[Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint that was published on March 21, 2007.]
A little over five months later, in February, 1986, the Minister asked me to accompany him on a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C. where he was invited to head up a press conference. I did. As we neared the capital, the pilot announced that there was fog so thick that we had to land outside of the city. We landed about 20 miles away, at the Dulles Airport. This was during the night of February 4, 1986. We were then driven to the capital by Dr. Alim Muhammad and the Brothers who accompanied him.
The press conference was held the next morning. It represented the concerns of a wide cross section of groups and people concerned with justice for Libya. Minister Farrakhan spoke truthfully, accurately and passionately. He would later tell me that as he neared the end of his statement, he noticed the TV camera lights. Somehow, he said, they called the vision to his mind. He then had the general thought, or feeling, that he had fulfilled the obligation put upon him by his teacher in the vision-plus experience he was granted several months earlier, to hold a press conference in the capital.
Here are excerpts from the Minister’s press conference statement, presented from the book The Comer By Night by Sister Tynnetta Muhammad. On page 30, we read that he stated:
“In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger. I greet all of you with the greeting words of peace, As Salaam Alaikum.
“Although those of us who have called this press conference have ideological differences and differences of methodology, yet we are one in aim, in that we are for the total liberation of oppressed people everywhere on this earth, regardless of color, class and creed. Time dictates action. If our actions are in accord with the time, our actions bear fruit. Therefore, we must ask the question, ‘What time is it for America?’ and ‘What time is it for the world?’
“It is the time of the end of oppressors, tyrants and their regimes. It is the time of the end of racist dominance and paternalism over the darker people of the world, and the misuse of their land and their resources. It is the time of the end of the prophesied 430-year sojourn of Black people, within the United States of America, in the position of a servitude and a free slave. Every sign in the movement of the people of the earth points to the fact that this is that time in history.
“Those who are acting in accord with the time are being rewarded with the precious life-giving principle of liberation. Those who oppose the liberation of the oppressed are losing their grip on power and their institutions, which support tyranny and oppression are crumbling and falling.
“America is today, at the crossroads. If the leadership of America recognizes the time, and acts wisely, America can save herself. However, America’s policies, both domestic and foreign, reflect the fact that America is at war with the oppressed who yearn to be free.
“America’s spiritual blindness causes her to misperceive reality. Therefore, she acts against her own best interest. America’s domestic policies towards the Blacks, the Indigenous people of this hemisphere, the Arabs, the Asians and the poor Whites are atrocious. The government’s insensitivity and callous disregard for the needs of her own citizenry is increasing the general spirit of dissatisfaction among the American people.
“Since America’s foreign policy is an extension of her domestic policy, then America’s policies toward Africa reflect her disrespect toward Black people. America’s policy toward the Caribbean, toward Central and South America reflect her disrespect of the Indigenous people of this country. America’s foreign policy towards the Middle East reflects America’s disrespect of her own Arab-American citizens. America’s foreign policy towards Asia and the isles of the Pacific reflect America’s disrespect of these citizens whose mothers and fathers are from these suffering areas of the world.
“It is this horrid foreign policy that is bringing about revolution and war and what Reagan refers to as ‘increased terrorist activity in the world.’ But, we ask the question, ‘Who is the real terrorist?’ We maintain that the real terrorists are those who stole this hemisphere from the indigenous peoples and continue to perpetrate acts of genocide against this people. We maintain that the real terrorists are those who stole untold millions of Blacks from the shores of Africa, causing us to lose hundreds of millions of our families in the Middle Passage and, to this very day, deny the children of African slaves the right to self determination and have never even offered us reparations for the crimes that America has committed against us.”
After a few more telling points he proclaimed:
“Although we, as suffering people, do not like to see any human being lose their lives in acts of terror, yet we understand that when every avenue of the redress of grievance is closed and there is no justice for those who petition for justice, then the aggrieved will do whatever is necessary to bring their plight to world attention. So, America and the press blames the Palestinian while it is the American and Israeli policy, which has forced the Palestinians into this kind of action. So who is the real terrorist?
“Mr. Qaddafi has not sent any ships into American waters. He does not contest what America says are her territorial waters. America contests what Mr. Qaddafi says is Libya’s territorial waters and sends ships and planes off the shores of Libya to terrorize the Libyan people. Who is the real terrorist?”
Still later he observed:
“It appears that Mr. Reagan and his advisors lust for war with Libya. Blinded by his rage, he underestimates the intelligence of the American people, particularly the intelligence of the oppressed.”
After providing more important details, he made clear that:
“Nations have often gone to war to rally their people and quell international dissatisfaction, rather than correct the wrongs which [their] internal policies have produced. This is the way of the tyrant and this appears to be the way that our government is traveling.
“[In] Secretary of State Shultz’s recent ‘White Paper’ on terrorism, Mr. Shultz mentions that Russia was the number one terrorist nation in the world. Yet, Americans are free to travel to Russia, sing for the Russians, dance for the Russians, sell wheat to the Russians, exchange technology with the Russians and America will not send any of her fleets into the Black Sea as a show of force to correct these terrorists. But, ‘big’ America picks on ‘little’ Nicaragua. What cowards! Who is the real terrorist? And will the real terrorist please stand up?!”
Then, again after driving home several irrefutable truths, he stated:
“So in conclusion, we say that the American people must make their voices heard to turn America from this insane course that America is on, for it will lead to World War III and the destruction of society as we know it.
“We believe that the American public must be awakened and the American public must replace thieves and warmongers with men and women with new and fresh ideas that will put America on a sane course for the good of America and the world.
“I would humbly request our religious president to read the history of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and be instructed. For Babylon was the great city of her day. Her merchant ships carried her wares to the ends of the world and the world that traded with Babylon waxed rich because of her.
“When Nebuchadnezzar did not obey the directives of God, the heart of a human being was taken out of him and he was given the heart of a beast.
“Whenever a human being becomes a beast, they have no respect for moral directives, for international law, for human rights—a beast. Is this what America is becoming?”
He made a few more impressive points in his conclusion as he successfully accomplished that for which he came.
Immediately after the conference, we flew back to Chicago. Later that evening, on February 5, 1986, Minister Farrakhan took a flight continuing his world tour, which he had begun a few months earlier in the Caribbean. In the development of certain world events, he began to see greater significance to and in his vision. It was a growing, yet a still somewhat vague, understanding of his vision that led him to alter his itinerary, after he was in Africa. The spirit came on or over him to do that which was not part of his original plans in his tour of the countries he had yet intended to visit. He now decided to go to Libya. This was against America’s laws. He was fully aware of the risk involved. However, he was obeying a higher law.
Heavily influenced by his vision, and under the guidance of Allah, the Honorable Minister Farrakhan delivered a powerful speech on March 16, 1986, in Tripoli, Libya. He spoke before representatives of approximately 80 nations. He warned President Reagan, and the government of America, not to make war on Libya.
Again I quote from The Comer By Night, by Sister Tynnetta Muhammad, (beginning on page 39) of Minister Farrakhan’s short, but powerful speech, which he delivered at a conference attended by representatives, as I just stated, of about 80 nations. What follows are excerpts of that speech, the full text of which is contained in her book.
More next issue, Allah willing.
