Nineteen ninety-two
marked the quincentennial year of the opening up of the “New World” for
the purpose of Western domination. Christopher Columbus is said to have
“discovered” this new continent in 1492. Since 1492 the Native American
people have been misused, abused and then neglected. Since 1555, the
Black people brought to these shores in chains have also been misused,
abused and now remain neglected.
The
Kingdom of God is an egalitarian kingdom structured on truth, where
each of us will be treated with fairness and justice. America could
become the basis for the Kingdom of God. She has within her borders
every nation, kindred and tongue. If they could be made peaceful,
productive and mutually respecting, you would have the basis for the
Kingdom of God right here on earth.
In the official History of the Seal of the United States, published by
the Department of State in 1909, Gaillard Hunt wrote that late in the
afternoon of July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved that Dr.
Benjamin Franklin, Mr. John Adams and Mr. Thomas Jefferson be a
committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the United States of
America. In the design proposed by the first committee the obverse
(face) of the Seal was a coat of arms in six quarters, with emblems
representing England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany and Holland,
the countries from which the new nation had been peopled. The Eye of
Providence in a radiant triangle, and the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM were
also proposed for the obverse.
Even though the country was populated by so-called Indians, and
Black slaves were brought to build the country, the official Seal of
the country was never designed to reflect our presence, only that of
the European immigrants. The Seal and the Constitution reflect the
thinking of the founding fathers that this was to be a nation by White
people and for White people. Native Americans, Blacks and all other
non-white people were to be the burden bearers for the “real” citizens
of this nation.
For the reverse (back) of the Seal, the committee suggested a
picture of Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot with a crown on his head
and a sword in his hand, passing through the divided waters of the Red
Sea in pursuit of the Israelites. Hovering over the sea was to be shown
a pillar of fire in a cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and
command. Rays from this pillar of fire were to be shown beaming on
Moses, standing on the shore and extending his hand over the sea,
causing it to overwhelm Pharaoh. The motto for the reverse was:
REBELLION TO TYRANTS IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD.
The design reveals the spiritual blindness inherent in the genesis
of the United States. The founding fathers upheld obedience to God as
their symbol while practicing genocide, colonialism and slavery among
the native population and our forebears.
It was Thomas Jefferson who said, “I tremble for my country when I
reflect that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” It
was George Washington who said that he feared the slaves would become a
most troublesome species of property before too many years passed over
our heads.
America is faced with the political and moral dilemma of reconciling
pluralism and the inclusion of nonwhites with the democratic ideas
espoused by the founding fathers. This is not a democracy in the
fullest meaning of the word. Racism has to be overcome in order to gain
a full expression of E Pluribus Unum (out of the many, one). Is E
Pluribus Unum meant to be interpreted as “out of many White ethnic
strains, one people,” or “out of the many strains, White, Black and
other, one people?”
Within the walls of this country there are two Americas, separate
and unequal, White and Black (including the other non-whites). In order
to reconcile these two Americas, the American people must come to terms
with the limited vision of the founding fathers. The founding fathers
didn’t envision the current population profile, where the number of
Black and Hispanic people are growing, threatening the majority states
of Whites. Those who desire to maintain the old vision of White rule
under the name of democracy and pluralism will no longer be able to
continue the subjugation of non-whites. Now is the time for freedom,
justice and equality for those who have been deprived if it.
It was made easy for Whites to subjugate others because they were
taught to see Blacks and Native Americans as heathen, savage and
sub-human. This, in their minds, justified their not recognizing us as
equal citizens in this country. Bearing this in mind, that the original
Seal should include a picture of Pharaoh pursuing the Israelites is not
without great significance. That it should include a pillar of fire in
a cloud, beaming down on Moses, is not without significance for this
day and time.
In my judgment, the original Seal was inspired to give America a
picture of what her future could become if she did not do justice by
the Native Americans and by the Blacks who were brought here as her
slaves.
Even though America says she wants change and renewal, she must deal
with the basis of this country’s woes. Either she must evolve from the
limited vision of the founding fathers and repudiate that vision, or
America must say that she believes in the true vision of the founding
fathers and that the darker people will never be respected as equals
inside of this nation....
Integration, as it has been conceived, is not working to bring true
freedom, justice and equality to America’s former slaves. It is not
working because it was not properly motivated and is not in harmony
with the mandate of the time.
We do not want or need that kind of integration that literally
results in nothing in terms of economic advancement for our people. The
Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that if we wanted better relations
between Black and White, he could show us how to achieve this. As Black
people, we first have to come into a knowledge of self that will help
us make ourselves worthy of respect and our communities decent places
in which to live. We must begin to do something for self. This act on
our part will earn the respect of self as well as others. It will
ultimately help us to have better relations with those who see us as an
unwanted burden in this society.
The focus of Black people should be on elevating self, not on trying
to force ourselves into the communities of White people. Self
respecting White men do not want to see us with their women. One way to
have good race relations is to leave their women and girls alone. Some
of us have a false love for the White woman, and some of us have a
false love for the White man. Some want the former slave master’s woman
because the former slave master has always had free access to our
women, and some want the White man because he wields great power in the
society.
In a painful recount of the position our freed forbears found themselves after Emancipation, W.E.B. DuBois wrote:
“For the first time he sought to analyze the burden he bore upon his
back, that deadweight of social degradation partially masked behind a
half-named Negro problem. He felt his poverty; without a cent, without
a home, without land, tools, or savings, he had entered into
competition with rich, landed, skilled neighbors. To be a poor man is
hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of
hardships. He felt the weight of his ignorance, not simply of letters,
but of life, of business, of the humanities; the accumulated sloth and
shirking and awkwardness of decades and centuries shackled his hands
and feet. Nor was his burden all poverty and ignorance. The red stain
of bastardy, which two centuries of systematic legal defilement of
Negro women had stamped upon his race, meant not only the loss of
ancient African chastity, but also the hereditary weight of a mass of
corruption from White adulterers, threatening almost the obliteration
of the Negro home.” ...
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us to take our own women and
girls and respect, honor and protect them. He taught us to work hard to
produce a future for our children, to rid ourselves of alcohol,
tobacco, gambling, laziness and dependency; and to work to make our
neighborhoods decent places for us to live. This kind of action on our
part could lead to a healthier relationship between the races.
Certainly if we look at our females as that which God produced for
us, then we would have to expect the White man to leave our women and
girls alone. True love, however, transcends color and race. We must ask
the question of those who have gone the way of having interracial
relations, is the love a true love, or is it merely an acting out of a
corrupted fantasy which is held by both Black and White? When we, as a
people, are healed of our mental, moral and spiritual sickness, then
maybe we can look across racial lines and see the true value and worth
of one another. However, healing of the deadly diseases of White
supremacy and Black inferiority has to take place first!
I have to stand and speak for the voiceless, whose leadership has
often been quiet or weak in the face of an open enemy. Although I have
been misrepresented by the media, here is a new opportunity to receive
my message and judge it against the criterion of truth.
Am I really an anti-Semite? Am I really a hater? Can these charges
really be proven? When people disagree, the intelligent and rational
thing to do is to have a dialogue. Perhaps through dialogue differences
can be reconciled. If anything that I have said or written is proved to
be a lie, then I will retract my words and apologize before the world.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the way to stop
back-biting and slander is to gather the parties together and allow
them to present their charges and evidence to each other’s face, then
we will know where the truth rests and where the lie rests. We are
willing to sit and meet before the world and discuss our position. We
recognize the ability of the American government and business community
to help the Black community. The Nation of Islam, in turn, can help
America solve its problems. But we cannot solve any problems by bowing
down to falsehood.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad pointed out to us that Babylon, that
great and wicked city, could have been healed. She was not healed
because she refused to listen to guidance coming to her kings from the
mouth of one of her Hebrew slaves. He pointed this out to indicate that
America, though dying, can also be healed.
In the design for the original Seal for this country, the pillar of
fire in a cloud, expressive of the Divine presence and command—that was
also written of in the Bible as seen in a vision by Ezekiel—is now a
reality in America. In the Seal’s design, the reason that Pharaoh was
depicted with a sword in his hand is to symbolize America’s pursuit of
world dominion by way of skilled machinations backed up by force.
America has held a whole nation in captivity for over 400 years-–even
as Pharaoh did in the biblical history of Moses and the ancient
Hebrews—and she has done so by use of force and wicked machinations.
The beam of light that was seen shining down on the face of Moses in
the design for the original Seal of this country is a sign that the
light from God is now beaming down on one from among the ex-slaves. In
that light is the guidance that can heal America, the modern Babylon
and the modern Egypt. Will America be healed? ...
We have the torch light. America is being
challenged to take the bushel basket off the light. Let us sit down and
talk about bringing real solutions before the American people, as
civilized people should and are obligated to do.
The Kingdom of God is an egalitarian kingdom structured on truth,
where each of us will be treated with fairness and justice. America
could become the basis for the Kingdom of God. She has within her
borders every nation, kindred and tongue. If they could be made
peaceful, productive and mutually respecting, you would have the basis
for the Kingdom of God right here on earth.
However, what America does not have is the teaching that would make
one people out of the many creeds, colors and nationalities that occupy
this land. That teaching cannot be the skilled wisdom from the
political leadership that subordinates the language and culture of
America’s diverse members, while lifting the American way of life as
the model – which is very racist and White supremacist in nature. The
current American way of life can only produce an apparent unity among
Caucasians, because it negates the diversity and beauty of the
non-White population. You can never achieve unity, or E Pluribus Unum,
in this country under the doctrine of White supremacy.
America needs a spiritual healing. In the scriptures it reads, “If
my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their
land.” (II Chronicles 7:14) This is the promise of God for us,
and for all of America. Moses and Aaron set two signs before the
people, one of life and a blessing, and the other of death and a
cursing. He said, “… choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan say to America the same.
W e need to humble ourselves and pray to Allah, God, so that we
might receive that same spiritual message that Paul refers to in his
words concerning Christ. Paul said, in Christ, “There is no Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galations 3:28) Paul
envisioned the end of nationalism, the end of classism and the end of
sexism. He envisioned it through the true message of the man called
Christ.
Even though America claims to be a Christian country, America,
evidently, has missed the message of Christ, or has yet to receive His
true message. However, once that true message is given, those who truly
want righteousness, justice and peace will gravitate toward that
message and they could form the basis of the Kingdom of God on earth.
This can be achieved by establishing the truth that frees White people
from the sickness of White supremacy and frees Black people from the
sickness of Black inferiority, and lifts us up from an inferior
condition and mentality—setting a new standard by which we all should
live. The new standard is duty to God and service to our fellow man.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us that the greatest of all
religious principles is to follow the Golden Rule: Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you, and love for your brother what you
love for yourself.
By the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan