Cover Story
Black Ink
How Can I Hate Him?
ranks of Black America. But near the end
of the lecture, he urged black women to
keep their children and reject abortion
as an option. What is so contradictory
about that.’ Absolutely nothing. But the
reason why Farrakhan asked the young
women in the audience not to choose
abortion certainly was. He relayed a
story of how he was conceived, years
later by his mother’s first husband after
she had divorced him, re-married, and
already had given birth to her first son
(his older brother) by his step-father. He
said his mother had told him on her
death bed that she had tried to abort him
three times, but obviously failed, giving
birth to Louis Farrakhan. And he said,
with a large grin spreading across his
face, that if his mother had succeeded in
aborting him, “Look what the world
would have been deprived of.” While
others applauded wildly like robots, I sat
there stunned. This man says arrogance
has no place in black leadership, yet he
told us this story only to showcase his
own arrogance and conceit, not to
mention refueling his boundless ego.
Here was an arrogant leader telling me
that arrogance has no place in the ranks
of black leadership. You figure that one
ouL
But that is not all. During the lecture,
Farrakhan pulled out a twenty dollar bill,
saying it was “only a piece of paper with
a dead white man on it.” He crumbled it
up, threw it on the ground, and stepped
on it, remarking that money is not so
important that it “feels” or responds like
humans. He concluded that money is
not important in itself and that people of
African descent had no business being
so concerned about money. Amid all of
the applause, I began to get a sinking
feeling in my stomach. Then I thought
for a minute — HEY! I just paid this man
five dollars to tell me that my money is
not important! Meanwhile he is taking
five dollars from all of the thousands of
brothers and sisters in the building,
telling them the same thing. So now
Farrakhan has thousands of unimportant
dollars. In addition, he is charging seven
dollars for a bean pie, ten dollars for a
tape of his lecture, and twelve dollars for
his book! And this money is not impor
tant? If the money is unimportant, then
why is he asking for so much of it? What
kind of fool does he think I am’ What
kind of fools does he think we are? Well
friends, regardless of whether the money
is important or unimportant, it is now in
his hands.
But for some strange reason, I do not
think the audience was concerned about
the money, the contradictions, or any
thing else. Maybe there is some validity
to the notion that Farrakhan possesses
such charisma that it does overshadow
any negative aspect of his presentation.
Maybe black folks are spellbound by the
pride and discipline of the Nation of
Islam, so much that they forget that such
individuals are just as human as we are.
In the ultimate display of mass attraction
and blind following, Farrakhan had the
entire audience, save a few others and
myself, praying in Arabic and English.
The Arabic portion was entirely unintel
ligible for us non-Arabic speaking indi
viduals, although many still prayed along
with him. The atmosphere was sinister,
reminiscent of the occult. You could feel
the power this man had over the audi
ence. I chose not to participate in this
activity and stood silently. Then my
stomach began to tighten. I began to
perspire. Suddenly, I felt alone in my
beliefs, out of place like an stranger in a
strange land; like I no longer belonged.
I chose not to fall victim to this man’s
incredible charisma. I was strong enough
to maintain an objective viewpoint re
garding his lecture. I was able to sit back
and assess his arguments, evaluate his
statements, analyze his charisma, and
see the effect that each had on the
audience. Farrakhan is a predator. He
preys on the weaknesses of his audi
ence. He assures the black woman that
she is right in her pursuit of a career, but
reminds her that a woman’s primary role
is to help the black man and that she
needs to pick up and support the him.
He tells the black man that he is not the
animal that the media portrays him as
and that his time for success is not far off.
He provides solace for blacks who feel
insecure in white society. Farrakhan
provides the opportunity for African
Americans to have victories within their
hearts when the external successes and
victories appear out of reach. As Bayard
Rustin, a noted civil rights strategist,
once said, “What can bring satisfaction is
the feeling that he is black, he is a man,
he is internally free.” Maybe it is not so
important that he contradicts himself or
that he back up all of his statements with
facts. Maybe what really counts is how
he makes us, as African Americans, feel
about ourselves. Despite the many prob
lems I had with his presentation, he still
managed to say some things that touched
me. I know I felt good about myself
when I went to the door to exit the
building. It feels good being among
thousands of brothers and sisters. Every
one being civil. Everyone, for once, act
ing like human beings. You could sense
the unity of the audience. Then we
opened the door and walked out into the
cold, pouring rain. The wind began to
howl. Freezing and soaking wet, we
slowly went our separate ways, five
dollars poorer, but richer in spirit.
• • • • •
By Jarvis T. Harris
Contributor
As a young Africrin- American, I had
heard of Minister Farrakhan, but to say
that I knew a lot about him and his
beliefs, I cannot.
To alleviate some of my ignorance
about this man of seemingly great im
portance to people of color, I decided to
travel to North Carolina A&T University
to hear him speak. I had many expecta
tions of what I thought might happen
going into the Sports Center, but when
I came out my expectations were ful
filled— and then some.
I pictured Minister Farrakhan as being
a cold, dogmatic, militant person. Maybe
I am a victim of the media in this society,
but Minister Farrakhan was anything but
cold and harsh.
He came out and addressed us in a
very serene and calm voice that ex
pressed his gratitude for our patience
and determination in coming to see him
speak. I could not believe that this was
the same man hated by so many. Later
during the speech I would understand
why he is feared and hated.
Minister Farrakhan espoused some
serious ideas in his speech; ideas and
thoughts I had not thought about before.
His speech forced me, as well as the
other members of the audience, to see
things that go on in our society in a
different light and with a different mode
of thinking. While sitting and listening to
Farrakhan, I began to notice the number
of African-Americans in attendance, and
it became clear to me why Farrakhan is
feared and hated—Minister Louis Farra
khan says some inflammatory things.
Farrakhan is also hated, in my opinion,
because he has the power to make 6,000
African-Americans want to stand in line
in the cold and rain to hear him. I guess
Farrakhan is really “dangerous” if he can
rally this many of the supposedly least
united and concerned people in this
country.
I left the sports arena with new ideas
and thoughts about my place in this
society. Though I failed to agree with
everything that Farrakhan said, I had to
appreciate his candor and his love of the
truth. I can see how many people are
and will be offended by Farrakhan’s
speeches.
Farrakhan puts it best when he says,
“The truth only hurts the guilty." The
question that everyone should ask them
selves is, “Am I guilty?” No matter how
extremist he sounds or becomes, it would
be hard for me to hate a man that loves
me and my people as much as he does.
• • • • •