re: #155 Everybody Look at Your Hands

I like reading this discussion because I want to understand Bell and there’s such a one-sided take on him from completely unreliable sources.

Black prejudice against Jews (and vice versa for that matter) always surprises me because I think we have similar cultural experiences. I’ve always felt we were a good mix.

The acceptance of Farrakhan really puzzles me, though. That he’s a preacher and hates so fervently. Muslim or no Muslim. And I don’t agree with Jews when they do it either. MLK’s message was so different, but for me, he spoke closer to the human condition that went beyond skin color.

Farrakhan’s following in the black community is very, very small if for no other reason then most black people are Christians and church going Christians at that. I don’t know a single black person who ever talks about Farrakhan except to joke about his belief in UFOs. He may show up at an occasional gathering of black people who talk a lot and have been anointed “black leaders”. We don’t anoint these people, the media does. There is great admiration for Malcolm X because somebody had to be the bad cop to MLK’s good cop. He was flawed and angry, but we love him too. But that has never flowed over to Farrakhan, much to his disappointment. He has become a largely comical figure.