I’ve been a subscriber to Time Magazine since 1993. And this cover, from February 1994, is one that I will always remember. Ministry of Rage! The raging and racist leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI) Louis Farrakhan with his stylish eye wear on. There was a time when Minister Louis Farrakhan and/or prominent members of the NOI were on television fairly regularly. Black people were asked and sometimes told to ignore his words and messages (even the non-inflammatory ones) by punditry and “experty”. Heated arguments on talk shows were common with Minister Farrakhan breaking his proverbial foot off in “whitey’s” backside. Some members of the Jewish community said he was as bad as Hitler. Etc… Etc… So on and so forth.
But now it is 2007. 13 years after that infamous Time Magazine cover. Does the “Minister of Rage” still have figurative “teeth”? I say no. Ironically it is War on Terror that has pulled all of his “teeth”. Minister Farrakhan and the NOI didn’t attack and destroy the World Trade Center. The NOI isn’t part of the insurgency/terrorists/murderers in Iraq. The NOI is not part of the War on Terror. There have been investigations into the group regarding the killing of Malcolm X, the “Zebra Murders” between 1970 and 1974, and others. But I find it quite amusing that the “Minister of Rage” is now background noise. Basically saying what the anti-war crowd is saying about the War on Terror. Basically isolated to speeches in front of NOI members with no C-SPAN love. Basically trying to recover from prostate cancer. Basically toothless, old, and lacking rage. A Jewish friend of mine told me several months ago how he hates Osama Bin Laden 50 times more than Minister Louis Farrakhan. When I asked him why, this self-avowed crusader against the NOI said, “We have bigger, more dangerous fish to fry”. It seems that “kicking whitey’s butt” just doesn’t have the same punch as wrecking western civilization and destroying America.
All of America. All Americans. Even we black ones.
I’m not complex. Don’t have time for all that. And all that complex stuff bad for the stomach. Just color me simple and plain with a twist.