Farrakhan Extols High Praise On Obama
In his first major public address since recovering from complications due to cancer, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.
Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours' Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent the majority of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator.
"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."
Farrakhan compared Obama to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.
"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he told the crowd of mostly followers dressed in Nation of Islam attire including long white suits and matching head scarfs for women and navy-colored uniforms with caps for men. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."
Obama's campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, "Senator Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan's past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister's support."
Farrakhan rebuilt the Nation of Islam, which promotes black empowerment and nationalism, in the late 1970s after W.D. Mohammed, the son of longtime leader Elijah Mohammed, moved his followers toward mainstream Islam.
Farrakhan has drawn attention for calling Judaism a "gutter religion" and suggesting crack cocaine might have been a CIA plot to enslave blacks.
In recent years, however, officials with the Nation of Islam have said they favor unity and tolerance among religions. Farrakhan now often quotes the texts of other religions, such as the Bible, in his speeches.
Farrakhan also leveled small jabs at Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, suggesting that she represents the politics of the past and has been engaging in dirty politics.
Farrakhan's keynote address at McCormick Place, the city's convention center, wrapped up three days of events geared at unifying followers and targeting youth.
It had a remarkably different tone than a year ago, when Farrakhan made what was called his final public address at a Saviours' Day event in Detroit. The 74-year-old was recovering from complications from prostate cancer and months earlier had temporarily passed on leadership duties of the organization's day-to-day activities to an executive board.
In a letter to followers dated Sept. 11, 2006, he said he was seriously ill and had dropped more than twenty pounds. He said Sunday he once weighed as little as 158 pounds.
But over the past year, Farrakhan has been regaining strength and slowly increasing his public appearances, giving lectures at the Nation's Mosque Maryam on the city's South Side, speaking in churches about unity and granting occasional interviews.
"I spent most of the year working on the inside of the Nation," he said.
He told the crowd that he flew back to Chicago from one of his homes in Phoenix last week after complaining of pain and underwent many hours of medical tests. A Nation of Islam spokesman later told The Associated Press that the tests revealed no further problems.
"The Minister Farrakhan is back," said Ishmael Muhammad, an assistant minister at Mosque Maryam for 17 years who is largely expected to be Farrakhan's successor. "The doctors have even said it's truly a miracle, his recovery and health."
Muhammad said Farrakhan has assumed all his previous leadership duties at the Chicago-based Nation of Islam.
On Sunday, Farrakhan appeared healthy and joked that he's "a little on the pudgy side" at a robust 192 pounds.
"People are wondering 'Is he sick? How's he doing?"' he said. "I'm doing fine."