Obama Has Another Farrakhan Problem (and a New Preacher Problem)
By Chicagoan on June 3, 2008 at 7:15 AM in Barack Obama, Chicago, Chicago politics, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam, Religion
Barack Obama has a Farrakhan problem — and YET ANOTHER PREACHER PROBLEM. Here is a screenshot of his website’s Faith page:

DNC Member and Illinois superdelegate Rev. Willie Barrow is a LONGTIME, dear friend of Barack Obama. She is a member of his Faith Outreach Team. Barrow has known Obama for many years, and she has met his children and his wife. Obama, according to Barrow, also attended many of her broadcasts.
Rev. Willie Barrow is also a close friend of Louis Farrakhan, anti-Semitic leader of the controversial Nation of Islam. In fact, Barrow shares many of Farrakhan’s viewpoints. She is also an unapologetic defender of the anti-Semitic and homophobic Nation of Islam leader. But she is also a member of Obama’s Faith Outreach Team. This raises questions about Obama’s faith and about his campaign’s choice of leadership. Should a President have close Farrakhan allies on his campaign’s leadership team? Does Obama’s Faith Outreach involve anti-Semitism and homophobia? Is this another actor in the Donnie McClurkin, Reverend “God Damn America” Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Moss, Reverend Meeks and Father Pfleger show of freaks from inner city Chicago?
Barrow is a staunch Farrakhan ally. In 2006 she condemned four members who resigned from the Illinois state Hate Crimes Commission she chairs. The four members who resigned are Jewish, and all four resigned as a result of Governor Blagojevich’s refusal to remove Sister Claudette Muhammad, Minister of Protocal of the hateful National of Islam, from the Hate Crimes Commission. Serving with a Farrakhan ally on a Hate Crimes Board was impossible for the four members.
All four commissioners who have resigned are Jewish. They include Lonnie Nasatir of the Anti-Defamation League, Richard Hirschhaut of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Illinois State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), and Howard Kaplan of the Jewish Federation.
Michael Kotzin, also of the Jewish Federation, said the trigger was Farrakhan’s speech last Sunday referring to “wicked Jews” whom he accused of running Hollywood, controlling Congress and destroying America.
“(Farrakhan is) just using traditional bigotry, traditional anti-Semitism,” Kotzin said, “and we have sadly learned the impact of those kinds of words, what’s followed from those kinds of words through the centuries.”
Kotzin added, “The bulk of our community feels in our guts what’s going on and what this kind of language, what hate language is all about and how dangerous and damaging it can be.”.
Their reasons seem justified. How can one serve on a Hate Crimes Commission with someone who serves as Minister of Protocol for an organization that issues anti-Semitic hate speech on a regular basis?
Obama ally and Faith Advisor Rev. Barrow did not care. She thought someone who aids and abets Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic hate speech should serve on a Hate Crimes Commission.
At a Black Women’s Expo event, Barrow had little sympathy for the four members of the Hate Crimes Commission she chairs, all of whom resigned this week because Gov. Rod Blagojevich refused to kick Sister Claudette Muhammad off the panel.
Muhammad serves as minister of protocol for Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam.
“Not only should (Muhammad) continue to serve on the commission, but, I think those that resigned because they disagree, what have they done to bring about an agreement?” Barrow said.
According to Barrow, victims of hate speech should “bring about an agreement[.]” They need to learn to tolerate the hate speech of Farrakhan. They need to accept that hate speech will be condoned by a Hate Crimes Commission that allows members of the National of Islam to serve. Barrow had no sympathy for Jews who were offended by anti-Semitic speech.
Barrow defends Farrakhan, because Barrow shares many of his spiritual and political views. According to an interview Chicago reporters had with Farrakhan after his “Prayer for Peace for the New Century and Millennium” on December 22, 1999, he met with Barrow in order to discuss the Nation of Islam’s program.
For first address to our community and the world on February 24-27, I will tell you where we are going and it will give you insight into what changes Allah (God) has made and is making in me. We will be dealing with family. As Mother Reverend Willie Barrow said in a meeting with us yesterday, in conclusion, it is not that we are as divided as we think we are.
Obama ally and advisor Barrow joined hands with the anti-Semitic leader in 1999, choosing not to separate herself from the divisive, controversial anti-Semite who regularly issues hate speech against Jews and other communities. Barrow collaborates with the anti-Semite, which may explain why seven years later she had no sympathy for Jews who did not think it was appropriate for a Farrakhan ally to serve on a Hate Crimes Commission.
Obama ally and advisor Rev. Barrow has deep and lasting ties to Farrakhan. She is quoted in a 1985 article of the Washington Post saying the following:
“I love my brother, Minister Louis Farrakhan. The devil don’t like it, Chicago don’t like it, the world don’t like it, but we love it.”
Obama ally and advisor Barrow, member of Obama’s Faith Outreach Committee, approves of the following anti-Semitic and homophobic speech:
Obama ally and advisor Barrow believes people who work for Farrakhan should serve on Hate Crimes Commissions, even if Chicago don’t like it and the “devil” don’t like it. Is this change we should believe in? Are these the types of people Obama would appoint to his cabinet or to the bench?
This is more bad judgment of Obama. He has deep ties to the Nation of Islam, and his allies are defenders of anti-Semite and raging homophobe Farrakhan.

Barrow is a superdelegate from Illinois, and she will not surprisingly cast her vote for Obama. She should not serve on the Faith Outreach Committee. A defender of Farrakhan, an anti-Semite and homophobe who issues hate speech on a regular basis, she does not represent what is positive about America. Even the “devil don’t like it.”
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UPDATE: WE OWE an acknowledgement to Sultan Knish for his ORIGINAL research into this story. His findings at his excellent blog have been essential to this report.






















