William Kinney III has claimed to be a sovereign citizen for years. He also filed court documents claiming that was the reason his family did not have to pay the mortgage.
PORTLAND, Oregon – Protests erupted this week at a north Portland home known as “Red House on Mississippi.” It comes after police attempted to remove a family – who lost the home to foreclosure two years ago.
The family’s son, William Kinney – also known as William Nietzche – has claimed for years that he is a “sovereign citizen” and that is why his family did not have to pay his loan.
So, what is a sovereign citizen?
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, sovereign citizens believe they – not judges, jurors, or law enforcement – can decide which laws to follow and which to ignore, and they don’t feel they have to pay taxes.
According to Portland sociologist Randy Blazak, while there is a large chunk of black sovereign citizens, the movement is actually rooted in racism within the white supremacist movement.
“(The movement) starts out as a kind of anti-government belief system that whites are the true citizens of this country,” Blazak said. “It’s kind of a weird reading of the 14th Amendment, and he believes there is no real government authority other than what they call the common law.”
Sovereign citizens are known to clog justice systems with legal deposits written in an absurd sovereign code. For years, they used this method to fight tax payments, then used it to fight foreclosures.
According to Blazak, it started with the mortgage crisis in the 2000s, when black and brown Americans were targeted with predatory loans.
“These people are starting to hear about this notion that government law is not valid – mortgage laws are not valid,” he said. “So there is starting to be this kind of immigration of African Americans – especially in the sovereign citizens movement – to see it as a way to keep their homes.
Christine Sarteschi, a professor at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, who has just written a book on sovereign citizens, said a subgroup called “Moorish rulers” is known to fight foreclosures in this way.
“They operate the same (to sovereign citizens), but they have a different origin belief that basically they’re owners, they were originally here before anyone else in the US or elsewhere, and they own basically all land, ”Sarteschi said.
What is the link between the sovereign citizen movement and the situation of the “Red House” in Portland?
Kinney, the son of the family living in the “Red House”, has been claiming since at least 2007 as a sovereign Moorish citizen.
In a YouTube video, Kinney said, “I am an indigenous native of the land.” In 2018, her parents lost their home to foreclosure, and Kinney – who changed her name to William X Nietzche – tried to fight the foreclosure in court, filing dozens of appeals.
“They used this kangaroo yard to try to evict my aged mom and dad 20 or 30 times,” Kinney said in the video.
He continues to say that he attempted to “go to court” under Moroccan law with a man named Omari Gibberi, but video and court recordings are becoming difficult to follow.
Blazak said these types of deposits rarely work.
“When it works, it is usually on small government fees that they can argue, and usually simply by filing a petition after a petition where local officials tire of them and waive the fees,” he said. declared.
“On lower level things like that, it has been quite effective, giving them a sense that it’s an effective strategy, but on mortgages, it never worked,” Blazak said. “Banks are powerful institutions. They often have the final say on these matters.
Kinney’s argument, in fact, didn’t work, and the family missed a series of payments. The house was seized in 2018 and the Kinney family were ordered out in September. From Thursday, they refuse to leave.
