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JANUARY 13 - 19. 19
THE CrrlZEN
7
•
Abel I ad
Editor. The Final ca
R ou leaden mu "take
the re on biUty" for the . al
and economic problem of the
J am can people and inspire
them to "produce" for them-
lve so that they can ' .
free n tion and free
people," ini er Loui Farrak­
han decl d at J amacia's
ational Arena in ingston on
Decemb r 8.
" arcu Garvey is turning
over in his grave," he id
becau J amaic is not being
controlled by Blac Jamaicans.
, his . your country.
up and take your country back,"
Minister Farrakhan ple ded in an
imp ioned tone.
Abno three thou d
Jamaicans, welcomed the Ie der
of the Chicago-based tion of
I am to Jam' a for the inter­
national unveiling of P.O.W .E.R.
(people Organized and orldng
for Economic RebJrth), blister
Farrakhan's economic program
of Black self-help.
In ed to J amic by Rev.
Ernie Gordon, rector of St.
ary's Anglican Church,
King on, the controve
Black der, Louis Farrakhan,
called on the Jamaican eople
"'ib�"';e "e the' ore t u 'dif-
ference by recognizing' the
onene of God, and to hame
thei unity on solving their
conomic plight.
'7, e is no w y that J amai­
ca could be in the condition that
Jamaica' in if religions ere
in the right te," the usUm
minilter indicated. "Religion is
not doing its job here. '
Explaining th t he not
ating reUsion," Minister
,
ar a
Farrakhan d that unproducti-
vity a a "curse" that the'
Jamaican people were under
because religion h not
generated in the people the
''will to prod e. "
During his speech, inister
F arrakhan noted that he had
been in J amaic with uham­
m d Ali approxbn tely 11 years
before and he h d spoken t
the tional Stadium, across
from the ationa! Arena, to
15 ()()() people.
Although vera} represent-
ativ of various political groups
and organizations were present
on the rostrum, Mini er Far­
rakhan indicated that "Politic
alone cannot solve the problems
of Jamaica."
"The problems are deeper
than Labor (Jamaica's Labor
Party), deeper than PNP (Peo­
p e'l ational Party)," he stated.
'The problem of Jamaica is
psychological, emotional . . .
until you ddre the problems
you will change one party for
another, but not change the
conditions. "
The condition of illiteracy
was singled out a major
obstacle to the realization of
the independence which the
,;/fIf\' ., ��.. d in
1963, Minister Farrakhan said.
"The flag of 1 amaica can
only represent a free people
hen the mind of Jamaicans
are truly free," he said. "But
if the minds e enslaved then
having a flag is a mockery,
having political independence
a mockery . . . no people
can be free and ignorant at the
same time."
In the official invitation to
the speech, Rev. Gordon men-
ha
tioned that Minister Fmakhan's
father wa Jamaican-born, and
that his uncle, Teacher Clark,
was one of Jamaicas leading
educator. And during th lec­
ture, Minister F arrakhan slipped
in and out of the Jamaican
patois as if he truly were
Jamaican native son.
Using government education
stati ics, Minister F arrakhan
showed that the future of
Jamaica was in danger because
the "cream of the crop", the
25 percent with passing grades
in all subjects, h d become
"dollar conscious" and were
not interested in helping to
build J amaic .
Since Jamaica is an agricul­
tural country, Minister F srra­
khan suggested that the church
mu help to put Jamaican
land back into production for
the benefit of the Jamaican
people, to help alleviate the
imbalance of trade, and to
cr te jobs for Jamaicans.
The Jamaican people are
"much better off" than Black
people in America, he said,
becau the Jamaican' have land
that they can u to produce
food, while the Blacks in the
United State have no land.
J1.t Ho a· up vera! products
purchased in a Jamaican market,
the "spiritual son of the Honor­
able Elijah uhammad" re d
the labels which revealed that
either the products ere made
in another country, or were
made for companies from other
nations. Even of the staple
foods of Jamaica, Acke, salt
fish, rice and peas, only acke
is grown in Jamaica.
Jamaica's religiou group
could begin to produce their
o n products, Minister Far­
rakhan ggested, to op the
Jamaican dependence on the
product of other nation' which
are sold in J amaic .
"Suppose the .church says,
, r. Seag , we want a thousand
acres of land to farm," Minister
F ana khan said, "you could start
to produce all of the ple
that you need, build your can­
ning factory, go to your grocery
store and buy 'Fir Baptist
Peas", 'Seventh Day Adventist
Spinach 'u, and "Masjid uham­
mad Corn.
"This is where we live so let
us make Jarnaic productive.
We mu begin doing for our­
selves", Farrakhan said.
Minister Fanakhan chided
Jamaicans for wanting to go to
the U.S. when in fact what they
wanted was to make Jamaica
into what it could really be.
According to the minister,
the "colonial ma ers" are using
food as a "political weapon"
and if Jamaican's cannot pro­
duce they will 10 all control
over their country.
With regard to the devalu -
tion of the Jamaican currency
and its almo Impotent buying
power, F arrakhan pleaded,
"How can you live like this?
Who love Jamaica enough to
protect Jamaica from the rats
and the bloodsucker who want
to suck the blood of this island
for them lves? Who loves her
enough?"
Explaining the P .O.W .E.R.
program, Minister F arrakhan
d that he decided to start
producing products to enable
Blacks to prucha large tracts
. of fann land and take the
Blackman' mouth· out of the
a'
•
area
white man' kitchen.'
Citing the defection of the
five original Black manufac­
turer , he said that was good
thing because now many offer
have come from Black manu- I
facturers e ger to get involved,
and some have even come for- I
ward to show PO ER how to
produce the products.
In fact on the day after the
speech, Minister Fan khan
traveled into the Jamai n 'coun­
tryside to see packing plant for
frozen food.
inister Farlakhan called on
Jamaica to begin to prod ce
products, Black p ople in
America will begin to do nd
then begin to tr de with e ch
other, and with other third
world countri s. He also . d
that would allow the Blacks
working for corporation in
America to work for the
development of the Third orld,
Minister F arrakhan concluded
hi lecture lling on Black
people to begin to m ke heaven
on earth, as Black people are in
fact the "heir" to the the king­
dom of God to b built' on
earth as it is in heaven."
"Y ou (Black p ople are to
become the heir to it all, ut
you don't even realize that the
ground under your feet is your
inheritance" he said.
On the following day at the
arcu Garvey shrine inister
Farr khan placed a wreath and
gave brief mes ge with tears
trickling out of his eyes. In
his introduction at the Arena
Minister Farrakhan was referred
as "the n of the Honorable
Marcus Garvey" and the "spirit
of Marcus Garvey."
ow is the time to see
Halley's Comet
Editor:
ow until January 21 is the
best time to view Halley's
comet. That i, if the early
evening sky is clear.
I'm sure that we who are
anxious to e the comet have
been disappointed in so much
cloud cover lately. But let's
try to be patient and ait un­
les we are planning to go
South where friends from
Florida write to say they have
seen it.
During the ne t two eeks
it will be visible to the naked
eye in the 10 southwest in the
vicinity of Jupiter for a couple
of hours fter sunset.
Jupiter is very easy to find
as it is at its brightest shortly
before it sets. Look to it right
and little north of it. Do not
expect Comet Halley to be more
than a faint light a it is not
positioned broadside (showing
its tail) in the northern hemis-
We will be looking at it from
an entirely different angle it
speeds along at 122 000 mile
an hour. It s closest appro ch
to Planet Earth is over 54
million miles.
Perhap just mediating on
these astronomical fi ures will
help us to appreciate the vast­
ness of space and the wonder
of it all.
2144 Hoyt
. Muskegon
Hts., MI
722·2564