The Era of Farrakhan

[View this email in your browser]( October 19, 2020 • Cheshvan 1, 5781 # "You are wicked deceivers of the American people. You have sucked their blood. You are not real Jews, those of you that are not real Jews. You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the U.S. government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell." —Louis Farrakhan One thing irresponsible actors across the political spectrum now agree on—perhaps the only thing—is that the medieval bigot Louis Farrakhan and his followers are serious people who “represent” or can “speak for” black America. And this poisonous fiction is spreading. It is being spread by Donald Trump, now partnering with rapper and [Farrakhan fan]( Ice Cube, who enjoys tweeting anti-Semitic memes and images, like one depicting Jewish bankers seated around a Monopoly board resting on the backs of black men. It is being spread by Barack Obama, [headlining]( an event with the discredited Women's March leader and Farrakhan acolyte Tamika Mallory. And it is being spread by the editors of The New York Times, who this weekend ran a fawning op-ed about the women behind Farrakhan's Million Man March without so much as a nod to his overt and vile bigotry, which led the late John Lewis to [boycott]( the event. When Jewish readers expressed anguish at this whitewashing, the author of the piece took to Twitter to tell them to stop "[centering]( in this conversation. Can you imagine that being said by a contributor to the Times to any other minority group targeted for violence? And in the very year when there was a [mass murder of Jews]( perpetrated by someone driven by the ideas that Farrakhan promotes? The normalizing of one of America’s leading conspiratorial anti-Semites by leaders of both parties, in the hope of bringing out more African American voters, is one more symptom of the deeply corrosive and morally repulsive politics that has trashed the American liberal tradition. It makes a mockery of the left’s flood of outrage over Donald Trump’s failure to forcefully denounce white supremacists. For his part, Trump’s [courting]( of one of Farrakhan's outspoken followers, [reportedly]( through the good offices of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, makes a mockery of the idea that he is a bulwark against Jew-haters on the progressive left. As for The New York Times, we look forward to the forthcoming magazine issue devoted to explaining that Farrakhan and not Martin Luther King Jr. was actually the lead character in the fight for racial justice in America, in a series of essays to be given out next year in public schools. If this is a dangerous moment for Jews—and it is—it is also a dangerous moment for black Americans, who are being cast by both political parties as disciples of a nut case who believes that Hollywood Jews spread homosexuality to weaken blacks and that the “white race” was created by a mad scientist on an island 40,000 years ago. This is not a roadmap to a safer, more prosperous, more open society; it’s a ticket to a society that, in the grip of conspiracy theories, decays beyond help. Anyone who wants their children to live with others in peace will reject this kind of manipulation, the consequences of which are all around us and getting worse by the day. For those still confused about Farrakhan and what his rehabilitation will mean for our society, here is a selection of articles that make it very, very clear. —Tablet Editorial # [Is Jewish Control Over the Slave Trade a Nation of Islam Lie or Scholarly Truth?]( When Louis Farrakhan says, ‘You need to get this book,’ he means an insidious 1991 title whose claims continue to echo today [BY BATYA UNGAR-SARGON](#) # [Is the Women’s March Melting Down?]( Millions of women mobilized against gender inequality and the election of Donald Trump in 2016. But only four of them ended up at the top—and the consequences have been enormous. [BY LEAH MCSWEENEY AND JACOB SIEGEL](#) # [Anti-Racism Erases Anti-Semitism]( Do Jews enjoy ‘white privilege,’ paradoxically making them targets for hatred? Talib Kweli, Black Lives Matter, and a strange argument over contemporary victimhood. [BY JOHN-PAUL PAGANO](#) # [The Loneliest Hatred]( Why anti-Semitism and conspiratorial theories claiming that ‘Black people are the “real Jews”’ thrive in a time of racial reckoning [BY JOHN-PAUL PAGANO](#) # [Jay-Z and Jay Electronica Lick Louis Farrakhan Up and Down]( ‘A Written Testimony’ is a display of mesmerizing talent by a small-minded man in the grip of a stupid, obsessive hatred [BY ARMIN ROSEN](#) # [Where Black Nationalism Meets White Supremacy]( As Louis Farrakhan turns 87, his influence across the spectrum of hate remains strong [BY JACK R. FISCHEL](#) # [The Man Who Opposed Hate]( Among John Lewis’ many virtues: He refused to normalize Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, even as other prominent African American celebrities and politicians did [BY JAMES KIRCHICK](#) [Advertisement](#) # # This email was sent to you by [Tablet Magazine](#) Tablet Magazine | P.O. 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