Independence Day

by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad

Whose independence? Since 1776 you, Black man, have been worshipping the 4th of July along with the real author of the 4th of July ... (the white man) as a day of Independence for themselves.

It is the white slave-master and his children who enjoy setting forth the 4th of July as a day of rejoicing over achieving this country�s independence from any other foreign source,

Now, the history of the 4th of July shows that it is the Independence Day of the American white man. They wrote the declaration of Independence for themselves. The white man did not put anything in the Declaration of Independence for the benefit of the Black man, who was the servitude-slave of the white man, at that time.

The joy which the Black slave experienced on these holidays of the white man was due to the Black man getting rest from his labor and the days which the white man had set aside for celebration. That is all the Black slave was rejoicing over ... that he did not have to work that day.

But, you are free now; and you do not need this for an excuse for your worship of the 4th of July. There is no further need for us to worship the gaining of the white man�s independence.

Let us take a look again at our own Black independence and how it came on this same day of the 4th of July at the Coming of Allah (God) Who came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, to Whom praises are due forever, on July 4, 1930.

The significance of His coming to us, on the Independence Day of the white man, is very great. It is their day of great rejoicing. As with former peoples and their governments, their destruction took place when they were at the height of their rejoicing.

Nebuchadnezzar, according to the Bible history of him (Dan. Ch. 4), was walking around in his palace and proudly looking around and admiring the skill of the work he had set up and said, �has not all this my hand wrought?� The Bible teaches us that while the words were in his mouth, the end came. Allah (God) changed his mind and heart from that of a civilized man to the heart of a beast. He had the brain reactions of a wild beast and he was cast out among the dumb brutes.

What does that signify? It gives us a gleaning into the history of the white man and his being cast out of the society of the Muslims six thousand years ago ... after he was made and then started trouble among the people of righteousness.

Trouble-making caused the white man his exile into the hills and cave-sides of West Asia, as Europe was called at that time, so Allah (God) taught me. Its name was changed to Europe after the white man was cast into that area. Europe means a place where people are bound in, to keep them out of the society of the righteous.

Moses made (white man) as independent race, thru the guidance which Allah (God) gave Moses to guide the white man out of his savage cave life, and put him on the road of conquest of the Black man.

For four hundred years the white man swallowed us (the Black man of America) up. He did not put us in a hole of the earth but he swallowed us up by keeping anything like wisdom from coming to us. He set a bound against our own Black people visiting us in order to prevent them from teaching us anything other than what the white man was teaching our Black slave-fathers.

This caged us in, and made just as secure a cage as the literal cage of Europe that the Arab people put the white man in six thousand years ago.

The 4th of July is the Day of rejoicing of the white man over his opponents, for the Western Hemisphere. He wrote his Constitution for his own white people ... not for his Black slave.

Since this is his day which he set aside for himself, then what part, Black brother, do you have in this day? Your part is not mixed with his part in the way of his own white politics and physical independence.

But, as I called your attention to proud King Nebuchadnezzar�s history and what happened to him at the height of his kingdom, Allah (God) never destroyed a powerful people nor deprived them of self-independence when they were in trouble or when they were sick with grief. He made them to feel happy. He made them think that they would live forever.

So it was with the coming of Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, to Whom praises are due forever, on His coming to us, on the 4th of July, 1930. His presence meant the destruction of the independence of the white race and especially America ... over the Black man.

Allah (God) visited the Black slave, for he is more in need of help to enjoy freedom of self.

Since Allah (God) came for the purpose of bringing self-independence to the Black slave, then His going forth is with justice (Bible Rev: 19:11).

To show Allah�s (God�s) greatness and power over the slave-master and his people, now Allah (God) attacks them at the height of their civilization and at the greatness of their power and strength, on the 4th of July ... while they worship their greatness of their accomplishment; and the Black slave is sitting at his feet.

As it was with Nebuchadnezzar and as it was with Pharaoh, the same is being repeated today.

This is the significance of Allah�s (God�s) coming on the 4th of July. For four hundred years we have been suffering under the pangs of servitude-slavery and at the relentlessly merciless hands of the white slave-master over us.

Allah (God) came to give justice and freedom to us and to make us equal members in the society of the new powerful, strong, and wise people of the earth.

Ever since that day, the 4th of July, 1930 has meant the doom of America�s domination over the Black man of America and the Black people of the earth. Ever since that day, America has been falling.

America�s fall is not imminent ... it is now going on. America refused to break her fall when she could have broken her fall, as the Bible teaches us. Babylon could have been healed, but she was not (Je. 51:9). She did not do anything to warrant such forgiveness.

America has been offered the chance for forgiveness, but she refused to accept it, for she never offered to do anything favorable toward her Black slave, that would make them free of her power to rule them.

Black slaves went to their death, fighting the enemy of the white slave-master, to help America to maintain her independence against foreign dominance. The Black slave was not given anything in exchange for his sacrifice.

When a dog hunts for a hunter, the hunter (master) will sometimes share a part of the game with the dog. The Black slave has helped his master to overcome and put other people under the control of his white slave-master. The Black slave has fought, bled and died around the earth, to help the white slave-master to conquer those whom the master called his enemies.

We helped the white man to conquer Cuba and to overcome and subdue Mexico and the Philippine Islands and other places around the earth, and also Japan. How many lives did the Black man lose in the Pacific while helping the white man to conquer the people of Japan who are the brown, half-brother of the Black man? The brown race and the yellow race are the half-brother of the Black man.

Whose independence? Now the white man and the Black man are both free on this day. The coming of Allah (God) on this day means the freedom of the Black man too.

The clear significance of Allah�s (God�s) coming on this day shows the great wisdom of Allah (God).

Everywhere the white man may be, even in Europe, the earth belongs to the Black man.

Let us rejoice on this day, the 4th of July, in the coming of Allah (God), Who came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad to Whom praises are due forever, and give thanks to Him.

Let us enjoy the independence he brought to us and the freedom, justice and equality.

He brought these things to us not by killing off the red Indian nor any original settlers. Justice and righteousness are the ammunition used by Allah (God).

(Reprinted from �The Fall of America, 1973)