Upon news of her return to Allah (God), social media was flooded with well-wishes from people expressing their sympathies and sharing reflections on her life and legacy. The Final Call presents just a few of these expressions of love.—The Final Call

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Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.—Proverbs 31:10-12

“Sister Farrakhan is sweet and pleasant all the time.”
—The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan—August 6, 1996, “What is your role?”

“I was nourished by her love.”—Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) on his wife, Khadijah

It is with a heavy heart, like the rest of the world, that I am reflecting upon the profound, divine and incomparable presence of Mother Khadijah Farrakhan in my life. Although I was too shy to truly express to her, in person, how much she inspired me, all the important people in my life know just how special she was to me.

I am so grateful to Allah (God) for her phenomenal example of what it means to be a Muslim woman, and I can recall so many instances where I learned a lesson from her. For some of my more recent stages of growth and development, I often found myself listening to the words of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan speaking about his beloved wife.

It is from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s descriptions of Mother Khadijah that I often find my answers. Selflessness is learned by how Minister Farrakhan explains why he named her Khadijah:

“My wife has been with me through all my strivings, she knew me in the days of my ignorance, and she knows me in the days of my struggle and striving, and when I first decided to rebuild the work of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and I came home and talked with her, she was the first out of my family, to say, go on with it.

I am with you. So as Khadijah was with Prophet Muhammad, so was my wife with me. So, I would like from this day forward like the wife of that noble servant of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), for my wife to wear the name, ‘Khadijah.’”

Being a good student is learned by how Minister Farrakhan spoke about Mother Khadijah. One day he said that “the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught her how to help me become a man. I was not always the man I am today. … He also told her to go out and make friends for me.”

From her beautiful example, we can all learn how to be a good help meet; as explained in 2023 at the National Training Seminar, when the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “I have to stop when she comes in, because she is the most wonderful friend and wife that a man could have, to hold a position that God placed me in. And I couldn’t handle that without somebody by my side who helps me and that is Mother Khadijah.”

Mother Khadijah was a woman who put her complete trust in Allah, who came in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, the Lifegiving Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, in her daily life.

She was a woman whose extraordinary wisdom, obedience and guidance helped to rebuild a Nation and to support her husband, who continued to evolve right before her eyes, as he continued to fulfill the mission given to the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, to resurrect a mentally dead people.

To be blessed to be around Mother Khadijah, or to quietly observe her from afar, was like being in the classroom made by Allah, for all women and girls. She taught us how to be dignified, patient, wise, kind, discerning, magnetic, graceful, pleasant, and sweet.

Her sweetness could be felt the moment you were in her presence, whether it was the warm hug that she gave you, her melodic greeting of peace peppered with her lovely Boston accent.

The gentle way she would offer her hand to let you know that she wanted your company, or her beautiful smile that could be likened to the good word of the day or that magical wink that she would give you from across the room.

Her gracefulness manifested itself in her walk and impeccable style of dress. Mother Khadijah taught us all how to be modestly beautiful and to always add a little sparkle and shine.

Often, as I was faced with little trials or what I deemed to be insurmountable challenges in my life, I would ask myself, “What would Mother Khadijah do?”

One day I was able to share my thoughts with her and to ask this very question. And Mother Khadijah said, “Trust in Allah, make Allah number one in your life, and do not let anyone occupy His Place in your life.”

As I sit here writing this reflection, it is her beautiful words and the other words she shared with me that have inspired me to write about her. I am going to Trust in Allah. Knowing that He is indeed The Best Knower.

As Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has been quoted as saying about the love of his life, Khadijah, let us all be “nourished by her love.” We will miss you, Mother Khadijah; I will miss you, Mother Khadijah. I will continue to relish your love.

Sister Khalilah T. Muhammad, Ph.D., is an associate professor of English at Olive-Harvey College in Chicago. She is also an award-winning educator, researcher, published author, editor for the Table Talks project, instructor in the Orientation Class and a student in the Ministry Class at Mosque Maryam.

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The ruling means that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) could end TPS for approximately 350,000 Haitian immigrants, many of whom have been in the U.S. for decades and have made a living and raised families here. Based on that, the number of people who could be impacted could be higher.

According to the American Immigration Council, “Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of certain countries experiencing problems that make it difficult or unsafe for their nationals to be deported there.

TPS has been a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of individuals already in the United States when problems in a home country make their departure or deportation untenable.”  

The targeting of Haitians is deliberate. In the run-up to the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, then-candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance spread vicious rumors and lies, which were debunked, about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

Unfortunately, “making trouble” and “spreading lies” have been, and remain, the methods our open enemy has used in its strategy and plan to keep us divided from one another.

Many of our Haitian brothers and sisters have left or been forced to leave their homeland, for no fault of their own. The current conditions in Haiti stem from decades of U.S. and Western misdeeds, interference, and downright evil actions.

We cannot allow apathy about what is happening in our communities to make us turn a blind eye to Black people who may come from different countries. Apathy means a state of indifference characterized by a lack of emotion, motivation, or concern. Often, we are so consumed with our own day-to-day lives—which is important—but we cannot fall into indifference where we respond, “that’s them, not me.”

According to reporting by Capital B News in a June 2025 article titled, “Black Undocumented Migrants Face Far Higher Deportation Rates,” “One of the most underreported aspects of life for Black undocumented migrants can be summed up in one statistic:

They’re deported at a rate four times more often than their numbers would suggest, according to an analysis of federal data by the Black Alliance for Just Immigration.”

Today, it is Haitians being targeted for deportation; tomorrow, it could be Blacks, regardless of our country of birth. For those who argue that they were born in the U.S. and are therefore rightful and legal citizens of the U.S., that does not mean there will be no impact.

How is the government going to determine “who is Haitian?” Haitians are Black. They just happen to speak Haitian Creole and/or French, as well as English, the languages of their and our slave masters and colonizers.

America’s “immigration” issue is a hot-button topic that often results in finger-pointing and accusations, instigated by those who have shown themselves to be enemies to all Black people, whether we are from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Jamaica, or born and raised on the South Side of Chicago.

In the sight of Almighty God Allah, who appeared in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, The Great Mahdi, we are one people. In the Supreme Wisdom Lessons of the Nation of Islam, the question is asked:

“Who is the Original Man?” The answer: “The Original man is the Asiatic Black man; the Maker; the Owner; the Cream of the planet Earth—God of the Universe.”

While it is easy to look at our various languages, cultures and countries of birth as differences to further divide us, it is, in fact, one of our biggest strengths.

The front cover of the iconic Muhammad Speaks newspaper at times featured an illustration of a Black man from America and a Black man from Africa, their arms outstretched toward each other over the Earth. The words: Asia, Africa and America were also written on the illustration.

What happens to our people, wherever we are, is important, and we must recognize that we are one people. Just because one group of Black people is being targeted does not mean the rest of us are somehow exempt from the plans of the enemy.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has traveled in and out of America, speaking to Black people all over the world about our common struggles and who we are to one another.

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad single-handedly turned us from calling ourselves Negroes to accepting ourselves. No matter what shade of color we were, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad asked us to refer to ourselves as the Black man, the Original People of the Earth.

And when we saw ourselves as Black people, then every person of color on the Earth, we identified with them,” said Minister Farrakhan in a May 7, 2006, interview on “The Open Line Show” on 98.7 KISS FM in New York, N.Y., hosted by the late James Mtume. The article was published in The Final Call under the title, “Reconnecting the international struggles of Black people.”

Minister Farrakhan, a Black man, has Caribbean roots. His mother was from St. Kitts, his grandmother from Nevis, his father from Jamaica, and his stepfather was from Barbados. 

“So, in the ’60s, nothing could happen on the African continent that Black people in America were not concerned with. Nothing could happen in the Caribbean, Brazil, Central America or in the Islands of the Pacific where Black people were concerned that we did not feel, because a nervous system was being created for Black people that we felt the pain of one another wherever we were on the Earth,” Minister Farrakhan said.

As the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad reminds us in “Message to the Blackman in America,” on page 33, “Love yourself and your kind. Let us refrain from doing evil to each other, and let us love each other as brothers, as we are the same flesh and blood.”

We thank Allah (God) for the wisdom given to us from and by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad that teaches us to see the Black man and woman, regardless of where we are, as one people. We must not allow our differences to lead to further disunity. Allah (God) is not the author of confusion.

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(Below are excerpts from a major speech delivered by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who spoke July 5, 1852 in Rochester, New York to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence.)

Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?

Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits?

Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the “lame man leap as an hart.”

But, such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us.

The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.—The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.

The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.

To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?

If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, lowering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.”

Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them.

If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!”

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY.

I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave’s point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July!

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future.

Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible.

Which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery—the great sin and shame of America! …

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans?

Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood?

How should I look today, in the presence of Americans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? speaking of it relatively, and positively, negatively, and affirmatively.

To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding.—There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him. …

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would, today, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened;

The conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence;

Your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.

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The F.O.I. can be found in cities large and small, serving, caring and sharing with our people. They distribute copies of The Final Call, a newspaper full of life, light, and power based on the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. We thank our brothers for all that they do. All praise is due to Allah!

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CHICAGO—The Barack Obama Presidential Center officially opened its doors to the public on Juneteenth (June 19), one day after an invite-only dedication ceremony. The 19.3-acre campus includes a museum, a basketball court, several outdoor spaces and a library.

The June 18 dedication ceremony attracted thousands of people and was attended by former U.S. presidents, politicians and celebrities. It was a star-studded gathering. Dignitaries and guests included former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, Common, LL Cool J and many others. All convened on the grounds of the newly constructed landmark.

“It was like medicine for me because the time seems so dark … ,” said legendary comedian Dave Chappelle in an interview with CNN about the June 18 ceremony. “Today was a celebration of culture and community,” he added.

The long-awaited center had been a decade in the making. It was announced in 2015, after the founding of the Obama Foundation in 2014. After years of planning and fundraising, and a year-long federal review of the use of public land, construction began in the Fall of 2021. The project’s cost is estimated at nearly $850 million. It was largely paid for through private donations to the Obama Foundation.

In social media posts, politicians, celebrities, activists and community organizers congratulated the Obamas on the center’s opening.

“Being at the Obama Center opening feels like the Super Bowl for community organizers. So many of us have dedicated our lives to fighting the good fight, block by block, school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood. President Obama inspired a generation of us to believe that hope was not just a feeling, it was a responsibility,” Jahmal Cole, founder and executive director of the Chicago-based nonprofit, “My Block, My Hood, My City,” said in a Facebook post.

“Today feels bigger than a building. It feels like a reminder that Chicago raised a leader who made the whole world believe again. For every organizer, mentor, teacher, coach, block club leader, nonprofit worker, and neighbor who never stopped believing in community, this day is for us too,” he added.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris commended the Obamas on their vision. “To know Barack and Michelle is to understand: They have always believed that leadership is about leaving something behind that empowers others. Today’s opening of the Obama Presidential Center reflects that vision. It will continue to invest in future generations and encourage people to see themselves as part of something bigger,” she said.

Most outdoor areas of the campus, located in Chicago’s South Side, are free and open to the public daily, while the museum requires paid admission.

“President Obama has always understood that progress is built from the ground up, in neighborhoods and communities. This center, rooted on Chicago’s South Side, reflects that,” Martin Luther King III, eldest son of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, said in a Facebook post.

A son of Africa and America

Barack Hussein Obama made history on January 20, 2009, when he was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first Black president of the U.S., and he served a second term after being re-elected on November 6, 2012. His father was a Black man from Kenya, and his mother was a White woman from Kansas.

Born and raised in Hawaii, he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia and found his political grounding in Chicago as a community organizer in his 20s. He attended Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) in 1991. Before entering politics, he spent over a decade teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. From 1997 to 2004, he was an Illinois State Senator, and he served in the U.S. Senate from 2005 to 2008 before running for president.

His wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, is a South Side native. The couple married on October 3, 1992, and welcomed two daughters, Malia and Natasha (Sasha). The Obamas have a rich history in the South Side.

Mrs. Obama presented a heartfelt speech to her husband, leaving many, including Mr. Obama, wiping away tears. “Barack, you gotta look at me. I love that. You told me all those years ago that you couldn’t promise me the world, but you could promise me an interesting life. And of course, you outdid yourself and managed to give me both. I know it hasn’t always been easy, but there hasn’t been a single second through this experience that standing by your side hasn’t left me in awe. Eight years in The Crucible and not once did you melt from the heat. Not once did you let it harden you. Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence, your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage, your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency, your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber,” she said.

“The Obama Presidential Center was created as a beacon of hope, a monument to our unshakable values. The ones my husband has exemplified his entire life: equality, empathy, honesty, inclusion, and fairness. Especially during these anxious and divisive times, it is so important that we remember that those values are not unique to my husband,” Mrs. Obama said.

During his remarks, Mr. Obama also showered love to his family. “To Michelle. …. All right. She did me wrong. She wouldn’t let me see her speech. She knew she was going to mess me up. And she did it anyway. But she’s always made me better. And I could not be more grateful.

“And … to Sasha and Malia, what can I say? You mean everything to me,” he said.

Mr. Obama also shared some of his and his wife’s vision for the center. “We wanted it to be a vibrant, living celebration of community where we can learn together and share the joys of art and music and sport and play. Because it’s in those moments that we’re reminded of our common humanity and strengthen the bonds of trust that not only make our lives richer, but make our democracy stronger. And we also wanted this center to be a celebration of the extraordinary public servants, many of whom are here today, that made this journey possible,” said Mr. Obama.

Now, the couple is on a mission to give back to their community. The campus is designed to be a space for learning, cultural programming and community amenities. The Obama Foundation chose Juneteenth to open the Obama Presidential Center as a powerful symbol of the ongoing struggle for equality, civil rights, and community empowerment.

“What struck me most is that this isn’t simply a presidential library. Built on the South Side of Chicago, where Barack and Michelle Obama’s story is so deeply rooted, it feels like a living, breathing interactive cultural gathering place, a space where people can learn, participate, advocate, bring their children, enjoy art, share a meal, have conversations, and be inspired to SERVE,” actress and activist Holly Robinson Peete said in a Facebook post.

“Walking through it all, I kept thinking about HOPE … not as a slogan, but as a practice. Service. Community. Empathy. Integrity. So many themes it feels we’ve lost sight of,” she added. “And for this opening to take place on #Juneteenth added another layer of meaning. A day that commemorates freedom, resilience, and unfinished work felt like the perfect moment to celebrate a place dedicated to civic engagement and the promise of what is possible.”

Excitement, concerns and the future

The center has not been without a few concerns. In its early days of construction in 2021 and 2022, The Final Call reported on community concerns about gentrification and displacement. Black South Side residents expressed concerns about possible rising rents and increasing property taxes.

All of those concerns have not been dispelled. A recent University of Chicago research paper examined how “large-scale investments” in Chicago lead to an increase in land values that “ultimately intensify the rent burdens and displacement pressures for low-income, predominantly Black residents.” It found that after the announcement of the Obama Presidential Center, “the median sale price of single-family homes” in Woodlawn “jumped from $72,500 in 2016 to $330,000 in 2025.” The center is situated in the historic Jackson Park, at the intersection of the Woodlawn, Hyde Park, and South Shore neighborhoods, and is specifically located at 6001 S. Stony Island Avenue in the Woodlawn community.

In several news outlets, South Side residents expressed both excitement at the center’s opening and their lingering concerns about displacement. However, the Obama Foundation has vowed to support initiatives related to job opportunities, workforce development and affordable housing. 

Here are some of the campus offerings:

· Museum – The four-floor museum includes a full-size replica of President Obama’s oval office and a “Sky Room” offering panoramic views.

· The Forum – A community and civic space that includes an atrium, auditorium, “Democracy in Action” lab, media suite, restaurant and cafe

· Home Court – A 60,000-square-foot athletic and events space

· Outdoor spaces – John Lewis Plaza, Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden, a playground, a 58,000-square-foot lawn, gardens, walking trails, courtyards and an apiary with one beehive

· Chicago Public Library, Obama Presidential Center Branch

· Art – More than 28 art installations by 30 artists

The fruit and vegetable garden was designed by Mrs. Obama. The campus also includes a recording studio, a picnic area and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library. The center is not a presidential library and does not include a physical archive or traditional library for presidential papers. Mr. Obama’s archives, which are mostly digital, are being stored in Washington, D.C.

The Obama Foundation and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) agreed to digitize his presidential records rather than build a massive physical repository

During its sold-out opening weekend, June 19-21, the campus featured 15-minute tour experiences, performances on the plaza, interactive and hands-on art workshops, a garden program, appearances by the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Stars FC, and Chicago White Sox, and a Sunday Father’s Day Walk.

A diamond on the South Side

Della Hill, who traveled from Detroit, stated, “The Obamas have been such an inspiration for me coming of age; they are great global citizens. I found that it is really important to be amongst the community and celebrate Juneteenth at the Obama Presidential Center.”

Jackie Brooks, who traveled by charter bus from Galveston, Texas, stated, “We are here to support normalcy in the United States, and I could not miss this grand opening. Michelle Obama’s speech was heartwarming, and everyone should come visit this center. I am so happy to be here.”

Nahla Muhammad is a Chicago entrepreneur and owner of Let’s Eat To Live restaurant, located less than 10 minutes from the Obama Presidential Center. Ms. Muhammad attended the dedication ceremony on June 18. “The center and the ceremony were historical as well as eventful. There were many great performances, and the beautiful part was Michelle Obama’s speech about her husband. This center will bring business to the entire corridor of this area, which is a great benefit,” she said.

Longtime Chicago resident and activist La’Keisha Gray-Sewell shared her thoughts on social media about attending the grand opening reception of the Obama Presidential Center. “Witnessing the labor and construction, the community tension and celebration that has been brewing for years to now finally standing in the building and on the campus is to reconcile everything Black in America is … The Souls of Black Folk. One undeniable truth … Black folk will gift the world timeless treasures and creative brilliance; all from our pain. Diamonds,” she posted.

“And that is what the Obama Presidential Center signifies. A diamond pressed out of the experience of the First Black family to lead the world as the First Family of America, because a Black man became the Chief Executive Officer, the President of the United States of America.

“All that power, excellence, fortitude, perseverance, agility, and compassion that was planted, nurtured, cultivated on the South Side of Chicago stands for generations to experience. And all the inspiration and hope that comes with it. It’s an undeniable truth. A feeling that won’t be suppressed. I witnessed history. I’m standing in history. Black Chicago, WE ARE MAKING HISTORY everyday. This is our moment. Nothing but ourselves can defeat us.”

For more information, visit www.obama.org.
Final Call staff contributed to this report.

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Several workshop classes were conducted. We could not thank Pastor Donald Sellers of South Park Church enough for his overwhelming support. Follow-up sessions are scheduled for areas such as conflict mediation and community accountability events.

Student Minister James Muhammad also attended a Sunday service at South Park Church and was given the opportunity to speak to the entire congregation and shared words of appreciation and unity.
—Submitted by Student Protocol Director Walter Umrani Muhammad

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The event was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Working cheerfully was the aim of the brothers, and the love was reciprocated from our people at the gathering. —Submitted by Eugene 2X 

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The F.O.I. share the Teachings via The Final Call newspaper, which is available door-to-door and via print and digital subscriptions. The brothers also strive to make their communities decent and safe places to live as taught by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

We thank the F.O.I for their dedicated service and for working cheerfully and with a positive spirit when engaging with our people.

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A legal resident of the United States for more than three decades, Mr. Sarsour has been an outspoken advocate for Palestinian human rights, like others who have been singled out and targeted for engaging in speech the Trump Administration opposes. 

While in custody, Sarsour, who has Type-2 diabetes, lost more than 30 pounds and was not provided necessary health care—including daily monitoring of his blood glucose levels. He was also denied access to religious materials and adequate space for prayer. 

In ordering his immediate release on his own recognizance, U.S. District Judge James P. Hanlon explained in a 29-page order that “Mr. Sarsour has raised a ‘substantial’ First Amendment retaliation claim, which could render his detention unlawful” and that “​​Mr. Sarsour’s speech in support of Palestinian rights is protected by the First Amendment.”

The court also noted his “decades of living a law-abiding life in the United States” and that the government previously reviewed Sarsour’s record and approved him for lawful residence. The court also took into account Sarsour’s health concerns in detention.

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