The Good Samaritan: A Study of Cuba

By THE HONORABLE MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN | Last updated: May 4, 2020 - 10:16:16 PM

Cuban doctor Ralfis Carbort shortly before leaving to help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Idai. Photo: AP/Wide World Photos

[Editor’s note: The following article is based on opening and closing statements delivered by Minister Farrakhan during a press conference in Havana, Cuba on March 27, 2006 upon completion of a week-long stay on the Caribbean island heading a delegation of representatives of the nine Ministries of the Millions More Movement to study disaster preparedness management and the infrastructure of Cuba’s social services including services provided by its doctors around the world.]

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

Doctors operate on a group of patients at the Cuban Ophthalmology Institute in Havana, Sept 12. Since 2004, thousands of people with eye disorders have received surgery as part of Operation Miracle, a Cuban program providing free operations for poor people from Latin America and the Caribbean. Photo: AP/World Wide Photos

This delegation has been greatly inspired by our visit to Cuba. Why are we here? We have seen the devastation of the catastrophe of hurricanes Katrina and Wilma on the Gulf area of the United States of America. We were greatly pained to learn that the government of Cuba offered 1,100 doctors, without a political cause, to aid the suffering of our people in that area of the country. They offered this three times before Katrina struck and, unfortunately, three times the offer of the Cuban government was rejected. Cuba, 90 miles from America, has had to live under a blockade under the threat of invasion and terrorist activities from the anti-Cuban forces headquartered in Miami.

They have also had to weather the storms of hurricanes. For 46 years, they have had a program of disaster preparedness. They have been hit by two Category 5 hurricanes in the last few years and, according to what we learned, there was no loss of life despite serious property damage. So we felt it was necessary for us to come to Cuba to learn how Cuba prepares for disasters.

Those who are scripturally prepared know that it is prophesied that we would be living at a time of wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, famine and earthquakes in diverse places. We are witnessing terrifying disasters afflicting the people of the world and these disasters are now afflicting the United States of America. Believing that these prophesies will be fulfilled, we felt that it is our duty to learn as much as we can, so that we can return to the United States and prepare documents on disaster preparedness, and in conjunction with local, state and federal government, do all we can to prepare the American people, and our people in particular, for coming disasters.

During our visit to the Ministry of Health, we saw the miracle of eye surgery being performed. During our visit to the Ministry of Youth, we saw how young people are taken from the street and taught and trained to be social workers. Recognizing the need that we have in the United States to make better use of our youth, we visited the Ministry of Education and saw how Cuba has educated its population. Thirty percent of our high school graduates in the United States graduate as functional illiterates and many citizens of the United States can neither read nor write. So, we wanted to see how Cuba accomplished this, that we might be better servants in the field of health and education for the people of the United States, particularly the Black, Brown, Native American and poor.

It is a great honor to us to be students. I humbly remind the great nation of the United States of the scripture in the Bible that says, “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Allah (God) has always raised from among those who are considered abject a prophetic voice to save great nations from their fall. At the foot of the United States of America is Cuba. Much can be learned from Cuba if we in North America are not too proud and arrogant to become students to better the condition of the American people.

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American students pose for a photo with Reverend Lucius Walker and the Cuban Medical school staff in the international room June 2004. Photo: Final Call Archives

I love scripture, the Bible, Holy Qur’an, Torah and Injil. I hate the division between the family members of Abraham. I hate the artificial barriers that keep good people from coming together to try to make a better world. I close with a scripture from Jesus Christ, when he said the first commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second commandment is like unto the first commandment: You should love your neighbor as yourself.

A sharp-minded person was in the audience and asked Jesus, “Tell me, who is my neighbor?” Jesus did not answer directly, but gave them a parable of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among thieves that hit him in his head, robbed him of his raiment and left him wounded in the road. Along came a priest who passed by on the other side. Along came a Levite of the Jewish priesthood who saw the man, shook his head and did not do anything.

But there was a Good Samaritan traveling in that direction who saw the man that was wounded. The Good Samaritan applied oil to his wounds, dressed his wounds, brought him to an innkeeper and gave the innkeeper some money to look after the wounded man. He told the innkeeper, “If it is more than I have given you, I will repay you on my return.” Then Jesus asked, “Which one of these did the neighborly thing?”

Cuba is a neighbor to America, a communist neighbor to America. But Jesus did not say love your neighbor if they are Christians and hate them if they are Socialists. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” I wrote to President Bill Clinton and to President George Bush, and I told them that, “If your form of government is so great, do what Jesus said, and let your light so shine before man that they may see your good works and glorify your father which art in heaven.”

What has Cuba done that is not neighborly and what has America done that says she is a Christian hypocrite? Cuba educates her citizens from preschool to college and gives free medical attention to her citizens even though she is under blockade. What kind of a neighbor is America? Since America does not like the form of government in Cuba, America should show that her form of government is better.

But from what I see from the eyes of a Black man who has suffered in America, from the eyes of a poor man who rose up from among the poor in America, this government has a lot of nerve to say it is Christian, yet treat Cuba, Latin America and Africa like it does. This government does not love God. America is arrogantly in love with itself and wants to see every nation in its image and likeness—and that is why the whole world is turning against America.

We need a new government. We need regime change in America. We need better domestic and foreign policies, so that the greatness of America can be felt by her neighbors, not by sucking the blood of the poor and weak, but by sharing the richness of our technological, medical advances and educational experiences with the weak and poor of the world.

I thank you for allowing me and us the privilege of standing before you to represent our gratitude to Fidel Castro, the Cuban government and people. It is our sincere hope that our government will have a change of heart and mind and lift this blockade, give justice to the Cuban Five and hear the cry of people all over the world that do not hate the American people, but suffer from America’s policies. Please hear the cry of the poor of the world. Thank you.

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