My Philosophy

I believe in self-actualization.
I believe the human being can rise above their circumstances.
My life was transformed; I went from a master of gang violence to a Master of Science in Education.

I want to share the insights I’ve received about “life”; how I overcame low self-esteem, poverty, addiction, and racism.
I was in "The Nation of Islam". They taught that we should come out of our “slave names”. They explained that the names we had were due to being slaves in America. The “slave master” gave you your last name based on his name, or the name of the plantation you belonged to. When you became a member of the Nation of Islam, your last name was replaced with an “X” for the fact that your true last name was unknown. You were allowed to keep your first name and they added a number according to how many members in that city had that first name. Therefore, I became Andrew 27X. The leader of the Nation of Islam, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, died in 1975. His son Imam W. Deen Mohammed became the new leader. He did away with the practice and suggested we do some research of our own to choose names associated with the religion of Islam and worn by Muslims around the world, and then have it legally changed in court.

After some research, I legally changed my name to “Khalid Sulaiman Lateef”: Khalid means to “dwell in” or “live in forever”. Sulaiman comes from the root “salam”. I chose it for its root meaning of “peace”. I chose “Lateef” for its root meanings of “gentle”; subtle. So, the total meaning of my name is: “Always dwelling in peace, gentleness and subtleness.” I chose the name as a goal to always try to cultivate in my life, and try to maintain in my life. Striving to become a person exemplifying the attributes in the name.
I went from being a racist in my views to accepting all humanity as being part of one race; the Human Race. I want to combat the “industry” of racism as a "Recovering Racist". I want to be truly human, by having love for myself, without having prejudice for anyone else.
I’m a “Multi-Faith Seeker”: My goal is to try to be a better human being by accepting good guidance from any person or book, regardless of the race, culture or religion the good guidance comes from.
I want to promote inter-religious studies in order for better appreciation and understanding of others’ religions. I believe the same way we go to different restaurants to enjoy the different foods the world has to offer, we should visit the different houses of worship and the cultural events of other ethnic groups to enhance our lives; The New Millennium Cultural & Religious Snack-Bar.