Farrakhan in Philadelphia: 'Build a new nation'

Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam came to the birthplace of America on Sunday and, to thunderous applause, urged thousands of his followers to work with him "to build a new nation."

Speaking before an enthusiastic crowd in a cavernous ballroom at the Convention Center, Farrakhan delivered a message of separatism and self-reliance, urging African Americans to unite and buy land and start banks and build businesses and schools. Together, he said, they should strive to create a better future for their children and their communities - apart from their white brethren.

"Come on out and go work and build a new nation," he urged his cheering audience. "We've got to get up and do something for ourselves."

Farrakhan, 78, was sharply critical of President Obama, whom he described as "living in the White House for a short time and about to get evicted."

He said the American government was "rotten to the core." He railed against a Congress that he said was too dependent on campaign money and compromised by the largesse of big donors.

He faulted the nation's leaders for leading the country into war.

"We should all conscientiously object to the war that is going on in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Pakistan, in Somalia, in Yemen, in Libya," he said, his voice rising. "We must not let our government send our babies to die on the basis of a lie."

Farrakhan accused the news media of "stoking the fuel for war in Pakistan and in Iran" and said, "As Muslims, never would we fight against our Muslim brothers for the Zionists of America that have locked down the government of America. Never will we die for the state of Israel."

At that, the crowd applauded and many rose to their feet.

The gathering marked the 16th anniversary of the Million Man March, when hundreds of thousands of black men converged around the National Mall in Washington to call attention to problems facing their communities and to work on solutions. Since that march, anniversary gatherings have been held each year in a different city.

Farrakhan said Philadelphia was a fitting place for his message. He reminded the crowd - which packed a room that organizers said was set with 15,000 chairs - that here, the country's founders formed a nation that initially counted black men as three-fifths of a person.

"If you like the dollar bill with the enemy's face on it, if that means more to you than to carve out a future for your children, then die," he said. "If being accepted by white people means more to you than seeing your babies free, then you have chosen death rather than life."

Farrakhan spoke for two hours and 15 minutes before a rapt audience. Women in flowing dresses and head coverings mingled with men in crisp suits and bow ties, along with casually dressed spectators.

Before he took the stage, women clad in floor-length white dresses and white veils passed paper buckets and collected donations.

Among those waiting to hear Farrakhan was Brother Mark X, who traveled from Harrisburg. "His message tells the whole United States to unite to treat black men with respect, freedom, justice, and equality," he said. "It's an inspirational message."

Before Farrakhan took the stage, the crowd applauded Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, who said he was honored to have helped clear the way for the inaugural gathering in 1995.

"It does matter who's the mayor of the town," he said. "This black man stood up and gave the entire town to the march. . . . When you get power, use it for our people."

Barry recalled that the National Park Service had initially estimated the crowd that year at fewer than the one million that organizers had billed it to be. "I knew it was a lie," said Barry, whose mayoral tenure was marred when he was caught using crack cocaine and who is now a member of Washington's City Council. "So I got up in a helicopter and I looked and I discovered that white men can't count either."

Though Farrakhan berated Obama in the course of his speech, the minister's closing words echoed the president's.

Obama recently caused an uproar when, at a Congressional Black Caucus event, he urged listeners to "take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes" and "stop complaining, stop grumbling."

Farrakhan said: "Take off your bedroom slippers; you've been sleeping too long. Put on your working shoes. Shake off dependency. Stop crying. Stop whining. Go to work and build our future."