The year was 1985. I (Sister Nisa Islam Muhammad) was pregnant with my son Nasser, sitting among some 25,000 people packed into Madison Square Garden in New York, waiting to hear the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan speak. When he took the stage, he was flanked by a group of sisters, his M.G.T. and G.C.C. Vanguard, and one of them stopped me cold. She was tall, statuesque, unmistakably beautiful, and she carried herself like security itself: Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, his eldest daughter.

I kept watching her watch the crowd. I wanted to meet her. I wanted to be her. I wanted to learn whatever secret allowed her to stand that close to greatness and still seem so entirely herself.

Years later, that wish came true. As the Mid-Atlantic Regional M.G.T. Captain, I had the honor of serving under her, and she turned out to be everything I had imagined from that arena floor and more. She was a sister and a soldier. She taught me that Allah (God) loves beauty and that we are meant to reflect that beauty in everything we do: our dress, our posture, and our discipline. She was kind and gracious, but no one mistook her kindness for weakness. In the high-pressure work of providing security for her father at public events, her grace never cracked, and she expected the same steadiness from those serving beside her.

Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, the eldest daughter of Minister Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, returned to Allah (God) on September 18. Her Janazah (funeral service) was held at Mosque Maryam in Chicago, on September 25.

She was appointed National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain by her father in 1988 and she helped train and shape generations of women in the Nation of Islam. Later, her service also extended to agriculture and producing healthy food for the community. Yet for many women who knew her personally, her legacy lives most vividly in the standards she set: discipline without hardness, beauty without vanity, and authority grounded in care.

She taught internal strength and resilience. If you were selected to work with her, you learned quickly to raise your standard. She taught her captains to see the beauty in every sister and cultivate it, and to care for women who belonged to Allah with consideration and concern. She always took her work seriously. But when the night was over, the crowd had cleared, and her father was safe, she was a joy to be around. She could fill a room with laughter and loved to hear about our lives.

In the days since her return to Allah, sisters who served alongside her across four decades and several cities have used many of the same words to describe her: soldier, sister, mother and warrior. Although public references often identified her as Minister Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah Farrakhan’s eldest daughter, generations of women in the Nation also knew her as a captain, teacher, and model of disciplined service.

A trainer of women

Sister Dr. Nusaybah Muhammad is the Student Southern Regional M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain of the Nation of Islam. She told The Final Call she first met Sister Betsy Jean in the early 1990s. “I remember being on a security detail at the airport to pick her up. As she stepped out of the vehicle, I remember freezing in place. I was struck by her stunning and captivating beauty.

But what impacted me even more was the blessing of hearing her speak. Her words carried a passion, strength, and spirit I felt immediately. Her beauty caught my attention, but her voice, her spirit, and the passion she carried captured my heart. In that moment, I knew I had developed a deep love and admiration for her,” said Sister Nusaybah.

“I will never forget that first encounter. It was one of those moments that stays with you, not simply because of what you saw, but because of what you felt.” Sister Nusaybah described Sister Betsy Jean as “the epitome of a soldier.”

“She accepted nothing less than excellence. As a National Captain, she was the kind of leader who never asked you to do what she wasn’t willing to do herself. She led from the front. She demonstrated discipline by example. Her expectations were high because she knew what was possible when a woman was properly taught, developed, disciplined, and given the opportunity to discover the power within herself.

“She was and will always be one of my guiding examples of leadership. Her leadership was so profound because she understood that you cannot solve a problem if you are unwilling to go to its root. She had a remarkable ability to look beneath the surface and identify the deeper issues affecting Black women and girls. She understood our struggles, our strengths, our wounds, our hopes, and our potential. More importantly, she knew how to offer solutions that were practical, relatable, and rooted in the real experiences of Black women,” said Sister Nusaybah.

Sister Dr. Sabora Muhammad was a member of the Chicago M.G.T. Vanguard. She vividly remembers that same Madison Square Garden event. She first heard Minister Farrakhan when she was a Five Percenter (Nation of Gods and Earths). When she pushed through the crowd at the Garden and saw the women surrounding Minister Farrakhan to secure and protect him, she said to herself, “I don’t know who they are, but I want to be that” and she remembers thinking, “I want to do what they’re doing.”

Sister Dr. Sabora later moved to Chicago and she told The Final Call that Sister Betsy Jean was a pillar in her adult life. “She exhibited that perfect balance of strength and softness,” she said. “She was disciplined. She was firm, unwavering. Yet she carried such a gentle, nurturing soul.”

Sister Betsy Jean asked about the women’s families, children, and households. Sister Dr. Sabora, who later became Mosque Maryam’s M.G.T. Vanguard Captain, believes she understood that “we could only do what we had to do to protect Minister Farrakhan if our home front was straight.”

The M.G.T. Vanguard are young women of the Nation of Islam ages 16-35 and are the warrior class of the M.G.T. and G.C.C., which was established by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Sister Dr. Sabora still carries one piece of advice Sister Betsy Jean gave her directly: “Sabora, don’t dim your light for anybody, sister; you got to shine.”

That balance of firmness and tenderness runs through nearly every account of those sharing their reflections about Sister Betsy Jean.

Sister Bronda Muhammad was also a Chicago M.G.T. Vanguard and remembers Sister Betsy Jean returning Sunday after Sunday to conduct inspections personally, even after her tenure as National M.G.T. Captain. “She was mothering,” Sis. Bronda told The Final Call. “She no longer had that direct responsibility, so she was really hands-on when she was around us.”

Sister Betsy Jean taught the M.G.T. Vanguard how to walk, how to dress, and how to hold a security post while remaining “deadly, but dainty,” said Sis. Bronda.

In the 1990s, Sis. Angela Muhammad arrived in Washington, D.C., from Buffalo and was assigned to a post at Sister Betsy Jean’s suite. She recalls a “quiet confidence” and “effortless grace” that reshaped how she understood service. “Her devotion to the sisterhood expanded my heart,” Sis. Angela said, adding, “and (it) inspired a deeper love for the M.G.T. through her powerful example.”

A soldier

Baltimore Student M.G.T. Captain Leslie Muhammad remembers the choreography of Sister Betsy Jean’s workdays. She walked the security areas in flat shoes as sisters arrived for an event, then changed shoes when it was time to head toward the stage, where she remained on post throughout the program. She pushed her captains to be mindful of their appearance and encouraged Sis. Leslie to continue serving as long as she felt able. “She has always been my ‘shero,’” Sis. Leslie said.

Sister Victoria Muhammad, who served on Sister Betsy Jean’s personal security detail, explained that Sister Betsy Jean modeled a particular kind of femininity under pressure: firm, but never rough. “Whenever there was a situation, you would say, okay, what would Betsy Jean do?” Sis. Victoria said.

For Sis. Abiola Muhammad of the Chicago M.G.T. Vanguard, who entered the mosque in 1990 and trained under Sister Betsy Jean in both M.G.T. and M.G.T. Vanguard work, one of her sharpest memories is standing for hours at the United Center in Chicago during Saviours’ Day. Sister Betsy Jean gathered the young women beforehand and told them plainly what the assignment required. “She told each and every one of us that if we’re going to stand this post, we’re putting our lives on the line for the Minister,” Sis. Abiola told The Final Call. “If we did not want to do that, no hard feelings, no judgment, just fall out,” she recalled. No one fell out.

Her influence extended beyond the women she trained directly. The men of the Nation of Islam also regarded Sister Betsy Jean with honor and respect.

Student Minister Abdul Arif Muhammad, a member of the N.O.I. Shura Executive Council, serves as N.O.I. General Counsel and is a member of the N.O.I. Research Group. He offered his reflections, first, with Ayat (verse) 154 from Surah (chapter) 2 of the Holy Qur’an, the Islamic book of scripture which states: “And speak not of those who are slain in Allah’s way as dead. Nay, (they are) alive, but you perceive not,” he said.

“A grateful Nation is thankful to Allah for the beauty and spirit that is our Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan. To me, she embodied the spirit and love of her father and mother (Mother Khadijah Farrakhan) to serve a grateful Nation.  And as our National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain in the very early foundational days of the rebuilding of the Nation, she looked after the women and trained them as Allah directed they be trained. She was loved by the sisters then and she is loved now,” said Student Min. Arif.

He also recalled his impressions from that historic Madison Square Garden event.

“A personal reflection for me, of my sister, was on October 7, 1985, at Madison Square Garden, in New York City. I see her proudly standing on post, at the point of the diamond of security around her father, along with others of her sisters, to protect the life of her father, during his ‘Power At Last Forever’ message.  That same love and spirit that she had to protect the life of The Messiah, her father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, was that same love of protection and that same extension of protection that she gave in care and training of the sisters and her Nation,” Student Min. Arif continued.  

“She made an indelible impact in the work of the resurrection of the dead under the direction of her father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. We can only say Allah-U-Akbar (God is the Greatest) and may Allah grant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, all of the Farrakhan family His peace and comfort, and that we are grateful to Allah as a Nation for the service of our Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan.”

Brother Sultan Muhammad is a close aide to Minister Farrakhan and a member of the N.O.I. Research Group. He first met Sister Betsy Jean on October 7, 1985. “I meet this stern woman, where ‘Captain’ oozes out of her very being! I could see her father in her. I could see her mother in her, and then I could see what God made in the womb of her mother. So, I have always bragged and boasted about her. I have always respected her. And I wanted to be brother enough, man enough, believer enough, to earn her respect,” said Bro. Sultan.

Student Minister Jamil Muhammad, who traveled with her during Minister Farrakhan’s extensive touring in the late 1980s and early 1990s, remembers her as “a steadying force.”

“She heard her father’s instructions, and she moved out with him,” he said. “She was a confidant and a counselor in Islam … accessible, warm, and supportive of anyone who sincerely wanted to help her father in the mission.” He wants her remembered, he said, not simply for her standing in the Nation, “which, of course, was understandably high,” but “for her genuine goodness as a person. She was a big sister to all of us.”

A servant and example

Sister Dr. Saaudiah Muhammad of Mosque Maryam in Chicago shared that her memories of Sister Betsy Jean included her emphasizing “the importance of carrying ourselves like a queen, especially when it came to our posture.”

“She created in me an absolute love of being statuesque and shared that height was nothing to be ashamed of but to stand tall. As a new Muslim, I would ask her all sorts of questions, and she would indulge them as I believe she knew I was just striving to be the best Muslim and she was the best example of a M.G.T. I knew as the National M.G.T. Captain,” said Sis. Dr. Saaudiah.

Sister Johnna Muhammad is the Student Eastern Regional M.G.T. Captain, based in New York at Mosque No. 7. Sis. Johnna served as a Vanguard Captain in New York when Sister Betsy Jean was the National M.G.T. Captain.

“She was a formidable woman—one who was not only a trainer of women, but a woman whose strength, discipline, knowledge, and conviction earned the respect and high regard of men as well. Men revered her and held her in the highest esteem because she carried herself with authority, stood firmly upon the Teachings, and demanded excellence from those entrusted to her no-nonsense training,” said Sister Johnna.

“Sister Betsy Jean was a product of a life dedicated to the service of the Cause of Islam. She gave herself to the work, to the training, to the development of others, and to the dissemination of truth. Her life stands as a testimony to what it means to be a soldier in the army of Allah (God). She will go down in the annals of time as one whose life and service left an enduring mark upon our  Nation and upon all of those who were blessed to learn from her,” said Sis. Johnna.

Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan trained generations of women, including many she may never have known she shaped. Her work in helping in the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, asked her to be a soldier, teacher, mother, and mirror for the beauty she insisted every one of us carried. Sister Dr. Sabora Muhammad said it best: “Generations of young women learned from her how to serve with honor, how to live with that armor of God … her legacy lives.”

Sister Betsy Jean was tall, statuesque and stunning that night in Madison Square Garden in 1985. Forty years later, to every sister who ever stood a post beside her, she still is.

The post A Standard Bearer Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan: The Epitome of Strength, Beauty and Service appeared first on Final Call News.

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.”

The post Caring and cultivating people and the earth appeared first on Final Call News.

Our Dear and Beloved Sister
by Student National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain Naeemah Muhammad

As I reflect on the life and work of Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, I cannot help but think of the words of Jesus in John 15:13, which says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” She was the embodiment of a profound love that translated into profound duty, which led to profound works. Coupled with her warrior spirit, this made her an unstoppable force in whatever she set out to do. It was more than an honor to work with her and learn from her. It wouldn’t take long for us to realize that we were cut from the same cloth.

Sister Betsy Jean and I shared a bond and a love that we affectionately called “Crazy Love.” We shared that Crazy Love for Allah, the Christ and the Messiah, and a Crazy Love for each other and the sisterhood. This is the kind of love that produced a deep and immensely profound duty to the Messiah and to the people that He was sent to raise.

Sister Betsy Jean loved to sit at His feet, feed on His Word, and reveled in the work of making that Word flesh. Whatever He instructed her to do, she was found carrying it out with no hesitation. Wherever He said go, she didn’t just go; she was found swiftly running there. His Word was Her Bond and her Life, and she would give her Life before her word to Him would fail.

Watching her in motion, locking step with her father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and moving in strict obedience to his guidance and instructions inspired me to strive to do the same. In her life and work that was born from love, I saw both myself and the woman I desire to pattern myself after in her complete devotion to Allah, the Mahdi, the Messiah, and the Cause of Islam. To witness her in motion was amazing to behold. She was strong yet feminine, disciplined yet compassionate; a warrior with a loving heart who was willing to sacrifice for her father, her people, and the Nation of Islam.

That love is woven into everything I write here because mere words are far too inadequate to express the indelible mark that Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan left on the Nation of Islam and the Believers, but perhaps most deeply on the women and girls she loved, taught, and trained. She carried the tremendous responsibility of serving as the first National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain under the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Therefore, if it were not for her, I would not be. Her leadership set the standard for every Student National M.G.T. Captain who came after her. Under the guidance and direction of her father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Sister Betsey Jean helped lay a firm foundation for the Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization Class. More than a superwoman, she was able to accomplish this while also being a devoted wife and mother who loved her people mightily. Wherever Allah placed her hands, she worked. Wherever duty called, she answered. She just could not help herself because she was driven and compelled by that “Crazy Love.”

She was a sister and a soldier, a captain and a farmer, a daughter and a friend. She was dearly loved and will be truly missed. And I will carry our Crazy Love for the Three, the sisterhood, and for each other with me always. Her life and work have inspired me to follow in her footsteps to press on in the work and the mission in strict obedience to the Messiah as a helper in the cause of Islam.

We thank Allah for the life of our dear and beloved Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan and for her tremendous service and sacrifice to this Nation. Though she is no longer physically among us, her work continues through the lives she touched, the seeds she sowed, the women she trained, and the standard she established. May Allah forever be pleased with our dear Sister Betsy Jean, and may He bring peace and comfort to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the entire Farrakhan Family, and the Believers during this time.

Sister Naeemah Muhammad is the Student National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain and was appointed in 2010. She is also a member of the N.O.I. Shura Executive Council.

In Honor of Our Beloved Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan
by A’ishah Muhammad

“The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers. They all believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His messengers.” —Holy Quran Surah 2:285

Steadfast and fierce, incomparable and legendary! Sister Captain Emeritus Betsy Jean Farrakhan proved to the very end that she was in fact a Believer in Allah, Who Came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad.

Even as she was facing her eventual return to Allah, she leaned on Him; she called on Him and she never forsook Allah with disappointment, anger or acrimony. Our beloved sister lived by her oath stated in the Holy Qur’an, “My life and my death are all for Allah!” She made no associate with Allah, and she fully submitted her will.

Her stalwart example reminded me of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, her beloved father, when in his decades-ago “death bed” confession he thanked Allah (God) for allowing him to be a part of His Creation. He did not beg for more time as he put his complete and unwavering faith and trust in Allah with great strength and humility.

As the first-born child of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, Sister Betsy Jean was a great helper to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in the rebuilding of the Nation of Islam. A faithful follower of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, under the leadership of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Sister Betsy Jean represented her father and mother excellently as a true example of a Muslim woman; a woman of grace, dignity and unquestionable strength.

I had the honor and privilege of serving under and alongside Sister Emeritus Captain Betsy Jean Farrakhan since the 1980s and have enjoyed a beautiful relationship through the years. I have many memories of the first Muslim Girls Training and General Civilization Class (M.G.T. and G.C.C.) national curriculum developed under her tenure as I served as the National M.G.T. Vanguard Captain and Sister Donna Farrakhan, the National Vanguard Directress. Sister Betsy Jean modeled what a National Captain was while at the same time being an attentive wife and adoring mother who not only taught the 7-Training Units, but she also lived them!

While we live in a time when it appears that most people do not live by the principles of the lives of the prophets that we claim to follow, Sister Betsy Jean did not just talk about it, she walked it with quiet authority and a commanding presence! Sister Besty Jean compelled admiration and deep respect by the undeniable and unshakable inmost conviction of her being.

She will be sorely missed but we will carry her wherever we go because like her her Beautiful Mother Khadijah Farrakhan,, our First Lady of the Nation of Islam, we will continue to carry them both with us through their words, their wise counsel, and deep love for Allah’s people, wherever we go. We cannot thank Almighty (God) Allah enough for the gift of these two precious women that we are still coming to learn more of.

Alhamdullilah (All Praise is due to Allah)!!! May Allah strengthen and comfort the entire Farrakhan family.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad served as Chicago M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain 1986-1988 and National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain 1996-2010. She is currently the National Auditing Supervisor and a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council.

A Diamond Among Women
by Charlene Muhammad

A Captain’s Captain. A warrior in the cause of Islam. A force of nature. A kind, gentle soul. A defender of women. These words help describe Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, the first-born child of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Mother Khadijah Farrakhan.

Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan was appointed by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1988 to serve as the first National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain of the Nation of Islam. She set the standard and the bar for all National M.G.T. Captains that have served in the post after her.

Sister Betsy Jean loved her father. Everything she did for the M.G.T. and G.C.C. was on behalf of her father. She was so much like her father that when I became the National M.G.T. Captain after her it seemed to me they were one in the same. Most of the words I would hear her say often were, “My father wants the sisters to be treated well.”

She didn’t want any sisters who were over sisters to mistreat or mishandle the sisters.

Sister Captain Betsy Jean loved the M.G T and G.C.C. and was like “mother hen” over her chicks wanting them to be the best and be taught the best. She wanted them to soar to the heights of grace, elegance, and style. She also didn’t want M.G.T. to be cowards in the face of danger and if we were cowards or had weak knees, she made us into warriors.

When I look back on our time together, she had the awesome and unenviable responsibility of putting order to the M.G.T. classes not only in Chicago but all across the country. She set up the Regional M.G.T. Captains in Los Angeles; Atlanta; Washington, D.C. and Houston, something that we never had under this dispensation. At that time, we didn’t have a Central Regional M.G.T. Captain. Sister Betsy Jean was local, Central and National M.G.T. Captain all in one.

She wanted all the classes to be uniform, meaning what was taught in Chicago would be taught across the country. She made sure that we all had our white M.G.T. uniforms with our white gloves, white shoes and white pocketbooks/purses. She said you were not a well-dressed M.G.T. unless you had all three, including your M.G.T. bar pin.

Sister Betsy Jean crisscrossed the country setting up M.G.T. classes, sometimes with her security, Sister Victoria Muhammad, and sometimes with me. Sometimes she would show up unannounced. She said that if she was announced the sisters would put on a show, and she wanted to see the class in its actuality. She said, “how can you correct something if you can’t see the defects.”

There were many facets to Sister Betsy Jean. I did not know the gentle side until years later when we were no longer in the post. She allowed me to see her “farmer” side. I heard the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan say at a meeting that they had found a way to grow food that was 98 percent toxin free. I was very interested in this, so I called the National House to get more information. The secretary wrote down my message, and a few hours later Sister Betsy Jean called me to invite me to the Michigan Farm to learn the process. She told me don’t come dressy, wear your coveralls and boots.

I rode up with one of the cooks of Minister Farrakhan and spent the day learning about the process. I learned about red wrigglers (worms) who eat organic waste and turn it into nutrient rich fertilizers. Sister Betsy Jean loved those red wrigglers and took good care of them. She did all of this out of love for her father so that his food would not have the toxicity of chemicals and fertilizers that can cause illnesses in the body.

After a long day, we went to eat and we laughed and joked until I had to leave to go back to the farm to go home.

I recently saw her and we spent the day reminiscing about our days together.

May Allah (God) bless this standard of Womanhood, Defender of the Faith of Islam, Exemplar of Divine Elegance and Grace. A sparkling diamond, like unto a star.

She had stopped calling me Charlene and called me “Sha Sha.” Her last words she ever spoke to me were “I love you, Sha Sha.”

I love you too, Sister Captain Betsy Jean. You are my Captain, my sister and my friend.

May Allah grant you Jannah (paradise).

Sister Charlene Muhammad served as National M.G.T. & G.C.C. Captain from 1993-1996.

The post In Their Own Words: Nation of Islam National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captains share reflections on Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan appeared first on Final Call News.

The grand jury concluded that the position, condition and location of Nolan’s body were consistent with drowning. It also reported finding no credible evidence of criminal conduct by anyone who traveled to or from Horn Island on July 4.

The grand jury was impaneled on April 20 (for its term), and reconvened on Sept. 14 and adjourned on Sept. 18. The Jackson County, Miss., District Attorney’s office released a redacted version of the grand jury report on the evening of Sept. 21.

“Elmore and I have read through the report page by page more than once. What we have learned is that we still have no answers, and the report reinforced the fact that Nolan was not given a thorough, transparent and honest investigation,” Christine Wonsley said at a Sept. 22 press conference in response to the grand jury decision.

The panel consisted of 23 jurors. Twelve of the jurors were White, five were Black, two were Hispanic, two were Native American, one was Asian and one identified their race as “other.” The jury issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses. 

The jury considered evidence collected during the investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, including physical and digital evidence, interviews, recorded statements, images, videos, recordings, maps, GPS data and location data, according to the report. It also considered reports on Nolan’s cellphone by his family’s forensic examiner.

Nolan traveled from his hometown of Ocean Springs, Miss., to Horn Island. He was pictured on a boat with three young White men, who returned to the mainland without him. His phone was returned to the mainland with the group.

The grand jury report cited findings from both the Mississippi State Medical Examiner and forensic pathologist, Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., who conducted an independent autopsy in July. Both classified the cause and manner of Nolan’s death as undetermined. Drowning is considered a diagnosis of exclusion in forensic pathology.

“That means all other causes must be ruled out prior to certifying a death as drowning. What is another potential cause that the district attorney failed to rule out? Blunt force trauma,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is part of the family’s legal team, said at the press conference.

In the independent autopsy, Dr. Mitchell found red discoloration in the soft tissue at the back of Nolan’s head, which he later determined to be blood, according to the full autopsy report. The state medical examiner’s autopsy report also documented two contusions on the back of Nolan’s head. Neither autopsy established how the injuries occurred.

A witness told the grand jury he saw Nolan slip off the side of a boat around 3:30 p.m. on July 4 but could not say whether Nolan struck his head, according to the report. He said Nolan didn’t appear to be injured. The grand jury did not establish how Nolan sustained the bruising.

“Nolan was a college football player on scholarship in tip-top shape, supreme physical condition, but apparently, they say he drowned in shallow waters. How do you explain that? They say we’ll never know,” Atty. Crump said.

“How do you explain that he stayed on the island after his friends left? Why did he stay? We’ll never know, they say. Two medical examiners found contusions on the back of Nolan’s head and bruises.  Dr. Roger Mitchell found bruises on his back. What caused them, and did they contribute to his death? We’ll never know, they say.”

The final pages of the grand jury report addressed social media narratives surrounding Nolan’s death.  Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath posted a video statement alongside the report, accusing Nolan’s legal team of “fanning the flames” of allegations that his death was connected to racial hatred or violence.

Atty. Crump challenged the district attorney’s words. “Don’t attack these parents. Don’t attack us supporting these parents for doing the same exact thing that you would do if it was your child,” he said, adding that her accusations against the legal team are only a distraction.

“Ben Crump and our legal team, we aren’t the issue.  And DA McIlrath and her office, they aren’t the issue. The issue is what really happened to Nolan Xavier Wells,” he said.

The legal team held a separate press conference on Sept. 24 to reveal findings from an independent forensic examination of Nolan’s cellphone. The examination was conducted by Garrett Discovery, a digital forensics firm retained by the family, and led by the firm’s chief executive officer, Andrew Garrett.

Mr. Garrett said the examination established that Nolan’s cellphone remained aboard the boat and that Nolan last accessed the device at approximately 2:18 p.m. on July 4. The examination recovered Snapchat messages, GPS information and other digital records, including messages that continued syncing to the phone after Nolan’s death due to active group conversations. 

Mr. Garrett played a video depicting where the phone was traveling while on the boat. He reported that data had been deleted from the phone between the time Nolan last possessed it and the time his family recovered it. He did not establish who deleted the data or why it was deleted.

In both press conferences, Nolan’s family and their legal team questioned whether the investigation into Nolan’s death was thorough and whether witnesses provided meaningful testimony before the grand jury. Grand jury proceedings are generally conducted in secret, and the family’s legal team did not participate in the proceedings. 

“This lawyer that I know who worked for the prosecutor’s office for years, his position has always been that the grand jury does what the prosecutor tells them,” Houston-based attorney Pamela Muhammad said to The Final Call. “The prosecutor, all they have to do is find that there’s probable cause that a crime occurred, looking at the evidence. They don’t have to prove the case.”

For Atty. Muhammad, Nolan’s case is another example of “Black youth dying under suspicious and questionable circumstances.”

“The questions that are being asked by the family and the concerns being raised by the way the case was investigated and ultimately the grand jury process, which ended with this no bill, raises the question as to whether or not there was a deliberative body process that was done with justice,” she said.

The legal team has released Dr. Mitchell’s independent autopsy report and the state medical examiner’s autopsy report. The family and their attorneys are calling for the investigation to remain open and active and for the district attorney’s office to release the investigative file.

In its report, the grand jury acknowledged that if additional credible evidence emerges suggesting Nolan’s death was non-accidental, the matter could be presented to a grand jury again.

The family is also requesting that the U.S. Department of Justice conduct an independent federal review.  Atty. Crump announced a tentative press conference for Oct. 1 in Atlanta, where Dr. Mitchell will explain both autopsy reports.

Elmore Wonsley, Nolan’s father, urged supporters to continue asking the question of what happened to Nolan Wells. “Please continue to ask that question,” he said. “Continue to speak his name, because he’s not a hashtag.  He’s our son.”

The post Nolan Wells’ family still asking  ‘what happened’ after grand jury report appeared first on Final Call News.

That statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres on the organization’s website touting its 81st General Assembly meeting in New York was an issue raised by world leaders Sept. 22-26 as genocide in Palestine took a prominent position in statements delivered by presidents and heads of state.

Is the UN still relevant in an era of war and the genocide of the Palestinian people?

The president of France condemned the genocide being carried out by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank while also questioning the credibility and effectiveness of the world body.

“One year ago, several dozen states in the United Nations recognized Palestine,” a passionate Emmanuel Macron told heads of state Sept. 22. “You recognized it on paper. … But what is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza?”

Mr. Macron pointed out Israel’s daily violations of international law. He referenced the violence by Israeli settlers with the military’s support on Palestinians in the West Bank and the continued bombing of civilians in Gaza.

“What we need is respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, their legitimate right to exist,” he said, describing the situation in Palestine as “shameful.”

Denouncing the attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, an action that Israel claims justifies its genocidal response, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres said Israel’s “scale of killing and destruction” is unlike anything he has seen in his years as secretary-general.

He said Israel has ignored and violated legally binding provisions by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In past statements, he has cited Israel’s killing more humanitarian and aid workers in Gaza, claiming the deaths mark the highest loss of life in a single crisis in UN history.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports 560-595 humanitarian and aid workers have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023.

“Violence, displacement and settlement expansion by Israel in the Occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace and raising the specter of ethnic cleansing. We cannot allow the two-State solution to disappear before our eyes,” he said.

Turkiye President Recep Tayyib Erdogan called Gaza “the world’s largest graveyard for children” and a place where the highest rate for child amputees exists. He said despite an internationally recognized ceasefire in Gaza and Hamas’s agreement to move to the second phase of the peace plan established by the U.S., “the Israeli Government is unwilling to halt the occupation.”

In its 81-year existence, “the UN has become unable to fulfill this mission,” he said.

Qatar, the Gulf nation instrumental in helping to negotiate past disputes and currently involved in helping to resolve the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, said the “arrogance and hubris” of Israel has affected the security of the Gulf region.

“Future generations will be astonished by the enormous gap between the scale of the catastrophe and the level of the international response to stop it. The law must apply equally to all,” said Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar.

Speaking for the UK and Northern Ireland, Prime Minister Andy Burnham condemned Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed 1,200 concert goers and 251 hostages, but said that does not justify Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. To date, over 73,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

He said a construction project planned by Israel would divide the West Bank to the point of making a two-state solution beyond reach.

Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama questioned the “might makes right” attitude of some superpower nations and using veto power as a “license for impunity.” The Palestinian genocide highlights the UN’s crisis of credibility, he said.

“We must stop using diplomatic euphemisms to veil the human carnage taking place in Gaza. How many more innocent lives must be lost before the world acts with decisive moral authority?

The blood of five-year-old Hind Rajab, and the more than 20,000 children killed in this brutal conflict, cries out to the conscience of the world,” he said, referencing the Palestinian child whose car—along with the ambulance and Red Crescent paramedics sent to rescue her—was bombed Jan. 29, 2024.

By Israeli forces as she was on a cell phone call with the Red Crescent. She had initially survived Israeli gunfire that claimed the lives of family members in the vehicle.

Even as criticisms were being launched, Israeli forces were bulldozing olive trees in Palestinian West Bank communities as harvest season approaches and killed seven Palestinians across the region, according to news reports.

In a Sept. 23 incident, an Israeli drone attack on a vehicle near the city of Khan Younis killed two people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified one victim as a senior Hamas finance official, reports said.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s so-called Board of Peace proposed a $2.4 billion plan to begin reconstruction in the Gaza Strip.

Denied an entry visa by the Trump administration, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, which has “observer status” to the UN, delivered a statement via a pre-recorded video. He declared the denial of entry is a violation of the obligation of the U.S. as the host country and that Palestine had accepted President Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza.

“What is the international community waiting for in order to protect the Palestinian people, ensure their continued presence on their land and … implement the two-state solution on the basis of international legitimacy?” he asked.

He said the destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza is to cause Palestinians to voluntarily leave their land. To the Palestinian people, he said: “You have painted the greatest picture of pride and dignity by holding steadfastly onto your land, your unity, and your legitimate rights. We will not accept displacement, and we will not allow anyone to decide our future on our behalf. We decide for ourselves.”

A flood of delegates rose to exit the assembly when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approached the podium to deliver his message, trying to justify the atrocities of his government.

He leveled unsubstantiated claims against New York Mayor Mamdani for creating an atmosphere of fear for Jews in New York.

Mr. Netanyahu highlighted “the hypocrisy” of Britain and France for calling Israel a colonial state, saying those countries invented the term. He claimed Israel was “a nation of laws.”

“They assure us that Israel is a country governed by laws,” countered Jordan’s King Abdullah bin Al Hussein. “Yet, what is happening on the ground says otherwise.”

He described Israeli soldiers watching or protecting as settlers attack Palestinians and the targeting of international journalists and medical professionals. He criticized the world body for its short attention span that determines which conflicts receive sustained diplomacy and which fade from the agenda.

“For decades, I have stood before this Assembly and warned of the dangers of leaving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict unresolved. But the international community chose to manage the conflict, not confront it,” he said. “If international law can be ignored for decades, then what exactly is that law worth?”

The post World leaders question UN’s relevance in era of war and genocide appeared first on Final Call News.

The post Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan appeared first on Final Call News.

PHOENIX—Muhammad Mosque No. 32 brought the Nation of Islam’s Musical Ensemble “Sounds of Harmony” concert tour to a sold-out theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, offering an evening in which music became a vehicle for healing, inspiration and a glimpse into what is possible.

The evening was riveting as the theatre was filled with sounds that were emotional, piercing and stirring. For many the Sept. 5 event was their first time attending a concert highlighting classical music. The experience was described as “amazing, incredible and inspiring.”

The works of Beethoven, Bach and Schubert filled the theatre, alongside original compositions by the talented members of the ensemble. Between performances, videos of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan were the backdrop; highlighting his musical journey and the special influences of his mother Sumayyah Farrakhan and his wife Mother Khadijah Farrakhan.

For those who attended, the evening was more than an opportunity to hear beautiful music performed by youth and young adults whose skill, to many, seemed far beyond their age. Audience members described being moved spiritually and emotionally.

Parents saw possibilities for their children. Guests heard the healing power of music. Young people saw themselves reflected onstage and were inspired by the idea they can one day be musicians too with a new appreciation for classical music. Throughout the evening, one theme continued to resonate:Our future is indeed bright.

Nation of Islam Western Regional Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad explained that when the ensemble performed in Los Angeles, believers from Phoenix were there to witness it. “They were so inspired and said, we want to be next.”

That desire set in motion the work of bringing Sounds of Harmony to the Valley of the Sun. For Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid, what was experienced in Los Angeles went far beyond entertainment. “You could feel the healing power of the music coming from these young people.”

The Sounds of Harmony represents an important step toward fulfilling the desire of Minister Farrakhan for the establishment of a Nation of Islam Symphony Orchestra.

The Shura Executive Council of the Nation of Islam began taking steps to bring the desire of Minister Farrakhan to life by creating opportunities for the ensemble to showcase its talents throughout the Nation. Those efforts developed into the Sounds of Harmony concert tour, which began in the summer of 2024.

Minister Farrakhan offered words of encouragement to members of the ensemble on February 25, 2024, at Saviours’ Day in Detroit: “All of you were so great, we have a talented family among us, and I want to encourage you to keep going and inspiring others to pick up an instrument and let’s make The Nation of Islam Symphony Orchestra a reality!”

For Sister Kameela Latif, the music reached somewhere deeply personal. “My experience was very spiritual,” she said. “I was feeling very emotional while I was listening to the music, and I was also feeling joy and happiness.”

She was particularly moved to see young musicians performing compositions of their own. “Their compositions were beautiful,” she said. “They really touched me.” The most meaningful moment came from her son. After watching the young musicians perform, he said, “Mom, I believe I can do this too.” 

Student Western Regional M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain Sajdah Karriem expressed similar pride as she watched the young musicians. “I am so excited about this event,” she said. “I’m so proud of our young people. It’s amazing to see them at this age playing these instruments.” 

For Sister Alitash Muhammad, who comes from a musical background, the concert was “absolutely electrifying.” She described it as beautiful and heartfelt. Her appreciation extended across the entire ensemble.

“I loved every single instrument all the way down to the cymbals, because I come from a musical background.” She was also moved that the tour came West. “I feel honored that they’ve come to the West Coast … to show their love for Phoenix, Arizona. I love that.”

Sister Maryam Muhammad was excited to see “the beautiful music, the beautiful talent.” She is the mother of 10 children, nine of whom play musical instruments. “We have classical, we have guitar, drums, piano, violin, viola, cello,” she said. “We’re trying to build our own little orchestra here.”

Sister Rashida Muhammad was inspired saying, “I think when given the opportunity, it just shows you the abilities that it doesn’t matter the age,” she said. “You don’t have to be a certain age to become successful or to master something.

When you have a made-up mind and a willing spirit, you can do anything.” Seeing young people accomplish something so extraordinary is simply “beautiful,” she added.

For Sis. Sakinah Muhammad, seeing young people represented within the ensemble created a connection to her generation. “I think it connects to us, especially having a lot of the ensemble representing the youth as well,” she said.

“We are a very musical generation. I love music. I’m always at concerts. I’m always at other people’s concerts,” Sis. Sakinah continued. “It’s good to finally be able to attend one of our concerts as well.” 

Interim Student Minister Tremikus Muhammad of Mosque No. 32 had previously experienced the tour in Los Angeles. He thought he might experience the same concert again. What he encountered surprised him.

“I thought that I would see the same thing that I saw in L.A.,” he said. “But I didn’t. The spirit was new. And the spirit still touched me. This is an experience that is unimaginable, unspeakable,” he said. “You have to have it for yourself.”

For him, their presence challenges an image of Black youth too often associated with violence and chaos and replaces it with another image—one of young people who are highly gifted, intelligent, spiritually grounded and capable of translating their gifts through music.

The evening’s program demonstrated the breadth of the ensemble’s musical development. Act I included Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 5, performed by Bro. Timothy Muhammad, and Dmitry Kabalevsky’s Concerto in C Major, Op. 48, performed by violinist Bro. Abdul-Malik Muhammad with Sis. Vivian Mosley accompanied on piano.

The String Ensemble performed the third movement of J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor. Sis. Khadijah Y. Muhammad, soprano and vocalist also performed Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” with Sis. Vivian on piano.

The selection was presented as a tribute to Mother Sumayyah Farrakhan, the mother of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. That tribute carried particular meaning given the role Minister Farrakhan’s mother played in nurturing his musical gifts during his childhood.

Act II continued the connection between music and family with Jules Massenet’s “Meditation (from Thaïs),” presented as a tribute to Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, wife of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

The mistress and master of ceremony Sis. Arian Muhammad and Bro. Nasir Muhammad navigated everyone through the program as guests enjoyed performances by Bro. Markel Reed of “Ain’t Got Time to Die” and “Don’t Feel No-Ways Tired.”

The concert also gave everyone an opportunity to hear original compositions including “Evolution” by E.W. Hardy performed by Sis. Amirah I. Muhammad, “Moon” by Bro. Henry Leon Akbarkhan Muhammad, “Avenger” ‘

by Bro. Abdul Karriem Muhammad, and “The Wheel” by Bro. Farrad Muhammad. The evening concluded with “The Fight Song,” by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, performed by the ensemble.

Brother Hashim Hakim was in Phoenix for rehabilitation following a serious automobile accident. At one point, he said, doctors told him he would remain paralyzed. “I didn’t ever think I’d be able to come,” he said of the concert. “But I came to Phoenix for rehab and got blessed with the tour in Phoenix,”  Bro. Hashim continued.

“The doctor told me I would be paralyzed forever,” he said. “But Allah (God) said, ‘I’m your doctor.’ And now I’m here.” Brother Hashim is an artist himself, and his relationship with music has been central to his recovery. “Second to Allah, music has been my healing agent,” he said. 

Student National Secretary and Shura Executive Council Member Sa’ad Alim Muhammad has watched the performers develop as the tour has traveled. “What we’re seeing and discovering is that the young performers are becoming so much more confident and comfortable being on stage and presenting their craft.”

They have traveled to at least eight major cities around the country. At tender ages, they are learning that their gifts can carry them beyond their hometowns and introduce them to people and places throughout the country.

The tour stop in Phoenix was special to vocalist, Sis. Khadijah Muhammad. She had never visited Phoenix. “It’s been amazing, actually,” she said. “Just seeing the mountains was beautiful,” she said. “The believers have been beautiful.”

She also had an opportunity to see the Phoenix home of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. 

Brother Sa’ad also spoke about Phoenix’s significance within the Nation of Islam. He pointed to its history and its connection to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, describing Phoenix and Chicago as distinctive places where he established residences and could find comfort and quiet of mind. “You all are special in Phoenix.”

The post Sounds of Harmony brings music, healing and inspiration to Phoenix appeared first on Final Call News.

The federal lawsuit, filed on Sept. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that the administration’s planned discounted grocery stores constitute illegal predatory pricing and antitrust violations.

Since launching his 2024 mayoral campaign, Mr. Mamdani has centered his platform on restoring affordability across New York, which is currently ranked among the top 10 most expensive states in the nation.

Since winning office, the mayor has embedded an ambitious “Affordability Agenda,” designed to lower daily expenses for working-class New Yorkers burdened by the surging cost of living, into the administration’s policies.

As one of the latest expansions of the administration’s broader agenda, Mayor Mamdani announced that his office, along with other New York officials and the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), are proposing a new grocery store initiative, the “N.Y.C. Groceries: Recipe for Affordability.”

The proposal aims to use $70 million in public capital funds to build one municipally owned store on city-owned property in each of the five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

The stores would offer a 30% discount on essential goods like meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables. The goal is to combat the average rise in grocery prices in New York since 2020.

While the mayor, who was sworn in Jan. 1 of this year, says this initiative will lower the cost of living for New Yorkers, attorneys and supporters of the lawsuit against him claim the plan would leave private grocery store owners with a larger bill to pay in an already financially taxing industry.

The city’s grocery stores would not pay rent or property taxes and would receive substantial municipal financial support. This would allow them to lower prices without adding financial strain. Local grocers, which must pay for everything from rent to electricity bills to full price on staple goods, simply cannot afford to lower their prices.

The lawsuit claims that the mayor’s proposed city-run grocery stores’ low prices would create unfair competition for small local markets.

Mark Jaffe, is President and CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce. He told The Final Call that the greater concern is that if local marketers go out of business because they can’t compete with the government’s low grocery prices, city-run stores would then begin to hike prices. This could create a monopoly in the New York food industry, supporters of the lawsuit argue. 

The National Supermarket Association’s federal lawsuit comes just weeks after the Multicultural Business Coalition filed two state lawsuits to block the establishment of Mayor Mamdani’s plan.

The Multicultural Business Coalition’s first lawsuit argues that the plan violates the civil rights of local business owners. The second challenges the city’s authority to launch the plan without conducting proper economic reviews or assessments.

Still, despite the pending lawsuits, critics say they are looking for tangible collaboration with the mayor’s office.

“We could avoid all of these lawsuits if the mayor would just sit down with us and say, “How can we best help business in New York? That’s really what it comes down to. But to date, the mayor’s office has not wanted to sit down and do that,” Don Rogeriers, strategic advisor to the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, told The Final Call.

“When you really look at it from a New York economic perspective and how that impacts the businesses in New York, it’s simply not fair to use taxpayer-funded money to compete with businesses who are struggling,” he added.

Mayor Mamdani, meanwhile, maintains his confidence in establishing the city-owned stores. During a city press conference on Aug. 24, he said in part, “I continue to be fully confident in both the legality and the importance of our initiative to deliver five city-run grocery stores, one in each borough, to the people of our city.”

“We are talking about a reflection of a cost of living crisis that has seen grocery prices increase by about 30% over the last few years, and we’re also talking about delivering five city-run grocery stores in a city of 8.5 million people that has more than a thousand grocery stores,” he added.

“And we’ve seen, in fact, with Essex Street Market in Manhattan, as well as, more Street Market in Brooklyn, a model where the city has subsidized groceries and it has not had a negative effect on bodegas around them or on grocery stores around them,” said Mayor Mamdani.

The first city-run grocery store is slated to open by 2027 in Hunts Point, a historic food desert, replacing the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility on 20,000 square feet of municipal land in the Bronx.

The post Food fight in NYC: Mayor Mamdani sued over city-owned grocery stores appeared first on Final Call News.

Seven Republicans joined the Democrats to pass the mostly symbolic measure that can be vetoed if it reaches the president’s desk.

The House passed the measure on Sept. 15. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the unprovoked attack on Feb. 28.

The vote and allegations came as a front in the war opened wider as Iran-backed Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces advanced in its fight to control the Bab Al Mandeb Strait, the second critical waterway in the Gulf region through which Saudi Arabia ships crude oil.

Prior to the war, the Strait of Hormuz, now controlled by Iran, accounted for about 20% of the world’s crude oil shipments, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, while Bab al Mandeb accounted 5%-9%.

In a perhaps surprising and unexpected move, a reported request from Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for U.S. military assistance to halt advancing Ansar Allah forces was rebuffed by President Trump, deciding instead to provide the Kingdom with military intelligence.

“There is no sense in Washington that the U.S. owes the Saudis anything,” said Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), emphasizing the “transactional” nature of Trump administration’s relationships.

“The Trump administration has said that explicitly about NATO countries, that we have no obligation to support them. This is just one more example that the Saudis are not special in that way.”

She said Persian Gulf countries that rely on U.S. military protection may seek other means of security while not necessarily moving completely away from the U.S. “Some may look for other options, some may try to normalize their relationship with Iran,” she said. “They’re seeing they can’t count on the U.S. for what they thought were promises of what they’d get for hosting a military base in their country.”

The War Powers vote might have been influenced by a Sept. 15 government watchdog report that quantified significant war-related hardware and facility losses previously known but not widely reported.

Compounding the administration’s problems are Sept. 18 reports by The Washington Post that four more service members died than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, and UN allegations that the U.S. committed war crimes for the bombings of a school and sports facility at the beginning of the war.

Watchdogs confirm damage

An Inspector General’s report that included information from watchdog groups for the Defense and State departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development revealed Iranian missiles damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures on U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

Iranian attacks compromised dozens of U.S. airplanes and drones, including MQ-9 Reaper drones and KC-135 refueling planes. Reaper drones cost $30 million each, the report noted.

At the same time, according to the report, the State Department negotiated sales of more than $44 billion in emergency and non-emergency military products to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.  Sales included military helicopters, munitions and munitions support as well as advanced precision weapons systems, the report said.

The War Powers vote took place as nervous Republican legislators return home to campaign for November midterm elections. They know they will face voters who mostly oppose the war and are tired of rising gas and food prices.

The BBC reported that a barrel of oil cost $72.48 at the start of the war. A barrel was priced at $103.47 on Sept. 18, according to oilprice.com.

Iowa’s two Republican representatives, both military veterans, voted in favor of the War Powers resolution. Both opposed it in previous votes.

“I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump. The Iranian regime and its nuclear ambitions have been defanged. The President needs to present a plan to Congress and the American people for how these ends so we can focus on bringing our soldiers home and lowering prices,” said Rep. Marionnette Miller-Meeks.

Referencing two Iowans killed in a drone attack in Kuwait, Rep. Zach Nunn said, “Congress owes them, their families, and every American in uniform clear objectives and constitutional oversight. With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization. … We can defend Americans, pressure Iran, and pursue peace while ensuring Congress fulfills its constitutional responsibility.”

Other Republicans voting for the resolution were Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Warren Davisson (Ohio), Tom Barrett (Mich.), and Nancy Mace (S.C.).

The Senate has narrowly voted to oppose a resolution on two previous occasions and has not voted since July 30.

No U.S. strategy in Iran war

With the Strait of Hormuz controlled by Iran, the U.S. and other nations were concerned that Iran-allied Ansar Allah would seize control of the Bab Al Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.

Prince bin Salman made two calls to President Trump Sept. 10, one asking for military strikes on Ansar Allah forces, according to news reports. Ansar Allah succeeded in securing Bab al Mandeb coastal territory and the island of Perim (also known as Mayyum) giving them control of the waterway.

Ansar Allah forces, however, signaled to the international community that shipping through the strait remains safe for ships, except those from Saudi Arabia.

The conflict between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia began in 2014 when Ansar Allah captured the capital city Sana’a from the transitional government of Abdurabbuh Mansur Hadi.

In 2015, Mr. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia from which Operation Decisive Storm—a Saudi-led coalition of forces to reinstate Mr. Hadi—was launched. Today, the civil war continues with Ansar Allah controlling one third of Yemen. President Rashad Al-Amini leads the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized Yemen government.

The lack of U.S. strategic planning has been a major criticism of Mr. Trump’s “unnecessary war,” according to Morgan State University political science professor Wilmer Leon.

“If the Trump administration had a plan, then how to deal with the Saudi situation would have been part of the plan. Because there was no plan, there was no process to deal with peripheral issues,” he told The Final Call.

He recounted the U.S.’ role in creating what’s happening between the Saudis and Ansar Allah.  The (Barack) Obama administration encouraged the Saudis to fight Yemen, he said, adding the Biden administration later labeled Ansar Allah as a terrorist group during a time when the Saudis and Ansar Allah were negotiating a peace treaty.

‘They blew the hell out of Bahrain’

Evidence of the lack of planning has been seen in depleted weapons stockpiles, lengthy troop deployments, maintenance issues on ships, depletion of emergency fuel stockpiles, and low morale among military personnel, among other issues.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier recently was ordered to return to port after more than 10 months at sea resulting in unsustainable conditions on the ship and among shipmates.

Two U.S. officials who spoke to The Intercept news told of early miscalculations in the U.S. strategy: one, that Iran would buckle under the size of the U.S. Navy presence; two, the U.S.’ mission was seriously crippled at the outset when Iranian missiles destroyed the U.S. Navy logistics hub in Bahrain.

“They blew the hell out of Bahrain,” Navy Secretary Hung Cao would later admit in an interview with The Epoch Times, the damage of which was documented in the Inspector General’s report.

Dr. Leon said the USS Gerald Ford is an example of the lack of strategy and planning by the U.S. Iran knows it can’t defeat the Navy ships, so they just cut off  the fleets’ supply chain, he said.

“Iran says, ‘It’s gonna need water. They’re gonna need food. They’re going to need to be resupplied,’” Dr. Leon said.

“So, they strike the base that supplies the ship. They don’t have to attack the ship. The ship will eventually leave because it can’t support itself and that takes us back to the adage: You have the watches, but we have the time.”

The post U.S. grows weary of Iran war appeared first on Final Call News.

This year also marks 40 years since U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 into law, which established federal mandatory minimum prison sentences for specified drug-trafficking offenses and created the notorious 100-to-1 crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity that disproportionately harmed Black people.

How does Minister Farrakhan’s experience relate to moves and policies of the U.S. government toward Black people?

Before the crack epidemic of the mid-1980s, powder cocaine was frequently associated in popular culture with wealth, celebrities and nightlife. But with the emergence of crack cocaine, a shift happened, as television drug coverage increasingly linked crack cocaine to poor urban communities.

A 1994 study examined 270 television news reports broadcast between 1981 and 1988 and described the resulting coverage as a broader “cocaine narrative” shaped by race, class, gender and age. 

The association between crack cocaine and Black people developed alongside the U.S. government’s escalating so-called “War on Drugs” and tough-on-crime policies, whose enforcement, sentencing and incarceration consequences decimated Black communities. 

Forty years later, mass incarceration continues to disproportionately affect Black people; Black youth remain disproportionately exposed to exclusionary school discipline policies, and law enforcement continues to be militarized. 

These 40 years of government programs, policies and actions harming Black people did not arise in a vacuum. In fact, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Received forewarning of the government’s plans for Black people and in particular, Black youth, on Sept. 17, 1985, in his More-Than-A-Vision Experience, where he heard directly from his teacher. What Minister Farrakhan received from his teacher on September 17, 1985, is unfolding today.

The Announcement

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan delivered a press conference at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 24, 1989, detailing his experience on The Wheel (so-called UFO) and the plans of the U.S. government toward himself, the Nation of Islam, Black people and Black youth.

“As The Wheel lifted off from the side of the mountain, moving at a terrific speed, I knew I was being transported to the Mother Wheel, which is a human-built planet, a half-mile by a half-mile that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad had taught us of for nearly 60 years,” Minister Farrakhan shared.

After the pilot docked into a tunnel on the Mother Wheel, Minister Farrakhan was escorted to a door and admitted into a room. While in the room, Minister Farrakhan heard the voice of his teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, from a speaker on the ceiling.

“He said, ‘President Reagan has met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan a war. I want you to hold a press conference in Washington, D. C., and announce their plan and say to the world that you got the information from me, Elijah Muhammad, on The Wheel,’” Minister Farrakhan recounted.

As events began to unfold across 1985 and 1986, it began to dawn on Minister Farrakhan that the “war” his teacher told him of was against Muammar Gadhafi and the people of Libya.

He shared his Vision-Like Experience for the first time during a trip to Tripoli, Libya, on March 16, 1986, where he spoke to representatives of approximately 80 nations. One year later, in 1987, major publications verified what the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad told him.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution ran an article where “the exact words that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke to me on The Wheel were found; that the President had met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and planned a war against Libya in the early part of September 1985,” Minister Farrakhan said.

But all the while, as the U.S. planned to wage war against Libya, the U.S. government simultaneously planned a war against Black people in America. 

“The reason that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad did not tell me who the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff had planned the war against was because Muammar Gadhafi, the Muslim Revolutionary leader, and the small nation of Libya, was only to serve as a sign of an even more significant and consequential war, which would come several years later,” Minister Farrakhan said.

He then announced that “President Bush has met with his Joint Chiefs of Staff, under the direction of General Colin Powell, to plan a war against the Black people of America, the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan, with particular emphasis on our Black youth, under the guise of a war against drug sellers, drug users, gangs and violence, all under the heading of extremely urgent national security.”

Minister Farrakhan laid out the F.B.I.’s campaign to destroy Black leadership, the “dirty tactics” used against those who fight for justice, the illegal surveillance and wiretapping of Black leaders and the agents planted in Black organizations, including the Nation of Islam. He also shared how the American press had been “feeding the public the image of Black youth on a rampage.” 

“The image the American public gets is that when it comes to gangs, violence and drugs, that the gang leaders are Black; the violence is Black; the drug sellers are Black and the majority of drug users are Black. Our youth are being portrayed as the perpetrators of violence,” Minister Farrakhan said.

He brought up desires by police to carryheavier weapons and to have backup from the National Guard and other federal troops. He also warned that certain areas of the country had been targeted to test those “new weapons” and “certain kinds of gases.”

“This is being planned to be executed against Black youth in several major cities in the country, one of which is Washington, D.C.,” he warned. He accused “outside forces from within the White community,” including White police officers, of fomenting and manipulating gang activity to justify the government’s plans against the Black community.

“All of this has been planned and is now being carried out under the pretext of national security and to maintain, preserve and protect an increasingly corrupt and unjust social and political order,” Minister Farrakhan said.

Actions, programs and policies of the U.S. government, 1986-1989

In the years between Minister’s Farrakhan’s More-Than-A-Vision Experience in 1985 and his announcement detailing the plans of the U.S. government in 1989, President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986;

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which imposed a five-year mandatory minimum for a first offender’s possession of more than five grams of crack cocaine; and, as part of the 1988 law, the Public Housing Drug Elimination Act of 1988, which authorized federal grants to eliminate drug-related crime in public housing.

In September 1989, in his first major televised address, President George H.W. Bush called drugs “the gravest domestic threat facing our nation today.” His administration then designated five initial “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas,” and concentrated additional federal drug-enforcement resources in those areas.

Mainstream media reinforced the U.S. government’s so-called “War on Drugs” by painting Black people and Black youth in a negative light. In a December 1986 Time magazine story, young Black men were referred to as a “lost generation” that America feared. The story opened with graphic descriptions linking young Black men to guns, gang membership, robbery and cocaine dealing.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, terms and narratives such as “the underclass,” the “crack mother,” the “welfare queen” and the “crack baby” began to proliferate in news accounts.

White middle-class cocaine-using pregnant women were described as psychologically addicted, guilt-ridden and motivated to seek treatment, while poor Black women were accused of being mindlessly addicted.

Knowingly exposing their fetuses to crack and unwilling to enter treatment, according to a 1998 study by Drew Humphries, a former professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University.

The 1988 presidential campaign further nationalized the image of the “dangerous Black criminal” through the Willie Horton controversy. Mr. Horton was a Black convicted felon who committed kidnapping, armed robbery and rape.

An independent political action committee supporting George H.W. Bush aired the infamous advertisement featuring his mugshot, while Bush’s campaign separately made the incident a major campaign issue.

And in 1989, media outlets described the Central Park Five, four Black teenagers and one Latino teenager who were wrongfully convicted in connection with the assault and rape of a White jogger, as a “wolf pack,” participating in “wilding.” 

These events provided a context for Minister Farrakhan’s words in 1989. But the program of the U.S. government against Black youth continued long after.

The continued war on Black youth

After Minister Farrakhan’s announcement, beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, federal law expanded the National Guard’s role in drug interdiction and counterdrug operations and broadened authorizations related to transferring military equipment and vehicles to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. 

The George H.W. Bush administration created Operation Weed and Seed in 1991, which targeted illegal drug use and trafficking among “high-risk youth in drug and crime-ridden neighborhoods,” with the promise of also funding prevention, treatment and neighborhood revitalization.

The year 1994 was shaped by the 1994 Crime Bill that expanded policing and introduced the federal “three strikes and you’re out” provision that critics and researchers have linked to aiding in mass incarceration and the destruction of the Black family;

And the Gun-Free Schools Act that required states receiving federal education funds to implement a minimum one-year expulsion for students bringing a firearm to school, contributing to the broader zero-tolerance disciplinary environment later associated with the school-to-prison pipeline.

Also in the early 1990s, states enacted laws making it easier to try juveniles as adults. By 1997, some states allowed transfer to adult court at young ages. 

All the while, the American press continued to feed the narrative of Black youth as “menaces to society.” Following the 1994 Crime Bill, Princeton political scientist John DiIulio introduced the term: “superpredator” in a 1995 Weekly Standard article.

One year later, former First Lady Hillary Clinton picked up the word while discussing youth crime. The Marshall Project later examined nearly 300 uses of “superpredator” in 40 leading newspapers and magazines from 1995–2000.

The late 1990s were marked by the continued “War on Drugs,” continued militarization efforts related to the National Guard and military equipment and vehicles, the expansion of law enforcement officers in schools and major police-corruption scandals.

These themes—the “War on Drugs,” the school-to-prison pipeline, and militarization—have continued throughout the 2000s, 2010s, and up to the present day. 

In 2017, reminiscent of the Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) era, the F.B.I. Counterterrorism Division produced an intelligence assessment titled: “Black Identity Extremists Likely Motivated to Target Law Enforcement Officers,” which raised concerns about the government’s targeting of Black activists.

With expanded policing and the militarization of America’s cities, what the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned about in his 1989 announcement, based on his More-Than-A-Vision-Like Experience in 1985, has continued to unfold and come to pass. 

Most recently, between January 2025 and August 2026, President Donald Trump rescinded former President Joseph Biden administration-era restrictions on the federal military-equipment program for police, directed the Departments of Justice and Defense to increase the provision of military equipment to state and local law enforcement.

Federalized at least 2,000 California National Guard personnel in Los Angeles following protests over federal immigration enforcement. The Trump administration also mobilized the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and directed the National Guard in Memphis, Tennessee, a majority-Black city, to support local law enforcement operations. 

As of August 2026, roughly 4,500 National Guard troops remained deployed in Washington, D.C., according to Reuters, alongside hundreds of federal agents functioning in roles resembling ordinary local policing. The deployment has now been extended through January 2029.

As the U.S. government’s war against Black people and Black youth expands and continues, the reality of what Minister Farrakhan received on The Wheel from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad continues to be manifest, showing and proving that he is Allah’s (God’s) Anointed Servant and a Divine Warner to Black people and the world.

Minister Farrakhan offered final words of warning at his 1989 press conference, saying if he is “in your mind” a hater, an anti-Semite or a wild-eyed radical, then “you have nothing to fear from my presence.” But if he is, in reality, “an extension of the Divine Warnings given to you from the Honorable Elijah Muhamma.

Then be instructed that you would do well to leave me alone; to leave the Nation of Islam alone; and to cease and desist from your evil planning against the future of the Black people of America and the world. For the Black people of America, though despised and rejected, have now become the people of God, and He has declared that He will fight you for their liberation.”

He warned America’s president and government that he is “backed by the Power of Allah (God) and His Christ and the Power of that Wheel in which I received this Announcement. The moment you attempt or lay your hands on me the fullness of Allah’s (God’s) Wrath will descend upon you and upon America.”

Minister Farrakhan concluded the Announcement stating: “Before you will be able to establish your mockery of me (if that is what you wish to do) for what was revealed to me in The Wheel, you will see these wheels, or what you call UFOs, in abundance over the major cities of America.

And the calamities that America is presently experiencing will increase in number and in intensity that you might humble yourselves to the Warning contained in this Announcement. This is a final warning to you.

The ball is now in your court. You may do with it, with me, and with us as you see fit. Thank you for your attention, and may Allah bless each of you with the light of understanding, as I greet you in peace: As-Salaam Alaikum.”

The Final Call encourages its readers and supporters to revisit, review and study The Announcement by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the reality of The Wheel. For more information, visit store.finalcall.com

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