Steve Malzberg
Tuesday, May 3, 2005

It was billed as "a day of atonement and reconciliation." An October day for black men to take responsibility for themselves and for their families. A day for black men to pledge that they would fight violence and drugs in the black community. USA Today reported at the time that those who couldn't make it to the rally were being asked to stay home from school and work and celebrate a "holy day."

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On the eve of the march, President Bill Clinton was said to be in favor of the march's goals, but opposed to the "bigoted, hateful, anti-Semitic, sexist comments of Louis Farrakhan." That according to Deputy White House chief of staff Harold Ickes, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation."

I have a message of my own for those, like Clinton, who are apparently able to separate the message from the messenger: You can't separate the message from the messenger.

Farrakhan has reportedly called Judaism a "gutter religion." He reportedly has defended his use of the term "bloodsuckers" to describe Jews who run businesses in minority areas and then take their profits elsewhere.

According to the New York Sun, back in 1995 Farrakhan said he considered many Jewish landlords to be "bloodsuckers." So maybe he's mellowed since then. Maybe getting hit with prostate cancer has made the Minister more "Minister-like." Wrong!

The Web site of the Anti-Defamation League quotes the good Minister from February as saying: "Listen, Jewish people don't have no hands that are free of the blood of us. They owned slave ships. They bought and sold us. They raped and robbed us."

But at today's press conference announcing what they are calling the Millions More Movement, to be held October 14-16, the rhetoric was over the top even by the Minister's standards. He told the audience gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, including Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, "If anybody deserves to strap a bomb on themselves and give pain for the pain that we have suffered, it is we." He then went on to say it won't happen, but that hardly diminishes the message from this hate-filled messenger

Another organizer of the upcoming event is the head of the National Black Panther Party, Malik Zulu Shabazz. Undoubtedly motivated to his virulent anti-Semitism by the good Minister, Shabazz surely makes his mentor proud. The ADL quotes him as saying: "Kill every g-d--- Zionist in Israel! G-d--- little babies, g-d--- old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!" The Panther made those remarks while protesting in front of the B'nai B'rith building in D.C. in 2002.

In the three years since calling for Jewish babies and women to be blown up, Shabazz hasn't let up. The New York Sun reports that during a speech at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Shabazz claimed that Zionism is "racism." Maybe he thought he was addressing the good folk at the United Nations.

He also called on the Jews in the audience to identify themselves. I hear that he had a star to pin on the chest of each Jew in attendance. How nice. He then went on to endorse anti-Semitic books, including one that says the Jews were disproportionately involved in the African slave trade.

How on earth do decent black people associate themselves with two blatant bigots? How do two blatant bigots get to organize and lead a march for the black community? The fact that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton condone the bigotry by virtue of their silence on the issue and their participation in the event doesn't surprise me. But what about black elected officials? In 1995, many shared the stage with Farrakhan. What about this time around?

On my radio show this morning on WWRL Radio in New York City (6-10 a.m. Monday-Friday at www.wwrl1600.com) I spoke with New York Congressman Charlie Rangel. I read him the quotes from Shabazz and Farrakhan about Jews. I asked him if he'd be willing to stand side by side with the dynamic duo of hate come October.

"I don't know whether or not all of these inflammatory statements that you attribute to people are true or not. I certainly would advocate their freedom of expression no matter who says what. But if they're insulting to any group of people, I certainly personally and politically would not want to be associated with it."

Let's hope that Rangel starts a trend in the black community. At today's press conference Farrakhan must have seen people like me coming. He had this warning for the faithful: "They will come to pick us off one by one. [I assume he meant it figuratively.] How could you be in a room with bigots?" he asked, predicting what decent people would ask of his followers. "We live with you," he answered. He then followed with "How could you be in a room with racists? We've been in a room with you for 400 years."

You can e-mail Steve by going to his Web site at www.malzbergtalk.com You can sign up for his free e-mail alerts by going to www.newsmax.com/malzberg

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