Farrakhan Tells Black Mayors To Detach The Strings

By Hazel Trice EdneyNNPA COLUMBUS, Ohio (NNPA) – Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan challenged a group of more than 300 Black mayors to free themselves from political and economic constraints that prevent them from empowering poor and Black communities. “What does it profit a man to become a mayor or a senator or a congressman or a president of a college and lose your soul because with every advancement that you take, there’s a string somewhere and the question is who is pulling that string?” Farrakhan asked those attending the National Conference of Black Mayors’ 31st annual convention here. “If we, with new thought, don’t produce a new mind in our people, the money will continue to slip through our fingers and we’ll be having meetings like this ad infinitum and woefully saying what White folks are doing to us. They’re doing nothing to us. It’s what we refuse to do for ourselves.” A two-hour conversation that featured Farrakhan and Columbia University history and political science professor Manning Marable was moderated by George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of the National Newspaper Publishers Association New Service, Farrakhan’s appearance at the convention was denounced by the head of the State Republican Party. Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, an African-American, is a candidate for governor. He did not attend the session, a point that was not lost on Farrakhan. “You’re the mayor of the city, but you’re afraid because you want to be governor so you scratch where you don’t itch and you bend and you bow. It’s you. It’s not White people. It is your fear of them that keeps you under control,” Farrakhan said to loud applause. Coleman later told the NNPA News Service that he was attending to city business at the time of Farrakhan’s appearance before the group. Coleman declined to say where he was, or what he was doing. “Believe it or not, as the mayor of the city of Columbus, what I do is unite people, bring them together. That is my track record and that is what I’ve done. When Farrakhan was in town, I also had to perform my duties as mayor as well as being host to hundreds of other mayors. And I welcome everybody to my city and conferences,” Coleman said. “There are some things that he has said in the past that I simply do not agree with. But, he has the right to speak in this city.” Asked how he has disagreed with Farrakhan, Coleman replied, “I’m not going to go into that.” In the discussion with the Black mayors, Marable of Columbia University called for a new civil rights movement, one that would deal with the more insidious forms of discrimination that African-Americans now face and rebuff highly organized-efforts to erase past gains. “Beginning in the early 1990s, or over the last 15 years, we have witnessed collectively, a broad assault against the Black freedom struggle in this country. That assault has been ideological, economic, cultural and political,” he said. Marable cited the assault on affirmative action and attempts by conservatives to distort Dr. Martin Luther King’s words as part of a Right-wing movement to remake America. “There was a dedicated effort by conservatives to literally rewrite the language of the civil rights movement and turn it upside down – in effect, to rewrite the American public’s memory about what had actually transpired in this country in the fight to literally overturn Jim Crow racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s,” Marable said. While that battle continues, Marable argued, African-Americans are realizing that electoral politics has its limitations. “We felt deeply that the sisters and brothers that we advanced as mayors of our cities would never forget it. And many of you have not forgotten it. And you have kept the faith and you live by that,” Marable explained. “But some of you did not. And we have to talk truth. Many did not and then forgot about the constituencies that the minister quite correctly said, ‘placed them there.'” It’s not just in politics where Blacks in leadership roles have fallen short, Curry pointed out as moderator. “Let’s talk about the preservation of our Black institutions,” he said. He pointed out that the Motown recording company, Johnson hair products, Black Entertainment Television, Essence magazine, Africana.com and BlackVoices.com were all sold to White companies. “Particularly, when we’re talking about the media, are we in danger of having institutions taken away and having no place for free expression?” Curry asked. Farrakhan replied, “When you look at what Brother George Curry advanced about the loss of Black institutions, this is real. When you get to a point in this country where you are becoming a multi-millionaire and have a chance to go beyond, what is unseen is the offer that they can’t refuse. Business in the country and in this world is a form of warfare and as long as you build your business and don’t have soldiers, then you get your business to a certain level, those who have soldiers will give you an offer that you can’t refuse. This is why any effort to organize our people to become, not just intellectuals, not just entrepreneurs, but to become warriors to defend and protect what was built, then we lose what we have.” And that’s not much, according to Marable. He pointed out that the average Black household has only 7 percent of the net wealth of the typical White household. “We must rely on ourselves to advance ourselves. This is absolutely crucial,” Marable said. Farrakhan suggested that Blacks and Latinos take control of their political destinies. Farrakhan indicated that he may use the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March to urge Blacks and Hispanics to bolt both Democrats and Republican and form their own political party to be known as POP – “Party of the Poor.” Criticizing former Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry, he said Kerry never mentioned the poor, only the middle class. “Do you think he was talking about you?” he asked the mayors. “You might be the mayor, but you’re just the working poor,” he said to rousing applause and laughter. “If we leverage our strength, we’ll make both parties bow and you’ll get what you’ve been looking for all the time that you’ve been serving the party,” Farrakhan said. East Orange, N. J. Mayor Robert L. Bowser agreed with the call for economic unity: “We need to own something. We need to keep some of our money in our community and turn it over and over,” he told his fellow mayors. “We represent over 20 million people. That’s a lot of folks. That’s a lot of money.”