The Honoravle Elijah Muhammad

Dear friends,

The thoughtless, yet deceitful, practice by the government- and corporate-controlled media of calling any movement, no matter how progressive or slightly social, a “Civil Rights movement” totally ignores the centuries-long struggle of African American people that preceded the Montgomery Bus Boycott...in fact, our liberation movement continues to this very day, in spite of all of the obstacles that... are thrown at us like having a so-called black president...In any case, like Marcus Garvey and many Blacks before him (and still many today) - the Honorable Elijah Muhammad believed that the only way for African Americans to achieve true freedom was first for Us to "get some land" (possibly through reparations for Our enslavement.) 

Moreover, he taught that We needed to separate from the USA because the so-called "white" man was actually "The Devil." Additionally, Mr. Muhammad rejected Christianity, as evidenced in his archetypal work, The Fall Of America: “First, Christianity has failed you because it was the religion which first placed you in slavery. Secondly, Christianity has failed you because through its doctrine of turning the other cheek it has rendered you incapable of defending yourself in the hour of peril. Thirdly, Christianity has failed you because it has caused you to forsake the pursuit of an illusory and nonexistent justice beyond the grave.”

As for his deity, Allah, Mr. Muhammad, said, " His teachings bring Us into Reality, and not into some kind of spooky, or spirit, or ghost-like teaching. We could never ask a formless spirit ourselves. Man can only listen to man. Man cannot listen to other than man." Of course, unfortunately, the behavior of Muslims id the Middle East do nit reflect that assertion.

In spite of his shortcomings in terms of some of the solutions to his outlook, which - although meant to be considerate of African Americans - were somewhat Eurocentric, excluded some people, and capitalistic (exploitative) - he was truly a great man. The legacy of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad cannot be summed up better than my longtime mentor and friend Dr. Molefi Asante, a great scholar and educator, did in his own classic book, Afrocentricity - The Theory Of Social Change, “ No man was so quietly effective in organizing as Elijah Muhammad...In sum, Elijah gave us Malcolm, Muhammad Ali, and Louis Farrakhan. These messengers are creative, exceptional and powerful as symbols of a legacy the likes of which come rarely and never enough. Elijah Muhammad inspired a whole generation of scholarship, literature, art eloquence, and science; he was truly a son of our ancestors.” 

 Liberation! 

 G. Djata Bumpus;