Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is an anti-Semite. This isn't in question. It's a fact, and one the minister continues to underscore with each speech. Last week, he spoke before the 2018 Saviours' Day event in Chicago. He stated: "White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan, by God's grace, has pulled the cover off the eyes of that Satanic Jew, and I'm here to say your time is up, your world is through." Just for good measure, he added, "Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out," suggested that Jews are "the children of the devil" and claimed, "when you want something in this world, the Jew holds the door."
He's not a subtle fellow.
Which makes it utterly stunning that so many top-level Democrats have been able to get away with hobnobbing with him. Just weeks ago, we found out that Farrakhan met with the members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2005, including then-Sen. Barack Obama; 21 current members of Congress were at that meeting. None of them have denounced Farrakhan. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Il., asked about Farrakhan on Sunday, stated, "I don't have no problems with Farrakhan. ... I know the Jews and Farrakhan ... The world is so much bigger than Farrakhan and the Jewish question and his position on that and so forth."
Tamika Mallory, one of the leaders of the Women's March on Washington, was personally present at Farrakhan's lecture in Chicago. Another Women's March leader, Carmen Perez, routinely touts Farrakhan on her social media. And anti-Semite Linda Sarsour spoke at a Nation of Islam event three years ago. All three have defended Farrakhan. Mallory took to Twitter to explain: "Jesus had a number of enemies as do all black leaders. Period point blank." Perez stated, "There are no perfect leaders." And Sarsour defended another anti-Semite from questions about Farrakhan.
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Yet the mainstream media's attention to this odd spate of events has been relatively muted. Imagine, for a moment, that the House Freedom Caucus had met with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Imagine top tea party leaders had done so as well. Then imagine they had been questioned by members of the media about their associations and proceeded to dismiss such questions as irrelevant. Would we ever hear the end of the story? Of course not. President Trump is still living down his tacit nods at the "alt-right" during the 2016 campaign, as he should. But top Democrats openly embrace the anti-Semitism of Louis Farrakhan, and the only major media figure who seems to give a damn is CNN's Jake Tapper.
All of which demonstrates that where the media are concerned, intersectional identity matters far more than blatant bigotry. Farrakhan is black; the Congressional Black Caucus is, too; Mallory is black; Perez is Mexican-American; Sarsour is Muslim. This means that we're supposed to ignore their anti-Semitism. Were these characters all white Christian Republicans rather than minority Democrats, this would be front-page news each day.
The sin of intersectionality lies in the willingness of its devotees to discard virtue for identity politics. Anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism, no matter who purveys it. If only the members of the Democratic Party and the media felt the same way.
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