FinalCall.com | By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
This is a very difficult subject for me to attempt to deliver to you. The promotional flier caused much consternation and upset. And I had many friends, whom I believe love me: They were upset, because they have a vested interest in Hillary Clinton becoming the next president of the United States. I want to say to my friends who are with Mrs. Clinton, and some other of my friends who were with Bernie Sanders, and others of my friends who are with Mr. Trump: We are not going to lose any friendship over White people that want to continue to rule us.
You have been hearing me for many years, and I don’t talk about myself—my job is to represent the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad; and he said if I made his Great Commission known, he would represent me to the people. But I am sitting in his seat, by Allah’s and his permission. He told me one day, “Allah has made me to take His place among the people, and I am making you to take mine.”
“Am making” is the present progressive tense. But that “making” probably has been complete now. So I am not talking to you as a man “guessing”—I am not a Negro leader; nor am I some person trying to be what I am not, so I don’t speak to you like somebody who is trying to curry the favor of any of you. I love your favor; I want your favor, but not if I displease Allah by hiding the truth that you need to know to make wise decisions for your life. So I am not one that is afraid of being censured by Negroes, members of the press, The Government, the Jewish community, or some of the murmurers that walk with me. The Holy Qur’an says: “O Messenger, deliver the message that has been revealed to you; and if you do it not, you have not delivered My Message. Surely I will protect you from men.”
|
Now it is clear that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke bold uncompromising truths for 40 years: Evidently he was protected by a Power bigger than himself. So in 2017, it will be 40 years that I have been among you absent my Teacher; so I have come this far by faith, and I can’t at this time act like I don’t know what I know, or hide the truth of what I know to win the favor of friends or to incur the wrath of foes. When I deliver my message, you can do with it—or me—as you please.
***
God has gifted me with a rare gift. Not just the gift of speech, but the gift of a characteristic of humility. I have always, by God’s Grace, been able to see “the bigger picture.”
|
When my brother, Reverend Jesse Jackson, asked me in 1983 at the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington if I would help him, because he was about to announce his running for the nomination of the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States, I said, “Well, Rev. Jackson, I would have to think about it.” So I went back to The Final Call building, which was our headquarters at that time, and I asked laborers in The Nation, male and female, who had been around the Honorable Elijah Muhammad for a long time: “Should we do something like that?” I wouldn’t tell them what my thought was because this is not a “cult.” I really believe in freedom, justice and equality; so I never order people, I just tell you what the truth and what the facts are, and leave it to you. And if I give an order, I try to give it with a smile—that’s the way my Teacher taught me. After asking them, they agreed that we should help Rev. Jackson. And that’s what I wanted to do; because if he wanted to run for the presidency of the United States, that’s big. And so “the bigger picture” was “submit yourself to help your brother,” and that I did. …
Members of the Jewish community: When we were saying “Run, Jesse, Run!” they were saying, “Ruin Jesse, Ruin!” Then some members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) wanted to attack Rev. Jackson and his family, so The F.O.I. stood up to protect Rev. Jackson before the Secret Service had that responsibility. But when I spoke up against members of the Jewish community, not knowing that I was turning over a hornet’s nest … the hornets came out to sting me.
That’s when I learned that I had hornet’s nest protection. And they found out that they were not dealing with the average Negro; that when White folk come against you, you lay down. There’s no “lay down” in Farrakhan—and they found that out.
There came a time when the Jewish newspapers said, “Farrakhan called Judaism a ‘gutter religion’.” And poor Jesse, he had to “right the ship.” But I never said “gutter” religion; I said they were practicing a “dirty” religion, “dirty” meaning not Judaism but the practice of lying, cheating, and stealing in the name of God. There are Christians who do dirt. There are Muslims who do dirt. But dirt should never be done in the Name of Jesus or Moses or Muhammad, or God, because God is not a promoter of filth. So there came a time when Rev. Jackson had to let me go as his surrogate speaker; and he said some words that I said—which I didn’t say. But, it’s okay; it was convenient. The bigger picture was Rev. Jackson.
Barack Obama: We supported him when he was a community organizer. I had never met him, but my chief of staff at that time, Brother Leonard F. Muhammad, knew Barack Obama, and we backed him with money and with the help of the F.O.I. to get him elected. Barack Obama became a U.S. senator. … This part of the story I will leave for another time: But he visited me—that’s all I will say. Later on, he threw his hat in the ring to be president of the United States; and I, at our Saviours’ Day convention in 2008, spoke kind words about my brother. But Hillary had already said she wanted to be president. So she and Barack were locked in a battle when there was a debate on Meet The Press with NBC’s star reporter Tim Russert. My name came up.
All of you that want national and state prominence: Sometimes I am the “litmus test” to see if White folk can do anything good for you. And some of you are so weak and so cowardly, that your desires mean more than the integrity of your being. But every time I forgave my brothers, and kept moving forward. Barack did not want to denounce me, but Hillary forced him, and he gave in and said, “All right, all right. I renounce Farrakhan; I don’t want his support.” I supported him anyway. And some of the followers were a little angry with me, because he had dissed me. But it’s not “personal.” What’s “the bigger picture”? What’s in the best interest of our people? I told all of those with me, “Don’t you say anything negative about Barack Obama,” and they followed my lead and instruction. Barack got elected—and me and my wife: 5 o’clock in the morning around the corner from The National House, we went out and voted for our brother. I was very proud of him.
|
“The bigger picture” is that I have a picture of myself and Barack together. You never saw it, because I would never put it out to give his enemies what they were looking for to hurt him. But he told me straight up: “Farrakhan, the Black vote in Chicago made me win Chicago, but it was the down state vote that made me a U.S. senator. And I will never do anything that will cause me to lose the down state vote.” And I said to him, “My brother, your reality is not mine. And we need you where you are, so I will never ask you to do anything that will cause you to lose the downstate vote”—and I never have. He was “the bigger picture.” …
Now if, in your small mind and heart, you are envious because God allowed Barack Obama to be, right now, the most popular Black human being that has ever walked among us in America: No leader—no leader—has outshined Barack Obama in the hearts of the people.
I know who I am … and I know that that was his time. It’s mine now. So the “bigger picture” is not Hillary Clinton; the “bigger picture” is not Donald Trump. The “bigger picture” is the Black masses of America and the American people whose lives are at stake. So what I know, I have to tell; and it is a Warning to Hillary Clinton, to Donald Trump, to the Democrat and Republican leaders: I want to share with you something from my Teacher.
And I am so proud to lift up my Teacher. … So I am saying this to The Government and I think you already know it: You are not dealing with “Louis.” You are dealing with Elijah in me, and The God and The Mahdi that back me! Take it or leave it.
