Op-Ed: Farrakhan to address the world live from Chicago

Chicago - Barack Obama may be the leading black politician in the United States, but he is far from the only one. On September 26, the charismatic leader of the Nation of Islam will be hosting a live question and answer session from Chicago.

The name Louis Farrakhan is quite well known, but if you haven't heard of him or his Nation Of Islam organisation, maybe you should check him and it out. Like Gilad Atzmon, he is an adept musician, and just like Atzmon, there are those who wish he'd stayed one and never poked his nose into politics. Unsurprising, some of the same people who rail at Atzmon have also attacked Farrakhan, though it isn't simply Organised Jewry he has upset, but white politicians, white liberals, and many blacks because he tells them what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. Farrakhan tells it how he sees it, he may not always be right, but he sure as hell isn't wrong all the time. One of the biggest problems facing American blacks is crime. While some of this can be blamed on poverty, inequality, and - bore, bore - racism, not all black activists are prepared to blame gang violence, the drug culture or even rape on the Great White Bigot. Farrakhan has been uncompromising in his condemnation of what he called the glorification of the gun, and on emphasising social irresponsibility. In 1995, he addressed the Million Man March in Washington. The Nation Of Islam's newspaper The Final Call carries the same message. Farrakhan himself is also a student of the New World Order, and understands the banking rip off, including the Federal Reserve, which is probably the real reason mainstream black politicians like to pretend he doesn't exist. They may, but you don't have to. On September 26, he will be answering questions live from Chicago, and he has invited you and the rest of the world to join him.