The ‘Case for Separation Tour’ builds momentum

By Donna Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Sep 18, 2018 - 3:51:07 PM

(l-r) Louis Ali of Hot Black Coffee Party.; Student Min. Ava Muhammad, national spokesperson of the Nation of Islam.; Hoyle Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 55.

MEMPHIS—Think on the thought. This was the exhortation by Student Minister Ava Muhammad, national spokesperson for the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, at a recent town hall meeting at the African Place in Memphis addressing the topic “Should Blacks Consider Separation.”

The meeting was presented by the Nation of Islam and sponsored by Hot Black Coffee Party of Baton Rouge, La., and Hoyle Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 55 in Memphis.

Lifting words from a lecture by Min. Farrakhan titled, “Belief in Allah,” in which he shared that “you have to think on the thought and thinking on the thought is feeding the thought. Then the thought develops into an idea and that idea has with it a plan, a scheme, a method of concretizing what was a mental image that had potential, but now you want to actualize what you have envisioned.” Student Min. Ava Muhammad encouraged participants to really begin to think on the thought of separation, putting it at the forefront of our minds.

Student Min. Ilia-Rashad Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 55 and member of the NOI Research Team.

She told participants that instead of going on Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media during their lunch breaks at work, their assignment is to start planning ways to come off of their job and begin planning how to change their current situation.

“We can obey God and be saved and have a Wakanda or we can follow the course that America is on under the leadership of Donald J. Trump. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has directed us to organize in every city; to host town hall meetings on separation,” said Student Min. Ava Muhammad, a noted attorney, author and radio host.

These are not quantitative gatherings but are qualitative gatherings, she continued. “This is not to persuade people how wicked White people are, because if you don’t know by now, God help you. We must prepare ourselves to self-govern beginning where we live. Thus, Minister Farrakhan has called for 10,000 fearless to make our own communities a safe and decent place to live. Most of the 911 calls that come out of the Black community are Black domestic violence calls,” said Student Minister Ava Muhammad.

Student Minister Ilia-Rashad Muhammad of Mosque No. 55, and member of the NOI Research Team, served as a panelist during the meeting. He highlighted numerous examples of how integration has always served to keep Black people in an inferior position to White people. “Integration has been more of an exploitation. When we are in the presence of White society, we have always fallen on the short end of the stick,” he said.

“We were so anxious to be able to use a bathroom, drink at a water fountain, be able to shop at somebody else’s establishment that it took place at the detriment of our own,” he added, speaking on the loss of Black institutions in Memphis such as The People’s Grocery; Universal Life Insurance Company, one of the largest Black-owned insurance company’s in the country; Solvent Savings Bank; a medical institute that graduated over 200 Black medical professionals; Church Park; Beale Street; The Lorraine Motel and more.

Reciting Psalms 94:20 in the Bible, “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with you which frames mischief by law,” Student Minister Ilia-Rashad shared how many Black medical facilities were dissolved as a result of a document called the Flexner Report. Written by a Jewish man, Abraham Flexner, this report became the standard for operating procedures for the medical industry.

Mr. Flexner, who did not have a medical background, was concerned about the close proximity of Black people to White people. “The practice of the Negro doctor will be limited to his own race, which in its turn will be cared for better by good Negro physicians than by poor White ones. The Negro must be educated not only for his sake, but for ours. He is, as far as the human eye can see, a permanent factor in the nation,” the report stated. The report led to the closure of all but two Black medical facilities in the country.

“Do you really think you can get along with a system, with a people, a wicked iniquitous people who frame their mischief by laws and policies? So how logical is it for us to think that we can actually make it, we could be free in a system designed against you?” Student Minister Ilia-Rashad concluded.

Co-moderator and panelist Louis Ali of the Hot Black Coffee Party spoke about the social engineering impact of integration and capitalism. “We could not get capital to start a business. We had to put our resources together and we had to garner a relationship between one another, to raise the capital to open up Black businesses and that’s what we did. So, we were more sociable than we are now,” he stated.

“Capitalism and integration is leading to a cold culture of individualism with no care about one another. You only care about yourself. You don’t care about your husband, you don’t care about your wife, you don’t care about your children. What can I get for me an individual? And we’ve got to end that because we didn’t begin that, that’s all social engineering.”

Jmalo Torriel, 43, of Brotha’s Keeper, performed an original spoken word piece that complemented the topic of separation. “Today’s event was absolutely needed, first of all, but it was just reassuring to our people that we can make it without them because we have made it without them. Just as simple as that,” he said.

Ms. Tamar Fadden attended the town hall meeting because she wanted to know how the separation was going to take place. “We thought about it before and we were thinking when do we build the community? And so, you know, in our minds, we were thinking when is the Nation going to tell us where to go and what to do? So, Sister Ava said you start now, build it where you are. I am thinking on the next step. I’m going to take her advice and start jotting down how do I get out, on my breaks.”

The Final Call