man!" the Muslims are right there talking junkie jargon to him. "Baby, knock that monkey off your
back! Kick that habit! Kick Whitey off your back!" The addict, writhing in pain, his nose and eyes
running, is pouring sweat from head to foot. He's trying to knock his head against the wall, flailing
his arms, trying to fight his attendants, he is vomiting, suffering diarrhea. "Don't hold nothing back!
Let Whitey go, baby! You're going to stand tall, man! I can see you now in the Fruit of Islam!"
When the awful ordeal is ended, when the grip of dope is broken, the Muslims comfort the weak
ex-addict, feeding him soups and broths, to get him onhis feet again. He will never forget these
brothers who stood by him during this time. He will never forget that it was the Nation of Islam's
program which rescued him from the special hell of dope. And that black brother (or the sister,
whom Muslim sisters attend) rarely ever will return to the use of narcotics. Instead, the ex-addict
when he is proud, clean, renewed, can scarcely wait to hit the same junkie jungle he was in, to
"fish" out some buddy and salvage him!
If some white man, or "approved" black man, created a narcotics cure program as successful as
the one conducted under the aegis of the Muslims, why, there would be government subsidy, and
praise and spotlights, and headlines. But we were attacked instead. Why shouldn't the Muslims
be subsidized to save millions of dollars a year for the government and the cities? I don't know
what addicts' crimes cost nationally, but it is said to be billions a year in New York City. An
estimated $12 million a year is lost to thieves in Harlem alone.
An addict doesn't work to supply his habit, which may cost anywhere from ten to fifty dollars a
day. How could he earn that much? No! The addict steals, he hustles in other ways; he preys
upon other human beings like a hawk or a vulture-as I did. Very likely, he is a school drop-out, the
same as I was, an Army reject, psychologically unsuited to a job even if he was offered one, the
same as I was.
Women addicts "boost" (shoplift), or they prostitute themselves. Muslim sisters talk hard to black
prostitutes who are struggling to quit using dope in order to qualify morally to become registered
Muslims. "You are helping the white man to regard your body as a garbage can-"
Numerous "exposes" of the Nation of Islam have implied that Mr. Muhammad's followers were
chiefly ex-cons and junkies. In the early years, yes, the converts from society's lowest levels were
a sizable part of the Nation's broad base ofmembership. Always Mr. Muhammad instructed us,
"Go after the black man in the mud." Often, he said, those converted made the best Muslims.
But gradually we recruited other black people-the "good Christians" whom we "fished" from their
churches. Then, an increase began in the membership percentage of educated and trained
Negroes. For each rally attracted to the local temple a few more of that particular city's so-called
"middle-class" Negroes, the type who previously had scoffed at us "Black Muslims" as
"demagogues," and "hate-teachers," "black racists" and all the rest of the names. The Muslim
truths-listened to, thought about-reaped for us a growing quota of young black men and women.
For those with training and talents, the Nation of Islam had plenty of positions where those
abilities were needed.
There were some registered Muslims who would never reveal their membership, except to other
Muslims, because of their positions in the white man's world. There were, I know, a few, who
because of their positions were known only to their ministers and to Mr. Elijah Muhammad.
In 1961, our Nation flourished. Our newspaper Muhammad Speaks' full back page carried an
architect's drawing of a $20 million Islamic Center proposed to be built in Chicago. Every Muslim
was making personal financial contribution toward the Center. It would include a beautiful
mosque, school, library, and hospital, and a museum documenting the black man's glorious
history.
Mr. Muhammad visited the Muslim countries, and upon his return he directed that we would begin
calling our temples "mosques."
There was a sharp climb now, too, in the number of Muslim-owned small businesses. Our
businesses sought to demonstrate to the black people what black people could do for
themselves-if they would only unify, trade with each other-exclusively where possible-and hire
each other, and in so doing, keep black money within the black communities, just as other