Louis Farrakhan

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Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene Walcott, May 11, 1933), is the head of the Nation of Islam.^[1] Farrakhan is seen as a leader by many African-Americans both inside and outside the Nation of Islam.^[2][3][1][4]

Early life

Farrakhan was born in the Bronx, New York and raised as Eugene Wolcott 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, Gebe received training as a violinist. At the age of six, he was given his first violin and by the age of 13, he had played with the Boston College Orchestra and the Boston Civic Symphony. A year later, Louis went on to win national competitions, as well as the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. He was one of the first blacks to appear on the popular show. A central focus of his youth was St. Cyprian's Church (Episcopal) in Boston's Roxbury section, a part of Boston which also produced Leonard Bernstein.

In Boston, Wolcott attended the prestigious Boston Latin School and English High School, graduating from the latter^[5]. He attended college for two years at Winston-Salem State Teachers College, where he went to run track, but left to be with his wife (born Betsy Ross)in Boston who was with child. The way the baby was positioned inside of his wife, it would touch a nerve and literally take her feet from under her. Louis decided that he could not fully concentrate on school knowing that his wife and child might be in potential danger. In the 1950s, Wolcott became an up-and-coming calypso singer. He recorded several calypso albums under the name "The Charmer." [1] 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 saxophohist Rodney Smith, introduced him to the NOI 's doctrine. He joined the Nation of Islam in July of 1955, becoming Louis X- the "X" being a placeholder for two things- the unknown surname of his slave forefathers, and the Islamic name some Nation members are given later in their converstion

Thirty days after joining, 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 almost instantly. He performed one last time at the Nevel Country Club and did everything he knew how to do related to show business. After the show that day, he was approached by the high profile manager of Pearl Bailey and Billie Daniels. He asked if he could be Farrakhan's manager, and if so he would pay him $500.00 a week. In 1955 $500.00 was more like $5,000.00 by today's standard. Farrakhan turned him down flat.^{[citation needed]}The first major calypso singer in the States, Harry Belafonte, recorded America's first million-selling LP (album), "Calypso". Most music historians doubt that the recording industry would have had room for two stars in the genre (a rival to Belafonte never emerged, though the Caribbean has many legends of its own, such as The Mighty Sparrow, and Lord Kitchener). Others point to the fact that Wolcott/Farrakhan never headlined major clubs or theatres.

Family

Farrakhan married Khadijah in September 12, 1953. The Farrakhans have been married for 53 years and have a number of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Farrakhan's son Mustapha Farrakhan holds the position of supreme captain of the Nation of Islam.[2] [3]. Mustapha's son, also named Mustapha Farrakhan, is an up-and-coming basketball player who has committed to the University of Virginia to play college basketball in 2007. He recently caught the eye of the media who were speculating on the impact of the shadow of his grandfather's name may have on his sporting career[4] .

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 on September 11, 2006 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. [5]

Making his first public comments since his September 11 announcement of his ill health, Farrakhan called in to Rev. Jesse Jackson's weekly Rainbow/PUSH address on Saturday, October 21 and thanked the audience for their wishes for his speedy recovery. In his comments that were also carried live on Chicago's WVON radio station and various national cable stations, Farrakhan said, "Let me thank God because he has blessed me to be alive. I have good days and bad days. I am honored to have this moment and give thanks to all of you. You cannot imagine how all of you have uplifted my spirit."

Rev. Jackson said it was important for his audience to hear directly from Farrakhan to dispel rumors that the longtime leader of the Nation of Islam was near death. [6]. On January 06, 2007 a statement was released that Farrakhan had undergone a 12 hour operation. The nature of the surgery was not revealed. But doctors told Farrakhan's family that they are pleased with the operation's outcome.^[6]

Nation of Islam

Early involvement

He had been inspired by Malcolm X and he had accepted a friend's invitation to attend the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day address by Elijah Muhammad. Walcott accepted Elijah Muhammad's teachings that day and was renamed "Louis X."

Adoption of the "X" surname is a tradition within the Nation of Islam. In mathematics, "X" represents an unknown variable. In the purview of the Nation of Islam, followers accept the "X" surname as the rejection of their "slave name". Eventually, the "X" name is replaced by a proper Muslim name more descriptive of the individual's personality and character.

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 Saviours' 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. [7]

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 roughly five hundred thousand black men in what many say was the largest march in American history, the hyperbolically named Million Man March. Farrakhan, along with New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, Al Sharpton, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) 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 a 2005 Black Entertainment Television (BET) poll, Farrakhan was voted the 'Person of the Year'. [8]

In a February 2006 AP-AOL "Black Voices" poll, Farrakhan was voted the fifth most important black leader with 4% of the vote[9].

Orator

Though controversial, Farrakhan is an electrifying speaker with a powerful allure. In his prime, crowds all around the United States would throng to his speeches for moral uplift and entertainment. His orations typically last up to three hours. His charisma played a significant role in drawing almost a half million people to the million man march[10].

Controversy

Farrakhan and allegations of antisemitism

Perhaps the most provocative aspect of Farrakhan's political philosophy is his anti-Semitism, allegations Farrakhan has denied.

Prior to 1984 Farrakhan was known for his anti-white rhetoric but had not singled out Jews. The controversies began during the 1984 presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson (with the Nation of Islam providing security). During a discussion with a black reporter, Jackson referred to New York City as "Hymietown". 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".

He was labeled anti-semitic and a Jewish journalist at The Village Voice referred to him as a "Black Hitler".

In 1994 in response to the allegations Farrakhan made one of his most controversial statements. Farrakhan said in a speech: "The Jews don't like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man."[11]

He was censured unanimously by the United States Senate for the speech that statement was in. In context:

"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." [12][13]

Farrakhan alleges that Jewish distributors blocked his plans for Nation of Islam cosmetics and toiletries sold under the Clean & Fresh label. Major black-hair-care companies, including Johnson Products Co. refused to do business with Farrakhan's Nation of Islam products. Company owner George E. Johnson maintained that his dealers told him that any dealings with Farrakhan's firm would lead to having his own products boycotted. "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."[14]

Other controversial quotes attributed to Farrakhan include:

Farrakhan: "Is the Federal Reserve owned by the government?"

Audience: "No."

Farrakhan: "Who owns the Federal Reserve?"

Audience: "Jews."

Farrakhan: "The same year they set up the IRS, they set up the FBI. And the same year they set up the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith… It could be a coincidence… [I want] to see black intellectuals free… I want to see them not controlled by members of the Jewish community."[15]

“Dewey, Kant and Hegel, and the rabbis that wrote the Talmud, make blacks inferior.”[16]

Farrakhan has referred to Jews, Palestinian Arabs, Koreans, and Vietnamese collectively as "bloodsuckers" and maintains that "Murder and lying comes easy for white people." [17] He has also been accused of calling Judaism a "gutter religion," although Farrakhan and his supporters deny this. An article in the NOI's periodical, Final Call, has responded by claiming that Farrakhan instead used the expression "dirty religion," and that "...in Minister Farrakhan’s vocabulary the phrase 'dirty religion' has a particular meaning... 'dirty religion' is the distorted faith which emerges from its manipulation by hypocrites or sinners."[18]

In 1998, former The Wall Street Journal editor Jude Wanniski attempted to foster dialogue between Farrakhan and his critics. He arranged for Farrakhan to be interviewed by reporter Jeffrey Goldberg who had written for the Jewish weekly, The Forward and The New York Times. Since the extensive interview was never published in either publication, Wanniski decided to post the transcript on his website in the context of a memo of Senator Joseph Lieberman. The following are links to the interview, parts one, two and three:

Farrakhan has had friendly relations with leaders of the Neturei Karta, a small Jewish group that is well-known for its association with and support for anti-Zionists. 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." [19]

During Christmas of the same year he met with Catholic leaders and rabbis at a gathering in Chicago where he called on all peoples of the world to "end the cycle of hatred".[20]

At an NOI-sponsored event in February 2006, Farrakhan provoked accusations of antisemitism in Illinois by stating that "These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood. It's the wicked Jews, the false Jews that are promoting lesbianism, homosexuality, [and] Zionists have manipulated Bush and the American government [over the war in Iraq]" [21].

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 Qaddafi to whom he traveled to warn in February of 1986. The U.S. launched bombing strikes against Libya in April 1986. [22] 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." [23]

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." [24] [25]

Farrakhan and race

Farrakhan made several controversial statements about race, including "White people are potential humans — they haven't evolved yet" in March 2000, [26] and "Murder and lying comes easy for white people" in 1994. [27] He has also alluded to a figure called "Yacub" (or "Jacob") with reference to whites. According to Farrakhan's mentor, Elijah Muhammad, blacks were "born righteous and turned to unrighteousness," while the white race was "made unrighteous by the god who made them (Mr. Yacub)." [28]

In an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Farrakhan defended the position that black people are the original people of the earth and clarified that, "It doesn't suggest that we are superior or that you are inferior. Superiority and inferiority is determined by our righteousness and not by our color." In the same interview Farrakan stated that, "any human being who gives themself over to the doing of evil could be considered a devil".FCN/NBC, 1997

Farrakhan and Hurricane Katrina

In comments regarding the decimation of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, Louis Farrakhan stated that there was a 25-foot 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 claimed that the informant was current New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who allegedly told him of the crater during a meeting in Dallas, Texas. [29] 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.[30][31]

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.^[7]

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 of abstinence from playing the violin Farrakhan decided to take it up once more, particularly due to the urging of prominent classical musician Sylvia Olden Lee.

In early 1993, Farrakhan made his concert debut with performances of the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Jewish convert to Christianity composer Felix Mendelssohn, which was widely seen as a response to his critics, such as the Anti-Defamation League, who had charged him with anti-semitism.[32][33]

Reviews were mixed, but some critics agreed that Farrakhan, while not on a par with established solo violin performers, had nonetheless put in a creditable performance.[34][35] He has gone on to perform the Violin Concerto of Ludwig van Beethoven and has announced plans to perform those of Tchaikovsky and Brahms.

Farrakhan parodies

• Damon Wayans portrayed Farrakahan in several sketches on In Living Color, imitating his style of dress and his slow, measured way of speaking. One sketch, called "The Wrath of Farrakhan", introduced the Nation of Islam leader to the Star Trek franchise, having him appear on the deck of the U.S.S. Enterprise and stir up dissent among the crew.Living Color link
• On the Rush Limbaugh program, voice actor Paul Shanklin periodically impersonates Farrakhan in several fake infomercials for an educational product called "Million-Man Math Made Easy".
• In another Paul Shanklin parody, Farrakahn is Mr. Rogers.
• On MADtv, Aries Spears played Farrakahan in a sketch entitled "Elton John Duets", which features a duet with the singer and Farrakahan singing a parody of "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" entitled "I Guess That's Why I Hate The Jews."

See also

• Millions More Movement
• Nation of Islam

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

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