[Editor’s note: The following article contains excerpts from the address delivered by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to the National Bar Association’s annual convention held at The Marriott Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, August 5, 1996. To study this message, which is available in its entirety in various media formats, please visit store.finalcall.com to order.]
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.
I am grateful to be in the same room with so many distinguished brothers and sisters, particularly our dear brother Johnny Cochran. I asked myself, when I was invited, “What can I say to such a distinguished body of brothers and sisters who are so relevant and so important to the liberation struggle of our people?” And I see that on your program, you have your subject matter, or your theme, for this convention: “Lawyers and The Community: An Interactive Struggle For Justice.”
“Lawyers and The Community”: I guess the conjunction “and” represents the link that should be between the lawyers and the community. But the sad reality is that education in America is designed to take our intellectuals from the community and disallow their strong connection with the community; therefore, there has not been an interactive struggle for justice. For you struggle from your vantage point, the community struggles from its vantage point, and we struggle sometimes in opposition to each other. And ofttimes, the struggle dies because we are afraid to lose positions. We are afraid to be in disfavor with the so-called majority community. We are afraid to challenge things that we know are immoral and unjust because we want to be safe. And the reason that we are weak in our challenge is because there has not been this connection between the lawyers and the community. And therefore, there is not the interactive struggle for justice. But, from this convention, and this theme, and from the yearning of lawyers and the yearning of the community, we believe that we both can be linked together, for really we are inextricably bound to each other. We cannot get away from each other, for there is no lawyer, no matter how great he or she may be, that can escape identity with their people!
So we must remember that since no one person can rise above the condition of his or her people, then it behooves us to work to lift our people from the wretched, pitiable, and pitiful condition that our people are in. You came from the community; therefore, it should be a very easy thing to interact with the community and be bound to that community in the struggle for justice.
I would like to challenge us tonight; because, without law, we don’t have the basis or construct of a society. Without law, man becomes beast. Without law that is rooted in truth and the eternal principles upon which the universe is founded, there can be no justice. So, law is a fundamental, precious foundation upon which the universe and all things are based.
Understanding of Universal Laws sets in motion properly administrated societal laws
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the first law of the universe is motion. If there is no motion, there is no time. So, before you can do anything, you must put a thing that you wish to do in motion. He said the second law of the universe after motion, is order. Whatever you bring into existence and put into motion, you must bring it into order, regulating its affair by means of law.
The universe is a regulated thing; it is obedient to law. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that there is nothing in the universe perfectly round. So, the planets are oblong; all fruits that are supposedly round are not quite circular, they are oblong. Your head takes the shape of the planet: It’s not round, it’s oblong. And because of the shape of it, when you put it in motion, there is a wobble, a natural wobble in the motion. Since there is a natural wobble in the motion of things, the only way you lengthen the life of the thing that you have put into motion is to decrease friction by means of that thing’s obedience to law. For when friction is great, then friction interferes with motion, and the cessation of motion brings an end to the life of that thing.
Now, this National Bar Association (NBA) has been set into motion. Somebody has to bring it to order. And in order to bring it to order, there must be rules and laws that each of us who belong to the NBA must willingly submit ourselves to obey or comply with, to lessen friction. For the greater the friction, we begin to interfere with motion… Or, you tear up order first; and when you tear up order, you impede motion, therefore the death of the organism is on its way.
“Why are you saying this, Farrakhan?” There’s something about law that is of a divine origin; that only under law are two things that are not equal in size, appearance, or in function, only under law can those two things be made equal.
Now, what am I saying? I have a pen. May I borrow this (notebook), sir? This pen is Black, and this (notebook) is, too. But one writes, and one is written on. They are not equal in size or in weight, right?
The Declaration of Independence says that “God created,” what? “All men equal.” Wrong! Wrong. God created all men equally, not “equal.”
There is a difference between “equally” and “equal.” With “All men are created equal,” here you have the verb “to be,” which cannot take an object; so, what you have is a predicate adjective or a predicate nominative that is equal to what is on the other side. The verb “to be” is like an “equal sign”: What is on “this side” equals what is on “that side.” … “Equally” is an adverb. Now, what is the difference? If God created all men equal, we wouldn’t have to look at the Olympics, because all swimmers would come in at the same time, and Brother Johnson would just have to settle for “equal.” But there is no such thing as “equality” in the universe; from the tiniest insect to the far planets, they are not equal in size, in weight, in function. But what makes them all equal is law. These things (pen and notebook) are not equal, but if I drop them, I drop them into a law, and that law rendered things unequal, equal. That is how important law is! For without law that is administered properly, you get no equality and no justice in the society.
Now it is my contention that neither racism, sexism or materialism in the head of law can administrate law where people feel that there is equality under that law. No racist can give justice. No sexist can give justice. No person affected by status and station and material wealth can give justice or even represent law as law should be represented!
God created men and women equally, meaning there is no person that has come on this earth that didn’t have sperm mixed with ovum. That’s “equal.” Even if it’s a test tube, you had to have sperm and ovum, and mix it. Equal! Equal. No, not “equally”; now you’re equal, because the law of birth does not discriminate, the law of reproduction does not discriminate. If you want a child, there’s something you’ve got to do! And all of us have to do the same thing. …
***
Our point is: If you notice, each of us take a certain process; we go through a certain evolutionary process to come into existence. Whether you’re White, whether you’re Black, whether you’re rich, whether you’re poor, whether you have learned parents or ignorant parents, you start from sperm mixed with ovum, you evolve to a clot, then an embryo, then a fetus, then you come forth complete but incomplete. Equal. He created you equally under (that process), but you are equal under the law.
When you’re born into the world, The Qur’an says we are birthed into the world knowing nothing. So, you didn’t come here with knowledge, neither did I come here with knowledge. We came here with an equal chance from God’s viewpoint to do something.
The Power of God’s Law vs. man’s law
I spoke to a very powerful White fellow a few weeks ago. He was so powerful, so rich; and he let me know from the very beginning of our conversation how powerful he was, that I couldn’t get around him. And I waited, and then I said, “Sir, no matter how rich and powerful you are, when it’s time for you to leave here neither your riches nor your power can keep you here one second beyond time. So really, how powerful are you?”
You give power to things that really don’t have power by putting improper value on things. You value people with money, you value people with influence, but that is not real power! Law renders all things equal. The problem is we come in equal (we’ve got to come by the law of birth), and we die equal (we all go out under the law of death). Some live longer than others, but it’s sure: everybody here will obey that law. You obeyed the law coming in, and you’re certainly gonna obey the law going out. But the problem is, during the lifetime, in between the coming in and the going out, we are under man’s law. And man’s law is not like God’s law.
God’s law renders all things equal. Man’s law says, “It’s all right for you. I’m gonna squeeze it for him,” so you have a whole system of injustice, and we’re all in a maze trying to find our way out.
Dear family, you must understand that in this world you were not educated to think beyond the construct of your education. So, we coined a phrase: “He who gives you the diameter of your knowledge prescribes the circumference of your activity.” So, if White folk give you the diameter of your knowledge, then they know exactly what you can do, what you can’t do. And you usually function within that prescribed limit … . Limited by the law governing your profession. Limited. And sometimes those limits are frightening, because they are not just. Sometimes you are threatened with being disbarred, for standing strongly on a principle that “shakes the boat.” This is a boat, that if it is not shaken, it’s going down—and it’ll take us all down with it. So, “We might as well not shake the boat.”
Rock the boat, baby! Rock it, and reconstruct it! But before we can reconstruct the boat, we have to be reconstructed mentally; that, as a lawyer, you and I will give equal justice to those whom we serve.
Friction in society stems from weak practice of constitutional laws
I’d like to talk about the law as it relates to Black people from the White perspective. The Constitution is a wonderful document. Any of us who read it know that it’s a great document. Thomas Jefferson, one of the architects of that document, was a great Christian who studied the four gospels. And from his study of Jesus Christ, he wrote words that are inspired, but he didn’t know how to practice what he wrote. He knew how to practice it where his brethren in color were concerned, but he didn’t know how to practice that where the mass of suffering Whites and Blacks are concerned. Particularly the Blacks, because they were slave holders.
Brothers and sisters, if The Constitution is the greatest political document, rooted in spiritual values that have their connection in the moral law taught by God through His prophets, that document is magnificent, but it is weak in its practice because those who practice it, or are administrating it, are sick with the mind of White supremacy. And White supremacy as a mentality and a methodology will not allow you to give other human beings of color justice under that document. So, the document great, but the practice weak, leads to friction.
Friction now in the society is so great, it is disturbing the order of America, and the life of America is coming to a halt because of injustice.
Democracy is, in our humble judgment, the evolution of government; it is like the apex of the evolution of man’s desire to govern and be governed. We all start under dictatorships… That’s what my mother was. (Smile) I don’t know about yours, but mine was a dictator. I came up under authoritarian rule. My mother never asked me democratically, “What would you like for supper?” She was the dietician, and I would have to eat what she put on the table, or go to bed hungry. What about you? My point is: The person that brings you into existence has the right to be the authority that nurtures you to the point where you learn values and self-interest upon which to make sound judgment in your own best interest. So, you don’t come into the world under democracy. Mama knew nothing of democracy. Daddy didn’t know anything about democracy. But when you got to “feeling your oats,” mama and daddy said, “Well, there’s not gonna be two bosses in this house. Anytime you feel you can’t obey, you will have to go and get a house of your own. Make up your mind, son. But if you’re going to stay here, you’re gonna live under this law.” Mama had the right to set the rules. Daddy had the right to set the rules in the house.
We should rule our house under the divine order of God’s rule. You set a house in motion; you bring it to order by a just rule and law which you get from the universal laws of creation.
Now, democracy has evolved from all of these stages; and here we are, in the flower of democracy. But the democracy, now, the social fabric of it, is being ripped apart.
The role and responsibility of lawyers to the community
I would like to close with this thought: The law under which we are created determines the nature of us. And the nature of us determines our function, and our function determines where we fit in the social order. Now what is the law under which we are created that determines our nature? If the scripture says, “God created male and female in His own image and after His likeness,” the law under which we were created determines our nature.
If you are created in the image of God, then your nature is what? Righteousness and godliness. And anytime we act contrary to righteousness and godliness, we are acting against our nature, therefore, our lives become filled with friction and trouble which begins to interfere with order in our lives and brings the motion of our lives to an end.
This is a society that the Bible says we are “born in sin and shaped in iniquity.” Let’s stop there. Because if our nature, and the law under which we were created is righteousness, and our nature is obeying the law of truth and light and life, and we find ourselves born in something that is contrary to that, and then shaped in contrariness, then our lives are filled with misery. …
Health, law, economics: “Health” means when a thing is functioning in accord with the nature and purpose of its creation, it is healthy. When it doesn’t function, it is diseased. We came into the world alright; but the world that we came in and the institutions that shaped us were messed up, because White supremacy structured those institutions. …
You are a lawyer: You are a servant of the people in the realm of law. But you know what happens? Education takes away the spirit of service. They make you want to be the master; so most of us who are lawyers have an arrogance. “Humility” and “law” don’t seem to go together. Am I right? It’s true. You feel you are the best and the brightest. And you love to argue, because that’s what you’re taught (“take the opposite”): “I don’t care what it is!” You take the opposite and argue your case; somebody says, “God is,” you say: “God ain’t!”—and prove it. So, you just argue yourself right out of faith. You go to church, but you really “just go,” you know what I mean? The spirit is not there.
Lawyers, don’t you let the profession take you away from belief in The Creator Who established this universe on the basis of law. God is The Supreme Lawyer, and you are His students!
***
So, as I leave you, and I’m sorry if I have not served you well, but I love you, and I know your value to our people. I would like to close this talk by just mentioning the Million Man March and God’s intervention, and why success depends on good motivation.
As a lawyer, you know that the motive sometimes or oftentimes determines the gravity of the penalty. True? So, if you can establish motive, intent, then you build your case (as a prosecutor, anyway). Even if you’re lying: Give them a bad motive, and you probably will get them convicted. Well, what you do is not as important as why you do it. Because why you do a thing is what gives you the spirit and power in that thing. Once your motive is corrupted, the power to do is limited. …
We have the brightest and the best right in here. You can defend any case and win if you’ve got courage. Sometimes you’ve got to fight the judge! (All the time, huh?) Sometimes. Well, you’ve got to know how to do it. I think Johnny Cochran gave us all a great legal lesson. You are the best that we have: Live up to what is expected and serve your community. The toughs that are in the street, they are your brothers and sisters, and they will fight for you; they will defend you with their lives. Don’t be afraid of them. That’s your army. They are your community. Link up with your community; fight for them, and God will bless us to come into the 21st century so much greater than we came into the 20th century.
The professional people are the leaders. You are the natural leaders of our people; accept your responsibility, and lead, because law should lead. We can’t do it without law, so law should lead. You are the most intelligent, then lead. Help us to get free.