Rodney Muhammad, the President of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP civil rights organization, is facing calls from Jewish and non-Jewish groups and leaders alike to resign after posting an atrocious antisemitic meme on his Facebook page on July 23.
The meme included a quote falsely attributed to French philosopher Voltaire and a caricature frequently used by white supremacists called "The Happy Merchant" depicting a hook-nosed man in a kippah rubbing his hands together. The offensive caricature was posted alongside photos of Ice Cube, DeSean Jackson and Nick Cannon, all of whom recently also posted antisemitic comments on their social media and the quote: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."
Muhammad removed the post after receiving condemnations from several local elected officials, faith leaders and members of the Black community and claimed "he didn't realize the image included was offensive to Jewish people." He further claimed "To be real honest with you, I didn’t even pay attention to the picture.”
State Senator (D) Anthony Hardy Williams said he would no longer work with the local NAACP if Muhammad remains in charge. "I cannot accept anything less than an apology and stepping out of the way" and Pennsylvania Governor (D) Tom Wolf tweeted he was joining others calling for Muhammad to step down.
This however isn't Rodney Muhammad's first bigoted social media post. When taking a look at his Facebook page, one can see his timeline has been laced with a multitude of atrocious Jew-hatred including a video which features DeSean Jackson accuracy in claiming that blacks are the true Jews and that the current socially accepted "white Jews" are extorting and blackmailing America as part of a plot to achieve world domination. The video also claims Jews "have oppressed Palestinians and Africans".
By sharing this content on Facebook timeline for his followers to see, Rodney Muhammad is spreading horrific antisemitic ideas. There’s simply no excuse.
Unsurprisingly, Rodney Muhammad is an ardent fan of rabid Jew-hater and Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan. Muhammad serves as a minister in Muhammad Mosque 12, an NOI mosque in Philadelphia. The Muhammad Mosque 12 Facebook page also has multiple examples of vile antisemitism.
Rather than using his leadership position to bridge the division between the Black and Jewish communities, minister Rodney Muhammad appears hell-bent on doing the exact opposite.
We are extremely concerned that the national chapter of the NAACP has taken this long to remove Muhammad from his position and call on them to do so immediately.