As a young man he was an excellent reciter of the Qur’an and he would be rewarded by elders for his beautiful recitations. He taught mathematics at the age of 19 at an all-girls school. Ali was a hardworking man of good character which earned him a student visa to the United States in the early 1960s. He attended and graduated from the University of Illinois at the Circle Campus.

On August 18, 1964 he married Darlene Nee Tribke and from this union they were blessed with 7 children, 4 girls and 3 boys, two of which preceded him in death. Nadia, Tarik, Reema, Alia and Jamal have shown those who knew him and the family how proud they are of their father’s work and he will surely be missed by them. Ali was one of the student leaders of Arab and Muslim students on campus.

From that position he was able to meet Muhammad Ali and from this meeting and acquaintance with Muhammad Ali, circumstances allowed him to meet the Hon. Elijah Muhammad.

Circumstances through that meeting allowed him to end up writing a column in the Muhammad Speaks newspaper, published by the Nation of Islam. The column was called “Middle East Report” and the Hon. Elijah Muhammad gave him the freedom to report on the Middle East from his perspective.

Ali Baghdadi proved to be a great asset for Minister Louis Farrakhan in his World Friendship Tours by translating the Minister’s words to world leaders, students, government officials and religious scholars in the Arab World. He also taught Arabic on Saturdays to the Muslim students who were anxious to learn the language of the Holy Qur’an.

He was well known on the Munir Muhammad cable TV show based in Chicago. On a personal note, Brother Baghdadi performed marriage ceremonies for three of Min. Farrakhan’s daughters.

And whenever we were invited to Ali’s home, his wife would prepare delicious Arab dishes that he taught her. He published his own newspaper, the Arab News, in English and in Arabic.

Ali Baghdadi will be missed by his family and all of those who knew him. Ali was blessed to travel to 76 countries of the world and his work of helping Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam will never be forgotten.

Abdul Akbar Muhammad is international representative of the Nation of Islam and longtime friend and companion of Brother Ali Baghdadi. May Allah be pleased with the life and contribution of Brother Ali Baghdadi.

The post From Al-Quds, Jerusalem, to America the journey of Ali Mustapha Baghdadi appeared first on Final Call News.

His love for the people of Ghana, his work for the African continent, and being a brother and friend of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam was proven.

Going back to 1986, President Rawlings opened the doors of Ghana for Minister Farrakhan when other countries closed theirs at the instigation and threat of the United States government.

At the time Minister Farrakhan embarked on an international speaking tour that was to take him to Nigeria then Ghana and other African nations. The same journey included Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and China.

At the time the U.S. government targeted African leaders with a misinformation campaign against Minister Farrakhan to dissuade them from letting the Minister in their countries.

Because of the propaganda, the Minister was declared persona non grata in England, where the authorities arrested him after he landed in London in transit to Africa. He was detained for 14 hours at Heathrow Airport and his passport was taken and Nigerian pilots with a letter from British authorities describing the Minister as a troublemaker. The documents were to be handed to the Nigerian authorities on arrival, which the pilots refused to do.

It so happened the pilot had been in the audience at Madison Square Garden in New York, where Minister Farrakhan spoke to 50,000 people months earlier on October 7, 1985.

After the ordeal in London and some difficulty in Nigeria, Minister Farrakhan went to Ghana where the same misinformation had also reached the government.

However, Mr. Rawlings was a man of principle and was independent. He allowed the Minister in and let him speak to different sectors of the country.

I will never forget President Rawlings’ famous quote, while addressing an assembly of the top military leaders in Ghana, after allowing Minister Farrakhan to address them, which itself is unprecedented for a military leader and government to do.

“When my intelligence told me ‘A,’ I did ‘Z,’ ” said the Ghanaian president.

Mr. Rawlings said he went opposite of what his intelligence service was reporting about the Minister. He said if he listened, he would never have let Min. Farrakhan in the country, much less, have afforded him the opportunity to speak. This was the backstory to the close friendship that was formed between President Rawlings and Minister Farrakhan.

He opened all of Ghana to the Minister and his delegation for 13 days. The Minister spoke to the scholars, the Ulama (the guardians’ interpreters and transmitters of religious knowledge in Islam, including some on law and doctrine). He spoke to the students at the universities of Ghana-Legon and of Cape Coast. He spoke to Christian leaders and traveled to the North to help resolve a controversy among the Muslims over the finishing of a mosque.

President Rawlings assigned Dr. Abdullah Botchwey, and Dr. Ben Abdullah, who was the minister of culture and tourism and an excellent teacher of Ghanaian history, to move around the country with the Minister and his delegation.

By 1990 Minister Farrakhan had returned to Ghana to celebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.

After delivering a moving lecture on the life and work of Dr. Nkrumah, Minister Farrakhan met with President Rawlings and some of his top officials. During the discussion, President Rawlings asked the Minister if he had an office in Africa. The Minister replied, no. President Rawlings responded by asking, “Why don’t you open an office in Ghana?”

The Minister said yes, he would like to do that and discussed with President Rawlings what he had in mind. Subsequently, I relocated with my family to Accra to open the Nation of Islam Ghana Mission and Information Center. The offer to establish an office in Africa speaks to President Rawlings’ vision and leadership in the tradition of Dr. Nkrumah, who also opened the way for Blacks in the Diaspora to repatriate and reconnect to their motherland. Historical men like W.E.B. Du Bois and his wife Shirley, George Padmore and many others left America for Ghana.

President Rawlings also opened the door to other African leaders for Minister Farrakhan. I recall he made available a military plane to fly the Minister and his delegation to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where Minister Farrakhan met President Thomas Sankara. President Rawlings was a mentor to President Sankara, who patterned the revolution that ushered him to power after the principles behind the 1981 coup d’état that brought Mr. Rawlings to power.

Minister Farrakhan and President Rawlings are Brothers in the Struggle for a free and justified Africa.

The comradery continued and in 1994, President Rawlings opened the way for the Nation of Islam to convene its first Saviours’ Day convention on the African continent where 1,900 Blacks from the Diaspora traveled to Accra, Ghana.

President Rawlings honored us by officially opening the gathering at the Accra International Conference Center and closed it three days later at Independence Square, where Minister Farrakhan delivered an inspirational and strong message called “Fulfilling the Vision of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad” before a crowd of 40,000 people.

There is much more about the relationship between President Jerry John Rawlings and Minister Louis Farrakhan that must be narrated by those who know and helped make this history. We are grateful, honored and will never forget what President Rawlings did in life for Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.

A. Akbar Muhammad is the International Representative of the Nation of Islam and Author of Africa & The World Revisited. He can be reached at Akbar314@yahoo.com.

The post When the Strong Man Goes; Remembering Jerry Rawlings appeared first on Final Call News.

When I first received the invitation for a delegation to attend an investment conference in Liberia, I was asked to reach out to retired teachers, farmers, and business persons who were not afraid of Africa, and ready to look into the tremendous possibilities of Liberia.

We jumped at the opportunity.

Though I had been to Liberia many times, this trip was my most enlightened as I was able to see much deeper and firsthand into this rich and beautiful country on the West Coast of Africa.

Liberia is blessed to have abundance of rubber, gold, diamonds, bauxite, beautiful beachfront properties ready for development, tremendous fishing grounds off the coast, and fertile land for farmers.

Liberia has a young workforce eager to learn and work to develop their country.

Throughout its long history, Liberia has had many transitions. It once enjoyed economic prosperity and had one of the strongest economies in Africa. The country of 4.6 million people (in 2016) has also seen many years of war, economic havoc, dictatorship, and very recently was plagued by the deadly Ebola virus. Liberia has since been declared Ebola free.   What was once one of the strongest countries in Africa has become a country struggling to get its economic, educational, and political house in order.

The Honorable Senator Jonathan L. Kaipay convened the first Trade and Investment Conference in Grand Bassa County, with the blessings of newly elected President George Weah. The county is an hour and a half drive from the capital city of Monrovia and will be the next area that will drive Liberia’s economic development.

The ultimate goal, according to Senator Kaipay, is to transform Grand Bassa County into a financial business hub for economic growth in Liberia, and transform Grand Bassa’s capital city, Buchanan, into a commercial center.

I was invited to participate by Ms. Naqueeta Ricks, under the instructions of Liberia’s vice president, the Honorable Jewel Howard Taylor. The conference attracted over 50 business entities and investors positioning themselves to become a part of Liberia’s development and economic growth.

Bleejay Innis was tasked by Senator Kaipay with serving as conference coordinator. Mr. Innis, like Ms. Ricks, resides in both America and Liberia, and represents a new wave of   young Liberians committed to redeveloping Africa’s first republic.

The 3-day Trade and Investment Conference was full of workshops and seminars on energy, infrastructure, education, mining, transportation, agriculture, and tourism. Attendees came from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, the Caribbean, South Africa, the United States and many other countries.

Ms. Princess Turkelon, the assistant minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism, took the delegation to Providence Island, the location where the first descendants of slaves arrived after choosing separation over slavery. This location birthed many emotions from the delegates as they were at the place where our ancestors landed to escape America’s slave masters and the institution of slavery.

The intentions of the organizers are to hold the conference yearly, and my goal is to now include Liberia as one of the places we take our delegations on our trips to Africa.    

Abdul Akbar Muhammad can be reached via email at Aakbar314@yahoo.com. For questions or copies of his new book “Africa and the World Revisited” visit Akbarsbooks.com.

The post Liberia’s Trade & Investment Conference: Seeking Help and Investment from the Diaspora appeared first on Final Call News.

On January 6, a day before the West African Nation of Ghana changed leadership (President John Dramani Mahama lost the election to Nana Akufo-Addo) I was blessed to receive my Ghana citizenship along with Bro. Earl 3X Reddix from Las Vegas. I received a call that if I was going to receive my citizenship I had to do it before Jan., 7 when the new president would be sworn in. The swearing in ceremony took place at the Ministry of the Interior. A number of new citizens were sworn in and I was honored by being chosen to address the new citizens of Ghana.

The first President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, wanted to see this marriage from the time he attended college in America. One of the Africans from the diaspora, Dr. Robert Lee told me a touching story of how he and his then girlfriend who later became his wife Sarah, saw a sign posted at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania announcing a speaker at the chapel with a funny name would conduct a lecture on Africa. Sarah and Robert Lee decided to attend the lecture and the speaker was Kwame Nkrumah. They were moved and touched according to Dr. Lee by his knowledge of Africa and the struggle of the African people.

When Robert and Sarah finished graduate school they reached out for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and made a decision to move to Africa where they became citizens of Ghana and as dentists used their knowledge to help Ghana. Their experience in working with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah can be found in the book titled ‘American Africans in Ghana’ by Kevin K. Gaines. Dr. Sarah Lee also became the first African American director of the WEB DuBois Center in Accra.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah always thought that Africans in the diaspora would play a major role in the continents development. The people who were drug out of the continent in the holes of slave ships and brought to the Western Hemisphere for their free labor to build a world for the Europeans.

Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention touched on this in a profound way when she stated, “I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves.” She struck a blow for consciousness on both sides, Black and White, a fact overlooked and in many cases never thought about by many.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah saw this as his mission. The marriage between Africans in the diaspora and those on the continent is a difficult marriage but a marriage of necessity. He saw the Africans in the diaspora using the knowledge they had gained as slaves building the White man’s world being brought back to the continent of Africa. We should all applaud this gallant effort by Ex-President John D. Mahama.

My rally cry over the 12 years that I lived in Ghana was that it’s better to see Africa once, than to hear about it a thousand times. This was my push to engage Africans from the diaspora to travel, live, work and do business on the African continent. Ex-President Mahama stood on the shoulders of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and later the founder of his party (NDC) Jerry John Rawlings, for reaching out to Africans in the diaspora to visit.

It started on a day in early 1986 in Accra, Ghana when Jerry John Rawlings, then the chairman of the PNDC asked Minister Louis Farrakhan “Brother Farrakhan, do you have an office in Africa? The answer from Minister Farrakhan was no. Then Rawlings went on to say “Why don’t you open one for Africa, here in Ghana?”

Thirty-one years later we’re looking at Ghana, which I project will be the first of many opening their doors to dual citizenship for Africans in the diaspora. As America prepares to accept a new President Donald J. Trump, a man who has said little or nothing about a continent with now over a billion people and the role that America would play on that continent. There are many rumors and half-truths on the internet about disparaging remarks he said about Africans and African people, none that I care to repeat in this article in the age of fake new stories, however I will say that many forward thinking African churches, mosques, business organizations, and educational institutions see that there is hope in the relationship that WEB DuBois, Martin Delany, Marcus Garvey and many more said we must relate to our home continent and we must take advantage of the tremendous wealth and potential that this great continent has.

For those of us blessed to get dual citizenship with Ghana, we have the responsibility to spread this word and help to open these doors in all 54 African countries. Those of us who have struggled over the years and are in our twilight must pass this baton on, we must encourage the Black millennials as they are called to get involved.  

Akbar Muhammad may be reached at: aakbar314@yahoo.com

The post A President’s Last Act: Dual Citizenship For Africans In The Diaspora appeared first on Final Call News.

How he touched our lives, inspired us, and in many cases he changed the course of our lives. He touched people near and far. Many never had an opportunity to see Muhammad Ali in person but through books, documentaries and his acting many came to know him. There were many who did not like Ali. Some thought that he was brash and arrogant. They were hoping that someone would defeat him in the ring or that he would suffer blows to mess up his “pretty face.”

Two days after his death, the New York Times described Ali in a way that made readers think about the impact Ali had not only in America but throughout the world. The headlines read, “From Blockbuster Fighter to the Country’s Conscience” and “The Champ who Transcended Boxing.”

Growing up and watching Ali (we happen to be the same age) I can say with certainty that he probably saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of young Americans who would have went off to fight in the tragic, unholy Vietnam war. A war that took 58,000 precious American lives–had Ali not protested, we may have lost over 100,000 lives in Vietnam. Given Ali’s courageous stand not to go to war, he inspired and encouraged others to stand down and say no to war.

His insight and political position was rooted in the fact that at 21-years-old he accepted the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam. What he learned as a young Muslim not only sharpened his focus and determination in the ring, but it also opened up his mind to the condition of Black people in America. He spoke out about discrimination and demanded Social Justice.

As the news unfolds about Muhammad Ali, we see many who try to sidestep and minimize his deep involvement in the Nation of Islam and the commitment he made to his faith. His stand not to go to Vietnam pricked the country’s conscience as mentioned in the New York Times. When he was given the name Muhammad Ali, it made those who followed boxing in America and throughout the world know immediately that there was something different about this fighter. When he won the championship from Sonny Liston (when most that followed boxing thought that there was no way that this untried youngster could beat a man they thought was invincible), he pumped new life into boxing. Ali created a dynamic where boxers could now make millions of dollars that they rightly deserved.

I was blessed to be in Muhammad Ali’s company many times. I was blessed to be in charge of the Shabazz Restaurant in New York that prepared Muhammad Ali’s food when he fought at Madison Square Garden. I was blessed to be in Turkey when Muhammad Ali was invited to visit Turkey on his first visit by the then foreign minister. Again the New York Times was correct; he was a champion who transcended the boxing ring.

One of his greatest attributes was to make people feel good about themselves while laughing at themselves. Today we would call him a gifted spoken word artist as he predicted the round that he would defeat his opponents. He could look at his opponents and give them names almost instantly that described them in a humorous way. He loved to make people happy. He loved to see people laugh and enjoy themselves.

Many would like to see Muhammad Ali as a man who crossed the bridge that got him over to the other side and turned and cursed the bridge. He was a Muslim and many would like to take that away from him and make him just a good American that had a tremendous ability to fight. Long live the courageous spirit of Muhammad Ali!

The post My Muhammad Ali Story appeared first on Final Call News.

Black people in the streets of Baltimore, Md., responding to the police killing of Freddie Gray were characterized in the media and by some critics as “thugs” and “criminals,” however this depiction is a poor choice of words. Based on their actions against Black and Brown people across the country, it’s police forces that better fit the description of thugs and criminals.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that history is best qualified to reward all research. Our young people are expressing their frustration at a system that targets, criminalizes and violates them daily. To call them thugs and criminals while they resist tyranny, because of the destruction and loss of property, is to contradict America’s own foundation and history.

Perhaps the “United States” as we know it would never have come into existence if the White settlers in the original 13 colonies didn’t physically resist the tyranny of King George III of England. Although the resistance was wrought with blood and the destruction of property, their actions are now celebrated by patriotic Americans.

I am sure if one asked George III his view of the resistance in the colonies–in particular the Boston Tea Party–he would refer to the resisters as criminals and thugs. Ironically like his modern day counterparts in the United States government, criminalizing the victims of tyranny and injustice gave excuse for further mistreatment.

Would those who readily call young Black resisters thugs and criminals say the same to those involved in the Boston Tea Party in the 1770s, which history shows was an act of rebellion and a major lead up for them realizing justice and separation from the throne?

It was destruction of property when colonists physically interfered with the unbalanced economic arrangement imposed on the colonies by George III. When they raided ships of imported tea and dumped the shipments in the Boston Harbor causing loss of revenue, were these White Founding Fathers rebelling or rioting?

President Obama, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake–who later retracted her words–and others who mischaracterized young Blacks as “thugs” while they are expressing legitimate grievances, must consider American history. History informs us about how rebellion to injustice and tyranny is part of the fabric of America. On the other hand the same America perpetrates thuggish and criminal acts worldwide and domestically for the most part on people of color.

In Baltimore like other recent cases where the people rose up in the streets, the plea of the authorities and some Black leaders is for peace, but absent in their call is the most important part which is justice.

We have every right to designate those who commit criminal acts against our people as thugs and criminals. The deaths of Freddie Gray, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York, Walter Scott in South Carolina, Eric Harrison in Oklahoma, 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland and John Crawford in an Ohio Wal-Mart expose the thuggish and criminal element in U.S. police departments and a culture of cover-up that protects police who in many cases are guilty of murder.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake was bold enough to clarify her misuse of the word thug, referring to our people. These young people are our babies. In a recent twitter post, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “There is fear in America over our young people coming together,” and he called them “the finest generation we have ever had–and because they are the finest generation, they are under attack.”

The system created the circumstances and social-political climate where justice and a better quality of life have been denied. Every generation was met with the struggle to overcome the systemic injustices of their time. During the civil rights, Black power and liberation era, disrupting business as usual was always a tactic to push for meaningful change. America must evaluate its relationship with the Black and the poor domestically if it will have a future as a power globally. This is a time of decision for America.

The Boston Tea Party rebellion against George III planted the seeds for revolution and the establishment of a new nation that became the United States of America. It was the decisive moment of history between an oppressor and the oppressed wherein George III words “the colonies must either submit or triumph.”

This October 2015, on the occasion marking the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, Minister Farrakhan will lead a mass of people to Washington, D.C., to issue a demand to the government of the United States for “Justice or Else.” We are at the same critical juncture that our former slave-masters were with King George, either continue to submit to the tyranny or triumph with self-determination in a nation of our own.

To the young people who have no fear of the militarized police forces, the National Guard or any agents of suppression, you are not the thug. You are instruments of liberation from the thugs and the criminals.

To the older and more fearful, “You have always hoped for a generation that would stand up to the forces of injustice and oppression that we in former years bowed down to,” said Minister Farrakhan in another twitter posting. Here they are.

(For questions and comments reach A. Akbar Muhammad at AAkbar314@yahoo.com.)

The post Thugs and Criminals – Poor Word Choice For Resisters appeared first on Final Call News.

Traveling in Africa recently I observed how America is viewed by African leaders and regular people on the street. They are aware of the current struggles between White police and Black youth in America. Article after article has pictures of the tug of war against an American White power structure that has used its police force as a standing army to crush and annihilate budding resistance leaders and assure that young Black people are branded as criminals.

February 2015 marked 200 days since the brutal police murder of Michael Brown, Jr., on a street in the St. Louis, Mo., suburb of Ferguson. The slaughter of the unarmed 18-year-old rocked America and impacted the world.

In reaction young people filled the streets in outrage and rebellion that some erroneously portrayed as rioting. Youth were not looking to “loot” or destroy, they were protesting the continued senseless killings of fellow young people and Black men in particular by White law enforcement.

According to Dorian Johnson, who was accosted with Michael on that fateful day, the events began with police officer Darren Wilson belligerently saying, “Get the f–k on the side walk” and things spiraled from there.

Black Youth: Fearless and intelligent

Black youth have watched case after case of victims being killed and then criminalized afterward. The police make it appear as if murder was justified by dismissing the victim as “just another street thug” who deserved what he got. The corporate media repeats the lie with very little investigation, adding to a narrative that says Black life does not matter within the predominately White world of law enforcement.  

The message from young people resisting in the streets is “we are sick and tired” of the oppression and murder of our peers and the police culture of cover-up. Youth created battle slogans like “We’re young and we’re strong and we’re marching all night long” and “Black Life Matters.” They caused “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” coined by veteran St. Louis activist Anthony Shahid, to go global.

They have found solidarity with youth in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe who are also rising against injustice in their countries. We are witnessing what the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has described as “The Intensifying, Universal Cry for Justice,” where the global masses of people are pushing for change.

Youth are intelligent and are being raised to levels of consciousness unprecedented in the history of our struggle in America. They are a fearless generation who want absolute change and are willing to do whatever is necessary to bring it about whether its demonstrations, blocking traffic, shutting down major economic centers–and are clearly declaring to the powers that be “no more business as usual.”

Bridging a Generational Gap in struggle

The struggle is now with the elders. Some are suffering from battle fatigue and showing a type of “Rodney King” approach, “Can’t we all just get along?” Other elders want to be involved–not necessarily out in the streets every night–but offering guidance and the benefit of their experiences in building a movement against an enemy who counters with repression and the elimination of Black leaders and voices of consciousness. The elders, who have lived and walked that road, understand the nuances of struggle and how people are worn out from fighting the oppression of White America day in and day out.

The battle against police brutality is nothing new and leaders who have gone before us always raised it as a core issue.

Answering movement critics in his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” in April, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., included the vicious police treatment of Alabama Blacks as a reason to unite and press forward.

He noted “hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity… .”

Earlier in 1961, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad placed the demand for an “immediate end” to police brutality in Point No. 6 of “What the Muslims Want and What the Muslims Believe” on the back page of Muhammad Speaks and it is currently on the last page of The Final Call Newspaper.

“We want an immediate end to the police brutality and mob attacks against the so-called Negro throughout the United States. We believe that the Federal government should intercede to see that black men and women tried in white courts receive justice in accordance with the laws of the land—or allow us to build a new nation for ourselves, dedicated to justice, freedom and liberty,” Mr. Muhammad states.

The Black Panther Party addressed police brutality in Point No. 7 of its 10-Point Platform: “We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people.”

Solidarity and tricks of the enemy

The struggle continues, but now with modern technology and communication platforms like FaceBook, Twitter and Live Stream the word spreads instantly in real time. As a result, the struggle in Ferguson has taken on different dimensions involving a broader base of people.

But a tragedy of Ferguson was the enemy of our struggle telling young people and local people in St. Louis to reject solidarity and support from “outside” people participating, which is a tactical error. History tells us it was outsiders during the civil rights struggle that brought worldwide attention to the cause. It was outsiders who gave their money, their lives and their time to the struggle. A common complaint lodged at Dr. King, as a national figure supporting local struggles for justice in different cities, was that he was an outsider.

Recently one young brother stepped to Rev. Jesse Jackson at a St. Louis rally and challenged him about his motives and accused him of only being present for a photo-op–which I personally thought was disrespectful. In other cases some long-time leaders were booed by the crowds. However, at the same time elders must move away from being seen as apologists and appeasers, seeking acceptance from the former slave-masters.

No people will move forward disrespecting its elders and those who struggled for justice before them–it’s a universal principle. You should value elders and bring them into the conversation. Counsel with them and take what’s good from their words and use them in the modern context of the struggle you are engaged in.  

Never show disregard for those who forged the way. They laid the foundation from a history of groping, searching, studying and working for the right way to bring about change that future generations won’t have to bear what they suffered. The elders may not be on the frontlines, but they must be at the table sharing the lessons of struggle–the mistakes and successes–with the young soldiers. Youth must study the historical legacy of our struggle and the price paid in blood, incarceration and exile of activists and leaders. The elders must encourage the young people demonstrating on the streets to maintain consistency even when the media coverage ends. Don’t play to the media; it is not the friend of those who struggle. If you noticed the media spotlights certain leaders and traditional organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League but carefully omits identifying young grassroots activists who are leading the charge across the country.

Young warriors it is you who will lead into the future and upcoming generations will look at you as their foundation.

We all will eventually taste the evil accident of time, which is death. As elders approach the road toward death and reflect on their contributions and legacy, young people in the movement must never be found posturing as though everything done before now was in vain.

There are serious issues plaguing the Black community that elder/youth collaboration can positively effect. If ever there was a time to fight for unity of purpose and bridging the generation gap in the movement, it is now.

This is why we can’t stop, the elders as well as the youth have a role.

Don’t allow our mutual enemy to divide, destroy and stop us from using all of our power to work together until victory is ours. May Allah (God) bless us to achieve freedom and justice for the struggling masses of our people.

(For questions and comments, A. Akbar Muhammad can be reached at aakbar314@yahoo.com.)

The post The Youth-Elder Struggle: Closing The Gap appeared first on Final Call News.

(FinalCall.com) – We cannot allow those in the state of Missouri to divide us in the name of so-called peace when the grand jury drops its decision about Darren Wilson, the White police officer who killed Michael Brown, Jr.

And we should ask this question: Do those calling for peace, really want peace? If so, why are they preparing for war?

Newspapers have published and TV stations have broadcast how much money has been spent militarizing the police. Police have purchased different armaments, tear gas, protective shields, helmets, plastics, handcuffs, and more. It is obvious they are not preparing for peace but for war.

It appears to me if they wanted peace they would be trying to negotiate with the list of legitimate demands that coalitions have issued and openly discuss them, however the authorities dismissed and refused the demands.

The first coalition that issued a list of demands was the Justice for Michael Brown Leadership Coalition whose demands were: We demand that Darren Wilson, the officer involved in the shooting death of Michael Brown be immediately fired from Ferguson police department instead of remaining on paid leave. We demand Darren Wilson be charged and vigorously prosecuted for the murder of Michael Brown. We demand that Missouri Governor, Jay Nelson, under the emergency law clause he issued immediately remove St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch from the case involving Michael Brown. We call upon the United States Federal Attorney General, Eric Holder and Missouri state Attorney General Chris Koster to investigate the policies and practices of the local municipalities in Saint Louis City, Saint Louis County and other municipalities throughout the state of Missouri that have demonstrated a legacy of racial profiling. Accordingly, we call upon those officials to develop penalties/policies to put an end to those practices. We call for the Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich to do an audit of the funds of the local municipalities that have demonstrated a history of racial profiling. We demand accountability of how much revenue is being generated from traffic violations and how these funds are being spent. We call for the Ferguson Mayor, James Knowles, and Police Chief Thomas Jackson to immediately resign from their positions of authority and if not we will call upon the people to immediately do a recall of the Mayor of Ferguson. (I am also part of that coalition.)

I recommend strongly that those involved in this struggle identify ways to unify and work together so we can continue to push our struggle in St. Louis as a national struggle against police brutality, police killings and stop police from coming into our communities as if they are hunting young Black men.

I decided to write this article as I watched divisions that have cropped up since we began our protests in the name of justice for the murder of Michael Brown, Jr. As an historian I always look back at what others did in crisis, struggle and battle. Many of us know or have seen documentaries about how West Point studies battle plans of great wars and struggles, some going back a thousand years.

I encourage those seeking to understand   our divisions–in many cases fostered by the enemies of our struggle–to study the following excerpt from www.wisegeek.org on “Divide and Conquer” which states: “A divide and conquer strategy, also known as ‘divide and rule strategy’ is often applied in the arenas of politics and sociology. In this strategy, one power breaks another power into smaller, more manageable pieces, and then takes control of those pieces one by one. It generally takes a very strong power to implement such a strategy. In order to successfully break up another power or government, the conqueror must have access to strong political, military, and economic machines.

“Furthermore, in order to maintain power and influence, large governments will often work to keep smaller powers and governments from uniting. In fact, this use of the principles within the divide and conquer strategy is most common. It is much easier to prevent small powers from linking forces than to break them apart once they have aligned.

“Leaders who use a divide and conquer strategy may encourage or foster feuds between smaller powers. This kind of political maneuvering requires a great understanding of the people who are being manipulated. In order to foster feuds, for example, one must understand the political and social histories of the parties intended to take part in the feuds.

“The strategy also includes methods with which to control the funds and resources of the small conquered parties. For example, a powerful leader may encourage a less powerful leader to make unwise financial decisions in order to drain the smaller power’s resources. This is often successful if the leaders of the smaller powers have inflated egos and delusions of grandeur. It is important to note that this form is only effective if the smaller power allows itself to be influenced by the larger power.

“The divide and conquer strategy has been widely used throughout history. Both the Roman Empire and the British Empire played small tribes and groups against one another in order to control their lands and territories. It was used by the Romans when they took Britain, when the British Empire took India, and when the Anglo-Normans took Ireland. A staple political strategy, divide and conquer is still used by many countries today.”

Differences always exist about strategies to be used to move a struggle forward within the same groups. During the civil rights/Black liberation struggle, we differed about our tactics on how we would go forward but many of us maintained a healthy respect for those who would struggle in different ways.

Minister Louis Farrakhan gave me a quote from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. When some young men met the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the city of Chicago and asked him, “Mr. Muhammad, will you come out into the streets and fight with us?” The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told them, “No, I will not, but I can teach you how to fight and win.”

The struggle in St. Louis we are involved in is for the thousands who have died as a result of police brutality in communities across America. There is a culture of cover-up in many police departments that protects policemen who wrongfully kill a Black person by criminalizing the victim so the victim will be seen as a menace to society and a Black thug that should have been killed.  

This is why the struggle is so important and why we have to fight against division as we move forward to bring an end to these hideous police crimes against the Black community. If we are going to win this battle for our community and all young men threatened by this mentality that exists in these police departments, we must find a way to work out our differences, form alliances and not become divided.

Be careful not to allow the enemies of our struggle for justice to pull you aside, give you money and sponsor your programs thinking your plans will fly in the face of others who are struggling. Communicate with your brothers and sisters and when the enemy tries to isolate you, talk about inclusion of your comrades in the struggle out of respect for their points of view.

Let’s not fall victim to our enemy’s strategy of divide and conquer. Let’s commit to the principled position of united we will stand, and God Willing, we will win.

Akbar Muhammad can be contacted @ aakbar314@yahoo.com.

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(FinalCall.com) – The world has been inundated with media coverage of Nelson Mandela since he passed away on Thursday evening, December 5, 2013. There was a tremendous outpouring of praise and kind words about his leadership, character, and contribution to the world.  

However, conspicuously absent and neglected in the coverage was Mandela’s friendship with leaders and individuals who the Western world frowned on and had political problems with. Leaders who “Madiba”–as Mandela is also called–stood firm with on the principle that no county, no party and no individual will dictate to him who his   friends and associates should be or who he should have solidarity with.

According to people who attended Mandela’s swearing-in ceremony on May 10, 1994, as the first Black president of South Africa, the loudest cheers from the crowd was directed at Cuban leader Fidel Castro and the late Brother Leader Muammar Gadhafi of Libya. Hypocritically the Western nations are now embracing and speaking of the greatness of Nelson Mandela but in the past have always attempted to find a way for him to distance his friends; especially those friends they deemed terrorists, communists or trouble makers. One example was with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Nation of Islam in America. During a 1996 World Friendship Tour after the Million Man March, Minister Farrakhan made a visit to South Africa. He was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo–then called Zaire–meeting with its former president Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko when a message came that Nelson Mandela would receive Minister Farrakhan.

Those who follow dynamics on the African continent will remember this was the period of time when President Mobutu was kicked under the bus after serving America and the West as a faithful puppet, even in their fight to uphold the apartheid regime that was oppressing and killing Black people in South Africa.  

To show the character and how Mandela was principled, when Minister Farrakhan could not keep the schedule President Mandela requested because of a problem with our plane, President Mandela adjusted his schedule and waited to receive Minister Farrakhan.

We had received reports that those around President Mandela, including some of his top advisors, did not want him to meet the Muslim leader. Minister Farrakhan and President Mandela had an excellent private meeting at his home in the Houghton District of Johannesburg. When they emerged from their meeting in front of the world press, Nelson Mandela said, “We did not find anything that we disagreed on.” President Mandela was gracious, warm and very respectful of the work Minister Farrakhan was doing in America and worldwide.  

It was clear that his principled position and character was not new.  

In a nationally televised town hall meeting with Mandela at New York’s City College on June 21, 1990 hosted by famed journalist Ted Koppel, Mandela was questioned about his relationship with Fidel Castro of Cuba, Muammar Gadhafi of Libya and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Mandela retorted, your enemies are not necessarily my enemies, dismissing the idea of those relationships as a common “mistake” of subjective political analysts. Mr. Mandela refused to compromise on   African National Congress solidarity with its historical friends, demonstrating character and principle, comradeship and loyalty to those who helped the struggle he led for self determination. As for the American government, it has been exposed that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence departments assisted the repressive apartheid regime of South Africa in apphrending Nelson Mandela.

I am hoping that America could show character and take a principled position by apologizing to Mandela, the African National Congress and the South African people for years of taking an unprincipled position in supporting the racist apartheid regime that caused millions of Black people to suffer and die.

(A. Akbar Muhammad can be reached at aakbar314@yahoo.com)

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Debate has escalated in recent days on whether the United States should engage in yet another war and strike Damascus, Syria.

President Barack Obama gave an Aug. 31 statement from the White House Rose Garden laying out the case for U.S. intervention in Syria and his willingness to seek the approval of Congress and the Senate before acting.

After viewing the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s weekly broadcast, “The Time and What Must Be Done” Part 34, I believe the Minister’s analysis is most timely and important in the discussion on Syria and world events. Minister Farrakhan brought a level of clarity about the civil war in Syria and the worsening political struggles in the Middle East and he laid out why President Obama should just say no to another war in the region. Now that President Obama is placing it with congressional leaders and the Senate to decide, it is crucial what happens over coming days.

I would strongly suggest that our community, concerned Americans in general, and leaders throughout the world listen to Minister Farrakhan about the time and complex circumstances we are confronted with. In his broadcast, the Minister stoked our conscience to think about the American soldiers who lost their lives, who are maimed, having a difficult time adjusting back into society and the rising rate of suicides among veterans.

Meanwhile the president of the greatest nation on earth today is being pressured by the military establishment toward war which will be a great tragedy for the American people and the world. In his broadcast, Minister Farrakhan talked about the role of the military industrial complex and those who benefit from the control of the oil fields and other natural resources. The Minister presented a chart of the 2014 budget showing the U.S. military receiving 57 percent of the total budget. This is another reason why President Obama should just say no.

The Minister highlighted how wicked elements in and around the U.S. government and its leadership targeted seven Muslim and Arab nations that they wanted to overthrow, destroy and control; namely Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.

Each one of these that they have meddled in thus far has been reduced to chaos including those nations led by–what they called–the worst of leaders. There is an axiom that all students should learn, “those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.”

Hopefully, President Obama is aware of counter forces within America whose agenda is to make sure his legacy is tarnished and the people of America turn against him. In the beginning of his presidency, President Obama was expected to help bring democracy to the Muslim World; but now in his second term, for the people in the Middle East, his star has waned because he has only added to the mayhem in the Muslim World that the George W. Bush administration began.

In Minister Farrakhan’s broadcast, he cited “America’s errant foreign policy” with President Obama’s indecisive role in the current confusion in Egypt–a long time U.S. ally. The first democratic elections in the history of Egypt elected Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, only to be nullified and aborted by the military with the tacit backing of the United States. Annually, the Egyptian military enjoys over $1 billion in aid from the U.S.

The broadcast also covered the destructive disastrous takeover of Libya and the execution of Brother Leader Muammar Gadhafi and why they went all out to murder him–all under President Obama’s watch. Minister Farrakhan also touched on Barrack Obama struggling with the next step in his presidency and the kind of legacy he will leave. It is obvious because of the condition of the world, President Obama cannot make too many missteps and as president, he has the right to re-evaluate his next step.

On President Bashar al-Assad and Syria, President Obama drew a “red line” that if crossed, he threatened to take a course of action; however such action will only recreate chaos in another Muslim country. In fact, he has the right to step back and not be pressured by lobbyists working for Zionist Israel, nor the war hawks within his own government who say not dropping bombs on Damascus will make his leadership look weak.

Mr. President, my humble advice is to take a listen to Minister Louis Farrakhan and what he laid out as the results of you calling to strike Syria. Barack Obama is the president of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of its military; he has the right and power to change his mind.   This is why President Obama should say no to war on Syria.

(A. Akbar Muhammad can be reached for comments at aakbar314@yahoo.com)

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