Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan
Nation of Islam leader Louis FarrakhanREUTERS

The Nation of Islam has received more than half a million dollars in funding from the federal government – despite its lengthy history of anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and even anti-American rhetoric.

According to a report by The Washington Examiner, the Justice Department has paid the militant black supremacist organization $364,500 in contracts for “religious services” to prison inmates, including “spiritual guide services” and “study services.”

The Justice Department brought in the Nation of Islam to preach to inmates despite the organization’s long history of spreading fringe conspiracy theories and anti-Jewish and anti-white incitement

Louis Farrakhan, the 85-year-old leader of the black supremacist group, was condemned by the US Senate in 1984 after he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and derided Judaism as a gutter religion.

In the intervening 34 years, Farrakhan has since accused American Jews of being part of the “Synagogue of Satan”, compared Jews to termites, warned of the eventual annihilation of whites, claimed that white people were artificially created by a mad scientist and calling them only “potential humans”, accused “the Jews” of helping Adolf Hitler “get the Third Reich on the road” and earlier this year led a chant of “Death to Israel, Death to America” during a visit to Tehran.

Nevertheless, the Department of Justice has contracted Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam to preach to prisoners in federal correctional facilities. According to the Bureau of Prison’s records, the Nation of Islam has been paid $364,500 since 2008 for its services.

Congressman Peter King (NY-R) condemned the department’s funding of the Nation of Islam, calling it “beyond the pale”.

"Categorically, no group or entity or individual associated any way with Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam should receive any federal funding. What Farrakhan preaches is hatred and anti-Semitism and racism, and to use any federal money for any group that’s he’s involved with that do any type of teaching or proselytizing is just wrong,” King told the Examiner.

Fox News reported that in addition to the money paid to the Nation of Islam by the Department of Justice, the federal government had paid Louis Farrakhan $160,000 in agricultural supports for farms it operates, including Muhammad Farms in Georgia. The money, the report noted, was paid directly to Farrakhan’s personal residence in Chicago.