Saviours’ Day 2019: The Vote for Separation Town Hall

By Katrina Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Feb 20, 2019 - 12:38:46 PM

Participants were advised to contact projectseparation.com for information on bringing town hall to their cities.

“God’s will is to separate, whether or not you want to go into a land of your own or stay. Soon and very soon we are going to vote to go with God,” stated Student Minister Ava Muhammad, during a town hall forum titled “The Vote for Separation” during the Saviours’ Day 2019 workshop.

Min. Ava Muhammad posed the thought-provoking question, why would anyone want to live with their oppressor? If we are not ready to physically leave, we need to ask ourselves why not, she said.

Min. Ava Muhammad asked, are Black people whose ancestors were slaves in North America suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? The panel defined what separation (from America) looks like and provided the next steps for those interested.

The town hall essentially started with a rhetorical question from Psalms 94:20:

“Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by law?”

Panelist Ilia Rashad Muhammad, a student minister from Memphis, stated the scripture for the standing room only town hall participants to ponder and deliberate. Since we have separation at the root of our program, we should be ready to move out once the instruction is given, he said.

Giving the audience a brief history lesson of the lives of Blacks after slavery, Ilia Rashad Muhammad said there were over 60 successful Black towns prior to integration. He said deceptive business tactics such as “partnering” were used to destroy prominent Black businesses.

He provided examples like BET, Ultra Sheen, and other Black companies that once partnered with White conglomerates and now no longer service Black people in the same way. He discussed how the Black hair care industry is now totally controlled by other races.

Ilia Rashad Muhammad discussed how other Black entrepreneurs were tricked out of their business by so called “advisors.” He stated, “Satan appears to people as a sincere advisor” but that is usually not the case. This is why we need to have our own, so we can circulate Black dollars within (our communities), he said.

Student Minister Ava Muhammad

The town hall represented the tenth city for the Separation Town Hall tour, but panelists made it clear that the effort is not just a Black Muslim Movement, it is a Black Movement open to all Black people.

Birmingham Student Minister Tremon Muhammad moderated the event. Min. Ava Muhammad said the workshop was not “to just have a discussion.”

“This is a town hall that is a physical reality and we intend to sign a petition today if you want to separate,” she said.

The town hall meetings were birthed out of the mind of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in a 1986 lecture titled, “The Will of God,” Min. Ava Muhammad said, adding that the Self-Improvement: The Basis of Community Development study course came from that lecture. It is a profound course that is offered every week on Friday evening at NOI mosques and study groups and is free and open to the public, she said.

Min. Ava Muhammad said as long as Blacks live under White people, Black ideas will get aborted and won’t come to life. Blacks need to separate, she said.

“Sometimes we don’t factor in the presence of God when He is calling us to do this,” Min. Ava Muhammad said. There are many that have interpreted “separation” to be a separation of mind and behavior only, she said.

Once you have decided to no longer drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, take drugs into your body, no longer marry White people, and no longer depend on White people for your income, then you have already separated from the enemy mentally, she explained.

The separation the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is calling for is a physical and complete separation, she said. She dispelled, however, the myth about a call to pack up and leave the country. Why would we leave a country we have built, she asked?

“We are here to engage in an action of voter registration being conducted by the Nation of Islam,” she said. “We want those whose parents or grandparents were descendants of slaves to be allowed to separate. We will take eight states. That’s where we are starting. This whole galaxy belongs to us.”

Audience members were encouraged to text “separate” to “31996” to receive updates on the Separation Project. Also, those interested in hosting a town hall in their city and assisting with the organization and process of separating can visit projectseparation.com.

Farrakhan Ali of Chicago explained the petition circulating around the room and implored Believers to sign. Rona Muhammad of Washington, D. C., detailed the cities where town hall forums had taken place.

The cities included Birmingham, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Fla., St. Louis, Detroit, Memphis, Harlem, N.Y., Prince Georges County, Md., and Phoenix. Las Vegas and Winston Salem, N.C., have held Separation-oriented events, Min. Ava Muhammad said.

The next event will be on Feb. 23 in Milwaukee, she said.

Commenting on the decision-making to separate, Min. Ava Muhammad said at a certain point when you are on an airplane, they close the door. There is no “I’m not ready, I left my carry-on bag at the terminal,” she said.

Audience packs ballroom for Separation Town Hall meeting during Saviours' Day

The beautiful thing about the whole separation movement is the mercy of Allah in that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and now the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan are saying you can choose, she said.

“We are not going to lean on you, we are not going to speak ill of you. If you want to stay, then stay. That’s showing tolerance for that mindset. The beauty is for us that want to go because we are not burdened with somebody with ‘Lot’s Wife Syndrome,’ that you are so busy looking back at America that you are holding us up,” she said.

Student National Prison Reform Minister Abdullah Muhammad told the audience: “Prison reform ministry has a role in reforming people on the inside so that we can bring them out as civilized males and females ready to separate. We are all on different levels of development and in time all will see truth as we maintain our position.”

Jairelle Thomas, 18, who attended two separation town hall events, said, “This town hall was much more powerful and more in depth with the whole process. I believe the youth would be interested in separation but is fairly divided.”

Evelyn X of Boston attended her first Separation town hall and simply stated, “I’m ready to go. I’m ready for physical separation. I’m tired of the Caucasian world. I’m ready to go!”

Nadirah Muhammad, also of Boston, is 18-years-old and attended her first Separation town hall. “I’m excited. I want to live amongst the Believers and our people because we have been through some things. I want our own civilization, our own world and society where we can do what we want under the guides of freedom, justice and equality,” she said.

Panelist Loray Muhammad, author of “Black Integration: A Failed Social Experiment,” discussed how Black people are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. She stated, “Think about how we are now voting for our captors. When I came into the Nation I was studying the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who said integration would never work. This topic was always interesting to me which is why I decided to write on it.”

Student Minister Hafeez Muhammad of New York spoke on “Lackawanna Blues” (a movie about a cohesive Black community) being like Black Wall Street in Oklahoma where, he said, the Black dollar circulated for 6 months.

He said there were 200-300 Black people in New York (town hall) ready to separate. Min. Hafeez Muhammad desires to set up a Project Separation office out of our regional headquarters.

“Are you ready to go right now or are we going to be like Lot’s wife who looked back on (Sodom and Gomorrah) and turned into a pillar of salt? We are going to start over and be alright,” he said.

Min. Ava Muhammad said she populated the panel more on inspiration than an intellectual process and chose people who were passionate about the issue.

“I didn’t want anyone thinking this is a marketing tool or just a concept. I have found going around the country that a lot of people labored under the myth that this is never going to happen and it’s just academic and that’s where town halls are helpful,” she said.

The Final Call