As long as crime and violence is becoming a “way of life,” then business cannot thrive in an unstable environment. The professional people in the community suffer when crime and violence become a way of life because when people are afraid to leave their homes to go to a store that’s on the corner in their own neighborhood, then “business” dies in the community.
All success, economic or otherwise, is dependent on God and dependent on truth. Wherever God and truth is, success is. But wherever there is falsehood and deceit present in a time given to truth, we will fail. “Success” will always come back to Truth, just as “power” and “strength” will always come back to Truth. And, no falsehood will stand in the Light of Truth just as no false men or false women will stand in the presence of truth. So if I never say anything to any of you again, I want you to be truthful people—not speaking truth out of bitterness or even hatred, but speaking truth because in a day like this, only truth can correct the evil that goes on in our communities.
We cannot produce Economic Success until we reduce Crime and Violence.
What influence The Word of God has on The Black Man
When you turn on the news, the Black man is made to look so terrible because you always see us involved in some kind of criminal activity; and when you go to the movies, we are portrayed as a “criminal” and “savage” group of people.
But if you brothers and sisters were to travel with me into the various cities across America and watch the thousands upon thousands of Black men who come up out of wherever they are to meet me, you would be so touched by the beauty of yourselves that you never get a chance to see under the influence of lies, rumors, innuendo and false doctrine from the media and entertainment industries. You will never see the beauty of our people under the influences that they are under right now.
***
During the “Let Us Make Man” tour where I spoke to Black men all across America: In New York City at the 369th Armory we spoke to 12,000 men on that rainy night; we went to Boston, Mass. where I grew up, and on a snowy and rainy night the little theater was packed to capacity, with hundreds having to be turned away; the same spirit we found on another rainy night in Washington, D.C. where rain came down so heavy that the press that was standing on the outside had to run indoors; however, the men stood in lines soaking wet to come inside to sit and dry out under 2 1/2 hours of lecture. Then on to the “Bible Belt” in Houston, Texas—an unbelievable response where we saw over 35,000 Black men came to hear Brother Farrakhan; and in Dallas, Texas, there was a tornado, hailstones and rain, but the Convention Center was filled to overflowing with nearly 15,000 Black men, and 200 women on the outside cheering on the men as they came to hear and be influenced by The Message of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad!
Under the influence of a Message from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in these men you now saw strength, you saw power, and you saw potential. Think about it: Not one fight! Not one argument! Tens of thousands of Black men in each city we visited, and only God knows what kind of background they came from; but, in those arenas, under The Word of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, I saw the most beautiful sight of men who could be raised to civilized behavior.
The press was there; they saw it. At the end of that meeting those men took a pledge never to harm each other, and then they embraced each other with love and went out into the night. I’m sure the press was frightened that a Black man could call Black men, and they respond so positively and beautifully. From city to city, I wanted the press to see Black men under the influence of a higher message from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and to see Black men respond.
Well what is that telling you? Where are you in all of this? This is not “accidental” for God is inspiring Black men to rise. I don’t know what you think about it, but it is time. The Black man is ready for change. He is tired of being played with. He doesn’t want to be lied to. He doesn’t want to be used by those in political and religious offices. He doesn’t go to any “church,” he isn’t in any “organization.” He’s on the street—and you don’t have any power with them, and you know it!
As so-called leaders of our people, you can go visit the mayor, and sit with him having “tea and crumpets”; you can play around with the governor on the golf course. That might make you a “big Negro” with those with whom you associate, but the “little man in the street” doesn’t give a doggone about who you had dinner with. The “little man in the street” doesn’t care anything about your “corporate power” and your “$50,000-a-year job”; he’s not impressed with your “BMW.” He is impressed with truth and strength to feed his soul, and make him a better man.
The Black man wants to be dealt with like a man: Straight up, honest and clean! And if you can’t deal with Black men like that, then the violence you choose to ignore and not do anything about will find its way to your door, those of you who are in “leadership.”
‘The Price’ of Becoming a Peace Maker
In the 1990s when The Nation of Islam operated the “Dope Busters” program, where members of the Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.) would go into housing projects or wherever Black people are, and work for our people to reduce the crime and violence, the program received government funds to help in its operation costs. And our success in cleaning up the streets even inspired government officials to publicly admit that the Muslims are doing a wonderful job. However, when a Jewish representative in Congress was trying to get a law passed that called for “anybody who promotes hatred and bigotry should not have federal funds,” well, I don’t understand what that is; because it wasn’t “love” that brought Black people into slavery! I mean, we didn’t come here on “the love boat,” so somebody didn’t like us! Somebody deprived us, somebody segregated us, somebody Jim Crowed us—and it was not Farrakhan.
Who segregated you from living in the White neighborhoods? Who fixed it that way? It wasn’t Farrakhan, was it? When you can’t get insurance because of redlining, did Farrakhan do that? Did somebody do that because they “loved” you? No! Was there bigotry involved? Yes! Was there anti-Black sentiments? Yes—but Farrakhan didn’t have anything to do with that.
My point to you, brothers and sisters, is that all of this talk of “hatred,” “bigotry” and “anti-Semitism” that I have been labeled with is a smokescreen for those people who are afraid of truth that manifests their evil. But I don’t care what the consequences are for telling the truth. If it means my death, and that’s the price, then I’ll pay it because truth is greater than anybody’s life. Truth is more enduring than anybody’s life. All life is dependent on truth. The Holy Qur’an teaches us Allah is The Truth; so if God is The Truth, and the universe is created in truth and supported and sustained and maintained by truth, then there is nothing in creation above truth.
When you give your life to truth and stand on the principles of truth, you are standing on that which can never die; so there is no real “death” for men and women of truth. But cowards who fail to speak the truth are dead already, that’s why there’s no life in the cities where Black people live compared to how progressive other people are in areas that are right next door to them.
But in spite of the cowardly, weak and spineless leadership, Black men and women will rise because truth has come and falsehood must vanish.
The difference unarmed Muslim Patrols can make
What good can come from the talking we do inside our churches, mosques and synagogues if we are not concerned with what is happening outside in the streets with our young people? The crime and the violence today is being carried out by young people.
The jails are being filled with young people. And if we are not talking to young people, then we “miss the boat.” We can talk to “the parents,” or “grandparents,” but if you are a parent, ask yourself: What effect are you having with your children and your grandchildren? Once you start losing touch with the young, it’s over. The young men need jobs. If we’re not creating employment for them, if we’re not creating a social environment for them to grow in successfully, then all of this is really for nothing. In fact, Solomon said it best in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “All is vanity.”
Brothers and sisters, those of us within The Nation of Islam who are actively involved in trying to represent The Words and Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad today: We can make a difference.
What is it about the Muslim followers of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad; that we can go into a dope-infested housing project—with no guns—and the crime rate goes down? The drug pushers leave? And mothers who are rearing their children in the absence of men find safety and security for themselves and their children under the influence of unarmed Muslim patrols? What is that, brothers and sisters?
Well, we can say, “Yes. It’s God’s Will,” and it is; but we’ve got to go more than that. When you see it’s raining, and are asked, “Who produced the rain?” “It was God!” Well, it was God; yes, that is true. But there is a scientific answer that still adds up to God; and it makes you more intelligent so that you don’t use “God” as a panacea for ignorance, or an excuse for not searching for “Cause and Effect.”
***
Brothers and sisters, the success we have had with our people it’s not by accident. In the 1950s Rosa Parks stood up, and the Civil Rights Movement was born with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who taught his people “non-violence.” Although his people faced the guns of people like Bull Connor and others with no weapons; some bled, some of them were imprisoned and some died. But, the result was change.
And whether you marched with Dr. King or not, we all benefited from what he did. The problem is: Your non-violence was directed at a person you were never trained to be violent against in the first place. You have been taught all your life to hate yourself, and you’ve been taught all your life to do harm to one another subtly. Socially, from the system of jurisprudence to religion, everything has been geared to make you violent and disrespectful of yourself and of one another.
So we, as Muslims, are bucking the trend of 400 years of shaping and molding and training us to be violent to self. When we go in a project, we go non-violent. We don’t go there to hurt our people; we come from the same streets! Some of us were killers, some of us were pimps and hustlers; some of us were stick-up people, and some of us never involved ourselves in that. Some of us sold drugs and many of us used drugs.
But Elijah Muhammad cleaned us up from all of that and taught us how to love our people. So we go against the grain: An army that does not go seeking violent confrontation with the drug boys in our community because we once were like they. And so we say, “There, but for the grace and intervention of God, go I”—that is why we are successful! What wins is a non-violent, army of love going into a housing project trained “against the grain” not to kill your people, but to love your people! Not to go “one mile” with them, but to go “two.”
See, we know that will redeem Black men.
***
We always strive to maintain peace; we never use violent means because we don’t have to. We are not trying to show our people that we are “tough” with one another; we’re all tough! So together let’s become tough to meet the tough times we are facing.
Our Black brothers and sisters have a level of confidence in Brother Farrakhan which is gradually spreading to the whole Nation of Islam. We must not violate that trust and that confidence. We must always try to make our word bond. When you say “yea,” you mean yea; and when you say “nay,” you mean nay, but you are honest and upright in your dealings with one another. This is the way to peace in our communities.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Friday, August 3rd 2012 at 11:24AM
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