Linda Sarsour at 2015 Farrakhan's 'Justice Or Else' Rally: "I'm Tired of People Asking What The 'Else' Is"

    In 2015, Linda Sarsour, self-described civil-rights activist and "every Islamophobe’s worst nightmare" spoke at Louis Farrakhan's "Justice or Else" rally in Washington DC on the 20th anniversary of Farrakhan's Million Man March.
    Referencing the title of the rally, Sarsour said, "I'm tired of people asking us what the 'else' is. You would not have to ask that question if we already had justice." The video of Sarsour's speech is available on C-Span [1:42:18].

    Sarsour, a founder of the Women's March, was introduced by Tamika Mallory, also a founder of the Women's March and the emcee of the Justice or Else event, and was preceded by Rep. Danny Davis, a Farrakhan supporter who continues to serve in Congress, and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's longtime pastor with whom Obama publicly split during Obama's 2008 run for president.
























   During her speech, Sarsour said:

We are one, sisters and brothers, and our liberation is bound up together. The same people who justify the massacre of Palestinian people and called it collateral damage are the same people who justify the murder of black young men and women. The same people who want to deport millions of undocumented immigrants are the same people who hate Muslims and want to take our right to worship freely in this country. That common enemy, sisters and brothers, is white supremacy. Let's call it what it is. We're not here to make people feel comfortable. I'm tired of people asking us what the 'else' is. You would not have to ask that question if we already had justice. We are angry, sisters and brothers. [emphasis added]

    Farrakhan himself has never been explicit about the 'else' either, but in an interview leading up to the rally, he gave some hints:

 A prescription for us is, those who kill us and seem to get away with it, we cannot allow it to continue. We must rise up and kill those who kill us outside of the law of justice and when they feel death like we feel death, when they feel pain at the burying of their dead like we feel it, then maybe we can sit down to a table and act like civilized people. [emphasis added]

   Sarsour herself made some remarks more recently regarding violence versus non-violence in the context the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

I am trained in kingian non-violence. I choose non-violence as a powerful means to change. BUT i don’t have to choose or justify violence to understand where it comes from when oppressed people see no way out. We have to be critical thinkers, advocate & present solutions.

    Sarsour continued:

Until we see both the Palestinian and Israeli people as equals than we will continue to see this cycle of violence. Don’t act surprised. Demand justice for Palestinians & let’s begin discussing peace. There’ll be no peace without justice.

Ilhan Omar on Israel-Palestine Conflict: "We Only Value The Lives Of Certain People"

   In May 2018, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict flared up along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip as the US shifted its embassy to Jerusalem. Protests turned violent as up to 35,000 Palestinians, at the instigation of Hamas according to US and Israeli officials, clashed with Israeli security forces. As many as 60 Palestinians were killed as Israel fought back against rioters who were throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails and burning tires, in addition to at least one direct armed attack.
    In response to the Palestinian deaths, freelance writer David Klion, a former editor for Al Jazeera America, wrote on Twitter, "Israel has killed more Palestinians at the Gaza border in the past six weeks than East Germany killed crossing the Berlin Wall from 1961-1989." Ilhan Omar, since elected to Congress to Keith Ellison's old seat, tweeted out Klion's comparison, adding, "It’s not a big secret that we only value the lives of certain people 😢 #Palestinians #GazaMassacre #peace."

   Rep. Omar has found herself at the center of several anti-Semitism controversies in the few short months since her election, drawing sharp rebuke and condemnation of her words from even Democrats who otherwise support her. Omar was recently forced to issue what turned out to be an equivocal apology for her "All About the Benjamins" remarks regarding AIPAC, comments that had drawn unwelcome support from none other than the Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan as The Script reported.

Farrakhan's Nation of Islam Defends Rep. Ilhan Omar “All About The Benjamins” Tweet

   An article posted this week on the Nation of Islam's "Research Group" website defends Rep. Ilhan Omar's widely condemned tweet this week, "It's all about the Benjamins baby." Rep. Omar's remark's was a response to a report that Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to punish Omar and fellow House member Rep. Rashida Tlaib over criticism of Israel. When asked "who [Omar] thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel," Omar responded "AIPAC!"
   Members of both parties, including Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, roundly condemned Omar's remarks as an anti-Semitic trope, and the House voted 424-0 on a motion to recommit to "combat anti-Semitism around the world" just days after the incident. Omar offered a half-hearted apology for her remarks, tweeting that she was "[l]istening and learning, but standing strong." Rep. Omar was rebuked for her comments, but has suffered no consequences from her party.
   As if on cue, the notoriously anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam trotted out a defense of Rep. Omar's remarks, writing:

Rep. Ilhan Omar was called “anti-Semitic” for tweeting that American politics is “all about the Benjamins”—Benjamins being slang for cash money. Jews, who are 1.4% of the U.S. population, took offense to the suggestion that their money inordinately influences the electoral process. According to the election watchdog organization Center for Responsive Politics, the top 20 donors to federal candidates in 2018 contributed $532,225,145. Of those top 20, 12 (60%) are Jewish. The total contributed by those 12 Jews amounts to $416,291,558 or 78.2% of the total. 

 

   Notably, the article does not make mention of Israel or America's policies, only that "Jews... took offense" over the suggestion that "their money" had undue electoral influence. The article links to a summary of the top 20 individual donors to federal candidates in 2018 with columns added to indicate "Jewish" donors versus "Gentiles":

   The split between donations to liberal/Democratic versus conservative/Republican candidates by those donors identified as Jewish is roughly 60/40. This document makes no reference to the donors' or the candidates' positions on Israel or US policy towards Israel, only the donors' identities as Jewish or Gentile.

   The Nation of Islam also takes the opportunity to promote a The Secret Relationship Between Blacks & Jews, a Nation of Islam polemic blaming virtually every ill suffered by African Americans in the United States going back hundreds of years on Jews.

   This weekend, the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan hold their 2019 Saviours' Day convention in Chicago. As The Script reported earlier this week, a presentation by 9/11 Truthers at the 2017 Saviour's Day event blamed Jews for the 9/11 attacks as a false flag operation to justify a War on Islam. The presentation included this image:

   The Nation of Islam's 2019 Saviours' Day event kicks off today, Friday, February 15, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Conference Center in Chicago and is expected to be attended by thousands if prior years are any indication. Louis Farrakhan will address the crowd on Sunday at the United Center.

Louis Farrakhan, 9/11 Trutherism, and Anti-Semitism

   This weekend, Nation of Islam members will gather in Chicago at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Conference Center and the United Center for this year's Saviours' Day convention. The group's longtime leader, Louis Farrakhan is scheduled to address the crowd on Sunday. Farrakhan sparked a firestorm with remarks in his annual address in 2018 such as, "the powerful Jews are my enemy" and "Farrakhan, by God's grace, has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew and I'm here to say your time is up, your world is through."

   While Saviours' Day 2017 did not generate as much attention, Farrakhan's gathering that year in the Cobo Center in Detroit included a symposium hosted by three 9/11 Truthers: Richard Gage, Christopher Bollyn and Kevin Barrett. The symposium drew a crowd of 4,000 people and included lectures from all three men along with video and slides to illustrate their points. Frequently interrupted by applause, the three spun a detailed story of conspiracies, false flags, revised history, "Zionist" plots, and Jewish influence, with the ultimate conclusion that "agents and supporters of Israel were the key players" in pulling off the "controlled demolitions" of the World Trade Center.
   At one point in his presentation (1:15:01 in the video), Christopher Bollyn tells the crowd that since its inception, the objective of the "Israeli Zionist state - Zionism means Israeli nationalism, Jewish nationalism" has been to take over the entire middle east region. During this part of his talk, a slide is shown to the audience of a devilish figure with pointed ears and glowing red eyes holding a crystal ball in its claws, and "Zionism" and a Star of David on its forehead; the crystal ball is labeled Syria and shows apparently dead children. Bloody tombstones labeled Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan also appear in the graphic (shown below).

   Louis Farrakhan often peppers his talks with references to the "Synagogue of Satan," a term he lifts from the Book of Revelation in the Bible and repurposes to target his perceived enemies. As noted above, last year Farrakhan railed against his enemies "the powerful Jews" and that he, Farrakhan, "has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew."
   In addition to selling CDs and DVDs of the "The War on Islam: 9/11 Revisited Uncovered & Exposed" presentation on its website, the Nation of Islam hosts a video of the symposium on its website as well. Farrakhan himself promoted the video on Twitter.
   In the wake of 9/11, as early as July 2002, Louis Farrakhan was pointing the finger at Jews for inciting a war on terror as an excuse for a "War on Islam," telling a BET interviewer during a trip to South Africa, "...those who don’t want war, let us give the reason why we don’t want war and let the American people judge and our representatives in Congress act on the will of the American people and not the will of a lobby, whether it is a Jewish lobby or a Zionist lobby or any kind of lobby. That government body should represent the will of the American people." [emphasis added]
   As America struggles against a resurgence of anti-Semitism, the country should be paying closer attention this year to Louis Farrakhan and his words during his annual keynote address to the Saviours' Day convention on Sunday, and paying closer attention to any politicians or other public figures who continue to align themselves with the polarizing head of the Nation of Islam or his associates.

Note: The image shown above is labeled "DDees.com" in the bottom right corner. That website is filled with all manner of conspiracy-related artwork.