Minister Louis Farrakhan, being the great orator that he is, sat down to speak with a Muslim woman and a man who were asking him questions about his take on recent events in the Hip Hop. If you haven’t noticed, Farrakhan has been reaching out to different influencers in the community to spread his message, likely promote his upcoming Million Man March and shake some things up in the Black community.
It’s needed and I appreciate him engaging.
If you’ve ever listened to him, you know that there is a lot of truth behind his words, particularly when it comes to racism in this country. He’s almost always on point. But when it comes to women, a recent video shared on his Facebook page proves that he has some more work to do.
The woman sitting at the table asked Minister Farrakhan: What is [a woman’s] specific role as a female artist?
Keep that question in mind.
In answering it, Farrakhan with all the eloquence, smoothness and charm of an old, Black granddaddy who used to be a playboy back in the day, explains his stance. See what he had to say and then we’ll discuss.
After applauding Beyoncé, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj for both their talent and physical beauty, he said:
“Today you strip the woman of her clothes. How can a man think straight, looking at the beauty of Beyoncé?”
So then the woman attempts to ask him another question, “So what would you say to…”
Farrakhan finishes by asking: Her managers?
And then he was off:
Help us to be more sane. A man is made into a dog by a way a woman presents herself to a man. There ain’t no preacher out there that’s that holy that a woman can disrobe herself and a man can still think Bible, still think Quran. How do you rule a man? You rule him by the beauty of your body and the suggestion of sex. So when you strip a woman down, a man becomes a dog. You don’t make a man? You make him to treat you like an object of sex instead of the creative genius that you are.
You have to educate the managers. Jay Z is a good man. Jay Z is a good manager. But now, your woman is on display. Do you want men looking at your woman, being tempted by your woman, to make advances at your woman? Who wouldn’t want to be with Rihanna? Who wouldn’t want to be with Nick Minaj? But you strip them then their body is being used as the tool of the degradation of a woman and the subjection of a man.
Then he speaks about the ways in which women have been abused by the men they trusted in their lives. And then goes back to praising women and all the contributions they could possibly make to the world.
There’s no man doing something that a woman can’t do, and in some cases do it better. Man is Hakeem. That’s the attribute of God, that means wise. She’s Hakeema that means God has made her to be a possessor of wisdom.
Don’t degenerate your woman and make her nothing more than an object of sex. She’s more than that.
So I would encourage Jay Z–and I hope you’ll take it in the spirit that I give it, out of love for you and honor for your greatness and honor for the love and beauty and greatness of your wife. I would love to see our women clothed, demonstrating the gift of their talent. The gift of their form should be seen by those who are worthy. You got an unworthy dog looking at something beautiful that he wants to paw at but can never have. Do you know what that does to a man, when he can see you and can’t have you? Then he wants to go home and attack a child.
A helluva left turn there, yes.
Then at the end, he referenced his friendship with Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons. He said that once he was invited to Simmons’ home and during that same time there was a billboard featuring his then wife Kimora Lee Simmons scantily clad–or maybe completely naked, hiding her breasts and vagina. I don’t know. And he made a point to tell Russell that he refused to look at his wife. Russell said he was a nut, crazy. And Farrakhan said that he respected her too much to do so.
It’s a lot. And I encourage you to watch that particular portion of the interview, eleven minutes, on the last page, to get the true nature and sentiment behind his comments. He really seemed to be speaking out of love. Love and misogyny.
