WS Chronicle

Photo provided by DFP Corporate Imaging

BY FELECIA PIGGOTT-LONG 

FOR THE CHRONICLE

More than 1,000 Christians and Muslims attended the historical morning worship service at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Sunday, May 22, during which the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan brought the morning message. The Rev. Dr. John Mendez had invited Farrakhan to his pulpit at Emmanuel.

Farrakhan’s message was on the topic of leadership. The sanctuary was charged with a unique spiritual energy when Mendez invited Christians to stand and greet the Muslims seated next to them.

Farrakhan embraced Mendez and other Emmanuel Church members in brotherly and sisterly love. Christian women praised Muslim women’s head pieces and the Impress garments they wore. Smiles abounded around the room. Muslim women praised the African attire or the colorful hats the Christian women wore. The men greeted one another in unity with handshakes and hugs.

Music provided a dynamic backdrop to this spirited tapes-try. The EBC Hand Bell Choir performed the hymn “Blessed Assurance.” Gloria Swindell led the choir in singing “God Is,” and Director of Music Rochelle Joyner rendered an organ solo of “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

Imam Effrianguan Muhammad, representative of Farrakhan for the Winston-Salem Local Organizing Committee, observed the significance of this interfaith gathering.

“I have never witnessed such a gathering before in Winston-Salem. Muslims and Christians were encouraged to get up and embrace each other. I have never experienced that before,” said Muhammad. “I have only experienced this with our great friend and pastor Dr. John Mendez and his friend and brother, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Because the love was genuine, it literally brought tears to my eyes.”

“This is something we have always desired, that black Muslims and black Christians can come together in genuine love. This was an example of what genuine Christian love and interfaith dialogue should look like,” said Muhammad.

Mendez was elated and overjoyed that this extend-ed family had come together.

“This day is like a miracle to me. Only God could have made this possible. There is a preacher in the house. I am honored to present someone I have known most of my life. Growing up in Harlem and on 116th Street, where the mosque was located, I often passed by, and Minister Farrakhan would always take time to talk to me,” said Mendez.

“When I was student body president at Shaw University, I invited Minister Farrakhan there to speak to the student body. This morning, I bring him again to Emmanuel Baptist Church,” Mendez said. “He has been a voice for the oppressed, a prophet to this land. He taught all of us how to stand for justice, for truth. He taught us how to deal with persecution and rejection and still come out on top. I present one of the greatest orators in America, in the world. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.”

Before Farrakhan took the stand, Willie Johnson, a junior at Carver High School, dedicated an original poem in Farrakhan’s honor. The poem is titled “What is a Leader?” The final lines of the poem are: “And so, Minister Farrakhan, continue to stay strong./ Because God always knew that you were the greatest leader in the world/ Before you were born.”

Farrakhan thanked Johnson for the poem, and extended a charge to him that he become the leader that he wrote about.

“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. We give Him praise and thanks. … As Salaam Alaikum. Peace be unto you. I want to first apologize to you. You have never been to church and been searched,” said Farrakhan.

“I can imagine the trauma you went through. Martin Luther King’s mother was shot down in church. Pastors have been killed while they preached. They did not search. Eight black people were shot down during Bible Study. We even need to search the preacher,” Farrakhan said.

“I am honored beyond words to be here today.

Muslims and Christians are worshipping together in a time when Muslims, Christians and Jews are killing each other in different parts of the world. There is peace, love, brotherhood among us. Surely, God has made us an example for the entire world,” Farrakhan said.

Farrakhan attended Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) in 1955. At that time, his name was Louis Eugene Walcott. He had mastered the violin as his instrument of choice, and in 1993, he returned to Winston-Salem to perform the Mendolsson Concerto in the Gateways Music Festival held at Reynolds Auditorium

“I am honored to be here in Winston-Salem. I came South on a scholarship to Winston-Salem Teachers’ College. It was at that College that the profound love of black people was planted in my being,” said Farrakhan. “I remember climbing all of those steps to go see a movie at the Carolina Theatre. We were treated as second-classed citizens just to see a movie. Don’t tell me about the Confederate flag. All the hell we are catching –we are catching it under the American flag.

“How can they have a preacher except they be sent? The Doctrine of Liberation. Is it taught in these theological cemeteries of Great America? They do not degree you to come out and free your people from their grip,” Farrakhan said. “God has to intervene. God has to raise up men and women who know God is. When you know God is the strength and the joy of your life, how can you walk away like a coward suffering inhumanities and not speak up about it?” he said.

Farrakhan spoke out about the homicides that occur when black males kill each other. Some of these murders are associated with gangsta rap.

“When brothers kill one another, the root of this crisis is the lack of knowledge of self, lack of love for self. Out of this roots comes lying, slander, murder, backbiting, betrayal of our people.”

We need to replace that root with a new paradigm. We can tell we have passed from death to life because “Hip-hop is a part of a cultural evolution of the revolution that brought gospel, jazz, blues, music that brought us to where we are. Gangsta rap begins to use music to glorify and honor a life of drugs, crime, the B-word, violence. Hip-Hop, when it started, was a way to put wisdom in a rap with a beat. David said praise God with the psaltery and the harp. Praise Him on the loud cymbals. Praise Him with the dance. All things are to be done in praise to God. If hip-hop moves toward that direction, it can lift us rather than degrade us,” said Farrakhan.

“I was most impressed with my university, WSSU. It is wonderful the things they have done to evolve WSSU. I am pleased with the direction the chancellor and staff are taking. I would say there is hope.

“I hope our young people will get self-determined to do something for themselves so that they will not have to lie down at the foot of white men begging to be blessed. I am very grateful for the opportunity to be invited by my friend and brother Rev. Mendez,” Farrakhan said.