Why the People Marched through River Oaks in Houston

 ‘Why march through River Oaks’ in Houston, Texas, they ask? Because the Trayvon Martin case has awakened something within justice loving people as Emmitt Till’s murder did some 58 years ago. Critics of the recent march in River Oaks say ‘they (River Oaks) didn’t have anything to do with the death of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman’s acquittal’ in Florida. Wrong, dead wrong! The same corrupt judicial system that acquitted George Zimmerman after he racially profiled and murdered Trayvon Martin in Florida operates in same manner in the City of Houston, Harris County, and the Southern District of Texas in the Federal court system of the United States. If it looks like a duck…well you know the rest.

Nothing written herein is meant to negate or denigrate the great civic, philanthropic, and humanitarian contributions of the River Oaks community to our city, state, nation, or world. Without their generous support of the arts, education, poverty eradication, disaster relief, and good governance, this city would be worst than it is. However, the good takes care of itself; together we must correct the wrong. No amount of charity absolves those who choose to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the injustices taking place in a system that protects and benefits River Oaks. Honestly, can anyone name a candidate for any federal, state, county, or at large city elective office of both major parties that doesn’t seek and receive some financial support from River Oaks?  Simply put, River Oaks funds many of our tormentors and upholds the institutions that mistreat us. How should we respond?

Not all, but too many, in River Oaks and other affluent communities in Houston have allowed themselves to fit the unfair stereotype of a sushi eating, Galleria shopping, Caramel Macchiato (hold the whip cream) drinking, jogging in the park, and walking the poodle down beautiful tree lined streets carefree people - while the police profile, beat, and kill us, the criminal courts railroads us, the civil courts rob us, and the family courts take our children unjustly. We imagine you enjoying life at the county club while your neighborhood captains of industry de-industrialized America sending our jobs overseas and your political operatives weakened our state and federal environmental laws thereby destroying the once pristine Texas environment. Bond referendums notwithstanding, state and county government has built more prisons and jails in Texas than neighborhood public schools with your permission. You have also “gamed” the tax system to escape paying a fairer share of taxes despite having the privilege of living in the most prosperous state and nation on earth. Is this fair?

 

River Oaks, why did you sit back and watch Wall Street gut our 401K’s, home equity, and pension funds while your wealth increased tenfold? Why have some of you sat silently while the American middle class was hollowed out as honest hardworking people toiled 40 or more hours a week without receiving a living wage, healthcare, and having to collect food stamps? Why when we have in Houston, Texas the greatest medical center in the world, do the poor have to sit at Ben-Taub for 5-6 hours to see a doctor? Why let the poor and working class people wait at 8,000 METRO bus stops without shelter in triple digit heat, cold, and rain while our transit agency’s “General Mobility Fund” is siphoned off by cities and the county for non transportation purposes and so that you can drive your fine automobiles? Is this neighborly?

Why is River Oaks seemly indifferent to the rising cost of higher education in Texas and the lack of jobs waiting for poor and blue collar children after getting a degree and accumulating a mountain of debt? Did you know that poor children with better grades than the less intelligent sons or daughters of River Oaks have less of a chance of finishing college and receiving a job? We thought Houston was a meritocracy? Why no outcry as the Voters Rights Act of 1965 is being gutted and voter suppression laws are passed without so much as an editorial or rally on your part? Your silence on these issues is deafening and borders on immorality. Should we remain silent just because you choose to?

Do you know why, despite the dire predictions of the socialist and revolutionary communist in the United States, this country has yet to devolve into apocalyptic class conflict? It’s because through both economic depression and recession there has been a tacit agreement between the rich and the poor that is as follows: If the rich will use their capital to create decent paying jobs, keep open the pathway to the middle class prosperity in the form of consumption with reasonable access to credit, then, the poor will allow the rich to collect large bonuses and live “the American Dream” without disturbing their peace. That’s the deal - and you who pull the strings, not government, broke it. Now, fix it!

The glue that held our society together is now seen as a mere illusion of inclusion, which is: if the poor worked hard, played by “the rules,” offered their sons and daughters to fight, bleed, and die in foreign wars to defend American “freedom,” and pursued a “good education,” then they too would be treated fairly by “the system” and have their bite at the apple of prosperity. This particular line of thought has been sold to two generations of Black people in America for the last 50 years. Although some have done well, the condition of the masses of Black people and the poor has gotten worse. This cannot be laid at the foot of River Oaks or anyone else. Our problem is disunity, distrust, allowing River Oaks and downtown to fund our politicians’ coffers, and our refusal to pool our own immense economic resources to create jobs and decent neighborhoods for ourselves. Do for self and stop blaming rich white people for that we can and must do for ourselves. This is our challenge, we must correct the wrong. Pharaoh has let us go; it’s time for us to let him go!

 

Now back to River Oaks! Hear us -we don’t want anybody to give us anything, just open up the door, we can get it ourselves. We are not marching in River Oaks and elsewhere for a new government program, a hand out, your sympathy, or out of envy over your prosperity. We are marching for JUSTICE and restoration of the tacit agreement between the rich and the poor with an added enforcement clause. That clause reads: “If there is no justice, there will be no peace or business as usual in the City of Houston.” This is not a threat-it’s a solemn oath. Oh, by the way, please stop wasting your time and money buying guns at gun shows, pressuring politicians, law enforcement, and so called “respectable” Black leaders in our community to do something about “those people.” There is nothing in the universe that can stop an idea whose time has come and a people backed by God who are determined to bring that idea into fruition. It would be like trying to stop a tsunami with a Dixie Cup.  It’s up to you River Oaks and Houston to join us as we seek life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness for ALL and justice for the Trayvon Martin’s of the Houston, Texas and the world.

Robert S. Muhammad is a Student Minister in Houston, Texas and serves as the Southwest Representative of the Nation of Islam. He is a radio talk show host, Urban Planner, and candidate for PhD in Urban Planning and Environmental Policy. He can be heard on KPFT 90.1 FM each Wednesdays at 3pm CST and followed on Twitter @dotsconnector

The Time and What Must Be Done: Houston, Texas

As Salaam Alaikum,

Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends, and Supporters:

On June 4, 1972, during the Theology of Time lecture series, The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said: "The resurrection of Jesus means the resurrection of justice among you and me, that's what it means."

 

Today, the death of Trayvon Martin has struck a nerve in justice loving people in America and around the world. We applaud the efforts of Minister Quanell X, Krystal Sonia, Kofi Taharka, Jolanda Jones, Bishop James Dixon, and countless others for their stand for our people.

There is a mood on the streets and among the Joshua-Caleb generation that despite the so-called progress that has been made in race relations, the people realize it will take another 450 years for Black America to close the gap of wealth, education, health, and life expectancy disparities. They are waking up to the fact that the political, economic, and social system has been "gamed" so that they have little or no chance to advance.  The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is

laying out a context for our current condition and the root of the thinking of those who hate our very presence and would exterminate us if it were not for Allah's(God) intervention.www.noi.org/thetime

Today, we must multitask. We must continue to demonstrate for justice while we continue to deal with the pathologies that plague our communities. Let us begin with simple things, like peacefully settling our differences within our families and communities. Love ye one another and stop the killing! Stop spending 95% of your money with people you blame for 95% of your problems. Pool your resources and create jobs for Self! Purposely seek out businesses and professionals who share your worldview and that support our struggle for justice and equality. Circulate your dollars within our own community! Put public officials on notice that we expect as much attention to our needs as the lobbyist that visit them receive at City Hall, Commissioners Court, Austin, and Washington, DC. Set an agenda and judge them by the standard we, not our enemies, have set for them!

 

To all Black leaders, real or imagined, we better not play with the people today. To do so is to take our lives in our own hands. The condition of our community bears witness against our collective stewardship. No matter what the sycophants around us are telling us about how great we are, LOOK at our community! Our leadership is only as good as our results. Let us set aside our egos and ask Allah (God) to remove envy, jealousy, and rancor from our hearts for the sake of God's chosen people. What are we willing to sacrifice for our people's redemption? Please don't say we would give our lives if we won't subordinate our arrogance and egos for the sake of operational unity. If we don't learn from history, we will certainly repeat it. Thank you for reading these words.

May Allah bless us with the light of His understanding.

 

The New Stewards of the Earth (Part II)

Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan

In the Holy Quran 3:190, Allah (God) revealed: “In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, there are surely signs for men of understanding.” The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Saviours’ Day 2013 keynote address ushered in a new phase in our present 25,000 year cycle of history. What the Minister brought forth in his talk to us and the world regarding Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint was on time and exactly what must be done. Do we grasp the magnitude of the duties and responsibilities the Minister and the Two that back him have put before us?

            Reflect on his words. “Now, it’s clear that their [wicked husbandmen’s] stewardship is what has led to the condition of the earth today, and it demands a new steward…if God gives us [the] kingdom, and makes us stewards over creation: what kind of stewards are we going to be?” Again, the Holy Qur’an 7:34 says: “And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while, nor can they precede (it).”  We are witnessing the old world going out, as a new world is coming in, just as the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us.

Why has the old world been sentenced to death? Because the made-man’s arrogant approach to science in his mastery of nature is without reverence or respect for the Author of Nature. The present world rulers have set themselves up in “the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” as it is written in II Thessalonians 2:4. His anthropocentric (man centered) approach to development without regard for environmental impacts has created a socio-ecological system that is unsustainable and without resiliency. In other words, the current practices of mankind will end and they will be unable to bounce back from the catastrophic consequences of their misguided stewardship. Therefore, there must be new stewards placed on the earth. We have now been placed in the valley of decision. Will we accept this phase of the mission?

Student Regional Ministers Robert Muhammad and Abdul Sharrief Muhammad

In Proverbs 1:5-6 it is written: “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their riddles.” Materialistic consumerism has replaced Christianity as the religion of the West and will soon replace Buddhism in the Far East. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said to us: “We must start teaching the babies, and begin to regenerate a culture of purposeful saving and investing.” It is imperative that we curb our media driven appetite for the latest gadget or consumable product. The Minister pointed out, “… there is no end to what we can do, if we start putting them nickels, pennies, [and] dollars together.” Therefore, our primary objectives are to control spending, while increasing saving and investing. The meaning of the Minister’s weekly series The Time and What Must Be Done is: we must change, adapt or perish! “Surely Allah never changes not the condition until they change their own condition” Holy Qur’an 13:11.

MGT of Muhammad Mosque No.45 Houston, Texas

Professor William Rees of the University of British Columbia states: “…mechanical assumptions must give way to dynamic analysis. The role of science shifts from facilitating the restructuring of nature to helping people adapt to natural variability.” He states further, “Understanding and coping with change is at the heart of resilience thinking.” In order for Black people to be resilient or bounce back from our terrible condition of poverty and want - change or adaptation is required.

Make Our Neighborhoods decent places to live

The first two of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s five ‘basic principles’ he outlined before giving us ‘the details’ of his Economic Blueprint were “Recognize the necessity for unity and group operation (activities) and Pool your resources, physically as well as financially.” This is what planning and management experts call an “inside-out” or “asset-capital based” approach. It focuses on looking at the glass half full rather than the glass half empty.

            Instead of focusing solely on our needs, problems, or deficiencies, we must now reorient our thinking to focus on our strengths, assets, and community capitals. In order to be successful, we must organize ourselves, associations, and institutions in our community to attract the resources we need to bring into existence what we desire. We must identify the human, social, cultural, economic, political, physical, and environmental capital-assets in our midst.  The Minister reminded us: “The enemy will never recognize us as an equal if we are in a begging position! We’re gonna have to get up and go to work, and do something for self!” It is as our Eternal Leader, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us: “Help self first, then others.” 

Fruit of Islam Muhammad Mosque No.45 Houston, Texas

Genesis 2:5 says: “And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground.” As it was in the beginning, our first order of business after organizing and pooling our resources is to acquire land for agriculture. The Minister made it crystal clear when he told us: “In order to build a nation, we had to give our people a vision of what it’s going to take. And we have to have land and there is no compromising this.” Today, we must now feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves.

          Are we the new stewards to replace the ‘wicked husbandmen’? We certainly can be if we follow Allah’s guidance coming through the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, organize, pool our resources, and implement Muhammad’s Economic Blueprint to end poverty and want.

Time to Stop Wasting Time

Our successes and failures bear witness for and against us. The condition of our community bears witness to our refusal to advocate a common cause. My difference with you has subordinated our common cause. The ego of "I" has subordinated the "We" of collective consciousness. Why must we use so much of our time and intellectual energy addressing such anti-revolutionary, anti-Black, anti-God and Goddess, mundane, myopic trivialities rooted in minds starved for attention and suffering from low self esteem and self loathing. Let us who willingly follow the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan double our efforts to get after the lost and found; mentor and protect the new converts from hypocrites and agents; stop profligate spending and be found working to pool our resources to assemble land to do urban gardening and agribusiness. "I" am the problem, "We" are the solution.

I am the Problem, We are the Solution

The problems within the Black community are solvable. The first step to solving our problems is to take a good look in the mirror. When you do, you will realize like I did, that I am the problem. No, I am not saying that I am the sole source of abberative behavior in the Black community. What I am saying is that I, my and me in my vocabulary is the problem. Selfish, self centered, egotistical leadership is the problem. Too much "I, my and me" in our conversations; not enough "us, our and we."


"The I has subordinated the we" the Honorable Minister Farrakhan told me this past week. "Our differences have subordinated the cause" he added. Unless we think, speak and act for the whole, our leadership is nothing but vanity. Until we settle our differences, the cause or our permanent interest will never be addressed and we will continue to suffer.

Today, we must begin to think, speak and act for the whole. No individual can rise above the condition of his people. There must be men or groups of men advocating one common cause. We didn't get to America because one individual decided to enslave African for 310 years. Nor was the Native American's land stolen from them by one or two persons - it was men or a group of men advocating one common cause.

It is time to do for self. Leadership must stop using I, my and me but rather think, act and speak for us, our and we. Like Jesus, we must say "I can of myself do nothing." Submission to Allah our Creator and unity will turn you and I to the We. When that happens, then it will be Allah (God) acting through the We.