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re you aware that Louis Farrakhan is an anti-Semite?

I also think it’s kind of obvious, but for at least one leader of the Women’s March, his hatred of Jews is a small price to pay for his greater brilliance and his anti-establishment credentials.

Tamika Mallory says she’s been attending Farrakhan’s annual “Saviour’s Day” speech for 30 years now. In fact, she once said that Farrakhan is “definitely the GOAT” — the greatest of all time. “Thank G-d this man is still alive and doing well,” she said in May 2017.

Controversy erupted in late February after Mallory, a co-leader of the March (a protest group that blossomed after Donald Trump became president), posted a fawning photo of herself with the Nation of Islam leader. Minutes earlier he had denounced the “Satanic Jews” who work hand in hand with the US government to “feminize” black men through their distribution of illegal contraband. “White folks are going down,” Farrakhan said in his speech. “And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan, by G-d’s grace, has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew, and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through.”

Now, is there any doubt here that the man doesn’t like the Israelites?

Let’s ask another question: If you fashioned yourself as a progressive leader who loved everyone and championed equality and justice for all (or something like that), would you post a picture of yourself alongside an unrepentant racist? Just so we’re clear, Farrakhan doesn’t care much for people of the alternative persuasion either, and has had some choice words to share on that subject as well. Does this sound like anybody’s progressive champion?

After Mallory was pilloried from both the left and right, she responded by saying that she had “heard the pain” of her Jewish friends and that she would “grow and learn” from the experience, but that she could not be held responsible for the “viewpoint of the many people who I have worked with or will work with in the future.” A Women’s March leader in Washington, D.C., helpfully added: “We recognize and acknowledge the humanity of our Jewish sisters and we will work with our Jewish community to repudiate the hatred and ignorance that targets them or marginalizes them in any way.”

Gosh, I am so happy to hear that. It’s not every day that a Jew’s right to be human is affirmed. But the latter part of the statement blinds itself to the obvious. If one of the leaders of the Women’s March is attending a gathering of racists, then how exactly is the March working toward repudiating hatred and ignorance?

This same blind spot seems to have affected Danny Davis, a Democratic congressman who represents a Chicago district. On February 5, Davis, a member of the Black Congressional Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, and the Democratic Socialists of America, called Farrakhan an “outstanding human being.”

A few weeks later when the Daily Caller, a conservative website, asked Davis if he had reconsidered his views on the “honorable minister,” Davis said he couldn’t be bothered with Farrakhan’s hate. “The world is so much bigger than Farrakhan and the Jewish question and his position on that and so forth,” Davis told the Daily Caller. “For those heavy into it, that’s their thing, but it ain’t my thing.”

His first attempt at an apology blamed the “ultra-right propaganda site” for stirring up trouble over nothing. His second attempt at an apology — after J Street, a liberal group, reportedly reconsidered its endorsement of the congressman — specifically condemns Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism while attacking those who have attempted to “defame” him. At this writing, Davis remains on J Street’s list of endorsed candidates.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha, Issue 703)