Unbeknown to most Americans, over the past few decades, the U.S. government has been quietly subsidizing one of the vilest, most hateful groups in America - the Nation of Islam.
The Nation of Islam is headed by the notoriously racist and antisemitic Louis Farrakhan.
Farrakhan is known for spreading vicious lies about Jewish people, referring to Jewish people as "wicked Jews," accusing them of perpetrating a fictitious "black African Holocaust" and of "sucking our blood." In one of his interviews, Farrakhan claimed that "Hitler was a very great man." Farrakhan also hates Christians and gays, though with less oomph.
The Nation of Islam believes that white people are unnatural lab creations, designed by an evil Black wizard, not by God. That is why they refer to white people as "blue-eyed devils" and "white devil." The religion believes in aliens and is awaiting UFOs to rescue them in a type of apocalyptic deliverance battle that will defeat the White domination of the planet. Naturally, they are good friends with Scientologists. Farrakhan has even encouraged Whites to convert to Scientology, saying, "All white people should flock to L. Ron Hubbard," to stop living as "a devil Christian" or "a satanic Jew."
In 1986, Louis Farrakhan was banned from entering the United Kingdom due to his racially and religiously divisive rhetoric. He remains banned today.
But the unalert United States government didn't seem to notice Farrakhan's racist, vitriolic discourse.
Since 1991, according to the Chicago Tribune, "Nation [of Islam] affiliated security firms have won more than $15 million in federal contracts to patrol housing developments in nine cities, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Washington, D.C." And, in 1993, "Louis Farrakhan approved a deal that helped rescue Chicago Housing Authority Chairman Vince Lane from a personal financial disaster."
In 1994, a Republican congressman from New York, Peter T. King, discovered that the U.S. government was giving millions of dollars to the Nation of Islam via a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contract, an estimated $20 million to $30 million per year. The money was paid to a "security" firm associated with the Nation of Islam to provide public housing security in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh.
In 2002, Louis Farrakhan's farm "charity" began collecting federal farm aid. By 2015, Farrakhan accrued nearly $160,000 in federal subsidies. Yet, according to Fox News, Farrahkan's "program has no record of ever being a charity with the Illinois Attorney General Office, which oversees the state's 501(c)(3) nonprofits." And, while the farm is supposedly located in Georgia, the federal subsidies are received at Farrakhan's Illinois home. And, Adam Andrzejewski, the founder of OpenTheBooks.com, questioned the taxpayer subsidy altogether - "Why is Farrakhan's charity allowed to receive federal money? This is no longer about farm policy; it's merely a transfer mechanism from one set of Americans who pay taxes to another set who know how to game the system."
In 2007, the Bureau of Prisons began approving contracts with the Nation of Islam "to teach religious study programs for federal prison inmates," according to the Washington Examiner. To date, it is known that $364,500 was paid by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice to the Nation of Islam through these programs.
According to the Examiner, one of the individuals representing the Nation of Islan, paid by the Bureau of Prisons over $60,000, Verbon Muhammad, told a reporter at the Louisiana News Star in 2017 that the Nation of Islam "do[es] n't allow white people in our meetings, period." The discriminatory practice does not appear to have been investigated by the federal government, and the Bureau of Prisons continued approving contracts after this statement was made.
The Nation of Islam collected taxpayer monies through the BOP under President Bush, President Obama, and President Trump.
In 2019, a Republican congressman from Florida called to cease federal subsidies to the Nation of Islam. "The federal government should not use taxpayer dollars to subsidize one of the most infamous hate groups in the United States," Vern Buchanan wrote in a letter to the Acting Attorney General.
The irony of Farrakhan's U.S. government profiteering was captured back in 1995 by the Chicago Tribune: "In fiery sermons he calls the U.S. government 'wicked' and urges blacks to separate from America. Yet Farrakhan and his aides bargain for dollars from the very government he denounces."
There are profound ethical implications of taxpayers funding one of the wickedest domestic hate groups of our time, especially one that openly discriminates based on race while acting on behalf of the federal government, in what appears to be a straightforward violation of U.S. laws. The necessity of permanently ceasing taxpayer subsidy to this group in all forms is unquestionable. But taxpayers are entitled to more: we need a complete accounting and return of all of our money paid to the Nation of Islam, affiliated groups, and Louis Farrakhan.
What do we know about what happened to our money? Not much.
We know that as of 2017, Farrakhan's personal net worth was estimated at over $3 million. The Nation of Islam's exact net worth is not publicly known, but we do know that they own thousands of acres of land in Michigan, Illinois, and Georgia, as well as various stores and restaurants. We also know a variety of side ventures and affiliate groups appear to funnel money to the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan.
A FOIA request has been initiated to learn more.