A little brown boy claps in the crowd as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan shouts “I’m looking for 10,000 in the midst of the million, 10,000 fearless men who say death is sweeter than continued life under tyranny.”
Min. Farrakhan has been an active leader in the civil rights movement for decades and the past few years of constant Black death by the hands of police has moved the messenger into even more board rooms with politicians and marches.
His message is clear – “Justice or Else,” which is the theme of the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March on October 10, 2015. The minister will be organizing and leading the historic anniversary.
“Let them continue to kill to live and bury our children while white folks give the killer hamburgers… Retaliation is prescribed in matters of the slave. So, if the federal government will not intercede in our affairs then we must rise up and kill those who kill us. Stop them and kill them and let them feel the pain of death that we are feeling,” said Min. Farrakhan during a speech last month.
The march is said to be one focused on inspiration, reflection and a call to action for all those ready to see a change happen in America’s racial climate, but is the minister’s message be too violent or exactly what the country needs right now?
It is hard to ask any Black person to tone down their anger and tactics toward justice when we are facing what seems to be a genocide in America. So, will Min. Farrakhan’s message be well received or be the fear some in this country need to not pull another trigger?
Min. Farrakhan is no stranger to calling for retaliation but his recent comments have not sat well with more conservative activists like Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, an author and mentor to Black youth in Los Angeles.
Many white Americans have complained that white leaders would not get away with making such statements, but the fact is from what we’re seeing, those that don’t make such statements with words often do so with action – which is what Farrakhan now wants to see from the Black community.
What do you think, is his message too violent or what the country needs to hear?
