In the six weeks since Rep. Peter King began pressing for an investigation into Louis Farrakhan’s travels to Libya, Iran, and Iraq, the congressman has received four telephoned death threats. All of the callers mentioned tioned King’s Farrakhan-related work, and one said he would come to King’s offce and “put a bullet in the head of every white cracker.”
You might expect this to prompt concern from some of the House members who are aligned with Farrakhan. You might think they would distance themselves from the death threats, or communicate their displeasure over the calls to King personally. But you would be mistaken.
Not only have Farrakhan’s friends in Congress failed to say anything to King, they’ve turned up the volume against him. In response to King’s work for a congressional resolution condemning Farrakhan’s travels, Rep. Donald Payne (chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus) has charged King with being motivated by race-baiting and fund-raising. Payne also told The Hill, a Capitol Hill weekly, that “this whole thing smells like . . . Willie Horton.”
Actually, King’s courage puts into particularly vivid contrast the cowardice of so many others with regard to Farrakhan.
