01x01 - Searching for Paradise

[bunniefuu]

[spiritual music]

NATUREBOY: Who are you?

ALL:
Angels of the most high,

divine angels of light.

- Who am I?

ALL: The honorable
master teacher, Natureboy,

commander in chief
of the Earth plane,

my higher cell.

- Who am I?

ALL: Queen Eliana,
commander in chief

of the Earth plane,
my higher cell.

AARON: If you want to know
what I've been doing

for the last four years,
I was in a cult, man.

- In 2017, there was
a lot of Caucasian male

k*lling a lot of Black people.

KENDRA: A lot of Black people
seemed to be dying

all the time
at the hands of people

that were supposed to be
protecting us.

- You know this is not how
life's supposed to be.

Get to the sun.

JENAE: Natureboy
definitely made it seem like

what he had for the Black
community was a utopia.

NATUREBOY: We are Melanation.

We are here to show you
who you are.

- The end-all, be-all solution

for every single Black person
in the world.

- Known as Natureboy.
- Natureboy.

- It was like waking up
in paradise.

- There were a ton
of people coming.

JENAE:
From all over the world,

the beautiful nature places
that he would go to,

oh, my goodness, everybody
wanted to experience that.

- Melanation is
out here for you.

- Natureboy's use
of social media

seemed to bridge the gap
between an online influencer

and a street preacher.

- Log on MelanationTV.

- Natureboy was going live
on Instagram a lot.

It was clear to see that he
wanted to build a following.

- Is this thing working?

We took an oath to become

leaders of the Black community.

It's gonna heal my people
from sl*very.

CHANTELLE: He was obsessed
with filming himself.

NATUREBOY:
We got the police out there.

They can't f*ck with us.

CHANTELLE:
He had no understanding

that he's filming
his own demise.

- [screams]

- It's cult leader 101.

I'm God.
You should listen to me.

- I'm here forever.
I am the Black man.

I am God.

Fight!

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- I'm gonna give y'all
a panorama.

We in the middle
of the river, man.

I'm gonna teach you
how to become pure,

get away
from negative-a*s people.

The key is to isolate yourself.

Remember, this journey
is your own.

♪ ♪

VELVET: The first post
that I saw of Melanation

was a video
of Natureboy himself,

sitting on a rock in the middle
of a river in Costa Rica.

- Look at how beautiful
your people is.

VELVET:
Some of the initial things

that I heard Natureboy say
were things like--

just simple, like,
let's get back into nature.

That was huge for him.

- Squad in the building, yup.

VELVET: He would have videos
where he would be in nature.

NATUREBOY: We are the heroes
of the Black community.

We are the pioneers
in the beginning of this.

JENAE: Natureboy definitely
made it seem like

what he had for the Black
community was a utopia.

He would make it
look good online.

The beautiful nature places
that he would go,

oh, my goodness, everybody
wanted to experience that.

- Costa Rica is
one of the most beautiful

and green places
that you could live.

- I thought I was joining
a group that was desiring

to leave the commotion
of the city life,

of, you know, the hustle
and bustle, the 9-to-5.

- Your bills are basically
what you're working for.

You get caught up
in this trap.

AARON:
A group that wanted to be

more simple, more natural,

more sustainable,
a group that was about health,

that was about
solving issues nonviolently.

- We don't need to be violent.

We don't need to be angry.

All we need to do is
become one with nature.

♪ ♪

AARON: I was born and raised
in Butler, Georgia--

r*cist, segregated.

My prom was the first prom

where Black people
and white people went together.

- They are making history
with their school's

first integrated prom.

- If you want to be
successful in this world,

then you have to do
well academically.

So that's what my thing was,

straight A's
all the way throughout school.



Went to the military
shortly after that, 2009.

Once I left the military,
it's like, what do I do now?

There was a void present,
'cause the military provided me

a sense of belonging
for eight years--

brotherhood, network, huge.

For the first time
in a long time,

I felt like
I didn't belong anywhere.

- This is a movement.

Y'all better get here.

Hurry up, baby.

[laughs]

[tense music]

JENAE: When I first heard
about Melanation,

it was about 2017.

ANNOUNCER: The President-Elect
of the United States,

Donald John Trump.

JENAE: The Trump thing
going on a lot in America

around that time,
there was a lot of cops

k*lling a lot of Black people.

Of course,
it was easier to believe

that we were supposed to be
separated from society,

because that was happening
a lot in our community.

- Get out of the car!

I will light you up!
Get out!

- Wow.
- Now!

[shouting and g*nshots]

OFFICER 1: Hey, bro, put your
f*cking hands on the car.

OFFICER 2: Drop the g*n!
[g*nshots]

Drop the g*n!

- All of these things
collectively

provided an avenue
for me to be like,

I'm done with America.

- Reflection, listen to me.

Don't let nobody stop you from
manifesting what you want.

- 2017 was the first time

that YouTube recommended me
a Natureboy video.

- Y'all ready to go deep again?

I'm the master teacher.

None of y'all can
f*ck with me, homie.

I speak actual facts.

- The "Master Teacher Drops

Never Before Heard Information"
video,

it had 500,000 views on it.

- Nothing dies in nature
'cause it's immortal.

It feeds off of itself.

It sustains itself.

AARON:
I'm like, wow.

There's a lot of people
that are watching this.

So it must mean that this
must have some truth to it.

I'm thinking that
because it has 500,000 views,

that that equates
to 500,000 people.

And so that was a major part
in my indoctrination process

of continuing to watch
more and more videos.

[all cheering]

- We are Melanation.

We are here to show you
who you are.

You can't tell me I ain't home.

- Everything online
seemed cool.

This is Costa Rica right here.

We at the market,
bailing our food out of jail.

Coconut g*ng.

Mango, mangoes.

AARON: It was about peace.
It was about nature.

It was about the sun.

It was about living
healthy and simple.

Like, that's what it was
being presented as.

They're cool people.

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- My name is Velvet Marquez.

I am from New Orleans,
Louisiana.

When I was younger,
my parents never took me

outside of my community.

We weren't in more gentrified
places of New Orleans,

where rich people lived.

In our community, people
who are of the minority,

we experience extreme poverty.

We do not have access
to adequate housing,

adequate food sources.

I just didn't want
to be depressed anymore.

I didn't want
to feel lonely anymore.

I felt invisible,
like I was just

so different
from everybody else

and didn't have a place
in the world.

I was deep into college,
and I found social media

to be a place
for me to express myself.

Natureboy was in my feed,

and so I started to look
at the tribe.

NATUREBOY: Melanation
is the perfect group to join

because you're gonna
be around that melanin.

Melanin is what creates
the pigment

in your eyes, hair, and skin.

VELVET: Melanation was
geared more toward the idea

that if you had more melanin,

then you were closer
to the earth.

- We are all reflections
and refractions of the sun.

♪ ♪

VELVET: This was a group
of African Americans,

darker-skinned people,

what we would call
melanated people,

coming together for a cause.

So this was
revolutionary to me.

I felt immediately like, wow,

this is a group of people
where I can express myself

and I could
potentially be heard.

This could be where my life
changes for the better.

♪ ♪

- What's going on, y'all?
I'm Olmek.

You can find me on Facebook
at Olmek the Ancient.

- After watching
many of the videos,

I decided to reach out to one
of the people in the group

who I thought
I would have a natural,

genuine, pure connection with.

His name is Olmek.

Two weeks had went by.

Through our exchange
of conversation, ideas,

the mind, the heart,
on a very spiritual level,

I thought I found
the love of my life.

My mind was just like,
gotta be with you,

gotta be there,
gotta be close to you.

I want to see how this evolves
in real life.

I had never left
the United States.

I did not have a passport.

So I put one foot in front of
the other to get my passport.

And I was like, I'm gonna go.

I just absolutely knew
that I was not coming back.

I knew that this was the end
of me ever experiencing

being in the States
ever again.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

Flying to Costa Rica
and meeting Olmek

for the first time was one of
the most beautiful experiences

I've ever had in my life.

As we were driving
from the airport,

the scenery outside
of the vehicle

was just mountains
on top of mountains

for stretches of miles.

Me and Olmek were
so wrapped into each other,

my world disappeared.

I remember thinking to myself,
like, my romantic desire,

dream has come true.

[unsettling music]

♪ ♪

When we finally arrived,

Olmek introduced me
to Natureboy.

When he first opened his mouth
was when my world got dark.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Natureboy was 34 years of age
when I initially met him.

Physically, his appearance
was very attractive,

but outside of his
physical attractiveness,

to me,
he just was like a father.

I just pictured him
as a father.

Like, his demeanor, like,
all of his mannerisms,

was just, like, dad vibes.

And that's how I saw him.

I looked at him
as like a guru, you know?

So I had a lot
of respect for him.

It was like having
respect for God, in a way.

[curious music]

♪ ♪

As we started
getting into the more

detailed parts
of their everyday life,

I thought it was cool.

It was different, you know?

They lived out of tents
at the time.

They had a home,
nice kitchen...

This is so good.

Huge yard.

It was like waking up
in paradise every day.

Going from a place
where it was hard

and just depressive
to a place of liberation,

being free,

I just literally felt like
I was inhaling life.

[wondrous music]

♪ ♪

- These people are from
Louisiana, New York.

They're from
all over the States.

And so there's a level
of familiarity involved.

It's like, oh, man,
these people, you know,

come from where I come from.

They understand the racism,

injustice that I've experienced
in America, you know?

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- My name is Chantelle.

I go by The Tea on YouTube.

And I was introduced
to Melanation

via Natureboy, a.k.a. Eligio.

I would watch him all the time.

- Melanation is
out here for you.

I'm gonna show you how EJ
is cultivating the land.

CHANTELLE: It was appealing
probably to people

who were looking for community
or looking for--

to live off-grid.

But what it looks like
to someone like me

is Eligio just selling a dream,
a pipe dream.

NATUREBOY: Anybody that got
any common sense

can feel
that something's coming.

CHANTELLE: He felt that,
"This is where I belong,

"because I have
autonomy out here.

"I make the rules.
I call the shots.

And if people want
to follow me, they can."

VELVET:
Once anybody joins Melanation,

you have no choice
but to change your name.

Usually,
your name comes from him.

- You're not a number.

You're not
a Social Security number.

You're not a birth certificate.
You're not your last name.

You're a cosmic being
with a sound.

- There was a belief
that your name,

as far as it pertains
to your birth certificate,

Social Security number, IDs,
those things were an illusion.

- I refuse to be called Velvet
because that is not me.

Stop calling me Velvet.

When he would call
upon that name,

he would call upon
the character

that's in his mind
that you are.

NATUREBOY: All right,
so everybody,

tell me your name, reflection.

- My name is Key.

- I'm EJ.
- I'm Olmek.

You can find me on Facebook
at Olmek the Ancient.

VELVET: He would express
on multiple occasions

that if he had named you,

he had some type of power
over you.

He needed to call me
something else

so that he can feel like
he was the creator

and orchestrator of who I was
to him in that moment.

CHANTELLE:
The name changes were really

just Natureboy
flexing his muscle,

asserting his power and
dominance over these people.

- We are all doing witchcraft.

So what someone calls you
is summoning and invoking

who you truly are.

[tense music]

VELVET: We were only able
to eat certain items.

And we only was able
to eat things

outside of what
he originally told us to eat

if he had consented.

- Nature is the way!

You've got to eat
from the earth!

You've got to eat organic!

- It was really a, like,
strict diet

that he wanted us to follow
because he wanted the public

to believe that his way of life

and his regimen behind eating
was the healthiest.

So that was another way
he implemented structure.

- We call this the pot.

This is not sh*t,
poop, none of that.

It's very sacred.

The government is taking this
and putting it in the toilet

and disconnecting you
from the universe.

[curious music]

- In the yard,
everybody had their own tent

that they would rest in
at night.

We were not allowed to use
the restroom in the house.

We were all ordered
to use the restroom outside.

Natureboy's reasoning
behind it,

he wanted to limit the usage
of the plumbing system

because it wasn't healthy,

and it was contaminating
our water.

So I was thinking to myself,
how am I gonna execute

my first restroom experience?

♪ ♪

I woke up in the wee hours
of the morning

my first night there,

and I had to use
the restroom so bad.

♪ ♪

I actually made a decision
to go into the house

and use the toilet.

I let it loose.
[laughs]

And I flushed the toilet,
like, twice.

That next morning,
we congregated,

and there was a talk

about who went to the bathroom
last night.

[laughs]

I denied it.

The following day, of course,
I had to use the bathroom.

So then I started experiencing
using it outside.

And then, eventually,
I grew a tomato plant

from my own poop.

[laughs] It was dead serious.

NATUREBOY: Tell them about
what we got going on, EJ.

VELVET: This is tomato.

NATUREBOY: These are
tomatoes right here?

VELVET:
Yep, this is definitely tomato.

You can smell it.

- It was like this extreme
connection to nature.

They would be talking about,
you know, living off the land

and using the bathroom
in the woods,

instead of in the toilet,

because it connects them
with nature.

NATUREBOY: That's what
a watermelon look like.

I want to show them something.

I'm always eating watermelon.

So I empty my pot over here.

This is where I empty my pot.

Here you see the black seeds
from the watermelon I eat.

It's coming out right here.
See?

And look at this.

Look at this coming out
of my soil, watermelon.

- Some people will
look at it and be like,

wow, this is some
of the most bizarre

nonsense I've ever heard.

But a lot of people will
see that and be like,

this guy knows
what he's talking about.

And I should give up my life
and join him.

[monkeys growling]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

NATUREBOY: Come on, ladies,
where y'all at?

Y'all want a real man?

He's intelligent.
He's a Virgo.

That's a good man right here.

He about 6'3".

- He recruited his members
utilizing his current members.

So he would have his
male members attract women.

Women would reach out to them.

They'd be in their inboxes,

trying to get them
to come there.

And he utilized those men
to recruit them into the group.

NATUREBOY:
They need wives.

We need some good women
that's in tune with nature.

They need g*dd*mn wives.

- I never had dated
a dark-skinned guy

until I met Olmek.

NATUREBOY:
This is EJ the Ancient.

This is Olmek's wife.

That's his direct.

- Natureboy kept asking me
questions like,

are you sure you want
to be with Olmek?

Are you sure
you want to be with him?

Are you sure you want to be
in a relationship with him?

It came across creepy to me,

but I didn't take that
personal.

But it became
uncomfortable for me

because I was
in a relationship.

CHANTELLE: So Eligio, he
didn't want any of those women

to be with any
of the guys there.

He wanted them
all for himself.

[percussive music]

♪ ♪

ALEX: I'm Alex.

I'm from Toronto, Canada.

My family's from Portugal.

Had a very beautiful family,
big family.

As I got older,
I just really love sports,

which kind of led me
into fitness

and becoming a bodybuilder.

♪ ♪

My story kind of starts
back in 2016.

I was watching
all these documentaries

about factory farming
and why we shouldn't eat meat.

- What do we want?

ALL: Animal liberation.

- When do we want it?

ALL: Now.

ALEX: And I kind of fell
really deep into that.

The first video
I'd seen of Natureboy,

he was in his apartment, and he
was showing his grocery haul.

And that's
kind of what intrigued me,

seeing what he was eating.

NATUREBOY:
This is what I eat every day.

I don't use a refrigerator.
So drink my water.

That's water in here.

Pistachio.

This is my transition
before I go into nature

and move out of the country.

- His charisma
really pulled me in.

I was like, this guy's like
some spiritual gangster.

[chuckles]

[quirky music]

- Welcome back, reflection.

ALEX: I was, like, slowly
building a relationship

with Natureboy online.

And he was treating me
like a brother.

So I got a sense of,
this guy likes me.

He likes who I am.

- Good morning, reflection.

- Natureboy was going live
on Instagram a lot, on YouTube.

- Listen to Natureboy.

Right now, I'm about
to show you how sex works,

how your body works.

- The process
of going from a viewer

to actual involvement
in the cult was gradual.

I went from a viewer
to a commenter.

Now I'm getting actual
responses back from them,

so the engagement level
has increased.

This is a new level.

Then the next level
was actually

speaking to them in real time.

- Right here,
we do this salute.

- It was clear to see that
he wanted to build a following.

- Follow him on Facebook
right now.

ALEX: He wanted people
to know who he was.

And he wanted his message
to get out there.

- Whatever you take, give back,

and life will be
full of blessings.

Share the video.

ALEX: When I was
watching online,

I'd never seen
any white people.

But he did also say
that being white

is not a disadvantage,
that you can build this up.

You can tan.
You can get darker.

And then Kayla showed up.

- I'm really starting
to get settled in here.

- And that was the first white
person I'd seen with Natureboy.

So that whole stigma of, oh,
this is only for Black people,

kind of changed.

- We start tonight
with the bizarre story

about a Corner Brook woman
who's now in Costa Rica,

living in what she calls
a cult.

JORDAN: I host a podcast
called The Night Time Podcast,

which covers unique and offbeat
Canadian stories.

- Kayla Reid left Corner Brook
under the guise

of attending a church
conference in late February.

Then she was reported missing.

JORDAN: So I was watching
the story of the disappearance

or the missing person,
Kayla Reid,

when the revelation came out
that she appeared

in the background
of a Costa Rican preacher's

YouTube channel.

KAYLA: Yeah,
I've never been so happy.

I'm becoming happier
and happier every day here.

I really feel like
I'm with my family.

JORDAN:
I started watching the story

and trying to understand how

a young woman
from Newfoundland

ended up across the world
in a YouTube video.

CHANTELLE:
So these are the things

that he would have his members
do before they could join.

Leave your family.

- You have to separate yourself
from your own family.

- Isolate yourself
and only listen to me.

- Attachments have been given
to you that you must overcome.

Stop the illusion of family.

I'm your family.

- I was almost speechless
at just how intense he was.

It certainly left me
with concern over the people

with him because it was clear

that no part of this
was an act.

- You know this is not
how life's supposed to be.

Get to the sun.

JORDAN: I can only imagine how
concerned her parents were.

KAYLA:
They poured out Natureboy

to be some kind of criminal.

- A cult leader.
- Yeah.

- But my--but they never tell
you what my cult is about.

[tense music]

- What really stood out to me
was how much power

Natureboy, or Eligio Bishop,
had within that group,

within that tribe.

- I'm a culture,
and the culture is to live

in harmony with nature.

- The media in Canada was
using the term "cult."

And he was defending himself,
saying, we are not a cult,

we're a culture.

I think from my experience
and everything I saw,

it would fit that stereotypical
definition of cult.

- Cult leader is a person
who recognizes vulnerabilities

that every human being has

and exploits
those vulnerabilities,

to manipulate people,
to get them to do

what they want them to do.

- Did I call you like, hey,
come join us, be here with us?

- No.

- Am I controlling
and manipulating your mind?

- No, you're not.

- Her family started
to get involved

because they noticed
that it was, in fact, a cult.

- Wait,
isn't Natureboy prejudiced?

Isn't he r*cist?

How does he have
white people there?

- Her family involved
the consulate.

They involved the government.

They involved everyone
that they could think of

to make enough noise and get
enough people involved

in their plight
to get her home.

- Well, Eligio Bishop is

a 34-year-old
from Atlanta, Georgia.

In our conversation,
he was adamant

Reid traveled to Costa Rica
on her own accord

and had not been brainwashed.

Bishop adds
that Kayla is free to go

whenever she wants to leave.

- Yeah, I'm going
back to Canada.

- The first interview
that I did with Kayla

was days after
she returned to Canada.

ANNOUNCER: You are tuned
to The Night Time Podcast.

Now, here is your host,
Jordan Bonaparte.

JORDAN: How did you feel
hearing that, you know,

people were looking for you?

KAYLA:
When I first seen the news,

like, I just thought it was
kind of just ridiculous.

JORDAN: Can you tell me
about why you left?

KAYLA: We had a meeting,
and Natureboy had decided

that I should head back
because of all the--

all the hype.

- Kayla brought the attention,

national attention
to this group.

People started really watching
who this cult leader is

and what ideology
he's spreading.

- So I really couldn't fathom
at the time,

like, how big it was.

I just was like, oh, sh*t,
we ended up on the news.

- It spread like wildfire.

[intense music]

- I got my one-way
to Costa Rica.

BEN: They called
themselves Melanation,

young people
claiming to understand

the truths of the world.

- I'm the cult leader.
I'm Natureboy.

- What do you think of
the people saying it's a cult?

- I think
that Canada is a cult.

Like, the U.S. is a cult.

- He's a blessing,
that rare breed.

NATUREBOY: My inbox jam-packed
with the one question:

how do I join?

- It was just further spreading
his message

deeper into social media
and across multiple

social media platforms.

Somewhere along the way,
that turned into

a large group of followers
who hung off his every wish

and command.

- When I speak to you,
I speak with authority.

What I'm doing is beyond
Martin Luther King.

I love myself.
ALL: I love myself.

NATUREBOY: No, some of y'all
need to hear this sh*t.

- My mindset at that time
was to go to Costa Rica

and literally never come back.

[birds chirping]

ALEX: When I first got
to Costa Rica,

it was really
such an amazing experience.

I'm in a new country.
The air smells different.

The fruit tastes better.

And maybe going here
to where Natureboy is,

that's where
I'll find my truth.

Big mistake, though.

[tense music]

I head up to this mountaintop
where he was living.

The trip was really cool.

We were, like,
driving up a mountain.

The views were impeccable,
like, incredible.

I think I was just
super excited,

ready to meet Natureboy.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

It was like a big bro,
like, big hug.

Shook my hand.

And it was a good feeling.
Like, it was cool.

It felt like
I was meeting someone

that I was meant to meet.

By the time I got
to the group,

there was 13 of us.

For me, it was very exciting.

Everyone was super friendly.

It was a very warm welcome.

Day one, bags are checked,
what you brought with you.

And I think this is
the first moment

where I was kind of
a bit alarmed

because they were asking
for me to give

my debit card to the cardholder

for everyone's debit cards
and finances.

I was kind of like, whoa.

Is this good to do?

Like, is this all right
to hand over my debit card?

- Everybody puts money
into the pot.

We give everything
that we have to our group.

CHANTELLE:
He initially started out

utilizing money
from his barbershop business,

which he had sold.

He started to get
donations as well

from a lot of people
that wanted to follow him.

$300,000--

that was the biggest lump sum
he ever received.

[cash register dings]

- If you truly gonna help,
it's gonna cost you.

And you gonna need
every f*cking penny.

VELVET: The financial support
came from people

who legitimately go
to Melanation

and willingly give
their finances

because they believe in
what it is that he's saying.

They believe in him.

I was one of the people
who came with roughly $3,000

left over
from my college tuition,

and I was like,
here, you can have it.

Natureboy calls it
"putting in the pot,"

which means, like, we all
pool resources to keep afloat.

- We all want frequency.
We want family.

We put our chips together.

- Any money that any member
had access to,

it was--it was his.

What he would tell them is
that I provide for the group,

but I'm gonna keep
a portion for myself, too.

ALEX: I was like,
oh, we're a family.

We all pitch in.

I'm still gonna eat.

I'm still gonna be able
to go on these adventures,

so just go for it.

[tense music]

Then a lot of weird stuff
started happening

in terms of purchases.

♪ ♪

We went to the mall one day,
and for some reason,

we bought a ping pong table
with my credit card,

which was $800.

I was like,
why do we need this?

But I didn't want
to question it

because we were all very scared
to question things.

♪ ♪

CHANTELLE:
Natureboy was somebody

who wanted to start
a movement,

make it go worldwide,
make it go viral,

and just bring in people
to control their money,

to control their body,
to control their mind,

and to control their life
in every aspect.

That's what a cult is to me.

- Listen to me
very f*cking carefully.

Move to Costa Rica.

- There was definitely
an aggressive side to him,

a very egotistical side to him,
where he was the leader,

and no one could
overpower that.

- There are laws, demands,
things that you must obey!

AARON: If you didn't do
what he said to do,

you were quickly humiliated.

You were quickly devalued
amongst the group.

It became, do what he tell you
to do, or else.

NATUREBOY: You will obey
the laws of nature,

or you will perish.

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- We decided to go on a--
on a drive to Limón.

♪ ♪

We were driving in the van,
and we reached

this police stop
that we had passed already.

But this time, we got stopped.

Natureboy starts a live video.

NATUREBOY: Everybody here
with me, Melanation with me.

We want to let y'all know
what's going on.

We got the police out there.

- We were well over six months'
worth of passports

not being stamped.

Natureboy encouraged all of us

to not get
the passports stamped

because he didn't want to be
a sl*ve of the United States.

He found that to be
a way to be revolutionary

and make a statement.

I'm not getting off this bus,

and we ain't getting
off this bus.

We've been moving as a unit.

They try to make us separate.
We're not separating, bruh.

- When Natureboy started
to riot over the internet,

this made the police angry

because they didn't want
to force us to do anything.

They just wanted to understand

why we weren't
stamping our passports.

VELVET: Natureboy encouraged
all of the Melanation members

to not get off the bus
and fight for our rights.

- I'm staying on this bus, bro.

I'm willing to die for this.
I told y'all.

Bro, they gon' have
to k*ll me up in here.

And I just want you to know,
if I die,

I love every motherfuckin' one
of y'all.

I did this for you.

- He's basically telling us,

we're gonna die
for the truth tonight.

And that just scared
the sh*t out of me.

- They can't f*ck with us.

I want you to know
you have to stand up

and not be a sl*ve, all of you.

- If you can imagine just,
like, a drum

beating in your heart,
like, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Like, I just didn't know what,
you know, was gonna happen.

ALL:
No! No! No! No! No!

CHANTELLE: Eligio would always
make it a point

to live stream these moments,
these events.

He was doing so
not only for the purpose

of garnering sympathy
from the public, but also,

I believe, trying to attract
new members as well.

[all shouting]

- Damn, this video is f*cked.

I just went right under
the bus seat to protect myself.

[all shouting]
VELVET: No!

- I think after that video
went live, a lot of people,

even from my own friend group
and family, they seen it,

and they were very alarmed.

And they were trying
to contact me if I was OK.

And I think
just that whole video

was the breaking point for me,
watching it back and seeing.

Just--it was very horrifying,
the ending of that video.

WOMAN: No!

[screaming]

- And it's something
that I have, to this day,

a hard time watching,

'cause those screams
at the end,

they kind of haunted me.

[suspenseful music]

- [speaking Spanish]

INTERPRETER: By resisting,
they complicated the situation,

but we always handled it
with the necessary force

to control the situation.

And at no time was there
any kind of abuse

or offense against him.

NATUREBOY:
They beat us down, reflection.

They beat us down.

CHANTELLE: He caused that.
It happened for no reason.

It happened because Natureboy
directed his followers

to break the law.

That's why
they were bruised up.

They had to be
pulled from the van.

[indistinct chatter]

ALEX: Cops pulled me
into their office,

and they said,
you are free to go.

And I was just like, OK.

Like, what the hell
just happened?

I'm allowed to leave?

I think what changed
for me was just being put

in a situation
where I literally felt like

I was gonna die
and be put in danger,

which I felt was so unnecessary

because we didn't have
to go through all that.

We could have just
got off the bus

and dealt with
what the cops wanted,

instead of creating
a whole commotion.

But I think
that's what his intention was,

so that it can get
a bunch of views

and people can find out
who this guy was.

When I came back
to regular life,

I just wanted
to shut it all off.

I deleted
all my social medias.

I didn't want anything
to do with Natureboy.

- [speaking Spanish]

INTERPRETER: At that time,
their tourist visas

and legal stay
in the country had expired,

so they were deported.

[stirring music]

- They had just got
kicked out of Costa Rica.

- We are safe.
We are OK.

KENDRA: He was saying
how they were treated...

- They treated us like sl*ves,

like sl*ve, sl*ve, sl*ves.

- And what
they were subjected to.

- They scared of the Black man.

We're strong, we're tall,
and we're Black.

Oh, they'll take our woman.
They love our music.

But the Black man is
a m*therf*cking threat.

- By now, I'm watching
the Lives, like, consistently.

He would say, like,
that we were in hell

if we stayed in America.

- If you are not able
to sacrifice your life

for what is righteous,

then you will be
in hell forever.

- And so I was ready
to get out of hell.

I packed one backpack
and put, like,

whatever clothes
I could fit in there.

I bought my ticket, and I
didn't tell anyone a thing.

I blocked all
my family members' numbers.

And I just got on the flight.

- Y'all better be glad
they didn't k*ll me

'cause my work is not done yet.

I am the truth.
I am God.

[scoffs]
I can't be k*lled.

♪ ♪