Soup and Salad, Please!

by James A. Landrith, Jr.
April 25, 2001

Recently, yours truly has spent time "debating" Nation of Islam (NOI) members on interracial marriage and other issues in the Yahoo! Club – Friends of Farrakhan. I use the word "debating" very, very loosely.

One participant named "ourcreed" had these insightful comments about why interracial marriages should be avoided:

Who wants to have their lettuce, tomato, peppers, carrots, etc. go into a blender and pour some salad dressing into it? No, we want each piece to keep it's certain flavor right? This does not mean the lettuce is BETTER than the tomato, or the peppers should HATE the carrots. Each piece makes the salad more enjoyable right?

It gets even better, another poster, going by the name of "black_mantis82", had this to say:

salaam,
What this sister is saying is that you people that label yourselves "multiracial" activists don't know the half when it comes to fighting racism… you're fighting an "-ism" with an "-ism."

ActivISM is not complete, it turns a struggle into a fad. It takes away the more important need of work in communities devistated by racism.

The word racISM is a bad word to use today because it totally underestimates what is really going on in our society. It makes you think of people in white sheets burning crosses and confederate, which is miniscule compared to the hidden racism hidden in the way drugs find its way into black communities and a slew of other things that are going on.

You multiracial activists are doing more harm than good by trying to make the government stop doing something that it will do anyway. This will eventually eliminate any racial reparation under the veil of your so-called "equality" and the real enemies will continue to wreac havoc while you activists sit back and celebrate a false victory.

You really don't know what you're doing. I'm sorry to break it to you like that, but you're clueless.

While I'm not quite sure what he said, I get the feeling he doesn't approve of "-isms". But, getting back to the food theme, "black_mantis82" also had this to say about why "interracial" marriages should be avoided:

We aren't soup either, so stop trying to make us conform to one standard… we are culturally different, so you don't have to homogenize us in order to be with us, why not just like us for what we are? (and stop taking the flavor too)

Next, our good friend "ourcreed" chimed in with this explanation:

You are anti-us or anyone who does not share your opinion.
I personally believe that if God wanted everyone to be one race or one ethnic group, he would have made all of us tan, or beige etc.

Again, as an example, if he made the rose, the sunflower, the violet the different, pretty colors that they are, why change it? Is that hate?
You said that the NOI is just like the KKK, how??
No one here has said they wanted to kill anyone that is not like them! That is the KKK, and Neo Nazi mentality, to make the whole world white, while you seem to want the whole world mix, why not let people be who they are?

I believe that "ourcreed" and the others wanted to make some good points, but unfortunately they drowned in a mess of "salad", "soup" and "pretty colors." Just for the record, what I want is complete freedom for those who want to "mix" to be able to do so. I don't advocate that people do so, just that they be free to do so. Those who wish to self-segregate should also be free to do so and I've never advocated otherwise. I don't know exactly where they plan to go, but maybe there is a deserted island free somewhere. So, why did I compare NOI to the Klan and other racialist organizations in past editorials? See Point 10 of The Muslim Program, which has nothing to do with food.

Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that overturned all anti-miscegenation laws has been in effect for over thirty years and is not going to be overturned, regardless of how many Farrakhan followers wax poetic about "soup" and "salad." That said, NOI still wants "interracial" marriage prohibited, as does the Klan, Council of Conservative Citizens and World Church of the Creator. Who specifically would enforce this theoretical prohibition? The government perhaps? Anything that is "prohibited" must be backed up with sufficient force, or it is not a prohibition, only a suggestion. What NOI wants, contrary to what the "soup" and "salad" crew allege, is to control "interracial" families and our individual rights to marry, procreate and live happily ever after. There is a difference between self-segregation, as NOI members claim to want and wishing to "prohibit" the free association of others. Wanting to be left alone is fine, but any attempts to control others through force, which is what prohibition equals, is fascist tyranny. For NOI members to call it anything else is simply dishonest.

Some final words from NOI member "sweetconscious2000" on melanin deficiency:

listen peckerwood i think your interest n here have been entertained more than long enuff & on my board as well your bantering on about people having rights 2 marry anybody they want and other matters belong on the "politically correct" talk show circuit not n here– we face reality, we deal with history & we stand on truth– something no amount of pretending & posturing "we are all 1" will truly allow…

black,red,brown,yellow men & women will & have ultimately "mixed" wit 1 another and these unions r not a huge problem 2 me or anybody else

but u my friend & all other melanin deficient mutants is where the problems lie…..

So, according to "sweetconscious2000," "peckerwoods" like me are "where the problems lie." This NOI member is not against "interracial" marriage except where "melanin deficient mutants" are involved. I assume that "melanin deficient mutants" means "white" people. Those words spell it out pretty plainly. Rank and file members of NOI, when pressed to defend their beliefs, sound just like members of any other garden variety racialist organization. It is time for Americans to stop pretending that this organization is anything but a pack of racialists.

Their acceptance by Kweisi Mfume and others, however, makes them a powerful pack of racialists, with more influence than the fragmented Klan groups, World Church of the Creator and Council of Conservative Citizens combined due to their ability to form contacts and/or work with legislators and traditional civil rights groups. Kweisi Mfume, who strove for the Congressional Black Caucus to enter into a "sacred covenant" with NOI when he was chairman of the Caucus called for the NAACP membership to "respect" the Nation of Islam when he assumed control of the NAACP. They have had the ear of members of the Congressional Black Caucus and several other high level Democrats have praised NOI in the past. As I said before, Loving v. Virginia is not going to crumble away anytime soon, but that doesn't stop Farrakhan and Co. from continuing to sow the seed of hate with regards to your marital rights through The Muslim Program, Mr. and Mrs. Interracial. NOI wishes to ban your right to exist, Mr. and Ms. Multiracial. NOI has met with legislators in the past and continues to be "legitimized" by traditional civil rights groups whose leaders lack the moral courage to condemn their anti-miscegenationist agenda. As recently as last year, a Democratic candidate for Vice President eagerly pursued a meeting with Farrakhan. It is time to send a message loud and clear on this issue.

The next time a Representative or Senator, regardless of party affiliation, meets with this pack of "brown shirts" or any other just like them, let 'em know it's not okay. Tell them you won't stand for it and that they'll pay for it at the ballot box, then make good on that threat. Write letters to the editor, call their offices or simply vote for someone else. It is far past time we started exercising our political muscle and stopped trying to cozy up to groups and individuals that don't respect us and wish us harm. Will this anger some traditional civil rights groups, such as the NAACP who lack the courage to condemn anti-miscegenationist bigotry? Sure, but regardless of what the leadership of some of the "multiracial" organizations think, Kweisi Mfume and the NAACP do not care about you. Mr. Mfume cares about money and power, not your freedom from powerful anti-miscegenationist zealots, else he would have never attempted to build relationships with NOI or spoke at the Million Man March. Quit pretending that is okay. Quit pretending ignoring it will make it go away, for it surely will not. Party affiliations and past loyalties be damned, this is personal and there is no excuse for courting bigotry. Any organization or individual that tells you otherwise doesn't have your best interests at heart and is not to be trusted.

James Landrith is the notorious editor and publisher of The Multiracial Activist and The Abolitionist Examiner, two cyber-rags dedicated to freedom from oppressive racial categorization. Landrith can be reached by email at: editor@multiracial.com  or at his personal website/blog.

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