NOI Executive Council: CBC denunciations ‘abhorrent,’ against Black interests

By Starla Muhammad -Managing Editor- | Last updated: Mar 13, 2018 - 4:23:24 PM

(L-R) Min. Ishmael Muhammad, Min. Dr. Ava Muhammad, Leonard F. Muhammad

Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad

CHICAGO—In the aftermath of Congressional Black Caucus members capitulating to pressure from the Republican Jewish Coalition to denounce Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Executive Council of the Nation of Islam issued a direct and blunt response.

In an open letter to Danny K. Davis (D) IL, Gregory Meeks (D) NY and Barbara Lee (D) CA, the Executive Council expressed its “disappointment” with the trio’s decision to side with organizations and individuals “who represent White supremacy and that do not have the best interest of Black people at heart.”

“It is abhorrent for you, as elected officials, to defend these people against the Truth that uncovers the horror that has been done to Black people and to serve as their mouthpiece, rather than allow them to defend themselves against their record and history which proves that they are anti-Black,” the letter said in part.

The Executive Council is comprised of national laborers of the Nation of Islam. The letter was signed by Ishmael R. Muhammad, national assistant minister, and Dr. Ava Muhammad, national spokesperson, on behalf of the Council.

Read Full Letter

Leonard F. Muhammad is a member of the Council and a longtime aide to Min. Farrakhan. These Jewish-led groups are attempting to use Min. Farrakhan as a “political football,” he charged. They understand that if the Black congress-people don’t repudiate the Minister that it will hurt them in terms of their fundraising with White people and Jewish people. They understand that if they do repudiate the Minister, it will hurt them with their voting strength in their base which for the most part is Black people,” said Leonard Muhammad. It is a strategy to gain a political advantage in upcoming 2018 congressional mid-term elections, he told The Final Call.

In 2010, Min. Farrakhan sent two letters—one to national Black civil rights groups, including the CBC, and another to major Jewish organizations amid controversy surrounding Black-Jewish relationships. The letter to Jewish groups was an attempt to initiate a dialogue and the letter to Black leaders asked them to examine the historical and current nature of this one-sided relationship. Min. Farrakhan also respectfully asked Black leaders to refrain from denouncing him at the behest of Jewish groups and to allow his Jewish detractors to confront him themselves.

“Go condemn your own before you go single out a Black man in America that stands up and tells the truth,” Ishmael Muhammad said March 11 during services at Mosque Maryam, the Nation of Islam headquarters. Min. Ishmael Muhammad also read from the Executive Council’s letter to the audience during a live internet webcast.

The Jews hate Min. Farrakhan so intensely and are uncontrollably angry at him because he is ending Satan’s anonymity and exposing them for who they are, Dr. Wesley Muhammad explained during keynote remarks later in the program. An author, scholar and member of the Executive Council, Dr. Wesley Muhammad’s message was titled, “Who Has The Courage To Follow Farrakhan?”

“All of the controversy that has erupted, right before Saviours’ Day and which has intensified since Saviours’ Day, we really have not seen the likes of it I imagine since 1984, 1985 even the early 90’s almost. This suggests to me that we are approaching what might be described as the fullness of time,” he said during a message available for replay at www.noi.org.

Black congressional representatives, Black politicians and Black leaders have had the luxury of the Minister turning the other cheek when they did these kinds of things, observed Leonard Muhammad. “I think now though we’re in a different season. There’s a price to pay for going against the Minister and going against the truth that he speaks.”

“They need to make choices based on right and wrong, not just doing what some other interest group tells them to do because they think that Black people have a short political memory and that the Minister has had a history of never really calling them out and making them pay a price for their disloyalty,” said Leonard Muhammad. That day is over, he said.

The former chief of staff to Min. Farrakhan also pointed to recent allegations by Russian president Vladimir Putin that minority groups, including Russian Jews, could have sought to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Any alleged meddling and interference with Black politicians would only benefit the Republican Party, explained Leonard Muhammad. “Since when does the Republican Jewish Coalition act independently from all other Jews to weigh in on a situation like this? They have never done so,” he noted. Rep. Davis is up for re-election March 20 during the spring election cycle and ahead of fall mid-terms, he pointed out.

“Curiously enough, all other Jewish organizations have been very slow if at all to join this particular attack. Why is that? Could it be that they are aware that this attack has more political ramifications than anything else and they don’t want to be a party to it, to being used in that way?” he asked.

(Read the letter from the Nation of Islam Executive Council and letters from Minister Farrakhan in their entirety)

The Final Call