Minister Farrakhan�s interview with CNN anchor Don Lemon
Minister Farrakhan�s interview with CNN anchor Don Lemon
"How should I respond to that?� Minister Farrakhan then asked.
�Well, I�m a warrior [and] you can bring that out of me right now if
you go the wrong way with me. I�m still a warrior; I�m a warrior for
truth and I�m a warrior for justice, but the climate is not the same
as it was in 1983 and 1984 when Jesse Jackson threatened the status
quo in terms of the Palestinian-Jewish relationship within the Black
community when he wanted to be president."
listen and hear:
Message To The Black Man:
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/uploa..._black_man.mp3
National News
Minister Farrakhan�s interview with CNN anchor Don Lemon
By Ashahed Muhammad
FCN Online Correspondent
Updated Apr 24, 2007, 01:18 pm
* CNN Interview - The Full Edition (FCN Webcast, 03-07-2007)
THE NATIONAL HOUSE (FinalCall.com) - On Mar. 7, for the first time
publicly, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan went into graphic
detail regarding his near death experience, and how his survival is a
testament to the miraculous healing power and will of God, during an
interview with afternoon edition CNN Newsroom anchor Don Lemon.
�How are you feeling?� Mr. Lemon asked at the start of the
one-and-a-half hour conversation, to which Minister Farrakhan remarked
that he was feeling �100 percent� better than before the 14-hour
surgery�a complete pelvic exoneration.
�I didn�t want the operation, but God forced it on me, and I am so
grateful that He did,� he said.
In fact, Minister Farrakhan�s doctor, though normally overly-cautious
when making comments following surgical procedures, remarked that his
recovery was �nothing short of miraculous.�
�To all who are ill, never break your faith with God, by whatever name
you call Him, because in the final analysis, He is the Master of life
and death and if its not my time and if He doesn�t want to bring me
in, and He wants me to continue to work, then He brought me back. Some
are very happy and unfortunately, some may be a little disappointed
that they did not have a funeral to attend, but tell them to be
patient,� Minister Farrakhan said, and pleasantly laughed.
Mr. Lemon asked questions related to the future of the Nation of
Islam, as well as the future of the Black nation. Though questioned
several times about those subjects, Minister Farrakhan declined to
name a successor, and instead chose scripture to use as a guide.
�I think that any person in leadership is always concerned about what
will be after him.
�The Holy Qur�an, which is the book of scripture of the Muslims, asks
the question, �Were you present when death visited Jacob?� Of course,
you weren�t present and I wasn�t present, but God was present, so He
revealed the context of Jacob�s death. [Jacob] called his sons to his
bedside and he asked them �What will you serve after me?� And the sons
said �We will serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.� Once he knew
that they were going to follow in his path, he closed his eyes for his
eternal sleep.
�I need to know that this is not the fiefdom of a charismatic Brother
who knows that he will pass away. I need to know that those who are
around me are infused with the love of Muhammad; the love of his idea;
the love of the Holy Qur�an, and want to see the growth and
development of the Nation beyond where the Minister leaves it, and I
believe I have a group like that around me.�
Minister Farrakhan cited the examples of the Mormon Church which is
governed by a council that carries out the principles of its founder.
He placed emphasis on the principles that are the foundation of the
religious organization, rather than the titular head being the focus.
�I�m hoping that these [around me] will carry out the principles that
Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan taught, so you won�t need any
charismatic individual. The group that is leading, infused with those
principles, wrapping their lives around those principles, will lead
the Nation in the proper direction,� he said
The conversation then shifted to the mischief created by those in
control of the media and Minister Farrakhan repeated his offer for
dialogue with members of the Jewish community and their representative
organizations.
�I have never said words about the Jewish religion or about the Jewish
people that I can�t defend with truth�that is why dialogue is so
important. I�ve sat with rabbis who have visited me in my home; I�ve
visited with them in their homes, but the things they ask of me are
not things I can do.�
�You want me to apologize, but you don�t want to face me in a dialogue
and show me where I�m wrong. I�m not a proud man. If you show me where
I�m wrong, I�ll go before the world where I made a statement and not
only apologize, but I will seek your forgiveness in a repentant
spirit. That�s better than what America has done. That�s better than
what Jewish people have done in their part in the horror of the
Transatlantic slave trade. We�ve never gotten an apology from the
United States Government. Nobody wants to apologize to Black people
and repent for the action and do something in atonement,� he added.
Mr. Lemon probed further and asked �You feel that you have been
misunderstood; am I hearing you correctly?�
Minister Farrakhan forthrightly stated �Absolutely. There are those
who have a vested interest in coloring me this way. They raise money
off of me. [They say] �This is a vile anti-Semite, he�s anti-white,
he�s anti-American, he�s anti gay.� But when you come in my presence,
or they come in my presence, you can�t feel any spirit of hatred
emanating from my heart, but my words of correction, my words of
rebuke, my words of exhortation, my words of condemnation of a nation
that has done us wrong�that doesn�t mean I don�t love the country in
which I was born, but I want to see change for the better of America.
Change for the better of my people.�
He then delivered the contextual underpinnings of the war of words
that has been going on in the media for over 20 years.
�Sometimes, you might get in an argument, and in the heat of the
argument, you are speaking the truth that you believe, but the passion
that comes in the heat of an argument can sometimes distort the beauty
of what you are trying to say to try to get that person to change that
behavior that is ill-affecting you.�
Minister Farrakhan recounted the hostile atmosphere in the mid-80s
when groups such as the Jewish Defense League (JDL), the Jewish
Defense Organization (JDO), and others protested at venues where
Minister Farrakhan was scheduled to speak, saying: �Who do you want?
Farrakhan! How do you want him? Dead!� These actions were aided by a
relentless media disinformation campaign waged by the Anti-Defamation
League of B�nai B�rith.
�How should I respond to that?� Minister Farrakhan then asked. �Well,
I�m a warrior [and] you can bring that out of me right now if you go
the wrong way with me. I�m still a warrior; I�m a warrior for truth
and I�m a warrior for justice, but the climate is not the same as it
was in 1983 and 1984 when Jesse Jackson threatened the status quo in
terms of the Palestinian-Jewish relationship within the Black
community when he wanted to be president.�
Minister Farrakhan noted that times are different now, and during his
recent health challenges, Jewish rabbis and their congregations prayed
for his recovery instead of calling for his death.
�The message of Jesus, though nationalistic in its inception, became
universal in its application. The same with the Prophet [Muhammad];
it�s the same with Louis Farrakhan. I started specifically with Black
people, and that is my focus, but there is no way coming out of the
experience that I have just come through, that my message should be
anything but a universal message that touches Black, Brown, Red,
Yellow and White�people of all religious faiths, all ethnicities, all
racial identities, with truth coming from a heart of love, mercy and
compassion.�
He pointed out that Armageddon not only has spiritual significance,
but provides guidance for what is happening politically in America
today.
�Armageddon, as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us, begins with
truth clashing with falsehood. That�s what�s creating the division.
The masses of the people are beginning to rise, and the only thing
that makes the masses rise is the presence of truth, and that�s why
Jesus was hated. Not because he just brought a new kingdom; he was
hated because the poor heard him gladly. The poor hear Farrakhan. When
the poor listen to Farrakhan, whether they�re poor White or poor
Black, it will produce a change in the way they think. Our government
is wrong and it needs to change, and if it will not change, then we
need to get rid of it and put in a government that will guarantee the
American people life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness guaranteed
by the [U.S.] Constitution.�
When Mr. Lemon asked about his legacy, Minister Farrakhan stated that
this was not a concern of his because it is not the reason that he
does what he does, in speaking for the voiceless and defending those
who are in need.
�I don�t concern myself with legacy at all. That�s vanity, and when
people are so concerned about how history will view them, they do
things to enhance a legacy.�
He added, �There are forces that don�t want to see the Black man rise
and the Black man free and the Black woman uplifted up from a degraded
state, because they make merchandise of us in the terrible condition
that we are in at present.�
When asked about the Million Man March, Minister Farrakhan pointed out
that those with the mindset to stop the rise of the oppressed are the
very same people with the desire to diminish the power and historical
significance of the Million Man March.
�They wanted to make it seem as though it was not what it was, because
if it was what it was, then you have to look at the man that God used
to bring a crowd like that. No other Black man, or White man for that
matter, has been able to do anything like that. So, who is Farrakhan?
�People will have to question the magnetism of a man. Who magnetized
him? He didn�t magnetize himself. Who made him that attractive to
Black men? That�s what made me dangerous to those powers that be�the
Satanic mind that governs this world. But, I�m on Satan�s trail, by
the grace of God.�
2007 FCN Publishing, FinalCall.com
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publ...cle_3410.shtml
