Farrakhan, Jefferson & Ferguson
By Bro. Jackie Muhammad, NOI Research Group
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s two-and-a-half-hour lecture at Mosque Maryam on August 17, 2014, titled “The Troubled World, What Should We Be Doing?” was magnificent. It was thought-provoking, relevant, and captivating. However, there was also something deeply spiritual and historical about his pronouncements. The Minister was moved by Allah (God) to use the name Jefferson three times when he was referring to Ferguson, Mo. (Both a city and a county in Missouri are named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson.)
Thomas Jefferson was America’s third president. He was also one of the most hypocritical, duplicitous, and deceitful presidents in the country’s history.
In segment 33 of The Minister’s yearlong broadcast “The Time and What Must Be Done,” he mentioned Thomas Jefferson two times.
Mr. Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and he was considered one of the primary architects in America’s growth. It was Jefferson who consummated the famous Louisiana Purchase, an acquisition that not only doubled the country’s land mass but also opened the nation up to western expansion. Of particular interest for Ferguson, Missouri, however, is that the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory. Mr. Jefferson’s decision had dire consequences for both Blacks and Native Americans: His policies eroded tribal homelands and cultures and laid the foundation for the devastating uprooting of the Original Americans in the 1830s, which led to the infamous Trail of Tears. The Native Americans were forced to relocate to the new territory, and the acquisition expanded slavery into the Louisiana Territory, adding to Black people’s increasing misery.
Jefferson’s acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase/Missouri Territory morphed into something of even greater significance, particularly as it relates to the issue of our Latin American brothers and sisters crossing the border into America. Jefferson’s successor in the White House was James Monroe. Monroe, with the advice and assistance of Jefferson, established what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, which held that South and Central America were off limits to European colonization and intervention. This left America unhindered in her exploitation of those countries, and ultimately led to a crippling underdevelopment of America’s southern neighbors. Legitimate democratically elected governments were overthrown, economies were destroyed, and puppet regimes were installed that did the bidding of American businesses. The end result was the total impoverishment of the lands of our southern neighbors and the disenfranchisement of the masses of the people.
Now, over 100 years later, the people of those nations are coming to America seeking opportunities denied to them because of policies set in motion by Mr. Thomas Jefferson.
I am reminded of the words of The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the Fall of America wherein The Messenger, quoting the Book of Revelation (17:16), describes America as “a beast” and “a whore”: “And the 10 horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore…and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire!” The Messenger said that the 10 horns represent the Central and South American countries President Jefferson and his successors helped to destroy.
The Caribbean nation of Haiti can be added to the list of nations America has exploited with abandon, and Thomas Jefferson, personally, had a hand in the devastation of Haiti. A known Francophile, Jefferson spent many years in France as America’s ambassador, and he was the toast of Parisian society. President Jefferson, along with France, led the economic and political boycott of Haiti after the Black slaves in Haiti revolted and defeated Napoleon Bonaparte and humiliated France, thereby becoming the only nation in the world established as a result of a successful slave revolt. Jefferson was so terrified by the freedom of the Haitian slaves led by Toussaint Louverture that Jefferson called him and his army “cannibals.”
Jefferson is also known for his respect for the Scriptures. He is known to have written his own Bible, the Jefferson Bible. And, we may recall, Cong. Keith Ellison was sworn into Congress by placing his hand on a copy of the Holy Quran owned by President Jefferson. Some have even gone so far as to allege that Jefferson was a secret Muslim (Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders).
The third President of the United States was one of the richest slave owners in Virginia. He enslaved over 200 Africans, but he “freed” only two by allowing them to “escape.” Two more were “freed” after he died. They were believed to be his offspring by his Black slave Sally Hemings.
Thomas Jefferson, probably more than any other president, understood the gravity of America’s sins against Black people. He said, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
It is ironic that the issue of a just God is being revealed by recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, where the unjustified murder of a young Black man, Michael Brown, has ignited a movement for justice that is making America “tremble.” Minister Farrakhan is now calling upon that just God to use the forces of nature to punish America for her continued evil treatment of Black America and Latin America.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s mentioning Mr. Jefferson 3 times in his lecture is reminiscent of the 3 peoples Jefferson helped to destroy—the Blacks, the American Indians, and the people of Latin America. I therefore do not see it as a coincidence that Allah (God) had The Minister focus on Mr. Jefferson, thereby forcing us to consider why Black America, Haiti, and Latin America are all in the condition we are in.
(Jackie Muhammad is a former presidential appointee, member of the Oxford round table, educator, youth-trainer and businessman and member of the Nation of Islam Research Group. Visit them online at https://noirg.org and join the conversation on FaceBook.com/NOIResearch and Twitter @NOIResearch. He can be reached at [email protected].)