Lessons for Ferguson and beyond

By FinalCall.com News | Last updated: Nov 25, 2014 - 12:16:24 PM

Police officers confront protesters after the announcement of the grand jury decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, Nov. 24, in Ferguson, Mo. Photos: AP/Wide World photos

When the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan spoke at Morgan State University, his words were powerful and his warning was clear: America is on the edge of a racial explosion and no amount of pacification nor denial can solve the problem.

He described Ferguson, Mo., as the spark that could ignite the country and the reason why any who would lead or serve Black America must give up their fear and defense of White America and her wrongdoing.

“You can’t feel it? When you talk to young people, you can’t feel that you’re missing them? Parents, you can’t feel when you’re talking to your children that this is a new generation—and they don’t want to hear your compromising talk? Did you hear them in Ferguson tell Jesse [Jackson] ‘Get the hell outta here! You ain’t no leader.’” said the Minister. Rev. Jackson has worked hard but what was a good tactic yesterday is not a good approach today, the Minister said. To reach young people you must reject the old ways and reject taking a pacifist position to please White people, he said.

“Tonight in Ferguson everybody is on edge. White folks have never been on edge after they killed a Black man. Tonight they’re on edge; so on edge that our president has come out from behind the curtain to ask young Black people: ‘Cool it. That’s not our way.’ I heard you, Mr. President; and I asked myself a question: What brings you out of the shadows? … I said to myself, ‘Mr. President: Why the hell don’t you go to the wicked police department? Why the hell don’t you stand up and tell them that your killing of Black youth and Brown youth is not going to hold no more,” said Min. Farrakhan.

But the reality is the Minister’s warning is not just a caution it is divine wisdom connected to the reality that Blacks in America fulfill biblical prophecy and are the true Children of Israel and God Himself has chosen us for his people. Who is more foolish and who has suffered more than the Black man and woman of America? Whose children are dying in the streets, shot down by police officers who are more likely to get promoted than to get indicted or tried for wrongdoing?

God wants us today and the anger and the persecution of White people is part of the divine hand moving us to reject our oppressor and to accept a new reality.

“Now you, you preachers and leaders, you administrators, you teachers, you leaders—you are the worst because you bought into the enemy. And you want to lead our people not to God, not to Jesus, but you want to lead them into the path of their open enemy that God has come to separate them from,” said Min. Farrakhan Nov. 22.

The killing of unarmed Mike Brown, 18, by White officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Dept., during the summer and the failure to indict the officer is not an anomaly. “The president and the attorney general know that this is going on in every city and town in America where Black people live. But they know an explosion is going to come, they know it,” said the Minister. “You’re like a seismologist, who studies the signs, and predicts an earthquake, or those who hear rumbling from a sleeping volcano, and they say, ‘It’s—it’s gonna blow.’ ”

Pastors and religious leaders must recognize the time and God’s judgment against America and respond to the call of God—not the White man. “See reverend, it’s all written in the scriptures. There isn’t anything happening that the prophets didn’t see. But you’ve got to see and stop this damn kind of weak preaching, when judgment has hit America—you’ve got to prepare your people for what is coming down,” warned Min. Farrakhan. “The Hand of God has touched America, touched her wealth that’s got her slaves so attracted to America.”

In the face of the murder of our children, the destruction of our neighborhood and the relentless assault on Black life, we cannot simply lie down. We must stand up, fight and defend our lives and our right to life. It is all we have. Only a slave cuddles up to the master despite the lash, despite the abuses, despite the suffering. We have to be better than that in the 21st century as this is the time of our rise. Our day of servitude is over and the more we try to play the servant part the more we suffer.

Shortly after the August killing of young Brown, the Minister delivered a serious message and warning from the Nation of Islam’s flagship Mosque Maryam. “I warn you that something terrible is about to go down, and Ferguson is a sign: A microcosm of the macrocosm. The killing of Michael Brown is one in many—some we know about and some we don’t know about; but every city and town where Black people live, Black men are being shot down by police. … Today, I want to examine not just us on our level, but where all of this is coming from, so that my young brothers and sisters will know that they are the target, and are unknowing conspirators in a plan to destroy Black youth and destroy Black people.”

The fratricidal violence we commit on one another helps to set the stage for assaults on Black youth, in particular, as part of a war on crime and drugs. It’s time we stop killing one another and obey the call of God.

“I cannot talk about ‘world situations’ and not shine the light on what’s happening to Chicago; Allah wants me to speak to the situation here and in the world with clarity and guidance. Not that I can stop what He is allowing the wicked rulers of the world to produce, but to warn the innocent of what the wicked rulers and their wickedness is finally bringing about that will impact all of us in the fulfillment of prophecy,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“You may say, ‘Well, how am I a part of such a conspiracy?’ The prophecies of the Bible and Qur’an are real. And most of you who disrespect the prophets and disrespect scripture is not because by nature you are like that; however, sometimes the way we represent God is so reprehensible that in the eyes of our young people preachers look like pimps.”

We need proper representation of God and a proper response. Our failure will only bring us more sorrow, more pain and more loss. Haven’t we had enough? Or must more of our children die?

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