Dwight York

For similarly named people, see Dwight York (disambiguation).

Dwight York
York after his arrest in 2002
Born	(1945-06-26) June 26, 1945 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Other names	Malachi Z. York, Issa al-Haadi al-Mahdi, and others
Organization	Nuwaubian Nation
Criminal status	Incarcerated
Spouse	Kathy Johnson
Criminal charge	Child sexual abuse, rape, racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud
Penalty	135 years imprisonment
Imprisoned at	ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado
Signature

Dwight York (born June 26, 1945), also known as Malachi Z. York, Issa al-Haadi al-Mahdi, et alii, is an American cult leader, black supremacist, and convicted child molester, best known as the founder of the Nuwaubian Nation, a black supremacist new religious movement that has existed in some form and under various different names since the 1960s.

York's origins are contested. After converting to Islam in prison, in 1967 he began preaching to African-Americans in Brooklyn, New York, during the black power movement. He last called his group the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, Nuwaubian Nation, or Nuwabians. These were at first based on pseudo-Islamic themes and Judaism; later he mixed ideas taken from black nationalism, cryptozoology, Christianity, UFO religions, New Age, and popular conspiracy theories. Around 1990, York and the Nuwaubian Nation relocated to rural Putnam County, Georgia. They came under scrutiny in the early 1990s after they built Tama-Re, an Egyptian-themed park compound for about a hundred of his followers in Putnam County.

Before York's trial, the community had been joined directly and in the area by hundreds of other followers from out of State, while alienating both Black and White local residents. The community was intensively investigated after numerous reports that York had molested numerous children of his followers. York was convicted in 2004 of child molestation and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He is serving 135 years in prison.

Early life

York's origins and background are contested, with little biographical data available. York claims he was born in Sudan, on June 26, 1945. A 1993 Federal Bureau of Investigation report agrees with that date but claimed he was born in Baltimore, Maryland, while other sources give his birthplace as New Jersey, or New York. His true father is unknown. York later claimed to be the son of Al Haadi Abdur Rahman al Mahdi, the grandson of Muhammad Ahmad, who led an uprising against the British in Sudan. Bilal Philips, a Muslim countercultist, claimed York was born a decade earlier than he claimed, in 1935, and had changed his birth date to evidence his claims of being Ahmad's grandson.

He grew up in New York City. York was a member of street gangs in his youth; he admitted this in his own writings, and said that he was a "youthful offender". About this time he met Dorothy Mae Johnson, whom he married and had five children with. At the time of their marriage they were both 18; Johnson would later help him manage his groups in New York. According to the FBI report, in 1964 York was charged with several crimes: weapons possession, resisting police, and statutory rape. He was sentenced to three years in prison on January 6, 1965. While in prison, York encountered black Muslim preachers and became a convert. He served less than his full sentence and was ultimately paroled on October 20, 1967. He sold "African incense" on the streets and debated streetgoers on black philosophy.

After his release he attended a Islamic Mission of America, Inc. mosque in State Street, New York, led by Daoud Faisal, who became a spiritual mentor to York. Daoud was at odds with the Nation of Islam and made members carry "Sunni identification cards" to prove they were not NOI members. York was also affiliated with the Moorish Science Temple of America.

Religious leadership

In the late 1960s York, calling himself "Iman Isa", combined elements of the Moorish Science Temple of America, the Nation of Islam, the Nation of Gods and Earths and Freemasonry, and founded a quasi-Muslim black nationalist movement and community. He called it "Ansaar Pure Sufi", or the "Ansaaru Allah Community", c. 1970. He instructed members to wear black and green dashikis. He authored over 450 works of varying length that espoused his views. The new religious movement he led has existed in various forms under various different names since the 1960s. In ideology it was black supremacist.

These were at first based on pseudo-Islamic themes and Judaism (Nubian Islamic Hebrews). Later he developed a theme-park derived from "Ancient Egypt", mixing ideas taken from black nationalism, cryptozoology, Christianity, UFO religions, New Age, and popular conspiracy theories. He last called his group the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, Nuwaubian Nation (the "of Moors" was dropped in 2003), or Nuwabians.

York later traveled to Africa, to Sudan and Egypt in particular. He met and persuaded members of Mohamed Ahmed Al-Mahdi's family to finance him to set up a cell of their organization in the United States. This was to be a "west" or "American" political wing of Sudan's Ansar movement under Sadiq al-Mahdi (also see Umma Party). He began to develop the claim of his "Sudanese" roots in order to authenticate his American branch of the sect.

Brooklyn (1980–1993)

In 1967, he was preaching to the "Ansaaru Allah" (viz. African-Americans) in Brooklyn, New York, during the period of the black power movement. He later changed his name to "Iman Isa Abdullah" and renamed his "Ansaar Pure Sufi" ministry to the "Nubians" in Brooklyn in 1967. The group was considered to be part of the Black Hebrews phenomenon, under the name "Nubian Islaamic Hebrews" and "Nubian Hebrew Mission" as of 1969. Unlike other groups, they were not Judeo-Christian but Judeo-Islamic.

The community in Brooklyn, reported as identifying as the "Holy Tabernacle of the Most High" and also as the "Children of Abraham", was said to be led by Rabboni Y'shua Bar El Haady. They practiced a mixture of Judaism and Islam. They were reported as numbering about 300 persons and in 1994, the group reportedly still owned nine apartment buildings, of which five were in tax arrears. Local politicians were concerned that the abandoned buildings would become centers of uses that would damage the neighborhood. Anecdotal reports were that some of the group went to Monroe County, New York, and others to Georgia.

York's groups had a variety of names and functions: quasi-religious, fraternal, and tribal. They were called "Holy Tabernacle Ministries", "Egiptian [sic] Church of Karast," "Holy Seed Baptist Synagogue", "Ancient Mystic Order of Melchizedek", "Ancient Egiptian [sic] Order", "All Eyez on Egypt", "United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors", "Yamassee Native American Tribe", "Washitaw Tribe", and "Lodge 19 of the Ancient and Mystic Order of Malachizodok." He also adopted a number of titles and pseudonyms, including "The Supreme Grand Master Dr. Malachi Z. York," "Nayya Malachizodoq-El", and "Chief Black Eagle". In 1988 York was convicted of obtaining a passport with a false birth certificate.

He launched his own record label, named Passion Productions, recording as the solo artist "Dr. York". His debut release and also a video, was the single "Only a Dream" (later included in the album New York, Hot Melt Records UK, 1985). "Dr. York" and Passion Productions were advertised in the May 4, 1985, issue of Billboard magazine. He also released Passion on his York Records and Passion Records imprint. A group that consisted of York, Zeemo (Abdul Aziz), and Steve (Segovia) and later even featured Wendell Sawyer, Vernon Sawyer, and Ted Mills of the group Blue Magic. York said he performed popular music in order to "reach a mass majority of my people through my music." His Passion Studios recorded artists like Force MD's, Fredro Starr of Onyx, and Stetsasonic.

Move to Georgia and construction of Tama-Re (1993–2002)

The central part of the Tama-Re compound, as seen from the air, 2002

York left Brooklyn with an estimated 300 followers around 1990. Some settled in upstate New York. He later moved with numerous followers to Georgia. Others joined them from such cities as Baltimore, Philadelphia, Hartford, New York and Washington, D.C. Around 1990, York and the Nuwaubian Nation relocated to rural Putnam County, Georgia, where they built a large complex. At York's direction, the community purchased land and built Tama-Re(originally named Kadesh), an Egyptian-themed complex built on 476 acres (1.93 km²) of land near Eatonton, Georgia. It was built over a period of years and completed in 1993.

They came under scrutiny as a result of the building of the commune. According to former follower Robert J. Rohan, who later wrote a book about the movement, York moved in order to avoid criminal investigations and other charges in New York.

Perhaps to avoid scrutiny from the international Muslim community, the Nation of Islam, the Nation of Gods and Earths, legal troubles, and the negative history of his group during their New York period, he changed his own name several times, as well as the group's name, and masked different parts of their doctrine. In Georgia, they changed their name to the "United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors".

In 1996, York published the Nuwaubian holy book, The Holy Tablets. Tensions with county authorities increased in 1998, when the county sought an injunction against construction and uses that violated zoning. At the same time, the Nuwaubian community increased its leafletting of Eatonton and surrounding areas, charging white officials with racial discrimination and striving to increase opposition to them. Threats mounted and an eviscerated dog carcass was left at the home of the county attorney. The community had been joined directly and in the area by hundreds of other followers from out of State, while alienating both Black and White local residents.

Within Putnam County, the Nuwaubians lost black support, in part by trying to take over the NAACP chapter. But outside, they appealed to activists, claiming to be persecuted in the county. During this period, the group maintained Holy Tabernacle stores "in more than a dozen cities in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Trinidad." York purchased a $557,000 mansion in Athens, Georgia, about 60 miles away, the base of the University of Georgia.

In July 1999, Time magazine reported on the "40-ft. pyramids, obelisks, gods, goddesses and a giant sphinx," built by York's followers in rural Georgia in an article titled "Space Invaders".

Legal issues

Arrest and conviction of child molestation (2002–present)

York had established strict sexual practices within the community, reserving for himself sexual access to many women and girls, including wives and children of followers. Husbands and wives were separated from each other and from their children, with York only allowing them to live together once every three months, only through prior appointment in the "Green Room".

The community was intensively investigated after numerous reports that York had molested numerous children of his followers. Anonymous letters were sent to Putnam County officials alleging child molestation at the Nuwaubian community. The FBI, which had started investigating the group in 1993, assigned a major task force to it. In May 2002 York and his wife Kathy Johnson were arrested. York was charged with more than 100 counts of sexually molesting dozens of children, some as young as four years old. According to Bill Osinski, state prosecutors had to cut down the number of cases against York, which numbered over a thousand, to about 200, fearing "a jury simply wouldn't believe the magnitude of York's evil".

In 2003, York entered into a plea bargain that was later dismissed by the judge. He was convicted by a jury on January 23, 2004. The judge rejected his plea to be returned for trial to his own "tribe", after York claimed status as an indigenous person. He asserted to the court that he was a "secured party", and answered questions in court with the response: "I accept that for value."

Early in 2004, York was convicted in federal court by a jury of multiple RICO, child molestation, and financial reporting charges. He was sentenced to 135 years in prison. Some of the Nuwaubians relocated to Athens, Georgia after his arrest.

Imprisonment

As of 2024, Dwight York is serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, as Inmate # 17911–054, in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. His projected release date is July 12, 2120.

York's followers have said that since 1999 York has been a Consul General of Monrovia, Liberia, under appointment from then-President Charles Taylor. They argue he should be given diplomatic immunity from prosecution and extradited as a persona non grata to Liberia.

Aliases

York has been known by a multitude of aliases over the years, many of which he used simultaneously. The primary name from York's followers is Malachi Z. York, or Dr. Malachi Z. York. Other aliases include the following:

• Dr. York
• Malakai Z. York
• Dr. Malachi Z. York-El
• H.E. Dr. Malachi Kobina Yorke™
• Imperial Grand Potentate Noble: Rev. Dr. Malachi Z. York 33°/720°
• Consul General: Dr. Malachi Z. York ©™
• Grand Al Mufti "Divan" Noble Rev. Dr. Malichi Z. York-El
• As Sayyid Al Imaam Issa Al Haadi Al Mahdi
• Asayeed El Imaam Issa El Haaiy El Mahdi
• Isa Abd'Allah Ibn Abu Bakr Muhammad
• Isa al-Haadi al-Mahdi
• Al Hajj Al Imaam Isa Abd'Allah Muhammad Al Mahdi
• Irie I Sayyid Al Mumbra Issa El Haajidi Tundi the Divine and Noble Blackthello

References

Works cited

• Knight, Michael Muhammad (2020). Metaphysical Africa: Truth and Blackness in the Ansaru Allah Community. Africana Religions. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-271-08709-2.
• Lewis, James R., ed. (2001). "The Ansaaru Allah Community.". Odd Gods: New Religions and the Cult Controversy. Amherst: Prometheus Books. pp. 184–185. ISBN 978-1-57392-842-7.
• Palmer, Susan J. (2021a). "The Ansaaru Allah Community". In Upal, Muhammad Afzal; Cusack, Carole M. (eds.). Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 694–723. ISBN 978-90-04-42525-5.
• Palmer, Susan J. (2021b). "The United Nuwaubian Nation". In Zeller, Benjamin E. (ed.). Handbook of UFO Religions. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 343–353. doi:10.1163/9789004435537_017. ISBN 978-90-04-43437-0. ISSN 1874-6691.
• Philips, Abu Ameenah Bilal (1988). The Ansar Cult in America. Tawheed Publications.

Further reading

• Kossy, Donna. "Ansaaru Allah Community," in Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief, Feral House, 1994 (ISBN 0-922915-19-9)
• Osinski, Bill. Ungodly: A True Story of Unprecedented Evil, Indigo Custom Publishing, 2007 (ISBN 1934144134)
• Palmer, Susan J. (2010). The Nuwaubian Nation: Black Spirituality and State Control. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-6255-6.
• Rohan, Robert J. Holding York Responsible, Robert J. Rohan, 2005

External links

• Bureau of Prisons inmate registry: Dwight York Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
• Books authored by Malachi York
• Dwight York at IMDb