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Louis Farrakhan
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Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933), is the Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad. He is an advocate for African American interests, and a critic of American society.
As of 2008, he resides in Kenwood, a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, and part time at a Nation of Islam farm in New Buffalo, Michigan. Farrakhan is widely recognized as a speaker with a powerful allure, and a sometimes controversial rhetorical style.
akhan was born in The Bronx, New York and raised as Eugene Walcott within the West Indian community in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts.
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Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933), is the Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad. He is an advocate for African American interests, and a critic of American society.
As of 2008, he resides in Kenwood, a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, and part time at a Nation of Islam farm in New Buffalo, Michigan. Farrakhan is widely recognized as a speaker with a powerful allure, and a sometimes controversial rhetorical style.
Early life
Farrakhan was born in The Bronx, New York and raised as Eugene Walcott within the West Indian community in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts. His mother, Sarah Mae Manning, had emigrated from Saint Kitts and Nevis in the 1920s; his father, Percival Clarke, was a Jamaican cab driver from New York, but was not involved in his upbringing.
As a child, he received training as a violinist. At the age of six, he was given his first violin and by the age of thirteen, he had played with the Boston College Orchestra and the Boston Civic Symphony. A year later, he went on to win national competitions, and was one of the first black performers to appear on Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour, where he also won an award. A central focus of his youth was the Episcopal St. Cyprian's Church in Boston's Roxbury section, a part of Boston which also produced Leonard Bernstein.
In Boston, Walcott attended the prestigious Boston Latin School and English High School, graduating from the latter. He attended college for two years at Winston-Salem Teachers College, where he went to run track, but left to be with his wife (born Betsy Ross) in Boston who was pregnant with their child. Due to complications from the pregnancy, Walcott dropped out of college to devote time to his wife.
In the 1950s, Walcott became an up-and-coming calypso singer. He recorded several calypso albums under the name "The Charmer."
Nation of Islam
Early involvement
In 1955, while headlining a show in Chicago entitled "Calypso Follies," he first came in contact with the teachings of the Nation of Islam. A friend from Boston, sometime saxophonist Rodney Smith, introduced him to the NOI's doctrine and he attended the annual Saviours' Day address by Elijah Muhammad. He joined the Nation of Islam in July 1955, becoming Louis X. The "X" was a placeholder following the dropping of the slave name, referring to the loss of the unknown surname of his slave forefathers, and preceding the Islamic name some Nation members are given later in their conversion.
Thirty days after that, Elijah Muhammad stated that all musicians in the NOI had thirty days from the date of this announcement to give up the music world completely. Farrakhan did so after performing one last time at the Nevel Country Club. He is widely known among his detractors as "Calypso Louie".
After joining the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan quickly rose through the ranks to become Minister of the Nation of Islam's Boston Mosque. He was appointed Minister of the influential Harlem Mosque and served in that capacity from 1965 to 1975.
Leadership
In 1977, after wrestling with the changes and consequent dismantling of the NOI structure by Warith Deen Muhammad, Farrakhan walked away from the movement. In a 1990 interview with Emerge magazine, he expressed his disillusionment with the changes and said he decided to "quietly walk away" from the organization rather than cause a schism among the membership. In 1978 with no public notice, Farrakhan and a small number of supporters privately decided to rebuild the original Nation of Islam upon the foundation established by Wallace Fard Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad.
In 1979, the Nation of Islam's newspaper, Muhammad Speaks was reestablished by Farrakhan under the name The Final Call. In 1981, Farrakhan and supporters held the first annual Nation of Islam Saviors' Day convention in Chicago since 1975. At the convention's keynote address, Farrakhan made his first public announcement of the restoration of the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad's teachings.
On January 12, 1995, Malcolm X's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, was arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Farrakhan. It was later alleged that the FBI had used a paid informant, Michael Fitzpatrick, to frame Shabazz. After Shabazz's arrest, Farrakhan held a press conference in Chicago in which he accused the FBI of attempting to exacerbate division and conflict between the Nation of Islam and the family of Malcolm X. Nearly four months later, on May 1, U.S. government prosecutors dropped their case against Shabazz.
On May 6 1995, a packed public meeting in Harlem, New York, termed A New Beginning, featured Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X's widow, Betty Shabazz. Originally organized by community activists as a fund raiser for Qubilah Shabazz's legal defense, the meeting marked the first public rapprochement between Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam and the Shabazz family.
On October 16 1995 Farrakhan convened a broad coalition of nearly 400,000 men in Washington, D.C. for the Million Man March. Farrakhan, along with New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, Al Sharpton, Addis Daniel and other prominent black Americans marked the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March by holding a second march, the Millions More Movement on October 14 2005 through October 17 2005, in Washington.
In 1997, Farrakhan began to move closer to orthodox Sunni Islam. He adopted the orthodox Friday worship service, prayer posture, and fasting. These measures helped end 25 years of separation and hostility between Farrakhan and W.D. Mohammed. The two men declared their unity at the second International Islamic Conference in Chicago in February 2000. But they continued to lead separate movements.
In a 2005 Black Entertainment Television (BET) poll, Farrakhan was voted the 'Person of the Year'.
In a February 2006 AP-AOL "Black Voices" poll, Farrakhan was voted the fifth most important black leader with 4 percent of the vote.
Hurricane Katrina
In comments regarding the destruction of large parts of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Louis Farrakhan stated that there was a hole under one of the key levees that failed, and implied that the levee's destruction was a deliberate attempt to wipe out the population of largely black sections within the city. Farrakhan later said that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told him of the crater during a meeting in Dallas, Texas. Farrakhan further claimed the fact that the levee broke the day after Hurricane Katrina is proof that the destruction of the levee was not a natural occurrence. Farrakhan has raised additional questions and has called for federal investigations into the source of the levee break.
These accusations, however, are countered by many experts, including the Independent Levee Investigation Team from the University of California, Berkeley. The findings of this panel are that the overtopping of the levees by flood waters, the often sub-standard materials used to shore up the levees, and the age of the levees contributed to these "scour holes" found at many of the sites of levee breaks after Hurricane Katrina.
Praise for Barack Obama
Farrakhan said the war in Iraq, the nation's faltering economy and the increased number of natural disasters were signs of "a nation in peril." He said those problems provide the broader context for Obama's rise.
In response to Farrakhan's remarks, the Obama campaign promptly released a response distancing himself from the minister:
"Senator Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan's past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister's support," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. Obama himself "rejected and denounced" Farrakhan's support in an NBC debate.
Farrakhan subsequently denied his comments constituted an endorsement saying, he would not tell any one of his followers how to cast their vote, but that they should vote "their own self-interest."
Conservative websites such as World Net Daily reported that during his February 24, 2008 "Saviours' Day" speech, Farrakhan called Senator Obama "the Messiah". However, Farrakhan quoted in context during his speech, said, "Sen. Obama is not the Messiah for sure, but anytime, he gives you a sign of uniting races, ethnic groups, ideologies, religions and makes people feel a sense of oneness, that’s not necessarily Satan’s work, that is I believe the work of God."
Current health
Farrakhan announced that he is seriously ill in a September 11, 2006 letter to his staff, Nation of Islam members and supporters. The letter, published in The Final Call newspaper, said that doctors in Cuba discovered an ulcer. According to the letter, subsequent infections caused Farrakhan to lose 35 pounds. He urged the Nation of Islam leadership to carry on while he recovers.
Farrakhan was released from his five-week hospital stay on January 28, 2007 after major abdominal surgery. The operation was performed to correct damage caused by side effects of a radioactive "seed" implantation procedure that he received years earlier to successfully treat prostate cancer.
Following his hospital stay, Farrakhan released a personal public "Message of Appreciation" to supporters and well wishers and weeks later delivered the keynote address at the Nation of Islam's annual convention in Detroit.
Controversy
Farrakhan has been the center of much controversy, and critics claim that some of his views and comments have been racist or homophobic. Farrakhan has categorically rejected these charges, and has stated that much of America's perception of him has been shaped by media sound bites. This defense is echoed by religion scholar Mattias Gardell who argues that, when considered in the context of Farrakhan's typically lengthy lectures, many of Farrakhan's superficially controversial comments take on a more nuanced or thoughtful meaning that cannot be conveyed in a sound bite.
Allegations of antisemitism
Perhaps the most provocative aspect of Farrakhan's political philosophy are comments he has made that have widely been seen as antisemitic. Farrakhan insists that he respects the religious traditions of all people of the book.
Jewish distributors
Farrakhan has alleged that in 1985, Jewish distributors blocked a major urban economic renewal initiative he championed which was dubbed "p.o.w.e.r." for People Organized Working for Economic Rebirth.
The initiative called for a joint enterprise of Black businesses and organizations to produce and distribute a line of cosmetics and toiletries sold under the Clean & Fresh label. Major black-hair-care companies, including Johnson Products Co. backed out of the initiative fearing it could lead to accusations of anti-Semitism. Johnson Products owner George E. Johnson, Sr. maintained that his company's distributors told him that any dealings with Farrakhan's P.O.W.E.R. project would lead to having his own products boycotted. We knew we could not offend our distribution channels, a Johnson spokesman, Dorothy McConner, said. "When I saw that," Farrakhan says, "I recognized that the black man will never be free until we address the relationship between blacks and Jews."
"Gutter religion"
In 1984, after returning from a visit to Libya, Farrakhan delivered a sermon that was recorded by a Chicago Sun Times reporter. A transcript from part of the sermon was published in the New York Times:
Toward the end of that portion of his speech that was recorded, Mr. Farrakhan said: "Now that nation called Israel never has had any peace in 40 years and she will never have any peace because there can be no peace structured on injustice, thievery, lying and deceit and using the name of God to shield your gutter religion under His holy and righteous name."
Farrakhan has repeatedly denied using the term "gutter religion," claiming that he said "dirty religion" in reference to Israel's use of Judaism, not to Judaism in general. In a June 18, 1997 letter to a former Wall Street Journal editor, Jude Wanniski, he stated:
Countless times over the years I have explained that I never referred to Judaism as a gutter 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.
Neturei Karta
Farrakhan has had friendly relations with leaders of the Neturei Karta, a Jewish group that is well-known for its association with and support for anti-Zionists. While they said that "Minister Farrakhan has in the past, at times, tended to negatively lump all Jews together in his rhetoric", Neturei Karta stressed that "Minister Louis Farrakhan is an extraordinary force for good in the Black community. His followers are responsible, industrious, modest and moral. And for this he and they have our respect."
"Black Hitler" characterization
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 numerous death threats, leading Farrakhan to announce, "If you [Jews] harm this brother, I warn you in the name of Allah, it'll be the last one you ever harm."
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 Village Voice journalist Nat Hentoff, while a guest on a New York radio talk-show, also characterized the NOI 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."
Farrakhan was censured unanimously by the United States Senate for the speech.
Other remarks
- Farrakhan has referred to Jews, Koreans, and Vietnamese who bought up property in poor black neighborhoods as "bloodsuckers" and maintains that "Murder and lying comes easy for white people."
- “Cokely spoke the truth” and [Jews protested] “because the truth hurts. I know this man Cokely. I know if he said it, he got the stuff to back it up.” -- Chicago Sun Times, May 10, 1988, concerning statements by Chicago Black activist and former municipal official Steve Cokely asserting that Jews engaged in an international conspiracy to take over the world, and that Jewish doctors deliberately injected black children with the AIDS virus.."
Homosexuality
In his speech in Boston in August 1997, Farrakhan made the following statement about homosexuality:
It seems like being gay or whatever sin you wish to be a part of is okay ... but I have the duty to lift that gay person up to the standard to ask if they want to live the life that God wants them to or live the lifestyle that they want to live."
Farrakhan's Vision Experience
On October 24 1989, at a Washington, DC. press conference, Louis Farrakhan described a 1985 vision he had while in Mexico. In his vision, he said he was carried up to "a Wheel, or what you call an unidentified flying object" to a "human built planet" known as the "Mother Wheel" as referenced in the Bible's Book of Ezekiel 1:15-18. During this Vision experience he said he heard the voice of Elijah Muhammad informing him that the President was planning a war and instructed him to "announce their plan and say to the world that you got the information from me, Elijah Muhammad, on the Wheel." Farrakhan concluded that the war was against the people of Libya and Muammar al-Gaddafi to whom he traveled to warn in February 1986. The U.S. launched bombing strikes against Libya in April 1986. He said he later came to realize that the war extended to "an even more significant and consequential war, .. "a war against the black people of America, the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan."
In a December 1, 2001 letter to President George W. Bush which was made public, Farrakhan disclosed that his Vision experience is what inspired him to "tour the country talking to Black men urging them to stop the killing of one another, and what eventually led to the Million Man March on October 16, 1995."
Race
Louis Farrakhan has made controversial statements about race, including "White people are potential humans — they haven't evolved yet" in March 2000. . In full context, Farrakhan further expounded by saying, "If you look at the human family -- now, I'm talking about black, brown, red, yellow and white -- we all seem to be frozen on a subhuman level of existence. In Islam and, I believe, in Christian theology and Jewish theology as well, there are three stages of human development. The first stage is called the animalistic stage of development. But when we submit to animal passions, then we can do evil things to one another in that animalistic stage of development. But when moral consciousness comes and we have a self-accusing spirit, it is then that we become human beings. Right now, we have the potential for humanity, but we have not reached that potential, because we are functioning on the animalistic plane of existence."
Mugabe
In 2002 Louis Farrakhan went to Zimbabwe in support of President Robert Mugabe's intentions to enforce proposed seizures of white-owned land and property. The seizures were marked by violence and death and contributed to the collapse of farming and agriculture. Farrakhan said he was in "full support" of Mugabe's policies "as it was aimed at correcting a historical injustice".
Malcolm X's death
After a May 2000 CBS 60 Minutes interview which aired on Sunday May 14, 2000, CBS Evening News, Farrakhan said that his "incendiary rhetoric played a role in the 1965 assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm X."
On May 20, 2000, Farrakhan publicly rejected CBS News' characterization of the interview stating, "It appears that the aim of 60 Minutes, CBS and Mike Wallace was to make the American public believe that I, Louis Farrakhan, ordered the assassination of Malcolm X. It in no way reflected the spirit of Miss Shabazz and myself and our attempt to continue the path of reconciliation started by Dr. Betty Shabazz and me in 1994 and 1995."
In a June 5, 2000, interview titled 'Setting the Record Straight' with Jet Magazine, Farrakhan said "the interview was edited in such a way to give viewers the impression that Farrakhan had a role in Malcolm's death". Of the full 4 hour interview, CBS edited the broadcast portion down to 12 minutes.
In a February 21 1990 (2/21/90 was also the 25th anniversary of Malcolm X's death) speech at Malcolm X College in Chicago, IL, Farrakhan gave a presentation on "The Murder of Malcolm X" and the lingering effects of the assassination.
Other controversial quotes
- "You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking."
- "The God I follow teaches me to call the white man the skunk of the Earth."
Farrakhan and classical music
When Farrakhan first joined the NOI, he was asked by Elijah Muhammad to put aside his musical career. After 42 years, Farrakhan decided to take up the violin once more, particularly due to the urging of prominent classical musician Sylvia Olden Lee.
On 17 April 1993, Farrakhan made his concert debut with performances of the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn. Farrakhan said that his performance of a concerto by a Jewish composer was, in part, an effort to heal a rift between him and the Jewish community. The New York Times music critic Bernard Holland reported that while his performance was flawed due to years of neglect, "Mr. Farrakhan's sound is that of the authentic player. It is wide, deep and full of the energy that makes the violin gleam." He has gone on to perform the Violin Concerto of Ludwig van Beethoven and has announced plans to perform those of Tchaikovsky and Brahms.
See also
Footnotes
Further reading
- Muhammad, Jabril, Closing The Gap: Inner Views of the Heart, Mind & Soul of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, FCN Publishing Co. (2006) ISBN 978-1-929594-99-3
- Gardell, Mattias, In the Name of Elijah Mohammed: Louis Farrakhan and The Nation of Islam, Duke University Press (1996) ISBN 978-0-8223-1845-3
- Farrakhan, Louis A Torchlight for America, FCN Publishing Co. (1993) ISBN 0-9637642-4-1
External links
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- -Not a pro Louis Farrakhan site. They are critical of his leadership of the NOI
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- for the WGBH series,
- A selection of quotes from Farrakhan's speeches prepared by the Anti-Defamation League
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Farrakhan videos
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