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Three women in the pillory, China

Criminology (from Latin crīmen, "accusation"; and Greek -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in the behavioral sciences, drawing especially upon the research of sociologists (particularly in the sociology of deviance), psychologists and psychiatrists, social anthropologists as well as on writings in law.

Areas of research in criminology include the incidence, forms, causes and consequences of crime, as well as social and governmental regulations and reaction to crime. For studying the distribution and causes of crime, criminology mainly relies upon quantitative methods. The term criminology was coined in 1885 by Italian law professor Raffaele Garofalo as criminologia. Around the same time, but later, French anthropologist Paul Topinard used the analogous French term criminologie.^[1]

Schools of thought[link]

In the mid-18th century, criminology arose as social philosophers gave thought to crime and concepts of law. Over time, several schools of thought have developed. There are three main schools of thought in early criminological theory spanning the period from the mid-18th century to the mid-twentieth century, which are Classical, Positive, and Chicago. These schools of thought were superseded by several contemporary paradigms of criminology, such as the sub-culture, control, strain, labeling, critical criminology, cultural criminology, postmodern criminology, feminist criminology and others discussed below.

Classical School[link]

The Classical School, which developed in the mid 18th century, was based on utilitarian philosophy. Cesare Beccaria, author of On Crimes and Punishments (1763–64), Jeremy Bentham, inventor of the panopticon, and other classical school philosophers argued that (1) people have free will to choose how to act. (2) Deterrence is based upon the notion of the human being as a 'hedonist' who seeks pleasure and avoids pain, and a 'rational calculator' weighing up the costs and benefits of the consequences of each action. Thus, it ignores the possibility of irrationality and unconscious drives as motivational factors (3) Punishment (of sufficient severity) can deter people from crime, as the costs (penalties) outweigh benefits, and that severity of punishment should be proportionate to the crime.^[2] (4) The more swift and certain the punishment, the more effective it is in deterring criminal behavior. The Classical school of thought came about at a time when major reform in penology occurred, with prisons developed as a form of punishment. Also, this time period saw many legal reforms, the French Revolution, and the development of the legal system in the United States.

Positivist School[link]

The Positivist school presumes that criminal behavior is caused by internal and external factors outside of the individual's control. The scientific method was introduced and applied to study human behavior. Positivism can be broken up into three segments which include biological, psychological and social positivism.^[3]

Italian School[link]

Cesare Lombroso, an Italian prison doctor working in the late 19th century and sometimes regarded as the "father" of criminology, was one of the largest contributors to biological positivism and founder of the Italian school of criminology.^[4] Lombroso took a scientific approach, insisting on empirical evidence, for studying crime.^[5] Considered as the founder of criminal anthropology, he suggested that physiological traits such as the measurements of one's cheek bones or hairline, or a cleft palate, considered to be throwbacks to Neanderthal man, were indicative of "atavistic" criminal tendencies. This approach, influenced by the earlier theory of phrenology and by Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution, has been superseded. Enrico Ferri, a student of Lombroso, believed that social as well as biological factors played a role, and held the view that criminals should not be held responsible when factors causing their criminality were beyond their control. Criminologists have since rejected Lombroso's biological theories, with control groups not used in his studies.^[6]

Sociological positivism[link]

Sociological positivism suggests that societal factors such as poverty, membership of subcultures, or low levels of education can predispose people to crime. Adolphe Quetelet made use of data and statistical analysis to gain insight into relationship between crime and sociological factors. He found that age, gender, poverty, education, and alcohol consumption were important factors related to crime.^[7] Rawson W. Rawson utilized crime statistics to suggest a link between population density and crime rates, with crowded cities creating an environment conducive for crime.^[8] Joseph Fletcher and John Glyde also presented papers to the Statistical Society of London on their studies of crime and its distribution.^[9] Henry Mayhew used empirical methods and an ethnographic approach to address social questions and poverty, and presented his studies in London Labour and the London Poor.^[10] Émile Durkheim viewed crime as an inevitable aspect of society, with uneven distribution of wealth and other differences among people.

[edit] Differential Association (Subcultural)

Crime is learned through association. The criminal acts learned might be generally condoning criminal conduct or be justifying crime only under specific circumstances. Interacting with antisocial peers is a major cause of crime. Criminal behavior will be repeated and become chronic if reinforced. When criminal subcultures exist, many individuals can learn associatively to commit crime and crime rates may increase in those specific locations.^[11]

Chicago School[link]

The Chicago school arose in the early twentieth century, through the work of Robert E. Park, Ernest Burgess, and other urban sociologists at the University of Chicago. In the 1920s, Park and Burgess identified five concentric zones that often exist as cities grow, including the "zone in transition" which was identified as most volatile and subject to disorder. In the 1940s, Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw focused on juvenile delinquents, finding that they were concentrated in the zone of transition.

Chicago School sociologists adopted a social ecology approach to studying cities, and postulated that urban neighborhoods with high levels of poverty often experience breakdown in the social structure and institutions such as family and schools. This results in social disorganization, which reduces the ability of these institutions to control behavior and creates an environment ripe for deviant behavior.

Other researchers suggested an added social-psychological link. Edwin Sutherland suggested that people learn criminal behavior from older, more experienced criminals that they may associate with.

Theories of crime[link]

Theoretical perspectives used in criminology include psychoanalysis, functionalism, interactionism, Marxism, econometrics, systems theory, postmodernism, genetics, neuropsychology, evolutionary psychology, etc.

Social structure theories[link]

This theory is applied to a variety of approaches within criminology in particular and in sociology more generally as a conflict theory or structural conflict perspective in sociology and sociology of crime. As this perspective is itself broad enough, embracing as it does a diversity of positions.^[12]

Social disorganization (neighborhoods)[link]

Social disorganization theory is based on the work of Henry McKay and Clifford R. Shaw of the Chicago School.^[13] Social disorganization theory postulates that neighborhoods plagued with poverty and economic deprivation tend to experience high rates of population turnover.^[14] These neighborhoods also tend to have high population heterogeneity.^[14] With high turnover, informal social structure often fails to develop, which in turn makes it difficult to maintain social order in a community.

Social ecology[link]

Since the 1950s, social ecology studies have built on the social disorganization theories. Many studies have found that crime rates are associated with poverty, disorder, high numbers of abandoned buildings, and other signs of community deterioration.^[14][15] As working and middle class people leave deteriorating neighborhoods, the most disadvantaged portions of the population may remain. William Julius Wilson suggested a poverty "concentration effect", which may cause neighborhoods to be isolated from the mainstream of society and become prone to violence.^[16]

Strain theory (social class)[link]

Strain theory, (also known as Mertonian Anomie), advanced by American sociologist Robert Merton, suggests that mainstream culture, especially in the United States, is saturated with dreams of opportunity, freedom and prosperity; as Merton put it, the American Dream. Most people buy into this dream and it becomes a powerful cultural and psychological motivation. Merton also used the term anomie, but it meant something slightly different for him than it did for Durkheim. Merton saw the term as meaning a dichotomy between what society expected of its citizens, and what those citizens could actually achieve. Therefore, if the social structure of opportunities is unequal and prevents the majority from realizing the dream, some of them will turn to illegitimate means (crime) in order to realize it. Others will retreat or drop out into deviant subcultures (gang members, "hobos": urban homeless drunks and drug abusers).^[17]

Subcultural theory[link]

Following on from the Chicago school and Strain Theory, and also drawing on Edwin Sutherland's idea of differential association, subcultural theorists focused on small cultural groups fragmenting away from the mainstream to form their own values and meanings about life.

Albert K. Cohen tied anomie theory with Freud's reaction formation idea, suggesting that delinquency among lower class youths is a reaction against the social norms of the middle class.^[18] Some youth, especially from poorer areas where opportunities are scarce, might adopt social norms specific to those places which may include "toughness" and disrespect for authority. Criminal acts may result when youths conform to norms of the deviant subculture.^[19]

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin suggested that delinquency can result from differential opportunity for lower class youth.^[20] Such youths may be tempted to take up criminal activities, choosing an illegitimate path that provides them more lucrative economic benefits than conventional, over legal options such as minimum wage-paying jobs available to them.^[20]

British subcultural theorists focused more heavily on the issue of class, where some criminal activities were seen as 'imaginary solutions' to the problem of belonging to a subordinate class. A further study by the Chicago school looked at gangs and the influence of the interaction of gang leaders under the observation of adults.

Sociologists such as Raymond D. Gastil, have explored the impact of a Southern culture of honor on violent crime rates.^[21]

Control theories[link]

Another approach is made by the social bond or social control theory. Instead of looking for factors that make people become criminal, these theories try to explain why people do not become criminal. Travis Hirschi identified four main characteristics: "attachment to others", "belief in moral validity of rules", "commitment to achievement" and "involvement in conventional activities".^[22] The more a person features those characteristics, the less the chances are that he or she becomes deviant (or criminal). On the other hand, if those factors are not present in a person, it is more likely that he or she might become criminal. Hirschi expanded on this theory, with the idea that a person with low self control is more likely to become criminal.^[23]

A simple example: someone wants to have a big yacht, but does not have the means to buy one. If the person cannot exert self-control, he or she might try to get the yacht (or the means for it) in an illegal way; whereas someone with high self-control will (more likely) either wait or deny themselves that need. Social bonds, through peers, parents, and others, can have a countering effect on one's low self-control. For families of low socio-economic status, a factor that distinguishes families with delinquent children from those who are not delinquent is the control exerted by parents or chaperonage.^[24] In addition, theorists such as Matza and Sykes argued that criminals are able to temporarily neutralize internal moral and social behavioral constraints through techniques of neutralization.

Symbolic interactionism[link]

Symbolic interactionism draws on the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and George Herbert Mead, as well as subcultural theory and conflict theory.^[25] This school of thought focused on the relationship between the powerful state, media and conservative ruling elite on the one hand, and the less powerful groups on the other. The powerful groups had the ability to become the 'significant other' in the less powerful groups' processes of generating meaning. The former could to some extent impose their meanings on the latter, and therefore they were able to 'label' minor delinquent youngsters as criminal. These youngsters would often take on board the label, indulge in crime more readily and become actors in the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' of the powerful groups. Later developments in this set of theories were by Howard Becker and Edwin Lemert, in the mid 20th century.^[26] Stanley Cohen who developed the concept of "moral panic" (describing societal reaction to spectacular, alarming social phenomena such as post-World War Two youth cultures (e.g. the Mods and Rockers in the UK in 1964), AIDS and football hooliganism).

Labeling Theory[link]

Labeling theory refers to an individual being labeled in a particular way and was studied in great detail by Howard Becker.^[27] It arrives originally from sociology but is regularly used in criminological studies. It is said that when someone is given the label of a criminal, they may reject it or accept it and go on to commit crime. Even those that initially reject the label can eventually accept it as the label becomes more well known particularly amongst their peers. This can become even more profound when the labels are about deviancy and it is said they can lead to deviancy amplification. Klein (1986) ^[28] conducted a test which showed that labeling theory affected some youth offenders but not others.

Contemporary cultural and critical criminology[link]

Today's cultural and critical criminologists^[29] define themselves through their opposition to positivism, which reduces complex emotional and communicative human beings to statistics, and to rational choice-inspired theories, which they perceive to rest on an ontologically simplistic conception of human beings as hedonistic opportunists whose behaviour can be manipulated by adjustments of costs, benefits, opportunities and technologies of control.

Early romantic accounts of crime/delinquency as a form of seduction^[30] or proto-political resistance to the powerlessness and dull monotony of working life^[31] are now being challenged by late-modern hybrid theories. These theories examine the ways in which criminals are incorporated into consumerism's value-system and fantasies, as argued by Robert Reiner in his book Law and Order,^[32] yet initially excluded in their economic and social lives. Combining elements of strain theory with cultural theory and symbolic interactionism, Jock Young, in The Exclusive Society,^[33] uses the metaphor of bulimia to depict the tense opposition between inclusion and exclusion. Simon Hallsworth and Keith Hayward adopt a similar approach in their respective works Street Crime^[34] and City Limits.^[35]

In further work^[36] Hayward reintroduces the Freudian term 'narcissism' to explain the insecure yet aggressive, acquisitive sentiments and motivations behind criminality. In Criminal Identities and Consumer Culture,^[37] Steve Hall, Simon Winlow and Craig Ancrum draw upon Continental philosophy and Lacanian psychoanalysis to take late-modern hybrid theories to a new level of sophistication as they explain how the dynamic tension between inclusion and exclusion prolongs the narcissistic subject throughout the life-course in an aggressive struggle for identities of social distinction expressed by the acquisition and display of consumer culture's status-symbols.

Individual theories[link]

Trait theories[link]

At the other side of the spectrum, criminologist Lonnie Athens developed a theory about how a process of brutalization by parents or peers that usually occurs in childhood results in violent crimes in adulthood. Richard Rhodes' Why They Kill describes Athens' observations about domestic and societal violence in the criminals' backgrounds. Both Athens and Rhodes reject the genetic inheritance theories.^[38]

Rational choice theory[link]

Cesare Beccaria

Rational choice theory is based on the utilitarian, classical school philosophies of Cesare Beccaria, which were popularized by Jeremy Bentham. They argued that punishment, if certain, swift, and proportionate to the crime, was a deterrent for crime, with risks outweighing possible benefits to the offender. In Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crimes and Punishments, 1763–1764), Beccaria advocated a rational penology. Beccaria conceived of punishment as the necessary application of the law for a crime: thus, the judge was simply to conform his sentence to the law. Beccaria also distinguished between crime and sin, and advocated against the death penalty, as well as torture and inhumane treatments, as he did not consider them as rational deterrents.

This philosophy was replaced by the Positivist and Chicago Schools, and not revived until the 1970s with the writings of James Q. Wilson, Gary Becker's 1965 article titled "Crime and Punishment"^[39] and George Stigler's 1970 article "The Optimum Enforcement of Laws".^[40] Rational choice theory argues that criminals, like other people, weigh costs/risks and benefits when deciding whether or not to commit crime and think in economic terms.^[41] They will also try to minimize risks of crime by considering the time, place, and other situational factors.^[41]

Gary Becker, for example, acknowledged that many people operate under a high moral and ethical constraint, but considered that criminals rationally see that the benefits of their crime outweigh the cost such as the probability of apprehension, conviction, punishment, as well as their current set of opportunities. From the public policy perspective, since the cost of increasing the fine is marginal to that of the cost of increasing surveillance, one can conclude that the best policy is to maximize the fine and minimize surveillance.

With this perspective, crime prevention or reduction measures can be devised that increase effort required to commit the crime, such as target hardening.^[42] Rational choice theories also suggest that increasing risk of offending and likelihood of being caught, through added surveillance, police or security guard presence, added street lighting, and other measures, are effective in reducing crime.^[42]

One of the main differences between this theory and Jeremy Bentham's rational choice theory, which had been abandoned in criminology, is that if Bentham considered it possible to completely annihilate crime (through the panopticon), Becker's theory acknowledged that a society could not eradicate crime beneath a certain level. For example, if 25% of a supermarket's products were stolen, it would be very easy to reduce this rate to 15%, quite easy to reduce it until 5%, difficult to reduce it under 3% and nearly impossible to reduce it to zero (a feat which would cost the supermarket so much in surveillance, etc., that it would outweigh the benefits). This reveals that the goals of utilitarianism and classical liberalism have to be tempered and reduced to more modest proposals to be practically applicable.

Such rational choice theories, linked to neoliberalism, have been at the basics of crime prevention through environmental design and underpin the Market Reduction Approach to theft ^[43] by Mike Sutton, which is a systematic toolkit for those seeking to focus attention on "crime facilitators" by tackling the markets for stolen goods ^[44] that provide motivation for thieves to supply them by theft.^[45]

Routine activity theory[link]

Routine activity theory, developed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence Cohen, draws upon control theories and explains crime in terms of crime opportunities that occur in everyday life.^[46] A crime opportunity requires that elements converge in time and place including (1) a motivated offender (2) suitable target or victim (3) lack of a capable guardian.^[47] A guardian at a place, such as a street, could include security guards or even ordinary pedestrians who would witness the criminal act and possibly intervene or report it to police.^[47] Routine activity theory was expanded by John Eck, who added a fourth element of "place manager" such as rental property managers who can take nuisance abatement measures.^[48]

Biosocial theories[link]

Biosocial criminology is an interdisciplinary field that aims to explain crime and antisocial behavior by exploring both biological factors and environmental factors. While contemporary criminology has been dominated by sociological theories, biosocial criminology also recognizes the potential contributions of fields such as genetics, neuropsychology, and evolutionary psychology.^[49]

Types and definitions of crime[link]

Both the Positivist and Classical Schools take a consensus view of crime — that a crime is an act that violates the basic values and beliefs of society. Those values and beliefs are manifested as laws that society agrees upon. However, there are two types of laws:

• Natural laws are rooted in core values shared by many cultures. Natural laws protect against harm to persons (e.g. murder, rape, assault) or property (theft, larceny, robbery), and form the basis of common law systems.
• Statutes are enacted by legislatures and reflect current cultural mores, albeit that some laws may be controversial, e.g. laws that prohibit cannabis use and gambling. Marxist criminology, Conflict criminology and Critical Criminology claim that most relationships between state and citizen are non-consensual and, as such, criminal law is not necessarily representative of public beliefs and wishes: it is exercised in the interests of the ruling or dominant class. The more right wing criminologies tend to posit that there is a consensual social contract between State and citizen.

Therefore, definitions of crimes will vary from place to place, in accordance to the cultural norms and mores, but may be broadly classified as blue-collar crime, corporate crime, organized crime, political crime, public order crime, state crime, state-corporate crime, and white-collar crime.^[50] However, there have been moves in contemporary criminological theory to move away from liberal pluralism, culturalism and postmodernism by introducing the universal term 'harm' into the criminological debate as a replacement for the legal term 'crime'.^[51]

Causes and correlates of crime[link]

Many different causes and correlates of crime have been proposed with varying degree of empirical support.

Subtopics[link]

Areas of study in criminology include:

• Comparative criminology, which is the study of the social phenomenon of crime across cultures, to identify differences and similarities in crime patterns.^[52]
• Crime prevention
• Crime statistics
• Criminal behavior
• Criminal careers and desistance
• Domestic violence
• Deviant behavior
• Evaluation of criminal justice agencies
• Fear of crime
• The International Crime Victims Survey
• Juvenile delinquency
• Penology
• Sociology of law
• Victimology

See also[link]

Sociology portal

• Anthropological criminology
• Taboo
• Crime
• Crime science
• Criminal law
• Forensic science
• Market Reduction Approach
• Social cohesion
• Sociology of deviance
• The Mask of Sanity

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Wikibooks: Introduction to sociology
• Beccaria, Cesare, Dei delitti e delle pene (1763–1764)
• Barak, Gregg (ed.). (1998). Integrative criminology (International Library of Criminology, Criminal Justice & Penology.). Aldershot: Ashgate/Dartmouth. ISBN 1-84014-008-9
• Pettit, Philip and Braithwaite, John. Not Just Deserts. A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice ISBN 978-0-19-824056-3 (see Republican Criminology and Victim Advocacy: Comment for article concerning the book in Law & Society Review, Vol. 28, No. 4 (1995), pp. 765–776)
• Blatier, Catherine, "Introduction à la psychocriminologie". Paris : Dunod, 2010.
• Blatier, Catherine, "La délinquance des mineurs. Grenoble". Presses Universitaires, 2nd Edition, 2002.
• Blatier, Catherine, "The Specialized Jurisdiction: A Better Chance for Minors". International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. (1998), pp. 115–127.
• Deflem, Mathieu, "Surveillance and Criminal Statistics." College of Arts and Sciences. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://www.cas.sc.edu/socy/faculty/deflem/ZCRIST.htm>.

External links[link]

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Social Deviance

• Criminology at the Open Directory Project

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (December 2009)

Jack Levin, Ph.D. is the Irving and Betty Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts where he teaches courses in prejudice and violence. He specializes in Criminology, Prejudice, and Social Psychology and is considered an authority on serial killers, mass murderers, and hate crimes. He is also the co-director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University.

As part of an agreement reached with Northeastern University, Levin teaches only one course per year, "Sociology of Violence and Hate." The course is offered every Fall semester, and is held in the Blackman Auditorium due to its large class size, about 200 students.

Levin has authored or co-authored 28 books, including Mass Murder: America’ s Growing Menace, Killer on Campus, Overkill: Mass Murder and Serial Killing Exposed, Hate Crimes Revisited, The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder, The Violence of Hate, and Serial Killers and Sadistic Murderers: Up Close and Personal. Levin has published more than 150 articles in professional journals and newspapers, such as The New York Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, and USA Today.

He appears frequently on national television programs, including 48 Hours, 20/20, Dateline NBC, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Oprah, Rivera Live, Larry King Live, Unsolved Mysteries, and network newscasts.

Levin was honored by the Massachusetts Council for Advancement and Support of Education as its “Professor of the Year.” He has spoken to a wide variety of community, academic, and professional groups, including the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

References[link]

• http://www.violence.neu.edu/people/levin/
• http://www.northeastern.edu/socant/?page_id=325
• http://www.violence.neu.edu/people/jack_levin_media_bio/

External links[link]

• Personal website

This biography of an American sociologist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr.
Head of the Nation of Islam
Incumbent
Assumed office 1978/1981
Preceded by	Warith Deen Mohammed
Personal details
Born	Louis Eugene Wolcott (1933-05-11) May 11, 1933 (age 79) The Bronx, New York City New York, United States
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Khadijah Farrakhan
Relations	Akbar Muhammad, Jabir Herbert Muhammad
Alma mater	English High School of Boston
Religion	Nation of Islam

Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. (born Louis Eugene Wolcott; May 11, 1933, and formerly known as Louis X) is the leader of the syncretic and mainly African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam (NOI). He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of the Nation of Islam. After Warith Deen Muhammad disbanded the NOI and started the orthodox Islamic group American Society of Muslims, Farrakhan started rebuilding the NOI. In 1981 he revived the name Nation of Islam for his organization, previously known as Final Call, regaining many of the Nation of Islam's National properties including the NOI National Headquarters Mosque Maryam, reopening over 130 NOI mosques in America and the world. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Farrakhan as an antisemite.^[1]

Farrakhan is a black religious and social leader and a critic of the United States government on many issues. Farrakhan has been both praised and widely criticized for his often controversial political views and outspoken rhetorical style. In October 1995, he organized and led the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., calling on black men to renew their commitments to their families and communities. Due to health issues, in 2007, Farrakhan reduced his responsibilities with the NOI.^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Part of a series on the
Nation of Islam
Leaders
Wallace Fard Muhammad Elijah Muhammad · Malcolm X Warith Deen Mohammed Louis Farrakhan Tynetta Muhammad Mustapha Farrakhan Ishmael Muhammad Ava Muhammad
History and beliefs
Saviours' Day Nation of Islam and antisemitism Tribe of Shabazz · Yakub Million Man March
Publications
A Torchlight for America The Final Call How to Eat to Live Message to the Blackman in America Muhammad Speaks
Subsidiaries and offshoots
American Society of Muslims Fruit of Islam The Nation of Gods and Earths New Black Panther Party United Nation of Islam Your Black Muslim Bakery
v t e

Farrakhan was born Louis Eugene Wolcott (also mistakenly spelled Walcott)^[3] in The Bronx, New York, the younger of two sons of Sarah Mae Manning (16 January 1900 – 18 November 1988) and Percival Clark, immigrants from the Caribbean islands. His mother was born in Saint Kitts and Nevis. His father was a Jamaican native and worked as a taxicab driver. After Louis' father died in 1936, the Wolcott family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where they settled in the West Indian neighborhood of the Roxbury area.^{[citation needed]}

Starting at the age of six, Wolcott received rigorous training in the violin.^[3] He received his first violin at the age of six, and by time he was 13 years old, he had played with the Boston College Orchestra, and the Boston Civic Symphony.^{[citation needed]} A year later, he went on to win national competitions. In 1946, he was one of the first black performers to appear on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour,^[3] where he also won an award. He and his family were active members of the Episcopal St. Cyprian's Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}

Wolcott attended the prestigious Boston Latin School, and later the English High School, from which he graduated.^[4] He completed three years of college at Winston-Salem Teachers College, where he had a track scholarship.^[5]

Marriage and family[link]

Wolcott was married to Betsy Ross while he was in college. (She later took the name Khadijah Farrakhan). She still lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and was pregnant with their child. Due to complications from the pregnancy, Wolcott dropped out after completing his junior year of college to devote time to her and their child.

Career[link]

In the 1950s, Wolcott started his professional music career by recording several calypso albums as a singer under the name "The Charmer". He also performed on tour. In February 1955, using part of his middle name, Eugene, "Calypso Gene" was headlining a show in Chicago, Illinois, entitled "Calypso Follies." One of his songs was on the top 100 Billboard Chart for five years in a row. There he first came in contact with the teachings of the Nation of Islam (NOI) through Rodney Smith, a friend and saxophonist from Boston, Massachusetts. Wolcott and his wife Betsy were invited to the Nation of Islam's annual Saviours' Day address by Elijah Muhammad. Prior to going to Saviours' Day, due to then-Minister Malcolm X's popularity in the media, Wolcott had never heard of Elijah Muhammad, and like many outside of the Nation of Islam, Wolcott thought that Malcolm X was the leader of the Nation of Islam.^{[citation needed]}

In 1955, Wolcott fulfilled the requirements to be a registered Muslim/registered believer/registered laborer. He memorized and recited verbatim the 10 questions and answers of the NOI's Student Enrollment. He then wrote a Saviour's Letter that must be sent to the NOI's headquarters in Chicago. The Saviour's Letter must be copied verbatim, and have the identical handwriting of the Nation of Islam's founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad. After having the Saviour's Letter reviewed, and approved by the NOI's headquarters in Chicago in July 1955, Wolcott received a letter of approval from the Nation of Islam acknowledging his official membership as a registered Muslim/registered believer/registered laborer in the NOI. As a result, he received his "X." The "X" was considered an algebraic placeholder, used to indicate that Nation of Islam's members original African family names had been lost. They acknowledged European surnames were slave names, often assigned by the slaveowners to mark their ownership. Members of the NOI used the "X" while waiting for their Islamic names, which some NOI members received later in their conversion.^[6] Hence, Louis Wolcott became Louis X. Elijah Muhammad then replaced his "X" with the "holy name" Farrakhan, an Arabic name meaning "charmer".

The summer after Louis' conversion, Elijah Muhammad stated that all musicians in the NOI had to choose between music and the Nation of Islam.^[3] Louis X did so only after performing one final event at the Nevel Country Club.^{[citation needed]}

Louis X quickly rose through the ranks. After only nine months of being a registered Muslim in the NOI and a member of Muhammad's Temple of Islam in Boston, where Malcolm X was the minister, the former calypso-singer turned Muslim became his assistant minister. Eventually he became the official minister after Elijah Muhammad transferred Malcolm X to Muhammad's Temple of Islam No. 7 on West 116th St. in Harlem, New York City. Today the mosque is a Sunni Muslim masjid (mosque) named in honor of Malcolm X, Masjid Malcolm Shabazz. Louis X continued to be mentored by Malcolm X, until his assassination in 1965. After Malcolm X's dismissal from the NOI, and hajj, an Arabic word meaning pilgrimage, to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, several "revolving ministers," meaning ministers who took turns preaching until an official minister was secured at a particular temple, were used at Muhammad's Temple of Islam No. 7 in Harlem. This occurred before and after Malcolm's death. The day that Malcolm X died in Harlem, Farrakhan happened to be in Newark, New Jersey on rotation, 45 minutes away from where Malcolm X was assassinated. After Malcolm X's death in 1965, Elijah Muhammad appointed Farrakhan to the two prominent positions that his predecessor, Malcolm X held before being dismissed from the NOI. Farrakhan became the national spokesman/national representative of the NOI until Elijah Muhammad's death in 1975 (a position Farrakhan still calls himself today). He was also appointed in 1965 minister of the influential Harlem Mosque (Temple), where he served from 1965 to 1975.^{[citation needed]}

Considered by many to be a former (and by some, a present) competitor to Malcolm X, Farrakhan made numerous incendiary statements about him, contributing to what was called a "climate of vilification."^[7] This may have contributed to what ultimately led to the assassination of Malcolm X at a time when he was beginning to distance himself from the NOI after his hajj to Mecca.^[7] Three men from a Newark, New Jersey, NOI mosque were convicted of the killing and served prison sentences.^{[citation needed]} Farrakhan was the keynote speaker at the Newark temple the same day that Malcolm X was assassinated.

Leadership[link]

Warith Deen Mohammed, the seventh son of Elijah and Clara Muhammad, was declared the new leader of the Nation of Islam at the annual Saviour's Day Convention in February 1975, a day after his father died. He made substantial changes to the organization in the late 1970s, taking most members into a closer relationship with traditional (orthodox) Sunni Islam, and renaming the group, Bilalian, and eventually the American Society of Muslims, to indicate the apparent change. He rejected the deification of the founder Wallace D. Fard as Allah in person, the mahdi of the Holy Qur'an and messiah of the Bible, welcomed white worshippers who were once considered devils and enemies in the NOI as equal brothers and friends. In the beginning of these changes, Chief Min. Warith Deen Mohammed gave some Caucasians X's, and extended efforts at inter-religious cooperation and outreach to Christians and Jews.^{[citation needed]} Changing his position and title from Chief Minister Wallace Muhammad to Imam Warith huddin Mohammad, and finally Imam Warith Al-Deen Mohammed, he was responsible for the most massive conversion of over 2,000,000 members of the Nation of Islam to traditional Islam without bloodshed in the United States of America.

Farrakhan joined Imam Warith Al-Deen Mohammed who he followed, and eventually became a Sunni Imam under him for 3 1/2 years from 1975-1978. Imam Mohammed gave Imam Farrakhan two attributes of Allah as his middle names, Abdul-Haleem. In 1978, Imam Farrakhan distanced himself from Mohammed's movement. In a 1990 interview with Emerge magazine, Farrakhan said that he had become disillusioned and decided to "quietly walk away" rather than cause a schism among the members.^{[citation needed]} In 1978, Farrakhan and a small number of supporters decided to rebuild what they considered the original Nation of Islam upon the foundations established by Wallace Fard Muhammad, and Elijah Muhammad. This was done without publicly stating the intent.^{[citation needed]}

In 1979, Farrakhan's group founded a weekly newspaper entitled The Final Call, Inc. intended to be similar to the original Muhammad Speaks Newspaper that Malcolm X claims to have started.^[8] It is a mouthpiece for Farrakhan's statements. In 1981, Farrakhan and his supporters held their first Saviour's Day convention in Chicago, Illinois, and took back the name of the Nation of Islam. The event was similar to the earlier Nation's celebrations, last held in Chicago on February 26, 1975. At the convention's keynote address, Farrakhan announced his attempt to restore the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad's teachings.^[9]

In October 1989, at a press conference in Washington, DC, Farrakhan described a 1985 vision which he had in the country of Mexico. He was carried up to "a Wheel, or what you call an unidentified flying object", as in the Bible's Book of Ezekiel. During this vision, he heard the voice of Elijah Muhammad, the long-time leader of the Nation of Islam (1934–1975).^[10]

On January 12, 1995, Malcolm X's daughter Qubilah Shabazz was arrested for conspiracy to assassinate Farrakhan. According to Stanford University historian Clayborne Carson, "[her family] resented Farrakhan and had good reason to because he was one of those in the Nation responsible for the climate of vilification that resulted in Malcolm X's assassination".^[7] Some critics later alleged that the FBI had used paid informant Michael Fitzpatrick to frame Shabazz, who was four years old when her father was killed.^[11] Nearly four months later, on the first of May, federal prosecutors dropped their case against Shabazz.^{[citation needed]}

That year in October, Farrakhan convened a broad coalition of one-million men in Washington, D.C., for the Million Man March. Farrakhan and other speakers called for black men to renew their commitments to their families and communities. The event was organized by a wide variety of civil rights and religious organizations and drew men and their sons from across the United States of America. While Farrakhan was the keynote speaker, many other distinguished African American intellectuals addressed the throng including: Maya Angelou; Rosa Parks; Martin Luther King III, Cornel West, Jesse Jackson and Benjamin Chavis. The count however fell far below the hoped-for numbers. The National Parks Service estimated that approximately 440,000 were in attendance [3]. In 2005, together with other prominent African Americans such as the New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, the activist Al Sharpton, Addis Daniel and others, Farrakhan marked the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March by holding a second gathering, the Millions More Movement, October 14–17 in Washington D.C.^{[citation needed]}

Recent activity[link]

• 2005, a Black Entertainment Television (BET) poll voted Farrakhan the 'Person of the Year'.^[12]

• 2006, an AP-AOL "Black Voices" poll voted Farrakhan the fifth-most important black leader, with 4 percent of the vote.^[13]

Hurricane Katrina[link]

In comments in 2005, Farrakhan stated that there was a 25-foot (7.6 m) hole under one of the key levees that failed in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. He implied that the levee's destruction was a deliberate attempt to wipe out the population of the largely black sections within the city. Farrakhan later said that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told him of the crater during a meeting in Dallas, Texas.^[14] Farrakhan further claimed that the fact the levee broke the day after Hurricane Katrina is proof that the destruction of the levee was not a natural occurrence. Farrakhan has raised additional questions and has called for federal investigations into the source of the levee break.^[15][16] He also asserted that the hurricane was "God's way of punishing America for its warmongering and racism".^[17]

Experts including the Independent Levee Investigation Team (ILIT) from the University of California, Berkeley have countered his accusations. The report from the ILIT said "The findings of this panel are that the overtopping of the levees by flood waters, the often sub-standard materials used to shore up the levees, and the age of the levees contributed to these "scour holes" found at many of the sites of levee breaks after the hurricane."^[18]

Former support for Barack Obama[link]

In 2008, Farrakhan publicly supported then-Senator Barack Obama who was campaigning at the time to become the president of the United States of America, at the same time criticizing the United States' problems.^[19][20][21]

The Obama campaign quickly responded to convey his distance from the minister. "Senator Obama has been clear in his objections to Farrakhan's past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister's support," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.^[19] Obama "rejected and denounced" Farrakhan's support during an NBC presidential candidate debate.

Conservative internet sites such as World Net Daily reported that during his February 24, 2008, "Saviours Day" speech Farrakhan had called Obama "the Messiah".^[22] Quoting in context, Farrakhan had said, "Sen. Obama is not the Messiah for sure, but anytime, he gives you a sign of uniting races, ethnic groups, ideologies, religions and makes people feel a sense of oneness, that’s not necessarily Satan’s work, that is I believe the work of God."^[23]

Following the 2008 presidential election, Farrakhan explained, during a BET television interview, that he was "careful" to never endorse Obama during his campaign. "I talked about him — but, in very beautiful and glowing terms, stopping short of endorsing him. And unfortunately, or fortunately, however we look at it, the media said I 'endorsed' him, so he renounced my so-called endorsement and support. But that didn’t stop me from supporting him."^[24]

As of 2012, Farrakhan no longer supports Obama, whom he has since called the "first Jewish president", due to Obama's support for the 2011 military intervention in Libya, which Farrakhan strongly opposes due to his own support for Muammar al-Gaddafi.^[25] At a 31 March 2011 press conference held at the Mosque Maryam, Farrakhan warned that the United States could be "facing a major earthquake as part of God’s divine judgment against the country for her evil".^[26]

Health problems[link]

Farrakhan announced that he was seriously ill in a September 11, 2006, letter to his staff, Nation of Islam members and supporters. The letter, published in The Final Call newspaper, said that doctors in Cuba had discovered a peptic ulcer. According to the letter subsequent infections caused Farrakhan to lose 35 pounds, and he urged the Nation of Islam leadership to carry on while he recovered.^[27]

Farrakhan was released from his five-week hospital stay on January 28, 2007, after major abdominal surgery. The operation was performed to correct damage caused by side effects of a radioactive "seed" implantation procedure that he received years earlier to successfully treat prostate cancer.^[28]

Following his hospital stay, Farrakhan released a "Message of Appreciation" to supporters and well wishers^[29] and weeks later delivered the keynote address at the Nation of Islam's annual convention in Detroit.^[30]

Criticism and controversy[link]

Farrakhan has been the center of much controversy with critics saying that his views and comments are antisemitic, racist or homophobic.^[31] Farrakhan has categorically denied these charges^[32] and stated that much of America's perception of him has been shaped by media.^[33][34] This defense is echoed by religion scholar and pro-Palestinian activist Mattias Gardell^[34] who argues that, when considered in the context of Farrakhan's typically lengthy lectures, many of Farrakhan's controversial comments take on a more nuanced meaning that cannot be conveyed in a sound bite.

Malcolm X's death[link]

Many, including Malcolm X's family, have accused Louis Farrakhan of being involved in the plot to assassinate Malcolm X.^{[35][36][37][38]} For many years, Betty Shabazz, the wife of Malcolm X, harbored resentment toward the Nation of Islam—and Farrakhan in particular—for what she felt was their role in the assassination of her husband.^[39] In a heated 1993 speech, Farrakhan seemed to boast of the assassination:

We don't give a damn about no white man law if you attack what we love. And frankly, it ain't none of your business. What do you got to say about it? Did you teach Malcolm? Did you make Malcolm? Did you clean up Malcolm? Did you put Malcolm out before the world? Was Malcolm your traitor or ours? And if we dealt with him like a nation deals with a traitor, what the hell business is it of yours? You just shut your mouth, and stay out of it. Because in the future, we gonna become a nation. And a nation gotta be able to deal with traitors and cutthroats and turncoats. The white man deals with his. The Jews deal with theirs.^[40][41][42]

During a 1994 interview, Gabe Pressman asked Shabazz whether Farrakhan "had anything to do" with Malcolm X's death. She replied: "Of course, yes. Nobody kept it a secret. It was a badge of honor. Everybody talked about it, yes."^[43] In January 1995, Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz, was charged with trying to hire an assassin to kill Farrakhan in retaliation for the murder of her father, whom she long believed was responsible for it.^[44]

In a 60 Minutes interview that aired during May 2000, Farrakhan stated that some of the things he said may have led to the assassination of Malcolm X. "I may have been complicit in words that I spoke", he said. "I acknowledge that and regret that any word that I have said caused the loss of life of a human being."^[45] A few days later Farrakhan denied that he "ordered the assassination" of Malcolm X, although he again acknowledged that he "created the atmosphere that ultimately led to Malcolm X's assassination."^[46]

Antisemitism[link]

Many of Farrakhan's comments have been deemed antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.^[47][48]

Speaking at the Mosque Maryam in Chicago, Farrakhan stated: "Do you know some of these satanic Jews have taken over BET? They got BET. They got our hair product people. They got Motown. Everything that we built, THEY got it. But the mind of Satan now is running the record industry. Running the movie industry. Running television."^[49]

Jewish distributors[link]

Farrakhan has alleged that Jewish distributors blocked a major urban economic renewal initiative in 1985 he had championed which was dubbed "P.O.W.E.R." for People Organized Working for Economic Rebirth. The initiative called for a joint enterprise of businesses and organizations, owned or run by Black people, to produce and distribute a line of cosmetics and toiletries sold under the Clean & Fresh (now defunct) label. Major haircare companies, including Johnson Products Co., backed out of the initiative fearing it could lead to accusations of anti-Semitism.^[50] Johnson Products owner George E. Johnson, Sr. maintained that his company's distributors told him that any dealings with Farrakhan's P.O.W.E.R. project would lead to having his own products boycotted. "We knew we could not offend our distribution channels," a Johnson spokesman Dorothy McConner said. "When I saw that," Farrakhan said, "I recognized that the Blackman will never be free until we address the relationship between Blacks and Jews."^[51]

"Gutter religion" Accusations[link]

In 1984, after returning from a visit to Libya Farrakhan delivered a sermon that was recorded by a Chicago Sun Times reporter. A transcript from part of the sermon was published in the New York Times:

Toward the end of that portion of his speech that was recorded, Mr. Farrakhan said: "Now that nation called Israel never has had any peace in 40 years and she will never have any peace because there can be no peace structured on injustice, thievery, lying and deceit and using the name of God to shield your dirty religion under His holy and righteous name."^[52]

Farrakhan has repeatedly denied referring to Judaism as a "gutter religion" explaining that he was instead referring to the Israeli Government's use of Judaism as a political tool. In a June 18, 1997, letter to a former Wall Street Journal editor Jude Wanniski he stated:

Countless times over the years I have explained that I never referred to Judaism as a gutter religion, but, clearly referred to the machinations of those who hide behind the shield of Judaism while using unjust political means to achieve their objectives. This was distilled in the New York tabloids and other media saying, 'Farrakhan calls Judaism a gutter religion.'

As a Muslim, I revere Abraham, Moses, and all the Prophets whom Allah (God) sent to the children of Israel. I believe in the scriptures brought by these Prophets and the Laws of Allah (God) as expressed in the Torah. I would never refer to the Revealed Word of Allah (God) — the basis of Jewish Faith — as 'dirty' or 'gutter.' You know, Jude, as well as I, that the Revealed Word of Allah (God) comes as a Message from Allah (God) to purify us from our evil that has divided us and caused us to fall into the gutter.

Over the centuries, the evils of Christians, Jews and Muslims have dirtied their respective religions. True Faith in the laws and Teaching of Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad is not dirty, but, practices in the name of these religions can be unclean and can cause people to look upon the misrepresented religion as being unclean.^[53]

"Black Hitler" characterization[link]

In response to Farrakhan's speech, Nathan Pearlmutter, then Chair of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai B'rith, referred to Farrakhan as the new "Black Hitler" and Village Voice journalist Nat Hentoff also characterized the NOI leader as a "Black Hitler" while a guest on a New York radio talk-show.

In response, Farrakhan announced during a March 11, 1984, speech broadcast on a Chicago radio station:

So I said to the members of the press, 'Why won't you go and look into what we are saying about the threats on Reverend Jackson's life?' Here the Jews don't like Farrakhan and so they call me 'Hitler'. Well that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He wasn't great for me as a Black man but he was a great German and he rose Germany up from the ashes of her defeat by the united force of all of Europe and America after the First World War. Yet Hitler took Germany from the ashes and rose her up and made her the greatest fighting machine of the twentieth century, brothers and sisters, and even though Europe and America had deciphered the code that Hitler was using to speak to his chiefs of staff, they still had trouble defeating Hitler even after knowing his plans in advance. Now I'm not proud of Hitler's evil toward Jewish people, but that's a matter of record. He rose Germany up from nothing. Well, in a sense you could say there is a similarity in that we are rising our people up from nothing, but don't compare me with your wicked killers.^[54][55]

Gulf war prophecy[link]

He prophesied that the First Gulf War would be the "War of Armageddon which is the final war."^[56]

H1N1 Vaccine Conspiracy Theory[link]

On October 21, 2009, Farrakhan told an audience in Memphis that he believes the H1N1 flu vaccine was developed to depopulate the earth. During a gathering to observe the Nation of Islam's Holy Day of Atonement, which also marked the 14th anniversary of the Million Man March in Washington, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Farrakhan as saying:

The Earth can't take 6.5 billion people. The popular belief of some is "We just can't feed that many. So what are you going to do? Kill as many as you can. We have to develop a science that kills them and makes it look as though they died from some disease.^[57]

Praise of President Robert Mugabe[link]

In 2002, Louis Farrakhan went to Zimbabwe in support of President Robert Mugabe's intentions to enforce proposed redistribution of white-owned land and property. Farrakhan said he was in "full support" of Mugabe's policies "as it was aimed at correcting a historical injustice".^[58]

Accepted support from Moammar Gadhafi[link]

According to the Associated Press, Farrakhan called the former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi a friend and Muslim brother who's lent the Nation of Islam movement $8 million over the years.^[59] Farrakhan explained, "I love Moammar Gadhafi, and I love our president. It grieves me to see my brother president set a policy that would remove this man not only from power, but from the earth."^[60] According to the Associated Press, Farrakhan portrayed Gadhafi as a fellow revolutionary and longtime friend to the Nation of Islam, which reportedly used $3 million it borrowed from Libya in the 1970s to acquire the building and land which formerly housed the St. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church on Chicago's South Side.^[60] Years later, a $5 million loan was used to pay back taxes and costs for the home of the movement's former leader Elijah Muhammad.^[60] Despite Gadhafi's connection to the Lockerbie Bombing, Farrakhan said, "I don't care what Gadhafi has done wrong, he is not the 'mad dog of the Middle East.'"^[60]

Belief in UFOs[link]

In an interview Farrakhan claimed the existence of a ship he calls The Wheel which houses weapons capable of defeating all weapons on earth. He claims that many call UFOs The Wheel, or what Elijah Muhammad called "The Mother Plane." Farrakhan also alleges government conspiracy in covering up reports on these sightings.^[61] In an interview with Jamie Maussan on April 11, 2011, he claimed that The Wheel would make itself clear to the population of earth in a matter of "days".^[62]

Farrakhan and classical music[link]

When Farrakhan first joined the NOI he was asked by Elijah Muhammad to put aside his musical career as a violinist. After 42 years, Farrakhan decided to take up the violin once more primarily due to the urging of prominent classical musician Sylvia Olden Lee.^{[citation needed]}

On April 17, 1993, Farrakhan made his return concert debut with performances of the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn. Farrakhan intimated that his performance of a concerto by a Jewish composer was, in part, an effort to heal a rift between him and the Jewish community.^[63] The New York Times music critic Bernard Holland reported that Farrakhan's performance was somewhat flawed due to years of neglect "nonetheless Mr. Farrakhan's sound is that of the authentic player. It is wide, deep and full of the energy that makes the violin gleam."^[63] Farrakhan has gone on to perform the Violin Concerto of Ludwig van Beethoven and has announced plans to perform those of Tchaikovsky and Brahms.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Muhammad, Jabril (2006). Closing The Gap: Inner Views of the Heart, Mind & Soul of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. FCN Publishing Co. ISBN 978-1-929594-99-3. 
• Gardell, Mattias (1996). In the Name of Elijah Mohammed: Louis Farrakhan and The Nation of Islam. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-1845-3. 
• Farrakhan, Louis (1993). A Torchlight for America. FCN Publishing Co. ISBN 0-9637642-4-1. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Louis Farrakhan

• Nation of Islam's Official Louis Farrakhan Bio Sketch
• Final Call Newspaper, founded by Louis Farrakhan
• Louis Farrakhan's weekly news column
• Farrakhan Speaks Podcast
• Malcolm X Reloaded Podcast
• Nation of Islam's Women Committed to the Truth -Not a pro Louis Farrakhan site. They are critical of his leadership of the NOI
• Minister Farrakhan's Letter to President George W. Bush
• Tim Russert interview
• Islam or Farrakhanism: What Does the Nation of Islam Believe?
• "Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad" for the WGBH series, Say Brother
• Farrakhan in His Own Words A selection of quotes from Farrakhan's speeches prepared by the Anti-Defamation League
• 2006 Friends of Mankind Award
• My walk with Farrakhan testimony
• 1999 Village Voice article outlining NOI leadership
• Louis Farrakhan at the Internet Movie Database

Farrakhan videos[link]

• Video collection on Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam (NOI), and the conflict between Blacks and Jews
• March 2006 Havana, Cuba Press Conference
• May, 2004 Washington, D.C. Press Conference on U.S. Government's War on Terrorism
• April, 2002 Press Conference on Arab, Muslim/Israeli Conflict
• Let Us Make Man Part I – africanconnections.com – Technical Note: playback requires Flash 10 Player
• Let Us Make Man Part II – africanconnections.com – Technical Note: playback requires Flash 10 Player
• BBC Video
• FOX News Interview on Millions More Movement
• Farrakhan Webcast: The Murder of Malcolm X
• Mike Wallace interview on CBS with Farrakhan and Atallah Shabazz
• Birth of a nation

MF DOOM
MF Doom at the Hultsfred Festival 2011 in Sweden
Background information
Also known as	DOOM, King Geedorah, Metal Face, Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, Zev Love X, Madvillain
Born	(1971-01-09) January 9, 1971 (age 41) London, United Kingdom
Origin	Long Island, New York
Genres	East Coast hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, hip hop producer
Instruments	Vocals, sampler, synthesizer, drum machine, Pro Tools
Years active	1988–1993 1997–present
Labels	Elektra (1988–1993) Sub Verse (1997–2003) Fondle 'Em (1997–2001) Metal Face (1997–present) Big Dada (2003) Naturesounds (2003–present) Rhymesayers (2004) Stones Throw (2004–present) Lex (2005–present)
Associated acts	KMD, Madvillain, Danger Doom, Madlib, MF Grimm, Ghostface Killah, J Dilla, Count Bass D, Aesop Rock, Jneiro Jarel, Gorillaz, Masta Ace, De La Soul
Website	Official website

Daniel Dumile (pronounced /ˈduːmɨleɪ/ DOO-mə-lay; born January 9, 1971) is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF Doom, often stylized as MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, but metal fingers when using his producing name. He has appeared in several collaborative projects such as Danger Doom (with Danger Mouse) and Madvillain (with Madlib).

History[link]

Early years with KMD[link]

Dumile was born on January 9, 1971, in London, England, the son of a Trinidadian mother and Zimbabwean father.^[1] He then moved with his family to New York and was raised in the city of Long Beach, New York on Long Island.

As Zev Love X, he formed the group KMD in 1988 with his younger brother DJ Subroc and another MC called Rodan. When Rodan left the group, Zev found another MC to replace Rodan named Onyx the Birthstone Kid.^[1] A&R rep Dante Ross learned of KMD through the hip hop group 3rd Bass, and signed the group to Elektra Records.^[2]

Dumile and KMD's recorded debut came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" from The Cactus Album,^[1] followed in 1991 with KMD's album Mr. Hood, which became a minor hit through its singles "Peachfuzz", "Who Me?" and heavy video play on cable TV's Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City.

Subroc was struck and killed by a car in 1993 while attempting to cross the Long Island Expressway before the release of a second KMD album, titled Black Bastards.^[1] The group was subsequently dropped from Elektra Records that same week. Before the release of the album, it was shelved due to controversy over its cover art,^[2] which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny or sambo character being hung from the gallows.

With the loss of his brother, Dumile retreated from the hip hop scene from 1994 to 1997. He testifies to disillusionment and depression, living "damn near homeless, walking the streets of Manhattan, sleeping on benches.^[1][3]" In the late 1990s, he left New York City and settled in Atlanta. According to interviews with Dumile, he was also "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him."^[1] Black Bastards had become bootlegged at the time, leading to Doom's rise in the underground hip hop scene.

Birth of MF DOOM[link]

In 1997, Dumile began freestyling incognito at open-mic events at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan, obscuring his face by putting a stocking over his head. He meanwhile had taken on a new identity, MF Doom, patterned after and wearing a mask similar to that of Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, who is depicted rapping on the cover of the 1999 album Operation: Doomsday. He wears this mask while performing and isn't photographed without it, except for very short glimpses in videos such as Viktor Vaughn's "Mr. Clean", "?", and in earlier photos with KMD.^[1] MF Doom's mask has undergone at least one design revision since its adoption (it is now an altered version of the mask worn by the character Maximus Decimus Meridius in the film Gladiator).

Early career[link]

Dumile released three singles on "Bobbito" García's Fondle 'Em Records, "Dead Bent", and "Greenbacks" (1997), and "The M.I.C." (1998). In 1999 Fondle 'Em released MF Doom's first full-length LP, Operation: Doomsday, which included these singles and their b-sides, and additional tracks. Dumile had used the spelling variant "M.F. DOOM" for the singles releases, but thereafter changed this to "MF DOOM".

Among the collaborators on these tracks were fellow members of the Monsta Island Czars collective (The M.I.C.), for which each artist took on the persona of a monster from the Godzilla mythos. Dumile went by the alias "King Geedorah," a three-headed golden dragon space monster, modeled after King Ghidorah, the Toho movie monster who was a three-headed dragon that often battled Godzilla. Some of his appearances on the LP are as, and are credited to this persona, instead of that of MF Doom. Dumile would revisit this character later under various name-spellings.

Guest appearances, production, and instrumental work[link]

In the years intervening before his next full-length solo release, and continually since, Dumile has appeared on several tracks on other artists' LPs and remixes, contributed one-off tracks to compilations, and done various guest production work.^[4]

In 2002, he appeared on the Sound-Ink's Colapsus collection,on a very hard to find track titled "Monday Nite at Fluid" featuring Kurious with production by King Honey, who also produced some tracks for Dumile's album Vaudeville Villain. DOOM also made an appearance in "November Has Come", a track on Gorillaz's 2005 album Demon Days, which reached #6 on the Billboard 200.^[5]

Besides the Viktor Vaughn album Dumile produces all the instrumentation tracks for his solo releases with very few exceptions.^[4]

Beginning in 2001, under the "Metal Fingers" moniker, Dumile began releasing his Special Herbs instrumentals series. Many of these beats can be heard as the instrumentation tracks throughout his body of work. A separate website catalogs for which tracks each instrumental has been used.^[6]

Ongoing career[link]

In 2003, Dumile released the King Geedorah album Take Me to Your Leader. Geedorah is credited as producer, but only appears as an MC on four tracks. The majority of vocal tracks feature guest MCs, and the album features several instrumental montages of sampled vocals from old movies and TV shows—a technique employed on most of Dumile's albums. Both Venomous Villain and Take Me to Your Leader feature appearances by MF Doom.

Also in 2003, Dumile released the LP Vaudeville Villain under the moniker Viktor Vaughn (another play on Doctor Doom, whose "real name" is Victor von Doom). In 2004 he released a follow-up LP, Venomous Villain (also called VV2).

And, in 2004, the second MF Doom album MM.. Food was released by the Minnesota-based label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Mainstream recognition[link]

DOOM's first commercial breakthrough came in 2004, with the album Madvillainy, created with producer Madlib under the group name Madvillain. Released by Stones Throw Records, the album was a critical and commercial success. MF DOOM was seen by mainstream audiences for the first time as Madvillain received publicity and acclaim in publications such as Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Spin. A video for "All Caps" and a four-date U.S. tour followed the release of Madvillainy. Additional videos for "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion", both directed by Andrew Gura, were released on the DVDs Stones Throw 101 and Stones Throw 102: In Living the True Gods, respectively.

MF Doom collaborated with Danger Mouse who together are known as DANGERDOOM.

Though still an independent artist, MF DOOM took a bigger step towards the mainstream in 2005 with The Mouse and the Mask, a collaboration with producer DJ Danger Mouse under the group name Danger Doom. The album, released on October 11, 2005 by Epitaph, was done in collaboration with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and featured voice-actors and characters from its programs (mostly Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Danger Doom reached #41 on the Billboard 200.^[7] In 2006 DOOM hosted the Adult Swim Christmas special and he could be seen in between shows, usually talking about what was up next, and making jokes.

2006–2009[link]

MF Doom produced tracks for both of Ghostface Killah's 2006 albums Fishscale and More Fish, and the two are currently at work on a collaboration album titled Swift & Changeable. So far only track released from the album is "Angels", which appeared on a Nature Sounds compilation in late 2006, and later re-released in a different fashion on Doom's 2009 album Born Like This. Doom has also revealed plans for a second Madvillain album with producer Madlib, with one song, "Monkey Suite", first appearing on the Adult Swim/Stones Throw Records album Chrome Children, later it appeared on Madvillainy 2 - The Madlib Remix. Other potential projects mentioned by Doom include new albums from Danger Doom,^[8] KMD, as well as further albums under both his Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah aliases. However, many such Doom projects have been rumored in recent years without materializing.

Despite no new Doom releases in 2006, Kidrobot and Stones Throw released an 8" tall Madvillain toy available to coincide with the release of the Chrome Children CD/DVD (hosted by Peanut Butter Wolf) which featured a DVD performance of Madvillain and several other Stones Throw artists. Doom also continued to work with Adult Swim doing voice-over work as Sherman the Giraffe on Perfect Hair Forever, being the voice for The Boondocks ads and previews and hosting their Christmas Eve 2006 programming.

In late January 2009, Lex records confirmed Doom's new album title to be Born Like This, and that the "MF" would be dropped from his name, now just "DOOM".^[9] The album was released worldwide on March 24, 2009.^[10] As a teaser, the track "Ballskin" was posted on Doom's Myspace page on January 13, 2009.^[11] Snippets of the entire album were made available for streaming on Doom's Myspace on the album's release date. The title for the album was inspired by the poem "Dinosauria, We" by poet and writer Charles Bukowski. Doom samples a performance of the poem by Bukowski on the track "Cellz". Previously, Doom used a Bukowski sample for a vocal interlude on 2004's "All Outta Ale.^[12] "Thom Yorke of Radiohead remixed the track "Gazillion Ear" which is available as an iTunes-only bonus track.^[13] June 26, 2009 Kurious released II which featured Doom on the song "Benetton".^[14]

2009-2012[link]

On May 26, 2010, the second single for the next Madvillain album "Paper Mill" was released through Adult Swim.^[15] Expektoration, a live Doom album, was released on September 14, 2010 through Gold Dust Media. In mid 2010, DOOM released the mix-tape "DOOM!", a collection of greatest hits, B-sides and rareties, including the theme for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars featuring Ghostface Killah, and Biochemical Equation, featuring the RZA.

On July 27, 2011 DOOM and Ghostface Killah released the track "Victory Laps" from their long awaited collaboration project Swift & Changeable on the Nature Sounds label.

DOOM was chosen by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they curated in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.^[16]

DOOM will be the guest curator for Chapter 48 of Frank151's quarterly magazine. Chapter 48 will be released Summer 2012 and will feature a candid interview with DOOM on a variety of topics.^[17]

In September DOOM will be performing live as part of Bestival 2012 on the Isle Of Wight.^[18]

Live show controversy[link]

Dumile has become infamous for allegedly sending imposters to perform on his behalf.^[19] Doom initially countered such accusations by claiming that he lost weight and thus looked - and sounded - different,^[20] before his road manager described the move as an intentional choice made by Dumile.^[21] For his 2011 UK tour, a promoter for the Glasgow show - fearing reduced attendance from a cautious public - guaranteed on Twitter that Dumile would be appearing in person.

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

• 1999: Operation: Doomsday
• 2003: Take Me to Your Leader (as King Geedorah)
• 2003: Vaudeville Villain (as Viktor Vaughn)
• 2004: Venomous Villain (as Viktor Vaughn)
• 2004: Mm.. Food
• 2009: Born Like This (as DOOM)

Compilation Albums[link]

• 2009: Unexpected Guests

Collaboration Albums[link]

• 1991: Mr. Hood (as Zev Love X with KMD)
• 2001: Black Bastards (as Zev Love X with KMD)
• 2003: Escape from Monsta Island! (as King Geedorah with Monsta Island Czars)
• 2004: Madvillainy (with Madlib as Madvillain)
• 2005: The Mouse and the Mask (with Danger Mouse as DANGERDOOM)
• 2006: Occult Hymn (with Danger Mouse as DANGERDOOM)
• 2012: Son of Yvonne (with Masta Ace as MA DOOM)
• 2012: Key to the Kuffs (with Jneiro Jarel as JJ DOOM) ^[22]
• TBA: Swift & Changeable (with Ghostface Killah as DOOMSTARKS)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Daniel Dumile

• MF Doom on Myspace
• Official website