For those of you who may not be aware, today is the day we- the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters) acknowledge as Allah's Physical Degree day. He was physically born February 22nd, 1928 in Danville, Virginia. Every culture, nation, people show a particular degree of reverence for their founding father(s). During the month of February, the government of the U.S. recognizes 'President's day', as a combination memorial to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. There are numerous celebrations that are held in ciphers (cities) across the states. The Parliament in Mecca (Harlem) usually hosts a number of Elder's who walked with Allah when they were young. I-self will be attending a dance in tribute to Allah, this weekend in Divine See (Washington D.C.).
I have reposted the following blog entry from http://yellowseed.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html
Please take the time to read to learn more about the founder of one of the country's, and the world for that matter, most controversial movement. The man who came to dispell the lies, mythologies, rituals and oppression. The man who stood up to the world and told them he was "ALLAH" and that we were too. The man who came to unite the black, brown and yellow peoples of the planet earth in an effort to change the future. Not by reverting to the ways of the past, b-u-t by redefining the the NOW and bringing forth a "new way" in order to create a different future.
-----------------------------------
What Will We Achieve?
The babies are the greatest. Indeed. This is and has been our most fundamental tenant. Beyond what many may think about who we are (both inside and outside of the Nation) our goal has always been to educate the youth. This was the drive behind Allah's teachings and will to bring about a strong country through the upliftment and education of the children. Allah refused to accept other people definitions of the world. He went forward with his own perspectives, very unpopular at that time in America. He advocated voting, paying taxes, schooling, jobs and careers. He did not organize protests and demand reparations. He spend his time with the "have-nots" and the "expected-not to's" and gave to them what no other so-called African-American leaders and organizations could give them: A FATHER. Something that many of them lacked and thus projected the term upon him for what he was doing for them. He wasn't afraid of them. He slept with them (the young Gods would rest with Allah when they had no place to stay at night. He ate with them. He laughed with them. He lived with and amongst them. And most importantly he gave them GOOD ORDERLY DIRECTION (G.O.D).
Yet, the institutions of America claim to have the best interests of the children in mind. Why then are so much social service agencies losing aid. Social service, has often been looked at by the conservatives in power, as a nuisance. It has been viewed as a waste of money on the fledgling, poor, "blood sucking" masses. Economy, which by far supercedes government interests, is counterproductive is strenghtening our youth. With commercials and advertising aimed at them, youth claw out at the images that are imprinted into their brains everyday. The environment we bring them into has more of an effect on their overall development than we think. This has been addressed and documented. Yet, as public policy continues to be shaped, the "needs" of the people are redirected as governmental interests are redirected. And the focus is taken away from our greatest resource.
The history of America clearly speaks volumes of the perspective of children. So it becomes no wonder why it (the status of children) persists as an unresolved issue. Still, when a group like the Nation of Gods and Earths speaks up in defense of the marginalized youth we are often attacked and charged as far from realizing and being able to uplift them. Instead of the government assisting us, they persecute us. In "Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History," author Richard Shenkman discusses the view of children throughout the history of the country:
"There is the assumption, for instance that child rearing has always been left up to mothers. But according to recent studies of the family undertaken by Stanford University’s Carl Degler, child rearing in colonial times was mainly the job of fathers. Until the early 1800’s child-rearing manuals were not even addressed to mothers. It wasn’t until the 19th century, when women has the economic freedom to devote themselves full-time to their offspring, that they began playing their familiar hearth and home role.
Children as well as parents in the colonial ear played a markedly different role in the family from now. Regarded as little adults, children were made to dress like their parents, were given heavy responsibilities, and were forbidden the luxury of playthings. A historian who has studied 330 portraits of children between 1670 and 1810 discovered that until the Revolution the pictures "contain no distinctive childish artifacts such as toys, children’s furniture, or school books. The stock poses give no signs of play or playfulness and the faces of the children are as solemn as those of their elders." Until the 1800’s children weren’t even given books at their own reading levels; juvenile literature hadn’t been invented. As late as 1845 the Southern Literary Messenger considered juvenile books as a novelty. "No trait in the literary development of the age," said the Messenger, "is more striking than the importance which seems suddenly to have attached to what we call juvenile books for children."
Far from maintaining close relations with their children, parents in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries often kept their offspring at bay. Puritan clergyman specifically urged parents not to become too close to their children. When male children reached their teens, they were often sent away to live with other families. When parents divorced, the custody of the children was often considered a minor matter, according to Degler. Not until the nineteenth century did children become sentimentalized idols. Only then did families begin celebrating children’s birthdays."
No system in place for children was formally introduced until the 19th century. No wonder was this country is falling. Because America is just no starting to listen to and pay attention to the needs of the children. And then only marginally. The children are still largely misunderstood because no one is speaking to them. So them many children flock to where they will fill heard or can express themselves. Many become gang members or involved in criminal activity. Because they were neglected for the most part, during the times in their development when positive interaction mattered the most. Now that they are adults we expected them to have made up their minds about their direction in life. When we haven’t given them any directions except into the workforce and to the stores to consume. Or we direct them to the unemployment line or to the prisons, to be beasts of burden, making jeans and telemarketing calls. Only to become cheap labor for the greatest shopping mall of the world; the United States.
During the Martin Luther King riots, Allah and his Five Percenters were put and about. Teaching and civilizing the people. Allah’s focus was the children, beyond the shadow of a doubt or anyone else’s doubt. New York magazine did a cover story article about Mayor John Lindsay, which included The Mayor’s interest and involvement with Allah. The magazine also gave insight into Allah and his teachings. One particular excerpt mentioned Allah speaking to his Five Percenters about a crowd of people who had assembled to protest and speak out about the assassination of Dr. King.
"Them people are stupid. They’re just showing my Five Percenters they are blind, deaf, and what?"
"Dumb!" came the chanted answer.
"We are the only ones who are civilized. We are trying to save our people’s lives. The revolution must come from within. Clean up your homes first. Our job is to civilize the what?"
"Uncivilized!"
and then the article continued…
"There is no teaching in a bar. Bakar Kasim and two sisters got busted over in Brooklyn where they were teaching. Some cops come messing with them, and one of the sisters bit him on the hand. He shouldn’t have had his hand on her, and the man should have took his head! Now, you know we believe in peace, but I didn’t say if we are attacked don’t fight! You say you are God, and a sister is in jail for biting a policeman on the hand. Malcolm said he’d rather have the women than the niggers. And another thing I taught you was to respect the American Flag. You respect any what?"
"Government!"
"I’m telling you, my Five Percenters have got to be healthy, strong and good what?"
"Breeders!"
"But you’re healthy all right. Some of you brothers can outrun a reindeer or a telephone call every time a riot starts. You ain’t ready! You can’t fight no guerilla warfare here, because you don’t plant nothing. You have to buy from the whiteman. Why? Because when his superiors give him the orders, the penalty for disobedience is what?"
"Death!"
"You’re out there looting. My wife had to go downtown to get some milk. Some brothers are looting. Don’t say you’re a Five Percenter if you gonna do it!"
"You say you the civilized of the world. The whiteman won’t give you this government until you have given your word you will not destroy him."
Whatever black extremists were writing about him, Allah himself seemed monumentally unconcerned. A wiry, squinting man of forty, whose real name is Clarence "Puddin" Smith, he had lived through a break with the Black Muslims. (He was once a member.) Through a murder attempt that left a bullet lodged in his chest. (Allah was "on the list" after Malcolm X.) And through a stay in Mattewan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, which probably got him out of a murder rap of his own. (He was allowed to plead insanity. After all, he thought he was Allah.) That bullet, plus an intricate mathematical catechism perfectly memorized by all his followers, proves that he is "Allah", the Islamic word for God. To those who doubt him, he says, "If I’m not Allah, who is?"
Allah knew have to speak to the thousands of dispossessed youth. When America couldn’t stop people from rioting during the 60’s, Allah and his Five Percenters. The authorities were indeed alarmed at Allah’s "following." The children loved him and flocked to him because of what he was doing for them. He was/is their Father. This holds true beyond the attempts to assassinate his and our characters. Many of us remain true to his message. Although many have fallen by the side of the road. Allah was not a revolutionary or an extremist. He was not a muslim-renegade and he definitely was not "crazy." Barry Gottherer, Mayor’s Lindsay aid during the 1960’s and point contact person with Allah, mentioned him sincerely in his book "The Mayor’s Man":
"Allah’s speech pattern was uniquely his own, with it’s own pitch and rhythym. He would start a sentence, "I am neither pro-black or anti-" and then he would pause. He’d add, "whi-iite," stretching the emphasis on that last syllable. He explained his religion to me at some length. The world, he believed, was inhabited by three kinds of people: 85 per cent of the world are cattle; 10 per cent are the devils who mislead the cattle, and the 5 per cent, with Allah at it’s head, had become the Five Percenters…
At the time I met Allah, his followers numbered either from two to five hundred, if you believed the police reports; or eight hundred, if you believed Allah. I’ve been told that sooner or later he could try to start some kind or armed revolution, and that the Five Percenters would try to take over Harlem.But Allah wasn’t sounding like a revolutionary. He was asking me if the city could provide enough buses to take the Five Percenters on a picnic. I said I thought it would be possible. Then he asked about school facilities. The Urban League, which used corporate funding to staff store-front street academies for dropouts with teachers who were former dropouts themselves, told Allah they weren’t willing to give a street academy for the exclusive use of Five Percenters. Allah wanted the city to do better by him."
So it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end. The babies are the greatest. The best part of man and woman coming together. We are to educate them. Not to revolt against America. B-u-t to be strong men and women so that they will strengthen the country and continue it’s legacy of greatness, righteously. We are not a revolutionary movement. We are a resistance movement. We resist the definitions that have been placed on us. We resist any policy that is inhumane and that does not promote life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not at the expense of the poor, or to feed to pockets of the rich. We want freedom, justice and equality for all the human families of the planet earth. Many will miscontrue who we are and what we are about. They will pick and chose which "words" from our cirriculum they will attempt to use against us. However history does not lie. Only those who are telling it. And those that attack us paint the most gruesome of histories about us. I challenge all of you to read and research for yourself. To go out and learn for yourself, who are the Five Percent on this poor part of the planet earth? After all, the above reprinted excerpts are historical documents.
Lastly, I will part from this blog entry with the another excerpt from "The Mayor’s Man." The following is what the Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York had to say regarding the assassination of Allah:
"We were all in our shirt sleeves, and sweating. The store front was long and narrow and very shabby. Inside were about forty kids and young adults. Lindsay said, "Brothers, I hope you know the sadness in my heart at Allah’s death." He went on to give a little eulogy. "His contribution was an important one in these last few years, but especially in the world of education."
PEACE!
No comments:
Post a Comment