“We are not anti-government. We are not anti-police, we are not sovereign citizens, we’re not Black identity extremists.”
— one of the people with the group Rise of the Moors, in a broadcast to social media from Interstate 95 in Wakefield, Massachusetts during a police standoff at around 2:00 AM on July 3rd. Story and quote from the Associated Press. More info at CBS Boston.
Needless to say, when media outlets heard of an “armed militia group” — 11 men dressed in military/tactical style uniforms and openly armed with long guns and handguns — in a standoff with police, there were murmurs of some right wing bitter clinger types. Turns out that doesn’t describe this group at all. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure what does, but this is how they describe themselves:
“Moorish Americans dedicated to educating new Moors and influencing our Elders.”
Apparently they’re “American nationals but not US citizens,” hold a “Moorish Sovereign Ideology” that does not recognize US laws, and fly a Moroccan flag.
It’s all quite fascinating.
