ADL: Say, Louis Farrakhan seems pretty popular with Women's March founders

Last Sunday, Louis Farrakhan gave his “Savior’s Day” speech at a 10,000 seat arena in Chicago. As expected, Farrakhan peppered the speech with racist references to Jews and whites and some of those comments were highlighted by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Twitter yesterday:

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Farrakhan went on to say that no one in the audience should be too quick to criticize Ellison. “I don’t want you attacking brother cause you ain’t so strong yourself,” Farrakhan said. He continued, “If you want something from the white man and you have to denounce me, how will you act when your trial comes? See, like them disciples of Jesus ‘I didn’t know that man!'”

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Despite all of this explicit (and long-standing) anti-Semitism and anti-white racism, Farrakhan is still admired by a number of prominent people on the left. Today, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt points out several of the Women’s March co-founders are fans:

Here’s the problem: Farrakhan does have an audience and still has widespread popularity among his devoted followers. Because of Farrakhan’s reach and influence and his broad name recognition and something like celebrity status, some public officials, politicians, and hip-hop entertainers are still willing to meet with him, still willing to have their pictures taken with him. They seemingly have a blind spot when it comes to his anti-Semitism…

In the audience at last weekend’s conference was Tamika Mallory, one of the leaders of the Women’s March, who got a special shout-out from Farrakhan and who regularly posts laudatory pictures of him on her Instagram account — as does Carmen Perez, another leader of the March. Linda Sarsour, another March organizer, spoke and participated at a Nation of Islam event in 2015. Her most notable response to his incendiary remarks this year was a glowing post on Perez’s Facebook page to praise Farrakhan’s youthful demeanor.

When asked about her association with Farrakhan, Perez refused to denounce his anti-Semitism and instead retorted: “There are no perfect leaders.” It is impossible to imagine any other group being asked to tolerate seeing celebrities, public figures, and elected officials embrace a person who openly calls for their death.

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But it’s not just the far-left founders of the women’s march who remain friendly with Farrakhan. As Jeryl Bier pointed out at the Wall Street Journal back in January, elected Democrats also have a Farrakhan problem.

On Jan. 13-14, 2006, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity held hearings in New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss., on the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. After the New Orleans hearing, at least four CBC members headed to St. Augustine Church to meet Mr. Farrakhan, who had attended part of the hearing.

In a video posted to YouTube in 2009, Reps. Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee of California, Al Green of Texas and William Jefferson of Louisiana can been seen exchanging hugs and handshakes with Mr. Farrakhan, then talking with him about coordinating their public responses to Katrina.

Here’s Rep. Maxine Waters, who recently called President Trump a “divisive and shameful racist,” literally embracing Farrakhan.

That meeting came a year after members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Barack Obama, met with Farrakhan. Yet when the Daily Caller contacted members of the CBC last month to ask if they would denounce Farrakhan, none of them would do so.

One veteran CBC member, Illinois Rep. Danny Davis, praised and defended Farrakhan in a phone interview with TheDC. Davis described Farrakhan as “an outstanding human being” and said “it wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary” for him to meet with Farrakhan.

“I personally know [Farrakhan], I’ve been to his home, done meetings, participated in events with him,” Davis told TheDC…

The other 20 CBC members contacted by TheDC declined to comment on Farrakhan, as did a spokesperson for the CBC.

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There’s a pretty obvious double-standard at work here. Trump was repeatedly chided by the media every time David Duke or some other racist praised something he said, as if he were accountable for their reactions. But it seems elected members of the CBC and Women’s March leaders aren’t held to the same standard, even when they openly support and embrace a racist like Louis Farrakhan.

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David Strom 5:20 PM | April 15, 2024
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