Civil rights activist to campaign on behalf of Nuwaubian deputies

A Georgia civil rights activist is preparing a campaign to restore deputies to their posts at the Clarke County Jail, claiming they were fired because of their religious beliefs.

Sheriff’s officials said the deputies – members of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors black supremacist group – were fired because they broke policy by practicing their beliefs at the jail.

“From the material I reviewed and speaking to the Nuwaubians, I feel these deputies did not get fired because of their job performance, but because of what they believe in,” said Gerald Rose, executive director of the New Order Human Rights Organization.

Rose said he and others with New Order will protest the deputies’ firings today at the Clarke County Courthouse.

“The deputies were accused of offenses that were false, and they have the evidence to prove it,” Rose said. “This was religious prosecution for being affiliated with the Nuwaubian organization and (had) nothing to do with their job performance.

“We might disagree with their beliefs and religion, but if they were fired because of what they believe in, then we feel that their human rights have been violated.”

Members of New Order from Georgia, Florida and Alabama, as well as a representative of the Nation of Islam, are expected to stand with the deputies during a 3 p.m. news conference, according to Rose.

After a spokesman for Sheriff Ira Edwards was told of the New Order’s plans, Edwards released a statement that simply said, “The Clarke County Sheriff’s Office does not discriminate against an individual regardless of their race, religion, sex, national origin or disability.”

Sheriff’s officials said the deputies were fired in November because they engaged in Nuwaubian-related activities at the jail that undermined jail security, including recruiting prisoners into the sect and urging black inmates to rebel against white deputies.

The Nuwaubians, classified as a black hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is led by Dwight “Malachi” York, who is serving a 135-year federal prison sentence after a jury convicted him in 2004 of racketeering, money laundering, having sex with the underage children of his followers, and other charges.

One of the deputies, Bobby Dixon, was reinstated this month after he successfully argued his case before a county personnel hearing officer.

But the hearing officer upheld the sheriff’s decision to fire two other Nuwaubian deputies, William York and Anthony Montgomery, and an appeals hearing for former deputy Rena Jennings is scheduled for June 12.

A fifth Nuwaubian deputy was allowed to resign in lieu of resignation.

Rose pledged that his organization would return to Athens again to agitate on behalf of the Nuwaubians.

“We will return in a week or so to protest and rally,” Rose said. “We plan to make some noise, and we’re going to be heard.”

New Order also is prepared to provide legal representation to fight for the deputies in court.

“We’re going to see if any legal grounds were violated,” he said.

Rose is the son of a Valdosta-born Baptist preacher and civil rights activist. He formed the New Order in 1992 in Toledo, Ohio, where his father was president of the city’s NAACP.

In 2000, Rose moved the group to Georgia, where it has six chapters and is based in Cobb County. There are plans to create an Athens New Order chapter, Rose said.

The New Order took the lead in calling for an independent investigation into 12 police shootings last year in DeKalb County. A special grand jury is now studying those shootings.

“If we didn’t make noise, there’d be no outside investigation,” Rose said.

Rose said he agreed to champion the fired Clarke County deputies’ cause after meeting with them last month.

“I am not a Nuwaubian. I do believe in Jesus Christ,” Rose said, “but I told them that you were fired because of what you believe and not your performance on the job, so we’re going to stick with you.”

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