The Washitaw Nation & Sovereign Citizen Movement

The Washitaw Nation is a sovereign citizen group whose figurehead, Empress Verdiacee Tiari Washitaw Turner Goston El-Bey, claimed to be descended from Moorish peoples who inhabited the Americas 10 thousand years before white settlers arrived.

What are Sovereign Citizens

The Sovereign Citizen Movement is a loose group of Americans who reject the federal government and see it as illegitimate. Sovereign citizens view themselves as answerable only to themselves and interpret common laws as they wish. They feel they aren’t subject to any government statutes or proceedings. Sovereign citizens don’t recognize government-established currency and reject the idea of taxation. They argue that “federal citizens” have forfeited their rights by accepting aspects of federal laws (social security numbers, driver’s licenses, taxation, etc.).

What they believe

The Sovereign Citizen Movement is predicated on the idea that the Founding Fathers created a “common law” system. At some point, the US government secretly replaced this “common law” with a new system based on admiralty: the law of the sea and international commerce. Sovereigns believe that under common law, they are free. Under admiralty law, they are enslaved, and secret government forces have a vested interest in keeping them that way. Some believe that the common law was eradicated during the Civil War, while others believe it happened in 1933 when the US did away with the gold…