Greater New Orleans

Black nationalist 'Washitah Nation' claims Bywater house, changes locks while home is for sale.

on February 15, 2016 at 12:21 PM, updated February 15, 2016 at 5:41 PM

Squatters espousing allegiance to an esoteric black nationalist movement have staked a claim to a Bywater house up for sale and remain there more than a week after neighbors complained to police about the apparent trespassing.

The newcomers have posted signs claiming the property now belongs to the Washitah Mu'ur Nation. The Washitah, more commonly spelled Washitaw, claim to be descended from the original inhabitants of the New World, who, according to the group, were black Africans.

Fredrick Hines, whose name is on the tax rolls for the property and whom neighbors say is the true owner, called police after he found out a group of young people had moved into his investment property and changed the locks. Hines said he showed police the deed, which has his name on it, but they wouldn't remove the people living in the house.

The squatters also showed the officers some papers claiming ownership, Hines said, though he isn't sure what kind of papers they could have had. They wouldn't give him a copy.

Police said that, because both parties had papers, there was nothing they could do.

If Hines wanted the squatters removed, he said, police told him he would have to file eviction papers, a process that would take more than a week and cost him several hundred dollars. Hines said that he has filed the eviction papers and is now waiting for the time limit for the squatters to contest the ruling to run out, which should be some time this week.

"It's frustrating," Hines said, especially because this does not appear to be the first time the group has done this. "The police told me this is like the third house they've broken into," he said.

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A group of four young people were in the two-story shotgun single Sunday (Feb. 14), but they declined to answer questions about their legal claim to the property.

Hines said he doesn't understand why an apparent burglary doesn't qualify as a criminal matter.

Hines said the group changed the locks on the bottom floor doors, but they were unable to do so upstairs because the modern knobs found at most hardware stores won't fit the original, craftsman-era door on the second floor.

Police allowed Hines to go inside and check for any damage. The house appeared to be fine, he said, but the newcomers had moved in a couch and a pool table.

Police warned him not to try to move anything out or change the locks again because he could be found liable for any damages, Hines said.

Hines may not be able to get back into the house with his own keys anymore. The upstairs door had been braced shut with boards nailed into the floors.

Hines appeared to be taking the NOPD's stance in stride, saying he couldn't afford to alienate the authorities, whom he may have to rely on to deal with the squatters, but some of his neighbors are furious.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," said Tom Houghton, who lives across the street from Hines property and owns rentals in the neighborhood. "You're telling me you can just walk into someone's house and claim it's yours, and the police don't do anything?"

Houghton said he discovered the squatters earlier this month when he heard shouting coming from the house. Hines' Realtor had arrived at the house and found the locks changed. When the Realtor protested, the squatters launched into a harangue about their ownership rights, Houghton said.

When Houghton intervened, the group made unsubtle threats that he should mind his own business. "They told me, 'You want us to come knock on your door,'" Houghton said.

The police were called, but they didn't show until hours later. When they did, they said they were familiar with the group, but there was nothing they could do, Houghton said.

Barry Kirsch, who lives in a house abutting Hines' property, said that the Washitaw squatting phenomenon is not new. Members have laid claim to two houses across St. Claude Avenue in St. Roch near a rental property he owns, Kirsch said. The owners of one of the properties kicked them out, but the other house is still occupied by the same people who have been living there for a year.

Signs on the house say "Property claimed by Mu'ur Nation, Federal Offense to Ignore!"

The group at Hines' property posted similar signs.

The Washitaw Nation have a history of outlandish historical and legal claims, which have landed some members in prison for fraud.

According to the group's mythology, its members are descended from the founders of the ancient Mississippian culture, famous for building massive earthen mounds around the Gulf South, not from Africans brought to the Americas by European slave traders.

As the original inhabitants of the region, the group claims, the land belongs to them.

This may be why, when Hines confronted them about their takeover of his house, they claimed not to own the structure itself, but the land underneath it. They also made mention of another Washitaw claim related to the Louisiana Purchase. In their telling, Napoleon did not sell the American government millions of acres west of the Mississippi River. The deal, they say, was only for the streets of New Orleans.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has drawn parallels between the Washitaws' strange legal claims and those of the "sovereign citizen" movement, noting a similar anti-government bent. The group probably only has a few hundred hardcore members, according to the center, but many more dabble in its "cocktail of New Age vocabulary" and "pseudo-historical and -archeological gobbledygook."

The Washitaw also claim kinship with the Moors, a civilization that developed after the Arab conquest of North Africa. Mu'ur is the true spelling of the word, according to the group. The Washitaw's black nationalism ideology borrows heavily from Moorish Science, espousing self-improvement through an Afrocentric recasting of history, which adherents claim has been falsified by racist Europeans.

Tyler Gamble, an NOPD spokesman, said that with two competing claims of ownership, there was nothing the officers who first responded to the scene could do. The investigation is ongoing, he said.

"If we are able to obtain enough evidence, they could face criminal trespassing charges," Gamble said.

The video below delves into much of the Washitaw mythology.
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http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/02/black_nationalist_washitah_nat.html/
* Video & embedded links .... Great Comments *
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Related: November, 2015 http://m.mingle2.com/topic/show/456487/
Topic: 'Moorish' Squatting

Any idea why they stole a native American word?
"Washita". Adding an h at the end, doesn't make them any less thieves.

#blackliesmatter

they need to be evicted,by Force if necessary!

SHOULD uphold the law.
And protect the rights of law abiding citizens & LAND owners.

But I see this as only getting worst & kissing more a@@!
They wouldn't want to upset the people who scream the loudest.
Chicken sh@t's !


* Rant over *

its not that simple.

Adverse possession is a method of acquiring title to real property by possession for a statutory period under certain conditions, viz: proof of non-permissive use which is actual, open and notorious, exclusive, adverse, and continuous for the statutory period.[1][Note 1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession

I do not know if this is a case of adverse possession or not but the law does provide for it, so it depends on the papers.

Theft,plain and simple!

These nutjobs got their start up here in North Louisiana...in my neck of the woods.


"" When Verdiacee Hampton Goston moved to
Franklin Parish in 1997, the then 70-year-
old self-proclaimed "empress" of the
Washitaw Nation said her sole purpose in life
was to lead her people to happiness, and
free them of paying taxes.
Three years later a small army of state and
federal agents descended on the home she
rented ten miles east of Winnsboro on the
banks of the Bayou Macon, thus thrusting
the eccentric tribal leader into the national
spotlight.
After years of fighting for what she claimed
was the "heirship" of her people, Goston
died at her son's home in California last
week at the age of 87, marking an end to a
colorful and turbulent life.
On the morning of March 21, 2000, the self-
proclaimed "empress" of the Washitaw de
Dugdahmoundyah — a group that claims
sovereignty over a 30 million-acre empire in
Louisiana and neighboring states — was
about to eat breakfast when the doorbell
rang.
On her doorstep were armed agents from
the FBI, the IRS, the U.S. Customs Service
and the State Police. Acting on search
warrants, agents seized a variety of
documents in connection with an
investigation regarding income tax evasion,
mail fraud and wire fraud.
The planned raid was a well-kept secret, as
then Franklin Parish Sheriff Steve Pylant
wasn't informed of the raid until it was
underway.
In an interview with The Franklin Sun the
following day, an angered Goston said she
had no idea what the agents were looking
for.
"They never said what they wanted," she
said. "They knocked on the door and came
in with guns. All the rooms are in shambles.
They put dogs all up in the refrigerator
looking for drugs and took metal detectors
across the yard looking for gold coins. They
took my jewelry. Why did they do that? The
jewelry didn't do anything wrong."
Gotson confirmed agents seized a variety of
documents available to people who seek
citizenship in the Washitaw Nation. Washitaw
passports, marriage licenses, drivers'
licenses and birth certificates were available
for purchase by Washitaw citizens. A full
membership in the Washitaw Nation cost up
to $520 per person at the time of the raid,
according to reports.
A frustrated Gotson said the "government of
the United States" had went to far by
ransacking her home.
"The government is going to have to pay up
or get off my land," she told The Franklin
Sun. "That raid was the straw that broke the
camels back and I'm fixing to put them off
my land."
The then 73-year-old Goston, a former
mayor of Richwood, claimed vast amounts of
land in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas
was hers by "heirship".
"My fore-parents were here when everyone
else came," she said. "I am who I say I am. I
am an empress."
Goston claimed the legitimacy of her claims
had been recognized by agencies such as
World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, the United Nations and the State of
Louisiana.
The Washitaw Nation claims 100,000 years
of history, including mound-building Indians,
but has never been recognized as an Indian
tribe by the federal government.
When asked about how many members were
claiming citizenship in the Washitaw Nation,
Goston responded, "They are as many as
the stars in the sky."
In 1999, the Southern Poverty Law Center
estimated the group had about 200 hard-
core members, noting its popularity among
followers of Moorish Science, an older black
separatist sect.
To this date, United States courts have held
that the Washitaw Nation is "fictional" and
that it is not recognized as a sovereign
nation.""
http://www.hannapub.com/franklinsun/recalling-the-fbi-raid-of-late-washitaw-nation-leader-s/article_de819b14-d233-11e3-91b9-001a4bcf6878.html




Verdiacee was one crazy whackjob

Ikr? Yea Conrad....the parish (county) I live in is pronounced how she spelled her "empire"...'Washitah' or 'Washitaw" ( she couldnt seem to make up her mind lol) but its actually spelled 'Ouachita'.
Idk if she didnt know how to spell it or was just trying to be different ....maybe its because there was already a tribe of actual Native Americans called the Ouachita Tribe....but I HOPE it wasnt because she couldnt spell...she WAS an actuall mayor of small township 30 minutes from me before her "Empress" days

you Guys sure got your share of Nuts!
Poor people,getting screwed out of all that Collateral!

Now I am confused
So she is NOT claiming to Moorish, like the other group (which gives them no rights anyway), she is claiming to be Native?!

In the comments it says they appear to be Somalian?
Who the hell are these people!?
DNA test them & throw them out, no matter what is says.
A squatter is a squatter.

Back to the OP....looks like the Washitah Nation is gonna hafta use some of that Washitah money to bail the squatters outta jail....

"" New Orleans police Tuesday (Feb. 16) arrested
four members of a sovereign citizens group
who had claimed ownership of a house up for
sale in Bywater that they had been occupying
for two weeks, despite complaints from
neighbors and the man whose name is on the
true deed.
The four individuals were charged with criminal
trespassing after police served a search warrant
on the two-story shotgun single. They were
taken into custody without incident, though a
neighbor said that two of them appeared to be
trying to flee through a side door after police
announced their presence.
Two of the individuals arrested refused to give
their names, police said. The other two were
identified as Devin Garner, 24, and Danamaria
Thornton, 18.
The newcomers had posted signs claiming the
property now belongs to the Washitah Mu'ur
Nation. The Washitah, more commonly spelled
Washitaw, claim to be descended from the
original inhabitants of the New World, who,
according to the group, were black Africans.""
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2016/02/washitaw_nation_squatters_bywa.html

"The newcomers had posted signs claiming the
property now belongs to the Washitah Mu'ur
Nation. The Washitah, more commonly spelled
Washitaw, claim to be descended from the
original inhabitants of the New World, who,
according to the group, were black Africans.""

Say what
Oh Geez..I can hear the real drums throughout The Entire Continent already. Look out

From the above-cited story: