These calamities bear witness to the warnings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In Chapter 35 of His book, “The Fall of America,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes, “The four great judgments that Almighty Allah (God) 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.”

His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has carried that warning across the country and the world for decades in three words: “Watch the weather.”

On Oct. 9, Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, The Weather Channel reported. Isaias became a tropical storm in the Gulf on Oct. 7, according to the National Hurricane Center. Nearly 900,000 customers lost power in the first hours, mostly in Florida and Alabama, the AP reported.

That same weekend, Tropical Storm Rachel sent waves crashing into homes on California’s Long Beach Peninsula, city officials said. Its remnants flooded Ensenada, Mexico and Baja, California authorities said.

Rain from Rachel also hit Nevada. In Las Vegas, 1.08 inches of rain tied the city’s record for a single October day, set in 1947, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

At Final Call press time, at least 16 people were dead across Florida, Alabama and Mexico, according to figures from those state officials and Mexican authorities. Over the same weekend as Rachel, Hurricane Simon’s rains killed a 71-year-old in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, when a wall collapsed, Guerrero Gov.

Evelyn Salgado said, the AP reported. In Hawaii, Hurricane Nolo veered away from the Big Island in late September, but rain gauges still recorded 17.65 inches at Laupahoehoe, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

In Long Beach, Calif., the city red-tagged eight structures covering 13 addresses, yellow-tagged one more and ordered residents of the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk to evacuate, Mayor Rex Richardson said at an Oct. 10 city community update.

The Peninsula’s bulkhead and boardwalk, city infrastructure that has served the community for more than 100 years, sustained significant damage, said Todd Leland, the city’s marine bureau manager.

Crews braced the wall with lumber and thousands of sandbags, using a crane to place heavy-duty sandbags with a 3,000-pound capacity and tripled pumping capacity, he said. “Our infrastructure was not built for this,” said Mayor Richardson.

In Newport Beach, City Manager Seimone Jurjis, acting as director of emergency services, declared a local emergency Oct. 9 after higher-than-normal surf and elevated tides flooded streets on the Balboa Peninsula. The declaration “will help the city secure additional resources as crews continue working to protect homes, property and public safety,” the city said.

The NWS issued a coastal flood warning for San Diego and Orange County coastal areas, cautioning that “low-lying property including homes, businesses, and some critical infrastructure may flood.”

Both the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned that these weather calamities would continue to strike America and they are also being seen in other parts of the world.

In a message delivered on Aug. 16 from Mosque Maryam in Chicago, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, reminded the audience of what Black people must do to prepare for when these calamities strike.

“We have to get our survival gear in place. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us what foods to store, and he taught us to prepare for this that we are witnessing,” stated Student Minister Ishmael.

In a June 4, 2025, interview on the Underground Dialogue Podcast, Nation of Islam Student Southwest Regional Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, an urban planner and environmental analyst, said families can’t wait on outside help. “Brother and sister, nobody’s coming to save us. We’re going to have to organize ourselves,” he said. “You can’t thrive until you survive.”

He urged people to make small sacrifices now and put money toward emergency supplies. He also cited recommendations from Sister Landra Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam and a disaster preparedness researcher. Some of the tips recommended:

• Spend for survival. Skip the new outfit and buy extra water and nonperishable food such as rice and (navy) beans, plus an alternative way to cook.
• Light the dark. Keep a flashlight and batteries.
• Get organized. Write down family contacts, doctors, pharmacies, medications and insurance information.
• Learn the basics. Know how to turn off household gas and water, learn basic first aid and keep a fire extinguisher.
• Pack two bags. Keep a shelter-in-place bag at home and a go bag holding medications, snacks, water and important papers such as deeds, insurance documents and passports.
• Plan an exit. Map out your home’s layout and know where you will go.

Sister Landra urged families not to wait to prepare. “The best time to have started preparing was yesterday. The next best time is to start today. Start wherever you are,” she told The Final Call.

“If you have $5 per week, dedicate $5 to something, whether it be food or some type of supply that is dedicated for preparedness. You may not use that until an emergency, and you have to have some type of discipline with this,” she recommended.

“Minister Farrakhan taught us we have to depend on Allah (God) … and each other to do something for ourselves,” Student Min. Haleem said.

The post Severe weather strikes West Coast and Florida’s Panhandle appeared first on Final Call News.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Oct. 2 announcement of an agreement with the Natomas Unified School District over its treatment of students validated what Black parents in the area had long suspected, according to Carl Pinkston, chairperson of the Black Parallel School Board, who has worked with families there. Their children were being pushed out of the classroom at higher rates, and in some cases illegally. The district disputes the findings.

For Mr. Pinkston, the bigger story is that Natomas is not unusual. “No, this is not an anomaly,” he told The Final Call. “This is pervasive across the country.”

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in Sacramento County Superior Court on Sept. 26, along with a proposed stipulated judgment. The filings came after an investigation by its Bureau of Children’s Justice that began in January 2023.

Investigators found that from the 2018-19 through 2024-25 school years, Black students and students with disabilities were substantially overrepresented among students referred for discipline.

They were also more likely to receive harsher, exclusionary punishments such as out-of-school suspension or expulsion. The DOJ concluded those practices were not necessary to meet a legitimate educational purpose, because less discriminatory alternatives were available.

The DOJ also found that the district issued out-of-school suspensions for disruption or willful defiance, in several cases to children in kindergarten through eighth grade, in violation of state law. It also found the district released confidential student records to third parties without required parental consent.

Under the proposed two-year agreement, which awaits court approval, Natomas Unified would be required to revise its discipline and records policies, work with a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) provider, train staff annually, and hold yearly information sessions for parents. The state would monitor its progress for multiple years.

The DOJ said Natomas Unified had proactively begun implementing several policy changes and worked cooperatively with the state on the agreement. Mr. Bonta said giving all California children a fair and equal chance at success in school is a top priority for his office.

“The Department of Justice’s alleged findings do not reflect the realities faced at Natomas Unified and the significant work our District has undertaken over the past several years. Natomas Unified has continued evaluating and strengthening its programs and supports for all students.

Several of the changes outlined in the agreement highlight work Natomas Unified had already initiated independent of the DOJ, and that work will continue,” the school district said in a statement. The district also said protecting student privacy remains a priority and that it regularly reviews its safeguards.

Sister Kathleen Muhammad, student directress of Muhammad University of Islam at Muhammad Mosque No. 45 in Houston, said environment alone can produce a change, and that the Natomas findings took her back to her family’s experience since 2019 as foster parents.

When they enrolled foster children in public schools, she said, staff tried to place the children in a box based on past behavior. She described IEP (Individualized Education Program) and behavior-assessment meetings built around records from previous schools, even when the child was not showing those behaviors in the new setting.

“We’ve seen it in public school. We’ve seen it in foster care. So, we’ve seen it across the board,” Sister Kathleen Muhammad said.

Muhammad University of Islam is an independent school system established by the Nation of Islam when the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Muslims in the 1930s withdrew their children from public schools in Detroit who were being miseducated.

Sister Kathleen Muhammad cited the impact of the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Study Guide 21, which addresses a new educational paradigm needed for the 21st century.

“Being in our environment and being blessed to be on the post as the Student Directress here at Muhammad University of Islam in Houston, Texas, we advocate with our parents for our children to let them see the best opportunity that they could possibly have,” she said.

Mr. Pinkston traced the problem to the founding of California’s public schools. In 1860, he noted, the state legislature passed a law stating that “Negroes, Mongolians, and Indians, shall not be admitted into the public schools.” The April 28, 1860, law allowed districts to set up separate schools for those students instead.

“Our public educational system is, with the best of intentions, racist by design,” he said.

Suspension, Mr. Pinkston argued, “is a way of sorting you out to the prison.” It is one of the most common approaches, he said, and “it disproportionately impacts Black students and Black students with disabilities, in particular.”

He pointed out that Black families who moved to the suburbs are now meeting the treatment once associated with places like Oakland and Compton. He also said he hears from people in Contra Costa County, Newark, and parts of Texas.

In New Jersey, he added, the Black Parents Workshop settled a 2018 federal lawsuit in 2020 that accused the South Orange-Maplewood School District of discriminating against Black students.

Dr. Denice Price, CEO of New Hope Academy of Change Educational Corporation in Long Beach, Calif., said the DOJ’s action was justified.

“I support the settlement agreement with the California Department of Justice and believe it was warranted,” Dr. Price said in a written statement to The Final Call. “The district must be held accountable for protecting the confidentiality of all student records,” she continued.

Dr. Price said the problem starts young. “I am concerned that disparities in discipline affecting Black students and students with disabilities begin as early as preschool,” she said.

She said those children may be left out of classroom activities or placed in isolation time-outs.

As an elementary school principal, Dr. Price said she has implemented programs that teach students to understand conflict, practice self-control, and strengthen their conflict-resolution skills. Staff and parents are trained so students get consistent support.

“I believe every educator should embrace the principle that all students can learn when they are given equal access to meaningful opportunities and support,” she said.

Mr. Pinkston said parents must organize, because many do not know their rights.

“You have to go from me to we,” he said. “It’s not just simply my child.”

The fight, he said, is for all Black students. “You don’t have to call yourself a parallel school board,” he added. “Just get organized.”

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—The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, “Four Great Judgments of America” from “The Fall of America”

LOS ANGELES—From the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, severe storms and floods have hammered coastal and inland communities in a single week, stretching the country’s disaster system thin.

As of Oct. 1, FEMA’s records show one federal emergency declaration tied to the storms: in Hawaii for Hurricane Nolo. From the tail end of September into the beginning days of October, America is getting inundated with storms that have generated severe flooding and powerful winds.  

A powerful nor’easter swept the East Coast Sept. 25–28, bringing coastal flooding, damaging winds and rough surf from New Jersey to Massachusetts. New York reported more than 28,000 power outages statewide on Sept. 26, and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said crews had restored power to about 180,000 customers by Sept. 27 morning.

The storm turned deadly on Sept. 26. The New York City Housing Authority said an employee, Leighton Brown, 56, was killed by a falling tree in Brooklyn.

In New Jersey, the storm brought coastal flooding, rescues and severe beach erosion. Water in Atlantic City rose Sept. 26 to its highest level since Superstorm Sandy in 2012, according to AccuWeather.

Gov. Sherrill declared a state of emergency for Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Salem counties, effective Sept. 25.  “I urge all New Jerseyans to take this storm seriously, stay safe, and be prepared,” she said.

The same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency for the Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties and their contiguous counties.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, consistently warned Black people that America was surrounded by the Judgment of Allah (God) and that Allah (God) would use the forces of nature to humble the country.

“America is in the grip of divine judgment. America is in the position toward her once slave, so-called Negro, as Pharaoh was with Israel as his slave.

She is in this position because of  the injustice done to the American so-called Negro slave, brought to America over four hundred years ago, and refuses to let them go free,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes in His book, “The Fall of America,” in the chapter, “Four Judgments of America.”

His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, called this book the best book one could have in their collection. “The Fall of America is the best book that you could have in your library. White and Black and Brown, Asian: All of this affects us all.

Every one of you “scholars” should get this book.  All of you who preach The Gospel, whether you are an imam, whether you are a rabbi, whether you are a “leader” of religious groups:

Get this book, and study it, because the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gives you the clearest exegesis of the scriptures that foretell ‘The Fall of America’ and ‘The Destruction of this Present World,’” Minister Farrakhan said, in part 10 of this 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” in 2013.

Nation of  Islam Student Eastern Regional Minister Arthur Muhammad is based in New York and said the storms should be read as a warning. “When the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks, he does not speak idle words,” he said.

“So, when he says, ‘Watch the weather,’ he’s not like a content creator trying to get a buzz or push the envelope.  He is literally warning the people of God,” he told The Final Call.

At Final Call presstime, New York was still being hit with rain. “Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, as AP reported.

Student Min. Arthur Muhammad said the damage is exacerbated by infrastructure that can’t withstand the severe rain and flooding “So the water drain pipes … they’re not built to take extreme water. 

The roofs are not built to take the extreme weight of heavy, heavy rain. So, as it intensifies, what building departments deemed as safe buildings—buildings are not going to be safe. 

Infrastructure, utilities, everything is going to be affected,” he said, adding, “Not only do individuals have to be ready, but literally municipalities have to be ready for what’s coming. … And remember what Jesus said, ‘This is just the beginning of sorrows.’”

Student Minister Abdul Haqq Muhammad of Mosque No. 25 in Newark, New Jersey said the weather has been “very unpredictable.”  In New Jersey, he said, places like Hoboken often flood when it rains hard, and the Nor’easter brought very strong winds that knocked down trees in various areas.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a Nor’easter is a storm along the East Coast of North America, named for winds that typically blow from the Northeast.

“We see what happened in Gary, Indiana,” said Student Min. Abdul Haqq Muhammad.

In August, residents of Gary were left without power for two to three weeks after a violent storm struck Northwest Indiana.

“We all have to be prepared. Let that serve as a sign of what potentially could be coming,” he said. 

Student Min. Abdul Haqq Muhammad said that Minister Farrakhan’s consistent warning to “watch the weather” is not out of joy, but because he is a diligent, benevolent warner, as is the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, from Almighty Allah.

“I pray that our people, in general, and us in the Nation of Islam, specifically, would not fall asleep and continue to remain vigilant and heed to His warning that we must be as prepared as we can. We know the Bible says no man knows the hour, and He teaches us that when the Judgment comes, even the righteous won’t be spared of death.”

West Coast impact

Hurricanes Nolo and Polo were two powerful storms that were active in the Pacific Ocean in September at the same time.

In Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green announced Sept. 25 that the president had approved a pre-landfall emergency declaration for Hurricane Nolo. Nolo passed south of the islands without making landfall.

Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda told Hawaii Public Radio that Nāʻālehu and Waiʻōhinu were flooding, and communities were still recovering from Hurricane Lala in August.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a statewide state of emergency Sept. 21 to prepare for an El Niño winter that his office said could become the strongest on record.

The same unusually warm Pacific fueled Hurricane Polo, which grew from a tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane in about a day, with top winds of 175 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Polo struck Mexico’s Baja California Sur early Sept. 29 with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, according to AP, then crossed the Gulf  of  California and weakened as it moved inland. Its remnants battered the U.S. Southwest.

In South-Central New Mexico, fears that the McLeod Dam could fail prompted evacuations of hundreds of residents in Rincon, Salem, Garfield, Hatch and Placitas. The weather service issued a Flash Flood Emergency for the Hatch Valley. Most residents were allowed home late Sept. 29, but Rincon remained evacuated, according to Weather.com.

The weather service expected heavy rain to spread into Texas and the central U.S. through the week. Texas had made more than 1,900 state responders and 1,500 pieces of equipment available for flood response.

According to reporting by the Associated Press, “Parts of Texas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa were still under flood watch October 1 afternoon as storm remnants continued to batter the region, flooding streets and neighborhoods and setting off water rescues.”

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned what was still in store for America. In the chapter, “America Surrounded with The Judgment of Allah,” He writes: “All around the Southern Border of America, storms are raging.

There are tornadoes and heavy rains and more storms are on the way—one right after another. And in the North and Far West and in the East, America is surrounded with the judgments of Allah (God). There are earthquakes and the sea is raging. The Pacific Ocean is now angry and is raging and tossing up great waves as never before.”

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Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, affectionately called by family and close friends as “B.J.,” was a quintessential embodiment of a woman of God. She was as stern as she was beautiful, her heart full of love for the Believers, in particular for the women of the Nation of Islam. While her tenure as National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain of the Nation of Islam was and is legendary, her impact in farming and agriculture was and is just as impactful.

Always willing and eager to assist her father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, in his mission as the National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Sister Betsy Jean began studying agriculture and farming.

She learned from Will Allen, of Growing Power, and was trained in his Sustainable Food Training Program where she became deeply engaged in the science of healthy soil and organic food production. Mr. Allen, a retired professional basketball player turned urban farmer, was very instrumental in that effort.

He told The Final Call that he met Sister Betsy Jean after Minister Farrakhan visited Growing Power for a tour, and later, Mr. Allen hosted she and her husband Brother Maurice, in a five-month training program. They learned how to grow produce and raise red worms to get the worm castings as fertilization for the Michigan Farm. Mr. Allen also worked with Sister Betsy Jean in her desire to construct hoop houses. “And they started growing inside, and all their bedding plants, and then her worm farm started expanding, and I was very proud of them that they followed through on it,” said Mr. Allen.

“I think it’s been a great example of her being able to demonstrate how you can do it, especially with people from the Nation coming up there and seeing what she’s doing. I think that is what has inspired a lot of people to want to grow in their backyards or side yards or do a community farm. So, I think she’s been very instrumental in moving some of the work that I’ve been doing many, many years forward. I think I’m just shocked that we’ve lost her. That was a shock to me …,” said Mr. Allen.

With her new training, Sister Betsy Jean set out to teach others. In July 2015 she organized and helped host the first Michigan Farm Agricultural Workshop at The Farm. For the past several years she also helped bring the Michigan Farm Farmers Market into fruition where fresh, healthy and organic produce is made available for sisters and brothers in the Central Region of the Nation of Islam to travel to and and support the farmers market.

Those who labored alongside Sister Betsy Jean at The Farm shared the impact and influence she had on them as they witnessed her commitment and dedication to growing healthy food and training others to do the same.

Brother Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad is manager of Muhammad Farms in Georgia, a Student Minister of Agriculture for the Nation of Islam, and a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group. Though she was a city girl, she turned herself into a farm girl, and has led the sisters and other believers into doing their own gardening, and some into farming, he noted.

He recalled meeting her in 2002, when Minister Farrakhan invited him and his wife, Sister Ann, to his home at the Michigan Farm to spend time with the family. Sister Betsy Jean was present. “I didn’t really know at that time how much of a farmer that she would become,” said Brother Dr. Ridgely.

“So, she could have been a beauty queen, and she was a beauty and a queen all the way to the end,” said Brother Dr. Ridgely. She gave inspiration to the Nation to get back into farming, “so I say All Praise is due to Allah for Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan!” he added.

Some members of her team, whom she considered family, reflected on her life and journey, including awards she received for her relentless sacrifice and work. That includes receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2026 Saviours’ Day Awards Banquet.

Sister Mele Muhammad, who began assisting Sister Betsy Jean with with the growing of produce at the Michigan Farm in 2017, described her as an exceptional sister, friend, teacher—strict and highly knowledgeable, while also loving, motherly, and deeply appreciative of the workers.

“That’s what makes everything be successful. She is very on top of what she wants, how she wants it, all the way down to the science of why. We always knew and were able to explain in depth and in detail why she does things the way she does,” said Sister Mele.

Sister Betsy Jean was a wonderful teacher and student, an in-depth researcher who asked questions, she continued. “She’ll look at from the front, from the back, from the side to side, because her goal is to never, and she said this a lot, never let her father down. That was her ultimate goal. Yes, the farmers market, but it was to always to please the Minister. She put that in us day after day: ‘Do not let my father down. I cannot let my father down. This needs to be pleasing to the Minister,’” she stated.

That spirit carried into every effort, according to Sister Mele, from beautifying the area to handling the vegetation. “The spirit we have when we’re handling the vegetation, she always talked about how that’ll go into the food and the taste,” she said.

Sister Mele feels that Sister Betsy Jean’s legacy must and will go on, by Allah’s Grace, Mercy and Will, “and that in her name, we will be able to perpetuate everything that she’s built and continue to provide healthy produce for the believers and just make it better and better each year.”

Sister Shahidah Muhammad, a homesteader with her husband, Brother Student Minister Shahid Muhammad, of Mosque Maryam in Chicago, shared that growing food is one of the many lessons she learned from Sister Betsy Jean.

“I learned from her the importance of tilling the soil, working the land, and it was really more than just the food. It was a spiritual journey that I had with her about working and becoming one with Allah,” she stated, adding, “because when you’re tilling the soil and you’re planting the seed, you’re literally creating life that you will take in, ingest, and it will sustain your own life.”

Sister Shahidah said that she also learned in those many moments together with Sister Betsy Jean in the garden, about the Black women that they were literally cultivating the soil, but also talking about the cultivation of women and what is necessary to nourish the land, the soil, in order to produce the proper food.

“Sister Betsy Jean was a protector and a defender of women, and in those many years that we would go through with the cultivation of the land, and I saw how she took nothing—land that was not useful—and made it useful. She literally created soil! So, I learned so much about Black women and how to cultivate myself under her as a woman learning how to till the land. I will never ever, ever be grateful enough for that,” said Sister Shahidah.

Sister Melody Muhammad met Sister Betsy Jean through the Community Urban Agriculture Certification course led by Mr. Allen in Milwaukee. Their relationship developed through shared physical work, fireside conversations, humor, and a common passion for agriculture, she told The Final Call.

Sister Melody said that Sister Betsy Jean was a hands-on example who duplicated Mr. Allen’s program at The Michigan Farm. “She’s not with us physically, but she’s with us in spirit. … She’s a mentor to me,” said Sister Melody, who brought what she learned at Mr. Allen’s farm and under Sister Betsy Jean’s tutelage to Chester, Pennsylvania.

“I’m just so blessed that I’ve got a chance to know her on a personal level because I know that doesn’t happen for everybody. She was so down to earth and she was so funny,” she added.

Sister Angelita Muhammad, an urban farmer, who has been growing quick crops year-round for retail at local farmers markets for the last eight years, met Sister Betsy Jean in 2014 during agriculture training at Mr. Allen’s Growing Power.

“The farm would serve the 50-plus participants dinner in their warehouse and amidst all the eating, cocktail chatter and movement, in walks this tall, imposing figure that immediately caught my attention. When I realized it was my sister, I excitedly approached her with the greetings and introduced myself. We had the best conversation about composting, of all things,” Sis. Angelita recalled.

“We were like two schools girls giddy about our love of composting. The conversation, although brief, was full of excitement and laughter. I had no idea, at the time, the impact she would have on me and our Nation, being a true vanguard as a Black, Muslim farmer. I am so grateful to have shared time and space with her. May Allah continue to reward her and us for the best of what she accomplished in this life.”

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In the U.S., the summer of 2026 through today has been marked by active wildfires, thunderstorms, and a string of coastal and seismic events. These events will become more frequent, and as the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, warned, “the worst is yet to come.” His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has constantly warned to “watch the weather.” For decades, both Divine Servants and Warners taught their followers to prepare for these pending calamities.

September is National Preparedness Month and was established in 2004 by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to encourage individuals, their families, neighborhoods and communities to prepare for natural and man-made weather-related and other disasters and emergencies.

Weather and warning

Southern California felt the effects of Tropical Storm Marie over Labor Day weekend in early September, even though the storm itself never made landfall, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Its Los Angeles/Oxnard office reported a significant southerly swell producing hazardous surf conditions – reaching up to 5- 15 feet high on some beaches and life-threatening rip currents along the coast- alongside increasing heat and humidity causing moderate to major impacts focused on the coasts and valleys.

In Malibu, a beachfront driveway on Sea Level Drive collapsed on September 8, forming a sinkhole roughly 25–30 feet deep and 30 by 60 feet wide, and rupturing a natural gas line, prompting the proclamation of a local emergency the same day. City building inspectors ultimately red-tagged seven properties for direct structural damage from the collapse and red-tagged an additional 24 homes because the destroyed roadway cut off emergency vehicle access. The 31 properties were placed under an evacuation order, according to an official statement and Emergency Proclamation, Sept. 8–9.

Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad is the National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and a son of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he recently spoke on these extreme weather events and what they signify.

“I wish we could tell you that it’s going to go away soon. It’s not. It’s not. The only way that God will stay His hand is if America does a miraculous thing,” he said, in part 4 of his message, “Accept Your Own And Be Yourself,” delivered September 16, 2026 at Mosque Maryam in Chicago. He referenced the Bible and the book of Jonah 3:6 and the King of Nineveh and the people humbling themselves before God to repent. Nineveh was a great and powerful nation, and God sent the prophet Jonah to warn them of their wickedness before His Judgment.

“He came out in sackcloth and ashes, and repented, and asked God, but it was from the king all the way down to the little man, and the whole city went out in sackcloth and ashes, and that stayed the hand of God,” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad explained.

“What if we just did that in a city? … Pray to your God. But the whole point is, see, unless we repent, unless we ask God for forgiveness, then things are not going to get better. But America? America is under divine judgment. That’s the point I’m making: the weather is going continue to intensify, and Minister Farrakhan has told us for years. What does he say?” he asked the audience.

“Watch the weather!” some replied. He repeated, “What did he say?” “Watch the weather,” they replied. “Okay. Well, these rains and these storms are only going to intensify,” added Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad.

The damage from Hurricane Marie sustained in Dana Point, located in Orange County, California, impacted the area’s Beach Road/Capistrano Bay community beginning August 28. When a residential deck was destroyed by coastal erosion undermining a home’s foundation. Inspectors inspected it and red-tagged it the same night.

“It is a war zone down here,” Chris Rogers told ABC 7. Their back deck is gone, and their kitchen now opens up to the ocean, she reported during a tour of their property.

The City’s Director of Emergency Services issued a formal Proclamation of the Existence of a Local Emergency for the Capistrano Bay Community Services District on September 9.

In Long Beach, waves generated by the remnants of Hurricane Marie battered the Peninsula neighborhood for several consecutive days beginning around September 6. The Long Beach Fire Department issued mandatory evacuation orders for approximately 20 homes in the Seaside Walk community, between 63rd and 67th Place, after waves compromised a seawall and damaged the boardwalk.

Earthquakes near Compton and nationwide wildfires

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck on September 6 about 2.5 miles Southeast of Compton, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This followed a similar-magnitude earthquake near Ontario, in neighboring San Bernardino County, on September 2. On September 17, USGS recorded a second magnitude 3.1 earthquake at the identical location.

Nationwide, wildfire activity remained severe through late summer. As of August 31, approximately 8.2 million acres had burned across the country and the National Preparedness Level stayed at Level 5, the highest possible, throughout August, with active-duty military and international crews from Australia and New Zealand brought in to help with firefighting resources, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

By early September, the national preparedness level had eased to Level 3, though 56 large fires remained uncontained nationwide as of September 17, with 86 new fires reported in a single day and more than 12,000 personnel assigned to incidents, USGS reported.

Texas became one of the season’s most active states in late August, when the Ross Fire ignited August 24 near Fort Worth and grew to roughly 80,000 acres, prompting the evacuation of about 630 homes overnight, according to Governor Greg Abbott’s office.

Preparedness is key

Nation of Islam Student Southwest Regional Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, an urban planner, strongly suggested that people stop procrastinating and take this lull before the next calamity to prepare to either learn what is required to shelter in place or evacuate during these natural and man-made disasters. “Your very life is at stake. The frequency, intensity, and the sudden unfolding of these events should heighten our awareness and efforts toward preparedness,” he said.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council and National Student Auditing Coordinator, said the pattern of disasters striking unfamiliar regions demands a mindset shift. “It doesn’t matter where we live anymore,” she said. “We used to expect tornadoes in certain parts of the country and hurricanes in others … but at any moment, at any time, it could strike any one of us.”

She described residents of her own town walking around “in a trance” after an EF-1 tornado, unable to believe their community could be hit—and she pointed to Minister Farrakhan’s longstanding instruction to “watch the weather” as guidance too many still dismiss until disaster forces the point home.

“Although we have been talking about and encouraging and pushing and warning others to pay attention to the Divine Warner, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, some of us, as they used to say in the South: ‘don’t believe that fat meat is greasy,’ until we are faced with it, unfortunately. Now we don’t have to really try to convince too many because they see it for themselves. There are still those of us who don’t get it until we feel it, and unfortunately we will have to feel (it) hard! Hopefully we can live beyond that to make sound decisions going forward,” she told The Final Call.

In practical terms, Sis. A’ishah Muhammad explained that it is better to have the items and supplies needed to prepare ourselves and our families than to have nothing.

“It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it,” she said, describing how households in flood-prone areas should keep a small boat, raft, or canoe with paddles, wading boots, and life vests on hand.

She stressed neighborhood-level readiness—meeting neighbors, discussing what has worked and what has not, and arranging walkable backup shelter agreements—alongside power redundancy. Power redundancy, she explained, means that generators need backups of their own, and even a sump pump’s battery should be swapped every three years, since a working indicator light doesn’t guarantee full power.

She recalled Indiana residents stranded at gas stations during outages, one paying “two dollars and some change” just to beat someone else to the last portion of the fuel.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad also flagged less obvious preparedness gaps, such as safely managing dry ice used to preserve food during extended outages and planning for basic sanitation if toilets stop working.

The Nation of Islam has made online videos available that cover several practical preparedness areas to help individuals protect themselves and their families while sheltering in place as severe weather becomes more frequent.

Panelists discussed situational awareness, cybersecurity, how to respond in a medical emergency, how to secure one’s home, being security-minded, protecting self and family while building alliances in the community, how to secure, organize, and occupy children while sheltering in place, what to do to prepare for an emergency evacuation, handling stress, and other tips.

The videos are available to view on media.noi.org or watch.noi.org under the titles: “The Days of Trouble: Are We Prepared?” and on The Nation of Islam official Facebook Page.

The post Are you and your family prepared? appeared first on Final Call News.

By far the largest outbreak this year involves Cyclospora-contaminated iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico and reportedly supplied by Taylor Farms. Cyclospora is a parasite that can cause cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness. The lettuce made its way into thousands of Taco Bell locations before the link was identified. As of the FDA’s August 27 update, lab results had confirmed 11,458 illnesses across 20 states directly traced to the recalled lettuce, with 495 hospitalizations and two deaths in Michigan.

For decades, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, taught the importance of Black people growing their own foods amid dangers associated with depending and relying on food grown, regulated and sold by the government or by unreliable sources.

Minister Farrakhan in a 2010 interview with The Final Call under the headline, “Why We Must Produce Food and Control Our Food Sources,” attributed problems on the food horizon to “our food growth is in the hands of those whom we call the Merchants of Death.”

“They’re not caring about how food is raised or how to protect the earth and its nurturing qualities,” he said. “Pesticides and chemicals are being used; hormones are used to grow livestock at faster rates and chemicals are used for the growth of vegetation.”

Minister Farrakhan continued: “It may look good, but in the end, the product is toxic. This is why so many diseases are afflicting us. So, we’re learning how to eat to live, what foods to choose, but now we must be willing to go to the earth and produce that food so that we can extend our days.”

Brother Dr. Ridgely Mu’min Muhammad, manager of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Farms in Georgia, emphasized that the more fundamental problem is how far modern food travels before it reaches a plate.

“It’s no telling where that food comes from, and how many times it’s been handled by either humans or equipment,” he said, describing a food system built on long chains of growers, processors, distributors, and retailers rather than direct, local sourcing.

In addition to attributing recall risks to globalized food production, extensive handling, weak inspection, and unsafe agricultural practices, including manure runoff entering irrigation systems, Bro. Dr. Ridgely Muhammad contrasted modern food systems with local gardening, washing, cooking, and same-day consumption.

“People are so used to being able to go and get any type of produce or any type of anything to eat any time they want it. They don’t realize what the possibilities of error are,” he said.

He recalled a time when people grew, washed, and cooked their own food. Agriculture itself began as an alternative to hunting, fishing, and gathering, he said. Instead of foraging for what nature provided, people started saving seeds from the crops they wanted, planting them near their homes or villages, and then simply going out to gather what they needed each day.

“As a matter of fact, when we went to Cuba in 2006, every vacant lot in Havana, there was a garden, raised bed garden,” said Bro. Dr. Ridgely Muhammad, who was among a delegation from the Nation of Islam with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on a trip to Cuba. Without refrigeration, he said, residents simply “go out to the garden in the area, and they would go to the stand and buy what they wanted for that day”—fresh food obtained daily rather than stored and shipped.

Unfortunately, most people have stepped back from growing or preparing their own food entirely, he stated. “We don’t want to cook anymore, so we allow somebody else not only to grow the food, but to mix the food up and to prepare the food and to cook the food. We don’t have any idea where the food comes from nor how it was handled,” Bro. Dr. Ridgely Muhammad said.

Further, he pointed to thinning government oversight as compounding food recall risks. “When government cuts down on the inspectors for inspecting the food system, and you have people who cheat, trying to compete, you left yourself open for such incidents as Salmonella and these other incidents.”

Food-safety advocacy groups have expressed similar concerns, pointing to reduced federal inspection and surveillance staffing as a factor in how outbreaks have unfolded.

“Consumers deserve recall notices that are clear, specific, and actionable,” said former USDA official Sandra Eskin, now CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness.

When done correctly, she told The Final Call, recall messages clearly state what the issue is, what products are affected, and exactly what to do next. “When that information is shared quickly and clearly, it not only reduces public health risks, but it also helps consumers feel more confident that the food industry is taking their safety seriously,” she continued.

The case count crept upward for weeks even after Taylor Farms voluntarily pulled their product on July 17, a delay FDA attributes to the up-to-six-week lag required to confirm whether a sick person belongs to a given outbreak. The FDA has since conducted onsite inspections at Mexican growing and processing facilities and says it is confident the implicated lettuce is off the market, though the investigation remains open.

Taylor Farms has said it voluntarily suspended all iceberg lettuce sourcing and production from central Mexico and commissioned an independent review of food safety protocols at the implicated facility. “We are confident in our food and food safety systems and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes available,” read a company statement online.

According to CDC data cited by U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) Education Fund, a consumer advocacy organization, regulators tracked at least seven cyclospora outbreaks this summer—the Taylor Farms lettuce outbreak plus six unidentified sources—totaling more than 18,445 illnesses and 990 hospitalizations across 47 states as of August 31, with more suspected cases pending. The lettuce outbreak alone ranks as the third-largest foodborne outbreak in U.S. history.

The report also noted that separately, a Salmonella Javiana outbreak traced to Sinaloa-grown jalapeños (distributed by Coast Citrus) sickened 431 people in more than 30 states, hospitalizing 57. A limited late-July recall snowballed into recalls by Whole Foods, Taylor Fresh Foods (the legal and corporate name of Taylor Fresh Farms), NatureBest, Salata, and 18 USDA-flagged meat/poultry products. PIRG notes Chipotle switched suppliers July 20, but USDA didn’t warn the public until August 8, a gap it says allowed preventable illnesses.

The report also notes that a smaller outbreak involves organic frozen blueberries from Chile’s Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur, linked to GreenWise (Publix) and, since September 2, Great Value (Walmart) berries in 16 states—17 illnesses, six hospitalizations, no deaths, as of September 3.

The FDA’s remote review of Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur’s Chilean facility raised enough concerns that it added the company to Import Alert 99-35, allowing future blueberry shipments to be detained at the border unless the issues are resolved.

The FDA also reported on its website that a Listeria outbreak tied to Clover Hill Dairy’s cheese has ended. CDC closed the case in August after tracing 15 illnesses back to March 2023; 14 were hospitalized and one died. The cheese was resold under multiple names—La Colonia, Selectos Latinos, Kesso—making it hard for consumers to track.

The FDA’s response has leaned on import alerts and root-cause facility inspections, like the Chilean assessment and on-site visits to Mexican lettuce growers. Critics say it’s still too slow: the 2022 Food Traceability Rule, meant to speed recordkeeping for high-risk foods, was delayed from January 2026 to July 2028. PIRG says 2025 data show faster tracing could have curbed dozens of downstream recalls.

PIRG also cites a 2025 GAO report on fragmented federal food safety oversight, plus 2025 data showing many outbreaks lack identified sources, recalls, or allergen compliance.

Separately, food safety veterans including Ms. Eskin, weighed in on whether recalls are increasing or is detection just improving?

“Food companies initiate recalls for a number of reasons—contamination with bacteria and other pathogens (or the likelihood of such contamination), unlabeled allergens, and foreign objects (e.g. plastic or metal fragments). Stop Foodborne Illness focuses on reducing pathogenic contamination so we do not focus on the number of recalls, but instead the number of people who have gotten sick from them,” she told The Final Call.

In terms of what regulatory gaps still need closing, she said the prior administration proposed stricter standards for Salmonella contamination in poultry, but the current administration withdrew that proposal.

“It would protect public health,” she said.

According to Ms. Eskin, the major gap in the FDA’s regulatory oversight is the delay in making the traceability rule enforceable. The Food Traceability Rule requires persons who manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods on the Food Traceability List (FTL) to maintain certain records and make records available to FDA, she explained.

Currently, the lag time between when illness starts and when a recall is issued is generally three to four weeks, but it can stretch to six weeks or longer depending on the pathogen, she emphasized.

Beyond the four major outbreaks above, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a string of smaller, unrelated recalls in recent weeks, including Shanghai Ravioli’s uninspected Buffalo chicken items, Indus Foods’ uninspected pickled goat/chicken, Corte Argentino’s beef lacking import reinspection, and Ukrop’s baked dishes contaminated with metal slivers, per FSIS’s active alerts page.

None of these five are connected to the jalapeño, blueberry, lettuce, or cheese outbreaks detailed above; they reflect the routine, ongoing pace of recall activity FSIS handles independent of any single outbreak investigation.

The reason, Minister Farrakhan said during his interview, is “that we are interested in food and the raising of food and how—and the correct foods to eat—is because that is the only way we can prolong human life and that is the gift of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad from Allah to teach us what foods to eat and what foods to store in our houses.”

He continued: “If we go to the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, all economies are based on land and what the land produces.”

“If we now have no earth that we can call our own, then our food consumption is based on what others raise and how others raise that food. So we’re at the mercy of others because we don’t have earth that would give us sustainable agricultural growth and progress,” Minister Farrakhan said.

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us an example. When he was here in the 1960s, we went to Georgia and purchased 5,000 acres of land. We went to Alabama and purchased another 8,000 or 10,000 acres of land. We went to Honduras and bought another 20,000 acres of land and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad had an ad in our paper at that time, Muhammad Speaks, that said we wanted to lease one million acres of land. Why? Because we wanted to produce a sustainable agricultural program that would give us health, maintain our health and sustain us in a proper way.”

The post Is America’s food supply in jeopardy? appeared first on Final Call News.

It starts with one sweeping new federal law, according to national research, healthcare advocates and professionals, including Lawanda Muhammad, a licensed Medicare and Medicaid advisor.

She works with seniors every day in California—one of the states where these changes are already playing out, and a useful window into what’s unfolding across the country.

In July 2025, the U.S. Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). It cuts hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years from Medicaid—called Medicaid in most states—but known as Medi-Cal in California, MassHealth in Massachusetts, and by other names elsewhere.

The good news is that seniors 65 and older are not affected by the new “work requirement” rule at all. They don’t have to prove they’re working to keep their coverage. That part of the law targets younger adults, ages 19–64.

The real issue for seniors isn’t a work rule—it’s paperwork, mail, and a shrinking safety net underneath the paperwork.

According to KFF, Black people in America are most affected. Roughly 21% of Medicaid enrollees are Black, compared to about 13% of the overall population. Roughly 73.9 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid nationwide, according to KFF’s most recent tracker.

If Black people make up about 18% of that group, that’s roughly 13 million Black people in America on Medicaid—out of an estimated 44–45 million Black Americans in the country overall, per Census Bureau population figures. In other words, nearly 1 in 3 nationally relies on Medicaid, a far higher share than the population as a whole.

For seniors specifically, Black and Latino elders are more likely to be dual-eligible—enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.  If a state tightens Medicaid rules and someone loses their Medicare Savings Program help, it’s disproportionately Black and Latino seniors who feel that loss first, since more of them rely on that help to begin with, advocates point out.

Every year, the standard Medicare Part B premium (what pays for doctor visits) gets adjusted nationwide. In 2026, it’s $202.90 a month, the same amount for seniors in every state, and it’s projected to rise to around $209.50 in 2027. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), however, won’t confirm the official rate until this fall.

What makes it feel connected is that many low-income seniors do not normally pay that $202.90 out of pocket, noted Ms. Muhammad. Medicaid pays it for them, through something called a Medicare Savings Program, but if they miss their paperwork or deadline for recertification, they lose benefits.

“They’re already on a budget … they look up, and now they’re missing $202.90 out of their check. That’s a big deal,” said Ms. Muhammad. Nearly all of the real damage comes down to seniors missing something in the mail, she continued, and recommended they watch for these three things in their mailbox:

1. Renewal forms. Starting in 2027, some Medicaid recipients nationwide will need to renew their eligibility every six months instead of once a year. Missing the deadline stops coverage—even for someone who still qualifies. “If they don’t respond in the cutoff time, they lose their [coverage],” said Ms. Muhammad, describing what she sees among her California clients.

2. A notice about SSI/SSP-linked Medicaid changing. Some seniors who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) get an extra state check on top of it—in California, called the State Supplementary Payment (SSP); other states have similar supplemental programs under different names.

Ms. Muhammad said some of her California clients are now getting letters saying that extra payment—often a few hundred dollars—is going away, and they’re being moved to a different Medicaid program. This doesn’t necessarily mean losing Medicaid entirely, but it can mean losing the automatic help that was paying a senior’s Medicare Part B premiums, she explained.

3. A letter about bank accounts. Separately, some states are reviving “asset tests” through their own state budget decisions—not the federal law. California brought back an asset test starting January 1, 2026, with a limit of $130,000 in countable assets for an individual, according to the state’s 2025–26 budget act.

Other states have their own limits, or none at all, depending on local budget choices. Illinois, by contrast, has kept a stable $17,500 asset limit in place since 2023—one of the more generous in the country, with no similar disruption for seniors there, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Other large states have kept their own versions: Florida sets a $5,000 limit for aged/disabled Medicaid ($2,000 for nursing home care specifically); and Texas and Georgia generally hold to the federal minimum of $2,000.

This is a state-by-state budget decision, separate from the federal law, but it’s a reminder that Medicaid rules—and how much they can change year to year—vary significantly depending on where someone lives.

Justice in Aging, a national legal advocacy organization focused on senior poverty, has been one of the most vocal critics of how these changes are being implemented.

In comments submitted to federal regulators in July, the organization stated that the new rules take “a more restrictive standard than the statute for determining when an individual should be exempt from work requirements due to health or disability … .”

The group warned, this approach is “especially harmful for older adults, many of whom leave the workforce because of health or functional challenges.”

Justice in Aging has also pushed back on the caregiver exemption specifically, noting the rule “narrows the exemption for caregivers, which will leave out caregivers such as neighbors, friends, and chosen family who provide essential support to older adults.”

More broadly, it warns that the danger isn’t the underlying rule so much as the process around it.  Work requirements create administrative barriers that will lead to improper terminations and disrupted access to crucial healthcare, the group argues.

Further, older adults, people with disabilities and chronic health conditions, and family caregivers face heightened risk of losing Medicaid coverage because these administrative hurdles, reporting requirements, and narrow exemption processes can improperly terminate people, even when they still qualify, continued Justice in Aging.

The organization has also connected the dots to long-term care specifically, reporting that the work requirements could worsen staffing shortages at nursing homes, indirectly affecting residents who aren’t subject to the rule at all.

Ms. Muhammad emphasized, “Pay attention to the mail that’s coming in from the state … there’s a lot of changes.” If a letter looks confusing, she recommends calling the number on it, or call a trusted Medicare/Medicaid advisor, and ask “Do I still have Medicaid? And is it still paying my Part B premium?”

The post Understanding healthcare changes for seniors appeared first on Final Call News.

Included in the records is the “Harding Memo,” the so-called “68 boxes” of documents that surfaced in 2025, after previously not being made available or public, despite Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to New York City and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which previously denied the existence of any such September 11-related records. 

Mayor Mamdani’s FY27 budget includes $34 million to create and maintain the NYC 9/11 Document Portal. “The very least our city owes the families, survivors and first responders whose lives were forever changed by the September 11th attacks is transparency and accountability.

That is why I am proud that our administration has launched the City’s first public records portal dedicated to the environmental and health impacts of 9/11 and reached a settlement in these lawsuits,” said Mayor Mamdani in a press statement. 

“For too long, New Yorkers have had to fight for access to records that should have been available to them in the first place. This portal is part of our administration’s enduring commitment to honor those we lost, care for those living with lasting health consequences and give thousands of New Yorkers the answer they’ve been asking for,” he said.

The move comes after years of pressure from first responders, families of victims, and elected officials for transparency about what city leaders knew about health risks from the toxic dust and debris, and it also resolves a long-running legal fight with the group 9/11 Health Watch over access to these records.

The portal launched September 8, and the city says it will keep adding records to it over the next year as the Law Department finishes reviewing them.

Mayor Mamdani’s administration also plans to help residents connect with federal health benefits under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, passed in 2020. It provides medical monitoring, treatment, and financial compensation to first responders, recovery workers and survivors of 9/11.

“My initial thoughts are that he has pure intentions to be the mayor for all of New York City, but the toxic smoke is not only in what was once the (Twin) Towers. The toxic smoke is in the anti-Islamic sentiment that is in the city,” stated Nation of Islam Student Eastern Regional Minister Arthur Muhammad of Mosque No. 7 in New York.

“So, there is a physical toxic smoke and a figurative toxic smoke, and therefore the pushback that he’s getting from former mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, the pushback that he’s getting from some of the families who have their own ‘isms’ about Muslims,

Or even if they believe that Muslims had something to do with the attack, that somehow Mayor Mamdani’s presence would distract from the solemnness of the occasion,” he argued.

Within weeks of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York, there was reportedly information about asbestos and poor air quality, which was known or at least available through several NYC mayoral administrations: Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio, and Eric Adams. But it was Mayor Mamdani who released the data.

Yet, ironically, as the 25th anniversary approached, it is Mayor Mamdani, not the officials whose administrations reportedly withheld those records for decades, who faced calls to stay away from the memorial ceremony.

9/11 Health Watch Executive Director Benjamin Chevat credited Mayor Mamdani as the first mayor in 25 years to begin answering what the city knew about Ground Zero’s toxic cloud—and when.

He also praised Corporation Counsel Steve Banks for pushing the Law Department to settle 9/11 Health Watch’s lawsuit and comply with state public records law, resulting in the records release on 9/11 air quality, risk assessments, and public messaging.

According to reporting by U.S. News and World Report, “Representatives for more than 9,000 people who died after 9/11 have filed claims with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, and more than 6,000 of those have received compensation so far.” The collapse of the Twin Towers created toxic dust clouds containing a mix of asbestos, metals, concrete, glass and burned jet fuel.

While first responders and rescue workers at Ground Zero experienced the most intense exposure, the hazardous plumes extended across lower Manhattan and into Brooklyn, infiltrating offices, schools and apartment buildings, the outlet reported.

“For 25 years, four different Mayoral administrations kept from the public, the U.S. Congress, and the City Council documents showing what the City actually knew about the danger of the toxic chemicals in Lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn after the World Trade Center collapse, even as City officials continued messaging to the public that the air was ‘safe and acceptable,’” said Mr. Chevat in a Sep. 9 press statement.

According to the local ABC news affiliate, ABC7NY, “City officials said records already reviewed by the Mamdani administration show government leaders understood the dangers posed by burning toxins at Ground Zero. Documents from 2001 indicate officials worried about potential lawsuits related to chemical exposure, even as the city continued to tell the public conditions were safe.”

Corporation Counsel Steven Banks said the portal was a direct response to years of advocates asking for access, and U.S. Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) noted that City Hall had internally predicted responders and nearby residents would face serious long-term health consequences.

“Giuliani’s intentional obfuscation of the truth is a slap in the face to the heroes and community members who were exposed at Ground Zero and in schools, offices, and homes throughout the surrounding area.

By hiding the truth, he prolonged our fight in Congress for funding to take care of victims’ health needs, and cost the lives of other victims through unnecessary delays in healthcare interventions,” said Rep. Nadler.

“While the damage to victims’ health cannot be erased, I am grateful to the Mamdani administration for releasing these files so victims and their loved ones can have the transparency they deserve and officials who misled the public can be held accountable,” he added.

New names continue to be added to the memorial every year, said Student Minister Muhammad, because responders and others have developed cancers, including myelomas, years after the attacks. In addition, some people who responded have died from unknown or untraceable cancer, he said.

On Sept. 2, FDNY added the names of 36 members who died of illnesses related to their work in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center to the FDNY World Trade Center Memorial Wall.

“There’ll be some people that didn’t think that they were affected, and that will now begin to be more concerned. So, we’ll definitely see more talk and chatter about that,” said Student Min. Muhammad. 

“I don’t know if it’s going to open up more lawsuits, but it definitely is going to enlighten people as to the toxic nature that still exists, not only that existed, but that still exists in that area,” he said.

At the news conference announcing the release of the documents, Mayor Mamdani agreed that many people exposed to Ground Zero dust and debris were misled about the risks they faced.

“The leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mayor Mamdani said.

To access the 9/11 NYC Document Portal, visit: sept11documents.cityofnewyork.us

—Charlene Muhammad, National Correspondent

The post Misled for 25 years? 9/11 air quality, environmental reports raise questions about government accountability appeared first on Final Call News.

“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.

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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.

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