RESPONSE TO FORWARD MAGAZINE: Dear Jane Eisner,WE ARE LOUIS FARRKHAN & WE DON’T FEAR THE CENSURE OF ANY CENSURER
Dear Jane Eisner,
I have read your column that you published yesterday on Forward.com.
Your article calling for the public censure of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is offensive to Black people in America. After 60 years of tried and true leadership and service to the Black community, we stand with Minister Farrakhan and will not give up our love of, support for and solidarity with our beloved Minister. You may see him as your enemy, but I want you to know that he is “our beloved Minister.” He belongs to us. And we belong to Him. I am speaking for the 40 to 50 million Black people in America. Allah (God) gave him to us, because of what America and its all-encompassing society of oppression and subjugation of Black people did to render us a people bound inside a veritable furnace of affliction. So please understand from this day forward, that when you condemn Minister Farrakhan, you are condemning all of us. When you call for his public exile, you are calling to exile all of us. When you call for his removal from the public sphere, you are calling for our removal from the public sphere. Because We are Louis Farrakhan.
Louis Farrakhan is more than just an individual person or man. He is a people. He is the spirit and animating force for liberation inside of Black America. He is our heart and our soul. He is the personification and embodiment of the huddled masses of our Black enslaved ancestors who yearned to breathe free of the lash of the overseers’ whip and to be free of the chains of chattel bondage. Through the scientific exploration of the human genome, it has been discovered that there is such a phenomenon in human biology known as epigenetics. Simply put, epigenetics is the study within the field of genetic research that has documented that when people suffer trauma, the trauma and suffering leaves markers and imprints on the cellular structures of that people. These markers are transferable from one generation to the next. These markers carry the effects of environmental dangers, pain, agony and abuse on down in to the subsequent generations of the suffering people’s offspring. When applied to Black history in America, this area of bio-science helps one to understand where Louis Farrakhan comes from. His mouth is the mouth that our muted and traumatized ancestors could not have. It is loud, bold and stinging in its condemnation of our enemies. His courage is the fearlessness that our enslaved ancestors possessed but had to tamp down as they were forced to choose between standing up for themselves or being murdered by their slave masters. His rebuke of the enemies of Black people is the rebuke that the slaves had no power to openly express outside of their shanty slave quarters. He speaks from the mountain top what they could only murmur in hush harbors and private settings. Our ancestors’ suffering produced Louis Farrakhan; their spirits inhabit Him. They approve of Him. Again, We are Louis Farrakhan.
If you don’t agree with him, you ought to just leave him alone. Because we are tired of the Jewish leaders and organizations making his job difficult. No Black group or Black leaders are ever found haranguing or dogging the trail of the leaders of the Jewish people. You should really give up your paternalistic feelings towards us. We don’t belong to you. We are no longer your slaves. Allah (God) has come for us, to rescue us from your evil. The spirit of Allah (God) visited Black people in America in an embodied form; in a corporeal form; in human form. His spirit came to us; His wisdom came to us; His power came to us; and His love came to us in the person of Master Wali Fard Muhammad. As an intelligent woman, I am sure you know the Torah. You know the greatest of the signs and manifestations of God is when he performs what the religious scholars refer to as a theophany. Abraham was visited by God in human form in Genesis’ 18th chapter. Moses was visited by God in human form in Numbers, chapter 12. And Jesus proclaimed that ‘God – the Father’ was a man that would come and provide testimony affirming his authority to rebuke the Jewish leaders of his day and time in the Book of John, the 8th chapter. You should know, that Louis Farrakhan is backed by Allah (God) in human form today in the person of Master W. Fard Muhammad. And He also has the backing and protection of His teacher -the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
But your article suggests that while you should be considering Farrakhan’s place within the scriptures, you are instead obviously upset that the Black community appears to be closing ranks around Minister Farrakhan. You appear to be frustrated over the growing appeal and continued relevance of our beloved Minister. I think you have at least a private appreciation, even though you won’t say it publicly, that all of Black America at this point have been positively impacted by our beloved Minister. This is why white America and Jewish leaders utilize what has been called the Farrakhan Litmus Test. You want to know if any rising and prominent Black person, whether or not they are possessed of the mind, heart and spirit of our beloved Minister. Because you want a continued Master/Slave relationship with the Black community, you naturally deem Minister Farrakhan’s message as being like an acid that is corrosive to your old antiquated ideas of White supremacy and Black inferiority.
And really its true. You are upset because when you reflect on , what is more than likely a limited amount of Black people in your daily life-most of whom you engage with while they function for you in some service capacity-you don’t know whom of them privately have a heart filled with love and admiration for the man you have written of as needing to be shunned and publicly silenced. But I am here to let you know, we all love Farrakhan whether we say it out loud or not. Our souls leap up for joy when we hear Him speak. Your Black shoe shine man loves Farrakhan. Your Black newspaper boy loves Farrakhan. Your Black waiter and waitress at your favorite restaurant loves Louis Farrakhan. Your Black dental hygienist loves Farrakhan. Your Black postal carrier loves Farrakhan. We are Louis Farrakhan.
Ms. Eisner, you wrote: “Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, is an unrepentant bigot. His hatred of, and disdain for, Jews, gay men and lesbians, trans people and white people in general is consistent and unwavering. It forms the basis of his prophecy and his politics”
What you have written is false. The definition of a bigot is “a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.” That definition doesn’t fit Minister Farrakhan at all and you know it. The Minister called for a Million Man March. He never set pre-conditions on what opinions or beliefs that those men needed to possess in order to answer the divine call to come to Washington on October 16, 1995 for that glorious Day of Atonement. In fact, 80% of the million plus men in attendance were of the various Christian denominations that predominate the Black communities of America. And since you want to say the Minister is a bigot and can’t tolerate folks who have different opinions, you should know that in a report entitled “How African-American Men View Various African-American Leadership Types: Findings from the Million Man March” by Joseph P. McCormick, II; Associate Professor at Penn State’s York campus we find that “among those in attendance on the day of the Million Man March, Louis Farrakhan, who initiated this event, not surprisingly, had a higher proportion of respondents who saw him as “very important” than any of the individuals about whom a question on leadership importance was asked. About 83 percent of the respondents when asked about the leadership importance of Farrakhan and others rated the head of the Nation of Islam as being “very important.” Reverend Jesse Jackson (73.2%) and Secretary of State Colin Powell (70.8%) ranked second and third respectively in this rating on leadership importance. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas trailed at a very distant fourth with almost 20 percent of the respondents deeming him as “very important” in terms of leadership importance.”
By your logic, you’re suggesting that this large representative sampling of Black America, that came at the call of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, came to follow and proclaim the importance of a bigot. Wow, I guess you feel that Black America is by and large full of bigotry. That is astonishing. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Also, the Minister is not intolerant to gays and lesbians. This is a direct quote from the Minister regarding the gay and lesbian brothers and sisters as a part of his message in Jackson, Mississippi March 25, 2011. “I love my people who are lesbian, homosexual, transgender. Don’t make no difference, I love you. But I have to teach you that which will make us more pleasing in the sight of God because his wrath now is coming down on America and on the world. And if you’re not on the right side, you will receive a terrible chastisement.” Please identify Ms. Eisner where the bigotry is in what the Minister has said. If you are a Jew, then you recognize what the Minister is saying as being consistent with the contents and sentiments of the Torah-the Jewish book of scriptures. I would think you would agree with the Minister’s position of what practices are approved of and disapproved of by Yahweh/Jehovah-the God of Israel.
Ms. Eisner you wrote: “Farrakhan is also the aging, fading leader of a black nationalist sect that reached its peak of power two decades ago and has steadily diminished ever since. The Nation of Islam, credited with doing good work in blighted neighborhoods no one else would touch, is now largely irrelevant. Farrakhan is a figment of the past, more the crazy beloved uncle than a force for much of anything.”
What you have written here is not only false, but also disingenuous. If Minister Farrakhan was fading, you wouldn’t be spending time and energy trying to smear his noble name and reputation. And to be very candid with you, the Nation of Islam has yet to reach its peak. We are poised to predominate in the Black community. Allah (God) is creating the circumstances and conditions for the full blossoming of the Black Nation. I really pray that you live a long time to see the Nation of Islam in its full beauty and splendor. Allah (God) is with us to save and reform all Black people and human beings of other races who want righteousness and renewal away from the wickedness of Satan.
Minister Farrakhan frequently trends in Twitter and throughout social media. This is an objective indicator that he is certainly not a figment of the past. His visit to our dear sister Aretha Franklin’s funeral proved to you that our beloved Minister has deep roots among Black people and is still strong and mighty in terms of magnetism and appeal. So much so, that in 2013 Abraham Foxman told Haaretz magazine that “The only leadership that now exists in that community”—the ‘African American community’— is Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan can assemble 20,000 people several times a year…”
Also, routinely when surveys are conducted, Minister Farrakhan’s approval rating and ranking of importance is great in the Black community. Just a year ago the Rasmussen Reports conducted a survey that showed that among the Black electorate, more than 50% approve of Minister Farrakhan.
Ms. Eisner you wrote: “This 85-year-old throwback, who has been on his deathbed more than once, is like a Phoenix of our racial politics, rising up again and again, making mischief, never really going away but never causing real harm, either…. Farrakhan must be exiled from the public stage, stripped of honor and attention. Twitter should suspend him. Members of Congress, as well as other public leaders, should stop defending him. His free speech is his right, but that doesn’t mean we have to listen to him, legitimate him or excuse him.”
What you have written here is mischievous and sinister. The Minister has never ever been known for mischief. He is now, and has always been a peace-maker. Ms. Elma Lewis told BET in 2003 that she was one of his neighbors from his childhood Roxbury neighborhood, where he grew up. She said of the young Louis Walcott, who became known as Louis Farrakhan that: “He was the jewel of the neighborhood really, in the church and school, wherever he went; he had a real talent for lighting up the world.”
Professor Mattias Gardell said of Minister Farrakhan that “Farrakhan has a unique capability …able to reach deeply into the souls of black youths…is able to talk to them in a way that really makes them listen…this rapport enables Farrakhan to criticize and redirect destructive behavioral patterns… Minister Farrakhan and the NOI clearly have been instrumental in bringing the gangs together and redirecting their activities toward community improvement and political empowerment… In May of 1993, a 3-day National Summit for Urban Peace and Justice was held in Kansas City, gathering 150 members from gangs in 2 dozen cities.”
Now Ms. Eisner, I don’t know if you have ever read the Holy Qur’an. I am going to, here, share a verse of it with you that is relevant to what you wrote calling for the Minister to be “exiled from the public stage, stripped of honor and attention…” This is Surah 5, Ayat(verse) 54: “O you who believe, should any one of you turn back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people, whom He loves and who love Him, humble towards believers, mighty against the disbelievers, striving hard in Allah’s way and not fearing the censure of any censurer. This is Allah’s grace — He gives it to whom He pleases. And Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing.”
You don’t have any power to censure the Minister. He is Allah’s (God’s) servant. He does not fear you, nor do we who are His students fear you. We are living in the beginning years of the reign and rule of Allah (God) as His enemy Satan/Shaitan is being set-down. The time we live in is known to scriptural scholars as the Days of Allah or the Days of Judgment. You have no power to censure or silence a man whom Allah (God) is with his mouth, backs up and supports what he teaches. And really, how can you truly censure a man who is now bigger than flesh and blood. Again, we are Louis Farrakhan. For his ideas and His mind have permeated the atmosphere and it has touched nearly all of us and many of us have breathed it in, so that He is a part of us. You would have to censure 40 to 50 million Black people; you would have to censure the millions of Hispanics, Native Americans and even poor white people who believe in and agree with Minister Farrakhan. This, you are unable to do, even though you wish it.
Ms. Eisner you wrote: Locals in Chicago told me that his footprint has shrunk dramatically …So, I can understand why African Americans and Muslims are resentful for feeling that they have to be held accountable for every publicity-seeking statement Farrakhan makes…. Farrakhan may be aligned with some on the political left, but his actual political behavior puts him far closer to Donald Trump, whom he just about endorsed for president. Farrakhan favors undemocratic strongmen (the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was his financier); rogue nations (Iran), and numerous conspiracy theories (the 9/11 attacks were an inside job; homosexuality was unleashed as a form of castration, etc., etc.) Even radical feminist figures like Angela Davis have denounced Farrakhan for his exclusion of women.
Again, what you have written is worthy of condemnation and rebuke. The Minister’s footprint has not shrunken. Not long ago, conservative pundit Armstrong Williams wrote an article on how the Nation of Islam could be Chicago’s Savior. He was urging city officials to partner with us so that we could have the resources and support to ramp up our anti-violence initiative in Chicago. Mr. Williams wrote: “The fact is, the Nation of Islam brings to the table things that other private security firms and the police don’t: Credibility within the community. It is one of the few community-based organizations that actually recruit in the prisons and also offer transitional services to ex-offenders. One of the problems cited by HUD with regard to the group’s Baltimore contracts was that it had hired ex-offenders as guards. But this was actually a strength. The Nation of Islam had in fact cleaned up ex-offenders, taking them off the streets, getting them off drugs and instilling them with discipline before redeploying them in neighborhoods where they were known and now respected.”
Also, you have a lot of nerve to write a piece that is essentially calling for Minister Farrakhan to be denied a platform to express his transformative message, and then you proceed to write that Minister Farrakhan favors “undemocratic strongmen.” Tell me Ms. Eisner, by what democratic process have you concluded that the Minister should be “exiled and stripped of honor and attention” when it is his own good works and long struggle that has naturally brought honor to his name and person? You promote pure wickedness by suggesting this. You also write that the Minister believes in “conspiracy theories”. This is completely false. When the Minister points out how various groups act in concert to do evil and harm to the Black community, he brings an abundance of documentation. His messages, when transcribed are able to be footnoted using the highest of academic standards. Publications like yours and others are just too interested in distributing propaganda and smear type pieces, that you don’t even want to examine what Minister Farrakhan uses to justify the powerful points he makes. Why don’t you apply the rules of the academy to Minister Farrakhan’s speeches? Go and check his sources. Don’t argue with the Minister, just interrogate and analyze his sources. If you can impeach his sources, then his arguments are automatically done away with. Are you afraid to expose the documentation that substantiates the Minister’s positions?
Angela Davis is entitled to her opinion. And I challenge you to prove she denounced her brother Minister Farrakhan. You really need to stop trying to sow dissension among Black leaders and groups who may disagree with one another. Just because she disagrees with Minister Farrakhan over certain issues, doesn’t equate her denouncing the Minister. You now are guilty of what you charge the Minister with of making mischief.
Ms. Eisner you finish your article by writing: “The double standard here is mystifying, approaching hypocritical. But if good people everywhere are willing to call out hate speech and hurtful behavior in politicians and pundits, comedians and corporate titans, then Farrakhan cannot be exempt. If Democrats and many Republicans find President Trump’s bigoted speech unacceptable, then Louis Farrakhan cannot be excused. The answer is not to give bigotry a pass. The answer is to denounce it wherever it is.”
Let me take a moment to show you the double standard of hypocrisy. I agree that it is mystifying. But not in the way you suggest. You have prominent white leaders like Pat Buchanan, Henry Kissinger, Fred Malek and others who say all kinds of things, that if said by the Minister would be condemned as anti-Semitic. Yet, the ADL and other Jewish groups give them a pass. Pat Buchanan is still on the McLaughlin Group and has had other high paying commentator gigs even after saying the following: “Hitler was also an individual of great courage, a soldier’s soldier in the Great War, a leader steeped in the history of Europe, who possessed oratorical powers that could awe even those who despised him. But Hitler’s success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path.” – St. Louis Globe – Democrat, Aug 25, 1977
I close by saying this, Minister Farrakhan is not a politician. President Trump is. Don’t compare the Minister with Mr. Trump, that is a false equivalency, logical fallacy. The Minister speaks the word of God, which is necessarily controversial because the word of God, from the mouth of the Messenger of God, enters into societies after they have deviated from the path of moral correctness that God expects of nations. When a man or woman is sent to correct errant behavior, those who are guilty of errant behavior aren’t happy to receive him. The history of the Prophets of God in the Torah and the Holy Qur’an show that that the wicked sought to kill the prophets and messengers of God, because they preached the truth.
And truth be told, many of the critics of Minister Farrakhan have so much hatred in their hearts for the truth he speaks that they want to end his life; as the Holy Qur’an says: “Vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouths, and that which their hearts conceal is greater still.”-Holy Qur’an 3:118
But the God of Louis Farrakhan is “maliki -yaum-ideen”(Master of This Day of Judgment) and He protects Him and encourages Him to deliver His divine message: “O Messenger, deliver that which has been revealed to thee from thy Lord; and if thou do (it) not, thou hast not delivered His message. And Allah will protect thee from men.”-Holy Qur’an 5:67
By Allah’s (God’s) Grace, Mercy and Divine Providence, The Minister will be successful, but those who oppose Him will not.