With Minister Hafeez and Sister Louise Dente at the Dr. King Day commemoration in January.
I just heard of the passing this morning of a great Pan-African, Minister Hafeez Abdul Muhammad, the eastern Representative of the NOI. Felled by the coronavirus Covid-19 onslaught.
The brother was a deep lover of Africa and all of the descendants and children of Africa. We shared the podium as guest speakers on many occasions at events hosted by Dr. James McIntosh and Sister Betty Dopson of the Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People (CEMOTAP) in Queens. Most recently we were on a panel in Brooklyn organized by Sister Louise Dente in January to commemorate Dr. King Day, together with Brother Faytin Muhammad of Open Line (WBLS Radio) and Ann Tripp of Wbls and Steve Harvey Morning Show. On that occasion he spoke about how toward the end of his life, Dr. King’s philosophy of African American economic empowerment had evolved and converged with the do-for-self teachings of NOI. He also spoke about his frequent visits to prisons to educate the youth. Rather than condemning them, even when some appear wayward, our mission was to teach them in order to show them a more enlightened path, he said.
What I liked the most was that our presentations were always similar, in the sense that we both anchored them on African history and the its centrality in any effort to liberate and empower our people. You can only improve your worldly existence only after your mind has been unshackled.
Minister Hafeez always invoked our great freedom fighters and educators on the continent and Diaspora in our presentations: Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Anta Diop, Menelik,Yaa Asantewaa, Nzinga, Nehanda, Taytu, Tubman, Samori Ture, Mandela, Biko, Cabral, Sobukwe, Fanon, Samora, Sankara, Lumumba, Rodney, Dr. Clarke, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, Elombe Brath, Baraka, Douglass, and many others.
Minister Hafeez felt that once fortified with knowledge of what Africans have done Africans –on the continent and Diaspora– can once again set their sights on big accomplishments.
I will miss the brother, who was a gentle giant in a big frame. But in the time he was on this earth –for all of us are visitors– he saw, he learned, and he taught. These are the things we can all do, so that we leave behind a less toxic world.
And so, Minister Hafeez now rests with the ancestors.
May The Creator protect his family and provide strength. May he Rest in Peace with the Ancestors.
