Aides to Farrakhan Book Larger Room, Set New Date for Speech

Aides to Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, still contending that they do not yet know if the controversial minister will appear in Los Angeles, have booked a bigger room and a new date at the city’s Convention Center.

A spokesman for Farrakhan said a 5,000-seat hall at the Convention Center has been reserved for Sept. 28, pending the outcome of petition drive that is intended to test the level of Farrakhan’s support among Los Angeles’ black residents.

Farrakhan postponed an Aug. 8 appearance at the Convention Center after Mayor Tom Bradley, the City Council and county Board of Supervisors denounced him as anti-Semitic and racist. Farrakhan attracted more than 15,000 to the Inglewood Forum in September, 1985, in a speech in which he referred to Israel as a “wicked hypocrisy.”

Abdul Allah Muhammad of the Nation of Islam said about 10,000 signatures have been collected since the petition drive began last week. However, he said he does not know how many signatures it would take to convince Farrakhan to come to Los Angeles.

The hall reserved for the Sept. 28 appearance is twice as big as the one that was reserved for the Aug. 8 speech.

“If the petition drive keeps going the way it is now, we should have enough (signatures) in a week or two,” Muhammad said.