'Wake up or die in your sleep!'

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Asst. Editor- | Last updated: Nov 10, 2011 - 9:17:07 AM

Farrakhan delivers serious message and a plan for Black survival

Min. Farrakhan shares his vision of a cooperative economic freedom plan on the Cliff Kelley Show aired on WVON 1690 AM. Photo: dbarge.com

CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has placed tremendous importance on Black survival during this critical time in recent especially passionate and sober messages.

He continued to emphasize critical points about unity and immediate cooperative economic action, investment and acquisition of land in a Nov. 3 interview with legendary radio talk show host Cliff Kelley on WVON 1690 AM.

The most recent message followed similar guidance offered in an Oct. 9 Holy Day of Atonement message in Philadelphia and part two delivered Oct. 16 in Chicago to audiences viewing worldwide via the Internet.

“We have more millionaires, and a few billionaires and more members of the Black middle class, yet the masses of our people are slipping further and further behind and are deeper and deeper in the valley of poverty and want,” said Min. Farrakhan.

He repeated that the Black nation is at war for its survival, and his desire was to alert and educate the people to be aware of the time, and what must be done.

“If we as a people are not mentally and emotionally and intellectually ready to fight the war for our survival, then our ignorance of the time will be the means of our own destruction,” Min. Farrakhan said over the airwaves of Chicago’s Black talk radio station and to viewers tuned in to a streaming online webcast.

“We are at war, and the war is for our survival and for the survival of our children and a future for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

During Minister Farrakhan’s appearance the week before on The Cliff Kelley Show, he spoke in detail about the assassination of his brother and friend, Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gadhafi, but told listeners plans for the survival of the Black nation in America—the people of God’s Promise—are never out of his mind. Mr. Kelley, aware of the emotional toll Col. Gadhafi’s death had on the Minister, remarked that he was concerned. The Minister said during the Oct. 25 appearance, he reflected God’s anger and destructive power, and it came through his words. He told Mr. Kelley and listeners Nov. 3 that he was feeling much better, even though the thoughts and memories of his slain comrade remained with him.

“God is The Beneficent, He is The Merciful, He is the Oft-returning to Mercy and He is The Forgiving, and that’s the side of God that we always hope to see, but there is another face to God and that is the face of His awesome power to destroy—in the twinkling of an eye—His enemies,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“All of us are made in the image and likeness of God so there’s a time when we can be peaceful, but there is also a time when the peaceful man can go to war and that is the prophets of God. They were peaceful men, but they were warriors too, and that’s who you’re looking at,” the Minister said Nov. 3.

“So you always hope that the face of Farrakhan will be the peaceful face, but there’s another side to me that I don’t think any of you want to get acquainted with, but you will have to before the end of this drama.”

Troubling truths about America

The Minister delivered troubling stats regarding conditions in America, with over 49 million Americans considered “functional illiterates” who can read only at a fifth grade level, millions suffering in poverty, homelessness and lack of food, 46 million lacking adequate health insurance, soldiers returning from multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan to unemployment at home.

This high-level dissatisfaction at home has created conditions in which people are rising against government and Occupy Wall Street movements are growing all over the country.

Occupy Wall Street protesters help 24-year-old Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen as he lays on the ground bleeding from a head wound Oct. 25, in Oakland, Calif. Mr. Olsen was critically injured by an object that struck him in the head during the chaotic confl ict. He suffered a fractured skull while marching with other protesters attempting to reestablish a presence in the area of the disbanded camp, said Dottie Guy, of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. Photo: AP Wide World Photos/Darryl Bush

The militarization of police nationwide is being done for a reason, the Minister noted. During an appearance on WVON the week before, the Minister warned militia members would show up if protesters were brutalized and injured. Shortly after he spoke, it was reported that Phoenix militiamen showed up at an Occupy Phoenix rally to protect protesters. There was also a report of a man armed with an AK-47 automatic rifle at an Occupy Atlanta protest.

“U.S. Border Guards made an appearance at the Occupy Phoenix armed with AR-15 rifles to protect demonstrators’ legitimate right to peaceful protest. The privately funded volunteers fronted by Patrol Leader, J.T. Ready wore military style combat fatigues and stated that they were there to exercise their Second Amendment right so that protesters could exercise their First Amendment right,” reported The Economic Voice, an online publication. Other blogs and websites noted the development, some calling it strange bedfellows, with Occupy protestors called liberals and a militia accused of being a White supremacist group together.

The Times-Union in Albany, N.Y., reported that “state troopers and Albany police held off making arrests of dozens of protesters near the Capitol over the weekend even as Albany’s mayor, under pressure from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, had urged his police chief to enforce a city curfew. ... But as the curfew neared, the group of protesters estimated at several hundred moved across an invisible line in the park from state land onto city property.”

“We were ready to make arrests if needed, but these people complied with our orders,” the Times-Union quoted a State Police official as saying. “However, he added that State Police supported the defiant posture of Albany police leaders to hold off making arrests for the low-level offense of trespassing, in part because of concern it could incite a riot or draw thousands of protesters in a backlash that could endanger police and the public. ‘We don’t have those resources, and these people were not causing trouble,’ the official said. ‘The bottom line is the police know policing, not the governor and not the mayor,’ ” the Times-Union reported.

In Atlanta, police carried out a crackdown on Occupy Atlanta that divided civil rights leaders and was ordered by Mayor Kasim Reed. While the mayor said a man carrying an AK-47 rifle was one reason for dispersing protestors, the Buckhead Patch, a local blog, reported the man could not be arrested because the weapon was not concealed. His intent, according to reports, was to protect protestors.

Meanwhile a magistrate in Memphis refused to sign arrest warrants, when police locked up Occupy Nashville protestors charging them with violating a curfew imposed to drive demonstrators out.

“Tennessee officials agreed Monday (Oct. 31) to stop enforcing a new curfew used to dislodge Occupy Nashville protesters from the grounds around the Capitol. The protesters went to federal court seeking a temporary restraining order against Gov. Bill Haslam, arguing the curfew and arrests of dozens of supporters violated their rights to free speech and freedom of assembly,” the Associated Press reported.

“State Attorney General’s Office Senior Counsel Bill Marett announced at the beginning of a hearing before Judge Aleta Trauger that the state would not fight efforts to halt the policy. The judge said she had already decided to grant the restraining order because the curfew was a ‘clear prior restraint on free speech rights.’ ”

In California, Occupy Oakland was particularly volatile, with war vets injured by police, protest marches, a shutdown of the Oakland Port and calls for a general strike. “A second Iraq war veteran has suffered serious injuries after clashes between police and Occupy movement protesters in Oakland,” the UK-based Guardian newspaper reported Nov. 4.

“Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen. He says he was beaten by police close to the Occupy Oakland camp, but despite suffering agonising pain, did not reach hospital until 18 hours later. Sabehgi, 32, is the second Iraq war veteran to be hospitalised following involvement in Oakland protests. Another protester, Scott Olsen, suffered a fractured skull on 25 October.”

The Muslim Program

Min. Farrakhan explained to listeners that even if Pres. Obama’s job bill passes, Blacks must fi nance and create their own employment through agriculture, manufacturing and trade. Photo: MGNOnline

Minister Farrakhan said he wanted to again acquaint the listeners with the great vision of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in fact, it was way back in the 1960s that he wrote in “The Muslim Program” which appeared on the back page of every Nation of Islam Muhammad Speaks newspaper and is now on the back page of The Final Call: “We do not believe that America will ever be able to furnish enough jobs for her own millions of unemployed, in addition to jobs for the 20,000,000 Black people as well.”

“Please consider this great man that walked among us and gave us guidance for this time. Unfortunately, we were not listening. I hope today in this short time that is left, in this dying economy of America, that we will listen,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“It was 20 million at that time, but we are between 40 and 50 million now. So we now have to get up from where we are and with right guidance and the will to work to produce the things that we are begging others to produce for us, we could then do that which would earn us the respect of America and the respect of the entire world,” he added.

No jobs bill from President Barack H. Obama nor subsidies from the U.S. government will save Black people, Min. Farrakhan stressed.

It is going to take hard work, unity and pooling financial resources of wealthy Black athletes and entertainers along with the nickels, dimes and quarters of willing Black people across the country, he said.

The first order of business is the acquisition of land, said Min. Farrakhan.

“We worked like hell in the (Mississippi) Delta to make others rich with the cotton that we picked and produced! Why shouldn’t we own the Delta? It belongs to us,” Min. Farrakhan continued.

“The government should give it to us as a part of reparations but they won’t do that—but we have enough money if we pooled our resources, we could buy land here in Illinois, in Wisconsin, in Iowa, in Indiana, in Tennessee, in Arkansas, in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Texas and begin producing the jobs that we are begging White people to produce for us. I am telling you brothers and sisters—Pharaoh has already dropped us! If we are not going to pick ourselves up and do something to help ourselves then we have no future!”

Calling the former owner of Black Entertainment Television and the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, billionaire Bob Johnson “a man with tremendous vision,” Minister Farrakhan said a man like the entrepreneur with business acumen and contacts, could bring together Black athletes in the NBA and NFL as well as Black entertainers to begin to create jobs and economic entities in the Black community.

“With those billions we could amass, in one year’s time, if all of us united on an economic program that makes sense, then the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said we could establish a national Black bank,” said the Minister. “The problem is, we don’t trust each other enough to do business with self, but we are going to get out of that attitude, because that attitude got us where we are—in poverty and want with no jobs.”

Study examples of success

The Minister again stressed divine guidance contained in the words of Mr. Muhammad in “Message to the Blackman in America“ where he wrote: “Observe the operations of the White man. He is successful. He makes no excuses for his failures. He works hard in a collective manner. You do the same.”

Business acquired during the 1960s through collective saving by members of the Nation of Islam. Clockwise from left, farm, Guaranty Bank owned by the Nation of Islam under the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Stocked shelves of Your Supermarket and the Temple No. 2 Clothing and shoe store in Chicago, Il. Photos: Final Call fi le

“Does this sound like a ‘racist’ or a ‘hater’ to you?” Minister Farrakhan asked. “Now, you can dislike White folk if you want, that’s entirely up to you! But Elijah Muhammad was saying get past that and observe the operations of a man that has captured the world, and made the world bow down to his way of civilization.”

God wants to replace the rule of the Caucasian because he has not been a good steward of the land, its raw materials and the people on the land, said the Minister.

Heeding the advice of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who said “study the White man,” the Minister said the Jewish community has been the most successful of the Caucasian people. They gained economic power which led to establishment of political power and ultimately, enormous influence. This is the opposite of what Black people have done and as a result, collectively, Black people are weak, he said.

“You’re trying to gain political power without economic strength and therefore you have no weight to push the engine for your own salvation,” Min. Farrakhan continued.

In 1860, cotton was to America and the Jews what oil is presently to the Arab world. It is through the cultivation of cotton that Jewish plantation owners then sold to their brothers up North that Jews created garments leading to jobs.

“If we could pick cotton for them and make them rich, don’t you think that the land will produce cotton for us and we could start producing food, clothing and shelter—all of it coming from the land?” he asked. “It is your aversion to the land that is causing us pain.”

Instead of preying on their own communities, why not become protectors and servants of the community, the Minister said to members of street organizations.

Gang members can carve out territories and instead of selling drugs and death, could sell goods and services using the backpack model made famous by Jewish peddlers.

“We don’t have to do evil to get rich,” said Min. Farrakhan. “Let’s carve out the territories!”

“But we’re not gangsters anymore, we’re not selling drugs, killing people anymore, we’re making money to own where we live!” Min. Farrakhan said. “Get up Black man and stop this foolishness or you will die where you are! You don’t have much time left!”

“You that are killing each other and delighting that you smoked your brother—let me tell you something brothers and sisters—if you don’t take this plan and let’s get busy doing something constructive for ourselves—I am telling you what’s about to go down.

“The bible puts it like this: Those who refused to listen to Moses and Aaron—that’s Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan—they were bitten by fiery serpents. Fiery serpents only mean angry White folk who are sick and tired of you and me lulling around like a bunch of lazy beggars, beating people in the head, robbing and stealing when you could be building and producing and earning the respect of the civilized world,” said the Minister. “Wake up, Black man, or die in your sleep!”

The Final Call