Democrat Leader Defends Antisemites

REVEALED: Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries under fire over his unearthed college editorial DEFENDING anti-semite uncle who said Jews helped finance the slave trade and 'plotted' to keep black actors from Hollywood

• The minority leader's uncle, professor Leonard Jeffries, faced backlash in the 1990s after making comments about the involvement of 'rich Jews'
•  The younger Jeffries began his editorial by warning that the 'rise of the black conservative' would threaten to 'sustain the oppression of the black masses'
• Jeffries wrote: 'Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire."

Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries has only a 'vague recollection' of the controversy surrounding his anti-semite uncle but wrote a fiery op-ed in college defending him.

The minority leader's Black studies professor Leonard Jeffries faced backlash in the 1990s after making comments about the involvement of 'rich Jews' in the slave trade and of Jewish executives launching 'a conspiracy, planned and plotted and programmed out of Hollywood' to denigrate Black Americans in films. 

When Jeffries was a college student at Binghamton University in New York, he wrote an editorial in 1992 defending his uncle and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.  The school's Black Student Union, where Jeffries was an executive board member, had invited the university professor to speak after the controversy. 

The younger Jeffries began his editorial by warning that the 'rise of the black conservative' would threaten to 'sustain the oppression of the black masses,' referring to the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas. 

The minority leader's Black studies professor Leonard Jeffries, above, faced backlash in the 1990s after making comments about the involvement of 'rich Jews' in the slave trade

He likened black Republicans to 'House n*****s' who 'sought to emulate the white master,' according to a copy of the document unearthed by CNN.

He questioned why the media had built up black people like Thomas, former Sec. of State Colin Powell and  author Shelby Steele. 

'Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice like grip on power?' Jeffries asked. 

Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries' 1992 editorial 

'Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire.' he continued, suggesting the pair were better representatives of black interests than black conservatives. 

'Dr. Jeffries has challenged the existing white supremist [sic] educational system and long standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory erroneous accusations.' 

Jeffries wrote the piece for The Vanguard, the BSU student newspaper. 

The younger Jeffries then went on to say conservatism does not represent black people because it stands against the 'redistribution of wealth.' 

'Conservative political thought rejects the redistribution of wealth. Conservative political thought shuns social reforms and favors a huge defense industry. Conservative political thought does not advocate Civil Rights advances.' 

Jeffries went on to attack capitalism: 'The black conservative buys into the idea of the American dream, the dream in which hard work and perseverance eventually liberate and reap benefits. However, this totally ignores the economic reality of this country's capitalist system. Capitalism necessitates the perpetuation of a permanent underclass.'

Leonard Jeffries Jr., Professor of Black Studies at the City College of New York, pictured in Harlem, New York City, 1991

Like Leonard Jeffries, Farrakhan came under fire for explosive remarks about Jews - once praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the 1980s as a 'great man' and calling Judaism a 'dirty religion.'  

After the Black Student Union (BSU) invited Leonard Jeffries, Hakeem and the BSU held a press conference to defend him. 

In 2012 the Anti-Defamation League quoted Leonard Jeffries as saying: 'The evil genius of the Jewish community was to put together their powers to make business their religion and make it part of their culture.' 

In 1994 the Associated Press reported him saying: 'Jews were like 'skunks' and 'stunk up everything.''

He was condemned at the time by Gov. Mario Cuomo and Mayor David Dinkin, and eventually left his position as chair of the Black Studies Department at City University of New York in 1995, after a lengthy legal back-and-forth. 

Professor Jeffries in his speech at the college reiterated his message about 'anti-black' Jewish moguls in Hollywood. He reportedly compared Jewish opposition to his speech to Nazism.

'It's ironic that members of the Jewish community felt compelled to take a position that is antidemocratic and….pro-Nazi in its viciousness,' he said. 

House Democrats chose Representative Hakeem Jeffries as their leader to replace Speaker Nancy Pelosi, making him the first black lawmaker in charge of a political party.

Jeffries admitted that progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar used anti-Semitic tropes but defended her anyway.

She had suggested that Israel's allies in U.S. politics were motivated by money, writing: 'It's all about the Benjamins baby.'

Omar came to the US as a Somali refugee