The Final Call

Black America needs Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint

What's your opinion on this article?

Printer Friendly Page

***image1***CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - According to recent numbers, there has been an uptick in employment for Blacks in the U.S. Despite these small gains, however, Blacks and others locked out of jobs can’t afford to ignore harsh economic realities and rely on others aboard a sinking ship to save those often excluded in American society.

       ANALYSIS      

The Economic Blueprint of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad lays out an attainable vision and must be implemented by Blacks in this time of financial and economic crisis, Minister Louis Farrakhan said Saturday, August 3 as part of his 52-week online lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” available at noi.org.

“The fact is that we are now facing the grim reality that everything that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad predicted has now come to pass,” said Minister Farrakhan as he detailed Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint: Ending Poverty and Want.   

Realities facing much of Black America is a clear indicator Mr. Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint is needed just as much today as it was in the 1960s.

While the unemployment rate for Blacks fell in July from 13.7 the previous month to 12.6 percent, the rate is still double the White unemployment. Unemployment rates for Black teens also remain dire. According to the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s data brief on Black Employment and Unemployment released Aug. 2, the unemployment rate for Black male teens was 46.9 percent and 37 percent for Black female teens.

And for those with jobs, many are low paying. Across the country, from New York, to Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City, thousands of fast-food workers went on strike, demanding a living wage to support their families.

“They’re not going to give us what we want, and we’re going to stay in poverty. We’re going to keep on suffering. I know you’re tired of suffering. I don’t want to see the next generation suffering and suffering. I don’t want my kids suffering. I want to make sure they have a better future than I did,” Naquasia LeGrand told journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. Ms. LeGrand makes only $7.70 an hour at her fast food job.

Min. Farrakhan, while referencing Message to the Black Man in America written by Mr. Muhammad in the 1960s, observed the U.S. was unable to furnish enough jobs then and the same rings true today. Even if Congress had approved a jobs bill put forth by President Barack Obama earlier this year, it would provide only 3 million jobs, said Min. Farrakhan. There are 11.5 million unemployed people in the U.S., but that number does not include those who have simply become frustrated and stopped looking for work.

Heidi Shierholz, of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said the second half of this year’s U.S. labor market began with a “fizzle.” “A weak labor market doesn’t just affect Americans looking for work—it means lower wages for those with jobs,” wrote Ms. Shierholz in an Aug. 2 brief.

The results, she continued, include:

Elevated unemployment across education, gender, age, race/ethnicity and occupation

Depressed labor force participation

Elevated underemployment and long-term unemployment

Depressed wage growth

Disproportionate job growth in low wage industries

Min. Farrakhan laid out grim statistics facing Blacks and the necessity of adopting Mr. Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint as a starting point to combating ills facing the Black community. “The statistics for Blacks in America have always been bad! And now, they are truly ominous. Clearly, we are in a dire condition—and the government of America cannot solve our problem.  I want you to understand this, brothers and sisters; you whose hope is in government to do this,” said Min. Farrakhan.

By ending wasteful spending and saving pennies a week in a collective National Treasury, the Black community has the answer to its own problems, he explained.

If the 16 million employed Blacks in the U.S. gave a mere 35 cent a week for a year, that would be a savings of $291 million to acquire land, businesses and tools for an economic foundation tied to spiritual, social, political and religious life in Black America, the Minister said.

Tune in Saturdays at 6 p.m. CST at www.noi.org to view the weekly lecture and see page 20 for an edited transcript from the Aug. 3 message. The next two messages will also focus on aspects of Black economic needs and Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint as a solution.

Related news:

Million Man March still resonates 15 years later (Starla Muhammad -Staff Writer-, 1970-01-01

The Muslim World Explodes: 'Failing To Learn the Lessons of History' (Starla Muhammad -Staff Writer-, 1970-01-01

Government infiltration threatens rights and freedom, warn analysts (Starla Muhammad -Staff Writer-, 1970-01-01