Representative Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (D-GA) once referred to Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan as “impressive” in a 2005 interview.
The interview, which took place as part of the Explorations of Black Leadership series of interviews with various Black leaders, featured Bishop telling the late Julian Bond, a former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chairman, that in 1968 he attended sessions of the African People’s Congress. During one of those sessions he became “acquainted with a man known as Minister Louis Farrakhan who was so impressive that night that people stopped in mid-stride … I was just so taken by his message and his manner that I rushed out to the mosque the next day to hear him.” Bishop also said, according to a transcript, that Farrakhan was “so impressive that night.” The Anti-Defamation League has called Farrakhan “the most popular antisemite in America,” noting that Farrakhan has referred to Jews as being Satanic and being responsible for the slave trade.
Bishop then mentioned that he had considered joining NOI until his father caused him to “pause” on the matter. “I learned a lot about a lot of things and, of course, world religions, Judaism,” he said. “I grew up in Christianity.” In response to a later question from Bond on how Bishop drew “inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr., former NOI leader Elijah Muhammad and Farrakhan,” he said: “While Malcolm X, Minister Farrakhan and Elijah Muhammad seemed to have initially believed that the white man was a devil, my experience taught me different. It taught me that there were good white men and there were bad white men and there were good black men and there were bad black men.”
In 2018, The Daily Caller reached out to 21 members of the Congressional Black Caucus who secretly met with Farrakhan in 2005––one of whom was Bishop––and asked if any of them would denounce Farrakhan. None of them did.
Bishop has served in the House of Representatives since 1993; he has expressed support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and has voted against two 2017 bills requiring the Department of Treasury to investigate financial institutions to see if they have any Iranian assets. Additionally, Bishop voted against a bill condemning a United Nations resolution that declared the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as being illegal and a 2008 amendment that barred money from going toward a guidance in intelligence agencies discouraging the use of the words “jihad” and “Islamic terrorist” in describing Islamic terror groups.
“His position on Iran seems to closely follow the approach of both Presidents Obama and Biden,” Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement to the Journal. “Apparently has no concerns about a regime that crushes human rights, religious freedoms of its own citizens, executes gays, threatens nuclear Holocaust against Jewish state and continues to support and deploy terrorist assets from Iraq to South America. No surprise then he would have no problem with Farrakhan’s antisemitism and anti-American rhetoric.”
Bishop said in a statement to the Journal: “I denounce antisemitism just as I denounce all forms of racism. Throughout my career in the United States Congress, I have been a strong supporter of the State of Israel and enjoy the support of the Georgia Jewish community. I have advocated for cooperation between our two countries in the areas of defense, national security, intelligence gathering, science, technology, and agriculture. I supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear deal, as did many Jewish Members of Congress and pro-Israel groups.”
The incumbent congressman is running against Chris West, a Georgia Air National Guard officer and lawyer. Axios reported the Bishop-West race “is considered Georgia’s only competitive congressional race in November.”
