They share the life, light and power contained in these Teachings through The Final Call newspaper. When you see these brothers, know that they are striving to be helpers in a mighty mission. We thank the F.O.I. for their hard work and dedication.

—The Final Call

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Gathering with fellow Muslims gave him a chance to spend time with his spiritual family.

Brother Jay described the event as “bringing our Muslim family back together,” he told The Final Call.

Atlanta hosted Family Day as part of weekend events to mark the 31st Anniversary of the Million Man March and the Holy Day of Atonement. Rain forced organizers to move the outdoor event scheduled for Centennial Olympic Park to Hillside International Truth Center. The venue change did not dampen the spirit one bit.

Food vendors drew long lines. A mobile gaming truck and a play area provided activities for young people, while cultural performances included youth violinists, spoken word artists, rappers, a saxophonist and more. Bro. Jonathan Muhammad also played and sang Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky.”

Brother Joseph Lyons traveled from Ohio and stated, “The Nation of Islam has a lot of talent, and witnessing the performances was inspirational. I feel this kind of positivity should be taken around the world.”

Bishop Dr. Jack L. Bomar opened the gathering with a welcome. Student Minister Jamil Muhammad emceed the event. For Bishop Bomar, welcoming the believers of the Nation of Islam reflected a relationship that had continued beyond the passing of Hillside’s founder, Dr. Barbara Lewis King.

He expressed gratitude for the friendship and fellowship that had grown through his relationship with Nation of Islam Student Southern Regional Minister Abdul Sharrieff Muhammad of Mosque No. 15 in Atlanta.

“Enjoy your fellowship,” Bishop Bomar said, encouraging participants to connect, celebrate and “take some time to just share intimate moments.” He described Hillside as a place where people of faith and goodwill could find love and mutual respect while working to uplift the community. “Welcome home,” he said.

For Student Min. Jamil, seeing believers gather from different parts of the country after a difficult year, gave Family Day added meaning. “In times like these and with the difficult year that we have had as a Nation,” he said, “the gathering took on extra significance.”

He spoke of believers continuing to strive in the way of Islam and loving one another despite the challenges they faced. Supporting young people’s development through arts and culture was another important part of the occasion. Student Min. Jamil also valued the opportunity for believers simply to be together.

Sister Sharima Muhammad of Atlanta welcomed that opportunity. A relaxed setting offered something she said believers at times rarely have time to enjoy.

“Just seeing each other in a relaxed setting in the fellowship, you know, just seeing the believers, because we generally don’t get a chance to just be, and be family,” she said. “We are family, but we rarely, rarely get a chance to let your hair down and enjoy each other’s company.”

Food, music, shopping, and children’s activities gave families chances to enjoy that time together during the anniversary weekend.

Sister Dawn Muhammad from Charlotte had also been thinking about family since the previous day’s jumu’ah, the Muslim Friday congregational prayer service. Student National Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad’s message about reconciliation and mothers “hit home” as she reflected on her life as a mother and her own mother.

“Being at Family Day was very special for me. My children got to see and meet other Muslim children. It was beautiful to see all the joy in their faces and the fun they had.”

Sister Qiyimah Carter, is from nearby Decatur. “Family Fun Day was refreshing, it was like being amongst blood family. It was really nice to see sisters that were like aunts to me while I was growing up, reconnecting with childhood friends, and just the peaceful energy I felt from everyone,” she said.

For Bro. Shaheed Muhammad of Memphis, the gathering’s significance rested in spiritual ties that extended beyond blood relationships. “The significance is that this family is not a flesh-and-blood family in a traditional sense,” he told The Final Call. “It is the family of Allah (God).”

Brother Shaheed emphasized the importance of family relationships as he described the bond believers share through their connection to their Lord. “Once we connect and become one with our Lord, as a community, then we are truly connected,” he said.

Family Day offered an opportunity to renew that connection. “We all need to reconnect,” Brother Shaheed said. “But we got to reconnect to the right source, and that is Allah.”

Contributing Writer Shawntell Muhammad contributed to this report.

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At dawn on October 5, Israeli forces destroyed the martyrs’ memorial at Birzeit University.

Basil Farraj, an assistant professor of philosophy and cultural studies at Birzeit University, told BreakThrough News that the Israeli forces came to the campus around a week ago to capture photos of the memorial, sparking suspicions that they may attempt to destroy it.

Farraj suggests that the removal of the memorial came as part of Israel’s broader efforts to erase the Palestinian people’s collective memory and entrench cultural, social, and political hegemony over them, specifically at Birzeit University, due to its pioneering role in the Palestinian struggle against occupation.

“The assault on the memorial constitutes a cowardly attempt that will never defeat the resilience of the Palestinian collective memory. It also reflects the failure of the Zionist project in the face of the Palestinian people’s struggle,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, the Right to Education Campaign issued a statement, condemning the offensive, and clarifying that it was carried out on the first day of the new academic year.

“The destruction of a memorial to student martyrs is an assault on our collective memory, and our right to remember, preserve our history, and honor those who are part of Birzeit’s story,” the statement reads. “This attack comes within a broader pattern of scholasticide on Palestinian universities and the systematic disruption of academic life,” it continued.

The campaign urged “universities, academics, students, human rights organizations, and governments worldwide to demand accountability, protect Palestinian educational institutions, and take concrete action to defend the right to education and academic freedom.”

The university as a target

In recent years, the Israeli forces have intensified their crackdown campaign on Palestinian universities across the occupied West Bank. There has been a particular focus on Birzeit University in northern Ramallah due to its pioneering role in the Palestinian prolonged struggle against the occupation.

Not only have prominent scientists, political leaders, artists, and journalists graduate from the renowned Palestinian institution, but it has also long been called the “University of Martyrs” because dozens of its students and graduates have been killed at the hands of the Israeli military.

Countless students have been arrested and the university campus has faced frequent military raids since 2002.

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Rep. Wilson convened a brain trust to celebrate the U.S. Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys. Titled “Our Young Black Boys Are Being Murdered, and Nobody Seems to Care,” the session took place during the recent Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 55th Annual Legislative Conference, held September 16–20.

The bipartisan federal commission honored King Carter, Jordan Davis, Trayvon Martin, and Nolan Wells, along with the mothers and fathers who turned grief into advocacy. Rep. Wilson championed the commission legislation in the House, while then-Sen.

Marco Rubio, a Republican, sponsored it in the Senate. Congress passed the measure in 2020, and President Donald Trump signed it into law that August.

“These parents have endured the pain no mother or father should ever have to bear, yet they refused to allow their children’s stories to end with their deaths,” Rep. Wilson said.

“They turned grief into action, heartbreak into advocacy and their children’s names into movements for justice. We honor King, Jordan, Trayvon and Nolan by honoring the parents who carry their legacies forward and by continuing their fight to protect every Black child in America.”

Among those filling the room were 100 Wilson Scholars and Role Models from chapters of the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project, which Rep. Wilson founded more than three decades ago.

The students represented school districts in Miami-Dade, Broward and Duval counties in Florida, as well as the Los Angeles Unified School District. They attended as ambassadors and witnesses to the institutional history their predecessors helped shape.

Rep. Wilson spoke with visible pride about the commission’s survival amid the Trump administration’s attacks on so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

“That is the epitome of DEI,” she told the audience. “And you’re probably saying, well, did they get rid of it? No. In fact, they strengthened it.”

She said a planned review of the commission was canceled during what she called “Mr. Musk’s tirade,” referring to billionaire Elon Musk, who served as a “Special Government Employee” co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier in Mr. Trump’s term.

Rep. Wilson credited the commission’s bipartisan foundation for its longevity. The congresswoman framed her life’s work as an act of faith in Black children, regardless of their circumstances.

“I believe that if you take a young child, and you mold them, and show them the way, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of where they come from, regardless of whether they have to sleep in the bed with two other children, and one of them wets the bed, it’s okay, because you got them, and you can make them into great men,” she said.

Before turning to the panel, Rep. Wilson introduced Oliver G. Gilbert III, the former mayor of Miami Gardens and former Miami-Dade County commissioner. Rep. Wilson endorsed Mr. Gilbert to succeed her, and he won the Democratic primary for Florida’s 24th Congressional District in August. Introduced during the program as “future Congressman Gilbert,” he returned the tribute with emotion.

“What she’s done is not insignificant. What she’s done goes beyond the creation of a program; what she’s done is the creation of life,” Mr. Gilbert said of Rep. Wilson. “She showed them who they could be.

She brought principals into their schools. She brought doctors into their schools, and engineers, and lawyers, and teachers, and she said, what they say about you is not who you are. You are who you say you are and who you work to become.”

Defending Black history

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump moderated the panel and connected the fight for Black boys to what he described as an emboldened White supremacy.

“This uprising of White supremacy is worse than we’ve ever seen it,” Atty. Crump said, denouncing efforts to remove lessons about slavery and Jim Crow from classrooms and to restore Confederate monuments.

“White supremacy really is having your history be part of the core curriculum, while my history is an elective that you can get rid of at any time. Well, we refuse to let you get rid of our Black history.”

He reminded the audience that beyond the best-known names and hashtags are many other children whose deaths receive little public attention. “There are a hundred more Trayvons and Jordans that we don’t even know,” he said.

Trayvon Martin’s brother, Jahvaris Fulton, stood to be recognized as Atty. Crump recalled Sybrina Fulton’s words after George Zimmerman was acquitted in her son’s killing: “We won’t let them define the legacy of Trayvon. We will define the legacy of Trayvon.”

“We all have to define the legacy of our Black children,” Atty. Crump said. “We never let them define our children’s legacy and existence.”

He also paid tribute to Kristen Clarke, who led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division from 2021 to 2025 and is now the NAACP’s general counsel. Calling her “a true shero,” Atty. Crump credited the division’s work in federal civil rights cases tied to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

Parents Carry the Fight Forward

Sybrina Fulton, who has spent more than a decade advancing her son’s legacy through the Trayvon Martin Foundation, spoke directly to the young men in the room. She explained that she has to look at her son who is no longer physically here and also her son who is alive and well. “I have to keep moving,” Ms. Fulton said.

“We’re going to continue to apply pressure. We’re going to continue to fight for you. We’re going to keep letting people know that our children matter. There seems to be some type of disconnect where certain people think their children matter, but ours don’t,” she said.

“Our young Black and Brown boys have a right to walk in peace, without being followed, chased, profiled or murdered,” she said. “If I’m not giving up with everything that I’ve been through, I’m not going to allow you guys to give up on your life.”

The Wells family’s search for answers gained new urgency after the forum. On Sept. 21, a Mississippi grand jury declined to bring charges in the July death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells. (See The Final Call Vol. 45, No. 52). His family continues to press for answers about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Atty. Crump closed by invoking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s principle that everyone has a role in the struggle for justice. “We have to fight not just in the court of law, but also in the court of public opinion,” he said.

Rep. Wilson is leaving Congress after a public-service career that took her from the classroom to the school board, the Florida Legislature, and the U.S. Capitol. Her closing message emphasized continuation rather than farewell.

“I’m leaving. But I’m not going far,” she said. “I’ll still be working, working with the commission, working with the 5,000 Role Models, still running around,” Rep. Wilson continued.

“For years, these parents cried out for justice while too many people looked away. The Commission exists because America must pay attention to what is happening to Black men and boys. We will say their names.

We will listen to their families. We will tell their stories. Most importantly, we will continue fighting for a country where no parent has to bury a child because of racism, violence, or a system that failed to value his life.”

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The Guardian, citing information gathered from the database of the Nautilus Institute, reported that the U.S. military or U.S. defense corporations have access to more than half of Australia’s military facilities.

According to the database, the United States controls 17 military facilities on mainland Australia, has access to 75 more Australian-run military installations elsewhere, while U.S. defense corporations have access to an additional 18 facilities.

“This is not a matter of penetration; it’s a matter of saturation,” said Prof. Richard Tanter, the database’s author. “Over half of the defense facilities that we have looked at have some level of American access: that means American personnel, it means American corporations, some of the biggest armaments companies in the world.”

The U.S. military in Australia engages in gathering intelligence, accessing satellite data for targeting information, and communications intercepts. Other military activities include training for some 2,500 marines on dry-season rotation in the Northern Territory, as well as the pre-positioning of warfighting assets, weapons, munitions, and fuel, stored in case of a regional war in the Pacific.

The U.S. now practically owns Australia’s human, soil, and mineral resources through its control of the nation’s military, according to critics. The U.S. military presence will continue to expand. From next year up to 1,200 uniformed military personnel will operate from the HMAS Stirling submarine base just off Fremantle.

The government insists that technically this will not be a U.S. base—rather a “rotation”—but there is little contestation of its actual implication.

The Aukus nuclear submarine agreement, described by former defense minister Christopher Pyne as “a lot more than the submarine procurement,” effectively establishes a new United States submarine base in the Indian Ocean. “For the Americans, being able to have a submarine base in the Indian Ocean is a massive strategic advantage,” Pyne told a public inquiry.

Dr. Vince Scappatura, author of The U.S. Lobby and Australian Defense Policy, described U.S. base access across Australia as a kind of “second wave of colonization.”

“Today we are shaping up to be the ‘tip of the spear’ for U.S. power projection into the region—that’s what the sprawling U.S. base access represents,” he said. “Each one of those dots on the map represents a point of leverage Washington has over Canberra when it comes to matters of defense and foreign policy.”

Scappatura noted that the phrase “empire by invitation” was originally coined to describe U.S. hegemony over western Europe “but it is applicable equally here. I sometimes describe it as ‘voluntary subordination’.”

The United States has been escalating militarization in the Pacific by resetting ties with regional countries in an attempt to form a coalition against China. 

Beyond Australia, U.S. bases and military access points are expanding across Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other regional nations, effectively drawing them into Washington’s orbit.

Critics say this is a desperate bid by Washington to arrest the rise of China, with Australia and other regional countries being used as forward operating bases in what could become a larger confrontation.

Tanter says that the acceptance of the U.S. military presence has become so ingrained within the government and defense that unwinding Australia’s enmeshment within the world’s most powerful military is increasingly difficult.

“This is a massive institutional failure in Australia, a kind of learned incapacity at a political, parliamentary and bureaucratic level,” he said. “We’ve learned how not to ask those questions.”

Dr. Emma Shortis, director of international and security affairs at the Australia Institute, says Australia’s increasing integration with the U.S. military has resulted in “an accelerating erosion of Australia’s independent, sovereign, decision-making power.”

“Instead of having the option of saying ‘no’ to involvement in United States wars, involvement becomes the default position,” she said.

She cited the March attack by a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine on an Iranian frigate, sinking it and killing more than 100 people. Three Australian naval personnel were onboard, part of the submarine’s crew: the U.S. did not forewarn Australia of the attack. “Australia might maintain the pretense of sovereign decision-making power, but that’s not the reality,” Shortis said.

Dr. Albert Palazzo, an adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales Canberra and formerly the director of war studies for the Australian army, told the Guardian, the U.S. military’s accelerating buildup carries danger for Australian security.

“The Australian government seems to be waltzing its way into a war between the United States and China, by allowing this country to become an outpost or bastion of the U.S. military, and as a platform from which they will launch military force against China,” he said.

Australians’ faith in the U.S. is fragile and fracturing. A Lowy Institute poll showed Australians’ “trust in the United States to act responsibly in the world” has fallen to 31%, the lowest level in its polling history.

Just 21% of Australians have confidence in Donald Trump to do the right thing in world affairs, the lowest level of confidence in a U.S. president yet.

More than twice as many Australians (59%) now believe Australia’s interests are best served by a more independent foreign policy rather than a closer alliance with the U.S. (23%). Just 13% of Australians believe the U.S. is a “very reliable” security ally.

This represents, Shortis says, a “seismic shift” in Australia’s perception of its once great and powerful friend.

“After following the U.S. into nearly every war since World War II, Australians have had enough. They see tangible risks in being so close to President Trump’s bleak and violent version of America.” (PressTV.co.uk)

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Speaking at a meeting marking the 65th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Belgrade, Serbia, Mahama said that the current international system does not reflect global realities.

“It is no longer acceptable for Africa to be excluded from permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council,” Ghanaian president said.

Mahama also urged NAM members to turn their numerical strength into greater political influence, while preserving the group’s independence and translating statements into diplomatic action.

“Today’s world needs a multilateral system that is stronger, more representative, and more responsive,” the president stressed. “For the Council to earn the trust and legitimacy of the international community, it must better reflect the world it serves.”

The Ghanaian leader cited the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the slave trade as the gravest crime against humanity as an example of what countries of the Global South can achieve through collective action.

The Security Council currently has five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the UK, and the U.S.—and 10 elected members serving two-year terms. Three African countries—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Somalia—currently hold non-permanent seats. Africa, despite having 54 UN member states, has no permanent representation on the body.

Calls for permanent African representation on the UN Security Council have intensified in recent years. African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf has described the continent’s exclusion as a “historical injustice,” while leaders including Kenyan President William Ruto have backed at least two permanent African seats with veto powers.

Russia has also backed greater African representation. President Vladimir Putin has called for the body to be expanded to include countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The NAM was founded in Belgrade in 1961. It currently comprises 120 member states, mainly from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and serves as a major platform for cooperation among countries of the Global South. (RT.com)

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His family and friends were surprised, which is common for a generation taught that a four-year degree is the only way to succeed. But Malik is not alone. More high school and college graduates are choosing vocational training instead of traditional universities. Malik told The Final Call, “I want a job AI (artificial intelligence) can’t replace.”

Malik’s decision is more than just a practical response to the changing job market. For Black and Latino students, it revisits a debate that has lasted over 100 years in the Black community established between two of our great leaders: Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.

The historical context

After Reconstruction, when many freedoms continued to be erased by the government on all levels, Booker T. Washington became a leading voice for Black progress through industrial education. He established the Tuskegee Institute and promoted the idea that Blacks in America should learn trades, become self-sufficient, and work in agriculture.

He believed that even in America, a person could rise and earn respect through skill and hard work.

“I want a career and job security. I don’t want to worry about AI replacing me,” Malik said.

A career and job security are goals Mr. Washington would probably understand. He supported learning trades like plumbing, mechanics, and engineering as the best way to become independent. His message spoke to people seeking stability when few options existed for Black people just up from slavery.

But W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed and viewed things differently at the time. In his book, “The Souls of Black Folk,” he said Mr. Washington’s approach accepted the unfair social order and could keep people oppressed. Mr. Du Bois supported liberal arts education for a “Talented Tenth,” a group of Black leaders who could fight for civil and political rights. He believed that economic progress alone was not enough without the ability to challenge injustice.

The modern reckoning

Today, more people from the group Dr. Du Bois may have hoped would be leaders as a “Talented Tenth” are choosing the path Mr. Washington suggested in terms of careers in trades. The numbers show this trend.

A recent report from Validated Insights, a higher education research firm, says that education in trades and certain healthcare professions, are now the fastest-growing parts of American education, outpacing expectations.

“We’re seeing some pretty fast, amazing, and strong numbers in the trade education and health education sectors,” said Brady Colby, head of market research at Validated Insights, in a press release.

The report, “Validated Insights Report: Training Market for Skilled Trades is Growing Faster Than Expected and Leads the Education and Training Market,” released June 30, found that trade education programs made $19.1 billion in 2025. This is about 12% of the total U.S. education market, which is around $164 billion.

For Black and Latino students, choosing trade school is not giving up on dreams. Instead, it is a smart move in a world where AI threatens office jobs, but the need for electricians, plumbers, and construction workers is rising fast.

A new synthesis?

For Malik Henderson and many others, the rise of trade schools is not turning away from Dr. Du Bois’s vision. Instead, it is bringing back Mr. Washington’s ideas in a new way for the age of AI.

Today, plumbers and electricians can earn six-figure salaries without the heavy student debt that often affects Black families. For many, this is not just a smart financial choice; it is also empowering.

“When you have a skill or a trade, whether it’s masonry, carpentry, or plumbing, no one can ever take that away from you,” Brother Abdul Majied Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam and a Newark-based construction entrepreneur, told The Final Call.

“You can eat forever. You’re able to take care of your family. I think the three essentials of life are food, shelter, and clothing. Add an extra one: skill. The trades are one of those skills,” he said.

“From an economic standpoint, it’s also security,” he continued. “When you go off to college and get a degree in some areas, you can benefit, like lawyers and accountants. But when you have a skill, it’s life-changing. I always say, ‘You can eat, you can eat.’ You’re able to provide and maintain for yourself, for family, for a Nation.”

Even with this growth, there are still not enough spots for everyone who wants to join. In both skilled trades and allied health, more people want to enroll than there are spaces available. For example, in the health field, about 7.7 million people said they wanted to enroll over the next two years, but only about 571,000 actually did.

“Even though the jobs and programs are there, there is still a massive, persistent gap between what people say they want and what they actually do,” Mr. Colby said. “If you’re looking at these markets, that means they’re growing, investment is coming in, returns are going out, and it’s still deeply underserved.”

As Malik gets ready to swap his graduation cap for a toolbelt, he is doing more than starting a job; he is building his future. For young people facing a world shaped by automation, hands-on work like building and fixing things is becoming a strong and thoughtful choice. This path offers more economic security.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has spoken positively of both Dr. Du Bois and Mr. Washington and sees the value in what each man taught and advocated for on behalf of Black people. He also explained that due to the enemy of those wanting to stop Black progress, many people misunderstood both men and other Black leaders.

“We misunderstood Marcus Garvey until long after he was gone; we misunderstood Noble Drew Ali, we misunderstood W.E.B. Du Bois, we misunderstood Booker T. Washington; we misunderstood Frederick Douglass, David Walker and Denmark Vesey—we misunderstood our giants!

  And it is not until after these giants have gone that the establishment feels you can get a proper understanding, because you are too far removed from that person to properly act on the principles that that man or woman taught us. 

So, what they do when they lift up that kind of leader:  They give us a ‘personality,’ but never a ‘program,’” Minister Farrakhan said in a January 10, 1982, message titled, “Let My People Go.”

“So’ you can always have birthday celebrations for the great leader or the great teacher, but never concentrate on programmatic steps that would lead us to the goal that that leader had in mind for us,” Minister Farrakhan said.

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In the conclusion of a multi-day trial, jurors deliberated for approximately eight hours before reaching a verdict. The verdict was handed down on June 1.

“I’ve been practicing law for almost 30 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t understand it. I’m at a loss to explain it to his father, Troy, standing beside me. I’m at a loss to explain it to his mother, who couldn’t take it and had to leave.

I’m at a loss to explain it to his family, because I too don’t understand it,” the Carmack/Belton family attorney, Todd Rutherford, said in a statement to reporters that night.

On May 28, 2023, Cyrus Carmack-Belton walked into an Xpress Mart Shell station then owned by Rick Chow, who is Asian. While inside of the store, Cyrus was followed and watched closely by Mr. Chow’s wife, Alice Chow, according to surveillance footage. 

Video footage shows the teen opening a refrigerated container door and taking out four bottles of water then immediately putting all four bottles back inside. After being questioned by Ms. Chow and her son, Andy Chow, on whether he had taken a water bottle, Cyrus shook out his hoodie then left the store.

Mr. Chow, accompanied by his then 20-year-old son, followed the teen out and pursued him for more than 100 yards, roughly the length of a football field, before fatally shooting him in the back.

“The anger is palpable tonight. You can feel it, you can touch it, because people saw a child that looked like their own, that did nothing wrong, a child that all the witnesses described had fear in his eyes when he left the store,” Atty. Rutherford said.

“He started to run as two grown men chased him down over a football field and shot him dead. This should not happen. This makes us feel as if our children don’t matter, and they do. This makes us feel like Cyrus’s life did not matter, and it did.”

Protests, rallies, memorials and vigils were held in the days following the verdict, including demonstrations outside of both the gas station and the South Carolina State House. 

“It was devastating for me to get a call from Alvin S. Glenn [Detention Center] letting me know that Rick Chow was released. That broke me more than you can ever imagine, because [the] murderer of my son was set free, and it’s not fair, and it’s unjust,” Cyrus’ mother, Nicole Carmack, said at a June 3 gathering at the site where her son was killed.

She described her son as strong, smart, loving and kind and expressed her thoughts that the entire Chow family should be held accountable.

“Every day I will not be able to speak to my son, hear his voice change, see him grow, go to prom. He will never get married. I will never hold my grandchildren. Nothing,” she said. “But Chow is able to go home with his lying son, Andy Chow, and they’re able to have dinner with the wife, Alice.”

The trial

Kinnedy Carson was sitting inside her mother’s SUV when she saw Cyrus running with two men behind him. “His eyes were big,” she said to the 12 jurors during the trial, according to WLTX, Columbia’s CBS affiliate. “His shoe had fell off, and he was holding his pants up with one hand and pumping his arms with the other.” 

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting, Mr. Chow accused Cyrus of stealing a water bottle, and claimed the teen pointed a gun at his son and said he acted in defense.

Investigators with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said surveillance video showed Cyrus had not stolen anything from the store, and prosecutors argued that Rick Chow and his son, Andy Chow, created the confrontation by leaving the store and chasing the teen, according to WLTX.

In addition, witnesses Kinnedy Carson and her mother, Lori Ann Carson, testified they never saw a gun pointed at Rick Chow or Andy Chow, according to the media outlet.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department deputy Derrick English, one of the first deputies to respond after the shooting, testified that while a handgun was recovered near Cyrus, witnesses did not initially tell deputies they saw Cyrus point a gun, the media outlet reported.

Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson asked jurors: “In what world do you get to falsely accuse a 14-year-old of stealing? Chase a 14-year-old 130-plus yards down the road while you’re armed with a pistol. Shoot that person in the back, then claim you’re defending your son?” 

Next steps in fight for justice

Richland County is nearly 50% Black, and Columbia is about 41% Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Seven of the 12 jurors in the case were Black.

Still, critics raised concerns about what took place inside the courtroom, as Mr. Chow’s prior history was not brought up during the trial. South Carolina law generally prevents prosecutors from introducing prior crimes, wrongs or other acts to argue that a defendant acted in accordance with a past pattern of behavior.

According to The State, a South Carolina newspaper, Mr. Chow was involved in two prior reported shooting incidents, one in 2015, when he fired six shots into the side of a vehicle, and another in 2018, when he fired two shots at a person identified as an alleged shoplifter, striking the person in the leg.

“He’s had multiple accounts, assaults, accounts caught on video, and this is not even the first shooting that was reported on him. This is just the first time that we’ve had a fatality,” Nation of Islam Student Minister Anthony Muhammad of Mosque No. 38 in Columbia said to The Final Call. “It took someone to actually die to put some attention on this man.”

Cyrus’ parents, Troy Belton and Nicole Carmack, filed a civil lawsuit in July 2024 with similar allegations. The complaint alleges that Rick, Andy and Alice Chow had a pattern of intimidating, threatening and harassing customers whom they suspected of shoplifting. It also argues that Shell and the business entities operating the store failed to prevent those practices.

Mr. Belton and Ms. Carmack are seeking damages from Mr. Chow and his family, Shell USA and related business entities, including Grene Investments, Grenefrog Stores and Xpress Mart.

The lawsuit alleges that Cyrus was a lawful customer in the store when he was racially profiled, falsely accused of shoplifting, unlawfully detained, chased and ultimately killed. It brings eight legal claims, including negligence and recklessness, wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, false imprisonment, assault and battery and kidnapping.

Cyrus’ parents are seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, funeral and related expenses, damages for emotional distress and grief, attorney’s fees and costs and a jury trial.

The civil suit was put on hold until the criminal case concluded. After the not guilty verdict, the family’s attorney, Todd Rutherford, said the family would be moving forward with the lawsuit.

“Rick Chow, while found not guilty, we’re still going to sue him. He owes. He owes for what he did to Cyrus. He owes for what he did to the family. He owes for what he did to this community,” Atty. Rutherford said in his statement following the verdict.

“What he did was wrong. He took a life that he should not have. He had no reason—no one ever does—to chase a child 130 yards and shoot them in the back. I don’t care what that jury said.

There is no justification for that. It should never happen again, and it is not open season on Black people for anybody to feel like they should be able to do it, because the jury found him not guilty.”

Black-Asian relations in the midst of tragedy

In a June 9 statement, Stop AAPI Hate, an organization exposing and combating racism and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., condemned the shooting of Cyrus and called for cross-racial solidarity.

“Cyrus’ death was a tragedy then, and it remains a tragedy today in the wake of Chow’s acquittal,” the statement said. “As Asian Americans, we can’t look away from the questions this case raises or the tensions it inflames. From Cyrus Carmack-Belton in South Carolina to Latasha Harlins in California, too many Black children have lost their lives over too little.”

Latasha Harlins was a 15-year-old Black girl who was shot in the back of the head by a Korean convenience store owner in 1991.

“That history demands self-reflection about anti-Blackness within Asian American communities. Anti-Black racism—just like anti-Asian racism—is a tool of White supremacy that divides communities of color against each other, reinforces racial hierarchies and encourages people to see one another as threats instead of allies. We must not give into it,” the statement said.

The group also called on Asian Americans to condemn the death of Cyrus Carmack-Belton and the “miscarriage of justice that allowed Rick Chow to walk free.”

The root of anti-Blackness is fomented and rooted in White supremacy that has engulfed the entire world.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad also teaches Black people to unite and “do for self,” which the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has commented about Asian communities for being able to do.

“Did you know that if we just spent one-tenth of 1 percent of what we spend for these holidays with Black businesses, they would be able to hire thousands of Black people, giving them jobs?  Imagine if we knew how to invest the money that we would save; we could be free, justified and equal, building our own economic base,” Minister Farrakhan stated in a 2015 Message titled, “Why We Are Calling You To Boycott Christmas.”

In the same message he points to the example of Asian and other communities and how the spend money with their own people.

“Did you know that the money that we get out of our economy, $1.1 trillion to $1.3 trillion, we spend it almost as fast as we get it?  I was shocked when I heard some statistics; that:  The Asian people, Chinatown, Koreatown: 

Their money circulates in their community nearly a whole month before it goes.  The Jewish people:  Their money circulates in their community for 20-some days before it leaves.  Even our Mexican family: 

They are better than we, in turning their money around in their own community.  But when I heard that our money leaves in six hours:  Where did that come from?” Minister Farrakhan pointed out.  

Following the South Carolina verdict, Black people are pointing out the need to establish and support Black businesses. 

“We must unite and do for self. Spend with ourselves before we can go and spend with another. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad even tells us in ‘Message to the Blackman in America’ that we must find those with like minds and go into business with one another and not have wanton criticism of Black owned businesses,” Student Minister Anthony Muhammad said. “Stop going into places where you’re not wanted,” he continued.

“Keep the Black dollar within the Black community,” said Student Minister Anthony Muhammad. “We must unite. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said our unity is more powerful than an atomic or hydrogen bomb. We must take that into consideration.”

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The twin-island Caribbean state gained independence from Britain in 1981 but remained a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth, with the British sovereign serving as head of state.

Tuesday’s (May 5) swearing-in followed a constitutional amendment approved by Parliament late last year, removing references to King Charles III and his heirs from the oath of allegiance. Under the revised wording, elected officials now pledge loyalty to Antigua and Barbuda, its constitution and its laws.

The ceremony came days after Prime Minister Gaston Browne secured a fourth consecutive election victory, extending his party’s more than decade-long hold on power.

The election was called nearly two years ahead of schedule by Browne to seek a fresh mandate amid global economic uncertainty and resulted in a landslide victory for his Antigua and Barbuda Labor Party, which secured 15 of the country’s 17 parliamentary seats.

Antigua and Barbuda remains part of the Commonwealth, with British monarch retaining the role of head of state despite the revised oath.

Fifteen out of 56 countries in the Commonwealth still recognize the British monarch as sovereign. Barbados became the most recent Caribbean nation to become a republic in 2021 while remaining within the Commonwealth.

Debate over the monarchy’s future has also intensified in Britain. A 2025 British Social Attitudes survey found support for the institution had fallen to its lowest level since records began in 1983, with just 51% in favor of keeping it. (RT.com)

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Multiple homes and businesses were damaged and families were displaced in Mineral Wells, a small city about 45 miles west of Fort Worth. Two people were taken to the hospital and others with minor injuries were treated at the scene, according to Ryan Dunn, the city’s fire chief. There were no immediate reports of fatalities or people missing.

Dunn warned people to stay out of an industrial area where there’s “major damage and major hazards that are all across the roads.”

The wild weather came just days after a tornado-producing thunderstorm left at least two people dead in northern Texas and displaced at least 20 families.

The April 28 thunderstorms, including at least one unconfirmed tornado, were caused by large storm cells that were drifting southeast from north-central Texas, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with National Weather Service.

The storms continued April 28 night as they moved across Texas and into Arkansas and Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service. The storms could produce hail larger than two inches, damaging winds and some tornadoes, according to the agency.

In Mineral Wells, where the streets were left littered with fallen trees and other debris, the mayor declared a local state of disaster. The city also instituted a 10 p.m. curfew that was lifted around daylight as authorities continue to assess the damage, said Tim Denison, the city’s police chief. He said the curfew was to “make sure that we keep people out of the areas and also try to help these victims out, and keep their personal belongings safe.”

Officials directed anyone who needed help to the local high school, where the Red Cross was setting up.

Fast-moving storms pummeled parts of the Midwest with hail, strong wind and heavy rain April 27, flooding streets, stranding commuters and downing many trees, including one in western Michigan that landed on a man and killed him.

More than 56 million people in the Midwest and parts of the South were at risk of severe storms, with tornado warnings posted in southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and northern Arkansas, the National Weather Service said.

A thunderstorm that whipped through Kent County, Michigan, with powerful winds caused a tree to fall and kill a 39-year-old man who had been outside with friends, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The friends said “the man warned them to move just before the tree came down, actions they believe likely prevented more of them from being struck,” according to the sheriff’s office. The storm resulted in dozens of downed trees and wires.

Across Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, more than 250,000 people were without power April 27 night.

We Energies in Wisconsin said it had restored power for more than 35,000 customers, but thousands more remained without electricity. Milwaukee said it had nearly 100 emergency calls for downed trees and branches. Trees uprooted by strong winds blocked streets.

In Kansas City, Missouri, the fire department responded to 11 water rescues from vehicles starting at shortly before 6 a.m., Battalion Chief Riley Nolan said in an email.

He said most “were in our typical ‘high-water’ areas following heavy rains.” Nolan said no boats were required and no injuries were reported.

The weather service reported that 3.2 inches of rain fell in a six-hour period ending shortly before 7 a.m. at the Kansas City International Airport.

Hundreds of schools in the St. Louis area closed early, and many after-school activities were canceled.

Temperatures near 80 degrees Fahrenheit and other factors were contributing to “atmospheric instability,” said Evan Bentley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The storms followed rounds of violent weather over the weekend.

Compiled from Associated Press reports.

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