Louis Farrakhan

Nation of Islam’s Farrakhan: Obama Is “God-Given Leader”

by Hans Bader on November 10, 2008 · 2 comments

in Culture, Legal, Politics as Usual

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan says that President-elect Obama is a “God-given leader with extraordinary vision.” Farrakhan, who has drawn controversy for his racist and anti-semitic remarks (such as calling Judaism a “gutter religion” and saying that whites are satanic beings genetically engineered by an evil scientist during the Medieval Ages), “admitted he stayed quiet about his support for Mr Obama during the past few months out of fear his words would harm the Illinois senator’s bid for the White House.”

Ironically, Farrakhan has been more hopeful about what Obama’s election means for blacks than some of Obama’s own “inner circle,” like Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree. Ogletree, Obama’s top adviser on race, has minimized the racial significance of Obama’s election, saying that America remains a racist nation that will not vote for blacks, and that Obama’s election is possible only because he has white blood. (Contrary to Ogletree’s claim, Americans of all ideological persuasions have been voting for non-white candidates for decades).

Charles Ogletree Declared “Dim Bulb” for Calling America Racist

by Hans Bader on October 31, 2008 · 10 comments

in Legal, Personal Liberty, Sanctimony

The Washington Examiner today declared Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, a top adviser to Obama and likely future Assistant Attorney General, to be the “dim bulb” of the day for his racially-charged remarks branding America as a racist country:

“During an Oct. 25 panel discussion on race at Harvard, this top Barack Obama adviser said the U.S. should still be considered a racist nation even if the Illinois Senator is elected to the White House because Obama ‘happens to be biracial.’   So even if a majority of Americans vote for him, it won’t count.  WHY IT’S DIM:  Ogletree’s comments conjured up the discredited ‘one drop rule’ laws adopted by many Southern states during the Jim Crow era that were used to segregate the races.  CURE: Take Martin Luther King Jr.’s advice and judge people by their character, not their color.”  (Washington Examiner, Oct. 31, 2008, at page 15).

Even if you vote for Obama, you’re still probably a racist, according to Professor Ogletree. White America won’t vote for blacks, Ogletree argues, and Obama’s election is possible only because he’s partly white.  Even Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, in his endorsement of Obama, was more optimistic about race relations than Ogletree.

The ABA Journal predicts that Ogletree, who has long advocated race-based reparations, will be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration.

Ogletree is controversial for his history of plagiarism and association with Al Sharpton.