Census & Registration | moorishamericanland The group has absorbed many ideas from Black sovereign groups but is independent of them, theAnti-Defamation League said. The Southern Poverty Law Center says some groups sustain themselves by selling these fake documents. How do we reverse the trend? However,Mason said the leader of the group, identified as Rise of the Moors, claimed it was not an anti-government group. All rights reserved, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. It was the most bizarre thing in the world, said Jordan Fainberg, in front of a home claimed by someone citing a peace treaty from the 1700s. Lamont Butler, also known as Lamont Maurice El, claimed the mansion for himself. Please enter valid email address to continue. Overall, Moorish sovereigns have not shown widespread interest in deploying explosive or incendiary devices. In a joint statement Sunday, state police and the Middlesex County District Attorney's office said troopers recovered at least eight firearms from the group, includingthree AR-15 rifles,two pistols,a bolt-action rifle,a shotgunand a short barrel rifle. He became fluent in Chinese and produced several fashion shows focusing on Black designers and models, according to multiple accounts. Rise of the Moors study application. All 11 men were charged with eight counts of unlawful possessionof a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, use of body armor in commission of a crime, possession of a high capacity magazine, improper storage of firearms in a vehicleand conspiracy to commit a crime. Moorish Americans take over Southern Maryland gun range, defying On its website, Rise of the Moors, for example, has cited reparations part of national conversations about race and equity as a driving factor for its belief that its members can claim things as their own. It was after county officials took action, deeming the site an unlawful firing range and filing an injunction to stop it from operating in September, that events took several unexpected turns. On Nov. 13, Butler and another Moorish American, George Neal-Bey, tried to intervene when Charles County sheriff's deputies pulled over a third member of the group. They also save money by practicing tax avoidance schemes or tax fraud. That subgroup, known as Rise of the Moors, engaged in a standoff with the police for more than nine hours, claiming that as sovereign citizens, law enforcement had no authority to stop them. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Were not over here with fully automatic weapons, 40-round clips, shooting thousands of rounds, Tomlinson said. In a video that the Moorish Americans later posted online, Butler wearing a camouflage uniform, dark headscarf and a pistol on his hip can be seen approaching the deputies . His followers added suffixes like Ali, Bey, or El to their last names to signify their Moorish heritage. [1] He based it on the premise that African Americans are descendants of the Moabites and thus are "Moorish" (sometimes also spelled "Muurish" by adherents) by nationality, and . As for Butler, he eventually abandoned the Bethesda mansion, but he still faces burglary, theft and fraud charges. In Montgomery County Circuit Court, Mr. Butler continued to claim his rights as a Moor. In an exclusive corner of Bethesda, Md., there's a 35,000-square-foot mansion with 12 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms and trees planted by former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. It was heralded by the filing of perplexing documents adorned with symbols including the star and crescent and the pyramid-tip Eye of Providence that appears on the back of the dollar bill asserting that the dispute over Bells land was subject to the terms of an 1836 treaty between the United States and Morocco. Ideology of the Moorish Sovereign Citizens Who Shut Down I-95 - Rolling Copyright 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright 2015-2023 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Bell said the officers who searched his home were very cordial., They could have tore the house clean up, he said.