News — black people

Presented by Jessica Okonkwo - Filmed by @ThinkWeike

Just like Dr Frances Cress Welsing, Dr Edward Robinson breaks down a secret and hidden study on the African DNA strands, how it affects the intelligence (IQ) of black people and why this is will never be made public. Geneticists found that people from Africa have more DNA series which shows they are smarter. This reveals that when one person or group attempts to keep down another person or group, it is due to the fear of the truth being revealed that the bully/oppressor is in fact inferior to those they attempt to keep down. What do you think?

Prince Philip may have come off as a normal human being to many while he was alive. But to these South Pacific people in the archipelago of Vanuatu, the deceased royal was and remains worshipped like a god – with his “supernatural” status even propagating a following reportedly known as the “Prince Philip Movement.”

The 99-year-old is revered and held in such high regard by the locals in the village of Yaohnanen to such an extent that they were devastated when the news of his death on April 9 was communicated to them over the weekend by a local official from the country’s cultural center, New York Post reported.

“The people were very sad to hear of the passing of this great man,” Jean-Pascal Wahé, the official who drove four hours to the remote village to inform them about his passing, told the news outlet. “He was a very important man to us all and it’s a great loss.”

Located on the island of Tanna, some 700 locals in the village worship the duke as a god because they believe he descended from one of their spirit ancestors. The people bestowed on him the “godly” status during a visit to the South Pacific Ocean nation with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1974.

“One of the oarsmen taking them ashore was a chap from Tanna called Chief Jack,” former Buckingham Palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter recalled. “He thought Philip was a warrior from a long time ago who had come down from the mountains and gone off to England in search of a bride.”

“The bride is Mrs. Queen, so Philip is the god,” he added. And though the duke never actually visited the island of Tanna, he once hosted a delegation from Yaohnanen at the Windsor Castle in 2007, New York Post reported.

Followers of the movement have announced they’ll be having a memorial for the duke on Monday, adding that they’ll perform some rituals including traditional dancing and wailing. The women in the movement will also prepare a “spiritual” meal while a local and special traditional drink known as “Kava” will be consumed by the men.

“They are sending messages around the neighboring villages so people will hear about the plans,” Wahé told New York Post. “It’s impossible to know yet exactly how many people will come but we are expecting between 100 and 500 of them.”

With the duke gone, it is reportedly expected that the members of the sect will bestow the divine status on his first child and the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles. In 2018, the Prince of Wales was honored by the South Pacific nation during a week-long tour of Australia where he opened the Commonwealth Games, as reported.

For the seven years Lester Eubanks was in jail, reports said he acted like a model prisoner. Eubanks, then 22, had been convicted of murdering 14-year-old Mary Ellen Deener in 1966. Prosecutors alleged he tried to rape her before beating her and shooting her twice. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional.

While at the Ohio State Penitentiary, Eubanks was so well-behaved that he became an Honor Inmate at the facility, enabling him to be given certain privileges. On December 7, 1973, Ohio State Penitentiary granted him a furlough to go Christmas shopping at a local mall as a reward for good behavior. Eubanks was supposed to get back at a specific time and place near the mall when he was done. Rather, he disappeared and hasn’t been seen to date.

His escape baffled many. The family of the 14-year-old he killed was traumatized. “We thought it was over,” said sister Myrtle Carter who was 18 at the time of the murder. “And then lo and behold, he goes Christmas shopping, first of all — that’s a shock — and then escapes. My mom, she was just beside herself.”

“…It bothers me that he’s still missing, that he’s still free and took her innocent life. That bothers me.”

Mary Ellen Deener, a 14-year-old Mansfield, Ohio girl, had gone to do laundry with her younger sister when she ran out of change. She told her little sister to sit tight while she walked to another laundromat five minutes away in search of change. Eubanks, who was out on a bond on an attempted rape charge, was apparently watching Deener, the News Journal reported. He grabbed Deener and dragged her behind a home where he tried to rape her and shot her when she refused to stop screaming, the report added.

Deener’s family later found her dead in the streets, with change still in her hand. The following day, Eubanks confessed to the murder after being arrested by the police. He was subsequently charged with first-degree murder while perpetrating rape. Reports said he tried to plead insanity, without success. On May 25, 1966, a jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. His death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972. The following year, he escaped.

The Ohio Department of Corrections immediately listed Eubanks as a fugitive, but federal authorities would do the same after decades. In the 1990s, the head of the Detective Bureau of the Mansfield Police Department, John Arcudi, delved into Eubanks’ disappearance and found out that the National Crime Information Center had not listed him as wanted. “It had been 20 years and it was like nobody was working the case that we were aware of,” said Arcudi. “He was just out there on his own and nobody seemed concerned about it.”

Arcudi contacted the 1994 TV episode America’s Most Wanted about Eubanks, directing the attention of the public to his case. Several calls came in, with many saying they had spotted him in Northern California. The U.S. Marshal’s officially listed Eubanks on their 15 Most Wanted List.

Eubanks’ case received renewed attention when it was featured last year on the Netflix true-crime documentary series “Unsolved Mysteries”.

On Monday, authorities said they are now closing in on Eubanks. “We believe that he may have never left the Greater Los Angeles area,” Deputy US Marshal David Siler, a member of a cold case squad seeking Eubanks, said, according to KABC-TV. “We’re just hoping for that one, one piece of the puzzle that’s going to get us to his front door.”

Eubanks, after escaping from prison, fled to Los Angeles and worked under the name “Victor Young”, authorities said. He is also believed to have lived off and on with a woman named Kay Eubanks between 1975 and 1996. He worked different jobs including in a waterbed factory and as a hospital janitor. “Fugitives on the run as long as Eubanks tend to use that time to change their appearance, use aliases, and even start new lives,” Siler said, according to City News Service. “He literally could be hiding in plain sight. This is why we are asking citizens to be vigilant and contact us with any information they believe will help us apprehend him.”

Investigators say they know Eubanks has friends and associates in the Los Angeles area. “We just need to talk to those people,” Siler told KABC.

Eubanks, who loved music and art, would be in his 70s now, authorities say. He is described as 5-foot-11-inches with a huge scar on his right arm. “This is one of these cases that you go to bed with, it’s one of these cases that you wake up with. It’s just so disgusting, so unjust,” Siler said, according to KABC. “We continue to fight for [Deener] so that someday she will get justice when we’re able to put Lester Eubanks in custody.”

Two armed White men who pulled up at the North Carolina home of an African-American mother and son while searching for a missing person are demanding an apology from the Black family for allegedly tarnishing their image after their actions were likened to mob violence.

According to CNN, the men, who were in the company of around 13 other White people at the time of the incident, claim what happened that night wasn’t racially motivated and they were simply trying to locate the whereabouts of a missing person. The demand from Jordan Kita and Austin Wood comes after they were acquitted in February for their involvement in the May 3 incident. Attorneys representing the two men say they want to have a sit-down with Monica Shepard and her son, Dameon, to thrash out the incident as they claim it was a misunderstanding.

Aside from that, they also want an apology from the Black family. Monica, however, told the news outlet she wants to have nothing to do with them and she isn’t concerned they were acquitted. Kita was charged with forcible trespass, breaking and entering and willful failure to discharge duties while Wood was charged with going armed to the terror of the public.

It is also likely the issue won’t be put to bed anytime soon as a civil lawsuit filed by the Shepards against the group that showed up at their home will still be pursued. The Shepards, who compared the group to Ku Klux Klan night riders, are seeking over $25,000 in damages, legal fees as well as “training concerning the history of racism and mob violence” for the White people who showed up at their residence, CNN reported.

The May 3 incident considerably drew the ire of the public who claimed it was racially motivated. Attorneys for the two White men, however, denied race played a factor despite acknowledging the dark history of mob lynching in North Carolina and how the incident similarly reeked of it. They also admitted Kita and Wood were armed. Nevertheless, they claimed they were desperately searching for the missing girl and accused the Shepards and their attorneys of lying about the incident being racially motivated.

Monica Shepard, however, told CNN she’s not interested in having any discussion whatsoever with them. “I’ve said this before: It’s about accountability,” she said. “You can’t just form a mob and go around being vigilante citizens. There’s laws against that. I’m not interested in sitting down. It’s all about accountability at the end of the day.”

What happened?

On the night of May 3, Kita, then a New Hanover County Sheriff’s deputy, joined Wood and 13 other White people to search for the former’s missing 15-year-old cousin. Following a tip-off about the missing girl possibly being with a young man at the Shepards’ address, the group moved to their home. Kita was in his uniform and was also out of his jurisdiction at the time.

The Shepards said though Dameon told them they had the wrong address and he wasn’t the person they were after, the group still refused to leave. The family also accused Kita of using his foot to block them from closing the door. He, however, denied that, CNN reported. During the encounter, Wood was also standing close by with a rifle.

Kita was dismissed from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office in the aftermath of the incident. The missing girl was found at a different location the next day.

The mother of an 11-year-old sixth-grader at a Long Island Catholic school is accusing the institution’s headmaster of forcing her Black son to kneel and apologize after claiming that’s the “African way” of saying sorry.

In an interview with New York Daily News, Trisha Paul said St. Martin de Porres Marianist School headmaster John Holian forced her Haitian-American son to get on his knees and render an apology after his English teacher reported him for doing the wrong assignment. When Paul got in touch with Holian to discuss the incident after her son told him what had occurred, the headmaster allegedly justified his action by claiming he learned that disciplinary practice from a Nigerian parent who told him it’s an “African way” of rendering an apology. Paul said the explanation left her shocked.

“Once he started mentioning this African family, that’s when it just clicked,” Paul told the news outlet. “Like, this is not normal procedure. I felt there was no relevance at all. Is he generalizing that everyone who is Black is African? That’s when I realized something is not right with this situation.”

Paul, who said the February incident left her son embarrassed, believes race played a factor. “My son was humiliated, hurt, embarrassed, sad and confused,” she said. “He reads about things happening because of your skin color. To experience it… he’s just trying to process it in his 11-year-old brain.”

In a phone call on March 1 to discuss the incident, Paul said Holian admitted the punishment in question wasn’t a standard disciplinary procedure. He also couldn’t properly clarify how the kneeling story about the Nigerian family was relevant after making reference to it. And when the two met face to face to further discuss the incident, Holian alleged her son was made to apologize to the teacher for being disrespectful. Paul, however, said the school had never contacted her about her son’s conduct, adding that he is a “well-mannered, honor roll student.”

During their discussion, Holian also told Paul he made her son kneel because simply saying sorry wouldn’t have changed anything. “If I had said to him ‘apologize and get back to class’… it would’ve meant nothing,” Holian told Paul in the video recording of their meeting, according to New York Daily News. “So it was changing the way you say ‘I apologize.’”

Holian also doubled down on forcing Paul’s son to kneel, saying he learned that form of punishment from a Nigerian parent whose child was enrolled at the school.

“This father came in and said, ‘you’re going to apologize to this teacher the African way, and you’re going to get down on your knees and apologize.’ I’ve never seen that before,” Holian said, adding that that form of punishment is justifiable irrespective of a child’s race.

“I have six kids, and four boys. And if one of them is really acting rude and arrogant… I will say at times, ‘get on your knees and apologize,’” he told Paul. “I was speaking to your son as I would my own son.”

Meanwhile, school authorities released a statement on Friday announcing Holian has been placed on temporary leave pending an investigation into the incident.

“I want to assure you that St. Martin’s neither condones nor accepts the actions of our headmaster,” acting headmaster James Conway wrote in the statement. “The incident does not reflect our long, established values or the established protocols regarding student related issues.”

Though Holian apologized to Paul over the incident, the mother said the harm has already been caused. “He showed no remorse until he realized how it’s impacted my son,” she told New York Daily News. “He’s going to therapy. He’s been very reserved and humiliated.” Paul also said her son now tries to “stay away from the headmaster and not speak to the teacher if need be.”

Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., has thanked Justin Bieber for his support of the King Centre charity in the midst of backlash over the singer’s use of speeches from the civil rights icon on his new album. The King Centre, established in 1968 in memory of King, Jr. is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of King. It is now operated by King’s daughter, Bernice.

Bieber, ahead of his album’s release on Friday, announced a campaign to raise awareness for social justice organizations, listing those he would be supporting himself. The King Center was among the organizations listed. Bernice on Thursday thanked the singer on Twitter, writing: “Each of us, including artists and entertainers, can do something.”

“Thank you, @justinbieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of @TheKingCenter’s work and of our #BeLove campaign, which is part of our global movement for justice,” she added.

Bernice’s message of support comes amid controversy on Twitter over Bieber’s 16-track “Justice” album released Friday. Listeners have criticized the singer over some of the tracks that featured clips of King’s speeches. The first song on the album, “2 Much,” opens with a clip of King saying “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” before the pop star goes ahead to sing about love and romance. The track “MLK Interlude” also features samples from King’s 1967 sermon “But If Not”.

“Justin Bieber has an ‘MLK interlude’ on his album. Then, an 80s inspired pop song about dying for love comes on next,” wrote a Twitter user.

“Justin bieber really wrote another collection of love songs to his wife, threw in a little one minute MLK speech and called the whole album ‘justice’ PLSs,” another user wrote.

“I’m confused why this whole justin bieber album is called justice and has a whole mlk sit if it’s just about how in love he is wirth hailey bieber [his wife],” one listener added.

Bieber’s “Justice” comes a year after his “Changes” album. Chance the Rapper, Burna Boy, Khalid and Giveon made vocal appearances aside from King.

Black Twitter is sorely upset about a viral TikTok video in which a White woman is seen peeling off a Black prosthesis that made her resemble South Africa’s Nomcebo of ‘Jerusalema’ fame. Many social media users claim this is wrong on all levels.

The entire music show on a Bulgarian TV called Kato 2 Kapki Voda has people dressing up and transforming themselves into various artistes and then go on stage to perform their music. Now, this is an extreme form of any musical show that I have seen.

In their defense, the contestants do transform into Black artistes only. On their Instagram page, one can see the host of impersonations from Justin Timberlake, Dua Lipa to Britney Spears and Fran Sinatra.

Still, it is 2021 and the world is fighting to get back on its feet as it fights the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Why would anyone think a Blackface or an entire transformation into another race for ratings on a TV is right?

It is worrying that the producers of this TV show still thought it was okay to keep on filming such insensitive content for public consumption.

The list of impersonations goes on and on and the show’s producers have apologized on TikTok but Black Twitter is angered by it and the comments tell it all.

One Twitter user said, “like this is genuine entertainment for them? It is disgusting.”

Another said, “This is so disgusting, we already know you want to be us but to have to go to that extent shiish that’s some deep mental or insecurity issues right there. And for everyone else in the crowd dancing must be some serious idiots. In fact, this is hilarious.”

“This happens a lot throughout Europe sadly. I lived in Portugal and watched a lot of singing or entertainment shows where they would do this. Unfortunately, racism and things like the black face do not sit the same way it does in North America,” a Twitter user said.

Some were of the view that organizers should let people who already have that skin tone take on such performances. “Like why not just hire black performers instead of blowing money and putting the person/ production at risk for blackfacing in 2021,” a Twitter user wrote.

Blackface grew out of Minstrel shows starting in the 1830s, according to a brief on the subject on BET. The act involved White actors darkening their faces with shoe polish or greasepaint, painting exaggerated red lips with makeup, and acting out stereotypically dumb, foolish, or dangerous Black characters – that is the “happy darky on the plantation” or the “dandified coon”. The larger purpose of these shows was to entertain white slave owners, who were humored by acts mocking slaves and free Blacks during the 19th century.

From the small stage, blackface made its way to the big screen where some performers like Bert Williams, Al Jolson, and Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who created “Amos N’ Andy” made it widely popular. These White men also performed in “dialect” or ‘African American English’.

Minstrelsy was at its height between 1830 and 1890. Even in the late 19th century when black artists were finally allowed to perform publicly, they had to wear blackface no matter their hue and had to reenact stereotypes of their time (some did find ways to subvert this).

Blackface only went out of vogue during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. But by then, it had already caught wind around the world, especially in many Asian and European countries where actors still put on the face to perform.

In the U.S., wearing blackface is almost sacrilege. It is met with great criticism because it hearkens to a painful past of slavery, segregation – Jim Crow, and discrimination for Black people. It reinforces stereotypes about Black people that are not true.

White college students in the U.S. are especially warned to not wear blackface on occasions like Halloween.

A Chinese man who a video showed was being pulled on a trolley by a Zambian in the East African country may be deported if investigations find him “wanting”, authorities say.

A permanent secretary in Zambia’s Ministry of Labor, Chanda Kaziya, told the BBC that government will investigate what was captured on video as well as the issues surrounding the Zambian man pulling his Chinese boss. The video went viral via social media platforms and was condemned by many as “racist”.

The video shows a Chinese man closing what seems to be a storehouse. He then stepped onto the trolley that was pulled by the Zambian now identified as John Zulu. But no farther than a few yards of being pulled by the Zambian, the Chinese man was accosted by two other Zambian men who asked why he was being chauffered.

“You cannot walk? You don’t do this!,” the men can be heard asking the Chinese man several times. They then asked their compatriot to stop giving the ride and walked briskly with Zulu and his boss away from where they had met them.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, Miles Sampa, announced via a Facebook post that Zulu had been contracted to a new job by the landlord of the Chinese expatriate.

Sampa’s post read: “The good news on carousel saga is that the landlord of the Mall Lamasat Ltd have [sic] offered John Zulu a job with their main premises management [sic] office. He further indicated to possibly terminate the tenancy agreement with the tenant that exhibited racial abuse towards his black employee by getting pulled on a trolley for over six hour [sic].”

China’s interests in Africa over the last decade have translated into many more Chinese people in African countries now more than ever before. Many of them are business owners who do everything from manufacturing to retailing. However, citizens of dozens of African countries have reported abuse from Chinese bosses as well as culture clashes.

Marketing student Tahir Murray followed in his family’s footsteps by creating a clothing line focused on HBCUs. The Howard University senior designed HBCU apparel that has attracted the attention of Black NBA All-Stars such as Chris Paul.

Last year, Murray participated in Nike’s Air Max campaign. The company honored and celebrated individuals who have attended HBCUs.

“Before we launched in Fall 2019, I knew I wanted to primarily focus on HBCUs to help share our stories,” Murray shared with The Council of Fashion Designers of America. Murray hopes that his clothing brand will continue to bring more visibility to HBCUs.

Keeping the Power of the HBCU Legacy Alive

The first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were established in the 1800s, providing higher education opportunities for Black people. Admissions officers typically denied entry to Blacks who were seeking to attend traditional institutions due to segregation and discriminatory practices.

According to NBC, HBCUs are experiencing an alarming drop in enrollment that could threaten their future. “There is a distinct possibility that a number of HBCUs could cease to exist in 20 years or so,” Ronnie Bagley, a 1983 graduate from Norfolk State University shared with NBC. “If that were to occur, many low-income, first-generation students will lose out on an opportunity for a college education.

Penetrating the HBCU Market with Unique Clothing Designs

Murray is on a mission to re-energize the passion for HBCUs. Through his HBCU luxury brand, LegacyHistoryPride™, the college senior is combining his passion for fashion with the needs of the market to drive more attention to HBCUs.

“Before I started LHP, there wasn’t anyone else in the market shining this type of light on HBCU culture through something I grew up on, which is fashion,” Murray shared.

LegacyHistoryPride™ has secured multiple partnerships with HBCUs. The lifestyle brand has over 50,000 followers on social media and connects with thousands of students across the country. According to the website, the company is providing scholarships to current undergraduate HBCU students.

HBCU Student Continuing A Legacy of Clothing Businesses

Murray is on track to obtain his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Howard University this year. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has been in the fashion industry since the day he could walk. Growing up in a family of apparel entrepreneurs, Murray always had his eyes set on continuing the legacy that his grandfather started.

Ortner Murray, Murray’s grandfather, came to the United States from Trinidad & Tobago in 1966 to pursue the American dream. He lived his dreams through entrepreneurship, creating the iconic Von’s Sneaker store in Queens. Murray’s father created the School of Hard Knocks and the Queen’s 7 T-shirt. 

Now, Murray is using this opportunity to showcase what’s possible for the next generation.

A Louisiana man who tried downplaying the seriousness of the recent Gorilla Glue incident involving Tessica Brown and her hair ended up learning the hard way after he was hospitalized for using the same permanent adhesive to stick a plastic cup to his mouth.

Brown went viral on social media when she posted a video sharing her ordeal after using the heavy-duty glue to hold down her hair – causing it to be stiff for about a month despite numerous attempts to get it off.

In an interview, Len Martin said he attempted creating the challenge – despite the company reiterating the product isn’t meant to be applied on the skin or hair – to prove Brown exaggerated the severity of the incident.

“I thought she was just playing around; I didn’t think it was that serious,” Martin said. “All these challenges going on, I thought, ‘I’ma go ahead and try it.’ And it went backwards.”

In the video on Instagram, Martin is seen applying the glue on the inner tip of a red plastic cup and going ahead to put it in his mouth to prove he can simply prevent the cup from sticking by licking it off. It, however, backfired and he ended up going to the ER to have the stuck cup removed. He described the medical procedure to remove the cup from his mouth as a “painful peeling.”

Martin also told the news outlet he was informed that if the wound doesn’t properly heal, he’ll have to undergo surgery to remove the tip of his lip. “This is not the challenge you want to try. Do not try this,” he warned.

Per the product description, the multi-purpose glue bonds materials including wood, metal, fabric, plastic, glass, among others. Its warning label also explicitly states it’s not meant to be swallowed or applied on the skin, eyes or clothing.

Martin is notoriously known for taking part in viral and bizarre challenges, including the “ice cream challenge” where people videoed themselves licking ice cream on sale at stores before putting them back in the freezers. In an interview on The Dr. Oz Show in 2020, Martin spoke about the repercussions he faced for participating in that challenge and said he does not want to send a bad impression by doing such things, reported.

Throughout his life, Khalid Abdul Muhammad was tagged as a “racist hatemonger” and “anti-Semite” but to his followers, he was all for positive change and truth. While a top aide to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he wasn’t widely known outside the organization until November 1993 when he gave a speech at Kean College in Union, N.J., where he called Jews the “bloodsuckers of the black nation” and described Black American leaders as “house niggers” who had sold out their people to the Whites.

He went on to label the pope “a no-good cracker” and suggested killing every White person remaining in South Africa. His speech was condemned by many, and the Congressional Black Caucus cut ties with Farrakhan. Farrakhan himself was forced to dismiss Muhammad, while the House of Representatives and Senate censured him for the speech.

But these actions or punishments rather kept Muhammad in the spotlight. Surviving an assassination attempt on his life, he went on to become the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party, a Black nationalist organization which modeled itself on the original Black Panther Party founded in 1966.

So, who really was this man “that not even a bullet could stop?’

Born Harold Moore Jr., in Texas in 1948, Muhammad was a preacher growing up. As a child, he delivered sermons from his aunt’s porch to drivers as their cars passed, a report by The New York Times said. He graduated from high school in 1966, before enrolling in Dillard University, a Methodist school in New Orleans, Louisiana to pursue a theological studies degree though some accounts state he didn’t graduate.

While at Dillard, he changed his name to Harold Moore Vann. It was also at Dillard that he became interested in the Black liberation movement after hearing Farrakhan speak. Farrakhan was then a top aide to the leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad, and had come to Dillard to give a speech. Farrakhan gave Muhammad the name Khallid, after the Arab general Khalid ibn al-Walid.

In the early 1970s when the Nation of Islam started losing strength following the death of its leader, Muhammad traveled to Uganda to help dictator Idi Amin outline a plan to overthrow the White government in South Africa. But he returned when he heard that Farrakhan was trying to re-start the sect and make it even more radical.

Upon his return, he rose quickly through the ranks, becoming minister of Mosque 27 in Los Angeles in the late 1970s and then later the leader of security for the Nation of Islam. That role got him closer to Farrakhan as he traveled with him for his speaking engagements. By 1991, Muhammad had become the national assistant to Farrakhan, and this position gave him a bigger role — the opportunity to speak before national audiences. As sources indicated, his position was held by both Malcolm X and Farrakhan under Elijah Muhammad, enabling them to have a “following” and “stature” of their own.

Muhammad would also remain popular in the African-American community, particularly among the youth. Excerpts of his fiery speeches even appeared in albums by Ice Cube, Public Enemy and X-Clan. In time, Muhammad became known as “the new Malcolm X”. As Farrakhan’s top aide, he was also seen by some as a leading candidate to replace Farrakhan as leader of the Nation of Islam.

But the two experienced a break in their relationship when Farrakhan was compelled to dismiss Muhammad after his 1993 speech which launched attacks against Whites, Jews, Catholics and Black civil rights leaders. Farrakhan, at the time of the speech, was moving toward “moderation” and making attempts to join with mainstream Black civil rights leaders.

Though Muhammad never spoke ill of Farrakhan, many later claimed he was trying to undermine the latter’s leadership. Muhammad denied such claims. “Minister Farrakhan is my spiritual father, leader, teacher and guide,” he said in Emerge. “And like any good son, I respect the discipline and judgment of my father, and I am not silly enough to run away from home…I am a soldier and I follow a divine chain of command, and I am going to complete my tour of duty.”

Muhammad did tour the country following his dismissal from the Nation of Islam, making public speeches at various universities. It was during one of those speeches at the University of California in Riverside in 1994 that he was nearly killed. A former Nation of Islam minister shot him in the foot but he survived, later establishing the New Black Panther Party and the New Black Muslims. In June 1998, he led armed members of his two groups to protest the death of James Byrd Jr., a Black man killed by who prosecutors said were members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Before Muhammad’s death from a brain aneurysm in February 2001, he led the 1998 Million Youth March in Harlem, which called for a war on racism. While alive, Muhammad never saw the need for any kind of harmonization between races. In a 1994 interview with Newsday, the African-American activist said: “I don’t have any love for the other side. It’s not in me. I don’t want no integration. I want independence for a nation of my own.”