Mayor Seeks Way to Break Contract Held by Farrakhan

Mayor Tom Bradley announced Wednesday that he has asked the city attorney’s office to find some way of breaking Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan’s contract to use the Los Angeles Convention Center for a speaking engagement next month.

“I say to Mr. Farrakhan, and to anybody else, that statements of racial bigotry, racial hatred or religious hatred of any kind are unwelcome in the City of Los Angeles,” Bradley said.

“We make that unequivocal statement, even in the advance of an appearance of Mr. Farrakhan, so he will have no question on where I and other leaders in this community stand on that kind of an issue.”

Council Opposition

All 11 members present at Wednesday’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting signed a resolution stating--”in the strongest possible terms”--that, while the council “treasures the right of free speech for all Americans, it believes most strongly that the message of Louis Farrakhan is not the message for Los Angeles.”

Those signing the resolution were council members Ernani Bernardi, Marvin Braude, Robert Farrell, John Ferraro, Joan Milke Flores, Nate Holden, Gilbert Lindsay, Gloria Molina, Joel Wachs, Michael Woo and Zev Yaroslavsky.

Before Farrakhan last spoke here, in September, 1985, local Jewish leaders, citing Farrakhan’s frequent anti-Semitic remarks, had called upon Bradley to repudiate the Black Muslim leader.

Local black leaders, who wanted Farrakhan to speak because they said they supported his economic programs, asked the mayor not to denounce him.

Bradley chose to remain silent until after that speech.

During the speech at the Forum in Inglewood, Farrakhan called Israel a “wicked hypocrisy” and said Jews “stole” Israel under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion instead of waiting for their predicted coming of the Messiah.

Although he later spoke out against Farrakhan, Bradley’s silence before the speech had been opposed by a majority of his staff and ended up causing a furor in the local Jewish community.

In booking the floor of the city-owned Convention Center for Aug. 8 at 3 p.m., Farrakhan’s Chicago-based Nation of Islam used the name of one of its subsidiary organizations, Respect for Life, a group that markets the Black Muslim’s line of cosmetics and health products.

‘Apparently Misled’

Bradley said Wednesday that in using the name of the subsidiary organization, Farrakhan’s organization “apparently misled” the city officials who signed the contract.

“I have asked the city attorney, Jimmy Hahn, to investigate the matter and determine if there is any legal basis on which that contract can be broken,” the mayor said. “He has promised to do that.”

Hahn said Wednesday that while he has “opposed Farrakhan and everything he stands for, as lawyer for the city I will have to consider that the issue of free speech may be involved.”

“The Constitution forbids us from precluding anyone’s right to speak, regardless of how repugnant the message may be,” Hahn said. “I have assigned attorneys from my office to review the matter.

“It may be that Farrakhan has the right to say what he wishes.”

Local Nation of Islam contacts referred all calls to Chicago. Spokesmen there were not immediately available for comment.

Bradley’s remarks about Farrakhan Wednesday morning came after vigorous opposition to the Black Muslim leader’s upcoming speaking engagement was voiced by Irv Rubin, national director of the often-militant Jewish Defense League.

When Rubin’s plans to talk to Bradley about the matter at City Hall went awry because Bradley was away, preparing to talk to reporters about unrelated matters at Our Lady Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Church in the Old Plaza, Rubin marched the four blocks to the church to confront the mayor.

Question Shouted

“Will you repudiate the Nazi Farrakhan?” Rubin shouted as Bradley approached the podium.

“Will you please be quiet?” the mayor responded.

“Will you please answer the question?” Rubin continued.

“I’ll have a statement on that after the press conference,” the mayor replied.

“Why don’t you have the guts to repudiate him?” Rubin persisted as security personnel led him away. “Why don’t you tell the media? You didn’t do it last time.”

Before the news conference, Bradley had met with his staff, a majority of whom had been angered by his refusal to condemn Farrakhan during the Black Muslim leader’s first visit. This time, Bradley said he planned to denounce Farrakhan, and the staff agreed.

When the press conference ended, Bradley, as promised, made his statement, telling reporters that before Farrakhan’s previous visit to Los Angeles, “I and a group of leaders from the black community attempted to get an agreement from him that he would not engage in anti-Semitic . . . racial or . . . other messages of bigotry in our city.

“We thought we had such an agreement. But it is obvious that Louis Farrakhan, on the occasion of that appearance, spoke in terms that were anti-Semitic, anti-Korean and anti-some black leaders.

“The following morning I announced my strong opposition and condemned him for those statements. This is a community that has lived together in peace and harmony . . . and we don’t need that kind of rhetoric in our city.”

Lois Weinsaft, a spokesperson for the mainstream Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, said her organization had been “concerned” by word of Farrakhan’s planned speaking engagement here.

“We hoped the community would come together and let Farrakhan know he was not welcome because of his racist and anti-Semitic remarks,” she said. “We were very pleased with Mayor Bradley’s statement.”