Farrakhan challenges Detroit leadership and community to unify to take back city
BY ASHAHED M. MUHAMMAD -ASST. EDITOR- | LAST UPDATED: MAY 21, 2013 – 10:33:22 AM
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An opportunity for those with courage and vision
Over 3,000 filled Fellowship Chapel in Detroit to hear Min. Farrakhan on May 17.
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DETROIT (FinalCall.com) – During a two-day visit to Detroit which included messages to the city’s political and spiritual leadership, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan offered a vision of unity, cooperation and productivity that could turn the city around.
“I want to hurriedly say to all of you, don’t despair for the darkest hour is just before the dawn,” Minister Farrakhan said May 17 during remarks to the Detroit City Council, one of the stops during his visit.
(L-R) Joshua Farrakhan, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Minister Farrakhan and Nation of Islam Student Supreme Captain Mustapha Farrakhan after a meeting with the mayor on May 17. Photo: Ashahed M. Muhammad
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Though the city is presently viewed as an example of urban blight and economic decay, the residents of what was famously called “The Motor City” have an opportunity to change the city’s conditions and to serve as an example of urban renewal to be emulated across the country.
This once proud city is only a shell of its former self with Black and White residents fleeing, abandoned and burned-out properties on major swaths of land, and in many vacant lots throughout the city, trash is stacked up high as if they were landfills.
A message to religious leaders
Rev. Horace Sheffield, III leader of the New Destiny Baptist Church told approximately 300 spiritual, political and community leaders who gathered to hear Minister Farrakhan May 16 that it is important for the leaders to come together first and end infighting to show an example of unity to the young men in the street they are trying to reform.
“The only difference is, they use knives and bullets and we use press releases and words,” said Rev. Sheffield.
This once proud city is only a shell of its former self with Black and White residents fleeing, abandoned and burned-out properties on major swaths of land, and in many vacant lots throughout the city, trash is stacked up high as if they were landfills.
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Rev. Sheffield said the Detroit community is in need of a strong voice that can unite the people to form movement, and the one with that voice and plan, is Min. Farrakhan.
“They want to silence people who tell us the truth, and we know why this is happening and who is doing it, but we need some help with how to overcome it,” said Rev. Sheffield.
“We need someone to give us direction,” Rev. Sheffield continued, “I believe we have a leader here that can organize us.”
Minister Farrakhan and Rev. Horace Sheffield, III Photo: Andrea Stinson
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Minister Farrakhan said the spiritual leaders within the community are the most important as agents of change because they are supposed to represent God. The Minister chided pastors who sit in the pulpit leading comfortable lives and striving for big churches while the people and communities just outside of the doors of their churches are languishing. The mission is reform and transformation of the lives of the people, not building huge churches.
“You can have a big church with nobody in it, or you can have a big church with a lot of people in it but not doing right. Collection basket may look good on Sunday, and the bank may be happy on Monday, but is Christ happy?” he asked. “Any pastor that claims Jesus Christ and will not reform and transform the people as Christ would do, you are not a disciple of Christ that I know. Maybe you’ve been devoured by Satan and you’ve been eaten up by him!”
Jesus challenged the Roman authorities, he challenged the hypocrisy of the leaders, and said his true followers will also be hated by those who hate him. Some would be beaten, killed and thrown into jail because they chose to follow Jesus, who was not loved.
“If a preacher is comfortable, maybe he’s not following Christ,” said the Minister. “The Christ that I learned about said ‘they will hate you because they first hated me.’”
“The Christ that I know said ‘behold I make all things new,’” said the Minister. If that is not happening, then it is possible that for many religious leaders, preaching Christ has become a business, otherwise, the city could be raised from its dead condition.
“Here is a dead city in your hands,” said the Minister. “And you can’t raise it! Yet you say Christ is yours and ‘I can do all things through Christ!’ You’re a damn liar! If Christ was your Lord you could wake this city up!”
An overflow crowd in the Village Dome of Fellowship Chapel enjoyed Minister Farrakhan’s message.Photo: Andrea Muhammad
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Long lines stretched around the sprawling property of Fellowship Chapel led by Rev. Wendell Anthony, also head of Detroit’s NAACP. Concerned Detroit residents were eager to hear the words of guidance coming from Min. Farrakhan. Photos: Andrea Muhammad
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Rev. David Bullock, 35, of Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church was on hand for the Minister’s message. Not only is Rev. Bullock a spiritual leader, he also has political ambitions as a candidate for Detroit’s City Council. He fought to repeal Public Act 4, which is the Emergency Manager law, and has also stood up against Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder.
“I thought the Minister delivered a message in only the way that he can. It was impactful, I was inspired, and it was very timely,” said Rev. Bullock. “I believe the leadership in the city of Detroit many times has given in, or cut the deal and sold the people out. And the spiritual component, calling citizens, Christians, people of faith to resist the devil and to come in line with a vision of personal living and kingdom building and taking that message to our communities.”
Dorthea E. Thomas, 22, and a global missionary with the United Methodist Women shared the same sentiments and said the Minister’s message “touched her heart.” She is also a candidate for the Detroit City Council. In fact, she’s the youngest on the ballot.
“I think this message really hit home because one of the problems that we have in Detroit is we don’t have unity in our communities. If we really did invest in neighborhood associations, block clubs and non-profits, we could actually buy back Detroit, and we could restore, revitalize and rebuild. But a lot of people have really lost faith because many of the issues that happened in our past, because of what’s going on right now, a lot of people can’t see a better future for Detroit,” said Ms. Thomas.
Imam Mubarak Al-Mubarak of Masjid Warithuddin Mohammed said as one born and raised in Detroit and now serving as an imam, he felt the Minister’s message delivered hope for a “New Detroit.”
“This message that the Minister gave today with respect to the Christians and the pastors is the same message that the Muslims and imams of our association need to hear,” said Imam Al-Mubarak. “Many are afraid of truth, and the Minister is more dynamic, more important, and relevant than we could ever imagine,” he added.
“If they would listen to the Minister carefully, his aqeedah is the aqeedah—the oneness of God—he identifies, he relates to it, he promotes it, and he lives it,” said Imam Al-Mubarak. “I know that all it takes is one, and I am going to continue to work and be associated with the Minister because I know Allah Almighty has him in his hand,” he added.
Tammarawa Leverett, 32, an associate minister of the church said the core of the message to her was the call for unity.
“You couldn’t hear this message and not be touched,” said Ms. Leverett. “It’s time that we truly realize that there is an attack on us and we can’t fight each other. We have to unify, we have to work together and do something to truly take the city of Detroit back,” she added.
A message to the city council
On the morning of May 17, Minister Farrakhan entered the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center and after being introduced by Detroit City Council president Charles Pugh delivered a moving message touching upon the central role, and storied history of the city in the history of the Nation of Islam.
(L) Minister Farrakhan receives a proclamation from the Detroit City Council. (R) Members of the Detroit City Council listen to the Minister as he called on political leaders to work for the people.
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“One billion six hundred million Muslims, five times a day, turn their faces toward the holy city of Mecca where the modern Islam began although Islam is as old as God himself. Yet the modern era of Islam began with the revelation of the Holy Qur’an fourteen hundred years ago,” said Minister Farrakhan. “It is also written that the sun that you see rising in the East, that one day it would rise from the West. We are not looking for the reversal of the great sun that lights our universe, but all prophetic guidance and light came from the East and shined toward the West. All of the revelations that I just mentioned, the prophets started in the East and the light shone westward. But in 1930, a light showed up in Detroit. In 1930 a great light, maybe the greatest light, walked the streets of Detroit, and in Black Bottom, Detroit, among the people that nobody thought were of any value, he started teaching us a new teaching.”
Master Fard Muhammad delivered a message that the Minister described as “Islam 101” and that it focused initially on the suffering masses of Black people in America and the western world.
“So the message of the Nation of Islam started narrowly in Detroit, but by the grace of Allah that light is shining back toward the east and we are honored to be back where it all began. But we come back at a time of intense darkness. We come back at a time when there’s great despair among the inhabitants of the city of Detroit,” said the Minister.
At a time when schools are closing, areas of the city look abandoned, crime and violence appear to be running rampant. The Minster also said to those seeking political office, to maintain high standards and morals not ruling in corruption, not ruling in vanity, but establishing rule using righteous principles, “Then the city will live again,” he said.
While stopping short of criticizing the newly appointed emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, the Minister was critical of the state’s leadership who appointed him and other emergency managers across the state of Michigan.
“I don’t know what democracy really means if you can be given the right to vote and then somebody can take it away and make your vote null and void, create circumstances of debt that you might not be able to pay under present conditions,” said the Minister. “But wherever there’s a carcass, there’s always a buzzard somewhere,” he added.
The land speculators, whom the Minister described as “vultures” are now flying around Detroit amidst the deteriorating buildings in many of the city’s neighborhoods, buying property for cheap prices. The area Downtown is looking good and being revitalized, but many parts of the city and its outlining areas resemble wasteland, he said. Although the situation at present looks bleak, the circumstances could produce an opprtunity for triumph.
“Wastelands always give opportunities to those who have a vision,” said the Minister. “While the buzzards want to eat up the carrion, and that which is dead maybe deserves to be eaten, there are those who want to see this city come back to life. Now those, who are the real stakeholders in Detroit,” he added.
Many councilmembers, as well as the nearly 300 who filled the council chambers cheered.
“You’ve lived here practically all your life. You’ve worked here you’ve suffered here you’ve bled here you’ve died here. As a stakeholder, not a buzzard, God is giving you an opportunity that you didn’t have yesterday. But where there is no vision, the buzzards will continue to fly and the people will perish. But there is a vision,” said the Minister. “I think the buzzards will start moving in other directions when they see life stirring in the people.”
In a brief meeting prior to the Minister’s 30-minute message before the council, Detroit city councilmember JoAnn Watson painted a picture of a city and a people under siege. The Minister also met with Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, who recently announced that he would not seek a second term.
Community turns out to hear guidance
Later that evening, lines of men and women stretched around the sprawling property of Fellowship Chapel led by Rev. Wendell Anthony, also head of Detroit’s NAACP. Concerned Detroit residents eager to hear the words of guidance coming from Min. Farrakhan, filled the main auditorium of the church as well as an overflow area in what is called the Village Dome. According to church officials and organizers for the event, the standing room only crowd in the main auditorium and the overflow room brought attendance totals over 3,000 with many still unable to get in.
Student Minister Troy Muhammad, Detroit, Michigan
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Rev. Anthony delivered rousing comments that brought the crowd to its feet several times, then Student Minister Troy Muhammad, who now leads historic Muhammad Mosque No.1 introduced Minister Farrakhan.
The Minister set the tone for the evening leading by asking if the money being raised during the charity portion of the event could be given to Muhammad Mosque No. 1 to invest and build. The crowd overwhelmingly agreed.
Knowing that he was in a church and the majority of those in attendance were Christians, Min. Farrakhan talked about the people and their love of Jesus.
“I know you love Jesus, but I don’t know if you know him as much as you love him,” said the Minister. “Singing about Jesus is a good thing. Praising Jesus is better, but following Jesus is best of all,” he added.
There are too many crosses being worn, but not enough people living and working according to the principles he espoused.
“You’ve got the name of Jesus but you don’t have the spirit of Jesus otherwise, if you had his spirit, the work would be done!” he said.
“Jesus was hated by the same forces that have killed this city,” said Min. Farrakhan.
Those who are presently ruling society, which he called “scientists of evil,” have set up a world contrary to God’s will. They make evil fair seeming, and make the servants of God afraid to preach the word. They promote filth and indecency, as well as unhealthy foods that have an easily observable negative effect on the body.
Jesus was the last hope for the Jewish people, but they rejected him. They are now in control of the media and the airwaves, gaining access to the “sacred territory” which is the minds of the people.
“They have mastered the civilization now, but they’ve mastered it in evil,” he said. “Satan has devoured much of humanity,” he added.
He said one cannot claim to be a follower of any of the prophets if they remain “silent when injustice rears its head.” The people must be willing to be courageous enough to stand up, and not leave a “legacy of cowardice” for future generations. Moreover, as it relates to spiritual leaders he said they should be strong enough to preach the full Gospel, and not be enticed by political power, nor corrupted by the influence of such associations.
“You don’t follow politicians, you guide politicians,” said the Minister. “The preachers are the key to the salvation of the people or you are the key to their damnation and if you won’t preach the Gospel, then you’re headed to death yourself for being a betrayer of Christ!”
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