Sunday, March 11, 2012

Obama's Connection to "Kill Them All" Khalid Muhammad and the Nation of Islam




Barack Obama to Khalid Muhammad: Two Degrees of Separation



John Podhoretz and Patterico highlight a close connection between Barack Obama and Khalid Muhammad. Obama, as we know, was a disciple of Derrick Bell; in the video that Breitbart.com released a few days ago, he urged his listeners to open their hearts and minds to Bell’s teachings. So, what were Bell’s teachings?



Bell was a fervent admirer of Louis Farrakhan and Khalid Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. Podhoretz quotes a 1994 interview in which Bell said, “We should really appreciate the Louis Farrakhans and the Khalid Muhammads while we’ve got them.” Our readers are well aware of the repellent Farrakhan, but who was Khalid Muhammad? Patterico gives us Muhammad’s “Kill the Cracker” speech, in which Muhammad, whom Derrick Bell so admired, advocated genocide:



Muhammad gave his “kill them all” speech in 1993, and was famous for it in the circles in which Derrick Bell moved when Bell said, in 1994, that “we should really appreciate” Khalid Muhammad. [UPDATE: This YouTube video is from a reprise, circa 1996, of Muhammad's 1993 speech; you can see the 1993 speech, where Muhammad first said, "We kill the women. We kill the children. We kill the babies. We kill the blind. We kill the crippled. We kill the [imitates a crazy person]. We kill ‘em all. We kill the faggots. We kill the lesbians. We kill them all.” at the Patterico link.]








It is noteworthy, too, that the relevant events outlined above occurred in the same time period. It was 1990 when Obama publicly endorsed Derrick Bell, and he continued to be a Bell acolyte through his graduation from law school in 1991, and no doubt beyond then: he has never made any attempt to distance himself from Bell’s racist theories or to criticize Bell in any way. Louis Farrakhan was notorious long before then, and Khalid Muhammad was the Nation of Islam’s National Spokesman by 1985. He gave his infamous “kill them all” speech in 1993, and Bell endorsed him (and, implicitly, the “kill them all” speech) in 1994. At no time has Barack Obama ever disavowed his radical associations of those days. Nor were these youthful follies; Obama was within two months of 30 years old when he graduated from law school.



On Thursday, I posed the question whether the video that the Breitbart organization brought to light just days after Andrew’s death was a “dud,” as liberals claim. The brief video showing Obama endorsing, and then hugging, Derrick Bell was not in itself spectacular. But Obama’s unqualified support of Bell sheds considerable light on the president’s world-view, given Bell’s long track record of promulgating racist theories and endorsing far-out, homicidal radicals like Khalid Muhammad. So maybe Andrew will have the last laugh.


All of which should be taken within this larger context: Barack Obama has now been president for more than three years. While his background and philosophy continue to be relevant, and can shed light on the decisions that his administration has made, the 2012 election will be, and should be, fought on Obama’s record as president. The unsavory associations of his earlier years are certainly relevant; we should not forget, for example, that Obama was 34 years old when he launched his first campaign in Bill Ayers’s and Bernadine Dohrn’s living room, at a time when Dohrn’s enthusiastic approval of the Charles Manson murders was well-remembered. But in order to be meaningful to voters, Obama’s radicalism must be linked to the actions he and his appointees have taken since January 2009.


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