Reply #2: Who is Adolph Reed Jr. you ask? [View All]

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Reed first gained widespread attention with his controversial 1986 book The Jesse Jackson Phenomenon, in which he argued that image and rhetoric aside, Jackson was an opportunistic, self-appointed pseudo-leader of the black community whose presidential ambitions had accomplished essentially nothing for African-Americans. Indeed, according to Reed, the energy around Jackson's presidential juggernaut had an ultimately narrowing and demobilizing effect on concrete black political struggles.

Reed progressed from provoking intense, at times hostile debate with the Jackson book to inviting the deadly wrath of the Nation of Islam with the publication of a lengthy, two-part essay about its leader, Louis Farrakhan, in The Nation. In "False Prophet: The Rise of Louis Farrakhan," and Part II, "All for One and None for All," Reed argued that despite Farrakhan's posturing as a militant opposition figure empowering black people, in reality Farrakhan's message is reactionary, unthreatening to the established system, and ultimately disempowering for African-Americans. Reed also accused Farrakhan of being behind the assassination of Malcolm X, calling attention to the fact that six weeks before Malcolm was killed, Farrakhan wrote an article in the Nation of Islam's bulletin, Mohammed Speaks, calling for Malcolm's death. (Reed was also critical of director Spike Lee for erasing Farrakhan's role in Malcolm's assassination in the film Malcolm X.)

"False Prophet" earned Reed unofficial "infidel" status with the Nation of Islam. (He was informed of this by a friend who heard Reed's name mentioned, among others, by a Farrakhan supporter disturbed by black criticisms of the Minister.) He's uncertain just how dangerous this makes things for him, but being all too familiar with the Nation's history of dealing with infidels, he plays it safe by maintaining a reasonably low profile and keeping his address and phone number unlisted. "I decided not to list the phone in my name, but not because I feel there's any reason to be concerned. I think it would be megalomaniacal for me to think that Louis Farrakhan's down in the compound worrying about me." Asked how he would react, however, if he were to notice someone he didn't recognize sporting a bow tie in his classroom, "I'd duck," he admitted.