The Final Call | Minister Louis Farrakhan

The Road To Justice Requires A Movement, Not A Moment

By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: Nov 10, 2015 - 11:07:30 AM

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[Editor’s note: The following article contains edited excerpts from the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s message to educators and scholars at The Marriott Marquis Hotel on Sunday, October 11, 2015, the day after the historic gathering on The National Mall for “Justice ... Or Else!” for the 20th Anniversary of The Million Man March. To order this message in its entirety, please call 1.866.602.1230, ext. 200, or visit store.finalcall.com. Also available via digital download.]

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

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to me in 1963, as we were looking at the television of the march on Washington: “One day, brother, I’m going to call a march”— and he said the march would be for justice. He commented, “Look at their faces. They’re frolicking,” drinking soda pop and whatnot as they are marching. He said, “This is not the right attitude, if you want justice” because justice represents a “life and death struggle” that doesn’t end with a march and you go home and celebrate (“Oh look what we did”). It starts with a word, and a call, and a commitment to live or die bringing justice to our people. So, I had all our peoples [there on 10.10.15] who cry for justice. ...

Elijah Muhammad continued: “Now when we go, we’re not going to leave until we get what we came for.” I said, “Oh my God. How are we going to do that?” Since this is a protracted struggle—we can’t stay on The Mall and put up tents and teepees and whatnot forever. So I finally thought, “I know what he meant,” that once we start down the road to justice: It’s not a moment, it’s a movement. Once we start down the road to justice, we can never stop until what we came for we get.

The question that I raised on 10.10.15 was, “Can we get justice under this present construct politically, socially, spiritually and economically? You have to answer that. And if the answer is “No,” then what is the alternative?

Now, this movement is no “plaything.” You heard me say, “Moses was not an integrationist”; he didn’t want to become one with Pharaoh. And why should you want to become one with your 460-year-old oppressor? You can “love” him to your death—but you can’t change him with your love. Your love has been put in the wrong direction all these years, and that’s why you have to say it, over and over and over again, “what we want” that we never get. Our love has to be turned in the right direction, and the first direction of that love should be to our Creator.

I’m not just a “talker,” I practice this. That is why they can’t deter me; they can’t threaten me. They can’t “promise” me. ... They either have to kill me—which they can’t do; because, you can’t kill an idea whose time has come. You can kill the flesh and blood that represents that idea, but the idea lives as long as it lives in the hearts and the minds of the people. Brothers and sisters: You are the power to bring about the change that you desire. We are that.

This [call] came from God: Twenty years ago the idea was put in my heart, but I knew where it came from; so at the end of The Million Man March, I had my Christian brother (Dr. Gregory Hopkins) sing the song “To God Be The Glory,” because I knew where the success of that march came from. But what we must always be mindful of: Whenever you start out, in America, to do something good for yourself, your family and your people, you must know that there is an enemy that wants to block your success. The enemy, and his opposition (to our rise), is as necessary as the sun and the wind and the rain; because if you are not sincere and committed, the opposition will break you down and then you’ll fall away from the idea and say, “Awe what the hell! I might as well go on and live for myself like those that went before me that got tired.” I’m 82—and I am not tired! And I don’t want tired people around me. …

Re-education and mentoring to solve the problems of our time

“100 Black Men of America, Inc.”: Study the works of our brother Thomas W. Dortch, Jr.; look at the present presidents and former presidents, and helpers of Brother Dortch, and the work that they have been able to do. It’s not a lightweight work—it’s a great work. There are four things (“Four For The Future”) that 100 Black Men have as the basic principles of their actions (Mentoring, Education, Health & Wellness and Economic Empowerment). We should start first with “education,” because we are the product of mis-education.

If we are going to make a better Black community, or Red community, or Brown community, or White community, you can’t give us the same education that produced the funk that we represent as educators. You might as well be eating and reading dung, and loving it ... Because that is what we produced: A mountain, or a hill, of dung—and that’s how the Bible describes the human condition (it’s a “dung hill”); then, we are the product of something that made us into something that is unworthy. The Bible teaches that our condition stinks in the nostrils of God. So, we need a new education. We need “education,” but not the same kind.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has requested a redistribution of our suffering through economic withdrawal.

And if we are critical, and think outside of “the educational box,” we can come up with something new and better that will be transformative; and every student will be a product of a great transformation brought about by a new and better educational idea. Those of you who are educators, you had to study Bacon—[even the name should have told you something was wrong with, you know... ]; but, we need the right kind of “education,” so we also want to invite scholars. And we don’t want you (scholars) to think that you “have it,” we want us to be on a serious search for it. Because if you think you “have it,” then you should produce the product that verifies the truth of your having found it. ... “Education,” “mentoring”: We must mentor our young, but let’s be honest: Don’t we need some mentoring too? We’ve got to come humble. Let’s let this “ego crap” go because every time the White man gives you a degree, he’s crapping on you—and you can’t see the stench because you feel “I’ve got something now that makes me better than my less-educated brother.” So do we think of serving them, or do we think of using them?

The real idea of “education” is to make us into gods, not “geniuses”—that’s on the “punk scale.” We’ve been “geniuses” all our lives just to get around in America, and that takes some skill. But to become a master of your discipline in reality? Then that should cause us to be able to solve the problems of our time. So “reeducation” is a better word; and, we have to find the right teacher.

‘Study the ways of the ant’ and grow wise

I’m listening to my brothers Lenny Dunstan, the great Dr. Ali [Mazrui] and Dr. Hilary Beckles; and, I listen to us talking about “reparatory justice.” We are on the right road; but, it’s like “looking at the sun and missing a worm”— because you’re “too high” to think of the value of a worm. But when we work on The Farm, we know the value of a worm. The God has put so much value in little creeping and crawling things that we are “too big” to look at; but the Bible, inProverbs 6:6, teaches about “the sluggard”— (that’s a terrible name to give a grown man): *“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise...” A “sluggard” is some lazy buffoon who thinks he’s got something and is doing nothing. In other words, “Mark time, march!”—but you’re standing in place, making motion but not going anywhere.

“Study the ways of the ant, and become wise”: Did you know that the Jewish people who read that scripture understood it, and practice it? There were news reports during the fl oods that were going on in Charleston about people who were walking, and where they stepped, they looked under their foot and saw a mound of ants traveling on the water—that had put the queen on the top; and, they are going to survive. Where is your queen? Why haven’t we put her on top? See, you don’t have a “good education” unless you know the value of that woman.

They say the ant is mimetic: The ant is everywhere on our planet except in the cold in the extreme North and the extreme South; but everywhere on Earth you go, you will find an ant. How did they get there? Where did they originate from? And how do they make themselves fit no matter what environment they’re in? See, the Jewish people have learned this. That’s why when you think you’re talking to a Palestinian, you might be talking to a Jewish man; because they are mimetic—they imitate, they acculturate, they fit in. So they rule everywhere. You think you are talking to “Mexicans”? My Mexican family, you’ve got to wake up! Because the people that rule you: They are not the Indigenous people. They are mimetic; they have assimilated, they are acculturated. Everywhere [Jews] go, they fit in.

I play the violin, and there was a great violinist named Ruggiero Ricci, who gave me some lessons, recently, before he passed; and he told me a story about he had met with Albert Einstein. Einstein played the violin, too. But Mr. Ricci was such a master, much greater than Einstein; but he told me Einstein asked him, “You are Jewish, aren’t you?” and Mr. Ricci said, “No, I’m an Italian.” Einstein said, “Yes, yes, yes; but we have Italians with the name ‘Ricci’, but they’re Jewish. ... Why don’t you say you are Jewish? Because if you do, it will be easier for you.” And when he would not do it, no matter how great his mastery was, they controlled that industry that he would have to rise in.

Most of us, we want to be “great,” but he is the “gatekeeper” of all the great disciplines; so, if you get a certain height you have to meet him. Did you see the movie Straight Outta Compton? “The Chitlin’ Circuit” (that’s the circuit where we just play Black clubs): When you do great in the Chitlin’ Circuit, and you keep rising, you’re going to meet somebody who tells you, “Oh, you’re very talented. I watched your show tonight; I can help you to rise.” And they are alwayspresent to help us to rise—always—to their benefit; and most of the time, to our detriment.

Why am I saying this? When we start down the road to Justice, you have to know when you’re going to meet the enemy. And you’ll meet the enemy when you make a decision like you make today. ... So, “education” and “mentoring” go hand-in-hand. But we would be better mentors if we were better qualified through a better education, that is all we’re saying.

Know that “reparatory justice” is something the White man can’t give you—so you should just wake up right now, quickly! Because he can’t repair the damage that he’s done. You and I, and our condition, are the damage that White folks have done, and they will not, cannot, never will, repair that damage. When those sisters (of murdered children) walked across that stage on 10.10.15, that is “reparatory justice”; because when you repair The Black Woman, you have started down the road of building a brand new world.

In September, British Prime Minister David Cameron went down to Jamaica and visited with a great Black queen, Portia Simpson-Miller, the Prime Minister of Jamaica; and of course, they talked about “reparation”: What you English owe to The Caribbean, the British-controlled Caribbean.

And Prime Minister Cameron said to her: “Oh, get over it.” What an insult. We’re coming to them with the heavy weight of truth of what they really owe us, and instead of their saying, “Yes, we recognize the debt, and we have to do something to repay you,” they say to us: “That was yesterday. That was a long time ago... Get Over It”—but that samecracker will never say to a Jew, “Get over it,” because the Jews are organized; they have pooled their monies, they are rich and they are powerful, and nobody would dare tell a Jew, “Get over the Holocaust.” So why would you let them tell you? There is no such thing as getting over justice, because if you sowed that seed, you have to reap the result of what you’ve sown.

They don’t want to reap. The pope asking for forgiveness? Sitting on all those jewels and wealth? And if you’ve been to Rome, and have seen [what was built from our blood, sweat and tears]: They don’t want to give any of that up to the native people. A “papal bull,” a directive, under Pope Nicholas, gave them orders to take the lands of the native people (“Kill them. If they won’t accept, destroy them.”)—that’s still in effect today. So “reparatory justice” will never come because you have great arguments. That’s why you lawyers learn law: So you think you can beat the White man with your knowledge of his law? And he’ll show you at every turn when he’s tired of you that, “The law don’t mean a damn thing where niggas are concerned. We are The Judge!” And they switch it up on you: Even though you won, you can’t get what you won. See that’s “the box” that we are in that we have to extricate ourselves from.

Brothers and sisters, once you start being fed properly, you don’t want anybody to stop you in the middle of the meal. Well, you are a most beautiful people, and your beauty will manifest when you are properly educated, put in the right environment, within the loving brotherhood. You should hear what the people were saying on Facebook and Twitter and whatnot; there was a transformation that took place on 10.10.15 when they saw our Native Indian brothers and sisters, when they saw young people, when they saw women—and they saw strength. ...

My point is, we really need to look at “wellness”—you McDonald’s eaters—because there is no sense in you saying you’ve been “well-educated” and not well-fed, because they go hand-in-hand: What you feed your stomach has to equal what you feed your mind. If you feed the stomach garbage, that is what you “eat” up [in your mind]; and “well-fed” means you have to get control of the land again.

‘The 10,000 Parts that became 1’: We need 10,000 Fearless males and females

There are 56.1 million acres of land belonging to our Native American brothers and sisters, but they don’t control it: It’sin trust to a government that we can’t trust. So our coming together has to be along the lines that we understand what our individual struggles are, and also what our collective struggles are. Just like we moved across the stage with our Mexican family, our Native American family, our Black family, our Palestinian family: That’s marching across the stage, saying good words, but we must translate that action into a working relationship. And of the “56.1 million acres” is 3.3 million acres of arable land that is under cultivation by other than Indians. ...

The U.S. government will remind you, “But we have a deal.” Break it. They broke every treaty that they signed with you. Break those damn treaties, and get your land.

Imagine The Black, The Brown and The Red working together to develop the land: There’s $1.5 trillion of material wealth under the land, but our native family does not have access to that. The “Justice people,” the White folks: They give the land; sell the land, to whom they please. White folks come among you and say (claim): “I am Choctaw,” “I am Oglala Sioux,” “Me Navajo too!” Yeah right. And the minute they come in, they want tribal rights; they suck up tribal wealth—and you want to call them your “brother”? See, the right education will bring you to the testicle factory: Where you can order the size of testicles that it takes to get the job done.

There is no “economic development” without ownership of land. All our power comes from the ownership of land. ... That’s why I mentioned Thomas Jefferson: He really wanted to let us go. It didn’t happen then; but right now, we are strong enough. We have to tell the government: “You’re going to lose it all if you don’t give us some.” And that isn’t just “talk”: God is Present today—that’s what I am trying to tell you! We don’t have to act out of fear; this is what He said, “they (those whom God helps) don’t act out of fear.” Just try being as much “man” as you can; turn them dried raisinsinto grapes, then into pears, until you get to the watermelon state. Family “this is not a plaything.” ...

“10,000 Fearless” men and women: That seems like a small number to do a big job, but Elijah Muhammad in The Theology of Time Lecture Series (July 2, 1972) talked about how when God made Himself up, there were “10,000 Parts” that became “1.” There was a song—“Stout-Hearted Men”— that used to be sung when I was in show business; it goes like this: “Give me some men, who are stout-hearted men, who will fight for the right they adore. Start me with ten who are stouthearted men, and I’ll soon give you 10,000 more. Shoulderto- shoulder, bolder and bolder, they march as they go toward the fore.” See, when you have that kind of strength, God is Present! There isn’t anything that you want that you cannot achieve. We have to get that number.

So to the educators: We want to open with a Ministry of Education that develops a curriculum for all ghetto schools. Not just for Chicago, but once we develop it, it has to be accepted. See, we’re like “colonies” now—not the “13 Colonies,” but in all the major cities, there’s a ghetto. The Chinese are not called a “ghetto”: They’re in a separate community, but they control the education, the politics, the business of their community—and they function pretty good, separate. You are already separated, but you’re segregated. You should hear the arguments that Brother Malcolm gave when they asked him: “What’s the difference between ‘separation’ and ‘segregation’?”—and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad told Brother Malcolm what to say; and when he said it, it blew their minds!

“Separation” is something done by two equals. “Segregation” is separation, where we are controlled by another. Now, you are separate, but you’re segregated—because we don’t control nothing. They tell us the curriculum that should be taught in all the Black and Hispanic schools: We have to break that bond; but we have to, like The Founding Fathers—“with a decent respect for the opinion of others”—tell them “what moved us” to this separate but equal status that Nature’s God has demanded for every human being.