Table of Contents Categories
Louis Farrakhan and progressive activism in the United States
From Justapedia - Reading time: 6 min
Louis Farrakhan, a Black nationalist leader of the new religious movement Nation of Islam noted for his espousal of antisemitism[a] and Black separatism,[1] who was classified by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as the most popular antisemite in the United States.[2] Notwithstanding, he has a complex relationship with progressive activists in the United States.
.jpg)
Relations with feminists in the United States[edit | edit source]
Despite Louis Farrakhan’s antisemitic and homophobic[3] views , he is appreciated by prominent American feminists, including but not limited to Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez and Tamika Mallory,[4] the organizers of the Women’s March, which took place on January 21‒22, 2017.[4]
The march has been the third-largest march in American history as of February 2025. Sarsour, Perez and Mallory are found to be admirers of Louis Farrakhan.[4] Mallory attended one of his speeches, where he repeatedly called Jews the “Satanic Jews”,[5] accused Jews of “feminizing” Black men with marijuana, and “gave a shoutout” to Mallory.[5] While acknowledging their Jewish allies’ concern in November 2018, the trio were reportedly neither willing to condemn Farrakhan's antisemitism nor distance themselves from him.[5]
Relations with Black Lives Matter[edit | edit source]
Among hardcore Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters, Louis Farrakhan is an iconic figure. Murals were painted for Farrakhan in congressional districts with sizeable proportions of BLM supporters.[6] Farrakhan is backed by Jamaal Bowman, an influential progressive member of the U.S. Congress in 2021‒25[7] who belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).[8]
Impact[edit | edit source]
Along with Farrakhan's former allies Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, James Baldwin etc., Farrakhan is one of the pro-Soviet Black nationalists who mainstreamed Soviet antisemitic tropes in American society via circulation among academics and Black Americans. In American society, Soviet antisemitic tropes were normalized over the decades and engendered a form of new antisemitism,[9] where Jews are accused of being the “beneficiaries” of “White privilege”[9] and “embodiment of evil”[10] allegedly coordinating Western governments to “support Israel at the expense of Palestinians”.[9]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Anti-Judaism and antisemitism
- Antisemitism in the United States
- Comparative analysis of Black Hebrew Israelites and the Nation of Islam
- Holocaust denial
- Horseshoe theory
Footnotes[edit | edit source]
- ^ "Working Definition Of Antisemitism". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism :- Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
- Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
- Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
- Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
- Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
- Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
- Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
- Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
- Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
- Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
- Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
- "AJC's glossary of antisemitic terms, phrases, conspiracies, cartoons, themes, and memes" (PDF). American Jewish Committee. 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
- "Magnifying glass
Debunking Misconceptions About the Definition of Antisemitism". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved October 23, 2024. - "500 years of antisemitic propaganda". Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
References[edit | edit source]
- ^
- Pollack, Eunice G. (2013). Racializing Antisemitism: Black Militants, Jews, and Israel 1950-present (PDF). Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University of Israel.
- "Nation of Islam". Anti-Defamation League. January 9, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- "Louis Farrakhan". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- ^ "Farrakhan Remains Most Popular Antisemite in America". Anti-Defamation League. July 15, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2025.
- ^ Marable, M. (1998). "Black fundamentalism: Farrakhan and conservative black nationalism". Race & Class. 39 (4): 1‒22. doi:10.1177/030639689803900401. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
- ^ a b c
- "The Women's March Has a Farrakhan Problem: The group refuses to be accountable for a high-level alliance with an open anti-Semite". The Atlantic. March 8, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- "Linda Sarsour pens open letter amid fresh claims of anti-Semitism". i24NEWS. November 19, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- "Linda Sarsour is still refusing to condemn Farrakhan's hate". New York Post. November 25, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^ a b c Lockhart, P.R. (March 8, 2018). "Why Women's March leaders are being accused of anti-Semitism". Vox. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^
- "Why a Black Lives Matter mural is sparking controversy in Greenburgh". ABC7 New York. August 26, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- "Greenburgh Town Board wants portrait of Louis Farrakhan removed from taxpayer-funded Black Lives Matter mural". CBS News. August 29, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- "Jewish groups raise concerns at Louis Farrakhan image on Black Lives Matter mural". Campaign Against Antisemitism. August 31, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^ "Bowman defends mural in his congressional district lionizing Louis Farrakhan". Jewish News Syndicate. March 13, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
- ^ "Democratic Socialists of America: Who They Are and Their Stance on Israel". American Jewish Committee. November 7, 2025. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
- ^ a b c
- "The uncomfortable truth about BLM, Malcolm X and anti-Semitism". The Spectator. January 26, 2021. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- Pollack, Eunice G. (June 1, 2022). "Black Antisemitism in America: Past and Present". The Institute for National Security Studies (Special Publication). Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- Royden, Laura; Hersh, Eitan (April 17, 2023). "Antisemitic Attitudes among Young Black and Hispanic Americans". Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 8 (1). Retrieved October 27, 2024.
- ^ Yossi Klein Halevi (October 10, 2024). "The End of the Post-Holocaust Era". Jewish Journal. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
EncycloReader
is supported by the 
KSF