The trouble with Black Muslims
By Rudolf Okonkwo, June 28, 9:41 AM Even Obama cannot say it. But someone has to say it.
We cannot be talking about this season of hate without mentioning the steep decline into actionable hate by misguided black Muslims.
The first time I met a black Muslim in America was in the 90s. I had just arrived from England and this man wearing a bow tie and three-piece-suit approached me with a copy of the Final Call newspaper – the official mouthpiece of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam. He wanted me to buy the newspaper but I resisted. He told me it was the bestselling newspaper in America. I told him I was new in America but I was sure the Final Call could not be the bestselling newspaper in America.
“You’ve been brainwashed,” the man said to me.
“By whom?” I asked.
“By the blue-eyed white devils who run the world.”
“O’ yeah.”
“They don’t want you to know the truth.”
“Like what?”
“Like all the great things our forefathers did.”
“Like what?”
“Bro, you have to open your eyes. We have to get on with the program of our forefathers.”
“And what is that program?”
That was how we began a discussion about the world and the place of the black man in it.
“Why are you a Muslim?” I asked him at one point.
“Because my people were Muslims before the blue-eyed white devils bought us and brought us to America as slaves and forced us to be Christians and to worship a blue-eyed Christ.”
“O’ yeah.”
“Yes!”
“But I am from Africa and my grandfather was never a Muslim nor was he a Christian.”
He was shocked when I said that.
“It is OK if you want to be a Muslim and follow Elijah Muhammed and changed your name to Muhammed, too. But don’t tell me you are trying to be like your forefathers,” I said.
And for four years, we continued our debate. Like some members of the Nation of Islam, he became a convert to Muslim while in prison on drug charges. He had accepted the myths of the Nation of Islam. He told with all the seriousness in his bones that the white man was made in a laboratory in Egypt by a black scientist named Yakub. By the time I left Virginia where I met him, he remained unchanged.
I must say that the Nation of Islam does not advocate militancy. Though separatist in ideology, it does not encourage its members to bear arms. Many young black men coming out of prison have instead joined the mainstream Islam. None of the Muslim converts arrested in recent bombing plots have been linked to the Nation of Islam.
The recent plot by some Muslim converts to bomb the Jewish synagogue in New York and the killing of an army recruiter by another Muslim convert in Arkansas have muddled things up. Before then, there was a group of Muslim converts, mainly from Haiti, who planned to blow up Chicago Sears Tower from their base in Florida.
Some of these people are carrying their misguided and misrepresented history and anger out in the open and are even planning to act on them. It concerns me. And it should concern you, too.
First of all, I came from a country where there are Muslims. Those who have Arabic features assume superior position over those who are black. In many instances, the black Muslims are totally disregarded, treated as inconsequential.
I have asked black Muslims mad at how white people treated black slaves to ask themselves were the millions of slaves the Arab world took from Africa were? They disappeared. They were used and disposed of. If not, the Arab world would be booming with its own share of black men and women.
I have asked black Muslims mad at the “war” between the West and Islam to look at the genocide in Darfur and find out how Muslims treat their black brothers and sisters.
In Africa, the homeland of all black people, Islam came from the Middle East and Christianity came from Europe and they all exerted inordinate damage. But where Islam touched, there is no recognition of the ways of life of the people. Islam, being a way of life, swallowed all that was African in the people.
All black people must think before they jump from frying pan to fire. And before you pick up arms to fight for those Talibans dying in Afghanistan, spare a minute for two million children who die of malaria each year in Sub-Saharan Africa. Those are your people. For real! Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-14375-Democrat-Examiner~y2009m6d28-The-trouble-with-Black-Muslims
 Those outside the Bay Area may not know the backstory: Early on January 1, a young adult African-American named Oscar Grant was fatally shot at a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stop by a BART police officer. The incident was captured on a few cellphones as it happened. The officer has been arrested for murder and there have been several riots in downtown Oakland. How is this connected to the recent action in Gaza, or to the Israel-Palestinian conflict in general? Nothing published about Grant suggested that he was politically involved in this issue. However, this incident has been cynically manipulated by the local anti-Israel groups to recruit support in the African-American community for their own jihadist agenda. So, to nobody's surprise, recent anti-Israel rallies in San Francisco featured posters attempting to link Grant's death to the Gaza situation, to recruit those angry over the shooting to the side of those for whom Grad and Qassam rockets are "legitimate resistance". Read more ...H/T: Weasel Zippers
 From correspondents in Chicago | November 10, 2008
LOUIS Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, has hailed US president-elect Barack Obama as an extraordinary leader but warns his victory will stir racial animosity.
Mr Farrakhan, 75, said Senator Obama's presidential candidacy had excited the nation in a way not seen since Robert Kennedy ran for the White House in 1968, and that he had been moved by the "oneness of spirit" he saw among voters, particularly on election night in Chicago.
But he said the country remained "divided and polarised", and he warned that the president-elect faced a daunting task as the nation faces one of the most troubled periods in its history.
Many of the voters that backed Republican Senator John McCain "were older Americans and most reside below the Mason-Dixon line where racial attitudes and traditions die hard", he said in a reference to the American South.
"We can change laws, but it's difficult to change attitudes," he told a congregation of about 1200 people at Mosque Maryam on Chicago's south side.
He cited news reports that gun sales had surged since Senator Obama's electoral victory, and told of how fights reportedly broke out in some schools, with white students chanting "white power", while blacks students chanted "black power".
"I'm sure that many of our people have unfortunately lost their lives because of the absolute hatred that is manifested now that one of our own has risen to such a high office," he told the crowd at the national headquarters of the Nation of Islam.
Mr Farrakhan is the leader of the religious group which rose to national prominence under Malcolm X during the civil rights movement.
He has been an influential voice but often a lightning rod for criticism with his incendiary remarks prompting charges of anti-Semitism and homophobia.
He made headlines with his accusations that the Government deliberately blew up levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to wipe out the city's black population. Source: The Australian and Agence France-Presse
 CHICAGO (AP) ― The Nation of Islam, a secretive movement generally closed to outsiders, has planned a rare open-to-the public event at its Chicago-based headquarters in what the Minister Louis Farrakhan deemed a "new beginning" for the group.
Hundreds of religious leaders of different faiths have been invited to the event planned for Sunday, a rededication of the group's historic Mosque Maryam on the city's South Side. Farrakhan is scheduled to speak.
"We have restored Mosque Maryam completely, and we will dedicate it to the universal message of Islam, and the universal aspect of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad," Farrakhan said in an invitation letter. "It represents for the Nation of Islam, a new beginning."
The event comes just weeks after the death of Imam W.D. Mohammed, the son of Nation founder Elijah Muhammad who broke with the group and moved thousands of African-Americans toward mainstream Islam.
The Nation purchased the mosque, a former Greek Orthodox church, in 1972 and has since been making renovations. The stately 1948 structure, embellished with a golden dome and topped with an Islamic crescent moon, is adorned with Quranic verses in Arabic.
Experts say opening the mosque's doors to the public is a calculated move.
"It is a very conscious effort to open the mosque up to the community and to rededicate the community to learning about Islam," said Aminah McCloud, a professor of Islamic studies at DePaul University. "Previously, the Nation has been open to people coming to visit it, but its members don't generally go anywhere else ... now there is a concerted effort."
While the Nation has espoused black nationalism and self-reliance since it was founded in the 1930s, in recent years members have reached out to other groups. For instance, the Nation has a Latino liaison and has become involved in immigrant rights rallies and marches. Also, the Minister Ishmael Muhammad, a top assisting minister at the mosque and widely thought to be a potential successor to Farrakhan, has talked about unity between all people, at times speaking in Spanish.
Farrakhan, 75, has haltingly tried to move the Nation toward traditional Islam, which considers the American movement heretical because of its view of Elijah Muhammad as a prophet -- among other novel teachings. Orthodox Islam teaches that there has been no prophet after Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century.
He's also played down some of the group's more controversial beliefs. The Nation of Islam has taught that whites are descended from the devil and that blacks are the chosen people of Allah.
The event on Sunday also wraps up a week of events marking the 13th anniversary of the Million Man March, which Farrakhan began in 1995. That year, hundreds of thousands of people traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate.
On Thursday, Farrakhan spoke to inmates at Cook County jail urging self improvement, atonement and reconciliation, principles the Million Man March promoted.
Those values "can help reduce violence and anti-social behavior ... and have universal significance and will benefit those willing to listen," according to a statement from the Nation.
Farrakhan's Sunday speech will mark his second major public address this year and is among several smaller community and religious events he has attended.
His public appearances have surprised many since in 2006, he seceded leadership to an executive board while recuperating from serious complications from prostate cancer.
In February, Farrakhan appeared at an annual Saviours' Day event in Chicago and called Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better. The Obama campaign quickly denounced Farrakhan's support, because of past comments about Jews that many have called offensive.
In the past months, Farrakhan has attended funeral services of W.D. Mohammed and Jabir Herbert Muhammad, both sons of the late Elijah Muhammad. Source: CBS2 Chicago
By Brian Ross and Rehab El-Buri Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but " God damn America." The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial." He said Rev. Wright "is like an old uncle who says things I don't always agree with," telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family. Rev. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, "The Audacity of Hope." An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans. "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. " God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." Read more ...Muslims Against Sharia call on Senator Obama to cut all ties with his racist supporters Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan.Source: ABCH/T: AtlasUpdates: 1 Obama's Money Talks, Rhetoric Walks: Financing Jeremiah Wright2 Obama's minister: U.S. started AIDS. Candidate's spiritual mentor, role model called America 'No. 1 killer in the world'.3 Obama's pastor attacks Clinton for being white4 Obama Denounces Pastor Who Accused US Of Bringing On The 9/11 Attacks By Spreading Terrorism5 Barack Obama's pastor quits campaign after explosive 9/11 remarks6 Obama Lies Again - Attended Hate America SermonWithout the prophetic, bold voices and organizing ability of leaders like Pastor Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago there would be no U.S. Senator Barack Obama with a decent chance at becoming the first black president of the United States. ... While Sen. Obama may have to distance himself from his pastor to play the game of politics, it is unwise for any of us to burn the bridges that brought us across. Rev. Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds
By Joe Kaufman  The history of the United States runs through Philadelphia. It is there that the American Revolution was born. However, a new revolution threatens to take hold of Philly, a Muslim one. It is led by one of Philadelphia's favorite sons, singer/songwriter/producer Kenny Gamble (a.k.a. Luqman Abdul Haqq), who has a master plan to renovate a once great part of the city using taxpayers' money. While on face value his intentions appear to be worthy, Gamble's revitalization plan for Philadelphia has sinister implications, leading to the question: Will Philadelphia remain "the City of Brotherly Love" or will it become a city of Muslim Brotherly hate? The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or Ikhwan in America exists, in large part, within two immigrant populations. One is the Arab Muslim community, falling under the aegis of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and to a smaller extent the Muslim American Society (MAS). The other is the South Asian Muslim community, positioned under the umbrella of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), a subsidiary of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Pakistan. These groups form the core of MB America. Still, there is a third U.S. Muslim population of much less acclaim/notoriety. It is the African American Muslim community, and it consists mainly of converts who fall within a number of categories, many of which overlap, including black power advocates, racial separatists, ex-felons, anti-Semites and hate America firsters. There are two organizations that encompass all of the above: the Nation of Islam (NOI), a black supremacist group that is built upon the hatred of whites and Jews, and the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), the African American version of ISNA and ICNA. Read more ...Source: FrontPage Magazine
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