Minister Farrakhan is giving the Nation of Islam’s annual Savior’s Day Speech in Detroit on Sunday, and I’ve been asked to participate in a roundtable for this event, which may be his last, due to his failing health.
My feelings about Minister Farrakhan are mixed.
On the one hand there are critiques of white supremacy, of black leadership, that for a number of reasons only Farrakhan has made. The Nation of Islam as an economic and social engine provides him the relative freedom to go places nobody else goes. Last year’s State of the Black Union event was hosted by a local mega-church minister who had given his support to Bush during both elections and afterward. Of course he wasn’t the only minister–a number of black ministers have expressed support for Bush.
But while other panelists at the State of the Black Union event tiptoed around the issue lightly, only Farrakhan called the ministers out for who they were. Black people need to hear this critique, and they need to hear it made eloquently and powerfully.
But on the other hand Farrakhan’s mode of leadership as expressed by his speeches and his organization, is anti-democratic with a capital A. Because he literally represents the mouth of God to folllowers, he can’t be wrong. Because the organization is private, there is no transparency (we can’t see the books, nor all of his activities). Because the organization is private there is no way for citizens in general who are NOT members of the Nation of Islam, to hold him accountable. What this means inevitably is that Minister Farrakhan rather than being a “black leader” should be thought of more as a “black voice”. In fact I’d make similar cases for Sharpton and Jackson.
I expect the Minister to skirt around WHO his successor will be. But at the same time I expect him to deal head on with the possible crisis that the Nation faces after he passes, to keep what happened to the Nation when Elijah Muhammad passed away, from happening to the Nation again.
A sidebar to the Minister speech in Detroit,the FOI played and active part in Mayor Kilpatrick successfull re election,they came in from Chicago to work the streets .
I wanted to make it down to the D for the speech but the weather wasn’t good. But I do wonder, aren’t your critiques of Farrakhan more of the structure of NOI and less of him? I don’t think the nation was anymore transparent under Elijah Muhammad, nor in the unclear time after his passing. Can there be a distinction made between his institutional leadership and Farrakhan as a public figure?
Very few people truly understand Farrakhan. He took the torch to lead his people out of darkness through the power of speech. He is much more than a mouth. I have personally witnessed the power of Islam to give dignity and respect to people who have been denied the most basic forms of respect. I wished I could have been in Detroit to attend his speech.
dumi how can you divorce–in this case–the individual from the institution? my critiques of the NOI would be no different if it were elijah running it. in some ways it’d be “worse”, because elijah muhammad’s NOI wanted little to nothing to do with politics.
and i think black people understand the transformative aspects of min. farrakhan’s leadership well enough. i am suggesting though that while there MAY BE a role for such charismatic leadership within the framework of a religion, there should not be that big of a role for such leadership within the framework of politics and social movements.
I think the divorcing has to come when you look at his stances as an individual. Realizing whole-heartedly that he’s a leader of an org, but also an individual. I was wondering if he held view or ideologies that were more an issue than his org’s lack of democratic practice. Charismatic leadership is not dead and likely will never die in the Black community (or for that matter in any community, heck Weber was writing about this eons ago) but maybe it may mean we as a people bound the influence/power that these leaders have. ?
For all that can handle truth I,strongly suggest that you hear this Brother,but be carefull,most can not handle the truth as for myself you may find some truth and wish you hadn’t good luck Dr.Ray Haggins is his name Pastor of The Afrikan Villiage in St.Louis Mo