Posted on 06/18/2002 12:23:47 PM PDT by Shermy
WASHINGTON--Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Monday he will leave later this week on a "peace initiative'' that will take him to countries in Africa and the Mideast.
"I think I have greater currency in the Arab and Muslim world'' than '' . . . the president and [Secretary of State] Colin Powell,'' Farrakhan said when asked what he could achieve.
He declined to list the nations he intends to visit, citing security precautions.
In past trips, Farrakhan has exploited loopholes in U.S. travel bans to visit Libya and Iraq.
Farrakhan said "if allowed," he would like to visit Israel and the West Bank and meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat. Farrakhan said he was not certain if Israel would let him in.
With tensions continuing in the region, Israeli security forces tightly control entry to the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli embassy in Washington was contacted by Farrakhan and an official said it was not possible to say if Israel would admit Farrakhan because "It's not entirely clear yet what his travel plans are."
Statements released by the Nation of Islam said Farrakhan's itinerary indicates he also intends to travel to Italy, Egypt, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Farrakhan, at an event billed as a news conference but packed with hundreds of his followers, did add Sudan and Morocco to the itinerary. He said he would leave Thursday or Friday and did not want to discuss details because "I don't want the trip to be sabotaged.''
Another Chicagoan, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, earlier this month put on hold a peace mission he planned to Israel and the West Bank. Jackson suspended his trip after renewed violence in the area and what was then Sharon's upcoming trip to Washington to meet with President Bush.
Farrakhan urged the U.S. not to attack Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein because nothing against Saddam has "been proved.''
"As a citizen, I have the right of free speech,'' Farrakhan said, adding he saw no purpose in keeping silent.
He sought and was not granted an appointment with Powell for a briefing on his trip. Farrakhan said he did have a phone conversation with William Burns, assistant secretary of state for the Near East.
Farrakhan's delegation will include the Rev. Al Sampson, pastor of the Fernwood United Methodist Church on Chicago's South Side.
If this trip is the beginning of Farrakhan finally ending his denial around slavery in the Sudan it will be a good thing.
Of course you do. How often do you see sharks attacking other sharks?
Earth to FBI... accidentally lose this guy's American identity. That's can't be too hard for you guys to do.
Donald Jackson wrote an article which, because of its high merits, was inserted into the Congressional Record. He wrote:
I am a Negro who attended college in Mississippi and am the author of two books. . . the editor and publisher of a monthly called Wire Magazine. . . (and) probably the only Negro manager of a `Let Freedom Ring' station in the United States.
Why haven't the voices of the intelligent, decent, respectable Negroes of Mississippi been heard? It's heartbreaking to read in the press and to see on television the vicious, untruthful statements regarding the citizens of Mississippi....
The Negro clergy of the National Council of Churches are the Negro people's greatest enemy. You no doubt have already seen where many Negro clergy bleed their members for money. Their sole interest seems to be a fine new church where they can bring other ministers to show off a late model Cadillac and a big salary. The Negroes of Mississippi should check the background of some of the travelers and clergy in the Civil Rights movement. You will find automobile thieves, bootleggers of whiskey, rapists, pro-Communist sympathizers and publicity-seeking hounds, using God's most holy temple to plot evil against his brother under the guise it is helping the Negroes, when this conspiracy is directed and encouraged by the Communist Party. Any Negro who is a member of a church that holds these hate meetings under the guise that it is for civil rights, should boot the preachers out of their church.
Congressional Record
Aug. 12, 1966. p.1723
I am not a white racist, but a 40-year old Negro woman who knows what she is talking about, so pay attention.
What is wrong with you in Washington? You keep giving the poor more free handouts, when what they need is a job so they can learn to work and help themselves. Welfare alone has been their ruination. If you give a check or commodities, make them do something in return. If you give education or job training, make them earn it.
There are many things that need doing in this country.
Roads need repair.
Trees on our city streets need trimming. There is litter on the sidewalks.
City buildings need painting. Hospitals and nursing homes can always use a little more help. Women on relief could take some foster children. When the
children are in school, they could do other volunteer work. Do you people really not know that any human who gets something for
nothing loses all pride and initiative? You are completing the destruction of
the Negro male by all these so-called progressive programs. Many of those
collecting welfare are driving around in big cars and have expensive furs. My
husband and I, who are taxpayers, can't afford these
things. Why aren't people investigated before they are given charity? Don't tell me we cannot find work
for them to do. If I cannot get what I want, I scrub floors, and have done so.
My mother taught me nothing was beneath me if it was honest.
I am not the only one who feels this way. Many hard-working people, black
and white, are getting fed up with this free, free, free
policy. We are sick and tired of making sacrifices to support those who are too
lazy to stand on their own two feet.
We are not going to stand for it forever.
Sincerely,
Sadie (Mrs. Emory) Willis
East Liverpool, Ohio
rotflmao oh boy that's a good one. Louis Farrakhan....peace initiative, Ya...right
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