brother to San Francisco and they were
interested in Buddhism in the 1930s and
literally were so distressed and this is
story I heard from my uncle they
migrated to San Francisco and my uncle
opened up the first metaphysical
bookstore that's still there
fields bookstore and one of the sections
he had was Islam and he actually said
his Shahada and he was very happy when I
became a Muslim so they moved because
the South was unbearable
and they went to San Francisco because
it was considered to be one of the most
progressive cities in America but this
is what was happening and this did not
happen to everybody and I've spoken
taken oral history from people that grew
up in the South people that grew up in
the South in the 40s and 50s that I've
spoken to this was not the norm but this
became increasingly common as black
people in the south began to desire an
equitable situation and this is why
people that were called uppity ended up
often at the end of a rope and one of
our great Muslim people from this
country is imam naf him who's was the
father of unwalled abnormal Haman and
Anna's in Philadelphia he was having
such a difficult time living in the
South under those conditions his family
feared that he would get lynched because
that injustice was intolerable to him
and so they actually sent him to
Philadelphia and he ended up becoming a
Muslim moving to Medina and his son is
probably one of the first and certainly
we consider him the first until there's
evidence of other how far these probably
the first half of of the Quran from that
generation of people that became Muslim
despite all of those conditions they had
people of intellect people of
desire2learn and you should read about
Frederick Douglass read his own
autobiography and what he went through
just to learn the alphabet tricking
other white kids that knew how to read
and write to teach him the alphabet he
was a brilliant man and and people
should know their stories because their
stories are inextricably bound with your
situation today the people that have
come to this country and found this
country reasonably welcoming have
largely found it so because of these
people and what they went through and we
honor them by knowing their stories and
knowing who they were these are the
people that built the railroads African
people John Henry is a story that every
child used to learn in this country
about a man who wants to outdo the
Machine to prove that human labor is
better than mechanical labor and kills
himself proving it an Elizabeth Eckford
this is one of the first women who who
was this is the beginning of the forced
integration this is her first day in
school and look at the hatred
they had to bring police out so that she
could go to school and look at the
dignity of that woman this is not that
long ago people death to all race mixers
keep white public schools white
but I am oh Allah
this is what people went through so that
people could eat in restaurants that
they could actually have the right to
sit where they wanted to and 2/3 of
those white people that were down there
were Jewish people because the Jews were
also people of struggle in this country
and what they've earned in this country
they are entitled to because they earned
it with incredibly hard work and with
massive effort with extraordinary
generosity creating endowments that are
now worth billions of dollars and this
was a great day for this country and
we're celebrating the 40th anniversary
of isne and the 40th anniversary of this
march and they're related because these
struggles are related they're the
struggles of minorities in this country
to be full members at the table of this
continent to have complete
enfranchisement rights to do what they
want and this was struggle people and we
have felt nothing and the complaints of
Muslim Muslims should stop complaining
because we don't know what difficulty is
if you've had a knock on your door if
you hear clicks on your phone you don't
know what struggle is and that's the
truth that these people struggle and
people like Muhammad Ali who had his
title stripped and this was not a coward
this was a brave man he did this on
principle he had his title stripped from
him and he said I have nothing against
the
because no Vietcong ever called me a
nigger that's what Muhammad Ali said and
the Irish just to let you know that this
is also a white struggle and I was once
with an Irish man who an
african-american man was asking him
whether he was a Muslim or not he asked
him are you the Grand Inquisitor and the
african-american man became quite
belligerent with him he said don't play
games with me stop just tell me what you
are you know this and that and became
quite and immediately he said listen get
your white people right I'm Irish you
got a problem go find an anglo-saxon and
vent because most african-american
people in this country have Irish blood
and the reason they have Irish blood is
because Irish men were not allowed to
marry anglo-saxon women and so they
married Native American women and they
married African American women and that
is why most of the african-americans in
this country have Irish blood and many
of the Native Americans have Irish blood
and it's not from rape it's from
marriages that were lawful marriages the
Irish were looked down as barbarians
when they the British initially did not
allow them to dress like British people
they were treated horrific Lee no Irish
need apply and this is this is where
they went to they went right to the top
because they persevered and people that
persevere overcome obstacles people that
give up don't and the Hispanic struggle
is another extraordinary sort we serve
whites only no Spanish or Mexicans as if
they could tell the difference I'm
surprised they spelt them right
but that's the truth and the the
Mexicans are also part of the history of
this country the Vaqueros who were the
Cowboys who taught the white Cowboys how
to why is lariat and lasso and Stampede
all taken from Spanish because that's
where they learned it they learned it
from the the Mexican Cowboys
it's where that came from and then this
great man Cesar Chavez who went out and
struggled and marched they were beaten
they were repressed they were attacked
this is a United farmworkers this man
was beaten by the police for striking
why because they wanted rights for the
farm workers that were picking the
vegetables and the fruits that all the
white people in this country were eating
and and my own wife and I've told her
never be ashamed of the fact that your
mother worked in the field it's nothing
to be ashamed of because honorable work
is honorable and the prophet sallallaahu
was that I'm said the best that a son of
Adam will ever eat from is from the work
the labor of his own hands and even
deluded a senem the prophet of allah
worked from the labor of his own hands
and Islam never demeans labor never
demeans labor many of the Sahaba were
laborers Sena Ali collected wood that's
what he did as a job he collected wood
and sold wood and now the lieutenant
governor and possibly I mean see I'm
from California and were flexing our
muscles now Bustamante was asked about
Arnold Schwarzenegger because apparently
in an interview he said that he'd been
in orgies and done drugs and and
Bustamante said well I can honestly say
I've never been in
anything like that and I've never done
drugs and I don't exercise
the Chinese struggle this is an amazing
struggle the Chinese Exclusion Act of
1882 was the first act in which people
were actually prohibited from
immigration on the basis of race because
there were people in Congress that felt
that the Asians were such an alien
culture their religion was alien their
language was alien their Luke was alien
and they were dangerous to the
homogeneity of this culture and this is
very interesting in terms of how the
Muslims are being looked on now as an
alien culture as a culture that cannot
adapt to the judeo-christian culture
which is the judeo-christian Islamic
culture and anybody that studied the
history of Western civilization knows
the impact of Islam the exclusion fence
this is how they were looked on as
demons Chinese attacked it Rock Springs
these were cut they were called coolies
shot at killed that man being shot in
the back these things happen in this
country
Chinatown attack at Denver they used to
go in and attack these these places
where the Chinese live and in Chinatown
in San Francisco there are still fifth
sixth generation Chinese that only speak
Chinese in that city they've never
learned English and now the governor of
Washington State is a Chinese man
because they persevered and they
struggled the japanese-americans another
extraordinary case the Jap the NIP I
mean you've even got Bugs Bunny from the
1940s with Japanese being portrayed as
as vicious and vile creatures and and
and him bombing them and
taking racial slurs that people watched
in cinemas Japs keep moving this is a
white man's neighborhood the reason I'm
telling you about this is because what
it says now is Muslims keep moving
that's that's the message that some
people out there are trying to put out
but it's nothing compared to what these
people went through because by and large
this country has changed incredibly and
if you don't recognize that you're doing
a great disservice to the leaps and
bounds that this country has made but we
know that it still has not gone far
enough and that's where you come in
because this is the new struggle to take
this country to another level and that
is why our struggle is bound with the
Asian Americans it's bound with the
African Americans it's bound with the
Native Americans it's bound with the
Mexican and Hispanic Americans we have
to see that that we are bound to these
people and ultimately the future in this
country is not white the future is brown
and that is a fact and it's a fact that
many people in this country are
lamenting but I believe it's a fact that
we should not lament that we should
celebrate it because our religion is not
a religion of race it's a religion of
truth and principle that puts spirit
above mud it puts the human soul at the
center of human beings that does not
allow people to look at other people
with contempt because the color of their
skin
or the language that they speak or the
creed that they believe in not kuraman
of any atom we have annulled all of the
children of adam' this is our Lord that
did that and so in acknowledging these
people and their struggles we are
acknowledging the most noble qualities
of people and the people that died in
these struggles died for you they died
that you might live with dignity and if
you study the history of what people
went
up against the suffering that they bore
so that their children would not have to
live in the same conditions that they
lived in or their children's children
and this struggle is continuing on and
the Japanese are one of the the great
success stories of this country they're
the only people in the 20th century in
in this country that were interned in
camps and there was a plan to intern
German Americans but it was never done
and we have a Japanese congressman now
in Congress who was interned as a
six-year-old child in California their
lands were taken from them they lost
their farm lands they were expropriated
by misappropriated by peoples who bought
up the lands this happened and there are
people alive to tell this story people
that we know Japanese people who these
people were gentle people there were
people that did not rock the boat in
Japanese culture here they say the
squeaky wheel gets the grease
but in Japanese culture they say that
the nail that sticks out gets the hammer
but they got the hammer anyway but now
they've learned to squeak even though
their cars don't which is good that's a
good lesson to learn this is all the
internment there and now here we have
the head of the Department of
Transportation we have congressman now
japanese-americans we have heads of
universities and the Jewish struggle is
an extraordinary struggle in this
country and it's worth our study because
of all communities we are most like the
Jews and that is a
Hadiya a sh muhammad oma TV Ashbaugh
almighty ash mojave ben-israel myoma is
most like many israel and so we have to
really consider that hadith very
carefully because look where Benny
Israel ended up in Europe and like
doctor of the Hakim winter said that the
path from Auschwitz to sever Anika is
not a crooked one that in our lifetime
we've seen Muslims interned in camps
rape programs against them in Europe and
the neo-nazi movement now the new
anti-semitism is being against Muslims
and you should recognize that and that's
why we have to recognize that the Jewish
struggle is also part of our struggle in
this country and there are people that
we should recognize this is Leo Frank
the founder of the anti-defamation
league lynched up the Jews have
struggled for their rights and and the
Jews also they were squeakers early on
they went in to the camps and they were
considered agitators because they fought
for just work wage they fought for just
hours they created the unions this is
all from the Jews and they worked very
hard at it and they didn't just do it
for themselves and that's what you
should understand and this is one of the
powers of this community they were they
worked with the african-american
community many of the Jewish jazz
musicians refused to play and less
blacks were allowed to play with them
this is well known also Hollywood if you
look even though there's a lot of racism
there was still an attempt to bring the
african-american into Hollywood and
there's some interesting stories that
have been done about that these look now
like that guy looks like he's Hamas if
you the recent cartoon just put a little
turban on
head and that's this is how they're
portraying and that's the fatso D
seriously just put a little eagle and a
hike and it'll look exactly like the
cartoons out there today because we're
the new Jews we wear the same kind of
caps we dress funny our women don't wear
wigs but they wear headscarves we have
funny dietary laws what's wrong with
pork you know well I mean you call it
Devil's ham don't you that's what it's
called a little devil on that on the
pork thing that's true you can go to the
grocery store and I you know he please
has a sense of humor I once got doctor
order laugh so hard because my boy had a
cape on and he jumped into the room he
didn't see me but he said I'm back
Muslim and I'm and I'm gonna kick shape
on in the butt and I came he was five
years old and I said I didn't know Shep
on has a bottom he said everybody has a
bottom except Allah I said hungry Allah
is not an anthropomorphic
[Music]
I'm a this is going on today and it's
happening in our mosques as well
ignorant people stupid people foolish
people these people are so dumb they
call themselves Aryan Nation not knowing
that Aryan is from Iran I mean seriously
that's how stupid these people are you
know yo are you Iranian no I'm Aryan
what do you think Iranian means it means
Aryan and this is what we're dealing
with type of mentality and study their
history now you don't have to be
Einstein to know the Jewish contribution
in this country just that phrase alone
tells you everything striking Jewish
shirt workers I mean this is amazing and
how they were treated and what they did
to change the conditions in New York and
now we come to our struggle now what's
interesting about our struggle that I
like is it's not an ethnic struggle you
see it's not an ethnic struggle it has
an ethnic component to it because the
majority of our peoples are off-white
so it does have an ethnic component I
will not deny that but Dr Omar and I are
living proof and evidence that it's not
entirely ethnic although I somebody
wants at this Protestant lady from
England she kept saying how did you
become Muslim how did you become us and
she kept crying and crying and this is
well what were you before and I said
well I was Christians Jesus what what
branch and I said well actually I was
baptized Greek Orthodox I'm a quarter
Greek she said all of course in other
words a Greek you know of course makes
sense they're almost like Turks anyway
right I mean we stole their I grew up
thinking baklawa
baklava I thought that was Greek I was
proud that Greek least we make good
pastry we don't have a Socrates anymore
but we make good pastry and then I found
out it's all Arabic but the Arabs got it
from the Persians series and feta cheese
I thought feta cheese was Greek that's
what I grew up thinking Greek feta it's
feta it's crumbling cheese and then even
the dancing I had to learn Greek dancing
when I was because I was part of what
you did at church I mean you didn't do
it in church you did it but I had to do
that and uh and then I realized as
Lebanese dancing I thought it was Greek
and I was just learning Lebanese dancing
and then we had worry beads
I had worry beads seriously I was I
literally was given worry beads and why
they call them worry beads because when
Greeks worry they pull out their beads
because they used to see the Muslims
always doing them whenever they got
worried they pulled out their beads but
the Greeks just flipped them around they
don't actually do think oh so it just
makes them worry more but it's good for
the worry beads sellers the people that
sell worry beads make a bundle because
everybody's worrying and increasingly so
that in fact Muslims should start
importing those things right
you work 911
ever tried worried beats the Muslim
struggle Allah Allah kobato this is
amazing these people we should everybody
should know if I want to see yato
Mahmood on the cover of Time magazine
I'm serious I want to see them on the
cover of Time magazine a cover sir
because time does historical stories
they've had Native Americans Columbus I
want to see y'all on my mood or I'm up
inside I want to see people have to know
about these people and it's our duty
that these names are in every history
book in this country because these were
great men look at the composition here
24% Arabs and the majority of Arabs in
this country are Christian and we also
have an alliance with those people we
should recognize that and then we have
South Asians Europeans 2% 32% and then
African American what and what a
wonderful pie it's humble pie
I mean to all the island out of our
world law whoever humbles himself for
Allah Allah will elevate him so let us
be a humble pie right instead of having
to eat crow or Jim Crow people don't get
those jokes because they didn't grow up
with all that stuff that we got when we
were young Jim Crow you should know Jim
Crow other phase my goodness
but look at that slice right on top and
and I'll tell you something that slice
is getting bigger
because the other the other part of that
circle is hungry they're hungry and I'll
tell you something about the struggle
the only thing that makes struggle real
is God everything else is just empty and
false and that's the truth and that's
the power of Martin Luther King the
power of Martin Luther King is that he
struggled he always men
in God he ultimately was a preacher and
he was calling people to the moral
conscious a moral component in them and
reminded them constantly that we hold
these shoes to be self-evident that all
men are created equal and are endowed by
their creator and that's Providence that
that is in the founding document of this
country that is Providence and this is
Naji Lefou law this is the first person
killed in the United Farm Workers
struggle a Palestinian and this is what
Muslims should be doing we should be at
the forefront of what is right not
because it involves Muslims but because
it involves the conflict between right
and wrong and we should always be on the
side of right because the side of right
is the side of Islam that is the side of
right it is the side of Islam and
Muslims stand by right and the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in a
sound hadith on that if anyone is
treacherous to a limb me which is a
person of a non Muslim faith according
to Imam attic it can be any faith not
just Abrahamic faiths but any faith
Buddhists can be the immune and that has
been the active practice of our
tradition he said if anyone is
treacherous to within me any Muslim
oppressors are than me I will be the
them knees advocate on the day of
judgement our prophets on the lightest
and will stand next to the non-muslim
against the Muslim because we are not
about tribe we are about principle and
if the principle goes against the tribe
we say goodbye to tribe and that's the
truth and that is Islam and we have to
be witnesses unto humanity for the sake
of Allah well o Allah music on
even if it
against yourselves and we've got plenty
to testify against in our community too
much but it's time that we stop being in
denial or pretending people say to me
you shouldn't tell people about the
problems of the Muslims don't say that
to the non-muslim they read it every
single day in their newspapers they see
it in the in the Muslim world constantly
and when we sit there and pretend like
these things aren't happening we look
like fools we look like hypocritical
lying fools and they see right through
us and it's people that will stand up
for the truth in spite of all these
things that will be recognized as people
that those people want to listen to and
ultimately that is what we want we want
the ears because the ears are the
inroads to the hearts and if you shout
at them they'll plug their ears just
like anybody that goes into a room with
the music's too loud they cover their
ears if you're shoutings too loud
they'll cover their ears like Ralph
Waldo Emerson said I'm sorry I can't
hear you your actions are shouting much
louder than your words and that's the
truth and then our shaheed that I him oh
Allah this noble man that died because
he was a man of principle like Dr Omar
said that I him o Allah may Allah in
noble his face and elevate him in the
highest ranks of the people of paradise
and his wife who died - ahed in a fire
because the death of fire is the death
of a Shaheed and how fitting for the
wife of such a great Shaheed to die a
Shaheed his wife Betty Shabab oh that
was Malcolm right Malik Shiva al Hajj
Matic Shabazz said America needs to
understand Islam because this is the one
religion that erases from its society
the race problem why is this still
significant because this problem is
still deeply significant in this country
the problem has not gone away and we are
facing it today as a community this is
the fundamental problem after faith
itself if you look at it beliefs the
disease of beliefs was you created me
from fire and air you created him from
mud on a high dome in who that is the
devil and anyone that says that is a
demon anyone that thinks he's better
than anyone else because you don't know
and if you come into a room and think
you're better than anyone in that room
you're a fool that's a fool who has that
attitude because only I'll not super
Hannah without a nose and even a beggar
on the street might be better in the
eyes of Allah subhana wa tada
then the worshipful person in the moss
only Allah knows that and we are not
allowed to judge people's inner
realities and that's why race is
something that needs to be eradicated
and it is the Muslims
according to Arnold Toynbee the
extraordinary English historian it is
the Muslims that can offer a solution to
European and Western peoples to the race
problem which he wrote in his his essay
Islam in the West he said that we can
learn from the Muslims and benefit from
them and the two primary things that we
can learn from them is the solution to
our race problem because he believed
that the world was heading to an
inevitable race rate race war if
something was not done and we are here
to stand as obstacles to people that
want to see that to the war mongers out
there
we're here to stand as obstacles to that
because we are people of peace and Imams
aid shackle may Allah preserve him said
it would be one of the greatest
travesties of history if the Muslims are
torn and separated and sunk into the
quagmire of racism ourselves and if we
as Muslims that any force Muslim
some transform us into races who are
incapable of bringing this message to
America we have betrayed Islam and we
have betrayed Malcolm and that is why we
cannot allow race to be an issue we are
a people of meritocracy may the best
Dawa win and may the best in sin and if
it's a woman then let arise if a woman
is more capable let arise and this is an
age when the women are making the men
look pathetic I'm serious they come with
notebooks they there you don't have to
remind them to sit up with comportment
I'm really serious it's the women and
I'm not just saying this to make the
women feel good but I want to see the
man well V that ik affiliate NFS and
with the Nephi soon I want to see you
outdo these women and prove that you
deserve two to one in inheritance laws
I'm serious really prove it and you're
certainly worthy of it you young men all
of you I look at you and I see a
potential in this country really to go
out there and transform this country
there are a hundred and fifty thousand
members of MSA is that what it is 150
thousand how many and how many members
around fifty thousand
okay we always exaggerate so let's say a
hundred thousands there's a hundred
thousand MSA members and if there are
then let's make it so I was with a
afghani group a couple of weeks ago and
we and we were in a one of these Rancho
type places where you go ride horses and
I actually hungry like grew up riding
horses because my grandfather was a
horseman had a cattle ranch as well and
so I'm not a great writer but I can ride
ands and those horses that they rent out
are so broken down you don't have to
worry about it anyway
so I said let's go right hood then I
looked at I said do you know how to ride
horses and one of them he kind of did a
feta thing he said do we know how to
ride we're Afghan ease of course we know
how to ride horses and if we don't know
we'll pretend we know and that should be
your spirit well lie that should be your
spirit to go out there and and if you
don't have a hundred thousand members
pretend you have a hundred thousand
members and four dollars and a biscuit a
so a latte and a biscuit a is how much
moulay seven dollars seven dollars a day
right those would college students do
they go down and have a cafe and seven
dollars seven dollars a day huh
you can you do that I mean seriously
that's over two hundred dollars
give-give by your latte away for the
sake of allah subhana wa ta'ala if
everybody did that you know how much
money you'd have you can go back to
drinking after a couple of years that's
a not yeah not the other kind
don't do that that's what they said
people and I was in New Jersey and I was
saying that I would prefer that they
allowed marijuana to be smoking on
airplanes than alcohol because marijuana
cools people out alcohol gets him riled
up and they get belligerent because I
was on a plane where this man was drunk
he was very belligerent to the
stewardess and I told her you know they
could really solve this problem
just pass out joints for people that
want them and now and they'll just kind
of chill out right they might get the
munchies and want a couple extra bags of
peanuts but basically they'll be cool
calm and collected and and it's a double
high because you're 30,000 feet up there
so I said I'm worried there I said I'm
worried they're gonna say my mom says
promoting marijuana use so I'm not
promoting marijuana use don't use it
don't abuse it don't use it stay away
from it and and don't be like you know
the guy that said I never inhaled and
don't go to places where they smoke and
you inhale right I didn't smoke any but
it's called secondary smoke when you
hang out with people that are doing that
I don't want to do that all right so
stay away from that may Allah give you
all tell field and increase you and make
you fit Y on the allah subhana wa ta'ala
when he mentioned the the people of feta
is our 250th we led cap when they went
to the cave and that's what you have to
do you have to go cave of iman in the
midst of this plane of jaliyah
go to the cave of iman which is in your
heart there's a hollow space in your
heart and that is a cave and seek refuge
in that cave and safe Apollo Robyn a
Tina min ladunka Rama as for the grace
of Allah that's what the fit you do they
asked for the grace of Allah well yeah
then I'm an MD now Rashad ah and guide
us to do the right thing and then when
they came out of the cave what did they
say they told them vibrato a Hadouken
bwaaaah Tacoma Holly Hill and Medina
send a some of you with this money to
the city and then what does and he says
for young for you has kappa amma make
sure your food is pure because that's
that which will give you spiritual
strength is pure and halal food and
that's very important that that's in
there about the fit an and then also
Allah subhana WA Ta'ala says when he
mentions them he tells them fedia Talib
buff and let him be gentle and take care
don't go out belligerent don't go out
with anger anger and perturb states are
not the states of people that have
Sakina in their hearts don't go out
angry if you go if you demonstrate
demonstrate with dignity
never shout in a demonstration I'm Syria
it's not a Sunnah don't shout don't
shout
Huckabee if people don't know what that
means you scared them and really and
it's not it's not good to scare people
don't let any of you cause them to know
who you are why because they'll stone
you and try to force you back into their
min la so be careful because you might
get tribulations that you can't bear and
there are reports of suicides in
Guantanamo Bay you don't want to get
tribulations that you cannot bear it's
not the Sunnah of the Muslims if they
can avoid those type of things they
don't put themselves in the line of
tribulation
if they come to them then may Allah give
all of us perseverance to take what
comes from Allah subhana wa tada but he
may give us may he give us wisdom to
avoid what does not need to come there's
a camel ahead on was Salam alaykum Salam
[Applause]
you