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MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN Sets The Record Straight About His Relationship With MALCOLM X
Jet, June 5, 2000 by Clarence Waldron
"What is the intention of this? That perhaps one of these with a gun in their hand might want to avenge the death of Malcolm X, so they will use Brother Malcolm to kill Brother Farrakhan and then the Nation will be gone, and the spokesperson for the hurt of Black people will be gone."
Farrakhan says he is optimistic that the tension between his family and Malcolm X's family will be eased and understood.
"Yes, I am optimistic, and Miss Shabazz and I are optimistic. We must be optimistic about healing wounds and rectifying differences in our families. We are embarking on a Million Family March October 16 this year--five years after the Million Man March. And we have tied it to a national agenda."
He has drafted a family bill of rights which in part calls for families to have the right to a decent income, to live in safe, crime-free communities, and have access to quality health care.
"I am hoping that in this year of the family we will go into our families and reconcile differences. If someone has a difference with their mom, dad, their uncle, their cousin, their wife, their husband, children, with one another, go to that party and tell them why, give them a chance to acknowledge their wrong; give them a chance to confess it openly."
He says there was some good that came out of the "60 Minutes" interview. "People saw Brother Farrakhan in a way they have never really seen me before. Some said this was a more powerful Farrakhan. Here he is doing what he preaches--atonement, reconciliation. I was not thinking about image in a piece like that. I was thinking about healing a wound. So I don't come across as the firebrand who is standing for the Black struggle. I come across as a brother who loves his sister (Shabazz), a brother who was torn between two great men in his life."
Reflecting on Malcolm, Farrakhan says, "I believed that he died so I may live. That's why I will always honor and respect his life and his legacy. Because wherever I am today, I still owe it to God and I owe it to two men--the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X and of course, two very special women, my mother and my wife."
The JET interview was coincidentally conducted a day before what would have been Malcolm's 75th birthday (May 19).
Asked what would he say to Malcolm on his birthday, Farrakhan, 67, who does not formally celebrate birthdays, replied: "I would be so glad he was here. Maybe I would sit with him on his birthday and talk about the struggles of our people and map out some strategies," he smiles at the thought, "for the total liberation of our people."
Farrakhan has been battling prostate cancer in recent years and says his near-death experience with the illness has changed how he sees the world. "I am slowly and gradually recovering. I'm not completely recovered. There is no sign of cancer, but I am suffering from the after-effect of a very high dose of radiation. I am expecting by the grace of God that sometime this year or next that I will be completely healed by the effect of the radiation. I am getting stronger every day by the grace of God."
