Progressive Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, one of the top Democratic candidates for New Jersey governor, was caught on video applauding and embracing radical Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as he calls White people “demons” and calls for violence as retribution.
Farrakhan, 91, is a longtime radical antisemite preacher known for making inflammatory statements against Jews, White people and LGBTQ individuals. He has also praised Adolf Hitler as a “great man” and has become one of the most controversial religious figures in the United States due to his derogatory comments about Israel.
The video – taken in 2004 at a Newark church – shows Baraka introducing Farrakhan to the congregation by calling him a major personal inspiration and “the leader of every Black person.”
The full speech is viewable on the Nation of Islam website.
“I don’t think that there’s any man today, present today, that has the kind of moral authority or spiritual strength,” Baraka said. “Not president, not community leader, not political international activist, nowhere that has the moral authority, the historical and political framework, that the Minister Farrakhan has, that. Who can stand where he stands and truly say that he is the leader of black people anywhere and everywhere.”
During the speech, which was first reported on by the New York Post, Baraka stood to give Farrakhan a standing ovation two times. The first is after Farrakhan denounces the non-violent protests of the civil rights movement, saying, “We didn’t believe in no non-violence. The cracker hit you on your jaw, you break his neck. That’s the way we think.”
Baraka applauds again after Farrakhan demonizes White people as “the enemy.”
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