Plan B Forum

why do we not, as a nation, call out the nation of islam as a racist organization?

killing the white devils sounds a bit racismy to me....

Because we as a nation don't feel the need to state the obvious.

I don't recall them (Islamic nation) using the term "white devils". (of course I might have missed it)
Usually the term I have heard is "infidels".
They don't care what race (black, white, hispanic, asian, etc) you are, only what your religion (or subset of a religion) is.

the nation of islam, Louis farakan s deal.

Wes, it's quite well known and widely acknowledged that the NOI is a racist organization. It's even recognized as one by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Nation of Islam

Since its founding in 1930, the Nation of Islam (NOI) has grown into one of the wealthiest and best-known organizations in black America, offering numerous programs and events designed to uplift African Americans. Nonetheless, its bizarre theology of innate black superiority over whites — a belief system vehemently and consistently rejected by mainstream Muslims — and the deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric of its leaders, including top minister Louis Farrakhan, have earned the NOI a prominent position in the ranks of organized hate.....


...Farrakhan has been suffering from prostate cancer, and seems to be weakening as the years pass. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that NOI's legacy of racism will die with him. This is particularly true given that to this day, NOI members continue to promote racist and anti-Semitic ideas. A case in point is Ashahed Muhammad, a prominent NOI member and author of Synagogue of Satan, a book advertised on NOI's website that alleges, once again, a Jewish conspiracy to control the federal government.

Muhammad runs the Truth Establishment Institute website, which, alongside Synagogue of Satan and The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, offers works by the likes of Mark Weber, a former member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance and the long-time leader of the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review. As a younger generation of NOI leaders rises to prominence, it is thus decidedly unclear whether NOI will be able to shed its legacy of hate.

More here:

http://www.splcenter.org/who-we-are/splc-history

jim, it s well known by people like us. informed, well read people. people who get their info from the nightly news have no idea because it s not reported on. if any white man said that black folks were inherently evil it would lead every news cast, and rightly so.

OK Wes, and if we call it a "racist organization" then what will happen that's different? The racists will still rant on and those who don't will still distance themselves from it with or without national condemnation. So what would be the difference?

I personally think the Boy Scouts of America is a homophobic organization, but that doesn't mean all of the work it does is directed to oppressing gays, nor that everything it does is somehow bad. They are what they are; but people are in a group are rarely uniform or lockstep on any issue any any issue.

Not that I don't think members of the nation or the boy scouts (or any other organization) should sit idly by while their (often self-proclaimed) leaders spew such drivel, but it is their problem if they do not--I can make my own decision.

RR, I get what you are saying but I disagree. I would say the same thing about the KKK or other hate groups

Wes--I do see your point, but I think we have to look at the acts of the rank and file members of organizations as well as the rhetoric of the leadership. So far as I can see, the KKK is an organization that was founded and still exists to suppress blacks and others it doesn't like. I has a history of violent and illegal action against their targets, and a wall of silence that would impress any police department. Further, there appears to be little dissent within the organization, or even much political or legal activity--it accomplishes its aims by naked violence and terror.

Now as for the nation of islam, I don't see anything approaching that. Yes, they do have big mouth "leaders" like farakhan, but many do seek to distance themselves from it. It is a group that appears to be as politically active as anything else, and while we can see outbursts of violence, it is not on the order of what is attributed to the KKK. Are they all black supremacists like the SCLC quote Jim provided states? I really don't know, but I see little evidence of it in their actions. By all means condemn the leadership (and I think those inside should be doing the same), but I will still judge them by the behavior of the members. It's easy to label, it's far more difficult (but much more preferable) to exercise judgment.

Face it, many of us affiliate with organizations that have jerks for leaders--from boys I know who remained in boy scouts for the things they received from the program, to people who call themselves "Christian" and are tarred with the rantings of those purporting to be leaders (like the group at Westboro Baptist). We should distance ourselves from the rhetoric (and from the organizations if we think it is justified, but not everyone has the platform (or the skills for that matter) from which to do that as publicly as the assholes do, and some seek to work from within to bring change rather than leave.

By all means condemn the actions, even punish them if they are illegal. But I don't see labeling any group as a "hate" group accomplishes anything at all.

Back when the NOI mattered they were described as racist by all.


They have not mattered in a very long time. Louis Farrakhan has been pretty low key in the years since his prostate cancer diagnosis.


I hear that he has been pushing Scientology on his flock and they have trained >1,000 "auditors". Embracing mental cancer and making it their own.


Yrs,
Rubato

don t change the subject mr barbarino....

Facts just get you all crossed up and confused.


Yrs,
Rubato

scientology is a different rant.....