Farrakhan's
challenge to Black students:
Break the chains of mental slavery
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY�Expressing his
gratitude to the organizers for the invitation, the Honorable
Minister Louis Farrakhan March 18 addressed the 2000 International
African Youth Leadership Summit on the campus of Lincoln
University. One thousand students and educators repeatedly rose to
their feet as Min. Farrakhan described the need for them to break
free of status quo control.
"I want the students to know how much an
honor I feel it is to have this opportunity just to talk to
you," Min. Farrakhan said. "As I look out at you I see
the future of our people, and no man getting older � wiser would
want to pass up an opportunity to share wisdom with the young,
strong, giants�male and female�who will lead our people in
their continuous struggle for freedom, justice and equality in
this new century and starting this new millennium."
Min. Farrakhan skillfully used the conference
theme, "Evolutionary Progress through Revolutionary
Awareness", and merged it with his own concerns for
struggle and higher education.
"I am concerned (about the colleges)
because I understand that these institutions were never
established to facilitate our liberation," Min. Farrakhan
noted. "They were to train us so that we might fit into a
socio-economic, political order that we would never control."
Any awareness on our part to break free from the
"controllers" would be met with great evil because they
do not want Blacks to escape the sphere of their influence, the
Minister said.
He addressed the need for educators to free
students to soar beyond their own knowledge and suggested that
students put Allah (God) prominently in their programs and be
thinkers and analysts as opposed to just quoting other scholars.
"Are we really free?" he asked.
" We are allowed to go as high as they decide. We are allowed
to get as much economic development as they decide and we have
given them greater power over us by our continued obeisance to
them, not understanding that we can break free of any imposition
of anybody else�s authority or will.
"The only will we cannot break is the Will
of God, and if we surrender to the Will of God we can break the
hold of any slave master, any oppressor, any one who would deny us
freedom, justice and equality," he said.
Min. Farrakhan was joined on stage by his wife
Khadijah; daughter and nurse Fatima; International Representative
Abdul Akbar Muhammad; National Director for the Million Family
March Benjamin F. Muhammad; Philadelphia Minister Rodney Muhammad;
Lincoln University President Dr. Ivory Nelson and Dr. Abdul Alim
Shabazz, a conference participant and Lincoln University
mathematician professor.
He received a rousing introduction from
National Black Student Government Assn. President Lewis Thomas
III, whose recital of Claude McKay�s poem, "If We Must
Die," brought the audience to its feet.
To the delight of the Minister and the audience
alike, violinist and triple academic major Jack Drummond played an
original composition he allowed the audience to title
"Minister Farrakhan," on the condition that they liked
what they heard. He received a standing ovation for his
performance.
Evolutionary progress, the Minister said,
suggests that there is a predetermined goal, objective, and that
in evolution you will attain stage after stage toward your goal.
However, if we are not conscious or aware, we leave ourselves
vulnerable "to the impediment of the danger between your
start and the finish. You must be revolutionary in your
consciousness," he said.
"Revolution suggests complete
change," he said. "But some are satisfied with the way
things are. You�ve got to be cautious with those kind of
people," he warned. "Because if the way things are is
not the way God wants things to be, then how could anybody be
satisfied with the way things are?"
Min. Farrakhan warned students that if their
definition of liberation is to be liberated from Caucasian
dominance, "that is a cheap goal. You think that�s hard,
You can come out of their domination almost overnight with a
little knowledge of God and a little knowledge of yourself."
The Minister urged the audience to recognize
that although America is a super power and lives the illusion of
being secure, it has not stopped God�s judgment against her.
"That�s not going to stop the judgment of God against this
country. That has not stopped the tornadoes, the floods, the
hailstorms, the winds, the rain," he warned. He urged the
students to "define the real goal" and let no one
interfere with their attainment of it. |
