A former editor and writer for the New York Times editorial page, Bari Weiss, is faulting the Times for publishing an op-ed piece glorifying Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March and failing to provide context about Farrakhan’s antisemitism.
“Today the New York Times ran an oped about the Million Man March and Louis Farrakhan. If you read the oped and knew nothing about Farrakhan, you would think he was a gentleman,” Weiss tweeted. “When The Times ran the infamous antisemitic cartoon, the issue was not that editors were hardened antisemites. It’s that they didn’t even *notice* it. This shouldn’t surprise. It’s part of a worldview in which Jew hate does not count.” Her reference was to an April 2019 cartoon that the Times eventually said it was “deeply sorry” for and acknowledged was antisemitic.
The op-ed piece appears in the New York Times under the headline “Behind the Million Woman March.” It is subheadlined, “Behind every great feat in the public record lies an untold story of the unsung foot soldiers.” It is written by Natalie Hopkinson, an associate professor in Howard University’s Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies.
The op-ed, timed to the 25th anniversary of the event, tells the story of the behind-the-scenes role played in the march by Cora Masters Barry, the wife of Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry. “The Million Man March is a case study in how even in the most patriarchal spaces, women have powered history,” Hopkinson writes.
The October 16, 1995 march drew what authorities said were approximately 400,000 people. It featured a two-and-a-half-hour address by Farrakhan, a notorious antisemite. I covered the event for the Forward and reported, “In the rows of concession stands leased by march organizers, one vendor is selling ‘Chosen People From the Caucasus: Jewish Origins, Delusional Deceptions and Historical Role in the Slave Trade, Genocide and Cultural Colonization,’ by Michael Bradley. Nearby, between tables hawking ‘O.J.’s Free’ T-shirts, salesmen display copies of ‘The Jews and Their Lies,’ by Martin Luther. Young men in red bow ties sell ‘The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews.’”
Weiss is correct to point out that Jew-hatred is a Times blind spot. The previous Times editorial page editor, James Bennet, was ousted after publishing an op-ed from Senator Tom Cotton calling on President Trump to “Send in the Troops” to quell rioting and looting. In that case, a Times editors’ note confessed, “we failed to offer appropriate additional context — either in the text or the presentation — that could have helped readers place Senator Cotton’s views within a larger framework of debate.” Where is the “additional context” about the Million Man March or its leader? It’s absent, other than in the tweets of former Times editorial page employee Weiss.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper retweeted Weiss and noted, “The late great John Lewis didn’t participate in the Million Man March because Farrakhan had made comments that were ‘divisive and bigoted.’”