GANGSTA, GANGSTA: When Gangs Made Life ‘Difficult’ For Crucifixion-Denying Minister Louis Farrakhan

NEW YORK, NY: Minister Louis Farrakhan attends the Stop The Violence In The Bronx Event on September 23, 2012 in the Bronx borough of New York City (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage).

In 2007 during a large gathering in Atlanta, Georgia that included Muslims, Christian ministers, police leaders and politicians, an enraged Minister Louis Farrakhan publicly admonished his “gang banging family” because they “make it very difficult for [him].”

Farrakhan was not referring to his immediate family. they are not gang members. He was referring to African American gang members.

“Now I want to talk to my gang banging family,” Farrakhan said during the 12th anniversary celebration of the Million Man March at Atlanta's Civic Center.

“You make it very difficult for me. In the sixties, we knew who the enemy was. But in 2007, you [are] the enemy. It’s black people killing black people. Black people robbing black people. Black people raping black people,” he declared.

“I’m talking to you!” a furious Farrakhan exclaimed - to thunderous applause from the packed auditorium and exhortations from his nearby supports urging him to “Go ahead say that!”

He stated that gang bangers know the principle of retaliation but are not retaliating because of oppression or injustice but because of gang colors, turfs and drug market rivalries.

“And I cannot call for retaliation in matters of the slain when you have become the number one slayer of yourself and your own people!”

“This murder that is going on in our own community makes it difficult for me to make the right and necessary call for your justice.”

“How can I do what is right by you, while I watch what you are doing wrong by one another?”

Farrakhan cited unsourced statistics claiming that half of all murder victims are black men, and that 9-out-10 of those murdered black men were killed by a black person.

He implored the gangs to focus attention on the "oppressor instead of resorting to violence against one another. He said that coming together will make an enormous difference in the black community.

Conclusion

In the summer of 2021, with African Americans growing angrier by the day at black gang members and gangs for the atrocities committed in the community, I was reminded of how long the anger has been building to a crescendo.

Only through a return to the preeminence and respect for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church in black communities can the stem of gang violence be beaten back and righteousness be made to abound.