Welcome Mat Is Out for Farrakhan in L.A. : Race relations: The black community seems more eager than ever to hear the Nation of Islam leader. His speech tonight comes on the heels of confrontations between law officers and Muslims.

The phone calls to the headquarters of Parents of Watts, a small community resource center in Southeast Los Angeles, were different this week.

Along with the pleas from battered women needing a place to stay and suicidal teen-agers seeking help, many of the calls were from the curious, wanting to know how to get tickets to see Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who is scheduled to speak tonight at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

The sometimes controversial Nation of Islam leader has always attracted attention and audiences in Los Angeles--6,000 people crowded into three hotel ballrooms at the Westin Bonaventure last fall to hear him speak on gang violence and black-on-black crime. A 1985 visit by Farrakhan--which attracted 15,000 to the Great Western Forum--put Mayor Tom Bradley on the hot seat when he refused to repudiate the Muslim leader.

But this time, Farrakhan is going to a black community that seems more eager than ever to welcome him. The speech tonight--while planned for months--comes on the heels of confrontations between Nation of Islam members and local law enforcement officers that in one case led to a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy trainee shooting to death one Muslim and wounding another after a routine traffic stop.

Three weeks earlier, three Muslims and four members of the Los Angeles Police Department were injured in a melee that also occurred after a traffic stop.

The incidents have galvanized the black community--uniting Christian and Muslim, poor and middle class around the issue of how officers conduct themselves in African-American neighborhoods and prompted scores of prominent black activists to rally to the Nation of Islam’s defense.

In the past some mainstream Los Angeles civil rights groups distanced themselves from the Nation of Islam, but in the wake of the recent clashes between Muslims and law enforcement officers, that has changed.

“The problem in our community is so monumental that we recognize that we cannot afford to let any of us who can bring a solution to this problem be an outcast from the group. Our common problem and common enemy is drugs; our common problem is gangs; our common problem is police harassment,” said Danny Bakewell Jr., president of the activist group Brotherhood Crusade.

Also many activists say the problem goes far beyond the Nation of Islam. Tension in the community over various problems, particularly police behavior, has been simmering beneath the surface for a long time, they contend. Those tensions, many said, have become more pronounced as law enforcement cracks down on drug dealers and gangs.

Kerman Maddox, a former board member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, noted that Oliver Beasley, the Muslim who was killed Jan. 23, “is all of a sudden a martyr,” but, he said a “feeling of anger and frustration was there before Beasley.”

Community activists began to mobilize after the Jan. 3 melee involving 13 Muslims and 24 police officers. But the fervor within the community heated up after Beasley’s death.

“The cup didn’t take but one drop to run over,” said “Sweet” Alice Harris, who runs the Parents of Watts center. “The cup was already full, and that shooting, that was the drop that made it run over.”

It is into this setting that Farrakhan carries his message that African-Americans--particularly men--are under siege from inside and outside of their community.

While many of those interviewed said they cannot swallow all of Farrakhan’s teachings, most said they are eager to hear anyone who is speaking out against police misconduct.

Local law enforcement officials deny that there is any widespread misconduct.

But both the Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD have taken steps to ease tensions that have resulted from the incidents involving the Muslims.

Both agencies have held meetings with officials of the Nation of Islam at the request of the Muslims. After the Jan. 3 incident, the LAPD changed some of its procedures in handling minor violations of the city’s vending code, infractions that in recent months have led to confrontations between police officers and Muslims selling bean pies.

And on Wednesday, Sheriff Sherman Block announced that he had advised deputies against “taking enforcement action in minor incidents” in black neighborhoods in the wake of “heightened tensions.” The Sheriff’s Department has also produced a 15-minute video--to be seen by all department personnel-- designed to educate deputies about the Nation of Islam and its goals.

Given the current atmosphere, some of Farrakhan’s critics expressed concern that the fiery speaker could stir up an already tense situation. But many in the African-American community said they were not worried that he would.

Maddox said he hopes Farrakhan uses the speech to “take advantage of this rage, to use it in a constructive way.”

Khallid Muhammad, a special assistant to Farrakhan, said Farrakhan will talk about the Beasley incident in his speech tonight and “answer all the questions in the minds of the people, the leadership and the press.”

At the Beasley funeral last Saturday, Farrakhan called the shooting “murder.” He labeled as a “cover-up” contentions by sheriff’s investigators that the shooting occurred after six Muslims ran from a nearby apartment building and attacked deputies.

Farrakhan has been accused in the past of making anti-Semitic remarks. In 1987, 11 members of the City Council signed a resolution saying that Farrakhan’s message is “not the message for Los Angeles.”

David Lehrer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said any message Farrakhan delivers tonight would be “tainted by his bigotry.”

Abdul Askia, a Los Angeles resident who like Farrakhan was a follower of the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, said he expected Farrakhan’s message to be emotional but empty of constructive advice. Askia, who is now an orthodox Muslim, labeled Farrakhan a racist.

Councilman Robert Farrell, however, said Farrakhan addresses issues that are of concern in the black community and from a perspective that is consistent with his audiences.

Farrell theorizes that Farrakhan makes some people uneasy because “he comes from a base that whites cannot control.”

“Instead of disregarding his arguments,” Farrell said, mainstream institutions such as social service agencies and police “should be paying attention to him.”

Both Farrell and Councilman Nate Holden said they did not see widespread police abuse in the black community.

Farrakhan’s speech tonight is being billed as “Stop the Killing II,” the second half of a talk he gave last October at the Bonaventure.

At that time, Nation spokesmen had said that Farrakhan would meet before that speech with 900 gang members, but that apparently did not occur. However, some gang members were in the audience for the speech and Farrakhan reportedly met privately with gang members later.

For the speech tonight, police and officials at the Sports Arena are taking special precautions.

Deputy Chief William Rathburn said 35 uniformed--but off-duty--police officers will be stationed inside the facility and 22 will be stationed outside. Rathburn said that such precautions would be taken for any prominent visitor.

In addition, police will monitor the event from a command post that will be set up at the nearby Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and have devised contingency plans for backup officers in case they are needed.

At the request of the Nation of Islam, the Sports Arena is installing walk-through metal detectors.

“I’m optimistic that this will be a successful and peaceful event, but if something does occur we will deal with it,” said Rathburn. “My concern is not with the people who attend the event as much as it is with those who might come and try to demonstrate against Farrakhan.”