Please my people, listen to this. If you are sitting at home, enjoying yourselves, then bring the kids in the room and let’s have Black History 101
Khalid Abdul Muhammad (born Harold Moore Jr.; January 12, 1948 – February 17, 2001) was a black activist who came to prominence as the National Assistant to Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam (NOI). After a racially inflammatory 1993 speech at Kean College, Muhammad was condemned and removed from his position in the Nation of Islam by Louis Farrakhan. He was also censured by both Houses of the United States Congress.[1]
After being removed from the Nation of Islam he served as the National Chairman of the New Black Panther Party until his death in 2001 from a brain aneurysm. Despite the controversy that followed him, his strong denunciations of white power gained him the support of some in the black community.
After being stripped of his position as NOI spokesman, Muhammad became the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party. On May 21, 1997, he delivered a heated speech at San Francisco State University in which he criticized Jews, whites, Catholics and homosexuals.
In 1998, Muhammad organized the “Million Youth March” in New York City which attracted an estimated 6,000 participants. The march was controversial from its inception as New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani denied the organizers a permit, calling it a hate march. A court ruled that the event could go on but scaled back its duration and size. At the conclusion of the rally, just as Muhammad appeared on the stage to speak, the demonstration was interrupted by a low-flying police helicopter. Muhammad alleges that was the signal for more than 3,000 police in riot gear, including some mounted on horseback, to come in and disperse the crowd. In response, Muhammad exhorted the rally participants to attack the oncoming police, to beat them with rails, and to shoot them with their own guns. Dozens were arrested, and 30 officers and five civilians were injured.[5][6] Mayor Giuliani said that the march turned out to be precisely what he predicted, “filled with hatred, horrible, awful, vicious, anti-Semitic and other anti-white rhetoric, as well as exhortations to kill people, murder people…the speeches given today should not occur [at] any place.”[5] In subsequent activism, Muhammad convened a second march in 1999.
In 2000, Muhammad’s beliefs were introduced to a completely new demographic when it was revealed that one of the contestants on the American version of the Dutch television show Big Brother, William Collins (Hiram Ashantee), was a follower of his. He also appeared in an episode of Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends.
In 2001, Muhammad died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 53.
Muhammad had five children, including Farrah Gray, who grew up in Chicago’s South Side without their father present. Although Gray saw his father only during occasional visits, he credits Muhammad for inspiring him with confidence. Gray rose from poverty to become a successful business entrepreneur, but did not join his father’s political activities.
