Nation of Islam and racism
Antisemitism in the Nation of Islam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nation of Islam (NOI) is a Black nationalist religious movement founded in 1930,[1] which played a considerable role in the Civil Rights Movement (1954‒68) in the United States (US).[1] Since its founding, it has been a subject of controversy due to its promotion of ideas commonly seen as racist.[2][3]
During the early 1960s, Malcolm X (left) and Muhammad Ali (right) helped raise the profile of the Nation.
Antisemitism
A common form of racism for which the NOI has been criticized is antisemitism.[4] Several figureheads of the NOI, including Elijah Muhammad,[5] Malcolm X[2] and Louis Farrakhan,[3] expressed antisemitic views within their lifetime.
Elijah Muhammad
In the 1960s, Elijah Muhammad, as the leader of the NOI, partnered with Neo-Nazi groups due to their mutual support for racial separatism.[5] Muhammad worked with the KKK to buy farmland in the Deep South with a view to building Black-only colonies,[5] one of which was founded as the Temple Farms, now Muhammad Farms, in Terrel County, Georgia.[5] In the following 10 years, Elijah received huge funding from White supremacist Texas oil baron H. L. Hunt, which was used by Elijah to build luxurious homes for his own family.[5] George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi Party's founder, praised Elijah Muhammad as "the Hitler of the Black man".[5]
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was an NOI member until March 8, 1964.[6] Malcolm X had made a series of antisemitic speeches,[2] which promoted the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion among Ivy League-based academics and Black Americans.[2] He accused Jews of being "bloodsuckers [...] perfecting the modern evil of neocolonialism".[2] He also engaged in Holocaust denial[7] by blaming Jews for having "brought it upon themselves", based on his distorted view of certain events.[2] In 1961, he spoke at an NOI rally along with George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party, who claimed that Black nationalism and White supremacy shared a common vision.[8]
Louis Farrakhan
NOI's leader Louis Farrakhan is well-known for his antisemitic[4] views,[2][3] despite his and his group's denial.[3] Many believed Farrakhan to have been involved in the assassination of Malcolm X because Malcolm X reportedly abandoned his racist views about those he considered White. In 2020, Louis Farrakhan was classified by the American civil rights group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as "the most popular antisemite in America".[9]
1980s
In June 1984, Farrakhan went to Libya to visit her dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Upon return, Farrakhan smeared Judaism as a "gutter religion [...] structured on injustice, thievery, lying and deceit" that "abused" God's name for self-defense.[10] In 1985, at an NOI meeting, Farrakhan said that the Jews deserved the Holocaust by screaming that "And don't you forget, when it's God who puts you in the ovens, it's forever!"[11]
1990s
In 1995, Farrakhan accused Jews of causing the Holocaust themselves, a false claim common among antisemites,[12][13] by alleging that "German Jews financed Hitler right here in America [...] International bankers financed Hitler and poor Jews died while big Jews were at the root of what you call the Holocaust".[14] In October, he mobilized 440,000 men to attend the Million Man March in Washington, D.C.,[15] the tenth-largest march in American history,[15][16] when he called himself "a prophet sent by God to show America its evil".[17]
2020s
Just as Malcolm X,[2][3] Farrakhan is an iconic figure in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement,[2][3] appearing in graffitis painted by BLM activists.[18]
Connections with White supremacists
In September 1984, former KKK member Tom Metzger[19] donated $100 to Farrakhan's NOI after being impressed by his antisemitic rhetoric at a Los Angeles event,[3][20] a prejudice shared by both White supremacists and Black supremacists.[3][20] The donation was followed by Metzger's gathering of 200 White supremacists to pledge support for Farrakhan's NOI.[2]
Influence
Along with Farrakhan's former allies Malcolm X,[2] Fred Hampton,[2] James Baldwin[21] etc., Farrakhan is one of the pro-Soviet Black supremacists who mainstreamed Soviet antisemitic tropes in American society via circulation among academics and Black Americans.[2][3] In American society, Soviet antisemitic tropes were normalized over the decades and engendered a form of new antisemitism,[2][22] where Jews are accused of being the "beneficiaries" of "White privilege"[2][22] and "embodiment of evil"[23] allegedly coordinating Western governments to "support Israel at the expense of Palestinians".[2][24]
Similar movements
Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI)
A similar, and equally influential, movement is the Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI).[25] The BHI is founded on the pseudoscientific belief that African Americans are the "real descendants" of ancient Israelites.[25] Some factions of the movement also see Native and Latino Americans as the descendants of ancient Israelites.[25]
From the 1970s onwards, followers of the BHI have a history of committing terrorist attacks on American Jews, including but not limited to the 2019 Jersey City shooting (7 dead and 3 injured) and the Monsey Hanukkah stabbing (1 dead and 4 injured).[26] While differing in theology, the BHI and NOI are both antisemitic.[3] Particularly, they both believe that "Jews ran the Atlantic slave trade" and "European Jews descended from the Khazars".[3]
BHI and NOI: common beliefs about Jews
In an article, historian Eunice G. Pollack outlined the beliefs about Jews held by both the BHI and NOI:
BHI and NOI: differences in beliefs about Jews
| Name | Beliefs |
|---|---|
| Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) |
|
| Nation of Islam (NOI) |
|
New Black Panther Party (NBPP)
The New Black Panther Party (NBPP), a Black nationalist successor to the Black Panther Party (BPP), is also known for sharing similar ideas as the NOI.[29] Before a 2006 Democratic primary runoff in Georgia, the NBPP made an antisemitic public speech:[30]
So-called Jews in Israel in what's really Palestine [...] who the Book of Revelation […] calls the Synagogue of Satan.
When the NBPP-backed candidate Cynthia McKinney lost to her rival Hank Johnson, NBPP's members claimed that it was caused by "Jewish electoral domination".[31]
Related pages
References
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