CAPITOL HILL
(FinalCall.com)--Fresh on the heels of his peace mission
overseas and having just briefed Assistant Secretary of State
William Burns on his mission, the leader of the Nation of Islam
July 23 reported to his own community through its elected
representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).
Invited by the "dean" of the CBC, Rep. John
Conyers (D-Mich.), the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan told
the lawmakers of the mission�s goals�to stop a war against Iraq
and quell the violence among Palestinians and Israelis�and that
the U.S. media had miscast his words in Iraq. He said he had
briefed Mr. Burns via phone, but would submit a more detailed
report in writing. He also gave views on some domestic issues.
The Minister also expressed support for
embattled Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney, who faces a stiff
challenge in an upcoming August primary.
"I want to say to all of you that you might
think that just because you�re an individual that you don�t have
weight," he said. "But God has never sent a team to do His work.
He sends one man and anoints that man and backs that man with
His power.
"And that�s why we love Jesus," Min. Farrakhan
continued. "He was one man but he had disciples. Moses was one
man but he had Aaron and he had disciples. If you feel that you
are right and you are with God and God is with you, never, never
compromise what is right for any position that makes you
comfortable. Your real comfort has never been in comfort; your
real comfort lies in the fact that you know that you are in the
bosom of a mighty God and shadowed under his wings. With that
kind of faith, we went forward" on the mission, he reported.
During the two-hour session, the Minister
offered experiences from each of the nations visited on his June
20-July 17 Peace Mission�including the denial of entry into
Israel and the lackluster participation from Blacks in the
Diaspora at the recent birth of the African Union in South
Africa.
He said Israel took the position of the United
Kingdom, which has denied him travel to that area since 1986.
Speaking frankly, he told the legislators that President Bush
should be honest with the American people about why hatred
exists in the world for the United States of America, not for
the American people but for the policies of the government.
He explained that his delegation heard Arab and
Muslim leaders express opposition to an attack on Iraq,
regardless of how they felt about Saddam Hussein.
"My effort was to encourage [Arab and Muslim
governments] to speak to America and the administration with one
voice," he said. "When I started on this assignment, it was as
if I was singing a solo. I didn�t want to sing a solo, I wanted
to generate a chorus.
"I say again that the mission indeed was a
success because now the whole Arab and Muslim world is speaking
to our government and the president that they don�t want any
bombing of Iraq," he said.
He urged the CBC to hold a hearing on the
question of whether or not the United States should attack Iraq,
adding that he will call for town hall meetings in various
cities on the issue.
Min. Farrakhan�s most passionate remarks came
when he discussed the events in Zimbabwe where President Robert
Mugabe is in a battle with Western governments over his policy
of seizing arable land�which overwhelmingly is in the hands of
White farmers�and giving it to landless Black war veterans.
"Whenever Whites say that a Black man is not
good for his people, not good for his government and you get
sources of information that are not righteous, the wise thing
for us to do is to get on a plane and go there � get on the
ground and see and then come back and report to your people,"
the Minister advised.
"You must never be a rubber stamp for the
enemies of the liberation of our people because it looks good.
It does not look good," he said.
By being on the ground, Min. Farrakhan said he
saw the horror of the condition of the southern African people
and that land question is the question of today and tomorrow in
Africa.
"If that issue is not dealt with properly, I�m
telling you it is going to precipitate race war," he said,
adding that Whites got the land by taking it by force. When a
war of liberation is fought, it is to liberate the land so the
resources of the land can accrue to the owners of the land, he
said.
Min. Farrakhan added that just as Zimbabwe�s
freedom fighters were about to be victorious, they were called
to London for peace talks and the British asked them to buy back
the land. Ultimately, an agreement was reached with London and
the U.S. to pay for land to be repurchased, but after a while
and with the change of presidential administrations, that
agreement fell flat.
"Right now, they are making Mugabe the whipping
stick because they don�t want Thabo Mbeki or Sam Nujoma or the
leaders in southern Africa to start talking about taking back
the land," he said, admonishing those Black congresspersons who
voted for the Zimbabwe Democracy Bill that punishes President
Mugabe.
"I�m telling you that we don�t like that," the
Minister said. "We want you to be strong. Even if you lose your
seat, don�t lose it by being somebody that is not true to
yourself and the best interest of your people. You have to stand
up for those who sent you here."
Looking toward the future, Min. Farrakhan warned
that the United States government may be planning to do is "what
they did in Haiti. They will come in with a military force and
destabilize that man because they have already built opposition
to Mugabe that�s very strong," he said.
Regarding the launching of the African Union in
Durban, South Africa, Min. Farrakhan asked how many of the
legislators knew about or received invitations to the historic
event that went virtually unattended by Africans in the
Diaspora.
"This is important," he noted, "because there
will be no African Union without our involvement and we cannot
allow that to go down without our having some say about it."
He said that Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi
resurrected a vision of Kwame Nkrumah, Abdel Gamal Nasser and
others, but the idea originated with Africans in the Diaspora
through such great heroes as the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey,
W.E.B. DuBois, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, George Padmore and
others.
"That idea of a United States of Africa came
from us to them. Now that they have adopted it and it is good
for Africa and it is good for us � but we have a lot to offer
Africa and Africa has a lot to offer us.
"But there has never been a desire on the part
of our tormentors to ever see a connection between Africa and
those of us in the Diaspora. And any leader that has tried to
build that bridge has either been assassinated, arrested,
deported and evil spoken of," he said, naming a litany of great
Blacks who have been tarnished by the U.S. government for
speaking on foreign affairs.
On domestic issues, the leader of the Nation of
Islam said he would go to Georgia to help politicize Black
people to their own self interests and the need to retain Rep.
McKinney.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
successfully helped to defeat incumbent Rep. Earl Hilliard
(D-Ala.) in June. AIPAC joined other pro-Israel groups in
helping to pour over $1 million into an aggressive ad campaign
against the five-term lawmaker. Rep. Hilliard was targeted for
his call for a balanced U.S. policy in the Middle East and
enjoyed substantial support from Arab Americans. Rep. McKinney
faces former judge Denise Majette, who is also Black, in the
Georgia congressional primary.
"Cynthia keep doing it and keep strong," Min.
Farrakhan said to the outspoken lawmaker, during the July 23
meeting. "There are many more that you don�t see that recognize
the truth of what you said," he continued, referring to Rep.
McKinney�s questions about what the White House knew before
Sept. 11 terror attacks on the U.S. Later it was revealed that
there had been some indicators and signs of potential attacks
and that the White House and government agencies had received
some information.
"We are going to fight like hell for you," Min.
Farrakhan said to Ms. McKinney. "We were late with Congressman
Hilliard to our regret, sorrow and loss. But dear Rep. McKinney,
we will not let this happen again without the best fight that
all of us can put forward," he said.
The Minister called the defeat of Mr. Hilliard
an immeasurable loss for the Black community. But, he added,
that if Mr. Hilliard, who was in attendance, wanted to return to
office, he believed it could happen in the next election cycle.
"I am saying this to all of you, that any time
we send a man to Congress, we don�t send him there to represent
Israel. We send him there to represent the suffering Black
community. It is absolutely abhorrent that AIPAC would spend
money to unseat a Black man who speaks for the interests of
Black people. We are going to stop this, because it is you (Rep.
McKinney) now, then if any one of you dare speak, you are next.
You have to stand up as men and women for your people, otherwise
we have no right to have any hope in you," he stressed.
Rep. McKinney, who is seeking her sixth term,
has come under vicious attack, coupled with numerous death
threats over her call for hearings on Capitol Hill to
investigate prior knowledge, if any, of the Bush administration
regarding the Sept. 11 attacks and votes related to rollbacks of
civil liberties.
"I filed a dissent July 22, as the only �no�
vote in the House Armed Services Committee on the War on
Terrorism bill, a bill that authorized another $10 billion for
war," Ms. McKinney told The Final Call. The bill included
worrisome language that encourages military personnel to work
with local law enforcement, she noted.
Rep. McKinney thanked Min. Farrakhan for his
kind words and his call for CBC members to be free to act on
their convictions. She also thanked Rep. Conyers for bringing
the Minister to members of the Black Caucus.
She also believes the media intentionally
misreported her words about Sept. 11 and the White House.
Min. Farrakhan cited AIPAC�s role in the
unseating of former Illinois Congressman Gus Savage and others.
"Everybody who does not agree with all of the tax payer dollars
that Israel receives each year is called anti-Semitic. Why don�t
we say, �you (AIPAC) are anti-Black?� " Min. Farrakhan asked.
"Because they have done more to prove that they are anti-Black
than any of us have done to prove that we are anti-Semitic,
including Louis Farrakhan."
Fortune magazine ranks AIPAC as the fourth
largest lobby group in the country. Since the 1989-90 election
cycle, pro-Israel interests have contributed $41.3 million in
individual, political action committee and soft money
contributions to federal candidates and party committees. More
than two-thirds of that total, or $28.6 million, has gone to
Democrats, according to Open Secrets, a Washington, D.C.-based
watchdog group.
"I want to come to Georgia, wherever your
district is and outside your district, and I want to tour,
speaking in churches and town halls; wherever I can get to
speak, to alert the Black people and the White people to what is
actually happening here. The country has already been taken and
now we have to take it back," Min. Farrakhan said.
Legislators able to attend the briefing were:
John Conyers, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters (Ca.), Eva Clayton
(N.C.), Earl Hilliard (Ala.), Carolyn Kilpatrick (Mich.), Julia
Carson (Ind.), Gregory Meeks (Fla.), Shelia Jackson-Lee (Tx.),
Sanford Bishop (Ga.), Mel Watt (N.C.).
Photo: Rep. John Conyers and Min.
Farrakhan at meeting with CBC
Credit: Eric Ture Muhammad
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