[Note: This article is in response to F.D Signifier’s YouTube video titled The Real Black Faces of Black Conservatism and false claims he made within that video about The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan]

I’m going to be as clear as possible: I like F.D Signifier. I genuinely enjoy his videos, especially the ones where he dissects the manosphere. However, his video titled, The Real Black Faces of Black Conservatism, obviously rubbed me the wrong way, because I am a Muslim Woman in the Nation of Islam and follower of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. I would like to make the misinformation that was shared in that video known so that the Black Community can function on Truth. 

If you don’t know, F.D Signifier is a Black leftist YouTuber. He speaks on politics and problems within the Black Community, offering solutions so that we can move forward. Hearing his insight on Black maleness is honestly very refreshing as a Black Muslim Woman who is extremely aware of sexism and misogyny within the Black and Muslim cultures. 

The subject of F.D’s video touches on what the title suggests. Now obviously the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan are not above critique. As a matter of fact, Farrakhan has said this on many occasions. He has also said that if anyone can prove to him that he is wrong in what he’s saying, he will denounce what he said, and yet, to this day, no one has ever done so. The issue I have with this “critique” is that it’s based on false information that has been debunked numerous times before. 
But before we get into it, it’s pronounced FAR-a-khan, not FAIR-a-khan. It’s 2023, let’s get in the habit of pronouncing Black names correctly.

Misinformation #1: Farrakhan is a conservative.

One of the first wrong things that Brother F.D said was that Farrakhan was a Black political leader: an inaccurate description of the National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, a spiritual leader and pioneer of Black Liberation since the ‘50s. So he already has the wrong person for this type of video.

If you’re thinking of conservative, outside of the political sphere, as someone who holds on to traditional values, Islam is a traditional religion, and the Minister is a Muslim man. But to equate a religion with 1.8 billion followers to a political system is imbecilic.  

Farrakhan has never ascribed to any political system, as he is wholly aware of the corruption in the American government. He voted for Obama once. He stood behind Rev. Jesse Jackson when he was running for president in the ‘80s. He sees the bigger picture when it comes to the upliftment of Black people, but other than that, he always calls out the deception of the political systems and criticizes conservatives quite often.

Bro. F.D’s only connection he made to Farrakhan being a conservative is saying he inherited it from Marcus Garvey, which isn’t true. The Nation of Islam is very open about what we believe and how we function, and although Marcus Garvey was a great man, we didn’t base anything on the ideals of Marcus Garvey. There is no foundation that the argument of the Minister being a conservative can stand on. 

Misinformation #2: The Nation of Islam is a cult.

The Nation of Islam is Islam. We believe there is no God but Allah, we pray 5 times a day, we give in charity, we fast and, if it be the Will of Allah, we strive to journey to the Holy City of Mecca within our lifetime. We study from our Holy Qur’an, and we don’t bother anybody. Everything we know, we know because we study. Farrakhan has said multiple times that we can take it or let it alone. He suggests we don’t take his word for it and to look up what he is saying so that we can know it for ourselves. 

As I’ve mentioned before, he’s said on numerous occasions that he will denounce whatever anyone can prove he said as false, and he has corrected the mistakes he made in public.

So to say the NOI is a cult without providing any evidence save a random clip from YouTube that could’ve easily been edited, is ignorant. My question to Mr. Signifier is: have you read the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s book “Message to the Blackman” to actually see what we believe? Have you gone to noi.org or finalcall.com to research how we function? Did you try to get in contact with an actual member of the Nation of Islam, preferably a Student Minister, to speak on this subject? Or did you just type in “Farrakhan cult” on YouTube and click the first video you saw where anybody could be saying anything?

Also, it’s unappreciated how you tried to slip in that members of the NOI are “flat earthers,” as that goes against the Holy Qur’an. Let’s be truthful, nobody in the Nation believes that, and that is defamation. 

To quote Bro. F.D:

“The Nation of Islam isn’t really Islam much at all if you know the reality behind the organization.”

Bro. F.D doesn’t know the reality behind the Nation of Islam because he decided that typing noi.org into Google was too much work. So, here’s some lectures:

Misinformation #3: The Minister is antisemitic.

There are 3 books titled, “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” that can be purchased at store.finalcall.com. In the first couple of pages it says:

Almost every page has a citation of where you can find the information that was compiled for this book. There’s also various lectures where the Minister goes over the origin of his controversy with the so-called Jewish community that can be found on YouTube.

Some of the lecture titles include:

Furthermore, there is a 3-part article series by Sis. Nzinga Muhammad, a historian and a graduate of Bennett College, where she breaks down the origin and debunks the lies told on the Minister by so-called Jewish people after they called for the sabotage of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s campaign and the Minister defended him. I’d suggest those 3 books be read, those articles be read and those lectures be watched before we start calling people names. Until extensive research is done, one shouldn’t speak on what they don’t know, as that’s what sensible people do.

Now to  quote Bro F.D directly:

“Now understand, there are significant issues between Black and Jewish people in America that have never really been fully processed or digested between either group and there are many  reasons to critique these issues among Black and Jewish people.”

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, after defending Rev. Jackson from so-called Jewish people that wished him harm, took it upon himself to have the relationship between Blacks and Jews studied. The “significant issues” that F.D stated were brought up by the Minister and the Nation of Islam. The reason these issues have never really been fully processed is because people call the Minister antisemitic to discredit him and the research he’s done uncovering the vile things so-called Jewish people think and say and the lies they tell. The above stated quote by F.D Signifier is flabbergastingly moronic.

Misinformation #4: Malcolm X.

We have a whole book.

It’s odd how the clip(s) played in the video was taken out of context. There are, again, countless lectures where Minister Farrakhan explains his relationship with Malcolm X (Life and Times of Muhammad Ali, July 1, 2016) and where he called out the FBI to release the files (Justice Or Else, Oct. 10, 2015). In the video, it’s even mentioned that Ilyasah Shabazz is suing the CIA, FBI and NYPD. She isn’t suing the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam. Also, the men who the NYPD said shot Malcolm X were exonerated, which would’ve easily been seen with a quick Google search. During the ‘60s and ‘70s, we are all aware that the COINTELPRO infiltrated Black Liberation movements. The Nation of Islam was also infiltrated. It is fascinating how people try to say that the Minister works with the American government. The government doesn’t like him; that’s why he’s repeatedly blacklisted and is banned from London. All he does is call out the corrupt government.

To quote F.D again:

“You’d be a fool to think that Minister Farrakhan doesn’t have a decent idea of what really happened there and just hasn’t told the truth about it.”

Out of all the things to be, let’s be forreal.

It took about 2 hours to compile this information.

It is very easy to find this information online if you really want to know the truth. It sounds like Bro. F.D didn’t want to do his research and just wanted to use his video as an excuse to show how much he doesn’t like the Minister. Which is fine, but why try to justify your dislike by telling old, unoriginal, debunked lies? It was a lazily put together section of the video, and it’s extremely disappointing. You’d think the caliber of intellect and research would be much higher when dealing with a prominent Black leader. But now that the big lies are out of the way, let’s focus on some of F.D’s actual words he used in the video:

“Farrakhan has a ton of obvious and inexcusable baggage that has been subterfuge and ignored for far too long.” 

Where is said baggage? The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is very transparent with his life journey, as he has stated numerous times throughout his lectures, to help people who feel lost gain faith that if Allah can get the Minister out of the mud, He can get everyone else, too.

Subterfuge means deceit used in order to achieve one’s goal.

“He has also played in our faces and kind of wasted our time for the last 60 years while steering Black political thought away from anything useful or meaningful pretty much the whole time.”

Again, he is not a Black political leader. He is a spiritual leader. So to say he is steering Black political thought away from anything useful when he is literally steering the Black Community back to God is a waste of a sentence. As mentioned before, he is very humble and transparent, and he has literally survived assassination attempts for Black Liberation. There are various people, Muslim and non-Muslim, who credit him for saving their lives. I’ve heard throughout my life people thanking the Minister, saying they would be dead if it weren’t for the words he teaches.

“Farrakhan and the NOI has been prophesying this doomsday future revolutionary upheaval that they will help guide Black people through after some type of calamity that finally causes the power that be or the aliens to come back to Earth and finally address the needs of Black people…”

For the 100th time, Minister Louis Farrakhan is a Muslim man. He studies and teaches from the Bible and the Holy Qur’an. The “doomsday” that he is talking about is from Scripture. There’s literally a Holy Qur’an chapter called “The Calamity.” Let’s be forreal. I’m very confused, where did he get the aliens from? What aliens? What are you talking about?

Then he says:

“…I don’t exactly get what it is.”

That’s obvious, sir.

“Farrakhan, while excellent in all these other forms, is really an effective tool for the status quo because he’s such a big distraction.”

The definition of status quo is the existing state of affairs, especially social or political issues. How is calling out government corruption, global oppression, calling people to heal their personal lives, leading people to God and Islam an effective tool for the status quo and a distraction? During the Million Man March, he called out how the government changed their laws to directly affect Black people, in particular Black men, he called for the government to repent to Black people and he called for Black men to right their wrongs in the Black Community. He is a Muslim man, and he teaches Islam from the Holy Qur’an. To call him a distraction when so many people are now Muslim because of him is disrespectful to Islam itself. 

”…Warith D. Mohammed the actual legitimate son of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad…Warith D. Mohammed was supposed to be in Farrakhan’s place…but Warith D. Mohammed rejected the NOI.”

A redundant sentence. If he was supposed to take Farrakhan’s place, he wouldn’t have rejected the NOI.

The above quote shows and proves who the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wanted to run the NOI in his absence. I would also like to ask Bro. F.D: why are you bringing up Warith D. Mohammed if he and the Minister made up? Why are you being divisive?

“…actual Muslims and Black Muslims.”

The Nation of Islam is Islam. Literally any race can be a Muslim. There are Black Muslim countries. These words are divisive, as there is already racism within Muslim communities. At the end of the day, all Muslims believe in Allah. Again, I have to ask, what is the reason behind F.D’s divisive words? Because, from my understanding, he isn’t even a Muslim?

“Farrakhan, because he’s not really challenging the economic hierarchy of capital, he’s not making any demands of policy…he’s a perception of radicalism that challenges nothing.” – Pascal Robert

Personally, I find it sad that I have to do the research two fully grown men are capable of doing themselves, but for some reason decided not to. To say that Farrakhan challenges nothing when literally all he does is challenge the powers that be, is so shockingly asinine. So here’s a long list of lectures and articles where Minister Farrakhan challenges the government:

And this isn’t even the full list. I mean, how can it be if this man has been doing this work for over 60 years?

He, like the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, would never disgrace himself by going to the White House or Congress and begging them to change. The Minister has given them his address. They never showed up. 

During the Justice Or Else movement, The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan called for Black people to redistribute the pain and boycott Christmas shopping. That year and many afterwards, there were various articles showing how many billions of dollars were lost during that boycott, showing and proving that Black people have real economic power.

The Nation of Islam also has the Economic Blueprint. 

There’s obviously so much more I can add to prove how false this statement is, but I, as a Black Woman, am tired of doing work men decided not to do themselves. It wasn’t even hard.

This isn’t a quote, but F.D compared Dr. Umar Johnson to the Minister.

And that literally made me laugh out loud because no.

“They’re not afraid of Louis Farrakhan.”

Also F.D Signifier, “I’m scared to talk about Louis Farrakhan.” Question: who is they? Can you name them? If the “they” you’re talking about is people who uphold white supremacy and the U.S./European governments, then why did they ban him from the United Kingdom? Why was he censored and his social media accounts banned? Why did “they” try on numerous occasions to assassinate him? Why did former President Bill Clinton leave the city the day of the Million Man March? A March where Minister Farrakhan called for one million men and nearly 2 million showed up, that F.D conveniently forgot to mention.

“Farrakhan’s opulent presence and lifestyle made him someone that lended instant credibility to any Black entertainment figure wanting to be taken seriously in terms of Black politics.”

It could be argued that rappers’ “wokeness”, for lack of a better word, could be attributed to the Minister’s rise in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Bro. F.D tries to make it seem like Farrakhan was seeking pictures with these rappers, but the opposite is true. To try to say that the Minister promoted those rappers’ lyrics is an underdeveloped and inaccurate thought. He always calls out rap lyrics on materialism, sexism, and the general degradation of the Black Community through harmful lyrics. 

  • “The world is filled with division and hatred; the evils of sexism, racism, materialism and classism.” -Farrakhan via The Oneness of God
  • “The main problems in the world that the western world has rooted itself in are racism, sexism, materialism and a kind of poisonous nationalism. If the sun is setting, it is setting on racism, on sexism, on this sick materialism without any spiritual or moral development. It is setting on nationalism that only makes us concerned with our own nation, but not concerned with the family of nations.” – Farrakhan via Time Must dictate Our Agenda!
  • “America’s dominant culture—fraught with decadence, violence and materialism in which evil has been made fair-seeming—is diametrically opposed to the establishment of the Kingdom of God.” – Farrakhan via Who will survive the war of Armageddon?
  • “There are 4 great impediments to self-improvement: Racism, Sexism, Nationalism, Materialism.” Farrakhan via Study Guide #12

Rappers sought and seek him out for guidance, which he gives. He looks past the faults of the rappers in order to encourage them to do better with their craft in order to uplift the Black Community. Whether the rappers decided to actually do better or not isn’t the fault of the Minister.

“Farrakhan’s Black bourgeoisie trappings and ostentatious nature melded well with the rise of materialism in media.”

The Minister said he was so poor he didn’t know he was poor until Mother Clara Muhammad, wife of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, told him he was. When he went to rebuild the NOI he, his wife Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, and a handful of other Muslims started The Final Call newspaper out of his basement, which led him, along with the charity of those who supported him, to start up Muhammad University of Islam, various restaurants and farms, which helped create jobs for Black people.

“It’s sad and funny really because the whole time that rappers are posing with Farrakhan in order to somehow connect to these Black power traditions, Kwame Ture is right there.” 

I don’t understand how Farrakhan is being blamed for people not knowing who Kwame Ture is. Members of the Nation of Islam know who he is. Kwame Ture spoke at our 1997 Saviours’ Day after receiving the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad Award.

Kwame would rebuke F.D Signifier for trying to divide the Black community by telling lies on Minister Farrakhan. Also, the pictures used of Farrakhan with the rappers were all during the 21st century, and unfortunately, Kwame Ture passed away in 1998 (may Allah be pleased). Also, one of Kwame Ture’s sons is in the Nation of Islam. His name is Eric Ture. He contributes to The Final Call newspaper. In an article titled, Reflections from a Faithful Witness, Bro. Askia Muhammad, the late senior writer and former editor of The Final Call, recalls, “…and even Brother Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), who always seemed to be a guest in the home when I was there to work on the paper … .” Kwame Ture and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan were friends.

“While Farrakhan was singing Calypso, Kwame Ture was marching with Martin Luther king.”

Around that same time, Kwame Ture, as well as Martin Luther King Jr., were also having meetings with the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. And the Minister gave up music shortly after he joined the Nation of Islam. He’s said this multiple times. Also, it’s a known fact that the NOI did not agree with being nonviolent with violent people, as we’re taught in the Holy Qur’an that persecution is worse than slaughter and to fight with those who fight with us but to never be the aggressor.

“(as Farrakhan).. toured the world and the country with lavish accouterments and big Steve Harvey suits….”

Which one is it? Is it lavish or is it Steve Harvey suits? Most of the “luxury” you see Minister Farrakhan with were gifts from people that love him. Again, he says over and over again these gifts don’t matter to him as much as the Liberation of Black people, to the point where he is willing and damn near has various times, to give his life for our salvation. The World Friendship Tours that the Minister went on in the late ’90s was exactly that: a world tour where he gained friendship, uniting Black people, Muslims and oppressed people all over. What’s wrong with that?

“We have to ask ourselves, ‘why did we allow this?’ Farrakhan wasn’t necessarily propped up by white media. In fact many institutions in white media tried to keep him out of the mainstream as much as possible.”

And yet he said that people weren’t scared of the Minister, so which one is it? Are people scared of the Minister or not? Because keeping someone who calls out the deceit and corruption of the government out of the media and off of social media and out of countries sounds like something a scared person would do.

“Farrakhan rose to prominence because we bought into what he was selling.”

He wasn’t selling anything. He was teaching Islam. 

“Something that Farrakhan preached on was his need to fix Black people because clearly we are a broken people.”

Some titles of F.D SIgnifier’s videos are, “Black Boys are not safe” and “How Black Athletes are exploited.” 

Bro. F.D emphasizes the word “fix” as if the Minister says this word when referring to the problems of the Black Community often. What F.D Signifier fails to realize, as he makes his failure known over and over again throughout this section of the video, is that Farrakhan is a Muslim man. He nurses from the Holy Qur’an, he prays 5 times a day, he opens every lecture in the Name of Allah. To ignore this fact takes away the power of anything F.D claims Farrakhan is. F.D says Farrakhan is trying to fix Black people as if he isn’t just teaching Islam, being an example of a Muslim man and, like F.D Signifier, calls out how Black people are exploited and unsafe in america.

Pascal Robert goes on to state that Farrakhan is trying to make people think that Black people are inherently defective, and I would just like to know where he got that idea from, as every time the Minister brings up problems in the Black community, he contributes it to white supremacy and slavery.

F.D Signifier, your internalized misogyny is showing.

As a Black Muslim Woman who got into F.D Signifier when he started talking about the manosphere and enjoyed his ideas on bettering Black men, I am doubly disgusted and appalled that the Women in the Nation of Islam were reduced to, “Women in dresses.” It’s disrespectful to every Black Muslim Woman to dismiss the sacrifices Women in the Nation of Islam made for them to just be “Women in dresses,” when we have our own security unit consisting of not only single women, but also Mothers and Wives. He made it seem as if the Women in the NOI, called the Muslim Girls’ Training (M.G.T.) and the M.G.T. Vanguard doesn’t do anything and that we have no voice. That we’re just there along for the ride. If you would like to learn more about Women in the NOI from actual Women in the NOI, you can go to @The7Rings1930 on Instagram. 

What was the point of mentioning the Minister in this video?

Now as a watcher of his videos. I am very confused why he decided to lack in his research when speaking on the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. He tries to make himself sound credible by saying he has family in the NOI and that he grew up in Chicago. I wonder what stopped Bro. F.D from contacting a Student Minister in the Nation to speak on this? Or even ask one of his family members for insight. Why did he only have people who seemingly only disliked Farrakhan in this video? 

Once you hear the Minister for yourself, unlike F.D Signifier, you’d know everything that was said in that video was false information coming from a seemingly bitter man. F.D Signifier’s critique on Black conservatives doesn’t apply to the Minister. This is one of the most lazily written, inaccurate, misinformed and ignorant videos I’ve watched from a commentary YouTuber. You’d think a YouTuber would utilize YouTube as a resource.

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