ISNOINews
Independent Scientology and Nation of Islam news
Book Review: “Message to the Millineals" (sic), by Rizza Islam. Full review plus summary of Scientology related content.
Review by ISNOINews.
************************************
A Note on Rizza Islam and Scientology.
The book does not provide a biography of Rizza Islam, thus this synopsis. At age 13, Islam became a paid staff member at the Scientology front-group World Literacy Crusade (WLC) and trained at the Hubbard College of Administration as a Course Supervisor. He later became an International Ambassador for the WLC and the director of museum promotion for the Scientology front-group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). In 2013, he received the Scientology Youth For Human Rights Award. In 2014, Islam was a Scientology Power Field Staff Member (FSM). More recently, in October 2018 he hosted the First Annual Intellectual Xtremist Gathering at the Los Angeles Headquarters of CCHR. Also during October 2018, Islam briefly appeared in a Scientology TV Voices for Humanity episode about CCHR, leading a protest march against psychiatry. On November 21, 2019, Islam faces trial on charges for felony Medi-Cal fraud arising from his work at the World Literacy Crusade.
************************************
Book Review
Title: Message to the Millineals
Author: Rizza Islam
Editor: Kristina Adams
Publisher: Intellectual Xtremist Publishing (“IXP”)
The book does not contain a copyright notice, but the book was published in 2019.
No ISBN number.
Format: Paperback
Dimensions: 5½” x 8½”
Paper: High quality, glossy finish.
Photos and Illustrations: 67, color and black and white.
No Index. No footnotes. No endnotes. No bibliography.
Price: $30.00.
Availability: Not for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or at brick and mortar bookstores. Available only at events at which Rizza Islam is appearing, or online via his Shopify page:
Message to the Millineals
Length: 161 pages. That number is misleading. The font size is very small and the line spacing is narrow. Using standard font and line spacing sizes for such a book, the book would probably have one-and-one-half to twice the number of pages. This is not a book that was padded to increase the page count. On the contrary, this is a book that was laid out in the most condensed manner possible to reduce the page count and thus the publishing cost. Also, despite the number of photographs and illustrations, this is not a picture book. The photos and illustrations do not greatly reduce the word count.
Table of Contents
Note to the Reader
Dedication
Disclaimer
Contents
Chapter One: What Is A Millineal?
Chapter Two: Social Media
Chapter Three: Who Really Wants To Be Conscious?
Chapter Four: The College-Educated Versus the Autodidactic
Chapter Five: Our Unity, the Community, Not the Individual
Chapter Six: Depopulation, Their Ultimate Solution
Chapter Seven: Tell-Lie-Vision, Control over the Masses
Chapter Eight: Mental Health and Mental Illness, Fact versus Fiction
Chapter Nine: Argue Over Religion Once We Are Free
Chapter Ten: Law of the Land
Chapter Eleven: The Only Solution, Unity and Separation
Summary of Scientology Related Content
The words Scientology and Dianetics do not appear in the book. Indeed, when Rizza Islam discusses on page 127 the benefits of having a spiritual system one believes in, he mentions Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Nuwaubianism, Kemeticism, and Hebrews (probably referring to Black Hebrew Israelites) – but not Scientology.
Nonetheless, the influence of Scientology is unmistakable and pervasive. The “Note to the Reader” on page 1 states, “When reading this book, be sure that you do not go past a word or symbol you do not fully understand.” This same message appears on the first page of all of the Scientology Basic Books.
On page 2, the Scientology KRC triangle becomes the KRCS quadrilateral, i.e., “Knowledge. Responsibility. Control. Stand on Truth.”
On page 33, the purported Soviet “Brain-Washing Manual,” actually authored by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, makes an appearance.
On page 35, Islam reiterates the view of Scientology front-group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) on psychiatry and psychiatric medication, equating the alleged “PDH” (pain, drug, hypnosis) process with modern psychotropic drugs and psychiatric medications:
Islam attacks vaccines beginning on page 98 and continues for twelve densely argued pages. While the Church of Scientology has officially stated that it “takes no position one way or the other on this issue,” in 2015 the Church of Scientology Community Center of Inglewood hosted an anti-vaccine event featuring Nation of Islam Minister Tony Muhammad and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In 2016, the Church of Scientology of San Diego hosted an “urgent briefing” by Scientology front-group United for Human Rights on California’s then-new mandatory vaccination law. More recently, Rod Keller and Tony Ortega have reported on the Scientologist-led anti-Vaccine Conscience Coalition. Similarly, I have noted the existence of the Scientologist-associated anti-vaccine group Advocates for Physicians Rights. Rizza Islam’s attack on vaccines is consistent with these Scientologist-led anti-vaccine efforts.
Islam returns to his critique of psychiatry on page 128. Islam’s argument against psychiatry closely mirrors that set forth in the CCHR booklet “Creating Racism - Psychiatry's Betray,” including Islam’s passages concerning Benjamin Rush, the father of American psychiatry, Harry Laughlin, the managing director of the Carnegie Institution Eugenics Record Office, and Richard Herrnstein, co-author of “The Bell Curve.” The influence of Scientology (operating through CCHR) on this section is unmistakable. Islam’s conclusion that “Racism is inseparable from the roots of psychiatry” is similar to the conclusion of the CCHR booklet that, “psychiatry and psychology have provided the “scientific” justification for racism and the resultant abuse, assault, and genocide of targeted races and groups.”
General Review
The book does not have an introduction or a thesis statement. Nonetheless, the thesis is clear. The thesis is that Black people and other people of color historically have been, are now, and in all probability will in the future continue to be attacked by the White establishment. That these attacks are driven by White fear that Black people and other people of color will become united. That this fear is exacerbated by the projection that by 2050 White people will comprise less than fifty percent of the population, making the U.S. a minority-majority nation. That as a result, the White establishment has adopted the strategy (among many others) of depopulation against Black people and other people of color. That the solution for Black people and other people of color is for them to form their own separate state or territory.
Islam starts by noting that his spelling of the word “Millineal” “was completely intentional.” Islam explains the meaning of the neologism “Millineal” on pages 6 and 7:
The tone of the book is conversational but not casual. It is the conversation of an autodidactic who is speaking seriously and urgently. The information density of this book rivals, and may even surpass, that of standard histories of philosophy (think Russell, Durant, Kenny or more recently Grayling) or anything written by, for example, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Robert Wright or Nassim Taleb. That is not to say the information presented is true or correct; only that information (or purported information) is presented densely and in abundance. Fact is followed by alleged fact is followed by purported fact, resulting in a tsunami of information. One could easily succumb to the sheer velocity and volume of cascading data. Don’t. Reading the book is work. Reading the book critically is hard work.
The research is a mile deep but stiletto thin; an apparent exercise in rabid confirmation bias. Every supporting rabbit hole is followed to the end, and then further excavated with diamond bit drills and dynamite. Every conceivable argument, ranging from the compellingly valid, to the questionable, to the spurious, to the defamatory, to the incomprehensible, is asserted in support of its thesis. This is the book of someone who is so sure he is right that it would never occur to him that anything he wrote could be wrong. This is a book, to borrow concepts from Scientology, of someone who is intent on holding their position in space and who is not going to “Q&A” (i.e., vacillate or wrestle with self-doubt). This is a work of total certainty.
The information set forth in the book ranges from that which was previously known by me to be true, to information previously unknown by me that was verifiably correct and often insightful, provocative, and powerful – even moving -- to purported information that is obviously or readily verifiable as incorrect or grossly misleading, to that which is nonsensical, incomprehensible or to be frank, crazy.
As an example of the latter, after discussing maritime law on page 140 and confusing the word “birth” with the word “berth,” Islam goes on to say on page 141:
No, I do not understand. I would be concerned for anyone who did.
Similarly, in a passage relevant to his recently abandoned sovereign citizen defense, Islam goes on to explain on page 144:
And on page 148:
What?
Equally perplexing are Islam’s statements on page 151 that, “Washington D.C. is a Jesuit Catholic establishment under International Maritime Admiralty Law,” and on page 152 that the City of London is “not any part of England” and Washington, D.C. is “not any part of America.” No citations are provided. Citations are needed.
Perhaps most egregious, on page 49 Islam states that George Soros, “was one of those who helped the Nazi soldiers to locate other Jewish families. Okay? He pointed to the homes of Jewish families so that that they would later be burned [in] ovens.” This is a falsehood refuted by Snopes, the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, and Vox.
Also troubling is Islam’s assertion on page 88 that Margaret Sanger said, “negroes are like human weeds that should be exterminated,” a misrepresentation debunked by the Washington Post, New York University’s Margaret Sanger Papers Project and Fact or Fiction. This is not to argue that Sanger wasn’t a eugenicist, to ignore the fact that she once lectured on birth control to the women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan, or to avoid the controversy concerning Sanger’s alleged racism. However, the fact remains that there is no evidence that Sanger said what Islam says she said, and that matters. Or should.
[It is worth noting that while the CCHR booklet “Creating Racism - Psychiatry's Betray” does not make the false “human weeds” allegation against Sanger, it does state that "Sanger planned to 'exterminate the Negro population.'" Thus, even if CCHR was not the source of Islam’s specific allegation, it appears likely CCHR influenced Islam’s view of both Sanger and birth control.]
“Message to the Millineals” has a purpose, and that purpose is clearly set forth in the last chapter titled “The Only Solution, Unity and Separation.” Islam argues on pages 156 and 157:
He restates his prescription on page 158:
While Rizza Islam is a member of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and his call for racial separation is undoubtedly influenced by Point 4 of the NOI’s Muslim Program, his statement on page 2 that “This is not religious” is truthful. His arguments are historical and pragmatic. He is not trying to recruit for the NOI, and the book does not have any religious, much less specifically NOI, content. Chapter Nine, “Argue Over Religion Once We Are Free” contains a single sentence comprised of a single word: “Period!” Thus, the entire chapter with chapter heading reads: “Argue Over Religion Once We Are Free. Period!”
To be fair, Islam does not contemplate remaining forever separate. On the contrary, the book concludes:
It is also important to note what is not said in the book given some of Islam’s social media postings over the years. There is nothing in the book that is anti-Semitic; Jewish people and Judaism are not mentioned beyond Islam’s recognition that Judaism is a spiritual system that could be beneficial for those who believe. There is nothing in the book that is homophobic; the LGBT community is not mentioned and the issue of gay rights is not discussed.
This is not a book that was written to make the author rich, but instead to sound an urgent warning and to propose a solution. Having read the book and probably everything else Rizza Islam has written publicly over the last several years, I have no doubt that he is sincere and wants to do what is best for his people.
I did learn some important facts from this book (which I was careful to verify), particularly concerning Black history in America. Conversely, I could have also “learned” purported “facts” that were misleading, false, defamatory and even crazy (no, the United States is not a “company privately owned out of England”) had I not had been a critical reader. This is a book where every page, paragraph, sentence, clause, word, and syllable must be ruthlessly evaluated, challenged and fact-checked.
“Message to the Millineals” is a book that demands, nay pleads to be taken seriously, and should be. That is true despite the crazy referenced above. This is a book that should be taken seriously because others will, in fact, take it seriously. (The fact that Rizza Islam has 314,000 Instagram followers, 19,900 Twitter followers, and 4,858 Facebook friends is not entirely irrelevant.) This is a book that should be taken seriously despite – and perhaps in part because of – its defects, limitations, and misrepresentations. The book is significant not because it contains misapprehension, misunderstanding and outright falsehood, but because it also contains truth – often hard truth, profound truth -- inexorably intertwined with misapprehension, misunderstanding, and falsehood, with the former -- the hard truth, the profound truth -- lending credence to the latter. Some who agree with the book’s overall message may not be overly concerned about the details. Some who are seduced by the portions of hard, profound truth – truth that resonates, truth that inspires – may not undertake the hard work of winnowing the wheat from the chaff. That is a job for others. You.
Rizza Islam is in my estimation wrong about many things, but that doesn’t mean he is wrong about everything. Nor that the concerns that gave rise to his book are unjustified or not shared by many. To refute a part of the book is not to refute all of it.
My wish upon completing the book was that Islam would have hired an independent ruthless and cold-blooded fact-checker. (I pictured Attila the Hun with a red pen.) The result would have been a far more persuasive, if slimmer, work. (To start, the book would have been well-served if Chapter 10, “Law of the Land,” had simply been excised in its entirety.) There is an important, even if in the end unpersuasive, argument obscured within the book’s pages, and it is a shame that this argument will likely be ignored as a result of Islam’s inexplicable discourses on birth certificates, maritime admiralty law, and the Uniform Commercial Code.
“Message to the Millineals” is a book – and I am particularly thinking of Chapter 6 on Depopulation covering National Security Study Memorandum 200, birth control, GMOs and vaccines, and Chapter 8 on Mental Health addressing psychiatry – that requires and deserves analysis and a review (even if only to debunk the assertions therein) far more thorough than what I have done, or could possibly do, here.
“Message to the Millineals” is not a book that will be adequately addressed by patronizing superiority, condescension, snark or memes no matter how entertaining they are to some. The only way to properly address the book would start with actually reading it.
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Additional graphics for tweets:
Review by ISNOINews.
************************************
A Note on Rizza Islam and Scientology.
The book does not provide a biography of Rizza Islam, thus this synopsis. At age 13, Islam became a paid staff member at the Scientology front-group World Literacy Crusade (WLC) and trained at the Hubbard College of Administration as a Course Supervisor. He later became an International Ambassador for the WLC and the director of museum promotion for the Scientology front-group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). In 2013, he received the Scientology Youth For Human Rights Award. In 2014, Islam was a Scientology Power Field Staff Member (FSM). More recently, in October 2018 he hosted the First Annual Intellectual Xtremist Gathering at the Los Angeles Headquarters of CCHR. Also during October 2018, Islam briefly appeared in a Scientology TV Voices for Humanity episode about CCHR, leading a protest march against psychiatry. On November 21, 2019, Islam faces trial on charges for felony Medi-Cal fraud arising from his work at the World Literacy Crusade.
************************************
Book Review
Title: Message to the Millineals
Author: Rizza Islam
Editor: Kristina Adams
Publisher: Intellectual Xtremist Publishing (“IXP”)
The book does not contain a copyright notice, but the book was published in 2019.
No ISBN number.
Format: Paperback
Dimensions: 5½” x 8½”
Paper: High quality, glossy finish.
Photos and Illustrations: 67, color and black and white.
No Index. No footnotes. No endnotes. No bibliography.
Price: $30.00.
Availability: Not for sale on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or at brick and mortar bookstores. Available only at events at which Rizza Islam is appearing, or online via his Shopify page:
Message to the Millineals
Length: 161 pages. That number is misleading. The font size is very small and the line spacing is narrow. Using standard font and line spacing sizes for such a book, the book would probably have one-and-one-half to twice the number of pages. This is not a book that was padded to increase the page count. On the contrary, this is a book that was laid out in the most condensed manner possible to reduce the page count and thus the publishing cost. Also, despite the number of photographs and illustrations, this is not a picture book. The photos and illustrations do not greatly reduce the word count.
Table of Contents
Note to the Reader
Dedication
Disclaimer
Contents
Chapter One: What Is A Millineal?
Chapter Two: Social Media
Chapter Three: Who Really Wants To Be Conscious?
Chapter Four: The College-Educated Versus the Autodidactic
Chapter Five: Our Unity, the Community, Not the Individual
Chapter Six: Depopulation, Their Ultimate Solution
Chapter Seven: Tell-Lie-Vision, Control over the Masses
Chapter Eight: Mental Health and Mental Illness, Fact versus Fiction
Chapter Nine: Argue Over Religion Once We Are Free
Chapter Ten: Law of the Land
Chapter Eleven: The Only Solution, Unity and Separation
Summary of Scientology Related Content
The words Scientology and Dianetics do not appear in the book. Indeed, when Rizza Islam discusses on page 127 the benefits of having a spiritual system one believes in, he mentions Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Nuwaubianism, Kemeticism, and Hebrews (probably referring to Black Hebrew Israelites) – but not Scientology.
Nonetheless, the influence of Scientology is unmistakable and pervasive. The “Note to the Reader” on page 1 states, “When reading this book, be sure that you do not go past a word or symbol you do not fully understand.” This same message appears on the first page of all of the Scientology Basic Books.
On page 2, the Scientology KRC triangle becomes the KRCS quadrilateral, i.e., “Knowledge. Responsibility. Control. Stand on Truth.”
On page 33, the purported Soviet “Brain-Washing Manual,” actually authored by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, makes an appearance.
On page 35, Islam reiterates the view of Scientology front-group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) on psychiatry and psychiatric medication, equating the alleged “PDH” (pain, drug, hypnosis) process with modern psychotropic drugs and psychiatric medications:
Did you know that many, if not all of the suicide bombers were given implants? First, did you know that the CIA has a program called PDH, pain drug hypnosis, where they not only kidnap you, but once they kidnap you, they install by way of pain first, then drugging second, then hypnosis, third, total commands and actions for you to carry out? * * * Where do they have another form of PDH or installing commands? Now it is called psychotropic drugs and psychiatric medications. Nearly every single one of these medications have an effect, which is not a side effect. Although they tried to use that phrase to lessen damage, but it is a direct effect of homicide, suicide and homicidal thoughts and tendencies as well as suicidal thoughts and tendencies. Nearly every mass shooter from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and Columbine were exposed to these medications.
Islam attacks vaccines beginning on page 98 and continues for twelve densely argued pages. While the Church of Scientology has officially stated that it “takes no position one way or the other on this issue,” in 2015 the Church of Scientology Community Center of Inglewood hosted an anti-vaccine event featuring Nation of Islam Minister Tony Muhammad and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In 2016, the Church of Scientology of San Diego hosted an “urgent briefing” by Scientology front-group United for Human Rights on California’s then-new mandatory vaccination law. More recently, Rod Keller and Tony Ortega have reported on the Scientologist-led anti-Vaccine Conscience Coalition. Similarly, I have noted the existence of the Scientologist-associated anti-vaccine group Advocates for Physicians Rights. Rizza Islam’s attack on vaccines is consistent with these Scientologist-led anti-vaccine efforts.
Islam returns to his critique of psychiatry on page 128. Islam’s argument against psychiatry closely mirrors that set forth in the CCHR booklet “Creating Racism - Psychiatry's Betray,” including Islam’s passages concerning Benjamin Rush, the father of American psychiatry, Harry Laughlin, the managing director of the Carnegie Institution Eugenics Record Office, and Richard Herrnstein, co-author of “The Bell Curve.” The influence of Scientology (operating through CCHR) on this section is unmistakable. Islam’s conclusion that “Racism is inseparable from the roots of psychiatry” is similar to the conclusion of the CCHR booklet that, “psychiatry and psychology have provided the “scientific” justification for racism and the resultant abuse, assault, and genocide of targeted races and groups.”
General Review
The book does not have an introduction or a thesis statement. Nonetheless, the thesis is clear. The thesis is that Black people and other people of color historically have been, are now, and in all probability will in the future continue to be attacked by the White establishment. That these attacks are driven by White fear that Black people and other people of color will become united. That this fear is exacerbated by the projection that by 2050 White people will comprise less than fifty percent of the population, making the U.S. a minority-majority nation. That as a result, the White establishment has adopted the strategy (among many others) of depopulation against Black people and other people of color. That the solution for Black people and other people of color is for them to form their own separate state or territory.
Islam starts by noting that his spelling of the word “Millineal” “was completely intentional.” Islam explains the meaning of the neologism “Millineal” on pages 6 and 7:
We are not simply the generation due to age, but the millenial, ‘mille-‘ – rooted in Latin meaning 1,000, is the strongest of those within this generation. We are the strongest of the strong because we choose to fight for what is right and for the benefit of future generations. We are the 1,000 within any group, area, city, state, country or continent.
The tone of the book is conversational but not casual. It is the conversation of an autodidactic who is speaking seriously and urgently. The information density of this book rivals, and may even surpass, that of standard histories of philosophy (think Russell, Durant, Kenny or more recently Grayling) or anything written by, for example, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Robert Wright or Nassim Taleb. That is not to say the information presented is true or correct; only that information (or purported information) is presented densely and in abundance. Fact is followed by alleged fact is followed by purported fact, resulting in a tsunami of information. One could easily succumb to the sheer velocity and volume of cascading data. Don’t. Reading the book is work. Reading the book critically is hard work.
The research is a mile deep but stiletto thin; an apparent exercise in rabid confirmation bias. Every supporting rabbit hole is followed to the end, and then further excavated with diamond bit drills and dynamite. Every conceivable argument, ranging from the compellingly valid, to the questionable, to the spurious, to the defamatory, to the incomprehensible, is asserted in support of its thesis. This is the book of someone who is so sure he is right that it would never occur to him that anything he wrote could be wrong. This is a book, to borrow concepts from Scientology, of someone who is intent on holding their position in space and who is not going to “Q&A” (i.e., vacillate or wrestle with self-doubt). This is a work of total certainty.
The information set forth in the book ranges from that which was previously known by me to be true, to information previously unknown by me that was verifiably correct and often insightful, provocative, and powerful – even moving -- to purported information that is obviously or readily verifiable as incorrect or grossly misleading, to that which is nonsensical, incomprehensible or to be frank, crazy.
As an example of the latter, after discussing maritime law on page 140 and confusing the word “birth” with the word “berth,” Islam goes on to say on page 141:
When you are born, your parents register you with the government AS A CORPORATION by receiving and signing a birth certificate. In a few years, your Corporation will receive a taxpayer ID# called a social security number. This is so you can be used as collateral for the government to acquire debt. That’s right, YOU and your labor, time and energy is what backs up the National debt. You are stock.
Now when you were born, your mother’s water broke and when your mother’s water broke, you came out. You were “birthed” and this is why you have a “birth certificate.” Because you are a maritime admiralty product. Under International Law, your body is considered a maritime admiralty product. Your mother “delivered” you. That is why if you go to a store, they will “ship” an item to you. They will “deliver” it to you. That’s why we were in a “delivery” room. Well, your mother was delivering a product, maritime admiralty. You came down your mother’s birth “canal,” understand?
No, I do not understand. I would be concerned for anyone who did.
Similarly, in a passage relevant to his recently abandoned sovereign citizen defense, Islam goes on to explain on page 144:
Are you of your own volition out of your own mouth testifying that you are a citizen of the United States? Because in that way, “citizen” of the United States means you are an employee of a foreign corporation operating under the International Maritime Law. So today the president of the United States is the president of a privately owned company. Each of the States in the United States (the corporation) have Dunn and Bradstreet numbers. These numbers are reserved for corporations only. The company is called United States and the word president is always a word that is used in corporate law. Banks have presidents. All companies have presidents. So it is a corporation called the United States, privately owned and it has a president. President Donald Trump is not the president of America. President Donald Trump is the president of a privately owned company, privately owned out of England and we need to understand words and terms.
And on page 148:
What?
Equally perplexing are Islam’s statements on page 151 that, “Washington D.C. is a Jesuit Catholic establishment under International Maritime Admiralty Law,” and on page 152 that the City of London is “not any part of England” and Washington, D.C. is “not any part of America.” No citations are provided. Citations are needed.
Perhaps most egregious, on page 49 Islam states that George Soros, “was one of those who helped the Nazi soldiers to locate other Jewish families. Okay? He pointed to the homes of Jewish families so that that they would later be burned [in] ovens.” This is a falsehood refuted by Snopes, the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, and Vox.
Also troubling is Islam’s assertion on page 88 that Margaret Sanger said, “negroes are like human weeds that should be exterminated,” a misrepresentation debunked by the Washington Post, New York University’s Margaret Sanger Papers Project and Fact or Fiction. This is not to argue that Sanger wasn’t a eugenicist, to ignore the fact that she once lectured on birth control to the women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan, or to avoid the controversy concerning Sanger’s alleged racism. However, the fact remains that there is no evidence that Sanger said what Islam says she said, and that matters. Or should.
[It is worth noting that while the CCHR booklet “Creating Racism - Psychiatry's Betray” does not make the false “human weeds” allegation against Sanger, it does state that "Sanger planned to 'exterminate the Negro population.'" Thus, even if CCHR was not the source of Islam’s specific allegation, it appears likely CCHR influenced Islam’s view of both Sanger and birth control.]
“Message to the Millineals” has a purpose, and that purpose is clearly set forth in the last chapter titled “The Only Solution, Unity and Separation.” Islam argues on pages 156 and 157:
We must establish our own cities, our own states and territories, and that is not something that is radical or too far-fetched or insane or even extreme. However, the condition that we are currently in is an extremely negative one. So it does require a positively extreme solution. So The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Honorable Louis Farrakhan and even King George himself all agree. If we want to go there, even Moses in the Bible and every other logical person of consequence with this specific understanding in mind chose separation from an oppressive force.
He restates his prescription on page 158:
No one can respect us until we have our own and the fear that we have is that if we establish our own state or territory that it will be bombed the same way Tulsa, Oklahoma was bombed in 1921 and that is not going to happen. We will secure our borders. We will establish our own governance. We will have our own policing, we will have our own food supply, our own laws, our own constitution, our own everything, and it will be successful.
While Rizza Islam is a member of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and his call for racial separation is undoubtedly influenced by Point 4 of the NOI’s Muslim Program, his statement on page 2 that “This is not religious” is truthful. His arguments are historical and pragmatic. He is not trying to recruit for the NOI, and the book does not have any religious, much less specifically NOI, content. Chapter Nine, “Argue Over Religion Once We Are Free” contains a single sentence comprised of a single word: “Period!” Thus, the entire chapter with chapter heading reads: “Argue Over Religion Once We Are Free. Period!”
To be fair, Islam does not contemplate remaining forever separate. On the contrary, the book concludes:
I truly believe that if we come together as black people first and then come together with our human family after we are solid and successful, then we truly will see a better future in the world. However, let’s see where we go from here. This is only part one. Peace.
It is also important to note what is not said in the book given some of Islam’s social media postings over the years. There is nothing in the book that is anti-Semitic; Jewish people and Judaism are not mentioned beyond Islam’s recognition that Judaism is a spiritual system that could be beneficial for those who believe. There is nothing in the book that is homophobic; the LGBT community is not mentioned and the issue of gay rights is not discussed.
This is not a book that was written to make the author rich, but instead to sound an urgent warning and to propose a solution. Having read the book and probably everything else Rizza Islam has written publicly over the last several years, I have no doubt that he is sincere and wants to do what is best for his people.
I did learn some important facts from this book (which I was careful to verify), particularly concerning Black history in America. Conversely, I could have also “learned” purported “facts” that were misleading, false, defamatory and even crazy (no, the United States is not a “company privately owned out of England”) had I not had been a critical reader. This is a book where every page, paragraph, sentence, clause, word, and syllable must be ruthlessly evaluated, challenged and fact-checked.
“Message to the Millineals” is a book that demands, nay pleads to be taken seriously, and should be. That is true despite the crazy referenced above. This is a book that should be taken seriously because others will, in fact, take it seriously. (The fact that Rizza Islam has 314,000 Instagram followers, 19,900 Twitter followers, and 4,858 Facebook friends is not entirely irrelevant.) This is a book that should be taken seriously despite – and perhaps in part because of – its defects, limitations, and misrepresentations. The book is significant not because it contains misapprehension, misunderstanding and outright falsehood, but because it also contains truth – often hard truth, profound truth -- inexorably intertwined with misapprehension, misunderstanding, and falsehood, with the former -- the hard truth, the profound truth -- lending credence to the latter. Some who agree with the book’s overall message may not be overly concerned about the details. Some who are seduced by the portions of hard, profound truth – truth that resonates, truth that inspires – may not undertake the hard work of winnowing the wheat from the chaff. That is a job for others. You.
Rizza Islam is in my estimation wrong about many things, but that doesn’t mean he is wrong about everything. Nor that the concerns that gave rise to his book are unjustified or not shared by many. To refute a part of the book is not to refute all of it.
My wish upon completing the book was that Islam would have hired an independent ruthless and cold-blooded fact-checker. (I pictured Attila the Hun with a red pen.) The result would have been a far more persuasive, if slimmer, work. (To start, the book would have been well-served if Chapter 10, “Law of the Land,” had simply been excised in its entirety.) There is an important, even if in the end unpersuasive, argument obscured within the book’s pages, and it is a shame that this argument will likely be ignored as a result of Islam’s inexplicable discourses on birth certificates, maritime admiralty law, and the Uniform Commercial Code.
“Message to the Millineals” is a book – and I am particularly thinking of Chapter 6 on Depopulation covering National Security Study Memorandum 200, birth control, GMOs and vaccines, and Chapter 8 on Mental Health addressing psychiatry – that requires and deserves analysis and a review (even if only to debunk the assertions therein) far more thorough than what I have done, or could possibly do, here.
“Message to the Millineals” is not a book that will be adequately addressed by patronizing superiority, condescension, snark or memes no matter how entertaining they are to some. The only way to properly address the book would start with actually reading it.
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