Violence Threatened at Farrakhan Speech

The controversial Rev. Louis Farrakhan, who postponed a Los Angeles appearance last month after being condemned by local leaders for his alleged anti-Semitic statements, was scheduled to speak Monday night at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

A militant Jewish leader vowed that violence would interrupt the speech by the fiery Nation of Islam leader before a sold-out crowd that could number as high as 9,500.

Farrakhan has been quoted as calling Judaism a “gutter religion,” and Adolf Hitler “a great man.” The Black Muslim leader has said the statements attributed to him about Judaism and Hitler were taken out of context. He said he did not condone what Hitler did, but only meant to remark that Hitler had greatly influenced history.

“We are doing everything in our power to wreck his (speaking) campaign,” Jewish Defense Organization spokesman Mordecai Levy said by telephone from New York.

“We plan to be there,” added Irv Rubin, leader of the Jewish Defense League.

Compared to Hitler

But Rubin, who compared Farrakhan to Hitler, was unsure whether members would try to gain entry to the downtown convention center or demonstrate outside.

“You can’t ignore a cancer in the hopes the cancer will go away. It’s never worked in the past and it won’t work in the future,” Rubin said. “We believe somebody has to stand up and say ‘never again’ to Mr. Farrakhan.”

Farrakhan’s speech, titled “Politics Without Economics Is Symbol Without Substance,” is part of a tour to promote a cosmetics sales business called “Respect for Life,” said Nation of Islam spokesman Abdul Allah Muhammad, adding that Farrakhan “wants to recruit as many sales persons as he can.”

“Respect for Life” is a division of Farrakhan’s economic movement called POWER, or People Organized and Working for Economic Rebirth, which has been partially funded by a $5-million, interest-free loan from Libya.

Unconcerned About Threats

Muhammad said he was unconcerned about threats of violence, saying, “That’s what the police are there for.”

Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Dan Cooke said officers were “not expecting any major difficulties.”

Before Farrakhan last spoke here, in September, 1985, local Jewish leaders, citing Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic remarks during Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, called upon Mayor Tom Bradley to repudiate the Black Muslim leader.

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

Bradley chose to remain silent until after that speech.

During that 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.

‘Who Weeps for Us?’

Discussing the Nazis’ extermination of Jews during World War II, Farrakhan told a Forum crowd estimated at 15,000, “Americans, you were wrong allowing the Holocaust to take place in Germany.” But he added later, “Don’t push your 6 million down our throats when we lost 100,000 (to slavery). We weep for the Jews, but who weeps for us?”

Although Bradley spoke out against Farrakhan the next day, the mayor’s silence before the Forum speech caused a furor in the local Jewish community.

Last July, using the name of his cosmetics and health products firm, “Respect for Life,” Farrakhan reserved space for another speech, originally scheduled at the Convention Center on Aug. 8.

This time, Bradley reacted quickly, calling on the city attorney’s office to find some way to break the Convention Center contract.

“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 told a July 22 news conference.

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