“When the call was made for all males between 18 and 44, I refused (NOT EVADING) on the grounds that, first, I was a Muslim and would not take part in war and especially not on the side with the infidels. Second, I was 45 years of age and was NOT according to the law required to register.”

Many other male members of the Nation of Islam at that time were themselves imprisoned as conscientious objectors (CO) to World War II.

That status is today being claimed by hundreds of active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines across every branch of the U.S. military, as conscientious objectors.

Since the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 of this year, veterans’ groups and legal counselors say they have fielded a wave of active-duty service members asking how to become conscientious objectors—including officers.

The Center on Conscience and War (CCW), which has advised troops on their rights since 1940, says applications have increased six-fold since the war began, with roughly 140 applicants taken on so far, compared with about 50 in a typical year.

CCW Executive Director Mike Prysner said many current applicants have served more than a decade, span ranks up to major, and in some cases attended military service academies.

“The Iran War was really the breaking point for them when they realized that they had to take action to make sure that they did not participate in something that they were going to regret for the rest of their lives,” said Mr. Prysner to MS NOW in an August 26 interview.

Quaker House’s GI Rights Hotline reported a parallel spike of 429 inquiries in March and 440 in April, with elevated demand persisting since then. The group reported that it is working with about 30 people actively pursuing CO applications, compared with five to 10 before the war.

“The number of those who actually decide to apply does not reflect the complete number of people who have expressed hesitations,” said Lenore Yarger, a longtime peace activist and resource counselor with the GI Rights Hotline.

Operating through Quaker House in Fayetteville, North Carolina, according to the IBTimes UK and The New American. She cited the Minab girl’s school bombing in Iran and “concern about the leadership” as the most common reasons callers gave.

Mr. Prysner said the highest-ranking service member to seek CCW’s help held an O-4 pay grade—equivalent to a major or a Navy lieutenant commander.

According to Mr. Prysner, most of the currently serving soldiers who joined roughly 500 veterans, active-duty troops and military families marching in Philadelphia on July 4—the largest such protest since Vietnam—were born after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“They became adults as the Afghanistan War, which spanned their entire lives, ended in defeat,” he said. “They have grown up with those wars and their lessons: total disasters that turned out to be for nothing, with a devastating humanitarian toll, kept alive endlessly by the lies of those in charge,” he stated.

The Feb. 28, 2026, strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab is cited by multiple sources as a specific catalyst driving objections.

Addressing the Nation of Islam’s 31st Annual National Training Conference on July 25, Minister Farrakhan issued a divine, stern warning:

“You’ve got bloodsuckers of the poor. You’ve got eaters of the dead. See, when you don’t know how to work for what you get, or are waiting for somebody to die to see what you can get, think about it, those sisters, those brothers, taught us this lesson: An aggressor is a loser.

“I am saying this to the president: An aggressor is a loser. Because God is never with those who are aggressors, oppressors, tyrants, bullies, who love to make people afraid. During the demonstrations, there was a brother moving around, but the poor man lost the stick (knocked out of his hands).

“Those brothers were mean out there! And if you are an aggressive fool, looking at what you saw, then the lesson is: Don’t be a bully. Find a better way to solve a problem! Yes, you’ve got an armada. Yes, you’ve got ships. Yes, you’ve got armies.

Yes, you’ve got ballistic missiles. Yes …  But you don’t have God. And if you don’t have God, you don’t have the forces of nature! And God is unleashing the forces of nature now! Don’t try Him. Don’t try Him, please. If you want to live, put the gun down, put the bomb down,” Minister Farrakhan said.

He continued, “You can threaten Iran. Iran has a little something to fight back. But my Teacher told me that this war was going to start with conventional weapons and it will end with nuclear weapons. You heard it first from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“I say this as warning before the war gets hot. Stop, and think. Precious lives are on those ships, but God can maneuver the water in such a way, which you will see, and sink your ship. See, nothing can stand against the force of nature when it is unleashed.

“Please … I am from God, whether you know it or not! Damn it, if you haven’t seen it yet, you are blind as hell! But I am telling you, I am from God! And what I say, you’re going to meet it again if you think you’re going to destroy people with your bombs, with your weapons! You will be destroyed!”

Dr. Ronald Beavers, founder of the Positive Imagery Foundation, told The Final Call that conscientious objection is nothing new. He ties the current unrest to what he called the Cloward-Piven strategy, a theory of social disruption he said ultimately serves those already in power. The war cannot be sustained, he stated.

“People are leaving the military because folks, just like in Vietnam, are saying it’s not for freedom and justice; it’s for money,” said Dr. Beavers. He said public debate often overlooks the toll already inflicted on those who served, describing some veterans as moving through daily life without recognizing how deeply they’ve been affected: “You see a shell,” he said.

Barry Ladendorf is a Vietnam-era Navy veteran, retired California deputy attorney general and former national president of Veterans for Peace, now president of Veterans for Peace’s San Diego chapter.

He said what he hears from counselors matches CCW and Quaker House’s numbers, and that the Minab strike was a turning point for many service members: “The idea of killing a school full of girls was just, for some of them, too much.”

He also said service members have also raised concerns about Gaza. “They want no part of it. They think the United States should not be giving weapons to Israel to do that. And I agree with it. In fact, doing that is a violation of U.S. law.

We have laws on the books that we’re not following that says the United States cannot give weapons to any nation that is engaged in genocide. And so, when we do that, we’re violating our own laws,” he told The Final Call.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad refused the World War II draft in 1942 and was unjustly imprisoned for it along with other men of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad Ali refused induction in 1967, refusing to fight a people in another poor nation and was therefore stripped of his heavyweight boxing title.

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end,” he said in part.

Minister Farrakhan has issued repeated warnings over several decades against war and aggression.

Today CCW and Quaker House report hundreds of active-duty service members seeking conscientious objector status or contacting GI rights hotlines since the war on Iran began.

“I think the solution is to get out of these unnecessary wars. We don’t need to be involved in every conflict around the world. There was absolutely no reason to go into Iran,” Mr. Ladendorf said.

The post American soldiers refusing to fight? Conscientious objections on the rise in U.S. military appeared first on Final Call News.

His new legal team has since won the recusal of trial judge John Roach, arguing a television interview Judge Roach gave after the verdict showed bias, and has filed motions seeking a new trial. On August 19, Judge Sid Harle presided over that hearing, ruling that Judge Roach must step aside.

In June, a Collin County jury found Mr. Anthony guilty of first-degree murder in the April 2025 stabbing of Mr. Metcalf during an argument at a Frisco track meet. Both were 17 years old at the time of the incident. Mr. Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison and will be eligible for parole after serving half that time. He has maintained he acted in self-defense after Mr. Metcalf allegedly pushed him.

Hearings for a new trial before a new judge, Michael Chitty, began on August 20, reopening questions about what jurors were never allowed to hear.

Attorney Sadiyah A. Evangelista Karriem, a Houston-based criminal defense lawyer following the case, said the recusal of Judge Roach points to a larger principle now at the center of the appeal.

“The judge who tried this case went on television afterward and said the jury got it right. He said that while he still held the power to undo that verdict himself,” she said. Atty. Karriem said that Judge Harle of the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region indicated that he did not know Judge Roach.

“He (Judge Harle) said he believed Roach would be fair. He took him off anyway, because of how it might look to a third party. That is the principle our courts should run on. Not a judge’s word that he was fair, but the public being able to see it,” she stated.

That principle, she said, is also at the heart of the defense’s push for a new trial over how the original courtroom was run.

“The defense says the courtroom was effectively closed. A handful of public seats, no cameras, no overflow room, a gag order entered 10 months early on nobody’s motion,” Atty. Karriem continued, citing case law (Waller v. Georgia) to emphasize that the public is not shut out absent an overriding reason, a narrow closure, thought given to alternatives, and findings on the record.

“When a court gets that wrong, the reviewing court does not ask whether it changed the verdict, because the injury runs to everyone who was kept outside,” she explained.

She was careful to note, “Nobody is asking anyone to forget Austin Metcalf. Nobody is asking for a dismissal. Anthony was convicted in June and got 35 years. The ask is a trial the public can truly watch,” she said.

Further, she told The Final Call, “I am happy to see the family fighting for this young man’s freedom. Although it is a sad reality a life was lost, let justice demonstrate itself from the beginning and end of this case. It was obvious the previous judge was biased.”

 The case remains highly contested and racially charged in public discourse. Meanwhile, both the prosecution and the defense are presenting selective character evidence to bolster their positions in the ongoing appeal.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Anthony sent his then-girlfriend a photograph of a knife. His girlfriend had allegedly told a school administrator she was afraid of him. Prosecutors have also compiled a 75-page character dossier on Mr. Anthony that they intend to present as the hearings continue.

At the August 19 hearing, a motion filed by Russell Wilson—Mr. Anthony’s current attorney handling the bid for a new trial—detailed 53 documented alleged incidents, dating back to 2010, involving Austin Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter. Atty. Mike Howard.

Who represented Mr. Anthony at the original trial, testified that none of it reached the jury because of a verbal “gentlemen’s agreement” between his team and prosecutors to keep character evidence about both families out of the courtroom—an arrangement he said was kept off paper specifically out of fear it would leak and taint the jury pool.

Among the incidents are allegations that the twins spray-painted racist graffiti, including the phrase “KKK kill all Blacks,” resulting in 12 months of juvenile probation for both brothers. Records described two separate alleged assaults on female students, including a 2018 incident that led to an arrest.

Other records alleged the twins bullied a Black classmate and used racial slurs in October 2023, that Austin was suspended after allegedly discussing plans to bring a gun to school, that he was banned from girls’ basketball games in 2021 for profanity toward players, and that Hunter had referenced “jumping” students from a rival school in messages.

Lead prosecutor Bill Wirskye did not dispute the substance of the allegations, acknowledging in court that Austin Metcalf had a history of fighting and had taken part in graffiti containing racist material.

Houston-based Attorney Pamela Muhammad spoke to the question of “reasonableness,” saying the incidents bear directly on Texas’ self-defense standard.

“The incidents that have now come out from the hearing—that was overwhelming evidence of the propensity for violence, prior bad actions of the victim,” she said, adding, “Under the Texas criminal code, the use of deadly force is authorized if you reasonably believe it’s immediately necessary to protect against another’s use of unlawful force.” This case has garnered national interest. 

Los Angeles-based activist Dr. Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matter Grassroots said the recusal of the original judge reflects the impact of sustained community organizing around Mr. Anthony’s case.

“He should have never been forced to defend himself against assailants in the first place. And of course, the trial was a sham,” she argued. “His prosecution as an adult was outrageous, and the idea that he could be sentenced to 35 years in prison is disgusting.”

Student Minister Rashad Muhammad of the Nation of Islam’s Mosque No. 48 in Dallas said that in his view, Mr. Anthony’s new legal team appears far more invested in his defense than his original one. “Everyone is entitled to a proper representation under the law of this country,” he stated.

As for the alleged “gentlemen’s agreement” between the original defense and prosecution, Student Min. Muhammad said he wasn’t surprised.

“We know how games have been played in this country between quote-unquote lawyers and representatives of the law, especially when it comes to our people,” he said. “They seem to be fighting it out in the courtroom, but behind closed doors they can sit at a lunch table, metaphorically speaking, and hash out how they want the case to unfold,” he added.

At Final Call presstime, it was reported that Judge Chitty denied the request for a new trial. According to reporting by CBS, Atty. Wilson expressed his disappointment. 

“We respectfully disagree with the ruling and remain firmly committed to protecting our client’s rights,” Atty. Wilson said, according to CBS.

 “We believe the issues raised in our motion are substantial and deserve meaningful appellate review. The denial of our motion does not end this case. We will continue the appeal in the Fifth Court of Appeals and pursue every legal remedy available to our client.

“Our commitment to our client has not changed. We will continue to advocate vigorously on his behalf through every lawful avenue available,” he said.

The post New legal team fights for new trial for teen Karmelo Anthony  appeared first on Final Call News.

The fear is what Armando Gudino, executive director of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, wants people to understand first.

“It’s hard to describe the type of fear and intimidation that a community, particularly Brown communities, immigrant communities, are experiencing right now,” Mr. Gudino told The Final Call, in an interview following a federal court hearing on ICE enforcement tactics in Southern California. “… the fear of not knowing if you’re going to be able to go out and take your kid to school and come back home,” he said.

Children are afraid to leave their parents’ homes, families losing income when a parent is detained, and what he called “catastrophic impacts” on communities’ emotional and mental well-being. The effects, he said, will ripple outward into local economies and the country as a whole.

That human toll sits at the center of Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California before Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong.

The suit was originally brought by five individual Latino workers and three membership organizations— the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)—along with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, over what the complaint describes as immigration operations that began around June 6, 2025.

“This case is not about stopping immigration enforcement; it’s about requiring immigration enforcement to indeed follow the Constitution,” Mr. Gudino said. “What it cannot do is treat being Latino as reasonable suspicion.

You cannot stop someone simply because they look Brown, or they speak Spanish, or work what is otherwise categorized by some as a low-wage job, or happen to be standing outside a Home Depot or a car wash, looking Brown,” he argued.

Chandra Bhatnagar, executive director, ACLU Foundation of Southern California, is among the counsel of record for plaintiffs in the case, alongside Public Counsel, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and several other firms and legal clinics named in the amended complaint.

“No one should have to live wondering whether they or someone that they love can simply be disappeared by the government,” Mr. Bhatnagar stated outside the courthouse. “We are here for you, and our fight will continue,” he added.

What’s changed since the case’s early days is discovery—depositions, internal agency records, and other cases argued since Judge Frimpong’s original 2025 restraining order—evidencing that racial profiling, not individualized law enforcement, is happening, noted Mr. Gudino.

He told The Final Call that he left today’s hearing “cautiously optimistic,” adding that the government’s defense felt, to some in the room, insubstantial.

On February 26, 2026, plaintiffs filed a Second Amended Complaint adding two claims – that the government intentionally discriminated against Latino communities in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection guarantee, and that agents used unreasonably intrusive tactics— handcuffing, prolonged confinement, relocation, and force used against compliant individuals— in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The complaint alleges the pattern was sanctioned at the top. It cites “border czar” Tom Homan stating that officers consider a person’s “physical appearance” among the “typical facts” behind a stop, and quotes an unnamed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official acknowledging that agents arrest people based, among other things, on “how they look.”

The complaint also quotes the government’s own words from its filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which officials argued that to carry out their mission, agents must be able to rely on “apparent ethnicity” and stop a “relatively broad range of individuals.”

Separately, the complaint cites a June 8, 2025 DHS news release describing the operation as capturing the “worst of the worst”— “murderers, sex offenders, and other violent criminals.”

In September 2025, the Supreme Court granted the government a stay of Judge Frimpong’s original restraining order in a 6-3 decision, allowing the challenged practices to continue while litigation proceeded. The Los Angeles Worker Center Network, a plaintiff, said at the time:

“The Court has opened the door for immigration agents to stop and detain people simply because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the work they do. … We will not be silenced.”

Outside the courthouse on August 13, Mayra Morales recounted learning of her husband’s detention through a message from an unknown number that reached her at 2 p.m.—she called him repeatedly afterward, but he never answered.

No ruling on the preliminary injunction was issued by the close of hearing. Mr. Gudino said the fight will continue regardless of the outcome. He concluded, “We’re going to continue to fight in court. We’re going to continue to fight just by virtue of being who we are and saying we’re not going to give up.”

The post Battle continues over constitutionality of ICE raids in L.A. appeared first on Final Call News.

Incidents have hit both ends of the pipeline—drinking water systems like the Clayton County Water Authority near Atlanta, which saw a pressure drop and had to issue a boil-water advisory, and wastewater infrastructure like a lift station in Rapid City, South Dakota, that was also targeted.

According to the agencies, via a July 30 press release, the attackers targeted internet-connected industrial controllers made by Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley—specifically the MicroLogix 1100 and 1400 models.

Which utilities use to manage equipment like pumps and valves. Since July 27, utility companies in at least seven states have reported breaches to the FBI, with some incidents degrading water operations.

Once inside, the hackers changed IP addresses (i.e., location addresses for network devices) and passwords, cutting off operators’ ability to monitor and control their own systems, officials said.

The FBI noted it has so far only confirmed this activity with the Rockwell devices but warned that utilities using other brands of equipment should take similar precautions.

At least one affected organization discovered its controller programming had been altered after noticing inconsistencies in the underlying code across multiple sites. Investigators also found that shared network setups installed by outside vendors may make it easier for hackers to replicate their attacks against other customers with similarly vulnerable configurations.

The consequences for affected facilities have included loss of water pressure and flooding, officials said. A drop in pressure can potentially allow untreated groundwater to seep into pipes.

How badly a facility was affected depended on several factors, including whether the compromised controller was used for monitoring or actively controlling equipment, which model was involved, what function the device performed, and whether staff could switch to manual operation.

The FBI and EPA said they are working directly with affected organizations and are issuing recommendations to help other critical infrastructure operators protect themselves.

To defend against the attacks, the FBI and EPA have urged water utilities to take these controllers off the open internet and place them behind secure firewalls, use strong and unique passwords, and restrict system access to only approved, expected devices.

As word of the breaches spread, the reported number of affected states climbed from seven to as many as 12, according to other sources.

In Michigan, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) confirmed that nine municipal water systems reported activity consistent with the federal warnings.

“All systems continued to operate safely, issues were addressed by local operators, and there are no known impacts that posed a public health concern,” said EGLE spokesman Dale George, adding that the state received “a small number of reports from Michigan communities indicating activity consistent with what federal agencies described.”

Nation of Islam Student Minister Marcus Muhammad of Benton Harbor, who also serves as the city’s mayor, connected the breach to a longer history of water troubles in majority-Black Michigan cities.

He emphasized the strategic importance of water, noting that the Great Lakes region’s economy could be the third largest globally, with 18 million jobs projected in the next 15 years.

Further, he stressed the need for unity, as taught by The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Both Divine Servants teach that unity is our key to survival, particularly during challenging times. In the 1930s, The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad began teaching Black people the importance of unity, that we must depend on Allah (God) and ourselves.

“In unity, we can accomplish much,” He writes on page 61 of “Message To The Blackman In America,” in the chapter titled, “The So-Called Negro Must Do Something For Himself.”

“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that our unity is more powerful than an atomic or hydrogen bomb. So, our unity is so critically important at this time because as America is imploding … if we do not unite as a people, and when I say unite.

I mean our professionals, our carpenters, our electricians, our engineers, our journalists, our scientists, our educators, our spiritual teachers, our politicians—the alternative is death,” stated Student Minister Marcus Muhammad.

He continued, “I can’t speak or say much about an Iranian hacker,” (referring to unsubstantiated allegations on the source of the recent cyberattacks), “but what I can say is that there have been forces—particularly the state of Michigan—that have been a destructive force to the Benton Harbor water system, Flint and Highland Park,” he stated.

Student Min. Marcus Muhammad argued that the Great Lakes region’s water supply is becoming an increasingly contested economic resource, citing former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s remark that “the new oil in the 21st century is water,” and pointed to the rise of data centers as a growing source of demand.

“Right now, there are water wars being waged globally, and the war is being waged on who will control those resources,” he said.

He told The Final Call that he’s seen more damage and destruction to the water systems of Flint, Benton Harbor, Highland Park, revealing what he argues is a concerted effort to take away water capacity or water filtration plants of municipalities that are majority Black.

Monica Patrick-Lewis, a human rights activist and advocate with the Detroit water-rights group: We the People of Detroit, put the breach in the context of decades of underfunding.

She highlighted Detroit’s critical role in national commerce and the impact of privatization on water access and quality, linking the incident to a broader pattern of water crises in Flint, Jackson, Mississippi, Houston and Oscoda, Michigan, and to systemic issues and environmental degradation.

She told The Final Call that federal investment in water infrastructure has fallen from roughly two-thirds of water-project dollars (67-69%) a half-century ago to somewhere between 7% and 9% today.

“When you have antiquated systems that are sometimes 15, 20, 30 years behind their time, then it makes us even more vulnerable for these kinds of attacks,” said Ms. Patrick-Lewis, arguing that growing privatization of water systems tends to raise costs and lower water quality in already underserved communities.

Beyond the technical fixes urged by the FBI and EPA, Ms. Patrick-Lewis pointed to a community-driven approach already underway in Detroit as one way affected cities might build longer-term resilience.

Through We the People of Detroit, local youth have carried out water quality testing across two rounds of sampling on Detroit’s Eastside and in Southwest Detroit—grassroots data collection meant to give residents an independent picture of what’s actually coming out of their taps, she said.

But that data spans beyond with youth researchers into partnerships with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to layer an economic feasibility study; and a public health analysis on top of the testing results.

According to Ms. Patrick-Lewis, Stanford and UCLA have joined as research partners on related aspects of the project. The goal, she said, is to turn raw sampling data into something residents can actually use and understand.

That work is set to culminate in a public-facing website, built in part by the youth participants themselves, that will combine GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping, water quality data, and flood mitigation strategies in one place.

Rather than presenting the information as a dry technical report, the site will be layered with community art and culture “so that it’s relatable to our community and our people,” Ms. Patrick-Lewis added.

Chicago-based cyber expert Timothy Muhammad is owner of a technology and computer company. He is also a member of the Chicago team for the Ministry of Information for the Nation of Islam. He argued that the incidents serve as a warning sign residents should take seriously, even though he characterized it as a minor breach rather than a major attack.

“Words matter,” he said, echoing sentiments expressed in previous messages by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. He pushed back on how the incident has been characterized in the press, telling The Final Call, “this isn’t really an attack—it’s a breach, and there’s a difference.”

He noted that no equipment was damaged or destroyed and the intrusions appear to be the work of opportunistic hackers rather than a sophisticated, state-sponsored operation.

He was skeptical of reports linking the incident to Iran, noting that investigators and government officials have not confirmed that attribution. The breach, he noted, likely spread to multiple states because affected utilities were running the same vulnerable, internet-facing equipment.

“Because they found a flaw in one waterworks, the other waterworks are using the same equipment,” he stated, comparing the situation to someone checking doors around a neighborhood and walking through the one left unlocked, versus someone breaking in to cause damage.

“If it was a real attack … now you have a citywide problem where now people are going to have to cut off or stop using the water in order to protect themselves. … These are really preludes to the things that may happen, and we have to be in a position to save ourselves and our family,” Timothy Muhammad stated.

He recommended that individuals and communities pursue personal, independent water sources, comparing such efforts to the broader push for energy independence.

“We also want constant personal sources of water and other resources, because when these things happen and they become serious, we’re going to need to save ourselves and our community,” he said.

The post Recent cyberattack, breach threatens U.S. water supplies appeared first on Final Call News.

This year’s theme, “We Must Make Our Communities a Decent and Safe Place to Live,” carried added weight throughout the weekend, as the conference unfolded in the wake of two significant losses for the Nation of Islam.

Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, wife of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and First Lady of the Nation of Islam, returned to Allah (God) on June 27. Sister Azziza Muhammad, affectionately called “Mama Azziza,” wife of Grandmaster Dr. Abdul Azziz Muhammad, the Student Assistant Supreme Captain of the Nation of Islam, returned to Allah on July 15.

Both heavy losses were felt throughout the weekend by participants and attendees—nowhere more than in a tribute delivered on the mat by the sisters of USOS Lion’s Paw Martial Arts.

And as he has in years past, Minister Louis Farrakhan addressed participants at this year’s International Training Conference (see related coverage this issue), continuing a tradition that has made his presence the weekend’s most anticipated moment for martial artists, security trainers, and families gathered from across the country.

Prior to Minister Farrakhan’s message on July 25, the conference’s opening day and session featured remarks from several of his longtime helpers, including his National Assistant, Student Minister Ishmael R. Muhammad; his son, Student Supreme Captain Mustapha Farrakhan;

Student Minister Nuri Muhammad of Mosque No. 74 in Indianapolis; Student Minister Jeffrey Muhammad of Mosque Maryam in Chicago; and Student Minister Ilia Rashad Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 in Memphis.

Student Min. Ilia centered his remarks directly on the conference theme. As a beekeeper, he drew an analogy to the conference’s theme by describing bees as a model of self-sacrificing, cooperative community-building directly relevant to the conference’s aim of making our communities and neighborhoods a safe and decent place to live, as taught by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

The responsibility is on Black people just like the responsibility for the safety and protection of the “hive” falls on the “community” or “nation” of bees in that hive.

“Everything the bees do they do it for their ‘nation.’ … They do it for the whole,” he said.

‘Accept Your Own And Be Yourself’

In his remarks during the conference opening, Student Minister Ishmael spoke on the discipline that training provides. “The training gives us the requisite discipline that is found in the teachers. The training gives us skill that allows for us to do what Allah (God), through His Messenger Messiah, would have us to do,” he said.

The International Training Conference brings together martial arts practitioners, security professionals and students of all levels, ages and backgrounds. It is a gathering that focuses on not only physical preparation and training, but mental and spiritual training as well.

Student Min. Ishmael spoke on the story of David and Goliath from the Bible, framing the young shepherd’s victory as a matter of faith rather than physical preparation. “It comes from the strength of his heart and the rich soul.

It is the faith that removes fear,” continued Student Min. Ishmael.  He also spoke of the “whole armor of God” as spiritual protection, and described the greater struggle as an internal one. “Satan is already in our heart … the real enemy to defeat is Satan on the inside,” he stated. 

He concluded his remarks with a call to self-discipline. “… develop yourself. Be yourself. Learn about yourself. And cultivate yourself, because yourself is God.”

Over four days, the conference combined martial arts training and competition with workshops on security, family life, agriculture, and youth development, alongside spiritual observance including Friday’s Jumu’ah (congregational) prayer.

Nation of IslamStudent National Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad, who led Jumu’ah prayer Friday afternoon, focused his khutbah (sermon) around the Arabic roots for light (Nur) and fire (Nar), applying the distinction to the conference’s community-safety theme. “We are charged with the divine command to make a more decent and safe place to live,” he told the congregation.

“Are we part of the fire that is destroying our community? Or are we part of the light that is bringing about the transformation of our people?” he asked.

Throughout the weekend, special workshops and sessions were held. On July 25, martial arts masters and senseis from various styles and schools demonstrated self-defense techniques, giving adults and children a chance to learn and participate.

Then the anticipated moment arrived, when the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan arrived to thunderous applause, before the audience was seated on mats, in anticipation of hearing from him. However, before his message, martial artists continued demonstrating techniques.

Children and youth entered the mat as one played a wind chime before they sat down. Sister Dr. Khalilah T. Muhammad, flanked by Sister Tamiko G. Muhammad, then addressed Minister Louis Farrakhan.

“Brother Minister?”  Sister Khalilah said over the microphone. “Yes!” he answered, breaking into a bright smile as the room laughed. “As-Salaam Alaikum, sir,” she continued. “Walaikum salaam. I can see you!” he replied.

“Today we would like to present a tribute to Mother Khadijah Farrakhan,” Sister Khalilah said. “I have her with me,” Minister Farrakhan interjected.  “We have often heard you say that Mother Khadijah is the wind beneath your wings,” she continued. “Yes,” he said.

“So, every time you hear the wind blow, we want you to know that she is always with you, no matter where you are. This tribute is for you,” Sister Khalilah concluded.

“Yes, I brought her with me!” Minister Farrakhan answered.

Some conference-goers smiled, laughed, others wept.

Minister Farrakhan then received the gift of the tribute itself, telling the Sisters of USOS: “You all go ahead and do what you do and I’m with you if you’re giving a tribute to the woman whom God gave me.

That is the best gift I could have other than His Presence and the presence of the truth and the mission that He gave to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. So, thank you so much for your tribute to her because really that sets the stage so completely perfect for me. Thank you very much.”

“Allahu Akbar” rang out, followed by applause, as the tribute resumed.

Professor Zahalea Anderson, of Ra Life Defense at the Urban School of Self Defense, paid honor with a kata routine filled with grace, reverence, beauty and strength.  As the young students exited the mat, Sister Sensei Gabrielle X stepped forward along with a group of sisters who are students of USOS Lions Paw. 

They gave courtesy (bowing) to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Grandmaster Dr. Abdul Azziz Muhammad, Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, and to Sister Shodan (first-degree black belt) Azziza Muhammad.

In speaking about Mother Khadijah and Sister Azziza, Sister Tamiko said, “May their legacy continue to inspire for generations to come. May their memory forever live in our heart,” adding that the sisters were presenting the kata (form) “as a tribute to strength that does not overpower, but endures, to movement that is fluid but is unwavering, and to power expressed with grace, intention and balance.”

Reflections and lessons learned

There were special men-only, women-only, and youth sessions, as well as other family-friendly events during the weekend like the singles social and a “Rep Your Generation Party.”

Workshop sessions included: “Protecting our houses of worship!” “Hands-on session on emergency response, “The Great Famine,” and “Defensive Driving.” 

Participants and presenters enjoyed the sessions.

Sister Vivian Muhammad and Brother Hadi Muhammad guided youth during a workshop on gardening. Sister Vivian Muhammad runs an urban farming project in Indianapolis.

“Your community, first of all—gardens, neighborhood gardens, your own yard—that’s neighborhood beautification … that is helping to make your community a decent and safe place to live,” she said.

Sister Niara Siddiq, of New Orleans, said a workshop on famine preparedness led by Brother Randy Muhammad of Osafa’s Oasis farm in Georgia impacted her. “We really do need to take charge … because our lives are at stake and we can’t just wait around. He (Bro. Randy) did motivate me to start gardening,” she said.

Sister Angie Muhammad, who traveled from Los Angeles with her three daughters and young niece, described the weekend as something she “could not even put into words,” saying it was her family’s first time physically seeing Minister Farrakhan in person in nearly four years.

A belt promotion ceremony led by Grandmaster Dr. Azziz and Shihan Daniel Muhammad of USOS Lion’s Paw recognized students across ranks, including two Jr. blackbelts.

On the final day of the conference, July 26, the Scimitar Open Martial Arts Tournament offered martial artists a chance to compete in various categories, including kata, martial arts weapons, and sparring.

The post The 31st Annual International Training Conference A weekend of spiritual, physical uplift and preparation appeared first on Final Call News.

The gathering featured special guest speaker Jose Ugarte Peña (candidate for L.A. City Council). Coordinated by longtime community activist Najee Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., the event stood as a powerful demonstration of Muslim unity within the Los Angeles community.

Dr. Azizah Ali (principal, Islah Academy), Mahomed Khan (community peace activist), and Renee Mustafa (recognized for community advocacy, including providing wholesome meals to family, friends and community) were presented with Community Service Awards.

While Nation of Islam Western Regional Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad received the Imam Warith Deen Mohammed Lifetime Achievement Award.

Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid expressed gratitude for being awarded. “I really appreciate Muslim Heritage Month. This is beautiful for me, to be recognized by the Muslim Heritage Committee,” he told The Final Call. “I’m just a tool who’s allowed Allah (God) to use me. I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t submit to Him,” he added.

Project Islamic HOPE and the city of Los Angeles hosted the inaugural Muslim Heritage Month Celebration on July 30, 2014, which recognizes, honors, and celebrates Muslim leaders and organizations in the city for their contributions.

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The report, “Regressive Policing Under President Trump,” released June 30, updates the ACLU’s Seven States Safety Campaign, tracking municipal police and county sheriff’s departments in Tennessee, Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Mississippi, Minnesota and Kentucky—states where earlier civil rights investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) had already found patterns of police abuse.

Last May, the ACLU and local partners filed coordinated public records requests across the seven states for use-of-force reports and related documents. The ACLU received more than 600 records, though many agencies delayed or withheld documents required under state law.

In a statement, Dr. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director of policing at the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, said their “preliminary review of these records suggests that many of the same problems identified by the DOJ persisted at the exact moment the federal government was using those claims to justify walking away.”

Since then, she added, the Trump administration “has been actively encouraging the same types of aggressive policing tactics that the DOJ has found to be dangerous and unconstitutional.

If the federal government refuses to protect people’s constitutional rights, we deserve transparency about whether the known police misconduct in our communities is being taken seriously.”

ACLU’s preliminary review found excessive force remains a problem—including improper escalation against people in mental health crises, misuse of Tasers, and internal reviews that may fail to catch improper force—and that racial discrimination identified in the DOJ investigations has persisted.

The report cites specific cases in each jurisdiction that it says mirror the misconduct the DOJ originally documented:

In Louisville, the ACLU says an officer punched a handcuffed man twice in the face after he spit at him—the kind of disproportionate retaliatory force DOJ had flagged earlier.

In Minneapolis, the report described an officer who pinned a woman’s neck with a knee for roughly five minutes during a low-level call instead of de-escalating, and another who used a Taser twice on a man holding grilling tongs, continuing after he’d already been stunned once and dropped the object.

In Rankin County, Mississippi, the report says deputies used a Taser on a restrained, unarmed man in the county jail after he refused to make his bed—and that a supervisory review found “no issue” with using a Taser on an unarmed detainee who didn’t exit a cell opening on command.

In Mount Vernon, New York, state arrest data and the ACLU’s review both show Black residents disproportionately affected, and that most people who had a weapon or Taser drawn on them weren’t armed.

The DOJ had found Mount Vernon, strip-searched nearly everyone arrested, including two women, ages 65 and 75, over a suspected drug transaction that turned up no contraband. The ACLU’s request for strip-search logs since 2023 came back nearly blank.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, the report says the department’s public policies still contain no guidance on preventing or disciplining officer sexual misconduct, despite a 2025 pledge to address the DOJ’s findings.

The city also withheld use-of-force records citing a Massachusetts domestic-violence privacy statute the ACLU says has been applied more broadly than similar laws elsewhere.

In Memphis, which declined to enter a consent decree, the city formed a voluntary reform task force that the report says has since gone quiet. The city denied the ACLU’s records request outright, on invalid legal grounds, and did not comply until the ACLU and Stand for Children Tennessee sued in February.

The report also cites that a federal task force deployed to Memphis after the DOJ withdrew its findings has engaged in racially biased, aggressive traffic stops in majority-Black neighborhoods (ProPublica, Nov. 3, 2025).

“In Memphis, we’ve seen firsthand what happens when there are questions about police conduct but not enough transparency and accountability to answer them,” said Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children Tennessee.

“At a time when increased state and federal law enforcement activity is raising new concerns about people’s rights and safety, public access to local police records is more important than ever,” Mr. Orrin said.

“People deserve to know whether the misconduct identified by the DOJ is continuing and whether law enforcement agencies are taking meaningful steps to change their practices and protect the rights of the communities they serve,” he added.

Reneé Hall, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and former chief of the Dallas Police Department, said the report highlights a regression from the racial reckoning the country underwent in 2020,

When departments nationwide embraced the idea that change was needed, building on 21st-century policing reforms under President Barack Obama. “And that was kind of the foundation that reform was based out of,” Ms. Hall said.

She said that after killing of George Floyd in 2020, police departments “all over the world, almost,” discussed the need for change and what it meant for officers and communities. “What we see today is actually the total opposite of that. Not by all police agencies,” she said.

“The report highlights the unchecked and unfettered ability for those individuals from the federal government to operate in a manner that is disruptive and antithetical to what we put in place for many years around police reform.

It’s actually being rolled back and we’re seeing that in their tactics and in the investigative process,” she said. She added that she hopes Homeland Security’s current leadership holds officers accountable and runs investigations more properly and with dignity.

Ms. Hall, who also served as deputy chief of the Detroit Police Department, traced the patterns in the report back further, to the beginning of policing, created out of slave patrols, then matriculating through the Jim Crow, the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, permeating from its inception. 

“There are challenges each and every day.  There’s a culture of law enforcement that does not just go away because you say that you’re going to do something different,” she told The Final Call.

Asked how she weighed the DOJ’s claim that the problems were already fixed against her own decades in the field, Ms. Hall replied, “I would say that statement is disingenuous.”

She also argued that use-of-force numbers alone don’t tell the full story. “I respect that we have numbers on a page and a paper, but I think it has to go a tad bit further,” she said.

Departments should be asked what they did after an incident, she said, pointing to Memphis, where the police chief handled a fatal use-of-force incident “textbook” and “better than most people have ever handled any of these tragic incidents,” yet still gets backlash.

Hall argued that critics focus on the officers involved without examining what the chief did afterward—the training and accountability she required to prevent it happening again. “I think there has to be a little bit of follow up,” she said.

Ms. Hall said meaningful accountability requires layered systems—body cameras, early-warning systems tracking whether an officer is “a habitual offender of use of force,” and follow-up on what action results.

She said community oversight builds trust but stopped short of endorsing civilian boards with disciplinary power, saying agencies discipline more strictly than the oversight boards she’s observed.

Hamid Khan, an organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, placed the ACLU’s findings in a longer history of oversight failures in Los Angeles, citing the Los Angeles Police Commission and independent investigations launched after the Watts uprising and the Rodney King beating. “Every time it’s been such an expose of these oversights,and the failures,” he said.

In his illuminating book, “A Torchlight for America,” written in 1993, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, addressed the problems with policing in the U.S.

“Our 14-year-olds and 18-year-olds are killed in police stations and the police offer lies to explain their deaths, such as they hanged themselves with their own shoestrings and other such foolishness.

All too often, the Justice Department of the U.S. government is weak in pursuing the truth about what the Black community believes are wrongful deaths at the hands of law enforcement,” Minister Farrakhan wrote

“They fear our youth. They fear the gangs because prior to the gangs, the police were the only gang in town. Often, the police are running or compromising with the dope business, the prostitution business and the criminal element in the society.

Many officials do not desire to see young Blacks organized, fearing that they may join together and one day do unto law enforcement what the law enforcement officers have been doing unto us.

This is not to say that all police are corrupt. But when we see so many incidences of police corruption, such as the Rodney King case and others, then the entire law enforcement system loses our trust,” Minister Farrakhan continued.

Mr. Khan pointed to a federal consent decree imposed on the LAPD after the Rampart scandal (1998-2000), which he said required dash cameras in patrol cars as a reform measure. “We found out that out of the 300 patrol cars that they installed dash cams, the cops broke antennas on 95 of them, all in the South Bureau,” he said.

According to Britannica.com, in the scandal, “more than 70 officers were implicated in misconduct, including unprovoked beatings and shootings, planting and covering up evidence, stealing and dealing drugs, and perjury.”

Mr. Khan argued that reform proposals, while worth documenting, don’t reach the core issue. “It is the intent to cause harm. And that’s what the police have been doing, because that’s exactly what their function has been,” he said, also tracing modern policing back to slave patrols enforcing property law.

“So, policing in this country is more of a counterinsurgency operation than anything else. And it is by design—it is intentionally done,” Mr. Khan told The Final Call.

His organizing work, he said, aims at ending rather than reforming the current model of policing, since oversight bodies have repeatedly failed and new investigations tend to follow, not prevent, high-profile incidents.

Chief Hall also reflected on the Black community’s relationship with law enforcement, saying many people shy away because of its history.

She referenced a sentiment that surfaced in 2020, when Black officers faced suggestions, they were “not Black enough” for serving in law enforcement, and argued that change has to come from within the profession as much as from outside pressure.

“If we could change it from the outside, it would already be changed,” said Ms. Hall.

The essence of reports such as these demonstrate what the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad has taught.

In The Muslim Program, in “What The Muslims Want,” Point Number 6, it says in part: “We want an immediate end to the police brutality and mob attacks against the so-called Negro throughout the United States.”

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Allah’s (God’s) Judgment continues striking America as severe thunderstorms, flash floods, damaging winds and elevated temperatures impact millions of people across several states.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, taught for decades that Allah would use Four Great Judgments to bring America to account for centuries of injustice against Black and Indigenous people.

“The four great judgments that Almighty [God] Allah is bringing upon America are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes. We see them now covering all sides of America, as the Holy Qur’an prophesies, ‘curtailing her on all her sides.’

And these judgments would push the people into the center of the country, and there they would realize that it is Allah (God) Who is bringing them and their country to a naught,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in Chapter 35 of His monumental book, “The Fall of America.”

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan referenced that passage during Part 10 of his 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” delivered March 16, 2013, calling “The Fall of America” the book that “gives the clearest exegesis of the scriptures that foretell the fall of America.”

“What do you mean ‘pushing the people into the center of the country?’ He told me to tell you, and he wrote it himself, that the coastlines—all of them—will be destroyed. And some of your own scientists are talking about ‘global warming’ and the ‘melting of the glaciers’: This is not an ‘accident’!” Minister Farrakhan said.

“You want to say that it’s what we’re doing, and we have some responsibility, but The God of Heaven is doing this. And as these glaciers melt, the waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic are going to rise and as they rise, they are going to overspread and destroy your border,” said Minister Farrakhan.

“It’s happening now, but it will get worse as you continue your rebellion against God and His call that you must do in order to escape loss,” he continued.

These warnings and guidance are applicable today as more severe weather impacts the U.S.

Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe recently declared a State of Emergency after intense storms triggered flash flooding. On July 10, catastrophic flash flooding on Missouri’s Black River forced swift-water rescue crews to pull dozens of people from the Black River Lodge campground in Lesterville, according to the Reynolds County Sheriff’s Office, which said crews had rescued about 63 people.

Five campers camping at Bearcat Getaway were reported missing before being located and rescued, Sheriff Caleb McCoy said. Central County 911 dispatchers also fielded reports of campers stranded in trees, unable to get down.

The National Weather Service’s St. Louis office had declared a flash flood emergency, its most serious flood warning, calling conditions “a particularly dangerous situation.” Homes flooded in Annapolis and Lesterville, and one lane of Highway 49 washed out near the Black River in southern Missouri on July 10.

A week earlier, a storm brought more than eight inches of rain on southern Minnesota in a single day. According to local media reports, the National Weather Service said 4 to 7 inches of rain fell in Mower County in just a few hours on July 8.

The storms also swamped the city of Austin—with streets and basements flooded, and flood warnings were in effect in July for the Cedar River and local creeks, reported MPRNews.org. Earlier in the month, there was flooding in many of the same areas.

An EF2 tornado also struck the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, area on July 6. According to CBSNews.com, “The National Weather Service says the tornado’s peak wind reached 115 mph and had a length of nearly seven miles. It touched down at 7:47 p.m., about a mile northwest of Wheeler Lake, and lifted 10 minutes later, about three miles east of Floyd Lake, according to a preliminary survey.”

Storms also impacted Wisconsin. The National Weather Service’s La Crosse, Wisconsin office said the rain “triggered numerous instances of flash flooding, urban street flooding, and river flooding,” flooding basements, including one where a wall collapsed. Flooding also closed a stretch of Interstate 90, and washing out several culverts, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Amid thunderstorms, much of the country is also still dealing with intense heat which at presstime, was forecast to continue. “It’s about to elevate fire risks and topple temperature records, with heat and/or fire weather alerts in effect for around 33 million people living in stretches of Western and Central,” The Washington Post reported.

“The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, which serves most of Utah, called it ‘the most significant heat wave thus far this season,’” and noted that monthly temperature records could be on the horizon.

It was projected to possibly reach 106 degrees in Salt Lake City “which would tie for the city’s second-highest temperature on record since records began in 1874,” the Post reported. Parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were also forecast to possibly break temperature records.

Philadelphia broke a 74-year-old rainfall record for July 9, flooding basements and shutting down Kelly Drive, Martin Luther King Drive and SEPTA’s Trenton rail line. 

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office urged residents of basement apartments to evacuate due to a flood watch for a fast-moving storm that dumped enough rain to flood streets waist-deep in Brooklyn and Queens and shut down the Belt Parkway, ABC News and various outlets reported.

Around the July 4th “holiday,” besides heat, storms also struck, and more than 60 million people from Ohio to Massachusetts were told to watch for flash floods, a level 3-of-4 threat. According to the National Weather Service, over 700 flights were canceled and 800,000 homes lost power.

Brother Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad, manager of Muhammad Farms in Georgia and Student Minister of Agriculture for the Nation of Islam, called these storms “a wake-up call.”

He also referenced the recent earthquakes, one of the Four Great Judgments taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Bro. Dr. Ridgely referred to the earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24, 39 seconds apart. As of July 9, 3,889 have been killed, according to Venezuelan officials. He also referenced the small, rare earthquake felt near Chicago on July 8.

The 2.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the afternoon near the North suburbs, about 13.8 miles Northeast of Evanston. According to ABC7, “the quake was 3.1 miles deep in the lake (Lake Michigan).

Sister Landra Muhammad is an author and disaster preparedness researcher. She said that Minister Farrakhan’s call to “Watch the Weather” is about paying attention to what is happening but also a call for individuals, families and communities to prepare as these weather patterns continue.

“My concern has been the effects of the weather affecting the grid, our power, our electricity,” she said. “This is taking place around the nation … it’s continuous, and it’s growing,” she said.

Major power outages from storms can cause stress, strain and damage to power grids.

According to the article, “The growing threat of extreme weather to the U.S. power grid,” posted by the Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment, the majority of U.S. outages (about 70%) occur at the distribution level (along streets and the wires connecting distribution lines to homes and businesses).

The June 26 updated article stated, “A common cause of damage is strong wind, which can knock down poles carrying electric wires or topple trees that then fall onto power lines.

Lightning can also disrupt power transmission by striking transmission infrastructure directly or by hitting nearby objects such as tree limbs that can fall and damage power lines. In some cases, flooding can also damage transmission equipment if it is submerged.” 

Sister Landra cautions that it is imperative that Black people become better prepared for severe weather events. “FEMA’s not coming. We have to find ways to pool our resources and help ourselves,” she said, adding that the way out is through adhering to the warning and guidance from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, under the guidance of and leadership of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

In his book, “The Fall of America,” in the chapter, “Four Great Judgments of America,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warns in part, “To be plagued with too much rain will destroy property and lives. It swells the rivers and creeks.

Too much rain floods cities and towns. Large bodies of water at the ocean shore lines will be made to swell with unusually high waves, dumping billions of tons of water over the now seashore line.”

Over the next several days, as millions in the U.S. and abroad face severe weather, the warnings from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad continue to come to pass.

Please see page 30 for an article on disaster preparedness titled, “The importance of making yourself an asset in times of crisis, disasters.”

Final Call staff contributed to this report.

The post Latest severe weather striking U.S. bears witness to Allah’s (God’s) Divine Judgment appeared first on Final Call News.

A few brothers and sisters who served as members of her personal security team and executive staff shared their reflections about her impact on their lives. Mother Khadijah was a true giver and deeply passionate about children and their future, they told The Final Call.

Brother Don Enoch Muhammad hardly knew where to begin. “Mother has had a profound impact, not only on me, but on our Nation and everyone that she came in contact with,” he said. A salient lesson that has stayed with him for years came while traveling on the road during Minister Farrakhan’s speaking engagements.

He once walked back into a hotel room without greeting those already inside, and Mother gently corrected him, reminding him to always give the greetings of peace (As-Salaam Alaikum) whenever he entered a room. He also recalled how she cared for the brothers on her detail, always making sure they stopped to eat.

“You had no choice about that. You were going to eat,” stated Bro. Don, who also recognized those believers who served Mother daily in Chicago, who did so, without seeking public acknowledgment. “They care for the Minister and Mother 24/7,” he said. “What we see at an event is only a small part of it.”

Mother Khadijah, he said, was warm, humble, and youthful in spirit. “She was approachable. … We have friends we may never meet, because of Mom’s love and charity,” he continued.

What he will carry forward is her example and work to incorporate the lessons she taught him in his life. “Mother will continue to live in me,” he said.

Bro. Arvence Muhammad drove Mother Khadijah to daily to appointments, family functions, and errands for years, and said her strength and motherhood were never occasional. “That was her DNA. That’s who Allah (God) made her to be, and she never wavered from that,” he stated.

She treated strangers with the same warmth she gave her own family, often giving money to people who had no idea who she was, he recalled. And that love extended to every child she met. “She loved everybody’s children like they were her own. That’s where the Children’s Village came from,” he said.

Once at a short-staffed restaurant, she gave an overwhelmed young waiter, a total stranger, a hundred-dollar bill, and said, ‘I’m giving you this because I love you and I appreciate you.’ “That young man cried. He never met nobody like her. She’s God’s woman, simple as that,” said Bro. Arvence.

The main thing he wants everyone to know is “this time is a hard, difficult time, but Mother Khadijah was always strong through everything Allah allowed her to go through. And Mother Khadijah, she would want us to be strong right now, all of us,” he encouraged.

Sister Jonnita Dockens came to know Mother Khadijah years ago through the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Prostate Cancer Foundation and said working alongside her shaped who she became. “She helped me to be a better woman.

Working with her taught me how to have a servant’s heart,” she said. No matter how involved Mother had been in planning the Children’s Village, she still insisted on touring it in full each time she visited, said Sis. Jonnita.

“She was always in awe of how the village became a reality. … It was a personal moment, because you want to do your best, and to see her excitement every time, it was just like, ‘wow!’” she added.

Sis. Tania Muhammad first became involved with creating activities for the children of The Nation of Islam on a small scale, working alongside fellow teachers at Muhammad University of Islam (M.U.I.) for the Saviours’ Day convention.

Over time, those activities evolved into the organized vision of Mother Khadijah’s Children’s Village. She acknowledged the contributions of those early M.U.I. teachers, including Sister Khallada Farrakhan (Mother Khadijah and Minister Farrakhan’s youngest daughter),

Sister Marlo Muhammad, Sister Adeelah Muhammad, Sister Shahidah Muhammad, and Sister Erika Muhammad, and emphasized how the Children’s Village team has expanded over the years.

The dedication of Mother Khadijah Farrakhan and her hands-on involvement helped build the structure for Mother Khadijah’s Children’s Village. Mother Farrakhan, along with her daughter, Sister Maria, have always been intricately involved in the planning of events.

Each year, activities include Holy Qur’an recitations, Islamic presentations, musical showcases, drill exhibitions, games, toys, puppet shows, educational programming and so much more, Sister Tania explained.

Saviours’ Day, particularly coordinating the Children’s Village with Sister Jonnita Dockens, can be extremely tiring, Sister Tania said. After months of preparation and days of setup, by Saturday she would be exhausted, with her feet throbbing. “But Mother would look at me, wink her eye, and say, ‘Thank you, Sister,’ and it was like my feet just magically stopped hurting,” she recalled with a laugh.

“It was like magic. When she would give you that wink, that smile, and point that perfectly French-manicured finger at you, it made it all worthwhile because I knew that if she was happy, her husband was happy, and ultimately, Allah is pleased,” she said. “That is the goal!”

Recently, during Mother Khadijah Farrakhan’s 90th birthday celebration on November 26, 2025 Sister Tania reflected on the “I Am Mother Khadijah Farrakhan” contest. Although the contest was for young girls 15 and younger, she thought about what she would have said.

Her husband, Brother Hassan Muhammad, serves on the staff of The Final Call in service to Minister Farrakhan. Because of Mother Khadijah’s example, Sister Tania said she knew to tell her children, “Dad is traveling with Minister Farrakhan right now.”

She added that she knew how to endure with sometimes limited resources, following the example of Mother Khadijah. The many accounts Minister Farrakhan has shared about Mother Khadijah have always inspired her.

“Although I haven’t reflected her example perfectly, I have a goal. I know what to do because of her. I don’t need any self-help books. I have a real example in my lifetime of an M.G.T. wife, mother, sister, and soldier.”

“She has impacted my life in ways far beyond the smiles, hugs, and thank-yous she gave me for my work with the Children’s Village. She has made me a better Muslim. Her integrity, her grace, her dignity, her love, and her example have permeated my being. I Am Mother Khadijah Farrakhan.”

Sis. Najimah Muhammad served Mother Khadijah for nearly four decades, beginning in security and growing into something far deeper. “She was my mother, my friend, my caretaker. I always felt like I needed to protect her, secure her, make sure all her needs were met.”

She recalled holding Mother’s hand through crowds for years, and being present with her, Mother Winnie Mandela, wife of South African President Nelson Mandela, and other women dignitaries during the historic 1995 Million Man March. It was just good to see her really control the spirit of the room without even trying, she reflected.

Their bond deepened after Sister Najimah’s own mother died in 1992; before passing, her mother spoke with Mother Khadijah by phone and afterward told Sister Najimah simply, “You’re in good hands.” Mother later helped raise her, teaching her how to be a wife and a mother. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her,” she said.

For Sister Dr. Saaudiah Muhammad, Mother Khadijah provided a home away from home. Their bond began after she spent money ordering and receiving her regulation garments as a new Muslim, which she said prompted Mother Khadijah to inquire “who this young sister was.”

Sister Saaudiah said at the time she then explained to Mother Khadijah that her own mother had recently passed, leaving her the money to purchase the garments, and began to cry. “Mother just really went into natural mother mode,” and nurtured her, even throughout college, she said. Mother was so welcoming, and she was free to ask endless questions, she recalled.

Brother’s Vernell Muhammad and Mikal Muhammad also drove for Mother, the former for more than 10 years. She treated them like sons. Especially after he lost his mother during COVID, said Brother Vernell.

Mother left an imprint on everyone she met, regardless of race, and people were routinely stunned to learn her real age given her youthful spirit. “You don’t think about maybe one day they’re not going to be here … it’s very painful,” he said, adding, still, “She represents the spirit of a believer and how we should carry ourselves.”

Brother Mikal reflected on the profound impact she had on his life, describing her as the embodiment of kindness, mercy, and beneficence. “I’m forever grateful to Allah that He allowed me the opportunity to serve the wife of the Messiah, Mother Khadijah.

I’m so thankful for the many memories that I can lean on and share with others on the pure essence and kindness of her heart, because to me, being around her was like being around Allah’s Mercy and Beneficence, because she has such a pure soul,” he stated.  

She was always caring, loving, and attentive to the needs of others, especially the brotherhood, he said. Brother Mikal observed that Mother Khadijah was so motherly, always concerned about the brotherhood, and wanting to do something for them, especially feed them.

He recounted memories he cherished, particularly the time he spent driving Mother Khadijah to appointments and errands. He described how she would often make stops, find out how many brothers were at the Michigan Farm, buy treats for them, always thinking of others and showing appreciation for their service.

He felt that every act of service he performed for her, whether driving, running errands, or assisting with her wheelchair, was a blessing and a privilege. Despite his efforts, he humbly felt he could never do enough for someone as great as Mother Khadijah.

“The love I had for Mother Khadijah only increased the more I got to know her on a personal level and the more I got to serve her,” said Bro. Mikal. “I didn’t feel that I was even worthy enough to serve the Messiah, but Allah allowed me to serve him and his family.

So, what I did is I just did my best in trying to be a good servant and a good helper to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah and the Farrakhan family,” he continued.

Brother Mikal highlighted Mother Khadijah’s role as a perfect example of a wife, mother, sister, soldier, and warrior, saying he believes that she was divinely created to be the ideal companion for Minister Farrakhan, helping him fulfill his destiny. “And she’s Mother to us all.”

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“We’re human beings, we shouldn’t be housed in cages,” said Mildred P. Danis Taylor, civic engagement associate at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), and wife of an ICE detention survivor.

“ICE is deliberately different from jails and prisons. They have their own rules, they have their own laws, and they do whatever they want. They are the jury, the executioner, and they make whatever laws they want,” she said.

Recently, multiple media outlets reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plan to sell or offload seven of the 11 warehouses (in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and Utah) it originally purchased for over $700 million to house migrants, and proceed with four others in Texas, Arizona, and Maryland.

“The stated purpose was to convert them into detention centers to house migrants targeted for deportation, with the ultimate goal of expanding total detention capacity to 100,000,” reported Joe Lancaster, assistant editor of Reason Magazine, which covers politics and culture.

“Reportedly, and in a welcome development, the DHS is largely scrapping the plan, and most of the warehouses it has already purchased will be sold or used for another purpose,” the article noted.

Attorney Nana Gyamfi, executive director of BAJI, said there is still cause for concern, because that was a testing. “There are already warehouses that are being used as detention prisons. They are not going to take those away,” she stated.

While the U.S. doesn’t have the capacity to deport millions of people, nor the infrastructure, she argued, advocates knew they would deport people in as cruel a way as possible. “You see who they’re targeting and the ways they are doing it, snatching folks.

But we understood that what we saw happening in front of us, and what has always been the case, is the immigration enforcement system working right alongside the criminal punishment system as one machine,” said Atty. Gyamfi.

In fact, she said, BAJI asks people to view the issue through the framework of STOP—Stop Taking Our People (wemakethemstop.org). The framework asks people to look at the intersection of anti-Blackness, criminalization, and immigration enforcement.

Everything requires infrastructure, so even though billions of dollars have been taken and another $70 billion added to the ICE budget, this is basically building up a private enforcement, in the form of DHS cops and federal agents, argued Atty. Gyamfi. The U.S. government still needs the mechanisms to keep it going, not just a building, she said.

“I also want people to remember that the devil is a liar, so let us not get comfortable and think that they will not proceed with these warehouses,” she said, adding, “People have pushed back against these warehouses. … and so they’ve realized that it’s not going to be as easy to do as they thought, but they don’t give up, right? The empire strikes back.”

According to the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit that advocates for fair and rational immigration policies in the U.S., United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detention Facilities reached staggering numbers.

Operating 91% more immigration detention facilities than it had at the start of 2025. Advocates and analysts are sounding the alarm as 104 additional sites were added in less than 12 months.

“They’ve been planning to put us, because after you’ve deported everybody, then who’s next, right? Us! The people that were born here, the people that are Black. That’s who they’re trying to put in there,” Ms. Taylor alleges.

The Trump-era total of deportations tallied around 290,603 through late 2025, which is lower than the DHS’s public claims of 527,000-605,000, according to the TRAC, a nonpartisan data research center at Syracuse University.

“They’re deporting people, they’re purchasing facilities—and if you want everybody out the country, why are you housing them? That’s the problem. So, it’s really scary what the real hidden agenda is,” Ms. Taylor said.

The detained population soared by more than 75%, reaching a record 73,000 people held on a single day in mid-January 2026—the highest number in the agency’s 23-year history, according to ICE data analyzed by the American Immigration Council.

But as the Trump administration touts mass deportations as a signature achievement, a pressing question is being raised by community leaders, frontline advocates, and those who have lived it firsthand: if so many people are supposedly being deported, who are all these detention centers actually being built for?

“They’re building them for any and everybody that poses a legitimate threat to this fascist regime’s effort at taking and maintaining power. And that includes U.S. citizens,” said Greg Akili, a community advocate and political analyst, based in Los Angeles.

He pointed to the federal government’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called it “the largest DHS operation in history,” deploying more than 3,000 federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities beginning in November 2025 and ultimately making more than 4,000 arrests.

Lawsuits filed by the Minnesota Attorney General and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul alleged racial profiling, unlawful arrests of U.S. citizens, and excessive force.

“They’re going after people and organizations that question them, that challenge them, that raise in the consciousness of other people that what’s happening here is not right,” he said.

For Mr. Akili, the expansion is not simply about immigration enforcement. “These concentration camps are built to suppress and oppress any opposition to their racist and fascist policies.

Secondly, they’re built to send a message—be quiet, don’t say anything, don’t do anything, because you could wind up here. And then finally, they are built to make sure that you don’t get together with other people who might say something,” he stated.

He added, “In order for the powers that be to maintain themselves, they need a society that is asleep, which is why they attack ‘wokeness.’ They need you unconscious. They need you out of it.”

The Final Call reached out to DHS but received no response.

Meanwhile, between the end of 2024 and spring 2025, the detained population nearly doubled, according to Aidan Perkinson, operations manager for Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest, which is based in Tacoma, Washington.

“What we’re seeing right now is mostly people who’ve been living in the U.S. for years or decades, who have families here and often have jobs. It’s a lot of people being detained in the interior of the United States,” he stated. “When someone is detained, most of the time they can’t be deported straight away. They have a right to go before an immigration judge and seek relief from removal,” added Mr. Perkinson.

“Six hundred judges, 3.4 million cases—that takes a long time to get through. And so, people are in detention, usually for the duration of that,” he said.

Nationwide, there have been concerns about the conditions in many of these facilities.

Washington state has also become a national flashpoint. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and State Attorney General Nick Brown filed suit in April 2026 against GEO Group—the private operator of the Northwest ICE Processing Center, also in Tacoma.

The lawsuit was filed after state health inspectors were turned away 10 times despite more than 3,500 complaints of unsafe food, medical neglect, and unsanitary conditions, including water so poor that staff bring their own bottles to work. Two people have died at the facility since 2024, and six others have attempted suicide.

“GEO Group is not above the law,” Attorney General Brown declared at a news conference outside the facility. “People are being harmed in this facility and inaction is no longer acceptable,” argued Mr. Perkinson.

Ms. Taylor, a Haitian American born in the U.S., described detention as a kind of disappearance with particular danger for Black detainees. “Being in an ICE facility, it’s like being housed in a cage. You can be easily forgotten, you can get lost in the system. You could be here one moment and out the country another. There is no paper trail, helping to make sure that you are in the U.S.,” she said.

“Blacks get less medical treatment; they’re usually the first ones to be deported; they get treated worse in detainment,” she stated, especially if one upsets a guard. “They’ll take your mat away. … My husband experienced that—you get thrown into solitary confinement. And don’t be Black and disabled. Then you have two strikes against you in detainment.”

Her husband, Rodney, was placed in solitary confinement during his detention. He has since been released—“by the grace of God,” she said. But he continues to face serious health issues stemming from his time inside. The family is still fighting.

“People don’t talk about once you’re released. That’s a whole other story, because rebuilding is not easy, especially when you have so much taken away,” said Ms. Taylor, raising what she called the hidden agenda behind the facility expansion—the 1-million-plus square foot warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia.

DHS purchased it for $128.6 million, with plans to convert it into a detention facility housing between 7,500 and 10,000 people, effectively tripling the town’s population. The City of Social Circle filed a federal lawsuit in May 2026 alleging DHS violated environmental law and conducted no public review before the purchase.

However, on June 19, it was reported by local media outlets that DHS dropped plans for the detention center in Social Circle after months of opposition and a lawsuit from local leaders.

“The officials in the Trump-Vance administration got nervous because the people stood up and began to speak out,” said U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). “This White House and this administration viewed Social Circle’s concerns as nothing more than a thorn in their side,” said Senator Warnock.

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