Minister Farrakhan cites white supremacist as source for New Orleans conspiracy theory Posted: October 3, 2005

In a September 23, 2005 speech in Memphis, Tennessee, Min. Louis Farrakhan repeated his allegation that levees were purposely destroyed in black sections of New Orleans in an alleged effort to rid the city of African Americans.

In support of the conspiracy theory, Farrakhan quoted white supremacist Hal Turner directly and at length.  Turner is a hard-core anti-Semite and former member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, who has repeatedly called for violence against Jews and other minority groups, and occasionally against U.S. judges as well.  Farrakhan read several paragraphs from a September 9, 2005, essay posted on Turner's Web site, alleging that divers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found chemical traces of "military grade" high explosives at the New Orleans levees.

Min. Farrakhan first made his claim that the levee was bombed in an effort to save white neighborhoods by sacrificing blacks at a press conference on September 13^th in Charlotte, North Carolina: "I heard from a very reliable source who saw a 25 foot deep crater under the levee breach," Farrakhan said.  "It may have been blown up to destroy the black part of town and keep the white part dry."

Farrakhan's citation of Hal Turner as a credible source of information is a striking and graphic reminder of how far outside the mainstream Farrakhan really is.  His reliance on bigots and racists is nothing new, however—one of his main national organizers for the Millions More Movement is Malik Zulu Shabazz, who leads the New Black Panther Party and who has a long record of extremely bigoted and anti-Semitic comments.

Min. Farrakhan's speech was intended to help promote the upcoming 10^th Anniversary Million Man March during his national tour; the speech appears in full on the Millions More Movement Web site.  It is no surprise, given his history of anti-Semitism and homophobia, that in the same speech, Min. Farrakhan again targeted the Jewish and homosexual communities.  He told his audience that the U.S. Congress is "trying to pass a law" that would outlaw "criticiz[ing] the Jewish community," as well as gays and lesbians. He explained, "So if you take your bible and preach what God said, if they don't like that they come and arrest you."