Muslim minister condemns U.S. war in Mideast, calls for Black/white unity to build antiwar mov't

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'Mr. Bush, send vour son! He's got something to On Monday, Jan.14th, 1991, over 250 people attended a Community Speakout Against the U.S. War in the Gulf at the deadline hour for the U.S. attack and in honor of the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Speakers included Louis Elisa, President of the Boston NAACP, Minister Don Muhammed of the Nation of Islam Mosque #11, and other community leaders and Vietnam War veterans. The event was held at the African-American Institute of Northeastern University and was sponsored by the Committee Against a Vietnam War in the Middle East (CAVME) and the Northeastern Black Students Association. Reprinted below is the speech of Minister Don Muhammed of the Nation of Islam Mosque #11.

Peace be with you. And we really need some peace tonight.

I, as an individual, am not happy to be here tonight discussing this war. I do not believe that there can be any joy in America, when the youth of this country are about to lay down their lives on foreign soil for something that is not worth it. This country is not under attack. Not one square foot of American soil is at stake. So what are we doing in the Middle East? What is the fight all about? Is the sanctity, the safety, the integrity, or the security of America at stake in the Middle East? What are we really there for?

Our president has said that it's about oil— maybe it's about aggression—maybe. As a matter of fact, he referred to it as "naked aggression" at one time. So why don't you just give Saddam a blanket to cover himself up, and that'll solve that problem.

I met with the ambassador from Iraq last Monday, and I have not had a smile on my face ever since. We've had two world wars, and every one of those world wars has been with this country fighting Europeans, Western people.

But every other fight that America has been in until now has been with Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Blacks in Grenada, Blacks in Panama, and now people of color in the Middle East. What is going on in this country-that they don't mind shedding the blood of other people, but they're conservative where whites are concerned.

I'd say that this audience represents more of what the world is about and what those boys in the area of the world we call the "Middle East" is about. You're the real rainbow coalition. Because the majority of the David Roy Schervish 100 percent of the future. And those that don't come back in body bags, they're going to come back with their minds distorted, they're going to come back not whole-like they were when they left.

What are we going to have 10 years from now if we don't put a stop to this. We're on the eve of destruction. January the 14th— we're on the eve of destruction. And that song says, "War—what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!"

Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 15) In San Francisco.

It's not worth anything, so that this country has the might to prove a point. And what does it mean? We have proven that Vietnam never meant anything! And 58,000 names are on that wall in Washington. But more than 58,000 are running around the streets of Boston and other cities with their minds blown because they could not rationalize what they saw in Vietnam, with young babies being burnt to death, with napalm and Agent Orange! Don't we understand what is happening?

Truth about Kuwait

We have a moral obligation. Iraq says that Kuwait belongs to them. I was shocked when the ambassador told me that. He said, "We are not invading anything. Kuwait is the 19th province of Iraq, called Basra. It has never been a country. It was never given independence. That was a farce by Britain. We went into our own house and we took back what they did to us."

I said, "Mr. Ambassador, what are you saying? Of course, I'm shocked to hear this."

Kuwait is a word that simply means "small settlement" or "small village." And they insist that the people of Kuwait really want to be a part of their motherland, Iraq.

He said that they deliberately stole oil from their side of the border, flooding the market with an overabundance of oil, and drove the price down from $21 to $11 a barrel.

So, he said if we oppose invasion, why did you not oppose the invasion of Iraq on Iran. I thought that was an invasion, but they told me that Iran really started the war, that we have a dual set of rules here. And I as a Muslim ar appalled for any Muslim to invade another, but I didn't hear any outcry Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action fight for. They stole $500 billion [they said], "you hated Ayatollah Khomeini more than you did Saddam."

And they said to me, When have you had the United Nations sanction a country and not allow the country to come in and defend itself? They were never invited to the U.N. to give their side of the story.

And the vote was in the Security Council. They said, why didn't they bring the vote to the full council? What about the Afran nations, and the other nations of the ' ild? What is their point of view? They have gotten an agreement and a commitment from everybody in the world that they had a just grievance. And nobody would listen.

Now, our president, who cannot seem to find money for Black people in the urban areas of America, yet he invites us all to be what we can never be in this society. Join the service, and get fitted-for a body bag.

When I cannot get an education in America, I can go in the service. When I cannot get decent health care, I can go into the service. When I cannot get what I need as a citizen here, I cannot go from the back of the line—I can go to the front of the line in Saudi Arabia. We want to use the same line we use in America; we want to be in the back of the line in Saudi Arabia.

Nothing to fight for!

Farrakhan is right: Mr.Bush, send your son! He's got something to fight for. They stole $500 billion-not $500 million— $500 billion from the savings and loans. That's something worth fighting for. We can't write a $10 check without it bouncing-what do we have to fight for!

We're not speaking against this country. We're speaking for this country. If you really care about something, you will chastise it when it's wrong, reprimand it when it is wrong. The war that is about to take place in the Middle East is not going to stay there.

Please listen. I believe in what Elijah Muhammed taught. He said that there would come a time when there would be a war there, whether it's now or later. He said it's written in the Bible-the war of Armageddon. A battle between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, where all nations will be brought into this battle. It's not going to stay there, Mr.Bush. It's going to engulf every human being on earth if it is that war. It's going throughout Europe and Africayes, even here in America.

They were talking on the radio about terrorism...I mean, are we or are we not crazy! We don't need to go any further than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and draw the line there!

...And we ought to let our voice be heard. Not in this auditorium; let your voices be heard in the streets of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, and in the United States of America. And we don't have much time, because the people in that area of the world, they would rather die as men and as women than continue to live with injustice.

I think it's fitting that they have done this on Martin Luther King's birthday, for I support his widow [Coretta Scott King] when she said that we should use tomorrow-the birthday of her husband-to kick off a massive monstrosity of loud noises of mouths and feet to announce that we—on Martin's birthday—are announcing a new movement against the war...

Might is not always right, but you can assure yourself that justice will always be what is needed for the people of the world. We need unity-Black and white and everything in-between-because when you put a Black body in the ground, it stays there just as long as does a white one.

And we need to tell this racist government that it does not reflect the thinking of us here at Northeastern. We ought to link our arms together and say that war—yes, it's a heartbreaking thing—and its only friend is the undertaker, as the song says. War, it's not worth anything!

And we should let the government know that we are a voice from the battle, and that if our bodies are not there you cannot fuel

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WHAT HELP DID KUWAIT OFFER TO AFRICAN AMERICANS DURING OUR STRUGGLE FOR EREEDOM, JUSTICE AND EQUALITY! WONE