Page 12-A The Jewish Floridian/Friday, January 10, 1986 Farrakhan In Top Echelon of America's Blacks Hussein's Posture May Help Block Senate Rejection of Arms to Jordail Continued from Page 5-A Yet Nazi Germany in 1935 had no monopoly on anti-Semitism, nor was black America immune. The Louis Farrakhan of that era was Sufi Abdul Hamid. New York's self-styled -Black Hitler." Born plain Eugene Brown in Philadelphia. Sufi as a youth went to sea. where he picked up a smat- tering of exotic languages, and then landed in Chicago where dur- ing the late 1920's he caused a sensation by draping his massive frame in a combination of jackboots, diamond-studded belt, flowing cape, and fez. First posing as a Bhuddist mystic, he soon claimed to be an African disciple of Mohammed, divinely ordained to redeem the South Side from Jewish mer- chants. His "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work Campaign'' shook loose few jobs in the depressed economy of the 1930's; but the shakedown payments he extracted from frightened businessmen financed his pur- chase of the private plane that flew him to New York in 1933. IDENTIFYING himself from a soapbox on Harlem streetcorners as "the man that Jews fear, and arescared to death of." Sufi ranted against "Zionist col- onialists" in Palestine, as well as "them Jews in Washington who rule us all." An admirer of Haj Amin el Husseim. the notorious Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sufi also courted both the German- American Bund and the Christian Front. His tirades hurt rather than helped efforts to win more and better jobs for blacks in Harlem's white-owned department stores. On the other hand, he could claim some credit for helping spark the Harlem Riot of 1935. If one knows about Sufi's antics in the 1930s, it is hard to escape a sense of history repeating itself in Farrakhan's rise during the 1980's. However, there are impor- tant differences between "then" and "now." These explain why Sufi's decline came swiftly, while Farrakhan's isn't yet on the Argentina, Israel Sign Science Accord TEL AVIV (WNS) The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot has concluded an agree- ment with the Argentinian In- stitute of Biochemical Research- Foundation Campomar. one of Argentina's leading scientific centers associated with the University of Buenos Aires, for an exchange of scientists and students, collaborative research projects in all areas of the natural sciences and the sharing of scien- tific information and publications by the two institutions. Dr. Harold Brackman is visiting Assistant Professor in the History Department of the I'nivtrsity of Kansas. He is a .tpecial consultant on black- Jewish Relations for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los A ngeles. horizon. For one thing, that was a time when group libel wasn't necessarily considered protected free speech. Jewish organizations did more than damn Sufi "in the court of public opinion'; they were able to put him on the defen- sive by repeatedly having him hailed before police magistrates for incitement to violence and disturbing the peace. FOR ANOTHER thing, black organizations forthnghtly con- demned Sufi at the same time as they sought reconciliation with the Jewish community. By the late 1930s. New York's blacks and JEws werecooperating in an am- bitious drive for equal employ- ment opportunity. Amidst wartime social tensions Harlem again erupted in the 1943 riot, but no anti-Semitic demagogue emerged, and the developing black-Jewish civil rights alliance worked to contain the damage to intergroup relations. Why is it unlikely that Louis Farrakhan our contemporary Sufi will quickly go the way of his predecessor, who was a spent force politically several years before his death in a plane crash in 1938? The overriding reason is that the current generation of black leaders is legitimizing him through their indifference to. and sometimes tolerance of. anti- Semitism TAKE THE case of Mayor Marion Barry of Washington. D.C. Despite being implored to speak out. he waited seven weeks before he delivered one word of criticism of Farrakhan's July 22 anti-Semitic tirade in the Capitol. Fear has something to do with this silence but, I fear, cynicism also plays a role. The kind of cynicism that Molotov voiced about fascism in justifying the Hitler-Stalin pact of 1939: "It's just a matter of taste." The most troubling finding of the Wiesenthal Center's public opinion poll taken over the past 20 years is not the significant in- cidence of anti-Semitism in the ghetto; its the surprisingly high levels among younger, better- educated blacks on college cam- puses and in the professional world. The current generation of black leaders came of age during the 1970's. when their youthful mood of radical expectation often made them impatient with, and suspicious of. Jews associated with the traditional or "moderate" civil rights agenda. Now. these leaders have carried this negative attitude into the 1980's. a period when middle-class black anxieties about preserving MUSIC THEATER ASSOC. presents at the In The Persian Room # TICKETS Adah. $13 & $15 Hotel -* 192nd at Collins Av ir Miami Beach JANUARY 9 THRU MARCH 2 + Full Scale Production m ^ Thurs. thru Sun CaiMrea s6so & (T Included) 8 PM -Mat. Sun. 2 PM rso I n k.-is ii M^r< <> Polo H < >llu .- ( Kara* lo Vis* o* Mattel < atd Group Sales dndTicketsDade 931 7663; Brouard 463 8875 political and economic gains are creating fertile ground for anti- S.mitic ( iting The traged\ being compounded because authoritative blacks - who would never themselves Jew bait but get a "secret thrill" when Farrakhan does are giving the green light to prejudice to today I vounger generation. OF COURSE, than sia who blame the rise of Farrakhan on Jewish reservations about such "newer" minority agenda items as mandatory busing and preferential quotas. But is it fair to make support for such policies a litmus test of Jewish good faith when, according to the polls, blacks themselves are divided and ambivalent about them" A better test is the continuing willing! of Jewish voters to support mainstream black candidates for office. Tom Bradley wouldn't have been elected Mayor of Angeles in 1973, nor Wilson Goode. Mayor of Philadelphia in 1983. without overwhelming Jewish support. And even Ha: Washington, elected Mayor of Chicago that same year, owed his victory to the roughly half of the Jewish voters in a racially polarized city who chose him over an opponent who happened to be Jewish. The existence of a diseased mind like Farrakhan's is no justification for Jews to cease working with blacks toward a juster society But the prospects for another half-century of fruitful cooperation won't improve until black leaders are willing and able to quarantine the disease. Bv DAVID FRIEDMAN WASHINGTON (JTA) - Sen. Richard Lupirct 21, unless direct and meaningful peace negotiations between Israel and Jordan are underway " Lugar said he expected the Ad- ministration would propose an arms sale to Saudi Arabia this >ar. but said he would not speculate on his reaction until he saw the proposal The Indiana Senator appeared to place a great deal of respon- sibility for the lack of progress in the peace process on Syria, which he said was among those in the Mideast "who have not wanted that initiative to succeed." He ad- ded. "The current negotiations (by Syria! with King Hussein have not been helpful LUGAR SAID Ucka at the Vienna and RobT* port* Dec 27 may hav besTaT ed at wrecking the ;,,,* He said that if the is asHWl to retaliate, this .,u,,j r^J"** "very serious setback fa^ peace process, but n..ud -t * already a "faltering ;mr** However. Lugar "upportajiv. use of force .< urged the neeo for -tenataj cooperation again-i vrroraa.ft said there is a "change of nmi this country and it :^-.imaf-? parent in Eorofx to mpj. government action aguas ts> roriam "that ma\ ovoWtLaa oflife "" But he said t: Xjn* realization that sute-apoaaw terrorism involve- -.atKnntaa and nation sut<- .- r, ^ responsible " Lugar said he took "unsay the threat b\ Libyan a Muammar Khadafy g1:JS Americans if afthcr uvaa ^ I'.S. retaliates, but .'.. <.ioukm prevent taking rffectm * He said Libya reportedly at trained numerou- rarroran at they will act whether then s tion by the I'S i A RESOLITION Palestinian issue ma] rear*' the problem of terrorism but 'in are many Palestinian factxa which will not accept the pan process and "BMfhl -"nunuftk attack." Lugar noted On another issue Lugar m the recant passage f tai Gnaa Rudman Bill, which mandtfai balanced budget, will hi "substantial impact" on foray policy just as it tril .rr.part a domestic issues THE LAND OF MIRACLES ADDS ONE MOKE! *f L.*rommQ hofeK* intornaHfonaK. Lto. ***:&' $&* ' Conokiom of Ivar Wrw Fantasy onkybaw 'Pnctn room -- *kjdai MM chary .yMaanm