[Source: FinalCall.com]
CHICAGO – Mosque Maryam, the international headquarters of the Nation of Islam, was packed to capacity. A standing room audience filled not only the main sanctuary, but also the prayer room downstairs to hear the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan continue his Saviours’ Day message, “How Strong is the Foundation: Can We Survive?”
Having been warmly received by a crowd of nearly 19,000 in Detroit the week prior and speaking for two and a half hours, he had more to say and wanted to deliver the second part of his message March 2 in Chicago.
“Chicago is a great city with some powerful and magnificent Black people in it, so I wanted to come and see you,” Min. Farrakhan said.
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As he did the previous week, the Minister delved into the lives and thinking of many in the pantheon of historical Black leaders, who represented different points along the ideological spectrum of Black liberation. Over a century later, Blacks are still fighting to achieve freedom, justice, and equality—the desire of leaders from Frederick Douglass in the 1800s to Clarence 13X, founder of the Nation of Gods and Earths, and Min. Malcolm X, the Black nationalist icon of the 1960s.
Black people have done all they could to be accepted by White society, but it has not mattered.
“The more we try to please our open enemy, the more we try to please our oppressor, it seems like in every generation we are fighting the same battle against the same enemy,” said the Minister. “He passes on his madness to generation after generation and we pass on our ignorance generation after generation and somehow, this has got to stop, and I think God has chosen us to put a stop to it.”
The time has now come for Black people—who are very valuable in the sight of God—to accept responsibility to build God’s kingdom on Earth, the Minister explained.
“The end of your oppression has come, and God has come to deliver you from your oppressor and settle you in a land of your own under his presence and guidance,” said Min. Farrakhan. “That means accepting responsibility to be an agent of change!”
A cross section of Black America was represented at Mosque Maryam. Photo: Toure Muhammad
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Telescopes are peering way into space and no ‘heaven’ has been identified in the sky, though that is what Black people have been taught for generations through Christianity, he continued. ‘Heaven’ and ‘Hell’ are conditions of life, not an afterlife, said the Minister.
“Your heaven and your hell is right here on this Earth! God is here, the devil is here, the righteous are here, the wicked are here and this is the time that the gods will take the devils into hell!”
As an example of the continued injustice Blacks have suffered in America, he spoke about “Stand Your Ground” laws, which are related to high-profile deaths in the case of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis. Both unarmed young Black teenagers were shot and killed by grown men who claimed to have felt threatened by the mere presence of the innocent young Black boys. The Minister asked what would happen if Black people began to claim “Stand Your Ground” defenses across the U.S. in their interaction with White people.
“How many Black men walk the street and feel threatened?” asked the Minister. Many raised their hands. “But Stand Your Ground is not for you. “Stand Your Ground” is for White folks to hide murder behind a law.”
