06/30/1992
IWDM Study Library
Atlanta GA

By Imam W. Deen Mohammed
Imam Mohammed: He's not in our way anymore. No more than he's in the way of the Haitians that comes over here. The Haitians comes over here and he doesn't look to the congress. He looks to himself. They get together and they make the best of the conditions that they have, sacrifice and save and plan. Some of them have become rich and well off in a little time since their first arrival here in this country from Haiti. Are you aware of that?
Most of them are blacker than most of us. That's not the answer to think that, "Oh we can't do nothing in this white man's world." Yes you can. We have too many success stories for us to even listen to that kind of foolishness anymore that we can't get anywhere here. You can get somewhere here. And that just didn't happen for us yesterday. We've been able to get somewhere in America for a long time.
Our setbacks are mostly our own problems. Not anybody's else's problem. What kind of a state a people are in when they can't stand for a change to come in the White House that deprives them of a friends. But you didn't have any friend in the White House for a long long time. If he's was in there he couldn't speak, his own people would have killed him.
You didn't have any friends in the White house but the Jew with their unity, with their devotion to the betterment of their own people, look what they achieved even when they were not wanted in America. Believe me there are plenty of places right now where a Jew can go and be killed right now. You may not be aware of that but there are some Americans that hate Jews so much until the Jew is known to be in their neighborhood he might get killed and not black Americans, not African Americans. I'm talking about European Americans or white Americans.
Look how they have progressed. They have gotten so big now, that they are making United States look small in some areas. In Israel they make the United States look small. What I mean by that, they conduct their affairs in Israel in a way that jeopardize the interest of the United States and keep getting away with it. When the America stands up, our president or somebody in the government stand up to them, they speak to them like they are in they're little boys and get away with it.
We must establish our intellect and the way to do it is to think for the betterment of our people and not look to others for answers. We must establish our own independent thinking, independent thinking that benefits, solves problems for us and benefits us. Solves problems and improve the state of our people on this earth, first in this country America and on this earth. That's what will do it. As a Muslim, I devote my mind to that. I've never stopped devoting my mind to that. As far as I can go back in my life my mind has been devoted to that as a Muslim also as an African-American.
I'm going to continue to do that. I'm going to be more vocal and calling the attention of you and our people to that need. To establish an intelligentsia for the African American people. We should have papers, position papers coming out on our condition with answers, with understanding, resolutions, with projections for the future coming from our people. But, we are doing nothing but just reacting to conditions. “Oh this is like this”. We complain. Something has to be done about this.
That's no independence for the intellect. Independence for the intellect is not only identifying trouble. Independence for the intellect is more importantly checking trouble and seeing that most likely this trouble won't happen again by making a plan or making modifications in the people so that it doesn't happen again. Because what put us in the position to be or made victim to this situation? Okay. Well let us recognize what cuased us to fall victim to the situation and then plan direction for us or plan to influence the state of our people, their thinking their sensitivities whatever, so that that situation never comes about again to hurt us.
This ain't no big deal. You think I'm not talking about something out of our reach. This is all within our reach. We have the people with the minds to help me do what I'm talking about. In fact, you probably can do it better than me maybe. I'm not talking about something that's is way out yonder or high up above our heads. This is very simple. We need to do what every other people have done. The Irish people, are Irish people because they had Irish thinkers. Irish thinkers that so lead their minds over a long enough period of time that they became identifiable in their minds or in the intellect as people in one family or in one ethnic or in one racial group.
The physical or concrete manifestations they are produced by the intellectual orientation. Those things come after wards. The mistake that we make, we reach and shopping in the dark putting on identity, never works. The intellect has to first come into its own originality, into its own identity itself without borrowing from the grave yard or making a Frankenstein or something, you know. No. Once it does this, once it comes into its own originality, has it's own originality and the determination in the intellect of what does it. Determination in your mind, in your thinking, determination to solve problems for yourself by yourself. Don't be afraid.
I never look to any other book but this one. I never look to any other book and think that that book is superior to my own mind. It may be superior in many respects but when it comes to offering me a mind, no book is superior to my mind. When it comes to me selecting a mind, no. I don't buy my mind from any publication. No indeed. I won't purchase a mind for myself from any doctor of philosophy or whatever he is. No. Allah didn't create me that way. I reject whatever they have to offer me when it comes to me selecting a mind for myself.
I follow my own discipline in my mind. I follow my own spirit. See the mind has a spirit. Spirit means a moving influence. A moving influence. An influence that has a direction. That's the spirit. You think of spirit as a feeling or something. Well, that's true but for everything there's a spirit. From my thinking there is a spirit. When your thinking has a movement and an interest and it influence you, it influence you to respect it. It influence you to serve it, to feed it, then that's an influence. That's a spirit. That's a spirit in your intellect. That's the spirit of your intellect.
Everything has a spirit. I follow the spirit of my own intellect. Not somebody's else's. I follow the purpose in my own intellect. Not somebody's else's. We need an intellectual body of people to be our leaders that will tell you the same thing I'm telling you. I'd be happy to see these Imams tell me, "Brother, Imam, I'm like that." You can't even help me if you're not like that. I don't want an Imam that tells me, "But Imam, I'm waiting for you to give me a mind." Well, hell, I can't help you, you can't help me.
Saying, "Imam, you gave me my mind I'm waiting for you to just keep going on." No, you can't help me. I want somebody who senses that they know where their mind wants to go. They have a sense of feeling that they know where their mind wants to go. It's not selfishly moving, but it's moving for the betterment of our people. Its movement is for our people. The spirit of the mind is for our people. That's the kind of mind that I want with me as my associate.
If we can get people like that, we will build an intelligentsia for the African-American people. Not just for us, we'll do it for our people. At the same time, I want to see that coming up and sprouting all over. It's out there. I'm sure there're some independent thinkers, free thinkers out there in among our people in Christianity, different denomination, they're out there. Maybe they're so far from each other, that they don't even know-- Like I don't know they exist, they don't know I exist. They don't know each other exists.
Maybe their situation is much like ours. I know one thing, I believe our situation is better than anybody else's. We have the boldest intellect in the African-American family. I include Africa too. We have the boldest intellect in the whole African-American tree, tree, family tree. They are in the Caribbeans, our people in the Caribbean, Europe, they're scattered all over. They are in many places and most of them in Africa, and we are in America. I do believe I feel in my heart and I feel so convinced that I tell you we have the boldest intellects of the whole African family tree.
It's because of the cause and effect, that causal history we have that's for us more unique than it is for any other African-American.
Yes, we didn't only meet the white people that most of our people met, we met Fard. We survived Fard too. I'm telling you, this is very important. Very, very important. We survived Fard too. Now, some of us know this, but I'm going to tell you, I want all of you all to know this. There are intellectuals from our race Christians and also intellectuals from the European or the White American people. Intellectuals. Intellectuals. Heavy, deep-thinking, great intellects. They salute me. They bow their head to me. I don't say I'm greater than them, but I think they appreciate what has developed so much, what has happened so much, so they feel to humble themselves before me. They do. They do.
I'm not the wisest person. My education is limited actually to about, I would say a good junior college education. That's not formal. I didn't even complete junior college. I have been fortunate to be put in circumstances or given to circumstances that have developed for my intellect what is hard to find almost anywhere. Believe me. Now, I'll tell you what I tell some of the Imams. I'll be talking to them and some of them they-- I know they love me very much, but some of them it's just so much for them. They don't know nothing to do but laugh so they start laughing. [mimicking laughing] I'll tell them, I say, "How can you get a witness where there's no knowledge?"
Don't expect the witness, just have faith. If you ain't got knowledge, how can you witness? You can't witness? Well, those who got the knowledge they bear witness. They get they bear witness. Those who don't have the knowledge, I tell you at least have faith. At least have faith. Don't doubt. Don't doubt. I'm telling you, I know where we should go, - we're going to get there. Not only are we going to get there, if our people outside of us, outside of our circle, if they don't hurry up and get there, we're going to lead the whole African American people there. I know where we should go. We're headed there. We're going to get there.
Thank you very much. Let's build an intelligentsia for the African-American people, an independent intellect. Thank you very much.
[applause]
[00:16:10] [END OF AUDIO]

