Members believe the United States federal government to be illegitimate, which they attribute to a variety of factors including Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War and the abandonment of the gold standard in the 1930s.
[3] Moorish sovereign citizens, who consider that black people constitute an elite class within American society,[3] are in the paradoxical situation of using an ideology which originated in a white supremacist environment.
[12] Some "Moorish" activists have practiced hostile possession of properties, citing "reparations" as a justification for their actions, even though their victims included other Black Americans.
[16] He was affiliated with the Washitaw Nation, and before his guilty plea had been judged possibly incapable of assisting in his own defense after filing incomprehensible sovereign citizen paperwork with the court.
He alleged his arrest was unlawful and filed a federal lawsuit against the police, which was dismissed after he tried to pay the court fees with a silver coin, saying U.S. currency was unconstitutional because it was "not backed by anything of value".
[22] On August 23, 2023, 63-year-old William Hardison Sr. opened fire on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania law enforcement officers attempting to serve an eviction notice on him for occupying a former family home that had been sold after the death of the original owner.