In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.

I am honored to be here this afternoon, and I greet all of you, my dear brothers and sisters; and especially those parents and grandparents who have lost their loved ones to gun violence, with the greeting words of peace. We say it in the Arabic language: As-Salaam Alaikum, which means Peace Be Unto You. This is a greeting that we should learn, and a greeting that we should practice. Whether you are Christian, Muslim, or Jewish, all of the Israelite prophets greeted their community with: “Shalom, Shalom,” which means peace.

When Jesus walked this earth among us, he never came to his disciples and said, “What’s happening?” or, “What up, Dawg?” He said, “Peace Be With You.” He didn’t speak English; he spoke Ancient Egyptian Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic, so when Jesus greeted the people, he said, As-Salaam Alaikum, because he, in that greeting, crystallized a prayer. That from his lips and from his hands and from his life you should expect that which would bring peace into your lives.

The cause and effect of wicked policies

There is a saying that reads like this: “Children do what is natural until they learn what is normal.”

Any child that you see, whether it is Black, White, Asian, Hispanic or Native American; whether it is Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist, the child does what is natural, like learning to crawl, pull up on things that will help it to become erect and to walk—we didn’t teach it those things.

But then, the child learns to become normal. Normal means that you learn the norms, which are the folkways and the mores of the society or the culture in which you live. But then if we keep watching, we go further and further away from the natural; but yet, we are still considered normal.

Everybody is looking for somebody to straighten out a mess that was made, unfortunately, by those in authority. We cannot stem the violence that is here at the bottom, which is an effect, unless we look at the violence that begins at the top, which is the cause. We are the effect of a cause that we did not stem the tide of, and now it’s manifesting in the children.

Every mother; every grandmother that lost a child, we who are here today feel your pain. Although we are trying to be good and righteous people; we go to church; we pay our tithes; we do what good parents and good people should do, some of us lose faith in God when a misfortune comes into our house. While we can never bring back what we lost, we have to ask the question, “Why should this come into my life?”

There is a verse in the Holy Qur’an, which is the book of scripture of Muslims, that says, “No soul dies but by the permission of God.” God gives life, and He is the ultimate cause of death, so why did He permit this? If these children had not died, would we be here? Jesus said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” because he had some disciples who were disrespecting the value of children.

We live in a society where we are not looking out for the elderly or the young; and many of us who are pastoring, we pay no attention to children because they don’t tithe! So it is only when something affects children that it wakes us up to something terribly wrong!

Dear mothers: Your children did not die in vain, because nothing advances in civilization without the sacrifice of life. Let us refer to the example of the life of Jesus: He had a mother that nurtured him; he came from among a people and a group that evidently were not so good, because the scripture says, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?”

As it is with people today who think the same: “Can any good come out of the South Side or the West Side? Can any good come out of Chicago—the murder capital of the world?” Yes. Of course good did come, but that good died young.

Those in positions of power lied on Jesus, because they didn’t want to deal with his truth, so they brought him to court. The people hated Jesus, and the Book says they hated him without a cause. He was rejected of men. He knew what it was to suffer, and he knew what it was to be scourged. And ultimately, he died a violent death, so that others might have a right to the tree of life.

Beloved family; those dear mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers, and friends and relatives are in great pain because someone they loved died in their youth. Grandmothers had to bring their grandchildren to their final resting place. But remember: Your child, your friend and your companion did not die in vain. Every life with God is sacred! And those children that lost their lives are martyrs for the Cause of Justice and Peace!

The culture of violence starts at the top

We say we want sensible gun laws, but we are demanding it from government at the same time that our government has the highest military budget of any nation in the world; developing more and more weapons to kill more and more people! How can the violence stop on the bottom, when the violence is perpetrated by policies at the top?

It is painful to me to say these truths in the presence of the superintendent of police and in the presence of other government officials here today, because the truths that I speak, sometimes, are uncomfortable, but it is not done out of hate. I speak these truths because I love; and I want to see things better. Not just better for my people or for my children, but better for all children.

Are our children our assets, or are they liabilities? Do we have problem children? Or do our children have a problem? And if our children have a problem, they are not the cause—they are the effect.

Every mother in here that has brought forth a child, that child came through you, but not from you. Since it is God Who gives life, then He permits life to be formed in your womb. The Qur’an says that to God is the eventual return of all life. So we come in at some point, and at some point, we have to leave here. If the eventual return is to God, because it is from Him that we came, then every child is a gift from God. Not only to the mother and father, but a gift to that family! A gift to that community! A gift to that nation! A gift to the world!

Jesus said, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life.” Why do we, as parents, lie to our children? Violence begins with lies, because you’re violating the mind when you tell a lie. When Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,” what is it that you would be set free from? It is freedom from the things that are the reason why we are assembled today.

In the Bible, Paul said, “We war not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.” High places are where the problems begin!

When you have a lust for something, like Air Jordan shoes or designer clothes, and mother can’t get it for you, why would you steal from your brother or your neighbor because of an inordinate value placed on something that has no real value? The real value is you and your life! Your friendship and brotherly love! The real value is the ability to live together in peace!

But in those high places, there is a lust for oil. Our government and our country is a slave to the energy crisis produced by an inordinate need for oil. The government is just like the drug addict, who will lie and cheat and steal to get their hands on a drug. Any parent in here that has a child that has unfortunately fallen victim to drugs, you know they are artful liars and manipulators. The addict will manipulate their parents and friends who love them, just to get their hands on something that will allow them to get something that will make them high.

In those high places, there are bad policies developed that are so wicked and deceptive so that our government can extract the wealth of others. You can’t stop drugs in the inner cities or in the suburbs if you don’t understand that the government of the United States is in Afghanistan where all the poppies grow.

These drugs weren’t so easily accessible when the Taliban had power, because the drug growth was down then. Once the Taliban lost power, now the drugs are flowing; heroin everywhere, and someone is getting rich at the top, while our children are going to jail for what they have in their possession.

Our real wealth is in our children

In the scriptures of Matthew and Luke, it reads, “For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” As parents, and those in positions of authority, our treasure is not where it should be. Our priorities are not where they should be. And in the Holy Qur’an, you always have the following words shown simultaneously: “Your wealth and your children …” because our children represent our real wealth. But where should our hearts be?

Should our hearts be on the latest Gucci or alligator style? The latest designer-this or the latest “bling-bling” that? Where should our hearts be? It should be where our treasure is, and our treasure is our children.

I have been practically all over the world, however, everywhere I go in Chicago, I find that it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We who live here are blessed to live in this great city, but it’s a great city that needs a lot of great work to be done. Billions of dollars are spent on constructing huge building projects, but when you look at the education budget, we are not constructing these beautiful young lives as they should be.

The greatest asset of America is her people, and if our treasure is in our people, then the billions of dollars that the government is throwing away to bail out corporations like AIG, Bear Stearns, and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, why not put those billions of dollars to work on making giants out of these precious gifts—our youth—that God has given to America?

President-elect Barack Obama was a child just like these children who are here. He struggled in his young life, conflicted because he had a White mother and a Black father, and wanted to find his place. However, that young man got a grip on his life, just like we want you, youth, to get a grip on yours. Mr. Obama received an education, and then rose to the top of his class. And, in a meteoric rise, has become the first African American to become president of the United States of America.

Who are our youth now? Who will they be tomorrow if we cultivate them properly? Our youth are like putty; but putty is only valuable in the hands of the one that is going to shape it properly. As we are being shaped by our homes, our churches, and our society, then all of these shapers have to shape up.

The misconstrued power in weapons

Do we need guns? No. Where did they come from? Who gets these violent weapons into the hands of our children? Why aren’t those responsible being prosecuted instead of our children?

In this world, power is what moves people, and because many of us don’t realize that the real power is in the youth, a gun is put into a child’s hand, where they are told, “This is power.” This misconstrued concept of power in a weapon is what causes you to get a man to give up his wallet; or causes somebody to give up their own self to you if you are going to rape them. That is the misuse of weapons.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad is our teacher, and he taught us that none of us, as Muslims, should carry a weapon—we don’t need them. We are not permitted to carry as much as a pen knife, because our aim is to show the world that we are a people of peace. We are not even permitted to argue with one another, because when you quarrel with one another, you destroy the spirit that would bring you unity, which would give you power to eradicate the impediments in the pathway of your progress.

But if we are always arguing and fighting, particularly in our homes where most of the problems take place, then it’s “I reach for my gun to settle my problem;” or “I shoot my wife,” or she shoots her husband. Now the child sees guns every time they look at the TV. This is violence that is being promoted, so the violence is now down in the kindergarten. If we have a problem, then we must practice talking it out, because we must not harm our brother.

Let’s be truthful in our dealings with each other. Let’s learn how to love, which starts with loving our own self. If you don’t know you, you can’t love you.

Black children have to know themselves in order to love themselves. If our children knew their rich history, their rich culture, their rich heritage, we would have a healthier view of who we are, and Whose we are.

When we see our brother, though he may be a “Crip,” a “Blood;” or he may be a “BG” or a “BD,” we must see that I am looking at my flesh. I am looking at my blood. I’m looking at myself. So if I love my self, and love my neighbor as myself, we can start building community.

I want to work with Father Pfleger, and I want to work with the Police Superintendent and others, to let us try and make this city a peaceful city.

Thank you.

The post The Cause and Effect of a Violent Society appeared first on Final Call News.

Titled “Sounding the Alarm: The Health Effects of the Cuban Oil Blockade,” the virtual gathering brought together medical professionals, U.S. Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY).

Cuban Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, Barbados Ambassador to CARICOM David A. Comissiong, and other international voices to expose what speakers described as a preventable humanitarian catastrophe unfolding just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

“The health consequences of the Cuban oil blockade are profound and demand urgent global attention,” said Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., 126th president of the National Medical Association.

“As physicians, we have a responsibility to elevate the human impact of these policies and advocate for solutions that prioritize health, dignity, and access to care for all people.”

Dr. Mitchell detailed how persistent power outages, driven by restricted fuel access, are disrupting neonatal care, dialysis, chemotherapy and surgical procedures across Cuba’s hospitals and clinics.

The 2026 Cuban crisis is an oil shortage and economic catastrophe caused by an American fuel blockade, the United States’ first effective blockade of Cuba since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

On January 29, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14380, declaring Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, imposing tariffs on any country supplying the island with oil.

Maternal mortality spikes 50%

Dr. L. Khadijah Lang, NMA Region VI chairperson and director of Medical Bridge of the Motherland, drew a direct line from the fuel embargo to the deterioration of outcomes for pregnant women and infants.

“My perspective comes as a physician in the U.S. who is doing obstetrics in America and witnessing the ridiculous and criminal maternal mortality that we are experiencing for Black women.

It is heartbreaking when I see a country like Cuba, which has done so well in controlling maternal mortality, have an increase of 50% in its maternal mortality rate as a result of this oil embargo,” Dr. Lang said.

She added that Cuban women are “not even able to get ultrasounds” to detect congenital problems or receive early indications of pregnancy complications. “Infants who have committed no crime,” she said, cannot get “a healthy start in life.”

Dr. Lang also spoke of more than 5,000 cancer patients waiting for surgery, unable to access life-saving oncological procedures due to energy shortages.

Having worked alongside Cuban physicians in medical missions in Mozambique and Grenada, she praised their skill and dedication while condemning U.S. policies that obstruct their work.

“For us as a nation to intentionally prevent this type of work from being able to continue is unethical, it’s unprofessional,” Dr. Lang stated. “It goes against everything in our Hippocratic Oath that we have all taken. We must stand together and bring this to an end.”

Real risk to human life and dignity

Cuban Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera detailed how U.S. regulations prevent Cuba from accessing medical technology with more than 10% U.S. components, forcing the country to source equipment at significantly higher costs. Of Cuba’s list of 511 essential drugs, 69% have been affected, and 364 are currently unavailable.

“Health is a fundamental human right,” Ambassador Torres said. “It should never be impacted by governmental policies. What we are facing in Cuba today are not abstract challenges. They present real risk to human life and dignity.”

She noted that 72,000 pregnant women require ultrasound and lab monitoring under Cuba’s maternal-child health program; 30,000 children need timely vaccinations dependent on refrigerated transport chains; and nearly 19,000 patients depend on oxygen therapy or dialysis—treatments requiring stable, continuous energy now under threat.

Congressman Meeks: ‘Cruel enforced logic’

During the April 15 webinar, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, characterized the U.S. position as a “failed strategy of maximum pressure” designed deliberately to make the Cuban people suffer.

“That’s what the strategy is intended to do—to make the Cuban people suffer, so that they believe that that would cause them to rise up to overthrow the Cuban government,” Rep. Meeks said. “This is something they’ve been trying to do for the last over 60 years. It does not work. It is a humanitarian devastation.”

Rep. Meeks announced he is working with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) to raise alarms and introduce legislation prohibiting U.S. tax dollars from being used for unauthorized military force in Cuba, citing concerns about potential U.S. action similar to interventions in Venezuela.

While acknowledging differences with the Cuban government, Rep. Meeks insisted, “The best way to hash out our differences is dialogue and diplomacy, not through ravaging a country’s health care system or threatening military action.”

He noted that the President Barack Obama administration had begun normalizing relations and opening doors for medical supplies, but those policies were reversed and never restored—even under President Joe Biden.

“The Cuban people are in desperate need right now,” Rep. Meeks said, calling for united voices to “fight to change this archaic policy that we’ve had for 60 years.”

Caribbean urged to act

Ambassador David A. Comissiong of Barbados to CARICOM recalled the courageous 1972 decision by Caribbean prime ministers—Eric Williams, Michael Manley, Forbes Burnham, and Errol Barrow—to defy the United States and the Organization of American States by establishing relations with revolutionary Cuba.

“The time has come for us, the people and governments of CARICOM, to do our duty and to help our Cuban sisters and brothers to make it through this severe existential crisis,” Ambassador Comissiong said. “Cuba is desperately in need of food, medical supplies, solar energy, heaters, and other appliances to help mitigate the energy crisis.”

He noted that 187 nations voted in the United Nations General Assembly in 2024 in favor of a resolution demanding an end to the U.S. embargo, with only the United States and Israel opposing.

“Beyond Cuba is the entire edifice of multilateralism and international law,” he warned. “We all owe a duty to Cuba. By doing so, we might just find that we would have taken a critical step to preserve the order and safety of the entire human family.”

A call to action

“The NMA stands in solidarity with health care professionals working under constrained conditions and reiterates its commitment to advocating for policies that protect patient care, preserve human dignity, and uphold the fundamental purpose of public health,” Dr. Mitchell said.

The webinar, held ahead of the NMA’s annual convention, is part of the organization’s ongoing work to expose what it calls the injustice of political censure being used against the medical supply chain.

The NMA has previously sent representatives to Cuba, hosted graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) at its conventions and passed resolutions asking physicians to support ELAM students and graduates upon their return to the United States.

As Dr. Lang put it: “Every human being is a child of God. And we are all supposed to be looking out for our brothers and sisters.”

The post Black physicians group sounds alarm on Cuba’s fuel crisis, health devastation appeared first on Final Call News.

A recent analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP) and fiscal experts warns that working-class households are now locked into a cycle of crippling debt, inflation, and systemic financial pain that may last for decades.

The total price tag for President Donald Trump’s Iran war is projected to reach $1 trillion. However, for families already struggling to buy food, pay for gas, and cover rent, the real cost is measured in hunger pains, rising fuel costs and the dream of homeownership becoming more elusive.

According to CAP’s analysis, “Trump’s War May Be Over, But the Economic Damage is Not,” the disruption of global energy markets has pushed gas prices above $4 per gallon nationally. In March alone, American households spent an estimated $8.4 billion more on gasoline compared to pre-war levels.

For Black and Latino families, who are disproportionately represented among essential workers and long-distance commuters due to a lack of affordable housing near job centers, this spike acts as a regressive tax. The report highlights that the lowest-income families spend more than 30% of their income on transportation.

“When fuel costs explode, we feel it immediately,” a D.C. community organizer told The Final Call, who requested anonymity for safety. “Brothers and sisters are already choosing between fixing the car to get to work or putting dinner on the table.”

“Is this what people voted for with Trump? … What you see is not what you were going to get. It’s so tragic that people actually voted for him. Black men, Latinos, and others. Look what we have.

A president who threatens to destroy a whole civilization. Is that what America is all about? Maybe, look at history. It’s a sad day, and the American people are paying the price.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the March Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 3.3% year-over-year, a sharp increase from 2.4% in February.

This report is the first full reading covering the period since the war with Iran began on February 28. Economists noted that the 21.2% spike in gasoline prices was directly responsible for nearly three-quarters of the total monthly increase in inflation.

While a ceasefire was announced shortly before this data was released, analysts warn that these higher transportation and fuel costs will continue to trickle down to food and consumer goods in the coming months. Consequently, the unsteady truce in Iran has not stopped the bleeding in America’s inner cities and rural farmlands.

“The bombs may have stopped falling on Tehran,” the D.C. organizer added, “but the bill just arrived in our mailboxes.”

The housing crunch gets tighter

The war is also slamming the door on many homeownership dreams. Rising inflation expectations, driven by the energy shock, have pushed mortgage rates higher. CAP estimates this will cost homebuyers tens of thousands of dollars over the life of a loan.

For Black and Latino families, who have historically been steered into higher-cost mortgages and denied wealth-building opportunities through redlining, this new barrier makes an already impossible goal even more elusive. Simultaneously, renters face pressure as landlords passes on higher utility and construction costs.

The hidden mathematics of conflict

Beyond the gas pump, the fiscal mathematics of the Middle East conflict reveal a potential path to national bankruptcy. Experts at Harvard Kennedy School note that during 40 days of active hostilities, the war cost taxpayers roughly $2 billion per day.

Even more alarming is the economic asymmetry: The United States is firing interceptor missiles that cost roughly $4 million each to shoot down Iranian drones that cost as little as $30,000 to manufacture.

The White House has already requested that Congress raise the defense budget to $1.5 trillion, the largest military expansion since World War II, including a $200 billion special reserve for the war in Iran. Even if Congress rejects the full increase, experts agree the baseline defense budget will rise by at least $100 billion annually.

Supply chain pain and farming stress

The war’s disruption of global shipping routes has congested 60% to 70% of major ports, leading to shortages of everyday goods. Meanwhile, U.S. farmers, including many Black farmers who have fought to hold onto their land amid generations of USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) discrimination, are facing fertilizer and diesel prices roughly 50% above pre-war levels.

Global impact of the war

However, the war’s devastation is global. In South Africa, fuel price jumps have triggered cascading increases for food and electricity. Women, who shoulder the majority of unpaid care work, are being hit first and hardest.

Three-quarters of the people living in Qatar and the UAE are migrant workers from large developing countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. Yale researchers found that the majority of people killed in the Gulf countries are collateral damage, migrant workers.

If the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies remain blockaded and suffer economic hardship, this will have significant spillover effects on South and Southeast Asian economies, which won’t receive the typical remittances migrant workers send home.

The post America’s war in Iran is crushing Black, Latino families Nisa Islam Muhammad appeared first on Final Call News.

Meanwhile, there is growing dissatisfaction among American citizens with the war amid rising economic strain. According to the tracking service WarCosts, the staggering price tag has already made this the most expensive air campaign in U.S. history.

As tensions remain high and the rationale for the war grows increasingly unclear, a widening chorus of critics is reacting to the moral and human consequences of the war, insisting that enough is enough.

However, decades of warnings were issued by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Both Divine Warners cautioned America about the consequences of its war posturing.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned that peace-breakers have reached an impasse in finding solutions and pathways to peace. “We do not hope for peace as long as we add to the war that which serves as fuel to a fire,” wrote the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad on page 209 of His book “The Fall of America.”

“The fire cannot go out as long as we keep it burning by adding more fuel. A dying, burning fire is increased when more fuel is thrown into it,” He wrote.

“How can we expect peace where the method used to bring about peace is the same method that started the war—instead of finding a right solution and then practicing the right solution?” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad continued.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan also shed light on the consequences of U.S. actions in the Middle East, particularly in Iran. “What gives a nation perpetuity versus that which undermines and destroys a nation?”

Said Minister Farrakhan, in a Nov. 7, 2018, statement from Tehran. “Evil, falsehood and violation of divine law doom nations to destruction, and the holy books of the world’s three greatest monotheistic religions warn us of such,” he said.

If Iran is striving to uphold divine law, respect women, and pursue righteousness, it is on the right path. If America has violated the principles of life, liberty, and justice—through its mistreatment of Indigenous people, Black communities.,

And the poor—then it has not only failed its Constitution but also disobeyed divine law and stands subject to judgment. In this view, American democracy has too often protected the interests of the White, the wealthy, and the powerful, Minister Farrakhan explained.

“So, to stand with Iran against unjust sanctions and mass punishment is to stand in the proper place. To warn America that these sanctions—which have been rejected by the European Union, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and other countries—are wrong is to stand in the proper place.

I am trying to help America face the error of her ways and see the enmity she is sparking across the globe alongside a growing loss of friendship. This is not good for America, nor the world and only marches us steadily to acrimony, conflict and the final war of Armageddon spoken of in the Bible.

America can no longer act unilaterally in the world and be successful. Success can only come from righting old wrongs and purposing just and progressive policies,” said Minister Farrakhan.

Minister Farrakhan’s remarks are applicable and relevant to today’s current crisis.

“If people feel strongly, or somewhat strongly about these wars, want them to end and are concerned about the future of this country, get involved,” said Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans For Peace.

“Let your congressperson know that you want these wars to end and make it a major issue, not a secondary issue,” he said. “Tell them that.

I want you to end these wars, and I want you to use the resources that we use on these wars to take care of people here at home in a real way,” Mr. McPhearson told The Final Call. “End the wars, and then invest in people, make that a priority.”

Now, the clarion call being issued by activists, pro-peace advocates, U.S. citizens and even some politicians is to stand up, exert pressure and make America know her sins and misguided steps in its interference and warmongering in the Middle East.

Veterans For Peace maintains that wars will not end until there is a “sea-change” in the thinking of the American people and political leaders.

The U.S. government has conducted itself as a meddler and mischief-maker on the world stage. Over the last several decades, the U.S. was embroiled in “forever wars” that cost lives and resources. Observers note that dissatisfaction and fatigue with the current war among the American people are increasing.

Mr. McPhearson, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, said there are different reasons for the present public reaction. “The biggest reason,” he said, “the United States has been at constant war since post-9/11, really before then,” he stated.

But in the layperson’s view, “we’ve been at war in Afghanistan and Iraq for 20 years,” and the peace movement has for several years talked about “forever wars” or “endless wars,” and the political right picked up that language in the past few years, he explained.

Among opposers are military veterans who know firsthand the lived experience of war, who are also voicing their opposition to America’s war with Iran, instigated by Israel.

On April 20, a coalition of organizations, including Veterans For Peace and the Center on Conscience & War (CCW), stood in formation, flanked by military family members, inside the Cannon Rotunda, located on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Complex.

They unveiled banners that said, “End the War on Iran,” and standing at attention, held red tulips honoring Iranians killed by U.S. bombs.

The groups conducted a flag-folding ceremony symbolizing American troops killed, and who will continue to be killed if the war continues, said a statement issued by the CCW, a non-profit that opposes military conscription and serves conscientious objectors to war.

The veterans and families demanded that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) come meet them to accept the folded flag and pledge to end funding of the war.

Instead, the group was met with arrests.

“First of all, they work for us,” said Mike Prysner, CCW’s executive director in a telephone interview with The Final Call, referring to the president, the House and the Senate.

“The American people don’t want this war,” he added.

These are elected representatives refusing to uphold their responsibilities and reflect the American people, who overwhelmingly reject President Trump embarking on this war against Iran.

“What they should be doing is the tens of billions of dollars that are being sent over and over again, approved by Congress to Trump, to continue this war should be used to meet human needs here at home,” Mr. Prysner contends.

The message to the government from the veterans who protested at the Capitol was “we are their legacy” and were mostly veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war.

Two wars that Mr. Prysner argues “we were lied to about every step of the way” and caused untold suffering for American service members, their families, the people of those occupied countries, and the communities where billions in tax dollars were ripped away for bombs that dropped on the other side of the world.

“That is their legacy of the last 25 years, and we see that they are about to do it again. And we’re not going to let them,” said Mr. Prysner. “We’re going to do everything we can to make it difficult for them.”

Tired of war and American interference abroad

Americans’ aversion to war—especially among younger service members—stems from lived experience and exposure to its consequences.

Many in the post-9/11 generation grew up during the so-called “War on Terror,” witnessing prolonged conflicts marked by questionable justifications, high human costs, and unclear outcomes, which has left a lasting skepticism toward military intervention.

More recently, graphic, real-time exposure to modern warfare—particularly during Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians and its current brutality in Lebanon—has intensified this shift.

Seeing the human toll up close has reshaped public perception, especially among young Americans, leading to deeper moral questioning of U.S. foreign policy and military alliances.

This evolving consciousness is reflected within the military itself, where younger service members increasingly question the purpose, legality, and human impact of war, contributing to a broader cultural and political shift away from support for prolonged conflict.

An Ipsos poll conducted April 10–12 found that only 24% of Americans believe military action in Iran has been worth the cost, while 51% say it has not and 22% are unsure. A majority (54%) also reports that the conflict has negatively impacted their personal finances.

Earlier polling from March 27–29 shows strong support for ending the conflict quickly, with 66% favoring an expedited withdrawal even if it means falling short of U.S. objectives, compared to just 27% who support continuing the war to achieve all goals.

Overall, public sentiment remains negative, with 58% disapproving of U.S. strikes on Iran, compared with 38% who approve.

More politicians are also becoming increasingly dissatisfied. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently introduced legislation to block the U.S. sales of bombs and bulldozers to Israel; however, it failed to get the required votes to pass.

“It was the fourth time Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, had forced consideration of resolutions cutting off military aid for Israel in the Senate, all of which have been rejected by the chamber’s Republican majority, and many Democrats,” reported the U.K.-based The Guardian.

Forty senators backed a resolution brought by Senator Sanders that would have prevented the sale of $295 million in bulldozers and 36 members voted for a second resolution that would have halted a $151.8 million sale of 12,000 1,000lb bombs to Israel’s military, the outlet reported.

“Today, more than 80% of the Democratic caucus stood with the American people and voted to block U.S. military aid to Netanyahu and his horrific, illegal wars. When we started this effort there were just 11 votes. Now, there are 40,” said Senator Sanders in an April 15 statement.

“That shift reflects where the American people are. Americans, whether they are Democrats, Republicans or independents, want to see our tax money invested in improving lives here at home—not used to kill innocent women and children in the Middle East and put American troops in harm’s way as part of Netanyahu’s illegal wars of expansion,” he continued.

Political analyst Richard Becker of the Act Now to End Racism and War (ANSWER) Coalition said what the public polls reflect about the war is emphatic.

He reasons that with the war on Iran, backlash to the Trump administration grew beyond an “anti-Trump” and “anti-billionaire” sentiment to include a strong anti-war current.

Particularly visible in the recent March 2026 “No Kings” demonstrations, where an estimated eight million people mobilized in 3,400 demonstrations across America and globally.

He anticipates the sentiment will be expressed even more strongly during the May Day Rallies held annually on May 1 by workers worldwide as International Labor Day to decry what they view as attacks on the working class.

Along with that is discontentment among the Trump Administration base, who supported the president because he promised to end prolonged wars like Iraq and Afghanistan and pursue a different path.

However, critics argue that, rather than a shift, U.S. involvement in Middle East conflicts continued and was very destructive—both in terms of the damage inflicted abroad and the strain at home. “We have half the population in the United States is either living in poverty or low income, which is just another gradient of poverty,” said Mr. Becker.

Mr. Becker also noted that while the government had public support at the start of past wars, the unique aspect of this war was that opposition began early, attributing the level of dissatisfaction to a number of factors.

“The most important thing that’s happened in terms of war … has been the uprising of Palestinians and the genocidal oppression that has been visited on them by the Israeli government, but with the full backing and arming and funding of Washington,” reasoned Mr. Becker.

“Millions of young people, of all nationalities in the United States; all ethnic groups have joined the movement and became anti-war … became anti-government,” he explained. “And continue to express their revulsion with these wars [and] with the genocide that’s going on,” Mr. Becker noted.

The post ‘The American people don’t want this war’ Conflict overseas in the Middle East drags on as public patience runs out appeared first on Final Call News.

And in homes, neighborhoods, and cities across the country, as those celebrations unfold, violence, particularly incidents involving firearms, will be a grim and harsh reality people will be faced with. This is not a coincidence. It is a continuum.

At least 121 mass shootings have already happened in the United States in 2026—and the country hasn’t yet reached the official anniversary of its founding. At 250 years old, America is not growing out of its violence. It is deepening into it.

So far, this year, 130 people have been killed and more than 460 injured, according to Gun Violence Data Hub and Gun Violence Archive statistics analyzed by data visualization Journalist Susie Webb. 

Those incidents include the shooting in Shreveport, La., on April 19, that left eight children dead and two adults injured; the shooting at the Mall of Louisiana on April 23, in Baton Rouge, leaving five injured and one dead; and another that same week in Winston-Salem, N.C., where five teens were injured and two killed. 

Even schools and places of worship are not immune to shootings and violence. Five people, including three University of Iowa students, were shot in Iowa City’s pedestrian mall near the university campus on April 19. Police say the suspected shooter was a 17-year-old male. 

“The number of annual mass shootings had been on a decline since it spiked in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 20% fewer mass shootings in 2025 compared to the year before.

The same cannot be said for 2026 so far. Already, there have been 45% more mass shootings compared to the same time last year,” reported Ms. Webb.

A mass shooting is generally defined as an incident of violence involving firearms where multiple (three, four or more) people are shot, injured, or killed, typically excluding the perpetrator. 

The victims and perpetrators include various creeds, classes and socio-economic backgrounds.

Mass violence in America began at its founding—in the forced removal of Indigenous peoples, a history wrought with the murderous genocide of the Native American peoples who are the original owners of the land.

It was soon followed by the forced enslavement of Black people kidnapped from Africa under the whip and the rope—and its violence has never stopped. The question is no longer how this keeps happening. The question is why the country refuses to look at where it started.

The violence starts at the top, stated the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, during remarks about the cause and effects of violence, at an anti-violence rally at the Illinois State Building in downtown Chicago in 2008. His message was titled, “The Cause and Effect of a Violent Society.”

“We say we want sensible gun laws, but we are demanding it from government at the same time that our government has the highest military budget of any nation in the world;

Developing more and more weapons to kill more and more people! How can the violence stop on the bottom, when the violence is perpetrated by policies at the top?” Minister Farrakhan said.

Minister Farrakhan’s remarks centered on the origin of violence in the society. “There is a saying that reads like this: ‘Children do what is natural until they learn what is normal.’

Any child that you see, whether it is Black, White, Asian, Hispanic or Native American; whether it is Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist, the child does what is natural, like learning to crawl, pull up on things that will help it to become erect and to walk—we didn’t teach it those things.

But then, the child learns to become normal. Normal means that you learn the norms, which are the folkways and the mores of the society or the culture in which you live. But then if we keep watching, we go further and further away from the natural;

But yet, we are still considered normal. Everybody is looking for somebody to straighten out a mess that was made, unfortunately, by those in authority.

We cannot stem the violence that is here at the bottom, which is an effect, unless we look at the violence that begins at the top, which is the cause. We are the effect of a cause that we did not stem the tide of, and now it’s manifesting in the children.”

Historical and modern context

This country was founded in violence by the government which has trickled down to everyday life.

In 1921 an example of government or state violence was the Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Riots where a prosperous Black neighborhood was bombed and burned to the ground by a White Mob, killing as many as 300 people.

Nearly eight decades later, in 1999, two students opened fire at Columbine High School, killing 13 students and one teacher. In 2015, a White gunman killed nine Black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., during Bible study.

In 2017, a shooter killed 60 at a Las Vegas festival. In 2018, 11 Jewish worshippers were killed at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. In 2019, 23 people were killed at an El Paso Walmart in an attack targeting Latinos.

In 2021, six Asian women were among eight killed at Atlanta-area spas. In 2022, a White supremacist killed 10 Black shoppers at a Buffalo grocery store.

Such cases are still unfolding. All impact communities, and they exemplify the country’s pattern of violence. Notwithstanding the shifting targets, the geography is always America, and the body count rises.

Researchers say the public conversation about mass violence has long centered on the most visible tragedies, but the data tells a different story about where the violence lies.

According to a 2025 UCLA Fielding School of Public Health study, half of all mass shooting fatalities between 2014 and 2023 occurred in homes—not schools, workplaces, or houses of worship.

Among children under nine, that figure rises to 89 percent, compared to 62 percent among older children and teens and 44 percent among adults.

Women were more likely to be killed in mass shootings at home (50%) than men (40%). The household—the place America imagines as sanctuary—is where the crisis is most concentrated, and most hidden.

Going to the root

Dr. Monique S. Muhammad, incoming National President of the Association of Black Psychologists, names what data alone cannot reach. Based in Newark, N.J., she calls the mechanism of transformation denaturing—the systematic severing of an African people from their language, their God, their land, their understanding of themselves.

“We’ve become very violent. But that wasn’t our history. That wasn’t who we are or how we were prior to encountering Europeans,” she said.

“Whenever something is taken out of its nature, it loses the power it had in its original form, and Black people have been denatured psychologically, physically, and spiritually, then conditioned to hate themselves.

That death is not always physical,” she continued.  “It looks like the man with the beautiful house and the nice car, who is empty inside, or the woman who has lost everything about herself to be accepted by a society that does not see her and does not want to.

“We are fractured. We are broken because of that, so I’m not letting anyone off the hook. That could cut across the board. There’s so many of us who are operating at a low level of existence. And that’s spiritually. That’s not just tangible items,” argued Dr. Muhammad.

A starting point for solutions is to zoom out and recognize the hopelessness, helplessness, and internalized worthlessness people carry every day. “I’m not trying to say this is a ‘Black’ thing, because again, we’ve learned it from somewhere. It’s not who we are organically. … We’re seeing a manifestation of what we’ve been living,” she said.

“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan bears Him witness, that whenever you are examining a problem or some troubling phenomenon, you have to always go to the root of things,”

Said Student Minister Demetric Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 in Memphis and the Whitehaven Study Group. He is also a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group and an author.

The violence visiting Black people in America stretches back to the slave ship, to the auction block, to the plantation—a centuries-long infrastructure of sanctioned brutality the U.S. has never fully dismantled or acknowledged, he noted.

Since the Nation of Islam’s founding by Allah (God) in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, The Great Mahdi, there has been present in America a knowledge and wisdom that, if adhered to, could save it, explained Student Min. Demetric Muhammad.

The divine knowledge delivered from Master Fard Muhammad, taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and carried forward by the Honorable Minister Farrakhan, represents nothing less than a God-given prescription for healing that is good and beneficial for all of humanity, he said.

The evidence is that those who follow the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad under the leadership and example of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to not engage in violent acts.

Members of the Nation of Islam are forbidden from carrying weapons—not so much as a penknife—a discipline rooted in the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In America, a nation drowning in gun violence, that record stands as testimony.

In the 1990s “Dopebusters” campaign, the Fruit of Islam (F.O.I., the men of the Nation of Islam) brought peace to the Kenilworth Parkside and Mayfair Mansions housing complexes in Washington, D.C., closing open-air drug markets.

They entered communities that others would not—removing drug trafficking, crime and violence not through condemnation or brandishing weapons, but through dignified engagement—achieving marked behavior modification without robbing those they served of their self-respect. 

Restoration, argued Student Min. Demetric Muhammad, is being withheld through the censorship of Minister Farrakhan, denied a Facebook account, an Instagram account, and a YouTube channel, with followers’ postings of his lectures regularly removed.

It is not merely the silencing of one man, but a two-pronged assault: blocking a proven, behavior-modifying message while aggressively promoting a culture soaked in violence.

Children are becoming desensitized to the taking of life, said Student Min. Demetric Muhammad. “Imagine what America would look like if the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s ministry were allowed to proliferate the airwaves?

I believe that violent crime would plummet … the hiding of the light, the censorship of God’s Messenger, lies at the root of America’s fall, which is being marked by escalating levels of violent crime. To me, the solution rests within allowing the Minister the freedom to teach the American people,” he stated.

The post A country founded on violence and why America’s oldest wound keeps bleeding appeared first on Final Call News.

America represents herself as a Christian nation. This means that they are followers of Jesus, whom they call the Christ and say that they are crystallized into him and God and have become one. As they say, God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Ghost.

They profess to be a friend and defenders of all peace-loving and freedom-loving people. The only people we really see that they want to be friends of are themselves and their kind. They are really sincere when they say that they are freedom-loving people. Above all, the White man the world over wants to be free to rule and dominate the aboriginal people.

Today America’s doom is set like a die. She cannot escape; it is impossible. For her to escape would classify the prophets of God and God Himself as predicting lies. When God appeared to me in the person of Master Fard Muhammad, to whom praises are due forever, in 1931 in Detroit, He said that America was His number one enemy on His list for destruction.

While he mentioned other European Whites as getting a little extension of time, He singled America and Germany out as being the two worst vicious, evil, destructive trouble-makers of the entire nation earth. And that America had mistreated us (the so-called Negroes) so much that she cannot be equally paid back for the evils she has done to the poor Black slaves.

There are thousands and tens of thousands of American so-called Negroes and in those tens of thousand are such professional and educated class of people as preachers, ministers of the white man’s Christianity, even scientists, scholars of many kinds and technicians of all kinds who have become submerged into the love and worship of the White race because of advantages.

Today they preach the gospel of being an American citizen and worship equally their intermarriage with White Americans who used the Black women from the time they were brought here 400 years ago until this very day, as they would their stock and cattle.

It is a perfect shame and disgrace to see men of the Black nation professing themselves to be spiritual guides of God and His people, endorsing and backing the rule of enemies who have spoiled and exploited them to the extent that they are not recognized even among their own kind outside America. These ignorant Black people will oppose anyone who preaches freedom, Justice and equality and some of this earth that we can call our own.

They are the first to go to the policemen and F.B.I. seeking persecution for those who stand for freedom, justice and equality and independence for the Black man of America by their admired and worshiped enemy (the White race). They will accuse them of trying to overthrow the government or even of causing trouble.

The White man has looked into their faces many times as into their children’s faces and cursed them and called them Black Negroes and told us to our faces that they hate us and should kill us.

All of my life I have heard this, and all of their lives they have heard the same from the mouths of these people. But today they wish to save their skin by sacrificing their poor, blind, deaf and dumb people to the destroyer for their own selfish gains.

I have begged and begged for many years for just a conference with them, but they will not come near. But they will go to the White man and beg him to drive Elijah and his followers out and even kill them. This is the enemy, but Elijah Muhammad is laid as a stumbling stone. That stone that has been rejected by the builders. Whosoever falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and whosoever the stone falls upon will be ground into powder.

No wonder the Bible, says, woe, woe unto such professional class that stand in the way of those who would enter the Kingdom of Heaven. They refuse to go in themselves and seek to prevent those who are trying to enter.

I am sorry for my poor people who should be helping in the right way to get a permanent future of freedom, justice and equality and who now, due to fear, are doing everything to oppose it. They are dumb enough to the knowledge of the scripture of what God has prophesied he would do in this day and time, and they make mockery even of the Messenger of God because God did not choose one of them or one of their proud politicians. They make mockery of him as being too ignorant to lead them.

But let them tell you what type of an Apostle or prophet God promised them. Was it a man from some of the enemy colleges and universities with an arm full of degrees coming from these institutions of learning of the enemy?

Let them read their scriptures and see what type of man God promised to choose for a last messenger. How many of the prophets in the past were educated men of the civilization in which they were born before the call of God?

The sins of America are terrible. She has risen up in this part of the earth which was wilderness forsaken by all our people for thousands and thousands of years and was used for a kind of exile continent. The White man came out of Europe in desperation seeking a place to expand and began to kill the aboriginals of this continent (the Red Indian) and take their homes. This was one of her great sins.

The White man has left a remnant of that people for the sake of mockery and for his children to see the people their fathers conquered in taking this land of the Indians for their own land (as they call it today). God never intended that the people of the earth go about killing each other to rob each other of their homes. It was never done by anyone but the White race.

He was not satisfied in killing all the aboriginals here to take their homes but went back into the old world of Africa and Asia and deceived and brought our fathers here for no other purpose than to make them slaves and to experiment on them.

They have never been a friend to us, nor do they ever intend to be. They cannot be a friend because they were not created in any such nature to be a true friend to anyone, not even to themselves. Today she is being upset with wars, little scrimmages breaking out here and there over the earth keeping her busy running from one fire to the other trying to prevent the fire from spreading into a national or international fire.

She must get a taste of what she has put upon other people. Therefore, Almighty God Himself is stirring up the nations of the earth against her. And, as it is written, they shall come against her as she has gone against other people and taken away their wealth and brought it and poured it into her treasuries, so shall it be done to her.

(Excerpt from “Message to the Blackman,” 1965.)

The post Make America Know Her Sins appeared first on Final Call News.

This article was written immediately after the last one, which was written earlier today (June 13^th) and after the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan delivered Part II of The Guide and the Guidance.

Let me explain. I was very enthused. But I was also sad because of the many who partly heard him or didn’t hear him at all. His ending contained a very serious warning and he seemed to be ending a critical series of speeches that began with his Saviours’ Day speech in February. I thought of others who may never hear this critical talk (and those leading to this one.) 

Urge all to get and listen to these critical series of speeches of Minister Farrakhan as fast as possible.

After I “finished” both articles, I felt that since they won’t appear, until weeks after today’s speech, Allah willing, they may help some get the tape or others may carefully re-listen to it.

By the way, there’s much talk of Alzheimer’s disease but not much of its connection with aluminum and its relation to the problem of forgetfulness. Why?

In making an excellent point in his speech today, Minister Farrakhan cited an experience I had on an airplane about five or six years ago.

I had another similar experience in a public place about four months ago. I was in a long line of customers. I was reading a book. There was a white woman who was about five customers ahead of me. I noticed that she kept turning her neck around looking in my direction. The line was moving slowly. I kept reading.

Finally, she got out of the line and took a few steps toward me. She asked, “What are you reading?” I turned the book up so that she could see the front cover. Her face began to turn red as a beet. She abruptly turned around and got back in her place in line. She said nothing more to me. I said nothing at all.

The book’s title was Rogue Nation. Between the two words composing the book’s title, is the American flag shaped according to the boundaries of the United States. At the top in much smaller print is: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions. At the bottom in small print, with reference to the author, are the words, Author of Trading Places. In somewhat larger words is the author’s name, Clyde Prestowitz.

There is smaller print on the back cover of the book on which was written advance praised for this book. Among the “big” names of those who praise this book and urge others–especially those in power–to read it are: Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser and Peter Sutherland, Chairman of Goldman Sachs International, former Director General, World Trade Organization.

On the inside back flap are these words by David Gergen, Director of the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard University, Former White House advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He wrote: “This is a brave book that should be read by all who care about America’s success. A man of impeccable conservative credentials, Clyde Prestowitz directly challenges a new orthodoxy on the right–which the U. S. should aggressively pursue its own interests regardless to what others may think. No one writes with more authority and love of country.” (Emphasis his.)

Three paragraphs down, on the inside flap of its paper cover, are these words: “Rogue Nation is not an argument against American dominance or the exercise of American power. It’s an argument against stupidity, arrogance and ignorance in the exercise of power.”

Even though I had only read the words of a few others, as mentioned above, the publisher’s words on the inside cover flaps and a few pages of his book, it was clear to me that Clyde Prestowitz is an above average intelligent “conservative” white man, who loves America and is doing what he can to warn her.

I don’t know if Prestowitz is among the growing number of Caucasians who know, to an above average degree, the extraordinary value of Minister Farrakhan’s advice to President Bush. Many have known that the Minister is right, but fear to say this publicly, due to fear of being caught up in the most massive disinformation ever waged in history. But an increasing number of Caucasians are publicly agreeing with him—directly and indirectly. Blacks are witnessing this.

David Gergen characterized this book as “a brave book” and that its author “directly challenges a new orthodoxy on the right?” (Emphasis his.)

“Brave” in part, means: “having or showing courage, especially when facing danger, difficulty, or pain; to face the onslaught of something unpleasant with courage and resolution.”

Who did Mr. Prestowitz identify as the “new orthodoxy on the right” whose presence, work and power is such that they should be challenged and that to do so, bravery is required?  Rather than assume, I stopped typing and read beyond page seven (where I had stopped reading) of Mr. Prestowitz’s book.

On page 277, for instance, he points out clearly that the “new orthodoxy on the right” whom he challenged are, broadly speaking, the same group whom Minister Farrakhan has “called out.” But there are significant differences in their knowledge. 

On this critical and complicated subject, Mr. Prestowitz’s knowledge is wide-ranging and comprehensive. He wrote that he interviewed many, read widely and has had broad experience. His solutions, however, won’t solve America’s problems. He did not deal with the root cause of America’s problems–the position and condition of America’s Black people.

Minister Farrakhan’s knowledge, on this same complex subject, is divine. Furthermore, he unfailingly makes clear and unhesitatingly states that the source of his special knowledge is his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He knows the solution to America’s problems.

The context of Mr. Gergen’s use of the word “brave” reminds me of Minister Farrakhan’s bravery or courage, in the face of his being the target of the greatest and the most massive and sustained disinformation campaign ever launched against any one Black man in America’s history–or anywhere–which thoroughly involves the most powerful government of the past 6,000 years. This year marks the nineteenth consecutive year of a major aspect of this campaign against Minister Farrakhan.

Of course, this campaign is part of the same that has been directed against the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam since the early 1930s–from within and without.

What makes this the greatest disinformation campaign ever is that it’s knowingly designed to defeat the aims and purposes of the Supreme Being. Not all involved in it, however, are aware of its full scope, not to think of its ultimate defeat and destruction. 

Of this evil campaign, the Holy Qur’an states “They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will allow nothing save the perfection of His light …  .” ( 9:32)

Now, what do the following words mean? “… Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalms 40: 8)

How was God’s law written “within” his heart? When? Who is speaking here? How do you know? If you have an answer, how do you verify it?

More next issue, Allah willing.

The post The courage to face the greatest disinformation campaign appeared first on Final Call News.

“O you who believe, if you obey those who disbelieve, they will make you turn back upon you heels, so you will turn back losers. Nay, Allah is your Patron, and He is the Best of the helpers.” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 3, verses 148, 149

The title for this article comes from the words of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad to his students and members of his household during one of his table talks. He elaborated further by stating that, in the histories we read in both Bible and Qur’an, we do not know what part of these Scriptures we will repeat or what part we can avoid or walk away from. It becomes apparent only after we have actually fulfilled such and such part which is intended for us.

It will never be revealed by looking for it; for if this were so, we would never be tested and would always seek to identify with the best part, without realizing that we could be walking into the path of that which may not be so pleasing, and proves to be a test for us. This is why Allah is described in the Holy Qur’an as being the Beneficent and the oft-returning to Mercy.

According to the Holy Qur’an, which is the root of Muhammad, it is revealed that, if the Prophet had been acquainted with the unseen, no evil would have touched him. We never want to become acquainted with that which may cause grief or will prove to be a trial for ourselves and others; but these days come in turns, that Allah may make a distinction between the Believers, the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Each one of the battles and the prophetic events that are revealed in the Holy Qur’an and the history of the Prophet were designed by Allah to do just that.

“If a wound has afflicted you, a wound like it has also afflicted the (disbelieving) people. And We bring these days to men by turns, that Allah may know those who believe and take witnesses from among you. And Allah loves not the wrongdoers, And that He may purge those who believe and deprive the disbelievers of blessings. Do you think that you will enter the Garden while Allah has not yet known those from among you who strive hard (nor) known the steadfast?” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 3, verses 139-141

While the enemies were pursuing the Honorable Elijah Muhammad throughout the several cities in which he took refuge on the East Coast, beginning in 1935, the Master had given him a list of 104 books to read at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Some people have asked what is the significance of all these numbers, as is also expressed in the Parable of the Number 19?

“What does Allah mean by this parable? Thus Allah leaves in error whom He pleases, and guides whom He pleases. And none know the hosts of thy Lord but He. And this is naught but a Reminder to mortals.” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 74, verse 31

 As I continue my Testimony on this most controversial issue concerning the departure of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, many question, or are in doubt, as to what really happened to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad following his announced death on February 25, 1975. So, too, were the people in doubt about the whereabouts of Jesus after his purported death on the cross.

“And certainly those who differ therein are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge about it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for certain: Nay Allah exalted him in His presence. And Allah is ever Mighty, Wise.” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 4, verses 157, 158

It is clear to me that this is talking about a future Jesus, whom the enemies would attempt to kill, but would fail, because God would take him unto Himself.

For further proof, let us return to the Letter written by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad to Brother Jabril Muhammad in Phoenix, Arizona on November 25, 1966, nine years prior to his actual departure. “In the Psalms prophecy, he was taken under a cover of darkness. While the enemies were after him, God made the heavens a dark thickness of clouds, and under cover of this darkness, God came down and picked him up.” The Honorable Elijah Muhammad closes this portion of his letter with a reference to Daniel’s prophecy and the 81st Chapter of the Holy Qur’an.

Reflecting on all of the above, I close with the quotation of those verses cited in his letter from the 81st Surah, so that we may gain a greater understanding of what is written and how, under varying circumstances, we fulfill those parts.

“Nay, I call to witness the stars, Running their course, (and) setting, And the night when it departs, And the morning when it brightens, Surely it is the word of a bountiful Messenger, The possessor of strength, established in the presence of the Lord of the Throne, One (to be) obeyed, and faithful. And your companion is not mad. And truly he saw himself on the clear horizon. Nor is he niggardly of the unseen. Nor is it the word of an accursed devil.” –Holy Qur’an, Surah 81, verses 15-25

To be continued.

The post ‘You will find everything written about yourself in a book!’ appeared first on Final Call News.

As I mentioned earlier, nearly all vegetables are good to eat that have been classified by the scientists who have studied the poisons that the vegetables contain as well as the non-poisons they contain. We do not need to eat everything just because the Bible (in Genesis) said that Adam (who represents the White race) could eat nearly all of the herbs of the earth (that are not poisonous). Our scientists teach us of that which is poisonous and of that which is not poisonous.

If we are travelers and are stranded, we eat whatever we can find edible, to non-poisonous roots and the bark off trees. But this is not good for us if we wish to live a long time because our stomachs are not made to digest the bark off trees and roots of trees or blades of grass and leaves.

Our stomachs were not made to live off raw foods, except certain raw foods such as fruits, which—beyond a shadow of a doubt—should be eaten raw and never cooked. When we cook fruit, it takes away the vital property that is necessary for our good health. An apple (or peaches or berries) is better eaten raw than cooked, unless our health and body are weak and unable to digest the raw apple.

There is a great need for knowledge on what to cook as well as how to cook it. We can live a long, great and healthy life by just drinking good, wholesome milk and eating good whole wheat bread if the bread is cooked correctly.

Some people will eat whole wheat kernel. But, this is not good to do because it is the hull of the seed and our stomachs are not made to digest the raw wheat seeds, regardless of the great property of vitamins in them.

The whole wheat kernel should be milled and ground very fine. When you are ready to make bread, add water and yeast to it and set it aside to sour. This will put it in a better digestive state to be cooked properly for your stomach to digest.

Cook it slowly after it has risen a couple of times in the mold; this must be done thoroughly so that all of the risen cake or loaf is thoroughly cooked through and through under the heat of the oven. After it is cooked, do not eat it until it has set a day or two; even three days is not too long to wait for it. It is never stale because of age if kept in the right place.

Never eat freshly cooked bread of any kind, as it is difficult for the stomach to digest. The same applies to beans and whatever you eat; cook them thoroughly. But, do not cook them in such a way as to destroy the vitamins or proteins that are in them to strengthen and build your bodies and the tissues of your bodies.

Some people pull the brown crust off the bread to eat the unbrowned core. But by doing this you are throwing away the most digestible part of the bread and accepting that part which is hard to digest.

Toast that is browned through and through is much easier on our stomachs than the slice of bread that is not toasted. We can live longer by eating several varieties of foods.

Never think that you are a great, healthy person just because you eat a lot of meat, white bread, corn bread, sweet pastry, or a lot of peas and beans. You are only taking a quick trip to the cemetery.

(Repost from “How To Eat To Live,” Book One, 1967.)

The post Fruit Is Digested Better When Eaten Raw appeared first on Final Call News.

In my commentary, I wrote about Jamaican columnist Betty Ann Blaine, who, in an article she wrote at the time, focused on the challenges of Caribbean politics that troubled the social, economic, and political conditions of both the West Indies and the African continent. The lack of willingness, including neocolonial impediments, prevented the building of coalitions that could have expanded Blaine’s critique to include Africa and the entire North American African diaspora. In her 2012 treatise, Blaine, a columnist for the Jamaican Observer, expressed particular concern for religious leaders and their roles.

Quoting Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his critique of the Black church, she wrote, “In spite of the noble affirmations of Christianity, the church has often lagged in its concern for social justice and too often has been content to mouth pious irrelevances and sanctimonious trivialities.”

She continued, writing, “Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the economic and social conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is the kind the Marxist describes as ‘an opiate of the people.’”

As I wrote in my 2012 article, Blaine’s ruminations were a direct response to Minister Farrakhan’s first leg of his Caribbean tour and his past tours of Africa, including his highly anticipated address to African heads of state and delegates at the Second African/ African-American Summit in Libreville, Gabon, in May 1993.

During his 1993 message, Minister Farrakhan highlighted the need for unity between Africans in the diaspora. His weighty words focused on bridging the gap between Africa and Black Americans, fostering a “strong united hand,” and making Africa into a 21st-century superpower.

Minister Farrakhan, whose parents hailed from the West Indies, delivered a similar message in the Caribbean, calling for regional unity as the only way for Caribbean peoples to withstand the onslaught of Western economic and cultural imperialism. His message, especially geared toward the entire Black world, is to galvanize economic and political resources and synthesize ideological bents as the only way to survive.

However, Minister Farrakhan has also explained the importance of not being beholden to outside influences, something that our people in America, Africa and the Caribbean should take heed to.

The continuing “absence of moral capital” and the manifested “poverty of ideas,” as declared by Blaine in her description of the Caribbean region’s ruling class, which is being replicated in Africa, can be summed up in Minister Farrakhan’s July 10, 2010, open letter to Black leaders.

In it, he describes the inability of the wealthy and influential to effect positive changes among the masses if they are beholden to outside forces.

“However, have you ever noticed that no matter how rich and powerful some of us have become, we have never been shown how to network with the wealthy and learned of our people, pooling our resources that we may produce for our people that which would grow us from a begging position as little children to become masters of our own destiny?”

The absence of original or good ideas geared toward self-actualization and self-reliance is evident in the neoliberal directives from which some government leaders derive their marching orders. And at times, as the popularity of many Black government officials or heads of state increases, their connection to their constituents’ needs can decrease. Likewise, as their relationships with those in the past, they were critical of increases—including multinational interest groups—addressing the needs of their community, becomes co-opted. It becomes compromised by approaches that take into account the newfound support they receive from those with whom they were once in opposition.

During his address at the summit in Gabon, Minister Farrakhan referenced both the Bible and the Holy Qur’an to encourage the Black American and African leaders to seek a higher power than the neocolonialism that continues to deny Africa its ability to unify and realize its full potential.

“We are here at a summit because each one of us is losing power, authority, wealth, self-esteem, and the dignity of our own humanity because we’re in a new form of slavery called debt. Surely, man is in loss. Why, because we are not aware of the time,” Minister Farrakhan said.

“It is not the time by our watch, but the time by Allah’s (God’s) measurement of time. What time is it? We are at the time of the end of White supremacy. We are at the time of the end of White domination of the darker peoples of the world. We are at the time of the end of racism, sexism and materialism,” he said.

Today, in 2026, for the African continent, watching from afar, the destabilization of the Western world’s economic system is not enough. Africa and Africans and Blacks in the diaspora must prepare for the possibility of a prolonged war in the Middle East and its impact. For Africa, unity would have global implications that, in turn, would impact the world.

As economist Jeffrey Sachs noted in the April 16 edition of the International Affairs Forum, on their own, 55 individual African nations are too small to achieve the kind of global role and competitiveness the continent needs.

“However, if Africa truly creates a political, economic, financial, and eventually monetary union, then it will be able to emulate the great successes of China and India. With a single market, a unified financial system, and increasing monetary integration, Africa will be well positioned to create a truly unified economic space, also deeply interconnected by transboundary infrastructure (for power, fiber, roads, rail, shipping, and ecosystem management). Moreover, with a strong union, Africa will be positioned to play a global diplomatic role as well, helping to lead global decision-making in key international forums.”

This unity also applies to the Caribbean nations and Black America, all of which should heed Minister Farrakhan’s guidance, benefiting the entire diaspora.

Follow Jehron Muhammad @africawatchfcn on X

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