The Nation of Islam:
In 1995 we enter a second decade of media attention focused
on Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. During
the mid-1980s, coverage of the black Muslim organization
primarily centered around Farrakhan's hideous, often violent
pronouncements against Jews, whites, Christians and
homosexuals. But in more recent years, as the Nation of
Islam has steadily expanded in both size and influence,
stories in the press suggest that NOI has lost its edge,
become more mainstream, and has even emerged as a legitimate
representative of a large segment of the black community.
There have been several attempts by NOI to sanitize its
public image. For the past few years, NOI has promoted the
activities of several security companies it operates,
claiming they have eliminated drugs and crime from public
housing projects. In Washington, DC, it has constructed a
treatment clinic that promises to deliver a cure for AIDS.
NOI recently purchased tracts of farmland in Georgia, along
with a fleet of trucks it claims will transport farm-fresh
vegetables to stores in black communities. And a restaurant
complex built on Chicago's South Side with money donated by
NOI members was opened to the public in late February. "This
is a blueprint for economic development and investment in
our neglected communities," Farrakhan announced at the
restaurant opening.
Such economic exploits make it possible for the Nation of
Islam to distract onlookers from the group's message of
bigotry. They help to cultivate an image for Farrakhan as a
leader who deeply cares for the welfare of blacks, and who
is encouraging the principles of economic self-help. But
Farrakhan's rhetoric tells a different tale, and reveals a
frightening agenda. Press reports that the NOI leader has
softened suggest that the media has stopped listening to the
words of Farrakhan and his representatives. For if they did
stop to hear what these individuals are serving up at public
arenas and college campuses around the country, or were they
to glance at the pages of NOI's bi-weekly, The Final Call,
there would be no mistaking the ongoing message of bigotry.
The Nation of Islam does not hide its prejudices. The
organization's philosophy has been, from its earliest days,
racist to the core. Its founder, Farad Muhammad [also known
as W.D. Fard], taught that the white race was produced
thousands of years ago in a failed laboratory experiment by
an evil wizard named Yacub. This pernicious belief remains
the backbone of Nation of Islam theology, and is a palpable
influence on the organization's oratory.
But in recent years, NOI appears to have "broadened its
horizons," borrowing heavily from what would seem an
unlikely rhetorical source -- the propaganda of white
supremacists. In speeches before thousands of enthusiastic
listeners, Farrakhan has breathed new life into the long-
discredited anti-Semitic myths of the white hate movement.
He claims to deliver a message of uplift to the black
community, but Farrakhan's words actually have the opposite
effect. They further the cause of those most hostile to
racial equality, while providing blacks themselves with
nothing but misplaced anger and frustration.
At a gathering in Chicago on March 19, 1995, passing his
lecture off as a scholarly history lesson, Farrakhan
promoted the anti-Jewish conspiracy theories of white
supremacist writer Gary Allen, whose book, None Dare Call It
Conspiracy, has been heavily distributed by the John Birch
Society. Farrakhan lavished praise upon Allen's work,
announcing that "I'd like to get 10,000 copies of it, have
everybody read it."
Referring at length to Allen's claim that Jewish
international bankers financed the Nazis, Farrakhan
announced that during the Holocaust, "Little Jews died while
big Jews made money. Little Jews [were] being turned into
soap while big Jews washed themselves with it." In contrast,
Farrakhan stated, "We [blacks] didn't kill one Jew.... We
were not involved there.... That was your white brother,
Hitler.... How in the hell can you call us anti-Semitic?"
In the interest of attacking Jews, Farrakhan has paid homage
to the rhetoric of white racists, ignoring the pain that
similar words have inflicted upon the black community. Such
behavior is nothing less than anti-Semitic.
In the pages that follow, excerpts from the speeches of
various NOI lieutenants demonstrably follow the same narrow
pattern of thought, and all subscribe to an identical
primitive world view. This, of course, is because these
individuals are not isolated figures, each with an active,
independent imagination. All were taught in the same
"school," and are the product of a well-organized, highly
structured movement that peddles a slick package of odd but
appealing notions to a growing number of African-Americans.
More than a year has passed since Minister Farrakhan
dismissed
Khalid Abdul Muhammad as his national assistant,
claiming it to be a disciplinary measure for the raucous,
hate-filled speech Muhammad delivered at New Jersey's Kean
College. Several lessons emerge from that episode.
First, as the rhetoric in the upcoming pages will
illustrate, when
Khalid Muhammad spoke at Kean he was not
spreading ideas alien to core NOI beliefs. Muhammad's "take
no prisoners" style of delivery may be unique, but his
essential message does not differ much from those of other
NOI ministers. Farrakhan made this clear last February when
he criticized Muhammad for the "manner" of his Kean College
speech, but upheld its poisonous allegations as "truths."
Farrakhan's dismissal of
Khalid Muhammad, after his words at
Kean were exposed by ADL in a New York Times advertisement,
also demonstrates the importance of rooting out bigotry and
holding it up to the public spotlight. Farrakhan did not
exhibit any signs of disgust with Muhammad's "manner" in the
days that followed the talk at Kean. Muhammad remained
Farrakhan's national spokesman. It was only when citizens
learned of Muhammad's hatemongering and voiced their
condemnation that Farrakhan was forced to suspend his
representative .
The statements that follow demonstrate that the record of
NOl's hatred continues to write itself. As long as such
words of division are expressed by NOI -- or any group -- public
exposure remains the most potent response for ADL. When
Americans are confronted with injustice, they deserve the
chance to reject it. This report furnishes citizens with the
means to do so.
The excerpts below, taken from speeches Minister Louis
Farrakhan has delivered over the last twelve months,
demonstrate the Nation of Islam leader's refusal to depart
from a bitter, divisive message of racist and anti-Semitic
scapegoating.
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
ftp.
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The Relentless Record of Hate
(March 1994 -- March 1995)
Introduction