Black bigots on the Web have often engaged in their own form of fallacious "revisionist" history, most often to claim that Jews controlled the colonial-era Black slave trade. Furthermore, they have supported theories espoused by other anti-Semites: Jews are not the "chosen people" described in the Bible; Jews conspire to control non-Jews; the Nazi Holocaust did not take place as history says it did, and Jewish religious texts such as the Talmud are responsible for anti-Black racism.

For more than a decade, ADL has exposed the racism and anti-Semitism of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and its leader, Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan has often disparaged Jews and whites, delivering hate-saturated rhetoric to thousands of enthralled listeners. He has also expressed support for notorious tyrants around the world.

Although the contents of the official NOI Home Page are not often openly anti-Semitic, the site contains a prominent link to the Web site for NOI's weekly newspaper The Final Call, which often publishes anti-Semitic articles. For instance, a recent story posted at the paper's Web site contained Farrakhan's accusation that Monica Lewinsky was "introduced" by "Zionists" to punish President Clinton for pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to give up more land" to the Palestinians. Farrakhan further commented that the "desire" of these "Zionists" is "to destroy the Presidency of the United States."⁴³

An article at the Final Call Web site by "Guest Columnist" Ali Baghdadi echoes Farrakhan's claim that a Jewish conspiracy is manipulating American foreign policy. Richard Cohen of The Washington Post, William Safire of The New York Times, and chief United Nations weapons inspector Richard Butler are portrayed by Baghdadi as "Zionist Jews" who pressure Clinton to attack Iraq. According to Baghdadi, "those who are in charge of U.S. policy" want Iraq to submit

An article at the Final Call Web site by 'Guest Columnist' Ali Baghdadi echoes Farrakhan's claim that a Jewish conspiracy is manipulating American foreign policy.

because it has "the potential, if allowed to develop, to threaten the Zionist land grab of Arab Palestine."⁴⁴

In another article at the Final Call site, Baghdadi compares the Nazi butcher Dr. Josef Mengele to Israeli scientists, who he wrongly believes have been working on an "ethno-bomb" that genetically targets Arabs. Baghdadi declares Israel and Mengele "two faces to the same coin," claiming Mengele is "a source of inspiration and a motivating force that Zionist Jews were urgently seeking!"⁴⁵

The Final Call Web site is not the only anti-Semitic online presence affiliated with NOI. The Blacks and Jews Newspage, which is "managed" by the "Historical Research Department" of NOI, claims not to be an official NOI Web site, though it encourages guests to "visit our brothers and sisters at the NOI" and links to the official NOI Home Page.

Based in Massachusetts, the "Historical Research Department" first came to public attention in 1991, when it authored and published The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews: Volume One. This book argued fallaciously that the history of slavery in the New World was initiated by Jewish ship owners and merchants, who as a group remained the main beneficiaries of the slave economy. In reality, the combined total of all Jewish slave dealers and owners ­ who after all, were not acting as representatives of the Jewish people ­ probably accounted for approximately two percent of the overall slave trade. To support their erroneous position, the book's authors unscrupulously distorted the findings of legitimate Jewish authors writing on the history of Jews in the New World. Furthermore, they rationalized and demeaned the centuries of suffering that brought Jews to America by blaming Jews for anti-Semitism, based on stereotypes of Jews as inherently untrustworthy and obsessed with money.

Web users surfing to the Blacks and Jews Newspage can order The Secret Relationship there and find numerous articles supporting the book's viewpoint. The "Facts and Quotes" section of the site offers out-of-context quotations similar to those in The Secret Relationship, all of which purport to prove Jewish control of the slave trade. In making such accusations, the Blacks and Jews Newspage mirrors the claims of legitimacy made by Holocaust-denial Web sites, portraying itself as a dispassionate vehicle for the facts rather than a proponent of anti-Semitism. "One need not resort to vicious name-calling or opprobrious epithets," the site states. "One need only to present the facts."

Furthermore, just as the NOI invited Holocaust denier Arthur Butz to speak to an audience about the Holocaust in 1985, the Blacks and Jews Newspage links to the Web sites of Holocaust denial groups such as the IHR and CODOH. In introducing these links the Newspage wonders, "Jewish historians have lied so completely about the history of Blacks and Jews that one must ask the unaskable question: What other 'holocaust' have they lied about?" The IHR Web site returns the favor by linking to the Newspage.

In addition to presenting information on The Secret Relationship, the Blacks and Jews Newspage focuses on Dr. Tony Martin, a Professor at Wellesley, who wrote what amounts to a companion volume to that book: The Jewish Onslaught: Despatches from the Wellesley Battlefront (1993). Martin's book attempts to link the controversy that erupted at Wellesley when he assigned The Secret Relationship in an African-American history class to a grand Jewish conspiracy against all Black people throughout history. In his book, which is available for purchase at the Blacks and Jews Newspage, Martin defends the work of the "Historical Research Department" and argues that the Hamitic Myth, "whereby Noah in the biblical book of Genesis cursed the descendants of his son Ham [to eternal bondage]," was the invention of Jewish Talmudic scholars. According to Martin, this myth led directly to slavery, for it was used by slave dealers and owners as "biblical" proof that God had cursed Africans to be slaves. In actuality, there is only one reference to this myth amid thousands of pages of Talmudic text, the reference carries no exegetical authority whatsoever, and at least five different interpretations of the passage are routinely offered by religious scholars.

The Blacks and Jews Newspage publishes four of Martin's "broadsides." He handed out the first on Wellesley's campus before his book was published, and the second was printed as part of that book. Apparently, the third and fourth "broadsides" have appeared only on the Internet. "Broadside #3" presents a number of favorable reviews of Martin's book from sympathetic sources, while Martin's fourth "broadside" recounts his libel case against fellow Wellesley Professor Mary Lefkowitz, who has challenged many of his assertions.

Such materials indicate that Martin himself is deeply involved in creating the Newspage, for all of these "broadsides," even those appearing only on the Web, are written by him in the first person. Furthermore, Martin's E-mail address is listed as one of the two addresses for "comments and questions," alongside the address of the "Historical Research Department."

While Tony Martin and the "Historical Research Department" have adopted the factual distortions and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories of Holocaust denial, other anti-Semites within the Black community have promoted theories on the Web that mirror Identity "theology," arguing that today's Jews are not the "chosen people" described in the Bible. While Identity adherents maintain that "Aryan" whites are this "chosen people," these Black racists argue instead that the label applies to people of African descent.

In 1987, ADL reported on Black sects holding these views, such as the Yahwehs and the Original African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem. Today, this form of Black supremacy is promoted on the Web by the 12 Tribes of Israel site, which cites hundreds of Biblical passages to prove that Blacks are the children of Israel and whites the Satanic offspring of Esau.

According to the 12 Tribes site, "the so called white man who claims he is a Jew...owns the media, stock market, banks, real estate, diamond district and garment industry." The 12 Tribes consider Jews and others of the "so-called white race located mainly in America and Europe" to be Edomites, "the children of Esau." These "Edomites" are seen as "the son/children of Satan...the Devil." Quoting the book of Revelation, the 12 Tribes site declares that God "is going to make these so called white Jews, come and bow down before us as our slaves, to show the world we are his chosen people."

The 12 Tribes Web site provides contact E-mail addresses for the group's seven schools and sells audio and video tapes. In addition, Web users find a link there to an official 12 Tribes chat room, in which they can find propagandists twice weekly "teaching" God's word according to the group's racist interpretation of scripture.

Tragically, though Blacks have long been victimized by racism, some African-Americans have turned to the propaganda of racial hate. Similarly, though haters often target women, some women have themselves become bigots, spewing hate on the Internet aimed at Jews, Blacks and other minorities.

Also Online:

Special Report - October 1998
Minister Louis Farrakhan: In His Own Words 1995-1998

Jew Hatred as History