Nation of Islam

White people are potential humans ... they haven't evolved yet.

It is virtually impossible for an outsider to write a solid, detailed portrait of the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan.

The still powerful Black Muslim organization is well known for its secrecy and for the rigid line its members draw between themselves and the outside world.

That's why a new book by a professor of African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield is creating a stir both in this country and abroad.

It's also brought threats, says Vibert L. White Jr., author of ''Inside the Nation of Islam,'' (University Press of Florida, $24.95), a former Nation of Islam insider who knew Farrakhan well for many years.

As Brother Vibert L.X., and later as Minister V.L. Muhammad, White spent nearly two decades - from the late 1970s to the Million Man March in October of 1995 - as a member of the Nation of Islam.

White rose from being a mere foot soldier in the Fruit of Islam, the Nation's military organization, to become a minister and adviser to the leadership with a high level of access to top-ranking members of the organization.
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White said he believes that in those relatively early stages of the movement, Farrakhan was a sincere idealist addressing real problems of great significance to the black community and the nation at large.
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Instead, White said, Farrakhan was seduced by the power, fame and wealth that his prominence offered.

''By the mid-1980s, he discarded all elements of fighting for the underclass,'' White said. ''He was intoxicated by his own image and lost sight of the larger community.''
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It was while he was at Ohio State University pursuing a doctorate, White said, that he began to see that ''what I thought was an aggressive and egalitarian movement with the best interests of the black underclass at heart was (really) about controversy, about attacking other groups for the political agenda of the leaders and about the personal empire of Louis Farrakhan and the top leaders.''

White said he didn't want to believe what he was seeing at first, but, '' as I got closer to the center, it was disheartening.''

White separated completely from the Nation of Islam after the Million Man March. (He had been a titular member of the committee organizing the event, but he said all decisions about the march were made by Farrakhan.)
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He decided it was important to take advantage of his experience inside the group to write an honest account of the Nation.

As a result, White said, he has been stalked, his vehicles have been vandalized, attempts have been made to intimidate him, and he has received both verbal and written threats. Not long ago, he said, he received a ''very pointed e-mail'' that referred to the book and said in part ''Things can get very serious quickly.''

Harassing ''hang-up'' phone calls have been frequent, White said, and it hasn't been unusual for groups of black men in suits and bow-ties, the uniform of the Nation of Islam, to attend his lectures and speeches, sitting in prominent locations.

Despite the attempts at intimidation, White said he never considered abandoning the book.
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Part of the effort to prevent White from publishing his book, he said, is that it shows Farrakhan as an ordinary human being instead of as a near-deity.

For example, he said, Farrakhan likes to portray himself as well-regarded by black leaders in Africa, frequently attending important public events as their guest. What he doesn't say, but White does, is that Farrakhan typically has to ask to be invited to such events, and then receives an invitation as a courtesy.

Perhaps more importantly, leaders of the Nation of Islam appear concerned about what White says about the financial arrangements of the group.

The leadership is ''fleecing the people,'' White says.

''Most members of the Nation of Islam have minimum wage jobs, if they have jobs at all,'' he said. ''They give 40 to 60 percent of their income to the group. They live in subsidized housing or in shanties.

''Louis Farrakhan, in 10 years, has bought seven mansions. He drives around in a gold-plated limo. ... It's depressing. Ninety-eight percent of his followers are living on the edge of economic starvation.''

The Nation took in huge amounts of money during White's time with the organization, and he said little of it went to help the poor. Six or seven top leaders are ''living large'' and raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said, with Farrakhan himself profiting even more.
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Despite vicious attacks by Nation of Islam leaders on Christianity, the black church has barely responded. The result has been that the NOI has proved a bridge for African-Americans to move in large numbers toward Islam. In her self-published reply to Louis Farrakhan, Dodds does not mince words, calling the NOI leader ''an antichrist and a false prophet steered by racist views...His spiritual father is Satan.'' To show that he ''teaches false doctrine,'' she closely analyses in detail four of Farrakhan's notable speeches in 1995-96, including his address at the Million Man March. She is particulary upset at the way he tries to ''convince unstudied Christians that Muslims and Christians worship the same God and that the Bible and the Koran basically say the same thing.'' Toward this end, she finds he again and again "takes biblical scripture and perverts it." She also points to many inconsistencies in Farrakhan's statements, his close ties to dictators like Mu'ammar al-Qadhd! hafi, and the unspeakable blasphemy of his likening himself to God. Whether Dodds is a lonely voice in the wilderness or the cutting edge of major black Christian response is yet to be seen.