Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., confirmed Sunday he has a personal relationship with controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, saying Farrakhan’s position on the so-called “Jewish question” didn’t bother him.
“That’s just one segment of what goes on in our world. The world is so much bigger than Farrakhan and the Jewish question and his position on that and so forth. For those heavy into it, that’s their thing, but it ain’t my thing,” Davis told the Daily Caller.
The Jewish question refers to the debate that occurred in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries regarding the status of Jewish people as a minority. The phrase is also commonly associated with the extermination policies of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler, who believed the extermination of the Jewish people as “the final solution” to the Jewish question.
Davis on Sunday also stood by comments he made to the Daily Caller earlier in February, in which he remarked he thought Farrakhan was “an outstanding human being” and that the two regularly interacted.
Davis’ office reportedly told the the Anti-Defamation League the Illinois Democrat had been misquoted in the article.
Farrakhan, who has led the Nation of Islam religious group since 1975, made headlines again this week for a Saviours’ Day 2018 address he gave in Chicago in which he said “the powerful Jews are my enemy,” and “white folks are going down.”
Davis is not the only Democrat in the House to come under fire for his ties to Farrakhan.
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who is also the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, continues to be scrutinized for attending a 2013 dinner where Farrakhan was also present.
