Word: islam
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Minister Louis Farrankhan, head of the Nation of Islam, has called for fellow African-Americans to join him in our nation's capital in order to protest the policies of the United States government. A promotional pamphlet promises, "The whole world will be watching to see if this march will produce civil unrest and strife. The world of investors will be watching to see if it is safe to invest in the economy of America. We say to the world you will be witnessing the power of Allah's (God's) Own Hand on the children of ex-slaves whose...
Preceding West's speech were the cautionary words of the Nation of Islam's New York Minister, Conrad Muhammed. Speaking to cheers from a crowd of 350, over 65 percent of whom were Black, he said. "You don't have to worry America, because if Louis Farrakhan can call one million black men to D.C., he has already gained notoriety in America...
What lies at the core of this divisive issue is the Nation of Islam's notion of "the Black Man." It is essential to understand that Farrakhan has his own very particular perspective on the meaning of "manhood," a perspective which came of age in the darkest moments of the nineteenth century, and which, if espoused in the white community today, would be considered tantamount to fascism. In this archaic vision, women are meant to look after the home and remain, essentially "barefoot and pregnant," while the strapping (i.e. ardently homophobic, anti-semitic, Muslim) males look to more important matters...
...members of the academic and political communities seem genuinely unconcerned. "Well," goes the argument, "you needn't worry about the Nation of Islam's biases; there are only 50,000 members." A few months ago, I might have even agreed. But now what I see is an organization which has successfully scheduled a march in which one million men are to participate. Moreover, they seem to have been able to convince major constituencies throughout this country that there is nothing objectionable involved here; they have achieved legitimacy in spite of their disgraceful bigotry. Think for a moment: How many other...
While the message appears decent, its bearers are anything but. Even granting that Farrakhan's Jew-hatred ought to be ignored in this instance, the leader of the Nation of Islam has proved himself uniquely capable at dividing the black community along just about every line possible. As it stands right now, black Baptist churches across America are boycotting the event, along with such mainstream organizations as the NAACP...