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with The Final Call

The following interview was conducted by The Final Call with Minister Robert Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 45 in Houston, Texas.  Min. Robert also serves as Southwest Regional Minister for the Nation of Islam.  He was Shaka Sankofa's (Gary Graham's) spiritual advisor and witnessed Mr. Sankofa's June 22 execution. 

Final Call News (FCN): How did you become Brother Shaka Sankofa�s spiritual advisor?

Min. Robert Muhammad (RM): In 1993 the case gained notoriety because his new lawyers found the evidence that always existed that would have exonerated him for the murder of Bobby Lambert. At that time he began compiling a list of people in the community that he respected and that he wanted to help work on his case to expose not only his case but the whole death penalty or capital punishment system. At that time he chose me to be his spiritual advisor, which meant that I could have ministerial visits with him just about anytime I wanted to. He recognized my work in the community being that he was from Houston and had ties in the community and recognized the fact that I was an up-and- coming leader of stature in our community.

FCN: How had Shaka Sankofa changed over the time that you knew him from 1993 up until the time of his execution?

RM: He became a deeper thinker, a very insightful man, a very forward thinking man, meaning that he had foresight. He became more deeply spiritual. He was never religious but always deeply spiritual. His focus grew from the narrow, meaning himself, to the broader, which is the whole issue of capital punishment and the liberation and salvation of our people.

FCN: Now that he has been executed, what were your feelings as you sat there with the others who were watching? What did you go through as you sat and watched him pass away?

RM: It was a feeling as if I was watching a man giving his last will and testament and extracting from all of us who were there, Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jackson, Bianca Jagger of Amnesty International and myself, promised that we would work for the liberation of our people, for unity in the community, and for the moratorium and abolition of the death penalty.

FCN: Do you feel defeated in this? You worked so hard to help him to stay alive, not to be executed.

RM: The answer is no. I take comfort from the Holy Qur�an where it says, and speak not of those who are slain in the way of Allah as being dead. Nay, they are alive but you perceive not. I don�t feel defeated because we have now been energized by his execution and I�m learning every day how that execution affected our children. So the struggle of our brother Shaka Sankofa to prove his innocence and to end the death penalty has now been passed on to another generation unbeknownst to us.

FCN: When you say you watched how it effected our children, what do you mean?

RM: It received extensive television coverage. Literally, the whole day all the local stations covered it. Our children, who are off from school, were watching it all day long. We asked the sisters to stay home. So the sisters were home with their children and the children were watching it with them. Many of our children in the mosque grew up on our struggle to free Shaka Sankofa. So when they executed him, the mothers and those believers who stayed behind in Houston were crying and distraught; the children were too. I have stories of children who went and sat in the corner and cried themselves to sleep. When they got the news over the radio, children were crying in the back seats of their cars. It affected another generation who understands that this injustice cannot go unanswered.

FCN: You witnessed another execution. Can you tell us the circumstances of that execution and compare, if possible, the two events?

RM: The comparison is that Odell Barnes, who was a young man from Wichita Falls, Texas, also was on death row for a murder. He was also indigent and poor and had poor legal counsel. The people of France paid $50,000 to hire an investigator and to help him with a death appeals lawyer that actually found forensic evidence that he was innocent of the crime they accused him of. However, the Supreme Court turned down his appeal also and he, too, was executed. These are two innocent men�s execution that I have attended. Odell Barnes didn�t get the notoriety that Shaka Sankofa did, but I believe that he was a step towards this event that took place that garnered world wide news coverage on Shaka Sankofa. The ironic thing about it is that Odell Barnes� execution got more coverage outside of the country, particularly in France, than it did here domestically. So the parallel between the two, I believe, is there were claims of innocence, there was evidence that could have proved their innocence, but, again, they were still executed regardless of the evidence.

FCN: I was just curious, was there a closer sense of camaraderie or relationship?

RM: No. I knew Shaka longer and Shaka was somewhat more conscious politically, socially, culturally and spiritually than Odell. But Odell was well aware of the plight of our people in terms of being poor and being Black and being caught up in the criminal justice system. But Shaka was much more culturally aware than Odell.

FCN: You mentioned about how France got involved. As we watched television we saw the Muslims, we saw the New Black Panther Party. We didn�t see many Black protestors. Do you think that Blacks were adequately represented here and what is your message to the Black community with regard to becoming more proactive in this death penalty issue?

RM: My message is that they need to listen to the Honorable Louis Farrakhan, who is issuing The Final Call because they will wake up one day and find themselves one witness away from the death chamber or a long prison sentence or for losing their lives and their property because of injustice in this society. We�d better unite and support the efforts of Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for the freedom and liberation of our people and all oppressed people around the world because anytime we are complacent and apathetic this is what is the result.

FCN: What will you do now as Shaka Sankofa has charged you with certain things that he has asked of you from reading his statement? And just personally, what is your mission now?

RM: Finally, after being a Muslim for 25 years, a minister for 13 years, a regional minister for the last six years, I finally understand the passion that the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has for our people which is rooted in love and drives his desire which feeds his will to have our people freed. I never want to see our people suffer like this again. I am recommitting, redoubling and tripling my efforts towards pushing the program of the Nation of Islam for the salvation and liberation of our people and all oppressed people across the world.

FCN: You being the political analyst that you are, what are the political ramifications of this execution? We saw George W. Bush who absolutely did not deal with it and Al Gore who tiptoed around it.

RM: This really was a public policy decision. The Board of Pardons and Parole appointed by the governor, that�s a public policy issue. The Supreme Court that turned us down 5 to 4, the swing vote was provided by Clarence Thomas who was appointed by his, (Gov. Bush) father, President Bush, and confirmed by a Republican-dominated Senate. Again, that�s a public policy issue. So, we as the Nation of Islam must now become more politically active and study our National Agenda and begin to apply public policy from the national aspect and mike it down to our local areas so that we can effectuate change in our cities, in our states, and now throughout the whole nation. It�s time now for the Nation of Islam to take its place with regard to public policy issues.