I watched in shame and utter consternation last week as celebrities like Nick Cannon, Ice Cube, and Sean “P Diddy” Combs took America’s eyes off the noble prize of dismantling systemic racism. Instead they focused those eyes on the poisoned chalice of an inchoate form of Black fascism, which already makes what the Nazis propagated seem genteel by comparison.
But merely mentioning the blather the latter entailed risks dignifying it too much. It featured them propagating familiar conspiracies on social media about Jews
- controlling and bankrolling every menace that has resulted in the subjugation of Blacks; and
- conspiring with God himself to deny Blacks their birthright as the authentic “melanized” Semites.
Enough?
Of course, anyone who knows anything about this fascistic strain of Black liberation theology could see the invisible hand of Minister Louis Farrakhan. Only that celebrated minister of black-hole Jewish conspiracies could be leading these nincompoops astray in this fashion.
But trust me, both Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X must be rolling over in their graves:
If MLK were alive, he would be counseling them. He’d be trying in vain to get them to appreciate that Jews have been the most reliable and trusted allies in the Black liberation struggle from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement; and that they remain so to this day.
If Malcolm X were alive, he would be condemning them. He’d be dismissing them with the same kind of criticisms he hurled at Farrakhan’s mentor, Elijah Muhammad; namely as woefully ignorant hypocrites – far more interested in hustling their own people than in empowering them.
Which raises the question: Where are the Black religious leaders either counseling or condemning these misguided Blacks as MLK and Malcolm would be doing? None is more conspicuous in this respect than the otherwise omnipresent Reverend Al Sharpton, especially given that he officiated the 2011 spectacle when Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renewed their wedding vows.
Interestingly enough, a rabbi appears to have counseled Cannon enough to get him to issue a public apology. Cannon claims he had no idea Jews would find his anti-Semitic conspiracies offensive. (Right. More on that below.)
But this speaks volumes about how far Black “prosperity” televangelists like Bishops T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, and Eddie Long have lost their way. Their deafening and shameful silence left it to legendary former NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, channeling his fellow Muslim Malcolm X, to properly reflect the conscience of the Black community:
Recent incidents of anti-Semitic tweets and posts from sports and entertainment celebrities are a very troubling omen for the future of the Black Lives Matter movement, but so too is the shocking lack of massive indignation. Given the New Woke-fulness in Hollywood and the sports world, we expected more passionate public outrage. What we got was a shrug of meh-rage.
(The Hollywood Reporter, July 14, 2020)
Continuing Jabbar’s plaintive lament, “Where’s the outrage?”
Meanwhile, the only Blacks venting outrage are unrepentant irredeemables like Ice Cube. In fact, this Farrakhan rube is calling Jabbar a Black Judas for daring to call out his anti-Semitism. Evidently, he would rather go straight to Hell than confess his sins, seek forgiveness and understanding, and make amends. God bless him.
Therefore, I address the plea below to Cannon and others who now see the error of their anti-Semitic activism. I appreciate the example he set by publicly apologizing so earnestly:
I continue to express my gratitude to the Rabbis, community leaders and institutions who have reached out to me to help enlighten me. Their input and friendship will help me as I further commit myself to more profound learning and towards strengthening the bond between the Black and Jewish cultures every day going forward.
(ETonline, July 17, 2020)
It’s too bad he undermined the pathos and promise his apology evoked with a self-pitying, attention-seeking tweet about leaving this planet to reside in Heaven. This, reportedly because he could not live on a planet where his former comrades among the Black anti-Semites were calling him a sellout; or perhaps on one where he was getting canceled professionally – just like so many whites have been in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests for their racist transgressions. What’s good for the goose …
Incidentally, in case you don’t know Cannon from Dannon, he is a more talented, even if less popular, Black version of Ryan Seacrest.
In any case, I urge Cannon to lure Farrakhan in for one last podcast before he checks out of planet Earth. Below is the script, followed by some closing remarks.
________
Minister Farrakhan, I am so glad to have you as my guest today. Because we see multiracial mobs lynching statues of a bunch of dead Confederate leaders. But, as symbolic as all of that is, I’ve come to realize that you are the living embodiment of the many conflicts that beset our Black Lives Matter Movement: empowering yet exploitative, unifying yet divisive, educating yet ignorant, a reckoning yet a vengeance. I could go on, but you get the point.
So just give me a minute to lay the foundation for the few questions to follow.
You made a clarion call way back in 1995 for a Million Man March on Washington, DC – at which you delivered a foundational message about Black self-determination. Looking back on it, I suspect it was the kind of message David Ben-Gurion would have delivered if he could have summoned one million Jews to the Masada at the founding of Israel. In fact, as you declared right there on the steps of the Capitol, you were laying out a blueprint for a new Black America.
I’ll spare you reminders of all the details, and there were many. Instead, I’ll just highlight two for purposes of our discussion today, namely your
- Economic Development Fund (EDF) that you said would have over $100 million within one month, $1 billion within one year, which means “that no Black organization will be accountable to anybody outside of us”;
- Outside Accounting Firm that you promised would “scrutinize every dollar that was raised from your pockets to make the Million Man March a success… and we will account for every nickel, every dime, every dollar … so that you can trust. I put my life on this. To rob you is a sin. To use you and abuse you is a sin. To make a mockery of your love and your trust is a sin.”
Naturally, I was too young to heed your call. But many of the men who did have contacted me recently. They’ve been trying for years to ask you some serious questions, Minister Farrakhan.
But before I get to those, let me get a little more personal. Because you issued another clarion call ten years later for your “Millions More Movement.” This time I was there. But long story short, I took a little time to review what you preached on both occasions. And, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were the same speech – complete with the same Farrakhanisms, imbuing unconditional Black pride but delivering less satisfaction than traditional Chinese takeout.
Only this time you made no bones about calling for a separate Black United States of America composed of “Black, Brown, Red and Poor people.” But then I realized that this was just a repackaging of the grand platform for the “global advancement of Black people” you pitched 10 years before.
Continuing that theme, instead of the EDF, you pitched a National Skills Bank where millions of Black people could register “for a small deposit of $20.” Then, displaying the conflicts I bemoaned above, you exhorted those same Blacks – with no hint of contradiction or shame – to “donate as many Benjamins as you can.” You then reiterated the same boilerplate promises about accountability and trust.
But that was 15 years ago. To be fair, you instructed or dared us to hold you accountable. That’s why I hired a team of investigative journalists and forensic accountants to do just that. But what they found, Minister Farrakhan, is that you did not implement any of the Black empowerment initiatives or fulfill any of the fiduciary promises you made in 1995 or in 2005.
So, on behalf of the millions more Black men, women, and children who heeded your call on both occasions, I have the following questions for you:
- What is the name of the “outside accounting firm” you promised would audit all of the EDF’s operations and use of resources, and can you have that firm publish a comprehensive (or money-for-value) audit online as soon as possible?
- You indicated in 1995 that “in one year, we could have $1 billion” in the EDF. What amount did you have after one year, and what is the total amount collected to date?
- One of the most dramatic and “uplifting” moments during your speech in 1995 was when you said that, with so much money in the EDF, you would have your board “call in Myrley Evers Williams and ask her, what the budget of the NAACP is for this year? $13 million? $15 million? Write a check.” How many checks, and in what amounts, Minister Farrakhan, did your EDF write to the order of the NAACP or other minority organizations over the past 25 years?
- At your rather less attended and less celebrated Million Family March in October 2000, you called on 1 million families to donate $100 each for your Nation of Islam to fund economic development in blighted Black cities all over America. What cities have since benefited from those funds?
- In a similar vein, please name three ongoing concerns (whether businesses, development projects, or community outreach programs) that have been funded by seed money from the EDF and now fill you with the most pride?
- When framing your solicitations for donations, you invariably profess an interest in helping Black and poor people of all races, religions, and creeds. Therefore, what has your Nation of Islam done to better the lives of non-Muslim Black Americans – besides selling them recordings of your sermons, speeches, press conferences, and, it seems, every other word that has ever proceeded out of your mouth?
- Ultimately, what the Black men who contacted me want to know, Minister Farrakhan, is did you abuse and betray their trust; did you rob them; did you make a mockery of their love and admiration?
________
I fully appreciate that Hell will freeze over before Farrakhan allows himself to be held to account – even if Cannon or anyone else dares try. Televangelists, like the Black ones I mentioned above and white ones like Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, and Benny Hinn, have nothing on Farrakhan when it comes to religious leaders fleecing their flocks. Because, as this Cannon fodder demonstrates, Farrakhan not only robs them of their purse, he robs them of the minds too.
Indeed, as Farrakhan himself might say under Sodium Pentothal (a.k.a. truth serum), his ministry is All About the Benjamins. He clearly had in mind this eponymous blaxploitation movie (starring and written by Ice Cube) when he alluded to “the Benjamins” during his Millions More sermon on the Capitol. How insidious and insulting is that! But it just shows how deep in the hood the mind of this purported man of God wallows.
This is why I began denouncing his Millions More Movement as a Ponzi scheme to get millions more dollars in his bank accounts, not millions more people in his Muslim mosques.
In any event, Black Americans would do well to seek answers to, or at least ponder, these questions before parroting Farrakhan’s race-baiting lies.
I know better than to suggest self-styled gangstas like Ice Cube do a little reading to properly educate themselves about these matters. More to the point, expecting any of them to be moved by anything written in this Journal is rather like expecting President Trump to be moved by anything written in the Bible. Exactly.
But I suspect they would treat Farrakhan like a skunk if they merely read some of Malcolm X’s own writings. And reading about how his uncompromising adherence to Black pride, Black empowerment, moral rectitude, and self-respect compelled him to leave the Nation of Islam should suffice.
Conversely, what must this say about Farrakhan that he not only stayed, but eventually emulated Elijah Muhammad as that Muslim organization’s hopelessly flawed leader…?
[Note: You’d be forgiven for snarking that Nick Cannon and Ice Cube are not exactly A-list celebrities – like Denzel Washington and Mahershala Ali, himself a Muslim. So why all the attention and concern? In a name: George Floyd. Also, apropos of MLK and Malcolm X rolling over in their graves, those Confederate leaders might hate seeing their statues lynched, but they must be laughing their asses off watching civil war break out among Blacks over Jews. SMH.]
Related commentaries:
Bishop Eddie Long… millions more movement…
George Floyd protests…