Empowering the next generation of leaders

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Asst. Editor- | Last updated: Apr 25, 2012 - 4:47:40 PM

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff welcomes Minister Farrakhan

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff students and faculty with Minister Farrakhan after his April 16 message there. Photo: Richard Redus/Final Call

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (FinalCall.com - In the final stop of his tour of historically Black colleges and universities, throughout the “Cotton South,” the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke to thousands at the H.O. Clemmons Arena on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, April 16.

His appearance was part of the “Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders” lecture series at UAPB, an 1890 Land-Grant HBCU with nearly 4,000 students.

“It is our goal to plant seeds today to provide fruit for those to come tomorrow,” said UAPB Student Government Association president Kent Broughton II, prior to the Minister’s arrival on campus. “Hearing Farrakhan will create the opportunity to expose our students to diversity and make a positive impact on our campus, county and state.”

Students filed into the gymnasium after being whisked through a brief security procedure by male and female members of the Nation of Islam from across the United States who journeyed to Arkansas to assist the university.

Upon his arrival, the Minister was cheered. Many of the students were fixated on his every movement. The man they had only read about and heard about on the news was now standing on stage with a message specifically to help them rooted in the Teaching of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“I want to start with a man. Everything has its beginning, from a woman who would produce a man of consequence. A man came to North America in 1930, an Arab from the Holy City of Mecca in Arabia. His name was Fard Muhammad,” Minister Farrakhan continued. “He found a Black man from Georgia, in Detroit, Michigan. A man who grew up like many of the elders here, on a plantation, as a sharecropper. A man who only went to the fourth grade of school.”

“This man Fard Muhammad, took this fourth grade student and stayed with him for three years and four months. After which, he went away, and left with us Elijah, whose slave name was Poole,” said the Minister.

Students refl ect on the Minister’s message at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Photos: Richard Redus/Final Call (right) Minister Farrakhan at UAPB

“What is a slave name?” he asked rhetorically. “It’s the name most of us walked in here with tonight. I don’t mean any disrespect, but the last slave master of your great grandfather named you the names you have. These are English names, but you are not an Englishman, so when you even sign your name, you are saying to the world ‘something terrible has happened to me.’”

“How strange do you think you look as a Black man, an African Man wearing your former slave master’s name yet saying you are free. If somebody has the power to name you, and you don’t have the wisdom to get out of that name, then maybe he still own us,” he continued. “So tonight, we’re all going to be free, because the Bible says there’s a man going around taking names, and you need to have your name taken and replaced with a valuable name.”

The direct descendants of The Creator should not be named after God’s creations, he said. Collectively, Black people can make a case that they were incapacitated and the terms of the previous contract or agreement made with the slave master are no longer valid.

“You’ve made a contract with somebody that has us bound, but tonight we want to review the contractual terms,” said Min. Farrakhan.

Students of Elijah

The Minister pointed out that Malcolm X only went to the eight grade and with what he learned from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who was taught for three and a half years by a Master Teacher, he debated the top scholars of the Ivy League schools and no one could match wits with him.

Another student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Muhammad Ali was a high school graduate. When he joined the Nation of Islam, he left his slave name, Cassius Marcellus Clay behind. Muhammad Ali became known all over the world. Muhammad means “worthy of praise” and Ali means “the most high.”

The Hon. Elijah Muhammad’s son, the late Imam W.D. Mohammed never went to college, however, he is known all over the world as an Islamic scholar. And then, using himself as an example, the Minister said he comes without any degrees, but in the scriptures, the question is asked by the Jews regarding Jesus: “How come this man having not letters is learned?”

“None of the men that I mentioned have letters from this world’s colleges and universities yet we are known now all over the world, scholars and scientists sit sometimes at our feet,” said the Minister. “It’s an honor to be here tonight to talk to those who are yearning for letters, to give you something from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad—who is a Master Teacher—to give you insight into everything that you are studying and then guide you to make a great future for yourself and our people.”

America’s true builders

Around 1875, it was the period known as Reconstruction. Something was happening just ten years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Blacks had built 60 towns and were in state legislature and congress, said the Minister. UAPB is the second oldest land-grant institution in the state of Arkansas.

Holding up a copy of “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews Volume 2,” the Minister delivered the true history of how the mansions of the South were built. It is something far different from what is taught in America’s history books.

“White people did not build anything. We were the builders of all the major construction in the South,” he said pointing out that slaves were leant to those in Washington, D.C. to build the Capitol and the White House. “We built what you see. Our women were seamstresses. We kept the slave master’s wife looking good while we were dressed in burlap. Today you can’t sew at all! Today you can hardly cook at all. Today you are nothing compared to what we were when we came out of slavery!”

Minister Farrakhan with Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus who declared April 16 "Louis Farrakhan Day."

Moreover, in all the major cities, Black people are killing and robbing each other. Black men are the main assaulters raping and disrespecting Black women. Black people have been undone, have fallen and are functioning on a horizontal or dead level, he said.

Education is supposed to increase your ability to solve the problems confronting society, however, with all of the degrees and “higher learning,” Black communities are suffering, and many Black people don’t even know they are descendants of the great architects of civilization.

“Isn’t it strange that with all this education, we are less productive?” he asked.

As beautiful as Black people are, they have been taught to hate their facial features, skin color and hair texture.

“Do you know who you are?” Min. Farrakhan asked. “If you don’t know who you are, you will never become the master of any discipline that you study.”

It takes one with the “Master Grip,” to raise the people, he said.

“The Bible says there is a Lion asleep in Judah, who will wake him? A pussycat can’t come up to a lion meowing and raise up a lion that is asleep,” said Min. Farrakhan. “The problem with your leaders is they’re pussycats and that’s why you haven’t stood up like men and done manly things like building a future for yourself, your people, and your children!”

The Minister also eloquently pointed out that a generation gap exists between the youth and the elders. Youth today have their own language, music and their own style of dress. This happens in every generation, the Minister said.

Television and technology are being used wickedly to drive a wedge between the youth and their elders. There is also a wedge being driven between Black men and Black women.

“Into that gap, Satan has stepped in,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“We need help but help has come. We need guidance but guidance has come. We need to reshape and create a new educational paradigm and that new paradigm has come,” he said.

Following his message to the students, the Minister received a proclamation from Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus declaring April 16 “Louis Farrakhan Day.” Then, even with a plane to catch scheduled to take him back to Chicago, Minister Farrakhan met with UAPB student leaders for about 45-minutes answering more questions and taking photos with them.

Students empowered

Twenty-two-year old Greg Robinson, a senior history major and SGA vice-president said he was going to get a copy of “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” Volume 2. He had the honor of introducing Minister Farrakhan.

“I’m extremely proud that he came. I think that it opened us up, and will lead to people being more conscious in the future,” said Mr. Robinson, also the CEO of Black Male Achievers. “I think that it is refreshing for somebody to give you the authority to be what you want to be and do what you were called to do,” he added.

Jeremy Harris, a senior majoring in language arts and social studies, called the experience “empowering.”

“This was an amazing experience for the university and myself. The things that you hear on television and in the media, you realize that it is not true. I got a lot of wisdom from what I heard tonight, and a lot of things that I need to go and research,” said Mr. Harris, also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

Ashley Forest, a mass communications major said the campus had been buzzing for weeks in anticipation of the Minister’s arrival and that during his speech, there were many students tweeting empowering quotes.

“I thought it was great, it was a chance for students to be cultivated, educated and gain more knowledge, to be more open minded to new possibilities,” said Ms. Forest.

“It was an historic moment,” Mr. Broughton told The Final Call. “The message that he brought transcended everything, religion and race. I hope our students take the challenge and move forward. We have to be producers instead of consumers.”

Minister Farrakhan at Alabama A&M Univeristy: 'Is what you are studying contributing to the rise of your people?' (FCN, 04-20-2012)

Farrakhan issues challenge to HBCU students and faculty at historic Nashville, Tenn. church (FCN, 04-20-2012)

Farrakhan at UC Berkeley: Reigniting Black campus activism (FCN, 03-13-2012)

Students respond to Farrakhan's message at UC Berkeley (FCN, 03-13-2012)

Farrakhan asks students and professors: Are you truly educated? (FCN, 01-31-2012)