In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

Minister Louis Farrakhan (MLF): First, we put before each of the candidates a National Agenda. We didn�t ask them to respond to me personally, but to respond to the Agenda. Up to this moment we have not received a response, so I can�t, from my heart, say vote for Mr. Gore or Mr. Lieberman or Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney because they have not responded to our National Agenda. � I believe that just as Moses smote a rock and brought water forth, our leveraging of our unity on the side of what is good can bring out of any of these candidates and their parties what they under their present condition cannot give us. I just want the people to come out and exercise that right and privilege to vote. But after this, we intend to mobilize people so that we will not have to make a decision between two evils. We will make a decision between that which is good for the people by putting someone up that is good for the people and then backing such a candidate.

MLF: If God so pleases that I will be able to stand four years from now I would never desire to be the president of the United States, but I would desire to help whoever is president to be a good one. I think those of us in the prophetic role, or the role of the prophets, should not necessarily aspire to political office, but should stay in the office that God gives us to give guidance to those in political office and keep them informed as to "Thus sayeth the Lord." If we stay in our prophetic role, then the kings and the rulers will be guided properly by those of us who are rooted in the word of God. That is what I love more than anything else, the word of God.

MLF: I already have done that. When I called a million men and nearly two million showed up, I showed that God had put something in me that may not be in my brothers; that God will use me to unify a people that have not been united. And when I called for a Million Family March and families came from across racial lines, God is showing you that in your brother is the ability to do that. It was God using me. Now God wants to see the dry bones in the valley come together. That�s already written. They just needed the voice of God and the winds to blow on the bones. I don�t need to ask or to say to you that I am that voice. Let my work speak for me. And if you can hear in what I say and what God allows me to do, it�s not done by force or power, it�s done by the spirit that emanates from me, which is the power of love and not hate. � White America, Black America, Brown America, subhuman world, you don�t have long to remain on that (subhuman) plane because the alternative is (either) you come up to humanity or you die as a beast. �

MLF: Politics is local. If you don�t address the local concerns the national concerns mean nothing. � As soon as I get finished from here I do have to go in the hospital for an operation. And by the help of Allah, my doctors say that after this operation, if it is successful, and I believe it will be, I will be 100 percent. But as soon as I am able, I want to meet with the young people right here in Chicago, the young gang leaders and gang people that we think are so bad. I will show you that these are not bad children at all. And I will go in the Latino community and meet with the Latin gangs. I will go in the White community and talk to young White people. You (Whites) have not had the benefit of listening to me (so) the best thing for me to do is come to your community and sit and talk with you. When you talk with a man that has the ability to reach your mind as well as your heart, then you can make a decision as to what you want to do. But I�m not going to deprive you of me. And I don�t want my Black brothers and sisters to think I�m selling out when I go talk to White people. Don�t be so narrow.

As a Muslim follower of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we were taught the question: Who is the Original Man? And when you learned the answer to that question, you learned that the Original Man is the prototype from which all human beings come. � If you look at that historically, anthropologically, genetically and mathematically, what is it saying? That life began in Africa, civilization began in Africa. It is true. But this should not be taken that we are superior. Superiority should never be based on what your color is or your genetic prowess. Superiority is only based on one criterion�righteous behavior, duty to God. �

That means that all of us must be humble. And since all human beings come out of the Original People, if I represent the Original then don�t I have a duty to all of those who came from the Original? They are all family. Some bad, some good, but they are all family. So don�t get bent out of shape if you see me talking to White folk and they understand and applaud. And you see me talking to the Indigenous people of America, South America, and they understand and applaud. It�s time now that the whole earth comes up out of bestiality into humanity and divinity. And if God has chosen us to bring that about, then what better heart could He use than the heart of those who have suffered the worst kind of bondage and yet can love those who have mistreated us in this way. Your heart has been shaped by God, not for vain purposes but to redeem the whole of humanity.

MLF: When the billion dollars is raised, the priorities will be determined by the Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors. But from what I understand right now, the priorities are going to be economic development in the Black communities in America. In fact, there has been talk of using so many hundred millions to set up a mortgage bank and an investment bank so that we have a national banking system now from the Million Family March. And if you want to do business in your community, then you come to a bank that�s set up for that. And we will guide you so that the money that we invest in you we won�t have to later take your business because of default. We don�t want your business, we want you in your business and we want you to be successful.

There are all types of investment possibilities for Africa. I�ve made three world tours and in all three Africa was the centerpiece. Africans want Black America to invest in Africa. The interest alone on a billion dollars would allow us to do some heavy investing in Africa, the Caribbean, South America. Wherever returns can come back to us we will be ready to invest.

And then we can joint venture with the Native Americans who have land and resources that need development, a strategic alliance between us and the La Raza or the Latino community, and maybe there are even Whites that would like to joint venture with us in very serious economic development. We will look at all those possibilities, but the benefit of such must accrue to the total African American community and those with whom we joint venture.

MLF: The peace process has failed because it has not lived up to the expectations of those who sought peace on both sides, particularly the Palestinians. When I was in Ramala, when I was on the West Bank and in Gaza, and when I met with Chairman Arafat I was particularly touched by his level of depression and anxiety because he was not able to deliver to the Palestinian people what the peace process promised. What I saw in what is called Israel today, was a people living under Apartheid. What I saw is a people that were living under siege. There were highways that the Palestinians couldn�t travel on except they had Israeli permission. And even my hosts who belonged to Chairman Arafat�s PLO could not take me into Jerusalem because they did not have Israeli permission from the authorities in Jerusalem. The Palestinian people are living under pretty horrendous conditions and the peace process has not given them what they desire. This is why on the ground there are those young people that are willing to throw stones at tanks and die in the process. They feel they are already dead because where there is no freedom, no justice, no equality, the people are already dead. That is the sad state of affairs that the leaders have to contend with. Unless the spiritual leaders rise up to play a very important role in this quest for justice, I believe the political leaders are at their wit�s end.

MLF: So far there is no cancer in my body. However, the radiation produced an ulcer in the rectal area that grew very, very large and then hemorrhaged. And there is a communication between the urethra and the rectal area, which caused them to have to give me an operation that could create an atmosphere that would allow the rectal area to heal. When I go in (hospital), God willing, they are going to have to cut out a piece of the rectum and pull the colon down and tie it to the flesh that is in good condition because the friable tissue that is a result of the radiation will not allow that connection to be made. So they are going to cut that out and tie it together and maybe within six weeks or so, God willing, when that heals they can reverse the condition that I�m under now. � I don�t mind sharing with you my health condition because I think as a servant of the people I don�t have anything to fear about your knowing what your brother is going through, and I don�t think it needs to be a secret. �

I soon will be 70 years old, and I hope to be around long enough to really effect some change so that when our Creator calls me in, I would like to leave the earth in a better condition than I found it. I would like to be a part of that prophecy that beats swords and spears into plowshares and pruning hooks because the sword and spear is what has caused us to remain in a bestial state. It is the pruning hook and the plowshares applied physically to the cultivation of the earth, but also applied spiritually to the cultivation of the divine essence in the human being. �

For the press, let me say that when they ask me, "do you feel you should apologize?" I said on Meet the Press last Sunday, that I can never apologize for telling the truth. But if you show me where I erred � I will go before the world where I made my mistake and make the appropriate apology. But where I can apologize to all of you�Black, White, Jew and Gentile�I can apologize to all of you for my manner of telling the truth.

When you say you represent God, truth must never be spoken from pain, from bitterness, from anger, or from hatred, because even if you tell the truth, if these emotions are present they poison the truth, they color the truth. They make the truth even misshapen. Allah says in the Qur�an to the prophet (PBUH), speak the truth and if you do it not you are not my messenger. But if you do it I will protect you from men. So, my first duty is to speak the truth. I�m not responsible for your acceptance or rejection, your belief or your disbelief, my responsibility is a clear delivery of the message. But the Qur�an balances the telling of the truth by telling me the method of how I should tell it. Allah says, "Call to the way of your Lord with goodly exhortation and in the best manner." And in some cases I have failed in that respect. Then it says, "Call to the way of your Lord with justice," and then it says, "and with good voice." �

Good voice is a voice when you speak the truth from the same spirit that God revealed the truth. Good voice is when you speak the truth from a heart with love for the ears of those to whom you are speaking the truth, that you don�t abuse their ears by your voice that is filled with anger, or bitterness or hatred. Good voice is a voice filled with love and the spirit of God, justice and in the best manner. � When you are in this business of atonement and redemption you have to be careful how you call the people to atonement, lest you turn them off by the ugly manner of your speech. So Farrakhan can apologize for the manner in which I have told the truth. I have always told it, but sometime I tell it in anger. Sometimes I tell it out of the pain and the hurt of my people who suffer. Sometimes I�ve told it out of hatred. Sometimes I have told it out of bitterness. But that is why Paul said, when I was a child I spake as a child because I understood as a child. But when I became a man I put away childish expression. When you represent God, you have to think about whom you are representing. Your speech should reflect the Most High God that you say you represent. Otherwise, you and I have growing yet to do.

So I apologize for all the ears that I have offended in speaking the truth. But he who offends not in word, the scripture says, is a perfect man. And I�m striving to one day be a perfect representative of the word of God. I know that if I perfect my manner of representing the truth I won�t lose one soul, because all of humanity wants to come out of the condition that humanity is in today. I�m learning all the time; I�m growing all the time; and I don�t want my beloved Black brothers and sisters to think, when you hear me speaking the truth from this highly exalted state, that this is not your Farrakhan because the Farrakhan that you know is an angry Farrakhan. Or the Farrakhan that you know sometimes speaks out of his pain and hurt. I�m not perfect yet, but God is purifying my heart for a greater service.

I would invite all of you to join me in the process of purification because all of us have some truth to tell and we have somebody that has offended us or that we have offended. We�ve got to be concerned about how we approach them if we want them to change.

Thank you.