Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that until Americans come to grips with the persisting legacy of slavery, racial friction will remain a fact of life.
Before a rapt crowd in the UIC Pavilion at the conclusion of the black Muslim group’s annual Saviours’ Day meeting, Farrakhan also proclaimed the innocence of Michael Jackson in the pop star’s child-molestation case.
In about three hours, the fiery 70-year-old orator covered broad ground, excoriating President Bush and deriding gay relationships, but he kept returning to the theme of slave reparations.
“If America is unwilling to look at the horror of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and what happened to us as a people, there will never be a chance for good relations between black and white,” Farrakhan said.
Farrakhan has pushed for reparations for years, but his topic takes on a new urgency after a federal judge in Chicago in January dismissed a reparations lawsuit by African-American descendants of slaves. U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle Sr. has given plaintiffs a chance to resubmit an amended suit.
Among the officials and personalities sharing the stage with Farrakhan was U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who has sponsored a bill asking Congress to study reparations. Saviours’ Day celebrates the birth of Fard Muhammad, the religious teacher of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam.
Farrakhan talked at length about the inhumane layout of slave ships and the shady 18th Century origins of several banking houses as he urged the U.S. and Europe to compensate for the lingering effects of slavery.
They “must repent or be destroyed from the face of the Earth,” he said.
Farrakhan made similarly apocalyptic predictions at last year’s Saviours’ Day as the Bush administration threatened to invade Iraq. At the time he said he would drop out of public view in response to the pending war. Sunday, he made no similar vows but said in closing, “If you see the enemy come to arrest me or those that speak truth to power, know that the drama of Jesus Christ is being played out one more time.”
While attacking Bush, Farrakhan also cast doubt on the presidential candidacy of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), putting in a plug for Rev. Al Sharpton of New York instead.
Farrakhan defended Jackson, who faces child-molestation charges in California.
News reports have quoted anonymous Jackson associates as saying the Nation of Islam has become deeply involved in Jackson’s business affairs. But Farrakhan said Sunday that Jackson turned to his group for security because his previous detail was too expensive. Using Nation of Islam bodyguards “has helped to save Michael Jackson millions of dollars.”
Farrakhan also said: “We don’t believe Michael is guilty. And there are a lot of people that know the mother who is accusing him and the little boy that he helped to heal, and they don’t believe Michael is guilty.
“What happened to the presumption of innocence? See, black people are always guilty until they are proved innocent; white people are innocent until they are proved guilty.”
Leonard Muhammad, the Nation of Islam’s chief of staff and Farrakhan’s son-in-law who has been working with Jackson’s staff, also spoke at the event, calling Jackson “one of the most beautiful human beings that you’ll ever meet on this Earth.”
Muhammad also stood up for Jackson’s sister, who prompted condemnation after her breast was exposed during the Super Bowl halftime show last month.
“We are not going to let you get away with what you’re doing to Janet either,” he said.
