Daily News Photos by NICK SCHNEEMAN Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks Thursday morning at Ottley Legislative Hall on St. Thomas.

ST. THOMAS - As the headlining speaker in an event in Ottley Legislative Hall to commemorate African Liberation Day, Minister Louis Farrakhan told the people of the Virgin Islands to complete the journey to true liberation by utilizing their potential and becoming a community of sisters and brothers.

"God has blessed you all to gain in a world that is negative against you, but in time the masses are slipping further and further behind," Farrakhan said to the throng in the jam-packed chamber. "If we unite and pull together, we lift the little man. And when we lift the little man, that is liberation right there."

For about an hour on Thursday morning, more than 100 people in the legislative chamber listened to Farrakhan, the national representative for the Nation of Islam. They applauded, shouted and cheered in agreement with Farrakhan as he spoke of empowerment, education and equal opportunity.

Senate President Usie Richards told the crowd that Farrakhan was a welcome surprise guest for African Heritage Week. Farrakhan and members of his family are passengers on radio personality and philanthropist Tom Joyner's Fantastic Voyage Cruise, which docked in St. Thomas on Thursday.

Farrakhan said his wife, who is a frequent visitor to St. Thomas for Carnival, has been urging him to come to the Virgin Islands and speak. When Farrakhan learned that the cruise would be docking at St. Thomas, he approached the Senate to take advantage of the opportunity.

Virgin Islanders applaud Minister Louis Farrakhan's remarks Thursday morning.

Farrakhan's visit coincided with African Heritage Week, which is May 18-25. The week, which has been commemorated worldwide for 50 years, is dedicated to looking at African heritage, struggles and contributions. African Liberation Day is May 25.

Throughout his speech, Farrakhan addressed topics ranging from discouraging domestic violence to the need for a practical education. Most of his speech, however, focused on empowering black people, especially those in the Caribbean.

As he began his speech, Farrakhan told the audience that he would be speaking the truth. Truth, he said, is the bedrock on which society must stand. God's truth is enough to create a society where everyone is treated like brothers, and people don't resort to violence -Β like the heinous gangland-style shooting of a patient in Luis Hospital on Wednesday morning.

It's not about guns and revolution," Farrakhan said. "It's about truth that will create a revolution in your mind."

Farrakhan said that everyone has the potential for true freedom, and it goes hand-in-hand with the teachings of God.

"When you say, 'I fear God and him alone,' you're free. That's a wonderful feeling to have in your breast," he said.

During his speech, Farrakhan criticized people who have called him a racist. Farrakhan said that he is not a racist or anti-Semitic, and anyone who would call him either of those things fears the truth that he brings.

Farrakhan said nothing negative about people of any color or creed during his speech. He denounced any sort of prejudice based on skin color and said that black people should not think of themselves as disadvantaged or depressed. These kinds of labels, he said, are inaccurate and inspire negative behavior.

"White supremacy has created in its wake black inferiority, and neither of these are acceptable to God," Farrakhan said. "No man is great because his color is white. No man is great because his color is black. If you think because you are black you are inferior, how can you be what God created you to be if you have an inferior thought guiding your actions?"

As the child of parents from Jamaica and St. Kitts, Farrakhan said, he has a special love for the Caribbean and he feels touching the people here is part of his mission from God. The Caribbean seems to be dependent on imports of many things, including food - as if food cannot be grown on the islands. Taking advantage of the resources and potential in the Virgin Islands, especially the people, will help the people of the territory become more liberated, Farrakhan said.

"As long as you are dependent on something coming in from somewhere else and not what this ground can produce, you're a slave," he said.

Several times on Thursday morning, Farrakhan reiterated his belief that Africans are God's chosen people - and the oldest, wisest and longest civilization on earth. However, in order for that potential to be realized, he said, they must advance every day.

"When you look at who you are, the people of God, look at your potential," Farrakhan said. "You gave civilization to the world. You gave the world math and science. You gave it. But we can't live on what we did. We can only live on what we can do. If you're not part of the 'can do' generation, you live in history and you're a dead man."

Richards said that he has been acquainted with Farrakhan for more than two decades, dating back to the controversy that erupted 27 years ago when several public venues in the Virgin Islands denied Farrakhan the opportunity to use them to speak. Richards said that the intervention of young leaders like himself and current V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen - then on the Board of Education - was critical in giving Farrakhan a place from which to address the Virgin Islands.

"How ironic that three decades later, we're not begging for a place for the minister to speak," Richards said. "The minister is going to speak from the people's building."

Educators Gerard Emanuel and K. Leba Ola-Niyi also spoke on Thursday morning's program.

- Contact Megan Poinski at 774-8772 ext. 304 or e-mail mpoinski@dailynews.vi.