From The Final Call Newspaper

The Louis Farrakhan- Alex Jones Interview: A Search For Truth And Opening A Dialogue?

By Richard B. Muhammad - Editor | Last updated: Jan 21, 2016 - 11:43:16 AM

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• Watch Minister Farrakhan's Full Interview with Alex Jones

Min. Farrakhan and Alex Jones at the Minister’s home in Phoenix. Photo: Richard B. Muhammad

PHOENIX—When a message needs to reach an audience, the basic question is what vehicle can carry the message? When the messenger is the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the audience is White America, the audience desired and vehicle chosen might at first seem strange.


But with Americans dissatisfied with government, rising racial hostility, simmering anger, fear and rising conservatism, what’s needed is a microphone manned by someone who taps that audience.

And in that equation, Alex Jones of infowars.com becomes perhaps a proper vehicle. Often called America’s leading conspiracy theorist and a self-described Libertarian, Mr. Jones speaks to millions each week and is seen by many Whites as an alternative to mainstream media and someone who speaks his mind—whether others agree or not.

Last year Mr. Jones put out a video asking questions about statements attributed to Min. Farrakhan following a speech in Miami and asking for an interview. Passionately speaking Min. Farrakhan had declared that if the federal government would not intercede as Blacks are slaughtered in the streets, Blacks would eventually be forced to stalk and kill their murderers.

Right-wing and other media went insane declaring that Minister Farrakhan had called for 10,000 Blacks to stalk and kill White people.

Months after the request and almost four months after the highly successful Justice Or Else! gathering in Washington, D.C., which some estimates say drew 800,000 to 1.5 million people to the National Mall, the Minister and Mr. Jones sat down for a 90-minute interview and opened a dialogue.

When Mr. Jones asked why he agreed to the interview, the Minister explained there is value to “the idea of dialogue, truthful dialogue, that gets us past the media manipulation of persons, events, and the truths of persons and events.”

“I’ve been talking to Black people for 60 or more years and Black people understand me pretty well. But White people don’t know me and may not understand me,” he said. “Now, Black people I know because I’m Black and I come up from among my people. But to have a chance now to speak to a White audience, mainly who may be conservative in their culture, thoughts and desires, and for me to be able to represent the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to that group and answer questions that they are interested in hearing a truthful answer to.”

In the highly respectful exchange between Mr. Jones and Min. Farrakhan, prompted by questions from the interviewer, the subjects of conspiracy, the shadow government ruling America, the country’s future, God’s special desire and plan to use Black people to build a new reality, abortion, U.S. policy in the Middle East, presidential politics and Donald Trump and God’s judgement against America were some of the topics covered.

“We’re two people that live in the greatest nation on this earth but the nation is not now what it could be if truth unfettered would be given to the American people and perhaps through this dialogue that might happen,” said Min. Farrakhan early in the interview Jan. 4 at the home of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in Phoenix.

Alex Jones, host of infowars.com, sits with Min. Farrakhan. Photo: Richard B. Muhammad

The interview was fraught with warnings about the tenor of American politics and how if it degenerates it diminishes America’s stature, and a clear warning from the Minister that no political hopeful will be successful unless the candidate deals forthrightly with justice for Blacks in America and the indigenous people of this nation.


“The one thing that’s missing in the dialogue, even with Mr. Trump, nobody’s talking about the future of Black people, the future of the Indigenous, the Native Americans. This country, the original sin of America, is the destruction over 120 million native people,” said Min. Farrakhan.

“Millions of us were brought out of Africa, not to be citizens but to be made burden bearers of the real citizens. So our sweat and our blood made America rich so that immigrants could come over and find the American dream on our nightmare.

“So if Mr. Trump, and I believe he’s bold enough, if he knew how much God is interested in the future of Black people; not that (God’s) not interested in the future of ‘all people,’ but he’s interested in the future of Black people for this reason. … Black people, no matter what we have suffered up to this very moment, we have never been spies for any foreign government against America. We have never risen up as a force against the tyranny that has been imposed on us by our government. We have fought in every war from the Revolutionary War all the way up to the last war that there was in the Gulf.

“We have a heart, Mr. Jones, of forgiveness. A heart that today we can love those who have done us so much evil. So God wants to use us,” he said.

But Min. Farrakhan added, citing the words of his teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, America is under divine judgment wracked by unusual weather destroying lives and property. The United States is reaping what she has sown for the murder and oppression of Blacks and the indigenous people and God himself is punishing America, he said.

The weather will continue to get worse and this is a dangerous time, the Minister added.
Then there was discussion of the impact of U.S. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, which could bring America to total destruction by triggering a final global war if a “President Trump” decides to engage in “thuggish” behavior and take Iraq’s oil as promised in campaign speeches or if America goes toe-to-toe with ISIS.

“It’s a horrible war that my teacher taught us of and I got to say my teacher again is the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. I believe him to be a messenger of God. I believe that God raised him as a warner to America,” said Min. Farrakhan.

Stealing resources and Middle East regime change are right out of the playbook of the neo-cons who surrounded President G.W. Bush and almost brought the country to ruin and neo-cons who surround President Obama as a conflict between U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and U.S. opponent Iran simmers, he said. “This thing is leading to great war now and America, ISIS says, ‘come on over.’ And America says, ‘We got to put boots on the ground.’ No, you’ll put boots under the ground if you’re foolish to jump into that fray. Because the number one tyrant is not Russia, the number one tyrant is right here. So everything is moving to bring this house down and what’s happening is it’s coming down from within like ancient Rome and Babylon but war will bring it to an end,” warned Min. Farrakhan.

The Minister agreed with Mr. Jones that an evil and powerful minority is trying to drive humanity to the brink, regardless of race or religion and looks to create, foment, exploit and benefit from conflict and strife. These “globalists” are only loyal to themselves and have people fighting one another while they claim everything, argued Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones has major detractors for criticism of the Black Lives Matter Movement and when a heavily armed group of Whites came to Ferguson, Mo., last summer, some carrying AR-15 rifles, they said they came to protect an infowars.com reporter. Many also take exception to Mr. Jones vehement attacks on President Obama and accuse him of right-wing racism. Some feel content he airs stirs the racial pot.

Mr. Jones insisted the only racism he has seen expressed against Blacks has come from liberals and Whites and Blacks in politics who don’t want the Black masses.

“And if you want to know where the White devils are, Minister Louis Farrakhan, I can tell you right now they run the Democratic Party, 100 percent, and they’ve got Black people in their web murdering your people and they love it and they think that people don’t see them. Well, I see them I know who they are and I don’t care what color a baby is. My soul won’t allow me to hate somebody because of what color they are because I know I’ll be destroyed if I ever go that direction. And so that’s why I stand and that’s why I wanted to have this meeting with you because you already tell people a lot of great things; and I know you reach tens of millions,” said Mr. Jones.

He asked the Minister if it was possible to overcome the “tribal” differences that seem to dominate humanity.

“I see myself subconsciously using race, using race, using Balkanization, even when I cover it because even though I’m a truthful person, my flesh likes it and wants to do it. And I see Black people doing the same thing and every other group and all the folks that have come together. People that are against those that aren’t obsessed with video games or people that are against those that aren’t into sports, whatever,” he said. “All these divisions, how do we beat that? How do we not play down that destructive road?”

“First of all, we have to understand nature. God says in the Qur’an, ‘I created you into tribes and families that you may know one another.’ Well, your tribe is not my tribe but if I do not have enough sense to be to my tribe a person that would suffice the needs of my tribe, then I’m not being true to who I am; but I’m called on to grow. And it’s in the process of growth where we have fallen down,” Min. Farrakhan explained.

“So now I have to look out for Black people. I mean that’s my love but that’s not all that there is to me because I have grown and I love humanity now; but if I’m not true to my own people and their needs, you cannot trust me to be true to you. So the first thing Jesus said, the greatest law, ‘Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength,’ and the second one is like unto that, ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ In America, we have never been taught to love us,” the Minister said.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Min. Farrakhan: More suffering, greater divine chastisement in 2016

By Richard B. Muhammad - Editor | Last updated: Jan 12, 2016 - 11:40:17 AM



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(L) Cheryl Turek, of Nevada, Texas, right, hugs Evelyn Lindstrom in front of Lindstrom's destroyed home in Copeville, Texas, after heavy rain, high winds and tornados swept through North Texas the previous night, on Dec. 27, 2015. (R) Volunteers help residents clear debris from their damaged homes on Trishia Lane, Jan. 2, in Glenn Heights, Texas. At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in the tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area, Dec. 26, 2015.


PHOENIX—In an exclusive interview, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan dealt with events from 2015, their implications for 2016 and offered words of guidance on how to navigate perilous times. Among his subjects were the Obama administration, growing unrest around the globe, the Justice Or Else! march and movement, God’s judgement against America, and the 2016 presidential election and candidates.

While there have been failures to indict police officers in the deaths of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Sandra Bland in Texas and other deaths that have fed the Black Lives Matter Movement, divine retribution is striking America, said Min. Farrakhan in an interview with Final Call editor Richard B. Muhammad from the home of the Nation of Islam’s patriarch, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, in the valley of the sun.

Last year was the worst on record for severe weather and 2016 started similarly, the Minister noted. These serious weather events—unusual rain and flooding, fires on the West Coast, tornadoes, earthquakes, mudslides—are a divine “whipping” America has earned mainly for her enslavement of Blacks and the destruction of the Native peoples, he said.

As the Hon. Elijah Muhammad taught for 40 years, America must reap the consequences for her evils and the weather is God’s weapon against the enemies of a people, Blacks and Native Americans, that God has chosen for his own, the Minister stressed. The Jan. 6 interview was nearly an hour-long.
Increased mistreatment and killing of Blacks, as their cries for justice fall on deaf ears, is to force Black people to consider and accept what God wants, which is their separation from White America, Min. Farrakhan said. The weather will get worse and mistreatment will worsen in 2016, he said.

“We have to gird up our loins and come closer in unity with God, with the truth and with each other and we have to be busy now doing that which will prepare us for the long road to justice and the land of our own,” said Min. Farrakhan.

The 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, held October 10, 2015, was inspired by Elijah Muhammad’s words and is “the beginning of a long road to justice,” he said.

The theme, “Justice Or Else!,” frightened many, in particular some older people, but drew young people to the Nation’s Capital with numbers estimated between 800,000 to 1.5 million people. The real “Or Else!” is God Himself, as foretold of in Biblical scripture, the Minister said.

The anger all over the earth spoken of in Revelations in the Bible is playing out today—from concern over North Korea’s reported detonation of a hydrogen bomb to rising conflict between Saudi Arabia, and some allies, and the Islamic Republic of Iran—and beyond, he pointed out.
The Saudi-Iran conflict could bathe the region in blood, warned Min. Farrakhan.
Anger is rising globally as “the masses cry for justice and real change so revolution is building everywhere,” he explained.



Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the U.S. and Israeli flags during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, Iran, to protest the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, seen in posters, Jan. 3. Saudi Arabia announced the execution of al-Nimr on Jan. 5 along with 46 others. Al-Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012, and his execution drew condemnation from Shiites across the region. Photo: AP/Wide World photos

While time and dispassionate analysts will assess the Obama presidency and assign a place in history, the tenure of America’s first Black president started with much hope but was sidetracked by advisors tied to the status quo and a shadow government that wields real power, said Min. Farrakhan.

But, he continued, “I would not want to be pharaoh at the time of the fall of Egypt.” America fits the prophetic description of Egypt contained in scripture and Blacks fit the prophetic picture of the children of Israel. Those who selected the president before his election knew his brilliance and goodness but primarily wanted to deceive Blacks into thinking there is a place for them inside America, commented Min. Farrakhan. The president inspired hope for change at home and aboard coming into office and reaching out to the Muslim world with an important speech in Egypt and was welcomed in Germany and Europe following a loss in confidence in America as President Bush left office, he noted.

But with America on the brink of economic collapse, the president was surrounded by some of the Wall St. bankers and others who wrecked the U.S. economy and after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize continued the neo-conservative plan for regime change in the Middle East and perpetual war has followed, said Min. Farrakhan.

“He ignited the hope of the whole world in a change that they and we would believe in. But I don’t think our brother really understood the shadow government that manipulates the elected government,” he said. But the Minister said, the political ascension of Barack Obama showed Black, Native American and Latino children they could be world rulers and more than just highly paid athletes.

The plight of Blacks and America’s indigenous people has been missing from discourse and focus in the 2016 presidential election, said Min. Farrakhan. That omission doesn’t bode well for the country, he warned.



People stand by after a rollover accident along Interstate 25 northbound just south of Albuquerque, N.M., Dec. 26, 2015. A flurry of snow began to blanket Albuquerque, Santa Fe and other cities amid warnings of a record-setting blizzard being on the horizon. Photos: AP/Wide World photos

“The wrath of God that has entered America is not just because of what America has done to others, which is much. But it’s what America has done to Black people and Native people and God has chosen us out of the furnace of affliction to be his people. And if we are not considered none of them can save America from the wrath of God,” said the Minister.

“If any of these candidates would even consider separation, God would show them you are on the right course to save America from his wrath. But until you think about us and put justice for us in the equation your suffering will intensify on a greater level in 2016 and 2017 may bring the end of you, America, as a power, completely in the world.”

Black America must also stop trying to force itself on Whites and make Black neighborhoods decent places to live, the Minister said. Blacks live as a colonized people with police officers deployed as an occupying army to maintain control, not a force designed to preserve and protect, he said.

But, the Minister said, once Black neighborhoods are cleaned up, White officers don’t need to be deployed, Black people will be able to police themselves and young people can be properly trained to do that. Police training isn’t the problem; it is how officers treat Black people and retraining won’t solve the problem, Min. Farrakhan said.

Saviours’ Day 2016, the annual Nation of Islam convention, will be in Detroit and the Minister invited those ready to work to participate. His February keynote address will deal with “Divine Instructions and Commands” for 2016 and using the wisdom of God to make Black communities safe, clean and decent.

Those ready to do the real work of cleaning up our community meet me in Detroit, bring your scholarship and your desires, “for this may very well be my last Saviours’ Day among you,” Min. Farrakhan said.

From The Final Call Newspaper

A look back at Obama in 2015 and what’s ahead in 2016

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Editor- | Last updated: Jan 5, 2016 - 3:17:32 PM

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama join hands with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. As they lead the walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches, in Selma, Ala., March 7. Photo: Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

WASHINGTON - Despite a long list of major political victories in 2015—normalizing relations with Cuba, the Iran nuclear agreement, the international climate change protocol agreements; and domestically defending Obamacare and turning around the failing economy—many “friends” feel President Barack Obama’s performance last year was mediocre.

resident Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and First Lady Akie Abe depart the State Arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, April 28, 2015. Photo: Official White House Photo/ David Lienemann

And as the first Black president enters his final year in office, many are unsure of what will happen, except that the GOP will continue its rabid opposition and that on the way out, presidents typically speak more boldly on some issues.

For his own part however, after seven years of brushing aside complaints from his staunchest supporters that race-hatred may be at the root of some of his most ardent opponents, Mr. Obama now admits that some of the most deep-seated hostility to his presidency and his policies is rooted in racial bias deep in the heart of the Republican Party.

“No politician, I think, aspires to 100 percent approval ratings,” the President told NPR’s Steven Inskeep in an interview which aired on Dec. 21. Mr. Obama was asked if he understood why some Americans are fearful about the direction in which he has led the country.


(Top Photo) President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden hold a multilateral meeting with West African leaders regarding Ebola, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, April 15, 2015. Seated across from the President, from left, are President Alpha Conde of Guinea; Amara Konneh, Minister of Finance, Liberia; President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; Julia Duncan Cassell, Minister of Gender and Development, Liberia and President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone. (Bottom Photo) President Barack Obama meets with My Brother’s Keeper mentees during lunch in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Feb. 27, 2015.

“If you are referring to specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I’m different, I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country, etc., which unfortunately is pretty far out there and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party, and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials, what I’d say there is that that’s probably pretty specific to me and who I am and my background, and that in some ways I may represent change that worries them.”
Mr. Obama accused Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump of exploiting anger and fear over economic insecurities among working class White men to propel his presidential campaign. “There’s going to be the potential for anger, frustration, fear—some of it justified but just misdirected. I think somebody like Mr. Trump’s taking advantage of that. That’s what he’s been exploiting during the course of his campaign.”

The very successes of the first Black president over the span of his first seven years in office may be the source of even more frustration for right-wingers and race haters. “That’s part of the American experience,” Mr. Obama said. “Pick any decade and this question’s been wrestled with. This has been true since the founding.”

The perception of Mr. Obama’s performance is also compounded among Black observers because he’s never been the openly “Brother President.” It’s very difficult to grade him, “because President Obama is merely the chairman of the board of the executive committee of the U.S. ruling elite,” Dr. Gerald Horne, who holds the Moore’s chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, told The Final Call.

“Anyone who’s chaired a meeting knows, you either express the will of the body or you resign, or you’re ousted. So it’s difficult to evaluate President Obama, apart from an evaluation of the ultimate rulers of the United States of America.”



(Top Photo) President Barack Obama participates in a counterterrorism threat briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., Dec. 17. (Bottom Photo) President Barack Obama tours the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Arlington, Va., Jan. 13, 2015. He is accompanied by Dr. Phyllis Schneck, Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity & Communications, and Brig. Gen. Greg Touhill, (Ret.), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity Operations and Programs. Photos: Official White House Photo/Pete Souza

Dr. Wilmer Leon, a political scientist and host of “Inside the Issues,” heard on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio agrees. “For 2015, I guess, I’d give him a ‘B,’ overall I’d give him a ‘C-plus’ up through this point of his administration,” Dr. Leon told The Final Call.

However, “if I were evaluating him strictly as an African American and looking at the needs of the African American community, the grades would be much different. I’ve had to recalibrate my assessment, because he’s the president of the United States, he’s a functionary of the United States government.”

Despite the obstacles in his path from a unified Republican opposition which set out from Inauguration Day 2009 to cause this president to fail, Mr. Obama was able to notch several victories. “He got substantive things done that were very heavy lifts and very much in opposition to conservative interests,” Dr. Leon continued, “one being the deal with Cuba where he has reopened the embassy with Cuba. He is in the process of normalizing relations with Cuba. I think the Iran nuclear deal is another very, very big accomplishment.

“The reason I think those things are significant is because there was and there continues to be incredible opposition from conservatives, from the Republican Party. He did something he normally doesn’t do, which is (to) stand tough against opposition, articulate clearly why what he’s trying to accomplish is important and in spite of those headwinds, he leaned into those headwinds and got it done.”

Progressive analysts universally praise the normalization with Cuba and the Iran nuclear deal, even when they have nothing else good to say about the Obama presidency. “There have been some extremely positive developments from the Obama administration, and that is the Iran nuclear deal and the Cuba opening,” Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink Voices for Peace said in an interview. “These were both done despite tremendous opposition, especially around Iran, and Obama pushed forward, so on that I think we should be very thankful.”

“I would rate him highly with regard to his approach to Cuba,” said Dr. Horne, “and with regard to the nuclear deal with Iran; with regard to climate change which is one of the most pressing issues on planet earth right now. So, overall, I would give him a mixed evaluation.”
Veteran political analyst and statistician Dr. David Bositis had mostly good things to say if he had to evaluate the Obama presidency. “Pretty good grades, a lot of positive things this year,” Dr. Bositis told The Final Call. “The agreement with Iran, the opening up with Cuba. The economy still has some problems, but on the other hand it is continuing to grow.

“The unemployment rate is going down. Starting on January 1st there will be a lot of increases in the minimum wage. There’s been a lot of discussion and a lot of movement, which Obama has been a part of adjusting the criminal justice process. The climate change agreement was a big deal. So there have been a lot of positive things,” said Dr. Bositis.


(Top Photo) President Barack Obama shakes hands with President Raúl Castro of Cuba during the Summit of the Americas at the Atlapa Convention Center in Panama City, Panama, April 11, 2015. (Bottom Photo) President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk with King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia at Erga Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 27, 2015.

“Also, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and people who were formerly uninsured are continuing to get insurance. He was able to withstand court challenges to the Affordable Care Act,” Dr. Leon added.

But with the rise of fear in Washington and other Western capitals over barbaric acts committed in the name of the Islamic State—or ISIS, or ISIL, of Da’esh—Mr. Obama’s approval ratings have descended quickly.

“Oh, I would grade him as a ‘C-minus,’ particularly because I focus a lot on foreign policy issues,” said Ms. Benjamin, “and we’re still at war, perpetually. His whole administration has been war after war, and now we’re getting deeper into the wars he was supposed to have gotten us out of.”

But instead of succumbing to right-wing rhetoric which seeks a U.S. military solution to each and every international crisis, Mr. Obama should follow another course, according to Ms. Benjamin. “I wish we would maybe use Jeremy Corbin, the head of the Labor Party in the U.K. as our barometer for what a good politician’s position would be.

“He has constantly been of the opinion that the presence of foreign troops in the Middle East is a cause of continued violence, and there will never be an end to the wars as long as foreign military presence exists. So, if you look at the Obama administration’s record: he said he was going to get us out of Afghanistan, and then decided ‘No, can’t leave there, 10,000 remaining troops; he’s been fighting a war with Pakistan, low-key with drones; Libya war has been a disaster, absolute chaos there; Yemen, one (conflict) he said was a good example of U.S. military involvement, now, not only is there al-Qaeda, and ISIS in Yemen, but the good friend of ours, Saudis, are creating a humanitarian disaster in the whole country; Somalia seems to be a disaster with U.S. intervention; Iraq, well you know, who needs to talk about that; so that we destroyed that country; and then Syria; so, seven countries that Obama’s administration has been involved in militarily, and all (are) in terrible shape,” she said.

The Middle East quagmire is not going to be solved soon by any U.S. political leader, according to Dr. Bositis. “There is ISIS, but the fact of the matter is that (neither) Obama, nor any other political leader is going to control what happens in the short term, in Syria. It will eventually play itself out. It’s looking more and more like all the parties are getting bled.

“Obama was elected and promised when he was elected, that he was not going to be George Bush,” Dr. Bositis continued. “And so, by and large, he’s fulfilled that promise of not being George Bush. He’s raised taxes on the wealthy. Under his watch, the economy has clearly turned around from being the catastrophe it was in the spring of 2009 to where it is now.

“From initial missteps on foreign policy matters, I think on balance, he’s been more of a plus than he’s been a minus. We can point to a number of things that he’s done that have been positive things,” he continued. “Remember, ever since Obama was elected president, the Republicans have opposed everything he has wanted to do. They have not supported him. Listen to the Republican candidates, what’s wrong with the United States, what’s wrong with the world, it’s Barack Obama,” they say.

It appears that Mr. Obama’s last year in office will be a trying time. “It appears as though 2016, with the rise of quote-unquote ‘terrorism’ he could very well get consumed with what’s happening in Syria,” according to Dr. Leon, “what’s happening in Mali and some of the other African countries, not to mention this increase in domestic terrorism, so he could very well be consumed by terrorism in 2016.”

“I think Obama’s a reluctant warrior,” said Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin. “I think he doesn’t have the strength to really come out forcefully and say that the crisis in the Middle East dates back to the illegal mobilization of Iraq; that getting the U.S. military out of the Middle East is the best thing that can be done; that we need to put pressure on our ally Turkey to stop the recruits, and the money and the oil going back and forth to ISIS; and put pressure on our friends the Saudis—and I would say cut those friendly Saudi ties—so that we can actually move toward a policy in the Middle East where we’re not hypocrites, supporting the very country, Saudi Arabia that’s the source of so much of this extremism. “Will he do that? Unfortunately not.”

“There are always things that could happen that are unexpected,” Dr. Bositis predicted. “A war breaks out someplace, or something major breaks out someplace. A member of the Supreme Court retires or dies, there are things that could come up that we don’t know right now that are going to happen or not.

“In terms of his overall agenda, by the time a president gets into his eighth year, he’s not going to be undertaking any real new or major initiatives,” Dr. Bositis said. “My guess is he’s going to be defending, whether vetoing bills or encouraging others to support those positions.

“I think he’ll continue to talk out about the criminal justice system. I think he’ll continue to talk about voting rights and some of the problems that happen with voting rights. I also suspect in terms of the bully pulpit, he’ll be a little bit less constrained in his last year in terms of talking about some of the things that have been important to him, but in terms of any big new initiatives, I don’t see that happening. On the other hand, like I said, things can happen. In terms of his reacting to the things that happen, that’s another story since we don’t know what those things might be.”

The president’s final year in office may be dictated by the behavior of his Republican opponents, and the political process to choose his successor. Indeed, the so-called “Trump factor” in the 2016 campaign has breathed new life into the Ku Klux Klan, according to published reports.

In fact, a recent TIME magazine article said Mr. Trump’s words have been used as an “outreach tool” for KKK recruiters.
Indeed, the same rhetoric that frightens Mr. Trump’s critics draws praise from supporters such as former Louisiana politician and KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.

Mr. Duke told The Washington Post that while he has not officially endorsed Mr. Trump, he considers the candidate to be the “best of the lot” at the moment. “I think a lot of what he says resonates with me,” Mr. Duke said.

“The ultimate answer is, if this right wing cabal is to be confronted, you have to have leadership capable of mobilizing constituencies against it,” said Dr. Horne, “and President Obama has not done that. Now once again you could say he has not done that because he was apprehensive about how the right wing cabal would respond to our mobilization. After all, in previous decades they plunged the nation into Civil War, leading to the slaughter of thousands when they saw it being mobilized.”

So, what to expect from the White House in 2016 “is a very difficult question to answer,” Dr. Horne concluded.

“Well, one can only hope. One can hope that given the fact that he has only 12 months left in his term, and given the fact that there is a tendency as the example of Jimmy Carter suggests, for U.S. presidents to become more progressive once they are losing the reins of power.

“So one can hope that he will move in a more progressive direction in 2016, but the problem is of course, once again this right wing rebellion from the White grassroots, as symbolized by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. It’s a very dangerous phenomenon. It does not bode well. One of the things we know thus far about President Obama, is that not only he, but many of the liberals that back him, are very reluctant to take head-on this White-right. And that does not bode well, even after Obama leaves office.”

From The Final Call Newspaper

A year of anger, activism and action

By Starla Muhammad and Charlene Muhammad -Final Call Staffers- | Last updated: Dec 29, 2015 - 3:19:55 PM

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The Final Call examines what 2015 meant for Black America and what new year may bring

After a year of young people leading angry street protests in response to disturbing deaths of Blacks in police custody and mistreatment of  Blacks by law enforcement and the courts, 2016 will likely bring more resistance as activists vow to continue battling social and economic injustice and racism.

If  2015 is any indication, more direct action is coming as the country heads into a new year and the last term of its first Black president, analysts said.
In unemployment, housing, education, wealth and health, Blacks continued languishing behind Whites. Increased racial tension and White backlash manifested itself through targeted opposition to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, roadblocks to voter registration, discrimination on college campuses and violence, including the slaughter of nine Black parishioners at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. by a White gunman.

Dylann Storm Roof, the suspected gunman, ascribed to Neo-Nazi and White Supremacist ideals and was charged with murder for the June 17 massacre. His trial on nine murder counts among other charges is slated for July 2016. He was also charged with federal hate crimes.
Seemingly every week videos of police killing or abusing Black men and women made headlines. Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald, Mario Woods and Freddie Gray joined almost countless others who died at the hands of police or while in police custody. Their deaths not only brought to light the abuse and injustices by law enforcement that Black communities have cried out about for decades, but these cases fueled activists who demanded justice for victims of what many labeled “state sanctioned violence.”

“Black people were more likely to be killed by America’s largest city police departments: Police departments disproportionately killed Black people, who were 41 percent of victims despite being only 20 percent of the population living in these cities.

Forty-one of the 60 police departments disproportionately killed Black people relative to the population of Black people in their jurisdiction. Fourteen police departments killed Black people exclusively in 2015, 100 percent of the people they killed were Black. For only five police departments were 100 percent of those killed White,” according to a Mapping Police Violence report on police killings in 2015.

Police killed at least 1,152 people in the United States from January 1-December 15, 2015, said the report.
“Nearly one in four of these people was killed by one of America’s largest 60 city police departments. Fifty-nine of the nation’s largest 60 city police departments killed civilians in 2015. Some killed at much higher rates than others: Bakersfield, Oklahoma City, Oakland, Indianapolis Metropolitan, Long Beach, New Orleans, St. Louis Metropolitan, and San Francisco Police Departments killed people at the highest rates in 2015.”

“While some have blamed violent crime for being responsible for police violence in some communities, data shows that high levels of violent crime in cities did not appear to make it any more or less likely for police departments to kill people,” the report found. “Rather than being determined by crime rates, police violence reflects a lack of accountability in the culture, policies, and practices of the institutions of policing, as investigations into some of the most violent police departments in America have shown.”


Resistance, rebellion and results
“With state-sanctioned violence, there are a few things going on. In many ways I think it’s connected to the inter-communal violence. I think we left open three critical areas to really start planting seeds,” said Davey D, a hip hop journalist, historian, talk show host and activist.

First there’s the problem of media, which affects the community inside and out, he continued. “We give too much of the past to too many people who have used our dehumanization for profit” and that dehumanization comes in many forms, he said. Some is overt, he said, but much is very subtle.

Some celebrated the successes of Black women in key law enforcement positions, from U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and California Attorney General Kamala Harris to Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, he said. But people have to ask, where is the accountability for those in public office? Davey D continued.
“Like we did with Obama, we didn’t demand a certain amount of standards that needed to be put forth because our endorsement of their success was really dependent upon the expectation that they would humanize us and they didn’t in the long run. So that fielded a compromise in a big way and the end result was and the end result has been we are not empowered,” he said.

But this year, youth, particularly Black and Brown youth, refused to remain silent and sit on the sidelines in the face of oppression.
Nationwide demonstrations and protests against police brutality and White Supremacy culminated in October when according to some estimates 800,000 to 1.5 million people gathered in Washington, D.C. for Justice Or Else!, a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. The Oct. 10 gathering, convened by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, gave a platform to Black, Indigenous and Brown communities and other aggrieved groups who presented their cases and demands before the world in a continued fight for true freedom, justice and equality. There was also a call for Black communities to stop the fratricidal violence that plagues many urban areas.

 “It’s hypocritical for us to say that we are ‘citizens’ and we are still trying to get civil rights, while at the same time we are denied the human right of self-determination. I’m honored to be here in front of this great, great house that was built by Black slaves. So I don’t think I’m encroaching on any American by standing on the ground that was paid for with the sweat and the blood of our ancestors,” Min. Farrakhan told the massive crowd from a stage on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

“There can be no freedom, no justice, no equity without the willingness of some to sacrifice for the rest. What good is life if we are not free? What good is it to be alive and every day that you live you see your people suffering? What good is it to be—continue in life under tyranny? So there must come a time when we say, ‘Enough is enough.’ It must change—and I am willing to do whatever it takes to bring about that change,” said Min. Farrakhan.



A memorial in front of Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. where nine Black parishioners were shot to death by a White gunman June 17, 2014. Photo: Andrea Muhammad

“America is under Divine Judgment as we speak. Elijah Muhammad taught us 50-60 years ago of what we’re going to face, and he said there would be Four Great Judgments:  Rain, unusual rain, Snow, unusual snow, Earthquakes, Hail; and that [God] would use the forces of nature against America,” he continued.
“When I leave you today, the calamities are going to get stronger, because God wants America to let us go. Not integrate us—let us go, and give us a good sendoff.  Those of you who are scripturally sound:  Moses was not an ‘integrationist,’ and neither are we. Let me be clear:  America has no future for you or for me.  She can’t make a future for herself, much less a future for us.  The scripture says, ‘Come out of her, My people’—and we’re going to have to come out. God says he takes the kingdom from whom he pleases, and he gives it to whom he pleases,” said Min. Farrakhan.
“It’s clear that this year was a year of rebellion and resistance as it relates to police brutality and misconduct and killing of Black men and women in American society,” said Dr. Ron Daniels, president of Institute of the Black World. In places like Ferguson, Mo., New York, Chicago and Baltimore, the outspokenness and action of youth was evident, he explained.

“The incredible response by young African American men and women on the street in resistance there and of course the explosive and positive growth of the Black Lives Matter movement which has become sort of the mantra of this new generation,” said Dr. Daniels.

“What you saw is an incredible amount of resistance from Black people. Very strong, very creative, very innovative and I think intensifying and growing during the course of the year.”
Jonathan Butler, a student leader and activist escalated that intensity when he stopped eating on Nov. 2 to force the resignation of Tim Wolfe, University of Missouri president, who failed to address students’ concerns about campus discrimination and take meaningful action.
Black students had been complaining for years, to no avail.  His hunger strike lasted seven days.

After the university’s football team and coach backed the graduate student’s demand and refused to play until Mr. Wolfe vacated his post, he and school chancellor R. Bowen Loftin resigned.

“I think it’s pushing us in the direction we need to go. Total dissatisfaction, total mistrust, no belief in this system,” said Faheem Muhammad, an activist and co-founder of Black Buycott. He said the system isn’t broken, but it’s rotten to the core and works perfectly as it was designed, which is to break Black people particularly and the oppressed of the world. Part of the problem is some Blacks have the notion that the Democratic Party, or anyone else will help them, he explained.

“It’s not that Obama didn’t want to do something for us or desire to do something for us, but this system is filthy. It’s wicked, and it’s corrupt, so he can’t do anything for us,” said Mr. Muhammad.

Dissatisfaction with the status quo gave rise to action. In solidarity with demonstrators in Ferguson and nationwide protests in honor of Michael Brown, Jr., the Blackout Collective shut down the Bay Area Rapid Transit in West Oakland on “Blackout Black Friday.” In Chicago, thousands took to the streets the same day in response to the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald who was shot and killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in October last year. Video of the encounter was not made public until November 2015 and only after a judge ordered its release. Soon after the teens death the city quickly paid a $5 million settlement to the family. Allegations of a conspiracy and cover-up quickly ignited protests in a city whose sordid police history is well documented. In response, demonstrators shut down the Magnificent Mile, on Black Friday, causing retailers to lose millions of dollars.

Retailers, who count on November and December holiday sales to boost their financial coffers, took a hit in 2015 as sales spiraled downward. According to a mid-December article on Forbes.com, post-Thanksgiving days have been terrible for most retailers in 2015.
According to the National Retail Federation, this year’s holiday sales are “slower than expected.”

While some analysts attribute the decline to fewer dollars coming in due to lower prices, it’s clear that this year has been a relative bust for the collective retail establishment.

“If our Black lives don’t matter, then neither should our Black dollars,” said Minister Farrakhan.


Politics, economics and White fear
During his year end Dec. 18 press conference, President Barack Obama told reporters steady, persistent work over the past few years is “paying off for the American people in big, tangible ways.” He touted unemployment falling to five percent and growing wages as examples of progress.

But for many Blacks on the economic front, 2015 continued to remain relatively stagnant.
According to mid-December data released by the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for Blacks was still on average twice that of Whites, regardless of educational achievement. From December 2014 through November 2015 the unemployment rate for Black college graduates was 4.1 percent compared to 2.4 percent for Whites. The disparity between those with less than a high school diploma was even more telling, with Blacks having an unemployment rate of 16.6 percent compared to 6.9 percent for Whites.

According to the EPI data, “persistent disparities in unemployment are constant reminders of how race continues to have an undue influence on life in this country.”
The optimism many people, especially Black Americans had when Mr. Obama first took office has waned. When asked what changes or expectations folks can expect during the president’s last year in office, economist Dr. Julianne Malveaux was blunt.


Dr. Julianne Malveaux
“I think we should expect pretty much what we’ve been getting and again, people will have mixed feelings and ambivalence about this president and his legacy. His legacy is that he’s the first Black president, his legacy is that he did healthcare,” said Dr. Malveaux referring to the Affordable Care Act.
“I’m not so sure what else I would consider a part of his legacy. Again I would ask questions, has the material conditions of Black people in particular changed? And unfortunately the answer would have to be pretty much no,” she continued.

“Now he did get us out of the recession and that means that everybody is better off. But have any of the gaps, the wealth gaps, income gaps, the unemployment gaps, have they narrowed? And the answer is no,” said Dr. Malveaux. However, it must be pointed out, she explained, that Mr. Obama had to deal with a very hostile Congress vehemently opposed to everything he tried to accomplish.

As he heads into his final year as president, Mr. Obama could utilize his power of Executive Order to help Black people, the noted author and president emerita of Bennett College for Women told The Final Call. It could be used to set up an investigative arm to examine and study the issue of reparations for Black descendants of slaves as laid out by H.R. 40 introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 1997. It has never made it out of committee with some members of the Congressional Black Caucus even not supporting it.

“This president has the opportunity to do something. It’s mild but it might get us started in a direction of a conversation that we need to have about wealth gaps. I don’t expect that to happen, but what I have seen in this last year, there have been flashes of boldness from the president that we had not seen before,” she said.

President Barack Obama

But as Mr. Obama’s term winds down, the message of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has resonated with many White voters who feel their place at the top is being usurped. His racially coded language has not stopped thousands of mostly Whites who fill venues to hear his message.

“There is a fear that White people are being left behind, and soon will be vanquished, or put into the third or fourth sphere where they have been used for the past few hundred years of running the world,” said Khari Enaharo, author of “Race Code War, The Power of Words, Images And Symbols on The Black Psyche.”

The widespread violence at the hands of police is like a clarion call to White race warriors, he added. “All police are not White Supremacists, but there are White Supremacists who will disguise themselves as police, and they will engage in racial injustice,” Mr. Enaharo told The Final Call. The clarion call sounds like, “Let’s take our country back,” “We’ve got to stop these savages, we got to stop these monsters,” and politicians are stoking that fear, he said.

“What they have done is created a whole industry where they have criminalized through racial codes, symbols through racial code words, through racial coded images. They have criminalized a whole race of people,” he added.

The killings have purposefully shifted people’s focus from thousands of things they should but don’t pay any attention to, Mr. Enaharo said.

“That means we don’t have to deal with HIV-AIDS anymore. We don’t have health problems.  We don’t have an economic problem. … That is by design to get our attention off of the things that are being done to us and we are not paying attention to this war, this racial war that is being waged in education, economics, sex and sports. Everywhere we look we are being racially wiped out and we aren’t paying attention to it,” said the author.

Several efforts aimed at self-determination and action, including “Buy Black” campaigns, calls to support Latino, Native American and Indigenous businesses and withholding dollars from huge multi-billion dollar corporations took root this year in response to injustices and a call to redistribute the pain.

Cecile Johnson, CEO and founder of the African Development Plan, a solutions-oriented collaborative that looks at the needs of Black communities on a local, national and international level, said this year marked an increased awareness globally on what Black Americans have been faced with hundreds of years.

For the first time, said Ms. Johnson, there seems to be more willingness by Black people to work across religious and ideological lines and build coalitions. The elders are helping behind the scenes but an intergenerational healing and atonement needs to take place and youth must continue moving forward, said Ms. Johnson, who holds a master’s degree in Inner City Studies Education. Black people have a right to self-determination and human rights which includes the right to education, culture and life, she said.

Moving forward Black people can continue doing things to invest in their collective future, including harnessing $1.2 trillion in spending power they have, she said.

“There’s things that we can do, churches, mosques, synagogues that are all Black, put your money in a Black bank. That only takes 15 minutes and now you’re beginning to invest in us, that’s one step,” said Ms. Johnson. Black faith-based institutions must be actively engaged and working in the community by investing in businesses, establishing mentoring programs and other services, she continued.

“I see a political climate and us pushing a Black agenda, pushing political empowerment, pushing self-determination as a way to begin waking Black people up. So I see 2016 as a year that people are going to have to get woke up,” said Ms. Johnson.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Chicago Style Shakeup: Top Cop Ousted But Who Will Go Next?

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Assistant Editor- | Last updated: Dec 8, 2015 - 12:13:45 PM

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to the media, Dec. 3, in Chicago. Faced with growing calls for federal intervention after a White officer fatally shot a Black teen, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city would welcome a Justice Department investigation of “systemic issues” in the Chicago police department. Photo: AP/Wide World photos

CHICAGO - It came as no surprise when at a morning news conference, Mayor Rahm Israel Emanuel announced he had asked for and accepted Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy’s resignation.

Related News:

• Chicago state’s attorney under fire and McDonald video scandal may end career
• Black community outraged as charges of a police cover-up grow louder

“Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership to confront the challenges the department and our community and our city are facing as we go forward,” Mayor Emanuel said.
Facing sharp criticism from many different areas charging him with being a part of a cover-up in the October 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, Mayor Emanuel had to do something in an attempt to quell the Black community’s cry for justice. Mr. McCarthy, unpopular among Blacks seemingly since the day he was appointed in May of 2011, was on the hot seat and the most vulnerable. It was politically expedient for the mayor and abundantly clear that the police chief had to go.

Mayor Emanuel’s best efforts to control this politically volatile situation now are evident, however two months ago, at an Oct. 5 press conference at City Hall, the City Council Black Caucus called for Supt. McCarthy’s firing, and the mayor ignored them.

Now a group of retired Black police officers with decades of experience working for the Chicago Police Department is asking tough questions. They say corruption and bad officers have existed in the department for years, and believe it is past time for meaningful reform. Many aren’t fans of the mayor.

Pat Hill, former executive director of the African American Police League and well-known rights activist, said Mayor Emanuel is not serious about reform. She can’t understand why anyone in the Black community would believe him when he said he had not seen explosive police dash cam video of the McDonald killing prior to approving a $5 million settlement with the family. The youth was shot 16 times by an officer who has been charged with murder. It took over a year for the video to be made public.


“Rahm Emmanuel has proven himself to be a liar,” said Ms. Hill. “I think a lot of people are in denial because unfortunately, in our community, a lot of people voted for him. I don’t know what their expectations were? I don’t even understand that because prior to the election he was not demonstrating that he was our friend, so that’s something we’re going to have to work out.”

Another video of a police involved shooting threatens to raise the anger of activists and community organizers to an even higher level. Dash cam video shows Chicago police officer George Hernandez shooting 25-year-old Ronald Johnson III on October 12, 2014, days before the shooting of Laquan McDonald. Police said Mr. Johnson turned and pointed a gun at Ofc. Hernandez who fired in self-defense.

Attorneys for the family say the young Black male was fleeing police with nothing in his hands when the officer shot him. The video was released Dec. 7.

As in the McDonald case, Mayor Emanuel’s administration had battled releasing that video for months. Different from the McDonald case, Mr. Johnson’s family is currently pursuing a wrongful death suit against the city. There has been neither a financial settlement nor confidentiality agreement struck.

Retired Chicago police sergeant Michael Davis saw firsthand how White officers carry their racist attitudes and biases into the field while patrolling Black neighborhoods. Misconduct has always existed amongst bad cops in the force, now it is being caught on video, which makes it more difficult to cover their tracks, he said.

“The thing that is different now is cameras, phone cameras, cameras hanging up in the sky, every place you go, and you have this city saying that they’re going to expand the body camera program but at the same time they don’t want to show it to you. There are some additional shootings in this city that are worse than the shooting of Laquan,” said Mr. Davis.
The consistent police narrative that a suspect turned and pointed a weapon was not his experience and he spent 27 years as a police officer.

“Whenever there’s a police shooting, they give you a story that makes the public think in every case of a policeman shooting someone that a male Black suspect was running down the street holding his pants and he turned around and aimed a gun at a policeman. Never in my career have I chased someone who had a gun and they turned around and aimed at me. You chase someone with a gun, they’re going to run and throw that gun away,” he said.

Mr. McCarthy’s temporary replacement is 1st Deputy Superintendent John Escalante, a 29-year veteran of the force who has held the second-highest post in the department since October 2014. The search has begun for candidates to fill the top position permanently.

Changing the man at the top is good, but does not solve the problem if there are not serious efforts to get to the root of police misconduct and corruption. That is not done simply by setting up another task force, review board, or panel as Mayor Emanuel has done.

“It’s just more of the same,” said Mr. Davis.

What is needed is for elected members of the city council to hold the mayor accountable, and that is not happening, he noted.

“We need a true legislative body in there. We honestly need some young people in the city council who are not beholden to anybody else to sit there and truly be concerned about the citizens in Chicago,” Mr. Davis added.

Problems mount for Emanuel

Hundreds of teachers have been laid off, mostly attributed to closing nearly 50 schools deemed underutilized or underperforming. The move was very unpopular with Blacks since a majority of the closed schools were located in Black neighborhoods on the city’s South and West Sides. According to a University of Chicago study earlier this year, 88 percent of students affected by school closures were Black.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy listens as President Barack Obama speaks to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago, Oct. 27.

The powerful Chicago Teachers Union opposes the mayor. Karen Lewis, CTU’s president, was considered a formidable opponent for Mr. Emanuel in the last mayoral election. Because of serious health issues, she opted not to run. She and the union backed County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” Garcia against Mayor Emanuel. In a contentious April 7 runoff election Mr. Emanuel won a second term, receiving 55.7 percent of the vote, which included a large amount of Black support. Much of the support he enjoyed is gone now.


On social media, the hashtag #ResignRahm is becoming popular among political activists and on Dec. 9, 10 and 11 the Chicago Teachers Union will vote on whether or not teachers will strike. A teachers’ strike in the fall of 2012 caused the mayor’s popularity to take a serious hit.
Many also still remember Mayor Emanuel’s transportation detail running through red lights on numerous occasions while being caught on the very same traffic cameras many Chicagoans despise.
He’s not seen as the mayor of the citizens of Chicago, he is widely seen as the mayor of those who are wealthy and those with corporate interests.

“He definitely has to go,” said community activist Afrika Porter. “Rahm Emanuel is responsible as well, he doesn’t get to walk free. The entire cabinet needs to go.”

It didn’t help matters when two months ago, disgraced former CEO of the Chicago Public Schools Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. She was accused of illegally steering $23 million worth of contracts to former friends, co-workers and companies in exchange for kickbacks. So far, Mayor Emanuel has kept his hands clean in this case, even though Ms. Byrd-Bennett, his handpicked appointee along with the other Emanuel-appointed six people who make up the Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously to approve questionable contracts.

Ideas for reform?

Ms. Hill said the last time there was a jump in Blacks joining the police force was in the 80s during the administration of the city’s first Black Mayor Harold Washington. Many retired Black officers believe hiring more officers from the areas they patrol could heal some of the wounds.

Following a recent ceremony which drew community activists, political officials, friends and family to Oak Woods Cemetery, the location where Mayor Washington is buried, Alderman Pat Dowell was critical of the length of time it took to show the McDonald shooting video footage. “The people should be outraged,” she said.

“One of the things I am very interested in is seeing some changes in the Fraternal Order of Police union’s contract,” Ald. Dowell told The Final Call.

She believes if an officer is thought to have done something unlawful or is found to have been unethical, he should not continue to receive a paycheck indefinitely. Typically, officers involved in shootings are moved to desk duty and still paid. Others, like in the case of the infamous police commander Jon Burge, continue to receive pensions after being convicted of crimes.

She also believes changes should be made in the way the City of Chicago pays out settlements in cases of police misconduct, which has cost taxpayers millions.

“Once the city pays out a settlement that shouldn’t just be on the backs of the taxpayers, that policeman’s family should also put something into the pot, they should also be responsible for paying something on the settlement,” said Ald. Dowell.

The Justice Dept. has also announced a probe of the Chicago Police Dept.

When activists took to the city’s Magnificent Mile in Black Friday protests, it was part of efforts to demand widespread change. But the starting point many called for was the ouster of Mayor Emanuel who once seemed to be the arrogant and invincible “King Rahm.” Those who have supported him are being called to justify their support. Callers to WVON AM 1690, the city’s Black talk radio station, have blasted the mayor. Leaders and groups have held sit-ins and protests at City Hall.

Muriel Sosa is a professional woman, but with anger in her voice, she shared what motivated her to join Black Friday protests. “I’m sick and tired of them killing our babies! It has to stop!” she said. “Would they shoot a White kid 16 times and let him die in the street like a dog? Hell no! They would never do that! We’re sick and tired of it and it needs to stop! McCarthy, he should go, (state’s attorney) Anita Alvarez and Rahm Emanuel—he should not be mayor again! We’re ready for him to go,” she said.

From The Final Call Newspaper

Accidental death or murder?

By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Assistant Editor- | Last updated: Nov 10, 2015 - 11:51:04 AM

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A campaign for justice for Muslim minister who died in Grand Rapids, Mich.

• (For more information or to sign the petition, go to Justiceorelse.com/RobertM.)

Yreva Muhammad, second from left, thanks the Nation of Islam for the continued effort to get justice for her late husband, Student Minister Robert D. Muhammad. Standing behind her is Nation of Islam Student National Secretary Berve Muhammad, Student Minister Fontaine Muhammad and Student Minister Marcus Muhammad. Photo: Haroon Rajaee

(FinalCall.com) - A large group of Nation of Islam members converged on Grand Rapids, Mich., to demand the U.S. Justice Department open a full and complete inquiry into the questionable investigation surrounding the suspicious death of one of its members.


It has been over a year since Robert Dion Muhammad, the 39-year-old leader of the Nation of Islam’s Grand Rapids Study Group, went missing in the waters of Muskegon State Park’s campground beach last year. According to Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler, his body was found the next day in Muskegon Lake in 28 feet of water. Details are sketchy but it has been reported that he struggled during an attempted swim, went underwater, and drowned.

Muslims concerned with the status of the investigation traveled Oct. 31 from the surrounding areas of Benton Harbor and Detroit, Mich., as well as Rockford, Ill., Chicago, Ill., and some from as far away as St. Louis. Led by Anthony Muhammad, Student Assistant Supreme Captain of the Nation of Islam, and the Student Central Regional Captain Dwayne Muhammad, the Fruit of Islam canvassed Grand Rapids neighborhoods, along with Berve Muhammad, Student National Secretary of the Nation of Islam. Despite very cool temperatures and a persistent rain, the F.O.I. went door to door and spoke with residents on streets, sharing the call for justice, offering updates on the case, handing out information brochures and collecting signatures as part of a demand for further investigation into the death.


The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, presided over the Islamic funeral prayer service known as the Janazah, at the Deliverance Outreach Ministries September 13, 2014. Speaking from the pulpit of the church the Minister expressed the hurt and pain of those who loved Robert D. Muhammad.

“We intend to get to the truth of what happened to our brother,” said Min. Farrakhan. Whether it was a tragic accident, or foul play involved, Allah (God), the giver of all life, already knows, he said.
“Even though we are hurt because we don’t know exactly what happened,” the Minister continued, “we bear our pain with dignity and strength.”

The Fruit of Islam from Chicago, nearby cities, some from as far away as St. Louis, journeyed to Grand Rapids, Mich., to pass out information and get signatures for a petition calling for a full investigation of what happened to Student Minister Robert D. Muhammad. Photos: Haroon Rajaee

What really happened?

Standing before graphic photos of Robert D. Muhammad’s body, Berve Muhammad, who is also an attorney, pointed out discrepancies between the official version of events and what he said pictures showed. The explanations given by the Muskegon County officials are either incomplete or defy common sense, he said.

“There are a couple of interesting things to note about his face,” said Atty. Muhammad. “Obviously he suffered some trauma. If he just swam and went under, his face shouldn’t look like that.” The photo showed bruises and what appeared to be wounds on the face of the late student minister.
Some said maybe an object hit him underwater as he struggled to swim to the surface as an explanation for the bleeding and bruises, however, the Nation of Islam’s investigators remain unconvinced.

“Nothing floats in the middle of the water. It is either going to sink or it is going to be on top of the water but no object that’s not alive is going to be floating in the middle of the water,” Atty. Muhammad continued, “but then of course if you are in the water and something strikes you, you are just going to move with the object, so it’s very difficult to understand how these bruises would have got on his face under the water.”

And then, he drew attention to Robert Muhammad’s right hand which in the photo was morbidly frozen in the position of a tightly clenched fist.

“As you notice Brother Robert’s hand … you see his hand … there was a struggle … there looks like there was a struggle just before he died,” argued Atty. Muhammad. “These are some irregularities with respect to his body that have yet to be explained.”

According to Nation of Islam officials there were other concerns about the way the case was handled:

Members of the Fruit of Islam visit Grand Rapids, Mich., passing out information in Grand Rapids, Mich., and obtaining signatures as part of campaign to obtain justice and a full investigation of the Muslim student minister’s death.

Investigators did not interview one co-worker on the actual day of the incident, who occurred during an apparent outing with Caucasian co-workers.


None of the investigators could explain the facial injuries suffered by Robert D. Muhammad.

No forensic testing or photographs were taken of the boat that the deceased swam from.

At Robert D. Muhammad’s burial, funeral director and licensed mortician Crystal Hardley, with over 17 years of experience in the industry expressed her doubts to The Final Call. “I just recognized the discoloration around his eyes did not line-up with a drowning victim,” said Ms. Hardley. “It was clearly not just a drowning,” she added.

A strong family stands for justice
The widow of Robert D. Muhammad, Sister Yreva Muhammad, has handled the death of her husband with quiet dignity and poise. The two were married in 2000 and have eight children, four sons Nioreh Dion (17), Solomon Isa (14), Toussaint Saalih (13) and Najm Sherrif (11) , and four daughters, Nikah Hanan (9), Shahadah Qamar (7), Ilyasa Mashariq-Hajj (3), and Mizan Qaharra (1) . Mr. Muhammad would have turned 40 on Sept. 6, the day his body was found by aquatic search crews.

His widow spoke words near the gravesite of her husband located at Oakhill Cemetery. She thanked Minister Farrakhan and the Believers in the Nation of Islam for supporting her and her family after her husband’s death.

“I want to thank the brothers for coming out to support and help Grand Rapids to look into this situation,” said Mrs. Muhammad. “The Minister has been supporting our family tremendously and I can’t even thank him enough. I really don’t know how to thank him enough except to give him these few words that I have of thanks and I don’t want to be found being ungrateful at all.”

She said her husband would be “very pleased” to see the support from his Muslim brothers and sisters. “He was a steadfast soldier and he worked diligently to awaken the dead here in Grand Rapids,” said Mrs. Muhammad. “We will get to the bottom of this like the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said.”

Robert D. Muhammad was described by those who knew him as a committed Muslim, husband and father, always available to serve those in need. He had led the Grand Rapids Study Group since 2006 and would be reliably posted up at the corner of Eastern and Franklin— a busy intersection in Grand Rapids—distributing The Final Call newspaper.

Student Minister Marcus Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam Study Group in Benton Harbor, which is a little over 80 miles to the south of Grand Rapids, has been assisting with maintaining the Study Group since Robert D. Muhammad’s passing.

According to recent census figures, Grand Rapids is 64 percent White, nearly 21 percent Black and 16 percent Hispanic. It is the second largest city in Michigan behind Detroit, which is 168 miles to the East.

(For more information or to sign the petition, go to Justiceorelse.com/RobertM.)

From The Final Call Newspaper

An overwhelming success in Washington

By Final Call News | Last updated: Oct 15, 2015 - 2:06:57 PM

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Photo: Andrea Muhammad

WASHINGTON—With anticipation, steely determination and focus by activists, organizers and Nation of Islam Believers around the country—led by the tireless work and unceasing travel, vision and determination of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan—mobilizing for “Justice Or Else!”, the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, was intense. Plans for the gathering started after an April announcement by Min. Farrakhan that it was time to return to Washington, D.C. Yet in a few months, with no corporate sponsors, no huge national political backers, few establishment endorsements, and no mainstream media help, the U.S. Capitol and down the National Mall Oct. 10 were filled with throngs of people. They were drawn by a call to stand against pervasive racism and injustice with the invitation extended to Native Americans, Latinos, veterans and women to stand against oppression. Urban News Service put the number at hundreds of thousands and some estimated a million people and upwards. With substantial construction underway on the National Mall there was spillover onto side streets. It was an incredible gathering that was peaceful, loving and the beginning of a movement. The #justiceorelse  hashtag trended across social meeting on Oct. 10 and for days after the gathering. Now on the ground work begins and people are eager to get started. Join the movement at www.justiceorelse.com. Look for more photos next week.

PHOTO GALLERY: THE CROWD

Photo: Andrea Muhammad

Photo: Andrea Muhammad

Photo: Andrea Muhammad

Photo: Andrea Muhammad

Photo: Monica Morgan

Photo: Monica Morgan

Photo: Monica Morgan

Photo: Hannibal Muhammad

Justice or Else gathering (replay)

Justice or Else gathering on the National Mall in
Washington D.C.


(recording starts at 2 minutes 24 seconds)

A Special Message from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

Full Roland Martin Interview of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on 10-10-15 and the Justice or Else Movement