In responding to one student’s allegations that a new Registered Student Organization is a racist hate group by association with its national connections, the coordinator for the group says such claims are ignorant, unintelligible and false.

Enoch Muhammad, who in a previous Daily Egyptian article would not reply to Nate Newcomb’s accusations, said the Nation of Islam Student Association and its constitution are not discriminatory.

Undergraduate Student Government approved the group’s RSO status on Oct. 15. Newcomb, a senior in history from Centralia, objected to USG’s action, calling the Nation of Islam a hate group.

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He further said he did not want to partially fund the group through the use of the Student Activity Fee, which supports RSOs that apply for funding.

Currently the Nation of Islam Student Association receives no student fee money.

We do not practice what Nate Newcomb terms hatred or racism, and that’s why USG told Mr. Newcomb that there was nothing found in their constitution that would bar us from being an RSO because we’re not discriminatory in the sense of discriminating people from coming to our meetings because of ethnicity, gender or religion, Muhammad said.

[Our goal] is the same as any other organization, fraternity or sorority:to give students a chance at getting more information and insight into the Nation of Islam and letting people know more about what the Nation of Islam is really about, which is the transformation of human life by raising human beings from a dead level to a living perpendicular.

Muhammad is uncertain if the group will apply for funding in the future.

It’s an option that’s granted by USG’s constitution to any RSO, he said.

Newcomb maintains that he told Muhammad that he wanted to become a member of the Nation of Islam Student Association but is a white, Jewish Zionist. He then claims that Muhammad refused to reveal the location of the meeting.

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Muhammad said Newcomb lied about the encounter and that he told Newcomb that to join the group he must subscribe to the beliefs of Elijah Muhammad.

I said, Sir, we are a student organization, and if you subscribe to the teachings of the honorable Elijah Muhammad, then you can join the Nation of Islam,’ Muhammad said.

Muhammad further said that the location of the Nov. 12 informational meeting was posted in the Daily Egyptian calendar items.

Newcomb did attend that meeting with five others and said he will continue to attend future meetings.

I urge everyone to go to their meetings and sit down and listen to what they’re saying if they are not informed as to the issue, he said. We have to be aware that we have this type of organization on campus preaching that type of hate, and everyone should be appalled that USG approved this.

Newcomb calls the student association a hate group because of its ties with Louis Farrakhan. He cites Anti-Defamation League reports that Farrakhan has attacked Jews and whites in anti-Semitic and racist speeches.

Muhammad, however, said the Nation of Islam is not a hate group and that there have been no incidents of violence in the group’s history.

Out of 67 years of Nation of Islam history in America, there is no record of violence from any member of the Nation of Islam under the guidance of honorable Louis Farrakhan or the instruction and leadership of the most honorable Elijah Muhammad, he said. We don’t have history of hate crimes against white people, Jewish people or any people because of skin color, ethnicity or religious beliefs.

Muhammad said the ADL report is unfounded because the ADL has a history of character assassinations.

The quotes pulled out from the Anti-Defamation League are a biased report, he said. The history of the Anti-Defamation League is filled with their attempts at character assassinations of black leaders or white leaders who they do not like or control or who do not move to the beat of their drum.

Muhammad said the ADL uses anti-Semitism to rally public support. He said the group hides behind a veil of anti-Semitism to put themselves in a victim situation.

David Waren, regional director Anti-Defamation League for Missouri and Southern Illinois, said that claim is nonsense, and the ADL shines the light on anti-Semitic and racist leaders by publishing their racist quotes in reports.

The fear of anti-Semitism after 2,100 years of persecution is not just a fear but a reality, he said. Fifty years after 6 million Jews were murdered by the, quote-unquote, most civilized civilization on earth demonstrates that anti-Semitism is a reasonable concern and not illegitimate.

Muhammad said many of the racist and anti-Semitic quotes in the ADL’s report are taken out of context, misquoted or falsely attributed to Farrakhan. He said some racist quotes made by a former aide of Farrakhan were attributed to Farrakhan.

Waren said some quotes from Khalid Muhammad, a former chief lieutenant of Farrakhan’s, were attributed to Farrakhan but said that Farrakhan echoes similar quotes, and that Farrakhan failed to repudiate the substance of what Khalid Muhammad had said.

Waren acknowledged that there are no known incidents of actual violence by the group, but said the group’s racist speech is dangerous.

Their rhetoric is often violent, and we are concerned that people will take it and act on it, he said. Many of the ideas or ideologies filtering down to the masses do not make people become card-carrying members, but sometimes people hear false truths and mistruths and accept them as truth. Muhammad said the Nation of Islam’s speech is neither violent nor racist.

If you look at the word racist and call a person a racist who loves their race and sees them in a degraded position or condition and they use their skills, gifts, talents and abilities to uplift their race of people then in the positive sense, you can call me a racist, he said. But, if you, toward the deprivation of another segment of the human family, strive to uplift your segment of the human family by downgrading others, that is not the love of your people that is evil deeds, which produce hatred.

He said the media is slanted against Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam Student Association constitution includes a disclaimer to respond to the negative portrayal.

We are letting them (students) know that we are not the haters, anti-Semites, bigots, racists that the ADL and media says we are, he said. And so for the student association we are not the image the media portrays nationally, and we are not that on a student level.