My Promise To
Kwame Ture
by Minister Louis Farrakhan

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

The Black people of America and the progressive people of the world who struggle for freedom, justice and equality have lost a great soldier and a great friend. Kwame Ture has passed, but, Kwame Ture lives.

It is written in the Qur'an, "Speak not of those who die or are slain in the Way of Allah as dead; they are alive, but, you understand not."

Kwame Ture lives in the hearts and minds of those whom his life has touched in the eternal struggle of men and women to overcome impediments that keep them from attaining the full blessings of a life of freedom, justice, and equality. Kwame Ture lives in the principles upon which he based his life. Kwame Ture lives in the sacrifices that he made for the advancement of our people. Kwame Ture lives in the hearts and minds of those of us whom his life and testament has touched, and who have been edified, uplifted, and raised in levels of consciousness by his scholarship.

Kwame Ture has died in the way of Allah (God) in the path of freedom, justice, and equality; therefore he lives. He does not leave a fortune or an estate to divide among his family members, but, he leaves to all of us his last will and testament; his life and his struggle for the liberation of our people.

I came to the knowledge of Kwame Ture in 1966 as he struggled in the south as the Chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. We became friends. Although, we took different paths, the spiritual and the political for the liberation of our people, our struggle has always been one. Our mothers, his and mine, are two different women from the Caribbean, but, we came from the same Eternal Womb that produces those who struggle on behalf of suffering humanity. Kwame Ture taught us many lessons in his life. He taught us the lesson of consistency and persistence in his bitter fight against cancer. He taught us the lesson of remaining true to right principles.

He taught us how to struggle with every ounce of our strength and breath for our cause, and even though doctors, over two years ago, gave him four or five months to live, his will to live to struggle for the good of our people kept him fighting right up to the last day, hour, minute and second of his life.

Although he was down to approximately 70 lbs., he was a heavyweight in the struggle, to the last minute of his life, offering counsel and advice to everyone who came near his bedside.

I believe that the Reverend Jackson and Congresswoman Maxine Waters saw him in the last week of his life and if I know Kwame Ture, he urged, implored and even threatened them (smile) to pursue a united front of Black organizations and leaders to break the back of the oppression and suffering of our people.

I made a promise to Kwame that I would work to implement a united front. I made a promise to Kwame that I would strive for unity with all Black leaders and organizations for the sake of the liberation and future of our people. I made a promise to Kwame that in order to accomplish this, I would wage relentless warfare against those persons, organizations and institutions that oppose our establishing an African united front. All of us who love Kwame Ture, and all of us who have been touched by his life, whether we agreed with him in total or in part, or disagreed with him, we all know that he lived and died as a friend of Africa and African people everywhere, and he lived and died as a friend of those who suffer from the oppressive hand of Racism, Imperialism, and Zionism.

I shall always be grateful to Allah (God) for his precious life. I shall always be grateful that his life touched mine. I shall always be grateful for the lessons of struggles that I have learned and have been strengthened in by his struggle. I shall always carry in my heart the memory of my Brother until my days of struggle on this earthly plane are ended.

I ask all of us who have known him and loved him to continue the struggle for the united front and to continue the struggle against all forms of tyranny and oppression until our world is free, justified, and equal and at peace.

Thank you for reading these words.