Farrakhan predicts ‘white right’ trouble for Obama
By Sophia Tareen
Associated Press
CHICAGO-- Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, boasting his divine stature, on last Sunday predicted trouble ahead for President Barack Obama and urged him to do more to improve the lives of blacks and the downtrodden.
The 76-year-old leader said the "white right'' was conspiring to make Obama a one-term president, and pointed to his stalled efforts to introduce health care legislation as proof. He said those opponents and lobbyists were trapping him into a future war with Iran that could lead to mass destruction.
"The word 'prophet' is too cheap a word. I am a light in the midst of darkness,'' Farrakhan said at the annual convention of the movement that embraces black nationalism. "It ain't ego, it's my love for you.''
An estimated 20,000 people attended the heavily guarded Saviours' Day event at the United Center in Chicago. Followers, men dressed in navy uniforms and women in white skirt suits with matching hijabs, cheered on Farrakhan with shouts of "Allahu Akbar,'' Arabic for "God is great.''
Farrakhan spent most of the fiery nearly four-hour speech recounting a 1985 vision he had in Mexico. Farrakhan has often described how he believes he was invited aboard an unidentified flying object he calls "the wheel'' where he said he heard the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad speak to him.
He said that experience led him to inklings about future events, including the United States' 1986 bombing of Libya.
Farrakhan recounted how his divine knowledge has allowed him to recognize countless warning signs over the decades, such as natural disasters such as the earthquake in Chile, and said they indicate impending trouble, including for Obama.
Dressed in ornate creme robes, he addressed the president directly:
"Your people are suffering. You can't ease their plight, but you can use your bully pulpit. Speak for the poor. Speak for the weak.''
He said helping the Nation of Islam, which has worked to reform black inmates for decades, would also be an answer.
"Put some money in back of us,'' he said. "We can reform our people.''
Farrakhan has vigorously supported Obama for years and used his presidency as a call to action for blacks. That was even as Obama distanced himself from the group for Farrakhan's past comments that many considered anti-Semitic.
Supporters say Farrakhan's words are often taken out of context.
Farrakhan continued his praise of Obama last Sunday, and said the nation's first black president was manipulated into disavowing Farrakhan.
He would not say if he and Obama had ever met on the issue.
"They all want to know did I ever meet with him and what did I say or what did he say,'' Farrakhan said in the speech. "I ain't going there.''
+ Top Story
Civil rights leaders bothered by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's stance on issues like requiring voters to show their IDs at the polls are reminding the governor that she is a minority, too. "She couldn't vote before 1965, just as I couldn't," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The isolation of being African American and Republican rang clear to Sam Bain when he joined a group of about 100 other sign-waving protesters at a 2010 speech by President Barack Obama at Ohio State University. "I was called a sellout, a racist, and one person called me a house Negro...
President Obama evoked Martin Luther King, Jr.'s own words about public service Monday as Obama and his family celebrated the life of the late civil rights leader with a volunteer project. The president, along with wife Michelle and daughter Malia, joined other volunteers at Browne Education Center in Washington.
In a debate Monday night in South Carolina, Gingrich was asked whether his previous remarks about food stamps and allowing children to work janitor jobs to instill a work ethic were "insulting," particularly to African Americans.
Coming the day after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's convincing win in New Hampshire's GOP primary, which established him as the clear front-runner to take on the president in the fall, Obama's visit home was all about summoning his backers' enthusiasm for...
The No Child Left Behind education law was cast as a symbol of possibility, offering the promise of improved schools for the nation's poor and minority children and better prepared students in a competitive world. Yet after a decade on the books, President Bush's most hyped domestic accomplishment has become...