Wednesday, September 10, 2014

“Emperor” of Black-Nationalist “Washitaw Nation” Claims Individual Sovereignty in New Jersey Gun Case

(from The Trentonian)
A man claiming to be the newly crowned emperor of a Black-nationalist group called the Washitaw Nation argued before a judge in Trenton, New Jersey, on September 9th that a defendant in a gun-possession case was immune from prosecution because he was a “sovereign citizen.”
An example of a “Washitaw Nation” yard sign, for sale at Café Press
The “emperor,” known as El Bey, presents himself as monarch of what is also known by its longer name, the Official Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah.  [See the bottom of this page for an article comment from El Bey himself, clarifying, “I never proclaimed to be the Emperor of the Washitaw Nation or Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah.  Visit www.empirewashitaw.org to see my actual position within the Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah and Washitaw Nation.”]  The group draws inspiration from the Islamic- and Masonic-tinged “Moorish Temple” strain of Black-nationalist activism which dates to northern urban African-American communities in the 1910s and ’20s and from the purported ancestry of its founder, Verdiacee Hampton-Goston, with Louisiana’s Ouachita Indian tribe.  “Empress” Hampton-Goston, who died earlier this year (as reported at the time in this blog), subscribed to the “Paleo-Negroid” hypothesis, which holds, against all evidence, that the Americas were peopled by ancient Africans who are responsible for the monumental architecture of the Midwestern mound-building cultures and others.  She claimed to be Empress of the entire territory of the Louisiana Purchase, though she really only governed a few scraps of land in Oklahoma.  Actual Ouachitas, who are mostly enrolled with the Caddo Nation, do not seem to want much to do with the Moorish “Washitaws.”  (See that original article on this blog for a full discussion of the Washitaw movement.  [See also comments by El Bey at the bottom of this article.])

The late empress, Verdiacee Hampton-Goston
El Bey, a 42-year-old who appeared in court in full Plains Indian regalia, including a headdress, is, according to the Trentonian newspaper, “best known in Trenton for once asserting his status as a so-called ‘sovereign’ nation allowed to keep a horse in the back yard of his row house in the Wilbur section” (two horses, actually, named Princess and Pop, and it was actually only half of a duplex.)  And El Bey told the paper that “he and allies will ride their horses through Trenton next week to make a political point.  He said he has legal papers exempting him from U.S. and local law.”  At other times, El Bey has claimed to be prince of the Abannaki Aboriginal Nation, named for an unrelated tribal group in New England but in this case another incarnation of a Moorish Science style fringe group (as identified by the Alabama-based hate-group-monitoring organization the Southern Poverty Law Center).

“Emperor” El Bey of the “Washitaw Nation.”
(Contents of peace pipe unknown, but one wonders.)
(Wikimedia Commons photo.)
The first Moorish Science Temple was founded in New Jersey in 1913 by Noble Drew Ali, who mixed Islam, Masonry, ancient Egyptian traditions, and crackpot anthropology to assert that, because the real Indians were “paleo-Negroids” from Africa, the descendants of African-American slaves were somehow the true owners of the North American continent.

A map of the ancient world from a Moorish Science Temple of America website not
affiliated with the Washitaw Nation.
(Trenton, New Jersey, not shown.)
El Bey is a well-known eccentric in Trenton.  Also known as Crown Prince Emperor El Bey Bigbay Bagby, but apparently born as William McRae, he tried in February to assert authority over a defunct Powhatan Renape Nation reservation in southern New Jersey, earning him from the Philadelphia Inquirer the nickname “Prince Alarming.”  (An actual Powhatan leader, Obie Batchelor, has said of El Bey, “We don’t know where he came from.  We don’t know anything about him.  He just popped up out of the woodwork.  You can’t just pop up and claim yourself chief.”)  McRae has also tried to convince the singer Kanye West to join his tribe, and in 2009 he expressed his crush on the lovely young director of the Trenton Free Public Library by arriving at her workplace on horseback to beseech her to gallop away with him and become his bride.  The library director, Kimberly Matthews, called the police instead.

Kimberly Matthews, the librarian who could have been an empress.
Ah, the road not taken.
(from The Trentonian)
What is not clear is whether the followers of the original, late “empress” acknowledge El Bey—or anyone—as her successor, or what role the defendant in the Trenton gun case, one Abdul Aziz, plays in the organization.  But El Bey’s invocation of the “sovereign citizen” movement shows affinities with Empress Verdiacee’s Oklahoma branch of the movement, which used that libertarian concept as a crude legal tool—betraying more ideological affinities with radical right-wing anarchists, Tea Party activists, and all-white militias than with the more collectivist, community-based strains of mainstream Black Islam and Black Nationalism.

Emperor El Bey, with Princess and Pop.  If nothing else, they are on his side.
(from The Trentonian)
[For those who are wondering, yes, this blog is tied in with my forthcoming book, a sort of encyclopedic atlas to be published by Litwin Books under the title Let’s Split! A Complete Guide to Separatist Movements and Aspirant Nations, from Abkhazia to Zanzibar.  (That is shorter than the previous working title.)  The book, which contains 46 maps and 554 flags (or, more accurately, 554 flag images), will be on shelves and available on Amazon on March 1, 2015.  I will be keeping readers posted of further publication news.  Meanwhile, please “like” the book (even though you haven’t read it yet) on Facebook and see this special announcement for more information on the book.]




3 comments:

  1. This email contact is in reference to the "story" you posted on your blog at the following web link http://springtimeofnations.blogspot.com/2014/09/emperor-of-black-nationalist-washitaw.html .

    First of all, you are committing injuries to my name, family, all the people of the moorish science temple, the Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah, all the people of the Washitaw nation just to mention a few with your distortion of history and the truth.Brother, you need to do research completely, before posting these types of blogs before your sued. Please cease and desist with anymore slanderous articles about all of the aforesaid mentioned nations, tribes, and groups in the future.

    Secondly, I never proclaimed to be the Emperor of the Washitaw Nation or Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah. Visit www.empirewashitaw.org to see my actual position within the Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah and Washitaw Nation. You will, also, see everyone and their positions of authority of Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah. I gained my royal nobility title through family bloodline of Powhatan Renape and Pamunky Nation when people refer to me as Crown Prince or Emperor.

    Next you have several facts about our late Empress wrong, such as one of being Oklahoma. Check the FBI files and a video on the above website, she was the Mayor and founder of the City of Richwood, LA for 2 terms. There were no charges against her formally charged where she was found guilty of anything, because all the evidence showed who she was and spoke the truth.

    Now, alot of the people want to become citizens under the Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah Nation of Muurs who are members of the Moorish Science Temple, because they are waking up and realizing that the history told in schools is nothing but lies... Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah does not push the teachings of the moorish science temple on anyone, and as far as religion, everyone has a right to practice their own religion and a right to their own nationality. Check the Constitution out and the U.N. Rights on Indigenous People. Do your research please.

    In 1993, at the Geneva Convention, The Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah nation of Muurs was approved and given project seat #215/93 and was proclaimed as the oldest indigenous nation of people in the world... Washitaw Muur is a nationality not a farce as your suggesting.

    Since President Obama has signed off on and proclaimed his approval by supporting the U.N. Rights for Indigenous people, then he approves all indigenous people not just was some proclaim as associating a false terminology label as "Indians". I'm sure if you read that document you will realize who is considered an Indigenous Person and who can proclaim that status. Anyone violating that document and violating people's rights to that document is unlawful and will be held liable and prosecuted.

    I suggest you read the document carefully, because what you are doing is violating a big portion of that document by harassing anyone proclaiming to be indigenous and proclaiming their nationality. AS. you see below I have copy and pasted the entire article below, just in case in disappears of the web, filed it in your file, and will be used in a formal complaint and addressed in federal court as well as world court, if so deemed.

    As a "reporter", you have the right to write and report on the truth, but when you violate the terms and conditions of those rights, you infringe on the rights of the people. For any future "stories", literature, books, or any forms of media that you want to use towards myself or Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah, be sure to get their consent to do so. 5 of the pictures you used in the article you wrote are copyrighted and the property of Empire Washitaw de dugdahmoundyah Nation of Muurs, and upon checking, you did not gain the permission for the use of such. Plus, you admit to stealing one from the moorish science temple website.

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  2. part 2 of my comment because it only allowed so many letters....smh...What you are doing is casting negativity on a nation of people to appease your own thoughts not facts on the matter. She never belonged to the nation of Islam and she never referred to people by color either, but by their nationality. She was a mayor of Richwood, La for 2 terms, and actually turned Richwood from a town status into a city status while in office. Her biggest project was safe drinking water for the people that lived in all of Ouachita Parish. Now take out your map please and you will see that Ouachita Parish is in North East Louisiana not Oklahoma. There for the Oklahoma tribe of caddos your referring to aren't originally from the Ouachita nation they are not even in the vacinity of Ouachita Parish. So when you stated the following: "though she really only governed a few scraps of land in Oklahoma...." ,,, "Actual Ouachitas, who are mostly enrolled with the Caddo Nation" ... then your truth is distorted. Even case court records prove the inaccuracies of the "enrollment" that you are referring to versus's the real truth. .. Now the Crown Prince Emperor El Bey Bigbay Bagby-Badger never
    expressed as u stated the following: "his crush on the lovely young director of the Trenton Free Public Library by arriving at her workplace on horseback to beseech her to gallop away with him and become his bride." He did show up on horseback and show love, but it was to his wife at that time his female companion that was employed by the library....You go on to write the following: "What is not clear is whether the followers of the original, late “empress” acknowledge El Bey—or anyone—as her successor." Yes, the Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah Nation of Muurs is comprised of a Matriarchal bloodline leader, and a new Empress was given the position by the past Empress before passing. IF you would do your correct research, you would see that a Matriarch leads the nation not a patriarch, so Crown Prince Emperor El Bey could not rule the nation, but he is the Imperial Minister of the Interior for the Government of the nation. The nation does recognize him, and respects his royal status that was given to him by his family's tribal nation Pamunky/Powhatan Renape when he was born. Through genealogy research, he does have a direct bloodline pedigree in relations to the families of Empire Washitaw de Dugdahmoundyah Nation of Muurs. Please do proper research, and don't half step to appease yourself. All the documents are the proof this ancient nation of people exists and were the ancient mound builders. Remember, whether it is a little white lie your telling, a lie is a lie, so stop spreading them and do your research. Just because one group discredits, set the example and find the real truth..uncover what was hidden ..the whole truth. Peace and Love

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