Al Sharpton’s Group and Black Lives Matter Team Up For Pro-Farrakhan Protest
Several black activist groups are holding a protest on Monday in defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite and racist revealed to have close ties to prominent Democratic politicians and activists.
Black Lives Matter, the New Black Panther Party and the National Action Network are among the groups spearheading the protest, the organizers said in a press release.
Black Lives Matter, the New Black Panther Party, and Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network are organizing a protest in defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan
Farrakhan is a notorious racist and anti-Semite with close ties to Democratic politicians and activists
The black activist groups are lobbying against a GOP resolution formally condemning Farrakhan for his anti-Semitism
The groups are protesting a House resolution, introduced by Republican Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita, that formally condemns Farrakhan's anti-Semitism. The activists instead want lawmakers to pass a resolution condemning President Donald Trump.
Rev. Al Sharpton has been NAN's president since he founded the group in 1991. Sharpton is also a contributor on MSNBC and hosts "PoliticsNation," a one-hour weekly show on the network. The NAN and MSNBC did not return requests for comment.
More than 100 organizers "will go office-to-office to deal with the GOP representatives that are leading this campaign, in specific Congressman Todd Rokita," according to the press release.
"The lobbyist [sic] will visit members of the Congressional Black Caucus who are under pressure to condemn Minister Farrakhan though the Congressional Black Caucus has yet to muster enough strength to introduce a resolution condemning that he repeated, vile and foul bigoted and reckless comments by President Donald Trump."
"The coalition will be lobbying key members of Congress-the GOP in particular-to condemn President Donald J. Trump and to leave Louis Farrakhan alone. Please do not try to stop us because we will not turn back. We will represent professionally and politically vigorously," the press release said.
"We cannot allow a politically hypocritical political situation to exist whereas an openly racist president, Donald Trump is given a free pass and to spew racist venom and racist policies by a confederate based GOP; and then they have the gall to issue an official legislative condemnation of a private citizen and Black leader who is dearly beloved by the masses," said Black Lawyers for Justice president Malik Zulu Shabazz, one of the protest organizers.
Shabazz, a former leader of the New Black Panthers, has a long history of anti-Semitism and once shouted at a protest: "Kill every goddamn Zionist in Israel! Goddamn little babies, goddamn old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!" That's according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization which has tracked Shabazz's anti-Semitism for years. The press release lists Shabazz as the point of contact for the protest. He did not return an email seeking comment.