Minister Louis Farrakhan

Uniting The Caribbean Through Continuing The Legacy of Our Heroic Freedom Fighters

By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: Oct 21, 2014 - 3:45:03 PM

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[Editor’s note: During the week of October 16-19, 2014, the island-nation of Jamaica graciously hosted The Nation of Islam in the capital city of Kingston to commemorate the 19th Anniversary of the Historic Million Man March and Holy Day of Atonement.  Before a filled-to-capacity gathering at The National Arena on Sunday, October 19th, the Honorable Minister Farrakhan addressed the need for Jamaica, as an independent nation, to begin exhibiting true independence from their former slave and colonial masters by continuing the freedom fight that its own leaders, and leaders in other Caribbean nations, sacrificed their lives to establish on behalf of their people.  The following article contains edited excerpts from the message delivered by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan live via webcast.  The Final Call urges its readers to obtain a copy of this timely message now available in its entirety on MP3, DVD and CD.  Please call 1.866.602.1230, ext. 200, or visit store.finalcall.com.]

We thank Him for His greatness, His goodness and His mercy to the human family.  Throughout history, whenever any member of the human family strays from His straight path and earns His displeasure, before He punishes He always raises from among that people a prophet or a messenger to whom He gives what is called “scripture” or “divine revelation,” by means of which He guides those who will hear back to His straight path, and once again into His favor.  We thank Allah for Moses and the Israelite prophets that gave us the Torah or “The Old Testament.”  We thank Him for Jesus and the Apostles who gave us the Injil (“The Gospel”) and “The New Testament.”  We thank him for Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah through whom the final revelation came into the world verifying the truth of all of the teachings of the former prophets.  We thank Allah for Prophet Muhammad, and all of the worthy prophets that came before him.

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the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
I am a student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and I could never thank Allah enough for His merciful intervention in our affairs in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad to Whom praise is due forever; The Great Mahdi, or “Guide,” Who came to North America to get the Black man and woman of America up from the foot of our former slave masters and their children, to civilize us, to make a new nation out of us, and then spread that guidance that He deposited in us and with us to all of humanity, starting with Black people in the West Indies, in Central and South America, in Africa, in the Isles of the Pacific, the Indigenous people of the Earth, and then all who suffer under White Supremacy. …

Thank you to the government and people of Jamaica for their warm and gracious reception of The Nation of Islam through customs, through the airports, on the highways:  We have felt very much at home.  I have always come to Jamaica by myself, sometimes with my family, my wife, my children, but I never came like I came this time. 

There’s a scripture in the Bible that teaches “you can tell a tree by the fruit it bears,” [in other words] “you can tell a man by his works”—so what we brought to Jamaica is a sample of The Work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad which is a proof that a New Teacher has come among us.  And no matter how good the brothers look, and how handsome and clean we are, you don’t judge civilization by a man; you judge the measure of that civilization by women—and the sisters of The Nation of Islam’s M.G.T. and G.C.C. (Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization Class) stopped traffic everywhere they went, exhibiting their high degree of civilized behavior. 

When our brothers and sisters watched us in the hotels or wherever we met each other, they saw us shake each others’ hands and hug each other; because the hallmark of The Nation of Islam is the love of the brotherhood.  And where there is love there is life, and where there is love there is The Presence of God.  You saw the brothers opening doors for the sisters, helping to carry their bags, making sure that they were safe wherever they went because it is part of our teaching and training to lay down our lives for the honor of our women.  We will never be respected as a people until we show honor, love and respect for our women. 

It is against the law in The Nation of Islam for any man to strike his wife; and any man that strikes a woman is showing his mental incapacity to handle the woman, therefore in The Nation of Islam, men must grow into The Wisdom of God that will allow us to deal with our families without acrimony and bitterness.  Now, we are not perfect; I have to make that clear!  But any man that strikes the sister, and we know about it, they get excommunicated for a period of time until they learn how to manage their anger so that they never strike the mother of their children, the one who is born to give us solace and comfort, and guidance and help.  Never—never—allow your children to see the male in a household strike the female!

Now some of you have seen me before, and some of you have heard me before, but my work on behalf of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad speaks for itself. 

‘Our heroes’:  Saving the world by continuing the legacy of their works through our work

Jamaica, you are “a pearl” in The Caribbean:  So much has come to the world from this “island in the sun.”  This island is special—you always “punch above your weight,” but today I want you to bathe in The Sunlight of God and His Truth, that we may truly be an island not only in the physical sun but an island bathed in The Light of God; that we become an exemplary nation, an exemplary people that can continue the legacy of the heroes that we will honor [during Jamaica’s annual National Heroes’ Day celebrations (October 20, 2014)], and whom we also showed honor to during this Holy Day of Atonement broadcast…

Here are just a few of the many whose works have impacted Blacks in The Caribbean:  The Honorable Marcus Garvey (Jamaica), José Martí  (Cuba), Dutty Boukman (Jamaica), Simón Bolívar (Venezuela), Toussaint L’Ouverture (Haiti), Ché Guevara (Bolivia), George Padmore (Trinidad), Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haiti), Queen Nanny (Jamaica), Bob Marley (Jamaica), Elma François (St. Vincent), Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Walter Rodney (Guyana), Frantz Omar Fanon (Martinique), Maurice Bishop (Grenada), C.L.R. James (Trinidad & Tobago), Errol Barrow (Barbados), Robert Bradshaw (Saint Kitts & Nevis), Dr. Eric Eustace Williams (Trinidad & Tobago), Michael Manley (Jamaica), Forbes Burnham (Guyana), Antonio Maceo (Cuba), Vere Bird (Antigua & Barbuda), Louise Bennett (Jamaica), Joseph Chatoyer (St. Vincent), Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael (USA), Edward Wilmot Blyden (USVI), Henry Sylvester-Williams (Trinidad & Tobago), Bussa (Barbados), Norman Manley (Jamaica), and Fidél Castro (Cuba).

These heroes have done their work, and we are the beneficiaries of what they did!  The question is:  “What are we doing?  What are we doing to finish the work?”  Because the work is not done.

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A Jamaican man waves the National flag as he listens to Minister Farrakhan. Photos: Mikal Veale/choiceimagery.com
Onstage I embraced the Caribbean artists Gabby and Luciano, and you may have asked, “Farrakhan, why would you hug Mighty Gabby from Barbados, and the great Luciano from Jamaica?”  But let me tell you:  The Cultural Community is the community that will save the world and continue the legacy!  I may make a speech, but one song—one song, as Bob Marley proved (e.g. “Redemption Song”):  One song can wake up nations!  So the Cultural Community must rise, and be infused with the ideas that lead to liberation!

I am so happy to be in Jamaica, and I thank all of the brothers and sisters who made this journey!  I hope that Jamaica will inspire you to tell others, and come back again, and again, and again; because this is my father’s home, therefore it is my home—therefore it is your home!

And to all of my Christian family:  I want you to know that I am a Muslim, but I am a Christian too!  You say, “Farrakhan, how could you be that?  You must be confused.”  No, I’m not confused—The Knowledge that I have received from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is so deep, that it makes me sick to see people who believe in God acting as though they never believed anything at all (“Muslims killing Muslims,” “Muslims and Christians killing each other.”) 

And you may wonder, “Who are we?”  We are The Nation of Islam:  We are here to reform the whole world of religion.  Because the whole world of religion has failed to civilize humanity and cause them to walk the righteous path of the prophets!  “Religion” needs to be reformed.  Going to church is fine; going to the mosque (or masjid) is fine; going to the synagogue is fine.  Going to any place of worship is fine—but the problem is not with those who believe, the problem is in the streets.  And if we are not actively engaged where the crime is, where the violence is, where the decadence is, where the need is, then we are not with Jesus, we are not with Moses and the prophets, nor are we with Muhammad, peace be upon these worthy servants of God. 

The Holy Qur’an talks about “the uphill road” (Surah 90 Al-Balad “The City”), and it asks the question in verse 12, “And what will make you know what the uphill road is?” and the first thing it says is “the uphill road” is “to free a slave,” then “to feed in the day of hunger an orphan,” and to raise the people that are “lying in the dust.”  That’s our work in The Nation of Islam

I love these heroes that we’ve mentioned; I got chills as I saw the great ones on the screen that had passed before us… I, Louis Farrakhan, do not intend to go out of this world whimpering; I do not intend to go out of this world bowing down to the forces that have destroyed us as a people! 

I’m 81 years of age, but I have many more years by The Grace of God in front of me; and every second, every minute, every day, every week, every month, every year I’ll be walking the path of the heroes that we admire!  They never punked out; they fought the enemy until death came to them—and you are not worthy to walk to Heroes’ Park (in Kingston) and pay honor to them unless you are willing to walk that path and live your life, and die fighting for the liberation of your people!

Ezekiel’s prophecy of ‘dry, scattered bones’: The root cause of Caribbean disunity

In the scriptures, it reads in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24, verse 27“As lightning shineth from the east even unto the west, so shall the coming of the son of man be”—notice the direction of this “Son of Man,” He is coming out of the East, but His movement is to the West; and the scripture goes on in verse 28, “For wheresoever the eagles are gathered together there will the carcass be.”  You and I, particularly in America, are “the carcass”:  The remains of a once great people. 

In the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 37, Ezekiel saw us as “dry bones in the valley.”  The bones were “talking to each other” (like you talk, like we talk); and, our hope is lost (our “bones” are dry), and are “cut off from our part.”  But God told another “son of man” who met with The “Son of Man,” “Son of man, go and preach to these bones, give them the word as I have given it to you.”  And when he preached to the bones, the bones shook, the bones rattled

And I’m sure when you finish hearing the word that I am delivering to you, you’ll “shake,” you’ll “rattle”; in other words, like all the great ones that came before us, we cheered them:  “Go ahead, Right Honorable Marcus Garvey!  Go ahead Michael Manley!  Go ahead Ché Guevara!  Go ahead Fidél Castro!”  But what happened?  After the lecture was over we went back to “business as usual,” and White Supremacy still flourishes. 

So today:  We don’t want just some “bones” shaking, rattling; because the Son of Man had preached to those bones for a long time, and he went back to his Sender, and he said they’re “shaking and rattling” but they’re not coming togetherThey’re not coming together.  So The Lord said to the Son of Man:  “Don’t speak to them—prophesy unto the winds; and when the winds blow on these bones that are the slain of God, they’re going to stand up.”  But pay attention to what they’re going to look like when they stand up:  “They will stand up an exceedingly great army.”  Army. 

I’m going to say it again:  “Army”—an army of men and women who are 1.) Militant, 2.) Strong, 3.) Disciplined, 4.) Walking with purpose, 5.) Living with purpose, 6.) Knowing The Enemy that the army must march against, and 7.) Knowing The Jesus, The Master. 

When they saw Him coming back, He had a sword in His hand; it was dripping with blood—and He wasn’t killing calf and sheep.  He had 10,000 with him:  He came to declare war on those that had destroyed His people!  (Oh, I love that scripture!)

Brothers and sisters:  We are not a people to “go along to get along”—and you that think like that:  Your day is over!  Your children will rise against parents; your people will rise against accommodationist leadership!  Your people want strength from their leaders; they want wisdom from their leaders!  And they don’t want us in the face of the enemy scratching when we don’t itch, bending and bowing like we are some subservient slave.  Your children want to see you stand up!  And while I’m on that point:  When the scripture teaches that “the winds” blew on “the slain of God,” see, brothers and sisters, you don’t even realize you’ve been put to death!  That’s why Bob Marley had to sing to you, that’s why people have to preach to you, because if you were “alive”?  Oh, Jamaica would be so great!  If you were “alive,” The Caribbean would be united!  If you were alivebut your bones are scattered; and the enemy made sure that you would never find the path of unity. 

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The enemy didn’t want in the British West Indies that the islanders from one island would go to another island, and meet their brother and sister; they made it difficult for travel between the islands—and that is going on right now! 

If we were united, why should we have to fly to Miami before we could go to our neighbor in Barbados, or in Belize or in Trinidad?  And you accept these conditions!  No more.  No more

Brothers and sisters:  You won’t get what you don’t have the courage to demand.  You will not get what you don’t have the will to bring into existence what you demand.  We are dead people; and God has come to give us life, to breathe life into us.  When the Whites of Jamaica saw us walking throughout areas of Kingston, they knew, “These are not my children; this is not the product that we made.”  When you see the men and women of The Nation of Islam, when you hear us, when you come in our midst, you know that you are meeting a different student from a different Teacher.

You love Malcolm X?  He came from a Great Teacher.  You love Muhammad Ali?  He came from a Great Teacher.  You love Louis Farrakhan?  He came from a Great Teacher.  So today, I want to introduce you to The Teacher who made us as we are that you can be made the same:  The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad!

To be continued.