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.”

The post Serving and aiding a woman of God appeared first on Final Call News.

“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.

The post A rise in federal immigrant detention centers concerns activists, advocates appeared first on Final Call News.

According to a news release, civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump and Attorney Van Turner of Turner Feild, PLLC have been retained by the child’s family.

“A one-year-old child is dead because police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a car in a crowded Walmart parking lot. Kohen Wiley was a baby. His mother, who has not been charged with any crime, says she was trying to communicate to officers that there was a baby in the car.

They fired anyway, leading to the death of an innocent one-year-old. We intend to seek justice for baby Kohen and the life that was stolen from him,” said Atty. Crump in a press statement.

According to WAPT News, the Senatobia Police Department officer, whose name has not yet been released, has been placed on administrative leave. The Senatobia Board of Aldermen made the announcement during a meeting on June 16 as demonstrators marched through downtown Senatobia to the parking lot where the shooting occurred.

Senatobia is in northwestern Mississippi, about 35 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Senatobia is the county seat of Tate County, with a population of about 8,500.  According to 2020 Census statistics, Senatobia’s population is 53.7% White and 40.3% Black.

“I’m just at a loss for words, to be honest. Somebody needs to be held accountable for it,” said Carlos Haynes, Kohen’s grandfather, according to WREG TV.  He described his grandson as a happy baby and said he was looking forward to watching him grow. “Someone ended it all before it could even start,” said Mr. Haynes.

Demonstrators gathered outside the store after a rally at Senatobia City Hall on June 16.

WAPT reported that law enforcement deployed tear gas to disperse protesters.

“Transparency is not optional when a child has lost his life. Every day that passes without the release of this footage deepens public distrust and prolongs the pain of a family searching for truth,” posted Indivisible Memphis online. 

The grassroots coalition called on people to email or call Senatobia elected officials and demand full transparency throughout the investigation, accountability for everyone involved, and justice for Kohen and his family.

According to law enforcement claims, officers responded to a shoplifting call at Walmart on U.S. 51, at around 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon, and “encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. 

An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.  The subjects arrived at a local hospital where one juvenile child in the vehicle was pronounced deceased, and another subject had critical injuries.  No law enforcement officers received any serious physical injury.”

The shooting reportedly involved officers with the Senatobia Police Department and deputies with the Tate County Sheriff’s Office, noted ABC-24, a local Memphis affiliate. According to reports by the Mississippi Free Press, members of Kohen Wiley’s family have denied that any shoplifting took place.

In a video posted June 17 by ABC-24, Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen’s mother, said she, her son, and a friend were leaving the store.  “As we was leaving out the Walmart, they tried to stop her (the friend), but I kept walking because it had nothing to do with me. By the time me and my baby got in the car she came.”  

She added, “I raised my baby up because they were drawing their guns. She has no tint (on the windows). I raised my baby up trying to show them that he was in the car and she was backing up and she hit a car as I was opening the door.

So, the door flew back. By the time I set my baby down there was like three to four shots. One of the shots hit him in his ribcage and the other shots hit her in her arm and her thigh. And we left and went to Senatobia Hospital, where he was pronounced dead,” she said of her son.   

Patrick “Lumumba” Alexander of the Black Liberation Movement argued that Senatobia Police Department officers didn’t just see a woman and child—they saw a Black woman and Black child, which in his opinion, is why they fired multiple times on the vehicle.

Photos circulating across various news outlets and social media show a bullet hole on the passenger side of the windshield of the grey sedan, and the front passenger window is shattered. There were also some photos that appeared to show multiple bullet holes.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said it is gathering evidence and will share findings with the Attorney General’s Office once the investigation is complete. According to the Department of Public Safety, officers witnessed the baby’s presence before the individuals entered the vehicle and before the officer fired into the sedan. 

One witness told WREG TV’s, “Then I hear gunshots and I’m like, ‘I know they’re not shooting at a car that’s leaving—this is Walmart.’” A separate witness said he heard two gunshots and that law enforcement was already waiting in the parking lot as two women exited with one box of diapers, one holding baby Kohen.

“Senatobia Police Department get away with too much stuff,” said Carolyn Stokes, Kohen’s great-grandmother, according to WREG TV. “It’s just too much.”

ABC 24 reported that Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said an independent investigation would be ongoing and that police footage would be made available once it was completed. He called on the public to maintain patience, acknowledging, “I know this is a very frustrating time.”

Brother Abdul Shahid Muhammad, Student Coordinator for the Nation of Islam’s Study Group in Holly Springs, Mississippi, questioned how a shoplifting call escalates to deadly force. He is also a 32-year law enforcement veteran. Shoplifting is a simple misdemeanor, he explained. So, something very serious would have to occur to justify deadly force, he pointed out.

“You know a child is in the car. You saw that. And, you mean to tell me that they fired at the car anyway?! It’s very tragic, but unfortunately, it’s quite commonplace, particularly down in the Delta,” he said, referring to some southern states. There has always been in Mississippi an indifference where the lives of Black people are concerned, Student Coordinator Shahid Muhammad noted.

Longtime Mississippi community organizer Marquell Bridges described swift, disciplined action following the shooting. “We shut down Walmart for the day, which shows real Black power by the community coming together and saying you won’t just go on as business as usual as you kill a one-year-old Black baby, Kohen Kartier Wiley,” he told The Final Call.

He demanded that the officer be “fired, charged, arrested, indicted, and convicted,” and called for the police chief to resign.

Attorney Turner said the family has many questions. “We want to see the body cam footage from the officers,” Atty, Turner said, reported ABC-24. “We also want to see the footage from Walmart, and the family is just wondering why the officer dispatched his service gun, knowing that there was a child in the car.”

—Charlene Muhammad, National Correspondent

The post Fatal police shooting of one year old sparks anger, protests in Mississippi appeared first on Final Call News.

On June 9, a jury which had no Black people, after deliberating less than three hours, found Karmelo Anthony, now 19, guilty of murder and sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole after serving half the sentence. He had faced anywhere from five to 99 years.

His attorneys have filed an appeal.

Too many questions linger, despite the verdict and sentencing since the incident with Austin Metcalf, argue attorneys, activists, legal analysts, and observers.

Karmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf were both 17 when the incident occurred. Karmelo, was accused of stabbing Austin Metcalf, during a Frisco Independent School District track meet on April 2, 2025.

Investigators say the two teens, who attended different schools and did not know each other, got into an altercation at Kuykendall Stadium before Karmelo stabbed Austin, who later died at the hospital.

The trial began with jury selection on June 1 in Collin County. While it is unclear how many prospective Black jurors were part of the initial jury pool, various media outlets reported that defense attorneys objected to the prosecution’s removal of two Black prospective jurors from the pool, but the judge allowed it.

The case centered on whether Karmelo acted in self-defense. White youth tend to receive sympathy and the benefit of the doubt, but Black youth, historically, get the book thrown at them.

Wearing shirts that read “#BelieveKarmelo,” his parents Kayla Hayes and Andrew Anthony expressed their feelings about the verdict and their family’s ordeal in an interview with The Breakfast Club’s Front Page News anchor, Mimi Brown on June 11.

“Absolutely not,” they exclaimed when asked if they believe their son received a fair trial.

“And we’re going to keep fighting. We will not stop fighting for justice for my son,” Ms. Hayes said through tears.

“It’s hard for us right now, and I’ve had my moments,” said Mr. Anthony. He noted that despite their son working two jobs, still graduating high school and never being in trouble, he was up against an unjust smear campaign.

“He’s a wonderful son. He’s a wonderful student … a 3.7 GPA; worked two jobs … he was actually taking online classes during all of this and still held a great GPA going through this traumatic time,” both said in tandem.

They told Ms. Brown they didn’t feel the world has not received an accurate description of who their son really is. His face was plastered all over, though he was still a minor, they received threats, and had to leave their home for their safety, they stated.

Karmelo, his father said, did everything he was supposed to do. He had a job, he went to school. “I kept him busy, too, and this whole situation, the reality of this is that somebody literally walked in his life, no, literally walked into his life. He did everything by the law, and look where we’re at,” said Mr. Anthony, as his wife wept.

He could still picture the way the verdict was read, and got emotional, but chose to hold his emotions, said Mr. Anthony. “I had to humble myself. It wasn’t just for me and my family, it was for all of us,” he said.

“So, I played that game, and I’m just letting you know that game don’t work. It’s not for us. The justice system is not for us. They can’t say we did anything out of what was told. We followed all the instructions and we followed the law. It just don’t work for us,” he said.

“Everybody lied,” Mr. Anthony stated. “Perjury. Everybody did, basically just did it,” he said.  “All of the witnesses’ statements and stories were inconsistent, so we’re thinking that the jury is going to notice that, but they already had their mind made up when they sat in that courtroom, their mind was made up already,” argued Ms. Hayes. 

The couple, who have three other children, pushed back against what they argue is misinformation circulating, from claims that they bought a house and other trinkets with money raised for Karmelo’s defense, among other harassment, which forced them to move. 

“We were in a blessed community. I hope a lot of people get this message, it don’t matter where you’re at. It don’t matter where you’re at, because we were supposed to be in the safest place, but it’s like they’re telling us that you could be assaulted, but you better not fight back. This is what this case is saying. …,” he said.

News Nation reported from the courtroom that Karmelo’s attorneys argued he acted in self-defense and reacted in fear during a “split second” moment after Austin made physical contact with him. Prosecutors argued that deadly force has to be “immediately necessary” to be legal.

Attorney Sadiyah A. Evangelista Karriem of Houston, Texas, a criminal defense lawyer, noted that Karmelo was 17 at the time of the incident but tried as a 19-year-old.

She raised constitutional concerns about the jury, arguing that the Sixth Amendment guarantees an impartial jury, and the spirit of that jury is drawn from a fair cross-section of the community, and that a racially charged case involving a Black defendant, absent Black jurors, was deeply troubling.

“We know that the case, prior to the trial, was a very racially charged case,” she said. That raises a fair question of what the Constitution provides, she said, adding that the strikes of Black potential jurors on the panel may be an appealable issue for Karmelo.

Another aspect is the murder vs. manslaughter, she said. “The jury found that he ‘knowingly’ caused the death rather than in manslaughter, recklessly caused the death, and then they refused the sudden passion argument, so you’re talking about two separate rejections of mitigation,” Atty. Evangelista Karriem told The Final Call.

“You’re talking about self-defense, and then you’re talking about sudden passion … and so when you talk about self-defense in Texas, you’re talking about reasonableness and proportionality,” she stated, adding, Texas allows for deadly force when a person reasonably believes it’s immediately necessary.

In the context of sentencing, she feels there was some inequality and she raised questions about other concerns including how fast the verdict came back.

In another Texas case that is drawing parallels, Caysen Allison, now 21, was sentenced to 10 years in prison without parole after being convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jose “Joe” Luis Ramirez Jr..

Both were 18 years old and in high school when that incident occurred. Caysen is White and Jose, Latino. The incident happened at Belton High School and was the result of a “bathroom brawl.”

According to reports, Caysen claimed self-defense. However, though he was found guilty, his sentence is 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole, after being convicted of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jose.

Data has shown that “Stand Your Ground,” or “self-defense laws” are not always applied equally when it comes to Blacks and Whites in America. “Civil rights activists, celebrities, and politicians have expressed outrage at the case, with some saying that Anthony’s conviction highlights a clear double standard in self-defense claims in the United States:

If a white person kills a Black person, courts (and white juries) are more likely to rule the killing justified than if the situation were reversed,” wrote Arianna Coghill, an assistant news and engagement writer, in an article published in June on Mother Jones.

“According to a 2021 study from Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates against gun violence, homicides are deemed justified more often, in nearly every state, when the shooter is white and the victim is Black.

A study from the Urban Institute found that homicides with a Black shooter and a white victim were ruled justified self-defense in a little more than 1 percent of cases. For a white shooter and Black victim, the figure jumps to 11.4 percent,” Coghill writes.

For Los Angeles-based activist Dr. Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matters Grassroots, she also has concerns about the Karmelo Anthony case. Part of her concerns was the gag order placed early on in the case, the exclusion of cameras from the courtroom, and the hostile environment outside the courthouse. 

“I think one of the big misses from media is it should have been more aggressively challenged that there were no cameras allowed in the courtroom. It should be aggressively challenged what photos of Karmelo and what photos of the Metcalfs are being put out there,” she argued.

At the end of the day, the story is not done, she said, citing the appeals process.

“We want to make sure people pray fervently for the Anthony family,” she said. “They’ve raised their children to be good students and good human beings and we have to throw our arms around them and make sure that they are held up and when you see things that are not true or are disparaging, even this (AI generated) photo they’ve got out of Karmelo, tell people to take those down,” she added.

Dominique Alexander, president of the Next Generation Action Network (NGAN), had been a spokesperson for the Anthony family since before the trial. He said the family was “looking forward to the opportunity to present the facts in a court of law.”

He argued that the verdict illustrated “Black lives do not matter in Collin County,” the location of the trial. “After Trayvon Martin and so many countless names, it has shown us that Black life is not safe in Collin County,” Mr. Alexander added.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has warned that real justice for Black people is ultimately not found in the White man’s courts and that integration and fighting to get closer to the slavemasters children did not and does not help black people.

Minister Farrakhan spoke about real justice in a 2015 interview with Felisha Monet of Miami’s WEDR 99 JAMZ radio show, during the “Justice Or Else!” tour ahead of the 20th Anniversary of The Million Man March in Washington, D.C. held on 10.10.15. 

“’Justice’ isn’t going to a toilet with a White man, ‘justice’ is not going to school, sitting with White children!  ‘Justice’ is getting the knowledge that will allow you to provide for yourself! They never wanted you to have that kind of knowledge. 

So here we are. …  But the fight is coming to an end:  We’re in the ‘championship rounds’ now. And we will win! Real ‘justice’ comes from God because the White man doesn’t have it in him to give it,” Minister Farrakhan said.

The post Questions linger despite Karmelo Anthony verdict, sentencing appeared first on Final Call News.

“To all the men who may be reading this: You can’t be a ‘father’ without God. You don’t know how to be a father or a husband without God. And as men, it has been our failure to submit to God that has weakened us in our ability to be a father or a husband.

When you rebel against God, you weaken your own power to provide a place for your wife, to provide a wholesome environment for your children,” said Minister Farrakhan during his message on “Father’s Day” on June 17, 2007, at the Life Center Church of God in Christ in Chicago, Illinois.

In addition to being a provider and protector, providing a safe, wholesome environment for his wife and children, also his community and the society they live in, fathers or father figures’ role is to teach right from wrong and to set an upright example.

A father must instill in his children a strong love of self, spiritual discipline, and self-determination, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan teach.

The important impact of fathers

For Brother Salih Muhammad, a student in the ministry at Mosque No. 27 in Los Angeles, it is important that fathers serve as strong role models. 

“At every point of my life, my father has been an example of a man whom I could admire and look up to. He has done it by living his life in harmony with the words he speaks—Islam. There’s nothing more valuable to me than a good example,” he said. His father is Student Minister Abdul Sabur Muhammad, of Muhammad Mosque No. 26 in Oakland.

“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us that a good father should be morally upright—one whom we can look to represent the correctness of God.  A good father passes along the knowledge of God and Self that we may help further the work of Muhammad,” added Bro. Salih.

Student Minister Willie Muhammad of Mosque No. 46 in New Orleans shared his journey of understanding and appreciation for his father’s influence.  He learned during his father’s speech at his fifth-grade graduation that his father had dropped out of high school and never wanted that for his son.

“I was the only child at that time, and so that’s what made him be so hard on me. Could he have been balanced? Yes. Could he have explained that to me, which would have made it a little bit more understandable? Definitely, but he didn’t, for whatever reason,” Student Min. Willie shared.

However, he explained that his father’s parenting style and approach began to help him.  “The foundation that he laid, as relates to stressing the importance of education, prevented me from dropping out of school,” he said.

He also discussed how his father’s absence during his teenage years, after his parents’ separation when he was 12, shaped his views on manhood and fatherhood. “I remember my uncle coming to me, saying, ‘You have to be the man of the family, now.’

I didn’t know what a man was. But if that’s what my mother needed, I’m going to be a man, so I went through my teenage years, chasing this false idea of what manhood was, from rap, music, TV, movies, males in my family, in my neighborhood.  So, you can imagine, I got a twisted view of what manhood was,” he reflected. 

That was until he was introduced to the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad delivered through Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, which helped him develop empathy and appreciation for his father.

Through Islam, self-improvement, and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan talking about the experiences of Black people and what Black men deal with, Student Min. Willie said he began to look at life in his father’s shoes.

He learned recently that his dad’s father died when he was young, so he grew up in a family of three brothers with no head male figure as the authority or leader.  

“I began to start understanding that and listening to Minister Farrakhan and working on myself and understanding what our people have been through. It helped me to begin to start finding a place of compassion for my father, and I can remember the first time I told my father I loved him. It was Father’s Day, and I wrote it on a letter. …

I was in the Nation of Islam,” he shared.  He told his father that he held no grudges against him, that he appreciated what he had done for him, showing up every time he needed him.

Though he had seen his father since he sent the card, his father said nothing about it as he is not the most verbally expressive person, shared Student Minister Willie. However, he knew his father got it because of a friend who told him, “Your daddy read the letter.  He was showing it to everybody!”

“Fathers are not perfect, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be fathers. As Allah (God) says in the Holy Qur’an, lower the wing of humility to our parents, because they raised us,” he said.

Student Min. Willie also referenced the book of Exodus in the Bible, Chapter 20, verse 12, which “Honor your mother and father, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord, your God, gives you.”

Encouragement and engagement

Contrary to what is often portrayed in mainstream media narratives, Black fathers, based on statistics, are more involved in their children’s lives than other ethnic groups.  According to past research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Health Statistics Reports analyzed by the Sacramento, California-based Centers for Fathers and Families:

Black fathers (70%) who live with their children were most likely to have bathed, dressed, changed or helped their child everyday, compared with their White (60%) or Hispanic (45%) counterparts. In addition, Black fathers were more likely to eat meals with their children every day, to help with homework, and to take children to and from activities than White and Hispanic fathers.

Student Minister Jason Muhammad of Mosque No. 27 said that, growing up, he did not yet know Allah (God), but to him, his father, John Stradford, was the closest example of strength and authority he knew.

He carried himself as a strong man who believed deeply in discipline, accountability, and taking responsibility for one’s actions. He earned a master’s degree in education and made sure his children understood the value and importance of learning.

“I thank Allah for my father. I believe he was the best father he could be in a world where the enemy has worked tirelessly to destroy the Black man and weaken the Black family.  While my father had his challenges, he always found a way to provide for and care for his family,” Student Min. Jason stated.

“I remember times when my father would come to my school and personally introduce himself to my teachers and counselors so they would know he was actively involved in my education and paying close attention to my progress. Those actions left a lasting impression on me and showed how much he cared about my future,” added Student Min. Jason.

There were also times when he and his father did not see eye to eye, especially as he became aware of some of his father’s shortcomings and struggles, he reflected.

“However, I thank Allah for the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, as represented to me by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, who taught me that regardless of the imperfections I may perceive in my parents, I should always honor my mother and father.

Today, I choose to remember my father with love, gratitude, and respect. I thank Allah for the sacrifices he made, the lessons he taught, and the foundation he helped establish in my life.”

Meanwhile, for those with or without a father present, Black men have been stepping up across the country to fill in the gap and to also shine a light on the critical role fathers play in the community.

In Maryland, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott is hosting the Fathers’ Stroller Walk on June 18 at the Silburn Arboretum to encourage fathers to celebrate fatherhood and community. The event, announced recently with Councilman Perez Gray, aims to highlight the importance of community support and the role of fathers in family life.

In Chicago, The Dovetail Project, founded in 2009 by Sheldon Smith at age 21, planned to host its Relief on the Grove! to celebrate fathers on June 14. It includes free giveaway of essential household and personal care items. 

In Los Angeles, the March of Dads, now a national effort, is a signature event and movement organized by The Dad Gang, an organization dedicated to celebrating Black fatherhood.

Since its first march in 2018, the March of Dads has become one of the largest meetups for active Black fathers in the country. The public demonstration celebrates fatherhood, creates a safe space for dads to connect and build community, and directly challenges the misconception that most Black fathers are absent.

The event has grown into an annual multi-city tour, with stops in Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., and Atlanta.

The post The importance and impact of fathers and the role of fatherhood appeared first on Final Call News.

Hambrick, et al. v. United States of America was filed by family attorneys Benjamin Crump, alongside co-counsels William H. Murphy Jr., Jason P. Foster, Carol D. Powell Lexing, Malcolm P. Ruff, Nabeha Shaer, and Brooke Cluse. 

They allege that nearly six decades ago, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) secretly enrolled the Black infants as test subjects in an experimental RSV vaccine trial conducted between 1965 and 1966—without the knowledge or consent of their families.

Both babies died in January 1967.

The lawsuit was filed on May 22 in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division. The federal government typically has 60 days to respond after service of the lawsuit, at which time they may answer or ask a judge to dismiss the case.

The Final Call has reached out to the Department of Justice for a response to the lawsuit and has not yet received a reply.

RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) is a common respiratory virus that infects the nose, throat, and lungs, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes, through direct contact with an infected person, or by contact with a contaminated surface.

Further, while RSV usually does not pose serious health risks to healthy children and adults, older adults and children are at increased risk of severe adverse health consequences related to RSV. Symptoms include runny nose, cough, congestion, sneezing, fever, wheezing and/or loss of appetite, and in very young infants may be limited to irritability, lethargy and difficulty breathing.

“Ross Otto Hambrick and Victor Marcellus King were two Black babies who were used as guinea pigs, as lab rats, in a very targeted effort by the United States Government. 

This follows a long history of the medical society of the United States government experimenting on Black bodies—what we believe was an epidemic of medical racism,” stated Atty. Crump, during a press conference on May 28 in Washington, D.C.

During his sweeping condemnation, he situated the case within a lineage of documented atrocities, including the Tuskegee syphilis experiment in Alabama, in which Black men were withheld treatment for syphilis.

Also the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks by Johns Hopkins scientists. Ms. Lacks was a Black woman whose cervical cancer cells were taken without consent over 70 years ago during her treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

This disturbing history also includes Black soldiers used in World War II who were given faulty gas masks and subjected to chemical exposure, and the forced sterilization of Black women in the South during routine medical procedures—known as the “Mississippi Appendectomy.”

“But today, we’re talking about these Black babies—Ross Otto Hambrick and Victor King—these innocent babies, these infants,” said Atty. Crump. “It was worst of all, because they were using babies who couldn’t talk, who couldn’t walk, who could not in any way give any type of consent.”

Specifically, the complaint alleged:

•   The United States government, through the NIH, selected the most vulnerable children it could find—Black infants from low-income families—to test a dangerous, highly concentrated experimental vaccine known as “Lot 100.”

•   Tissue samples harvested from their autopsies were preserved without the families’ knowledge.

•   Decades later, NIH researchers retrieved those samples to study what went wrong – knowledge that directly informed the development of RSV vaccines approved by the FDA in 2023, now generating billions in revenue.

•   The families of Ross Otto and Victor have never been compensated or acknowledged for the role the infants’ deaths played in that medical breakthrough.

“What I do remember vividly was the change in my mother,” said Sharlette Hambrick, Ross Otto’s sister. She was five years old when her baby brother died. Her mother was once funny and outgoing until the tragedy. She then became super religious and “barely let us out of her sight,” she said, reported New York Times columnist Charles Blow.

Mr. Blow reported that Victor’s older brother, Darius King, also five when his brother died, spent decades believing it was because of pneumonia. He quietly blamed his stepfather, who had taken the baby outside in the cold to show him off to friends. 

That impression stuck until journalist Michael Schulson of Undark magazine contacted him in 2023 and informed him that Victor’s death was most likely caused by the experimental RSV vaccine.

The report by Undark was highlighted by Mr. Blow in 2023.

He reported that the non-profit digital magazine affiliated with M.I.T., “found that in the 1960s, some of the first and youngest subjects to receive experimental shots, in a clinical trial of early attempts to develop R.S.V. vaccines, were Black and poor children, some in foster care.

And though questions remain about what parents knew, archival documents housed at the N.I.H. suggest that parents did not give informed consent—or in some cases, any consent at all—for their children to receive the largely untested shot.”

Mr. King also expressed the sorrowful resignation of a people—Black people—who have so often been mistreated, and he reflected on the country’s checkered history, including when it comes to medical ethics, explained Mr. Blow. “That was the way America was,” said Mr. King, adding that the children who were given the experimental vaccine “were probably thought of as disposable.”

Dr. Christina X Parks, a cellular and molecular biologist, described the core scientific failure of the 1960s RSV vaccine trial:

“When they processed the virus, they tried to kill it—they changed the conformation of it, they denatured it. And the body didn’t actually recognize the adulterated or denatured form of the virus and didn’t produce the right antibodies,” she told The Final Call.

The result, she said, was a catastrophic miseducation of the immune system.

“It actually disabled their own innate immune response. It skewed their immune system, it mis-trained their immune system,” Dr. Parks explained. “The antibodies kind of bound, but in fact they sort of mis-trained the immune system to ignore the virus—to actually help the virus infect the person.”

According to Dr. Parks, the RSV trial data devastatingly manifested this, explaining that vaccine recipients were getting more ill and dying with the vaccine than without it. “And so, they (scientists) did the right thing in this case and pulled the vaccine—but they should never have been experimenting,” she said.

“It’s time for accountability,” Dr. Parks told The Final Call. “The fact that they’ve been experimenting on Black populations and Black children—low income—and they experimented on special needs children. They basically always experimented on the children and people that they thought didn’t have anybody to protect them,” she said.

During the May 28 news conference, Atty. Lexing said, “The families knew for a long time that something wasn’t right with what happened to their baby brother … to their sons. 

They didn’t know that the babies had been used as infants. They did not know that the babies’ tissues had been preserved and that now the medical community is building a billion-dollar industry off the backs of these babies.”

Accountability transcends any single institution, including the federal government, said Atty. Murphy. “These families deserve honesty. They deserve the truth to be told. They deserve justice, instead of being just us.”

Houston-based attorney Pamela Muhammad said the case cuts to the heart of a long and documented history of racial exploitation in American medicine.

“History is so filled with this type of racial exploitation and experimentation and really just torture. I mean, our history is filled with this,” she told The Final Call. 

Central to the complaint is the total absence of informed consent, which must be completely free from financial or physical coercion, she said. But disproportionately, Black people are given experimental substances that they haven’t agreed to. “We have a whole history of this,” she said.

She drew a direct line from the NIH lawsuit to the founding abuses of American gynecology, in which Black women’s bodies were used without anesthesia for surgical experimentation, as well to the Tuskegee syphilis study and the Henrietta Lacks case.

On the legal claims themselves, she explained, “Battery is the legal term for somebody causing bodily harm to you. We’re talking about the destruction of human lives, with intent to do it.” 

While the lawsuit is a civil matter, the underlying conduct raises serious criminal questions, Atty. Muhammad explained. But it’s both significant and chilling that the defendant itself is the U.S. Government, she added.

“To actually see a suit being waged against your own country, your own ‘government’ because of their abuse of private citizens’ lives, that’s just huge. It is just horrible,” stated Atty. Muhammad.

The post Families of infants sue federal government, alleging medical abuse appeared first on Final Call News.

Karmelo’s attorneys plan to argue self-defense. If convicted, he faces between 5-99 years in prison. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

A gag order is reportedly still in effect, barring anyone involved in the trial from speaking to the media. Prosecutors dismissed all qualified Black jurors from a pool that started with 589 prospects, according to CBS News. Karmelo is Black and Austin Metcalf, is White.

During jury selections, according to reporting by NBC News, Karmelo’s defense attorney Mike Howard “told the prospective jurors that once a judge agrees the legal threshold of self-defense is met, it is not up to the defense to prove it; it’s up to the state to rule it out.”

Attorney Howard also explained that knives under 5.5 inches can be legally taken into public places, including high school sporting events.

According to the Dallas Morning News, demonstrators gathered on opposite sides of each other outside the Collin County Courthouse on June 1 before trial began. “Supporters chanted in favor of Anthony’s self-defense claim, while others across the street voiced support for Austin Metcalf, highlighting the deep divisions,” the outlet reported.

Unconfirmed reports at that time indicated that Austin Metcalf used racial slurs prior to the incident.

“This is Texas, so race relations are already where we know it to be historically, and right now, we have two very polarizing sides,” stated Nation of Islam Student Minister Rashad Muhammad, of Mosque No. 48 in Dallas. In all honesty, he explained, the reaction to the case reflects the two different realities in America: one White and one Black, and the situation is very volatile and tense.

“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us that all lives are precious, no matter who the life belongs to, so I hate to hear that anyone lost their life,” continued Student Minister Rashad Muhammad.

He also cited the history of racism in America as it pertains to Black people.

“We weren’t there to know what exactly transpired or happened and that’s for the court to decide, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the historical relationship between Blacks and Whites,” he said.

Karmelo Anthony, who attended Centennial High School, and Austin Metcalf, who attended Memorial High School, were reportedly involved in a disagreement over a seat at the track meet before the incident.

“I was protecting myself,” Karmelo allegedly told police, according to a Frisco Police arrest report, dated April 2, 2025. “He put his hands on me,” he added, according to police.

Police also reported that a witness who was with Austin Metcalf’s brother stated that Austin and an unknown male argued after Austin told the male to leave a Memorial High School tent. Austin Metcalf allegedly stood up and pushed the male during the dispute. The male then allegedly retrieved a knife from his bag, reportedly stabbed Austin, and fled.

The incident highlighted media bias, double standards and unequal justice in America, activists  said.

Though prohibited from attending graduation, Karmelo reportedly maintained his 3.7 GPA and received his diploma from Centennial High School.  He completed his coursework under house arrest, after being released from jail on a $250,000 bond on April 14, 2025, according to reports.  Bail was originally set for $1 million.

Karmelo’s family held a news conference in April 2025 to refute some of the misinformation, disinformation and lies, circulating online and media. His mother, Kayla Hayes, said their family was under attack, and ultimately had to move from their home to North Texas.  She said everyone wanted a full and fair investigation. 

“To the family who experienced the loss, my heart truly goes out to you,” said Ms. Hayes, who also thanked those who have supported her family. “I don’t know why we are being targeted and discriminated against before a fair trial.  Our son deserves the same rights under the law that everyone is afforded, too.”

At Final Call presstime, it had been reported that the prosecution had rested its case on June 6.

The post Trial for teen Karmelo Anthony self-defense case begins appeared first on Final Call News.

According to the San Diego Police Department, Caleb Liam Vazquez, 18, and Cain Lee Clark, 17, parked in the center’s lot and ran past Amin Abdullah, a security guard, and engaged in gunfire with him. Mr. Abdullah returned gunfire and initiated lockdown protocols for the Center via his radio before being fatally shot and killed by the suspects.

Mr. Abdullah’s actions delayed and deterred access to the greater area of the facility, said police.  After encountering the security guard, the suspects entered the building, accessed a few empty areas and rooms, and exited through a door back into the parking lot.

There, they encountered 78-year-old Mansour Kaziha, caretaker and founding member of the Center, and 57-year-old Nadir Awad, husband of a teacher at the Center, who ran there to help after hearing shots fired.

“All three of our victims did not die in vain. Without distracting the attention, without delaying the actions of these two individuals, without question, there would have been many more fatalities yesterday,” said Police Chief Scott Wahl during a press update on May 19.

“Active shooter,” would reportedly be some of the final words mouthed by 51-year-old security guard Amin Abdullah, attempting to protect the Center, students and staff from the gunmen. 

And so, he did. “It’s fair to say his actions were heroic,” said Police Chief Wahl during the news conference. “Undoubtedly, he saved lives today.”

“To Allah (God) we belong and to Him we return,” said Hawaa Abdullah, Mr. Abdullah’s daughter, reciting from Surah (Chapter) 2, Ayat (Verse) 156 from the Holy Qur’an, the book of scripture of Muslims, to news media May 19. 

“Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits,” she recited from Surah 33, Ayat 23 (Al-Ahzab – The Allies). “He was a loving father, husband, son, brother, and uncle.  To me, my dad was a role model. He was a best friend.  He was the absolute best dad in the world. He was my protector,” said Hawaa Abdullah.

He taught her brothers how to be young, Black, Muslim men and advocated for their education.

“Not only was he an amazing father, he was a good son,” she said, calling his mother every night to check on her.  He was also so vigilant in protecting not only his own children, but those at the Center.

He took his job so seriously to the point that sometimes, he wouldn’t even want to eat, his daughter recalled. “He wanted to save his food till after he left the job, because he was afraid that if he went on his break, something bad would happen,” she stated.

Her father was a staunch advocate for keeping his community safe and stood against any form of hate, she emphasized. “He would want our community to stand together as one … and I hope this moment.

We can all come together and to be kind to one another and remember who he truly was,” she continued, flanked by her weeping brothers and sisters, including biological and community members.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, has condemned acts of senseless violence in America and has taught on the importance of protecting houses of worship, including churches, mosques, and synagogues.

Nation of Islam Student Minister Charles Muhammad, of Mosque No. 8 in San Diego, first offered condolences to the families of those slain in the tragedy, and to the Islamic Center and community in mourning.

“It was a terrible situation, seeing the children running out in the street and having the officers escort them down the way to reunite with their families, having to leave a place of comfort and security and go through that, it’s very traumatic,” he stated.

He reflected on the guidance of Minister Farrakhan, from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. “He (the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad) taught us to say The Refuge Prayer at least seven times a day. 

We’re praying these prayers because we’re going to face some of these things, if not all, so seeking refuge from anxiety, from grief, that is really major,” said Student Min. Charles Muhammad.

After shooting Mr. Awad and Mr. Kaziha, police reported that the suspects then fled in their vehicle into the neighborhood, where they shot at the gardener, who was uninjured. Shortly thereafter, they shot and killed themselves in the vehicle, police reported.

According to a recent press update, police received a call at about 9:42 a.m. about a runaway juvenile and pieced together information from one of the suspect’s mothers and other callers.

“She believed her son was suicidal and shared information that several of her weapons were missing, along with her vehicle. … She also stated that he was with a companion, who was dressed in camouflage,” stated Chief Wahl.

As police worked to find the individuals, an active shooter call at the Center went out at approximately 11:42 a.m.

According to police, it is believed that the two suspects met online, realized they both lived in San Diego, and exchanged radicalized ideology. Writings found in the vehicle described hatred toward various religions, including Islam, and races, police said.

In addition, law enforcement has executed three search warrants at residences associated with the suspects, which found numerous firearms from two of those locations, including numerous pistols, rifles, shotguns, ammunition, tactical gear,  a crossbow, and electronics.  

Search warrants have been executed on the electronic devices the suspects had with them at the time of the attack, and investigators are in the process of obtaining additional search warrants for other devices.

The San Diego Police Department, in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is conducting extensive interviews with the suspects’ family and friends. Chief Wahl said the incident was being investigated as a hate crime.

Meanwhile, supporters have launched a campaign to raise money for the families of the shooting victims. 

“We call them our brothers in the community.  We call them our martyrs and our heroes,” said the Center’s Imam Taha Hassane, who became emotional, addressing members of the media on May 19.

If Mr. Abdullah had not sacrificed his life and slowed the suspects down, the carnage would be much worse, the two suspects would have had easy access to every single classroom, noted Imam Hassane. He spoke of Mr. Abdullah as a lovely person who never stopped smiling at anyone, including visitors. “We are so proud of him,” stated Imam Hassane.

Of  Mansour Kaziha, their elder, he stated, “He is the pillar of the Islamic Center of San Diego,” since 1986, when it first broke ground.  “He’s been at the Islamic Center for the last 40 years, working nonstop,” said Imam Hassane. “He was everything. … We miss him.”

When their neighbor, Mr. Awad, heard the shooting, he rushed to do something, to protect, added Imam Hassane.  “Both of them, they tried to do something. They were hiding in the parking lot, next to the kitchen, to try to protect.”

On May 19, hundreds of people attended an interfaith vigil at Lindbergh Park in Clairemont Mesa to honor the victims of the shooting and support their families and the community.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) invited people of all faiths to another interfaith vigil at the Islamic Society of Orange County on May 21 to honor the deceased, show support for their families, stand in solidarity with all those impacted by the attack, and learn about the connection between widespread anti-Muslim rhetoric and targeted acts of violence.

CAIR has also called on local police to step up security at mosques nationwide after the deadly terror attack in San Diego.

“This horrific terror attack is the deadly consequence of years of anti-Muslim hate, demonization and dangerous rhetoric targeting American Muslims and other marginalized communities.

Mosques and Islamic institutions across the country are facing heightened threats, and local law enforcement agencies must act immediately to increase patrols and coordinate with community leaders to help protect worshipers.

We also urge elected officials and public figures to stop fueling hatred and division that inevitably inspire acts of violence,” stated CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily reported during a press statement that investigators identified writings in the shooters’ vehicle that outlined various ideologies, including religious and racial beliefs, of how the world they envisioned should look. “These suspects did not discriminate on who they hated,” he said.

Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour said, “This is a mosque that has opened its doors to the community,” in an interview with Democracy Now!

“This is the epitome of a mosque that shows our true values as Muslims, in community and in solidarity. So, it’s just devastating, and no house of worship should have to ever experience this,” added Ms. Sarsour, co-founder of the Muslim rights and advocacy group MPower Change.

The post Community mourns lives of three Muslims slain at Islamic Center of San Diego The attack is being investigated by authorities as a possible hate crime appeared first on Final Call News.

With 80% of women surveyed between ages 18 and 29 currently unhoused, according to the 2026 Downtown Women’s Needs Assessment produced by the Downtown Women’s Action Coalition (DWAC) and LA CAN.

The assessment is described as “a comprehensive, community-led research project detailing the lived experiences, housing barriers, and safety concerns of women navigating homelessness and extreme poverty in Skid Row.”

Skid Row is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles that is officially known as Central City East and according to the LA County Homeless Services and Housing, the area spans only about 50 square blocks.

Researchers also say they are witnessing a parallel surge of elderly Black women, displaced from buildings sold to predatory landlords. What the data and advocates who work with women who have been displaced are describing is a crisis claiming Black women at both ends of the age spectrum—and, they allege, a system designed to keep them there.

Black women represent 51% of respondents in the 2026 assessment—compared to 24% Latina, 14% White, and less than 1% Asian.  Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) data cited in that same report estimates Black people make up 52% of the unsheltered homeless population in Skid Row.

Data for the survey were collected during the spring and summer of 2025 and included 20 semi-structured interviews and nine focus groups (consisting of 8-12 women)

And participants were recruited largely through community outreach efforts by DWAC staff, volunteers and by direct outreach to current DWAC members who currently and/or formerly resided in Skid Row.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, spoke on the conditions impacting America in his message delivered in Newark, New Jersey, on April 28, 1995, and published in The Final Call titled, “What’s Troubling America.”

“In America, we have millions today who are homeless. We have many more millions who are sick, imprisoned, impoverished and weak, and it appears as though the conservative element of the country is moving away from care for the poor, the weak, the helpless, and the children and catering to the desires of those that have.

But it is the poor and the weak who built the country.  It is the poor and the weak who have fought, bled and died to maintain America as a great nation,” Minister Farrakhan said.

“Now America is turning her back on the weak and blaming the condition of the country on the poor, on the Black, on the Hispanic. 

In reality, the mismanagement of the wealth and people of this country is the fault of those who are at the top who have held power, who have manipulated the masses of the people against the good of America and the good of the world,” he added.

Shameka Foster, a housing and rights organizer with the Los Angeles Community Action Network, knows the crisis of homelessness from the inside. When COVID-19 shuttered businesses across Los Angeles in 2020, she was working as an on-call security guard without a set post.

Her hours evaporated.  Her roughly $1,400-a-month studio apartment—marketed as affordable housing but simultaneously listed at $2,100 on the open market—became impossible to hold. By 2021, she was in a tent on Skid Row with her 19-year-old son.

She described the impossible math of trying to catch up: returning to full-time work while still carrying months of back rent, every paycheck gone before it cleared.

“It was like I was so far behind,” Ms. Foster said. “When I did go back to work full-time, I was paying rent and still owed rent.”

Her son spent only a few days in the tent before going to stay with family on his father’s side—a temporary refuge that put relatives at risk since he wasn’t on anyone’s lease. The experience changed him, she stated.

He was outgoing, skateboarded and did well in school, but went quiet, she recalled. He never graduated—a COVID casualty of a system that couldn’t hold students together through the lockdowns, she said.

Ms. Foster’s story, while her own, fits a documented pattern. The 2026 Women’s Needs Assessment found that for nearly half of the women surveyed, homelessness did not begin in Skid Row—it began in childhood.

The report describes a pipeline: generational poverty, family separation, early displacement, and economic exclusion forming a through-line across decades. “Women are not falling through cracks in the system,” the report states. “The system itself produces and reproduces their displacement.” 

Jamie Garcia, an organizer with DWAC and LA CAN, pushed back hard on the narrative that addiction and mental illness define Skid Row. She said the framing is not only inaccurate—it is dangerous.

“It’s really important that we uplift economic precarity as the cause of houselessness —not just mental health, not just substance use,” said Ms. Garcia to The Final Call.

Between 40% and 56% of women across all age groups surveyed cited unaffordability as the primary barrier to securing stable housing, according to the 2026 needs assessment report.  For a woman earning minimum wage with children to feed, there is no equation that works, researchers found.

The report documents a compounding toll beyond housing.  Approximately 60% of women surveyed report having a disability, and more than 70% of older women live with a disability. 

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they worried in the past year about having enough food, and close to half reported having very little control over their food choices. 

Ms. Foster alleged a particularly devastating pattern for women with children. She said that women in crisis who call 211—a free, confidential information referral service for L.A. County residents—and are referred to Skid Row-area shelters can find the very act of being unhoused used against them in custody proceedings.

“They (case workers) figure you’re not capable of taking care of your children when you’re just out of work,” she said. “They’re setting you up for failure,” she further alleged.

The Final Call contacted the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services regarding her allegations.  No response has been received yet.

Ms. Foster and Ms. Garcia also described what happens when shelters turn women away—sometimes for lacking paperwork, sometimes simply for lack of space.  A coercive cycle follows, alleges Ms. Garcia: women left outside, vulnerable, pushed into dangerous arrangements in exchange for protection.

“It’s a survival mechanism,” Ms. Foster added. “You’re new out here, you have men trying to take advantage.”

She now watches elderly Black women arrive, she alleged, displaced from buildings sold to what she describes as predatory landlords seeking to repurpose them. LA CAN has an active slumlord campaign targeting these practices, she said. 

She sees elderly women on blankets outside shelters, without tents, in the open air.  “You see them barely surviving,” Ms. Foster said. “And I’m talking about people that want help, that do the footwork—but the people in positions to help them are working against them all the time.”

The solution, both women say, is not complicated. It is just not being done. Ms. Garcia said the evidence in the social sciences is unambiguous: when people are given stable housing, they can begin addressing everything else—health, family, employment. “The solution to houselessness is houses,” she said. “It is evidence-based practice.”

Ms. Foster emphasized the point, stating that what is needed is: “Permanent, dignified housing, not with case management harassing you, working against you.  It starts there.”

The post Permanent housing a solution to curb rising crisis of Black women on L.A.’s Skid Row appeared first on Final Call News.

The body formally commemorated the 1992 Watts Gang Truce—the ceasefire that helped pull L.A. off its perch as the so-called “gang capital of the world”—

With a day of recognition that drew the truce’s surviving architects, gang interventionists, and Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad (formerly known as Minister Tony Muhammad) of the Nation of Islam’s Western Region.

The men and women were inspired by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam. 

Minister Farrakhan delivered his “Stop the Killing” lecture series across the country, appealing to youth. He warned them of government and law enforcement plots to use their violence as a justification to slaughter the Black community.

While enemies and detractors were skeptical and suspicious, Minister Farrakhan embraced and applauded the urban peace efforts. He brought the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviours’ Day convention to the City of Angels in 1993, in part as a tribute to the tremendous work that produced the truce.

Minister Farrakhan’s 1989 Stop the Killing address at the L.A. Sports Arena, the acquittal of White officers videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King and the uprising that followed helped build support for the 1992 Peace Treaty.

“I went across this country asking you to stop killing yourself, because I knew that the government was making war on Black youth, Black men in particular. Brothers and sisters, the Million Man March didn’t happen in a vacuum—I had been working on that 10 years prior! 

I crisscrossed this country saying to Black youth ‘the government has plotted against your life,’ and I opened both Bible and Holy Qur’an to show you the conspiracy,” Minister Farrakhan said in his Nov. 3, 1996, address delivered at Mosque Maryam and entitled, “Crack Cocaine—The Great Conspiracy to Destroy the Black Male.”

“The Stop the Killing tour is what gave birth and life to the 1992 Gang Truce and Peace Treaty, where the peacekeepers proved that good could come out of Nazareth,” said … Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad, referencing the biblical scripture John 1:46, which states: “‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip.”

God used the despised and the rejected to fix their own problem, explained Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid.

The truce did more than help quiet a single neighborhood. Once America’s most violent city, L.A. no longer cracks the top 10, an outcome Student Minister Muhammad attributes to former gang members, those that the political class long dismissed.

The May 1 recognition, he and others argued, should be a beginning rather than a benchmark and a reminder that the brothers and sisters who ended a street war may be the ones most qualified to confront the political violence rising in its place.

Councilmembers Curren Price (District 9, which covers the majority of South L.A.) and Tim McOsker (District 15, which includes Watts) opened the program with a frank admission: this agreement was not brokered by City Hall or mandated by law enforcement.

“It came from the streets, from community leaders, from formerly incarcerated individuals, from young people who were simply tired of burying their friends,” Councilman Price said.

The truce demonstrated that peace is possible when people are empowered to lead, producing measurable reductions in violence—particularly among youth—and creating space for dialogue, healing, and investment, he explained.

Councilman McOsker called the truce a “very sophisticated, well-thought-out, well-planned, and dangerous activity,” and noted that, unlike most ceasefires, “it has stuck.”

Accepting the recognition, Daude Sherrills, an early advocate for street organization negotiations, said the truce was the product of years of dedicated work. He referenced the historic handshake by T. Dashiki Bey, also known as Twilight Bey, a former Bloods member, and a young former Crips member who identified himself only as “Twelve.”

They clasped hands at the end of three days of talks between warring L.A. gang factions in Carson on July 29, 1988—proving, Daude Sherrills said, “that the other side was a brother in (a) different color.”

He traced the birth of the truce to divine influence in the late 1980s. “We took that message very seriously,” he said of Minister Farrakhan’s “Stop the Killing” address at the L.A. Sports Arena. “At that time, I was up under Captain Shaheed [Muhammad], and we galvanized and was organizing.

And when our brother, Oliver (X) Beasley, was murdered over there on Vermont, it culminated the community to activate,” he said. The late Brother Shaheed Muhammad was a longtime Fruit of Islam (F.O.I.) captain and helper on the West Coast.

Minister Farrakhan’s 1989 Sports Arena appearance drew more than 1,500 Crips and Bloods into one room—a gathering that soon migrated to the late NFL legend Jim Brown’s home. “We met [Minister] Farrakhan at Jim Brown’s house.

And this is the evolution of the story,” Mr. Sherrills said. He also thanked other voices of the movement, including Grammy winner Stevie Wonder, who used his 102.3 FM station as a beacon for the community.

“During those historical days, during the riots, we didn’t just need a leader on the ground, we needed a voice on the airwaves. … When the city erupted, KJLH stopped the music, opened the phone lines, and gave us a platform to vent, to cry and to coordinate peace when the rest of the media only wanted to show the fire,” Daude Sherrills added.

Some of that history is documented in “Hidden History and the Power of Social Movements: The Watts Gang Treaty,” by William Aceves, then-Dean Steven R. Smith Professor of Law at California Western School of Law, now its director of the International Legal Studies Program.

Prof. Aceves recorded that the four representatives of the four gangs signed the treaty in the presence of mediators from the F.O.I. The gang leaders also sought inspiration from international conflict resolution efforts, looking to the 1949 Armistice Agreement adopted by Egypt and Israel to end the Arab-Israeli War.

The receipts, said Mr. Sherrills, settled the rest. In the first two years of the peace treaty, gang homicides decreased 44 percent, according to Mr. Sherrills.  That produced a domino effect across L.A. and the country.

Donny Joubert, president of the Watts Gang Task Force, opened the May 1 observation by giving honor to God. “None of this would have happened without God getting behind us. … I’m honored to be here today because it’s about time that we recognize how hard this work really is. Folks don’t know that,” he stated.

They are still doing the same peace work seven days a week, as in 1992 because babies growing up in the neighborhood need opportunities, he emphasized. “They need the same opportunity as anybody else,” he said, before recognizing signatories of the original treaty and their unified posture.

“We’re not going backward!” he continued. Especially now, he added, “when seniors can walk to the store unafraid of gunshots overhead.”

Despite the tremendous progress made in the past few years, there is still work to be done.

Some youths are still being lost to violence today, said Mr. Joubert. He urged that more tangible support is still needed. “Let’s put the funding where it really needs to be.

You’ve got the boots on the ground, the foot soldiers, and it’s some wars going on right now, they cannot stop, but look what we did! Look what we were able to do within our community,” Mr. Joubert said, applauding the efforts of Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad.

“The brother that really stayed on us, based on coming in our community. He would have a one-on-one, a two-on-two with us. But we’d always have serious conversations, and then he’d march with us through all these communities to show the love that we have for each other,”

Mr. Joubert continued, referring to Student Min. Muhammad. He also thanked the women of the community and civic leaders, including former City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

Terry “Bull” Jones recalled the night Dewayne Holmes, a member of the Watts community, accompanied by others from the housing projects, came to the Imperial Courts to ask him to mediate. He shared that experience with the audience.

“He said, ‘Bull, I need you. You don’t have a dog in the fight. You’re not from Watts. Mediate for us.’” He also uplifted peacemaker Cynthia Mendenhall (aka “Sister Soldier of Watts”), who he said took a backseat in public but, behind closed doors, was instrumental to peace efforts.

“And they [gang members] took everything she said to heart a lot and they acted it out. A lot of those instructions about doing peace came from her,” Mr. Jones said. 

“I was wiping my tears, but I think now, I’m going to let them fall, because we lost so much. I don’t want to say we started too late. We started, and we’re still getting it done. And we’re still pushing. We’re still in places that a lot of people don’t want to go, that a lot of people don’t want to help nobody. But we still go,” he added.

Aqeela Sherrills, brother of Daude Sherrills, has spent the last decade exporting the L.A. blueprint. He was tapped by Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka in 2014 to help build a community-based intervention strategy, he told The Final Call. They launched the Newark Community Street Team and hired 16 people from the neighborhood. 

“When we first started … there were 114 homicides. Newark had the third-highest homicide rate in the country. Last year, we had 31 homicides,” he stated.

His team recently released a qualitative and quantitative evaluation demonstrating that the Newark Community Street Team reduced violence and crime without law enforcement and without the collateral impacts of policing. He said they plan to model the work in five new cities—Austin, Texas; Cleveland; Jackson, Miss.; Miami, and Tucson, Arizona.

“There’s no reason why the Black community shouldn’t be the safest community on the planet,” said Aqeela Sherrills. “Starting with the Peace Treaty in 1992, 34 years later.

We’re in cities all across the country, and we’re not going to end until our neighborhoods are safe … until we end this narrative, because still, the number one cause of murder for Black boys ages 14 to 25 is gun violence.

This is our issue, family. This is our issue. And so, this is a call to action for Black men, because we’re standing in the gaps, and we’re doing the work.”

City Councilmember Heather Hutt (District 9) was at the May 1 commemoration. Her family has also experienced the cost of the violence the truce sought to end. “In 1992, they knew… that we would see our children live and thrive instead of just survive,”

She said. “You are peacemakers … healers from the heart, soldiers from your ancestors, and risk takers—because you sat in places that were not always comfortable,” Ms. Hutt said of those who continue the peace efforts.

Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson provided this picture of the environment from decades ago. “If you were south of Wilshire Boulevard on any day of the week and you drove for more than 20 minutes, you were going to see a funeral,” he said. “There were in excess of 1,200 homicides a year.”

The political answer at the time was jail and prison cells. But from street organizations came a call, and they did the work without permission, a grant, or any acknowledgment. “Because the media … wanted so badly for the truce to fail,” Mr. Harris-Dawson recalled. The work, he said, ultimately rewrote several narratives.

“You all changed policing around the country. I’m sitting on this chair because of the work you all did.”

The post Honoring the 34th anniversary of the Watts Gang Truce appeared first on Final Call News.