Facebook Profile of Alton Nolen and the Signs of Radicalization

On September 26, 2014, Alton Nolen attacked two women, decapitating one, at the Vaughan Foods plant in Moore, Oklahoma. In a review of Nolen's Facebook profile, which is listed under the alias "Jah'Keem Yisrael," his first post appears to have been on February 16, 2009, and his last on September 24, 2014.

Overview

Nolen's posts, until April 28, 2013, were mostly related to his personal life and employment, with minimal references to a higher power. However, after that point, Nolen's posts shifted in focus and became more related to Islam. Then, from about November 2013, his posts reflected more radical views.

It is apparent from Nolen's Facebook posts that his faith in Islam crosses the extremist boundary as he began to praise jihad and violence. In a May 24, 2014 post, after quoting the Gospel of Mathew, he wrote, "Jihad, Jihad, Jihad." Similarly, seven days later, as part of the text he provided to a picture of Pope Benedict XVI, he quoted Luke, before declaring that white people were the "descendants of Esau and the Edomites!" and that "SHARIA LAW [Islamic Law ] IS COMING."

While his Facebook posts shed some light on his radical views, the photos that were uploaded to his page illustrate his radicalization. Among them were photos of Usama Bin Laden, militant Jihadists, images of Taliban fighters, and female Muslim fighters. In captions that he posted in connection to the female fighters, he frequently posted, "some of my Muslim sisters!!!" and added "and were not fighting for Amerika."

Nolen might have also been exposed to the Islamic State (IS) propaganda. His Facebook page contained a photo of Abu Suleiman al-Oteibi, a now-deceased Shariah official in the Islamic State of Iraq (a precursor group of IS) from the April 2007 al-Furqan video "Why Do We Do Jihad." Furqan is the media arm for IS, and was behind the production for the organization's beheading videos, leadership messages and other IS videos.

Nolen's anti-American views are demonstrated in captions that he provided with several of his photos. In a picture featuring the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001, he declared, "She (The statue Of Liberty) is going into flames. She and anybody who's with her."

Another photo of exceptional note appears to be a screen grab aiming to justify the beheading of non-Muslims.

In addition to discussing his faith, Nolen also appears to have numerous racialist beliefs and follows several conspiracy theories. Speaking to the racialist beliefs, he frequently talked about how African-Americans are the true Israelites as well as speaking with particular admiration for the Moors.

A profile of Nolen's Facebook account follows:

Alton Nolen is believed to use a Facebook account under the name Jah'Keem Yisrael. The account currently has 1535 friends, and lists the account owner as living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His profile also lists that he works at "Rockin' T Livestock and Cattle Services" and explains that "Im An Muslim Into Cattle Livestock." In his "about me" section, he declared:

Fb Ima Tell You Off Top Im Not Your Friend My Friends Are At The Mosque All Around The World. About Me -Im an Muslim from the Tribe of Judah who Was Pretty Much Raised In Killeen Texas. My Ancestors Who Are The True Jews Here In America Today Are Originally From Israel. They Were Bombed Outta Israel By The Roman Catholic Army So They Fled To Egypt And The Afrikans Sold Us To The White Man As Slaves Along With Any Other Black Person Here In Amerika Today Aka The True Jews From Israel. Our Ancestors Are Originally From Israel. Were Not from Afrika If U Look At Someone Originally From Africa And Look At Someone Whos A Jew Descendent From Israel Here In Amerika Today U Can tell The Difference Luke 21:20 Matthew 2:3.

Nolen's Early and Secular Posts

While it is not evident as to when the account was officially created, the earliest entry made by the user appears on February 16, 2009. From 2009 to April 2013, the user only sporadically mentioned a higher power and predominantly used the word "Lord." Throughout that period, Nolen appeared to document his employment and subsequent release from incarceration. On Sunday September 5, 2010, he wrote, "THE LORD SAID FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD....IM PUTTIN IN MINE LOL."

Several days later, he posted:

The remainder of posts made on 2010 document his new employment. In 2011, the only recognized activity appears to be the addition of friends on Facebook. The next activity to occur appears to be on August 23, 2012, when Nolen possibly claimed that he was at a halfway house. He wrote:

Nolen then continued to document his life, and at one point announced that he was aiming to start a rap career. This announcement comes after Nolen posted a picture of himself at work. In response to another user Nolen declared, "Aye my nigga i tld Ace My Rap Name Is Yung Kuntry Now lo!!!!Wutz Hannin U Still N Da A????"

From January to April 2013, Nolen continued to talk about his personal life and rap music, but also commented multiple times on the San Francisco 49ers National Football League team and the minimum wage. The last of these comments was made on April 16, 2013, when the user posted:

Nolen's Early Posts on Islam

Sometime in late April 2013, Nolen appears to have developed a more religious tone. In a post on April 28, 2013, the user announced that world was potentially in danger and that Allah was sole entity in control. The post reads:

From that point on, the user appeared to spend most of his posts focusing on Islam and making racialist posts. On May 25, 2013, the user posted:

Several days later he wrote:

Nolan's Extremist Posts

As time progressed through 2013, Nolen appeared to become more radicalized. On Veterans Day, he chastised veterans and those celebrating the holiday. He posted:

Several days later, Nolen posted a link to a video titled "EUROPEAN CONFESSIONS-AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE THE TRUE ISRAELITES AND THE CHOSEN PEOPLE OF GOD." He also documented points which his followers might find interesting. His post appears:

These opinions and similar videos were then posted multiple times. To that point, on December 29, 2013, Nolen appeared to attempt to convert people to Islam. He wrote:

When Jesus Was Here Rite, He Brung The Gospel Rite, Which Means What? Gospel- Good News. Ok So This Good News Right, Come From Who? God (Allah). Who Is The One And Only Lord Of The Universe. With This Being Said Rite, Why Are You Worshipping Jesus Who In The Quran Was A Messenger. And If Jesus Is Christ Rite, Christ Means Messiah, Why Would The Father Jesus As You Say Be Coming Back To Earth LOl. Say If He Were To Get Killed When He Came Down Here What Is Everyone Gonna Do If Their So Call Lord Is Dead LOl.. God Allah Is Lord And Savior Who Youll Be Standing In Front Of On Judgement Day. Now Who Can Promise Me Jesus Is God, Savior And Holy Spirit And Show Me? Once Again Show Me. You Cant. Islam Is The True Religion!!!! Jesus Was An Messenger. By The Quran This I Promise U.

From the beginning of 2014, it is apparent that Nolen became increasingly extremist and susceptible to conspiracy theories. On January 12, he posted a video titled "illuminati symbolism on the dollar bill" and ranted that the Illuminati not only existed but were the anti-Christ. The post reads:

Almost a month later, Nolen declared that black men and women were the "true jews of the bible" and that it was "ARAB SLAVERY THAT TURNED US INTO MUSLIMS." Only a day before that post, he posted two pictures, one of a Muslim fighter holding a Quran and a Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher and another picture of four Muslim women in assault gear and carrying AK-47 variants. In the latter picture, he announced that they were "some of my Muslim sisters!!!!" He then furthered, "and were not fighting for Amerika."

Similar photos were then often posted by Nolen. On March 2, 2014, the user posted a picture of a number of women in Niqabs operating AK-47 variants and participating in what appears to be drills. As a caption, he posted:

A day later, Nolen posted a picture of the September 11, 2011 attacks and listed a number of reasons as to why the Middle East did not like the United States of America. He ended his list by stating:

These are the things you join the army and etc to fight for your freedom.
A Future Prophecy Revelation 18:8 She (The statue Of Liberty) is going into flames. She and anybody who's with her.

Until May 24, 2014, Nolen's Facebook posts appear to be focused on potentially converting those reading his Facebook wall to Islam. However, the photos that he published and posted on his Facebook tell a different story. Four days after his post regarding the Statue of Liberty, Nolen posted pictures of Jihadist fighters, including one allegedly from Islam Awazi, a media group of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), showing small boys learning to fire pistols. Furthermore, he also posted a picture that appears to justify the beheading of non-believers. Following is a copy of the picture and the text in the picture:

Then, on March 23, Nolen posted a picture of a painting allegedly depicting Moors in Spain. In the picture, he spoke of his glee at learning that "black African Moors (boldly invaded white caucasion Europe and conquered the portuguese, Spanish Italian and Southern French)." He then claimed that this is "history the black man cant never forget that we taught the white man and woman languages math and etc." The post reads:

It inspires me to no end, to know that my illustrous ancestors who were black African Moors (boldly invaded white caucasion Europe and conquered the portuguese, Spanish Italian and Southern French). We black Moors enslaved white Europeans (long before we were enslaved) and also had white harems which pleasured us. Black Moors then civilized the white barbarians, graciously teaching the caucasoid cave-dwellers, Science, astronomy, geography, meteorology, botanics,cosmetics, culinary art and fashion and an Arabic numerical system that is still being used now, algebra and beautiful architecture that was and still is superior to anything that these caucasion savages had previously built. THIS IS HISTORY THE BLACK MAN CANT NEVER FORGET THAT WE TAUGHT THE WHITE MAN AND WOMAN LANGUAGES MATH AND ETC....RESEARCH READ RESEARCH READ

Three days later, Nolen posted several pictures of Usama bin Laden with no accompanying commentary.

From that point on until May 24, 2014, Nolen's Facebook photos follow a similar path to that of his Facebook wall. He directed much of his posts either to "educate" or convert people to Islam or his other belief structures, including that African-American's are truly Israelites.

On May 24, 2014, his Facebook photos and timeline converge, when after posting an image of a sword and quoting from the Gospel of Mathew, he wrote "JIHAD, JIHAD, JIHAD." A screen shot of the post follows:

A day later, Nolen then declared that is a sin for Muslims to pay income tax and that Muslims should attempt to avoid paying it by going to their Human Resources department and filing a 1040S. He wrote:

For u Muslims under Islam Its a Major sin in Islam to pay taxes. If u tryna reach Janna you literally can go to your job Human Resource office and file exempt on your 1040s -You have to note that your Muslim!!!

Similar to what occurred from March 3 to May 24, Nolen's Facebook posts and uploaded photos began to differ drastically. Posts on his timeline consist of conversion, praise of Islam, chastising of Christianity, and pushing his view that African-Americans are Israelites. It should be noted that in a May 30 post, Nolen claims to have successfully converted an individual to Islam.

His remaining uploaded photos, however, take on a more radicalized view. On May 31, Nolen again posted a picture involving the Statue of Liberty, though this time it did not feature the September 11, 2011, attacks in the background. In his subsequent caption, Nolen made several quotes from the Bible and the Quran, while claiming that America was filled with non-believers who seek to train children to fight Islam. He ended his rant by declaring that "SHARIA LAW IS COMING!!!!!!!" The post appears:

When other countries look at this woman who sits upon the water they know she is the land of the free. Land of the free means Free from God Allah (swt) Laws of the Bible. Things like she tells u can eat pork when your not suppost to- she sells it in all of her stores Deuteronomy 14:8, Women not keeping their hair covered-forming jealousy 1st Corithians 11:6, same sex marriage when they should be killed Leviticus 20:13. And this is why you Non-Believers raise your kids to join the US Army to fight Allah swt people for the Devil.

SHARIA LAW IS COMING!!!!!!

On the same day, he posted a picture of Pope Benedict XVI and claimed, "So when u see the term Gentile in the Bible its relating to the white man and woman! They are descendants of Esau and the Edomites!" He also again stated that "Sharia Law is coming."

Nolen seems to have been exposed to IS propaganda. On June 15, Nolen posted a picture of the now-deceased Shariah official for the Islamic State of Iraq Abu Suleiman al-Oteibi, and used the caption to chastise non-Muslims for the way they behave and raise their children. This picture features the logo of al-Fruqan, the same media group that has produced IS's leadership and beheading videos. His post appears:

Two months later, on August 7, 2014, Nolen posted a picture with two people—allegedly from Morocco—who attended an event at a Mosque in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The post appears:

Then, on July 24, Nolen posted a picture of the DC Comic villain the Joker and chastised America. His post is a complaint that America claimed to help Iraq but refused to help citizens in Gaza. He also called on Muslims to "wake up" to the fact that America and Israel are wicked.