[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 9, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN OPPOSITION TO HATE RALLIES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 9, 1998

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, we are all well aware from media reports of 
the unfortunate incident in New York City this past Saturday, in which 
fifteen police officers and one civilian were injured at the conclusion 
of what Mayor Rudolph Giuliani accurately predicted would be a hate 
rally. I wish to remind our colleagues that this untoward incident 
underscores the hard lesson which the world learned in the 1930s and 
1940s: hatred and incitement to riot against any people, if 
unchallenged, will lead to greater and greater tragedy.
  Khallid Abdul Muhammad first rose to prominence in 1993 when, at a 
well publicized speech at Kean College, at which he hurled racial 
insults at Jews, Roman Catholics, and mainstream Afro-American civil 
rights leaders. In subsequent orations, he attacked His Holiness Pope 
John Paul II and even South African President Nelson Mandela.
  In 1994, after a speech in which he referred to Jews as 
``bloodsuckers'', condemned gays, and again attacked His Holiness the 
Pope, who he called ``a no-good cracker,'' the Rev. Louis Farrakhan 
demanded, and received, Khallid Muhammad's resignation from the Nation 
of Islam.
  It is no wonder that Mayor Giuliani, contending that the proposed 
``million youth march'' would be what he called a ``hate march,'' 
initially refused to allow a permit to be granted to the organizers. 
That decision was overturned by a higher court decision.
  It is no wonder then that the New York City Police Department, 
fearing in incitement to riot, arranged for 3,000 uniformed police to 
be on hand to keep order. The 50,000 attendance which Muhammad and his 
followers had predicted turned out to be only 6,000, thus underscoring 
the limited appeal that the racist sentiments expressed by Muhammad 
have in the community.
  The rally itself proved to be an incitement to riot. Malik Zulu 
Shabazz, a rally organizer and one of its attorneys, characterized 
opponents of the march as ``Uncle Tom, boot-licking, buck-dancing 
politicians'' who must be voted out of office. Other speakers lashed 
out at Jews, whites, and Afro-American opponents of the march. 
According to reports from Mayor Giuliani's office, others called for 
death to Jews and to police officers.
  Muhammad himself withheld his own speech until near 4 o'clock, the 
time the court had imposed for the end of the rally. In his remarks, 
Muhammad urged the crowd to defend themselves by taking the police guns 
away from the officers. ``And if you don't have a gun, every one of 
them [police] has one gun, two guns, maybe three guns. If they attack 
you take their goddamn guns and use them,'' he cried. He urged youths 
to take apart police barricades and ``beat the hell out of [police] 
with the railings. You take their night sticks and ram them up their 
behinds.''

  Despite this blatant invitation to riot, and despite the police being 
assaulted by having chairs and debris hurled at them, the police acted 
with notable restraint. In the resultant melee, only one civilian was 
injured--as opposed to 15 police officers.
  New York State Senator David Paterson, a highly-regarded Afro-
American legislator, stated that Muhammad should be arrested for 
exhorting young people to violence.
  Yvonne Scruggs-Leftwich, head of the Black Leadership Forum, which 
includes most of our nation's leading civil rights groups, stated: ``I 
think Muhammad is a lunatic and has a mental problem. I don't know 
anybody who has been left out of his vitriolic sweep.''
  Mr. Speaker, no one in America denies the First Amendment or our Bill 
of rights guaranteeing free speech. But we must never forget the 
admonition of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who stated 
that the right of free speech does not allow any individual to cry 
``fire!'' in a crowded theater.
  We especially must not forget the horrible fruits which resulted when 
the hateful, racist propaganda of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi goons went 
unchallenged for too many years not too long ago.
  The brand of racist hatred spewed by Khallid Abdul Muhammad and his 
followers not only incite violence, causing harm to countless innocent 
persons, it also proves to be divisive, counterproductive, playing into 
the hands of the racists of the other side who seek to thwart those who 
work towards a true reconciliation of the races.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in condemning this 
vicious manifestation of hate and prejudice and to pledge to work 
towards the eradication of all such manifestations of injustice in our 
nation and throughout the world.

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