UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - After famously telling reporters that they "don't do body counts", Pentagon officials now say that they have in fact been keeping a record of civilian casualties in Iraq for one year. And while that number remains classified, independent estimates suggest that at least 50,000 people have died in the country since the 2003 invasion.
According to statistics compiled by the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies, as reported recently in the Los Angeles Times, that total is 20,000 higher then the George W. Bush administration had previously estimated.
Last year, Bush asserted that, "30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis."
In terms of population size, this would be equivalent to 570,000 U.S. citizens killed in the same period of time, noted the Jun. 25 LA Times article.
However, the Iraqi Health Ministry says this figure is artificially low since it does not include deaths that occurred outside Baghdad in the first year of the occupation, or those in the three northern provinces of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan..
And due to the ongoing daily violence and security crackdowns, as well as power shortages and failing communications networks, health workers have been unable to compile accurate data concerning how many people die in the country.
According to the London-based Iraq Body Count (IBC), a non-governmental group that keeps a database on media-reported deaths in Iraq since May 2003, last year's toll was the highest in the three years of the occupation: 36 "violent deaths" on average per day -- approximately twice the toll of the first year.
Early last week, U.S. officials in Iraq said they have been counting civilian casualties since July 2005.
Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, head of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad that U.S. soldiers are killing and injuring fewer civilians. According to him, non-combatant deaths at checkpoints have been reduced from about four to one per week in the last six months.
But John Sloboda from IBC notes that "checkpoint killings are only one category of death caused by the U.S. military".
"We have no proper evidence as to how meticulously the U.S. has been counting all categories of death caused by its own military," he told IPS.
Following Chiarelli's announcement, the Washington-based Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) and other humanitarian organisations called on the U.S. military to release its data and back up the information with further details.
"The U.S. military says they do protect civilians and we do believe them, but we can't know how true that is without the data," CIVIC's executive director, Sarah Holewinski, told IPS.
Sloboda added, "Indeed, there are on-record statements from military commanders saying that no way does the U.S. count casualties caused in engagements with hostile forces."
"When it is in a situation where its own troops are under fire, each member of the military is asked to guess how many enemy he may have killed. These reports are fed back upwards and combined somehow -- but obviously this can be no more than a guess and extremely subject to bias and political manipulation by the U.S," he said.
Death certificates are issued and counted separately by the morgue and the Health Ministry, so the two data sets do not overlap.
>From 2003 through mid-2006, the Baghdad morgue received 30,204 bodies, according to the LA Times. The Health Ministry documented 18,933 deaths from "military clashes" and "terrorist attacks" between Apr. 5, 2004 and the Jun. 1, 2006. Together, this amounts to 49,137 deaths.
Regarding the U.S. refusal to disclose an official number, Holewinski said, "The media is doing a very good job on pushing the military to release it." However, she added that this will not happen "unless the Congress requires [the Pentagon] to".
IBC estimates that between 38,786 and 43,215 civilians have died as a consequence of the military invasion of Iraq since the war began, excluding deaths among the Iraqi security forces.
"It's a baseline. It's a really good measure, but it's not the whole story, so we need the U.S. to release their data," Holewinski told IPS.
"If the U.S. (military) really wants to put information into the public domain, then it should provide the date and place of each incident, the name of all victims and perpetrators," stressed Sloboda. "What they are currently doing is self-serving tokenism and an insult to their victims."
"It's an utter obscenity, and the whole international community stands judged for its abject failure in this respect," he concluded.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
God's Plan for Our Salvation
Editor’s note: The following article is based on a keynote address delivered by Minister Farrakhan on July 3, 2006 during the concluding empowerment seminar of the three-day Essence Music Festival in Houston, Texas.]
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
To my dear Sister Susan Taylor, words are inadequate to express my deep personal gratitude for you and the Essence family and the sponsors of this Essence Music Festival and all of those who backed your ideas that you could bring all of us together, so many leaders, teachers and scholars, that we may share with our people those thoughts and ideas that will raise and make our people better, and help us, with the help of God, save ourselves and our children.
I brought two books with me to the podium, the Bible and the Holy Qur’an. Most of you may not have a Holy Qur’an in your home, but most of you have a Bible. The Bible is not a book to have in your house and read, put it on a shelf and not pay attention to. To all of our great scholars and teachers, the Bible definitely has a plan for human salvation. There is no reason to talk about saving and rescuing our children without understanding that there is a plan in the Bible to do just that and then some. The Bible came before the Holy Qur’an, but the Qur’an, in our understanding of it, is a protector of the truths in the Bible.
Nothing that we desire to do can be accomplished without the help of Almighty God. So I want to hear His Name mentioned more and see more respect for the Creator. I listened to the rappers say that they want to be sexy, but you cannot love yourself if you do not know yourself. One of the things that the slave-master purposefully did was rob us of the knowledge of self, so that it would be next to impossible for us to truly love ourselves.
There is no circumstance in your life that is negative if you have a positive attitude towards what is deemed negative. A young man came to me one day and said, “Minister, my father molested me and I want to know why God would permit my father to molest me.” I told him that I do not know that I can speak for why God permits what He permits, but I would like him to look at his abuse in this manner. Many in this audience, particularly our Sisters, have been abused by fathers, uncles, cousins and so-called friends of the family that come into the house and scope a beautiful girl and deprive her of herself before she is able to understand herself. Why does God permit such things?
If the person who suffers can understand how many tens of thousands and even millions have suffered what you have suffered, with the help of God, if He brings you out of that, then He may use you as an instrument to bring others out of their pain of what they suffer. It is how you look at the circumstances of your life. There is no negative circumstance that remains negative if you have a positive attitude toward what is negative.
I want you to get away from the negative thinking of the negative circumstances that surround your personal life, that your negative circumstance was permitted by an awesome God, that He could bring you out of that circumstance and make you a saviour of those who suffer from that circumstance. You are destined to be world saviours. I will say it again. You are destined to be world saviours.
A wise God permitted us to come into slavery. I told a Jewish rabbi some time ago that Jewish people talk too much about Hitler and Black people talk too much about White people. I told the rabbi, “Sir, you have a covenant relationship with God. You should not worry about Hitler; you should think about why did God permit Hitler to do what he did if you are the people of God.” He said, “That is a highly theological question and we don’t discuss that.”
Black people talk too much about what White folks did, but God is the ultimate cause of all things either by His active or permissive Will. We must ask, Why God, did You permit our African Brothers to sell us into slavery? Why did You God, permit Arabs, Jews, Europeans and Africans to profit from the venture of the trans-Atlantic slave trade? Why God, did You permit the slave-maker to break us and take away our names, language, culture, history and religion? The White man reared us, so our women never saw our own mothers’ dressing room, for if they did, our women would be appalled today at the way they dress.
If our women knew our mothers’ dressing room, they would dress like our mother. But the White man deprived us of our mothers. If we knew our mothers, we would speak our mothers’ tongue, but we do not know one word of our mothers’ tongue because the slave-masters killed our mothers. Many Muslims were brought into slavery; the children were separated from their parents and reared to be slaves. Fathers would pray in the original language of Arabic, but when one of the children would speak in the mother tongue, the slave-master would kill that child. So as a hymn says, I could not hear anybody pray.
We grew up in America without the knowledge of ourselves, with the slave-master breaking the Black man because he did not want any Black woman to honor, cherish, respect Black males. He wanted the Black woman for himself so that he could, as Jill Scott said, dirty the water. The White man wanted to poison the stream that brings life to the nation. There is no hope for us if our women are destroyed. Women are the water of life of the nation. If the water is corrupted and poisoned, and women bring forth the children that are the future of the nation, then the children are corrupted even at birth.
The White man reared us to fear him and not God. Since the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, he wanted to stand in God’s place so that we would fear him, that we would not disobey him, so he could then make a n----r. God does not make n-----s; the White man makes n-----s. If that is what you want to be, then you will remain as you are. That is why the word “n----r” is objectionable because it is the product of our slave-masters. He made us studs that went into Black women to produce children that we did not support. And unfortunately, that is our lifestyle today. We make babies, but we do not support them. Our women are hurting in great pain because we are not the men that we should be.
Sisters that do not know who they are, I would rather you not say that you are going to be sexy because that puts your beauty, charisma and fantastic self on a level that speaks of sex, which is biological but not on the level of who you really are. We must begin to understand self-knowledge, which will give us self-love. Many people love to say how much they love everybody, but are weak in the love of the Blackness of themselves, so who can trust you to say that you love everybody when you don’t love you. Jesus said the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Who is your neighbor? You are not in a White community, you live in the ’hood.
The greatest knowledge is the knowledge of self and the knowledge of God, together forming the requisite knowledge that will make all empirical knowledge valuable. If we do not know God or self, then our education will serve the person who gives it to us. We are educated by White people, not to serve our people, but to serve them. That is why many of us cry today, because you are looking for White people to create a job for you.
Nature makes every species look out for itself and its offspring, but the enemy destroyed our natural inclination to live, breathe, fight and die for the preservation of self. What are we doing in Iraq or Germany dying for someone else, when our first effort is to live for ourselves?
Sisters, who are you? Brothers, who are you? In the Bible, Genesis 1:26, God said He made man in His own image and after His own likeness. God is a spirit and so are you. If you are in the image and likeness of God, then God must be like you and you must be like God. The apostles asked, How can you love God whom you have never seen and hate your Brother whom you see every day? There is a kinship between your Brother and God, so you prove your love for God by loving your Brother. When God sees how you love another, He knows you love Him.
What about women? Did God create women in His image? Genesis 5 reads: “Male and female created He them and blessed them and called their name, Adam.” Male and female are Adam; male and female are twin sides of the One God. When men beat women, it is like beating yourself because she is a part of you and you are a part of her—and both are a part of God. When Sisters say that they want to know themselves, they should understand that they are God, which will immediately uplift their feelings and thoughts about themselves.
David the Psalmist said, “Ye are all gods, children of the Most High God.” But Black people have been taught all of our lives that Black people are ugly and cursed children of Ham, doomed to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for other people. It is a lie, Hamitic madness covered in the name of anthropology. Before there was Ham, Shem and Noah, there was Adam. What color was Adam? If Adam was White, Black people could not have been created genetically. According to Mendelian Law, dark skin is dominant and light skin is recessive. You can get the recessive from the dominant, but you cannot get the dominant from the recessive.
So Black children of Almighty God, you are the original life in the universe. That is why White people and others are called mankind—they are a kind of a man from the original. The Bible says from one blood came all nations. That one blood is you. So when you go home, stand in the mirror and take a good look at your Black self. Look at your beautiful bodies before you mess them up.
To the White people that may be in the audience, I am not a racist. I cannot stand racism. I do not believe that any human being should try to make themselves better than another according to the color of their skin. However, since we are your fathers and mothers, then you should honor your fathers and mothers that your days may be long in the land that our God has given you. Since Black people are the first, we are direct descendants from the Lord of creation, the people of God born with the capacity to reflect Him more perfectly—which can be proven from Genesis to Revelation.
One day, I want to make a subject on the great value of the White race. They would be shocked to hear such a subject from me. They have fulfilled a very great purpose. Without White people doing to us what God permitted them to do, we would not be the people that we are becoming. As the Bible teaches, “I did not try you with silver and gold. I tried you in the furnace of affliction.” When God wants to make a people for His glory, He does not make it easy on them. He puts forces around them to try, burn and purify them. Although they enter the affliction like dross, they emerge like fine, pure gold.
Why did God permit the enslavement of our people? In Genesis 15, God said to Abram, “Know of a surety that your seed is going to be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and they shall serve them and afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge. And afterwards shall they come out with great substance and thou shall go to your fathers in peace and be buried in old age.”
The Children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years. God sent them Moses. Was he an integrationist? Was Moses’ mission from God to integrate the Children of Israel into the Egyptians? What did Moses tell Pharaoh? Let my people go. After Moses came to Pharaoh, they were persecuted more. So, they cursed Moses and blamed him for the increase of their hardships. But then God began afflicting Egypt with 10 Plagues. The last plague that God brought was the plague of death. Those who believed in Moses made the sign of an ‘X’ using the blood of a lamb on the post in front of their house so that the death angel would pass over their house. After Passover and the death angel struck, Pharaoh told Moses to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt. But then he changed his mind and sent his army to kill them, and that is when God moved to destroy Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea.
The Children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years, grumbling about their conditions of living and having to eat the same food every day. A slave mentality is a dangerous thing because when the enemy makes a slave, he makes the slave to love him more than they love God, Who would deliver them or themselves. So instead of putting their hope in a messenger, they put their hope in Pharaoh. So when the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, they said their lives were better under Pharaoh than after becoming independent. So in the wilderness, the slave mentality took over.
God told Moses to send someone to spy out the land, which he did. The spy came back and reported that the land was ready but that there were giants in the land. God urged the Children of Israel to go forth in the land, assuring them that He was with them. He wanted them to defeat the giants, so their name would be remembered and His Name would be glorified for what they did in His Name. But they were slaves and refused. So God concluded that they were not the people that He wanted. So He said that He would let them wander in the wilderness until they died out, but allow their children to inhabit the Promised Land.
How does this scripture relate to events in 2006? In Deuteronomy 18:18, God tells Moses about a future people: “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, Moses, and I will put My words in his mouth and he will speak unto them all that I shall command him and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My Name I will require of him.” You do not need a man like Moses unless you have a wicked king like Pharaoh and a nation like Egypt that would enslave a people who belong to God for 400 years.
Black people have been in America for a little over 400 years. Is it our land or a strange land? Strange customs are carried out in this land but Black people have adopted all the strange customs of the stranger. This is not the way that we lived in Africa or the Holy Land. We have adopted all of the ways of the stranger and have become estranged from ourselves.
The scripture says that the “nation they shall serve will I judge.” America is under divine judgment as we speak. This nation is falling, not because you put it down, but because the hand of God is against America for her evil done to Black people and others, but mainly Black people. The enemy is very smart and knows the identity of Black people according to scriptural prophecy. He knows our destiny and he knows that God is after us.
“My God he calls me, he calls me by the thunder, I hear him call within my soul. I ain’t got long to stay here.” We used to sing those kinds of songs in the church. You don’t have long to hang out in the bar room, crack house or whorehouse. You don’t have long to party, shaking your behind and being the low-life creature that the enemy has made. Those days have come to an end. Within the next year or two, whether I am living or dead, you will face every word that I am about to tell you. I am not here for your entertainment. The government of America and wise theologians know the scriptural identity and destiny of Black people. That is the reason the scriptures say, “We war not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The White man mistreated Black people in the church because racism and White supremacy are embedded in the church. So we were forced to form our own churches, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Holiness and the Pentecostal. We are deeply religious and make more sense out of religion than all of the White preachers put together. Black preachers are some of the best preachers that ever stood up to preach. There is no one like Bishop T.D. Jakes. There is no one like Reverend Thurston of the National Baptist Convention. There is no one like the Pentecostal Bishop Patterson. You are anointed by God because you are the people of God, but you are following your slave-master to his doom and he is taking you down with him.
Pharaoh saw the Children of Israel multiplying and he hatched a conspiracy to kill all the male children and spare the female. What is happening to the Black male today? The Black male is being destroyed in front of our eyes. In colleges and universities, as high as 60 percent of the student population is female and 30 to 40 percent male. The Brothers are on the corners, selling drugs, stealing, making whores out of children and imprisoned. They are not bad people—it is circumstances. The enemy has crafted social engineering to kill and crush the Black male from rising into the Promise of God.
Some say young Black men just need education; yes, but not the kind that you have received because the White man has made you a doctor that heals nothing. We may have a doctorate in Economics, but the economic condition, not only of your people, but America, cannot be healed with your doctorate degree. There are medical doctors and psychiatrists, yet the country is full of sick people. The White man gave us education to serve his interests and only the interference with those of consciousness in that education can cause that education to work for us. Michael Eric Dyson is one of the most brilliant Black men that we have today, but he is in a White university.
I heard that my Sister Mo’Nique said that Reverend Jesse Jackson was pimping. We are negative on each other but God does not judge like we judge. We may judge a present circumstance and its negative impact, but God judges by putting the positive on the scale with the negative so that good outweighs evil. You may not think Jesse will be in paradise, but wouldn’t you be surprised. How much have we benefited from this Brother? We might have a problem with this or that aspect of Jesse Jackson but, from my heart, I say to you that he has served Black people immeasurably when he stood up to become president of the United States and beat the best of White people in debates. He gave every little Black child hope that we could rule this country. There would not have been a Governor Douglas Wilder, New York Mayor David Dinkins, entering corporate America.
So be careful when you talk about Jesse Jackson. Respect him for what he gave us all and leave his judgment to God, for the scripture says, “Judge not, lest you be in danger of being judged.” I would respectfully say to my Sister, Mo’Nique, whom I love, if you got in trouble with the police tomorrow, you would be happy to see Rev. Jackson show up on the scene. I do not care what you think of Reverend Al Sharpton and Marc Morial. You can take us all apart if you want, because we are standing in front of you so our mistakes and errors are evident. But we destroy our leaders by focusing on the negative but do not balance it. The slave-master taught us to destroy each other and that is why we kill our leaders.
***
I am not compromising with this world. I hate this world and I want to act with God to wipe this world off the map so that the Kingdom of God can be established on this earth, so that everyone in the Kingdom—Black, Brown, Red and White—can live in freedom, justice, equality and peace. I will be damned if corporate America is going to make me a punk because it can use money to influence people. It is time for every man who is going to be a man to stand up like a man, so that our people can go free. But your hope is in your enemy.
The plagues of God’s Judgment are on America. There is unusual drought and fire in the west and water in the east. The White man is worried about terrorists, but no one terrorizes like God. When God brings down His wrath, He is no respecter of person and He kills men, women and children. America is under Divine Judgment. If you keep your head in the slop trough, like the proverbial pig looking for something filthy to eat, then you will not see the storm clouds and lightning or hear the thunder pealing. America is not going to win the war in Iraq or any other war—tell President Bush I said it. America is going to have to reap what it has sown. Do you believe that scripture? You may not like what I am saying, but you will wake up in the morning and see disaster. God will destroy all the coastlines in America, which is written in the Holy Qur’an and Bible.
Our people must know that Judgment is here and not to come. We have to repent and clean up, or the chastisement of God is going to overtake us. You have been playing with God. Our rappers call our Sisters b-----s and whores, but when they get their awards for degrading our people, they say, “I thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” The White man will give you an Academy Award for calling your women out of their name and glorifying the pimp life, so you become a millionaire on degradation and you think it is alright. You glorify your low-down life, but that is where the enemy wants to keep you in order to make you unworthy of the Promise of God.
What is the Promise of God? That He will search the earth for that sheep that was lost and bring him again and settle him on the mountains of Israel. He will choose a foolish people to be His people—that is Black people. He will choose a people that is not, to bring to naught the things that are. He will vex you with a foolish people.
As I said to my dear Brother Tavis Smiley, you cannot make a covenant with Black people until they break their covenant with the enemy. The enemy has already let you go, but God has to strike America for you to know that it is time to go.
What are you going to do in the next few years, when the dollar—for which you sold your Brother out, turned tricks, betrayed each other, killed and robbed the elderly, sacrifice your life—when it is worth nothing. It is falling as we speak. America is angry with Iran because it intends to set up an oil bourse, where every dollar that buys oil is bought with the euro, instead of the U.S. dollar. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he is going to make the ruble strong again. He has enough oil for Russian self-sufficiency and he wants to sell the oil for rubles, instead of U.S. dollars. While these countries begin detaching oil from the dollar, Asian countries have an abundance of U.S. dollars and America is borrowing money to keep her front up. She is $8.4 trillion in debt and has mortgaged the future of 10 generations for a dollar that will soon become worthless.
Pharaoh has let you go. It is time for you to let him go. You have to leave out of the mentality of a slave and get out of the mind that you need them to secure a future for you. The problem is that you hope in them and not in God and not in yourself.
This is the reason the scriptures say, “If my people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.” America needs a healing. We need a healing. The world needs a healing. The conditions are plain. You must do something to make God know you are serious about your liberation. You must stand up and recognize God. You must humble yourself and recognize that there is nothing that you can do for your liberation without the Presence, Help and Backing of God. You must pray and seek his Face—meaning seek His pleasure—and turn from your wicked ways. I hope that you heard the soberness of this message. After the party is over, we must face the serious business of saving our lives and children, and possibly the nation, because America is falling and the president is taking it down.
May God shine the light of His countenance upon us and make us again the great people that we once were. Let go of Pharaoh and let us go with God and build a mighty, strong and righteous people for His Glory.
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
To my dear Sister Susan Taylor, words are inadequate to express my deep personal gratitude for you and the Essence family and the sponsors of this Essence Music Festival and all of those who backed your ideas that you could bring all of us together, so many leaders, teachers and scholars, that we may share with our people those thoughts and ideas that will raise and make our people better, and help us, with the help of God, save ourselves and our children.
I brought two books with me to the podium, the Bible and the Holy Qur’an. Most of you may not have a Holy Qur’an in your home, but most of you have a Bible. The Bible is not a book to have in your house and read, put it on a shelf and not pay attention to. To all of our great scholars and teachers, the Bible definitely has a plan for human salvation. There is no reason to talk about saving and rescuing our children without understanding that there is a plan in the Bible to do just that and then some. The Bible came before the Holy Qur’an, but the Qur’an, in our understanding of it, is a protector of the truths in the Bible.
Nothing that we desire to do can be accomplished without the help of Almighty God. So I want to hear His Name mentioned more and see more respect for the Creator. I listened to the rappers say that they want to be sexy, but you cannot love yourself if you do not know yourself. One of the things that the slave-master purposefully did was rob us of the knowledge of self, so that it would be next to impossible for us to truly love ourselves.
There is no circumstance in your life that is negative if you have a positive attitude towards what is deemed negative. A young man came to me one day and said, “Minister, my father molested me and I want to know why God would permit my father to molest me.” I told him that I do not know that I can speak for why God permits what He permits, but I would like him to look at his abuse in this manner. Many in this audience, particularly our Sisters, have been abused by fathers, uncles, cousins and so-called friends of the family that come into the house and scope a beautiful girl and deprive her of herself before she is able to understand herself. Why does God permit such things?
If the person who suffers can understand how many tens of thousands and even millions have suffered what you have suffered, with the help of God, if He brings you out of that, then He may use you as an instrument to bring others out of their pain of what they suffer. It is how you look at the circumstances of your life. There is no negative circumstance that remains negative if you have a positive attitude toward what is negative.
I want you to get away from the negative thinking of the negative circumstances that surround your personal life, that your negative circumstance was permitted by an awesome God, that He could bring you out of that circumstance and make you a saviour of those who suffer from that circumstance. You are destined to be world saviours. I will say it again. You are destined to be world saviours.
A wise God permitted us to come into slavery. I told a Jewish rabbi some time ago that Jewish people talk too much about Hitler and Black people talk too much about White people. I told the rabbi, “Sir, you have a covenant relationship with God. You should not worry about Hitler; you should think about why did God permit Hitler to do what he did if you are the people of God.” He said, “That is a highly theological question and we don’t discuss that.”
Black people talk too much about what White folks did, but God is the ultimate cause of all things either by His active or permissive Will. We must ask, Why God, did You permit our African Brothers to sell us into slavery? Why did You God, permit Arabs, Jews, Europeans and Africans to profit from the venture of the trans-Atlantic slave trade? Why God, did You permit the slave-maker to break us and take away our names, language, culture, history and religion? The White man reared us, so our women never saw our own mothers’ dressing room, for if they did, our women would be appalled today at the way they dress.
If our women knew our mothers’ dressing room, they would dress like our mother. But the White man deprived us of our mothers. If we knew our mothers, we would speak our mothers’ tongue, but we do not know one word of our mothers’ tongue because the slave-masters killed our mothers. Many Muslims were brought into slavery; the children were separated from their parents and reared to be slaves. Fathers would pray in the original language of Arabic, but when one of the children would speak in the mother tongue, the slave-master would kill that child. So as a hymn says, I could not hear anybody pray.
We grew up in America without the knowledge of ourselves, with the slave-master breaking the Black man because he did not want any Black woman to honor, cherish, respect Black males. He wanted the Black woman for himself so that he could, as Jill Scott said, dirty the water. The White man wanted to poison the stream that brings life to the nation. There is no hope for us if our women are destroyed. Women are the water of life of the nation. If the water is corrupted and poisoned, and women bring forth the children that are the future of the nation, then the children are corrupted even at birth.
The White man reared us to fear him and not God. Since the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, he wanted to stand in God’s place so that we would fear him, that we would not disobey him, so he could then make a n----r. God does not make n-----s; the White man makes n-----s. If that is what you want to be, then you will remain as you are. That is why the word “n----r” is objectionable because it is the product of our slave-masters. He made us studs that went into Black women to produce children that we did not support. And unfortunately, that is our lifestyle today. We make babies, but we do not support them. Our women are hurting in great pain because we are not the men that we should be.
Sisters that do not know who they are, I would rather you not say that you are going to be sexy because that puts your beauty, charisma and fantastic self on a level that speaks of sex, which is biological but not on the level of who you really are. We must begin to understand self-knowledge, which will give us self-love. Many people love to say how much they love everybody, but are weak in the love of the Blackness of themselves, so who can trust you to say that you love everybody when you don’t love you. Jesus said the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Who is your neighbor? You are not in a White community, you live in the ’hood.
The greatest knowledge is the knowledge of self and the knowledge of God, together forming the requisite knowledge that will make all empirical knowledge valuable. If we do not know God or self, then our education will serve the person who gives it to us. We are educated by White people, not to serve our people, but to serve them. That is why many of us cry today, because you are looking for White people to create a job for you.
Nature makes every species look out for itself and its offspring, but the enemy destroyed our natural inclination to live, breathe, fight and die for the preservation of self. What are we doing in Iraq or Germany dying for someone else, when our first effort is to live for ourselves?
Sisters, who are you? Brothers, who are you? In the Bible, Genesis 1:26, God said He made man in His own image and after His own likeness. God is a spirit and so are you. If you are in the image and likeness of God, then God must be like you and you must be like God. The apostles asked, How can you love God whom you have never seen and hate your Brother whom you see every day? There is a kinship between your Brother and God, so you prove your love for God by loving your Brother. When God sees how you love another, He knows you love Him.
What about women? Did God create women in His image? Genesis 5 reads: “Male and female created He them and blessed them and called their name, Adam.” Male and female are Adam; male and female are twin sides of the One God. When men beat women, it is like beating yourself because she is a part of you and you are a part of her—and both are a part of God. When Sisters say that they want to know themselves, they should understand that they are God, which will immediately uplift their feelings and thoughts about themselves.
David the Psalmist said, “Ye are all gods, children of the Most High God.” But Black people have been taught all of our lives that Black people are ugly and cursed children of Ham, doomed to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for other people. It is a lie, Hamitic madness covered in the name of anthropology. Before there was Ham, Shem and Noah, there was Adam. What color was Adam? If Adam was White, Black people could not have been created genetically. According to Mendelian Law, dark skin is dominant and light skin is recessive. You can get the recessive from the dominant, but you cannot get the dominant from the recessive.
So Black children of Almighty God, you are the original life in the universe. That is why White people and others are called mankind—they are a kind of a man from the original. The Bible says from one blood came all nations. That one blood is you. So when you go home, stand in the mirror and take a good look at your Black self. Look at your beautiful bodies before you mess them up.
To the White people that may be in the audience, I am not a racist. I cannot stand racism. I do not believe that any human being should try to make themselves better than another according to the color of their skin. However, since we are your fathers and mothers, then you should honor your fathers and mothers that your days may be long in the land that our God has given you. Since Black people are the first, we are direct descendants from the Lord of creation, the people of God born with the capacity to reflect Him more perfectly—which can be proven from Genesis to Revelation.
One day, I want to make a subject on the great value of the White race. They would be shocked to hear such a subject from me. They have fulfilled a very great purpose. Without White people doing to us what God permitted them to do, we would not be the people that we are becoming. As the Bible teaches, “I did not try you with silver and gold. I tried you in the furnace of affliction.” When God wants to make a people for His glory, He does not make it easy on them. He puts forces around them to try, burn and purify them. Although they enter the affliction like dross, they emerge like fine, pure gold.
Why did God permit the enslavement of our people? In Genesis 15, God said to Abram, “Know of a surety that your seed is going to be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and they shall serve them and afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge. And afterwards shall they come out with great substance and thou shall go to your fathers in peace and be buried in old age.”
The Children of Israel were in Egypt for 400 years. God sent them Moses. Was he an integrationist? Was Moses’ mission from God to integrate the Children of Israel into the Egyptians? What did Moses tell Pharaoh? Let my people go. After Moses came to Pharaoh, they were persecuted more. So, they cursed Moses and blamed him for the increase of their hardships. But then God began afflicting Egypt with 10 Plagues. The last plague that God brought was the plague of death. Those who believed in Moses made the sign of an ‘X’ using the blood of a lamb on the post in front of their house so that the death angel would pass over their house. After Passover and the death angel struck, Pharaoh told Moses to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt. But then he changed his mind and sent his army to kill them, and that is when God moved to destroy Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea.
The Children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years, grumbling about their conditions of living and having to eat the same food every day. A slave mentality is a dangerous thing because when the enemy makes a slave, he makes the slave to love him more than they love God, Who would deliver them or themselves. So instead of putting their hope in a messenger, they put their hope in Pharaoh. So when the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, they said their lives were better under Pharaoh than after becoming independent. So in the wilderness, the slave mentality took over.
God told Moses to send someone to spy out the land, which he did. The spy came back and reported that the land was ready but that there were giants in the land. God urged the Children of Israel to go forth in the land, assuring them that He was with them. He wanted them to defeat the giants, so their name would be remembered and His Name would be glorified for what they did in His Name. But they were slaves and refused. So God concluded that they were not the people that He wanted. So He said that He would let them wander in the wilderness until they died out, but allow their children to inhabit the Promised Land.
How does this scripture relate to events in 2006? In Deuteronomy 18:18, God tells Moses about a future people: “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, Moses, and I will put My words in his mouth and he will speak unto them all that I shall command him and it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My Name I will require of him.” You do not need a man like Moses unless you have a wicked king like Pharaoh and a nation like Egypt that would enslave a people who belong to God for 400 years.
Black people have been in America for a little over 400 years. Is it our land or a strange land? Strange customs are carried out in this land but Black people have adopted all the strange customs of the stranger. This is not the way that we lived in Africa or the Holy Land. We have adopted all of the ways of the stranger and have become estranged from ourselves.
The scripture says that the “nation they shall serve will I judge.” America is under divine judgment as we speak. This nation is falling, not because you put it down, but because the hand of God is against America for her evil done to Black people and others, but mainly Black people. The enemy is very smart and knows the identity of Black people according to scriptural prophecy. He knows our destiny and he knows that God is after us.
“My God he calls me, he calls me by the thunder, I hear him call within my soul. I ain’t got long to stay here.” We used to sing those kinds of songs in the church. You don’t have long to hang out in the bar room, crack house or whorehouse. You don’t have long to party, shaking your behind and being the low-life creature that the enemy has made. Those days have come to an end. Within the next year or two, whether I am living or dead, you will face every word that I am about to tell you. I am not here for your entertainment. The government of America and wise theologians know the scriptural identity and destiny of Black people. That is the reason the scriptures say, “We war not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The White man mistreated Black people in the church because racism and White supremacy are embedded in the church. So we were forced to form our own churches, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Holiness and the Pentecostal. We are deeply religious and make more sense out of religion than all of the White preachers put together. Black preachers are some of the best preachers that ever stood up to preach. There is no one like Bishop T.D. Jakes. There is no one like Reverend Thurston of the National Baptist Convention. There is no one like the Pentecostal Bishop Patterson. You are anointed by God because you are the people of God, but you are following your slave-master to his doom and he is taking you down with him.
Pharaoh saw the Children of Israel multiplying and he hatched a conspiracy to kill all the male children and spare the female. What is happening to the Black male today? The Black male is being destroyed in front of our eyes. In colleges and universities, as high as 60 percent of the student population is female and 30 to 40 percent male. The Brothers are on the corners, selling drugs, stealing, making whores out of children and imprisoned. They are not bad people—it is circumstances. The enemy has crafted social engineering to kill and crush the Black male from rising into the Promise of God.
Some say young Black men just need education; yes, but not the kind that you have received because the White man has made you a doctor that heals nothing. We may have a doctorate in Economics, but the economic condition, not only of your people, but America, cannot be healed with your doctorate degree. There are medical doctors and psychiatrists, yet the country is full of sick people. The White man gave us education to serve his interests and only the interference with those of consciousness in that education can cause that education to work for us. Michael Eric Dyson is one of the most brilliant Black men that we have today, but he is in a White university.
I heard that my Sister Mo’Nique said that Reverend Jesse Jackson was pimping. We are negative on each other but God does not judge like we judge. We may judge a present circumstance and its negative impact, but God judges by putting the positive on the scale with the negative so that good outweighs evil. You may not think Jesse will be in paradise, but wouldn’t you be surprised. How much have we benefited from this Brother? We might have a problem with this or that aspect of Jesse Jackson but, from my heart, I say to you that he has served Black people immeasurably when he stood up to become president of the United States and beat the best of White people in debates. He gave every little Black child hope that we could rule this country. There would not have been a Governor Douglas Wilder, New York Mayor David Dinkins, entering corporate America.
So be careful when you talk about Jesse Jackson. Respect him for what he gave us all and leave his judgment to God, for the scripture says, “Judge not, lest you be in danger of being judged.” I would respectfully say to my Sister, Mo’Nique, whom I love, if you got in trouble with the police tomorrow, you would be happy to see Rev. Jackson show up on the scene. I do not care what you think of Reverend Al Sharpton and Marc Morial. You can take us all apart if you want, because we are standing in front of you so our mistakes and errors are evident. But we destroy our leaders by focusing on the negative but do not balance it. The slave-master taught us to destroy each other and that is why we kill our leaders.
***
I am not compromising with this world. I hate this world and I want to act with God to wipe this world off the map so that the Kingdom of God can be established on this earth, so that everyone in the Kingdom—Black, Brown, Red and White—can live in freedom, justice, equality and peace. I will be damned if corporate America is going to make me a punk because it can use money to influence people. It is time for every man who is going to be a man to stand up like a man, so that our people can go free. But your hope is in your enemy.
The plagues of God’s Judgment are on America. There is unusual drought and fire in the west and water in the east. The White man is worried about terrorists, but no one terrorizes like God. When God brings down His wrath, He is no respecter of person and He kills men, women and children. America is under Divine Judgment. If you keep your head in the slop trough, like the proverbial pig looking for something filthy to eat, then you will not see the storm clouds and lightning or hear the thunder pealing. America is not going to win the war in Iraq or any other war—tell President Bush I said it. America is going to have to reap what it has sown. Do you believe that scripture? You may not like what I am saying, but you will wake up in the morning and see disaster. God will destroy all the coastlines in America, which is written in the Holy Qur’an and Bible.
Our people must know that Judgment is here and not to come. We have to repent and clean up, or the chastisement of God is going to overtake us. You have been playing with God. Our rappers call our Sisters b-----s and whores, but when they get their awards for degrading our people, they say, “I thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” The White man will give you an Academy Award for calling your women out of their name and glorifying the pimp life, so you become a millionaire on degradation and you think it is alright. You glorify your low-down life, but that is where the enemy wants to keep you in order to make you unworthy of the Promise of God.
What is the Promise of God? That He will search the earth for that sheep that was lost and bring him again and settle him on the mountains of Israel. He will choose a foolish people to be His people—that is Black people. He will choose a people that is not, to bring to naught the things that are. He will vex you with a foolish people.
As I said to my dear Brother Tavis Smiley, you cannot make a covenant with Black people until they break their covenant with the enemy. The enemy has already let you go, but God has to strike America for you to know that it is time to go.
What are you going to do in the next few years, when the dollar—for which you sold your Brother out, turned tricks, betrayed each other, killed and robbed the elderly, sacrifice your life—when it is worth nothing. It is falling as we speak. America is angry with Iran because it intends to set up an oil bourse, where every dollar that buys oil is bought with the euro, instead of the U.S. dollar. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says he is going to make the ruble strong again. He has enough oil for Russian self-sufficiency and he wants to sell the oil for rubles, instead of U.S. dollars. While these countries begin detaching oil from the dollar, Asian countries have an abundance of U.S. dollars and America is borrowing money to keep her front up. She is $8.4 trillion in debt and has mortgaged the future of 10 generations for a dollar that will soon become worthless.
Pharaoh has let you go. It is time for you to let him go. You have to leave out of the mentality of a slave and get out of the mind that you need them to secure a future for you. The problem is that you hope in them and not in God and not in yourself.
This is the reason the scriptures say, “If my people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.” America needs a healing. We need a healing. The world needs a healing. The conditions are plain. You must do something to make God know you are serious about your liberation. You must stand up and recognize God. You must humble yourself and recognize that there is nothing that you can do for your liberation without the Presence, Help and Backing of God. You must pray and seek his Face—meaning seek His pleasure—and turn from your wicked ways. I hope that you heard the soberness of this message. After the party is over, we must face the serious business of saving our lives and children, and possibly the nation, because America is falling and the president is taking it down.
May God shine the light of His countenance upon us and make us again the great people that we once were. Let go of Pharaoh and let us go with God and build a mighty, strong and righteous people for His Glory.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Media War Propaganda for Israel; Know What's Real
By Ramzy Baroud
PalestineChronicle.com
Racism is "the belief that one 'racial group' is inferior to another and the practices of the dominant group to maintain the inferior position of the dominated group. Often defined as a combination of power, prejudice and discrimination."
This is how the British Library defines racism on its Web site. The above definition hardly deviates from the essence of almost all definitions of the ominous concept. And, indeed, the concept is being fully utilized with Israel's onslaught against the Palestinians, and the international community and media's mild, if not accommodating response to the onslaught.
The capture of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit is an act of self-defense. According to international law and the Geneva Conventions, he can be considered a prisoner of war, but not according to CNN, Fox News and the increasingly spineless BBC, which presents the soldier as a victim, who was "kidnapped" by Palestinian "militants" who are "affiliated" with the Hamas government.
By not challenging the Israeli narrative in any meaningful way, the uncritical media has become a tool in the hands of Israel's war strategists and their eternal concoctions.
Consider this example. An Israeli military commander tells a BBC correspondent dispatched to the border area between Israel and Gaza, that Israel intends on opening the border for "as long as it takes" to offset the humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza. The Israeli Army representative in a barefaced lie declares that the border has always been open, despite the perpetual Palestinian threat on the state of Israel. The BBC correspondent thanks him and signs off.
Is it possible that the BBC is unaware of the fact that Gaza has been under a strict military siege since Hamas' democratic advent to power through the January 2006 elections? Could it be that the Western media has missed the dozens of shocking reports that have warned that the Israeli siege -- which began months before the capture of Shalit -- was soon to create chaos and panic among the already malnourished Palestinians in Gaza? Did they all miss statements by top Israeli officials vowing to carry on with the siege until the outset of Hamas?
Some reporters misrepresent facts out of ignorance, not by design. But if that indeed was the case, then how can one excuse the fact that the same media that coined the term "kidnapping" to describe the action of the Palestinian fighters who captured Shalit refused to use the same association to describe the kidnapping of most of the elected Palestinian Cabinet, mostly academics with no connection to any militant wing?
Israel's military spokesman insisted that they are "all terrorists" and Israel, "like any democratic" country has the right to protect itself against terrorists. If that was true, why did Israel refrain from kidnapping them until Palestinian fighters embarrassed the Israeli Army and captured their first prisoner of war in a long time? Is "rounding up" Palestinian ministers and scores of legislators the same as having a soldier captured in what has been for long a one-sided Israeli war?
If you are an avid viewer of Fox News or a reader of the New York Times, then Israel is yet to exceed its legitimate legal boundaries: that of a democracy opting to defend its citizens. But only racism can lead to such rationale. Only a racist media portrays the capture of a soldier whose army units have besieged Gazans for years, denying them food and medicine, as a violation of all that is holy. Only a racist media presents the kidnapping of 9,000 Palestinians, now in Israeli jails, as a just outcome of Israel's routine arrests of Palestinian terrorists or potential terrorists. Only racism can play down the Israeli destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, which is justified without question, for such actions are necessary to impede the militants' efforts.
And yet, Israel is praised for its "generous" act of allowing some food to be transferred to Gazans, who ironically have gone hungry because of the Israeli-spearheaded international campaign to punish Palestinians for electing Hamas.
Only racism can completely remove from the current discourse the murder of dozens of Palestinian civilians at the hands of the Israeli Army (90 civilians in seven weeks) as the reason that led to the Palestinian raid on the Israeli Army post and the capture of Shalit, and instead depict the current escalation as if it was entirely the work of the Palestinians, with Israel's slate still clean.
Indeed, Israel's slate will continue to be clean as long as racism and inequality are the concepts according to which this conflict is explained. Israel has the right to do all the above actions without hesitation because Israel is not Palestine, and the lives and well being of the residents of Israel, at least some of them, cannot be equated with Palestinians. Turn the tables for a moment and you'll understand how repellent such racism is.
Inequality has always been at the heart of this conflict, the late professor Edward Said used to say. Racism is at the heart of inequality, I must add. The media can be ignorant, biased and self-serving, indeed, but it can also be utterly racist.
PalestineChronicle.com
Racism is "the belief that one 'racial group' is inferior to another and the practices of the dominant group to maintain the inferior position of the dominated group. Often defined as a combination of power, prejudice and discrimination."
This is how the British Library defines racism on its Web site. The above definition hardly deviates from the essence of almost all definitions of the ominous concept. And, indeed, the concept is being fully utilized with Israel's onslaught against the Palestinians, and the international community and media's mild, if not accommodating response to the onslaught.
The capture of Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit is an act of self-defense. According to international law and the Geneva Conventions, he can be considered a prisoner of war, but not according to CNN, Fox News and the increasingly spineless BBC, which presents the soldier as a victim, who was "kidnapped" by Palestinian "militants" who are "affiliated" with the Hamas government.
By not challenging the Israeli narrative in any meaningful way, the uncritical media has become a tool in the hands of Israel's war strategists and their eternal concoctions.
Consider this example. An Israeli military commander tells a BBC correspondent dispatched to the border area between Israel and Gaza, that Israel intends on opening the border for "as long as it takes" to offset the humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza. The Israeli Army representative in a barefaced lie declares that the border has always been open, despite the perpetual Palestinian threat on the state of Israel. The BBC correspondent thanks him and signs off.
Is it possible that the BBC is unaware of the fact that Gaza has been under a strict military siege since Hamas' democratic advent to power through the January 2006 elections? Could it be that the Western media has missed the dozens of shocking reports that have warned that the Israeli siege -- which began months before the capture of Shalit -- was soon to create chaos and panic among the already malnourished Palestinians in Gaza? Did they all miss statements by top Israeli officials vowing to carry on with the siege until the outset of Hamas?
Some reporters misrepresent facts out of ignorance, not by design. But if that indeed was the case, then how can one excuse the fact that the same media that coined the term "kidnapping" to describe the action of the Palestinian fighters who captured Shalit refused to use the same association to describe the kidnapping of most of the elected Palestinian Cabinet, mostly academics with no connection to any militant wing?
Israel's military spokesman insisted that they are "all terrorists" and Israel, "like any democratic" country has the right to protect itself against terrorists. If that was true, why did Israel refrain from kidnapping them until Palestinian fighters embarrassed the Israeli Army and captured their first prisoner of war in a long time? Is "rounding up" Palestinian ministers and scores of legislators the same as having a soldier captured in what has been for long a one-sided Israeli war?
If you are an avid viewer of Fox News or a reader of the New York Times, then Israel is yet to exceed its legitimate legal boundaries: that of a democracy opting to defend its citizens. But only racism can lead to such rationale. Only a racist media portrays the capture of a soldier whose army units have besieged Gazans for years, denying them food and medicine, as a violation of all that is holy. Only a racist media presents the kidnapping of 9,000 Palestinians, now in Israeli jails, as a just outcome of Israel's routine arrests of Palestinian terrorists or potential terrorists. Only racism can play down the Israeli destruction of Gaza's infrastructure, which is justified without question, for such actions are necessary to impede the militants' efforts.
And yet, Israel is praised for its "generous" act of allowing some food to be transferred to Gazans, who ironically have gone hungry because of the Israeli-spearheaded international campaign to punish Palestinians for electing Hamas.
Only racism can completely remove from the current discourse the murder of dozens of Palestinian civilians at the hands of the Israeli Army (90 civilians in seven weeks) as the reason that led to the Palestinian raid on the Israeli Army post and the capture of Shalit, and instead depict the current escalation as if it was entirely the work of the Palestinians, with Israel's slate still clean.
Indeed, Israel's slate will continue to be clean as long as racism and inequality are the concepts according to which this conflict is explained. Israel has the right to do all the above actions without hesitation because Israel is not Palestine, and the lives and well being of the residents of Israel, at least some of them, cannot be equated with Palestinians. Turn the tables for a moment and you'll understand how repellent such racism is.
Inequality has always been at the heart of this conflict, the late professor Edward Said used to say. Racism is at the heart of inequality, I must add. The media can be ignorant, biased and self-serving, indeed, but it can also be utterly racist.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Then shall that Wicked One (Satan) be revealed
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
Do you remember the parable in the Bible where Jesus turned water into wine during a wedding feast? It doesn’t mean literally turning water into wine. Water is the source of life itself. The Revealed Word of Allah (God) is Life. However, when you take that Revealed Word and give the understanding of it, it becomes that which greatly enlivens the spirit. There are times when you can hear something which makes you nod your head in agreement; then, you can hear something that literally turns you on and invigorates you to the degree that you have a seemingly boundless energy to do. That is turning water into wine.
You cannot get that kind of reaction from people until you give them understanding of the Word of Allah (God). Then, you can get them to live life on a higher plane of existence.
Every truth contains electrical energy. The highest form of electrical energy is that which comes when we accept Divine Revelation. The light of electrical energy that is in the truth, when the truth is believed and carried into practice, gives you power and life, spiritually and mentally, and the light of that truth is seen in our countenance, and reflected in our action. The more you converse on the Revealed Word of Allah (God), the more you energize one another. Whenever your conversation degenerates into mundane things that are not necessarily connected to the Revelation, the electrical charge in the conversation is diminished. When you waste your time engaging in the cheapest form of communication, which is gossip, rumor mongering, backbiting, slander and defamation, this kind of conversation is not only low in electrical energy, it deteriorates and strips you of the energy that you gain from Divine Revelation. That is why Allah (God) and His Prophet’s forbid slack talk, gossip, slander, defamation and backbiting. Whenever this kind of conversation is present, you will find the lack of spirit or energy. It is this lowest form of conversation that brings death in the mosque, in the church, and death among the righteous. You kill each other’s spirit with this type of cheap conversation.
The Book of James in the Bible talks about the tongue as being like the rudder of a ship. The rudder is a small thing, but it turns that big ship in the ocean. The tongue is a small member, but it can light a fire that destroys the peace and unity of the brotherhood, the sisterhood, and the family, all because we have not learned the proper use of our tongues. When we engage in cheap talk, we take from each other energy of Revelation and we rob each other of the Spirit of Allah (God). The Spirit of Allah (God) is life, and anything outside of life is death. We tend to engage more in the talk that brings death than we do in the talk that preserves life.
The world in which we live is ruled by Satan. It is referred to in the language of the scripture as death. The Bible says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death." So, the next question to ask is, what is life?
The word life means:
The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth response to stimuli, reproduction and adaptation to environment.
That is life that plants have. That is life that animals have. That is life that even a tiny amoeba has. What kind of life is in us, as men and women? We function; we have metabolism; we adapt to our environment; we have a growth response to stimuli; we are involved in reproduction; but what about mental life? What about spiritual life?
The Bible says that life is "to know Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ." Muslims are not going to agree with that language. So, let me phrase it another way. What is life? Life is to know Allah (God) as He is and to know that One in whom His Wisdom, Knowledge and Power is present in the last days. You have the Messenger, [Prophet] Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH), and you have the Message, but Satan unfortunately has most of us.
The Bible says, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the True God, and eternal life. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
To make that language palatable to a Muslim, I would say it this way: Life is in the Messenger and he that hath the Message and follows the Messenger has life, and he that has not the Message and the Messenger has not life. To know Allah (God) and to know that One who comes at the end of the world to bring glad tidings, and in Him is the indwelling spirit, wisdom and power of Allah (God)— that is life. If this is not a part of your teaching, then you are not feeding life to the people.
I love Jesus, but Jesus never told any of His disciples to worship Him. The Book of John says, "God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth; for such the Father seeketh."
Jesus is not seeking worshippers. He is seeking followers. There is a big difference. You should worship Allah (God), but Jesus is telling you to follow him in his obedience, and in his worship of Allah (God). Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not say for us to worship him. He said, "Follow him and do what he is doing that gains him the favor of Allah (God)." Then, we too, will have the favor of Allah (God).
If we do not know Satan, if we do not have the knowledge of Satan and the wiles of Satan, then we will not be able to defeat him. In II Thessalonians, it says, "And then shall the wicked one be revealed." In some translations it says, "That the man of sin would be revealed." I know that most people think that Satan is spirit, but he is a real live human being—then shall that wicked one be revealed. This means that Satan is operating, but he is undercover; nobody knows him. He is carrying out his Satanic work and we may be followers of him unknowingly. The Bible teaches that, "The sons of God came to present themselves before God and the devil came also with them." The sons of God were fraternizing with the devil and did not know it. This should teach us that we should be very careful of the company that we keep.
"Then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His Mouth and shall destroy with the Brightness of His Coming. Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders." (II Thessalonians, Chapter 2, verse 8-9)
The Holy Qur’an says it a little differently; "When truth comes, falsehood vanishes and falsehood is forever a vanishing thing." The True God comes after Satan has done his job.
The seventh Surah of the Holy Qur’an, verses 11-14, Satan, under the name Iblis, is talking to God Satan says, "Respite me till the day when they are raised." Allah (God) said, "Thou art surely of the respited ones."
The word respite means:
A delay or cessation for a time; especially of anything distressing or trying.
Satan is in distress when he and his works are totally uncovered. He is asking Allah (God) to delay the time of his manifestation. Allah (God) tells Satan to do his work. That he is respited, until the day when they are raised. They who? Raised how? By what means shall they be raised?
The moment Allah (God) said to Satan that he is of the respited ones, Satan says, "He is going to come after Allah’s (God’s) people right in His straight path, from before them, from behind them, from their left side, from their right side and you are not going to find most of them thankful." In fact, Satan said, "He will make all of Allah’s (God’s) people deviate."
Has he made us deviate?
Jesus is the right man, but the enemy is not going to tell you the truth about Jesus, because Jesus is to undo Satan’s world; but not Jesus the Prophet. It is Jesus the Messiah, and there is a difference, Qur’anically and Biblically. Jesus brought the Gospel, but he learned that he was 2,000 years too soon to bring in the Kingdom of Allah (God). So, he died for the truth that he taught, but he prefigured the one that he said would come after him. Jesus said, "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." He said, "It is expedient for you that I go away, for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but, if I depart, I will send him unto you."
If Jesus were coming back, he would say, "When I return." However, Jesus said, "When He is come." That is someone else, but when He comes, He is going to be on time, for He will come after the working of Satan. That is why you will not be able to defeat Him, because He is in season—He is on time.
Jesus said, "When He comes, He will guide you into all truth."
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
Do you remember the parable in the Bible where Jesus turned water into wine during a wedding feast? It doesn’t mean literally turning water into wine. Water is the source of life itself. The Revealed Word of Allah (God) is Life. However, when you take that Revealed Word and give the understanding of it, it becomes that which greatly enlivens the spirit. There are times when you can hear something which makes you nod your head in agreement; then, you can hear something that literally turns you on and invigorates you to the degree that you have a seemingly boundless energy to do. That is turning water into wine.
You cannot get that kind of reaction from people until you give them understanding of the Word of Allah (God). Then, you can get them to live life on a higher plane of existence.
Every truth contains electrical energy. The highest form of electrical energy is that which comes when we accept Divine Revelation. The light of electrical energy that is in the truth, when the truth is believed and carried into practice, gives you power and life, spiritually and mentally, and the light of that truth is seen in our countenance, and reflected in our action. The more you converse on the Revealed Word of Allah (God), the more you energize one another. Whenever your conversation degenerates into mundane things that are not necessarily connected to the Revelation, the electrical charge in the conversation is diminished. When you waste your time engaging in the cheapest form of communication, which is gossip, rumor mongering, backbiting, slander and defamation, this kind of conversation is not only low in electrical energy, it deteriorates and strips you of the energy that you gain from Divine Revelation. That is why Allah (God) and His Prophet’s forbid slack talk, gossip, slander, defamation and backbiting. Whenever this kind of conversation is present, you will find the lack of spirit or energy. It is this lowest form of conversation that brings death in the mosque, in the church, and death among the righteous. You kill each other’s spirit with this type of cheap conversation.
The Book of James in the Bible talks about the tongue as being like the rudder of a ship. The rudder is a small thing, but it turns that big ship in the ocean. The tongue is a small member, but it can light a fire that destroys the peace and unity of the brotherhood, the sisterhood, and the family, all because we have not learned the proper use of our tongues. When we engage in cheap talk, we take from each other energy of Revelation and we rob each other of the Spirit of Allah (God). The Spirit of Allah (God) is life, and anything outside of life is death. We tend to engage more in the talk that brings death than we do in the talk that preserves life.
The world in which we live is ruled by Satan. It is referred to in the language of the scripture as death. The Bible says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death." So, the next question to ask is, what is life?
The word life means:
The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth response to stimuli, reproduction and adaptation to environment.
That is life that plants have. That is life that animals have. That is life that even a tiny amoeba has. What kind of life is in us, as men and women? We function; we have metabolism; we adapt to our environment; we have a growth response to stimuli; we are involved in reproduction; but what about mental life? What about spiritual life?
The Bible says that life is "to know Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ." Muslims are not going to agree with that language. So, let me phrase it another way. What is life? Life is to know Allah (God) as He is and to know that One in whom His Wisdom, Knowledge and Power is present in the last days. You have the Messenger, [Prophet] Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH), and you have the Message, but Satan unfortunately has most of us.
The Bible says, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the True God, and eternal life. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
To make that language palatable to a Muslim, I would say it this way: Life is in the Messenger and he that hath the Message and follows the Messenger has life, and he that has not the Message and the Messenger has not life. To know Allah (God) and to know that One who comes at the end of the world to bring glad tidings, and in Him is the indwelling spirit, wisdom and power of Allah (God)— that is life. If this is not a part of your teaching, then you are not feeding life to the people.
I love Jesus, but Jesus never told any of His disciples to worship Him. The Book of John says, "God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth; for such the Father seeketh."
Jesus is not seeking worshippers. He is seeking followers. There is a big difference. You should worship Allah (God), but Jesus is telling you to follow him in his obedience, and in his worship of Allah (God). Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not say for us to worship him. He said, "Follow him and do what he is doing that gains him the favor of Allah (God)." Then, we too, will have the favor of Allah (God).
If we do not know Satan, if we do not have the knowledge of Satan and the wiles of Satan, then we will not be able to defeat him. In II Thessalonians, it says, "And then shall the wicked one be revealed." In some translations it says, "That the man of sin would be revealed." I know that most people think that Satan is spirit, but he is a real live human being—then shall that wicked one be revealed. This means that Satan is operating, but he is undercover; nobody knows him. He is carrying out his Satanic work and we may be followers of him unknowingly. The Bible teaches that, "The sons of God came to present themselves before God and the devil came also with them." The sons of God were fraternizing with the devil and did not know it. This should teach us that we should be very careful of the company that we keep.
"Then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His Mouth and shall destroy with the Brightness of His Coming. Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders." (II Thessalonians, Chapter 2, verse 8-9)
The Holy Qur’an says it a little differently; "When truth comes, falsehood vanishes and falsehood is forever a vanishing thing." The True God comes after Satan has done his job.
The seventh Surah of the Holy Qur’an, verses 11-14, Satan, under the name Iblis, is talking to God Satan says, "Respite me till the day when they are raised." Allah (God) said, "Thou art surely of the respited ones."
The word respite means:
A delay or cessation for a time; especially of anything distressing or trying.
Satan is in distress when he and his works are totally uncovered. He is asking Allah (God) to delay the time of his manifestation. Allah (God) tells Satan to do his work. That he is respited, until the day when they are raised. They who? Raised how? By what means shall they be raised?
The moment Allah (God) said to Satan that he is of the respited ones, Satan says, "He is going to come after Allah’s (God’s) people right in His straight path, from before them, from behind them, from their left side, from their right side and you are not going to find most of them thankful." In fact, Satan said, "He will make all of Allah’s (God’s) people deviate."
Has he made us deviate?
Jesus is the right man, but the enemy is not going to tell you the truth about Jesus, because Jesus is to undo Satan’s world; but not Jesus the Prophet. It is Jesus the Messiah, and there is a difference, Qur’anically and Biblically. Jesus brought the Gospel, but he learned that he was 2,000 years too soon to bring in the Kingdom of Allah (God). So, he died for the truth that he taught, but he prefigured the one that he said would come after him. Jesus said, "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." He said, "It is expedient for you that I go away, for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but, if I depart, I will send him unto you."
If Jesus were coming back, he would say, "When I return." However, Jesus said, "When He is come." That is someone else, but when He comes, He is going to be on time, for He will come after the working of Satan. That is why you will not be able to defeat Him, because He is in season—He is on time.
Jesus said, "When He comes, He will guide you into all truth."
To the Homey Pac......Happy Birthday Brother!!
The issue of reparations of to some sort being due to Black Americans in the country have been alive for quite some time in the conversation and discussions amongst the ranks of Black American from the plumber to the congresswoman. I for one believe that something, we as Black Americans are due significant amounts of land in the country for us to do as we please, BUT only if we are man enough to demand our just dues. If we feel more obliged to pay, so as to 'do what is right' then we are not deserving at all. Below is an essay written by Dr. Mutulu Shakur, father of the late great Tupac Amaru Shakur. In the essence of keeping my brother Shakur's memory alive on his 35th Birthday, I would like to publish the article, written by his father.
Rest in Peace Pac
MAS
Reparations: A Collaborated Overview Submitted by Dr. Mutulu Shakur,
Michael Covington, Ali GibranOn behalf of the Georgia State Black
Studies Department (Dr. Akinyele 0. Umoja) July 2003
As a result of America's crime[s] against humanity, regardless of the direct or indirect victimization, we, as a people, suffer and will continue to do so until there is psychological, economical, educational, and monetary atonement.
It is imperative that as a nation we reap the benefits of the blood, sweat, and tears that our ancestors poured into this land.
The perpetrators of these crimes have yet to embrace our claim for reparations or even acknowledge it as a crime in and of itself. Therefore, if we are to be students of history (which we are), it will take a strategic conspiracy, secretly and overtly, to apply espionage and sacrifice in bringing the defendants of these crimes into negotiation.
We are conscious that legal, political, and moral persuasion, collectively, represents the utopia of opportunities to rectify these crimes against humanity. However, within our strategic approach towards reparations, we must filter out the opportunist, neo-colonist, apologist, and the immediate gratification seeker. The appropriation of reparations must have a long term objective and not be viewed as a "quick pay-day", only to have the long- sought after compensation returned to the hands of the perpetrators, leaving our people worst off than before and without merit for future claims.
The inclusion of the multitude of talent, intellectually, diplomatically, economically, of the African Diaspora, on a national and international theater, is essential to the comprehensive context of our victory.
Most importantly, the only true super power, which is the mass of a people on one accord, must be firmly entrenched in the justness for reparations, the benefits of reparations, the hope for reparations, and the ultimate demand for reparations. Then and only then will these crimes against humanity be rectified.
Because the issues surrounding reparations affects the entire New African nation, including prisoners, after extensive research, numerous discussions and debates, we at U.S.Penitentiary. Atlanta offer the following:
(1) the efforts of Minister Louis Farrakhan and Brother Conrad Worrell to unite existing formations will be helpful in focusing our regional strategy;
(2) the crime against humanity, resulting in the capture, enslavement, and brutality of African people has no other parallel;
(3) the crimes against humanity inflicted upon African people changed the course of human existence; therefore, the resolution of this crime will have global implications;
(4) where there exist any crime, especially a crime against humanity, in a period where no domestic law existed, to remedy such crime international law must be used;
(5) post official slavery didn't end in 1865. In fact, the condition of slavery and the continued acts of genocide as interpreted and developed in international law still exist;
(6) the use of the Japanese reparation resolution in the United States is not applicable to the slavery of Africans in America;
(7) the internment against the Japanese during World War II was inhumane, unjust, and in violation of the United States Constitution;
(8) the crime of African slavery was distinctly a crime against humanity and falls under a clearly different standard of proof than the legal language articulated in the Komosotus case;
(9) the distinction is the reparations we pursue are based on the acts of genocide, not internment. The Japanese internment was for four years, ours was for four hundred years;
(10) crimes against humanity have no statue of limitations. The New York Treaty of 1785-1789, signed by George Washington was a predicate act to violate then existing international law,
which prohibited the transportation of slaves. Said treaty was the first predicate act to turn a race of people into property;
(11) continued acts that superseded the classification of our race, as property was the passing of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. These amendments manipulated international law by creating a law that authorized the continued enslavement of our race by the use of criminal codes. Thus, creating circumstances where the violation Of domestic law was our only means of survival;
(12) there lies sufficient law and evidence to establish the harm done to our people that are directly connected to the act of slavery. Genetic and hereditary science establishes slavery to be the cause of the physical and social condition of our people;
(13) along side the tremendous enlightment offered through the study of genetics and other behavioral science, it can no longer be held that descendants of slaves are not directly harmed. In such the same way that our collective gene pool contained a gene that made us less susceptible to malaria, during slavery our ancestors soaked up all the knowledge of how to be a slave, and as a conditioning mechanism to ensure our survival, the information was encoded in the structure of our ancestors DNA and passed on. In a sense, that is a prime example of DNA performing it's function of fitting us for survival in an environment where it would have been impossible to exist without the proper coping devices. So, the death of our ancestors does not vindicate the slave masters because the gene of slavery still exist within us, and our thoughts and ideas and attitudes clearly demonstrate this;
(14) if forced to prove the survivors direct causation, we, in a scientific presentation, can show through genetic test that lack of certain enzyme can be found in children who have abusive parents will have an emotional reaction, which demonstrates a lack of control of anger. Clearly, there are other prevailing medical phenomenon that points to hereditary traits - ills associated with emotional and physical contradictions;
(15) the search for DNA markers for disease would be a realistic evidentiary hearing to prove direct causation. We should understand the potential of political philosophy of DNA genetics. When pushed to prove a crime against humanity - of such proportion - we must at least review science theory on both sides, such as James Watson, Dr. Francis Wesling, Jewel Pooqua, and Naim Arkbar;
(16) the United States and the corporations they support use international law to enforce it's particular system of property rights to maintain racial hierarchy, which generated the illegally gained wea1th they have today;
(17) the struggle for reparations is clearly not the conventional dispute mechanism. Because of the complexity of the legal questions raised by the Japanese president for reparations, legislation in cases such as Komosotus - which has the potential of becoming standard in civil law - which is a proposition we must reject as not applicable as outlined in the Natsu Taylor Suito essay on race and property in international law;
(18) the intersection of critical race theory which endeavors to analyze the influence of race and racism in the legal system and international law, although these bodies of law and theory are usually regarded as separate disciplines, when we look at race and racism in American law and the relationship of the U.S. government, domestic legal system to international law, how we shape and promote, as well as disregard the global rule of law, we see that these two areas not only intersect but have been inextricably related throughout history.
We look forward to the struggle intensifying. We understand that we can learn a lot from the Jew's struggle for a nation, as we can learn from the horrors of the genocide of the indigenous native people in America. We will continue to pursue our responsibility for healing within our own nation by self-criticism preventing horizontal aggression, self-hate, and self-destruction. We must be able to reach a higher spiritual plane.
STIFF RESISTENCE
Atlanta, Georgia July, 2003
Rest in Peace Pac
MAS
Reparations: A Collaborated Overview Submitted by Dr. Mutulu Shakur,Michael Covington, Ali GibranOn behalf of the Georgia State Black
Studies Department (Dr. Akinyele 0. Umoja) July 2003
As a result of America's crime[s] against humanity, regardless of the direct or indirect victimization, we, as a people, suffer and will continue to do so until there is psychological, economical, educational, and monetary atonement.
It is imperative that as a nation we reap the benefits of the blood, sweat, and tears that our ancestors poured into this land.
The perpetrators of these crimes have yet to embrace our claim for reparations or even acknowledge it as a crime in and of itself. Therefore, if we are to be students of history (which we are), it will take a strategic conspiracy, secretly and overtly, to apply espionage and sacrifice in bringing the defendants of these crimes into negotiation.
We are conscious that legal, political, and moral persuasion, collectively, represents the utopia of opportunities to rectify these crimes against humanity. However, within our strategic approach towards reparations, we must filter out the opportunist, neo-colonist, apologist, and the immediate gratification seeker. The appropriation of reparations must have a long term objective and not be viewed as a "quick pay-day", only to have the long- sought after compensation returned to the hands of the perpetrators, leaving our people worst off than before and without merit for future claims.
The inclusion of the multitude of talent, intellectually, diplomatically, economically, of the African Diaspora, on a national and international theater, is essential to the comprehensive context of our victory.
Most importantly, the only true super power, which is the mass of a people on one accord, must be firmly entrenched in the justness for reparations, the benefits of reparations, the hope for reparations, and the ultimate demand for reparations. Then and only then will these crimes against humanity be rectified.
Because the issues surrounding reparations affects the entire New African nation, including prisoners, after extensive research, numerous discussions and debates, we at U.S.Penitentiary. Atlanta offer the following:
(1) the efforts of Minister Louis Farrakhan and Brother Conrad Worrell to unite existing formations will be helpful in focusing our regional strategy;
(2) the crime against humanity, resulting in the capture, enslavement, and brutality of African people has no other parallel;
(3) the crimes against humanity inflicted upon African people changed the course of human existence; therefore, the resolution of this crime will have global implications;
(4) where there exist any crime, especially a crime against humanity, in a period where no domestic law existed, to remedy such crime international law must be used;
(5) post official slavery didn't end in 1865. In fact, the condition of slavery and the continued acts of genocide as interpreted and developed in international law still exist;
(6) the use of the Japanese reparation resolution in the United States is not applicable to the slavery of Africans in America;
(7) the internment against the Japanese during World War II was inhumane, unjust, and in violation of the United States Constitution;
(8) the crime of African slavery was distinctly a crime against humanity and falls under a clearly different standard of proof than the legal language articulated in the Komosotus case;
(9) the distinction is the reparations we pursue are based on the acts of genocide, not internment. The Japanese internment was for four years, ours was for four hundred years;
(10) crimes against humanity have no statue of limitations. The New York Treaty of 1785-1789, signed by George Washington was a predicate act to violate then existing international law,
which prohibited the transportation of slaves. Said treaty was the first predicate act to turn a race of people into property;
(11) continued acts that superseded the classification of our race, as property was the passing of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. These amendments manipulated international law by creating a law that authorized the continued enslavement of our race by the use of criminal codes. Thus, creating circumstances where the violation Of domestic law was our only means of survival;
(12) there lies sufficient law and evidence to establish the harm done to our people that are directly connected to the act of slavery. Genetic and hereditary science establishes slavery to be the cause of the physical and social condition of our people;
(13) along side the tremendous enlightment offered through the study of genetics and other behavioral science, it can no longer be held that descendants of slaves are not directly harmed. In such the same way that our collective gene pool contained a gene that made us less susceptible to malaria, during slavery our ancestors soaked up all the knowledge of how to be a slave, and as a conditioning mechanism to ensure our survival, the information was encoded in the structure of our ancestors DNA and passed on. In a sense, that is a prime example of DNA performing it's function of fitting us for survival in an environment where it would have been impossible to exist without the proper coping devices. So, the death of our ancestors does not vindicate the slave masters because the gene of slavery still exist within us, and our thoughts and ideas and attitudes clearly demonstrate this;
(14) if forced to prove the survivors direct causation, we, in a scientific presentation, can show through genetic test that lack of certain enzyme can be found in children who have abusive parents will have an emotional reaction, which demonstrates a lack of control of anger. Clearly, there are other prevailing medical phenomenon that points to hereditary traits - ills associated with emotional and physical contradictions;
(15) the search for DNA markers for disease would be a realistic evidentiary hearing to prove direct causation. We should understand the potential of political philosophy of DNA genetics. When pushed to prove a crime against humanity - of such proportion - we must at least review science theory on both sides, such as James Watson, Dr. Francis Wesling, Jewel Pooqua, and Naim Arkbar;
(16) the United States and the corporations they support use international law to enforce it's particular system of property rights to maintain racial hierarchy, which generated the illegally gained wea1th they have today;
(17) the struggle for reparations is clearly not the conventional dispute mechanism. Because of the complexity of the legal questions raised by the Japanese president for reparations, legislation in cases such as Komosotus - which has the potential of becoming standard in civil law - which is a proposition we must reject as not applicable as outlined in the Natsu Taylor Suito essay on race and property in international law;
(18) the intersection of critical race theory which endeavors to analyze the influence of race and racism in the legal system and international law, although these bodies of law and theory are usually regarded as separate disciplines, when we look at race and racism in American law and the relationship of the U.S. government, domestic legal system to international law, how we shape and promote, as well as disregard the global rule of law, we see that these two areas not only intersect but have been inextricably related throughout history.
We look forward to the struggle intensifying. We understand that we can learn a lot from the Jew's struggle for a nation, as we can learn from the horrors of the genocide of the indigenous native people in America. We will continue to pursue our responsibility for healing within our own nation by self-criticism preventing horizontal aggression, self-hate, and self-destruction. We must be able to reach a higher spiritual plane.
STIFF RESISTENCE
Atlanta, Georgia July, 2003
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Time keeps on slipping (slipping) into the future
Yeah yeah, another day another dollar.
The world can be a very confusing place at times. From learning about who you are, to figuring out why you need to learn it in the first place. There really seems to be no rhyme nor reason for many things. We're just here on the planet and these are the things we do to keep ourselves busy until we go away. LOL Lord knows
'I had to tell him it was alright, that's a lie
and he knew it when he shook and died
My God'
You know, sometimes I think about life after death and 'what it all means' and I've figured something. While it is true that religion is by definition to explain or give meaning to that which is otherwise unknown, I sat back last night wondering what if it wasn't here.
I mean would there really be any fewer wars? Would man then, really embrace mankind and walk this earth in unity? I doubt it. I mean, it's in man's nature to find differences between himself and the next. That's what makes him 'special', 'unique'. And I think that's the same the world over. It may be exacerbated here in America because of our well documented misidentity, but even in the most historically connected cultures of the world, I doubt one would ever find no sense of uniqueness. But that's a tangent.
What I was thinking about last night was more along the lines of the afterlife. I can be quoted in the past of stating that I don't fully believe in a heaven and hell, but rather that they are both states of mind and entities which exist within each and every last one of us. As does God. So many people find so many faults within themselves that they have to project God outside of themselves in order praise him. To say that he lives within them, or that they are one with him would be both placing their sinful selves too high and simultaneously diluting His Grace too much.
Hmmmm....
So if this true, that there is no heaven and hell when we leave this place, what happens? Where do we go? For a long time, I was content with, Resting in Peace. You know, eternal sleep and being at peace with this world and all the pain I've witnessed it inflict. But there is not a lot of comfort in that honestly. Like what about my wife, is our time together limited to the time we share in this realm together? Why can't our spirits be forever united no matter what metareality has in store for us. If death was to take one of us and leave the other, I want to feel as if we will somehow be together again. The same respect is dued to parents who lose a teenager, or a teenager who loes a parent.
What do you think?
The world can be a very confusing place at times. From learning about who you are, to figuring out why you need to learn it in the first place. There really seems to be no rhyme nor reason for many things. We're just here on the planet and these are the things we do to keep ourselves busy until we go away. LOL Lord knows
'I had to tell him it was alright, that's a lie
and he knew it when he shook and died
My God'
You know, sometimes I think about life after death and 'what it all means' and I've figured something. While it is true that religion is by definition to explain or give meaning to that which is otherwise unknown, I sat back last night wondering what if it wasn't here.
I mean would there really be any fewer wars? Would man then, really embrace mankind and walk this earth in unity? I doubt it. I mean, it's in man's nature to find differences between himself and the next. That's what makes him 'special', 'unique'. And I think that's the same the world over. It may be exacerbated here in America because of our well documented misidentity, but even in the most historically connected cultures of the world, I doubt one would ever find no sense of uniqueness. But that's a tangent.
What I was thinking about last night was more along the lines of the afterlife. I can be quoted in the past of stating that I don't fully believe in a heaven and hell, but rather that they are both states of mind and entities which exist within each and every last one of us. As does God. So many people find so many faults within themselves that they have to project God outside of themselves in order praise him. To say that he lives within them, or that they are one with him would be both placing their sinful selves too high and simultaneously diluting His Grace too much.
Hmmmm....
So if this true, that there is no heaven and hell when we leave this place, what happens? Where do we go? For a long time, I was content with, Resting in Peace. You know, eternal sleep and being at peace with this world and all the pain I've witnessed it inflict. But there is not a lot of comfort in that honestly. Like what about my wife, is our time together limited to the time we share in this realm together? Why can't our spirits be forever united no matter what metareality has in store for us. If death was to take one of us and leave the other, I want to feel as if we will somehow be together again. The same respect is dued to parents who lose a teenager, or a teenager who loes a parent.
What do you think?
Monday, June 12, 2006
Cameron brought light to racial injustices
By MEG JONES, LEONARD SYKES JR. and AMY RABIDEAU SILVERSmjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 11, 2006
James Cameron's life could have ended on a tree limb on an August day in 1930. After an angry mob busted into the Marion, Ind., jail and dragged out Cameron and two acquaintances, he was beaten and watched the other two black youths hanged.
As a rope was thrown over his head, he prayed for God to save his life.
That Cameron lived another 76 years to tell his story and the story of all blacks lynched in America simply because of the color of their skin is a testament to a man who knew the power of forgiveness.
Cameron, the founder of America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, died Sunday in Milwaukee after a long illness. He was 92.
As the only known survivor of a lynching, Cameron was virtually a one-man crusade who led, cajoled and sometimes gently forced America into admitting and apologizing for its complacency in a shameful history of racial hate crimes. Last year, the U.S. Senate formally apologized to Cameron and others for its failure to outlaw lynching.
Although Cameron had to mortgage his house to pay for the printing of his book, "A Time of Terror," in 1982 after numerous rejections from publishers, he and his story eventually reached an international audience that included Oprah Winfrey, Coretta Scott King and President Clinton.
Wisconsin Public Television produced a documentary called "A Lynching in Marion." Cameron was taped by the British Broadcasting Corp. and Dutch and German television, interviewed on CBS-TV and written about in Newsweek. He was invited to lecture at colleges across the nation. Marion, where he almost died, presented him with a key to the city.
At the time of his death, he was negotiating a movie deal on the story of his life and had signed the contract the day before he died, said his son Virgil Cameron.
He 'never became bitter'
The message in Cameron's autobiography was not hate, but forgiveness.
"He survived a lynching and never became bitter," said civil rights pioneer Vel R. Phillips, Wisconsin's first African-American judge and former Wisconsin secretary of state. "He epitomized what it takes to realize what faith is."
Mayor Tom Barrett described Cameron as a "truly remarkable man."
"He took his personal experience with the near-lynching - a negative and horrible experience - and turned it into something that enabled Milwaukee and visitors to Milwaukee to see the history of what others went through," Barrett said.
Milwaukee has the only museum of its kind in the country that commemorates and memorializes victims of lynching. America's Black Holocaust Museum, however, doesn't dwell on hate, but on hope and a vigilant awareness against hate crimes, said Phillips, a museum board member who had known Cameron for years.
Cameron's museum, begun in 1988 on a financial shoestring, showcases hundreds of photos, posters and essays on the history of racial attacks, lynchings, torture and other evils done to African-Americans in the United States.
One photograph at the museum is of the mob in Marion standing under Cameron's two black friends, hanging from a tree. The picture has appeared in history books, newspapers and Life and Ebony magazines, and became one of the most infamous American lynching scenes. Iranians used it as example of hatred in America, and rap group Public Enemy put it on an album cover.
On why he founded the museum, after getting inspiration while visiting Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum, Cameron said, "I want to prick the conscience of America, to raise the moral sensitivity of the American people."
When he proposed the museum in 1984, he said: "We must erect, build with our own hands and resources, a museum, a memorial so that the world can never forget the wrongs done to us in America. The emphasis must be on lynching because that is the method used mostly on us to hold back the progress of America."
The museum, which found a permanent home at 2233 N. 4th St. in 1993, never attracted the number of visitors Cameron had hoped for, and he sometimes lamented that blacks gave less support than whites. In the first four months after it opened in 1988, only about 100 adults and children paid the admission price, then $1.50 and 75 cents.
Over the years, America's Black Holocaust Museum has hosted a number of high-profile exhibits, including "A Slave Ship Speaks: The Wreck of the Henrietta Marie," which drew 75,000 visitors in 1999. But it also has suffered from lagging attendance and financial woes. Last fall, the museum struggled to make full mortgage payments on its building.
Despite the museum's difficulty in raising funds, attracting a steady stream of visitors and hiring a permanent executive director, Cameron never wavered in his efforts to keep the facility afloat, a trait that impressed Gov. Jim Doyle.
"There are two things that stand out about his character: how warm and kind of a person he was and how committed he was to the Black Holocaust Museum," Doyle said. "Almost every time I would meet him, he would talk to me about a new exhibit or something that was happening there.
"He was devoted to something that was important not just to Milwaukee and the state, but to the whole country," the governor added.
Born in La Crosse in 1914, Cameron left there at age 4 and lived in Birmingham, Ala., before moving to Kokomo, Ind., at age 12. He moved again, to Marion, at 14.
Two years later, on Aug. 7, 1930, he and two acquaintances were arrested and accused of killing a white man during a robbery and raping the man's girlfriend.
In his autobiography, Cameron wrote about the inhuman sounds of an angry mob - believed to be 10,000 strong, including local members of the Ku Klux Klan - and the steady thud of battering rams against metal locks. The mob broke into the county jail and dragged the three black youths into the street.
After the murders of his two companions, Cameron prayed in terror. For the rest of his life, he believed what happened next was a miracle.
"Take this boy back," he heard a voice say. "He had nothing to do with any raping or shooting of anybody."
The crowd stopped and dispersed.
Years later, Cameron went back to Marion and interviewed witnesses. No one else had heard the voice.
"God saved my life that night," he said. "I don't have any doubt about it."
Cameron had left the scene before the crime occurred. The woman later testified that she had never been raped. Nevertheless, Cameron was convicted of being an accessory to voluntary manslaughter and served four years in prison. Years later, in 1993, he was pardoned by the governor of Indiana.
Virgil Cameron said his father carried the horrible memory of the near-lynching throughout his life but became deeply spiritual as a result of it.
Hopefully, said the younger Cameron, "my father will be remembered for shaking people out of their doldrums. He liked to rattle their cages and always said if you weren't aware of your history, it would be repeated."
Cameron organized chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in three cities in Indiana and was active in Milwaukee in open housing marches and in demonstrations against police brutality.
Virgil Cameron remembered visiting the U.S. Capitol for the apology from the Senate and realizing his father was a celebrity.
"As we were traveling down the corridor, all the senators recognized him, they came up and spoke to him," the son said. "It dawned on me then that he had made his point."
Cameron is survived by his wife, Virginia; another son, Walter, of West Palm Beach, Fla.; and a daughter, Delores Cameron of Chicago. He was preceded in death by two other sons, David and James.
Funeral arrangements are pending at Northwest Funeral Chapel.
Click here to visit Mr. Cameron's Black Holocaust Museum Website: http://www.blackholocaustmuseum.org/index.html
Friday, June 09, 2006
The Poetry...The People...The Vibe...The Love
I just want to invite everyone out to be a part of
"Eyecon...The Open Mic Experience"
Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Hosted by Lenny C.A.I.N.
3570 Commerce Circle at Goodlet and Winchester (across the street from Wendy's)
Admission$7/Poets $5
Limited Seating so get there early!!
Come be a part of The Poetry...The People...The Vibe...The Love.
"Eyecon...The Open Mic Experience"
Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Hosted by Lenny C.A.I.N.
3570 Commerce Circle at Goodlet and Winchester (across the street from Wendy's)
Admission$7/Poets $5
Limited Seating so get there early!!
Come be a part of The Poetry...The People...The Vibe...The Love.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Nigger, Nigga, Niggra
This is the frontpage of today's Chicago Defender, let's discuss a little.People, what it is? I've been wrestling with this in my mind for quite some time now, and I've decided to minimalize this word in my vocabulary. And yes it's because I feel I'm better than that, and better than you if you chose to be called a nigga aka nigger.
For years this word has been synonomous with the epitomy of hatred for Black American men, women and children in this country and throughout the western world. And like good little children, we've adopted it, and turned it inside out to find a way to use it against ourselves and not feel bad about it.
But I beg to differ. I believe that the greatest illness effecting Black Amerika today is the evident lack of self love which has ebbed us to become totally apathetic towards one another. Just like niggers, we don't see one another as human beings, much less intelligent life forms worthy of respectable titles such as 'Sir, Mr., Mrs., and Bro.' Nope, instead we're just nigga this, nigga that. How ignorant is that? You can turn on the television at anytime of the day and watch on our network (BET) and see us hating each other to the utmost degree. I'm not hating on dacing and the art of gyration LOL, but when you have a song called, 'I Love My Bitch' I mean damn! Every new artist in the music game must have a song disrespecting the elders in the game, or talking about getting as many bitches as possible for whatever reason, or explaining again how we don't have fathers and we have to sell drugs to each other to 'make it out'. It's ridiculous. I appreciated the Ghetto CNN's of the 1990's, they were real in many aspects. What's going on today is an outsiders view of the inside being dictated to and regurgitated by an insider (albeit a hopeful ex-insider) if you feel me. But I digress because that's a whole nother topic....kinda.
"But a word finds its strength in the ears of the person listening, not from the mouth of the person speaking. Therefore, its up to you to not give the word nigga that much power when you hear it thus becoming upset, and instead let it roll of like it's nothing"
If that's the case, then I ask that you not to speak the word in my presence...period. I mean come on people, at some point or another we are going to have to take responsibility for our actions and the effect they have on the world around us. Our children are watching our every moves and emulating them to their best ability, in the form of mass self inflicted genocide aka black on black crime.
And it's spreading. I remember a time when whites wouldn't dare utter the word nigger, out of a combination of both fear and respect for the their Black American associates. But that's not the case anymore. Not to long ago, I was riding in a car with a two guys one black, one white. The black guy made a statement concerning a comment made by Charlie Sheen in which he called his ex-wife a 'liar, coward and a nigger'. Evidentally this news was made public on the Star and Bucwild Morning Show, and the sound bite was played over and over again. The black guy made the comment incredulously as he explained how many times they replayed this soundbite and to replicate the effect it had on him (presumably) he repeated the comment a few times. The white guy's reaction was, "Well we know she's not one of them! LOLOLOL" I sat, sarcastically thinking to myself, "now I wonder which one of those he's talking about; the liar, the coward, or the nigger?"And while he did not explicitly say the word, I was sure I overstood what had just transpired. What I didn't fully understand was my non-reaction. I really did not, and still to this day do not feel he was purposely calling my and the other guy niggers in his mind. I believe it's more deeply inbedded than that. Blacks may not be niggers, but niggers must be Black, that type of logic. Maybe it was taught to him, maybe it wasn't and he felt we as Blacks embrace this view as we so pridefully call out to each other, "What up my nigga". I don't know all the answers. But I did feel as if that needed to happen to me as it did for me to slow down and think more seriously about how what I'm doing and what I promote may be signaling to the rest of the world. And I think you should do the same.
Is it cool that our 10 year old boys associate their sisters and the women the adorn as bitches? Is that alright? Is it fine and dandy, that our women pridefully call themselves the 'baddest bitch' and bounce their asses competitively against one another to prove it? Is that alright? How about the young brothers who believe that to not be called or to call one another 'nigga' is square? Are we truly a race of nothing more than niggas, bitches, hoes and gorillas (G-Unit) and if so, why do we get upset when revisiting the past and the transgressions of white supremist ideology which catergorized us as such?
Let's open the dialogue. What do you think?
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Back like the spine of a good woman
What's the deal people. It seems like this little blog is coming around, people are actually starting to begin conversations from something they've read on here when I come around. That's a good thing too. The goal is for us to check this out on a regular basis, and while I know I haven't written something everyday, I can say that I've made a concentrated effort to update this as much as possible so far. Imma keep it moving too. I'm also done asking people to write or respond, because that's not happening either. So eventually, if I see that this just becomes my own little journal, I'll let it be just that. Everyone is still welcomed to read it, but I guess for the sake of closure I'll feel better knowing that my idea isn't being placed on the back burner. Anywho
What's good? Hey I was talking to my friend earlier today and we got into a conversation about the significance of dinosaurs.
"Did you say D-I-N-O-saurs???"
Yes, I said dinosaurs. I watch the Discovery channel all the time, and there's this one show that comes on during the weekend about the lives of dinosaurs. They usually focus on lesser known varients, and it's the special effects which actually caught my attention, but when I watched it this past weekend, it really made me go.......hmmmm........
Like okay, dinosaurs are a part of the whole evolution theory thing concept right. Well, it's pretty hard to say that they never existed you know with the bones and fossils and all. And while I don't know exactly what's used to figure out the specific eating habits of a creature which lived 10,000,000 years ago, I know that through science, many things are possible. I mean you can look at the structure of the teeth, and the brain cavity, and yada, yada yada to make a educated guess I would think. None of that really matters though, because like I said, it's pretty hard to say that none of that ever happened and some weirdo has been hiding in caves for the last 100 years creating bones and fantastic stories of yesteryear. But that's what got me. See when I thought of the dinosaurs, I wondered where they were in the bible. Like where did they come from? I don't remember anything about God creating creatures which were completely and totally untamable by Man and his jedi mind tricks. And if they were apart of the creatures which inhabited the earth which God gave Man dominion over, it would create a huge chasm in the time we currently associate the Old Testament with. I mean the time of Yeshu'a is like what 2,000 years ago? Dinosaurs were here, 25,000,000 years ago? That's a big, BIG difference.
I guess this would be more confusing or 'blasphamous' to the person who believes the bible is a literal, and all inclusive piece of work. And while to others who view the bible as more of an allegorical account of life's lessons teaching one the contrasts between and 'origins' of his divine nature vs one of pure animality which he also owns, this conversation probably would hold a lesser significance, though it still poses interesting thought all the same.
A good friend once told me that Man attributes the title of god to whatever he does not understand. When we don't know what makes the sun come up and go down, we say it's a god that's running across the sky with it. When we don't know what makes us fall in love, we say a baby with an arrow hits us with it. I mean the modern world is built upon the assumptions of zodiacs, mythologies and and various cases of very theo-un-logical thought. Science offers Man an understanding of these things, and we therefore no longer attribute them to some ambigous being. Science and the study thereof (I guess that's the literal definition of scientology which is another blog for another time) gives us a logical understanding of the world around us. That's what the theory of evolution (a very science based hypothesis) does for the world's history. It gives us a logical explanation of why we have 10 fingers and 10 toes, while some other creatures have fins. To say that evolution is a figment of man's creative imagination simply arrogant. And to throw away any notion of the earth existing before Adam and Eve is just not sensable.
What's good? Hey I was talking to my friend earlier today and we got into a conversation about the significance of dinosaurs.
"Did you say D-I-N-O-saurs???"
Yes, I said dinosaurs. I watch the Discovery channel all the time, and there's this one show that comes on during the weekend about the lives of dinosaurs. They usually focus on lesser known varients, and it's the special effects which actually caught my attention, but when I watched it this past weekend, it really made me go.......hmmmm........
Like okay, dinosaurs are a part of the whole evolution theory thing concept right. Well, it's pretty hard to say that they never existed you know with the bones and fossils and all. And while I don't know exactly what's used to figure out the specific eating habits of a creature which lived 10,000,000 years ago, I know that through science, many things are possible. I mean you can look at the structure of the teeth, and the brain cavity, and yada, yada yada to make a educated guess I would think. None of that really matters though, because like I said, it's pretty hard to say that none of that ever happened and some weirdo has been hiding in caves for the last 100 years creating bones and fantastic stories of yesteryear. But that's what got me. See when I thought of the dinosaurs, I wondered where they were in the bible. Like where did they come from? I don't remember anything about God creating creatures which were completely and totally untamable by Man and his jedi mind tricks. And if they were apart of the creatures which inhabited the earth which God gave Man dominion over, it would create a huge chasm in the time we currently associate the Old Testament with. I mean the time of Yeshu'a is like what 2,000 years ago? Dinosaurs were here, 25,000,000 years ago? That's a big, BIG difference.
I guess this would be more confusing or 'blasphamous' to the person who believes the bible is a literal, and all inclusive piece of work. And while to others who view the bible as more of an allegorical account of life's lessons teaching one the contrasts between and 'origins' of his divine nature vs one of pure animality which he also owns, this conversation probably would hold a lesser significance, though it still poses interesting thought all the same.
A good friend once told me that Man attributes the title of god to whatever he does not understand. When we don't know what makes the sun come up and go down, we say it's a god that's running across the sky with it. When we don't know what makes us fall in love, we say a baby with an arrow hits us with it. I mean the modern world is built upon the assumptions of zodiacs, mythologies and and various cases of very theo-un-logical thought. Science offers Man an understanding of these things, and we therefore no longer attribute them to some ambigous being. Science and the study thereof (I guess that's the literal definition of scientology which is another blog for another time) gives us a logical understanding of the world around us. That's what the theory of evolution (a very science based hypothesis) does for the world's history. It gives us a logical explanation of why we have 10 fingers and 10 toes, while some other creatures have fins. To say that evolution is a figment of man's creative imagination simply arrogant. And to throw away any notion of the earth existing before Adam and Eve is just not sensable.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
How Soon We Forget
This past weekend was a nice one. The sun was shining down here in Memphis, and everywhere you went (in the hood) you could smell the scent of seasoned meats and barbeque sauces. That's a wonderful aroma....most times. And this time was no different.
Memorial Day weekend to most, symbolizes a new year. A new summertime. All of the pools in apartment complexes are open and most parks are full with children playing and completely wearing themselves out.
While I didn't do much out of the ordinary Friday through Sunday, Monday I decided to head to Wal-Mart grab some coals, and a long handled lighter, some lighter fluid and a few packs of turkey patties and wings. I made it home with the intentions of 'getting it started' nice and early. I wasn't halfway into my mission of prepping my food when I received a call from one of my closest comrades that due to unforseen circumstances, we would have to expedite our Memorial Day program designed to honor our fallen soldiers, family and friends throughout time.
I found myself a stopping point in cooking, hopped in the TDI and heading to Nathan Bedford Forrest Park on Union in downtown Memphis, TN. There I embraced the sight a probably 20 friends and family members awaiting not just my arrival but that of others who were en route to the park.
You see, this was to be our 2nd Annual 'How Soon We Forget' Memorial Day Commemoration. Last year we experienced moderate success with about 15 people coming out to support us in our meager attempts to broaden the scope of the Memorial Day holiday. Usually we consider this day (or at least I did) to be unique because of its focus on respecting those in the Armed Forces, both now and historically. This is a practice which should never die. However, our 'How Soon We Forget' program was designed to stay focused on our perpetual push towards consciousness here in our land, as we pay homage to the aformentioned heroes as well as those we seem not to know where exactly to place throughout our space-time continuum and therefore leave displaced and relegated to Febuary. Comrades throughout time have fought assiduously for a decent quality of life while here in America and have donated their life's time, and resources to the upliftment of some of most subjugated people. We pay tributes to the courage of Denmark Vescey, Harriet Tubbman, and Nat Turner. We show love and honor Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington and their contributions to philosophy and advancement amongst people of color in America. We attempt to shed light on the accomplishments and achievements of Brothers like Marcus Garvey and Paul Robeson.
And that we did!!
From our opening contribution from Bro. Prophecy, we attempted to entreat the children present with a little history of these brothers and sisters, beging in the 15th Century and chronologically moving forward. The poet/philosophical activist FW Love fed us a little love through the art of spoken word with a piece entitled 'Happiness'. And both of our sisters Quita and Mrs. Dee shared hope through very encouraging words. And of course a party is not a party without the Powwa and sincerity behind Brother's Keepa, as they paid homage to those displaced and mistreated through Hurricane FEMA.
By the time it was over, I was headed back home to finish what I started with my meal. I placed my wings back on the grill, slid my macaroni and cheese back into the oven with my baked beans. My wife and I sat back and ate well, talking about our own past, present and future. I finished my evening reading Tavis Smiley's 'Covenant of Black America' whic might I add should be acquired by every Black American in America.
All in all as I said earlier, the weekend was beautiful. We enjoyed one anothers' company and the various gifts we each contributed. While our 'How Soon We Forget' annual program is still in it's infantile stages, we are sure to continue this until its maturity and further with your continued support.
Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out there, and to all who contributed. Keep this blog alive by posting comments or sending me an email at rtharrs2@yahoo.com with your info so that we can make you a regular contributor.
Peace and Blessing to all
MAS
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The Art of Loving
Okay peoples this book is becoming by far one of my favorites in a long time. Anyone who really knows me, understands that finance/ business is not my first love but rather science. I have always, for as far back as I can remember been in love with the arts of science and math. Everything else is a necessary evil. Anyhoo, that's a little besides the point. The fact is that this book is written by Erich Fromm, whom is a renown psychoanalyst and his book is written along the themes of psychology, amongst other things such as basic logic and physiology. It's extremely interesting brothers and sisters. Here's an excerpt:
To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility (which have also been explained) would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. Knowledge would be empty if it were not motivated by concern. There are many layers of knowledge; the knowledge which is an aspect of love is one which does not stay at the periphery, but penetrates to the core. It is possible only when I can transcend the concern for myself and see the other person in his own terms. I may know, for instance, that a person is angry, even if he does not show it overtly; I may know him more deeply than that; then I know that he is anxious, and worried; that he feels lonely, that he feels guilty. Then I know that his anger is only the manifestation of something deeper, and I see his as anxious and embarrassed, that is, as the suffering person, rather than as the angry one.
Or....
The problem of knowing man is parallel to the religious problem of knowing God. In conventional Western theology the attempt is made to know God by though, to make statements about God. It is assumed that I can know God in my though. In mysticism, which is the consequent outcome of monotheism (which is outlined later), the attempt is given up to know God by though, and it is replaced bu the experience of union with God in which there is no more room -and no need- for knowledge about God.
The experience of union, with man, or religiously speaking, with God, is by no means irrational. On the contrary, it is as Albert Schweitzer has pointed out, the consequence of rationalism, its most daring and radical consequence. It is based on our knowledge of the fundamental, and not accidental, limitations of our knowledge. It is the knowledge that we shall never "grasp" the secret of man and of the universe, but that we can know, nevertheless, in the act of love. Psychology as a science has its limitations, and, as the logical consequence of theology is mysticism, so the ultimate consequence of psychology is love.
End Quote
And that's within the first 50 pages!!! The book itself is only 100 or so pages, so maybe I'm overexaggerating seeing that the first 50 pages is actually half the book, but still.....sue me. It's very interesting and I do believe even after reading some, that it would serve as a good basis for a many conversation. Once again the name of the book is, "The Art of Loving" and it's written by Dr. Erich Fromm. Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060958286/sr=8-1/qid=1148402184/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4811753-8300924?%5Fencoding=UTF8. You can still get it for the low!!!!
Asalaamu-laikum
MAS
To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility (which have also been explained) would be blind if they were not guided by knowledge. Knowledge would be empty if it were not motivated by concern. There are many layers of knowledge; the knowledge which is an aspect of love is one which does not stay at the periphery, but penetrates to the core. It is possible only when I can transcend the concern for myself and see the other person in his own terms. I may know, for instance, that a person is angry, even if he does not show it overtly; I may know him more deeply than that; then I know that he is anxious, and worried; that he feels lonely, that he feels guilty. Then I know that his anger is only the manifestation of something deeper, and I see his as anxious and embarrassed, that is, as the suffering person, rather than as the angry one.
Or....
The problem of knowing man is parallel to the religious problem of knowing God. In conventional Western theology the attempt is made to know God by though, to make statements about God. It is assumed that I can know God in my though. In mysticism, which is the consequent outcome of monotheism (which is outlined later), the attempt is given up to know God by though, and it is replaced bu the experience of union with God in which there is no more room -and no need- for knowledge about God.
The experience of union, with man, or religiously speaking, with God, is by no means irrational. On the contrary, it is as Albert Schweitzer has pointed out, the consequence of rationalism, its most daring and radical consequence. It is based on our knowledge of the fundamental, and not accidental, limitations of our knowledge. It is the knowledge that we shall never "grasp" the secret of man and of the universe, but that we can know, nevertheless, in the act of love. Psychology as a science has its limitations, and, as the logical consequence of theology is mysticism, so the ultimate consequence of psychology is love.
End Quote
And that's within the first 50 pages!!! The book itself is only 100 or so pages, so maybe I'm overexaggerating seeing that the first 50 pages is actually half the book, but still.....sue me. It's very interesting and I do believe even after reading some, that it would serve as a good basis for a many conversation. Once again the name of the book is, "The Art of Loving" and it's written by Dr. Erich Fromm. Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060958286/sr=8-1/qid=1148402184/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4811753-8300924?%5Fencoding=UTF8. You can still get it for the low!!!!
Asalaamu-laikum
MAS
Katrina Autopsy: Police Shot Mentally Disabled Black American Man in the Back
By James Polk, Drew Griffin and Kate Albright-HannaCNN
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a mentally disabled man was shot in the back when he was killed by New Orleans police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
This contradicts testimony by a police sergeant that the victim had turned toward officers and was reaching into his waistband when shot.
"Clearly he was shot from behind," said famed New York pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who examined the body for the family's lawyer. (Autopsy and victim's brother tell story of fatal shooting -- 5:04)
A prosecutor said the case will go before a grand jury soon and acknowledged the investigation includes the possibility of police wrong-doing.
Ronald Madison, 40, was mentally disabled and lived at home with his mother. He had no criminal record. He was shot when police responded to a report of gunfire on a bridge over the flooded Industrial Canal on Sunday, September 4, six days after Katrina hit New Orleans last year.
It was a week of dire flooding, rampant looting, death by drowning. Police were strained, beset by suicides and desertion. Four people were killed in confrontations with police that weekend alone.
Madison's older brother, Lance, said he and Ronald were walking across the Danziger bridge toward another brother's dental office when teen-agers ran up behind him and opened fire that Sunday morning.
By his account, he and Ronald were running away toward the crest of the bridge when a police team, responding to the report of gunshots, arrived in a rental truck and opened fire on people on the bridge.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley told CNN, "Several of the people were shot and two were killed by our officers in a running gun battle... Most police shoot-outs last somewhere between six and twelve seconds, and it's over with. This was a running gun battle that went on several minutes."
One teen-ager, still unidentified, was killed near the base of the bridge. Another was critically wounded. Three other people with them were also shot and were hospitalized.
Lance Madison said a policeman pointed a rifle at Ronald and shot him as the two of them were running up the bridge. Lance said he helped carry his wounded brother to a motel on the other side of the canal and left him there as Lance kept running to seek help.
The Police Department said in a press release last fall that Ronald Madison, whom it called a second unidentified gunman, "was confronted by a New Orleans Police Officer. The suspect reached into his waist and turned toward the officer who fired one shot fatally wounding him."
Testifying in a preliminary hearing last fall, Police Sgt. Arthur Kaufman said much the same thing: "One subject turned, reached in his waistband, turned on the officers."
Autopsy results, made available to CNN by a source involved in the investigation, directly contradict that police account.
The findings list five separate gunshot wounds in Ronald Madison's back. Three went through the body and exited in front. There were two other wounds in his right shoulder. None of the shots entered his body from the front.
CNN had sued the coroner of Orleans Parish to try to get official access to the autopsy report. At a court hearing on that lawsuit in New Orleans a week ago, the coroner, Dr. Frank Minyard, verified the handwritten autopsy report obtained elsewhere by CNN was indeed prepared in his office by a pathologist on his staff who listed the wounds in the victim's right back.
Under cross-examination by a CNN lawyer, Dr. Minyard testified those five wounds in the back "were entrance wounds, yes."
Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, met with CNN in New York City two weeks ago to discuss his own observations when he examined Ronald Madison's body for the family lawyer last fall. Asked if Ronald could have been facing the police when shot, Dr. Baden said, "Absolutely not."
No weapon was found on or near Ronald Madison's body.
Asst. District Attorney Dustin Davis, testifying in the same court hearing on the CNN lawsuit, said a grand jury has been assigned to investigate the Danziger Bridge shootings. However, the grand jury has not yet met on the case because the New Orleans Police Dept. has yet to complete its final report, eight months after those deaths.
The CNN attorney asked Davis, "What you are investigating in that case is whether any of the police officers may be indicted for homicide, is that correct?"
Davis answered, "That's partially correct. We are also looking at Mr. Madison's involvement in the incident."
Lance Madison was arrested on the other side of the bridge where his brother was killed and was accused of shooting at the police officers in the gun battle. He, too, had no weapon when taken into custody. He was released from jail after six months because the District Attorney's office had not initiated any prosecution, although the investigation remains pending.
Sgt. Kaufman testified at the bail hearing for Lance Madison last fall that another policeman saw Lance throw a gun into the Industrial Canal as he was going over the bridge. Lance Madison denies that. He told CNN correspondent Drew Griffin, "I had no gun, at all." Asked if Ronald had a gun, Lance answered, "No, he didn't."
In a CNN interview earlier this month, Griffin told Police Chief Warren Riley, "We understand
Ronald Madison was shot in the back five times."
Riley said, "Those are things I can't comment on and no one can comment on until the investigation is concluded."
Griffin asked Riley if he was concerned about his officers' actions and Riley replied, "Certainly, we do not condone our officers overreacting, even in the most chaotic time," but he went on, "We don't know that they overreacted. From the radio transmission, it sounds like their lives were in danger."
Riley turned down a request by CNN to interview the officers who were involved.
A 25-year career employee at Federal Express, Lance Madison has no criminal record.
At the end of the CNN interview, Riley conceded the two Madison brothers may not have been connected with the other people on the bridge that day.
"I don't know if those young men were innocent or not. I really don't know if they were with that group or not," Riley said. "I really don't know."
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a mentally disabled man was shot in the back when he was killed by New Orleans police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
This contradicts testimony by a police sergeant that the victim had turned toward officers and was reaching into his waistband when shot.
"Clearly he was shot from behind," said famed New York pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who examined the body for the family's lawyer. (Autopsy and victim's brother tell story of fatal shooting -- 5:04)
A prosecutor said the case will go before a grand jury soon and acknowledged the investigation includes the possibility of police wrong-doing.
Ronald Madison, 40, was mentally disabled and lived at home with his mother. He had no criminal record. He was shot when police responded to a report of gunfire on a bridge over the flooded Industrial Canal on Sunday, September 4, six days after Katrina hit New Orleans last year.
It was a week of dire flooding, rampant looting, death by drowning. Police were strained, beset by suicides and desertion. Four people were killed in confrontations with police that weekend alone.
Madison's older brother, Lance, said he and Ronald were walking across the Danziger bridge toward another brother's dental office when teen-agers ran up behind him and opened fire that Sunday morning.
By his account, he and Ronald were running away toward the crest of the bridge when a police team, responding to the report of gunshots, arrived in a rental truck and opened fire on people on the bridge.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley told CNN, "Several of the people were shot and two were killed by our officers in a running gun battle... Most police shoot-outs last somewhere between six and twelve seconds, and it's over with. This was a running gun battle that went on several minutes."
One teen-ager, still unidentified, was killed near the base of the bridge. Another was critically wounded. Three other people with them were also shot and were hospitalized.
Lance Madison said a policeman pointed a rifle at Ronald and shot him as the two of them were running up the bridge. Lance said he helped carry his wounded brother to a motel on the other side of the canal and left him there as Lance kept running to seek help.
The Police Department said in a press release last fall that Ronald Madison, whom it called a second unidentified gunman, "was confronted by a New Orleans Police Officer. The suspect reached into his waist and turned toward the officer who fired one shot fatally wounding him."
Testifying in a preliminary hearing last fall, Police Sgt. Arthur Kaufman said much the same thing: "One subject turned, reached in his waistband, turned on the officers."
Autopsy results, made available to CNN by a source involved in the investigation, directly contradict that police account.
The findings list five separate gunshot wounds in Ronald Madison's back. Three went through the body and exited in front. There were two other wounds in his right shoulder. None of the shots entered his body from the front.
CNN had sued the coroner of Orleans Parish to try to get official access to the autopsy report. At a court hearing on that lawsuit in New Orleans a week ago, the coroner, Dr. Frank Minyard, verified the handwritten autopsy report obtained elsewhere by CNN was indeed prepared in his office by a pathologist on his staff who listed the wounds in the victim's right back.
Under cross-examination by a CNN lawyer, Dr. Minyard testified those five wounds in the back "were entrance wounds, yes."
Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, met with CNN in New York City two weeks ago to discuss his own observations when he examined Ronald Madison's body for the family lawyer last fall. Asked if Ronald could have been facing the police when shot, Dr. Baden said, "Absolutely not."
No weapon was found on or near Ronald Madison's body.
Asst. District Attorney Dustin Davis, testifying in the same court hearing on the CNN lawsuit, said a grand jury has been assigned to investigate the Danziger Bridge shootings. However, the grand jury has not yet met on the case because the New Orleans Police Dept. has yet to complete its final report, eight months after those deaths.
The CNN attorney asked Davis, "What you are investigating in that case is whether any of the police officers may be indicted for homicide, is that correct?"
Davis answered, "That's partially correct. We are also looking at Mr. Madison's involvement in the incident."
Lance Madison was arrested on the other side of the bridge where his brother was killed and was accused of shooting at the police officers in the gun battle. He, too, had no weapon when taken into custody. He was released from jail after six months because the District Attorney's office had not initiated any prosecution, although the investigation remains pending.
Sgt. Kaufman testified at the bail hearing for Lance Madison last fall that another policeman saw Lance throw a gun into the Industrial Canal as he was going over the bridge. Lance Madison denies that. He told CNN correspondent Drew Griffin, "I had no gun, at all." Asked if Ronald had a gun, Lance answered, "No, he didn't."
In a CNN interview earlier this month, Griffin told Police Chief Warren Riley, "We understand
Ronald Madison was shot in the back five times."
Riley said, "Those are things I can't comment on and no one can comment on until the investigation is concluded."
Griffin asked Riley if he was concerned about his officers' actions and Riley replied, "Certainly, we do not condone our officers overreacting, even in the most chaotic time," but he went on, "We don't know that they overreacted. From the radio transmission, it sounds like their lives were in danger."
Riley turned down a request by CNN to interview the officers who were involved.
A 25-year career employee at Federal Express, Lance Madison has no criminal record.
At the end of the CNN interview, Riley conceded the two Madison brothers may not have been connected with the other people on the bridge that day.
"I don't know if those young men were innocent or not. I really don't know if they were with that group or not," Riley said. "I really don't know."
Friday, May 19, 2006
Black American Love
Extended from all, I would like to express a sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Tim and Mrs. Dee in respects to their 4 years of love and happiness as the beautiful pair celebrate their anniversary this weekend.
I don't know about you guys, but I am always on the lookout for love amongst young Black American men and women. I think its the most powerful weapon we have in our struggle. We have to be more aware of these special people and their lasting commitment to love and caring for one another. I for one, being a virtual newlywed, look to Bro. Tim and others like him for inspiration and direction. They are a constant reminder to me, that this generation does love, and we are capable of loving each other. Thanks Tim
We're doing this thing chronologically, so next in line celebrating matrimony this month is a good friend to all of us, Tayro (naw that ain't the correct spelling) and his beautiful wife Tarri. They've been setting a strong example of love for one another since March 5 of 2003 which makes this their third anniversary. Much love and happiness to you two people, keep doing what you do!!!
Also celebrating a marriage this weekend are Mike and Brandee out in Cordova. Its been 2 years since I witnessed their marriage in downtown Memphis, and like the Energizer Bunny, they've been going.....and going.....and going...... It's about time for little bambinoes wouldn't you say Brandee?
May Jah bless your marriages and your lives. May you all continue to listen to and strive for understand in one another through all things. I pray that Jah gives you the strength and courage to overcome anything which attempts to interupt the nature current of love that you two have flowing from and to one another. For now, and forever.
Asalaamu-laikum
MAS
I don't know about you guys, but I am always on the lookout for love amongst young Black American men and women. I think its the most powerful weapon we have in our struggle. We have to be more aware of these special people and their lasting commitment to love and caring for one another. I for one, being a virtual newlywed, look to Bro. Tim and others like him for inspiration and direction. They are a constant reminder to me, that this generation does love, and we are capable of loving each other. Thanks Tim
We're doing this thing chronologically, so next in line celebrating matrimony this month is a good friend to all of us, Tayro (naw that ain't the correct spelling) and his beautiful wife Tarri. They've been setting a strong example of love for one another since March 5 of 2003 which makes this their third anniversary. Much love and happiness to you two people, keep doing what you do!!!
Also celebrating a marriage this weekend are Mike and Brandee out in Cordova. Its been 2 years since I witnessed their marriage in downtown Memphis, and like the Energizer Bunny, they've been going.....and going.....and going...... It's about time for little bambinoes wouldn't you say Brandee?
May Jah bless your marriages and your lives. May you all continue to listen to and strive for understand in one another through all things. I pray that Jah gives you the strength and courage to overcome anything which attempts to interupt the nature current of love that you two have flowing from and to one another. For now, and forever.
Asalaamu-laikum
MAS
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Loving and learning and living to do both....or something like that
Hey fellas this is the book I'd like for us to read throughout the month of May and June. I'd like for us all to be able to discuss it from a common base. I was referred to this book from a good friend, Jamel, and so I jumped out and got it. I bought it off of Amazon for like $0.98 and $3 shipping and handling. My total wasn't even $5. The author's name is Erich Fromm, in the case that you can't read it. Leave a comment when you have it.
And by the way ya'll. Leave some comments anyway!!! Don't just read this blog, become more active. Make it yours. You aren't a contributor to not contribute. Drop a line, an idea, a poem, something. Help us bring this blog alive please.
Asalaamu-laikum
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Martin and You and Me
Human Rights Watch reports that black people are more than eight times as likely to wind up behind bars as white people. It is telling how mutely we absorb that fact. Some see in it only proof of the ravaging effects of poverty and miseducation. Others see support for the idiot claim that criminality is a native defect of African peoples. You seldom hear anyone suggest that it is this way because we the people want it this way, that in our silence, we give tacit approval to this means of controlling a population whose mere existence we have historically found threatening and inconvenient.So now we know how Martin Lee Anderson died.
We can forget the original autopsy report filed by Charles Siebert, a doctor so inept he wasn’t technically a doctor (he had allowed his license to lapse) when he issued the report. A doctor so inept he once described a person he autopsied as having “unremarkable” testes. The person was a woman, so if she had testes at all, it would seem quite remarkable, indeed.
Siebert contended that after being hit, manhandled and choked by guards Jan. 5 at a so-called boot camp in Panama City, Fla., the 14-year-old Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder carried by 1 in 12 Americans of African heritage. That finding has been roundly hooted by real doctors, who say it is unlikely in the extreme the condition could lead to death.
A new autopsy told a different story. Vernard Adams, Tampa’s chief medical examiner, found that the child died because guards covered his mouth and forced him to inhale ammonia.
Just so you know, Martin Lee Anderson was an A and B student, good at math. He wound up in the boot camp after he took his grandmother’s car for a joy ride.
In other words, hardly the second coming of Al Capone.
As it happens, news of how he died came almost simultaneously with news of another appalling mistreatment of children in detention. According to a report from an advocacy group, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, more than 100 teenagers were left locked in a flooded prison in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They had to scramble to the top bunks to avoid drowning. They went up to five days with nothing to eat or drink. Some drank flood water. A large number had not been convicted of any crime.
And the vast majority was, like Anderson, black. Indeed, although New Orleans was about 67 percent black, the report says the prison was well over 95 percent black. No surprise. Human Rights Watch reports that black people are more than eight times as likely to wind up behind bars as white people.
It is telling how mutely we absorb that fact. Some see in it only proof of the ravaging effects of poverty and miseducation. Others see support for the idiot claim that criminality is a native defect of African peoples.
You seldom hear anyone suggest that it is this way because we the people want it this way, that in our silence, we give tacit approval to this means of controlling a population whose mere existence we have historically found threatening and inconvenient.
In the James Crow years, the institutions of government and society could hardly have been more brazen in pursuit of that goal. White teachers told black students they should aspire to no goal higher than to work as janitors and cooks. White cops turned black suspects over to lynch mobs.
It could never happen that way in this enlightened era, of course. And yet it happens in other ways. A 2002 report by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University says black kids are labeled emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded, and shipped off to special-education classes at rates of up to four times those of white kids. A 2000 study co-sponsored by the Justice Department tells us that, of people who have never done time in juvenile facilities, a black drug defendant is 48 times more likely to be jailed than a white one with the same record.
The means have changed, but the end — repression, control — remains the same, and we steer black kids like cars until they reach it.
Granted, there may have been some white kids in that fetid, flooded prison. There were certainly some in that brutal boot camp. Yet it’s no accident African-American children are always so well represented in those lousy places, not happenstance that they are so readily found among society’s discards.
So our concern for them now feels ... well, let’s call it belated. And self-deluding.
Those children were right where we wanted them to be.
Monday, May 15, 2006
POWER
The abuse of power can corrupt
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
So it is our duty to stand up
Against the powers that be
No longer
Will we remain silent
The passenger
Has become the pilot
Chartering a course to our destiny
Changing our pronoun from “I” to “We”
To the best of my ability
I shall lead by example
Turn our dreams to something tangible
As much as the world can handle
Not Power “To” the people
But Power “From” the people
We are the people
And together we have no equal
Our strength lies
Within the lives
Energized
By our healing hands
When others begin to realize
They too must take a stand
To revitalize our culture
Protect the weary pride
From the vultures
Look through the deception
To find the connection
Then the world will see
The God within you and me
And they’ll say
“Now that’s Power!!”
Now that’s Power!!
-T-remedi
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
So it is our duty to stand up
Against the powers that be
No longer
Will we remain silent
The passenger
Has become the pilot
Chartering a course to our destiny
Changing our pronoun from “I” to “We”
To the best of my ability
I shall lead by example
Turn our dreams to something tangible
As much as the world can handle
Not Power “To” the people
But Power “From” the people
We are the people
And together we have no equal
Our strength lies
Within the lives
Energized
By our healing hands
When others begin to realize
They too must take a stand
To revitalize our culture
Protect the weary pride
From the vultures
Look through the deception
To find the connection
Then the world will see
The God within you and me
And they’ll say
“Now that’s Power!!”
Now that’s Power!!
-T-remedi
Friday, May 12, 2006
Min. Farrakhan issues a warning to Black New Yorkers
NEW YORK - This last Sunday Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan appeared on New York’s popular radio show “Open Line” on WKRS-FM 98.7, and issued a stern warning to Black New Yorkers concerning the need to do-for-self and the need to be prepared for upcoming disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. He also cleared the air concerning his remarks while appearing at Tavis Smiley’s.“State of Black America” forum in February; and his position on what is happening in Darfur, Sudan.
Farrakhan’s warning was that Blacks do not realize that America no longer needs them. “White folk have let us go, except for the few that are in corporate America. The few that can fit in this society,” warned the Muslim leader. “The government has said wipe them out (Blacks in America), and we are on a death march.” It was clear according to some observers that the leader of the Nation of Islam was continuing with very clear and explicit instructions for the direction that Blacks must take.James Mtume, one of the show’s hosts asked Farrakhan for a summation of his recent trip to Cuba; and for the need for Blacks to see themselves in the global paradigm.
Farrakhan said that Katrina “unmasked the naked racism and ineptitude of government; and the non-caring attitude of government toward the suffering of Black people.” And since Cuba was only 90 miles away it made sense to go there to learn what they know about surviving disaster.“Cuba has been mobilized for 47 years to withstand disaster. There have been category five hurricanes that have hit the island and not one life was lost,” Farrakhan stated.
“It is written in the Qur’an that Allah will bring one calamity after another until the enemy is laid low, so Hurricane Katrina is only one, but there are many more to come,” warned Farrakhan. He said that Blacks as the people suffering the most in America must be prepared to save themselves. He added that a documentary was being made of the recent trip; and he wanted to share what has been learned with churches and organizations. “We also want to work with city, state and the federal government, so that when the disasters strike, as they will, we can make sure that there is not the loss of life, the tremendous loss of property and dislocation that we saw with Hurricane Katrina.”
Returning to the global concept, Farrakhan said that Blacks must understand that the poor of the world saw Black America, after the 1995 Million Man March, as hope for them, because they knew if we united, we could form a political base of power that could change, not only domestic policy, but influence foreign policy. “And now the doors to the world are open to us but we must be prepared now to go in and take advantage of the fact that we are an international people, a global people - we are not a minority - we are a majority on the planet and the whole world is looking to Black America because we grew up in the world leader. But what we need is a knowledge of self,” Farrakhan stressed.
Judge Bob Pickett said that many in the Black community throughout the nation have been critical of Black leadership in general. “What is your view of Black leadership in America?” asked Judge Pickett.
“I think the best of leadership is yet to come,” answered the Muslim leader. He then shared with the radio audience something told to him by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad concerning a force in the universe where a star is being born in the darkness. That force that is in the darkness will bring that star into view. “What that is telling us is that we will never be bereft of leadership. And new leadership is required among Black people, because there is a sickness in our leadership,” he said. “I don’t want to put myself apart from that leadership, because none of us has done all we should do,” Farrakhan admitted.
He added that the quality of Black leadership that won’t do anything offensive to whites must be over thrown; and a quality of leadership must arise that “will never disrespect and be ungrateful to the masses of Black people. A leadership that will never compromise principle because the former slave masters and their children are in the house.”
Both hosts explained to Farrakhan the many calls they received concerning a comment that the minister allegedly made during his appearance in Houston concerning Smiley’s book “Covenant With Black America.” “I want the world to know that Farrakhan would never disrespect the work of so many that went into producing this marvelous book,” he said. “But, what I said was misunderstood - and sometimes when you hear a man and you think emotionally he is disrespecting your work, you don’t really hear him,” the minister continued. “I guess the shock of what I was saying caused that type of disturbance,” he added.Critics of Farrakhan have said that he said, “burn the house down” referring to America. “Now what I said was; no, no, no, don’t be a fireman, let the house burn. I didn’t mean to upset you to think that I would burn down the house with our children in it. The scripture says that we are born in sin and shaped in inequity, so our spiritual house is also on fire, but from the ashes God said, I am going to make a new heaven and a new earth and you will be a new creature in Christ.” That is what Farrakhan was referencing, he stressed.
“Now, when you make a covenant, a covenant is a solemn agreement between people who are declaring their integrity to live up to that which is in the covenant,” Farrakhan stated. “Who is the covenant with?” he asked. “Are the leaders making a covenant with Black America that we will never sell them out for friendship and favor with our former slave masters?” Farrakhan asked. He added that the covenant couldn’t be made with Black America before “you make a covenant with God.”Turning his attention to the Sudan and the reported atrocities in Darfur, Farrakhan said that the media was reporting that some Arabs in the Sudan were enslaving Africans, so naturally this breeds hatred in Black America against Arabs.Farrakhan said the truth is that the Arabs over time have mixed their blood with Africans of the North and they have become Arabized and Islamic. “And the same racist poison that has poisoned the blood stream of Islam has made the Arab North feel superior to the African South. The same game that the enemy has played here and else where in Africa is being played in the Sudan in reference to skin color,” revealed Farrakhan.
Farrakhan said what Black people must examine is the root reason why so many whites are crying tears for Darfur and not the suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Palestine. “So what I say to Black people, when the former slave masters who didn’t care about lynching; and don’t care about what happened with Katrina, don’t you be deceived that they care about what is happening in the Sudan,” he argued.
“Black people wake up to the deceit,” Farrakhan stated.
Farrakhan’s warning was that Blacks do not realize that America no longer needs them. “White folk have let us go, except for the few that are in corporate America. The few that can fit in this society,” warned the Muslim leader. “The government has said wipe them out (Blacks in America), and we are on a death march.” It was clear according to some observers that the leader of the Nation of Islam was continuing with very clear and explicit instructions for the direction that Blacks must take.James Mtume, one of the show’s hosts asked Farrakhan for a summation of his recent trip to Cuba; and for the need for Blacks to see themselves in the global paradigm.
Farrakhan said that Katrina “unmasked the naked racism and ineptitude of government; and the non-caring attitude of government toward the suffering of Black people.” And since Cuba was only 90 miles away it made sense to go there to learn what they know about surviving disaster.“Cuba has been mobilized for 47 years to withstand disaster. There have been category five hurricanes that have hit the island and not one life was lost,” Farrakhan stated.
“It is written in the Qur’an that Allah will bring one calamity after another until the enemy is laid low, so Hurricane Katrina is only one, but there are many more to come,” warned Farrakhan. He said that Blacks as the people suffering the most in America must be prepared to save themselves. He added that a documentary was being made of the recent trip; and he wanted to share what has been learned with churches and organizations. “We also want to work with city, state and the federal government, so that when the disasters strike, as they will, we can make sure that there is not the loss of life, the tremendous loss of property and dislocation that we saw with Hurricane Katrina.”
Returning to the global concept, Farrakhan said that Blacks must understand that the poor of the world saw Black America, after the 1995 Million Man March, as hope for them, because they knew if we united, we could form a political base of power that could change, not only domestic policy, but influence foreign policy. “And now the doors to the world are open to us but we must be prepared now to go in and take advantage of the fact that we are an international people, a global people - we are not a minority - we are a majority on the planet and the whole world is looking to Black America because we grew up in the world leader. But what we need is a knowledge of self,” Farrakhan stressed.
Judge Bob Pickett said that many in the Black community throughout the nation have been critical of Black leadership in general. “What is your view of Black leadership in America?” asked Judge Pickett.
“I think the best of leadership is yet to come,” answered the Muslim leader. He then shared with the radio audience something told to him by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad concerning a force in the universe where a star is being born in the darkness. That force that is in the darkness will bring that star into view. “What that is telling us is that we will never be bereft of leadership. And new leadership is required among Black people, because there is a sickness in our leadership,” he said. “I don’t want to put myself apart from that leadership, because none of us has done all we should do,” Farrakhan admitted.
He added that the quality of Black leadership that won’t do anything offensive to whites must be over thrown; and a quality of leadership must arise that “will never disrespect and be ungrateful to the masses of Black people. A leadership that will never compromise principle because the former slave masters and their children are in the house.”
Both hosts explained to Farrakhan the many calls they received concerning a comment that the minister allegedly made during his appearance in Houston concerning Smiley’s book “Covenant With Black America.” “I want the world to know that Farrakhan would never disrespect the work of so many that went into producing this marvelous book,” he said. “But, what I said was misunderstood - and sometimes when you hear a man and you think emotionally he is disrespecting your work, you don’t really hear him,” the minister continued. “I guess the shock of what I was saying caused that type of disturbance,” he added.Critics of Farrakhan have said that he said, “burn the house down” referring to America. “Now what I said was; no, no, no, don’t be a fireman, let the house burn. I didn’t mean to upset you to think that I would burn down the house with our children in it. The scripture says that we are born in sin and shaped in inequity, so our spiritual house is also on fire, but from the ashes God said, I am going to make a new heaven and a new earth and you will be a new creature in Christ.” That is what Farrakhan was referencing, he stressed.
“Now, when you make a covenant, a covenant is a solemn agreement between people who are declaring their integrity to live up to that which is in the covenant,” Farrakhan stated. “Who is the covenant with?” he asked. “Are the leaders making a covenant with Black America that we will never sell them out for friendship and favor with our former slave masters?” Farrakhan asked. He added that the covenant couldn’t be made with Black America before “you make a covenant with God.”Turning his attention to the Sudan and the reported atrocities in Darfur, Farrakhan said that the media was reporting that some Arabs in the Sudan were enslaving Africans, so naturally this breeds hatred in Black America against Arabs.Farrakhan said the truth is that the Arabs over time have mixed their blood with Africans of the North and they have become Arabized and Islamic. “And the same racist poison that has poisoned the blood stream of Islam has made the Arab North feel superior to the African South. The same game that the enemy has played here and else where in Africa is being played in the Sudan in reference to skin color,” revealed Farrakhan.
Farrakhan said what Black people must examine is the root reason why so many whites are crying tears for Darfur and not the suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Palestine. “So what I say to Black people, when the former slave masters who didn’t care about lynching; and don’t care about what happened with Katrina, don’t you be deceived that they care about what is happening in the Sudan,” he argued.
“Black people wake up to the deceit,” Farrakhan stated.
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