Minister Louis Farrakhan has led the Nation of Islam, a Black Muslim sect, for the past twenty years. He and his followers have expressed prejudice against whites, Catholics, the United States, and homosexuals, but their most extreme statements are directed at Jews. Farrakhan has said that whites are "blue eyed devils," that Jews are "bloodsuckers," that Jews controlled the slave trade, and currently control the government, the media, and various Black individuals and organizations. The group's newspaper The Final Call promotes anti-Semitic literature and an anti-white statement of beliefs called "The Muslim Program."

Minister Louis Farrakhan has been the leader of the Nation of Islam for the past twenty years. Elijah Muhammad founded this American Black Muslim group during the 1930s, teaching that Allah (God) had appeared to him in human form and appointed him as a special prophet.

Muhammad died at the age of 77 in 1975 -- by which time he had built a following of half a million. His son, Wallace Deen Muhammad, inherited the leadership: he changed the organization's name and turned it toward Orthodox Islam and cooperation with whites. In response, Farrakhan formed a separate group - the Nation of Islam -- which upheld Elijah Muhammad's original beliefs. These beliefs range from the creation of whites by an evil Black scientist to the "The Great Decisive Battle in the Sky," in which a space ship will bomb the earth, destroying white people and bringing in a new world. Muhammad also believed in racial separation and announced that America was for Blacks only -- white people should go back to Europe.

Farrakhan came into public view in 1984, during Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign. Farrakhan endorsed Jackson's candidacy and encouraged his followers to do the same, ending NOI's policy of non-involvement in American politics (Jackson has criticized the bigotry expressed by Farrakhan).

Farrakhan's participation in the campaign attracted a lot of attention, mostly concerning his anti-Semitic and racist statements. During this time he stated: "…the Jews don't like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man…" In 1985, Farrakhan said of whites, "It is an act of mercy to white people that we end your world…We must end your world and bring in a new world." Attacking Black leaders he considered "traitors," he said, "we will tar and feather them, we will hang them from the highest limb, we will chop off their heads, and roll them down the street."

Farrakhan continues to consider Jews to be "bloodsuckers" who control the media, the government, and Black individuals and politicians. Farrakhan asked in 1993, "Who controls black arts? Who controls Black sports figures? Who controls black intellectuals, black politicians….?" He has also said of the Holocaust: "German Jews financed Hitler right here in America… Little Jews [were] being turned into soap while big Jews washed themselves with it."

The Final Call, the Nation of Islam's weekly paper, often advertises anti-Semitic books for purchase, such as the NOI publication, The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews (alleging Jewish control of the slave trade). NOI members at speeches and events are often found selling this book and others, including the famous anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.

Farrakhan also supports and has met with leaders of such anti-democratic nations as Libya, Iraq, and Sudan - as he did on his 1997-98 "World Friendship Tour." Upon arrival in these countries, Farrakhan has denounced the U.S. government and its policies.