Reporter Volume 25, No.17 February 17, 1994

By Chris Shea
Reporter Contributor

Issues of race and racism took center stage at UB last Thursday as an
overflowing crowd of more than 450 people attended the
much-anticipated speech by Khalid Abdul Muhammad, former national
spokesperson for the Nation of Islam. Hours earlier more than 100
students and faculty members held a silent candlelight vigil
protesting the speech they said carried a message of racial
intolerance.
	Muhammad was thrust into the national spotlight after making a
controversial and inflammatory speech at Kean College, N.J. last
November. That speech, which many labeled as anti-Semitic and racist,
resulted in Louis Farrakhan removing him as national spokesperson of
the Nation of Islam and drew condemnations from several black leaders
including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Benjamin Chavis, executive
director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People.
	Last Thursday, however, in a two-hour speech held in Knox 20
on the North Campus, Muhammad defended his statements, claiming the
white media had distorted his message. "You've heard a lot about me,"
he said, "but you haven't heard from me. You have read my words, but
you read my words out of context."
	Muhammad, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd in an electric
style that was part teacher and part preacher, said anyone expecting
him to condone racism would be disappointed. He specifically addressed
those who participated in the silent candlelight vigil organized
earlier in the day by UB For Peace, a group of students who opposed
Muhammad's visit.
	"You (the protesters) are all worked up. Burning candles.
Preparing for this great hater, this great bigot, this great
Anti-Semite," he said. "I did not come to the University at Buffalo to
teach black people to hate white people," Muhammad said. "I came to
teach black people to love their black selves."
	Muhammad also downplayed media reports that said there was
tension between himself and Minister Farrakhan, the leader of the
Nation of Islam. Two weeks ago, Farrakhan publicly chastised Muhammad
for the remarks Muhammad made at Kean College, calling them
"repugnant" and "malicious."
	Dismissing reports of any dissension as media hype, Muhammad
pronounced "There is no split, there is no division." Turning toward
the large contingent of media present, he sarcastically added, "Sorry
to disappoint you, guys."
	Muhammad called Farrakhan the "champion of the liberation and
salvation of black people. He (Farrakhan) is my spiritual father, my
leader and my teacher. And like any good son, I submit to his
discipline," Muhammad said. He compared his current situation to 1963
when Malcolm X and Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad split after
Malcolm X publicly commented that the assassination of President John
Kennedy was a case of "the chickens coming home to roost."
	"Malcolm X spoke the truth," Muhammad said, "but he spoke the
truth before his leader wanted him to and after his leader instructed
him not to."
	Muhammad said his message to black students was "to know
themselves" and "to be serious students." He said that blacks will
never prosper in this country until they "break free" and take
responsibility for their own education. Yet, Muhammad noted, for most
blacks in America, attaining self-knowledge is nearly impossible
because blacks have undergone centuries of violent oppression which
has destroyed black history and culture.
	According to Muhammad, about 250 million blacks were killed as
a result of slavery in America. This disturbing history, Muhammad
said, may offer insight into the current problems of America. "Today,
you (white Americans) say, 'Blacks are killing each other at an
alarming rate these days.' Well, we had a good teacher. Nobody has
killed more blacks than whites," he said.
	Proclaiming this country to be "two Americas: one black and
one white," and calling these two Americas "separate and unequal,"
Muhammad called on black students to build the black community up from
within by investing in black businesses and supporting the black
family. "Too many blacks," Muhammad said, "walk around with an 'X' on
their cap, an 'X' on their sweatshirt and a white girl on their arm."
	Muhammad emphasized that by no means did he believe there was
something wrong with white females and he acknowledged that sometimes
"love is blind;" but, he said, it would benefit the black community
more if black men and black women raised black families together.
	Muhammad advocated that more black students study black
history as researched and written by black scholars. He angrily noted
that in most schools black students studying history only learn the
Eurocentric viewpoint. Muhammad said black students are taught that
men like George Washington and General AmherstQfor whom Amherst, N.Y
is namedQare heroes.
	"Amherst was a no-good cracker who pretended to help the
IndiansQthen gave them the smallpox," he said. "George Washington was
a slaveowner. He's an insult to black people...a slap in our face.
There's not one Jewish student of good conscience in this audience who
would want to study from a history book that made the Nazis or Adolf
Hitler a hero," he added.
	The relationship between the black and Jewish communities was
a central theme of Muhammad's speech. He defended some of his past
statements and denied being anti-Semitic. In fact, he said, it was
blacks who often were the victims of Jewish greed and intolerance. He
criticized Jewish protesters who, Muhammad said, stand outside Nation
of Islam meetings and shout anti-Farrakhan slogans. He said blacks
don't bother Jewish people at their synagogues. He also admonished
Jewish and Arab shopowners who, he claimed, sell "rotten pork and
liquor" in black communities.
	"Why would you (shopowners) sell it to us when you don't eat
it yourself and when you've been taught from the time you were babies
that it's against God's law. Don't get angry with meQjust stop doing
it! Make an honest living without violating God's law," he said.
	According to Dennis Black, dean of students, the tension
between the black and Jewish communities was a point of concern here
at UB as well and security for the speech was exceedingly tight.
According to the student newspaper The Spectrum, manyQalthough by no
means allQof the students involved in the UB for Peace vigil were
members of the Jewish Student Union. However, organizers of the vigil
stressed that the group's focus was humanitarian, not racial or
religious.
	"We're trying not to make this a Jewish-black thing or a
white-black thing, said Marc Silverstone, one of the organizers of UB
for Peace. Silverstone stressed that he was at the vigil not as a
representative of any particular group, but as an individual trying to
promote a message of unity and peace.
	Hillary Hazan, another organizer, said she agreed and added
that although the group didn't agree with the Black Student Union's
decision to invite Muhammad, "it's important to remember that the
words Muhammad speaks are nobody else's but his own."