Prof. James Small, YouTube screenshot
Professor James Small, a distinguished scholar activist and speaker, shared insights into his personal relationship with the late Dr. Khalid Muhammad during interviews, shedding light on lesser-known aspects of Muhammad’s life and influence.
Small serves as CEO of Sanaa Lodge Enterprise, Ghana, Ltd., CEO and president of African-American Management Company, Ghana, Ltd., and International vice president of both the Organization of Afro-American Unity and the World African Diaspora Union, according to his website. With a background in Africana Studies, Prof. Small has taught at the City College of New York and New York City Technical College, specializing in Pan-Africanism, Malcolm X studies, and comparative African religions.
Khalid Abdul Muhammad was initially associated with the Nation of Islam and he later became the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party. Muhammad, mentored by Louis Farrakhan, adopted various names throughout his life. Despite legal troubles and controversy over his fiery speeches, Muhammad retained a strong following, especially among youth in the African-American community. He organized significant events like the Million Youth March and protested racial injustices. He died from a brain aneurysm on Feb. 17, 2001, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 53.
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In February 1994, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan suspended Khalid Abdul Muhammad for remarks he made about Jewish people. This followed a Nov. 29 speech Muhammad gave at Kean College of New Jersey when he referred to Jews as “bloodsuckers of the Black nation.” He said that they control the government, the news media, and other Black activists, The Los Angeles Times. Soon after his silencing, Muhammad was released from the NOI, something that Small said hit Muhammad hard.
“I was with him in Baltimore when he got a letter from one of the big ministers in D.C., actually threatening him for harming the minister’s program,” Small recalls during an interview entitled “Prof. James Smalls: Untold Stories About Dr. Amos Wilson, Khalid Muhammad, John Henrick Clarke” for I Never Knew Tv on Jan. 11, 2024. “He cried like a baby, you know? He never wanted to leave the Nation of Islam. He never saw himself as an enemy to the minister. He always loved the minister.”
When Muhammad died, Small helped the family keep the news of his death private until they were ready to go public.
“I knew it was an aneurysm because I was the first one that got called to that. He was dead, and to keep the death a secret until they get organized. That was his wife and his son and Malik Zulu,” Small said.
According to Small, Muhammad has health issues.
“He was sick. He was on the high blood pressure medicine, that beta blocker, and he took it when he wanted to and didn’t when he didn’t want to,” Small recalled. “But with beta blockers, you can’t do that. You got to be consistent, you got to take it on time, at the same time, etc. Well, he would take it when he was feeling good, he stopped taking it, and then when he had felt bad, he’d take it again. But that will kill you, and it did exactly what it would do. It would lead to an aneurysm.”
In a separate interview, Small endorsed a book about Muhammad called “The Book of Khallid” by Malik Shabazz with a forward by Muhammad’s son, Farrah Gray.
According to Small, Muhammad was always looking for ways to empower the Black community and was already ready for a conversation about empowerment, even at “2 am in the morning.” He praised Muhammad as a great soldier, extraordinary soldier, loved him forever”
Prof. James Small, YouTube screenshot, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA20K9fmVZ0
