This week’s episode of Nurah Speaks is a Special Tribute Rewind in honor of Munir Muhammad, whose birthday we celebrated March 27th. Brother Munir was the business manager and co-founder of CROE (Coalition for the Remembrance of Elijah Muhammad). He was also known as the chief archivist and historian of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam.

This interview was recorded on December 9, 2017 in Camden, New Jersey during a film showing of the movie ‘The Nation’, written and directed by Junie Smith.

In this interview Brother Munir explains:

•how the Honorable Elijah Muhammad impacted him personally

•why time dictated the establishment of CROE

•why the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam are misunderstood by many

I feel it is important to note the significant impact of the work of Brother Munir. He was a man who single handedly performed the work of many men. He was an archivist, a journalist, an investigative reporter, a facilitator, a radio host, a television host, a leading media figure, a husband, a father, a successful businessman and so much more.

On set in the CROE television studio, he interviewed prominent politicians, judges, notable civil rights figures, renowned actors and actresses, singers, song writers, community organizers, Senators and Congressman, religious leaders, celebrated authors, respected businessmen and business women. Additionally, Brother Munir interviewed leaders of other esteemed nations and offered us a global perspective on world affairs.

On Nurah Speaks, when I mention my own personal mentors who have inspired and encouraged me to begin this podcast journey-Brother Munir was always one of my strongest supporters.

There are countless men and women who we learn little if anything about but who have worked tirelessly to address issues impacting our people. Brother Munir Muhammad was one of those men whose impact has not only been national but UNIVERSAL!

I honor him. I honor his legacy. And it has been a personal privilege to know him and join him on his television shows remotely and in person on so many great occasions.

He will continue to be an example to be emulated in the work for the true liberation of our people.

Enjoy this tribute replay of my interview with our Brother Munir Muhammad.

Learn more about CROE by visiting CROE.ORG and CROETV.COM. CROE is located at 2435 West 71st Street (CROE Lane) Chicago, IL 60629. You can contact them at 773-925-1600 or CROE@CROE.ORG.

Viewers can watch CROE live each Wednesday at 7:30est and Sunday at 3:30est on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC--UCt5LqFF3IW5fLn5lH2g or on Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/muhammad-and-friends. Be sure to check out CROE’s archived episodes as well!

If you would like to engage with the podcast, submit your listener questions to info@NurahSpeaks.com. Listeners can also learn more by visiting NurahSpeaks.com.

You can follow Nurah Speaks on X, Instagram and Facebook @NurahSpeaks and subscribe to the channel on YouTube.

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Harriett A. Washington is featured this episode for her incredible work in cataloguing historical and present day medical abuses experienced by Black patients within the medical industry. Her research provides the stark reality of how practically racial biases are applied everyday in medical offices, hospitals, clinics and pharmacies.

Often Black patients’ suspicion of doctors is dismissed as hyper paranoia related to the Tuskegee Study. Such disregard suggests the Tuskegee was a one-off atrocity. Harriet Washington’s research exposes the reality of the exploitation, abuses, under treatment, over treatment and savage treatment by doctors against Black people from the antebellum to the present.

In other words, Harriet’s work is confirmation of the sentiments many Black people have concerning the medical industry as less myth than hyper vigilance against true and real medical perversions experienced throughout American history.

This episode highlights three of her books:

1. Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present (2006)

2. Deadly Monopolies: The Shocking Corporate Takeover of Life Itself—And the Consequences for Your Health and Our Medical Future (2011)

3.Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent (2021)

If you would like to engage with the podcast, submit your listener questions to info@NurahSpeaks.com. Listeners can also learn more by visiting NurahSpeaks.com.

You can follow Nurah Speaks on X, Instagram and Facebook @NurahSpeaks and subscribe to the channel on YouTube.

This episode celebrates the conviction of Zora Neale Hurston in holding to her principles in spite of pressure from both the literary world and leaders within the Harlem Renaissance to write in a fashion that was both palatable and expressive of the black grief and pain of American racism.

Though Zora acknowledged that Black Americans experienced hardships associated with prejudice, she did not believe it was the predominant experience that should be expressed in literature. For Zora, Black people were joy and beauty, intelligence and love and in no great measure were we robbed of presence and prestige because of the divisions of segregation. Therefore, her writings in the 1920’s and 30’s were a deviation from the harsher realities portrayed by other authors such as Richard Wright.

Additionally, as an anthropologist, Zora held to the dialect and vernacular of the subjects she interviewed despite urgings to make the text ‘tidier’ for the reader. Rather, Zora chronicled the accounts of her subjects unchanged from how they were delivered to her.

These choices unfortunately had a deleterious impact on her work and though she saw great success with ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’, she subsequently found it impossible to get published and ultimately had to return to menial labor and living in housing for the poor.

Fortunately many years after her death, some of her work was resurrected and published, like Barracoon completed in 1931, published 87 years later in 2018.

If you would like to engage with the podcast, submit your listener questions to info@NurahSpeaks.com. Listeners can also learn more by visiting NurahSpeaks.com.

You can follow Nurah Speaks on X, Instagram and Facebook @NurahSpeaks and subscribe to the channel on YouTube.