page_title: Dwight York
section_title: Move to Georgia and construction of Tama-Re (1993–2002)
hierarchical_section_title: Dwight York / Biography / Move to Georgia and construction of Tama-Re (1993–2002)
caption_attribution_description: English: Central pyramid of the "Tama-Re" compound, as seen from the air.
context_page_description: Dwight D. York, also known as Malachi Z. York, Issa Al Haadi Al Mahdi, Dr. York, et alii, is an American criminal, musician, and writer who is known as the founding leader of various religious/political groups, including most notably the United Nation of Nuwaubian Moors, a religious ministry/Native American tribe that has existed in some form since the 1960s. He is a convicted child molester.
  He and his group were based in Brooklyn, New York. Around 1990 the community relocated to rural Putnam County, Georgia, where they built a large complex. York was convicted in 2004 of child molestation and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He is serving a 135-year sentence.
  York began his ministry in the late 1960s. In 1967 he was preaching to the "Ansaaru Allah" in Brooklyn, New York, during the period of the Black Power movement. He founded numerous orders under various names during the 1970s and 1980s. These were at first based on pseudo-Islamic themes and Judaism. Later he developed a theme derived from "Ancient Egypt," mixing ideas taken from black nationalism, cryptozoological and UFO religions, and popular conspiracy theory.
context_section_description: York left Brooklyn with an estimated 300 followers about 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. 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."
  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.
  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.
  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."  And 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".
  In 2005 federal government officials acquired the property of Tama-Re through asset forfeiture after York was convicted and sentenced to prison for 135 years. He owed money for violating financial laws. After the property was sold, new owners demolished the buildings and monuments.
caption: The central part of the "Tama-Re" compound, as seen from the air, 2002. Photograph by Kenneth C. Budd.
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