Hate marches on

Hatemongering psychopath Louis Farrakhan is hosting a "Millions More Weekend" in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 14-16, and in response to concerns from the ADL, Russell Simmons is telling the Jews to keep their mouths shut:

As Chairman of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, I know that your above quoted statements and the urging and pressure of the ADL for African American leaders to reconsider their support of the Millions More Movement and the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March will do nothing more than increase the polarization of relations between millions of African Americans and Jewish Americans. It is a sad commentary that your actions will only help to spread anti-Semitism rather than help to end it.
[...]
Simply put, you are misguided, arrogant, and very disrespectful of African Americans and most importantly your statements will unintentionally or intentionally lead to a negative impression of Jews in the minds of millions of African Americans. Similar to how you single-handedly caused millions of persons to flock to see the "Passion of Christ" in defiance of your call for non-attendance, you are going to precipitate a tremendous negative defiance of your demands that will again severely hurt and harm relations between Jews and African Americans.

You should refrain from pressuring African American leaders to denounce Minister Farrakhan and the Millions More Movement. This commemoration is as a real opportunity for establishing healing, reconciliation and fostering a more effective environment for constructive dialogue between Blacks and Jews. We want a society and world were there is no hatred, anti-Semitism, violence, or poverty. For the record, we do not and would not support or endorse any person's viewpoint that is anti-Semitic, racist or hateful. You should, therefore, be working with us toward building more compassion and love among and between all people. [emphasis added]

So, what's the ADL so concerned about? This, for starters:

In the run-up to the October 14 – 16 march in Washington, Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic and racist leader of the Nation of Islam, has promoted a conspiracy theory that the flooding of Black neighborhoods during Hurricane Katrina was a deliberate act of sabotage. This is one in a series of racially divisive remarks made by Farrakhan as he has toured the country visiting shelters for hurricane victims and garnering support for the march, which he is touting as a 10th anniversary commemoration of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C.

Examples of Farrakhan's recent statements include:

- "New Orleans will be a white city. It will be rebuilt to the exclusion of the poor who have been dispersed all over the country," – Press conference, Memphis, TN, 9/25/05

- I have heard from a very reliable source that under that levee there was a 25-foot hole, which suggested that it may have been blown up, so that the water would destroy the Black part of town, and where the whites lived, it would be dry." – Press conference, Charlotte, NC, 9/12/05.

- "FEMA is too white to represent us, and so is the Red Cross," Power Center, Houston, 9/11/05

- "I do not hate the Jewish people; put that down! What I hate is the degree of control that they exercise over Black intellectual, cultural expression. I do not think that no human being should determine how high we can go, that can only be determined by God and by us; not by no white man, no black man, no human being." – Millions More rally in Philadelphia, 8/31/05.

In a September 23 speech in Memphis, Farrakhan repeated the allegation that the levees were purposely destroyed and read at length from an essay posted on a Web site by Hal Turner, a hardcore anti-Semite and former member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance. The essay claimed that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had found chemical traces of "military grade" explosives at the New Orleans levees. (Incredibly, there is nothing new about the Nation of Islam teaming up with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.)

A partial list of those teaming up with Farrakhan this weekend:

The Millions More Movement is being orchestrated by a broad coalition of national organizations including Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, Dr. Dorothy Height and the National Council of Negro Women, Bruce Gordon and the NAACP, Mark Morial and the National Urban League, Russell Simmons and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Dr. Charles Steele and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Reverend Jesse Jackson and the National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network and Congressman Mel Watt and the Congressional Black Caucus, among others...

...Hip-hop leaders helping to galvanize the movement include Reverend Run, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Damon Dash, Jermaine Dupri, Kanye West, Ludacris, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Common, Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown, David Banner, Snoop Dogg, Ice T, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana and Jha Jha of the Diplomats, Masta P, Juvenile, Erykah Badu ?Questlove of The Roots, MC Lyte, Fab Five Freddy, Biz Markie, Kid Capri, Cassidy, the Wu Tang Clan, Xzibit, Tony Austin, Humpty Hump, the Ruff Ryders and dead prez, among others.
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Other celebrities endorsing or participating include Harry Belafonte, Cornell West, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Susan Taylor, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Steve Harvey, Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner, Cathy Hughes and many others.

It's bad enough that the once-great civil rights movement, which stood for decency, equality and tolerance at a time when racism was much, much worse than it is today, has degenerated into such a swamp of paranoia, partisanship, groupthink, conspiracy-theorizing and incompetence. But it's downright disgraceful that the Jews, who more than any other ethnic group stood with African-Americans in the fight against segregation, are being singled out for hate.

Louis Farrakhan is a cancer, no matter how many "empowerment" or "self-help" programs he sets up. And anyone, Black or White, who makes excuses for the man should be automatically disqualified from being taken seriously on racial issues. Or any other issues.

Posted by damian at October 11, 2005 12:45 PM | TrackBack