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.
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