Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/2004/religion/0404/23/d06-131695.htm

On April 23, 2004 The Detroit News reported, "Minister Louis Farrakhan, the controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, challenged a group of African-American spiritual leaders Thursday to do more to end religious divisions and focus on practical problems of poverty and despair. 'That’s the failure of religion,'he admonished. 'You have a book, but you don’t make the book relevant to the struggle.' Farrakhan’s hourlong speech to a crowd of about 1,500 at Cobo Center on Thursday morning came at the beginning of Freedom Weekend, four days of events focused on the social, cultural, economic and political issues facing Metro Detroit’s black community. Farrakhan said attempts at racial integration are failing, and endorsed temporary separation. He assailed President Bush and warned that blacks need to seek a stronger voice in the nation’s political system. And he said blacks still face political and social struggles to achieve the equality religion assures."