What's to happen to the Nuwaubians?

''Based on what I saw today, (the group) has definitely weakened,'' said Putnam County Assistant District Attorney Dawn Baskin. ''I would seriously doubt they would continue as a community in Putnam County.''

Others aren't so sure. Jones believes York's daughter, Hagar York-El, could step into the void left by York.

''She could definitely speak for her father and continue his teachings,'' Jones said.

In Athens, it's harder to gauge the Nuwaubian' continued presence. But the predominantly Black group has won friends in the African-American community and been praised as hard-working, self-sufficient people.

''They're people who go to work every day, pay rent or own homes,'' said local activist Thomas Oglesby. ''They bring entrepreneurship to this town. You've got brick masons, carpenters, locksmiths, bakers, all of them have something going.''

Oglesby doesn't think York's conviction will lead the group to dissolve.

''That's not going to happen,'' he said. ''This group is not a small group, this group isn't just in Georgia -- it's nationwide and worldwide.''

Said Walter Allen Jr., who runs the local African-American magazine ''Zebra'' and has employed some Nuwaubian, ''this case has been going on for eight months, and they've still been functioning.''

For now, on a stretch of country road dotted with dairy farms, the Nuwaubian compound remains a startling site of Egyptian reflections in the heart of Georgia. A place where there once was a Black man who dared to stand up and do for self and his people by organizing thousands of Black folk, Native Americans and others into an independent non-political fraternal organization. York’s mission was successful for 30 years in creating jobs for Blacks, educating Blacks of alternative knowledge than that what was presented by European ethnocentric history, building businesses and established Black institutions for the upliftment of Black folk. Malachi York’s visions lay in suspended animation waiting for the next uppity nigga’ to step forward and make a stand toward Black independence, high Community morality and a unified body, which is the essence of Black Nationalism. No apology necessary for any and all uppity Black men who stand accused but are willing to take the weight and suffer the consequences brought about from perpetrating crimes against European dominance and racial superiority.

Although the Nuwaubian movement had been overly dependent on York’s personality (The Supreme Grand Hierophant, Amun Nebu Re,’ Akhtah Isa Abdullah, Imaam Isaa Al-Haadi Al-Mahdi, Rabboni, Yashuah [Jesus], Melchisedek, Yanuwn, Nayya, Dr. Malachi Z. York, Chief Black Eagle, the Lamb) however the Movement cannot be dismissed so easily. Although the movement appears to be disintegrating from York’s imprisonment, the interest in Black identity, alternative spiritual development and Black pride, which York had sparked, lingers on. York’s ideas of “Right Knowledge, a Right Wisdom and a Right Overstanding” have clearly provided the spawning ground from which more organizations and leaders will sure develop.