Disoriented Compass in New Orleans

What happened to applying the law fairly? Just because you're some radical black kook, shouldn't mean you get to do something that an Asian or White person would be arrested for. Farrakhan and his pack of assorted nuts should be monitored and dealt with just like everyone else. If ever there was someone guilty of inciting hate crimes it would be Louie.

The security chief for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been hired to provide sensitivity training for the NOPD. Captain Dennis Muhammad has conducted sensitivity training in other cities such as Buffalo and will be paid $15,000 for his services, which NOPD Chief Eddie Compass says are needed in New Orleans. Compass says there are people in New Orleans who have complained about police treatment and are “anti police.” Compass believes that the “members of the Nation of Islam have some type of relationship with these people.”

However, what about those in the community and on the NOPD who are not members of the Nation of Islam? David Benelli of the Police Association of New Orleans says his phone has “been ringing off the hook” with members upset about the hiring of someone with ties to the Nation of Islam. The NOPD is 45% white, while the city is about 30% non-black, so there is a large number of people who might feel insulted by this decision. However, not only should whites be outraged about the selection of this Nation of Islam leader to conduct sensitivity training, but also all African-Americans in the community who are of the Catholic or Jewish faiths.

At the press conference announcing the training, a rabbi and priest expressed concern about Muhammad’s selection. Such concern is more than justified considering the history of Muhammad’s boss, Louis Farrakhan. Here are just a few of the Nation of Islam’s beliefs, as well as some of Farrakhan’s disturbing statements:

• Whites are “blue eyed devils.”
• Jews are “bloodsuckers”
• “Hitler was a very great man.”
• Jews controlled the slave trade and currently control the government
• Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad believed that whites were created by an evil Black scientist and that there will be “The Great Decisive Battle in the Sky” when a space ship will kill all white people by bombing the earth
• Muhammad believed that white people should relocate to Europe and that racial integration was wrong

In addition, Farrakhan has met with dictators in Sudan, Libya and Iraq, before the war, and praised their governments while denouncing the United States. Leaders in the Nation of Islam have also made very inflammatory anti-Catholic statements. In a November 1993 speech at Kean College in New Jersey, Farrakhan’s chief spokesman Khallid Muhammad said, “T]he old no-good Pope-you know that cracker, somebody need to raise that dress up and see what´s really under there. Jesus was right; you´re nothing but liars. The book of Revelations is right; you´re from the Synagogue of Satan.”

Unfortunately, the list of racist and inflammatory statements from Nation of Islam leaders is too comprehensive to completely catalog. Needless to say, it is vast. With such a controversial and confrontational history, why would Chief Compass hire any representative from the Nation of Islam?

Farrakhan’s views have even been condemned by African American leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and former Congressman Cynthia McKinney (D-Georgia). Even pop star Michael Jackson fired the members of the Nation of Islam who were part of his security detail.

If the Nation of Islam ties were too controversial for Michael Jackson, it should be too controversial for the NOPD. New Orleans is a very diverse community with strong ties to the Jewish and Catholic faiths. Hiring an individual who is affiliated with such a hate filled group that has a history of anti-White, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic rhetoric is an insult to all such individuals on the police force and in New Orleans. Obviously, Chief Compass needs sensitivity training to realize the implications of his decision.

From BayouBuzz.