In Support of H.R. Bill 1955

In Support of H.R. Bill 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007

I’ve been following a bill that almost unanimously passed the House of Representatives and is now up for discussion in the Senate that calls for the establishment of a university-based Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States. The US has faced increased terrorist attacks, from groups originating inside AND outside of the United States. A public backlash against the bill has criticized H.R. 1955 as criminalizing thought and as a potential tool to be used against non-violent peace groups, people of middle eastern descent and critics of government. I disagree; we, as a country, need accurate information to prevent the advancement of homegrown terrorists originating in the US, while curtailing a neo-McCarthyistic wave of politically motivated and wrongful persecution of innocent people.

Consider the Nation of Yahweh & Yahweh Ben Yahweh. After Yahweh ben Yahweh started the Nation in 1979 in Miami, FL, the Nation of Yahweh grew throughout the 80’s, organizing satellite temples around the country and building up a business empire that Yahweh once claimed had reached $100 million. The Nation of Yahweh quickly morphed from a religious movement focusing on empowering black people to an ultra-violent black supremacist cult. Yahweh ben Yahweh and twelve of his followers were convicted in the early 90’s of 17 racketeering acts of murder, extortion and arson. Prosecutors said Yahweh had ordered followers to "kill for Yahweh" and had watched from the podium as a mob of 50-plus followers beat a man to death inside his "Temple of Love." After Yahweh ben Yahweh’s release from prison and his later death, Nation of Yahweh leaders are now calling for an immediately upcoming Canadian conference where Yahweh ben Yahweh, will be resurrected as a “second coming of Jesus Christ” and issue a final judgment against America signifying an “ultimate passover” with rhetoric that makes Rev. Jeremiah Wright look like Bill Cosby.

After a SPLC investigative reporter verified my story, the Southern Poverty Law Center, wrote two stories on the matter and highlighted Andrew Stankevich and Friends Helping Friends in it’s 2007 “Year in Hate Report” for a Nation of Yahweh member’s hostile takeover of Friends Helping Friends, a local charity organization. As a complete surprise, the NOY member(s) had police force me out of my office using board resolutions of dubious validity, especially since the responsible individual had changed her name to join the Nation of Yahweh and has changed her name enough times that she doesn’t do business in her “legal” name, but her Hebrew, “cult” name. After devoting my time and personal resources for approximately 10 years, I fled Rochester in fear for my life without telling my story to the community that I had served. I was only able to understand the NOY member’s reasoning after reading a Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report on the rebirth of the Nation of Yahweh.

We, as Americans, need accurate public information, as “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”