Last month, a photo was released of then-Senator Barack Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus with notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. Taken at a CBC meeting in 2005, the picture had been suppressed by the photographer, who suspected it could adversely impact Obama’s political career.
The photo that never saw the light of day: Obama with Farrakhan in 2005 https://t.co/nUrPbYVy0q pic.twitter.com/MrjqRdJy9G
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) January 25, 2018
Given that Obama repeatedly denounced Farrakhan in the years since and is no longer president, the photo’s release did not cause much of a stir. But unlike Obama, many of the other politicians in that meeting with Farrakhan are still in office, and have not denounced the man the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “an anti-Semite who routinely accuses Jews of manipulating the U.S. government and controlling the levers of world power.” And on Monday, one of Farrakhan’s congressional friends opted to vocally defend him.
“I personally know [Farrakhan], I’ve been to his home, done meetings, participated in events with him,” Democratic Rep. Danny Davis told The Daily Caller’s Peter Hasson. “I don’t regard Louis Farrakhan as an aberration or anything, I regard him as an outstanding human being who commands a following of individuals who are learned and articulate and he plays a big role in the lives of thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people.”
In actuality, Farrakhan is a racist and homophobic cult leader who blames Jews for everything from the slave trade to 9/11. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have exhaustively documented Farrakhan’s viciously anti-Semitic outbursts. Here is Congressman Davis’s “outstanding human being” in his own words:
“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.”
(Saviours’ Day Speech, Chicago, 2/25/96)
“Did you know that Jesus had a real problem with the Jewish community? They had power, the rabbis of that day, over the Roman authorities just as they have power today over our government.”
(Remarks at Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, 12/1/13)
“In all of these cities on a Jewish holiday, business stops because they are the masters not only in America’s cities but in cities throughout Europe and the Western world.”
(The Time and What Must Be Done, Part 20: Making Satan Known, 5/25/13)
“The Jewish media has normalized sexual degeneracy, profanity, and all kinds of sin.”
(The Time and What Must Be Done, Part 20: Making Satan Known, 5/25/13)
“Now you know I’m going to be lambasted and called anti-Semitic… They’ll say Farrakhan was up to his old canards; he said Jews control Hollywood. Well, they said it themselves! Jews control the media. They said it themselves! Jews and some gentiles control the banking industry, international banks. They do! In Washington right next to the Holocaust Museum is the Federal Reserve where they print the money. Is that an accident?”
(Holy Day of Atonement Keynote Address, Part 2, Mosque Maryam, Chicago, Illinois, 10/21/12)
“In 100 years, they control movies, television, recording, publishing, commerce, radio, they own it all. Magazines. Why do you want all, everything?”
(Saviours’ Day Speech, Chicago, Illinois, 2/26/12)
“These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in moral strength. It’s the wicked Jews the false Jews that are promoting Lesbianism, homosexuality. It’s wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic.”
(Saviours’ Day Speech, Chicago, Illinois, 2/26/06)
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In 2010, in response to their continuous chronicling of his hate, Farrakhan personally threatened the Southern Poverty Law Center and a group of Jewish organizations, declaring that he would “ruin and destroy your power and influence here and throughout the world.”
Republican elected officials from Donald Trump on down have rightly faced heavy criticism from Democrats over their ties to and defenses of bigoted hate groups and individuals. Whether Democrats will hold their own official, Rep. Davis, to the same standard remains to be seen. Thus far, all 20 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who served in Congress at the time of the Farrakhan meeting have declined to comment on it or condemn the man himself.
Related: Trump Staffer Omarosa Manigault Boasts of Friendship With Notorious Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan
There Is No Defense For Trump’s Remarks Covering For Neo-Nazis
Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet. Subscribe to his newsletter, listen to his music, and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
