Farrakhan and the Press

After the lackluster turnout of his recent Millions More Movement march in Washington, DC, the "Honorable Minister" Louis Farrakhan's minions are now scurrying around trying to regain the public support and goodwill that their sovereign leader has always imagined he had. Last week Askia Muhammad, the "official White House correspondent" for Farrakhan's online mouthpiece Final Call, submitted an editorial to Black Press USA blaming Farrakhan's poor public showing on persecution by the press.

Although the Nation of Islam has rented the ballroom at the National Press Club (NPC) frequently during the last several years, it’s been almost a decade since he was invited to be a guest at “the second most prestigious address” in the nation’s capital, and just as long since he addressed the editorial board of The Washington Post newspaper.

Now supposing that Farrakhan's Nation of Islam really has been sidelined by the mainstream media (not that I buy into that, but just for the sake of arguments)... Why do you think they might have distanced themselves from such an Honorable minister and leader of the black community? Could it possibly be because his radical, racist rhetoric goes too far even for the liberal media to back?

"I have not plucked one hair out of the head of one White person, or Black person, nor Jewish child. You have never seen Farrakhan say one thing about harming Jewish people or White people or any people. So don't compare me with the killers who have come out of your race that bombed the levee in 1927 and may have repeated it" in New Orleans in 2005.

The reason for the Millions More Movement mobilization is "because we want to put a stop to lies, to thieves, to murderers in the name of government," explained Minister Farrakhan. "... It is only [through] our organization, and our mobilization, and our demand that they become accountable, that we will get some measure of justice."

The man has plenty of self-esteem, I'll give him that.

But I had to laugh at the one question put toward Mr. Farrakhan by a Weekly Standard reporter: "Are you worried that people might think you're nuts, the way you're sounding?"