UNITED NATIONS� "America needs someone to pull her into submission to God that she may promote dialogue among families and lead the families of the earth toward a culture of peace," said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in his first-ever major address to the United Nations on July 6.

The special UN session was titled "Dialogue Among Nations: Toward the Culture of Peace and the Million Family March." It was sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Libyan Jamahiriya, the nations of Ghana, Liberia, Cuba, Sudan and delegates from a number of other countries, including ambassadors from Iran, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Haiti, among others.

This was the first address by the Nation of Islam leader directly to the world body, where nations listened to his plans for one million families to converge on Washington, D.C., on Oct. 16.

"We have called a Million Family March (MFM), five years after the Million Man March, and we intend, by the grace of Almighty Allah, to organize the families. The Black family will be there, the Native American family will be there, the Latino family will be there, the Arab family will be there, the white family will be there � and every organization represented by us will be there. We will come as a limited family group, but what we want to produce is a human family that recognizes each human being on this earth with honor, love and respect," he told the delegates.

Min. Farrakhan further declared that the MFM intends to organize the people and the dissatisfied element within the United States of America "to leverage that organized force to create public policy change in America. Public policy that is not driven by corporate greed (but) public policy that is in the interest of the weak and the poor.

"When you are powerful and when you are rich, arrogance usually accompanies that power and that richness," he said. "Arrogance and false pride is a spiritually blinding factor that disallows the rich and the powerful to sometimes be the custodian of the needs of the poor and the guardian of the rights of the weak."

Working without notes or a prepared text, the Minister outlined the problems of the world today, and offered God-centered approaches to attain peace. "But the words of peace must be followed by an activity that leads to the peace that we offer from our lips. Unfortunately, denying the abode of peace and the God of peace makes obscure to us the way to peace," lamented the Minister. "It is our hope that Allah (God) will intervene in our struggle for peace, and take away the cataracts from our eyes or the scales from our eyes that we might see clearly the way to peace."

Min. Farrakhan told the nations that as long as racism, sexism and materialism driven by an inordinate self-interest or greed exists in the world there could never be peace. He said the U.S. government and its tremendous power in an uni-polar world is actually standing in the place of God as a vicegerent.

"Therefore, the United States of America has a responsibility to the people of the earth, who have peopled America, and made America what it is today," he said.

America has no right to tell the nations of Cuba, Libya or Iran how they should run their countries, or take away the right of self-determination from any nation or any people on this earth, he said. Min. Farrakhan reprimanded the U.S. government for using its influence in the UN solely to promote the U.S. view and punish those who do not agree.

Introduced as "a genuine servant of God and a true human being," Min. Farrakhan received a standing ovation from the world delegates in attendance.

"The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is a man who embraces the two eternal characteristics of sound and progressive life," said moderator Taj Ahmad of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International of the UN. "These characteristics are consistency and change." Loyalty and faithfulness to sacred traditions, personal discipline, piety and devotion, Mr. Ahmad said, are the things that allow the Minister to be successful.

Also on the panel were national director for the Million Family March Min. Benjamin F. Muhammad and International Spokesman for the Nation of Islam Min. Abdul Akbar Muhammad, who assisted in organizing the question and answer session.

During the question and answer portion of the gathering, the Minister addressed the issues of reparations, slavery and AIDS. Min. Farrakhan said that as a Black man he is part of a people deprived of the human right to live freely. "Somebody broke into our families," he said. "Somebody said that Blacks should be slaves to those who are not Black, and out of this idea of white supremacy the institution of slavery in the Western Hemisphere began."

Every human being has a right to be loved, to be in a family circle of love, to be educated, to have his or her gifts, skills and talents discovered, cultivated and exploited for the good of self, family and nation, the Minister stressed.

Commenting on his presentation, Ms. L. Mathopo, a delegate from South Africa, told The Final Call, "I thought that the lecture was very good, especially when he talked about AIDS. Also very good is where he said how noble the United Nations is, but only if they can put into practice what they talk about," she concluded.

"Minister Farrakhan is a great servant of Allah for the people," commented Iraqi ambassador Dr. Saeed H. Hasan. "We are very happy that so many members (UN states) participated."

In a brief statement, Min. Benjamin thanked the Family Federation for World Peace and introduced the need for the nations of the earth to strengthen families. "Public policies by governments, by national bodies as well as international bodies need to be re-addressed. The United Nations declared 1994 the International Year of the Family, much has happened in the world to destabilize families rather than to strengthen families," he said.

Since the Black family is the most broken family in the United States, the appeal to correct that which is most detrimental amongst Blacks has the first priority, Min. Farrakhan said.

�Eric Ture Muhammad

Photos: #1-(L-R) Min. Louis Farrakhan, moderator Taj Ahmad, of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International of the United Nations, Min. Benjamin Muhammad and Min. Abdul Akbar Muhammad.