Camden police investigate alleged harassment outside black separatist ‘hate group’ church

Camden police are investigating an alleged incident of bias and harassment outside the Israelite Church of God and Jesus Christ, which has been described as a black separatist “hate group.”

Two people from the church reported that several unknown protesters made harassing remarks and threats about their religion around 3:15 p.m. Saturday, police said in a statement. Police did not reveal what the alleged comments or threats were. The church, a chapter of one based in Harlem, New York City, is in the 100 block of North Sixth Street.

The Israelite Church of God and Jesus Christ, which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as a hate group, has been mired in controversy. In March, Jermaine Grant of Burlington Township, the chief high priest of the church in Harlem, admitted to a federal charge of conspiracy to evade taxes after prosecutors said he spent $5.3 million of the church’s money to pay for vacations, designer clothing, and electronic devices between 2007 and 2015.

Grant pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark in March. It was not immediately clear Sunday if he has been sentenced.

The church has chapters in Camden, Asbury Park, Jersey City, and Vineland in New Jersey, and in Philadelphia, Coatesville, Norristown, Allentown, and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, as well as elsewhere throughout the United States. It is one of the biggest Black Hebrew Israelite groups in the country, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Black Hebrew Israelite groups preach that black people are the “true Jews," the center says, and members see Jewish people, police, and white people as “common enemies."

A spokesperson for the church in Camden could not be reached for comment.