Photo of Obama with Hate Group Leader Surfaces After Being Kept Secret for Years to Protect Him
A new photo has been recently released of former President Barack Obama with the leader of a black nationalist hate group.
The picture shows former Illinois Sen. Obama posing with the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.
Farrakhan is known for his radical anti-Semitic and anti-white views, outlined by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The photo was taken by Askia Muhammad at the 2005 Democratic National Convention, according to NorthStar News Today, but he kept the picture hidden so Obama could run for president.
“I gave the picture up at the time and basically swore to secrecy,” Muhammad said to the Trice Edney News Wire. “But after the nomination was secured and all the way up until the inauguration; then for eight years after he was President, it was kept under cover.”
Now that Obama is done with his political career, Muhammad published the photo in a book called “The Autobiography of Charles 67X,” which will be released at the end of this month, The Daily Caller reported.
Muhammad insisted that it would have made a difference in the 2008 election, and others agreed with him.
“I do believe that it would have had a very, very negative affect in that given moment as far as the candidacy of candidate Obama at that time,” Dr. Shayla Nunnally, president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, said.
A. Peter Bailey, columnist and political observer, disagreed that it could have cost Obama the election.
“It could have done some damage,” he said, according to NorthStar News Today. “But nothing could have stopped the election because Black support would have countered it.”
Obama’s support of Farrakhan came up during during the 2008 campaign when Hillary Clinton criticized him during a debate.
“There’s a difference between denouncing and rejecting,” Clinton said, according to CNN. “And I think when it comes to this sort of, you know, inflammatory — I have no doubt that everything that Barack just said is absolutely sincere. But I just think, we’ve got to be even stronger. We cannot let anyone in any way say these things because of the implications that they have, which can be so far reaching.”
This criticism came after Farrakhan “made positive statements about Obama’s candidacy,” and Obama said that he denounced the controversial leader’s anti-Semitic remarks.
“I obviously can’t censor him, but it is not support that I sought,” he said in the debate. “And we’re not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally with Minister Farrakhan.”
When Clinton pushed him about rejecting the remarks instead of just denouncing them, he said, “But if the word ‘reject’ Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word ‘denounce,’ then I’m happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce.”
The recently released photo shows that Obama could have been closer to Farrakhan then it appeared.
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