Middle Georgia's cult legacy: the Nuwaubian Nation

PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. --- The United States is no stranger to cults.

Whether it's Jim Jones' Jonestown, Charles Manson's Family, or the Branch Davidians of Waco, cults have been a fascinating part of American history.

Cults have even found their way here to Middle Georgia.

To learn about that, you only need to look back as recently as the 1990s and the early 2000s.

There, we find Dwight York.

York's history in dealing with cults started in New York City.

He had amassed a following in the northeast and then turned his eyes to Middle Georgia.

Dwight York would tap on the foundations of an agreement made long before between two extremist groups, the KKK and the Nation of Islam.

"In 1961, Elijah Muhammad tried to make a deal with the KKK to allow him to purchase some land in the Deep South, really in Georgia," said Dr. Chester Fontenot.

Dr. Fontenot is the Director of Africana Studies at Mercer University. Since the cult was primarily made up of African Americans, it's been a subject of thought for those in Africana Studies.

That deal never went through, but York still planned to move.

York would bring his following to Putnam County in the early 1990s and established the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors right down the road from Eatonton, Georgia.

After establishing himself as the cult leader, he would don a new name: Malachi York.

It was outside Eatonton where York would build his new cult compound: a sprawl of Egyptian structures and pyramids called Tama-Re.

The cult compound might have settled on a theme, but the exact ideology of the cult was hard to pinpoint at times.

"York's ideology literally would just change overnight from, and I don't know, just one bizarre thing to the next," explained Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.

Sheriff Sills would eventually find himself at the center of the conflict between the cult and authorities later down the road.

"But, the dominant theology, or belief, was that black people were the original people on the Earth that can be traced back to Egypt and that black people should be called Moors," added Dr. Chester Fontenot.

While the ideology may seem crazy to some, it was enough to attract others.

"There were several hundred people who were part of the Nuwaubian group. About a hundred or so lived on the property, but there were several hundred that lived in other areas. There were those that lived right here in Macon-Bibb," added Dr. Fontenot.

At some points in the cult's life, the follower count would continue to climb.

"But on Savior's Day, which was his birthday, every year they had the same Savior's Day celebration. At one point in time there were over 5,000 people on compound," added Sheriff Sills.

No matter where they lived, cult members were expected to contribute back to the group.

"He wanted them out where they could make money, in terms of giving money to the cult, for lack of a better term," said Sills. "Women did all of his work. Men solicited money on the street and did his dirty work."

Things were quiet enough in the early days of the Nuwaubians' time here in Putnam County. But, the inner workings of the cult's ideology was starting to shift.

"Malachi York declared himself a sovereign over the nation. Prophet, a messenger of God. He knew the correct things to do. Other people were in error when it concerned people of African descent," explained Dr. Fontenot. "That usually is the key point where these kinds of groups go awry."

Then trouble started. Much of it having to do with the secrecy of Tama-Re.

At the time, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said that many buildings on Tama-Re were not county approved, requiring building inspectors to check them out. But, armed guards stood at the entrance of York's compound, preventing anyone from entering.

"What's a building inspector supposed to do when there's people standing there with guns? And then that ended up in my lap," questioned Sills.

Eventually, York would declare the Nuwaubian Nation a sovereign state, separate from the United States. That only drove a wedge through an already tense relationship with law enforcement.

Little did authorities know that York's crimes would escalate to something much worse.

"By late 1998, we got the first report of some child molestation that was going on," said Sheriff Sills.

That's what drew the attention of the FBI.

Working with federal agencies, Sheriff Sills and the Putnam County Sheriff's Office started looking intensely into the criminal activities of York.

"This was probably the biggest child molestation case in the history of America," claimed Sills.

Tama-Re was put under constant surveillance in the early months of 2002.

While investigating York and the Nuwaubians, Sheriff Sills and other county officials were under constant torment from the cult.

"It was relentless. I have people today that can't conceive the day in day out harassment that, especially I, had," explained Sills. "They had printed about three or four hundred prints of my child, who's at the time probably not, what, about eight years old. We later learned they distributed them to various members of the cult. They literally followed me everywhere I went. Literally.

Behind closed doors, federal and state authorities were planning on raiding Tama-Re.

"I've been a police officer for some sort of 47 years now and this honestly was the best kept secret ever in the history of Georgia," claimed Sheriff Sills.

19 years ago, on May 8, 2002, authorities finally stormed the pseudo-Egyptian compound after months of planning.

"Within 30 minutes of us hitting that compound, we had everybody, every adult, in handcuffs and on the ground. And nobody was hurt. Nobody," added Sills.

Cult leader Dwight York was arrested in Milledgeville that same day, nearly a decade after first setting foot in Putnam County.

Charged with 209 counts of sexual abuse, child molestation, and others on the state and federal level, York was sentenced almost two years after the raid in January of 2004.

"And was sentenced to 135 years in the federal penitentiary and he's been there ever since," added Sills.

Without York and a strong hierarchy, the cult nearly dissolved. The Nuwaubian Nation may not be at the strength it was nearly two decades ago, but that doesn't mean it's gone.

"Some of them are still here in Macon, Georgia. In Macon-Bibb in fact. Some still maintain that they are still carrying on the Nuwaubian theology and message and ministry," explained Dr. Fontenot.

Tama-Re was sold off by the government to private owners. Money from the sale was split between federal agencies and the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

Now, nothing of its Egyptian legacy remains. Today, a hunting lodge and sprawling fields stand in place of Tama-Re.

"The big gate compound entrance, I had personally bulldozed it down and took down the Nuwaubian flag and raised the United States flag," added Sheriff Sills.

As everyone passed through Tama-Re's gate one last time, so too would the Nuwaubians pass through everyone's minds less and less.

"The average person probably knows nothing about it today," said Sills.

Dr. Fontenot asked two essential questions about cults. What is it about cults that make people join and what is it about certain people that makes them start cults. There aren't any concrete answers about that now, but by continuing to uncover a cult's secrets, those answers might turn up.

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