From The Final Call Newspaper

Rebellion, confrontations with police as another young Black male is gunned down

By Jihad Hassan Muhammad | Last updated: Aug 12, 2014 - 10:03:56 AM

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(L) Lesley McSpadden, center, and Michael Brown Sr., left, the parents of Michael Brown, listen as attorney Benjamin Crump speaks during a news conference, Aug. 11, in Jennings, Mo. Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed in a confrontation with police in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo, on Aug. 9. (R) Protestor Boss Bastain of St. Louis locks arms with others as they confront Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers in front of the Ferguson police station on Aug. 11. Marchers are entering a third day of protests against Sunday's police shooting of Michael Brown. Photos: AP/Wide World photos

FERGUSON, Mo. - Michael Brown, 18, was supposed to be starting college in early August, instead he is listed among Black males shot to death by police, security guards, and self-proclaimed vigilantes. Oscar Grant III, Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, and Jonathan Ferrell are among familiar names of those whose lives were taken.

United States Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement Aug. 11 saying a “fulsome review” of the police shooting of the child whose mother wept bitterly before TV cameras was needed. The attorney general’s words came two days after the young man’s death.

Protester holds a picture of Michael Brown at a rally and vigil August 10. Photos: Cartan X. Mosley

“The shooting incident in Ferguson, Missouri this weekend deserves a fulsome review. In addition to the local investigation already underway, FBI agents from the St. Louis field office, working together with attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office, have opened a concurrent, federal inquiry,” Atty. Holder said. “Aggressively pursuing investigations such as this is critical for preserving trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

Those promises followed confrontations between Blacks and police, smashed windows and some looting as angry residents vented their frustration and pain. Police officers, they said, harassed participants in what was a peaceful demonstration. Officers laughed, mocked, pointed, threatened and showed no respect for Michael and no remorse for his death, they said.

One young man complained on social media that the mourners were called “porch monkeys” and that police wanted a war. There are only three Black officers in the Ferguson Police Dept., which is 98 percent White, said Anthony Shahid, an advisor to the Brown family. According to the family, the young man’s body lay in the street for four-and-a-half-hours after the fatal encounter. That helped stoke anger and fuel outrage as police would allow no one near Michael’s corpse in the suburb outside St. Louis.

According to eyewitness accounts, Michael and a friend were walking near Canfield Drive in Ferguson when there was an encounter with police. What happened next remains somewhat unclear. The officer reportedly ordered the two to get out of the street. One account says the youth were told, “Get the f---k out the street!” There may have been a verbal exchange and the officer allegedly attempted to pull Michael into the police car. The encounter ended with Michael being shot numerous times.

Witnesses said Michael had his hands up and was unarmed. Various witnesses insist the officer continued to shoot Michael as the teen lay on the ground.

“I saw him turn around with his arms up in the air and they shot him in his face and chest and he went down unarmed,” said Piaget Crenshaw who saw the shooting.

“The officer started choking him and tried pulling him into the police vehicle, his weapon was drawn and he said, ‘I will shoot you, I’m going to shoot,’ when the first shot went off,” said Dorian Johnson, a friend of Michael’s.

“He shot again, and once my friend felt that shot, he turned around and put his hands in the air, and he started to get down,” Mr. Johnson said. “But the officer still approached with his weapon drawn and fired several more shots.”

“We wasn’t causing harm to nobody,” Mr. Johnson told a television station. “We had no weapons on us at all.”  The two were walking together who confronted by police.

Unrest spread among residents in the apartment complex as a result of the shooting and as Michael’s lifeless body lay in a puddle of blood.

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar flanked by Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, told reporters Aug. 10, “One of those individuals at the time came in as the officer was exiting his police car. Allegedly pushed the police officer back into the car where he physically assaulted the police officer. It is our understanding at this point in the investigation that within the police car there was a struggle over the officer’s weapon. There was at least one shot fired within the car after that. The officer came back out of the car, he exited his vehicle, and there was a shooting that occurred where the officer in fact shot the subject … they were fatal injuries.” The officer, said to be a White six-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

“All my hard work and everything I put into to him they just took that, with no compassion,” said Michael’s mother Lesley McSpadden.

Assisting the Brown family are community activist Anthony Shahid, members of the Fruit of Islam from Muhammad Mosque Number 24 in St. Louis and attorney Benjamin Crump, who is now assisting the Brown family.

Emotions boil over
Community anger reached a boiling point after the shooting and with subsequent events. Some 600 people gathered near where Michael’s body lay and there were stand-offs with police, who reported that shots were fired in the area. Police would not allow anyone near Michael’s remains. Later many marched and held vigils to call for justice, seek answers and to comfort one another. Demonstrations were held and memorials erected near the spot where Michael was killed, and rallies were held outside the Ferguson Police station. Officers in riot gear and with dogs were on duty at the gatherings.

“We are developing a list of demands that we want put forward, which will include publicly disclosing the name of the White officer involved in the shooting, secondly for him to be immediately fired and charged with murder, third is for the Ferguson Police Department to issue their protocol manual on how they are to respond in a situation like the one Saturday, and the fourth one was to reflect the racial population of the officers responding to the community,” declared longtime activist Zaki Baruti of the Universal African Peoples Organization.

Local and national media outlets quickly showed scenes of looting, but according to social media and others on the ground, the media did not show police officers firing at peaceful protesters and provoking demonstrators.

Chawn Kweli, national chief of staff for the New Black Panther Party, said SWAT team members confiscated cell phones of protesters exercising their rights to video record law enforcement officers. There have been some arrests and reports that cellular telephone capabilities are limited in the area.
“Tensions are very high and at this point the apartment complex is still surrounded by SWAT,” Mr. Kweli told The Final Call a day after fatal shooting.  

Mr. Kweli described a chaotic scene Aug. 10 when protests formed at the apartment complex where Michael was killed. Mr. Kweli knows the difference between sounds made by rubber bullets and live ammunition. SWAT team members teargased and repeatedly fired live ammunition with the intent to kill or maim into a crowd of over 2,000, which included many women and children, he charged.

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“It was beyond the shadow of a doubt live ammunition,” Mr. Kweili said.

“There has not been a riot in St. Louis, or anything like this in over 60 years,” said Nation of Islam Student Minister Donald Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 28.
Organizations such as the New Black Panther Party, the Tauheed Youth Group, the Organization for Black Struggle, and the UAPO have been very active in the protests. Many say were it not for police agitation, protests may have remained peaceful.

“These young people did not get up yesterday and say we are going to riot today, I was with a lot of them throughout this situation, and they were agitated. We arrived for a peaceful vigil, calling for justice and the St. Louis County Police arrived with riot gear on storming through the crowds, with little regard for respect,” said Bgyrl, a longtime St. Louis hip-hop pioneer and activist.

Some young people who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation said Ferguson Police officers behaved aggressively with dogs barking and brandishing M16’s while “laughing and threatening us.”

This same sentiment was shared by over a dozen youth who wanted to be part of a campaign to mobilize for justice. Others say the rebellion is the result of decades of neglect, racism, and police brutality in the area. It has gotten to the point where the people feel like they have to stand up and declare they are not going to take it anymore, they said.

James W. Muhammad, who ran Dynasty Hip-Hop Mentoring Program in St. Louis before moving to Dallas, says the youth can’t be blamed. “There are a lot of people upset with the youth because they say they have misdirected anger, well, the only way misdirected anger and unorganized activity can exist is when we don’t give direction to our youth,” said Mr. Muhammad. “The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan talked about justifiable homicide of Black youth. Our youth are now in the position where helicopter gunships can come murder them because they are looting.”

Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, in an Aug. 10 statement, said he spoke with Brown family members who asked him to come to St. Louis. National Action Network field staff have been dispatched to the area to work with others, he said.

The FBI is looking into possible civil rights violations arising from the shooting, said Cheryl Mimura, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s St. Louis field office. She said the FBI would be investigating regardless of the public attention surrounding the matter.
Nearly three dozen people were arrested following a Sunday night candlelight vigil Aug. 10 after crowds looted and burned stores, vandalized vehicles and confronted officers who tried to block access to parts of the city, the Associated Press reported.

St. Louis County police spokesman Brian Schellman said 32 people were arrested for various offenses, including assault, burglary and theft. Two officers suffered minor injuries, and there were no reports of civilians hurt.

Several businesses were looted, including a check-cashing store, a boutique and a small grocery store. People also took items from a sporting goods store and a cellphone retailer and carted rims away from a tire store.

A spokeswoman for St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley said tear gas had been used.
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said that there’s no video footage of the shooting from the apartment complex or from any police cruiser dashboard cameras or body-worn cameras that the department recently bought but has not yet put to use.

Lesley McSpadden said she did not understand why police did not subdue her son with a club or stun gun. She said the officer involved should be fired and prosecuted.

“I would like to see him go to jail with the death penalty,” she said, fighting back tears.
The killing drew criticism from some civil rights leaders, who referred to the 2012 racially charged shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was acquitted of murder charges. Atty. Crump also represented Trayvon’s family.

John Gaskin, who serves on both the St. Louis County and national boards of directors for the NAACP, said the group was “outraged because yet again a young African-American man has been killed by law enforcement.”

Ferguson’s population of about 21,000 people is almost 70 percent black.
(Photographer Cartan X Mosley, Final Call staff and the Associated Press contributed to this report.)

From The Final Call Newspaper

Anger, protests and vows not to forget Eric Garner's death in NYC Police custody

By Saeed Shabazz -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Jul 23, 2014 - 2:15:33 PM

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Hundreds of protestors chant ‘I can’t breathe’ at rally in Staten Island after death of Eric Garner. Photo: Matthew Muhammad

STATEN ISLAND, New York (FinalCall.com) - Six employees—two police officers and four Emergency Medical Technicians—were removed from street duties after the death of Eric Garner, 43, an unarmed Black man who police say was selling individual cigarettes, “loosies,” on a street.
A stunning videotape of the tragic encounter sparked outrage, condemnations from leaders and angry street protests after apparent police use of a chokehold on the victim. Mr. Garner died July 17.

One of the police officers, Daniel Pantaleo, an eight year veteran turned in his gun and badge and was placed on modified duty. Officer Justin Damico, a veteran of four years, was put on desk duty, according to the NYPD. The EMTs were not identified, but a seven-minute video shows EMTs not giving any medical assistance to the fallen man.

“The police commissioner promised me there will be a thorough and transparent investigation,” Councilmember Debi Rose of Staten Island told The Final Call.

The officer identified as possibly using an illegal chokehold should be suspended from duty until the investigation is complete, said Damon Jones, New York representative of Blacks in Law Enforcement of America.

Mr. Garner, according to family members, suffered from asthma and may have died of cardiac arrest after application of what looked like a chokehold with officers wrestling him to the ground. Officers were saying he was resisting arrest. The large Black man never pushes, punches, strikes or makes an aggressive move toward the officers in the video. He asks to be left alone and says the officers keep harassing him.

Commissioner William Bratton, speaking to the press July 18, said, part of the investigation will focus on what happened, despite the video, to understand all circumstances surrounding the incident. The video seems to be clear that the officers knew Mr. Garner, said the police commissioner. Mr. Garner “made it quite known to them that he was not going to allow that arrest to occur. I do not expect my officers to walk away from that type of situation. But let’s be quite clear that one of the things the video appears to show is that the officers were in fact in the performance of their lawful duties,” he claimed.

A reporter asked Mr. Bratton if what was seen on the video was a chokehold: “Yes, as defined in the department’s patrol guide, this would appear to have been a chokehold. As far as the department is concerned it’s a violation of our policies and procedures. The Staten Island District Attorney determines if it is a violation of law,” said Commissioner Bratton.

“Tell me what your thoughts were after you saw the video?” a reporter asked Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was at the press conference.

“It was very troubling I watched it the same way a family member would watch it and it is very sad to watch. But that being said, we can’t pass ultimate judgment based on one video. We need the facts of a full and detailed investigation,” said the mayor.

Screen shots of video showing New York law enforcement surrounding Mr. Garner as one officer applies an apparent chokehold around the man’s neck forcing to the ground.

Hundreds of angry Staten Islanders marched to the 120th Precinct July 19 demanding justice for Mr. Garner, chanting “I can’t breathe!”

“A blatant abuse of authority, the officers should be suspended without pay,” said Student Minister Abdul Hafeez Muhammad, of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Mosque No. 7 and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s New York representative. “Let’s be real we have all seen the video,” he told The Final Call. “Here is a Black man because of his size is seen as a threat—subdued in a full-nelson thrown to the ground and tasered—no weapons on him.

 I can only continue to say an abuse of authority,” said Min. Hafeez Muhammad.
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton held a pre-rally press conference along with local pastors, Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a long time civil rights activist, community leaders and an assortment of elected officials. The only elected official from Staten Island in attendance was Councilmember Rose.

This will not be a “drive-by protest,” vowed Rev. Sharpton. “We will be here until what we see in that tape is clear in the halls of justice.” Family members of Mr. Garner appeared earlier at the National Action Network headquarters in Harlem with Rev. Sharpton.

Public Advocate Letitia James, speaking at the press conference, said there must be answers to why the banned choke hold was used by a veteran police officer. “This will test the mettle of the city,” Ms. James said.

Commissioner Bratton told reporters he did not view use of the chokehold as a widespread problem, this was my first exposure to this issue in six months as commissioner, he said.

But the Civilian Complaint Review Board released a statement July 20 saying as of July 1, the board had received 58 chokehold complaints against the NYPD this year, but only one was substantiated. Over 1,000 New Yorkers have accused the NYPD of using the banned hold in the past five years.
“Police management has failed miserably in keeping the officers of the NYPD accountable,” Mr. Jones of Blacks in Law Enforcement of America said.

Councilmember Rose told The Final Call she came was politically targeted by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which represents New York City police officers, and other police unions for opposition to stop and frisk tactics used by officers in the 120th Precinct. “I was one of two councilmembers targeted because of my votes, which I saw as a civil rights issue,” Ms. Rose said.
According to police, there were 11,190 people stopped in 2013 within the precinct jurisdiction. Blacks represented 58.9 percent of the stops, Latinos were 24.7 percent and Whites were 13.7 of people stopped. Only 18 percent of the stops resulted in a summons or an arrest.

According to Census data, the total population of Staten Island is 468,730 with Blacks making up less than 10 percent of the population. Eighty-two percent of the Black population lives in the neighborhoods patrolled by the 120th Precinct.

“This is about racism,” said Gary Taylor, who saw the encounter between police and Mr. Garner. “The police officers involved were all White, and that has been an issue around here for a long time.” he said. “Just by the way they treated him, he was just sitting on the stoop when they came up to him. He had just broke up a fight, not selling cigarettes.”

“I have known Eric for 20 years, and in all of those years I have never seen him argue or fight with anyone,” Twan Scarlett told The Final Call. Mr. Scarlett and an unidentified White woman agreed that all of the arresting officers being White was a problem. “We never see Black police officers in this neighborhood,” said the woman.

According to media reports, Officer Pantaleo has been involved in two civil rights charges, one recently resulted in a $30,000 pay out by the city. The second charge of violating a Staten Islander’s civil rights is pending in Manhattan Federal Court. While he could face departmental disciplinary charges, it is not yet clear if he will face criminal charges in the death of Eric Garner.

Mr. Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr thanked the more than 500 protesters who took to the streets. “This shows how much Eric was loved,” she said from the steps of the 120th Precinct.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Calif. highway patrol beating demands more than cops probing cops, say analysts

By Starla Muhammad -Assistant Editor- | Last updated: Jul 9, 2014 - 1:22:55 PM

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The family of a woman seen on video struck repeatedly by a California highway patrolman is filing a civil lawsuit against the department on her behalf. Shock and outrage was the response to the latest videotaped violent law enforcement encounter involving a Black woman and a cop, this time happening on the side of a Los Angeles freeway.

Cell phone video of the July 1 incident shows a uniformed California Highway Patrol officer repeatedly striking 51-year-old Marlene Pinnock in the head.

In this July 1, 2014 image made from video provided by motorist David Diaz, a California Highway Patrol officer straddles a woman while punching her in the head on the shoulder of a Los Angeles freeway. The woman had been walking on Interstate 10 west of downtown Los Angeles, endangering herself and people in traffic, and the officer was trying to restrain her, according to a CHP assistant chief. The officer, who has not been identified, has been placed on administrative leave during an investigation. Photo: A/P World Wide Photos 'How dare we tell China or some other country about human rights violations? We see them sitting right in our front door' —Dr. Julianne Malveaux, activist and president emerita of Bennett College for Women

According to police, Ms. Pinnock was walking barefoot alongside the Santa Monica Freeway, ignored commands to stop and became “physically combative.” Nothing in the police report says or suggests she was armed.

The video shows the woman struggling and trying to sit up while the officer punches her in the face and head until an off-duty law enforcement officer appears and helps handcuff her.

Passing driver David Diaz recorded the incident and provided it to media outlets including The Associated Press. He told the AP in a phone interview July 4 that he arrived as the woman was walking off the freeway. She turned around only after the officer shouted something to her, he said.
“He agitated the situation more than helped it,” said Mr. Diaz, who started filming soon after.

The officer, whose name has not been released, was placed on administrative assignment. Ms. Pinnock was arrested and at Final Call presstime was still being held in a hospital on an involuntary psychiatric hold at the Los Angeles County Medical Center.

Chris O’Quinn, asst. chief of CHP, said there was no need for an independent investigation and the department’s “internal investigation process is very, very detailed.”

“As of today, we are investigating this use of force and (the) status is that we are looking into why he (officer) came into contact with the pedestrian on the freeway and what transpired and as of now the investigation is ongoing,” Officer Edgar Figueroa, CHP public information officer told The Final Call. He said no charges have been filed against Ms. Pinnock and that “everything is still under review.” There is no timetable for how long the investigation could take.

Pinnock’s family attorney Caree Harper announced plans July 6 to file a lawsuit stating the mother, grandmother and great-grandmother received multiple injuries on her face, arms and shoulders.
The Final Call left messages for Atty. Harper but received no response.

There have been calls for a federal investigation into the incident.

“There were many times on the tape where he could have just put handcuffs on her and he just kept beating her and that is unnecessary,” said Dr. Julianne Malveaux, activist and president emerita of Bennett College for Women. The community and leadership response in this case should be as vocal as it was for Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, she added. That case, in which Mr. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder, touched off a nationwide firestorm of activism.

“Just like those leaders who went to Florida, rallying around Zimmerman’s slaughter of Trayvon Martin, there needs to be some people, the same leaders, in Los Angeles, rallying around this sister,” said Dr. Malveaux.

Mental health, instability, treatment and how law enforcement is trained to deal with these issues must also be addressed, she added.

Attorney Nkechi Taifa, a social justice attorney, agreed.

“The woman was barefoot. Obviously something might not have been right about her. At what point is your training supposed to kick in and say this person might need some services as opposed to the type of brutality that ensued?” asked Atty. Taifa.

Dr. Malveaux agreed an independent investigation is needed.

“They should take every effort to make sure that this is fully investigated and does not mean simply a group of police officers checking on another police officer. They need some civilians on the committee that investigates this incident. They do not need to make this an internal matter,” added Dr. Malveaux.

Amirah Sankofa Kweli, national minister of information for the New Black Panther Party, said from what she saw of the video it is a clear case of police brutality and excessive force. The community must organize around the issue of police brutality, she added.

“We can go about it in taking it to the streets in a very responsible manner, informing the people through education and letting them know exactly what’s going on because some of us don’t know about it,” Ms. Kweli told The Final Call.

She said citizen review boards are critical in terms of having a system in place to monitor police action. Defining “excessive force” cannot be left up to police departments, she added.

The Final Call asked if the U.S. Justice Department should be called in to investigate and review this latest incident.

“Having them come and review? They’ve been reviewing all these different cases and nothing has ever come of this. We’re still getting beaten, abused. They’re still Tasering, it’s lawful and it’s causing people to die and have heart attacks,” she said.

Atty. Taifa said many times police feel they can get away with brutality. If a pattern of abusive behavior is subsequently uncovered, litigation, a federal probe that could initiate civil rights actions could happen as it has in other states, Atty. Taifa told The Final Call.

As one goes down the police hierarchy, discretion increases, she explained. “The cop on the block, on the beat, the California Highway patrolman that perpetrated this case have so much  better discretion at their disposal and as a result they feel that they are accountable to no one and they feel that they are justified in what they are doing.”

“How dare we tell China or some other country about human rights violations? We see them sitting right in our front door,” said Dr. Malveaux.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

From The Final Call Newspaper

This Holy Month of Ramadan: Cultivate the Character of Allah in yourselves

By Imam Sultan Rahman -Guest Columnist- | Last updated: Jul 1, 2014 - 9:40:03 PM

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“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil.” ~ Chapter 2:183, Holy Qur’an

Ramadan Mubarak! Blessed Holy Month of Ramadan to us all!
In spirit and deed, we join nearly 2 billion Muslims around the Islamic world in the annual fast of the Holy Month of Ramadan, the 9th month of the lunar calendar. We rejoice at its coming and thank Allah (God) for another opportunity to observe the rites of self-purification of the heart, mind, body and spirit for the purpose of self-improvement to better the condition of ourselves and people through self-discipline and seeking to attain nearness to Allah (God).

It is through prescribed self-restraint, during this month, that Allah (God) says He Teaches us how to “guard against evil’ or develop Taqwa—God-consciousness. We are all equal in the Eyes of Allah, except in one way: Our duty, our God-consciousness (Taqwa). It is by our duty that Allah (God) differentiates us in accord to our vigilance of our duty toward Him and our fellow human being.
It is in this month that we are asking for Allah’s help and His mercy. It is mentioned in the Tradition of Muhammad (peace be upon him) that in the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Gates of Allah’s Mercy are opened to the Believer. We see a type of this blessing that comes upon us when we begin our fast. When we begin our fasting, we see it may be a little difficult to get into the swing of the fast, if we have not been preparing ourselves.

Sometimes we may forget we are fasting, especially in those first few days or weeks. We might find ourselves with a mouth full of water during fasting time, two or three days into Ramadan, and in the middle of swallowing and we catch ourselves “Ahhh! My God. I’m fasting.” It is habit that when we are thirsty we drink, hungry we eat, when we want sex, we have sex, and when we want sleep—we sleep. It is this habitual behavior we pick up that makes us continue to drink, eat, have sex, and sleep even when we do not need it. 

The Month of Ramadan’s Fast is a habit breaker as it takes about 21 days to break a habit we have a month to break the ego of self. It is a common mistake that we accidently eat or drink something during the Month of Ramadan, without thinking or intentionally doing so. This makes the food or drink taken, considered to be a gift from Allah (Most High). We are granted forgiveness and should continue our fast upon recalling. This is truly a fast of Mercy. However, do not let deceptive intelligence take over and we complete a meal or a full glass of water–all the while thanking Allah (God) for His gifts! (Smile.) This would most definitely break your fast and the day missed would have to be made up.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has stated,“The Fast of Ramadan, the Discipline of Prayer and Reflection through the reading of the Qur’an at prescribed times during the days is the greatest aid in developing discipline.” Prayer and fasting strengthens our discipline. We must purge the Enemy’s mind and thoughts from ourselves. We fast externally by abstaining from marital relations with our wives and husbands and from eating or drinking any beverages during the daylight hours. We are not only fasting externally (physically) from eating, drinking, and the passions during the daylight hours but we are also fasting internally (spiritually) by staying away from arguing, anger, lewd behavior, gossip, and other negative character traits, while seeking to cultivate the best of ourselves through self-restraint.  Fasting in Arabic is called Sawm, which means “to be still” or “to be motionless” as it relates to a specific activity or desire by practicing restraint.

Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah al-Furqaan, 25:63, “the servants of the Beneficent are they who walk on the earth in humility and when the ignorant address them, they say: Peace.” When someone ignorant comes to you with ignorance, do you respond with the like and become ignorant like that ignorant one? Or do you maintain your stillness, maintain your peace and give to that brother or sister who is in ignorance and turmoil a prayer of Peace? Surely, they are in need of Allah’s Peace to be upon them.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad has stated in How To Eat To Live, “The Muslims do not eat nor drink from before sunrise until she, the Sun, has set. If you take it, the fast of Ramadan with them (the Muslims) you are doing the right thing until this evil world has vanished.”
We are practicing fasting of the eyes by not looking lustfully at the opposite sex. We are practicing fasting of the tongue by controlling ourselves from speaking obscenity. We are even fasting with our feet by not taking ourselves where we should not be. How can we say we are fasting if we are standing in a night club surrounded by temptation and lewdness?

The ear should be fasting. We don’t spend our time listening to music all day with low influences designed to fan the fires of passion and other “pastimes” such as indulging in sport and play.  The Prophet (peace be upon him) has said, “He who does not desist or stop from obscene language and acting obscenely during the period of fasting, Allah has no need that he did not drink or eat.” Every aspect of ourselves should be subjected to the stillness of restraint from engaging in immoral activities as well as activities that are empty or vain.

The Holy Month of Fasting in Ramadan is a secret between the Believer and Allah (God), Most High. For Allah knows best of our fasting; He knows if we are keeping to clean thoughts, the pure actions. He knows whether or not we have cursed our brother or sister out. He knows if we’re sneaking in the refrigerator in the midday. These are aspects of the self that we must eradicate by changing these bad habits of egoism that we all have suffered from.

We are not fasting to lose weight. We’re fasting to lose our egos. If we fast with the right mindset, we are putting aside the basic hungers of life. When we are able to put our hungers aside the Enemy cannot control us through our stomachs and low desires. What beautiful advice we have from the Holy Prophet of Islam in these words, “cultivate within yourself the Attributes of Allah (God).”

Who among us is vying or competing for a level of God-consciousness that would allow us to stand out among people because of our good works toward others as one seeking the path of the Straight and Narrow? Not for the sake of vanity but the pleasure of Allah (God). In a Tradition of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), he was asked by one of his companions, “(What do you say about when) a man does a deed for the sake of Allah, and people love him for it?” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “That is the immediate glad tidings of the Believer.”

In the love of people for a person and his or her good works Allah sends us good news of the reality of our belief. If you are one that people have said, “Oh, that’s a good brother. I can always count on him. That’s a good sister. What a beautiful support to the community that brother is.” Know that reputation you are building with the brotherhood and sisterhood is the confirmation of the same reputation that you’re building with Allah (God), Most High, when our intent is pure.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes in Message to the Blackman in America, pg. 84, Islam “heals both physical and spiritual ills by teaching what to eat, when to eat, what to think, and how to act.” Let us in this Holy Month look into our fasting as a means of cultivating our character by staying away from obscenity and acting ignorantly toward one another. Let us conquer our desires. Let us through righteous works, good deeds, and self-discipline conquer the darkness of self by going to war with the ignorance of self and the ignorance of society in this month.

(Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad is the National Imam of the Nation of Islam and resident Imam of Mosque Maryam National Center, tweet him @ImamSultanM or email him at sultanmuhammad@me.com.)

FROM THE FINAL CALL NEWSPAPER

The Nation of Islam represents hope urban America needsBy Jehron Muhammad | Last updated: Jun 12, 2014 - 4:27:30 PM

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All across the U.S. and abroad, the F.O.I., Muslim men of the Nation of Islam bring positivity and brotherhood.

Harry Belafonte, known as much for his civil rights activism as his singing and acting, spoke to the Associated Press and repeated similar remarks at the NAACP Image Awards, suggested the “voice” of Black leadership is absent from the discussion of gun violence.

“What really concerns me is the ingredients of the discourse,” then 85-year-old Belafonte said.  “Where is that (in the Black) community? Where is that voice? I think the Black community, the Black leadership needs to stir it up.”

Stir it up the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam did long before Mr. Belafonte spoke.

Beginning in the summer of 2012 he personally led the men of the Nation of Islam (Fruit of Islam) into crime ridden and drug infested urban neighborhoods. At the height of this foray into the “streets” of America, the outreach included 109 cities.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at 81-years-old continues to lead by example, in efforts to quell the violence that afflicts so many Black communities.

“Since the founding of the Nation of Islam in the 1930s, crime prevention and rehabilitation have been two of its primary aims,” according to Shaun L. Gabbidon in his 2004 article: “Crime Prevention In The African American Community: Lessons Learned From The Nation of Islam.”

Published by “Souls: A Critical Journal Of Black Politics, Culture, and Society,” Gabbidon wrote: “From reforming street criminals and convicts to its forays into private security and the transformative effects of the Million Man March we can learn much from the numerous efforts by the Nation of Islam to prevent crime in the African American community. With its earliest attempts, the organization cemented an image that it refused to give up on those African Americans at the lowest rungs of society. As such, it was able to show that everyone is salvageable. The formula was simple: Teach individuals about themselves, give them work opportunities, and continue to nourish their development physically, mentally, and spiritually.”

 

Min. Farrakhan, unlike other leaders, and his followers bring to urban America an empathetic ear. The Minister explains reasons why young, so-called hustlers are involved in illegal activity. Their actions are based on survival strategies and not knowing another way, he has said.

 

When the Minister brought the men of the N.O.I. into the ’hood, he brought “a product” that showed there is “another way.”

 

He once said in a discussion the product “we’re advertising” is not fish that the N.O.I. once sold. It’s the “fish (men and women) that was caught by God,” through the teachings of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, “scaled, cleaned (and) sent back into the community that’s dying,” he said.

 

Elijah Muhammad, “the eternal leader of the Nation of Islam,” he said, summed up what the men and women of the Nation, following his example, represented to urban America.

 

Elijah Muhammad, a divine man, once said of himself, that he was like “a piece of junk that God took off of the junk pile and polished up and put back on the junk pile, to show the other pieces of junk what they could become if they allowed him to teach them.”

 

Farrakhan called walks through the streets, the “first venture into the hood,” suggesting he and the Fruit of Islam were just getting started.       

 

During a broadcast last year in the 58-part series “The Time And What Must Be Done,” the Minister spoke of the “pain and hurt of the inner city” residents he spoke with in Chicago neighborhoods. A feeling of hope and possibility would follow if President Obama “came into Chicago and met with those parents that have lost their children,” and then got “in [his] bully pulpit” and “preached to us as one that is truly compassionate,” Min. Farrakhan said.

 

Others, including Rev. Jesse Jackson and Father Michael Plfeger, have asked President Obama respond to the murder rate in Chicago that included the shooting of 15-year-old high school student Hadiya Pendleton, who performed during the president’s second inauguration.

 

Many Chicago residents asked President Obama to show the same empathy to his adopted hometown, and it’s spiraling out of control murder rate, that he showed by his attendance at a memorial service for the slain children of Newtown, Conn.

 

Mr. Obama responded initially through the First Lady, who attended the funeral of young Pendleton, but then came to Chicago himself and used his bully pulpit to highlight Chicago’s unique problems.

Though many gave the president praise for his trip to Chicago, the court is still out on what his coming to the crime- riddled city represented.

 

During the presidential race America’s poor received little or no mention. Race primary was primarily focused on the middle class. This has come to mean to many that since Blacks represent an increasingly disproportionate percentage of the poor in America, they along with poor Whites, have all but been abandoned.

 

“They’re at their wits end with the problem of Black people,” Min. Farrakhan said. And since the government has “no solution,” he said, “God dropped it at our foot.” 

 

Part of the Nation of Islam’s belief involves the Biblical reference to the resurrection of the dead.  Not a physical resurrection, according to “The Muslim Program,” as outlined on the inside back page of every edition of its weekly publication, “The Final Call,” but the mental, social, economic and spiritual resurrection of Black people.

 

Farrakhan says, “Today more than ever, people are more willing to accept the kind of change that makes them moral.” 

 

The octogenarian recounting the 1970s and what led to the N.O.I. becoming a leading seller of frozen fish said, “It was when the men of the Nation (sold fish by) knocking on peoples doors.” He said the selling of fish “endeared the Fruit of Islam and the Nation to them because we brought them a product that they needed.”

 

The Minister asked, “What do they need more?”   “They need the civilizing message of God and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. They need to find the path of love for one another and brotherhood.” If this occurs, he said, “Ninety-five percent of our problems would be solved.”

 

To buttress the N.O.I.’s outreach, Farrakhan has sat down with Christian pastors. He told pastors  the Nation has taken the same Bible they “preach from” and produced upstanding citizens, willing to give back to their community. Many were once called the “dregs of society.” He said to the preachers, “I can show you how to do it, so you can make (these kind of people) in your church and expand.”

 

Why hasn’t the Nation’s program of self-help and social and spiritual uplift been adopted by the wider Black community?

 

According to Gabbidon, “While the success and failures of the organization (N.O.I.) were consistently noted in magazine and newspaper accounts, few social scientists considered its efforts worthy of scholarly examination.”

 

That the Nation’s miraculous work of rehabilitation hasn’t been merged with the wider Black community is something worthy of scholarly research. The fact that the group has been vilified in the press and historically been the subject of negative government activity, like COINTELPRO, means success has come despite opposition—not because of any support or simply allowing the Muslims to act unhindered.

 

According to the January 1993 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, the N.O.I.’s problem, in part stems from how its been perceived by others, notably Whites, which is largely the result of being viewed through the lens of a hostile press.

 

“Thus,” wrote Nicholas Leman, “Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam and a mentor of both Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan, was legendary among blacks as a proponent of traditional values, an opponent of drugs and alcohol, a nurturer of ghetto small businesses, and a savior of habitual criminals, prostitutes, and other hard-core members of the underclass—but he was perceived by the larger world … as a preacher of hatred.”

 

Tougher gun laws, as Obama is advocating and round-the-clock police presence as Chicago’s police superintendent was said to be planning, won’t rid urban America of moral and psychological decay, and the predatory actions of youth trying to survive.

 

Elijah Muhammad once said, don’t condemn a dirty glass, stand a clean glass next to it. The infectious nature of his message and the moral fiber and psychological stability that it instills represents the substance the Black community has hoped for, and the evidence it’s impatiently waiting to see.

 

Jehron Muhammad, who writes for The Final Call from Philadelphia, can be reached at Jehronn@msn.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JehronMuhammad. 

Is torture the American way?

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Assistant Editor- | Last updated: Apr 17, 2014 - 10:13:34 AM

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Whether a ‘war on crime’ a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on terror’ the country’s legacy of dehumanizing torture is being revealed
Related Report: Bringing human rights home to U.S. (FCN, 04-10-2014)

Protesters dressed as Guantanamo detainees march through the streets of Washington, D.C. Photo: Amnesty International

(FinalCall.com) - Torture, extrajudicial killings, unlawful detention, harassment, beatings, sexual assault, and humiliation are universally recognized as human rights abuses.
Typically, China, Iran, North Korea and Cuba are countries named when America’s political leaders discuss nations they believe are guilty of human rights violations.
As the country descends into a more heavily monitored surveillance state, many activists and victims of abuse are raising their voices calling America and her political leaders out  by exposing their hypocrisy and failure to end misdeeds taking place on American soil. In fact, many activists believe America is among the worst offenders.

“The United States of America has a reputation for talking about atrocities in other countries, but what about here in our own back yard? asked Darrell Cannon, a torture survivor, speaking to reporters April 4 prior to a rally and march through downtown Chicago. “Atrocities have been committed right here in Chicago, Illinois by the Chicago police department,” he added.
Is it a human rights violation when one loses family members while in prison for a crime they did not commit? That’s what happened to Mr. Cannon. He vividly remembers the night of November 2, 1983, when he was taken to a dark remote location and a shotgun was forced into his mouth splitting his lip. After being brutally beaten, the officers conducted a mock execution and later used an electric cattle prod to shock his genitals. They were successful in forcing him into a false  confession. As a result, Mr. Cannon was given a sentence of natural life in prison.
He served 24 years, nine of them in Tamms Supermax prison with no external contact. During that time, his mother, grandmother and several other family members died. After decades in jail, evidence of torture involving his case came to light. He was brought back to court and all previous charges were dropped resulting in his release on April 30, 2007.

“We need to take responsibility for what has happened in the past and what is happening now,” Mr. Cannon said. “It is hard to talk about having been tortured in the manner we have, but yet and still, it is a necessity,” he added.

A recent report by the United Nations Human Rights Committee was highly critical of the U.S. in the areas of widespread surveillance, international drone use, and torture.

The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) voted to declassify files related to the secret detention program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) shortly following September 11, 2001.

The Central Intelligence Agency concealed details related to the intensity and severity of its enhanced interrogation methods, overstated terrorism plots and also attributed intelligence gathered from detainees to the efficacy of harsh techniques when in fact, they had already received actionable intelligence prior to enacting those techniques.

Chicago: Abu Ghraib of the Midwest?
Because of its sordid history of abuse, Chicago is called by many the Abu Ghraib of the Midwest.

Former Chicago Police Department Commander Jon Burge, was convicted in June 2011 of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury stemming from comments made during a 2003 civil case. Mr. Burge said he was unaware of any coercive interrogation techniques, physical abuse, or torture of any suspects in the Chicago Police Department’s Area 2 headquarters.

Chicago police torture survivor Anthony Holmes speaks at a April 4 rally Photo: Amnesty International

Evidence proved that Mr. Burge himself as well as others under his command conducted mock executions, used electric shock devices and suffocation on Black men in police custody.
Mr. Burge was fired in 1993, however, he continued to collect his $36,000 a year pension. The city of Chicago has paid out over $20 million in settlements related to this reign of terror and according to G. Flint Taylor of the Chicago-based People’s Law Office, city, county, state and federal taxpayers have already paid more than $100 million during decades of investigating Mr. Burge and his henchmen.

Illinois Congressman Danny Davis seeks to pass the “Law Enforcement Torture Prevention Act” which would criminalize acts of torture committed by police and would eliminate the statute of limitations which allowed Mr. Burge and many others to evade justice in many torture cases.

The fight for justice also includes a reparations ordinance calling for financial compensation, public memorials about the cases, a formal apology, psychological counseling and vocational training for the victims. The ordinance also calls for history lessons regarding this painful period of Chicago’s history to be integrated into the curriculum of the Chicago Public School system.

“Burge abused his power and betrayed the public trust by abusing suspects in his custody, and then by lying under oath to cover up what he and other officers had done,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division back in 2011.

Although former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick J. Fitzgerald, said Cmdr. Burge’s being sentenced to 54 months in prison delivered “a measure of justice,” many victims of torture and their lawyers say more needs to be done.

Attorney Joey Mogul of the People’s Law Office counts many Chicago torture victims as her clients. She says the story is still being written and men still languish behind bars and uncompensated after being viciously tortured.


“We have overwhelming evidence that absolutely establishes beyond any reasonably doubt that is further confirmed by Burge’s conviction that this pattern and practice of racist torture occurred,” said Atty. Mogul. “We are now at the point where we have to ask today, what are we going to do to do right by the torture survivors?”
Atty. Mogul said she is aware of 19 torture victims still behind bars, but realistically, the true number of torture victims may never be known.

Mr. Cannon said he will never forgive those who brutalized him, but he does see justice on the horizon.

“It was a heartbreaking situation that came about, yet justice is beginning to prevail in all of these matters,” said Mr. Cannon. “It is all of our duties to see to it that justice does prevail,” he added.

Anthony Holmes was arrested and tortured in May 1973 directly by Mr. Burge. Mr. Holmes had his hands and ankles handcuffed to an electric shock box and a plastic bag placed over his head. He was repeatedly shocked, suffocated and passed out. Ultimately, he also confessed to a crime he did not commit. He believes the legal system let him and other torture victims down. Yes, many were members of street organizations and had troubled pasts, however, they did not deserve to be brutalized, he noted.

 “After so long I finally got a little justice when I testified against Burge and the way he tortured me,” said Mr. Holmes. “We couldn’t do anything to prevent it. They had a chance to help us but they didn’t because we were from where we were from. I’m not saying all of us were good guys or bad guys, all I’m saying is that we deserve justice just like anybody else,” he added.

What happened to Mr. Cannon and Mr. Holmes occurred decades ago, however, recent protests in Albuquerque, New Mexico show police brutality problems still exist, not to mention the strident demonstrations targeting the New York Police Department’s “Stop and Frisk” policy. Activists say “Stop and Frisk” leads to torture and mass surveillance because it dehumanizes and degrades others, making it easier to deny them human rights.

In the latest example of law enforcement impropriety, an investigation showed  officers within the Los Angeles Police Department tampered with in car audio recording equipment in an effort to evade monitoring. One inspection by investigators found half of the 80 patrol cars in one division were missing antennas. The LAPD has a long history of ethical violations.

In remarks April 10, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels  announced the U.S. Department of Justice found that members of the Albuquerque Police Department in a majority of officer involved shootings resulting in fatalities between the 2009 and 2012 used excessive force in an unconstitutional manner.  Additionally, officers also used their non-lethal options—such as Tasers which discharge 50,000 volts of electric charge—improperly “against people who were passively resisting and non-threatening or who were unable to comply with orders due to their mental state.”

“We found that officers used deadly force against people who did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious harm to officers or others, and against people who posed a threat only to themselves. In fact, sometimes it was the conduct of the officers themselves that heightened the danger and escalated the need to use force,” said Atty. Jocelyn Samuels. “Indeed, we found that encounters between police officers and persons with mental illness or in crisis too frequently resulted in a use of force or a higher level of force than necessary.”

Many reasons have been given for the excessive use of force problems within police department’s across the country. With the increased militarization and urban warfare tactical units being established in cities across America, it is possible many war veterans are trigger happy and may have learned torture methods during their tours of duty abroad. Rogue elements within these police departments may be using what they’ve learned abroad in urban patrol areas, activists said.

A war paradigm
Zeke Johnson, director of Amnesty International USA’s Security and Human Rights program said the problem in the U.S. is the existence of a “war paradigm” leading to overreach by political and military officials.

“The first root cause I think to all this is that the U.S. continues to believe that it is at war with a motley association of armed groups and because it is at war, the government thinks it can deny the application of international human rights law to its counterterrorism efforts,” said Mr. Johnson.

If White Christians had carried out 9/11, there would not have been a torture program nor an indefinite detention program, Mr. Johnson noted.
Lieutenant Colonel Sterling Thomas is defense counsel for Pakistani Ammar al Baluchi, one of the 9/11 defendants being held in Guantanamo Bay.  He was captured in 2003, and has been held in Guantanamo since 2006. Lt. Col. Thomas said his client who  is considered a “high value” was held at a “black site” unable to communicate with family members. A “black site” is a location where an unacknowledged or secret operation or program is conducted, however, recently, the term has gained notoriety describing the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons generally operating outside of U.S. territories or legal jurisdiction.

“As a prosecutor, I’m appalled at many of the things I’ve seen my government do,” said Lt. Col. Thomas who has been assigned to Mr. al-Baluchi’s case since 2012.

He recalled a time when a member of an intelligence agency turned off the audio feed during a hearing simply because they didn’t like what one of the defense attorneys was saying. That is not transparency nor does it demonstrate a commitment to fairness and justice, he said.
“It’s that kind of thing that if we don’t awaken more people to the way this commission is being played out, it will continue,” he said. “You have to wonder, is there really someone on the other side who cares about this being a transparency affair, or is it just lip service?” he asked.


Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of “Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield” and “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army” is an expert on the subject of the American government’s covert operations across the globe and domestic intrusion.

Much of this includes targeting whistleblowers and journalists in order to prevent the next Edward Snowden, said Mr. Scahill.

It is the responsibility of the public and independent media to keep the government and military in check, Scahill said. While journalists are being detained and killed in Yemen, Mexico and Syria, another type of war is aimed at journalists in the U.S. consisting of threats and systematic harassment of journalists and their sources.

“In this country, the war on journalism and journalists comes in a different form. It is not that they are bumping off journalists, it is that they are spying on journalists,” said Mr. Scahill during a recent talk at the Chicago Cultural Center.

“They are tracking metadata of reporters who are going aggressively at the CIA or National Security Agency or aspects of the military or corporations that service the military and the CIA,” said Mr. Scahill. “They are trying to determine, who are we talking to that they don’t want us talking to.”

Lt. Col. Thomas also said there are obstructionist efforts taking place in possible efforts to prevent certain damaging information from being brought to light.
“There is a government policy that is being enacted in how they are dealing with these intelligence community issues—deny, degrade and delay,” he said.

The Guantanamo Bay saga has been going on now for 13 years, and they are still in pre-trial hearings. Not only do those in captivity suffer, but so do the families of those who perished on 9/11, Lt. Col. Thomas said.

“We’re at thirteen years for a reason—because they can’t pull their case together. Because they can’t get their act together. Because they’ve chosen a system that was meant to hide their behavior—torture,” said Lt. Col. Thomas.

According to the “Guantanamo Docket” published and updated regularly by the New York Times, there are 154 currently detained in Guantanamo, however nearly 60 are actually cleared to either be released, or sent back to their countries of origin, but are still being detained for unspecified reasons.

To many, that is why Guantanamo Bay remains the most egregious and pressing human rights offense in the U.S.

Dr. Faten Hassan, lives in New York and is the director of the  American Islamic Committee for Woman and Child. She said her group and others are obligated to protest torture and other human rights abuses no matter where they occur. Unfortunately, abuse of authority by law enforcement officials in Chicago, Albuquerque and New York is no different than what is going on in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Burma and Central Africa.

“We are witnessing the daily saddening events of killing, detention, torture and the violation of all human rights of civilians everywhere,” said Dr. Hassan. “We have to stay, we have to fight, we have to speak up,” she added.

Ethics, Morality and the Struggle for Black Liberation (Part 2)

by William P. Muhammad

“The black bourgeoisie, as we have seen, has created a world of make-believe to shield itself from the harsh economic and social realities of American life.” (E. Franklin Frazier – Black Bourgeoisie, 1957)

***

Dr. E. Franklin Frazier
1894 - 1962 

Among the greatest challenges facing 21st century Black America is the necessity of confronting illusion, of coming to terms with our actual position within American society and, in order to effect real change, to develop a producing rather than consuming culture. Furthermore, by distinguishing between wishful thinking and actual facts, we will only garner control over our economics, and earn a seat at the table as a true equal, when productivity outweighs the unfocused and undisciplined mentality of conspicuous consumption.

Stepping beyond the boundaries of America’s unspoken social contract, however, where the wealth and prosperity of others is often built upon the ignorance of the Black consumer, meaningful change is contingent upon reclaiming the resources and intellect of the Black community. Requiring a complete and total, if not radical, break from America’s racial comfort zone, where Black people are usually rewarded for distancing themselves from their historical narrative, a new ethos based upon land, access to capital, ownership of the means of production and the control of distribution, must replace the concept of social advancement through non-economic liberalism.

This radical change, the claiming of our own resources to benefit, uplift and gain advantages for self, is nothing new or extraordinary when applied to other racial or ethnic communities. Often viewed as an obligation, not only for the purpose of legacy and intergenerational wealth creation, but also toward the concept of nation building as seen among Asian-Americans, Latino-Americans, Jews and other ethnic European-American groupings, building for the sake of self, family and community is the duty of a free and independent people.

In this context, if ethics is defined as being consistent with one’s inner held beliefs and values, and morality, as conformity to a certain group’s norms and ideas, then a Black community that captures its own wealth and resources, for the purpose of taking an equal seat at the table, cannot be faulted for challenging America’s deeply held prejudices while breaking the mold of low expectations.

A new paradigm and its fallout

Has Black America really taken into account the significance of its consumer dollars as it relates to the maintenance of the status quo? Statistics have shown, and many agree, that the collective spending power of Black America, as of 2013, amounts to upwards of $1.1 trillion per year, regardless of the fact that very little of this money circulates back into the Black community.



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Furthermore, when looking at the virtual slavery provided by the prison-industrial complex, the so-called public school-to-prison pipeline and the lack of competition among Black Americans in the global marketplace, it is not difficult to see why those who abide by the philosophy of white supremacy wish to

keep it that way. For example, while Civil Rights activists may argue in favor of a policy that educates Black people at a fraction the $10,000 to $30,000 per year that it costs to incarcerate an individual inmate, the monies spent on imprisonment create more jobs and contracts, within a local economy, than does educating a young Black person who may otherwise compete for those same dollars in the future.

Additionally, by hamstringing the black community’s ability to extract dollars on local, national and international levels, by preventing our people from achieving collective economic independence, America’s ruling elite virtually guarantee the denial of meaningful Black participation in the global economy. More than the mortgaging of a house, the financing of an automobile and the amassing of consumer debt, to provide the illusion of having arrived, true freedom allows for the building of institutions to serve the needs of the Black community and, on an individual level, to bequeath wealth to subsequent generations.

As ideals differ among various groups, the Black community can no longer downplay its self-interests for the sake of going-along-to-get-along. While the ethics of Black liberation may challenge the order of White privilege, it is important to consider how conforming to white supremacy has created an acceptance of an unjust equation.

With code words such as “mainstream,” used for approval and “radical,” used to impugn the legitimacy of new ideas, is it in America’s domestic policy interests to make the Black population consumers rather than producers? If 10 million of America’s 40 million Black people stopped smoking, the tobacco industry would be deprived of billions of dollars. Similarly, if the same number stopped drinking, the alcohol industry would be deprived of billions of dollars. With just the example of alcohol and tobacco, who benefits from promoting toxic substances as something cool or sophisticated?

The falsehood of illusion has a powerful impact upon the psyche, and the need to project the image of belonging diverts billions of dollars away from true wealth creation and the freedom it represents. By making changes in our daily habits, not only is the lifestyle of death and non-productivity replaced by an ethos of life, but the emergence of a new morality would also prioritize vision and sacrifice over consumerism and short term gratification. The time for change is now, and we should no longer be in doubt about what must be done to secure our future as a people.

Ethics, Morality and the Struggle for Black Liberation

by William P. Muhammad

"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity." - W.E.B. DuBois.“The Souls of Black Folk,” 1903).

***

From the day of our forefather’s emancipation from physical slavery, much has been said and discussed over what to do about the so-called “Negro problem” in America. Like the Biblical and Qur’anic stories regarding the Children of Israel, and their relationship with the Egyptian Pharaoh, fear over Black interests diverging from White interests has occupied much of the thinking, policy making and social agendas of America’s ruling elite.  



Starting with overt strategies such as segregation and restricted access to resources, for decades, Black Americans toiled under a no-win situation, forcing many to flee to other locations for opportunity, relief or safety. Only to be received by a more sophisticated form of oppression, two seemingly opposed mindsets emerged in Black America by the late 1960s: one that fought for inclusion within a system hostile to a Black presence, and the other, a struggle for nationhood and independence through various ideologies ranging from the religious to the secular. 

As White Americans wielded the right to define through the educational system, public and private  policies focused attention on conformity, non-conformity, personal values, and the lack thereof; and shortly thereafter, new social norms were promoted from the highest levels of government. Designed to maintain White control over the culture, politics and economy of the United States, policies soon clashed across generational, gender and racial lines sparking the so-called counter-culture movement.  Regarding the destiny of Black America, however, under the pretext of ethics and morals, the right to define our own direction and interests was hampered by internal conflicts stoked by external meddling.

Reclaiming our stolen Birthright

Morality is often described as a set of standards that are generally accepted as right or proper, but what is left out of this definition is the statement: “right or proper according to whom?”  If morality is defined by the White elite, then conformity to their interests makes Black groups, organizations or individuals acceptable to what is proper and right in their view. However, in the struggle to define self, while pursuing a destiny independent of White boundaries and limitations, the aforementioned will be labeled immoral according to their resistance and opposition.

Regarding ethics, commonly defined as conformity to one’s own personal values or belief system, choice offers individuals the opportunity to either agree or disagree with national or international agendas undermining Black progress. If Black leadership conforms to White supremacy, while publicly or privately disagreeing with it, he or she is being moral within its purview but unethical toward self and the Black community. When such people compromise their principles for favor, or nearness to power, unethical Black leaders subsequently enable those who use them to continue harmful policies. 

As the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea to enter into the Promised Land, it was division, doubt and suspicion of leadership that caused them to wander in the wilderness for an additional 40 years. Today, Black American leadership must be bold and courageous, not only to see through a sophisticated tangle of competing agendas and deceit, but also to offer clear guidance in reclaiming a 400-year-old stolen legacy. If Black leaders see the value of remaining true to their originally stated beliefs and ideas, they will be negatively labeled by the world of White supremacy, but if these same leaders become apologists for oppression, they are no better than those to whom they have submitted.  

In order to reclaim our birthright, the concept of nationhood and independence can be neither ignored nor dismissed. As free and independent people do, uniting, pooling resources and working toward building a reality for themselves and their children, it is of paramount importance to take a principled stand.  Resisting conformity to the ways of this world, while remaining true to the ushering in of a new one, is not without precedence, and whether we decide to rise to the occasion or not, we cannot escape the overall condition of our people.

The double-consciousness W.E.B. DuBois described 110 years ago is not a phenomenon, it is only the manifestation of stress in a people forced to conform to a reality that is not in their best interest. Hopefully, as we come into a higher awareness of our true position within American society, Black people will understand “the time and what must be done” and that worrying more about what others think is not as important as what we think and what we do for ourselves. 

Overcoming Black Complacency in an Hour of Crisis

by William P. Muhammad

“Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer.” (Proverbs 29:17-19 King James version)

In American society, there is a commonly held belief that learning the lessons of history will prevent past mistakes from reoccurring. Likewise, an adage that defines insanity as continuing a given behavior, while expecting an altogether different result, gives credence to those advocating alternative solutions beyond the narrative of obsolete ideas.

Seeming to rest upon the laurels of the 1950s and 60s, traditional Civil Rights leadership, in the name of access and inclusion, is today focusing more upon selling partisan loyalties than on promoting an unapologetic Black agenda. Within the context of America’s various Black communities, the common denominator of substandard education, unacceptable incarceration rates and high unemployment reveals not only the failure of “non-economic liberalism,” but also the failures of a movement that for too long has relied upon corporate patronage, political favoritism and the diluting of Black agendas in order to secure acceptance and approval.

Furthermore, in this compromising of Black interests, as a means for admittance into the so-called mainstream establishment, Black America’s collective well being is unfortunately being harmed. By rewarding the few, at the expense of the many, and contingent upon a political climate that changes every four to eight years, the relevance of ideas, programs and solutions, accepted and rewarded by government and philanthropic organizations, is limited. Clearly requiring a new direction and perspective, the current Civil Rights paradigm, which demands jobs and justice over independence and land ownership, undermines the concept of meaningful participation in a global market-oriented economy.

For instance, when comparing Black Americans to the collective economic progress of relative newcomers, it goes without saying that within one or two generations, many immigrant communities are reflecting a greater level of freedom and productivity. Although the hamstringing of Black economic advancement has been well documented since Post-Reconstruction, the fact remains that 21st century obstacles are more psychological in nature than they are of physical obstruction.

Subsequently creating a so-called permanent underclass, the decimation of Black communities through disenfranchisement laws, poor public education and an overabundance of political posturing, the system, to which Civil Rights leadership has tied itself, is cruelly indifferent to the plight of the Black masses. While the rural and urban poor are under no illusions regarding the limitations inherent to such an arrangement, regardless of well meaning intentions, Civil Rights leaders must reassess their agendas, reflect upon proven and workable solutions and leave egos at the door.

Considering the “Economic Blueprint,” long advocated by the Nation of Islam, as one model for positive change, the issue of poverty and want could be addressed within a relatively short period of time. Incorporating a holistic approach starting with teaching Black people the knowledge of self, the importance of unity and the value of pooling resources, if only one percent of the $1.1 trillion Blacks spend annually were harnessed, a renaissance of wealth, consciousness and productivity could be the result. Having an impact reaching far beyond the borders of the United States, once adopted, the “do-for-self” model would not only elevate Black America in the eyes of the world, but it would also do a great service in redeeming a flawed American society.

Unity is the key to Black America’s relevance and prosperity and our failure to “consider the time and what must be done” will lead to an unfortunate loss. With the simple elimination of alcohol, tobacco and other unhealthy habits, the dollars needed to make such an endeavor possible could be achieved with minimal sacrifice.

By capturing only $10 billion dollars annually, urban factories could be repurchased, thousands of acres of farmland could be acquired, healthcare facilities and new schools could be built and the Black community could enter into international trade and commerce for the good our ourselves, our families and our people. Such a vision is not a pipedream; the model was actually carried into practice and proven to be successful by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and studied by both advocates and detractors alike.

If we are to defeat the complacency that is hindering Black America’s progress, then it is time to consider a program with a proven track record. Whether you are Muslim, Christian or Hebrew, if you are Black, you cannot escape the overall image and condition of our people. The time for action is now and the world is definitely watching.

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