NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) –The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan held a private meeting with the Black Press and Black journalists here Oct. 15 at the Windows Over Harlem Restaurant.
The Bush administration is determined to pursue war, wants to create a hostile atmosphere against peace advocates and has targeted Muslims, the leader of the Nation of Islam said. “The real aim of President Bush is myself and the Nation of Islam. I feel it is my duty now not to be quiet. All of us will be under trial, and all of us will be in the valley of decision on how we are going to react to what is about to be done,” the Minister said.
“Everybody that they (the government) do not control must be destroyed. They have already started on Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They have started on politicians, who may gain control of certain committees. This is going on in state politics, in city politics, as well as national politics,” he said.
The atmosphere of war in America makes the Black Press “vitally” important, he said. The United States did not plan to attack Saddam Hussein because of weapons of mass destruction, the Minister continued. “They want to master that part of the world and control the oil reserves in Iraq. To me it is a very dark hour in the history of this nation, and it will get darker,” he said.
Min. Farrakhan then told journalists about a letter he wrote to President George W. Bush in December 2001. “I told him that I knew what was in his mind concerning Iraq,” Min. Farrakhan said. The letter pointed out that recent U.S. presidents have watched and launched military operations against Muslim nations, he said. That includes former President Richard M. Nixon, who called fundamentalist Islam a threat to democracy, and efforts to weaken regimes in the Middle East and Africa.
“America has always been involved covertly, most of the time, in regime change. This is the first time that a president has boldly spoken out publicly that the aim is a regime change in Iraq, and that orders have been given openly to the Central Intelligence Agency to assassinate a head of state.” he said.
“This is the beginning of the destruction of this nation. It is hard to say, and it is hurtful to say. We have known these things were coming for years, and we thought maybe it would be in someone else’s lifetime, but it is in ours,” Min. Farrakhan said emphatically.
This is a time for Black journalists, whether they work for Black media or White media, to condemn falsehood and stand up for truth, he said. “This is why the Black press is so valuable, there is a principle involved here that is bigger than all of us,” he said.
During the question and answer period, Elinor Tatum, editor of the Amsterdam News asked, “How can we get those in their 20s and 30s back into the fight so that they understand what is really going on?”
Min. Farrakhan answered: “We hoped that we would not have had to fight the old fight, where we were duped into believing that we had arrived. Our nationalist family says that the struggle continues. But, remember our youth are being purposely separated from the elders, so that the wisdom of our years will not be imparted to them, thus preparing them for the coming struggle.
“This is the greatest generation that we have ever had, believe me when I tell you. They are fearless and they are crazy, but they are the ones that will bring liberation, if you put the right thought in their minds,” the Minister said.
Among journalists at the historic meeting were Herb Boyd, The Black World Today national editor, Naya Arinde of The Daily Challenge, columnist Peter Noel, Earth Times magazine writer Gerald Fraser, radio activist Bob Law, Elombe Brath of WBAI-FM radio’s Afrikaleidoscope and Kwasi Akyeupong, moderator of the Black List, an on-line information source.
