Farrakhan courts Navajo Nation

Farrakhan courts Navajo Nation
Promises foreign money to rescue native Americans

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is courting native American tribes to unite with other non-whites in the U.S. and around the world to seek what he describes as "the common destiny of the Original People."

In a meeting last month with the Navajo Nation Council in Arizona, Farrakhan promised foreign investment in building the infrastructure of a new, productive, united native American nation within the U.S.

"American should be ashamed after taking the land from the indigenous people, that they would allow the indigenous people to have oil on this land, gas coming through it, electricity flowing over it and indigenous people on the land living in darkness without heat or without water," he said. "This is criminal. Therefore it takes strong leadership. You must not be fearful because your ancestors were not afraid of the hostility of the environment politically."

He told the tribe it was time to stop living on the dole – waiting for handouts from the U.S. government.

"You are a nation," he said. "President (Joe) Shirley (of the Navajo Nation) said to me that, if you borrowed money from the U.S. government, he feels you could pay it back at least $30 million a year. If the U.S. government does not want to loan you the money to give yourself a push, there are foreign nations of your kith and kin that will not only loan you the money, they might give you the money, in order to see the Navajo Nation rise and not be dependent on casinos, but be dependent on what you produce. You have great intelligence among you. You are not an ignorant people. Tap your resources and then establish friendships all around the world."

In the past, Farrahkan and the Nation of Islam have been known to accept large contributions from foreign nations, such as Libya.

"We do not recognize any division between the Sioux, Navajo, Hopi, Cree, Chickapee, Iroquois or Seminole," Farrakhan added. "You are really one nation. But as long as you see yourself as only a small part of that nation, you become a minority. When you are a minority, you begin to think like a minority. But if you understand that, as people of color, we outnumber others 11 to 1 on our planet, then you are an international people who must not think simply in terms of yourself and other native Americans. You have indigenous people who look just like you in Mongolia; you have people that look just like you in parts of Asia, Central America, South America and the Caribbean."

The meeting took place at the invitation of Shirley, as a follow-up to a four-hour meeting between the leaders at Farrakhan's home in Phoenix, according to the Nation of Islam. The purpose of the gathering was to lay plans for what the Nation of Islam said was "the uniting of the Red and the Black nations."

"We have a so-called super-country, with money that it gives away and uses it to make war like what is going on right now," said Shirley. "But in its midst, right there in its backyard, there are people starving, people living in what they call Third World living conditions: no power, no water, no waste water disposal system, no means of communication, and one of those is us Navajo. The living conditions in some places are atrocious in the country. I have people hungry, as we talk. I have people hurting, as we talk. We try to tell them that we have elderly hurting, young who are parentless hurting. I have grandmothers living in shacks in darkness. It's not only the Navajo Nation suffering. Some of the other Indigenous nations here in the Americas, I know are suffering."