From The Final Call Newspaper

Weather ‘nightmare’ pummels America as winter storm engulfs the country

By Charlene Muhammad, National Correspondent
- December 27, 2022





The natural strength of God’s power over nature is manifesting more and more as the Four Great Judgments of rain, hail, snow and earthquakes sweep across America from coast to coast. Millions of people are still dealing with the aftermath of the latest weather event that has hit the U.S. Frigid temperatures gripped America in a winter storm and bomb cyclone that at presstime left more than 1.5 million people without power, caused thousands of flight cancellations, and caused flooding across the country during the week of December 22-25, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

“The scope of the storm has been nearly unprecedented, stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico. About 60 percent of the U.S. population faced some sort of winter weather advisory or warning, and temperatures plummeted drastically below normal from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians, the National Weather Service said,” reported pbs.org.

At least 25 people died in Erie County, New York, as a result of the massive winter storm county officials said Dec. 26, bringing the nationwide death toll to 47, reported CNN. Heavy snow, strong winds, and dangerous wind chills slammed various parts of the country.

“The updated number of deaths in Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo, comes as parts of western New York remain buried by up to 43 inches of snow, leaving vehicles stuck and power out for thousands over the Christmas holiday, just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm,” noted CNN.com.

Vehicles sit along U.S. 131 north by 84th Street on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 in Byron Center, Mich. A blizzard warning is in effect for Kent County and the surrounding region. Winter weather is blanketing the U.S. as a massive storm sent temperatures crashing and created whiteout conditions. (Neil Blake/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

“This is such a serious time for us as Believers, but it is a serious time for every human being that walks upon the earth that belongs to Allah (God),” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, when he opened the Islamic Month of Ramadan on the Ramadan Prayer Line, via telephone on April 2.

“Allah is warning us and telling us that we must do that which is necessary to cast off the burden of sin. Our iniquitous behavior all over the Earth has caused the anger of God but also we are living in the time of the ending of a world of wickedness. This is the time of the Judgment of God. This is the time that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad has pointed out to us as the Days of Allah,” added Minister Farrakhan, referencing his Teacher and Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.

Forecasters said bone-chilling air behind the storm system would cause temperatures to plummet rapidly, by 40 to 50 degrees in some places, according to an online Yahoo Newsreport.

Buffalonews.com published an article titled, “Storm turns ‘wickedly bad’: 47,000 without power in Buffalo Niagara; winds as high as 79 mph.”

“Because of greed and ignoring that self-interest as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan points out, in his monumental book, ‘Torchlight for America,’ leadership has ignored the infrastructure and ignored the Divine warnings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, in terms of the Four Judgments of America, therefore, the infrastructure is not prepared for the natural calamities that are taking place. Unfortunately, nor are the people,” stated Student Minister Dr. Haleem Muhammad, Southwest Regional Representative of the Nation of Islam who is also an urban planner.

Winter storm over the U.S. Dec. 22. Photo: MGN Online

“The people cry about death and destruction playing havoc over America, but they never cry about the evil that they are committing, which is the cause of this destruction coming into her borders bringing floods, rain, ice, hail and earthquakes daily and nightly somewhere on the surface of the land of America,” wrote the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in his critically important book, “The Fall of America.”

The arctic blast gelled diesel fuel and stalled semi-trucks on Colorado highways, according toKDVR (FOX 31).At the Travel Center off Interstate 70 in Wheat Ridge, the lot filled up quickly on Dec. 22. Across the state, others ran into a slew of problems. The Colorado Department of Transportation said multiple trucks couldn’t make it up the hill to the Eisenhower Tunnel, forcing them to shut down the interstate on that morning. In Cheyenne and Kiowa counties, Colorado State Patrol said multiple trucks broke down because of diesel gelling, continued KDVR.

Days before the unprecedented, deadly storm struck the country, earthquakes shook California.

Seventeen people were injured in Humboldt County, Calif., when a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Dec. 20, also damaging roads and buildings and knocking out power and water to thousands of people, authorities said, according to CNN. At least two people died after the earthquake hit at 2:34 a.m. in Northern California’s Eureka area, continued CNN.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan have repeatedly warned that God’s Judgment has entered America for her historical and ongoing wickedness against the Darker people of the planet. God will use the forces of nature to humble America, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught.

“The four (4) Great Judgments that Allah (God) promises to destroy America with are now coming upon her … hail, snow, drought, earthquake. Allah (God) has reserved His treasures of snow and ice to be used against the wicked country America in the day of battle and war. These are some of Allah’s (God’s) weapons, the storms that we see going on,” he warned in “The Fall of America.”

“This is a horrible situation,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz,” said during a news conference. The storm generated comparisons to Buffalo’s famous blizzard of 1977. During the Dec. 26 news conference, Mr. Poloncarz said the current storm’s “ferocity … was worse than the blizzard of ’77,” CNN reported. And in a news conference the day before, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the current storm the “most devastating storm in Buffalo’s long storied history,” the network noted.

Homeless shelters were overflowing on Dec. 22 amid one of the most treacherous holiday travel seasons the U.S. has seen in decades, with temperatures plummeting 50 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas.

Associated Press reported that frigid air was moving through the central United States to the East, with windchill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, weather service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said shortly before the U.S. Christmas weekend. Places like Des Moines, Iowa, will feel minus 37 degrees, making it possible to suffer frostbite in less than five minutes.

In South Dakota, five died in recent storms, including a blizzard in late December stated Robert Oliver, Rosebud Sioux Tribe emergency manager, AP continued. Tribal authorities have been working to clear roads to deliver propane and firewood to homes but face a relentless wind that has created drifts over 10 feet in some places, he said.

In Texas, temperatures were expected to quickly plummet on Dec. 22, but state leaders promised there wouldn’t be a repeat of the February 2021 storm that overwhelmed the state’s power grid and was blamed for hundreds of deaths, according to AP.

“Lawmakers passed a $1.7 trillion budget recently with earmarks for pet projects, and of course, funding for the government agencies. But if one will look at the United States budget, you will notice according to the budget where America’s priorities lie, because there is a great increase in the military budget, but not as much an increase in domestic spending, on non-military spending,” stated Student Minister Haleem Muhammad. Whether it’s infrastructure, education, health or other priorities, the military gets the bulk of America’s spending, he elaborated.

The cold weather extended to El Paso, Texas, and across the border into Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where migrants have been camping outside or filling shelters as they await a decision on whether the U.S. will lift restrictions that have prevented many from seeking asylum, indicated AP.

In Austin, Texas, Christina Muhammad, coordinator for the 10,000 Fearless First Responders, and her team are working with warm weather shelters to assist residents who may be homeless. “If you think about it, right now, you are considered a homeless person, because your home has failed. (Meaning) you may not have that much gas, so now, you are a homeless person outdoors,” explained Ms. Muhammad.

“Your next thing is to know where these warm weather centers are, and these warm weather centers are just temporary, to get people off the street, get you into some warm weather until everything subsides.”

For those who need help, she recommended people locate such centers—many of which are located near downtown areas—via radio. Ms. Muhammad also recommended getting candles and other safe heat sources to stay warm, layer with as many blankets and clothing as possible, and using gas stoves to heat up water, if one is in their home.

Even without water, there are ways to stay warm, she added. “If you’re in a home right now, and you don’t have power, and it’s freezing outside, you get into one room,” said Ms. Muhammad. “If you can’t go anywhere, body heat is super important! Allah (God) has a way of bringing our families together,” she added.

Elsewhere in the U.S., authorities worried about the potential for power failures and warned people to take precautions to protect older and homeless people and livestock, and, if possible, to postpone travel. Some utilities were urging customers to turn down their thermostats to conserve energy, APcontinued.

Further, according to AP: Michigan State Police prepared to deploy additional troopers to help motorists. And along a toll road on Interstate 90 in northern Indiana, crews were braced to clear as much as a foot of snow as meteorologists warned of blizzard conditions there starting the evening of Dec. 23. And Denver, also no stranger to winter storms, was the coldest it has been in 32 years on Dec. 23, when the temperature dropped to minus 24 degrees in the morning at the airport.

The Weather Channel—which has named winter storms for the past 11 years—named the current weather phenomenon, “Elliott,” which according to various sources, is a gender-neutral name of Hebrew origin meaning “the Lord is my God,” and is originally a biblical name derived from “Elijah.”

Can America “flip the deadly switch,” to reverse her current course of destruction?

It could, given the examples of the Prophet Jonah and the leadership of Nineveh, taking off their royal robes and putting on sackcloth and laying in the ashes for repentance, thereby sparing Nineveh’s destruction, explained Student Minister Haleem Muhammad. But the question is also asked, could Babylon have been saved? he stated.

“And the answer is yes. It could have been. But unfortunately, its leadership will not heed the Divine warnings coming to it. So, therefore, Babylon lies as the example of what will happen when one defies and ignores Divine warnings,” he said.

(Final Call Staff contributed to this report.)

From The Final Call Newspaper

Jesus Crushes the Head of Satan The Hope of the First Gospel Is the Real Reason for the Season

By Demetric Muhammad, Guest Columnist
- December 20, 2022

Ricardo Barrett, of Washington, accepts a turkey from church volunteer Rita James, left, during an annual Thanksgiving food giveaway at The Redeemed Christian Church of God New Wine Assembly, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Washington. "Prices went up and a lot of jobs were lost this year," says Barrett, "times are hard." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)


“I do believe that if my poor, blind, deaf and dumb people could be taught the true knowledge of the true history of Jesus, they would awaken at once.”

—The Most Hon. Elijah Muhammad July 7, 1957 (Pittsburgh Courier)

The First Gospel

According to Biblical history, the origin of the concept of Messiah and Christ, is found very early within the Bible’s Old Testament verses. It is in the book of Genesis, the 3rd chapter and 15th verse that we read the beginning of the Messianic Hope and Expectation:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;

“He will crush your head, while you strike at his heel.”—Genesis 3:15

This verse is known among scholars as the “proto-Evangelium” or the First Gospel.

According to Walter Kaiser Jr., author of “The Messiah in the Old Testament”:

“Genesis 3:15 has commonly been called the proto-Evangelium (the ‘first gospel’) because it was the original proclamation of the promise of God’s plan for the whole world … it gave our first parents a glimpse … of the person and mission of the one who was going to be the central figure in the unfolding drama of the redemption of the world. The ‘seed/offspring’ mentioned in this verse became the root from which the tree of the OT promise of a Messiah grew.”

I find this fascinating! Think of the popular marketing campaign that has been used by American and European enslavers and colonizers throughout history, who painted Jesus to Black, aboriginal and indigenous peoples around the world. They presented him to us a part of what Dr. Benjamin E. Mays described as the Negro’s “compensatory view of God.”

America and Europe were conquering our land and resources and to compensate for losing the heaven on earth we once owned, they indoctrinated us with belief and hope of a heaven in the sky, where the suffering Jesus would be waiting for us.

Jesus was given to Black people in the image of a “suffering servant”; a savior who “saves through suffering.” So, for such a long time we have been looking at the Messiah as being lowly, meek and mild.” My teacher, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has exclaimed, we were given “a watered-down milquetoast Jesus.”

More Than A Suffering Servant

Yet this First Gospel, the scholars acknowledge, creates a hope of a Messiah who “saves the people through crushing the head of the serpent.” The Messianic hope and expectation are of a man whom Allah (God) births from the womb of a woman, who is from a people who have suffered under the deception of the serpent. The serpent here is a symbolic reference to Satan. The Holy Qur’an similarly refers to Satan (shaitan) as a “slinking devil.”

Author Jared M. August, in his insightful exegetical work entitled, “The Messianic Hope of Genesis: The Protoevangelium and Patriarchal Promises,” states:

“In light of the promise given in 3:15, they are left with the hope of a coming ‘seed’ who will defeat the serpent and the serpent’s ‘seed’ (that is, the serpent’s followers, ultimately including the serpent’s influence in the world). Since, the serpent may be identified as the evil one, the promise of future victory over the serpent implies the defeat (or elimination) of the serpent’s negative influence from the world. In other words, this victory includes the future destruction of evil.”

It is this kind of information that helps me understand better why the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad stated:

“I do believe that if my poor, blind, deaf and dumb people could be taught the true knowledge of the true history of Jesus, they would awaken at once.”

The whole world has been deceived over the true identity and purpose of Jesus, the Messiah (Christ). But no community has been more deceived than the Black people of America.

 


America: Headquarters of the World Serpent

The purpose of Jesus as the Messiah and Christ is to “crush the head of the Serpent.” This is the real reason for the “season” where there is a celebration for the birth of Jesus. Unfortunately, Christmas has become a commercialized celebration that promotes the conspicuous consumption of material things. It has become a pagan holiday that, while being associated with Jesus, is at the same time far removed from who Jesus was and is and what his purpose is.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad identified the rulers of America as fulfilling the scripture’s symbolic description of “that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). A now epic and powerful political cartoon by Eugene Majied was commissioned by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad to graphically depict America as the location where the headquarters of the world serpent exists.

Within the teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we have learned that the Biblical descriptions of Jesus the Messiah and Christ are largely indicative of a man whose work was not achieved 2,022 years ago. He states:

“Nearly 75 percent is referring to a future Jesus, coming at the end of the White races’ time. …” September 21, 1957 (Pittsburgh Courier)

To bear witness to what the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote, we cite the work of the legendary group of scholars known as the Jesus Seminar, who authored the book “The 5 Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say?” When they concluded the exhaustive study of the New Testament, it was written in the Los Angeles Times that:

“The provocative Jesus Seminar on Sunday concluded six years of voting on what the Jesus of history most likely said, ruling out about 80 percent of words attributed to him in the Gospels … .”

This exclusion of 80 percent of words and actions attributed to Jesus in the New Testament by the scholars of the Jesus Seminar is close to the 75 percent of the scriptures that the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said referred to a “future Jesus” who is present now to produce the resurrection of the “mentally dead Negroes” in America.

Nation of Islam Does Work of The Messiah

During the 1960s the infamous J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI discussed the prevention of a Black Messiah from emerging to unify the Black community. Hoover stated as one of his primary goals the following:

“Prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could unify and electrify the militant Black Nationalist movement.”

Hoover’s use of a religious term like the word “Messiah” in his confidential law enforcement memos reflects his overall attitude towards the Black community within America, and I believe it indicates that he understood that the oppression suffered by Black people would soon produce a Messianic liberator. What Hoover stated is a witness bearer to when the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote:

“The white man of America is well informed through his scientists and scholars, who are paid just for studying the problems of prophecy and especially the future destruction of America which he knows is fast coming. … His greatest mental burden and physical strain at the present time is how to prevent the spread of Islam among his ‘X’ servitude slaves in these last days.”

—Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad,

“Doom of America,” the Los Angeles Herald-Dispatch

The work of Jesus the Messiah and Christ began with the coming of Master W. Fard Muhammad and continues in the work of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and today the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. This work under the name Jesus is symbolically presented within the Biblical text as having been done by one singular man.

The modern history of Black people in America proves it is a work conducted by three men, who are of one accord; one mind; one purpose. The Messianic work of Master W. Fard Muhammad, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan resembles what Allah (God) included within the Holy Qur’an wherein we read the following:

“And set out to them a parable of the people of the town, when apostles came to it. When We sent to them two, they rejected them both; then We strengthened (them) with a third, so they said: Surely we are sent to you. They said: You are only mortals like ourselves, nor has the Beneficent revealed anything—you only lie. They said: Our Lord knows that we are surely sent to you.”—Holy Qur’an 36:13-16

The most controversial aspect of the overall work of these three men has been and continues to be just as it was described in the “proto-Evangelion” or First Gospel; “to crush the head of the serpent.”

Evidence that the Nation of Islam has been crushing the head of Satan can be observed in the transformative work among the Black community throughout our 92-year existence in America. Writer James Baldwin famously observed in his book, “The Fire Next Time”:

“Elijah Muhammad has been able to do what generations of welfare workers and committees and resolutions and reports and housing projects and playgrounds have failed to do: to heal and redeem drunkards and junkies, to convert people who have come out of prison and to keep them out, to make men chaste and women virtuous, and to invest both the male and the female with a pride and a serenity that hang about them like an unfailing light.”

Professor Michael Eric Dyson notes in the book, “The Farrakhan Factor: African-American Writers on Leadership, Nationhood and Minister Louis Farrakhan”:

“The Nation’s singular focus on helping Black men get their lives together is driven by its ideology of resistance to White supremacy. The Nation has worked diligently to make proud men out of Black prisoners, those in jail or those whose self-image is distorted because they are captives to a worship of the White world.

Long before the decline of Black male life became widely apparent; and long before Black males were vilified and glamorized by both the cultural right and the left, the Nation of Islam preached its own brand of salvation for Black males. And from the very beginning, the core of the Nation’s message has not changed. NOI followers believe that Black men can be saved only by being restored as loving leaders in Black families where they receive and return adoration and respect.”

This transformative work that the Nation of Islam has done among Black people has crushed the satanic idea of “White supremacy and Black inferiority” from the minds of those who have been influenced by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. For it is these poisonous concepts that Satan, the World Serpent, has used to rule the world. The idea of White supremacy and Black inferiority are deeply embedded in all of this society’s institutions.

And it is our transformative work that has attracted to the Nation of Islam, the most vehement opposition from Jewish leaders and from the U.S. Government.

When you see vehement opposition to the message of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, you should know that it is because he threatens the continued existence of the World Serpent/Satan. And just as the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Scribes hated Jesus within the Bible’s New Testament, in the modern era Minister Farrakhan is just as hated and opposed by the 12 major Jewish leaders of America.

He is not hated because of any sin or wickedness. The Minister is hated because he, through his powerful ministry, is both producing the awakening of the masses of the people and revealing the “man of sin”/Satan. And just as a tree cannot survive once its roots are exposed to the light of the sun, “the world serpent”/ Satan/ “the man of sin” cannot survive once the light of truth is used to reveal his identity and his works to the masses of the people whom he has deceived.

Brother Demetric Muhammad is a Memphis-based author and student minister in the Nation of Islam and member of the Nation of Islam Research Group. Follow him on Twitter @BrotherDemetric. Read more at www.researchminister.com.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Up With Jesus, Down With Santa 2022

By Anisah Muhammad, Contributing Writer
- December 13, 2022





‘This (lack of Black businesses) is why we see a huge issue in our community with poverty, with crime, because although we are making strides towards, we still aren’t all the way there with having the majority of our businesses being owned by us. So when that happens, businesses that aren’t owned by us, they hire outside. And they also don’t put back into the community. ’

–Cassiopeia Uhuru

“Up with Jesus, Down with Santa.” That was the clarion call issued seven years ago by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, during his 2015 “Justice Or Else” national tour and gathering on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. He called on Black and poor people to boycott Christmas and holiday spending, to support Black-owned businesses and to put Jesus at the forefront of their lives.

A recent episode of Elevated Places on Blog Talk Radio, a show founded by Student Minister Dr. Ava Muhammad, brought to the forefront the ongoing movement of economic withdrawal, buying Black and building the Black community. Many on the call reflected on the life and legacy of Dr. Ava Muhammad, the Nation of Islam’s spokesperson who passed earlier this year.



“I cannot help but to reflect on our great sister, Sister Dr. Ava Muhammad, who led the charge on matters like this, matters pertaining to separation, matters pertaining to us building and pooling our resources for independence,” said guest host, researcher and student minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad from Memphis, Tennessee.

The show’s guests, attorney Abdul Arif Muhammad, Student General Counsel for the Nation of Islam, and Asika Muhammad, a banking professional from Memphis, tackled topics such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words on redistributing the pain, the origin of Christmas and the history of Christmas and holiday spending boycotts in the Black community.

“As the merchants are marketing and getting ready to get their pockets fat and take from our community, we want to have the right mindset going into this holiday season, and we don’t want Santa or Satan to be able to benefit from us,” Student Minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad said, reiterating the meaning of “Up With Jesus, Down with Santa.”

“Rather, we want to be able to benefit from the nickels and dimes and dollars and from the talents and resources and skills that we already have in our community,” he added.

Atty. Arif Muhammad and Brother Asika Muhammad referenced a Final Call article by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan titled, “Why We are Calling You to Boycott Christmas.” In the article, Minister Farrakhan described the boycott of Christmas as “an old idea relevant to our present-day demands for justice.”

A young brother shows pride in giving back to the community. Photos: Melanie Brown

In his message, the Minister referenced words from Dr. King’s final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” delivered April 3, 1968, in Memphis.

“God sent us by here, to say to you that you’re not treating his children right. And we’ve come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God’s children are concerned,” Dr. King said. “Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you,” he added.

“We’re going to do that until the Black life, the cause of justice, is honored and respected,” Minister Farrakhan added.

According to a Nov. 3 press release by the National Retail Federation, 2022 holiday spending is expected to increase six to eight percent over 2021, to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. Last year’s holiday sales grew 13.5 percent over 2020 and totaled $889.3 billion. Adjusting for high inflation rates, other forecasters say holiday sales this year are slightly in the negative.

A report by Adobe Analytics says consumers spent $9.12 billion on Black Friday and $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday. On average, individuals spend between $800 to $1,000 during the holidays, additional reports say.

Cassiopeia Uhuru (right), co-owner and CEO of The Black Mall, with a supporter. 

Photo: Final Call archives

“Now $1,000 to someone making $70,000 a year doesn’t seem like a lot, but $1,000 to someone making $12,000 a year, that’s a whole lot,” Brother Asika Muhammad said on the Dec. 1 episode of Elevated Places.

Atty. Arif Muhammad defined “economic withdrawal” as “instead of going to his (the White man’s) cleaners, open your own. Instead of going to his supermarket, open your own.”

“I heard the Minister say one time, everything that you want comes from the earth. You have the same ability and right to go get it from the earth. But if you keep spending your resources with him, then you continue to uphold him, while the God Himself is lashing him. He wants us to withdraw,” he continued.

The Black Economic Council of Massachusetts has an ongoing campaign titled “25 Days of Black-Owned Shopping.” The organization has been highlighting one Black business a day on its social media platforms. Others promoted Black people buying Black on Black Friday.

In partnership with Google, rapper Ludacris released a song, featuring Flo Milli, on Nov. 17 titled, “Buying All Black,” in a campaign known as “#BlackOwnedFriday.” Lyrics included “when I’m shopping man, I’m buying all Black” and “go and buy some land before you go and cop that four door.” The music video featured multiple Black businesses and business owners based in Atlanta and encouraged listeners to “choose to buy Black on Black-owned every day.”

Cassiopeia Uhuru, co-founder and CEO of TheBlackMall.com, a digital marketing solution, directory and marketplace for Black businesses, based out of Chicago, is doing an ongoing holiday pop-up until February. She partnered with the Greater Chatham Initiative, an organization helping to revitalize several neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side, and the BopBiz Center. The pop-up gives Black vendors the opportunity to have their products in a storefront.

A shopper examines clothing on the rack. Photo: Pexels.com

“The storefront that we’re in that’s doing the pop-up is helping to get the community re-engaged with shopping in their own neighborhood and having nice places to shop in their own neighborhoods where it can feel welcoming and inviting,” Ms. Uhuru said to The Final Call. “And that it’s not just featuring liquor and corner store items. They’re getting nice, beautiful jewelry and clothes and gifts, items that you would love giving to your family or friends.”

For her, buying Black is a 365-day lifestyle. She hopes that the holiday season ignites that lifestyle in others.

“We’re giving them a nice taste of what it looks like to recycle your Black dollars during a time when people do most of their shopping, but we hope that they create relationships with these brands,” she said. “A lot of these brands have things that you just need throughout the seasons, throughout the years. There are skincare brands. There are clothing brands. There are jewelry brands. Things that you purchase, household necessities. There are brands that sell your deodorants and toothpaste and toilet paper, things you have to buy on a weekly or monthly basis.”

A report by Adobe Analytics says consumers spent $9.12 billion on Black Friday and $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday. On average, individuals spend between $800 to $1,000 during the holidays, additional reports say. Photo: Pexel.com

She explained that the way to keep the Black dollar in the Black community is to establish an economic engine: a community filled with sustainable businesses owned by the residents of that community that hires from within the community.

“This is why we see a huge issue in our community with poverty, with crime, because although we are making strides towards, we still aren’t all the way there with having the majority of our businesses being owned by us,” Ms. Uhuru said. “So when that happens, businesses that aren’t owned by us, they hire outside. And they also don’t put back into the community. They don’t have a vested interest. They only have an interest in taking money out,” she continued.

“When things are taken from you, you become poorer. And when we have more poverty, then you automatically have more crime because people still have an instinct to survive,” Ms. Uhuru pointed out.

“If I can’t afford to get the things that I need, I’m going to take the things that I need. So it’s very important for a community to be strong, for the money to stay within it, to recycle inside that community, and that’s how you build it up.”

As far as some of the White corporations with their history of racism, the entrepreneur said, her focus is not on those corporations anymore. “It’s just on us,” she said. “The more we develop us, we don’t have to worry about what other people are doing.”

Callers on the Elevated Places episode stated that Black people need to get back into collaborative farming and business.

“Business—you have to satisfy the needs of the people, food, clothing, and shelter. And the only way you can get food, clothing and shelter is to go through the land. So that’s why agriculture and the development and control of resources are so important,” said Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad, manager of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Farms in Georgia. He noted how the economic boycott gives young people a way out without fighting with their blood.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said in his boycott Christmas article: “Stand up, Black People! Stand up, Brown People! Stand up, Indigenous People! Keep your money, and let’s show the world our unity—and watch them bow.”

From The Final Call Newspaper

We Must First Be Brothers! The Black Panther Party and Organization Us work toward peaceful progress in San Diego
By Charlene Muhammad, National Correspondent
- November 29, 2022





SAN DIEGO—When the Us Organization and the San Diego Original Black Panther Party, two of the leading Black Nationalist movements in America, came together on stage at the World Beat Cultural Center in Balboa Park, it was more than symbolic.

It gave way for reconciliation and a forward movement toward empowerment. It is a legacy for future generations, documenting how Black men and youth, with bloodshed between them, can settle their differences and unite for a cause greater than themselves.

“I know God has blessed us to do it, because we’re here, after all these years. We’ve been trying and couldn’t do it, but we got it. We’re going to do it today,” said Henry Wallace V, San Diego Original Black Panther Party Chairman.

“As you know, reconciliation was one of the main principles of the Million Man March, along with atonement and responsibility. And as I wrote in the Million Man March Mission Statement, ‘it is in and through reconciliation that we can embrace, stand together, organize our community and solve the problems in it, harness our energies for maximum development and struggle to end injustice and create a just and good society,’ ” said Dr. Maulana Karenga, Chair of Organization Us and Professor and Chair of the Department of Africana Studies, California State University Long Beach, via Zoom video.

Other participants included Seba (teacher of high moral integrity) Chimbuko Tembo, co-associate director of African American Cultural Center (Us) and Seba Tulivu Jadi, co-associate director of African American Cultural Center (Us); Nation of Islam Student Minister Abdul Waliullah Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 8 and coordinator of the reconciliation; Original Black Panther Party of San Diego members Ibrahim, Minister of Education; William X Upton (Historian) and Patrick Germany, Minister of Defense.

“As we said in the agreement, this is ‘an initial but important step toward reconciliation and as a model and encouragement for others. We, also, take this beginning step to help rebuild community unity and to aid in rebuilding the overarching movement to expand the realm of freedom, justice and other shared goods in our community, society and the world,” said Dr. Karenga. “And we do this also in hope that other organizations and groups with similar conflicts might find the strength and will to reconcile their differences as we have,” said Dr. Karenga.

Silence permeated the air as members collectively read the “Reconciliation Agreement Between Organization Us and the Original Black Panther Party of San Diego, California,” and it continued until the fourth and final original copy was signed.

Applause erupted when Seba (moral teacher of ancient Egypt) Tembo and Chairman Wallace stood up and bowed to each other. She extended her right hand. He clasped hers, likewise. Simultaneously, they uttered soft-spoken, congratulatory words as they shook hands with a conviction that penetrated the air.

Some attendees cried. Some held up Black Power fists. A few sat still, speechless throughout the intensely spiritual and cultural Balboa Park venue, founded by “Mama” Makeda ‘Dread’ Cheatom. Organizers thanked her, along with all who made the moment possible and agreed with it. “This is really good, we’re coming together in unity,” said Mama Makeda. “It’s really important that we keep our spiritual values that have been taught to us,” she told The Final Call.

Willie Hutch’s 1973 Motown R&B hit “Brothers Gonna Work It Out” played over loudspeakers. Later, Sam Cook’s 1963 “A Change Is Gonna Come” serenaded attendees during an intermission, while they enjoyed a scrumptious meal prepared by Mama Makeda and her staff.

The signing occurred on October 22, seven days after the 27th Anniversary of the Historic Million Man March on October 16. On that day in 1995, nearly two million Black men answered the call that came through the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.

“I wanted to do something to show Black youth were not what Hollywood said we were. God blessed us to show Black America was not what we had been made out to be on the silver screen,” said Minister Farrakhan in The Final Call, 25 years after the Million Man March as he reflected on that day.

“So, on October 16, 1995, the capital of the greatest nation on earth and in the history of the last 6,000 years became the capital of Black America and Black people in the world. It was a day of tranquility, peace and contentment of mind never before seen in America … .”

During his Million Man March address, Minister Farrakhan laid down the eight steps of the atonement process, toward reconciliation back to Allah (God): point out the wrong; acknowledgment of wrong; confess the fault, first to Allah (God), then to those offended; repentance, which is a feeling of remorse; atonement, or to make amends and reparations; forgiveness by the offended party; reconciliation and restoration; and step eight: perfect union with Allah and with each other.

Although the call came through Minister Farrakhan, it could not have occurred, if it were not for the tremendous working in unity, with Dr. Karenga, the Black Panther Party, and many Black organizations, throughout the country, stated Student Minister Abdul Waliullah Muhammad.

“It was the United States government that broke the movement that would lead to our liberation. So we call to all people of goodwill, that where you can see brothers reconciling, then you and I must grow together, come together to celebrate that and to be bearers of witness of this honor that we see,” he said, referring to the COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) war against dissent, conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under Director J. Edgar Hoover, and the havoc it wrecked on the Black liberation movement.

The agreement documented that before the conflict, The Black Panther Party and Organization Us worked together in Los Angeles and San Diego in the interest of the people and the Black liberation movement. The agreement also recognized and condemned the disruptive devices and destructive role of COINTELPRO.

“Determined to join our effort to achieve and promote reconciliation as a principle and practice between our organizations and in our community, we sign this reconciliation agreement as an initial but important step toward reconciliation as a model and as an encouragement for others,” read William X and Seba Tembo.

This history was made during a two-day celebration of the 55th Anniversary of the Original Black Panther Party in San Diego for Community Empowerment, Oct. 21-22. “The people, themselves, are now rising up to address police killings, brutality and misconduct,” said Chairman Wallace, who joined the Panthers when he was 16.

“We don’t need to do the defense part of it now, and being that we are senior citizens, where we can help our people is food because the kids are still suffering from malnutrition here, in San Diego,” he stated.

“Our reconciliation and this agreement are indeed a model and mirror for those looking for a way out of circles of destructive emotions, thought and practice, a mirror for measurement of the awesome costs to those involved, our community and our movement. And it is a model of how to reach out, reconsider and transform our relations and move forward in operational unity in the interests of ourselves, our people, our liberation struggle and future generations,” Dr. Karenga told The Final Call.

In front of the dais were large posters highlighting the lives and legacies of Robert James Hutton (Lil’ Bobby), George Jackson and Jonathan Peter Jackson, Huey P. Newton and Robert George Seale (Bobby Seale), Fred Hampton, Sr. and Mark Clark, just a few of those slain in the struggle for liberation.

Bloodshed between Us and the Panthers erupted when John Jerome Huggins Jr. (23) and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter (26), two members of the University of California Los Angeles’s (UCLA) Black Student Union and Black Panther Party, were fatally shot in Campbell Hall in 1969.

Bill Whitfield, member of the Black Panther chapter in Kansas City, serves free breakfast to children, April 16, 1969 before they go to school. Merchants have supplied food and money for the daily meals. The Panthers are a Militant Black group whose members in some cities have been charged with violent activities. The Kansas City Panthers say they keep guns only for defense. (AP Photo/William Straeter)

It was an “incident-accident” that caused a domestic dispute, Chairman Wallace told The Final Call. The FBI turned them against one another, through false information, and misinformation actually set them up with one another to kill each other, he said.

“We must lift up and honor those who died in this cause, on both sides and all of our organizations, as they thought they were doing the right thing,” said Student Minister Abdul Waliullah Muhammad in words relayed from Minister Farrakhan. “Often time, we did not see the hand of the enemy that was in our midst that created the issues that we’ve dealt with,” he said.

Audience applause grew louder as Student Minister Muhammad pinpointed that despite the enemy’s efforts to maintain division, Chairman Wallace and Dr. Karenga came together on their own accord, unified as brothers, and set an example for others to do the same.

“O you who believe, if an unrighteous person brings you news, look carefully into it, in case you harm a people in ignorance, then be sorry for what you did,” he recited from the Holy Qur’an, the Islamic holy book from Chapter 49, verse 6.

Chairman Wallace and Dr. Karenga may have just signed the historic agreement, but it occurred a long time ago, in the making for 27 years, since the Million Man March, added Student Minister Muhammad. The Minister said that this is a pledge, signed from the top, but it’s not reality, he stated.

“The reality must be what we now carry into practice, from the very top from Dr. Karenga and his team, from Chairman Wallace and his team, all the way down to every single member of the organizations to know that this is what God has called for. This is what the ancestors have called for, and you and I must honor that call and that you and I must work for unity,” added Student Minister Muhammad.

A Black History Month roundtable forum is in the works for 2023 so Chairman Wallace and Dr. Karenga may discuss their efforts toward reconciliation and future plans to help people to eradicate fear and paranoia of each other.

“The importance of reconciliation is we must learn to forgive each other,” stated Chairman Wallace. “Now, if we can do it, then others can do it, especially our brothers that call themselves Bloods and CRIPS,” he told The Final Call. He feels the so-called street gangs started off on the right path of trying to fill in the gap for Us and the Panthers, but got turned around and twisted, undoubtedly victimized by the same governmental wartime tactics used against Us and the Panthers, he pointed out.

“You notice every time they go to do a truce, the truce gets derailed! Well, the government ain’t trying to have them to reconcile with each other. They love our community being in a state of confusion and in fear of one another,” stated Chairman Wallace. “Let’s get back to some semblance of the ‘60s, where we donned our afros and our dashikis and we were bumping each other’s fists and hugging each other … to where I can just walk out and shake your hand, don’t even have to know you, and love you for who you are. We didn’t even have to know each other.”

(Final Call Staff contributed to this report.)

From The Final Call Newspaper

War, bloodshed and hope dim for resolution in Russia-Ukraine conflict
By Brian E. Muhammad, Staff Writer
- November 22, 2022





War and carnage continue raging in Eastern Europe. World leaders wrestle with the fallout and reality that after nine months of fighting between Russia and Ukraine, there still appears little promise of a peaceful resolution. In addition to the crisis in Europe, governments in other world regions are accumulating weapons of war and marshaling their armies.

All the preparation comes amid a time a dreaded “war to end all wars” referred to as “World War III” or “Armageddon” in the scriptures, which is ever-present on the horizon.

The turmoil can be understood in the light of scriptures and the writings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and his student and National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. They warn that White world rule is facing divine judgment from Allah (God) Himself. White world rule is facing divine judgment from Allah (God) Himself.

For years both men cautioned the nations that the prophesied time for universal change has arrived. It’s the “breakup of an old world” of White supremacy, tyranny, oppression, and exploitation to a new world set up on freedom, justice, equality, and peace. They also warned about the dreaded war of Armageddon.



“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad defined the word ‘Armageddon’ in these words: The first three letters say ‘arm,’ and the arm is that which does the will of the mind. It is the manifestation of what is in the mind. ‘Arma’ means armies and arms,” said Minister Farrakhan, during the World Day of Atonement and first anniversary of the Million Man March, held at the United Nations Plaza in New York City on October 16, 1996.

In words that still stand true in 2022, the Muslim leader warned that the deeds of nations are moving them toward that fateful battle.

“The governments of the nations are buying arms and building armies and these armies are gathering together. Armageddon means: armies gathering together armed for doom,” Minister Farrakhan explained.

Finger-pointing after missile lands in Poland

Europe has reached a dangerous juncture that’s pushing White world rule closer to an abyss and manifest fall. There is no doubt the Caucasian world is imploding, racked with political uncertainty, dissatisfaction, anti-government protests, stifling inflation, and an energy crisis spurned by the Russia-Ukraine conflict exposing serious fault lines in Europe’s stability.

The barometer of anxiety about wider war shot to 10 in the Russia-Ukraine conflict when Polish media reported that “Russian missiles” hit the Polish village of Przewodow, near the Ukrainian border, killing two people on Nov. 15. World leaders went into overdrive to decide if the act was deliberate or accidental and where the missiles actually originated.

At first Poland, several eastern European countries and Kiev pointed the finger at Moscow. Russian defense officials refuted the charges on Telegram and dismissed the claim as “deliberate provocation.”

The initial reaction from U.S. President Joe Biden was carefully worded, touting the act as “explosions” rather than missile attacks. Mr. Biden held an emergency meeting of leaders who were gathered in the Southeast Asian nation of Bali for the G20 Summit which also included the G7 bloc of nations.

Polish and NATO officials determined the missiles did not originate in Russia but were defense missiles fired by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Poland’s findings and vehemently accused Russia. He called for a joint investigation including Ukraine, led by Poland and America.

“I believe that we have the right to this. Is it possible not to announce the final conclusions until the investigation is completed? I think it is fair. If someone says that this is our rocket, should we be in a joint investigative group? I think we should, it is only fair,” said Mr. Zelenskyy reported CNBC.

Though the missiles were not Russian nor deliberate, America, NATO, and Poland said Russia bears ultimate responsibility, reasoning the act resulted from Russia’s “illegal war” of aggression.

Heightened anxiety stems from Poland being a NATO country, which compels the entire military alliance to respond militarily under the Article 5 rule in NATO’s charter. That would mean World War III.

Fears of spillover into NATO countries are real, say war experts.

“It’s very dangerous,” said Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of history at the University of Houston.

Worry loomed that America—a nuclear power—and NATO could be drawn into direct combat with Russia, another nuclear power. Saber rattle about nuclear weapon use has been constant, and although always pulled back, it is a dangerous possibility sparked by a misunderstanding or miscalculation and remains high, say observers.

“By some measures, Russia has more nuclear weapons than the United States,” said Dr. Horne. “So, this is exceedingly dangerous,” he said.

War-wearing countries

Besides miscalculations potentially plunging Europe into all-out war, weary discontent is rising among the European populace. People are upset with governments supporting a foreign war while debilitating inflation decreases food and fuel security at home.

Minister Farrakhan had described such a circumstance as dissatisfaction and a “universal cry for justice” against tyranny and inequality.

The Civil Unrest Index 2022 report released by Verisk Maplecroft, a United Kingdom-based firm that watches such trends, predicts that out of 198 countries, the risk of social unrest will increase in 101 countries due to the global economic crisis.

According to the firm, supply disruptions and the war triggered disruptions causing record inflation in many countries. Data covering the last seven years revealed that the last quarter of 2022 shows the world is facing an unprecedented rise in civil unrest, in the largest number of nations since the firm released the index in 2016.

The impact is clear across the globe, with popular discontent over rising costs of living due to rising food and energy prices, appearing on the streets stretching from Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Volatile anti-government demonstrations erupted from France to Romania, with workers demanding better salaries to keep pace with rising costs. In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, protesters are urging the government to redo fiscal policy to mitigate unaffordable fuel and food costs.

The protests show the big talk and swag of western leaders about backing Ukraine and breaking Russia is detached from a growing unwillingness of the European street to bear the weight of war. Observers predict suffering from the economic and energy crisis will worsen as winter sets in. Analysts expect Europe will experience a winter of discontent.

Some see America as a culprit in their dilemma. The Biden administration led the charge in urging European leaders into the “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions on Russia, widely seen as a major cause of the energy crisis. The leaders are going with the program. “But the people are in the streets … saying this doesn’t make any sense,” said Dr. Wilmer Leon, political scientist and host of “Inside the Issues” on SiriusXM Satellite radio Urban View 126.

“So, there’s this growing chasm between the interests of the people and the interests of the ruling political elite,” said Mr. Leon.

Others criticize America for the financial and material resources afforded Ukraine amid its own skyrocketing costs of living and looming recession. The dissatisfaction expressed in Europe will soon be expressed in America as the leading benefactor of arms and aid for Ukraine. Europe’s unraveling is the fall out of America instigating Europe’s headlong alienation of Russia, while Europe was heavily dependent on Russian energy.

“We going to see who’s alienated when those White folks in Europe start getting cold and start getting hungry and asking their leadership: We’re following the United States down this rabbit hole for what?” said Mr. Leon. “Explain to me why we’re doing this,” he said.

With America in the center of the fray, Dr. Horne said: “This crisis is also exposing … some of the weaknesses of the Black American leadership, which oftentimes is not focused on foreign policy.”

“It’s been quite disastrous,” he argues. “Given the fact that Black Americans are tied so closely to the Democratic Party … the leadership and organizations oftentimes don’t focus on foreign policy,” Dr. Horne expressed.

This allows war-hawks to dominate policy and push America into World War III, meaning the extinction of humanity, not to mention people of African descent.

“I think that the problem with the Black community worldwide … is viewed as the anchor of a Democratic Party which wages war by proxy in Central Europe,” said Dr. Horne.

There is a perception that the GOP is not as sold on Ukraine, with some lawmakers even “posing as avatars of peace,” he added.

Earlier this month, incoming House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) stated he supports Ukraine, but not issuing a “blank check.” The Democratic Party, overwhelmingly supported by Black people, is perceived as the party of war.

“That does not help us in the international community where our African brothers and sisters obviously are not interested in World War III … so our policies are inconsistent with what our community needs,” added Dr. Horne.

President Biden asked Congress for another $37 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine on Nov. 17. Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said that more than three-fourths of the $40 billion approved by Congress earlier this year for Ukraine has already been disbursed or committed.

“Billions of dollars of our tax money is going to Ukraine,” Dr. Horne told The Final Call.

America has not found a magic Dollar Tree with an infinite sum. Every dollar that’s going to Ukraine is fewer dollars for K through 12 education and healthcare. “When our leaders don’t focus on the Pentagon budget, which soaks up most of our tax dollars, they’re basically saying, it’s okay,” said Dr. Horne.

Minister Farrakhan warned during his World Day of Atonement message that this most destructive of all wars is at hand and the “window of opportunity’s very narrow,” but perhaps can be averted if the nations will hear the Word of Allah (God).

“In fact, we have entered into the door of this great cataclysmic war that will take down almost all of the human family of the earth,” said Min. Farrakhan. “In fact, this time period is prophesied to bring about such destruction, that it is written in the Bible that if these days were not shortened for God’s elect sake, no soul would be left alive on earth,” he added.

In a message early this year, the Minister explained that the war of Armageddon starts with a Messenger of God teaching people the truth. Then people fall on either side. “If you disbelieve the truth then you will continue in your way,” he warned.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad described the current time as terrible. “It is a very dreadful time that the populations of the earth are now living in,” wrote Elijah Muhammad in his monumental book, “Our Saviour Has Arrived,” published in 1974.

On page 212, He compared the motion of change to the fall of ancient Babylon, a wicked nation of the past destroyed for its evil.

“ ‘At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.’ Here the Bible teaches us, and we see today, at the fall of the old world, there is a great noise of war, the fighting of war, the destruction of nations, towns, and cities and the killing of their citizens,” wrote Elijah Muhammad, referencing the biblical book of Jeremiah 50:46.

“There is disagreement and confusion of the heads of nations,” he further wrote.

Mr. Muhammad explained this is the time for the destruction of an entire world. However, America is first for her record of injustices done worldwide, and domestically to the Black once-slaves and Indigenous Native American populations, that still goes unanswered.

The Earth, land, and sea are set in battle array. Every type of deadly weapon is fashioned and is now being used against man and man. The nations are reeling from the corruption their hands have shaped.

“There cannot be any peace for man under these conditions,” wrote the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He warned that the actions of the world leaders have angered God and His chastisement is now present.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Abused Black women and girls are not seen as victims in the American judicial system
By Anisah Muhammad, Contributing Writer
- November 15, 2022





Ashlyn Griffin was a few weeks pregnant with her second child when a domestic violence incident occurred. On June 5, 2020, the Black mother fired two shots at her boyfriend, Brandon McCray, during a dispute at their home in Bulloch County, Georgia. In the eyes of her family, friends and supporters, she killed her abuser. In the eyes of the court of law, she was found guilty in February of one count of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

According to The Georgia Virtue, in 2018, Statesboro, Georgia, police charged Mr. McCray with aggravated assault for beating Ms. Griffin while she was pregnant with their first child. “At the time, he choked, strangled, and then kicked Griffin in the stomach,” the publication says.

The mother of two has been incarcerated at a women’s facility in Georgia and is seeking a new trial, according to updates on a GoFundMe page started by her mother, Tina Griffin.

“Now the State of Georgia wants to add my daughter’s name to the long list of women who went from being abused in the home, to being abused and imprisoned by our justice system, just for defending themselves,” Tina Griffin argues. “Why do Stand Your Ground laws only seem to apply to certain men in this country? Meanwhile, women like my daughter are not allowed to defend themselves, even when violently attacked.”



The story of Ashlyn Griffin is not an anomaly. Black women and girls all over the country are fighting for their lives in the court system for killing their abusers. Too often, victims of domestic abuse and sex trafficking are criminalized and penalized when they take matters into their own hands.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam has always instructed Black women and girls to fight back against abuse. “We don’t like to see men abusing women,” the Minister stated in a message, “Save Our Girls: A Nation Can Rise No Higher Than Its Woman.”

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us a law that no man strikes his wife. How are you going to beat the woman that produces your future? Men should be ashamed to abuse women, but most men who beat and bruise women, yet want sex with them the same night they beat them. Men want to beat women like they are inanimate objects, like trees or a lamppost that a dog will lift its leg to; like women do not have feelings,” the Minister stated in another message titled, “Abuse of the Female.”

“Do you think after you beat up a woman that she really wants to give herself to you? Why would you want to take pleasure from someone to whom you have given so much pain?”

Racial and gender disparities

Stand Your Ground and self-defense laws are not applied equitably to Black women, and they are not designed to protect survivors of domestic violence, says a March 2021 report by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, titled, “Stand Your Ground Laws Increase Gun Violence and Perpetuate Racial Disparities.”

“Most violence against women is perpetrated by a known acquaintance or partner and occurs in the home. Stand your ground laws do not apply to violence that occurs in the home between two people who live together. Likewise, the self-defense statutes that apply to domestic violence situations in the home make it hard for victims of domestic abuse to successfully claim self-defense,” the report says.

“Under stand your ground, often women who can prove that they have been repeatedly attacked by their partner are not afforded the same self-defense protections as someone (usually a White man) who shoots a stranger in public and claims self-defense. This is especially true for Black women who face both the gender and racial discrimination that is rooted in the criminal justice system.”

In a February 2020 briefing report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Ahmad Nabil Abuznaid representing the Dream Defenders testified on how women in domestic violence situations are disproportionately impacted by stand your ground.

“In a recent analysis of FBI homicide data prepared by the Urban Institute comparing stand your ground and non-stand your ground states and examining the use of stand your ground laws in cases involving women defendants, 13.5 percent of cases where a White woman killed a Black man were found justified, whereas in contrast only 2.9 percent of cases where a Black woman killed a White man were found justified,” he said.

Tameicsha X, chief financial officer of the organization Silent Crimez out of Dallas, Texas, is a witness to those statistics. In middle school, she was sexually harassed by a boy on a school bus multiple times. One day, she brought her mother’s Swiss Army knife on the bus with her and attempted to stab the young man. When school officials found out, she was expelled from the school and sent to an alternative school. The boy suffered no repercussions for his actions, even after assaulting another girl on the same school bus.

“Yet, here we are, again, blaming the young Black girl who was assaulted, who tried to defend herself,” Tameicsha X expressed, referring to ongoing cases in the news. “So, this has been going on for years. It didn’t start with me. It won’t stop with these young ladies. But it’s like we’re not seen. We’re not heard. And then we get penalized when we try to protect ourselves because no one else will.”

In Iowa, Pieper Lewis, a Black teenager, was recently ordered to pay her alleged rapist’s family $150,000 and was given five years’ probation. She was only 15 years old when she killed her alleged rapist, Zachary Brooks, in 2020. She argued in her plea agreement that she was sex trafficked after running away from an abusive home environment and had been raped repeatedly by Mr. Brooks.

One of her former teachers raised more than $500,000 in a GoFundMe to help the teenager pay the $150,000 in restitution, to remove financial barriers in pursuing college or starting her own business and to give her the financial capacity to explore ways to help other young victims of sex crimes.

“This is a Black girl who clearly was being trafficked, and the juvenile court judge asked for it to go to the adult court. We just don’t even see Black girls who have experienced this harm as children,” said Dr. Sydney McKinney, executive director of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, to The Final Call.

She commented on the “adultification” of Black girls, especially in cases like Pieper Lewis and Chrystul Kizer. “We have to ask ourselves, why? Why do we have a criminal legal system that refuses to see Black girls as Black girls?” she questioned.

At 17, Chrystul Kizer killed the man she said forced her into sex trafficking. She is now facing a life sentence in Wisconsin. In July, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that the now 22 year old will be allowed to argue self-defense as a direct result of being trafficked.

“Police and other agencies do not see Black women as victims because oftentimes, we’re fighting back. So, we’re not seen as a typical victim like a White woman would be seen, because we’re not cowering in a corner waiting to be assaulted. We’re often fighting back. We’re talking back,” said Crystal Muhammad, lead advocate of The Asha Project.

The Asha Project is a culturally specific organization based in Milwaukee that deals with victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence, sex trafficking and elder abuse. Ms. Muhammad sat in on Chrystul Kizer’s case, which occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The man who abused Chrystul Kizer, Randall Volar, was already under investigation for child sex trafficking and child pornography, and he recorded the abuse of the teenager. He was also abusing about a dozen other underage Black girls at the time.

“Under the law, she was a child, and they convicted her and sentenced her to life in prison,” Ms. Muhammad said. “That’s being overturned now in the Supreme Court case, but she still has to go through the trial, which is crazy. Because we’re not seen as victims. We’re just seen as someone that if we react, we’re the perpetrator, now.”

She noted that Black women are often dehumanized and are not seen as soft, feminine beings who require protection.

“We are the opposite of White femininity, and therefore we are not afforded that same kind of recognition of the kind of harm that we experience,” Dr. McKinney said. “We’re treated differently because we are not perceived as the ideal victim, or deserving victim, or even a victim at all, really.”

Problems with law enforcement

For Danielle X Perkins, founder of Silent Crimez, the way Black women are viewed goes back to the Constitution. She stated when Black women and girls kill their abusers, law enforcement explains it as them having depression and anger issues. Meanwhile, White women, she said, get more attention, more repair, more counseling and more safety.

“A doggone dog has rights. Dogs have rights. You hit a dog, you in trouble. You don’t feed the dog, you’re in trouble. You put the dog in an unconditional or unsafe environment, you get punished for that. But the Black woman does not get the same treatment,” she expressed.

To Ms. Perkins, the first mistake made by law enforcement is not listening.

“When a woman has shot her husband or her boyfriend or just anybody and they ask the question, ‘Well, tell us what happened?’ And she tells her story of how he had hit her or he choked her or hurt the children and they hear her but they don’t listen to what she’s telling them. They go straight and jump into the core of the conversation, which is the murder,” she said.

Sathya Callender from Atlanta is a victim of abuse turned domestic violence advocate. Though she did not fight back, she knows what it’s like to be in Ashlyn Griffin’s situation.

“Do I agree that she should be in prison? Absolutely not. Because now what if he would have took her life? Then what would you have said to her parents or her family? What if she didn’t defend herself? How would that look?” she questioned.

She is now the founder of the nonprofit organization Scars of Survival Inc. and releases a monthly magazine highlighting survivors of domestic violence. She explained that abuse often starts emotionally, mentally and verbally before it escalates into the physical.

“My abuse didn’t start off physical,” she said. “He started off controlling me, calling me names, keeping me from family and friends, saying nobody liked me, nobody loved me. I started believing it. I was in bondage.”

Ms. Callender believes that law enforcement needs to be retrained and that police departments need to have a domestic violence task force. She said she has helped almost 300 families since 2016 and has not heard one good thing about someone calling law enforcement in a domestic violence situation.

“Even when it comes to getting a restraining order, if you go and try to get a restraining order, they’re going to ask you why. And if you say something like well, he threatened to take my life, sometimes that’s not even enough. They want you to have more,” she said. “But here’s the thing. Why would you give a person a restraining order when something severe has happened? A restraining order should be there to prevent something worse from happening. That’s why they’re getting a restraining order, to keep the person from harming them any further.”

Legislation and accountability

Those interviewed by The Final Call agreed Black women need to make their voices heard and Black people need to hold lawmakers and courts accountable.

Ms. Callender wants to get a law passed that would help people like Ashlyn Griffin. She said society needs to become more educated about domestic violence and advised those in abusive situations to leave a paper trail.

“You got to start a paper trail because a lot of times when it comes to defending yourself or fighting for yourself within the justice system, people want to see that paper trail. They want to see the evidence,” she said. “And I feel like if enough evidence is shown and proof is shown of this is what happens when we’re calling the police, this is what happens when X, Y and Z, I think that will start something and help to change things.”

Ms. Perkins was born in the 1980s and witnessed domestic abuse. Her mother was physically abused by her father, and she herself was physically abused by her father and verbally abused by her mother.

“I learned that the loophole is the community and the care,” she said. “We have to learn to care and learn to open our doors. If we see something or you know something, you say something.”

Dr. McKinney and the National Black Women’s Justice Institute are working to advance survivors’ legislation. “That’s legislation that allows judges and prosecutors to take into consideration the kind of harm that Black women and girls who are survivors of gender-based violence experience … taking that into consideration as a mitigating factor during sentencing,” she explained. “And hopefully, helping people understand that rather than punishing people who have experienced harm, that we should be supporting their healing.”

She is also a proponent of attacking the larger social structures that create the conditions in which Black women and girls suffer.

“We can start changing them and create the world that we all want, where Black women and girls can thrive and are joyful and don’t have to be fearful of the harm that they may experience in their homes or in their communities and Black girls don’t have to be afraid of the harm they may experience going to and from school,” she said.

“We can create that world together. But it means that we have to first acknowledge what’s happening so that we can start figuring out what the solutions are, and then our community leads in the creation of those solutions.”