Dwight York (born June 26, 1945 or 1935), also known as Malachi Z. York, Issa Al Haadi Al Mahdi, et alii, is an author, black supremacist leader, musician, and convicted child molester, who founded various esoteric fraternal orders and black nationalist groups collectively referred to as Nuwaubians.
As of 2008, Dwight York is serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado. While his projected release date is December 15, 2119.
See also: ADX Florence
York and the Nuwaubians came under increased government scrutiny in the early 1990s after they built Tama-Re, an ancient Egyptian-themed "city" featuring pyramids, temples, and living quarters for hundreds of his followers, in Putnam County, Georgia. He was arrested in May 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’s biography is difficult to determine because much of the story he and his followers have told is mythological rather than historical in nature. York has gone to great lengths to establish genealogical toeholds in various important lines of descent.
According to a birth certificate issued in the United States, York was born in Boston, Massachusetts but other accounts give his birth place as New Jersey, New York, Baltimore, or Takoradi, Ghana.
The way York tells it, he was born in Omdurman, Sudan. His mother is Mary C. York née Williams, now also known as Faatimah Maryam, who at the time was married to David Piper York. 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.
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. David and Mary York have four other children: David, Dale, Debra and Dennis.
David Piper York is said to be a descendant of "Ben" York of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In order to preserve 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 were second cousins: Mary Williams’ mother, Leila Williams née 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. In another telling, Ben York’s mother is said to have been Warda Saliym "Rose" Idriys, "a Yamassee Native American Moor," whose father is Old York/Yusuf Ben Ali, which would make Ben York the grandson of Old York. Idriys was also the "daughter of Sharufa Salim Idriys, of the Idrisid Dynasty"
A grandfather on 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.
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"[10] but another genealogical tree shows Bobby Williams’s father as unknown and his mother as "Madam Decontee" of the Bassa tribe of Liberia.
York variously claimed 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.
Early life and ministry
York says that he was raised in Massachusetts and at the age of seven went to Aswan, Egypt to learn Islam. "My grandfather, As Sayyid Abdur Rahman Al Mahdi, the Imaam of the Ansaars in the Sudan until 1959, upon looking into my eyes foretold that I was the one who would possess ‘the light.’" He says he returned to the United States in 1957 at age 12 and continued to study Islam, and moved to Teaneck, New Jersey as an adolescent.
In 1964 York was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of raping a 13-year-old girl. Later that year he was arrested again for assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting an officer. York was sentenced to three years in state prison. After he was paroled in 1967 he joined the Black Panthers.
In the late 1960s York, calling himself "Amunnubi Rooakhptah," invented a quasi-Muslim black nationalist movement based on what he called the "Science of Nuwaubu."
He changed his name to "Imaam Isa Abdullah" and started his "Ansaar Pure Sufi" ministry to the "Nubians" in Brooklyn in 1967. The group later became part of the Black Hebrews phenomenon, under the names "Nubian Islaamic Hebrews" and "Nubian Hebrew Mission" in 1969.
After York returned from a pilgrimage to Egypt, the group changed names again, to "Jazzir Abba," and then to the "Ansaaru Allah Community" in 1970[17] which a 1993 FBI report described as a "front for a wide range of criminal activity, including arson, welfare fraud and extortion."
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.
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, near the Catskills, around 1991, then to Georgia in 1993.[19]
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 Egiptian Church Of Karast," "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." Dwight York himself had his name legally changed to Issa al Haadi al Mahdi in 1990,[20] and then again to Malachi York in 1993,[4] 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 (York claimed that the Nuwaubian Moors are descendants of the Olmecs via Egypt over an ancient land bridge to Georgia.)
By 1985 York had added miracle-performance to his repertoire. He would materialize sacred, healing ash in front of his followers, much in the fashion of Sathya Sai Baba.
In 1988 York was convicted for obtaining a passport with a false birth certificate.
York was a singer who claimed[citation needed] to have recorded with such acts as Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Delfonics, McFadden & Whitehead,{ and Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King. He also performed as lead singer in his own groups: Jackie and The Starlights, The Students, and Passion.
He later launched his own record label, also 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. 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 UK.
York said he performed popular music in order to "reach a mass majority of my people through my music."
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."
York also wrote and produced "What Is He To You (To You)?" for his daughter, Kenne'. It did not reach the mainstream charts, but had something of a presence in black/urban video shows such as Video Music Box and NY Hot Tracks.
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.
Tama-Re was an Ancient Egyptian-themed complex built on 476 acres (1.93 km2) of land near Eatonton, Georgia at York’s direction. It was built over a period of years and completed in 1993. Government officials acquired the property through asset forfeiture in 2005 and then sold it. The buildings and monuments have since been mostly demolished.
York exercised tight control over the sexuality of his followers. One source notes:
While 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.
However, York himself was far from chaste. He explained to his followers:
I do not live under your law, I am not a student enrolled under Earth principles, I don’t have the morals you have, your idea of morals is different. Go back in ancient times, you’ll find out that Anu was married to his sister… and Ishtar was married to her son back then that existed. …I come from a world where we don’t have your laws, and the way we go about things is different. I come from the Pharaoh’s world and in the Pharaoh’s world the Pharaoh saw Sarah, he saw her with himself so he took her. In Abraham’s world that was the wrong thing to do, but the Pharaoh didn’t care about Abraham’s world because he was living in his world and his ritual
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. According to Bill Osinski, who wrote a book on the case: "When he was finally indicted, state prosecutors literally had to cut back the number of counts listed — from well beyond a thousand to slightly more than 200 — because they feared a jury simply wouldn’t believe the magnitude of York's evil.… [It] is believed to be the nation’s largest child molestation prosecution ever directed at a single person, in terms of number of victims and number of alleged criminal acts."
In early 2003 York’s lawyer had him evaluated by a forensic psychologist, who diagnosed a DSMIV "impression consisting of Axis I - Clinical Syndrome of Delusional (Paranoid) Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood, and Axis II - Personality Disorders; Histrionic Personality Traits, Self-Defeating Personality Traits, and Schizotypical Personality Features."
In 2003, York entered into a plea bargain that was later dismissed by the judge, and then was convicted by a jury on January 23, 2004 – the judge having rejected his desire to be returned for trial to his own tribe:
"Your Honor, with all due respects to your government, your nation, and your court, we the indigenous people of this land have our own rights, accepted sovereign, our own governments. We are a sovereign people, Yamassee, Native American Creeks, Seminole, Washitaw Mound Builders. And all I’m asking is that the Court recognize that I am an indigenous person. Your court does not have jurisdiction over me. I should be transferred to the Moors Cherokee Council Court in which I will get a trial by juries of my peers. I cannot get a fair trial, Your Honor, if I’m being tried by the settlers or the confederates. I have to be tried by Native Americans as a Native American. That's my inalienable rights, and it’s on record."
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.
He was convicted of multiple RICO, child molestation, and financial reporting charges and was sentenced to 135 years in prison. His case was appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, but that court upheld the convictions on October 27, 2005. A U.S. Supreme Court appeal was denied in June 2006.
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"[33][unreliable source?]) 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.[34]
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),[8][35] or that York was set up by his son Jacob in coordination with al Qaeda-linked American mosques jealous of York’s influence among black Muslims.
In October 2004 York 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.[36]
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.[37]
York as a Liberian Diplomat
As York’s followers attempt to free him they have stopped pushing the scenario that York should be considered immune from prosecution due to his status as a sovereign aboriginal Native American Moor, but now advance his new 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.[38] (In June 2005 a new web site – 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.
York has been known by a multitude of aliases over the years, many of which he used simultaneously, including 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
# Malachi Zodok
# Melki Sedec
# Nayya Malachizodoq-El
# Malachi Zodoq
# Melchi Zedek
# Amunnubi Rooakhptah
# Amunubi Rah Ka Ptah
# Amun Nubi Raakh Ptah
# Amun-Nubi Re Ankh Ptah
# Amunnebu Reakh Tah
# Amun Nebu Re
# 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
# Isa Muhammad
# Abba Essa
# Abba Issa
# Isa Abdullah
# Akhtah Isa Abdullah
# ‘Isa Al-Masih
# Imaam Isa
# Imam Isa Abu-Bakr
# Al Hajj Al Imaam Isa
# Al Hajj Al Imaam Isa Abd’Allah Muhammad Al Mahdi
# Isa Alibad Mahdi
# The Angel Michael
# Michael the Great
# En. Marduq. Gal
# En-Mar. Duq
# Murdoq
# Al Qubt
# El Qubt
# Copt
# Al Khidr
# The Green One
# The One
# Yanuwn
# Yaanuwn
# Rabboni D.D.
# Rabboni Y’shua Bar El Haady
# Amar Utu
# Sabathil
# Maku
# Baa Baa
# Baba Bassa Afrika
# The Master Teacher
# Master Teacher H.E. Sunu: Bawaba Bassa Afriqa
# Neter: A’aferti Atum-Re
# Nezder: A’aferti Atum Re
# Paa Nadir-Amunnub-ReAkh Ptah-Hanut-Djedi-Atum Re (Amun Re)
# Paa Nazdir: Atum-Re
# The Grand Hierophant:Tuhuti
# Chief Black Thunderbird Eagle
# The Reformer
# et alii
