In a life so long ago, the Nation of Islam infused in me the courage to love myself as a Black women in America and to not be a coward when it came to protecting the right for Black children to have an excellent education. On Saturday I joined a room of women the Women of Seattle's Nation of Islam Group invited from all walks of life and got glimpse into a very different experience than that I had 40 years ago. The liberation of women was very evident and the move of the Nation away from a separatist organization was refreshing. More people need to be comfortable with men and women who are building for Blacks self determined solutions to problems that keep expanding. Today the issues that need solving are sex trafficking of young girls, brutal rapes that have men acting like a pack of wild animals without being stopped, women being equal to men in jobs and pay, and joining women across the country and around the globe; Chines, Korean, African, European who are standing up and throwing off repression. It was noted that of all the women in the world Black women in American have been the most oppressed and for a sustained 500 years.
Eating nutritious foods and not giving children fast food was seen as ways to diminish the poor health of Blacks and their children. The right to have tax money we pay given to Blacks to educate their own children in a nation that has created school failure was not a change from what the Nation of Islam has always promoted. And visitors seemed to agree that this is something that women could work together on.
With his wife the First Lady of the Nation Sister Khadijah Farakhan and her daughter applauding these transformative doctrines, Farakkan said someone has to do something about human trafficking and police shootings. And if the Government is not going to do something the people will have to. He announced a 20 year anniversary of Million Man March in October. And This will be a very serious one and our women of courage will be with us.
The Nation of Islam helped develop me as a courageous person, but the inequality for women made it impossible for me have a sustained presence. So it is refreshing to see women as Ministers, in leadership roles and being treated with equity in their homes and in the affairs of the nation. Also seeing Seattle Women reaching out to join in the work that must be done and must be done by women of all faiths and beliefs was the message today an a refreshing one, if our children male and female are to gain education, social and economic equity.
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| Seattle's Save our Girls Event on Saturday April 18, 2015 |
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