Services were held at Hosanna Family Worship Center in Pope, Mississippi, 30 miles outside of town where the son of Vel’lesiya Wiley and Daveon Williams Jr. was shot inside a car, in the parking lot of Walmart for an alleged shoplifting incident. (See The Final Call Vol. 45 No. 38)

“We still don’t know how many officers were out there, how many shots were fired and where they were standing when they pulled that trigger,” said Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, at a June 22 press conference calling for justice and transparency, a week after Kohen was killed.

As of Final Call press time, the officer is still unnamed but has reportedly been placed on administrative leave.

Many attendees wore blue in tribute to Kohen, representing his favorite TV character, “Bluey.” Nestled inside the casket, a little stuffed version of Bluey lay next to his body, a piercing reminder of a life lost at such a young age.

Student Coordinator Abdul Shahid Muhammad of the Nation of Islam’s Holly Springs Study Group, Student Minister Demetric Muhammad and Student Protocol Coordinator Bridge Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 Whitehaven Study Group, and Student Secretary Asika Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 also traveled to the funeral services along with F.O.I and M.G.T. and G.C.C. (men and women of the Nation of Islam) from Holly Springs and Memphis.

At the family’s request, the services were closed to media cameras, as major news outlets camped out in the sweltering 90-degree Mississippi heat outside the church.

During the funeral, Memphis-based Attorney Van Turner of Turner Feild PLLC, who is also working on the case, sent greetings on behalf Atty. Crump, who was unable to attend, but returned for a press conference held July 1 to announce the findings of an independent autopsy.

In his brief remarks, Atty. Turner, who is also a civil rights advocate and former Shelby County Tennessee Commissioner, emphasized that there was nothing in Walmart of such value, “no matter how expensive,” that is “worth the precious life of Kohen,” and vowed to continue to fight for justice and transparency.

Author, publisher and community activist Richart Taylor shared with The Final Call that it was “the way that the community showed their displeasure, their righteous indignation about the murder of a 1-year-old baby,” that compelled him to travel close to 800 miles from Goldsboro, North Carolina, to attend the funeral in support of the family and the call for justice.

As tensions continue to simmer beneath the surface, there have been several protests, vigils and heated town council meetings since the shooting. Retail giant Walmart, where the shooting took place and has been the site of at least two protests, has closed several times. Heavy law enforcement presence during one of the closures fired tear-gas on the protesters.

According to Atty. Crump’s subsequent July 1 press conference at the Senatobia Church of Christ, which was carried live by multiple media outlets, the independent autopsy seems to contradict the Sheriff’s Office report which stated that the officer “fired at an oncoming vehicle.”

According to the forensic pathologist’s report, “the entrance gunshot wound is located on the right side of the chest and the exit on the left side.” The report went on to describe additional characteristics that defined the entry and exit points, concluding that “this is also consistent with the gunshot wound on the body when shot through a side window as an intermediary target.”

“You can’t get that shot from the front. Why would you shoot into a vehicle from the side when you’re clearly not in harm’s way?” questioned Atty. Crump.

The family still has not seen the video footage and in a June 16 press conference in Senatobia, Commissioner Sean Tindell of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety indicated that nothing would be released until the official investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has been completed, which could take months.

Patrick “Lumumba” Alexander, of the Black Liberation Movement, one of the primary voices making the clarion call that brought the initial attention to the case, shared his sentiments with The Final Call at Kohen Wiley’s funeral, addressing what he sees as “reaching the boiling point.”

“It’s gonna take the manhood in our communities. It’s gonna take the unifying of our community, to deal with this systemic racism that we’ve been dealing with. It has come to a head where it has come to claim one of our babies. So, it’s our responsibility, our innate responsibility, as Black people to gain the moral character, to be able to stand up for our own humanity.

“So, we there, we there, we at that point. It (has) got to end and Kohen is our Emmett Till moment. The universe has allowed us to come back to this point. And we (are) having our own Emmett Till moment,” he concluded.

Others agreed.

“This has to be turned into actionable items,” Student Coordinator Abdul Shahid Muhammad said. “What Black America and Black Mississippi, at this point, has been feeling and experiencing has to be transferred into something that’s concrete to change the harsh realities under which we live. It’s okay to come together and to acknowledge what we’ve acknowledged today. That’s what we do,” he continued.

“I am reminded of the fact that this nation has always sought to keep the nationalistic elements of our people away from a messianic voice that could unify and electrify the masses of our people,” Student Coordinator Muhammad noted.

“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is the messianic message that our people need, which is the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the world. Our charge right now is to make, emphasis on the word ‘make,’ our communities a safe and decent place to live. That entails us getting up and going to work together,” he said.

The post Hundreds gather for funeral of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley appeared first on Final Call News.

Struggling beside him

The believers would bring old clothes and put it on the steps of the house. My wife would take them in and wash and iron them and my children would have clothes to wear.  We used to buy dresses at the Salvation Army and slips and things like that.

I remember going on Saturday nights to the marketplace in Boston, K Market Square, where the end of the day when the merchant didn’t sell all of his produce. They would throw them in the street. My wife and I would get our shopping bags and go down and pick up food out of the street and fill our shopping bag and come back and feed our ever-growing family.

—”Closing the Gap,” pages 351-352

Helping him to become the man that he is

I must tell you, honestly, sisters. I could never have become a man if that same man, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad didn’t teach my wife how to help me be a man. Stand up Sister Farrakhan. Would you just … I want you to come up here a minute, come right on up. 

They say behind every great man there’s a great woman. A lie.  Beside every great man and sometimes, in front of every great woman, there’s a woman. Ain’t that right Sister Muhammad? Now, thank you for standing for her because she really deserves it.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught her how to help me to  become a man.  I ain’t gonna let her say this, but she would tell you—if I wasn’t here—that I wasn’t always the man that I am today. 

She would tell you I was a mess. She might say that. But she learned how to control her mouth and how to use her mouth  wisely because a man can’t take being cut down by the woman that he loves.

… In a couple of months we will have been married 41 years, but my children have never seen their father strike their mother and they have hardly seen an argument between us. Whatever she has to say to me, she says it, but they don’t hear it. Thank God.—A Nation Can Rise No Higher than its woman, Women’s only meeting Atlanta, June 29, 1994

A blessing and gift

I think my wife has been a great blessing to me, a gift to me and my children from God. Every man should have a wife like this. My teacher, Elijah Muhammad, helped my wife in a class that allowed her to help me to become a man.

—Minister Farrakhan and Tavis Smiley: One on One, June 20, 2003

Being patient with him

I have my beautiful wife right here with me. Stand up Khadijah. I acted a fool too, but I had a beautiful wife.  I was trying to be a man.  Brother Malcolm was my teacher. I couldn’t have had a better one for my beginning, but I was trying to be a man but didn’t know how.  I saw Brother Malcolm; he was the only man that I saw in my life. He touched me very deeply and I thought in order to be a man, you got to be able to order your wife.  

I soon found out that’s not the way. You can be a soldier, but you can’t make her your private. Wait, did I say something wrong? I mean you know how they treat privates in the armed forces. My wife wasn’t made for me to order her.  My teacher was not teaching her to accept orders from a fool.  She would accept my orders if they were given with love and they were intelligent. We have been married 66 years.  

I live under a different system than the system of this world.  My wife was trained by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad to respect me as I was not yet a man but be patient with me because the enemy’s destruction of us as men has been nearly 100 percent complete.— 30th annual conference for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, June 22, 2019, in Detroit

A wife who accepts a mission

“If my wife could not accept my mission, she would have got rid of me long time ago. And if my wife just married me for money, she’d have been gone a long time ago. You do not know the pain of a woman who marries a man that has a mission because she’ll always feel thatthe mission is before her. And it is. 

And there’s no woman that can compete with a man and a mission.  God gives the mission and God gives the wife and the wife should be to help the man in the mission, not to try to compete with him.—The Man and His Mission, September 12, 1990

On the M.G.T. Training Units

In The Nation of Islam, the sisters had sewing classes; and my wife would sometimes stay up days with the machine making garments.  And I mean when they stepped out: They were a fashion model—not by the freaks of Paris and Rome, and New York.

—‘Save Our Girls’: A Nation Can Rise No Higher Than Its Woman, April 18, 2015

His love for her

I heard that Mother Khadijah is in the house. …  Where is she?  [I am told] she is two minutes away—so I have to stop when she comes in.  (Smile) She is the most wonderful friend and wife that a man could have; to hold a position that God has placed me in. 

And I couldn’t handle that without somebody by my side who helps me, and that is Mother Khadijah.—Address to The National Training Conference: ‘A Reason to Love’: Strengthen Your Ability to Protect the Life God Has Given You, July 29, 2023

I’ve been married to my wife, Mother Khadijah, for 68 long years and I knew her when she was 8 and I was 11 and this is the honest to God truth, I love this girl so much that when I became so popular as a young musician in Boston,  all the girls loved their Gene—Gene is what they called me and they loved me but I was in love with Betsy.

And so, they liked me, but when they see me, they see me with Betsy; they see me walking with Betsy;  they see us dressing alike,  walking in a way—when I said dress alike,  I didn’t put on no dress [laughs], but dressing alike.

If I had on blue, my wife would have blue slacks and a white blouse, and I would have a white shirt or whatnot and we had the same caps that I bought in Canada when I was playing up in Rockheads Paradise in Montreal.  And we were just a loving couple to be seen. Everybody wants to see love.—Interview on WVON, May 16, 2022

A friend and companion in the struggle

“I think whatever success I have in my marriage is due to the wisdom, the patience, the fortitude, the righteousness, the strength of my wife.  And her ability to see me in that role God and circumstances has cut out for me;

And to help me in that role, and to persevere with me, and to suffer with me and to grow with me.  I would never be the man that I am if Allah (God) did not give me the woman that I have to be my friend, my wife, my companion in the struggle.

—The Teachings 2.0: The Twitter Sayings of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Vol. 2
—Compiled by Contributing Writer Donna Muhammad

The post A beloved and dedicated wife and helpmeet appeared first on Final Call News.

As she reflected on the poverty surrounding her formative years and the memory of a great-grandmother who was born a slave and a grandmother and father who grew up as sharecroppers, she knew as a little girl she wanted to become a lawyer.

“Clarksdale, that was hard living, that was a hard life. Most of our people were poor, and very few were doing well, and if you go to Clarksdale now, it looks about the same.”

“Black people lived on one side of town and Whites lived on one side and a [train] track ran right through the middle. Even in my time, there was segregation. Most of our people were suffering and I thought that law was the way to best serve those people.

Allah (God) just put that in me, because I can remember always wanting to do that. I remember thinking about what school I wanted to go to, how I wanted to go to law school, but life gets challenging because we have so many trials that come upon us and law school was hard,” Sis. April recalled.

At the age of 20, she moved to Memphis, where she registered in the Nation of Islam in 1994 and eventually met her husband, Brother Cedric Muhammad, before relocating to Arkansas.

“It was the second marriage for both of us. He had two children, and I had three, and we came together, and we had three more, and so that made eight, and we raised seven of those children, for the most part, in one household, and so, of course, that keeps you busy,” she reflected.

Their marriage was both fulfilling yet challenging, as six months into their marriage Bro. Cedric fell gravely ill with heart complications.  “He never really bounced back,” Sis. April shared.

In 2021, both her husband and her mother, Virginia Davis, passed. While working through her grief, she thought of her mother’s dream that helped to refuel her own desire to become an attorney. She remembered her mother sharing with her how she had always wanted to be a nurse, but the closest she was able to get was to be a cook in the hospital cafeteria.

In 2022, at the age of 50, Sis. April decided it was time to fulfill her dream and she was accepted into a rigorous program at the University of Arkansas William H. Bowen School of Law.

For three and a half years, she made a daily two-hour round-trip commute from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Little Rock, while still juggling motherhood and mosque duties, yet she was never late for class or missed a class.

“It didn’t matter for me; I was going to achieve this goal. Because it was so hard to get in law school and law school is hard. They turn down far more people than they accept,” she said.

During her second year of school, she married Bro. Bilal Muhammad, who continued to support her in her goal, helping in any way that he could.

On December 13, Sis. April fulfilled her long-held goal when she walked across the stage as a law school graduate. During her school tenure, she made such an impact during a summer externship, upon graduation, she was offered a highly competitive federal judicial clerkship with Chief Justice Phyllis Jones of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern and Western District of Arkansas.

“I was steadfast in prayer, I asked Allah to uphold me; to protect me. I knew it was my purpose because the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan taught us how to recognize it, because everything in my being screams law. I couldn’t fail. I had to keep going. There isn’t anything we can’t accomplish if we really want it,” she told The Final Call.

Sis. April credits her mother and father, Joe Davis, and her “beloved” Cedric Muhammad for helping her get to where she is today. “Because of them, I have been able to do what I have done.”

Her daughter, Sis. Maryam Muhammad, 30, proclaimed her mother an amazing “superhero” and shared with The Final Call the impact that her mother’s journey has had on her.

“I look at her and there are no barriers. My mom is a fighter, it is amazing and inspiring. I’ve never seen her take anything and quit. It’s not what you have or don’t have, it’s not whether you are capable or not capable, it’s about do you stay disciplined, do you stay the course, do you push yourself?” said Sis. Maryam.

“She is such a force, even down to how sweet and bubbly she is. Watching her being a force is amazing. There is where I came from, so I can’t fail!” she exclaimed.

“She made it look effortless,” observed her younger sister, Sis. Lydia Muhammad, who serves as the M.G.T. Student Coordinator in the Holly Springs, Mississippi, Nation of Islam Study Group, and is married to Bro. Cedric’s brother.

“Even during family gatherings, she would cook most of the food, drive two hours to Memphis and her only caveat was that she had to be done by a certain time because she had to be back home to study.

She is not a complainer. She took everything in stride. She removed all obstacles; it was really fascinating. All I could think of was our mom and how proud she would be of April.”

“My thinking is, I am a colt and the Master has need of me. I’m not a young colt, I am an old colt, but I am a colt nonetheless and the Master has need of me, so I have to qualify myself, so when it’s time for us to separate or whatever instructions we get, I will be qualified help. So that’s my goal,” Sis. April concluded.

The post From tears to triumph Muslim mother of eight, graduates from law school appeared first on Final Call News.

Bill Lee at a press conference in Memphis, after meeting with city and federal agency officials, including Mayor Paul Young, to receive updates from the Memphis Task Force established by President Donald Trump. The task force includes the deployment of National Guard Troops.

(See The Final Call Vol. 45, No. 2) “We’ve just begun. We do know that this is going to last for months, and we have just begun. In fact, I will tell you that it will last forever,” the governor said during the live-streamed Oct. 14 press conference.

Gov. Lee acknowledged that eventually the surge or the present numbers of agents on the ground will diminish at some undetermined point, but stated, “the collaboration between the U.S. Marshall service.

The Memphis Police Department, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, is here to stay.” However, it remains unclear how many “boots” and agencies are actually on the ground.

Initial reports indicated that there would be no more than 150-200 unarmed National Guard deployed. But the first wave of troops, which arrived in early October, was seen patrolling an area near the Mississippi River waterfront wearing protective vests, military fatigues, and holstered guns.

“We said they wouldn’t be armed, and it would be mission dependent and that the decision whether our National Guard are armed or not is determined by the Task Force for what their job is on the ground,” said Gov. Lee.

“I honestly can’t speak to the detail[s] of that, but the role of the National Guard in this mission is to support the law enforcement agencies that are here. It is to provide support for the Highway Patrol.

The Memphis Police Department (M.P.D.), the U.S. Marshal services, whenever there is a presence of the National Guard, it frees the operation of a law enforcement officer with the MPD, for example, to pursue the violent criminals. They are functioning as a support operation, and it is a force multiplier for law enforcement agencies on the ground.”

The governor also shared the latest statistics reported by the Task Force: “We got updated numbers today, 850 violent criminals and known gang members have been arrested, so far, in just the two weeks that have had this operation underway, 175 illegal firearms have been confiscated; 44 missing children have been located and returned to safety.”

According to a report published by Action News 5, from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the charges included close to 300 warrant pickups, narcotics and firearm arrests, homicide, sex offenses, probation/parole violations, and 161 administrative arrests, which the DOJ defined as arrests related to immigration violations.

However, most of the interactions have been through traffic citations, over 3,900. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris accuses the task force of racial profiling and unlawful stops. He stated that Latinos are being targeted regardless of their immigration status.

“We support lawful [actions] but as you know and heard me say before, we believe that the deployment of the National Guard is unconstitutional. At the same time racial profiling is unconstitutional,” Mayor Harris told reporters.

Governor Lee appears to be encouraging other cities to adopt a similar model of military and governmental intervention, suggesting that the developments in Memphis could serve as a national precedent.

“There are a lot of cities that would only hope to have the resources that are currently available in Memphis. There are cities that could only dream of having the crime reduction that Memphis is having—that we anticipate will have—as it escalates the number of arrests, the number of violent criminals taken off the street;

What that might mean for this city and its transformation. There are a lot of cities that would hope for that transformation in their cities,” he boasted.

But do record arrests address the underlying issues that have historically led to increasing crime rates?

Memphis has a higher-than-national-average poverty rate of 20.8% and a child poverty rate of 32.7%, according to the 2023 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet. The 4.6% unemployment rate ranks higher than the national average.

And in a majority Black city, there is still a significant household income disparity with a median household income of $41,974 for Black families compared to that of a White family’s median income of $76,860 and $60,376 for Latino families.

Additionally, home ownership, generally a sign of a stable community, has dropped to 46% with over 7,000 single-family homes in Memphis purchased in a short two years by out-of-town and international investors.

However, the prevalence of absentee homeowners and a lack of interest in tenants have led to areas of blight, further worsening conditions in the city.

According to a 2020 study, the educational system in Memphis ranked 468 out of 511 comparably sized cities, with less than a quarter of the population aged 25-plus holding college degrees.

“In addition to the way we police, when we start talking about sustaining, we’ve got to talk about the things that are going to change the trajectory of the lives of the individual,” said Memphis Mayor Paul Young, indirectly alluding to the conditions facing Memphians.

“We can’t ask people to put guns down without putting something else in their hands, so this task force, if you look at the list of the agencies—it was not just FBI, DEA, ATF and those law enforcement agencies, there are also those federal agencies like HUD—so investment in housing.

“There are agencies like Health and Human Services, where we can get more investment in mental health services. The thing that prevents people from moving into a life of crime are the investments that are going to help us sustain the work that we are doing right now.

We want to get violent criminals off the street, and we want to prevent future generations from going that route and the way that we do it, we identify the areas that we can make those proactive investments to make sure that we sustain all of the gains that we have achieved during this moment.”

However, a report was not provided on the potential investments in housing or mental health services or what that may look like.

The post Tennessee governor proclaims Memphis Task Force will last ‘at long as it takes’ appeared first on Final Call News.

The task force was established at the behest of Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and calls for the inclusion of the National Guard.  

“We are going to work hand-in-hand to make the most violent crime city in the country have no crime,” stated AG Bondi, while issuing what appeared to be a veiled threat to District Attorney (D.A.) Steve Mulroy.

Who came under fire in 2024, by Republican Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor for proposing a program to provide alternative options over incarceration for non-violent felons who would be typically charged with gun possession.

“Let me be very, very clear, I am a career prosecutor. If you touch a law enforcement officer, it is a crime, and you are going to jail. We are arresting anyone who touches any of you, if you touch a federal officer, it’s going to be assault on a federal officer and we have our U.S. Attorney here.

And to all of you state and local officers, let’s see what your D.A. does, because he better prosecute crimes against you, because we have your back,” concluded the attorney general.

“We’re here to have your back, to unleash you to do your job so you come home safely. Our department is here to enable you, law enforcement, to do your job, to help protect your facilities, help protect your people, so that you, your hands can be untied to secure your city.

So, our department is proud to be here. It’s a priority for us. The Tennessee National Guard is going to be right here, having your back,” said Secretary Hegseth, representing the U.S. Department of Defense, which has been rebranded by President Trump as the Department of War, the name from the 1940s. However, Congress would need to approve the name change to make it permanent. 

This language being used by federal officials is troubling in a city that came under a Department of Justice investigation in 2023, following the brutal death of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers.

The subsequent D.O.J. report chronicled patterns of abuse of authority, encouragement of use of force, escalation of encounters during routine traffic stops by officers, violations of citizens’ rights, and more.  (See The Final Call, Vol. 44, No. 11).

“We are about to provide you with a level of support you cannot even imagine,” pledged Deputy Chief Miller. “This isn’t just a task force,”

he said, “this is an all of government, unlimited support operation—ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE, Department of War, every resource we have, and they’re not going to be sitting behind a desk at a keyboard. We are sending in real cops with guns and badges to go out with you on the street every single night making arrests.”

As he boasted of the experience the agents brought to the Task Force, applause erupted from the audience, emboldening him. 

Mr. Miller claimed that the city needed “liberating from a criminal element,” he alleges has plagued Memphis “for generations.”

“We are not going to live in an environment, anywhere, where there is a street that belongs to a criminal, where there is a neighborhood that belongs to a gang, where there is any physical space anywhere that belongs to anyone other than the law-abiding citizens and families of Memphis.

The idea that there is a square inch of block in this city where a citizen doesn’t feel safe is unacceptable. This is Memphis. This is the United States of America. And all that bulls*** is done. It’s over. It’s finished!”

He went on to issue a threat to those he deemed “gangbangers.”

“They think they are ruthless. They have no idea how ruthless we are. They think they’re tough. They have no idea how tough we are. They think that they’re hardcore. We are so much more hardcore than they are, and we have the entire weight of the United States government behind us.”

The threats coming from federal officials aimed at Memphis come on the heels of federal troops and agents being dispatched to other U.S. cities, with more possibly on the horizon.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan foresaw a time such as this, leading him to embark on a “Stop the Killing Tour” in 1989 and “Mens Only” addresses in 1994, culminating in the Historic Million Man March, October 16, 1995, where nearly two million men showed up.

“The Million Man March was the largest, and most peaceful, demonstration ever witnessed on The Washington National Mall. That march delayed the plans of the U.S. government: Our actions on The National Mall showed the world that we could be a civilized people;

So, that interfered with their plans,” said Minister Farrakhan in “The Time and What Must Be Done” lecture series, part 51, delivered in 2013.  “However, we have gone backwards since then. …The Enemy seems to have destroyed the meaning and the spirit of The Million Man March,” he cautioned.

“The killings that are going on in Chicago, and in other cities, of ‘Black against Black’ is justifying a response that will be terrible in its manifestation!”

Minister Farrakhan warned, adding, “and because, brothers and sisters, you have heard The Truth, and have rejected The Truth, the scriptures of Jeremiah 8:17, Numbers 21:6-8 and Isaiah 14:29 teaches that part of our chastisement is that we will be bitten by ‘fiery serpents’ and ‘cockatrices’: Angry White people, turning on you and killing you in large numbers!”

Minister Farrakhan then warned, “The only way you can avoid this is to stop the killing of self.”

The post White House officials address newly appointed Memphis task force, issuing strong threats appeared first on Final Call News.

However, unlike the incursion of troops into Los Angeles and D.C. against the will of local and state leadership, Republican Gov. Bill Lee requested the Guard’s presence.

Gov. Lee, who was on hand in the Oval Office for the official signing on Sept. 15, issued a statement Sept. 12 sharing that he had been in constant contact with the administration for months to “develop a multi-phased, strategic plan to combat crime in Memphis, leveraging the full extent of both federal and state resources.”

According to the governor’s website, the goal was to “accelerate the positive momentum of Operation Viper.” Operation Viper is an FBI mission in Memphis established by FBI Director Kash Patel.

He described Memphis as “the homicide capital of America per capita” in a Fox News interview in May, despite the city experiencing a 23% drop in Part 1 crimes, which the FBI defines as criminal homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson and human trafficking, according to the Memphis Police Department.

The governor’s plan also includes a surge of Tennessee Highway Patrol Troopers, which can already be seen throughout the city.

Mayor Paul Young, who President Trump claimed was “happy” about the decision, posted to X, “I want to be clear: I did not ask for the National Guard and I don’t think it is the way to drive down crime.” But Mayor Young conceded that the governor and the president have the authority to bring in the National Guard and other resources to Memphis.

While the mayor shared that he did not receive an official confirmation until he saw it the morning the task force memorandum signing was televised, he stated, in a CNN interview, that there were to be follow-up discussions during the week on the size and scope of the mission.

“As mayor, my goal is to make sure that if they are indeed coming, that we have an opportunity to drive some of the decisions around how they engage in our community.

We want to make sure that as these individuals come into our city and in our community, that they are able to engage in a way that is not threatening and that they are supportive of our law enforcement efforts.”

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson issued a statement opposing the move. “While I share the deep concern for those in our city who are harmed by gun violence and other crimes, the use of military force in our streets is not the solution,” he wrote.

“Our residents deserve federal investment in community-based safety measures, dialogue, and resources that address the root causes of crime, not the presence of federal armed troops in our city’s streets.

The National Guard is trained for combat and crisis response, not for the delicate, complex task of community relations, local policing and building public trust.

Their deployment risks escalating tensions, endangering both civilians and service members, and eroding the very sense of security we seek to protect. This deployment is unjust, unconstitutional, and Un-American!”

Rep. Pearson pointed out that it was not coincidental that “the Trump Administration is targeting Black-led cities with Republican-influenced leaders.”
The administration has already deployed troops to Washington, D.C. and has threatened to send troops to Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans, all cities with Black mayors.

According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Memphis is now the largest majority Black city in the country as of July 2022, with an estimated Black population of 621,056. Both the Memphis county and city mayors are Black.

“From having been born and raised here, the people who live here are very, I think, self-sufficient and I think … people that we have here are very capable of taking care of what’s going on here in Memphis without any outside intrusion,” Memphis resident George Taylor told USA Today in an interview posted on the outlet’s Instagram account.

For decades, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has warned Black people, particularly Black youth, of the threat of what is happening across the country with the call for National Guard and armed troops to be deployed to predominately-Black communities. He has encouraged Black people to settle our differences, unite and work to make our communities clean, decent and safe places to live.

“Have you noticed that ‘the target’ all over America is youth?” Minister Farrakhan asked during an address entitled, “The Troubled World: What Should We Be Doing,” delivered at Mosque Maryam, Aug. 17, 2014, where he addressed community, cultural and street organization leadership. 

“But when you look at all the revolution that’s going on in the world, look at the faces of the people that are overthrowing governments—it is youth!” he said.  

“You’ve got social media, and you deal, man!  What is that thing that you can call—a ‘flash mob,’ where they just ‘hit’ (a button to send out a message), and 50 brothers and sisters will come out on the streets, stop the traffic, and just dance and party? 

Now, while that is happening, you are being filmed; and they take the films, and they show them to police and organizations, and you are being made to look like ‘animals.’ 

So, as they ramp up with this heavy armor, they want to use it—and they don’t want to use it on White people, they want to try out all of that stuff on you, on us,” Minister Farrakhan continued.

“So, brothers, with the ‘beefs’ that are going on:  I would like, and we would like, to aid you in resolving this.  Because if you’re going to be under attack, the only way you can survive is by unity.  So, all ‘beefs’ must end.  And we will be to you your brothers who will help us to work out our differences so that the guns can be sheathed.”

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The Nation of Islam’s Whitehaven Study Group, the City of Memphis, GK Price Foundation, Watchful Eye Neighborhood Association, G-WERC–Greater Whitehaven Economic Redevelopment Corporation worked together to produce the event, which was hosted by City Councilwoman Pearl Eva Walker and Dr. Kevin Brooks of WLOK 1340 radio.

The Man-Up event, which brought together a diverse audience on July 19, including grassroots activists and others, was the idea of Sister Christy X Pratt.

Student Minister Demetric Muhammad of the Whitehaven Study Group addressed the topic of spiritual wellness, focusing on the need for unity and moral development to overcome the issues plaguing the community.

“Allah (God) says in the Holy Qur’an, that ‘had it not been for God raising up men to repel other men, the whole earth would be overrun with evil.’ We’re talking about spiritual now, because real spirituality isn’t just this thing where you go sit in a room by yourself and float off into the cosmos.

No. Real spirituality actually involves confronting evil. So, we are hoping that there is something of an inspiration that the brothers and the sisters who are here today take away from this event,” continued Student Minister Demetric Muhammad.

“At a certain point, those of us who are good men and see ourselves as good men, we know we have to organize, we have to get together in a room by ourselves, lock arms, pray to God, invite His Spirit into our life and move into our neighborhoods with a moral and spiritual force,” he said.

“I said moral and spiritual. They go together because the high levels of crime and violence, at the root of it represents a spiritual disease and it’s going to necessitate us summoning the moral and spiritual power of our community—all of us, together.”

Sergio Robinson told The Final Call that he chose to attend the event to hear from community leaders and professionals and learn how to apply their knowledge for a better life. “I wanted to learn. My mind is like a sponge. I want to absorb everything that I can that’s good for me.

Even though we are humans, we don’t know everything, we never will, but we need to have the drive and the curiosity to know the things that we don’t [know] and to question the things that we don’t understand,” said Mr. Robinson.

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In the weeks preceding, areas in North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Kansas received torrential downpours resulting in 500- and 1,000-year rain events in some areas.

Amidst the increasing calamities, the M.G.T and G.C.C. (Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization Class, the women of the Nation of Islam) of Mosque No. 55 recently hosted a disaster preparedness workshop at the MacFarland Community Center in Southeast Memphis. The M.G.T. who hosted consisted of a special squad of senior sisters over the age of 60.

“We need to understand that the weather has changed. God is present and the weather has changed,” said presenter Brother William Muhammad, a 24-year veteran of the Memphis Fire Department.

He explained to participants that “help is not coming, it’s just not coming, so we are going to have to help each other in our own neighborhoods. We’ve been told to prepare, so that’s what this is all about, to be able to survive.”

Presenters provided practical information for situations ranging from fire safety, preparation for evacuating your home and surviving power outages.

Panelist Sister Detria Muhammad emphasized the importance of always having a “to-go bag” ready in case you must evacuate your home on short notice.

“If you have all your essentials with you, it won’t be everything you pack in a suitcase, but it will be everything that you need to get out, even if you have to go to a hotel for one night to get yourself situated and figure out what you can do,” she shared.

“You already know there is always something happening on our highways and if you get stuck in traffic at that time, you can get sick, you can have to go to the bathroom, so you want to always have whatever you need to survive at that moment and a ‘go bag’ is one thing you should have. You can keep it in your car, in your closet in your home. Prepare them for your children also,” she shared.

There was also an array of displays and information tables featuring food preservation techniques such as canning and dehydration, growing your own food, water purification methods in survival situations when fresh water is not available, first aid, go-bag instructions and more.

One display that drew the most attention was a full-outdoor set up by urban farmer Sister Janette Muhammad, which included a two-room tent featuring a “dining/entertaining area”

And a bedroom, an additional “kitchen” tent equipped with lights, portable electric cooler/refrigerator, a camp stove all operated by solar panels and a portable solar generator.

There was also a small, privacy tent featuring a compost toilet. The set-up demonstrated that surviving away from your home, if even in the backyard, can be made more comfortable and a little less stressful if you take the time to prepare.

A set-up like this also allows you to take in others who are displaced in an emergency situation if you do not have adequate room in your home.

On page 5 of the book, “Closing the Gap: Inner Views of the Heart, Mind & Soul of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan,” by Minister Jabril Muhammad (May Allah be pleased), Minister Farrakhan emphasized the importance of assisting one another.

“At the 10th Anniversary of the Million Man March, which we call the birth of the Millions More Movement, we said that we can no longer depend on government to look after us, but we must set up those instrumentalities that would allow us to look out for ourselves,” Minister Farrakhan stated.

“We, as suffering people in America and the poor of America, must be prepared to save ourselves and our people,” he said.

Minister Farrakhan was referring to a Nation of Islam delegation sent to Cuba in 2006 to study the island nation’s disaster preparedness process.

“So what we learned, we want to share it through churches and organizations to Black, Native American and Chicano families.

We also want to work with city, state and federal government so that when these disasters strike, as they will, we can make sure that there is not the loss of life, that tremendous loss of property and dislocation that we saw with Hurricane Katrina.”

Workshop attendee Felicia Williams shared with The Final Call that after seeing the presentation, she has decided that she is going to start making a to-go kit, even though she considers herself not an “outdoors person.”

“We need to get prepared for tragedy because we see it every day and I think we are too comfortable in our lifestyle. We’re too comfortable,” said Ms. Williams. “I’m glad to be here.”

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Preserving Our Stories, the Archives of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,” May 23-25. Student Southwest Regional Minister Abdul Haleem Muhammad and mosque laborers are excited to host the weekend.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad Table Talks Project involves historians, researchers, and volunteers dedicated to documenting His life, work and Teachings.

The project is curated and directed by Student National Imam of the Nation of Islam, Sultan Rahman Muhammad, great-grandson of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He is also a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council.

“We are thankful to be blessed to share with the world a new primary educational source of the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad through His Table Talks,” said Student Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad.

“These recordings share firsthand encounters with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan that are deeply insightful to the fullness of history we are experiencing now in the change of worlds and establishment of righteousness.

We thank Muhammad Mosque No. 1, Detroit, for hosting an excellent beginning to the introduction of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad Table Talks Digital Archive, with expanding content,” he said.

“We are now excited to bring this historic and timely exhibit experience to Houston. As we celebrate our heritage and preserve our stories, it is a privilege to share such an intimate, yet profoundly world-changing historic moment, as the Nation of Islam approaches 95 years in existence, never to fall again,” concluded Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad.

“This will be a weekend where we delve into our collective histories as a people, and the importance of preserving our shared and individual narratives, and the impact of the wisdom and guidance of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s Table Talks in our current times,”

Shared Student Minister and Student Imam Abdul Aleem Ansari Muhammad, of Mosque No. 45, who is spearheading the coordination of the weekend.

Weekend highlights will include Jumu’ah prayer service, a historical presentation by Student Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad, a special presentation of “The Teachings 2.0:

The Twitter Sayings of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan” by N.O.I. social media strategist, Brother Abdul Qiyam Muhammad; multimedia presentations of rare and historical audio, videos and photographs from around the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s dinner table; fine dining and more.

For more information and to register for the weekend, contact Muhammad Mosque No. 45 at 832-892-3096.

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Founded in 1892, the church was originally known as Second Presbyterian, hosting a White congregation. It was later sold in 1949 to a Black congregation and was renamed Clayborn Temple, in honor of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Bishop Jim Clayborn.

As with many Black churches, during the Civil Rights era of the 50s and 60s, Clayborn Temple served as a gathering place for political, social, and cultural activism.

In the wake of deep-rooted segregation and the Jim Crow era, Black people in Memphis struggled under racial inequality and anti-Black racism. Within that struggle was the Black sanitation worker.

Working 10–12-hour days under conditions that ofttimes included faulty equipment and unsafe conditions that made injuries and accidental deaths a commonplace occurrence. Sanitation workers often lived in poverty, lacking the benefits and livable wages afforded by their White counterparts.

Following the death of two Black sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, in February 1968, who were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck.

And amidst an adequate lack of response from city leaders to address the continuing cries against the mistreatment, neglect and abuse of Black employees, the Sanitation Worker’s Strike was born.

Clayborn Temple became the staging ground for the movement, one that brought Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis. After addressing a gathering of sanitation workers and supporters on April 3, Dr. King was assassinated the next day on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

It was in the basement of the temple that the now iconic “I AM A MAN” signs were printed.

In 2017, Clayborn Temple was designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and in 2018, marking the 50th anniversary of the Sanitation Workers Strike, a mixed-metal sculpture of the words “I AM A MAN” was installed adjacent to the temple.

District 3 Memphis City Councilwoman Pearl Eva Walker shared with The Final Call the great sadness she feels at seeing the church burn, because of her many personal experiences and memories that occurred within the walls of the historic institution.

“I had the pleasure and experience of meeting the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at Clayborn Temple,” she said. “Not only did I get an introduction, I got a picture with him and had a brief exchange with him. That definitely stands out as one of my memories,” she said.

Another significant moment for her was when, during a [Dr. Martin Luther] King Holiday program being held at Clayborn Temple, former 9th Congressional District Congressman Harold Ford Sr., issued a challenge, at the time, for Dr. Willie Herenton to run for mayor of Memphis.

Subsequently, in 1991, Dr. Willie Herenton became the first Black mayor of Memphis. He was elected for an unprecedented five terms.

During his time in office, Mayor Herenton presented the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan with a key to the city, stating: “It was easy for me as a mayor to present a key … to a man who is worthy, to a man who speaks truth, to a man who possesses wisdom, to a man who is courageous in thought and in action, to an anointed man.”

Clayborn Temple closed in 1999, but under its current owner, Anasa Troutman, CEO and founder of The Big We, it had been undergoing extensive renovations.

According to its website, the non-profit organization “Works with communities to leverage their cultural assets and build economic, political and narrative power.” Among those works are investments in land development.

Representatives of the National Civil Rights Museum (formerly the Lorraine Motel) also issued a public statement on the fire, which read, in part: “Memphis has a choice: mourn in isolation or rebuild in solidarity.

History—and Clayborn Temple’s own story—points clearly toward the second. Chaos may have been embedded in a fire, but the community will light the way forward.

“Clayborn Temple was, and will continue to be, a house not just of gathering, but of movement, resilience, and rebirth. Fire can take down walls, but it cannot destroy the spirit that built them.”

According to a press statement by Memphis Fire Chief Gina Sweat, the cause of the fire is still unknown and remains under active investigation

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