The Final Call

Minister Farrakhan resumes Caribbean tour with stops in Barbados and Grenada

By Richard B. Muhammad -Editor- | Last updated: Nov 27, 2012 - 8:16:33 AM

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Nothing can stop the rise of Black people

(L) When the Nation of Islam delegation landed in Barbados, Min. Farrakhan held a press conference. He was joined by David Muhammad, Trinidad representative of the Nation of Islam; Muhammad Nasir, who was the first person to invite the Minister to Barbados in earlier years; and Miles Muhammad of the Nation of Islam Study Group in Barbados. (R) Minister Farrakhan with host David Ellis of the “Down To Brass Tacks” program Nov. 26 on Voice of Barbados Radio. The two-hour program was nearly commercial free and included calls from as far away at Antigua as the show was heard in six or seven Caribbean countries as well as the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Photos: Robert E. Muhammad

(FinalCall.com) - The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan resumed his tour of the Caribbean with stops in Grenada and Barbados as the month of November wound down.

Speaking over the airwaves of a Barbados radio station early Nov. 26 the Minister engaged in a two-hour discussion, taking questions from host David Ellis of Down to Brass Tacks on Voice of Barbados and the Caribbean Super Station. The broadcast was heard in six to seven Caribbean nations as well as in the U.S. and United Kingdom.

The Minister also met Nov. 23 for an hour with the Honorable Tilman Thomas, at the offi cial residence of Grenada's prime minister. As they shook hands, the prime minister shared how he once lived in New York and listened to Min. Farrakhan speak Sundays on radio station WLIB. Photo: Richard Simon/Prime Minister's Office Grenada

In beginning the conversation, the Minister described the rise of Blacks in the United States, the Caribbean, and independence movement in Africa and the civil rights struggle in the U.S. and nationalist movements as major developments seen in his lifetime.

But, he continued, the changes were not pleasing to the oppressors, the former slave masters and the former colonial masters.

So there has always been a counter movement, every time progress was made in one direction that move was countered in another, he said.

Yet, Min. Farrakhan said, God has decreed that Black people will rise and those who were the tail would be the head. That divine injunction is not a lie and cannot be thwarted, though the struggle is long and arduous, said Min. Farrakhan.

Nothing can stop it, he declared.

Despite having a Black president, things have not really changed with Black suffering in America still disproportionate, the Minister said.

Min. Farrakhan met Nov. 23 in Grenada with Opposition Leader Keith Mitchell, a former professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The meeting was brief but very warm. The men discussed the future of the Caribbean, the need for the region to unite in order to survive, President Obama, and general and regional politics. Photo: Robert E. Muhammad

Having Barack Obama in office has taken the ceiling off the minds of Black children about their ability to be world leaders but unemployment, poverty, violence and other major problems remain, he noted.

Similarly in the West Indies, the nations have flags and national anthems but have not fully changed, Mr. Farrakhan said.

Blacks hold political power but others hold economic power in the Caribbean and that economic power is what determines true rulership, he explained.

But think about the potential of 40 million in some level of unity in America and what could be done to create jobs, solve problems and gain world respect, Min. Farrakhan said.

The real condition of Africa, Caribbean and Blacks in America must be judged by conditions facing the masses and if masses have gone backward, there is a need to work harder, said the Minister.

In the Caribbean drugs and violence are a problem, the Minister acknowledged.

Youth are the potential upset to societies, they have to have jobs and education but if neither exist an enemy can manipulate frustration into revolutionary conduct and behavior, he said.

In America walking the streets and talking with gangs and gang leaders, it is clear the White power structure doesn’t mind Blacks selling drugs and committing violence on one another so long as the crime and prostitution stays in Black neighborhoods, he noted.

“So it is now in Bermuda,” Min. Farrakhan said. The tiny island was separated into sections by different gangs, with Black men unable to move from one place to another, Min. Farrakhan said. But it is happening throughout the Caribbean and it is dangerous because no future has been provided for the young, he said.

“These young people now are the potential up setters of the politics and economics of the country so gangs keep them killing and shooting one another instead of messing up tourism,” Min. Farrakhan said.

Minister Farrakhan and host David Ellis on the “Down To Brass Tacks” program Nov. 26 on Voice of Barbados Radio.

Youth are exploited today and singers like Rihanna, who hails from Barbados, are used by the entertainment industry. The value of a virtuous woman is more than silver and gold, he said.

Suggestive dancing says to low minded men a woman is open for sex and those who govern want to lower the standard for women and men, he said.

So incest is a problem with young girls abused by men they should honor and respect, but “these are the men destroying their lives by sex,” the Minister said.

Earlier this year his remarks were falsely portrayed as an attack on singer Rihanna, the Minister explained he was urging transformation of the music industry and having artists offer more spiritual messages. If our gifts come from God, we should honor God with our gifts and hopefully artists can be good examples to young girls watching them, he said.

It was only 17 minutes into the two-hour, into the near commercial-free program when the Minister started taking calls from listeners.

The Minister urged Barbadians to keep ownership of land, and strive to feed themselves.

Trouble in America

Though Mr. Obama represents a new America, a non- White America, many Whites are unwilling to accept that reality and petitions from 32 states seeking secession from the country have been fi led, the Minister noted.

But Black slaves built the White House, Congress, and Southern mansions, “we have sweat and bled and fought and died for America’s freedom so we have every right to run that country,” Min. Farrakhan said.

(L) Women in the Nation of Islam came to Grenada to help the Minister on his trip. Under the watchful eye of the Fruit of Islam, the men of the Nation, the women from mosques around the country went out and invited people to a free public address by Min. Farrakhan in St. George’s. (R) Women in the Nation of Islam, who came to Grenada to help the Minister, pass out fl iers for a free public meeting. Student Captain Al Muhammad of Miami was among the members of the Fruit of Islam who accompanied the women as they extended invitations.

The Minister explained that as he approaches his 80th birth anniversary, he desires to leave wisdom for the Caribbean, the region where his mother, father and step father hailed from. He was also raised by a loving West Indian community in Boston at St. Cyprian Church. These influences fed his nationalist and Pan Africanist leanings while growing up.

The Minister said his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, said the Caribbean would one day rise as a great united nation.

The Minister also took questions about religious division, saying Christian denominations have good names but division keeps them weak and the same is true of Islam and Judaism.

The division allows Satan to be the winner, but Jesus coms in the 7,000 year of this world, this is the time of God’s coming and the destruction of Satan, he said.

“God is fighting against the imperial forces today,” he said.

Super storm Sandy and then storm Athena wreaked havoc on the eastern region of America with a smattering of destruction in the Caribbean, he said.

But God is using the forces of nature against the wicked, he said.

Righteousness and caring for the least of the people is what makes a nation great, Min. Farrakhan added.

Others asked questions about succession in the Nation of Islam, what racial demographic shifts would mean for the Nation of Islam, the 9-11 attack in New York, the unrest in the Middle East and Gaza and a number of subjects.

Already the Nation includes Mexicans, Asians and some Whites want to join, Min. Farrakhan said. The Nation’s first mission was to the children of slaves and the most lost of the human family, which are the Blacks, he said. But Islam is for everyone and it will be reflected in the Nation of Islam’s makeup, he said.

“God in the way he works, you find success not overnight. But when you are trying to attempt the uphill road and the uphill road is to free a slave— that’s not as easy task. If it were it would have been done overnight. But it is a gradual process degree by degree by degree,” he said.

Rappers like Jay Z and others are great in their performance and if Jay Z turned to conscious rap people would listen so rappers and artists have a role to play in the “cultural renewal and revolution of a people,” he said.

The resurrection of the dead is spoken of in bible and Quran as death follows disobedience, he said. “So in the end of the world the coming of the Messiah and the Mahdi is to breathe life again into the human being.”

“You will never be a failure,” said a caller. “Inasmuch as you have brought the message to bring us back and your message is accepted throughout the world, your visit to Barbados is extremely timely,” the caller added.

“There are those who want to keep us ignorant so they can profit from our ignorance. But they are ever losing we are ever winning. Just be patient and continue to struggle and the end is victory for those who seek what God has willed,” Min. Farrakhan said.

The Minister was also asked about the death of Malcolm X on the program and in Grenada, the home of Malcolm X’s mother.

Malcolm X fell away from Hon Elijah Muhammad and was against teacher, the Minister explained, saying he took a position against Malcolm in support of his teacher.

But, the FBI manipulated tensions in the Nation of Islam, and in that atmosphere Malcolm was assassinated, he said.

Dressed in their dignified garments and armed with smiles and warm spirits, women in the Nation of Islam from mosques in the U.S. walk the streets of St. George’s, Grenada inviting people to hear Min. Farrakhan at a free lecture. The men of the Fruit of Islam also extended invitations and watched over the women. Photos: Robert E. Muhammad

And, Min. Farrakhan explained how as he rose in influence and power, calling nearly two million men to Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March in 1995, the enemy wanted to stop him. The enemy decided to raise Malcolm X and then accuse Min. Farrakhan of his murder so young people who love brother Malcolm and are armed in gangs would turn their guns on Louis Farrakhan. The enemy is ever working, he said.

“If I was really complicit in the murder of Malcolm I would not be on this radio station,” said Min. Farrakhan. “There is no statute of limitations on murder. I would be languishing in some cell. I had nothing to with my brother’s murder. I just took an opposite position to him in defense of the man that he taught me to love and that God shaped me to love that I might help Elijah Muhammad in the resurrection of Black people in America and throughout the world.”

The stop in Barbados followed arriving in Grenada, where the trip started Nov. 22. The Minister met with the Honorable Tilman Thomas, prime minister of Grenada, and Opposition Leader Keith Mitchell.

In St. George’s, the Minister called for greater unity in the Caribbean before a lecture Nov. 24 at the Grenada Trade Centre.

“Grenada cannot exist independent of other Caribbean islands. So, the future of the West Indies must just not just stop with CARICOM, but there must be a political union of the whole of the Caribbean,’’ said Farrakhan, according to published reports.

The N.O.I. leader also paid special tribute to assassinated former Grenada Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and to Malcolm X, reported Spiceislander.com. “Grenada gave us Malcolm; Grenada gave us Mr. Bishop,’’ Farrakhan said, according to the Nov. 23 article.

“All of us in America who are nationalistic in our thinking, we loved Bishop. We saw him as a very progressive mind.’’

Min. Farrakhan also said its time for all countries— “including the U.S. and Grenada— to end the practice of partisan party politics, which is hampering national development,” said Spiceislander.com.

“We need to think more of Grenada and the Caribbean rather than our party,’’ he said. “Our party is important; but our party is not more important than the nation that these parties are to serve.’’

Min. Farrakhan’s schedule includes stops in Dominica, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Belize, and the Bahamas.