” Yamassee Native American to defending himself as a Liberian diplomat in this way:

Fact is we called ourselves Native American Moors and tell them of Mali which is Africa and the Bassa Tribe are from Mali as well as Sudan. So when I stood up in court and stated I was indigerness [sic], that did not in any way state I’m not African and the fact that I wore a fez in court not a Indian head dress shows I favor Africa to America. Plus, I got my diplomatic status and citizenship in 1999 before the arresst [sic]. And we have two eye and ear witness to the fact and yes they did legal affidavitts [sic] to this fact. that on May 8th 2002 at the arrest the [sic] saw and heard me inform the arresting officer that I am a consul general and a Liberian citizen.^[32]

[edit] Imprisonment

Dwight York is presently serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado as Inmate # 17911-054. While his projected release date is 15 December 2119 [28], this is effectively a life sentence.

[edit] Other names

York has been known by a multitude of aliases over the years, including the following:

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Get Informed - a financial consulting company founded by York
• Nuwaubic - a language created by York
• Black supremacy

[edit] Additional information

• http://www.unitednuwaubiannation.com/ — United Nuwaubian Nation
• http://www.officialnaia.org/ — Nuwaubian Administration of International Affairs
• http://aeoeonline.com/ — All Eyes on Egipt
• http://www.officialecoc.org/ — Egiptian Church of Karast “Christ”
• - A Public Outcry — site concentrating on York’s legal defense
• Bureau of Prisons inmate registry: Dwight York
• A Visit to Tama-Re New York Press by Adam Heimlich 8 November 2000
• Nuwaubian Nightmare Washington Times by Robert Stacy McCain 2 June 2002
• Nuwaubians — article from the Center for AnthroUFOlogy
• The Man From Planet Rizq (PDF excerpts)
• Timeline of Nuwaubian Events (1993-2002)
• http://www.geocities.com/area51/corridor/4978/unnm.html — another UNNM web site
• “Ansaaru Allah Community” in Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief by Donna Kossy (ISBN 0-922915-19-9)
• Isa Muhammad’s Paleman — Donna Kossy investigates York’s racial theories
• The Ansaar Cult by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
• http://factology.com/ — A nuwaubian doctrine and history resource
• Legacy of the Black Thunderbird — A mythic version of the story of York’s arrest and prophesied release
• http://www.unitednuwaubiannation.com/yamassee_menu.html — The official site of the Yamassee Native American Moors of the Creek Nation
• The story of Muhammad, by Dr. York — includes chapter 19 of the Holy Tablets
• The Father, Malachi York is accused of the son, Jacob York’s crimes — a page alleging that York was set up by his son
• Moorish Science Temple: “The Ansaru Allah Community”
• Nuwaubians: a collection of links from the news media
• Malachi York — from the Masonic Reporter
• The Nuwaubian Supreme Grand Lodge
• Palmer, Susan J. “The Ansaaru Allah Community: United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors” The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and New Religions ed. by Lewis, James R. 2001
• U.S. v. York — 04-12354 (11th Cir. Oct. 27, 2005)
• Sect chief’s influence felt at Clarke jail: Deputy’s letter to convicted child molester sparks probe by chief jailer who’s fired OnlineAthens.com 18 June 2006