|
|
NATIONAL
|
Farrakhan urges unity, organizing and vigilance at Savior’s Day
by Saeed Shabazz
Special to the NNPA from the Amsterdam News
DETROIT (NNPA) - The Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan, 73, called for universal unity during his two-hour address at Detroit’s Ford Field on February 25. At the very beginning of his annual Savior’s Day address, entitled, “One Nation Under God,” he thanked those who had prayed for his recovery after surgery in January due to complications from prostate cancer. He noted that people of various faiths—Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus—prayed for his recovery.
How then, he said, could he not preach today a “message that would be universal in scope”? Farrakhan went on to blast those who exploit the differences of the human family.
“If Jesus and [Prophet] Muhammad were on this stage, they would embrace each other with love,” the Muslim leader said. “How come we can’t embrace each other?”
He also admonished those gathered to live a moral life. “If we would live the life that Jesus lived, we would not be in the shape we’re in today,” Farrakhan said. “We praise Jesus, and we live a crazy life. We praise Muhammad, and we live a crazy life.”
Farrakhan took time to react to those who have called him anti-Semitic. He suggested that the criticism of past statements by him was part of a plot to silence him. He noted that his critics have also called him anti-white and anti-gay, “none of which I am.”
However, the man who called for the 1995 Million Man March saved his harshest criticism for President George W. Bush and the war on Iraq, calling for the president’s impeachment.
“You’ve got to get rid of him,” he told the crowd. “You’ve got to get rid of [Vice President] Cheney. “You’ve got to get rid of [Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice.”
He blamed the Bush administration for the sectarian violence in Iraq. “Sunni and Shiite lived together. Christians and Jews lived together in Iraq before America came in,” Farrakhan insisted. He noted that there was no bombing of Shiite holy places during the reign of deposed president, Saddam Hussein.
Farrakhan said, “You need to look at those who came in. After they came in, all hell broke loose. He recalled that the people of Iraq were being fed under Saddam Hussein. “And they had the finest of educational institutions,” he added.
He then asked the gathering to put on their thinking caps. “Why did they invade Iraq? Why did they kill Saddam? Why did they kill his sons?” he asked. Answering his own questions, he revealed that the real reason for attacking Iraq and removing Hussein was economic. “Saddam had demanded that those who wanted Iraqi oil would have to pay in euros. You see, Saddam was not a threat to his neighbors. He was a threat to America’s economic system,” Farrakhan stressed.
He also warned the administration on Iran. Iran has the right to develop nuclear energy, Farrakhan stressed. “You cannot deny Iran access to knowledge,” he said.
Farrakhan urged young Blacks not to join the military.
“I am telling you, brothers and sisters, that will be the worst mistake, to join the military today because you will leave America in one way and you will come back in another,” he said.
The Muslim leader’s address, however, was not only about unity and politics.
Farrakhan emphasized the importance of education and a drug-free lifestyle, adding that Blacks must become more self-sufficient. “You can’t tell people to stop selling drugs if you don’t have anything to replace that lifestyle,” he said.
Hip-hop was also on the mind of Farrakhan.
“Hip-hop can be a positive influence in the community if used in a positive manner,” he said. “Don’t talk down to hip-hop just because we don’t like everything it says. Talk up to it. If we don’t like the lyrics, we can talk to them about changing them,”
Farrakhan told the gathering. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons was seated behind Farrakhan. Simmons said that Farrakhan and the NOI had had a positive influence on him, according to press accounts.
Farrakhan turned his attention to one of the pressing issues facing the Black community today the use of the “n-word.” “If you call your brother a nigger, that’s how you’re going to treat him,” he said.
The NOI returned to its birth place of Detroit for the 77th annual Savior’s Day celebration. It was in 1930 that the NOI’s founder, known as Master Fard Muhammad, began teaching Blacks about their history in the community of Black Bottom, which was located not far from Ford Field.
The weekend festivities began on Friday with a Jummah prayer service led by Brooklyn Imam Siraj Wahhaj and a video message from Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
There were workshops covering such subjects as keys to a successful marriage, education is key and crisis in the motherland. Rev. Al Sharpton led a leadership forum. There was also a youth village, where the youth convened their own workshops and various social events.
Anita Baker sang the Black National Anthem. Some of the dignitaries on stage with Farrakhan were Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) and his mother, Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Michigan), and Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and actress Cicely Tyson.
Min. Kevin Muhammad, who heads Muhammad’s Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, told the AmNews that people were seen with tears in their eyes as Farrakhan made his entrance. “The spirit inside of Ford Field was at the highest level. There before us was, as many said, was a miracle, given the minister’s surgery just a month ago.
There he was standing strong, resilient and delivering his message in the voice of old, Muhammad said.
According to Min. Muhammad, two bus loads of spectators from New York attended the event, with many more traveling by any means necessary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
