An Egyptian-themed community center, currently for sale in New York City, served as a headquarters for a cult that believed its leader was an alien God, but who was ultimately jailed for the extreme abuse of his followers. The building, located in Brooklyn, is adorned from floor to ceiling with hieroglyphic symbols as well as Pharoah sculptures and statues. It reportedly belongs to the Nuwaubian Nation, also known as the Sabaeans, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described as a “hate group.”
The SPLC states that the group combines “black supremacist ideas” with “belief in UFOs and various conspiracies related to the Illuminati and the Bilderbergers.” Senab York, who claims to be the son of the group’s founder Dwight York, says there is “a lot to unpack” about his father’s beliefs. However, they include the conviction that alien civilizations will visit Earth and take a chosen few back to their planet.
Dwight York is serving a 135-year sentence in a federal prison. He had encouraged his followers to end their marriages and insisted on sexual encounters with females of all ages. As a result, accusations of child molestation were rife, and due to anonymous letters to the FBI highlighting this abuse, the federal agency began investigating the cult in the 1990s.
In 2002, local and federal law enforcement officers raided York’s compound in Eatonton, Georgia, where he had set up shop after leaving New York City. In a subsequent trial, witnesses testified about life inside the cult and said it was characterized by physical and sexual torment. Parents and children were separated, starved, and beaten with wire hangers and broomsticks. Children were groomed for sexual slavery, according to former follower Niki Lopez’s court testimony.
Teachings included extreme anti-white hatred, and the leader claimed several racial identities. For instance, he described himself as the Chief Black Thunderbird Eagle, head of a lost Native American tribe that fought against European settlers. He also said he led an extraterrestrial group from the planet Rizq.
The Brooklyn building that witnessed the birth of the cult is on the market for $6 million.
