Setting The Record Strait: Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square!!

"Clarence 13X was the level of understanding he [Allah, The Father] had when he was in the mosque. As his understanding grew he took on the name Allah. We honor Allah as the man who founded the Five Percenters, not Clarence 13X who was a Muslim at that time." 

Mal'akiy 17 Allah 

[Responding to a Community Board Member who asked, "Why not name it Clarence 13X Way?"]

On Saturday March 30th the Official Street Naming of 126th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard to Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square set the record in commemorating our community. Through the vision of our brother Mal'akiy 17 Allah [K.O.S. 5 Allah], support of our community members and local government, this permanent landmark was established to honor our cultural heritage, preserve and perpetuate our legacy. 

Traditionally, the naming of streets were done for a practical purpose. That purpose has been to create a sense of spatial orientation in order to minimize confusion where people travel, to give them a clear sense of direction and to help them easily navigate an environment. A street named Oakwood Street was typically in an area where there were oak woods. River Road is a road by a river. Clearmount Drive is often a road you drive on that gives you a clear view of the local mountain. Commemorative street names of people or historic events move beyond just a practical purpose. Here are just 7 things to understand about commemorative street names and their potential power in transforming communities:

• Commemorative street names of people and historic events are landmarks that establish a sense of permanence and public visibility that is acknowledged, legitimized and celebrated by a municipality [locally] and reinforced regionally, nationally and globally. 
• The renaming of a street changes maps, tourist guide books, GPS coordinates, spatial orientation, residential and/or commercial addresses, geography and social landscapes. It is a reorientation of public space and the people in it.
• Commemorative street names of people and historic events highlight an official narrative that is attached to that landmark. That official narrative establishes "identity politics" that are also attached to a municipality [locally] and reinforced regionally, nationally and globally. It is the location where asphalt meets identity, giving concrete meaning to the culture, chronology and social context of the people this landmark represents.
• The official narrative representing a person, people or historic event can rise or fall in the eyes of the public, based upon who creates, controls and communicates that content. That official narrative publicly highlights the character, reputation and legacy of the person or people [community] who are associated with that landmark. 
• Commemorative street names of people and historic events can build civic pride and change the power dynamics [geopolitics and socioeconomics] of a community. 
• Commemorative street names of people and historic events create cultural [heritage] tourism and other economic opportunities for its community members, AND potential.. outsiders... 
• Commemorative street names of people and historic events serve as a cultural barometer; an indicator that forecasts the potential conditions and elevation of a community and the politics surrounding its collective identity. That collective identity is its cultural capital.

These are just some of the things I have considered and what some of our Universal Family discussed during the Community Engagement class I facilitated at the Allah School In Mecca CommonUnity Center following the Official Unveiling of our street sign. As one of the representatives of our glorious Nation I give all that I have and do all within my power to see that we manifest our power locally, regionally, nationally and globally. The significance of our street being a 'square' puts anyone on square who claims to be about this culture.

Mal'akiy 17 Allah who spearheaded this Landmark initiative

This landmark commemoration of Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square is equally a "decommemoration" of those people, places and things that are not us. With this symbolic event we publicly honor, observe and recognize who we are and put to rest any confusion about who we are not. Some of that confusion is the result of misinformation or poor guidance. Some of that confusion has been deliberate propaganda people have used to try and hijack or change our official narrative. People have incorrectly and disrespectfully called Allah, our founder, by his registered Muslim name Clarence 13X, even though he was not a Muslim or a registered member of the NOI [Nation of Islam] when he founded the Five Percent Nation. During one of the Community Board Presentations for the street naming Mal'akiy 17 Allah was asked by a Community Board Member, "Why not name it Clarence 13X Way?" to which he responded, "Clarence 13X was the level of understanding he [Allah, The Father] had when he was in the mosque. As his understanding grew he took on the name Allah. We honor Allah as the man who founded the Five Percenters, not Clarence 13X who was a Muslim at that time." 

Shamel Allah [Allah's Grandsun] and Law Student Starmel Allah with Allah's Military Medals

Over the years, outside onlookers and Five Percenter defectors have incorrectly called us a religion, Muslims, a NOI splinter group, Muslim Gods, a Gang and a variety of other false narratives that fundamentally contradict who Allah & Justice was and what a Five Percenter's square represents. March 30th, 2019 is another major victory in putting that confusion to rest. It is another positive step in the right direction of protecting our cultural identity, preserving and perpetuating our legacy as a unique group or people with our own language, social norms and worldview. This also emplaces [positions] our members in a public space of local, regional, national and global visibility that some of us may have never thought about and professionally prepared for. Because of this, some of us must begin reconsidering how we represent ourselves as citizens of our Nation and what we can do to add-on to the cipher. I am one of many who have anticipated this day and today we set the record strait! 

Peace,

Saladin