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Yahweh ben Yahweh born and legally named Hulon Mitchell, Jr. (born 1935-10-27) is the leader of the Nation of Yahweh.
Before the Nation
Hulon Mitchell, Jr. was born the first of fifteen children in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. His father was a Pentecostal minister who emphasized the Book of Exodus in his preachings. His childhood was one of relative poverty made worse by marginalization caused by Jim Crow laws.
After a period of military service and a period as a Psychology major at an Enid, Oklahoma University he became interested in spiritual movements. He also became interested in the Civil Rights movement organizing sit-ins in Oklahoma. Although he quickly grew disillusioned with this and as "Yahweh ben Yahweh" he denounced Martin Luther King Jr. as "that dead dog preacher."
This led to a growing interest in black nationalism and some study of the Nation of Islam. Although he later studied other groups as well and by the late 1970s pronounced himself "Yahweh ben Yahweh", meaning "the LORD Son of the LORD," Yahweh being a proper name for God in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 3:16).
Leader of Nation of Yahweh
As Yahweh ben Yahweh he emphasized a mixture of racial supremacy and violent separatism. God was black and blacks would become powerful through him. He also emphasized whites as infidels and oppressors. Lastly he increasingly emphasized loyalty to him. He ultimately cultivated a loyalty extreme enough that members apparently pledged to kill his enemies.
His group took over a series of buildings in Miami. These buildings allowed for the level of black separatism he encouraged. He became the living messianic ruler in this culture. As ruler he is said to have been absolute and theocratic. Those who dissented could face beatings or, allegedly, death.
Still at the time his business and charity efforts earned him respect in the community. The mayor of Miami, Florida declared October 7, 1990, "Yahweh ben Yahweh Day."
Crimes and aftermath
Although his followers remained, and remain, devoted to him by the 1990s he would be in trouble with the law. Hence to the wider world, Hulon Mitchell Jr. is a man who was serving time on a RICO conviction after he and several other Nation of Yahweh members were convicted of conspiracy in more than a dozen murders.
A court document description states the following:
- Racketeering Act 5: Homicide of Leonard Dupree.
- Because Dupree was known to be a karate expert, Yahweh openly challenged him to fight Lightburn, the Yahwehs' resident martial-arts expert. The two men squared off in front of about 30-60 Yahweh onlookers. Dupree quickly knocked Lightburn down, at which point Yahweh ordered all present, including Ingraham and Maurice, to attack Dupree. Ingraham struck Dupree in the face with a tire jack. Dupree was literally beaten to death. During the struggle, Gaines locked the doors of the Temple at Yahweh's request. Yahweh allowed no one to leave and made everyone, including women and children, strike and kick Dupree's lifeless body. Dupree's body has never been found.
A ruling on a failed appeal, U.S. v. Yahweh Ben Yahweh (792 F. Supp. 104) starts:
- Violent crime cases are the exception in federal courts. The instant case is arguably the most violent case ever tried in a federal court: the indictment charges the sixteen defendants on trial with 14 murders by means such as beheading, stabbing, occasionally by pistol shots, plus severing of body parts such as ears to prove the worthiness of the killer. They were also charged with arson of a slumbering neighborhood using molotov cocktails. The perpetrators were ordered to wait outside the innocent victims' homes wearing ski masks and brandishing machetes to deter the victims from fleeing the flames.
Yahweh ben Yahweh only faced conviction for conspiracy. The testimony of Robert Rozier played a key role in that. Mr. Rozier is a former NFL player, who admitted to several of the murders and testified against Hulon Mitchell Jr., in return for a lighter sentence. Rozier is currently serving a 25-to-life sentence under California's three strikes law as he was later charged (after the Nation of Yahweh ordeal) with writing bad checks.
See also
External links
- Crime Library Nation of Yahweh Profile
- Apologetics Index Nation of Yahweh Profile
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- Religious Movements Site-Of possible interest is that they do describe NoY as a cult, but they do not do so even when describing the Branch Davidians or Aum Shinrikyo or Order of the Solar Temple.
"Yahweh ben Yahweh"