Farrakhan speaks near University

Controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan yesterday denounced Martin Luther King Jr.'s role as a "genuine black hero," saying the civil rights leader did more for America in general than for black people. Addressing an audience of about 16,000 at the Philadelphia Civic Center, Farrakhan criticized King's nonviolent teachings because he said violence is sometines necessary to obtain racial liberty in America. "Non-violence is a good philosophy . . . but there's a time when God says 'kill' ," Farrakhan told the enthusiastic crowd. Farrakhan's Philadelphia appearance coincided with the University's commemoration of King, but was not sponsored by any University groups. Farrakhan touched on many different subjects relating to questions of black identity, both as individuals and as a community. He spoke animatedly about past, present and future black leaders, changing the economic condition of the black community and black communal empowerment. The expressive speaker started his three-hour speech discussing King's "dream." "Yes, [King] had a dream . . . but don't reduce my brain to no dream," the minister added to loud cheers from his audience. Farrakhan said he doubts the ability of blacks to make a "dream" of racial equality become a reality. "You have to perform a serious operation to bring black and white people together," the minister said. "We're all the same people, we all have red blood . . . so does a rat. So does a snake." Farrakhan went on to say that "the Liberty Bell had a crack in it from day one because when the Founding Fathers in this city said 'We the people,' they meant 'white people.' " Farrakhan said the modern white mentality of supremacy and the modern black mentality of inferiority must be extinguished. He said that King had been assassinated as part of a conspiracy on the part of the American government. "The United States government has been, and is right now, the worst enemy of black liberation," he said. In the past, Farrakhan has been accused of expressing anti-Semitic and anti-white views, making him a controversial figure nationwide. In 1988 Farrakhan spoke to University students in Irvine Auditorium amid student protest and debate. "I'm not anti-Semitic," Farrakhan said yesterday. "I'm just anti-white." While Farrakhan started his speech quietly and calmly, he built up both his voice and his expressions to rouse the crowd to enthusiastic agreement. Throughout the speech, members of the audience shouted "Teach the truth" and "He tells it like it is." Including several preliminary speeches, yesterday's program lasted over four and one-half hours. After singing the black anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," prominent members of the Nation of Islam praised Farrakhan and roused the audience to frequent ovations. Abdul Ali Muhammad, a former congressional candidate and currently the Mid-Atlantic representative of the Nation of Islam, delivered a highly emotional speech which accused the U.S. government and whites at large of conspiring in a plot to destroy blacks. Abdul Ali Muhammad accused "Bush, Kissinger and other demons and devils known and unknown" of initiating a plan called Global 2000 which he said demanded the death of two billion blacks and non-whites before the year 2000. "AIDS is not natural," Abdul Ali Muhammed said. "It is a man-made, biomedical weapon made to destroy." "We know that the Caucasian is the devil," Abdul Ali Muhammed said to applause from the audience. "The death that [the Caucasian] sought for us, he will find in himself, choked in his own blood." Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Joshua Astrof contributed to this story.

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