The Final Call

Farrakhan: We are at war! Future of our people is at stake

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Asst. Editor- | Last updated: Oct 11, 2011 - 1:57:16 PM

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Min. Farrakhan delivers his address to a capacity crowd in Philadelphia. Photo: Courtney X Powell

PHILADELPHIA (FinalCall.com) - At the 16th anniversary and commemoration of the historic Million Man March, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan served notice to leaders still selling the failed promise of America and warned Black people to accept responsibility for their own destiny or face chastisement from God—and ultimately complete elimination.

“Whether you know it or not, we are at war! Our survival as a people is at stake and no weak kneed cowardly leaders need to stand in front of Black people today! This is a time for real men! Men that understand that in order for people to be free, sacrifice has to be made, the loss of life has to take place, blood must flow in order for people who are enslaved to be free!” declared Min. Farrakhan almost at the start of the passionate address.

With thousands at the Philadelphia Convention Center and others viewing internationally via Internet webcast, Minister Farrakhan said the time for marching is over and the time for action, production and independence was at hand.

Called “the seat of liberty,” Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the U.S. Constitution was formed indicating the beginning of a new nation. Philadelphia—also a key city mentioned in scripture— would again be an important place in the formation a new nation, a nation for Blacks stolen and held captive in America.

Audience listens intently to message as thousands came out to hear Min. Farrakhan. Photo: Ansar El

“I came here today to talk straight talk. I came here today not to pussyfoot around the truth. I came here today not to be a politician. I came here today not to use diplomatic language. I came to put my foot so deep into the behind of the weak and the wicked that you will have to move my shoe leather out of your mouth to begin to speak again,” said Min. Farrakhan. “It is no accident that after all this time, Philadelphia, which means the city of brotherly love, becomes that place again for us from which we can see the coming into existence of a new nation.”

The crowd roared with applause as the Minister spoke: “There's something about this city, something about the time, something about what God has laid on my heart today that if I never make another speech as long as I live, I'm asking you to take this one and piece it apart and decide today whether you really want to be free. Let me tell you something about being free! If you like the dollar bill with the enemy's face on it, and that means more to you than to carve out a future for your children, then die when the dollar dies. If being popular means more to you than being free, if being accepted by White people means more to you than seeing your babies free, then you have chosen death rather than life.”

Long lines stretched down the hallways of the convention center as thousands came to hear Min. Farrakhan’s keynote address

“Our babies are dying, and so are we, and they're dying because leadership is rotten to the core,” he said.

Though he cited examples from American history and her strike for freedom, Minister Farrakhan said he came to bury the attitude of America's founding fathers and their “short-sighted vision” which kept them from seeing their country would house all of the different races and ethnicities of the planet.

“So when we look back at the constitution, we want to know today: Do you really mean that we are citizens or is that a trick? Because if we are citizens then our rights should be protected by the constitution, but not only are our rights not protected, that's why White children are marching, because they've lost their rights as well,” said Min. Farrakhan referring to the “Occupy Wall Street” movement taking place in cities nationwide including Philadelphia.

Support for Million Man March

Present at the convention center were many who worked diligently years ago to make the Million Man March a success. The Minister thanked Bev Smith, whose fiery words of support for the Minister and her own declaration of “no compromise” drew audience applause. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who was the executive director of the Million Man March and beloved former Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry who opened the doors of the nation's capitol to organizers of the march and those who attended were thanked by Min. Farrakhan, who detailed their work and contributions, despite fierce opposition.

Bev Smith excites the crowd during remarks at convention center.

Although the call 16-yearsago was specifically to Black men, Newark's Fredericka Bey of Women in Support of the Million Man March and those with her spent many days and nights organizing and working to make the march a success. She was seated on the dais as a tribute to her work and as a symbol of support extended by Black women around the country. Present was Rev. Willie Wilson, the pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., whose tireless efforts in backing the march helped propel it forward. His efforts also represented the vital role played by Black Christian pastors in backing the march. The stalwart pastors refused to bow to pressure and calls that no Christian should support a march called by a Muslim. The detractors' efforts failed miserably as polling done at the gathering on the National Mall found over 85 percent of those in attendance Oct. 16, 1995 called themselves Christians.

“The Million Man March could never have happened unless Christian pastors joined with us to make it happen,” said Min. Farrakhan. “If we could rise above our differences to produce what was never seen before and hasn't been duplicated since, then what is our call today? To rise above the things we differ about because the future of our people depends upon our ability to mobilize for action to bring about the results that we've been begging others for which will never come to us.

“We have got to do it ourselves and if we don't have the mind and the spirit to bring ourselves out of the condition that we are in, then we deserve whatever chastisement Allah (God) will bring upon us for our refusal to accept our responsibility.”

Kenny Gamble, a pillar in Philadelphia's religious and business community and music industry legend, was also present as was Delaware Valley regional Nation of Islam representative Rodney Muhammad. Organizers said one of the largest contingents of Black men present for the march, over 200,000, came from Philadelphia. Mr. Gamble, who is also a Muslim and is known as Brother Luqman, was a major supporter of the initial march and the commemoration.

“Our coming to Philadelphia is long overdue. Philadelphia is one of the greatest cities not only in America, but in the world, and it is one of the most Islamic oriented cities in America with some of the strongest Black people in America,” said Min. Farrakhan.

The Minister spoke of the long storied history of Islam in Philadelphia, telling the audience in the huge convention hall Philadelphia's Muhammad Mosque No. 12 was started by Malcolm X, and included the leadership of the late Muslim Minister Jeremiah Shabazz and the late Imam Warith D. Mohammed, a son of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. The mosque closed in Philadelphia when Imam Mohammed was jailed as a conscientious objector. The Minister used that closure to make a larger point regarding America's bloodthirsty, global warmongering.

“I would respectfully submit to you that we all should conscientiously object to the wars going on in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan Somalia, Yemen and Libya and we must not let our government send our babies to die on the basis of a lie!” Minister Farrakhan stated emphatically. “The media is stoking the fi re for war with Pakistan and war with Iran. As a Muslim, never will we fight against our Muslim brothers for the Zionists of America that have locked down the government of America. Never will we die for the state of Israel!”

The crowd stood on its feet and applauded his strong words.

Philadelphia: A symbol of liberty

In the city where America was conceived and came to birth, 56 White men from 12 of the 13 original colonies met to discuss their grave concerns, despite their differences regarding territorial rights and other issues they formed a coalition, rebelled and challenged the tyrannical rulers who were their oppressors.

In the very same way, the “rebel group” known as the Nation of Islam will be the cornerstone of a brand new nation, said Minister Farrakhan.

“If we are guided by Allah, then there is nothing that we cannot do. We are more than qualified to erect a new nation on the foundation of the old,” said Min. Farrakhan. “There's a new nation coming into being, and the door of that nation is like the New Jerusalem. Jerusalem had 12 gates to the city. And like Moses when he struck he rock and there were 12 springs coming forth out of the rock and every member of the Children of Israel knew their drinking place, well, the people will drink. We are going to smite this rock—a hard hearted people, a recalcitrant government yet with the Rod of God out of a rock will come water and life for us, if we are willing not to be a freed slave anymore.”

America's false promises

Black people were considered three-fifths of a person so slaves on plantations aided the South's population numbers and gave the South political domination with congressmen allocated based on population. Black people have always been used as pawns in political games of the power elite, said the Minister. Black elected officials should stop begging and consider coming out of America's political system and pooling their political knowledge to work to build a new nation, he said.

Audience shows its approval of Min. Farrakhan’s message. Photos Mikal Veale

Minister Farrakhan noted most marches are controlled by outside Jewish philanthropists who determine the public program and who will participate in exchange for Jewish financial support.

“A whore in religion, a whore in politics that you can be bought to sell out your own dignity, see you've got to say like Jesus ‘Get thee behind me Satan.' I'm not for sale, and this is one Black man that is not for sale and I don't know too many more! But let me tell you, if you're going to walk with me, your days of being a whore and a pimp are all over! You either live for your people or die for your people!” said the Minister. The audience again roared its approval.

It was fitting that the dedication of the MLK memorial would be held Oct. 16 since the message at the Million Man March revolved around three words, atonement, reconciliation and responsibility, said the Minister. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his person was a symbol of atonement, reconciliation and responsibility, he added. Hurricane Irene came through Washington, D.C., and changed the plans for the originally scheduled unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. There was also an earthquake that shook the nation's capitol damaging the iconic Washington Monument.

“God is trying to show you, you don't have no hiding place when he gets ready for you, He will find you and kill you wherever you are!” the Minister said.

President Barack Obama is expected to speak at the memorial's dedication and the Minister said he had a question for the president: “I'd like to ask him this question: My dear sir, always with respect, because he's our brother and I truly love him and we are wrong to expect from him what he can't deliver. But I want to ask him, how Mr. President, can you come to the mall and honor that man and the unveiling of the statue without addressing the pressing needs of the poor for which he gave his life?”

“So don't forget my dear brother president that you were there 16 years-ago on the mall with nearly two million of your brothers and now you go to the mall to unveil the statue of the man who laid down and paid a price and laid a foundation for you to step up on, but he laid his foundation fighting for the poor, fighting against war and the shedding of innocent blood for the material progress for this nation,” said the Nation of Islam minister.

“So my dear brother when you are standing on that mall, you cannot be hypocritical in the unveiling of the statue of a man whose name you invoke. So invoke his name, dedicate that statue and go back to the White House and fight like hell, even if you are only a one term president. Fight like hell for the people who put you in that office and may God bless you to find the voice to do it!”

Many Black leaders are still what Min. Farrakhan called “back door n----s” who eat dinner at the White House and are enlisted by the administration to get Black votes and support.

“An invite to the White House wouldn't mean a damn thing to me in fact I'd turn it down. I'd tell the president where I live, he lives right around the corner from me— ‘come see me brother'—because I'm damn sure not going to the White House and act like that's a big honor. What the hell am I going there for if it can't better your condition?” Min. Farrakhan asked.

“I don't want nobody's friendship if you don't truly want the liberation of our people. God has brought me this far and He will carry me all the way and if it pleases God that I die in the struggle, I want to go out like a man! I want to go out like a warrior! I want to go out like a soldier for God! And know this, there is no death for Louis Farrakhan! I just don't think you've got a gun big enough to kill me unless it pleases God and if it pleases God then it pleases me. But I think you've killed your last one. And even to come after me—God will set your house on fire! God is anxious to pay you back for your evil done to his people and I am the trigger that will explode God's wrath on this wicked nation!”

America's political and economic trouble

The political game is a very dirty game which compromises the integrity of leadership, said Min. Farrakhan. He noted President Obama's strong tone when he spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus but completely different tone when talking to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the members of the gay and lesbian lobby.

“The system that the politicians represent is of this world and it is already corrupted,” said Min. Farrakhan. “Politics has become infected with the poison of partisanship.”

Policemen, teachers and firemen are being laid off nationwide, 46 million people are without health insurance, 46 million are functionally illiterate and 14 million are unemployed, he said.

People are going to be forced to consider the wise guidance and plan of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, because everything he said would happen is happening, and Black leaders are still impotently marching for jobs and justice, Min. Farrakhan noted. “What in the hell is wrong with your hands, your head, your bank account, your pocketbook, your labor that you are going to beg another man to do for you what you can get up off of your backside and do for yourself?”

Minister Farrakhan then grabbed the microphone and began to walk the stage. “I'm clear that they aren't preparing a future for us, but I am also clear that we are going to have to provide a future for ourselves. That is not their responsibility,” he said.

“He (the Honorable Elijah Muhammad) gave us a plan way back in the ‘60s,” said Min. Farrakhan.

Members of the Nation of Gods and Earths attend speech in Philadelphia. Photo: Ansar El

The Minister says he has heard the cries of the Tea Party, saying they want to take their country back, but they don't realize who is actually controlling it.

It is not Black people simply because Mr. Obama occupies the White House, he said. Those who want America to survive would have to break the control of the corporate media, break the control of multinational corporations and the international “robber baron” bankers and break control of the Zionists who use America and the sweat and blood of American children to annually funnel $3 billion to Israel, he said.

Integration that produces separation

Black people already live in a separate reality in the United States however they do not benefit from their separate status, observed Minister Farrakhan. Other ethnic groups, Italians, Jews, Irish, Chinese and Mexicans, form ethnic clusters in the cities where they reside, and then control the politics, economics and resources within their boundary, he said.

Minister Farrakhan suggested buying up land in the city that is currently vacant and setting up urban agricultural projects to grow food. He urged pooling financial resources to create a new Black banking reality. The Minister described independence as similar to a woman giving birth to a baby. The baby is a part of and is nourished by the mother's body, however at an appointed time, the baby is born and becomes a separate and independent being once the umbilical cord is cut. This is integration that ultimately produces separation, he said.

All of this is designed to break the control of those who benefit from the exploitation of powerless and weak Black communities, he said.

America's leaders do not have the best interests of Black people in mind, said the Minister. However as it says in scripture that God takes the kingdom from whom he pleases and gives it to whom he pleases, however with it comes responsibility.

“We live in America. We have suffered here. This is our country. When you paid the price that we paid…when you worked on the plantation made them rich,” said the Minister. “When we picked the cotton that gave them an agrarian economy based on our picking cotton, tobacco and sugar cane? We made them bankers, we helped them set up Wall Street, we fueled the industrial revolution. We fought in all the wars—this is ours. We need to claim what we built.”

“If you came into power would you treat White people the way they have treated us, or would you seek to treat people fairly with justice and equity? What kind of heart do you have? Are you a vengeful person now that when you get power you will do to other what they did to you or will you act in a godly fashion? See this is why God looks at the heart of people (because) He is about to give you the kingdom. You have suffered for it, and now he's preparing you to handle it,” said Min. Farrakhan.

Reactions to a powerful message

Dr. Leonard Jeffries participated in the entire weekend of events as a panelist and listened to the full speech. He was at the Million Man March in 1995 and said he waited all his life for a moment like it.

“Certainly it's been a wonderful weekend and we had a chance to talk about what we need to do in reference to our education and publication of the book The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews Volume Two. This was a wake-up call for Black people to take control of their own destiny, to depend upon their own community and start developing a place for themselves,” said Dr. Jeffries. “It was good to see so many of those he's worked with and trained, it was good to see his family and the message of not depending upon others is key. As the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said early on, you need your own economics you need to work your own politics, you need to develop your own family and then keep your cultural unity together and that's the key to success.”

“I thank Allah once again for allowing me to be a witness here. He is serving among us to give us a worldview of what we have to do as Black people throughout the whole planet in rising up and taking responsibility for ourselves and our destiny and our children and our place in history,” said UK Nation of Islam representative Hilary Muhammad.

New Black Panther Party National Chairman Atty. Malik Zulu Shabazz called the Minister's message “honest and blistering” and found the emphasis on Nation building to be the key.

“The focus on Nation building and where we must go in the future is where I'm most impressed and what resonates with me right now with what I'm trying to do and what we're trying to do in the Black Nationalist Movement,” said Atty. Shabazz. “He sets the pace and the tone for all of us so I think that he understands that the time is upon us.”

“I think Minister Farrakhan showed how we can become a people who can be independent and make progress and stop begging people to do something for us that we can do for ourselves,” said Mr. Gamble. “I'm really inspired I'm glad he was here in Philadelphia and I think that this is a new beginning.”