inister Louis Farrakhan,
the leader of the Nation of Islam visited St. Kitts in late June and early July.
He was interviewed by The Observer at Bradshaw International Airport immediately
before his departure on July 4.Observer: In your youth in the United States, did you grow up with a sense of your Kittitian roots?
LF: I grew up with a very strong sense of Caribbean roots, of Kittitian roots. The Anglican Church, which my family attended, was the home of all the Caribbean people in Boston. I was able to distinguish a Barbadian accent, a Virgin Islands accent, a Kittitian accent. I was very interested in calypso as a youth.
Observer: Tell us about your earlier visits to St. Kitts?
LF: In the 1970s, I made my first visit to the region, coming to Nassau and then Jamaica. I first visited St. Kitts about 10 years ago, several years before my mother passed. I have visited three or four times in the last five years. I didn't come to speak, but to meet the political leadership and let the people get to know me.
My purpose this time was the same. Five years ago when I came and met Dr. Douglas, then leader of the opposition, he asked me to speak publicly. I didn't think it was proper to speak without the permission of the Prime Minister. I met Dr. Simmonds, to whom I am a distant relation. He didn't ask me to speak, so it didn't happen.
When the Prime Minister asked me to speak this time, I couldn't refuse him a second time.
Observer: Where is home for you?
LF: This is my mother's home, so it's home for me. Jamaica is my father's home. And America is where I was born. It is my life experience, so it also is home. America is very precious to me. I could never abandon America as home. I'm a man that has many homes [laughter].
Observer: How do you feel that your message was received here about political factionalism? Did the Prime Minister respond to you personally on it? PAM officials?
LF: I have received no specific response. There's a time when they have to ingest and digest. We will see what affect it will have in the actions people will take in the future. In time, I hope that there will be a better political climate. The island is too beautiful and significant for factional fighting to destroy the progress which could be made if there was a greater sense of unity and purpose.
Observer: What was your impression of Nevis Premier Amory? Is he willing to reconsider his call for secession?
LF: He seemed very firm in that direction. The fate of Nevis must be decided by the people.
Observer: What follow-up efforts have come out of the Million Man March (MMM)?
LF: Many things have spun off of the MMM, much of which is very good and encouraging. The most encouraging thing is the local organizing committees, which were organized to facilitate the march, are for the most part still in place and have grown. At our Conference in February in Chicago we called for the formation of State Committees to address state problems which affect Black people. This is now happening throughout the United States. We are looking for this to turn into the voter registration of 8 million people and are looking to leverage that voting strength to extract from both political parties what is in the interest of our people.
Observer: Some have criticized you for focusing solely on the individual and in the process letting the government off the hook.
LF: We have relied too much on government and too little on self and God. That was the difference with this March. We did not go to Washington to beg the government to do what the government up to this point seems unwilling to do. If we have $438 billion coming through our hands annually what do we need the government for? With individual responsibility and priorities of self and family and community we can do alot to help ourselves. This does not mean that we're going to let government off the hook, because government does have a responsibility to us, but government it seems would be more willing to accept their role if we were willing to accept our own.
Observer: The U.S. government attacked you for your international travels this past winter. Others have questioned the fact that you haven't criticized the Nigerian military government or other clearly non-democratic regimes.
LF: So, because a Black Government is not the friend of the government of the U.S., by what right do you [the U.S. government] tell me that I have no right to go to my own brother and try to encourage reconciliation and atonement between those who don't have good and effective government, who have problems with their own government.
America is an immoral giant that has no moral authority to tell me one damn thing about who I should see and who I should not see. And I will not permit any white man to tell me what black man I should see or what black man I shouldn't see. I can't tell white people what President to see and not see. Why should you think that I'm your slave and you can dictate to me who I should see. That is an arrogant slave master position. I hate it and I will fight it. I'm not being defiant. I'm just a free man and I go where my conscience leads me as you all go where your conscience leads you.
What you fear is that a Black man will find brotherhood with another Black government or with a White government with whom you have not good relations. Your enemies are not mine.
Observer: In your talk at Warner Park you said that it's time for men to wake up and take their "rightful place". Do you see strict and separate roles for men and women in the family?
LF: There is no question that men and women have distinct roles, but they're complementing roles. Nature has defined very clearly the role of both male and female, according the Bible, Koran, Torah. What does a woman look to a man for? What is a man's role? A man's responsibility? And how has government impacted on man's inability to function in the role that God has determined? We should be providers. Why is the government of America now after deadbeat fathers? A deadbeat father is one who produces a baby and is not doing what is necessary to provide for that child's development. I am trying to get us as men to play the role that God intended for us to play. And government has a responsibility not to move factories out of the country depriving men of jobs and retraining them to fit into a new kind of economy. You're depriving the man of the means of providence. We need to assume our rightful place as a father, a husband, a builder of our own community and as a protector of our families rather than as a destroyer.
Minister Farrakhan's plane was called at this point, causing the interview to be cut short.
