Some Of Farrakhan’s Closest Friends Also Antisemities

“Today it’s Mr. Farrakhan, but tomorrow it will be you or me or anyone else who has the guts to stand up for progressive values such as seeing people of color as devoid of moral agency.”

Chicago, March 7 – Allies of controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan rushed to defend him this week against continuing allegations of anti-Jewish prejudice, noting that some of the minister’s dearest acquaintances are also anti-Jewish.

Farrakhan made numerous vile characterizations of Jews in an address last week, causing some progressives to question their association with him, but prompting others to close ranks and dismiss the relevance of such remarks. Defenders of Farrakhan pointed to his work on behalf of the marginalized black community, preferring to downplay the man’s rhetoric that defames women, the LGBTQ community, Jews, and whites in general. Several such defenders went as far as to question the characterization of his remarks as antisemitic, pointing to the significant number of people in Farrakhan’s close inner circle who are also antisemitic.

Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour challenged the credibility of anyone to throw what she called “derogatory, defamatory, libelous words” such as accusations of antisemitism at a man who “has worked tirelessly to free people of color from the shackles of Jewish white hegemony.”

“We owe this man our gratitude, and now, our protection,” she declared in response to the reports. “One by one the white supremacist establishment comes for us. Today it’s Mr. Farrakhan, but tomorrow it will be you or me or anyone else who has the guts to stand up for progressive values such as denying Jewish peoplehood, justifying Islamic terrorism, and seeing people of color as devoid of moral agency.”

Congressman Keith Ellison, Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a longtime associate of Farrakhan, called on the media to stop giving publicity and credence to the charges. “Anyone who knows Minister Farrakhan knows who he really is,” asserted Ellison. “He’s a man of openness and tolerance who is willing to meet anyone, and the more anti-Jewish, the better. You won’t find anyone on the neocon Republican right who’s open-minded enough to dine with Iranian officials who have sworn to wipe the sovereign Jewish state off the map. Hypocrites.”

Another Farrakhan supporter in Congress, Representative Danny Davis, urged the public to take a look at the larger picture rather than focus on the narrow issue of the minister’s antisemitism. “We have important work to do that this preoccupation only makes harder,” he insisted. “Just take a broader view, at more people in Mr. Farrakhan’s movement and in progressive circles in general, and you’ll see this issue barely registers because so many of us hate Jews.”

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