A Bad Excuse for Bias
The attacks by Nation of Islam spokesman Khalid Abdul Muhammad on Jews and by local radio personality Cathy Hughes on Hispanics occurred at different times and in different places and, on the surface, are completely unrelated.</br></br>But defenders of both tirades have used similar twisted logic in justifying the attacks. Boiled down, their reasoning goes like this: Attacking an entire group of people is justified not necessarily because the targets are worthy of being excoriated but because the verbal assaults are a vehicle for inspiring blacks to help themselves.</br></br>At Kean College in New Jersey late last year, Muhammad called Jews "the bloodsuckers of the black nation," and said they control the Federal Reserve and the White House. He said Jews are known by such names as Rubenstein, Silverstein and Goldstein because they hoard rubies, silver and gold. Muhammad was later stripped of his position with the Nation of Islam by Minister Louis Farrakhan, who nonetheless said he basically agreed with what Muhammad said.</br></br>On Jan. 26, Hughes, speaking to listeners of her WOL-AM radio station, said Hispanics have "taken over" parts of Washington along 14th Street NW. She complained about Hispanic drunk drivers and overcrowded Hispanic apartments, which she said have driven some African Americans out of her neighborhood. While Hispanics without green cards stream into the country to get jobs, open businesses, and soak the welfare system, the mayor and the city council seem to "look the other way," Hughes said.</br></br>In a Feb. 6 column, my friend and colleague Courtland Milloy offered a curious defense of Muhammad and Farrakhan, who has a history of demonizing Jewish people: "I believe Farrakhan sets out to incite Jews not so much because he hates them but because Jewish reactions to attack are instructive. A minority with a history of oppression, Jews command respect," Milloy wrote. "You don't see them begging or apologizing for defending themselves."