-Caveat Lector-
Sniper Letter Linked to Movement
By TIM MOLLOY
Associated Press Writer
October 26, 2002, 6:27 PM EDT
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."
__
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Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
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