EShanah Tova
AP/BURHAN OZBIL ICI
Best wishes
to all of our family,
friends and customers
for a new year filled
with good health and much
happiness.
Louis Farrakhan smiles during a press conference, surrounded by Nation of Islam
officials.
Joke's On Lou
There is a way to summarily deal
with Louis Farrakhan.
JULES R.
NEIL RUBIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ouis Farrakhan, many
would argue, is no laugh-
ing matter. But he could
be. Instead of being frus-
trated — and bored — by him,
we can have a few laughs at his
expense.
You know he deserves it. He's
really been quite nasty, saying
that Judaism's a gutter religion,
the Jews are bloodsuckers of
blacks and blah, blah, blah. And
we need a new approach be-
cause previous efforts to under-
mine the former Calypso Joe —
encouraging the U.S. Congress
and other African American
leaders to denounce him — have
failed. He just smiles, offers
more disparaging remarks and
plows ahead.
So I say, love him with a
vengeance. Mind you, I do have
some respect for a guy who gath-
ers one million African Ameri-
can males to hear an essentially
positive message.
Such efforts, however, are
media polished events. At other
times, such as this past Sunday,
another Louis Farrakhan came
out to play. This one watched
rows of missile-laden trucks and
thousands of machine-gun tot-
ting soldiers roll by. Lots of fun
toys to let the imagination run
wild! He and others were on the
podium in Tripoli, Libya, to
salute the 27th year of strong-
man Muammar el-Qadaffi's
bizarre and despotic rule.
No doubt, Mr. Farrakhan was
seeking a cash advance on the
$1 billion that Col. Qadaffi has
pledged the Nation of Islam. The
money won't make it to the NOI.
American officials won't let a
sponsor of terrorism fund a do-
mestic-based group.
L
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Now I have often wondered if
we should pay attention to Mr.
Farrakhan. Doing so gives him
much-coveted publicity, which
then spreads his word and en-
courages mimics.
On the other hand, ignoring
him means being blind to his fol-
lowing, a dangerous prescrip-
tion. And on the third hand, his
flamboyance is somewhat en-
tertaining.
The truth is, like many Jews,
I'm tired of Louis Farrakhan.
Were he to manipulate us prop-
erly, he could gain much. That,
however, would undermine his
claim to legitimacy, which is
built on slapping the power
structure, which, according to
him, we control with zeal.
So what to do about his pop-
ularity? First, recognize the
tremendous resources we al-
ready use to fight him. Jewish
groups spend hundreds of thou-
sands, if not millions, of dollars
a year combatting his remarks.
So why not redirect the
monies already allotted? Start
by making Louis Farrakhan one
of us. Don't tell him in advance.
Announce it with advertise-
ments in large daily newspapers
and weekly African-American
publications. The copy, under a
huge picture of our smiling
friend, will read: "American
Jews proudly declare Louis Far-
rakhan an honorary Jew. Any
future allegedly disparaging re-
marks against us are just his
way of saying, 'I love you."'
Be prepared that some news-
papers won't have the guts to
run the ads. That's when we hit
the billboard campaign.
Then get Mr. Farrakhan's
mailing address and those of