An ideological alliance between white and black nationalists makes some sense on a political level.
Both groups want to form a country without the other one in it. But for Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, both groups are also united by their deep hatred of Jewish people.
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Segal, who’s been at the league for more than a decade while studying extremists, also
noted in a recent blog post that the camaraderie between white and black nationalists goes back decades.
George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi party, attended a separationist speech by Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X, and was quoted as saying that he was “fully concerned with their program” and that he had “the highest respect for Elijah Muhammad,” the Nation of Islam founder. Segal also notes that the Ku Klux Klan leader “David Duke has also tweeted agreement with Farrakhan, and in 1985 Farrakhan met with Thomas Metzger, a former KKK leader, at an NOI rally in San Diego."
For many, Farrakhan is a social justice leader and should be revered despite his anti-Semitic views. But for Segal, any shred of Farrakhan’s credibility went out the window the second he entertained collaborating with the alt-right.
“Anybody who had any skepticism about the anti-Semitism in NOI should put that skepticism to bed now that he seems to be open to dialogue with white supremacists,” he said.
Segal doesn’t believe these commonalities will manifest themselves on the streets or in a united organization. But, he noted, “it’s entirely possible that they would both be on a podcast together in this moment in time.”
