Five Percent group draws comparisons to writings from sniper

NEW YORK -- The letter left at the scene of a sniper shooting contains phrases often associated with a group that believes the black man is God and spreads its message through prison recruitment and popular hip-hop music.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment Saturday on whether authorities were looking into the possibility that the writer borrowed from the language of the Five Percent movement, which teaches that education and family are of central importance. It rejects drinking, drugs and fornication, as well as most accepted history, authority and religion.

The 39-year-old movement started as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam, but Five Percenters say they are not Muslims. The group teaches that black men are to be called "God" and black women "Earth," and that only five percent of the population is enlightened.

The letter found near a steakhouse in Ashland, Va., where one of the shootings occurred demanded police refer to the author as "God," and a tarot card left near a shooting outside a school declared, "I am God."

"I'm not saying he's a Five Percenter. I don't know that. Only that 'I am God' is something a Five Percenter might say," said Robert Walker, a private consultant based in Columbia, S.C., who helps police identify gangs. "All black men who are followers and members of the Five Percenters refer to themselves as God and will even refer to someone else who is a Five Percenter as a God also."

The letter also included the phrase "word is bond," also widely used by Five Percenters, who often call their movement the Nation of Gods and Earths.

The letter, which was reprinted in The Washington Post on Saturday, had five stars on the title page. Walker said the stars were similar to ones that symbolize children to followers of the movement.

A man who answered the phone at the Allah School in Mecca, the national headquarters of the movement, located in New York, said members of the group had no comment.