“You do not need a Christmas tree in your house. That’s pagan practice. Leave the mythical Santa at the North Pole or wherever the hell he is. And don’t you ever again spend money on your children and give the credit to a mythical Caucasian and make your children think that they got to continue to look at White people to get things you give them with your hard sweat and blood.”~The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, November 18, 2018
“You do not need a Christmas tree in your house. That’s pagan practice. ⠀
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Leave the mythical Santa at the North Pole or wherever the hell he is. And don’t you ever again spend money on your children and give the credit to a mythical Caucasian and make your children think that they got to continue to look at White people to get things you give them with your hard sweat and blood. “~The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on Instagram⠀
Charlene Muhammad | FinalCall.com
Strategic boycotts for justice hit third year
Americans are on target to spend almost $700 billion on Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays to the first of next year, but activists, entrepreneurs and organizers have escalated boycotts to curb holiday spending in their fight for justice and battle against racism and police brutality.
Demonstrators took to the streets of downtown Chicago Nov. 24 to boycott Black Friday and to call attention to injustice and inequity. Photo: Haroon Rajaee
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Across the country, there have been “buycotts,” petition drives, and protests outside shopping malls, such as the Magnificent Mile, where some 300 demonstrators blocked entrances to stores in Chicago’s upscale shopping district on Michigan Avenue after Thanksgiving.
The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression called the Black Friday Boycott for Nov. 24 to underscore determination to get justice for 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was killed by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke on Oct. 20, 2014.
“The first two shots put him on the ground. This child was laying on the ground, helpless, and he shot him 14 more times,” said Frank Chapman, field coordinator of the Alliance. “In fact, his clip ran out and he was getting ready to put another clip in the gun, when fellow officers stopped him.”
“They don’t issue a report telling us about what profit losses we cause, but we know we caused some because we passed out several thousand flyers, and there were people who would have been shopping in those stores that walked right on by them,” Mr. Chapman told The Final Call.
There was mass media coverage of the protest, a mass police presence, and two police snipers situated on nearby roofs, he said.
“They don’t care about us demonstrating in our own neighborhood, but when we come down there, in the central business district of this city, and start raising hell, they care about that. They don’t want us down there … We’re going to continue to go down there until we see some justice,” Mr. Chapman told The Final Call.
A multi-generational, multi-racial crowd participated in demonstrations in downtown Chicago calling for police accountability during Black Friday.
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Their next move is to go after the banks, namely Chase Bank and Bank of America, for their roles in bilking Blacks out of wealth during the mortgage scheme of 2007-2008.
The plan is to ask everyone, but particularly Blacks, to shift money from those two banks and Wells Fargo, into Black-owned community-based credit unions, such as the Trinity United Church of Christ Federal Credit Union.
“They literally robbed the African American community of billions of dollars in real estate and we’re still walking up in there making deposits, and that needs to stop! The reason why we’re stopping it is because no justice, no profits! We can’t get justice for LaQuan McDonald. We can’t get justice for the over 100 torture victims that are now languishing in jails in the state of Illinois … then we will not contribute to your profits. We’re gonna spread the pain.”
His sentiments reflect the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s call for the “Up With Jesus! Down With Santa!” national economic boycott of commercial spending.
Stop shopping until the end of this holiday season, Jan. 2, 2018, or shop with Black-owned businesses, not those who could care less for Blacks, and make mockery of their real love for Jesus during “Christmas,” instructed Min. Farrakhan during organizing for the Justice or Else! gathering that marked the 20th anniversary of the historic Million Man March on Oct. 10, 2015 in Washington, D.C.
He gave the command, “Up with Jesus! Down with Santa!” following the beautiful instructions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Christmas is a pagan holiday that the enemy invented; it came out of the Babylonian era,” the Minister said. Sun worshipers that were heathens would go in the forest and cut down a tree, deck it with silver and gold, and fasten it with nails on the floor, Min. Farrakhan said. The practice is condemned in the Bible, Jeremiah 10:1-5.
When the pagans became Christians, they didn’t give up pagan practices. Those practices were simply incorporated in their new Christian religion.
“Did you know that when you put your lights on, put it all over your house, put a candle in the window, and a wreath, that’s because the people worshiped the Sun?” Min. Farrakhan observed.
On Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year, sun worshippers thought their god was leaving them, so they burned a yule log, lit candles, and cut a tree out of the forest to entreat their god back to them. When Constantine decided to become a Christian, instead of a pagan, he substituted the worship of the sun for worship of the son of God, said Min. Farrakhan.
The holiday season is a time of year that many people look forward to; when the weather cools and the leaves change into beautiful variations of red and orange. However, for many it’s the most dreaded time of the year. Whether your heart aches from the loss of a loved one or if distance separates you from family and friends, here are 10 ways to fight your holiday woes.
1. Stay prayerful and meditate often! Centering yourself and communicating with God is a great way to redirect your holiday blues.
2. Give back! Volunteering for a non-profit organization or tending to those less fortunate is a sure way to realize how blessed you are and to be a blessing to someone else.
3. Treat yourself regularly! A day at a Spa is a sure way to take some of the edge off of the approaching holiday season.
4. Change your surroundings! Travel to a new city or country to change the usual holiday atmosphere.
5. Do something different! Create a new tradition with your family.
6. Support is key! Communicate your concerns and anxieties with your family, friends, minister, etc.
7. Get your creative juices flowing! Design a vision board of your future accomplishments and utilize the holiday time to plan your vision all the way through.
8. Work it out! Begin or continue your workout routine. Physical activity releases Endorphins (natural pain and stress fighters).
9. Avoid negative people and negative talk! These are things that zap your energy and usually add more stress.
10. Put it on paper! Keeping a personal journal is a great way to sort through and process the emotions you are experiencing.
Ebony S. Muhammad is a Certified Thanatologist specializing in Grief and Loss. If you are struggling with the loss of a loved one and would like to learn more about her one-on-one sessions, click here.
December 25th was never the birthday of Christ. What you are celebrating is not a holiday or a holy day. These are lies! You’ve corrupted that day and you’ve made mockery of the most sacred human being of all.
On the plantation, Christmas and other holidays were used to control the slaves and kill the spirit of insurrection.
(Source: FinalCall.com) Holiday decorations are up, Christmas songs ring out in stores across the country, and “cha-ching” sounds emanate from cash registers, but don’t be fooled, because many fed up with injustice, police violence and racism are rejecting spending, commercial overkill and debt this holiday season.
Echoing a call by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, many Black activists and others agreed it’s time to boycott as Season 2 of “Up With Jesus! Down With Santa!” moved forward. The goal is to curb shopping until Jan. 2, 2017.
By strategically engaging in economic withdrawal, Blacks can begin putting power behind their demands and build a new and better reality, Minister Farrakhan stated in the run up to Justice or Else!, the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. in October 2015.
“The widespread death, rising racism, mob attacks and police brutality on Blacks coupled with economic deprivation and stark poverty, requires that something must be immediately done to address and correct the condition. The failure of the U.S. government to give justice to its former slaves requires that we present ourselves in unity to make the demand for Justice or Else!” Minister Farrakhan stated.
“Let us start by not spending money we either don’t have or cannot afford during the Christmas season. Why should we make the merchants rich by their wicked manipulation and exploitation of the emotions of children, parents, families and those we love, with their pagan practices that have nothing to do with the celebration and observance of the righteous servant of God, Jesus?”
Take the day, the entire season, to give thanks to God for the gift of Jesus, share that great gift of God and what he taught, Minister Farrakhan instructed.
Advocates and organizers had been waging online and on the ground battles for justice with petitions and protests, and those have been effective, but the impact has grown with a focus on Main St. and merchants.
Minister Farrakhan, for example, called on Blacks to pool their $1 trillion purchasing power to build institutions and create jobs for their people.
Justice or Else! demands an immediate end to police brutality and mob attacks and justice for the Native American Indians, the Mexican and Latinos, for women, the poor, the incarcerated, and veterans, and, it means land, said the Minister.
“I personally believe that 2017 will be the best year for Black people, maybe ever, because to me the most exciting part is we have the ability now to communicate with each other without asking for White people’s permission,” said Dr. Boyce Watkins, a Black author, economist, political analyst and entrepreneur.
“I don’t think Donald Trump is going to be as friendly in certain elements of political justice as the Obama administration was,” he explained. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of Black people who are motivated by fear, and there’s almost nothing they’re afraid of more right now than Donald Trump and the Trump administration. So now they realize all they’ve ever had was people like Minister Louis Farrakhan and others, who can provide a type of leadership that’s far more authentic to what Black people are trying to do.”
Economically, Blacks are gaining by leaps and bounds every year, due to the development of technology and awareness, he said. They’re moving closer to a world in which Blacks will spend hundreds of billions more money in their own communities, support each other, and connect emotionally, psychologically, politically and intellectually, Dr. Watkins predicted. [READ MORE]