National News

Farrakhan issues pointed warning, guidance in perilous times

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Correspondent- | Last updated: Oct 23, 2009 - 12:40:55 PM

What's your opinion on this article?

Minister Farrakhan calls Black America to action, warns of God's Chastisement

hmlf_hda10-27-2009.jpg
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned Black America that violence and rejection of God’s Guidance was putting the community in a dangerous position. Photo: Michael Muhammad
MEMPHIS (FinalCall.com) - The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan issued blunt warnings Oct. 18—commemorating the 14th anniversary of the Million Man March—to the United States government, to the Black community at large, and to Black clergy and other leaders, that conditions today in this country are as bad as they were before the historic march, except that now there is not enough time to stage another march to save us.

“The vision of 1985 was the driving force behind the actions that we took, but 14 years later as we meet here in Memphis, Tenn., we are now at the same crossroads again, where now the killings have gone back up. The crime rate that went down after the Million Man March has gone back up.

“When people see our young Black men, they recoil. They're afraid now because the violence in the inner cities has gotten out of control,” the 76-year-old Nation of Islam leader told more than 7,000 during a two and a half hour address at the Cook Convention Center here. “Now, the killings have increased in all the major cities of America, and leading Black thinkers are now calling for the National Guard.

“Some people say: ‘Farrakhan, you need to have another march.' No. That's over. I'll never go back to Washington like that ever again. In fact, we don't have time. If you don't get your act together, you will see blood in the streets and you will fulfill that which is written in the scriptures, that there will be blood up to the horse's bridle.

“Let me say something to you. You elders that have abandoned responsibility to our children; preachers that don't want youth in the church because they don't tithe, so we don't go after them to save them; leaders who lead for the people that give money to their organizations; I want you to hear me, because the chastisement of God has entered America. One calamity after another, as fast as one goes, another one is coming.

“Let me tell you. You think Farrakhan is some nut. You think that my teacher, Elijah Muhammad was some crazy man. But every one of you will have to bear witness before long that God did indeed visit America, and indeed he raised up a Messenger from among us who is the promised Messiah,” Minister Farrakhan said.

Black communities all over the country have become toxic places and they must be cleansed and must restore peace from within, Min. Farrakhan insisted as he reiterated the subject of his remarks: “Accepting Responsibility to Build Our Community.”

The toxicity is filled with self-hatred that results in destructive behavior toward one another, and will ultimately lead to the destruction of those communities.

hda_crowd10-27-2009.jpg
Thousands turned out to hear Min. Farrakhan speak in Memphis. Photos: Mikal Veale
“What you saw in Gaza and Lebanon you will soon see in the inner cities of America. You have become toxic waste and the people at the top are planning our destruction as I speak.”

Black people in this country must not become satisfied with the election of President Barack Obama—the nation's first Black president, Min. Farrakhan explained. “This can pacify you and lull you to sleep in a dangerous time, making you think that we live in a post-racial America when the opposite is true.”

Instead, the Muslim leader urged his listeners to pray for President Obama and not expect him to solve the problems of the Black community. “You have to understand that he was voted in to take on the affairs of a nation, not yours and mine. He is the American president, not the Black president. We've got to marshal our energy and talent to do for ourselves,” he said reiterating the Nation of Islam mantra that has transformed people who were thought to be beyond redemption into a productive force in the society.

Min. Farrakhan also had a warning for Pres. Obama. “The shock of the hour is a grievous thing. It's coming to America. I'm saying to my president, my brother: as I told you back in February, try to find a way to get out of Afghanistan in a way that saves the face of America.

“But if you stay, just remember the British. The Afghans wiped them out. Just remember the Russians. Even Genghis Khan could not hold on to Afghanistan. Afghanistan has destroyed the great warriors of the world and you are the last of them. Don't let this be on your record, Mr. President.”

Before Min. Farrakhan's address, several city officials thanked the Nation of Islam for commemorating the 1995 Million Man March in Washington in Memphis and praised the N.O.I. leader. “His message is one that we all need to hear, heed and follow because it's a message of self-reliance,” said Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery.

Former five-term mayor Willie Herenton, now a candidate for the congressional seat formerly held by Rep. Harold Ford also greeted Min. Farrakhan, a man he said “represents truth and wisdom.”

“We are honored to have him in the great city of Memphis,” Mr. Herenton said. “It was easy for me as a mayor to present a key to the 19th largest city in the country to a man who is worthy, to a man who speaks truth, to a man who possesses wisdom, to a man who is courageous in thought and in action, to an anointed man,” said Mr. Herenton, who was the first elected Black mayor of Memphis.

Min. Farrakhan's Holy Day of Atonement/Million Man March anniversary speech was scholarly and academic, and at the same time prophetic. The Nation of Islam has consistently shown the world a blueprint for helping people repair their lives: recruiting converts in prisons and those who were otherwise lost and abandoned on the streets, and transforming their lives through adherence to the teachings of Islam.

“They're going to prisons and they make a man and a woman whole, the prostitute gets cleaned up, the drug addict gets changed,” the Minister reminded those in attendance as well as tens of thousands more who watched via a live Internet broadcast.

“You see a model in Muslims in the Nation of Islam when our people come into the mosque toxic and then are made useful.

“Instead of plotting against Farrakhan and plotting against the Nation of Islam, you see that we have an answer from Allah and His Messiah, for the problems of our people, then maybe you can save yourself from destruction, because once you move on this that you call ‘toxic waste,' that Allah has chosen to make them well again, if you move to kill them, I want to show you how quick Allah is going to move to destroy the United States of America.”

That destruction is coming in the form of unusual rain and earthquakes, Min. Farrakhan said. “But the worst is yet to come, because that earthquake that produced the tsunami, earthquakes are coming right here to America, big cities, falling down. Your army can't stop God. When God terrorizes you, there is nobody to lift the terror off of you, when God takes over.”

Warning that his time to speak among the people may be drawing short, Min. Farrakhan cited the complex “government” of the human body: nine systems, including digestive, skeletal, nervous, circulatory, and others, all ruled by the brain, as evidence of how a true theocracy will operate, and how all of the earth's 6.5 billion people can live together in harmony and prosperity.

“If we study this magnificent body ... we can relate all these 10 systems to 10 ministries with subgroups and tasks forces that will allow us the privilege of building our own communities,” the Muslim leader explained.

Min. Farrakhan said he would outline his plans for repairing the “toxic” communities in this country in an upcoming series of lectures entitled: “The Time and What Must Be Done.”

(The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan upcoming lecture series, "The Time and What Must Be Done" is scheduled to be freely available to the public live via webcast @ http://www.noi.org/webcast/ beginning Sunday November 15, 2009 at 10:00am Central Time).