[The Louis Farrakhan endorsement of Barack Obama is considerably more complicated than it seems. For example, the Clinton camp and the media has made nothing of the fact that white supremacist David Duke also endorsed Obama. This may be conclusive evidence of Obama's ability to unite the country or merely further proof that he is but a mirror in which voters see reflections of their own dreams.
But beyond that is the fact that once again the media has mangled a story, oversimplifying it and ignoring key aspects, including that Bill Clinton just three years ago endorsed one of Farrakhan's actions and that Farrakhan's own views have changed substantially over the years]
JAMAL E. WATSON, NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS, 2005 - Former President Bill Clinton said that he supports the efforts of African-American leaders who are organizing the Million More March, a national gathering of Blacks scheduled to take place in October in Washington, D.C, a decade after the Million Man March was convened.
In a rare interview at his Harlem office with the Amsterdam, Clinton said that the gathering – formally announced last week by Minister Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson – could train a positive spotlight on critical issues impacting African Americans.
“I think this is a very positive idea,” said Clinton, who spoke to the Amsterdam News on his first full day back in his office since his second operation following his quadruple bypass surgery last September. “I think the country’s focus understandably has strayed a little over the last few years,” Clinton said, adding that while America should focus on homeland security, it must also solve the racial and economic disparity that still exists.
“Jesse [Jackson] and Mr. [Louis] Farrakhan and Rev. [Al] Sharpton probably have internal domestic political differences, but they’ve agreed on this and I think it’s a good thing,” said Clinton.
RICHARD PRINCE, JOURNAL-ISMS – Though the utterances Russert referenced are unquestionably anti-Semitic, they are 24 years old, made during the 1984 presidential campaign. As the same Chicago Tribune . . . said of Farrakhan, “In recent years, most significantly after his battle with prostate cancer in the 1990s, he has tried to strike a more conciliatory tone.”. . . Back when the controversy was sparked, in the 1980s, Farrakhan maintained he never used the words “gutter religion,” [about Judaism] going so far as to threaten to sue any news organization that claimed he did. A tape of the event in question was murky. Farrakhan maintained he said “dirty religion,” and that phrase, it turned out, had something to do with the way Muslims view Jews theologically. Later, Farrakhan went on to praise Jews as “the world leaders, in my opinion. They are some of the most brilliant people on this planet.”
WIKIPEDIA - During the 1984 presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson, Jackson referred to New York City as “Hymietown” in a discussion with a black reporter. Though Jackson thought he was speaking off the record, the reporter printed the quote. Jackson was widely criticized for the slur and received death threats, leading Farrakhan to announce, “If you harm this brother, it’ll be the last one you ever harm. If you want to defeat him, defeat him at the polls.”
In response to Farrakhan’s speech, Nathan Pearlmutter, then Chair of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (ADL) referred to Minister Farrakhan as the new “Black Hitler” and prominent Jewish journalist Nat Hentoff, while a guest on a New York radio talk-show, also characterized the Muslim leader as a “Black Hitler.”
In response to the charges of being a “Black Hitler”, Farrakhan responded during a March 11, 1984 speech broadcast on a Chicago radio station:
“So I said to the members of the press, ‘Why won’t you go and look into what we are saying about the threats on Reverend Jackson’s life?’ Here the Jews don’t like Farrakhan and so they call me ‘Hitler’. Well that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He wasn’t great for me as a Black man but he was a great German and he rose Germany up from the ashes of her defeat by the united force of all of Europe and America after the First World War. Yet Hitler took Germany from the ashes and rose her up and made her the greatest fighting machine of the twentieth century, brothers and sisters, and even though Europe and America had deciphered the code that Hitler was using to speak to his chiefs of staff, they still had trouble defeating Hitler even after knowing his plans in advance. Now I’m not proud of Hitler’s evil toward Jewish people, but that’s a matter of record. He rose Germany up from nothing. Well, in a sense you could say there is a similarity in that we are rising our people up from nothing, but don’t compare me with your wicked killers.”
WIKIPEDIA - Farrakhan has rejected the allegation that he is anti-Semitic and in a June 18 1997 letter to a former Wall Street Journal editor, Jude Wanniski stated:
“Countless times over the years I have explained that I never referred to Judaism as a dirty religion, but, clearly referred to the machinations of those who hide behind the shield of Judaism while using unjust political means to achieve their objectives. This was distilled in the New York tabloids and other media saying, ‘Farrakhan calls Judaism a gutter religion.’ As a Muslim, I revere Abraham, Moses, and all the Prophets who Allah (God) sent to the children of Israel. I believe in the scriptures brought by these Prophets and the Laws of Allah (God) as expressed in the Torah. I would never refer to the Revealed Word of Allah (God) — the basis of Jewish Faith — as “dirty” or “gutter.” You know, Jude, as well as I, that the Revealed Word of Allah (God) comes as a Message from Allah (God) to purify us from our evil that has divided us and caused us to fall into the gutter. Over the centuries, the evils of Christians, Jews and Muslims have dirtied their respective religions. True Faith in the laws and Teaching of Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad is not dirty, but, practices in the name of these religions can be unclean and can cause people to look upon the misrepresented religion as being unclean.”
FINAL CALL, 2002 - The following statement was released by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan regarding the murder of Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal Reporter. “On behalf of the Nation of Islam, I wish to express our deepest sympathy to the family of Daniel Pearl, his friends and colleagues. It is with deep pain and regret that we learned of Mr. Pearl’s murder. It is incumbent upon Muslims throughout the world to not let our hurt or pain cause us to harm the innocent. . . The Muslim World must not let its hatred of America’s policies cause Muslims to do harm to American citizens traveling in Muslim countries who are unaware of foreign policy and have no part in its formulation, and, more than likely would not want to benefit from these policies if they knew the pain and suffering caused to others that allows our apparent economic gain.
MINISTER LOUIS FARRAKHAN PRESS CONFERENCE 2002 - There are two diverse and prevailing views held by the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the Arab and Muslim world that appear to be irreconcilable. On the one hand, we have the Jewish people having suffered for 2,000 years and being persecuted in various countries of the world as they have been scattered throughout our planet, their desire has always been a Jewish homeland, which was promised to them by Allah (God). So, in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people who have immigrated to the state of Israel, there is a feeling of justification of their presence in Israel by their belief that the state of Israel is promised to them by Allah (God) and written of in the Torah and is the fulfillment of Allah’s (God’s) promise to them. Therefore, by Divine right they feel justified that their presence in the state of Israel is divinely ordained.
“On the other hand, the Palestinians view the Israeli presence as the result of the organization of western powers in the United Nations heavily influenced by the Jewish people and various governments that mandated the taking of land from the Palestinians to form the state of Israel. This action, taken by the United Nations in 1948, was never accepted by the Arab states and many in the Muslim world. Therefore, the Arab states made war against the Israeli state; and after each war more and more land was taken from them. So, in their anger and their perception of stolen land and the Arab world’s sharing this perception, the Palestinians, both Arab and Christian Palestinians, have fought the presence of Israelis, only to lose more and more land to a growing Israeli population. . .
For 54 years the Arab and Muslim world has not accepted the existence of the state of Israel. It appears, from the Gadhafi and Saudi Peace Plan, that there now could be a recognition of the state of Israel’s right to exist and the possibility of normalizing relations between the Arab states and Israel should certain conditions be met. These peace proposals are at least a basis for serious dialogue and negotiations. . .
When I see the bodies of Israelis carried to the cemetery and grieving mothers and fathers, I’m touched by that, as the world is. But, I’m also touched by the grieving Palestinian mothers and fathers who are burying their children. To see Palestinian boys and men pulled out of their homes blindfolded, their hands behind their backs strapped, it reminds us of what was done by the Nazis in Poland. I would appeal to those of us who suffer, we should never adopt the way of the oppressor. We must always adopt a better way than to become what we have detested. . .
It is my desire to visit Israel and the Palestinians. I am not fearful of losing support of the Arab and Muslim people by speaking to Prime Minister Sharon any more than Moses lost the support of his people by speaking to Pharaoh. I do not believe that we should not speak. I do not believe that we should not act to try to stop the carnage. If we fail, at least we have tried. I personally believe that these views can be reconciled, but it will take spiritual people as well as highly learned political people to implement a solution that can bring peace to this troubled area of the world. . .
Ali Baghdadi, Arab Journal: Don’t you think that the God who promised Palestine to the Jews, the God of Israel, is a racist God, guilty of promising a land to people who do not belong there? . . .
MLF: Let me respectfully say that I don’t believe that God is racist or unjust to promise land to a people with whom He has found favor. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. If I would call God a racist God for promising that to Jews, then I would not be able to consider His promise to us (Blacks in America). We are in the same position that the children of Israel were in 4,000 years ago. We, too, have been persecuted for 400 years and we do not have a land that we can call our own. . .
