The Antidote

It’s common knowledge that when someone suffers a poisonous snake bite the antidote to that poison is oftentimes another poison: one that neutralizes the first poison, saving the person from certain death. African Americans are a snake bitten people (spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically), having been fed a steady diet of poisonous lies about ourselves, our history, our abilities, our worth, our capacity, our faculties and just about anything a human being can think, feel or be. I always wondered why it bothered me as a child that only Tarzan and his family could speak to the animals and command them or that the crayon in the box called “flesh” resembled only white people.

While this brainwashing and cruel indoctrination, along with its residual affects, are still apparent today, we are light years away from our darkest period (1619   1935). During those years we, as a people, were on our deathbed, with only sporadic flashes of life, struggle and hope, but nonetheless dying a slow death. The poison had saturated our minds, hearts, feet and hands. Different movements came and went during and after this period, lacking what was truly needed to stop the deadly poison in its tracks and bring us back to even keel. Then along came the Nation of Islam under the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Finally, the poison had met its match.

By 1935 the Nation of Islam had dug strong roots within a grassroots segment of black folk and from there waged a 40 year battle for our lives against a most formidable serpent called “white supremacy.” The Nation of Islam is now headed by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.  Behind a very shrewdly crafted philosophical and spiritual fortress the Nation of Islam stood and stands in defiant and diametrical opposition to white supremacy and all its tentacles.

   RELIGION

White supremacy used Christianity and selected scripture to enslave our spirits, particularly the story of Noah and his sons and the passage that says “you can’t serve two masters ….” Slaves were routinely taught that their subjugation was God ordained and that slavery was theirs and their children’s lot in life. All photos depicting Jesus, disciples, angels or any revered figure were images of caucasian people. Literally everything and everyone close to God were white. Religion was also used to dupe black folk into believing that the pursuit of material wealth was sinful and would not get one into heaven, while the dominant society basked in material riches, building virtual heavens on earth. As a result, black folks desire a heavenly crown in some far off afterlife rather than their fair share of all things now. Mr. Muhammad recognized this poison for what it was and so our religious poisoning was the first to be attacked. Christianity now became the #1 enemy to black folk to be replaced by its arch nemesis during the Crusades, Islam. God was now the Asiatic Black Man and Jesus was re-cast as a black prophet. Selected scripture was found to support the notion that black people were God’s chosen people and that God Himself was, in fact, a black man. This alone had a most powerful affect on us. A black man uttering these things in the 1930’s and continued to live had to have special protection from above.

  MIRACLES

Aside from the miraculous awakening Mr. Muhammad’s teachings were producing in his followers and other believers, many chose to focus instead on his assertions that resonated as the wild ravings of a lunatic – particularly, his claim that a black god stood watching and waiting and that black pilots manned what he called the “mother plane,” – ready and able to destroy the white man’s civilization at God’s command. Outrageous, you say? Well, how much more outrageous is that than believing a snake (serpent) can talk? Than people being turned into pillars of salt? Than the Red Sea parting? Than two of every living thing fitting on an Ark no bigger than a football field? You get the picture? It’s crystal clear to me that Mr. Muhammad was well aware of his people’s tendency towards magical thinking and a literal belief in stories. It had to be counteracted and neutralized. In a very symbolic way Mr. Muhammad knew he had to pry his people away from that which killed and enslaved them just as Forty Million And A Tool knows we have to take our birthright of wealth from the American economy. Neither is willingly conceded.

Mr. Muhammad was able to parallel our sojourn with that of biblical characters, while giving us an identity as the glorious lost and found tribe of Shabazz. He gave us a frame of reference that explained everything from the origin of human beings to the creation of the entire universe. Much of it sounded foreign and outlandish, but the more he provided a society and social structure where we felt loved and where we finally found belonging, the more we believed and followed. As we had depended on a society that despised our very existence, Mr. Muhammad proposed a system that would provide for our every need, right down to our dietary habits. While white people positioned themselves as the image of God Mr. Muhammad made them “devils.” When our people saw that Mr. Muhammad didn’t get struck down by lightening or assassinated by white America his stature grew even larger and many more of us flocked to the Nation of Islam. The antidote was working. At this point it didn’t matter what Mr. Muhammad said; his followers would believe it blindly. He had become the most powerful black man of his time, producing another who would become the most feared black man in America: Malcolm X (later El Hajj Malik Shabazz).

THE WRONG FOODS

The bible says that “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” Translation: we have undeniable physical and material needs, but we need the truth more. This was the crux of all that Mr. Muhammad taught. To bring a people back to life (by any means necessary) and place them in a position where they can safely discern what’s good for them to digest or not, be it physically, mentally, spiritually, historically or otherwise. Even if it meant to ultimately rise up and challenge his teachings, he could still claim credit that we challenge at all, for when he found us we didn’t have a “challenge” bone in our near lifeless bodies. Not ironically, however, his most vocal challengers and critics were from the ranks of the black preacher. According to Mr. Muhammad’s teachings they were the very embodiment of black people fed the wrong foods, from the spiritually enslaving sermons on Sunday morning to the pork laden picnics later that day. Basically they were painted as a kind of Negro neo-colonialist, picking up where white people left off to fleece what little we had left instead of using the pulpit like Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey or Gabriel Prosser. This stance, however, would also soften over the years.

THE BLACK INTELLIGENTSIA

While crucifying black preachers it seemed the Nation of Islam courted black intellectuals and high profile athletes/entertainers. This gave the Nation a credibility and legitimacy rank and file adherents didn’t, except in sheer numbers. Plus, the exposure garnered from high profile converts brought in more believers by the hundreds, if not thousands. I have no doubt that most of these intellectuals didn’t believe everything that was being taught; many were drawn by the unity and the proven techniques the Nation employed to touch lives and bring dead people to productive life. My belief is that Mr. Muhammad knew that it really didn’t matter what we believed or practiced as a people, only that as long as we did it as one, nothing could stop us. That sentiment was beginning to filter through and consequently many of our people who could “think” became followers or allies. City after city with black or white mayors gave Mr. Muhammad and the Nation the keys to their cities. Then came the second surge of “cointelpro” and assassinations, leaving revolutionaries and freedom fighters dead and organizations in disarray. Finally, in 1975, Mr. Muhammad was laid to rest after a job well done. He brought life to a lifeless body. He wasn’t perfect, but he brought the perfect antidote.

I will honor Mr. Muhammad for what I believe was his true contribution, as described herein. Others no doubt have differing beliefs and opinions. One thing is indisputable and clear: the Honorable Elijah Muhammad dedicated his life to his people who were brutally oppressed and slated for lifelong subservience. That’s enough for me. Like him, we should never let our legacy of slavery die, for that is our fuel and springboard to our birthright of wealth and the justice we so richly deserve. Many of us don’t want to be reminded of our past wretchedness; we want to get as far away from that existence as we can. While I would agree it’s not something we need to wear on our sleeves or beat people over the head with, it sure is something we have to own because it’s ours. Denial and avoidance will delay our healing as a people. Attaining our birthright of wealth in conjunction with healing is crucial. Then and only then will the ghost of slavery not hover over us and cause many to feel shame. We will stand on it as victors rather than buried under it as victims.