It’s a privilege to introduce, if you don’t know him already, award-winning photojournalist and poet Askia Muhammad. He is former Editor-in-chief of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Speaks and is a Senior Editor and former White House Correspondent for the NOI’s official newspaper, The Final Call. He was an assistant to NOI founder, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and is close to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Nation’s current leader, and accompanied him on his third World Friendship Tour in 1997. (For an interview of Muhammad by Kojo Nnamdi, click here.)
Muhammad is the author of a number of books, including Black Muslim Millenium: A Brief History of The Nation of Islam, which is must reading about perhaps the most misunderstood Black movement in 20th century America, and The Autobiography of Charles 67X, the name he formerly went by and a collection of photos, poetry and personal essays that covers his life as a politically and socially engaged journalist. He has been a commentator forPacifica Network News and NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and his articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and many other publications.
We recently talked for 11 Minutes (more or less, it went long but you should really listen) about his incredible life, career and the Nation of Islam. “Donald Trump is a slimy low-life and human being,” he said of the 45th president of the United States. “I don’t see how white people can overlook his flaws.”
Asked about his five political, intellectual and artistic heroes, he offered this list: Muhammad Ali, Stevie Wonder, “Minister Farrakhan, but he’s in a category by himself,” former Congressman John Conyers, and John Brown. He added that he was an admirer of Bernie Sanders, but he didn’t make the top five.
I hope you enjoy the interview and pardon me for letting it go long, but the Nation of Islam is an important Black political and religious movement and we rarely hear about it from its members directly. Washington Babylon exists, in part, to be a platform for underrepresented voices and whatever you think of the Nation of Islam — which Malcolm X of course was a member of before a rift with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad — its voice is rarely heard unfiltered.
So here you go.
Episode 3: Askia Muhammad
