The venue: New Orleans
The issue: Bigotry
The winner: Catholic League
The loser: Nation of Islam
Time of Fight: Few Hours
On June 14, William Donohue e-mailed and faxed a letter to the seven members of the New Orleans City Council requesting that they intervene to stop New Orleans Police Superintendent Edwin P. Compass from allowing the security chief of the Nation of Islam, Captain Dennis Muhammad, from conducting sensitivity training for the police. Within a few hours, Muhammad was canned.
Donohue told the City Council members that he was “appalled that a close associate of Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan has been chosen to give sensitivity training to the New Orleans Police Department.” He likened this choice to “having David Duke advise public school teachers on how to conduct Black History Month events.”
In his letter, Donohue said the following: “Farrakhan is anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic and anti-gay. He has mocked Catholicism, ridiculed the pope and insulted Catholics everywhere with his vitriolic comments. In short, he’s a bigot. Common sense, never mind common decency, argues against any Nation of Islam official lecturing the police on tolerance. I ask that you intervene to find someone with impeccable credentials to carry out this task.”
On the same day, the offer to the Nation of Islam official was rescinded.
