what is moorish citizen

Moorish Sovereign Citizens are a collection of independent organizations and individuals who emerged in the early 1990s as an offshoot of the Moorish Science Temple, a religious sect dating back to 1913. They espouse an antigovernment doctrine in which its members claim to be part of a sovereign nation. Members of the Moorish sovereigns, called Moors, have come into conflict with federal and state authorities over their refusal to obey laws and government regulations. Moorish sovereign citizens believe they are bound mainly by maritime law, not the law of the places where they live. They claim to be descendants of Moors who inhabited the Kingdom of Morocco, which signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the US in 1786 that officially recognized America as a sovereign nation. For some who identify themselves as “Moor,” “Moorish” or something similar, there is a belief that a fictitious 1787 treaty between the United States and Morocco grants them immunity from U.S. law. Moorish sovereign citizens engage in the same criminal activities as “traditional” sovereign citizens do, including crimes of violence, scams and frauds, and so-called “paper terrorism” tactics, which typically involves the use of various documents and filings to harass, intimidate and retaliate against police officers, public officials, and others. While most sovereigns in the US are White, there exists a subset within the movement known as ‘Moorish’ sovereigns: Black adherents who hold pseudo-historical beliefs specific to African-American heritage.