Returning life to the community 

 Nation of Islam's Salaam restaurant reopens as sign of economic independence and efforts to rebuild Black community.

 CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - After a 12 year hiatus, the “Palace of the People” is back and better than ever. The rebirth and reopening of Salaam restaurant, the $5 million newly-renovated Nation of Islam built facility, generated excitement and buzz that was only surpassed by the delicious cuisine on the menu.

For a city experiencing a surge of violent crimes, high unemployment and bleak outlook, the resurrection of the Salaam in the heart of the Black community is right on time, said residents and leaders. 

Salaam shines like a jewel in the night. Photos: Richard B. Muhammad

The opening is not just a physical renewal but also symbolizes a spiritual renewal for Auburn Gresham, the 98 percent Black southwest side community where the restaurant sits on the corner of 79th St. and Union Ave.

Local community leaders, clergy, politicians and business professionals joined the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for pre-grand opening events, including an ecumenical prayer luncheon June 27 and a special evening of elegance July 1. The restaurant fully and officially reopens the weekend of July 6 and 7.

  Hall of Fame basketball star and entreprenuer Magic Johnson addressed the reopening of the Salaam restaurant via video link.

While business people hesitate to invest and develop in low income areas, the Nation of Islam and Min. Farrakhan, in following the teachings and example of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, did not hesitate in opening the world class facility in the middle of the “hood.”

“I have been criticized by well meaning people for putting such a beautiful place in the heart of the so-called ghetto. I was told, ‘A place as beautiful as this should be located downtown,’ ” said Min. Farrakhan. “We love our people and the best is not good enough so we put the Salaam exactly where we wanted it to be. We wanted it to be a Palace for the People and it is just that.”

  Min. Farrakhan greets Willie Barrow during Salaam reception. Photo: Dbarge.com

The Rev. Willie Barrow, a longtime community leader and Rainbow Push board member, spoke strongly to the crowd invited to celebrate, about the necessity of building and backing Black businesses. She called the Salaam an example of the type of development Black neighborhoods need. The word must spread far and wide that the restaurant is open, said Rev. Barrow. And with the challenges facing Blacks, including foreclosures on churches as parishioners go through hard times, economic cooperation is a must, she added.

“This is not just about a place for Muslims to be but this is something that is directly for the community. And when I think about that I think about economic development. I think about some of the youth that’s out there on the corner, young men and women that’s looking for work. I think that this is a place that they can come to apply to,” said Elder Hildred Taylor from The Church of the Living God in Maywood, Ill., who attended the reception.

“This is great timing that the Salaam is reopening and that the Nation is kind of reinvigorating the section of the community that has long been key,” he added. “I look at it not just as the reopening of the Salaam but resurrecting the whole Nation of Islam campus. What we’re going to do as a community development corporation is give as much PR, we’re going to add many stories to our website, to our local Auburn-Gresham portal. I mean we’re really going to beef this up not just as a great thing that the Nation of Islam is doing but a great thing that’s happening in our community by one of our strong community partners.”

Rev. Dr. Michael Pfleger of the Faith Community of Saint Sabina, Prince Asiel Bin Israel and other clergy offered prayers for success for the Salaam at an earlier weekday ecumenical brunch that was also was packed. Muslims, Christians and Hebrews celebrated and exuded pride in the restaurant comeback and its importance as a symbol and substance of Black entrepreneurship with a higher purpose.

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The Salaam Restaurant: 'The Palace of The People'

I understand that there are tortoises that live over 400 years, and there are trees that live 1,000-1,200 years. Well, Isaiah the prophet promised us that we would be like the “planting of the trees,” and in the Book of Isaiah it teaches even in that day a baby will die at 100. However, when someone gets to be 100 years of age, you may think, “Oh, that man been here a long time”—but if you get there, see how “short” 100 years is!

We don’t live long enough… And as one of the pastors said, “Getting old gets a little inconvenient,” but it wasn’t “inconvenient” for Abraham! He was an old man making babies. And his wife Sara was way up in age; who laughed and doubted God when He said that she will give birth to a child. And she did bring forth a child, but you “die too young”; your eggs die too young. So when the scripture teaches, “I came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly,” then this means someone has to teach us “how to eat to live.”

***

Some of you wonderful preachers that came from Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, you know why we left! After we came North, we never wanted to see land anymore. “Don’t even tell me Grandpa left some land. I’m sick of that place down there”—because sharecropping is hard when you’re working like “you know what” for somebody else, and he lies and tells you that you owe him after you worked for him.

You know what we’ve been through, but let’s do it one more time. This time, let’s do it for ourselves! It’s going to take not “one” of us, but it’s going to take all of us with The Vision, pooling our resources, and learning how to trust one another so that you know that you’re not going to put your money with somebody who is going to rip you off.

We have to learn how to really be Christ-like, because Christ was a strange kind of man in a world like this! Imagine a man making a blind man see, and then asking for nothing; a deaf man coming up to him, and he touches his ear, and the man hears; raising Lazarus from the dead … Jesus healed, and all he asked was for us to give God The Glory.

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Tyler Perry Brings Attention To Case Of Missing Florida Man

                                           —————————————
Terrance Deon Williams
Case Type: Endangered
Date of Birth: January 17, 1976
Missing Date: January 11, 2004
Age Now: 36
Missing City: Naples
Missing State: Florida
Case Number: 04-1610
Gender: Male
Race: Black
Complexion: Light
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 160
Hair Color: Brown
Hair Length: Shoulder length
Eye Color: Brown
Wear Glasses or Contacts: No

Location Last Seen: Williams was last seen in the vicinity of 111th Ave. and Vanderbilt Dr. in Naples, Fla. He was possibly sighted later that day at a convenience store in the vicinity of Wiggins Pass and US 41.

Circumstances of Disappearance: His vehicle, a white Cadillac, was found on Vanderbilt Beach Rd. in Naples, Fla., on January 12, 2004. According to news reports, Williams was last seen with Cpl. Steven Calkins, a nearly 17-year Collier Sheriff’s Office veteran.

According to a report in the Naples Daily News,  the officer was “fired from the Sheriff’s Office in August 2004. Eight pages in the Sheriff’s Office internal probe outline Calkins’ “lies and inconsistencies about what happened.”

The officer was the same man last spotted with Felipe Santos, a 23-year-old Mexican laborer, who disappeared just three months before. Williams’ mother was notified by the Mexican Consulate about the similarity in Santos’ case and that of her son’s. The officer says he dropped both men off in locations that were about four miles apart.

2 adults, 7-year-old boy found shot to death in bloodbath at Brooklyn apartment

Cops believe carnage was double murder, suicide 

Joe Marino/for New York Daily News

Police outside apartment building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where the bodies of a man, a woman and a child were found shot to death.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/2-adults-child-found-dead-brooklyn-article-1.1106871#ixzz1zcI5ex6G

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/2-adults-child-found-dead-brooklyn-article-1.1106871#ixzz1zcH7jHoc

Fans Howl After Weather Site Buys Out Rival

The announcement on Monday that the Weather Channel Companies, owners of television’s Weather Channel and weather.com, would buy one of its rivals, Weather Underground, set off howls of displeasure on social media platforms and around water coolers across the nation. The purchase price was not disclosed. 

In the eyes of Weather Underground’s ardent fans, the Weather Channel appears to represent the wrong kind of weather information: personality-driven sunniness and hype, they say, rather than the pure science of data. As Mike Tucker, a computer professional in New Hampshire, put it on Facebook, reacting to news of the deal: "Nooooooooooooooooo! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Insight: Florida man sees "cruel" face of U.S. justice

MIAMI (Reuters) - Quartavious Davis is still shocked by what happened to him in federal court two months ago.

"My first offense, and they gave me all this time," said Davis, a pudgy African American with dreadlocks who spoke with Reuters at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. "Might just as well say I'm dead."

Davis was convicted of participating in a string of armed robberies in the Miami area in 2010. His accomplices testified against him, saying he carried a gun during their crimes and discharged it at a dog that chased them after one of their burglaries. But Davis was not convicted of hurting anyone physically, including the dog.

Father, son arrested after indoor marijuana plants found


 

The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office arrested a father and son after marijuana was found on their property Friday.



According to Sheriff Leroy Ravenell, Narcotics Investigators were investigating marijuana plants being grown inside a Neeses home.

After observing a strong odor coming from an outdoor shed and other items associated with manufacturing marijuana, officers obtained a search warrant for 217 Greatview Road, Neeses, the report stated.

Officers say they located 20 marijuana plants being grown in the outdoor shed on the property.

According to investigators, the shed was equipped with grow lights, insulated rooms, exhaust fans and air conditioners, various fertilizers, and manicured plants.