Beauty. Grace. Style. Dignity. Compassion. Strength. Love.

Mother Khadijah Farrakhan embodied each of those attributes. The beloved wife of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, matriarch of the Farrakhan family and First Lady of the Nation of Islam (N.O.I.), returned to Allah (God) on June 27 at 90 years of age, leaving behind a grateful Nation and family.

Known and loved by many, Mother Khadijah was a humanitarian, teacher, fashion designer and world traveler. She is remembered by the Nation of Islam as a “Mother of the Faithful,” defined, in her words, as: “Being true to your God and being true to your religion.”

Most importantly, Mother Khadijah was a servant of Allah (God) and a student and follower of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.

On the return of his childhood sweetheart, companion, helper and wife of 72 years, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, expressed in a personal conversation that he is very glad for the life Mother Khadijah gave him, her family and her Nation. Mother Khadijah will give life to the world, he said.

Minister Farrakhan also shared that Allah has him in His grip, and He feels the strength of Allah’s arms around him. He expressed that he is not in pain or grief and though saddened, he is not sorrowful.

In the Nation of Islam’s official statement announcing Mother Khadijah’s return to Allah, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to Minister Farrakhan and member of the N.O.I. Shura Executive Council, expressed the following words:

“We thank Allah for the precious life of a loving wife, mother, a faithful, devoted follower of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Mother Khadijah will forever be cherished and remembered.

May Allah give His unequaled comfort to the family as we mourn this tremendous loss and lift the family in our prayers and thoughts. Allah, there is no God but He, He gives life and to Him is our eventual return.”

Mother Khadijah was born Betsy Ross, on November 26, 1935. On September 12, 1953, she married her childhood sweetheart, then known as Louis Eugene Walcott.

Upon hearing the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad for the first time in 1955, Mother Khadijah did not hesitate to accept the message.  “She got up and went to the back and was joining on,” Minister Farrakhan said in Part 7 of his 2013 series, “The Time and What Must be Done.”

“I was still sitting in my chair. I wasn’t quite, y’know, ready. And my uncle came with his beautiful West Indian accent, and he said, ‘Get up, your wife done gone already. Get up!’” From there, Minister Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah joined the Nation together.

“My wife has been with me throughout all of my striving. She knew me in the days of my ignorance, and she knows me in the days of my struggle. She stood by me.

When I decided to rebuild the work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, she was the first in my family to say, ‘Go on with it. I’m with you,’” Minister Farrakhan shared in a personal video montage during a celebration of his 92nd birth anniversary in May 2025. 

He also shared words on naming his wife, “Khadijah.”

“I would like her to wear the name of the wife of that servant of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, Khadijah. From this day forward, she will be known in this community and any other as Khadijah Farrakhan Muhammad,” he said.

To their beloved union, nine children were born: Sister Betsy Jean, Sister Maria, Sister Donna, Brother Louis Jr. (may Allah be pleased), Brother Joshua (may Allah be pleased), Student Supreme Captain Brother Mustapha, Sister Fatima, Sister Khallada and Brother Abnar.

In helping her husband in his mission to rebuild the N.O.I. and the work of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Mother Khadijah assisted with editing The Final Call newspaper, which was first published in the basement of the couple’s home in Chicago in 1979.  Minister Farrakhan said she was the first National Secretary, and she accounted for every penny!

As a fashion designer, applying the sewing skills she had first cultivated as a child, she created uniforms for Muslim women of the N.O.I., including the special uniforms worn by the M.G.T. Vanguard class. She founded Newel Apparel, which manufactures the official uniforms of the Muslim women, and she has represented the Nation in official delegations on the world stage.

At her 90th birth anniversary in November 2025, her youngest daughter, Sister Khallada Farrakhan, described her mother as having a pure heart of God, a love for humanity and a sense of community, never leaving anyone out and accepting others as family.

Mother Khadijah’s love extended to children. In the early 2000s, she established Mother Khadijah’s Children’s Village, a staple at the annual Saviours’ Day convention, ensuring the children in the N.O.I. have a fun, enjoyable and educational time at Saviours’ Day.

She was a beautiful and wonderful example of womanhood to so many. For Mother’s Day 2006, Mother Khadijah shared answers to questions posed by then-Final Call Managing Editor Dora Muhammad. Here are some of the insights she shared on various topics.

On motherhood: “First, we must understand that each child is an individual that has different wants and needs. We must know, as a mother, that you are a born nurturer of your family. And always keep the principles of Islam as your guide.”

On marriage and what helps sustain her commitment and love of her husband’s mission: “My love and continued love for Allah and His Messenger, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and my love and faith in Islam has helped to sustain me and my support for my husband.”

On women who want to adopt or become single moms because they do not believe they will ever find a suitable mate: “We never give up hope on marriage, for there is someone for everyone. However, if you choose to adopt, remember these words: You are a born nurturer with or without a father in your home. Happy adopting!!!”

As news of her return to Allah was released, heartfelt tributes and sentiments flooded social media and news outlets. “Mother Khadijah was a beautiful and loving Queen who served her family, community and inspired many.

Each time you were in her presence, you felt her love, grace and brilliance. Her contributions to the Minister and the Nation is truly immeasurable. She will be truly missed,” L. Londell McMillan, attorney and owner of The Source, wrote on the outlet’s website.

Mother Khadijah Farrakhan lives on through the example she set for Black women and girls and the lives she transformed. She is remembered for her loyalty to her husband and to her Nation, her unwavering faith in Allah and her loving and kind spirit to the human family. May Allah (God) be pleased with our Mother of the Faithful.

The Final Call will continue to pay tribute to our beloved Mother Khadijah Farrakhan in an upcoming edition.—Anisah Muhammad, Staff Writer

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“There is no such thing as living in peace with White Americans. You and I have tried without success,” He wrote in his book, “Message to the Blackman in America,” in a chapter titled, “Separation! Independence!” on page 204.

“Night and day they are seeking a chance to beat and kill you, while at the same time you are out seeking to show them how much you love them,” he added. “A very foolish people you are. How can anyone, other than you (so-called Negroes) love an open enemy?”

Black people’s 471-year sojourn in America has been marked by slavery, suffering, death, and mistreatment at the hands of White people and the U.S. government.  And, as the country prepares to celebrate and commemorate the 250th  anniversary of its founding, it is becoming more evident and clearer that Black and White still cannot coexist in peace.  

Anti-Black incidents

During the first half of 2026, White people have shouted racial slurs at and have attacked Black people who were simply living their lives.

Below is a timeline compilation of just some of those incidents.

Feb. 13: Kenneth K. Smith, a 40-year-old White man in Branson, Missouri, allegedly approached a Black man who was standing outside his own apartment complex, struck him in the face, kicked him multiple times and referred to him as “gorilla.”

“In security footage a male, identified as Kenneth, is seen walking up to Victim 1 and punching him in the face. Victim 1 is seen falling to the ground and remains laying on the ground as Kenneth begins to kick him several times,” the probable cause statement says.

“Victim 1’s arms are seen rigid and sticking straight up as if they are locked into place and he is unable to move them. After kicking him, Kenneth walks away.”

Police believed Mr. Smith had recently moved to the apartment complex and called the attack “unprovoked.” Still, despite a criminal history going back to 2005, Mr. Smith was arrested and charged with third-degree assault, sparking anger that the incident was not charged as a “hate crime.”

Feb. 19: Two White men livestreamed an encounter with a Black woman on a Manhattan, New York, neighborhood street corner. During the encounter, one of the men demanded a kiss.  The woman refused him.

He then used racial slurs and burned her boots with a lighter. The men were charged with harassment, criminal tampering, arson and hate crimes in the form of criminal mischief and menacing and attempted assault, according to The New York Times.

Feb. 27: A Black student at the University of California, Irvine was walking on campus when a group of teenagers allegedly spat at him, shouted racial slurs and hit him with an electric bike, causing injuries to the student’s ankle.  The incident was investigated as a hate crime. 

“They were close enough that they were spitting on me, trying to grab at me, trying to do all sorts of heinous things,” the student, who remained anonymous, said to NBC Los Angeles. “I’m being called ‘monkey,’ ‘blackie,’ completely out of my name.  Obviously, this is stuff I never expected to hear.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations Los Angeles (CAIR-LA) issued a statement condemning the “anti-Black hate crime.”

“This disturbing attack is a reminder that racism and hate continue to endanger African American students and undermine the safety of our campuses.  No student should have to fear being chased, assaulted, and subjected to racial slurs simply for existing in their own community,” Amr Shabaik, CAIR-LA’s legal director, said in the statement.

March 2: As Jama Abdi Said, a Black man from Africa, entered his apartment in Grand Island, Nebraska, Johnathon A. Dimmitt, a 35-year-old White man, allegedly approached him and said, “You f***ing Black guy, you’re dead,” according to local media outlets.

Mr. Dimmitt allegedly pointed an unknown object believed to be a gun at Mr. Said. Mr. Said then ran to a neighbor’s apartment, where Mr. Dimmitt kicked the door in. Mr. Dimmitt was charged with terroristic threats/hate crime, criminal trespass and criminal mischief.

March 10: A Black woman pulled into an Aldi parking lot in Cascade Charter Township in Kent County, Michigan, when a jeep driven by 55-year-old White man Randall Lee Miller cut her off. The man allegedly hurled racial slurs. He was arraigned on hate crime charges.  CAIR-MI welcomed the charges.

“Acts of racism targeting Black Americans are part of a broader pattern of hate that must be addressed with seriousness and accountability,” Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-MI, said in a statement.

“Standing against anti-Black racism is essential to building a just society. We encourage community leaders and residents alike to speak out against hate in all its forms and support those who are targeted,” he added.

April 3: Danville, Illinois, Alderman Jaleel Jones and two of his cousins were fishing in Paris, Ill., when three White men pulled up in a white pickup truck. The men allegedly hurled racial slurs. 

One pulled out a shotgun, threatened to “blow” Alderman Jones’ head off and discharged multiple rounds. One of the Black men allegedly pulled out a gun he owned legally and shot the armed man three times.

“After the dude tells his brother to come down there and blow our heads off, the dude with the shotgun comes down there and puts it towards me and my other cousin,” Alderman Jones said in an interview with Illinois Public Media.  “Me and my other cousin, we just ran because [we thought] we’re gonna get shot.  And that’s when my cousin had returned fire towards them.”

He recounted that after he and his cousin ran, gunshots went off. The two ran behind some houses and heard the pickup truck rev up. Shortly after, they heard the shotgun go off. 

All three White men were arrested and received hate crime charges. CAIR-Chicago welcomed the charges.

“This incident is a stark reminder that racially motivated violence remains a serious threat in our communities. The explicit anti-Black hatred reportedly expressed before and during the attack underscores the urgent need for accountability and for continued efforts to combat racism in all its forms,” the organization said in a statement.

April 14: A Black woman was delivering mail in a Miami neighborhood when Lourdes Portugues, a 34-year-old White Latina woman, allegedly used a racial slur and sprayed the woman with a water hose. 

Ms. Portugues then reportedly entered her SUV and intentionally sped the vehicle towards the Black woman and repeatedly attempted to hit her. She was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with prejudice.

May 9: Kyle Parrish, a White man, allegedly knocked on the door of a Black veteran, Dr. Otis Lane, in Sumter County, Florida. When Dr. Lane, who is 80 years old, went outside, Mr. Parrish made a remark on how people of his kind were “not wanted here” and punched him in the face. Mr. Parrish was arrested and charged with battery on a person 65 or older.

Dr. Lane shared reflections of the incident, according to the Fox TV station in Orlando, Fla. “Listen, I was born in the South under Jim Crow laws, and I’ve had to deal with racism all my life.  I didn’t get to be Dr. Otis C. Lane by accident.

It was through sweat and tears, and in some cases, I was made to feel degraded as a second-class citizen,” Dr. Lane said. “And I reached this level in my life. The last thing I would think would be a young White man that would come into my development and target me and assault me.”

June 7: Jeffrey Kinzer, a White man, allegedly started yelling the N-word at a Black family during their gathering in Leesburg, Georgia. He left the scene only to return wearing body armor and carrying an AR-15. He opened fire on the Black family. 

One of the Black individuals, a Marine veteran, grabbed his gun and returned fire, wounding Mr. Kinzer.  Mr. Kinzer was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. He was placed on administrative leave as a lead firefighter at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting the investigation. The Black family and their attorney expressed the desire for additional charges.

“We do not understand or agree with the initial decisions made by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office to only charge Jeffrey Tyler Kinzer with one count of aggravated assault,” the Law Office of J.B. Collins, P.C. said in a statement. “In addition, we do not understand why Jeffrey Tyler Kinzer received a bond in the amount of $5,000 prior to any of the victims being notified prior to the granting of this bond.”

June 13: A nine-year-old Black boy in Naperville, Illinois, was building a fort when a girl damaged the fort. The boy went to the girl’s residence and knocked on the door. Jeffrey Feigenbaum, a 29-year-old White man, allegedly yelled a racial slur at the boy, pushed him and threw his bike.   He received hate crime charges, along with misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct.

The divine solution

These incidents spanning across the first half of 2026 demonstrate that anti-Black hatred and hostility remain present in American society, despite promises of so-called racial progress.

More than half of all hate crimes are committed on the basis of race, ethnicity, or ancestry, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer for hate crime incidents reported between June 2021 and June 2026. Of race-based hate crimes, about 50% are anti-Black.

So, while cookouts, parades, barbeques, and the pomp and circumstance surround the upcoming July 4 “holiday,” and the Semiquincentennial anniversary of America commences, peaceful co-existence between Black and White people is looking more unlikely and improbable.

When talking about race relations in the country, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, used the metaphor of the “natural seed” versus the “transgenic” seed.

“Coexistence between transgenic seed and organic seed is impossible because transgenic seed contaminates and eventually overcomes organic seed. … In other words: The ‘grafted thing’ is disagreeable to live with in peace. There must be separation, for one will absolutely destroy the other,” he said in Part 38 of his 2013 weekly broadcast series, “The Time and What Must be Done.”

“If there is no coexistence between the natural seed and the transgenic (altered) seed, and the altered seed will destroy the natural seed, then the same is also true in our race relations,” he further stated.

“Because race relations will continue to get worse, because the government cannot provide food, clothing, shelter and jobs for us anymore! As we sit around, waiting for somebody else to do this for us.

We are making our former slave masters and their children angrier with us; and they are becoming completely disagreeable to live with in peace! And that is why we must be separated if we don’t want to continue to suffer great loss!”

Separation is a divine solution from Allah (God) Himself. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad accused the former White slave master of continuing to hold Black people as hostages and prey.

“If White America wanted to free her slaves, she could easily do so,” He wrote in His book, “The Fall of America,” in a chapter titled, “The Fall of America Foretold, Separation is the Answer,” on page 165.

America’s actions show two things, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote: one, “she wishes to cause fear among the so-called Negroes, with a display of many deadly weapons, but Allah is removing the fear”; and two, “she fears to approach her unarmed slave unless she is armed.”

He then advised Black people on what they should be doing at this time, which is “seeking some of this earth on which to live and build an independent nation out of self.” 

“The White master only offers us a job. Allah, God, has come in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, to Whom praises are due forever, to free us,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote. “The Negro slave must be freed! This is the meaning of the resurrection.”

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“She was like, ‘Mom, I haven’t spoken to Derek,’ and I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’” his mother, Nishae Samuel, said to 11Alive, Atlanta’s NBC affiliate.  She said her son had gone to the store with friends but stayed behind after the group separated, 11Alive reported.

Derek Samuel disappeared after leaving a Target store in East Point, Georgia, on April 29.  His family filed a missing person’s report on April 30.  Human remains later found in a wooded area behind an apartment complex were believed by police and family members to be Derek Samuel’s.

Despite being missing for an entire month, Mr. Samuel’s story did not reach national media outlets. 

Research shows that when a young White woman or girl goes missing, she receives massive news coverage and broad public attention. But when the skin color and/or gender change, a different picture is painted.

More than 560,000 people were reported missing in 2023, according to the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc.  Black people make up 13% of the U.S. population but account for nearly 40% of all missing persons.

“Thousands of people are reported missing every year in the U.S.  And while not every case will get widespread media attention, the coverage of White” and non-White victims “is far from proportionate,” the foundation says on a webpage displaying the numbers.

In recent years, more attention has been on missing and murdered Black women and girls, highlighting racial disparities between media coverage and law enforcement search efforts for White women versus Black women. But Black men are often another forgotten population.

“Not only are missing Blacks and missing men less likely at the outset to garner media coverage than other types of missing persons, but they also receive a lower intensity of coverage when their stories are, in fact, picked up by news outlets,” Zach Sommers.

A law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, wrote in an article analyzing race and gender disparities in online news coverage of missing persons, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology in spring 2016.

His research focused on race, perceptions and media coverage of crime. “Women and girls are more readily accepted as victims that need saving, and White women and girls in particular are more easily seen as ‘universal’ victims with whom all viewers and readers can identify,” he wrote.

He noted that discussions about “Missing White Woman Syndrome”—the term describing the disproportionate media attention missing White women receive—often overlook men and boys, and his findings indicated that missing men, especially Black men, receive substantially less attention than White women and girls.

In Georgia alone, several Black men have gone missing from January 2025 to May 2026 with relatively little sustained media coverage.

Christopher McKoy, 34, was last seen in the Norcross, Georgia, area of metro Atlanta on January 7, 2025.  He had been driving for a rideshare service and had crashed his car on the day he disappeared, 11Alive reported. Police only found his car.

A review of online news coverage found only a handful of stories from Atlanta-area outlets, including Fox 5 Atlanta, 11Alive and WSB-TV, Atlanta’s ABC affiliate, published between Jan. 14 and Jan. 29, 2025.

Mr. McKoy’s parents, Bernard and Jackie McKoy, have posted on Facebook several times since their son’s disappearance, reminding the public that the family is still searching. His mother’s last post, dated January 16 of this year, simply said, “Still missing!”

In another case, Timothy McSears, 65, was last seen at his home in LaFayette, Georgia, in Walker County, on March 6, 2025.  A review of online news coverage found a few stories from local outlets in 2025 and a few more in March 2026, marking one year since his disappearance. The Walker County Sheriff’s Office has classified the case as a large-scale and ongoing investigation, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

Gregory McNeal, 56, has been missing since September 16, 2025. He was staying at a hotel in Richmond Hill, Georgia, near Savannah, for work. Footage from a Ring doorbell camera showed him running through a backyard with apparent injuries to his face. A review of online news coverage found six news stories from local outlets published in September, October and November. 

His family is still searching for him, with a recent social media post by a family member dated March 16.

A fourth and more recent case involves 25-year-old Malik Polk out of Coweta County, Georgia, in metro Atlanta. He was last heard from on May 17, and his family filed a missing persons report on May 19.  Authorities found his vehicle abandoned.

Damon K. Jones, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, community advocate and publisher of Black Westchester Magazine, cited the first 48 hours as a critical window in missing persons cases.

“That’s a proven investigative timeframe with any crime. My wife is a detective … and she deals with a lot of the youth, missing youth in Mount Vernon, New York.  So, you have that time that you want to get them as fast as possible,” he said to The Final Call.

“A mother knows when her child is not doing what they’re supposed to do, and a mother knows if the actions of a child, if a child is not home at a certain time, something’s wrong. What does the law tell them? They got to wait 24 hours,” he added. “So, now, when you’ve got the 48-hour window of investigation, you’re already behind 24 hours.”

Dr. Michelle Jeanis, criminology professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and Dr. Bryanna Fox, former FBI agent and criminology professor at the University of South Florida, collaborated on a project to determine how social media, traditional media and law enforcement’s techniques help bring missing people home safely and sooner.

They studied how many media reports were written about each person listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database, how many words were written about each person and how long it took to find the person, alive or dead, or if they were found at all.

They found that women received nearly 12 times more media coverage, on average, than male victims, and White victims received nearly three times as much total media attention than non-White victims, as well as higher word counts within articles, ABC News reported.

In Malik Polk’s case, the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office posted about his missing status on social media on May 22, three days after the missing person’s report was filed. A review of online news coverage found five stories about Mr. Polk’s disappearance, though four were not published until May 27 or later, roughly one week after he was reported missing.

What happened to Derek Samuel?

Questions surrounding media attention and law enforcement response also persist in cases where missing Black men are later found dead.

Two missing Black men were found dead and received limited follow-up media coverage—Tremaine Moore, 41, whose body was found in the Savannah River on Nov. 20, 2025, one week after he was last seen;

And Kenny Darnell Jackson, 21, from Acworth, Georgia, who was last seen on Nov. 19, reported missing on Nov. 21 and whose remains were found in a wooded nature area and later identified in December.

Then, there’s the case of Derek Samuel.

The Target he was seen leaving is in Camp Creek Marketplace, off Commerce Drive in East Point, in metro Atlanta. According to his mother, surveillance video showed him walking out of Target and heading down the sidewalk toward Commerce Drive, 11Alive reported. Going north, Commerce Drive quickly turns into Redwine Road, where his phone had last pinged.

“He walked through, came out of Target, walked down the sidewalk and down towards Commerce Road and that was it,” his mother, Nishae Samuel, said to 11Alive.

Human remains were found on May 31 behind the Reserve at Redwine apartment complex on Redwine Road, after a month of searching for Mr. Samuel. The apartment complex is about half a mile away from Target.

East Point Police Chief Shawn Buchanan said during a June 3 news conference that Mr. Samuel walked into the gated apartment complex behind a vehicle. “The cellphone records showed triangulation in the woods behind the apartment complex,” the police chief said. 

Police searched the woods on May 16 but did not find anything. They returned to the woods on May 31 and found human remains after three hours of searching. They found additional human remains on June 1, along with Mr. Samuel’s cellphone, a handgun and a shell casing. Police strongly believed the remains were Mr. Samuel’s, but had not yet identified the young man.

“Based on facts of the case, at this point, we do not suspect any foul play,” Police Chief Buchanan said.

There were several delays in the search for Mr. Samuel, as reporters noted at the news conference. The family filed the missing person’s report on April 30, but police did not issue an alert about Mr. Samuel until May 11. The first search in the wooded area where the cellphone pinged was conducted on May 16, more than two weeks after Mr. Samuel’s disappearance. 

The reporters questioned: Why did it take nearly two weeks to issue a public alert, and why was the area where his phone last pinged not searched immediately? Reporters also brought up the family’s disbelief that Mr. Samuel would have harmed himself.

East Point Detective Lieutenant Rick Michaud and the police chief responded that police had to wait until the weather was conducive to do the search, that it was very difficult to locate Mr. Samuel due to the area being heavily dense with vegetation, that there was a delay after issuing a search warrant for the cellphone and that police received a lot of erroneous tips and information.

Police Chief Buchanan said they could not release any further information and did not disclose whether Mr. Samuel was shot. He said police had not ruled out suicide. 

While Mr. Samuel’s case has received far more news coverage than the other Black men mentioned, aside from widespread social media coverage, his story has mostly circulated among local news outlets based in Atlanta. Advocacy groups like the Black and Missing Foundation argue that delays in media coverage can limit public awareness and slow search efforts. 

Black people make up about one-third of metro Atlanta. Atlanta and many of the surrounding cities and counties are run by Black mayors and Black city councils. When it comes to the issue of missing Black people, Mr. Jones believes Black elected officials could and must also do more.

“The justice system still does not see value in Black life. We have yet to force it, even in communities that are run by Black faces,” he said in part. 

More than a month after Derek Samuel disappeared, his family was still searching for answers. The families of Christopher McKoy and Timothy McSears have been searching for more than a year. When someone’s son, brother or father disappears with little attention from law enforcement, what can be done?

Mr. Jones urged Black families with missing loved ones to organize and speak out under a collective voice. “Families need to be voices.  In the Atlanta area, they need to come together as a voice and as a voting bloc,” he said.  Politicians understand votes, he argued. 

“They don’t understand pain. They don’t understand when a family is grieving. They don’t understand that. They only understand it when it affects their vote, and we have to start having that conversation, because too many families are hurting out here.”

The post A forgotten population Missing Black men receive limited media coverage and law enforcement response appeared first on Final Call News.

In the conclusion of a multi-day trial, jurors deliberated for approximately eight hours before reaching a verdict. The verdict was handed down on June 1.

“I’ve been practicing law for almost 30 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t understand it. I’m at a loss to explain it to his father, Troy, standing beside me. I’m at a loss to explain it to his mother, who couldn’t take it and had to leave.

I’m at a loss to explain it to his family, because I too don’t understand it,” the Carmack/Belton family attorney, Todd Rutherford, said in a statement to reporters that night.

On May 28, 2023, Cyrus Carmack-Belton walked into an Xpress Mart Shell station then owned by Rick Chow, who is Asian. While inside of the store, Cyrus was followed and watched closely by Mr. Chow’s wife, Alice Chow, according to surveillance footage. 

Video footage shows the teen opening a refrigerated container door and taking out four bottles of water then immediately putting all four bottles back inside. After being questioned by Ms. Chow and her son, Andy Chow, on whether he had taken a water bottle, Cyrus shook out his hoodie then left the store.

Mr. Chow, accompanied by his then 20-year-old son, followed the teen out and pursued him for more than 100 yards, roughly the length of a football field, before fatally shooting him in the back.

“The anger is palpable tonight. You can feel it, you can touch it, because people saw a child that looked like their own, that did nothing wrong, a child that all the witnesses described had fear in his eyes when he left the store,” Atty. Rutherford said.

“He started to run as two grown men chased him down over a football field and shot him dead. This should not happen. This makes us feel as if our children don’t matter, and they do. This makes us feel like Cyrus’s life did not matter, and it did.”

Protests, rallies, memorials and vigils were held in the days following the verdict, including demonstrations outside of both the gas station and the South Carolina State House. 

“It was devastating for me to get a call from Alvin S. Glenn [Detention Center] letting me know that Rick Chow was released. That broke me more than you can ever imagine, because [the] murderer of my son was set free, and it’s not fair, and it’s unjust,” Cyrus’ mother, Nicole Carmack, said at a June 3 gathering at the site where her son was killed.

She described her son as strong, smart, loving and kind and expressed her thoughts that the entire Chow family should be held accountable.

“Every day I will not be able to speak to my son, hear his voice change, see him grow, go to prom. He will never get married. I will never hold my grandchildren. Nothing,” she said. “But Chow is able to go home with his lying son, Andy Chow, and they’re able to have dinner with the wife, Alice.”

The trial

Kinnedy Carson was sitting inside her mother’s SUV when she saw Cyrus running with two men behind him. “His eyes were big,” she said to the 12 jurors during the trial, according to WLTX, Columbia’s CBS affiliate. “His shoe had fell off, and he was holding his pants up with one hand and pumping his arms with the other.” 

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting, Mr. Chow accused Cyrus of stealing a water bottle, and claimed the teen pointed a gun at his son and said he acted in defense.

Investigators with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said surveillance video showed Cyrus had not stolen anything from the store, and prosecutors argued that Rick Chow and his son, Andy Chow, created the confrontation by leaving the store and chasing the teen, according to WLTX.

In addition, witnesses Kinnedy Carson and her mother, Lori Ann Carson, testified they never saw a gun pointed at Rick Chow or Andy Chow, according to the media outlet.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department deputy Derrick English, one of the first deputies to respond after the shooting, testified that while a handgun was recovered near Cyrus, witnesses did not initially tell deputies they saw Cyrus point a gun, the media outlet reported.

Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson asked jurors: “In what world do you get to falsely accuse a 14-year-old of stealing? Chase a 14-year-old 130-plus yards down the road while you’re armed with a pistol. Shoot that person in the back, then claim you’re defending your son?” 

Next steps in fight for justice

Richland County is nearly 50% Black, and Columbia is about 41% Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Seven of the 12 jurors in the case were Black.

Still, critics raised concerns about what took place inside the courtroom, as Mr. Chow’s prior history was not brought up during the trial. South Carolina law generally prevents prosecutors from introducing prior crimes, wrongs or other acts to argue that a defendant acted in accordance with a past pattern of behavior.

According to The State, a South Carolina newspaper, Mr. Chow was involved in two prior reported shooting incidents, one in 2015, when he fired six shots into the side of a vehicle, and another in 2018, when he fired two shots at a person identified as an alleged shoplifter, striking the person in the leg.

“He’s had multiple accounts, assaults, accounts caught on video, and this is not even the first shooting that was reported on him. This is just the first time that we’ve had a fatality,” Nation of Islam Student Minister Anthony Muhammad of Mosque No. 38 in Columbia said to The Final Call. “It took someone to actually die to put some attention on this man.”

Cyrus’ parents, Troy Belton and Nicole Carmack, filed a civil lawsuit in July 2024 with similar allegations. The complaint alleges that Rick, Andy and Alice Chow had a pattern of intimidating, threatening and harassing customers whom they suspected of shoplifting. It also argues that Shell and the business entities operating the store failed to prevent those practices.

Mr. Belton and Ms. Carmack are seeking damages from Mr. Chow and his family, Shell USA and related business entities, including Grene Investments, Grenefrog Stores and Xpress Mart.

The lawsuit alleges that Cyrus was a lawful customer in the store when he was racially profiled, falsely accused of shoplifting, unlawfully detained, chased and ultimately killed. It brings eight legal claims, including negligence and recklessness, wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, false imprisonment, assault and battery and kidnapping.

Cyrus’ parents are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, funeral and related expenses, damages for emotional distress and grief, attorney’s fees and costs and a jury trial.

The civil suit was put on hold until the criminal case concluded. After the not guilty verdict, the family’s attorney, Todd Rutherford, said the family would be moving forward with the lawsuit.

“Rick Chow, while found not guilty, we’re still going to sue him. He owes. He owes for what he did to Cyrus. He owes for what he did to the family. He owes for what he did to this community,” Atty. Rutherford said in his statement following the verdict.

“What he did was wrong. He took a life that he should not have. He had no reason—no one ever does—to chase a child 130 yards and shoot them in the back. I don’t care what that jury said.

There is no justification for that. It should never happen again, and it is not open season on Black people for anybody to feel like they should be able to do it, because the jury found him not guilty.”

Black-Asian relations in the midst of tragedy

In a June 9 statement, Stop AAPI Hate, an organization exposing and combating racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., condemned the shooting of Cyrus and called for cross-racial solidarity.

“Cyrus’ death was a tragedy then, and it remains a tragedy today in the wake of Chow’s acquittal,” the statement said. “As Asian Americans, we can’t look away from the questions this case raises or the tensions it inflames. From Cyrus Carmack-Belton in South Carolina to Latasha Harlins in California, too many Black children have lost their lives over too little.”

Latasha Harlins was a 15-year-old Black girl who was shot in the back of the head by a Korean convenience store owner in 1991.

“That history demands self-reflection about anti-Blackness within Asian American communities. Anti-Black racism—just like anti-Asian racism—is a tool of White supremacy that divides communities of color against each other, reinforces racial hierarchies and encourages people to see one another as threats instead of allies. We must not give into it,” the statement said.

The group also called on Asian Americans to condemn the death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton and the “miscarriage of justice that allowed Rick Chow to walk free.”

The root of anti-Blackness is fomented and rooted in White supremacy that has engulfed the entire world.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad also teaches Black people to unite and “do for self,” which the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has commented about Asian communities for being able to do.

“Did you know that if we just spent one-tenth of 1 percent of what we spend for these holidays with Black businesses, they would be able to hire thousands of Black people, giving them jobs?  Imagine if we knew how to invest the money that we would save; we could be free, justified and equal, building our own economic base,” Minister Farrakhan stated in a 2015 Message titled, “Why We Are Calling You To Boycott Christmas.”

In the same message he points to the example of Asian and other communities and how the spend money with their own people.

“Did you know that the money that we get out of our economy, $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion, we spend it almost as fast as we get it?  I was shocked when I heard some statistics; that:  The Asian people, Chinatown, Koreatown: 

Their money circulates in their community nearly a whole month before it goes.  The Jewish people:  Their money circulates in their community for 20-some days before it leaves.  Even our Mexican family: 

They are better than we, in turning their money around in their own community.  But when I heard that our money leaves in six hours:  Where did that come from?” Minister Farrakhan pointed out.  

Following the South Carolina verdict, Black people are pointing out the need to establish and support Black businesses. 

“We must unite and do for self. Spend with ourselves before we can go and spend with another. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad even tells us in ‘Message to the Blackman in America’ that we must find those with like minds and go into business with one another and not have wanton criticism of Black owned businesses,” Student Minister Anthony Muhammad said. “Stop going into places where you’re not wanted,” he continued.

“Keep the Black dollar within the Black community,” said Student Minister Anthony Muhammad. “We must unite. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said our unity is more powerful than an atomic or hydrogen bomb. We must take that into consideration.”

The post Black family, pursues lawsuit, federal review after jury finds store owner not guilty in shooting death of teen in South Carolina appeared first on Final Call News.

KSU students, alumni and prospective students filed a federal lawsuit on May 11. An additional group of anonymous KSU students filed a state lawsuit on May 21.

Both lawsuits challenge Kentucky Senate Bill 185, which was signed into law on April 13. The bill places the university in a state of financial emergency for up to five years and restructures the university into a polytechnic institution focused on technical, workforce-oriented applied learning programs.

It also reduces academic program offerings to no more than 10 and allows for faculty terminations. In addition, the state would have increased control and oversight over KSU and would have authority over admission policies.

James Morris, of the Kentucky law firm Morris & Morris, P.S.C., serves as counsel for plaintiffs in both lawsuits. The federal lawsuit focuses on civil rights law and the issue of historic underfunding while the state lawsuit focuses on Kentucky’s constitution. Both ask the courts to halt enforcement of the bill as the lawsuits move forward.

“The state action is alleging a constitutional violation under Kentucky state law,” Atty. Morris said to The Final Call. “Our state constitution requires that in order for a legislature to pass a bill, it has to be read in both House and Senate three times.”

He alleged that SB 185 started as a four-line branch budget recommendation bill that was sent to the Senate floor three times, but on the third read, the committee substituted the previous branch budget text with a seven-page bill related to Kentucky State University.

“They never said ‘wait, guys, we just changed everything.’ They literally said, ‘We want to read for the third time. All right, reading for the third time, Senate Bill 185, an act related to branch budget recommendation.’ Then they said, ‘We’d like to do a committee substitute number one.

All right, committee substitute number one to branch budget recommendation. All in favor?’ They voted. It passed,” Atty. Morris said. “The substitute was the seven-page new text that never got read to anything because they’re using the old title.

Then, after the Senate passed the bill, they said I’d like to move to change the title to an act related to Kentucky State University and declaring an emergency.”

He pointed out several things wrong with the passage of the bill: one, by Kentucky law, “you can’t substitute a different bill and say, ‘oh, we read it three times’”; two, “you can’t have a statute that is related to a single individual or a single entity when a general statute would suffice,” and three, every bill that impacts a person’s retirement must have a financial report attached.

“The entire statute relates to Kentucky State University; not one reference to the other land grant, not one reference to the other universities. There wasn’t something that said if any university has the following problem, then we would declare a financial emergency. It’s literally written solely for the HBCU. Our constitution says that’s illegal under Kentucky law,” Atty. Morris said.

Supporters of the bill, including state lawmakers and some university officials, have presented it as a rescue plan for KSU that will stabilize the school financially.

Located in Frankfort, Ky., KSU is one of 19 HBCUs established as a land-grant institution under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, and it is Kentucky’s only public HBCU. Like most land-grant HBCUs, KSU has been a victim of severe underfunding by the state. 

As early as 1981, Kentucky was found engaging in intentional segregation and discrimination by underfunding KSU, and the state entered agreements with the federal government to fix the issue, according to Atty. Morris. “They didn’t do that,” he said.

In September 2023, then U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and then U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack sent letters to 16 governors highlighting the more than $12 billion disparity in funding between land-grant HBCUs and White land-grant institutions. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, received one of those letters.

Land-grant institutions were first established under the Morrill Act of 1862, but the first wave of institutions, including the University of Kentucky, did not allow Black students to enroll.

When states opened a second land-grant institution to serve Black students in 1890, they did so with the requirement to provide an equitable distribution of funds between their 1862 White institutions and 1890 Black institutions, according to the letter. 

KSU, while “producing extraordinary graduates that contribute greatly” to Kentucky’s economy, “has not been able to advance in ways that are on par with [the] University of Kentucky, … in large part due to unbalanced funding,” the former secretaries wrote to Gov. Beshear.

If KSU received funding equal to the University of Kentucky from 1987 to 2020, the school would have had more than $172 million in additional funds. That $172 million could have supported infrastructure and student services and would have better positioned the university to compete for research grants, the former secretaries said.

The former U.S. secretaries also sent letters to the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Of the 18 states that have land-grant HBCUs, only Delaware and Ohio equitably funded their universities between 1987 and 2020, according to the federal review

In 2022, due to financial issues, the state of Kentucky loaned KSU $23 million with the expectation that the school would repay the loan.

“We’ll loan you $23 million but we want you to pay us back, and if you can’t pay us back, then there are consequences. Well, wait, why is this a loan? Here you are $200 million in the hole, and you couldn’t find a way to give Kentucky State University $23 million?” Atty. Morris questioned.

Despite the bill’s claims that KSU will still retain its status as an HBCU and as a land-grant institution, the lawsuits argue that the bill narrows KSU’s academic and historic missions.

The lawsuits also raise concern that the bill threatens traditional degree programs, gives the state excessive control over the university and could lead to reduced educational opportunities for students, along with faculty layoffs, staffing reductions and enrollment restrictions.

“They’re literally trying to avoid decades and decades of segregation and intentional discrimination by adopting a bill that would allow them to escape the responsibility for their neglect,” Atty. Morris said. Now, with the state’s plan to transform the university, students are leaving and scrambling to find a different school, leaving “nobody left” for the state to fund, he added.

“Right now, from what we understand, there’s less than 200 students now enrolling in the fall. That means that the system’s going to shut down. So, by the legislature doing what they did at the time they did in the spring and forcing it as an emergency bill, they’re basically going to choke out K-State and make it so that it self-implodes,” he said.

KSU enrolled more than 2,800 students in Fall 2025 but has not yet released enrollment statistics for Fall 2026.

The university’s board of regents approved a new academic plan on May 28 with the deadline to submit the plan to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education by June 1.

Atty. Morris said while the new plan hasn’t been fully explained, the university has shut down its political science program and some of its music programs. Other programs, such as nursing, have been impacted, and still others, such as criminal justice, have not been listed at all.

“The board of regents has selected programs, but we have not gotten the final list. Some of the plaintiffs are directly impacted. Some of them already received letters saying their program is gone,” Atty. Morris said.

The first court date for the state lawsuit was June 1, with a full hearing scheduled for June 10.

Historically, HBCUs provided Black students an opportunity for higher learning at a time when they were locked out of White institutions due to discrimination and segregation. Today, they are still major drivers of economic success for Black people.

Though most HBCUs both public and private are underfunded compared to White institutions, Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, published an article on how HBCUs “do more with less.”

HBCUs serve only about 3% of college students in the U.S., but they produce nearly 16% of all Black U.S. graduates and are responsible for 18% of graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to an article by Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund,

On “Why HBCUs Still Matter.” In addition, he wrote that HBCUs generate $16.5 billion annually in economic impact and provide more than 136,000 jobs a year nationwide. 

Dr. Denise A. Smith, former deputy director of higher education policy and senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a public policy think tank headquartered in New York City, has done extensive research into educational equity and government funding of HBCUs. She wrote an article in 2021 on funding disparities.

“No longer should we be focused on questions about” the relevance of HBCUs, “but rather we should be highlighting their significant contributions—and making substantial public investment so that HBCUs’ future can be actualized,” she wrote.

“The present moment is an opportunity for this country to atone for decades of discrimination and restore what is rightfully owed to the Black community and Black colleges.”

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, is a longtime advocate for the success of HBCUs. In a 2014 address to Morgan State University students, he warned that all HBCUs are “under attack,” because of their history of producing great leaders for Black people.

“Brothers and sisters, we have [99] Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that are just scraping by,” he said in another message titled, “Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint: Ending Poverty & Want,” which served as Part 31 of his 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must be Done.”

Minister Farrakhan noted that if Black people followed the economic program of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and if 16 million Black wage earners contributed one nickel a day to a national Black treasury, the resulting $291 million from the first year could be used to match the endowment figures for 37 HBCUs.

This would make “these institutions free to determine one, the direction, two, curricula and three, staffs to provide our children with an education which will surpass any on our planet,” he said.

“The HBCUs must become a part of a system where they are functioning for a bigger purpose than just to confer degrees. We want our HBCUs to be ours, and they can never be that unless they are financially independent,” he added. “Do you know our schools [and the curricula] are controlled?

The Enemy does not want you to learn what will make you free from dependency on others! But with money in our pocket, we tell them, ‘No!  This is the curriculum that has to be in here: The Curriculum that will make students that will build not only a nation but a world!’”

The post Two lawsuits challenge state takeover of Kentucky HBCU  appeared first on Final Call News.

Now, in this 21st century information and digital era, the U.S. is attempting to position itself as the primary contender in the “artificial intelligence race.”

President Donald Trump and his administration have positioned A.I. and data center expansion as part of a national “America beats China” strategy tied to A.I. dominance. The federal government is rapidly accelerating A.I. and data center deployment while straddling the line between oversight and deregulation. 

But who really benefits from accelerated development, who suffers the harms and disadvantages, and what would true regulation look like?

The White House’s A.I. push

The White House unveiled “America’s AI Action Plan” on July 23, 2025, which served as a catalyst for the government’s rapid A.I. expansion. In the plan, the U.S. government laid out more than 90 federal policy actions under three pillars: accelerating innovation, building America A.I. infrastructure and leading internationally.

Key actions included expediting permits for data centers and semiconductor facilities, removing federal rules seen as slowing A.I. and requiring federal A.I. vendors to avoid “ideological bias.” 

The president issued an executive order that same day on “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure.” The order directed the federal government to speed up the development of data centers and related infrastructure by easing federal regulatory burdens and using federal land and resources. 

In a separate executive order also dated July 23, 2025, the government communicated plans to create an “American AI Exports program” that would make other countries dependent on U.S.-built A.I. systems and standards. 

From July 2025 to April 2026, the government has proceeded to carry out its plans. Here is a brief timeline summarizing White House press releases and presidential actions.

•        September 2025: White House officials met with major tech executives from OpenAI, Google/Alphabet, Oracle, Apple, Microsoft, AMD and Meta.

•        December 2025: President Trump issued an executive order that targeted state A.I. laws, created an A.I. Litigation Task Force to challenge and evaluate state laws and threatened to restrict state funding due to laws the administration claimed would hinder innovation. 

•        March 2026: The Trump administration issued a formal response to public concern on rising electricity bills due to data centers. Major tech companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI signed a Ratepayer Protection Pledge agreeing to “build, bring or buy” the power needed for their data centers, cover grid upgrade costs, negotiate separate utility rates, support local jobs and contribute backup power during shortages.

•        April 2026: The White House announced the release of the “2026 Economic Report of the President.” The report included a chapter on “The Revolution of Artificial Intelligence,” which echoed the administration’s previous stances on A.I., characterizing regulation as slowing A.I. growth.

In meetings between late April and early May, White House officials reportedly told executives from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI about plans to create an A.I. working group and install a formal government review process for new A.I. models, The New York Times reported from U.S. officials and people briefed on the deliberations.

The Times reported that the working group would bring together tech executives and government officials to examine potential oversight procedures. The proposal would also give government officials early access to powerful A.I. models for national and cyber security reasons. 

Shortly after the meetings, a senior White House official clarified that the White House is looking for “partnership” with companies rather than pursuing “government regulation,” according to a May 7 article by Politico. 

The oversight contradiction

The White House press releases and presidential actions show an administration trying to make A.I. expansion into a national project by deregulating it, exporting it to other countries, protecting it from state laws and reassuring the public that big tech will pay its own way. Simultaneously, the government is looking into A.I. oversight.

The question becomes, how would A.I. oversight and A.I. deregulation exist at the same time, and who will be in the room shaping key policy decisions? 

The administration’s effort to override state A.I. laws raise questions about whether meaningful independent oversight can exist alongside rapid deregulation. Cities and states have been leading the charge on data center moratoriums, in the absence of comprehensive federal legislation. In addition, citizen concerns on A.I. and data centers are growing. 

Hyperscale data centers equipped to house A.I. require massive warehouses, enormous electricity and water consumption and transmission infrastructure.

These data centers occupy at least 10,000 square feet and require more than 100 megawatts of power, due to operation and cooling needs, according to a congressional report on data centers and their energy consumption, published in January. 

Communities across the country are fighting local data center growth, as families fear utility hikes and neighborhoods deal with threats to the environment, water usage and noise pollution. Those in the workforce worry about A.I. displacement. 

Black communities are especially disproportionately harmed by massive A.I. data centers and the resulting environmental racism and negative health outcomes that come with them, as reported in previous Final Call articles. One well-known example is xAI’s Colossus project built in a majority-Black neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee.

In previous Final Call interviews, activists voiced concerns over xAI’s usage of methane gas turbines, as methane is a toxic air pollutant that can cause or worsen breathing problems, heart disease, cancer and stroke, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. 

So far, the meetings and advisory discussions held at the White House have been attended by executives and representatives from major A.I., cloud, semiconductor and infrastructure firms, the same companies positioned to profit the most from A.I. and data center expansion. Investors, industry lobbyists and administration officials have also been present. 

Groups that appear to be absent from the conversations are labor groups; civil rights groups that have raised concerns about algorithmic bias, increased surveillance and discrimination; environmental justice advocates concerned about water usage, energy demand, pollution, land use and utility prices; consumer watchdogs; and independent oversight groups.

Americans do not want more A.I. data centers. More than 70% of Americans oppose local construction of A.I. data centers, according to a new Gallup survey.

Right now, the U.S. does not have a comprehensive A.I. law. A.I. oversight comes from existing consumer protection laws, civil rights laws, privacy laws, other rules and regulations depending on the sector (i.e., medical, finance, transportation, workplace) and state legislation.

Some states passed laws related to bias audits, transparency mandates, child safety protections and other regulations, but these laws are now under attack by the federal government.

The government’s previous A.I. framework emphasized A.I. safety testing, transparency and agency oversight. President Trump replaced this framework with one centered on the idea of American A.I. dominance, deregulation and speed. 

Questions remain: 

•        If an A.I. working group were put into place, what authority would the working group actually have? 

•        What will be the transparency requirements of A.I. projects, if any? Will testing results be public? Will companies self-report risks? Who decides what counts as “safe?” Can the public challenge decisions?

•        And why are the big tech companies that are positioned to profit the most from weak regulation and massive expansion of A.I. infrastructure the same companies invited to closed-door meetings helping to shape policy around A.I.?

The administration argues that the U.S. cannot afford to lose the global A.I. race, but critics warn that prioritizing speed, infrastructure expansion and corporate partnership over independent oversight could negatively affect the people of America in the long run.

As the famous saying goes, “the race is not to the swift but to those who endure to the end.” The winners of the A.I. race may ultimately be crowned not by the faster speed but by the meaningful safeguards put in place.

The post Questions grow over White House talks on A.I. oversight appeared first on Final Call News.

—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” part 41

This year marks 25 years since the events of 9/11. In the aftermath of 9/11, Muslims in America became targets of discrimination and hate crimes. Now, a new report documents a resurgence of anti-Muslim sentiment tied to legislative policies targeting Muslims in America.

The report, titled “Manufacturing the Muslim Threat,” explores what it describes as a 13-month coordinated anti-Muslim campaign, from February 2025 to March 2026, involving 1,111 social media posts by 46 elected officials—including members of Congress.

State governors, and an attorney general—eight bills, and a 62-member congressional caucus. It was published by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, on April 21.

“The report that we recently published shows a highly coordinated anti-Muslim campaign that began with a single post by Greg Abbott in February 2025,” Niala Mohammad, program lead on Islamophobia and anti-migrant hate for the center, said to The Final Call.

On Feb. 24, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted on X, “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply. Bottom line. The project as proposed in the video is not allowed in Texas.”

The project in question was a proposed Muslim-led housing development in Dallas, Texas, called East Plano Islamic Center, according to the CSOH report. Claims that it was a “Sharia city” circulated online, making their way to the state’s governor. Governor Abbott’s post had been viewed more than 3.6 million times.

There has been a deliberate misinterpretation and mischaracterization of Sharia Law, which is derived from The Holy Qur’an, which is the book of Islamic scripture, and the sunnah (way) and hadith (sayings) of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Eijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, explained this in a message he delivered on October 14, 2012, titled “Guidance for Our President and Our Nation,”  which also served as Part 41 of his 2013, 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done.” 

“Master Fard Muhammad came, and He taught us Sharia Law,” Minister Farrakhan said, referring to The Great Mahdi and Teacher of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.  

“He taught us—and His Servant, Elijah Muhammad, taught us, and I am teaching you—how to respect The Law, so that you can go anywhere in the dominant Muslim world and be at ease in a society that imposes Sharia!  We do not smoke.  They do. 

We do not drink.  Some of them do.  But the good ones?  They won’t.  We do not use drugs, fornicate, commit adultery, kill our babies through abortion.  We followed ‘The Law’—The Law of God!  We know that imposing the strictness of Sharia, after coming out of a loose, corrupt government, is wrong! 

When a people have been under those who are the enemies of Allah (God), and have lived loosely, you have to gradually bring them back to the strictness of God’s Law!  But if you just ‘put it on them,’ then answer this question: 

Which one of you are ‘holy’ enough to kill people who offend God’s Law, when you, the leaders, are the biggest offenders of The Laws of God?” Minister Farrakhan said. 

“We have a Modern Meaning, given by Master Fard Muhammad, to ‘Sharia.’  Those of you who think Sharia is a ‘curse,’ The Nation of Islam has written a book called ‘The Restrictive Law of Islam is Our Success’:  Go take it and read it!  And call me back, and tell me that this is not a law that if we lived it, America, and the American people, would be safe!”

False conspiracy theories and the war against Islam

The CSOH report documents how “bigoted posts targeting Muslims or Islam or promoting anti-Muslim conspiracy narratives in a domestic American context” rose from an average of about 11 posts a month in the first half of 2025 to an average of nearly 177 posts a month by late 2025 and early 2026.

It describes the jump as a 1,450% increase. In March 2026 alone, there were more than 260 posts, the highest number in the dataset.

The report accused the elected officials of promoting conspiracy theories about Muslim Americans, calling for the deportation and denaturalization of Muslims, promoting negative portrayals of Islam, describing U.S. cities with significant Muslim populations as “conquered”

Or “invaded,” weaponizing domestic terror attacks to vilify Islam and Muslims even when Muslims did not have anything to do with the attack, using dehumanizing language, causing anti-Muslim hysteria and fear-mongering.

Officials based in Texas and Florida produced most of the posts. The posts fueled the introduction of eight bills in both chambers of Congress between June 2025 and March 2026, as well as the formation of the “Sharia-Free America Caucus,” which launched in December 2025 and has grown to more than 60 members.

“This is a coordinated effort. This isn’t organic. The agenda behind it, we believe, is that this campaign constructs Muslims as a civilizational and national security threat to justify exclusionary policies,” Ms. Mohammad said.

“By framing Muslim communities as engaged in invasion or Islamification, it manufactures a public fear. It’s fearmongering to legitimize any sort of legislation pushed forward to marginalize the Muslim community, to expand surveillance and to normalize discrimination towards them.”

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has boldly called the U.S. government’s attitude and actions toward Muslims a “war against Islam.”

“America, now, is at war with Islam, make no mistake about it,” he said in Part 14 of “The Time and What Must be Done,” delivered in 2013. “What is it about Islam that you fear? And what is Islam?” he questioned. “The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us, and all Islamic scholars bear witness, that ‘Islam’ is entire submission to do the Will of God.

“The Muslims in America are most peaceful and productive; they have contributed much to the development of this society in medicine, in science, in engineering, in research and development,” he added.

“But the FBI has been infiltrating mosques and creating conditions to entrap Muslims; and then you say, through your media, that you have ‘stopped terrorists.’ This is all a part of your aim of ‘invoking a terrifying internal and external enemy,’” Minister Farrakhan said.

Targeting of Muslims in America

Muslims in America have faced ongoing prejudice and discrimination since 9/11, including violence, harassment and vandalism of mosques. President Donald Trump’s various travel bans and restrictions, including the 2017 Muslim travel ban and recent restrictions that went into effect in 2025 and early this year, 2026, have separated families.

The surge of activity by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis in January and February caused many of the city’s Somali population, who are predominantly Muslim, to live in fear.

In recent news, Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, was detained by ICE agents on March 30 and is being held at a detention center in Indiana.

These incidents persist amidst the wave of anti-Muslim legislation. Ms. Mohammad explained how speech on social media transforms into real-world violence.

“These recent actions, including the Sharia-focused legislation, immigration enforcement narratives, the targeting of Muslim communities, the surveillance of Muslim communities, reflect the campaign’s core framing,” she said.

“Muslims are consistently cast as security threats or demographic dangers, which is then used to justify policies like deportation proposals or expanded enforcement actions.”

Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), pointed to previous times when elected officials used their positions to demonize Muslims.

“This exact effort to ban Islamic religious practices really started in 2010. 2011, according to the Othering and Belonging [Institute] at [the University of California, Berkeley], was the year that the introduction of anti-Islam bills peaked,” he said to The Final Call.

“The last couple of years, until 2025, it essentially disappeared. There was anti-Muslim bigotry, but this effort to turn it into policy, the law of the land, the use of public office to demonize Muslims, really had disappeared in this way.”

One example from 2010 is Oklahoma’s introduction of a “Save Our State Amendment,” which sought to restrict the state’s courts from considering Sharia law or international law in decision-making. Federal courts deemed the law unconstitutional.

“It was ruled unconstitutional, and yet this same thing that’s already been ruled unconstitutional is what these elected officials are pursuing,” Mr. Saylor said. “In Oklahoma, a legislator this year introduced a ‘Save Our State Amendment’ that uses the exact same language as the 2010 Oklahoma bill, which means he’s introducing something that’s already been ruled unconstitutional.”

U.S. foreign and domestic policy

Anti-Muslim sentiments by American politicians affect both Muslims in America and abroad. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Mar 3, 2004, where he addressed the war in Iraq and then President George W. Bush’s so-called “War on Terror.”

During the press conference, he quoted terms used by journalists and government officials, including “religion building,” the need for an “Islamic reformation,” and the goal of the “war on terrorism” being “Islam’s modernization.”

“What America is seeking is actually to change Islam, to make Islam suitable and non-threatening to Western hegemony over the entire world. So, the war is not just against brutal dictators; the war, at the root, is against Islam.

The government will not admit to that, but I see signs,” Minister Farrakhan said. “In the neo-conservative idea, America must reshape the world in America’s image or be shaped in the image of the world.”

Now, that same mindset has seeped into domestic politics.

“Domestic anti-Muslim narratives draw heavily from foreign policy frameworks that portrayed Muslim majority regions as threats. These narratives are imported into domestic politics,” Ms. Mohammad said.

Mr. Saylor illustrated how anti-Muslim sentiments are often tied to U.S. politics and have become campaign issues in the past. He said CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) saw a spike in Islamophobia cases in late 2023, following Israel’s renewed hostilities toward Palestinians.

“42% of our incoming cases that we got in 2023 came in the last three months of the year, 2024 stayed significantly elevated the entire year and 2025 is the highest year on record since we’ve been tracking it since 1996,” he said.

“There’s no doubt that events overseas, in terms of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, definitely played a role in the spike in Islamophobia, and this movement we’re seeing today is essentially just politicians building on that.”

Student Minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group, authored the book, “Exposing The War Against Islam: An Analysis that Uncovers the Causes, Culprits, and Conspiracies Behind the Orchestrated Rise in Islamophobia,” in 2017.

He learned from his teacher, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, so in the book, Student Min. Ilia Rashad highlighted how, throughout history, White Europeans and Americans have seen Islam as a threat.

“The Islamophobic sentiments that we see and hear being expressed by powerful government officials are nothing new, because the White Western world was established hoping that Islam would never get a stronghold in the West because of the effect that Islam has historically had on the darker nations,” he said to The Final Call.

“Islam militarized and disciplined the Black African, making it difficult for Europeans to subvert those Africans where Islam was present, because Islam requires that anybody fight back to protect the life that has been given to us. So, in a nutshell, Islam, its principles, its values, are a direct threat to White supremacy.”

He classified the rise in “Islamophobic propaganda” as part of the campaign for the U.S. government to forward war efforts. But, he said, “Those lies aren’t working like they used to, because people can now see that America and Israel have been the real culprits all along.”

The beauty of Islam

Islam has been the fastest-growing religion in the world since 2010. Pew Research documented that the Muslim population in North America grew more rapidly from 2010 to 2020 than the non-Muslim population.

Islam promotes a healthier lifestyle among its followers, with dietary restrictions and guidance against activities that contribute to negative health outcomes, such as smoking and drinking.

In particular, the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and the continued guidance from His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, have cleaned up and resurrected Black people in America from self-destructive lifestyles.

Student Min. Ilia Rashad Muhammad argued that the resurrection power contained in Islam poses yet another type of threat to the U.S. government.

“Our resurrection is deemed by them as insurrection, because they lose money; they lose power when we get off of their drugs, their tobacco, their prostitution, their pornography, their pedophilia, which is what their world is based on,” he said.

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Farrakhan and their Teaching of resurrecting and cleaning up our people and all those who listen is a direct threat to U.S. government objectives.”

In Part 14 of “The Time and What Must be Done,” the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned those who seek to destroy Islam.

“You can’t kill or destroy Islam, because Islam is the Nature of God, and it is the nature in which He has created this universe,” he said.

The post Pushing back against the latest U.S. anti-Muslim propaganda   appeared first on Final Call News.

“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us that the Messiah’s love for God must be so magnificent and so profound that he completely subordinates himself to the Will of God until he becomes one with God. As women of God, we strive to walk in the footsteps of the Messiah, whose deep love is reflected through his sacrifice, service, and care for others,” she said in a statement to The Final Call. “We desire for our actions to mirror the spirit of the Messiah in service to our people. Therefore, we are deeply grateful to be honored for our service, as it serves as the encouragement and motivation needed to continue going into the highways and byways, following the divine example set by Jesus.”

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Ten years later, on May 8, 1942, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad was arrested in Washington, D.C., on false charges of draft evasion.  Later in September 1942, law enforcement raided the Temple in Chicago and the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s home.

“The Teachings that Master Fard Muhammad had left with him were taken from the home and The Temple.  Later, he was questioned by the F.B.I. on the drawing of The Wheel and his writing about it, that they had taken from The Temple,”

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, said in Part 52 of his 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must be Done.”

Eighty-four years later to the very date, on May 8 of this year, the U.S. government released 162 files on what it calls “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP), popularly known as “unidentified flying objects” (UFOs).

Though government officials have praised the release as a moment of transparency, the U.S. government still refuses to declassify the truth about the wheels and what it learned from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s documents.

Four files have been removed from the government’s online database since the release. The remaining 158 files contain documents, images and videos from the Department of State, the Department of Defense/Department of War, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N.A.S.A.).

Files from the State Department include memorandums and diplomatic cables from several countries overseas; from the Defense Department, memorandums, correspondence, intelligence and mission reports, military “UAP” encounters and infrared/full motion videos from 1945 to January 1, 2026;

From the F.B.I., case files with investigative records, eyewitness testimonies and public records concerning “UAP” documented between 1947 and 1968, along with images from recent years; and from N.A.S.A., images and reports from astronauts on unexplained lights, dots and objects from the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s.

Though the government described the files as “new” and “never-before-seen,” in its May 8 news release, “UFOlogists” have taken to social media to point out that several of the files have been in the public domain for years. They also took issue with the content of the photos and videos.

“The general public sees UFOs all the time, and the UFOs that they describe are nothing like what’s in these files. They’re large craft …, that are hovering silently over people’s houses and that are doing dramatic things like accelerating off to the horizon in a split second or making right angle turns in a split second,”

Christian Stepien, chief technology officer with the National UFO Reporting Center, said to The Final Call. “There’s enough of those reports that come in over and over and over again that it’s almost impossible to believe that all these people are just making this stuff up or hallucinating it. So, the big question is, why is none of that in any of this government reveal?”

Student Minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad, member of the Nation of Islam Research Group and author of “UFOs And The Nation Of Islam: The Source, Proof, And Reality Of The Wheels,” was not impressed with the U.S. government’s “disclosure” efforts and called the released videos “questionable.”

“I’ve seen more convincing videos that more clearly delineate these wheels that came from ordinary people and citizens than what the government released. It’s like they just gave us anything and expect the American people to accept it as authentic,” he said. “Don’t fall for their tricks of conflating the real wheels with the enemy’s crafts and concoctions that are designed to throw you off.” 

The truth about so-called UFOs

The origin of the wheels that the American people and the world witnessed for decades was revealed, taught, and explained nearly a century ago, in the early 1930s. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught of a “Great Wheel” or “Mother Plane” carrying 1,500 smaller planes (baby wheels or baby planes).

When He was arrested in 1942, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad explained to the U.S. government and the F.B.I. the aim and purpose of The Wheel, Who made it and why it is above America.

In Part 52 of “The Time and What Must be Done,” the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan recounted the words of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad described The Wheel as “a masterpiece of mechanics and engineering” and said it is “the greatest military weapon ever developed in the annals of the history of Allah (God) and man in this universe.”

He shared information about the making of The Wheel, stating that it was made on the island of Nippon (Japan) by some of the finest brains of The Original People and that it sits above the U.S., 40 miles out of the Earth’s atmosphere in space.

“He said that the Vision of this Wheel was seen thousands of years before it came into being or became a reality.  He said that this weapon was made for the purpose of destroying this present world in The Final Battle with the forces of evil that had ruled our present world,” the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said.

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that this Great Wheel was made for military purposes, for it was to engage in The Great ‘Battle in the Sky’ that would end this world and usher in that world that the prophets exclaimed would come at the end of the 6,000-year rule of the enemy of Allah (God) and the enemy of the Aboriginal People of the Earth.”

That 6,000-year ruler is the Caucasian White man whose time of rulership is now up.  In an article titled, “Ezekiel’s Wheel: Mother Plane—Battle In The Sky,” published in Muhammad Speaks newspaper on May 25, 1973, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote how the Caucasian has conquered both land and sea travel and is now casting his eyes into space.

He asked a series of questions inquiring about their motive: “What is their plan for wanting to land on the moon since they know they cannot make the moon their home? … Why are they spending billions of dollars just to go and look at these planets or try to land people on the moon?

What are their plans for Mars and Venus since they cannot live on these planets? Do they think these planets serve as great fortifications of God and they could cast their bombs on these planets and destroy them? … Do they think that they could fight God from the moon?”

In another article, dated June 8, 1973, titled “Ezekiel’s Wheel: The Battle in the Sky,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad shared how the “Black Scientists knew at the time they built the Mother Ship that the Mother Ship and its well-trained crew would have to fight with her (America) and the other Nations of the earth.”

“The well-trained crew of the Mother Ship, the Wheel, can dodge the enemy and make the enemy look for the Wheel where the Wheel is not.  As the word goes, the crew of the Wheel can elude the enemy anywhere in the sky that this crew desires to elude them,” He wrote.

This is the true reality of so-called “UFOs” or “UAPs” that the U.S. government has refused to share with the public.

The year 1945 is the earliest incident date marked in the government’s database contained with the newly released files. A few additional files are marked with the years 1947 and 1948. Noticeably missing is the year 1942.

Nation of Islam Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad, member of the Nation’s Shura Executive Council and N.O.I. Research Group, said the years 1945-1947 are the floor for the U.S. government, with 1942 lying in the basement.

“They don’t want to deal with 1942. Most ufology presents the ‘grandfather’ event as Roswell, July 4, 1947. But Roswell was not the ‘grandfather’ event of ufology. The so-called Battle of Los Angeles of February 1942 has a much greater claim,”

Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad said to The Final Call, referencing the U.S. military’s encounter with The Mother Wheel and baby planes off the coast of Los Angeles on February 24-25, 1942. During the event, the military fired more than 1,400 anti-aircraft shells at the flying crafts.

“The Wheel floated unbothered up the coast and back down the coast. This was the predicate for the arrest of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in May 1942,” in Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad’s view.

“This is the event that the current disclosure effort won’t touch.  So, it will stop at ‘47.  It’ll hover around ‘45, but ‘45 I’m suspecting is the floor they won’t go under,” Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad said.

Student Min. Ilia Rashad Muhammad accused the government of failing to publicly acknowledge what’s in their files about the interrogation of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad about the wheels.

Both he and Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad classified the government’s disclosure effort as a “limited hangout,” an intelligence operation where the government discloses a secret of minimal significance to hide a more important secret or to steer the public away from a greater truth. 

The secret of secondary importance is the advanced technology the wheels possess, display and demonstrate, which government officials and military personnel have testified to in congressional hearings and Pentagon reports describing a “mothership” that releases

“small probes” and flying crafts that can maneuver in any direction and accelerate at extreme speeds. But the secondary secret is drawing attention away from who first taught and revealed the origin and reality of the wheels, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam.

“Government disclosure is truth serving deception,” Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad stated.  “The government is willing to acknowledge some truth about the craft, the technology. 

What they are dead set against leaking, disclosing or even allowing the public to come anywhere close to a knowledge of is the reality of the of the pilots of the wheels.”

The government says this is just the first file drop and has communicated its plans to release more files on a rolling basis.  But Student Min. Ilia Rashad Muhammad questioned the credibility of the U.S. government as long as the true authority on the “UFO” topic is ignored.

“Any person objectively seeking true UFO disclosure should consult the source of this phenomenon. That source will lead you to the Nation of Islam,” he said.

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That 10-year-old boy was the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.

“It was a terrible sight to behold, a man who had never been before a court of justice, his body dangling from a tree limb. There was no friend for him there; no attempt to determine his innocence or guilt. He was judged by murderers and shot to death in the midst of his own people,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said in an article published in Muhammad Speaks newspaper. “My friends, these things have been going on for many years.”

Despite 1981 being marked as one of the last recorded lynchings, modern lynchings are still happening today, according to a report released earlier this year by JULIAN, a civil and human rights organization founded by civil rights attorney Jill Collen Jefferson.

The 222-page report, titled “A Crimson Record,” authored by Ms. Jefferson, analyzes modern-day lynchings, hate crimes resulting in death, and suspicious deaths in seven Southern states—Mississippi, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama—from 2000 to 2025. 

JULIAN documented 75 modern-day lynchings and 83 hate crimes or suspicious deaths across the seven states in a 25-year time span.

The report’s premise argues that modern-day lynchings are not “historical echoes,” but are, instead, evolved and adapted forms of racial violence. JULIAN defined a “modern-day lynching” as “a discriminatory killing in the late 20th or early 21st century, under the pretext of administering justice, committed by more than one person for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial.”

Others link the concept of modern-day lynchings to the racial terror Black people continue to experience in the U.S. After the slew of killings in 2020, including the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, United Nations experts condemned “modern-day racial terror lynchings,” which they described as involving “impunity, particular disregard or depravity toward human life and the use of public spaces to assert racial control.”

In the 1800s and 1900s, a lynching might have consisted of a mob of White men hanging a Black person from a tree. Lynchings were often public, neighborhood spectacles, with families and children attending. Black people were not only hanged from trees; they were tortured, mutilated, decapitated, and sometimes burned alive.

The report released in February notes that “historically, describing a lynching as a ‘suicide’ was both a cover-up and a cruel joke—a way for White authorities and communities to deny culpability in racial killings while mocking the victims and their families.”

“From the late 19th through the mid-20th century, local law enforcement, coroners and newspapers in the South often recorded lynchings as suicides or accidents. When Black men were found hanging from trees, bridges or jail rafters, the ‘official’ verdict was frequently: ‘Death by suicide,’ ‘No foul play suspected,’ or ‘Accidental death by hanging,’” the report added.

Today, a modern-day lynching might occur in jail or prison or during a police encounter. JULIAN found that 23 cases involved police officers or correctional guards, and 12 took place in carceral (restricted) settings. Most of the cases examined were classified as suicides, homicides without a proven discriminatory motive or conventional hate crimes, according to the report. 

Yet, JULIAN found that many of the cases included premature conclusions, lack of psychological autopsies, compromised crime scenes, shoddy investigations and evasive reporting. 

Mississippi
The report documented 20 modern-day lynchings and seven hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Mississippi. Mississippi had the highest number of modern-day lynchings out of all seven states, and JULIAN found that cases have been increasing since 2021.

The report goes into the “disturbing pattern” found in Rankin County, Miss., in particular, a county known for its racism, brutality, and sundown towns. “Black men would often go missing around the same date and place every couple of years,” the report alleges.

Texas
The report documented 13 modern-day lynchings and 22 hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Texas. It noted that Texas has seen a sharp rise since 2019, with a high concentration of migrant deaths and disappearances.

Georgia
The report documented 14 modern-day lynchings and 11 hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Georgia. JULIAN found a consistent pattern of racially charged deaths in the state, with more than one-third occurring in custodial settings, jails, prisons or during police encounters and several clustered in rural counties.

Louisiana
The report documented 11 modern-day lynchings and 14 hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Louisiana. The state saw a surge after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and renewed activity after 2020. 

Florida
The report documented 11 modern-day lynchings and 20 hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Florida. The state’s “stand your ground” law played a role in several of the cases. 

Tennessee and Alabama
The report documented five modern-day lynchings and four hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Tennessee and one modern-day lynching and five hate crimes or suspicious deaths in Alabama.

JULIAN faced difficulty in documenting cases from Tennessee and Alabama. 

In Alabama, the organization found that autopsy reports, investigative records and police body camera footage were not automatically public, and local newspapers often relied on police press releases. 

In Tennessee, the organization was challenged with misclassified cases and transparency issues, including delays in autopsy releases, incomplete incident reports and limited updates.

The story of Don’Tavia Bryant
Don’Tavia Bryant, a 31-year-old Black man, had just parked his car at a casino in Bossier City, Louisiana, on February 26, 2023, when police officers approached him. Mr. Bryant, who was standing outside of his vehicle, suddenly ran from the officers. Officers chased him to a nearby river, and he was never seen again.

Mr. Bryant was on his way to meet friends at the casino when someone called the police on a suspicious White man with a gun. His mother, Shereba Bryant, told The Final Call that the last time anyone had heard from him was when he texted his friends to ask where they were parked and said he was “pulling up.”

Video footage captures officers with the Bossier City Police Department chasing Mr. Bryant. There is also an audio recording of the man who called 911, speaking to police. “He’s a White guy. This is a Black guy they were chasing,” the 911 caller said. 

Ms. Bryant filed a missing person’s report after days of her son being missing.

“That’s when the police said they had an encounter with him and that because he had a warrant, they said that he didn’t want to be found,” she said. “They said that a missing person has the right to go missing or to not be found, and I disagree with that.”

Mr. Bryant was living in Texas before he disappeared. His mother said subpoenas were filed for police body and car camera footage. She also claimed the Bossier City Police Department turned the case over to the U.S. Marshals in 2025, but she alleged that all evidence pertaining to her son’s case was destroyed before the case was turned over. When asked if she considers her son’s case an example of a modern-day lynching, she said, “Yes.”

“It goes through my mind every day. During the time that all this took place, what happened? What was he thinking? How was he feeling? What was going through your mind when the police were after you?” she questioned. “You just wonder what happened.”

Mr. Bryant’s case is one of the examples listed in the report. The report included other cases of people who went missing under strange circumstances. 

It also included high-profile cases and cases that received national media attention. The Final Call reported on some of the cases brought up in the report, including the cases of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Black woman who was found hanging in her jail cell in Waller County, Texas, in 2015; Quawan “Bobby” Charles, a 15-year-old Black boy who was found dead in a sugarcane field in Iberia Parish, La., days after being reported missing, in 2020; Rasheem Carter, a 25-year-old Black man from Mississippi whose dismembered body parts were found after he went missing in 2022; Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man fatally beaten by five Black police officers in Memphis, Tenn., in 2023; Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man killed by three White men in a neighborhood near Brunswick, Ga., in 2020; Qaadir and Naazir Lewis, 19-year-old twins found dead at the top of a Georgia mountain in 2025; Kendrick Johnson, a Black teen who was found dead in a rolled-up gym mat in Valdosta, Ga., in 2013 and Jordan Davis, a Black teen killed after listening to loud music at a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2012.

‘Justifiable Homicide’
JULIAN’s report takes inspiration from Ida B. Wells, an investigative journalist and anti-lynching activist who documented lynchings in the U.S. and compiled the data, along with individual case studies, in a pamphlet titled “A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States, 1892–1893–1894.”

In a message titled “Justifiable Homicide: Black Youth in Peril,” delivered on Oct. 28, 2007, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, explained how White people began lynching former slaves after the Emancipation Proclamation as a way to stop Black people from progressing, and how the culture of lynching has evolved in modern times.

“Those freed slaves who would want to make a free step; those that would challenge their former slave master by wanting to vote, purchase land, pursue education or striving to do anything but plantation labor—these kinds of Black brothers and sisters would be dealt with harshly by the former slave-masters, and there was no deliberative body that would judge our affairs with justice,” he said. “Therefore, every killing of a Black man or woman; every lynching of a Black man or woman was excusable.”

He called lynchings a “monstrous form of public homicide” that White America began to engage in more frequently during the country’s Reconstruction period. 

“This ritualized community murder masqueraded as crime fighting, but it was actually a strategy to instill terror in the hearts and minds of the Black population,” he said. “Now, this atmosphere is beginning to spread again in America. I want to really make it clear to you today what we are going to face, what we are facing, as it will increase in the days ahead,” Minister Farrakhan warned.

Minister Farrakhan pointed out how in several of the Southern states also covered in the report—Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia—Black people are still intimidated and gripped by fear. 

More than half of modern-day lynchings documented by JULIAN were of teenagers and people in their 20s. In his message, “Justifiable Homicide,” Minister Farrakhan spoke directly to Black youth who are the frequent victims of present-day lynch mobs.

“I want Black youth to hear this message, because police authorities are the same today as they were during slavery. In fact, this is how policing began. Police were formed to catch runaway slaves, bring them back to their masters and make examples of them to throw fear into other slaves. It’s the same today. Police authorities are trained to kill, as well as to protect. But where Black people are concerned, police legitimize their mob attacks under the name of ‘back up.’ Police back up is often no different than the lynch mobs 100 years ago,” Minister Farrakhan said.

“The killing of our people, shooting them with many bullets when one would have done the job. And then, that deliberative body which is to discuss the brutal murder of our people by looking into the facts, comes away calling it justifiable homicide.”

He ended the message asking the following questions: “Is there only sacredness and value to White life, and not Brown, Red and Black life? Is there value to a dog in this society, and yet no value on the life of a human being such that people can go to jail for mistreating a dog, and the same person who kills a Black youth can go home to dinner with his children with no feeling of having done something wrong, because in his own heart and mind, he did society a favor by killing another Black person? What do you think God has to say about this?”

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