National Jewish Democratic Council asked to join in this protest

To: watchdog “at” barackobama.com, media “at” barackobama.com
cc: njdc “at” njdc.org, info “at” njdc.org
From: Bill Levinson [phone number given to Obama for America, NJDC]

We direct your attention to this New York Sun article:

Farrakhan Lauds Obama as ‘Hope’ of World
By Associated Press

February 25, 2008

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam said yesterday that a presidential candidate, Senator Obama, is the “hope of the entire world” that America will change for the better. …

The Chicago Tribune adds:

Speaking to thousands of members of the Nation of Islam at their annual convention Sunday in Chicago, Minister Louis Farrakhan praised presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama as the only hope for healing the nation’s racial divisions.

…”Senator Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan’s past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister’s support,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

We will say up front that Barack Obama did not solicit Louis Farrakhan’s support, just as Ron Paul did not actually solicit the endorsement of the Stormfront White Nationalist Community. The National Jewish Democratic Council, however, had this to say about Ron Paul’s mere passive acceptance of this kind of support:

In one of the most sad, cynical, and disgusting moments of the 2008 presidential campaign, the Associated Press is reporting that Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has refused to return a campaign contribution from Don Black, who runs a vicious White Supremacist website.

…If Rep. Paul refuses to stand up to hate-mongers like Don Black, it is fair to ask whether he is tacitly welcoming their support in a desperate attempt to gain traction in the Republican primary.

A public figure like Ron Paul has an affirmative duty to reject and repudiate this kind of support, as does Barack Obama. In 1980, the Ku Klux Klan attempted to endorse Ronald Reagan. Reagan replied that, not only had he not asked for the Klan’s support, he rejected it. As shown above, the Obama campaign is already on record as not soliciting Louis Farrakhan’s support, just as Ron Paul did not actually go to the Stormfront White Nationalist Community. We agree with the National Jewish Democratic Council, however, that Ron Paul’s failure to reject Stormfront’s endorsement is indeed an outrage, and that he should have returned Don Black’s contribution. We similarly call upon Barack Obama, and we hope that the National Jewish Democratic Council will join us in this request, to reject and repudiate Farrakhan’s endorsement.

For the record, the Anti-Defamation League has a very extensive collection of Louis Farrakhan’s hate speech against Jews and white people in general at this link. He has spoken against Catholics as well, by calling the Pope the Antichrist (Click here. As a side note, if Farrakhan is a Muslim, how can he believe in an Antichrist? Then again, one does not expect sense, common or otherwise, from professional bigots of any stripe.)

Farrakhan quotes as documented by the ADL, and these are but a few examples.

“Do you know some of these satanic Jews have taken over BET?… Everything that we built, they have. The mind of Satan now is running the record industry, movie industry and television. And they make us look like we’re the murders; we look like we’re the gangsters, but we’re punk stuff.” “Justifiable Homicide: Black Youth in Peril (Part 3)” speech at Mosque Maryam, 11/11/07

“Mr. Lieberman, as an orthodox Jew, is also a dual citizen of Israel.” Los Angeles Times, 8/12/00 [”Jew with divided loyalty” slur]

“They call them [Hezbollah] terrorists, I call them freedom fighters…No one asks why they would do such a thing. Why would they do such a thing? What has driven them to this point? That’s what the UN, the U.S. and Europe doesn’t want to deal with because the Zionists have control in England, in Europe, in the United States and around the world.” Speech at the District Council 33 Union Hall, Philadelphia, PA, 4/22/96

“White people are potential humans…they haven’t evolved yet.” Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/18/00

“The Jews have been so bad at politics they lost half their population in the Holocaust. They thought they could trust in Hitler, and they helped him get the Third Reich on the road.” Saviours’ Day Speech, Chicago, 2/22/98

“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…Little Jews died while big Jews made money. Little Jews [were] being turned into soap while big Jews washed themselves with it. Jews [were] playing violin, Jews [were] playing music, while other Jews [were] marching into the gas chambers…” Mosque Maryam, Chicago, 3/19/95

The above material is just as reprehensible as anything that Don Black and his Stormfront people have ever said. We hope that Barack Obama will not fail in his affirmative duty to reject unequivocally the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan the way Ron Paul has failed to repudiate the endorsement of Stormfront.org.

See also: Obama’s Church Loves Farrakhan

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Related: Anti-Semitism, Elections, Racism

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