Smite the shepherd, scatter the sheep: A time to fight

By Richard B. Muhammad - Editor | Last updated: Mar 20, 2018 - 1:01:24 PM

The anti-Farrakhan flood of propaganda and effort to destroy the Nation of Islam is in full operation with the constant effort to have Black underlings, fearful sycophants, or misguided members of our community lead the way.

The aim is to divide and conquer and instill fear to avoid an unavoidable confrontation with evil, real evil, in the world and challenge the relentless Jewish campaign to control and dominate the affairs of Black people.

Without a doubt, Min. Farrakhan is the boldest, freest and most outspoken advocate for the needs, aspirations and well-being of Black America. Even those who disagree with him on some issues or some tactical moves cannot deny his place as the champion of Black people and a man committed to the total eradication of the ills and misery under which our people live.

The current attacks harken to the biblical admonition, smite the shepherd, scatter the sheep. Our existence in White America is in many ways like a herd of sheep that needs a Good Shepherd. We are assaulted daily regardless of our gender, age, sexual orientation, education, income, schooling, geography or political ideology.

Over more than 60 years, Min. Farrakhan has worked to protect the entire flock from a vicious enemy and worked to eliminate evildoing inside the flock.

He has defended Blacks on all levels of society from the brothers in the streets and the cells of the Belly of the Beast to Black faces in high places that were under assault. He has stood for and with generations of Black people and is reaching a new generation through social media and freely sharing his wisdom with our brothers and sisters in the entertainment industry, helping them to see their greatness and their responsibility to uplift our suffering people.

He has suffered blows, insults and injuries for his role as the Good Shephard, shielding those who could not absorb sanctions and punishments—even when the rebellious sheep may have rightly earned some chastisement.

There is hardly a segment of Black America the Minister has not spoken to, whether in professional associations, fraternal and sorority groups, churches, economic organizations, political forums, colleges or prisons and not offered wisdom to improve lives.

He has literally taught and changed the lives of millions: Some card-carrying, Final Call carrying members of the Nation, others who have accepted his words and improved themselves. Then, there are those simply glad that there is a Black Man who stands and refuses to bow to White pressure and demands.

Min. Farrakhan resurrected a movement that engages in the arduous task of building a new reality in the midst of enemies, stool pigeons, cowards, sanctions and hardship. Yet that work goes on day after day as his followers seek to change Black America’s reality by actually doing something.

So despite the mainstream news reports, the Zionist cries of “crucify him” and the capitulations of Negroes unable to stand up for themselves and their basic God-given rights to be independent, Min. Farrakhan’s roots and the roots of the Nation of Islam run deep, deep, deep into the heart of Black America and all those who truly desire freedom, justice and equality.

But in a world where the slave has been subjected to a vicious slave master, should we expect these two to view the man of liberation in the same way? What was Jesus to the masses of the people versus the Roman authorities and the Jewish forces that arrayed against him? Would evil people embrace a good man who exposes their evil?

Emphatically not. History and current events show us the evil ones will do everything to destroy that man in order to dine deliciously on the unprotected and often-ignorant sheep who don’t see the wolf lurking just out of view.

The media assault, the congressional resolution offered by Republican Tom Rokita to condemn the Minister and the lies of the Anti-Defamation League, the Republican Jewish Coalition and the disavowals of weak-hearted Negros are part of the effort to smite the shepherd and scatter the sheep. It’s interesting that the Good Shephard is guilty of nothing but trying to protect these vulnerable ones under his charge.

Minister Farrakhan is not an anti-Semite or hater, nor were thousands of people who came to hear him at the Wintrust Arena on Feb. 25 to close our Saviours’ Day convention in Chicago. In 62 years of life’s work for our people and in the last 40 years, sitting in the seat of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, Min. Farrakhan has not committed one act against Jewish people. We have not attacked or threatened Jewish people, nor denied Jewish people their rights. We have not desecrated a synagogue, we are forbidden to do so, and would stop anyone from doing it as a requirement of our Islamic beliefs. We have not protested at Jewish homes or businesses.

We did not initiate this conflict with the Zionists. Yet the Anti-Defamation League, other Zionist groups and the Southern Poverty Law Center have insisted on misbranding us as a hate group. We challenge them to meet us in the public to prove their lies and to stop trying to hide behind Black leaders and activists that they pressure to repeat their lies.

Ten-thousand people came out and paid to hear the Minister speak Feb. 25: they came for words of truth, guidance and to hear words about how to improve the condition of our people and community. It’s an insult to say thousands of Black people can’t think and understand what a man says in a three-hour speech. It had nothing to do with hate, but the exact opposite: The need for us to love ourselves, to build for ourselves, to save ourselves, and to create a future for our children.

Jewish leadership slandered Min. Farrakhan by calling him a new Black Hitler in 1984 after the Minister defended Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was targeted by Jewish groups because he wanted a balanced U.S. policy in the Middle East. Rev. Jackson made an unfortunate remark referring to New York, a center of Jewish political power and influence, as “Hymietown.”

Rev. Jackson is no hater. He made an unfortunate remark to reporters that was supposed to be off the record and it got out. He was running for president and already getting death threats, this is in 1984. Jewish groups threatened him. Jewish groups took out newspaper ads against him and the media raged against Rev. Jackson. (Organized Jewish opposition to Rev. Jackson actually started in 1983 over communication with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who was reviled by Jews at the time.)

Min. Farrakhan gave a strong, very strong, defense of Rev. Jackson, fearing for his brother’s safety, saying we can afford to lose an election, we cannot lose Rev. Jackson. He said Jews should dialogue with Rev. Jackson, but Black people are tired of feeding their leaders to White people like raw meat to animals. For that defense, he was branded the new Black Hitler and that is shameful and wrong.

Smite the shepherd, scatter the sheep.

It’s time now for the sheep, not to look as though they have been slain from the foundations of the earth, but to rise up with the hearts of lions. No matter how courageous, how vigilant, how self-sacrificing the Good Shephard, at some point the sheep must decide they want to live and rally ’round the shepherd.

This is that day, this is that time. If you love yourself and your children: Rise, protect and defend your shepherd. This is the day we fight back.

The Final Call