Final Call Newspaper Mischaracterizes "Allah", Founder of the Five Percenters

   In what I consider to be a genuine effort to highlight our community, the Final Call , a Nation of Islam Newspaper, recently published an article entitled 'Five Percenters unveil Allah and Justice Square in Harlem.' Its writer Clarke Immatical did a good job directly quoting some of the attendant speakers and articulating the process Mal’akiy 17 Allah experienced in making this vision a reality, yet the writer mischaracterizes Five Percent Nation founder Allah, and our teachings, on more than one occasion. Anticipating outsiders interpretation of our community and this commemorative street naming I published the article "Setting The Record Strait: Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square!!" on March 31st, 2019 to clarify common misconceptions that people have. Here are a few of those mischaracterizations in that Final Call article and the appropriate corrections:

"Clarence 13X, founder of the Five Percenters, left the Nation of Islam in 1963 and continued to teach what his teacher the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught him which is that God is a man."

CORRECTION: Allah was his name, as our Commemorative Street Sign 'Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square' clearly indicates. Allah's name was not Clarence 13X when he founded the Five Percenters. When he left the Nation of Islam he left the religion, he no longer self identified as a Muslim and he ceased using the name Clarence 13X. As mentioned in my article Setting The Record Strait: Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square!!, "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." The Five Percent Nation does not teach that God is "A" man. This implies that an individual, such as W.D. Fard, whom Nation of Islam followers believe, is that God. The Five Percent Nation teaches that the Original Asiatic Blackman is "The God" [Allah], not a god. This is one of the reasons some Muslims deliberately refer to Allah as Clarence 13X and not Allah; they do not acknowledge him nor Five Percenters as equal to W.D. Fard.

"Clarence 13X Allah hit the streets of Harlem with The Supreme Wisdom. He delivered this information to the streets when Harlem was experiencing tremendous police brutality and in need of spiritual direction."

CORRECTION: Again, his name was not "Clarence 13X Allah." Allah primarily taught the principles and values expressed in a unique system and indigenous language he developed known as the Supreme Mathematics and the Supreme Alphabet. His Supreme Mathematics and Supreme Alphabet serves as a key to unlock our relationship to the universe and what came to be known as 120 degrees [lessons]; a series of catechisms that were contained within the Supreme Wisdom book. Allah rejected other elements of the Supreme Wisdom book such as the Instructions Given To The Laborers [Muslim Believers] and the Problem Book.

"The street sign is not an ending, but a continuation of work that these poor righteous teachers have, a work that was expressed by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan himself in a past speech, when he said, “Here is a small percentage of people who know God; and when they know God, they have a duty, and that duty is, to teach what you know to those who do not know."

CORRECTION: The above Minister Louis Farrakhan quote is from a portion of a speech that was sampled as an interlude on Brand Nubian's In God We Trust album that was released in 1992. That speech and the above comment is not in reference to the Five Percent Nation as a cultural community that Allah, Justice and others belonged to and still belong to. That speech and the above comment is a general explanation of one of the degrees which references The Five Percent on this Poor Part of the Planet Earth. The Nation of Islam as led by Minister Farrakhan has no official partnership with the Five Percent Nation community. 

The Five Percent Nation is not inextricably linked to the Muslim religion. In a 1967 interview at the Otisville Reformatory School For Boys Allah shared the following non-Muslim points in regards to religion and the human family,

“… black and white, must unite together...now many of my people are against me, such as the Muslim...they are against me!  This is why I don't believe in religion...because religious peoples do not have no understanding.” 

“Five Percenters, I'm teaching them that they can't go on under religion because religion has never did anything for them.” 

“The people been taking advantage of me ever since I said I was Allah. And I know when I said I was Allah, the Muslim whole world was what? Against me.  I don't care. And now they really against me because I'm not anti-white nor pro-black.  They really against me because everybody is, is against the white. Well let me show you something. Who is man if he ain't man? Tell me!”

Misinformation, left unchecked, sets a trajectory that leads to misconceptions, prejudice, discrimination, loss of property and potentially death. Some of us believe these things to be trivial... This is not. Consider two airplanes leave an airport on a thousand mile journey set on courses that are only 1 degree apart. Seemingly close, these planes are not inexplicably linked and will arrive at two different destinations that are worlds apart. Some may believe that 1 degree is insignificant. It is not. In correctional facilities around the country right now many Five Percenters are denied the right to practice our culture because of a STG [Security Threat Group] label. This permanent landmark, Allah & Justice, Five Percenters Square, was established to honor our cultural heritage, preserve and perpetuate our legacy. It is also a means to help legitimize our identity within these facilities and lift this label. There are also some serious socioeconomic repercussions that can occur when misinformation is distributed, especially when you don't control that narrative. Acres of land have been taken from families, insurance policies denied, contracts not honored, crippling debts levied against people, history rewritten, media content flawed and intellectual property has been stolen all because of inaccurate or incorrect information. Since the global popularization and expansion of Hip Hop, particularly during its Golden Era that was immersed in Five Percenter influences, some non-Five Percenters have tried to claim credit for our contributions and "visually annex" themselves to our community. This has undoubtedly been the intention of some Muslims while constantly refusing to acknowledge the Five Percent Nation as a uniquely distinct non-religious community and our founder, Allah, as the non-Muslim youth advocate and community builder that he was and died as. However, his legacy, our legacy, lives on.

Peace,
Saladin

Unpacking The Attacks On Minister Farrakhan and His Nation of Islam

In my last article about Shootin Ya Shot I elaborated on how challenging it can be sometimes be to translate real-time customs into a virtual reality. Some of those challenges are not just technological, but they are also generational. The appropriation of the English vocabulary and social media slang is largely the part of a Millennial Generation who have developed their own standard of normalcy in how they communicate and interact with each other and other generations. In many ways, their standard is vastly different than past generations. As a youth advocate for for over two decades I have seen the best and the worst of this standard. 

I lay this as the groundwork because it is important to understand the lens in which many view Minister Farrakhan today is within a social media Millennial context. Within that context and from that perspective, there is a difference between the critiques and criticisms of him. A critique is an impartial assessment or analysis of something while a criticism is not impartial and expresses a sense of disapproval based upon perceived faults of mistakes. Considering this, while some critiques may be fair about Minister Farrakhan's Nation of Islam's today, some of the criticisms may not be. Additionally, some critiques may be inaccurate while some criticisms may be fair. Unfortunately, that consideration of a critique, or a criticism, is not something one should expect in a Believer or Follower of any leader. In their eyes, that person is beyond critique or criticism and that, in part, is what maintains their hierarchical structure. This is also what enables people, the vast majority, to be easily led. Now lets get into unpacking these attacks on Minister Farrakhan.

In a recent series of Youtube videos, Vloggers Young Pharaoh and Sara Suten Seti have openly critiqued and criticized Minister Farrakhan, his Nation of Islam, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Master Fard Muhammad and other elements associated with that religion. While some of things I saw and heard were inaccurate and unfair in terms of criticism, some things that I saw were a fair critique. One of the things I must add to this is that their content, whether a critique or criticism, is often explicit, vulgar, belligerent and out right disrespectful in its delivery. This provocative "Keeping it 100" Reality TV way of delivering content is a not only a part of the Young Pharaoh and Sara Suten Seti brand, but it also reflects a standard of normalcy of how many Millennials communicate and interact with each other, and other generations, today. For example, it was and is rare for members in my generation to curse in front of elders. Nowadays it's not rare to see youth in the present generation "cuss" elders out. In my generation we said how "cold" or "cold blooded" something was to define how cool it was. In this generation it's the total opposite: "that's hot!" or "🔥🔥🔥" In my generation AFTER someone shared something we didn't agree with our response was "I'm not hearing that." In this generation? "I'M NOT EVEN TRYING to hear that" Meaning, before you even share it, I'm not listening. In my generation within the secular world people had a safe space to critique and criticize something. In the present generation people are immediately labeled a hater if they don't like or disagree with some person, place or thing. This is the medium through which the public is viewing these series of videos about Minister Farrakhan, his Nation of Islam, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Master Fard Muhammad and other elements associated with that religion. As someone who comes from a "don't curse around your elders" generation, there was a lot I had to filter to even consider what these series of videos proposed. While I will say unequivocally that Young Pharaoh and Sara Suten Seti were out of line in their explicit, vulgar, belligerent and out right disrespectful way of delivering their information, I will also say that some of their points about feeling disrespected as non-Muslim Black Nationalists are valid. 

One of the main issues I wanted to bring some clarity to that I think got lost in their vulgar translation were the points of hypocrisy concerning Followers. In terms of hypocrisy, this is not something exclusive to Minister Farrakhan's organization. Every person and people are subject to this critique. The challenge is who is willing to do it? In a religious hierarchy, that is unlikely to happen. It is unlikely to happen among its members and it is especially unlikely concerning their leader. This has always been problematic because every hierarchy has something shady about it by the nature of its structure. Whenever you have one person at the top, that no one can overshadow, everyone below them operate in the shade. It doesn't mean that everyone below them are shady, it means that this structure and environment encourages shady dealings and in today's lingo, opportunities for people to "throw shade." Think about that for a moment.


Anyway, here are some of those points of hypocrisy concerning Followers, in particular, whom Young Pharaoh and Sara Suten Seti critiqued and criticized: 

*In the above video, when Minister Farrakhan openly said he was a hypocrite for denouncing Master Farad Muhammad and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad after being in the NOI [Nation of Islam] for 20 years, his Followers sympathized. Minutes later when he said, "kill every hypocrite in sight!" his Followers cheered. A am unsure if Minister Farrakhan was suggesting that he was the exception or that his Followers should have dealt with him accordingly when he was a hypocrite. Some Followers are quick to call people hypocrites and completely cut them off for even questioning something Minister Farrakhan says and does. If Minister Farrakhan "came back from a mental death", as our 13th degree in the 1-40s [Lost-Found Lesson #2] states, then surely other brothers/sisters who also strayed and are straying away from civilization should be given the same consideration and patience Bro. Jabril showed Minister Farrkhan.

*When Minister Farrakhan charged Warith Deen Mohammed of deviating from The Teachings and destroying his father's legacy by taking the Nation in an Orthodox Islamic direction, his Followers echoed those sentiments. Years later when Min. Farrakhan started taking his Followers in a similar direction of Warith Deen Mohammed by changing Ramadan from December, appointing a National Imam, restricting publishing of the Supreme Wisdom book, participating in Salaat and other Orthodox Islamic customs, Followers went along with it.

*When Minister Farrakhan silenced and distanced himself and his Nation from Khalid Abdul Muhammad for remarks about Zionists during his November 29th, 1993 Kean College Lecture, his Followers agreed. When Minister Farrakhan has been and is recently being criticized for similar remarks about Zionists, his Followers defend him without ever exonerating Khalid.

In reading this article, some Followers would argue that this is not hypocritical, they are only doing what a Believer should do. The problem with that is the fact that many of these Followers don't extend the same consideration and understanding to non-Muslims that they extend to each other and their leader. That is one thing about El Hajj Malik Shabazz [Malcolm X.] that was never up for debate or an issue. His love for our people, regardless of their religion or station in life, was pure and you always got a sense that he was for black people. He was a black man first and represented himself that way. When Khalid Abdul Muhammad was here, you got the same sense from him; he was a black man first and represented himself that way. With many other leaders, past and present, their allegiance to their people first, not their religious community, organization or political party, is often debatable. While some would say that this doesn't apply to Minister Farrakhan, his Nation's public partnership with the Church of Scientology and investment in Dianetics technology has raised many eyebrows among black folks. While I have studied Dianetics and see some value in it, I like many others, would have liked to see a public partnership and investment with our own groups such as the New Nation of Islam, the United Nation of Islam, the UNIA, the Moorish Science Temple, The Potter's House, African Hebrew Israelites, the Ausar Auset Society, the Five Percent Nation or others. For Minister Farrakhan to not publicly align his Nation with any of these groups, that in my assessment have much more value than Dianetics, is the reasoning behind the critique and criticism he has received about his Church of Scientology initiative. To many of us, it felt and feels like a slap in the face to emphasize the importance and champion the work of L Ron Hubbard without ever creating an initiative that emphasizes the importance and champions the work of  Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Ben-Ami, Father Allah, Queen Afua, Ra Un Nefer Amen, Marimba Ani and countless others.

In closing, the series of Young Pharaoh and Sara Suten Seti videos critiquing and criticizing Minister Farrakhan, his Nation of Islam, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Master Fard Muhammad and other elements associated with that religion culminated with the above dialogue between Young Pharaoh and NOI Followers Ben X., Rizza Islam and Student Minister Willie Muhammad. Although there is more work to be done it terms of communication and responsibility, it was excellent to see the steps taken to strive to work some things out. I don't think that this will be the last spat, especially seeing that this sense of combativeness has become the hallmark of the Conscious Community and the Young Pharaoh and Sara Suten Seti brand, but at least we will have this video as reference material to better address potential conflicts among ourselves in the future.

Peace,

Saladin

Minister Louis Farrakhan: Friend Or Foe?

Minister Louis Farrakhan

Friend Or Foe?

One week following the 10.10.15 Justice or Else Rally in Washington, DC I couldn't help but notice the widespread criticism of Minister Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam by both mainstream media and the everyday person via their social media page. Some of these criticisms have been outright name calling such as "FarraCON" or 'FarraCoon"; defining the minister as a misleading charlatan that's blood sucking the poor. Others have been less abrasive and have articulated their desire to see the evidence and practical application of "or Else" -which they claim wasn't defined at the rally. In his defense, some of his supporters have retorted that a General doesn't announce his strategies to the public, the minister has laid out plans of action years before the rally and people have no right to question someone in his position because they're not the leader. Well today I wanted to offer a perspective to willfully help reconcile these perspectives.

For those who are Anti-Farrakhan:

First and foremost I think it's important to keep in mind that as a leader, some view the minister as a spiritual father, father figure and ultimately someone who occupies a parental role within their life. Considering this, whatever your criticisms are of him, it sounds and feels no different than you talking about someone's parent. Imagine someone talking about your mother or father. Regardless how respectful or on point someone is with a criticism of your parent, you're going to feel some kind of way about it, initially. I don't know many people who are comfortable with someone calling their parent names, ridiculing them or etc.: those are usually fighting words. Even though no person, parent or not, is above criticism, there's always a certain level of respect we've shown our parents even if they were dead wrong. And when I say respect I don't mean "agree and go along with any and everything they say" because sometimes they're not the best knower in every given life situation. To take it a step further: even though the minister may not look it and he colors his hair, he is an 82 year old grandparent and great-grandparent. That in itself warrants the kind of respect we show any elder, not just a parent. And just like our own grandparents and great-grandparents, we may not agree with everything they're saying or doing, but out of respect, there's a way we should talk to and talk about them. That is the posture, decorum and etiquette of a civilized person.

Because I am a free thinker I don't agree with what everyone says or does. Everyone doesn't always agree with me and there are times I reassess something I said or did and don't agree with myself. That being said, I think it's healthy to express the right to critically analyze what anyone says or does. However, I think we have that right not simply for the purpose of argument or to point out what we think is wrong. We have that right, and responsibility, to show and prove what's wrong by presenting what's right. In other words, if you think I can use a better strategy in my STYA Program to teach my youth, don't just point out what you think I'm doing wrong, offer me the right way. When you approach people by penalizing them, as opposed to offering them an alternative, people tend to shut down and be unreceptive to what you have to say. For example, I also teach preschool in addition to my program and there are times I see my students do something wrong. One day I gave a student instructions on practicing their writing. When I walked over to check their work they weren't following the instructions. They were writing, they just weren't following the right instructions. I didn't walk over, snatch the pencil out of their hand and say, "No, that's not how you do it. This is the right way." I said, acknowledging they were at least writing, "Hey..., that's good. Now see if you can write it this way" as a patted them on the shoulder and redirected them back to the right instructions. As adults the same approach, sense of consideration and tact applies. People are generally more welcoming to being offered alternatives than just being criticized or even ridiculed for what they feel, think or believe. This is not to say that we should not engage in intellectual discourses and tiptoe around everybody. This is to say that the basis of these discourses should not be for the purpose of name calling, to ridicule others or for pissing contests. The purpose of any intellectual discourse, especially with our people, should be to discuss and assess the best ideas and strategies to solve our problems. If someone is so caught up in their feelings that they have an inability to rise above their emotions for that purpose, then you need to walk away. Some people worship who they perceive as their leaders, whether it's Jesus, Muhammad, Beyonce, Buddha, Minister Farrakhan and even The Father Allah. And anything you have critical to say about them will be outright rejected, including you and some of your well meaning uninvolved associates. 

For those who are Pro-Farrakhan:
Just because someone questions a man or woman's idea or strategy it doesn't make them an agent, hypocrite, hater or anything else some of you define as antagonistic. Sometimes people simply have and can share a perspective others don't see. This is the reason Minister Farrakhan has a research team; there are things he simply doesn't know or understand and he relies on a counsel of advisors to teach him. And yes, some of them are about half of his age. Now keep in mind that there are many people who are not a part of the minister's advisor team who are more than qualified to advise him, and them, too. Many of these men and women are not Muslims nor are they registered members of his Nation of Islam. Some of them are a part of your social networks and you interact with them often. I mention this to emphasize the fact that knowledge is inexhaustible which gives everyone the potential of being a best knower in any given situation. Some find it difficult to grasp this reality because it seems to conflict with a hierarchal structure of having one leader at the top and a descending order of roles beneath them. It's difficult to imagine that someone beneath the person at the top can conceptualize something beyond that leader's realm of thinking. It's also difficult to imagine that the person at the top cannot conceptualize something from someone that's beneath them. You are aware that someone had to teach Minister Farrakhan how to set up and use a Twitter account right? I'm sure you also know his team of advisors put him on to certain Rappers he never heard about before because they were key support contacts he needed to meet in order to promote the Justice or Else rally, right? The point in saying this is to remind all of you that the title of leader doesn't mean that someone personally has all of the answers. No great leader would make that claim, and when these leaders do make the honest claim that it's not about them, and even give credit to their benefactors, many of us simply don't believe it.

One of the other things that's important to understand is this: there are those who respectfully disagree with the 10.10.15 Justice or Else rally because they have a hard time "quantifying" it. Sure many can speak about the quality of their personal experience and no one can take that away from them, but how do you accurately quantify or measure that experience? This is one of the reasons some people were/are discouraged and disenchanted with the rally; they don't see a tangible, concrete example of "What's next?" For example, the 2015 BET Hip Hop Awards viewer ratings were down over 50% [1.4 million] this year from 2014. It can be argued that this plunge is a direct result of the BET Boycott social media campaign against the network for not covering the rally. You can even argue how the current nationally conscious #BlackLivesMatter backdrop, coupled with the Justice or Else rally, has created the Anti-Empire sentiments responsible for their weekly rating drop. That is quantifiable, it's tangible and concrete. For those who would like to effectively demonstrate the rally's impact, or even the minister's impact on a local, regional, national or international level, these kinds of quantifiable Talking Points are necessary to show and prove it. Some people are simply not moved by someone's personal beliefs or human interest stories. Understandably, some people want to know what's in it for them, what is the actual outcome, if/when they invest their time and/or money into something.

In conclusion, I think it's important to keep the focus on the collective movement of people who are actually invested in programs, projects and initiatives to bring about justice. I had an opportunity to participate in a National Community Forum after the rally which echoes these sentiments. It took place at We Act Radio Station [Washington DC] and its purpose was to bring people from across the nation together to discuss these programs, projects and initiatives we're already invested in and how you can also get involved. In addition to checking out the above link for ideas of how you can get involved, here is something else you can do and share with others: Down from 11% last season, we the people are again calling for a Nationwide Boycott during the Holiday season (November – December 2015) to not purchase any goods or services. If anyone makes any purchases, it should be strictly with Black-owned businesses. Also, we are encouraging everyone to not advertise or promote any goods, services, brands/logos of outside companies using their social networks [Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and etc.]. We should only advertise or promote Black-owned businesses. Let's keep our personal beefs and religious disagreements off of social media and at home. Publically we must continue to be positively invested in this collective momentum that's quantifying the transformation we would like to see.

Peace,
Saladin

Justice or Else: What's Next?

Justice or Else: What's Next?

7 Experiences of a Five Percenter

It's 3:09am and I'm up reflecting and writing on the 10.10.15 Justice or Else Rally in Washington DC I recently attended. Although there were many things I saw and heard, here are  7 Experiences I wanted to share with all of you. Before I do that I want to first give a shout out and thank my brother Keith Muhammad of Luv4Self for organizing our trip and the other members of our entourage for travelling down.

• I loved seeing the numerous vendors utilizing this entrepreneurship opportunity to provide goods/services for the people. It was definitely an example of cooperative economics. Aside from the economic stimulus to the city's economy via food, lodging, transportation and etc., I'm already working on something to address and redirect some of that revenue to neglected communities/commercial zones when gatherings like this take place, regardless of the City/State.

• The "Justice or Else: What's Next?" National Community Forum I participated in focused on various grassroot programs, projects and initiatives we're engaged in that already addresses "What's Next?" We discussed the political process, displacement/gentrification, education models, cooperative economics and etc. The best part about grassroot forums such as this is people don't simply leave encouraged. We were there working and we left with tasks. For example, during a segment we took a moment to come up with a vision statement and #hashtags to start tweeting a public official to begin using our social networks to mobilize around a specific quality of life issue. Click the highlighted link so you can check it out.



"Justice or Else: What's Next" National Community Forum

• I'm glad I had an opportunity to connect with so many people in the flesh who are working towards bringing about a better world for our present and future generations. I'm also glad that I was able to connect with my Queens and Howard University students Asiyah and Aziza and share some time with my eldest Asiyah because her 20th Born Day was also 10.10.15. In addition, 10.10.15 marks the 51st year and formal Born Day of the Five Percenters so it was also beautiful to celebrate that with some of my Universal Family. One of my best highlights was finally meeting the young sun my God Brother and his Queen gave me the honor of naming "Khemel." That was indeed love to the highest degree!

• By the time I arrived in DC I was running on fumes: the last full meal I had was a day earlier and I hadn't slept in 60 hours. Although I ended up eating some of the food/water donated by Author D. Scott I still hadn't slept taking turns driving back. Not sure if any of you have experienced this before but lack of sleep can make you hallucinate. At one point the white vehicle in front of me turned red and looked like a Dumb & Dumber version of Clifford The Big Red Dog. Lol I say this to say: when you're travelling, make sure you get some rest first and possibly when you arrive somewhere, before you travel back.

• Of the many positive things people said to me, one of the things that struck me was a brother saying how proud he was of me for the way I represent Five Percenters worldwide. It wasn't a back handed compliment and he was sincere about it. I appreciated that because it's not often that brothers put their EGO aside and honestly give another brother credit like that without wrapping it up in joke or mumbling it. Herein lies a greater problem with that mentality: When we're not sharing our love, support and appreciation for each other, we're not showing our younger generations how to love, support and appreciate each other. One of the reasons we don't see it in our millennial generation is because they don't see us doing it. I've not had an issue sharing love, support and appreciation for what others are doing and willfully that gesture symbolizes a growing sense of unity and cooperation we need as brothers to effectively address the problems that are plaguing our families and communities.

• The "or Else" means many things to many people. To me it's an unfinished sentence that represents the consequences of apathy, disunity, egotism and blind consumerism. So for example, "Justice or else... we're going to see the continual deterioration of our families and communities." Sometimes in order to build, some things must be destroyed. In this case, and among other things, it's apathy, disunity, egotism and blind consumerism that must be destroyed in order to transform our present conditions.

• If we're participating in a nationwide blackout/boycott to not support certain businesses and services we also should blackout/boycott promoting and advertising certain businesses and services. For example, not buying Polo gear for a couple of days yet simultaneously posting pictures on Instagram, Twitter and/or Facebook wearing Polo gear defeats the purpose of participating in a blackout/boycott. Even though we didn't buy anything, we may have encouraged half a dozen people to go buy something. Lol Just something to think about. Here's a video I did entitled Advertising and Self Determination where I further elaborate on this.

In closing I had an excellent time building and networking with others, seeing the beauty of our unity and leaving with more ideas to continue my work at home and abroad. Regardless who was there, who spoke and etc., people will ultimately take away from this event what they brought to it and willfully what they gained while being there. The above video visually documents part of my experience there. The background music is a track called "Pressure" which was also produced by me.

Peace,
Saladin