Earlier this month, a group of heavily-armed Black men were confronted by Massachusetts police and engaged in an hours-long standoff with police before surrendering.
No shots were fired and no one was injured during the confrontation, but the detained individuals – now identified as members of the Rise of the Moors group — face a variety of charges. The entire incident is shining light on a little-known group and movement within the Black community.
Here are five things to know about the Rise of the Moors.
1. Rise of the Moors believe themselves to not be bound by U.S. law
Rise of the Moors is a mostly Black community residing in Rhode Island who believe themselves to be largely exempt from American laws.
As described in a lengthy FAQ section of what appears to be the group’s website, “the noun ‘Moor’ is a shortened variant of the word Moroccan.” Rise of the Moors members believe themselves to be descendants of Moors from the North African Kingdom of Morocco, and the group believes that the terms of several treaties and communications between Morocco and the early U.S. government establish them as outside the jurisdiction of the United States.
“Moors do not owe any duty, tax or obligation to the United States of America (Minor) because we are not represented within their body politic,” the group’s website states.
In addition to their beliefs about U.S. law, Rise of the Moors promotes a variety of alternative and skeptical takes about various aspects of society, such as COVID-19 vaccine skepticism. The group’s website posts videos of a podcast series produced by members of the groups, with episodes devoted to topics ranging from “healing from trauma and toxic relationships” to “Coronavirus” to “Ramadan and nutrition.”
2. The group’s ideology combines ideas from other movements within the U.S.
Rise of the Moors appears to be part of a larger movement labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as “Moorish Sovereign Citizens.”
This movement, which the SPLC deems an extremist group, emerged in the 1990s as a combination of the ideologies of two older movements. One of these is the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA), one of several Black Muslim movements – the Nation of Islam being a related organization – founded in the early 20th century in the U.S. Founded in New Jersey in 1913 by Noble Drew Ali. The MSTA taught that Black Americans were descended from Moors and should embrace their Moorish identity and Islam as their heritage.
Despite drawing their identities from the MSTA, the latter organization has officially disavowed the Rise of the Moors group.
Per The Boston Globe, ideologies around sovereignty itself can be traced back to 1970s white supremacist group, Posse Comitatus, and denounces governmental institutions.
3. Members were refueling their cars when Massachusetts police approached them
At around 1:30am on July 3, Massachusetts State Police approached two vehicles stopped on the side of Interstate-95 near Wakefield. The heavily-armed men had stopped to refuel their vehicles, said the group’s leader, Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey, to the officer who approached them. Bey described the group as “a local militia from Rhode Island” who were headed to a property Bey owned in Maine “to do some training there.”
As shown in recently released bodycam footage of the encounter, Bey informed the officers that he and the others in the group did not possess driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, or gun licenses as the officer asked for each of these documents. As the situation escalated, the men repeatedly refused to put down their weapons, asserting that they were not legally required to do so despite the police requests to disarm.
Eventually, several of the men fled into a nearby wooded area, prompting police to shut down parts of the highway, issue a shelter-in-place order for the surrounding communities, and engage in a 9-hour standoff. According to newly-released details of the encounter, approximately 150 police officers were mobilized to participate in the attempt to arrest the rise of the Moors members, and the group was ultimately subdued by use of a “sonic weapon” that incapacitated but did not injure the group’s members.
4. Members of the group are now facing a plethora of criminal charges
By the end of the standoff, 11 people, including one 17-year-old, were taken into custody and are currently facing a variety of charges. The Boston Herald reports these charges as: unlawful possession of a firearm, eight counts; 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 vehicle; and conspiracy to commit a crime. Two members of the group are also charged with providing false names to police, while two have refused to identify themselves at all.
Additionally, group leader Bey now faces charges in Rhode Island for violating the terms of his bail in another case there, stemming from a previous encounter with Rhode Island law enforcement. A second member of the group, Quinn Cumberland, has also been charged with a felony in Rhode Island, accused of providing a false address when trying to purchase a firearm.
5. But Rise of the Moors has not been implicated in violence
Despite being heavily armed at the time of the standoff, no gunfire was exchanged during the 9-hour ordeal, and none of the group members have been charged with a violent crime. The SPLC notes that Moorish sovereign citizens groups are not generally associated with violence, though some followers of other branches have gotten into violent confrontations in recent years.
In general though, as reported by ABC News, law enforcement agencies have not generally considered Moorish sovereign citizens’ groups to be major threats. They “tend to be more of a law enforcement nuisance than they seem to be a violent group,” retired FBI agent Ken Gray told the outlet.
Blavity attempted to reach the group via the contact information listed on their website, but they have so far not responded to email, and several of their social media accounts appear to be deactivated or blocked.
