[applause]

>> come on now, come on, come on! lord, lord, lord, lord, lord. there he is, this sweet spirit in this place. this vary, very special occasion, i would not want to be in any other place in the country than here now tonight. i want to salute each and every one of you for the work you have already done. the language of john coltrane, being forces for good in the

past, present, and the work that i know you plan to do. i want to salute my dear brother, give it up. [applause] so much eloquence. cicero defines eloquence as wisdom speaking. even as an old soul, he has a golden heart, a brilliant mind, he resonates so much of the best of the islamic tradition in the united states. that may be the difference, a crucial difference, because you and i know about the vicious stereotypes when it comes to our precious muslim brothers and sisters and to be able to see

talent, a sense of humor, you can tell he got a lot of style to him, doesn't he? give it up to him. [applause] when i told him we were coming to texas, he had never been to texas before. he said, i want to see what it is like. i said you were coming to the best of texas. do not confuse the best with some of the other parts of texas. in all honesty, i want to let you know my mom is a texan. [applause] i will never be half of the human being she was. she is from a major public -- major metropolitan center called

orange,, texas. my brother was also born in texas so when i think of texas, i do not think about what many of my mellow sit -- fellow citizens think of texas as projected by the mainstream press, i think of mama, irene the west, who has an elementary school named after her. i think of clifton west, i am already deeply blessed to be in contact with some of the best of not just texas, not just america, i'm talking about the best of the human spirit. let us just be honest. we human beings, we are a wretched species to all.

much of our history -- potential, if we so choose as wretched people to be wonderful, to be visionary, to be committed to love, to be committed to justice, i want you all to give it up to this brother here, he is the son of senator nina jeffries, he stayed out of

cleveland. [applause] let me get back to my wretchedness. the possibility of interruptions , the possibility of disruptions of the history of greed and hatred and domination and occupation and subjugation and degradation. in that is what we are here tonight to talk about. how do we become more fortified to be countervailing forces against all forms of organized greed, institutional hatred, and scrutinized indifference? i come from a people, a very great people, black people, who

have constituted so much of the moral conscious of america, in america sounded on stolen land of precious indigenous brothers and sisters, they don't have to be in the room for us to be in solidarity with their suffering. and then the enslavement of my own people. over hundreds of some years, brother, just wave, there he is, one of the great students, and

some still incarcerated. but what did black people do to try to hold up a pristine barrel -- banner and try to be the moral conscious in america in the face of all of that hatred? we kept dishing out warriors, every generation. my dear brothers and heart out there. same tradition, my brothers, in the face of all of that organized greed and hatred, here comes frederick douglas, ida b wells, martin luther king, tony martin, james baldwin, john coltrane of love supreme when you so thoroughly hated when your people are enslaved and

lynched, black people were lynched every two and a half days for 50 years in the united states. in the state of texas. in this very moment we've got more black people in the state of texas than any other state in the country? we are at an unprecedented moment in the history of the american empire. for the first time in the history of this nation, the muslim community, our precious islamic brothers and sisters, are moving to the center of the discourse and constituting a crucial part of the moral conscious of america. and that is part of the challenge, that is why the muslim legal front led by our leader, come give it up

[applause] that is why your leadership make such a crucial difference. it is like the naacp legal defense for so many of those freedom fighters, who would've thought in 1964 when america still had a white supremacist immigration act in place, what so many of you could not even come to america because you had to be from western europe to get here, given the white supremacist immigration act of 1964, yes it was the black freedom movement that pushed that and there are magnificent human beings all around the world. let's look at india, africa, bangladesh, my god. things are going to change.

i can tell you this. when i used to come through texas in the 1960's, to see my daddy and my grandmother, i did not see too many muslims around. i did not see too many folks from indian names or from the middle east. white supremacy immigration policy was still at work. the 65 immigration act open those doors. who would have thought, 2024 was the very litmus test of some sense of morality and an overwhelming moment of barb alec -- barbaric enthusiasm in gaza? the mental criteria of what it means to have some morality and spirituality, not just in america, but in the world.

and if you are silent on that, then shame on you. shame on you. we look around, it is not just the younger generation even though they play a very important part, but when you look around on who was really willing to straighten their backs up, not in the name of hatred and revenge, in the name of love and justice that we stand with our palestinian brothers and sisters in gaza, how come, because we love palestinians and we believe a palestinian baby has the exact same value and significance as any baby in the world, no matter what color, no matter what gender, whether it is texas, whether it is gaza, whether it is japan, ethiopia, guatemala,

across the whole world. yes, yes indeed. i see my dear brother david. give it up for my dear brother david west and his magnificent wife. we go back 35 years, his father richard, brother richard, his mother sally and. i was blessed to write books with them, we have so many memories together. what do you find? yes, among our precious jewish brothers and sisters, magnificence spiritual renaissance, political awakening come up with the jewish voices for peace, a whole wave of jewish brothers and sisters doing what? integrity, honesty, decency, courage, is not ever just a

function of what your religious identity is, just like it was never a question of skin pigmentation for black people. black people became the moral conscious of america because they were courageous enough and visionary enough to come together with an indictment of america's white supremacy and in spite of the organized greed and then organized and saw love. any we talk about any community, let's never be romantic. there is a history of black gangsters as well as a history of martin luther king jr. and muhammad ali and cole train, all three were muslims in the history of black people. as a black man, i still got some

gangster in me. [laughter] [applause] i have to fight it every day. every day. so when we talk about our muslims, other christians, jews, secular folk, yes, they all have some gangster in them. when i look at what is going on in iran right now, the mistreatment, of the muslim that is a human affair. are we really connected with the humanity of others?

too often in the congress, too often in the corporate media. [indiscernible] i am thoroughly convinced there is a genocide taking place right now with innocent people, buy it and would have a very different take on it. that is the complicity to organized greed and institutional hatred. the biden administration would probably be providing assistance to the jewish version

of hamas and call them freedom fighters. call them freedom fighters. and i would say, i'm still old school. i support resistance. i support resilience. but that resistance and that resilience has to have a morality and spirituality. it doesn't kill innocent folks or babies. i don't care where they are. i don't care what color they are. old-school, that's right. i made old-school -- i'm an old-school christian. i will debate, i will fight, i will always be in solidarity.

i recognize every form of resistance and resilience takes a variety of form. sometimes it's violent, sometimes it's nonviolent. absolutely. but there has to be a morality and a spirituality even of the oppressed. as we engage in our discourse, [indiscernible] and then the cowards in the white house, the united nations, and the congress who enable it. many say, you are running for president and you are calling the president a war criminal? i say, yeah, that's me. i don't hate biden.

i pray for his family. you have to take responsibility for your actions. you tell iran they are fully responsible for providing arms to other nations. then you are fully responsible for providing arms for genocide and ethnic cleansing and supporting apartheid and it is the beacon of democracy, where's the morality, where's the spirituality? full of righteous indignation. righteous indignation cannot simply be symbolic. you have to speak truth to power. not just to the relatively powerless. you've got to be willing to speak the truth to ourselves. what kind of human being are

we going to choose? that's a great question. hebrew scripture says what? do justly. spread that lovingkindness.

not because he can't stand the rich. because he can't stand grade. he is in love with people. especially oppressed people. building on judaism. building on christianity. let us form a state where the christians and jwes and muslims -- jews and muslims can live together. because there is no god but one god. no idolatry here. in every nation state, every flag will be under that god. these days it's hard to find folks that are serious about their religion. martin luther king used to say, i'd rather be dead than afraid. i'd rather be a corpse than

a coward. on the legal front, political front, social front, artistic front, we should remember martin luther king jr. in the paddy wagon with just him and a german shepherd. his father told me a numberof years ago -- he could not walk a straight line. all he could say is, this is the cross. we must band further freedom of our people -- for the freedom of our people. the cross is not something you talk about or bear.

sometimes you end up on that cross. look at all the martyrs right now burying that cross. their spirit is alive in this room. their spirit is still strong in this room. and we will never, ever forget their resilience and sacrifice. that's to oppressed people wherever you go. our spirit as human beings is never crushed. that's why america has such a crucial role to play and why the coming together of the black freedom struggle connected to the critique of the american in

poverty and great, and scapegoating on the most vulnerable, and the bringing together of those various groups of all colors who are willing to say, we are going to not talk about -- we are going to be, enact, embody the moral conscience of this nation. the votes in michigan it's just the beginning. that's just the first step. that's just the embryonic moment. and that moment is not just about politics. don't believe the hype with corporate media saying, oh my god, we've got another gr oup. what's the muslim community going to do? no, we are going to talk about morality, spirituality. we will never allow anybody

to play political tricks. that they can move human beings as pieces of chess. oh, it must be apac, it must be organized agreed, it must be money -- organized greed, it must be money. it's the truth. apec [indiscernible] no way a part of their reflection. we tell the truth about them. it's got nothing to do with the hatred of jewish brothers and sisters. it's got everything to do with our love for palestinians. we would do the same for any oppressed groups. and thank god, dallas,

-- ground zero of the emerging muslim spiritual awakening and moral renaissance taken place. like my that brother said, is going to be black, jewish, agnostic, for those of us that believe in god, we are going to have some patience, because some of them are just as serious about fighting against oppression as anybody else. i'm an old-fashioned man. that's my tradition. the blues are about catastrophe. nobody loves me but my mama and she might be driving, too.

everything is against you. nothing you can fall back on. billie holiday talking about americanism. just like the idf. terrorism. american troops in vietnam. terrorism. any innocent group killing in a sinful, terrorism -- killing innocent folk, terrorism. we are looking for more than even just allies. look at miles davis [indiscernible] played the piano. he was beautifully vanilla. but he would never turn and say we are going to now hear a solo from our white allies, no, he has in the wagon,

he has earned his role in the band. he is in the band. . he was in the band. you have earned your position with your consistency and your constancy. so when they see somebody, beautifully black, in the event. being in the band together

means being there over and over and over again. when you show up standing for the brothers and sisters of gaza , they don't say, here comes the brother, he is our black ally, no, i'm in the band. i'm committed in truth, to justice, to love. that's what the band is all about. greed has predominated the landscape and the history of the u.s.. i just thank god that you are here in the band, stay in the band. keep fighting. loving. keep telling the truth. be patient with your differences.

but keep the focus on the suffering. and then will arise a better future. don't let anybody tell you that the end is going to be a question of a two state solution, where palestinians are marginalized and subjugated and they ought to be happy with that situation. the two state solution seems to be dead at the moment because you got too many settler colonial expansionists and settlers that have already taken the land. what we want is to ensure that there are certain nonnegotiables. endured security and safety. we want endured security and safety across the dignity and equality, too. we don't want a two state

solution shoved down our throats and say, you must be satisfied with these beds. we want to make sure that there is dignity and equality, and that there will never be a genocide for any group, for anybody. thank you so very much. [applause] god less the. thank you -- god bless you. thank you, everybody. >> i want you all to make some noise. let him feel the love. [applause] >> thank you.

>> god bless you. >> i was excited to hear you speak. >> i'm blessed to be here. thank you, thank you. >> we will keep it going. >> thank you. who's going to finish up? >> do you remember me? >> miss mona. >> good to see you>>. >> let's get him a photo of you two together. i'm going to sneak in and photobomb. thank you. thank you so much for the amazing work. god bless you. [laughter] >> i have followed you

for years. i would -- i never thought i would get a chance to meet you. we appreciate your support. i like the way you call everybody brother and sister. that's the way it should be. >> absolutely, my dear sister. thank you. >> thank you. [indistinct speaking] >> thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> thank you for mlsa. this is my sister. she met you decades ago. her name is sylvia. [indiscernible]

>> i've got to get a sigma in here. sigma or alpha. all right. you go eat now. >>