[SauronOfMordor]

Interesting that AP comes out with an article on this for the first time at 6:27pm, 45 minutes after Freeper hispanarepublicana posted Are the Snipers Part of the "Five Percent Nation"? ("The Black Man is God" Among Teachings), based on his research on the Net.

In any event, it's an AP report, which is fair game, so here goes:

Sniper Letter Linked to Movement

By Tim Molloy
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, October 26, 2002; 6:27 PM

NEW YORK –– The letter left at the scene of a sniper shooting contains phrases often associated with a group that believes the black man is God and spreads its message through prison recruitment and popular hip-hop music.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Saturday on whether authorities were looking into the possibility that the writer borrowed from the language of the Five Percent movement, which teaches that education and family are of central importance. It rejects drinking, drugs and fornication, as well as most accepted history, authority and religion.

The 39-year-old movement started as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, but Five Percenters say they are not Muslims. The group teaches that black men are to be called "God" and black women "Earth," and that only five percent of the population is enlightened.

The letter found near a steakhouse in Ashland, Va., where one of the shootings occurred demanded police refer to the author as "God," and a tarot card left near a shooting outside a school declared, "I am God."

"I'm not saying he's a Five Percenter. I don't know that. Only that 'I am God' is something a Five Percenter might say," said Robert Walker, a private consultant based in Columbia, S.C., who helps police identify gangs. "All black men who are followers and members of the Five Percenters refer to themselves as God and will even refer to someone else who is a Five Percenter as a God also."

The letter also included the phrase "word is bond," also widely used by Five Percenters, who often call their movement the Nation of Gods and Earths.

The letter, which was reprinted in The Washington Post on Saturday, had five stars on the title page. Walker said the stars were similar to ones that symbolize children to followers of the movement.

A man who answered the phone at the Allah School in Mecca, the national headquarters of the movement, located in New York, said members of the group had no comment. He would not give his name.

FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman said she could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Walker, a former prison security coordinator and Drug Enforcement Administration agent, stressed that most people involved in the movement have nothing to do with crime.

But prison officials in several states have censored the group's teachings despite complaints by inmate advocates that they are trampling on freedom of religion. Some prison systems have labeled all Five Percenters as gang members.

The Five Percent movement is so influential in hip-hop music that "word is bond" and other popular Five Percent phrases are ubiquitous in songs by such artists as Busta Rhymes, the Wu-Tang Clan and Brand Nubian.

John Allen Muhammad, who along with teenager John Lee Malvo was charged Friday in the six sniper slayings in Maryland, converted several years ago to Islam and changed his name from John Allan Williams.

Many Muslims have said that a follower of Islam would not say "I am God" because it would be sacrilegious.

Walker said Five Percenters often change their names, but usually pick from a list that does not include the word "Muhammad."

He also said Five Percenters typically end letters with the word, "peace," which group members mean as an abbreviation for "please elevate all children everywhere."

The letter's postscript had no such good wishes: "Your children are not safe anywhere at anytime."

–––

http://www.allahsnation.net/

http://gangsorus.com/

© 2002 The Associated Press

[hispanarepublicana]

based on his research on the Net.

Dude, I'm as female as they come! I guess you flunked Spanish I; but, that's okay. You obviously passed civics....

[hispanarepublicana]

Leave it to a Freeper to keep me more informed about links to African-American subculture than a whole gaggle of talking heads reading from press releases.

Looks like the press finally picked it up 1 hr or so after it was posted here.  I guess if they lurk, it's a step in the right direction....See this post:

Sniper Letter Linked to [Blacks = G-d] Movement

[nicmarlo]

PING! (sorry if you've already pinged or posted on this thread; thought this was an important thread). Because of FReepers, the TRUTH gets told.....and gets out! Thanks to all of you who have posted info and done research on this subject; there's an old saying, UNITED WE STAND; we, and people like us, are the reason our Country doesn't turn into a commie/socialist totally propaganda-fed society.

Thanks to hispanarepublicana, and an observant SauronOfMordor, who wrote:

Interesting that AP comes out with an article on this for the first time at 6:27pm, 45 minutes after Freeper hispanarepublicana posted Are the Snipers Part of the "Five Percent Nation"? ("The Black Man is God" Among Teachings), based on his research on the Net.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for giving hispanarepublicana credit for posting this yesterday.

I would bet that the Black Racist, PC Moose knew from the minute he read the hand written note from these scum bag snipers, he knew who he was dealing with.

Instead of changing his Black Racist Political Correctness tactic of harassing and endangering all white males driving white vans, PC Moose kept this quite.

Finally it was leaked to the media as well as the license # and description of the perp's car by a good cop on his staff. Then, within 3 hours of the leak of the vehicle license # and description, these Nation of Islam Killers were caught thanks to that data by a brave trucker.