A photographer and journalist named Askia Muhammad has released a picture he took in 2005 of then Senator Barack Obama with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Muhammad admits that the photo was hidden from the public in order to protect Obama’s political career.
Esme Cribb reports at the liberal site Talking Points Memo:
The Photo That Never Saw The Light of Day: Obama With Farrakhan In 2005A journalist announced last week that he will publish a photograph of then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (D) and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan that he took in 2005 at a Congressional Black Caucus meeting, but did not make public because he believed it would have “made a difference” to Obama’s political future.The photographer, Askia Muhammad, told the Trice Edney News Wire that he “gave the picture up at the time and basically swore secrecy.”“But after the nomination was secured and all the way up until the inauguration; then for eight years after he was President, it was kept under cover,” Muhammad said.Asked whether he thought the photo’s release would have affected Obama’s presidential campaign, Muhammad said, “I insist. It absolutely would have made a difference.”Reached by TPM on Thursday, Muhammad said a “staff member” for the CBC contacted him “sort of in a panic” after he took the photo at a caucus meeting in 2005.
They had ample cause for concern. Obama’s connections to Reverend Jeremiah Wright almost toppled his 2008 campaign and Farrakhan makes Wright look like a moderate.
Of course, had the photo been available in 2008, all of Obama’s media allies would have simply labeled critics as racists like they did for everything else.
Askia Muhammad was interviewed by Tucker Carlson last night. He confirmed that he was told that the photo had to be hidden for political purposes. Watch below:
Hazel Trice Edney of Northstar News has a rather unique view on this:
Muhammad and others almost immediately realized that the public release of this photo could mean major trouble down the road. Mainly because of bigotry and fear-mongering, the public release of that photo could doom America’s chances of electing Obama as its first Black President.Muhammad had not even left the scene when he received a call and the photo was being summoned by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Muhammad ultimately surrendered the disk to Minister Farrakhan’s chief of staff. And it remained one of America’s best hidden secrets for the next 12 years…“I gave the picture up at the time and basically swore secrecy,” Muhammad said in an exclusive interview with the Trice Edney News Wire this week. “But after the nomination was secured and all the way up until the inauguration; then for eight years after he was President, it was kept under cover.”
Obama was endorsed by Farrakhan in 2008 and was asked about it in a debate by Tim Russert:
Here are a couple of relevant tweets:
If anyone in the mainstream media wants to know why so many people no longer trust them, this is a great place to start. They were the palace guards for Obama, now they’re the mob at the gate.
Featured image via YouTube.
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