Farrakhan to California Students: "Read The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews”

Students affiliated with the Afrikan Black Coalition offered Louis Farrakhan, the racist and anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), a platform to promote his hateful views last weekend at the University of California, Berkeley.

Farrakhan speaks at UC-Berkeley

During his talk, Farrakhan repeatedly encouraged the African-American students in attendance to read “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” an anti-Semitic book published by the NOI that claims that slavery was initiated by Jewish ship owners and merchants. At one point, Farrakhan, who was addressing students from at least 10 University of California campuses, warned them not to engage in dialogue with Jewish students before they read the book.

Farrakhan also alluded to conspiratorial theories about “Jewish control” of publishing companies and the U.S. government. While recounting an interaction with a rabbi who had urged him to renounce anti-Semitism, Farrakhan claimed that he rejected the rabbi’s request and responded: “Since you have a lot of influence on the government, you can bring the government against me too.”

Farrakhan reserved the conclusion of his speech for a scathing attack on Israel, which he prefaced as a message for “Jewish students.”  He claimed that while he doesn’t fault Jewish students for supporting Israel, he “would fault” them if Israeli leaders decided to attack Iran.

Farrakhan’s speech at Berkeley came just two weeks after he delivered his annual Saviours' Day address in Chicago. That speech, which consistently attracts thousands of attendees, included accusations of Jewish control and many of the past anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that have made Farrakhan one of the nation's foremost promoters of anti-Semitism.

For more information, check out our statement on Farrakhan’s appearance at UC Berkeley here.