In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

Nineteen ninety-two marked the quincentennial year of the opening up of the "New World" for the purpose of Western domination. Christopher Columbus is said to have "discovered" this new continent in 1492. Since 1492 the Native American people have been misused, abused and then neglected. Since 1555, the Black people brought to these shores in chains have also been misused, abused and now remain neglected.

In the official History of the Seal of the United States, published by the Department of State in 1909, Gaillard Hunt wrote that late in the afternoon of July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved that Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Mr. John Adams and Mr. Thomas Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the United States of America. In the design proposed by the first committee the obverse (face) of the Seal was a coat of arms in six quarters, with emblems representing England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Holland, the countries from which the new nation had been peopled. The Eye of Providence in a radiant triangle, and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM were also proposed for the obverse.

Even though the country was populated by so-called Indians, and Black slaves were brought to build the country, the official Seal of the country was never designed to reflect our presence, only that of the European immigrants. The Seal and the Constitution reflect the thinking of the founding fathers that this was to be a nation by white people and for white people. Native Americans, Blacks and all other non-white people were to be the burden bearers for the "real" citizens of this nation.

For the reverse (back) of the Seal, the committee suggested a picture of Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot with a crown on his head and a sword in his hand, passing through the divided waters of the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. Hovering over the sea was to be shown a pillar of fire in a cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and command. Rays from this pillar of fire were to be shown beaming on Moses, standing on the shore and extending his hand over the sea, causing it to overwhelm Pharaoh. The motto for the reverse was: REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD.

The design reveals the spiritual blindness inherent in the genesis of the United States. The founding fathers upheld obedience to God as their symbol while practicing genocide, colonialism and slavery among the native population and our forebears.

It was Thomas Jefferson who said, "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever." It was George Washington who said that he feared the slaves would become a most troublesome species of property before too many years passed over our heads.

America is faced with the political and moral dilemma of reconciling pluralism and the inclusion of nonwhites with the democratic ideas espoused by the founding fathers. This is not a democracy in the fullest meaning of the word. Racism has to be overcome in order to gain a full expression of E Pluribus Unum (out of the many, one). Is E Pluribus Unum meant to be interpreted as "out of many white ethnic strains, one people, " or "out of the many strains, white, Black and other, one people?"

Within the walls of this country there are two Americas, separate and unequal, white and Black (including the other non-whites). In order to reconcile these two Americas, the American people must come to terms with the limited vision of the founding fathers. The founding fathers didn�t envision the current population profile, where the number of Black and Hispanic people are growing, threatening the majority states of whites. Those who desire to maintain the old vision of white rule under the name of democracy and pluralism will no longer be able to continue the subjugation of non-whites. Now is the time for freedom, justice and equality for those who have been deprived if it.

It was made easy for whites to subjugate others because they were taught to see Blacks and Native Americans as heathen, savage and sub-human. This, in their minds, justified their not recognizing us as equal citizens in this country. Bearing this in mind, that the original Seal should include a picture of Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites is not without great significance. That it should include a pillar of fire in a cloud, beaming down on Moses, is not without significance for this day and time.

In my judgment, the original Seal was inspired to give America a picture of what her future could become if she did not do justice by the Native Americans and by the Blacks who were brought here as her slaves.

Even though America says she wants change and renewal, she must deal with the basis of this country�s woes. Either she must evolve from the limited vision of the founding fathers and repudiate that vision, or America must say that she believes in the true vision of the founding fathers and that the darker people will never be respected as equals inside of this nation....

Integration, as it has been conceived, is not working to bring true freedom, justice and equality to America�s former slaves. It is not working because it was not properly motivated and is not in harmony with the mandate of the time.

We do not want or need that kind of integration that literally results in nothing in terms of economic advancement for our people. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that if we wanted better relations between Black and white, he could show us how to achieve this. As Black people, we first have to come into a knowledge of self that will help us make ourselves worthy of respect and our communities decent places in which to live. We must begin to do something for self. This act on our part will earn the respect of self as well as others. It will ultimately help us to have better relations with those who see us as an unwanted burden in this society.

The focus of Black people should be on elevating self, not on trying to force ourselves into the communities of white people. Self respecting white men do not want to see us with their women. One way to have good race relations is to leave their women and girls alone. Some of us have a false love for the white woman, and some of us have a false love for the white man. Some want the former slave master�s woman because the former slave master has always had free access to our women, and some want the white man because he wields great power in the society.

In a painful recount of the position our freed forbears found themselves after Emancipation, W.E.B. DuBois wrote:

"For the first time he sought to analyze the burden he bore upon his back, that deadweight of social degradation partially masked behind a half-named Negro problem. He felt his poverty; without a cent, without a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into competition with rich, landed, skilled neighbors. To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships. He felt the weight of his ignorance, not simply of letters, but of life, of business, of the humanities; the accumulated sloth and shirking and awkwardness of decades and centuries shackled his hands and feet. Nor was his burden all poverty and ignorance. The red stain of bastardy, which two centuries of systematic legal defilement of Negro women had stamped upon his race, meant not only the loss of ancient African chastity, but also the hereditary weight of a mass of corruption from white adulterers, threatening almost the obliteration of the Negro home." ...

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us to take our own women and girls and respect, honor and protect them. He taught us to work hard to produce a future for our children, to rid ourselves of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, laziness and dependency; and to work to make our neighborhoods decent places for us to live. This kind of action on our part could lead to a healthier relationship between the races.

Certainly if we look at our females as that which God produced for us, then we would have to expect the white man to leave our women and girls alone. True love, however, transcends color and race. We must ask the question of those who have gone the way of having interracial relations, is the love a true love, or is it merely an acting out of a corrupted fantasy which is held by both Black and white? When we, as a people, are healed of our mental, moral and spiritual sickness, then maybe we can look across racial lines and see the true value and worth of one another. However, healing of the deadly diseases of white supremacy and Black inferiority has to take place first!

I have to stand and speak for the voiceless, whose leadership has often been quiet or weak in the face of an open enemy. Although I have been misrepresented by the media, here is a new opportunity to receive my message and judge it against the criterion of truth.

Am I really an anti-Semite? Am I really a hater? Can these charges really be proven? When people disagree, the intelligent and rational thing to do is to have a dialogue. Perhaps through dialogue differences can be reconciled. If anything that I have said or written is proved to be a lie, then I will retract my words and apologize before the world.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the way to stop back-biting and slander is to gather the parties together and allow them to present their charges and evidence to each other�s face, then we will know where the truth rests and where the lie rests. We are willing to sit and meet before the world and discuss our position. We recognize the ability of the American government and business community to help the Black community. The Nation of Islam, in turn, can help America solve its problems. But we cannot solve any problems by bowing down to falsehood.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad pointed out to us that Babylon, that great and wicked city, could have been healed. She was not healed because she refused to listen to guidance coming to her kings from the mouth of one of her Hebrew slaves. He pointed this out to indicate that America, though dying, can also be healed.

In the design for the original Seal for this country, the pillar of fire in a cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and command�that was also written of in the Bible as seen in a vision by Ezekiel�is now a reality in America. In the Seal�s design, the reason that Pharaoh was depicted with a sword in his hand is to symbolize America�s pursuit of world dominion by way of skilled machinations backed up by force. America has held a whole nation in captivity for over 400 years-�even as Pharaoh did in the biblical history of Moses and the ancient Hebrews�and she has done so by use of force and wicked machinations. The beam of light that was seen shining down on the face of Moses in the design for the original Seal of this country is a sign that the light from God is now beaming down on one from among the ex-slaves. In that light is the guidance that can heal America, the modern Babylon and the modern Egypt. Will America be healed? ...

We have the torch light. America is being challenged to take the bushel basket off the light. Let us sit down and talk about bringing real solutions before the American people, as civilized people should and are obligated to do.

The Kingdom of God is an egalitarian kingdom structured on truth, where each of us will be treated with fairness and justice. America could become the basis for the Kingdom of God. She has within her borders every nation, kindred and tongue. If they could be made peaceful, productive and mutually respecting, you would have the basis for the Kingdom of God right here on earth.

However, what America does not have is the teaching that would make one people out of the many creeds, colors and nationalities that occupy this land. That teaching cannot be the skilled wisdom from the political leadership that subordinates the language and culture of America�s diverse members, while lifting the American way of life as the model � which is very racist and white supremacist in nature. The current American way of life can only produce an apparent unity among Caucasians, because it negates the diversity and beauty of the non-white population. You can never achieve unity, or E Pluribus Unum, in this country under the doctrine of white supremacy.

America needs a spiritual healing. In the scriptures it reads," If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14) This is the promise of God for us, and for all of America. Moses and Aaron set two signs before the people, one of life and a blessing, and the other of death and a cursing. He said, "� choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." (Deuteronomy 30:19) The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan say to America the same.

We need to humble ourselves and pray to Allah, God, so that we might receive that same spiritual message that Paul refers to in his words concerning Christ. Paul said, in Christ, "There is no Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galations 3:28) Paul envisioned the end of nationalism, the end of classism and the end of sexism. He envisioned it through the true message of the man called Christ.

Even though America claims to be a Christian country, America, evidently, has missed the message of Christ, or has yet to receive His true message. However, once that true message is given, those who truly want righteousness, justice and peace will gravitate toward that message and they could form the basis of the Kingdom of God on earth. This can be achieved by establishing the truth that frees white people from the sickness of white supremacy and frees Black people from the sickness of Black inferiority, and lifts us up from an inferior condition and mentality�setting a new standard by which we all should live. The new standard is duty to God and service to our fellow man.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the greatest of all religious principles is to follow the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and love for your brother what you love for yourself.