NATIONALISM!--YORUBA CULTURAL NATIONALISM -MOVEMENT SINGLELY CARRIED ONLY BY THE YORUBAS ON THE ENTIRE AFRICAN CONTINENT TO FIGHT WhITE COLONIALISM ! -FROM THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER

FROM THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER

Yoruba cultural nationalism

Written by Diran Apata ⁠ ⁠ Sunday, 22 December 2013
⁠ ⁠ A few days ago, in a leisurely discussion involving many Yoruba men, women and children, I mentioned the movement of Yoruba Cultural Nationalism of about one-hundred years ago. Most of my hearers had no idea what I was talking about. That is what always happens whenever I happen to mention this movement. It is painful that our people, especially our youths, know nothing about it – painful because the story of the Yoruba Cultural Nationalist Movement, spanning the last years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th,is one of the most glorious stories in the modern history of the Yoruba Nation. It is a story that we should all know inside and out – a story that our children should be told over and over at home and at school.

The following is the background to it. From about 1885, various European countries came scrambling for territorial empires all over Africa. Peoples after peoples of Africa fell to the European forces. The British, the French, the Germans, the Portuguese, the Belgians, the Dutch, all carved out empires for themselves. Most of Yorubaland became British possession (later to be included in Nigeria), and the rest became French and German possessions (later to be included in what are now Benin and Togo Republics).

But the conquest of Africa was not only military and territorial; it was also massively psychological. Usually, small European armies were taking over African territories, because they were armed with better weapons, or because the African nations were not fully aware about what was happening to them, and because they did not unite to defend their homelands. Naturally, the European colonialists became enormously arrogant. Everywhere, they proclaimed the doctrine that Africans were culturally and intellectually inferior to Europeans, that Africans were incapable of developing any civilisation, and that it was the duty of Europeans to bring civilisation to Africans.

These attitudes gradually infected all aspects of European relationships with Africans all over tropical Africa. The growing disrespect of Africans even spread into the Christian missions. In the mission churches and schools, it was now being said that, to become a Christian, or to be regarded as educated or civilised, one must give up one's native culture. One must give up such things as one's indigenous name, clothing, manners, and language, and take on European ones. Even the Yoruba clergy working in the missions began to experience serious disrespect and discrimination from the mission bodies that they served.

For a start, some Yoruba Christian converts in Lagos did respond by trying to become "black Europeans". They hoped that doing so would earn them acceptance into the "civilised" British community in Lagos. Many of these changed their names to European names. Some others adopted European dress items such as the stove-pipe hat, the feathered bonnet, high-heeled shoes, and gloves, etc. Some young persons who went to study in Britain returned home in only two or three years and claimed that they could no longer understand or speak the Yoruba language.

However, a powerful Yoruba reaction to all these rapidly brewed, and it soon became a great movement – the movement of Yoruba Cultural Nationalism. As it grew, most of those who had adopted aspects of European culture gave them up and returned to their Yoruba culture. There had been newspapers in Lagos for decades, and these newspapers joined excitedly in the movement. "We are Africans first (or we are Yoruba first) before we are Christians" became popular among Christians in Lagos.

This movement of Yoruba Cultural Nationalism produced very many effects. In popular culture and fashions, Yoruba Cultural Nationalism promoted a great pride in Yoruba clothes and dresses. The Yoruba way of dressing became very popular indeed. It became more attractive as new styles and modifications were added.

Yoruba men and women serving in the Lagos colonial service responded in their own way. Many of them resigned their jobs and started private businesses, schools and churches of their own.

In the Christian missions, the Yoruba clergy responded by introducing Yoruba culture into church services and church life. For instance, they introduced Yoruba music and songs, which the missions had earlier regarded as pagan. Some of the Yoruba clergy even went further than that. They withdrew from the service of the European mission organizations and started an African Church Movement. This created separate African churches in the various denominations - African Anglican churches, African Methodist churches, and African Baptist churches. The African churches brought Yoruba culture into the Christian church in a big way. They also wrote Yoruba hymns and published hymn books. But another movement soon started which went even further than the African Church Movement to integrate Yoruba culture into Christianity. This was the Aladura Movement. The Aladura Movement developed into a number of main branches – the Christ Apostolic Church, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, and the Celestial Church of Christ.

Yoruba Cultural Nationalism also promoted a lot of interest in the study of Yoruba culture and history. Many books were written in these years on both subjects. And many literate Yoruba people wrote the traditional stories of their towns – some in English, and many in the Yoruba language. Lessons in Yoruba history and culture were introduced into schools, including the mission schools.

Yoruba Cultural Nationalism created a powerful Yoruba national consciousness. It unified the modern Yoruba elite for service to their nation. That unity was to express itself in many productive ways later – in the various Development Associations of the 1920s and 1930s, in the highly influential Egbe Omo Oduduwa from 1945, and in the first-rate government of the Western Region in the 1950s. It also charted great modern ambitions for the Yoruba nation – ambitions to acquire education, and to achieve modern economic progress, prosperity and power in the world. In these many ways, the movement of Yoruba Cultural Nationalism laid some of the foundations for Yoruba achievements and progress in the modern world.

All in all, Yoruba people did not merely challenge European cultural arrogance; they suppressed it quite successfully in their own country. Nowhere else in Black Africa, among no other Black African nation, did the Europeans experience another powerful cultural challenge like this.

A British colonial official who served for years in Nigeria in the 1950s testified to the later-day effects of Yoruba Cultural Nationalism. He wrote in his memoir that, in his experience, the Yoruba were one African people who never treated the British, or any other Europeans, as superiors or "as gods". He wrote that the Yoruba are a people with "personal dignity and political finesse". "In my experience" he added, "the Yoruba regarded themselves as superior to the British - - -. The Yoruba were often highly intelligent and they taunted the British with sending inferior people to Nigeria." He also added that many other Nigerian peoples could usually not look the white man in the eyes, but that even the lowliest Yoruba servant tended to carry himself with confidence and pride.

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Published in⁠ Diran Apata's Sunday message
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Khalid Abdul Muhammad



Khalid Abdul Muhammad (born Harold Moore Jr.; January 12, 1948 – February 17, 2001) was an African-American activist who came to prominence as the National Assistant to Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam (NOI). After a racially inflammatory 1993 speech at Kean College Muhammad was condemned and removed from his position in the Nation of Islam by Louis Farrakhan. He was also censured by both Houses of the United States Congress.[1]

After being removed from the Nation of Islam he served as the National Chairman of the New Black Panther Party until his death in 2001. Despite the controversy that followed him, his strong denunciations of white power gained him the support of some in the black community.

Biography

Early life

Harold Moore was raised by his aunt, Carrie Moore Vann, in Houston, Texas, where he attended Bruce Elementary School, E.O. Smith Junior High School, and all-Black Phyllis Wheatley High School. He was also an Eagle Scout.[citation needed] After graduating high school, Moore went to Dillard University in Louisiana, where he was known as Harold Vann, to pursue a degree in theological studies, but he did not graduate. At this time, he ministered at Sloan Memorial Methodist Church. In 1967, he was initiated into Omega Psi Phi fraternity (Theta Sigma chapter). Later, Moore transferred to Pepperdine University and earned his Bachelor's degree.

Nation of Islam

In 1970, while attending Dillard, Muhammad joined the Nation of Islam,[2] which was then under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad. He changed his name to Harold Smith, became Minister Louis Farrakhan's protégé, and was active as a recruiter within the organization. In 1978, Smith was appointed Western Regional Minister of the Nation of Islam and leader of Mosque #27. In 1983, Minister Farrakhan named him Khalid after the Islamic general Khalid ibn al-Walid, a follower of the prophet Muhammad, calling him the Sword of Allah.

By 1984, Muhammad had become one of Louis Farrakhan's most trusted advisors in the Nation of Islam. He traveled to Libya on a fund-raising trip, where he became well acquainted with that country's leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi. Muhammad's dedication to Farrakhan and to the message of the NOI eventually secured him the title of national spokesman and he was named one of Louis Farrakhan's friends in 1981. He served at Nation of Islam mosques in New York and Atlanta throughout the 1980s. A federal court convicted him in 1987 of mortgage fraud and sentenced him to nine months in prison.[3] After his prison term he returned to the Nation, becoming Farrakhan's national advisor in 1991.

1993 speech

Muhammad's new position involved public speaking engagements, where he became known for his inflammatory anti-white, anti-semitic, and anti-homosexual speeches along with calls for black self-empowerment and black separation. Muhammad's condemnation of whites and Jews extended to conservative Blacks, whom he criticized for what he perceived as their self-subjugation.

In 1993 he gave a speech at Kean College in Union Township, New Jersey, in which Muhammad referred to Jews as bloodsuckers; labeled the Pope a "no-good cracker"; and advocated the murder of any and all white South Africans who would not leave the nation subsequent to a warning period of 24 hours. He used the Book of John in the Bible as an excuse to defend his hatred of "so-called White Jews", saying that they crucified Jesus because he revealed them to be liars, and of "their father, the Devil". The United States Senate voted 97–0 to censure Muhammad, and the United States House of Representatives in a special session passed a House Resolution. Farrakhan responded by publicly condemning the mocking tone of Muhammad's speech, while taking no issue with its content.

Aftermath

Muhammad was silenced as a minister and left the NOI soon afterward. In 1994, Muhammad appeared on The Phil Donahue Show⁠. He participated in heated arguments with Jewish audience members amid an explanation of his public statements.

Muhammad was shot by James Bess, a former NOI member, after he spoke at the University of California at Riverside on May 29, 1994. Many believed the shooting was a part of a conspiracy against Muhammad.[4]

New Black Panther Party

After being stripped of his position as NOI spokesman, Muhammad became the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party. On May 21, 1997, he delivered a heated speech at San Francisco State University in which he criticized Jews, whites, Catholics and homosexuals. He endorsed a Holocaust denial position, asserted Jewish control over U.S. policy, and alleged Jewish involvement in various conspiracies.[5]

In 1998, Muhammad organized the Million Youth March in New York City. The march was controversial from its inception as New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani denied the organizers a permit, calling it a hate march. A court ruled that the event could go on but scaled back its duration and size. At the conclusion of the rally, just as Muhammad appeared on the stage to speak, the demonstration was interrupted by a low-flying police helicopter that acted as a signal for more than 3,000 police in riot gear, including some mounted on horseback, to come in and disperse the crowd. In response, Muhammad exhorted the rally participants to attack the oncoming police, to beat them with rails, and to shoot them with their own guns. Dozens were arrested, and 30 officers and five civilians were injured.[6][7] Mayor Giuliani said that the march turned out to be precisely what he predicted, "filled with hatred, horrible, awful, vicious, anti-Semitic and other anti-white rhetoric, as well as exhortations to kill people, murder people...the speeches given today should not occur [at] any place."[6] In subsequent activism, Muhammad convened a second march in 1999.

In 2000, Muhammad's beliefs were introduced to a completely new demographic when it was revealed that one of the contestants on the American version of the Dutch television show Big Brother, William Collins (Hiram Ashantee), was a follower of his. He also appeared in an episode of Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends.

In 2001, Muhammad died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 53.

Musical influence

As a prominent Afrocentrist and speaker on African history, Muhammad attracted interest from several hip-hop artists, who sampled him in their songs. Public Enemy quoted him in the introduction of its 1988 track "Night of the Living Baseheads," from the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back:

Have you forgotten that once we were brought here, we were robbed of our name, robbed of our language. We lost our religion, our culture, our god...and many of us, by the way we act, we even lost our minds.

Rage Against the Machine later paraphrased this quote in the lyrics of "Freedom" (Rage Against the Machine, 1992) with the line, "Brotha, did you forget your name?"

He also appeared on Ice Cube's albums Death Certificate (1991) and Lethal Injection (1993) as a guest rapper. On the former album, Muhammad appeared in the tracks "Death" and "The Birth". On the latter, he appeared in the song "Cave Bitch," a song ridiculing white women. On MC Ren's 1996 album The Villain in Black Muhammad appeared in the track "Muhammad Speaks," where he spoke about the history of the rights of African-Americans.

Musical references to Muhammad since his death include a quote of his "Kill the White Man" speech on The Used's 2009 album Artwork and a sample of his interview with Louis Theroux in the Chase & Status song "Hocus Pocus": "We're not going to stand here and speak of some hocus pocus, some shazam, some abracadabra magic."

Personal life

Muhammad had five children, including Farrah Gray, who grew up in Chicago's South Side without their father present. Although Gray saw his father only during occasional visits, he credits Muhammad for inspiring him with confidence. Gray rose from poverty to become a successful business entrepreneur, but did not join his father's political activities.[8][9]

See also

▪ African-American – Jewish relations

▪ Nation of Islam and antisemitism

▪ Black separatism

References

1. ^ Blair, Jayson (February 18, 2001). "K.A. Muhammad, 53, Dies; Ex-Official of Nation of Islam"⁠. The New York Times.

2. ^ "Chart: Nation of Islam and Traditional Islam"⁠. Beliefnet. Retrieved 2008-12-31.

3. ^ Smith, Vern E.; Sarah Van Boven (September 14, 1998). "The Itinerant Incendiary"⁠. Newsweek. Retrieved July 25, 2009. [dead link]

4. ^ Cokely, Steve; Muhammad, Khalid. Shooting of Khalid Muhammad, Tupac & Biggie 6/6⁠ (YouTube) (in English). Retrieved April 21, 2013.

5. ^ ADL Alerts Nation's Academic Leadership About Virus of Bigotry Being Spread by Khalid Abdul Muhammad⁠

6. ^ a b Million Youth March Ends in Clash⁠

7. ^ village voice > news > The Hunt for Khallid Abdul Muhammad by Peter Noel⁠

8. ^ Gray, Farrah (2012-11-11) Press release⁠

9. ^ Gray, Farrah (2004) Reallionaire

External links

▪ Khallid Abdul Muhammad: In His Own Words⁠

▪ The Hunt for Khalid Abdul Muhammed⁠

▪ The Bio Of Khallid Abdul Muhammad⁠
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Khalid Abdul Muhammad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Khalid Abdul Muhammad (born Harold Moore Jr.; January 12, 1948 - February 17, 2001)

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MANDELA O! -"CROCODILE TEARS ..FOR MANDELA?"-IS GOWAN OUR OWN NIGERIAN MANDELA?-FROM THE NATION NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA

FROM the nation newspaper-Nigeria
Crocodile tears on the grave of Mandela
Posted by: Jide Osuntokun

The death of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) has attracted a lot of emotions, comments and tributes from many current leaders and past leaders of several countries in the world. Some of these comments are genuine, others are insincere and amounts to crocodile tears. About 100 global political players, both current and those who have held positions of power in the world, including President Barrack Obama, current American President and three former Presidents- Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George W Bush, and the heir apparent to the British throne Prince Charles as well as our own President Goodluck Jonathan and David Cameron, John Major and Gordon Brown, current and former British Prime Ministers respectively attended the official funeral ceremony held at a big stadium in Soweto South Africa. This must have been a security nightmare for the South African authorities. Mandela who initially embraced the non-violent philosophy of Mochandas Ghandhi-Ji later abandoned non-violence and was largely responsible for forming the Umkhonto we Sizwe (the Spear of the Nation), which was the armed youthful wing of the African National Congress (ANC). The young revolutionaries in South Africa by the 1960s were already getting impatient with the conservative and non-violent approach to African liberation espoused by the ANC. Members of the Pan African Congress (PAC) were already critical of the non-violent campaign of the ANC. We can therefore say Nelson Mandela reluctantly took to armed struggle because as he argued nobody can kill a wild beast with bare hands.
In the history of the liberation of South Africa some attention should be paid to the PAC and Azanian People's Congress' roles as alternative platforms for the liberation of South Africa. A comparable situation is what happened in the US where the existence of militant youthful groups such as Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led by Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown, as well as the Black Panther Movement of Huey Newton and Eldrige Cleaver, and the Black Muslims particularly the faction led by one of its charismatic leaders, Malcom X with their cry burn baby burn made Martin Luther King nonviolent campaign largely acceptable to the white folks. Even though the situation was not exactly the same, white folks saw Mandela as somebody they could ultimately do business with.
This does not diminish the achievements of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela but it is important to put the two global icons within their historical context. The two share many things in common especially their ability to forgive their oppressors. Martin Luther King's tolerance is firmly rooted in Christian religion while Mandela's ability to forgive is rooted in political reality. He wanted to build a non-racial majoritarian democracy in South Africa and he came to the conclusion that the only way to do this was by forgiving his racist oppressors who had built in South Africa a first world infrastructure and economy albeit on the backs of the blacks. If he had adopted the Mugabe approach of land expropriation, he would have destroyed his much loved country of South Africa for which he paid huge price of 27 years imprisonment. Since 1994 when he became president and now after having been succeeded by Thabo Mbeki and the current President Jacob Zuma, the vast majority of black South Africans have remained largely poor. Of course centuries of Black marginalization cannot be removed within a few years but young black South Africans are not prepared to wait indefinitely for the fruit of majority rule. This is the challenge facing South Africa today. And some of the militant youths have been known to issue militant statements about the conniving and apologetic leadership of the ANC who are only ready to tinker with the white economic structure of South Africa without radically changing it. This is why incredibly as it may sound, Robert Mugabe is perhaps the most popular political figure in Southern Africa today. This also accounts for the tumultuous ovation he attracted when he entered the stadium during the funeral mass for Mandela.
I had the opportunity to meet Mandela in May 1990, when he came to Nigeria, and the University of Lagos conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate degree after leaving prison and before becoming president of South Africa. Professor Nurudeen Alao who was Vice Chancellor asked me and Dr. Tunji Dare to prepare a citation for the great man. We independently wrote this and after comparing notes, Dare said my citation captured totally the essence of the man, and he subsequently published his own draft, I believe in The Guardian. I remember that one of the things the great man asked us was that he wanted to learn how Nigeria has been able to create a forum like the House of Chiefs in the old regions for traditional leaders to participate in governance so that he could do the same in South Africa. I do not know what became of his interest in this regard.
After Mandela's death, I have been thoroughly amused by the comments of our leaders. Some of these leaders have hailed him as a great man, a great African icon and a great world leader that is worthy of emulation. Yet some of these so-called African leaders held power for years without leaving any remarkable or worthwhile imprint on the society. It is surprising that those who overstayed their welcome in office are now acclaiming Mandela as their friend and as someone from whom they learnt something. One only hopes that our current leaders and those after them will learn from this great man's example, that it is not the amount of money that one has that matters, but that it is the enduring and unforgettable legacies that one leaves behind that really matter.
The former American President George W Bush also went to South Africa to pay his last tribute to Mandela; I believe his sincerity. But we should not forget that his Vice President Dick Cheney regarded Mandela as a terrorist. And according to General Colin Powel, a former American Secretary of State and his successor Condoleezza Rice both of whom are blacks claimed that they were hugely embarrassed to find Mandela's name on America's terrorist list. It is surprising that the Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and the Chinese President Xi Jinping were conspicuously absent in South Africa to pay their last respects to Mandela; they will not be missed of course. And the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found a lame reason about security and the cost of the trip not to go to South Africa. Of course, the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was there because Mandela was a supporter of the Palestinian cause and liberation. Let it be remembered that Israel and the United States under President Ronald Reagan assisted South Africa to acquire nuclear weapons in the late 1970s.
President Jonathan in some kind of homily during a funeral service for Mandela said that Nigeria is not likely to have a man of Mandela's stature. I disagree and I say General Yakubu Gowon remains the greatest Head of State of Nigeria with high moral stature on a comparable level with Mandela. Gowon's case is that of a prophet that is with no honour in his own country. Here was a man who governed this country for nine years and ended up not having a single house or billions of naira, and oil blocs in his name but was responsible for most of the enduring physical infrastructure in the country. Here is a war leader who fought a civil war and ended it without show trials and executions of those on the other side of the conflict. Gowon represents our own Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela rolled into one. Since leaving office, he went back to the university and earned himself a doctorate degree in Political Science and has never soiled his hands with filthy lucre. He has used his moral currency and goodwill to attract funds for good cause such as guinea-worm eradication and has spent along with others, years in praying for the peace of Nigeria. When he was in power, Gowon was a pan-Africanist and extended the reach of Nigeria's foreign policy to the black Diaspora in the Caribbean. History will be fair to Gowon, he may not have had the press and publicity and international acclaim that Mandela has but Gowon among our leaders certainly made a difference. And he deserves to be celebrated now and in the future.

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Mandela: A lesson in political greatness

December 11, 2013 by Anthony Akinola

   

 

Mandela

By virtue of their exalted positions, political leaders are invariably famous!  We see their faces on television and in newspapers and we also listen to their voices on radio.  The notorious ones among them intimidate us with their posters or statues, palaces and the exclusive streets they name after themselves.  They would rather celebrate their own lives than be patient with history!

However, these fellows in positions of power are reduced to ordinariness as soon as they are relieved of political power.  The most mischievous of them (the Samuel Does, the Nicolae Ceausescus, the Saddam Husseins and the Muammar Gaddafis) get consumed by the anger of the oppressed, begging in vain for their lives to be spared!

Fame or notoriety is transient, while greatness endures. Political greatness is about doing deeds whose consequences endure in history.  Great political leaders do not come in rapid succession; they come once in a while.

The magnitude of political greatness is determined by the magnitude of crises or challenges a political leader is confronted with. It is not by choice that the political leaders whose names ring through history and in our subconscious memories have been those who were great nation builders, or great managers of wars, or great heralds of economic prosperity.  The great nations of the world have their Abraham Lincolns, Winston Churchills, Mao Tse-tungs, Mahatma Gandhis and Otto von Bismarks, to mention just a few.  Even in death, great political leaders inspire generations of would-be leaders.

The Black world, in the modern era, has donated two great names to the world of political  mythology.  Both Martin Luther King Jnr and Nelson Mandela were products of similar as well as contrasting historical circumstances.  They were members of multi-racial societies in which their own peoples were at the receiving end of injustice and degradation.  The majority white group meted out injustice to the minority black in one instance, while the minority white also meted out injustice to the majority black in another.  Both King Jnr and Mandela were historical characters in the crusade to bring sanity to what was a hopeless situation.

They were men of exceptional courage, intelligence, eloquence, vision and character.  King Jnr paid the ultimate price in his crusade for racial equality and justice, while Mandela had his freedom curtailed in an incredible 27 years of imprisonment.  Today, we celebrate the fact that both men and their apostles have been vindicated.

The world mourns Mandela who died on Thursday, December 5, at the ripe old age of 95.  His death has captured the imagination of the entire world.  Of course, the role he played in ending the obnoxious apartheid system in South Africa is monumental; what, however, the rest of the world is celebrating today is the exceptional character of one individual. One doubts if he would have been that revered if he were vengeful, or had exhibited political greed by wanting to die in office.  Neither was he obsessed with personal wealth and the perquisites that appeal to ordinary human beings.  In suffering and forgiving his tormentors, Mandela, according to Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun, is the nearest we have to Jesus Christ in Christian mythology.

It is noteworthy that President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of mourning in memory of Africa’s most illustrious son.  This gesture is not enough.  What can we learn from Mandela in terms of personal contentment and spirit of reconciliation?  What can Jonathan himself learn from this global icon as he ponders his own political future amidst fierce disagreements and possible chaos?  When one’s political right  conflicts with the national interest, which one should prevail over the other?

  For our nation, one urges that we reflect on the struggles of our racial compatriots in the United States of America and South Africa.  They had more vicious experiences to contend with  than many of us could imagine.  With purposeful leadership, we should prevail and ours be counted among the most important nations of the world.  Great leaders like Mandela and King Jnr re-write history because their dreams transcend big mansions and private jets!  Great leaders live their lives for the sake of others.

- Akinola wrote in from Oxford, United Kingdom.

BLACK WOMEN! -EMPEROR MENELIK TOOK GOOD CARE OF HIS BLACK QUEEN!- MAY YOUR BLACK MAN ALWAYS TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU! -FROM PAN-AFRIKAN EDUCATION ON FACEBOOK

FROM PAN-AFRIKAN EDUCATION ON Facebook

Mrs.Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade shared Pan-Afrikan Education's photo.

Why would Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia ride into battle against the Italians with his Queen? A soldier of the Ethiopian army asked "Emperor, Your Majesty why do you ride into battle with your Queen?" Emperor Menelik explained, "I would rather die in battle with my Queen, then leave her home to be raped by a bunch of devils and beasts."

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MANDELA O ! -SUN RE O -BABA RERE!

SUN RE O! MAA J'OKUN
MAA J'EKOLO !



Josuha P. Olatunde SO-
"Ohun tán bá ñ je l'órun ni kóo máa báwon je o"


ADELEYE OLUJIDE SO-

"KI ELEDUMARE TE MADIBU SI AFEFE !
ODIGBA Ooooo!'
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INDIA ARIE-BLACK SKINNED BEAUTY SUPREME-"POEM TO SISTER INDIA ARI__E" -BY LARRY UKALI JOHNSON-REDD! -FROM FACEBOOK

Poem to Sister India Ari...e
By Larry Ukali Johnson-Redd


One of the pretty
Black Women
Is India Arie
She is a real cutie
Chocolate queen
Know what I mean
Singing her songs
Is her thing!
See her on
Influences BET
Singing from the bosom
Of our very soul
Aware of her beauty
A real cutie and her voice
Makes her a voice of choice
Playing your guitar
How beautiful you are
India Arie, you cutie
African in America
A Black Super Star
Dipping from our
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With our story
You tell so well
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Singing your
Heart felt Prose
And your love of self
Flows from your soul
We feel it
Let you music unfold
My sister
India Arie
You are
A real cutie

(C) 2013

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"BLACK PHARAOH" ? -OBAMA O! -A BLACK IN amerikkka PHARAOH? -A POETIC MESSAGE BY MENELIK CHARLES! -FROM FACEBOOK

BY Menelik Charles.


The return of the Black Pharaoh...

You were the 'change' we believed in from
A Bush who mistook his rule as a tool
To violate all the governing rules...
He just wasn't cool...

But something about you had all of us fooled

You were the face of color...a man of valor
A President who promised to
Rule with candor...

And empty jails of Moslem males and
Save their boys from wars gone stale
In Arab lands where bloody stands
Were made 4 men with evil plans

Elected before your rule now abhors
It's no longer 'on it' its more
like Pharaonic.

I'll let my people know!

(c) Menelik Charles
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MICHELLE OBAMA O! -SO OUR BLACK SKINNED BEAUTY FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA HAS IT ALL? -this white girl thinks so analysing it from a white feminism perspective!-FROM SALON.COM

Thursday, Dec 5, 2013 7:26 PM UTC

Michelle Obama: The one woman in America who actually has it all

Criticism of her choices shows the limits of today's feminist conversation, especially when it comes to moms

Carolyn Edgar

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Topics: Michelle Obama, Feminism, Life News, Politics News

Michelle Obama, with daughters Sasha and Malia. (Credit: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Anyone who still wonders why Michelle Obama has chosen not to take an active policy role in her husband's administration should read the New York Times' latest article about Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City's Mayor-elect Bill deBlasio. The article undermines the incoming de Blasio administration by portraying McCray as her hapless husband's puppetmaster. An anecdote in which McCray jokes about "road rage" sets her up to be characterized in the future as an Angry Black Woman, a title Michelle Obama has nimbly sidestepped.

McCray appears poised to be the "ass-kicking, do-it-all superwoman" political analysts like Michelle Cottle claim feminists wanted Michelle Obama to be.  While Cottle dismissed Michelle Obama as little more than June Cleaver with a better fitness program, the New York Times article implies that McCray micromanages her husband's every move. But, judging from the Times' comments section, New York City residents are no more interested in the de Blasios' 2-for-1 elected-official-and-his-unelected-wife package deal than Americans were with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The critiques lobbed at McCray and, by extension, de Blasio provide one explanation as to why Michelle Obama has chosen to be a traditional first lady, but it is not the only explanation. Being a traditional first lady – operating on a platform of "Mom in Chief" – simply seems to be what suits Michelle Obama best.

Modern feminist rhetoric around whether Michelle Obama has hurt the cause of feminism by "opting out" of an activist first lady role overlooks a few inconvenient, yet salient facts. For one thing, placing Michelle Obama in the category of women who "opt out" of the workforce is misguided. Michelle Obama didn't leave the workforce to take care of her family. In fact, she took her last professional job – as director of community affairs for the University of Chicago Hospitals – when her daughter Sasha was only a month old. She left that position in 2007 to support her husband's presidential campaign. Michelle Obama didn't "opt out." She did what many, though not all, political wives do – made her husband's political career not only her business, but the family business.

To the extent the largely ceremonial role of first lady can be characterized as a job, with an approval rating of 66 percent, no one can accuse Michelle Obama of not having done it well.  The chief complaint of her detractors – on no basis more solid than their own wishful thinking – is that Michelle Obama should have attempted to break the first lady mold, not fit into it. The fact that feminists are more comfortable with the notion of Michelle Obama busting balls in a power suit than gardening in a floral dress and cardigan hews to the persistence of certain stereotypes about black women, but fails to offer any sort of valid criticism of the first lady.

As feminist writer Tami Winfrey Harris pointed out in an article for Clutch Magazine, the idea that Michelle Obama "might have a nurturing, maternal side that is not politically manufactured but a part of who she is" is unfathomable to many of her critics. In the Cottle piece, author Linda Hirshman described Michelle Obama as performing "an almost music-hall-level imitation of a warm-and-fuzzy, unthreatening, bucolic female from some imaginary era from the past." This remarkably offensive passage insinuates that Michelle Obama has been acting out some sort of reverse minstrelsy, almost as if she has appeared before us in whiteface these last five years.

White and black feminists alike sometimes exhibit a level of discomfort at seeing Michelle Obama embrace a Norman Rockwell-esque vision of American motherhood, as if the trope doesn't properly belong to a black woman. Historically, that was mostly true. If black women were in the kitchen baking cookies, they were often doing it not for their own children, but for the children of the white women who employed them. The rise of feminism saw white women longing to leave the home and join their husbands in the boardroom, while many black women longed for the luxury of staying home.

In her essay "Ain't I a Mommy?" Deesha Philyaw explores "the relative absence of black women's voices in mainstream U.S. media discourse about motherhood in general." As Philyaw points out, much of that discourse about motherhood has focused on issues mostly of concern to affluent white women. The same can be said of these endless arguments over feminism, workplace equality and Michelle Obama.  But having Michelle Obama in the role of first mom has given airtime to issues generally ignored by white feminists and the mainstream media – namely, the health, nutritional and now educational needs of low-income children. While Michelle Obama has not sought to redefine the role of the first lady, she has proven that a traditional first lady can openly support the president's policy initiatives — so long as she speaks on those issues from a parenting perspective.

It perhaps overstates the case to say that modern feminism shuns motherhood, especially since so many of its proponents are themselves mothers. But motherhood has been relegated to being something one does offstage, in private. By day, women are supposed to be seen as tough, fierce – on a par with men. Only at home can they can be nurturing, loving and concerned about the well-being of children and families. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner notes, "Too often mothers in the workplace have to hide the fact that they have children, tip over the pictures in offices and not talk about their families in order to be taken seriously."

Rowe-Finkbeiner argues that "having a first lady who embraces her own motherhood is a boost to the 85 million mothers across our nation." This may be true, but I think the benefits of Michelle Obama's public embrace of motherhood run deeper than that.  While writers like Kay Hymowitz insist that "the pesky laws of mathematics make the two goals of workplace equality and women's freedom of choice incompatible," equality and choice need not be incompatible goals. Framing administration policy through a motherhood/parenting lens ensures that the needs and concerns of parents remain part of the national discourse. For example, discussing parenting issues in conjunction with workplace equality — instead of banishing parenting concerns to the private sphere of personal choice – will eventually allow for the development of workplace policies that take the needs of parents into account, thus allowing women to achieve greater participation in the workforce at all levels, instead of opting out.

President Obama has described Michelle Obama's struggle to balance motherhood and career ambition in their pre-White House days:

And I know when she was with the girls, she'd feel guilty that she wasn't giving enough time to her work [...] And when she was at work, she was feeling guilty she wasn't giving enough time to the girls. And like many of you, we both wished that there were a machine that could let us be in two places at once. And so she had to constantly juggle it, and carried an extraordinary burden for a long period of time.

Michelle Obama no longer has to live that struggle. In fact, she appears to be the one woman in America who actually has it all. So when feminists complain that Michelle Obama is bad for feminism, perhaps what they really mean is that her refusal to buy into their narrow definitions of feminism exposes the shallowness of today's feminist discourse.
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WOOLLY HAIR!-BLACK WOOLLY HAIR IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL HAIR IN THE WORLD! #7

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BLACK MEN!-WAKE UP! -FARRAKHAN ON HOW TO OVERCOME AS A BLACK MAN IN amerikkka! -FROM THE FINAL CALL NEWSPAPER

FROM The Final CALL Newspaper
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Minister_Louis_Farrakhan_9/article_101010.shtml
'Let Us Make Man' How To Overcome The Pain of Being a Black Man in White America (Continued)
By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: Dec 3, 2013 - 12:21:51 AM

FARRAKHAN ON HOW BLACK MEN SHOULD FIGHT IN amerikkka!

December 5, 2013 at 4:21am


'FROM The Final Call Newspaper
Let Us Make Man' How To Overcome The Pain of Being a Black Man in White America (Continued)

By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: Dec 3, 2013 - 12:21:51 AM

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⁠‘The time and what must be done’—2013 Lecture Series, part 47

[Editor’s note: The following article contains a distillation of the April 11, 1994 “Let Us Make Man (Part 4)” message delivered by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, as part of a nationwide tour of “Men Only meetings” leading up to The Historic Million Man March in 1995. This portion of that address serves as Part 47 of his 52-week Lecture Series on “The Time and What Must Be Done,” which aired on Saturday, November 30, 2013. Click here to order this message it in its entirety on MP3, DVD and CD or call 1.866.602.1230, ext. 200. Be sure to visit NOI.org/TheTime each Saturday at 6 p.m. CST (5 p.m. MST and 7 p.m. EST) to view the ongoing series.]

In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

So What Must Be Done? Remember, in the Book of Matthew (Chapter 21, verses 1-3), the scripture teaches: “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.” There was an ass tied, and a young colt was tied with the ass …

The scripture also teaches (Matt. 4:19) that Jesus, when he met the Disciples (Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew), he said: “Look, I know you’re a fisherman, Peter, but I don’t need you fishing in that sea. Follow me, and I’m going to make you a fisher of men.” Because our people are in the “sea of sin,” and somebody has to go after them. But they like “the water” that they’re in: So you have to bait your hook with something the fish likes.

But “fishing with a hook” is slow … So Jesus said: “Cast your net on the right side.” This means, “reverend,” that we have to come with “the right stuff”! These Black men are not to be played with … They want a change in their lives, and they want a change in their community!

‘Stating our case’: Why a call to bringone million Black men to Washington

So brothers, in 1995: I would like to take a million Black men to Washington, D.C. Tell our sisters, our wives, our mothers, our grandmothers: “Sweetheart, this time, please stay at home.” “Mother”: You have always stood for us, and we’ve never stood up for our families. But we’re coming of age now, “mom”—wife, sister, auntie, baby; and we want to go to Washington, and state our case.

*Our fathers sweat, blood and tears built this country. Our fathers, and our mothers, worked from “can’t see” morning to “can’t see” night—with no pay—to build the economy of the South to fuel the economy and the industrial revolution of the North. *We fought in all America’s wars for a freedom that we have never achieved. We fought in the Revolutionary War that made America independent of England—but we don’t have any independence ourselves! We are dependent on White people to do for us what we have earned the right to do for ourselves! We fought in The Spanish-American War; we fought in The War of 1812. We fought in The Civil War, on the side of the North and the South: We died right alongside of those fighting to maintain slavery, and those who said they were trying to “maintain The Union.” But in any case, after The Union was maintained: It was back to “business as usual.” *We had congressmen and senators, and we had government representation, but The Night Riders and the “KKK” took it all away from us! They said, “We don’t want no n---as in the Congress! We don’t want no n---as in high political office!”—so they killed us, they hung us, they burned us. *And when they got in trouble, they called us again to fight in a “Jim Crow army.” Some of the older ones here that were in “World War I”: You know you fought Germany; but the German prisoners of war were treated better than the Black soldiers who fought for America against Germany! Adolph Hitler rose; “World War II”: Black men died at Pearl Harbor! Black men died in Guadalcanal, in The Solomon Islands, in The Philippines, and at Iwo Jima (“The Pacific Campaign”)! Black men died in North Africa fighting the Germans (“The North Africa Campaign”)! Black men died at Anzio Beach; at Palermo, and at Naples (“The Italian Campaign”)—to free Rome! To free Paris! To free Europe!

Damn it … We died to build America! And America has rebuilt Germany and Japan, and “The Nigga” is still suffering and dying in the streets of America!

*We tried to build Black organizations to fight for our cause! We, along with Whites, made the “NAACP,” “The Urban League,” “C.O.R.E.” (Congress of Racial Equality), “S.N.C.C.” (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)! *And what was the response of our government? Under J. Edgar Hoover and the Counterintelligence Program (“COINTELPRO”) of the United States government: They treated us like we were aliens—sending spies and agent provocateurs in among all our Black organizations, to discredit our Black leaders, and cause us to fight and kill one another! The government did this; using the dollars of our taxes! *Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up to get us out of a segregated state … And men had to die, women had to die, just so others could drink at a fountain or go to toilet in a public place? People had to die for that simple, basic right.

*********

Brothers: Think about the sacrifice that our fathers have made to build America! Think about what government has done to show their contempt for us! I think it’s time, now, that Black men stand. I think it’s time, now, that Black men put the gun down for the destruction of yourself and your brother!

It’s time, now, for us to say to the government of the United States: Here we are! Here we stand! The Black Men—the children of slaves that built your country! That fought and died in all your wars! Now look, we don’t intend to live in poor housing! We don’t intend to live like dogs! You owe us a debt!

Germany is paying reparations to the Jews for the Holocaust that the Germans put on the Jews! “All Germans” didn’t do this, but all Germans are being taxed to pay for what was done to the Jews. In 1941, when Japan struck at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were rounded up and sent to concentration camps; and the government admits she was wrong. She was wrong! So they’re going to pay reparations to the Japanese.

Look at our condition, brothers: Don’t we need a “repair job”? Don’t we need somebody to repair our broken heads, our broken hearts, and our broken pocketbooks?

*********

Brothers, before I share with you what we have to do, I want to say to you who feel that you are despised and rejected; you that are the “bottom rail”; that you are “the last,” that you and I are a “foolish people,” God said: 1.) “I will choose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” 2.) “I will choose the things that are not, to bring to naught the things which are.” 3.) “I will choose the despised and the rejected; and the bottom rail will go to the top, and the last shall be the first. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our sight.”

Whether you know it or not, Black Man, God has chosen you! Not because of your “blackness,” but He’s chosen you because you have suffered in the furnace of affliction! And now, as Reverend Jackson said, the more you burn gold: You never “burn” it; you only purify it by removing its dross. You are pure gold, Black man, chosen by God now to do a mighty work! “There is an ass tied”—somebody is not using the donkey. But God said, “Go loose him, and if anybody asks you what you’re doing, tell them ‘The Master has come. He has need of that donkey.’ ” Brothers, you are more important than you think you are.

A Lesson from scripture: ‘From one blood’ came all life

From the Holy Qur’an, which is the book of scripture of the Muslims, I would like to share the following verse from Surah 4 Al-Nisa (“The Women”), verse 1; it says: “In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. O people, keep your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind), and spread from these two many men and women. And keep your duty to Allah, by Whom you demand one of another (your rights), and (to) the ties of relationship. Surely Allah is ever a Watcher over you.”

“O people, keep your duty to your Lord”: Every man among us knows “we owe a duty to God.” And do you know how I know that you know? Because every one of us, when we get in trouble: Each one of us has been in some trouble that is so deep, that you call on who? You call on God.

Now, when you called on Him, brothers, what did you say? What did you say? Pay attention to your words, now, because when you called Him, you were real sincere; because the trouble was deep! You said, “God, if You just get me out of this, this one time”—didn’t you say it? All right … And now, look at what you said you were going to do: “God, if You get me out of this, this one time, I’ll serve You for the rest of my life.” You know you said it—and you know you lied (smile). Brothers, “when you said it,” the Holy Qur’an teaches: “And when I brought them safely to shore, lo! They set up other gods beside Me. Surely man is ungrateful” (Surah 17 Bani Isra’il (“The Children of Israel”), verse 67); you “forgot.”

Continuing with Surah 4, verse 1: “… keep your duty to your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same [essence]…” What does “single” mean? It means “one.” Well, is God “One”? He created you and me from Himself, and He created our mate of “the same essence”; meaning that your woman is from God, and you are from God! Which means what? That The Nature of God is your nature! So every one of you that are from God—and that’s all: You are of Divine. Your nature is “Divine.” You are The People of God!

Let’s go a little further: You are “Black.” Are you “Black” because you’re cursed? No! You are “Black” because you are the first creature that He created, and you took your color from the darkness out of which you emerged! You’re not “Black” because you’re cursed; you’re “Black” because you are The Original Human Being from whom all other human beings came! You are The First from God!

“Can you prove it, Farrakhan?” Sure! Sure, sure, sure. … When they wanted to find “the origin of man”—they didn’t go to Europe! Where did they go? They went to Africa! They found the bones of a man they called Zinjanthropist: Zinj means “Black”; Anthropus means “man.” He was 750,000 years old—and he had a “daddy”; and they went back and they dug, and they found some more skulls, and some more skulls. And they’re still unearthing skulls that never showed “the origin.” But as far back as you go: They find you. We have Caucasians [reading this]; we have Hispanic brothers [reading this]; and although we have many different hues and colors, the Bible teaches in the Book of Acts, Chapter 17, verse 26 that “from one blood God created all men.” From “one blood”—blood is the life fluid of some living organism; so “from one blood” means from the genetic strain of one life, God made all! The Holy Qur’an says Allah (God) created you from a single being, and created your mate from the same essence; and “spread from these two many men and women.” It started from “one,” and now it’s “many.”

How did you start? You started from sperm mixed with ovum; and when the sperm connected with the ovum, it produced the first cell of life. And from that one cell, now you are billions and billions and billions of cells in this one body. But you started from “one.” Can you “dig it”?

Now, the Holy Qur’an tells us the color of “the first man.” The first man is called Adam; and in The Qur’an it says in Surah 15 Al-Hijr (“The Rock”), verse 26: “Allah created him from black mud, and fashioned him into shape …” — Stop! Since my body is from the earth … if He created the first man “from black mud”: “Step up” anthropologist! “Step up” historian! “Step up” biologist! “Step up” geneticist! Talk to me: If the first man was “White,” the Yellow Man couldn’t even get here, because “two White people” cannot produce anything other than what they are!

I am not teaching “Black Supremacy,” I’m just teaching Actual Facts. White people, pay attention to what I am saying: You can’t produce us; it is a mathematical, genetic impossibility. If you were “the first,” we couldn’t have gotten here; and so, the Black man has within himself the whole range of “color”—because Black is not a “color”: It is The Essence from which all “color” comes.

To love God is to love your brother: Our duty to one another

Brothers: If God created you “from Himself,” that means every one of you is a God, and has God’s Divine Nature in you! As David The Psalmist says, “Ye are all gods, children of The Most High God.” Now let’s get the Bible and Qur’an to back this up!

In the Bible, 1 John, Chapter 4, verses 20-21, it reads: “If a man say, ‘I love God,’ and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” Let’s stop a minute, and look deeper into what John The Apostle is saying. What do you mean “How can you love God Whom you’ve never seen, and then hate your brother?” Then there is something in your brother that is of God!

So when you hurt your brother, you’re hurting your Father! I’m a father, brothers; I’ve got 9 children, 23 grandchildren, one great-grandchild! And if I ever see my children fighting, it gives me such pain! If you are “God”—not “big God,” but a little “God,” made as the Bible teaches “in the image and the likeness of God,” then Elijah Muhammad said, “Every time I see a Black man, I’m looking at God.” So when I look at you: I don’t have to “wait” to see The Father, for I see The Father in you! And when we refer back to what Surah 4, verse 1 says, “O people, keep your duty to your Lord”—so when I see you, I have a duty by you, brother!

When I meet you, you say, “Oh Farrakhan! I’m real happy to meet you, man!”—and I always say, “It’s my honor, brother, to meet you!” And you look at me confused, saying, “What? How is he ‘honored’ to meet me?” Because when I meet you, I’m meeting a person that has never been on the Earth before, and there will never be one quite like you ever, ever again. So! When I see you, I have to treat you like I would honor God: I have to respect each human being; I have to respect you, brother … Even though you don’t know who you are, I know! And because I know, my duty is to honor and respect you!

Even these little children: They are little babies, but The Power of God is in them! And they’re going to grow up one day, hopefully, to be mighty men, so you start respecting them when they’re in the cradle! You start respecting them when you see the woman forming that child in the womb—you don’t wait till it gets here! And that’s why no man, who’s a real man, will beat a woman …

No man, who is a real man, will beat a woman! No man, who is a real man, will disrespect a woman! Because it’s through woman that we live! If you live to be the age of Methuselah, which is 969 years: You’re still going to die! So how do you “continue”? You continue through a woman. So when she tells you “I love you”: If she means it from the depth of her heart, she is saying, “I want to give life to you. I want to extend your life by my love.” So you and she enter into a “contractual arrangement” that is from Divine; and after 9 months, she suffers the pain of death to give birth to you all over again.

And so, as a man who has a child: If you “love God” and “love yourself,” when you see yourself growing again, you’ve got a chance to make that life better than you were made! So when that life comes, it’s like a potter’s clay: You can shape it! You can mold it! You can make it something!

*********

When the Disciples said, “Master, when were you hungry and we fed you not? When were you naked and we clothed you not? When were you out-of-doors and we gave you not shelter? When were you sick and imprisoned and we ministered not unto you?” He said: “Inasmuch as you have not done this unto the least of these, my brethren, you have not done it also unto me.” So the “least” little brother in here is the brother of Christ!

Who is “Christ”? 1.) “Christ” is “man in his perfectly-developed state”; 2.) Therefore, “Christ,” fully developed, is “man in whom God dwells”—“Christ” is the expressed likeness, image, of God. Why is “Christ” so important? Because he allows men to see “The Realm of Possibility.”

Brothers, we can be more than “the prophets”—but don’t go around saying “I’m the child of God,” and never grow up to be like your Father! Jesus was the only man in scripture that had such a unique relationship to God, till he referred to God not as “Elohim” or “Yahweh” or “Allah,” he referred to Him as “his Father.” And then when the Disciples wanted to learn how to pray, they said, “Master, can you teach us how to pray?” He said: “Yeah, pray on this wise: Say not ‘my’ Father, ‘our Father’.” Now if The Father made Jesus so special, what’s wrong with you? You mean you’re not “special”; you mean The Father didn’t make anything out of you? Your elder brother Jesus is “something,” but you’re “nothing”? Muhammad is “something,” but you’re “nothing”? Moses is “something”—you’re “nothing”? False! Every one of you are as they are if you submit to The Source that they submitted to!

Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” See, when you submit to God, brother, He actually comes into you: He travels into you through The Word—and The Word contacts the essence of your nature, which is the same as His Nature, and “turns on” The Divine Essence of you! And you start growing, spiritually, just like you grew physically!

And therefore, brothers, when you have a gun in your pocket, and you go on and shoot a Black man: That is like shooting a bit of God. When you watch the life ooze out of your brother every time you squeeze the trigger, life is oozing out of you; because love can’t find a place in you for your brother if you’re constantly raping, robbing, destroying your brother. We are one another’s “family”: We are not just family “from the same mother,” but we are family from the same God. So, you are truly my brother, and I am truly yours—so I make a pact: I Will Give My Life For You! Because my life is not more important than yours. You are greater; I am lesser. So, I must become your servant. And you must see your people like that!

When your brother is down, that is you: Help pick him up! Don’t make “different [gang affiliation] colors” make you different people; don’t say, “Well he’s got on red, man ...” or, “He’s not one of The Bloods; he’s got on blue, man—he’s not one of the brothers. He didn’t give the right sign. He ain’t one of the brothers.” When you look in his face, and you see “The Mark of The Beast”: That’s your brother—who has been destroyed, like you. And you must never ever again hurt your brother. When you and your brother have an argument: Develop the intelligence to reason with each other, and not reach in your pocket … This is why the Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us: “Throw away all guns!”

When we became Muslims, we threw all the guns away, because Elijah Muhammad knew that when we got in an argument, we would reach for our gun rather than reach for our ability to reason. And he forbad us to raise our hand to each other! I remember in The F.O.I. (The “Fruit of Islam,” The Men’s Class of The Nation of Islam): I saw a brother, and I, began (throwing boxing jabs at him, in a playful manner); and the captain of The F.O.I. saw me doing that, and said, “Brother!” I said, “Yes sir?” He said, “Do you think you can whoop us all?” And I said, “No sir.” He then said: “Well, the next time you raise your hand to your brother, you’ll have to whip us all”—and from that day, I never raised my hand to my brother. Never! Not just my brother as a “Muslim,” but also my brother “Christian”: I won’t ever raise my hand to him.

My brother Christian is safe from my tongue, from my hands. His wife is safe, because I know that his wife is sacred to him, so she is sacred to me; therefore, instead of violating his house, I will protect his house! His daughter is sacred to me … And when we become like that, love comes in: When I won’t do you wrong, you won’t do me wrong; you fall in love with me, I fall in love with you. Then “love” is greater than “the law,” because love is the highest expression of “law”!

When I say “I love you”—(and you could drop your wallet, with money all in it): Instead of stealing it, I would say “Hey brother! Brother! You dropped your wallet; here.” We are taught that if your brother has a bowl of soup, and you have none, half your bowl belongs to your brother. So if I have money, you don’t have to steal! If you have need, and I have that means, then I would say, “Here brother”—however, I don’t want you to “lay” on me! But, I’ll help you out as my brother.

What Must Be Done: The JobWe have to do for God, to be as God

I want to just show you the meaning of the story of “the donkey and the colt,” and with this amount of men (14,000-30,000) together, I’ll show you what we could do right here in Houston; and you’ll never be broke, and powerless, if you have unity.

The scripture teaches there is “an ass” tied: “Untie him.” White folks have us tied up to them, but they’re not using us! Therefore, by “The Law of Non-Use,” they have forfeited their right to hold us. Brothers, Jesus was not a “thief”; he didn’t tell his Disciples, “Go and untie him, and bring him to me.” When you have a “tie” on you that means you “belong to somebody else”; but The Master had come—and He “paid a price” to redeem them! So he said, “No! They’re not using you? And I have suffered for you? Go untie them—I’ve got need! Bring the ass to me!” (As in “donkey”—I’m not speaking “vulgar.”) Then Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the ass; or, “the donkey,” and people saying “Hosanna!”

Do you know in The History there has never been, to my knowledge, a leader who calls Black men out to a special meeting, to talk to Black men? Go check The History! Brothers, if Black Men Only meetings happen in 15 or 20 cities across the country, what do you think they are thinking? See, you are “the unlearned,” the “donkey”—and Farrakhan is who you came to hear—then that means you are “the wind beneath his wings.”

So when The Enemy listens in on this meeting, they’re going to say “That Farrakhan: He’s getting’ them Black men stirred up … He’s more dangerous than any nigga we’ve had!” The scripture teaches us that the moment “Jesus got on the donkey,” and “rode into Jerusalem,” his time was numbered! Because they, in secret counsels, said: “He has to die!” But I am telling you: They have already decided “Farrakhan’s got to go.” They have made their “plans” …

But I laugh, because God has made His Plan! Brothers, you don’t have to worry about them coming to do me harm, because I don’t believe they have a gun big enough to shoot me “from here, across the street”—if it doesn’t please God! If it pleases God that I die, then it pleases me to die. But, I don’t think so … We’ve got work to do!

So here you are, all “tied up”; and, I’m one of The Master’s Disciples: I saw you tied, and I am here tonight to loose you, saying: “Come on, Black man! We’ve got a job to do. I don’t care what work you’re doing now—you have a bigger job to do for God!”

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Since you said, “Lord, if You get me out of trouble this one time, I’ll serve You,” here is the way that God wants you to serve Him!

First of all, brothers: Each of us has to decide to clean up our act. This body is the real House of God. Not the physical houses of worship that we go to, not buildings. Though they are beautiful buildings, they are not the real “House of God.” Your body is greater than a physical church/mosque/synagogue; because this is “the architecture of men, while your body is The Craftsmanship of God Himself. So! You must never violate “The House of God”—you shouldn’t eat improper food, unclean foods, clogging up your beautiful system with unclean foods.

Some of you drive good cars … and brothers, you’re not going to put cheap gas in that finely-engineered engine! You put the highest octane in it, because you don’t want it “pingin’ and goin’ on”—and then you go and sit in McDonalds, and feed this magnificent House garbage. It’s a great House, brother, but you have to take care of it! “Houses” need maintenance, but you are not maintaining that body.

[At the time of this message, the Minister was 60 years of age; about to turn 61]: Brothers, my son Mustapha Farrakhan can tell you: His father, at 60, bench presses 370 pounds, and still doesn’t know the limit of my strength! I dead lift 405 pounds—just snatch it up off the ground (smile); and squat 405 pounds! And still don’t know the limit of my power!

I’m a young “old man”; and I don’t have no “big gut”! At your own age, what do you look like? Some of you have not seen yourself, unless you get a mirror, where your gut is hanging all down over your knees … Brothers: This area of your stomach (gut) is your lifeline! You don’t have to age because you’ve been here long! There’s not one of you [reading this] who can really be considered “old”; whether you’re “70,” “80,” “90,” that is not “old”—you just got here, man! What you getting’ outta here for? Hang in there, brother! Because you have to stay here long enough to learn how to live, so you can pass on valuable lessons to your children and your grandchildren. However, due to improper foods, you’re “out of here.”

Brothers, I have fasted from three days to 40 days. … You have to learn how to cleanse your bodies, and your minds. At my age, I mean, I’m just “quick,” brother: I can wake up in the middle of the night and teach for hours, never repeating myself. And you are greater than I am! You just need to get yourself in order with God.

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Now, brothers, I am just “one man”—and The Enemy to our rise finds it difficult to handle me; the whole world, together, finds it difficult to crush “one man.” Do you know why? It is as the scripture teaches: “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.” Suppose we let Him, God, get into us, and we become a united power in God? You won’t “need” a gun anymore [to fight], because you can do it with your mind.

When I was informed that 30,000 people were standing on the outside of this church, and they were trying to get screens to protect them from the downpour of rain, I went in my room and I said: “O Allah, hold back the rain. Don’t rain on the people”—and He held it up! Brothers: You have “juice,” man! You’re God’s People! You could “run this thing crazy” [i.e. “immediately begin changing your condition”], if you just “came home to God,” and came into unity with one another. You would have so much power, that you would frighten yourself. What could we do if all of us, as Black men, would unite together for the common good? I want to show you … If we took the number of men that were just inside the auditorium where I spoke (14,000), and if we could get the 15,000 that are outside, just check this out …

Pooling our financial resources: Suppose the 14,000 on the inside put $10 together? Then, “14,000 x $10” is “$140,000”: Put it in a treasury. Come back next week, contribute the same, you have $280,000—put it in a treasury! Come back the third week, put it in a treasury ($420,000); and by the fourth week, you would have had over a half a million dollars ($560,000), liquid cash. Buying property with the financial leverage gained: With the money you saved in a treasury, you then go to a bank and say: “Look here, man … You have any properties you’re foreclosing on? Show me your portfolio.” When they say, “Yeah, we’ve got this building, this apartment building”—you say, “We’ll take it.” Utilize the skills and talents of each brother: We have brothers who are carpenters, brick masons, plumbers, electricians, roofers … Everything imaginable, right among us! And, you have young people who don’t know any of these trades; so, you take these abandoned buildings, and you put the craftsman to work. And you put the young man beside him as an apprentice! Before you know it, those abandoned buildings are built back up, and now, someone is living in them, paying rent to you! You’re the owner, now.

Continue to build a treasury, with more people: After realizing the success, then you determine: “Okay, let’s keep this up! Now we have 30,000 people; so at $10 per person, that is “$300,000”—in one week. Buy farmland: Have you noticed how White folk are giving up their farms? So what you do? You go and buy you 1,000 acres. If you’re wondering, “What do I need a farm for?” “The Farm” is “The Engine of Life”! The Farm is where everything we have on comes from! Farm, brother! Our problem is that we’re allowing everybody else to feed us, and we’re not feeding ourselves and our children! And, with 1,000 acres, you can’t even see what that truly looks like from land; so you have to get up in a helicopter to fly over what you and I own, collectively! Buy proper farm equipment: Now that we have begun “farming”—and we know that not everyone can farm, however there are some good Black farmers among us; but, we’re not going to farm with a mule anymore, we get a tractor!

Set up manufacturing sites, supermarkets to sell products we produce: Then you set up a canning factory! Then you buy some more land, and instead of a beautiful church like we are accustomed to doing, build up a supermarket! Now you have your canning factory, and you have “First Baptist Peas,” “Second Baptist Corn,” “Methodist Asparagus,” and “Muslim Carrots”—all on your supermarket shelf! And then you tell all our wives: “Don’t shop anywhere else! Shop in your own supermarket!” And before you know it, the money we spend on food is right back in our circle, growing! Manufacture our own clothing: Our fathers picked cotton … But now, since we grow it: We can turn the cotton into lint, and the lint into cloth! And then all of us who have on underwear—and we haven’t made one pair: You set up a factory, put your woman in it, and say: “Come on, baby! We’re going to make underwear.” Instead of designer underwear from Calvin Klein, now you have your name on it; and then everybody in Houston is wearing “Our Own Underwear.” The underwear market is yours! The shirt market is yours! The suit market is yours! Those of us who wear “gator shoes”: The gator doesn’t belong to White folk, it was created by God. So the same way they can get alligator, we can get ’em too! The same as the cow: It gave its hide to White folk, and it will give it to you, too. Tan that hide, and make some shoes! It’s a shame: We’re paying $140/$150 for Nike “leap-arounds,” and all we have to do is learn how to do it—“do it for yourself.” And before you know it, you have a whole economic revolution started in the Black community!

And as men: We’re doing this! Then your wife is looking at you, saying: “Look at my husband! What he is doing …”—and she starts smiling at you.

Set up our own schools/control our curriculum: Then you tell your wife, “Well baby, I don’t like the way the schools are mis-educating our children. Let’s set up our own school,” then you set it up! And every one of us that is a “teacher”: Come on out of a plantation system, and begin giving your children real education! Grow as a political force: And before you know it, White folk will be looking at you, saying: “Are these those same Negroes that used to hang out in the 2nd Ward? In the 3rd Ward? In the 5th Ward? Drunk and disorderly? Now they own the 5th Ward—that’s their turf!” Then, when you own it, you become interested in the politics that governs it! Then you run for office who you want to run, who will look out for your interests; and after a while, you become a power in Texas! And then before you know it, from “The Lone Star State,” you get many other states wanting to put a star up like Texas did in their state flag!

And Black men: Before you know it, you’re working hard; and therefore you deserve “pleasure.” And your wife (your help-meet) will say: “I really want to help you, because at last, honey: You are doing something.”

‘Manhood Training’: Pledge to begin the change within ourselves, family, community

Come on, brothers! Let’s fill the churches up, with men! Let’s fill the mosques up, with men! And let us never let “religion,” and the labels, divide us ever again from one another. Never again! I want to ask two questions: 1.) Are you interested in making our own communities a more decent place to live? 2.) How many of you brothers would like to accept a Training that would cause you to be self-disciplined; and then we, in turn, take the responsibility of disciplining our community—making it safe for our women, our children and our elderly? Then I’d like to ask you, brothers, if you would take this Pledge. And when you say it, if you say it: The only thing we have is our word; and once we give our word, we must strive never to break our word.

“I, [state your name], Pledge to strive to love my brother as I love myself.”

“I, [state your name], Pledge to strive to improve myself spiritually, mentally, morally, socially, economically, and politically for the benefit of myself, my family and my people.”

Will you do that? That means from this day forward, we have to start improving. If there is some habit that you have, that you would like to get rid of, do you know how to do it? “Do It.” Once you make up your mind to do it, it’s done!

“I, [state your name], Pledge to strive to build homes, hospitals; to buy farmland, to set up businesses, to engage in international trade and commerce, for the benefit of myself, my family, and my people!”

“I, [state your name], Pledge to give of myself, my time, my talent, and whatever I can spare of my finance, to accomplish the above said.”

With those words, each of you has taken a sincere Pledge to strive to be the brother of one another; not only the brother of those in (close to you), but all of those out there that are our flesh and our blood. And then, it must go to all people! But you have to start with yourself. So let’s get busy and train ourselves to become the men, the husbands, the fathers—the brothers—that we should be.

All those brothers, who would like to get involved in this kind of Manhood Training, come on out … For the first time, Christians and Muslims will be working together, saying: “Let Us Make Man!” Isn’t that wonderful? [Note on “The Manhood Training”: These Men Only classes would occur following every Let Us Make Man tour stop. In Houston: In addition to Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church as a site for Manhood Training Classes that began April 16, 1994, other churches and organizations located in different wards of the city also participated: Metropolitan C.M.E. Church (Pastor W. Edward Lockett); Anderson Memorial Church of God in Christ (Reverend Elder Prince E.W. Bryant); S.H.A.P.E. Community Center (under Director Deloyd Parker); Acres Homes Citizens Chamber of Commerce (“AHCCC,” under Chairman Roy Malonson); and South Post Oak Baptist Church (Reverend R. Elliott Wright).]

And don’t forget, next year: I will like for us to convene one million Black men in Washington, to give America the largest, most orderly, disciplined “march on Washington” in the history of this nation. And, to “fire a shot” that will be heard all the way around the world, that we have come of age—and we’re demanding what is rightly and rightfully belongs to us, as the spokespersons for our wives, our children, our moms, our women.

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Brothers, when you get the opportunity, greet each other by shaking hands and embracing one another. You have to learn that there isn’t anything wrong with showing love to your brother! And there’s nothing wrong with telling your brother, “I Love You, Brother”—and mean it!

From this day forward, remember now: We’re not going to do anything to hurt our brother. And when you meet one of those ignorant brothers, who will try to force you to hurt him: Do your best not to hurt him, unless he aggresses on you; then, you are forced to “fight with those who fight with you.” But if you don’t let your ego get the best of you, you can avoid 95 percent of most hostile action.

Thank you brothers! May Allah bless you! As-Salaam Alaikum! I LOVE YOU!