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Dave Bender's avatar

Pastor Washington: first off - thank you for this powerful, eye-opening article.

Pls allow me to ask my US peeps: why is Farrakhan's every step, meeting, rally, public appearances and media interviews not dogged by hordes of Jewish and supporting protesters? What - is it only "wokeitude" when its inflicted on Jews and Israel?

Full disclosure:

Over a decade ago, when I working as a bureau chief for Georgia Public Broadcasting radio, there was an event that both astonished and deeply upset me - and pls remember: as a long-time reporter, both in Israel and the States, trust me: I've seen a lot.

One evening, Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Farrakhan, filled the enormous Atlanta Civic Center with an SRO crowd, calling out - among other items on his harangue to-do list - that the Jews were the source of all their woes, and... you can probably finish the screed yourself. If not, here's an ADL report on it: https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-slams-farrakhan-for-blaming-jews-for-financial-ruin-of-blacks

What most astonished me, however, was the indifferent shrug of Jews I tried to alert in the Orthodox Jewish area I was living in, in Atlanta at the time.

Please understand: I wasn't calling for local Jews to flee, screaming like their hair was aflame, or that mobs brandishing guns and firebombs were after them and their loved ones (that, as we've seen, all came later, anyway). But rather at least just to comprehend that the thousands of cheering people attending the Farrakhanatribe would internalize that horrific, hateful and slanderous message and pass it on in their collective 'mother's milk" to family, friends, and colleagues.

Remember: this wasn't a handful of people in a basement or a megaphone rant at a pro-Palestinian campus rally - this was the polished, monied, massive crowd of close to 5,000 NOI supporters.

And - just for the record - I didn't even bother pitching covering that story, rightly or wrongly presuming that it was far too incendiary and politically incorrect an issue for the station and network's leadership, listeners, and, most importantly donors: the white ones who were too innocously bored or terrified by the prospect, and blacks who were either chagrined - or secretly supportive of Farrakhan and his movement.

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Roz Shorenstein's avatar

Thank you for your support of Israel

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