Farrakhan Furor a Lesson, Bradley Says : Muslim Leader ‘Respects No One,’ Mayor Tells Jewish Audience

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, addressing more than 2,000 Jews at a Century City gathering Friday, said he learned a lesson from the furor caused by Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan’s visit here: Farrakhan “respects no one.”

Bradley’s speech drew a standing ovation from delegates to the annual convention of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which represents Reform synagogues in the United States. The speech was the latest in a series of conciliatory steps the mayor has taken since Farrakhan’s recent visit made Bradley the subject of a tug-of-war between local blacks and Jews.

Many Jewish leaders, citing Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic remarks that included a statement that Judaism is a “dirty religion,” had called on Bradley in September to repudiate Farrakhan before the Black Muslim leader spoke at the Forum in Inglewood.

Local black leaders, however, wanted Farrakhan to speak because they said they supported his economic programs, which could help blacks help themselves. They asked Bradley not to denounce Farrakhan before the speech.

Bradley chose to remain silent until after the speech.

Although he spoke out afterward against Farrakhan, his silence beforehand caused a furor in the Jewish community, and Bradley, a Democrat, suffered a political setback there in his expected gubernatorial aspirations.

On Friday, Bradley reiterated his opposition to anti-Semitism and elaborated on the Farrakhan controversy.

“I denounced Louis Farrakhan for his . . . message of hate, his racial bigotry,” the mayor said. “I reject the notion that black people, or any other people, can persevere or grow in a climate where the sole qualification for membership is race or religion. . . . I, as well as others, learned a lesson from Louis Farrakhan: He respects no one.”

His decision to remain silent until after Farrakhan had a chance to speak, Bradley said, “was an approach I took . . . after consultation with many, a decision that we called ‘damage control.’ We hoped to minimize the poison and harm of his utterances.

“Many have said we should have taken a different tact and repudiated him before . . . the speech was made. That may very well have been the better approach.”

Bradley’s words echoed those made by Bishop H. H. Brookins of the African Methodist Episcopal Church a few weeks after the controversy erupted. Brookins is a longtime confidant of the mayor’s and one of the black leaders who urged that Bradley keep quiet until after the Farrakhan speech.

Mistake Not Admitted

However, Bradley stopped short of saying he had made a mistake in his handling of the incident.

“I thought it was right then,” he told a reporter Friday. “People have the right to make decisions that differ with others. . . . It doesn’t matter if I consider it a mistake. . . . Whether it was a mistake (or not), it was obvious that plans we had hoped for, and we thought we had commitments to, were not kept.”

Bradley implied in his speech, as he had the day after Farrakhan spoke, that Muslim leaders did not keep a commitment that Farrakhan would restrict his remarks to the subjects of black economics and self-help. Spokesmen for Farrakhan, however, insisted that no one ever promised Bradley or any black community leader that they would try to control the content of the Muslim leader’s speech.

Albert Vorspan, national senior vice president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said he was “gratified” by Bradley’s speech. “While he certainly was apologizing for the strategy he chose, he was indicating in good faith why he chose that strategy,” Vorspan said.

Comparing Farrakhan to Rabbi Meir Kahane, a member of the Israeli parliament who advocates expelling Arabs from Israel, Vorspan said: “Kahane is not going to be stopped except by being discredited, rejected and repudiated by the Jewish people. . . . It’s exactly the same with Farrakhan.”

Letter to N.Y. Mayor

Two weeks after Farrakhan spoke in Los Angeles, Bradley wrote a letter to New York Mayor Ed Koch before Farrakhan’s visit to New York. Farrakhan “divides people into warring factions,” he wrote Koch. “We cannot allow one man’s venom to distract us.”

Bradley wrote a similar letter to local Jewish newspapers, which was published last week by the Los Angeles Jewish Community Bulletin.

Next week, Bradley plans to travel to Israel with local business leaders to develop more trade between Israel and the Los Angeles area. Bradley, who has visited Israel before, said the trip was planned long before the Farrakhan controversy.