BY WILLIAM JUNEAU
On Good Friday of Easter week, 25-year-old Noah Green, a devotee of Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, crashed his automobile into a barricade set up for protection of the Capitol building, and killed a veteran police officer and injured his partner.
Green emerged from his car with a large, bladed knife in his hand and charged into converging policemen in an apparent attempt to assassinate more uniformed officers. But policemen closed in and shot and killed the assailant.
William "Billy" Evans, the slain officer, was an 18-year veteran of the Capitol force, well known and with a family and many friends. President Biden ordered flags at the White House lowered in remembrance of the courageous officer who was a first responder in the riots in the Capitol on January 6.
Media reports have attempted to link the conduct of Green to the "insurrection" of January 6 in the capitol, and to supporters of former President Trump, but have been unable to do so. Virtually all reports advise that Green was a troubled and depressed person who acted on his own and that investigators are searching, but have been unable to identify any motive for his targeting of policemen.
But how hard did the media and authorities look for Green's possible motivation and inspiration for taking down policemen? How did the idea of police evil get planted in his mind? Could it have been the words of the iconic Minister of the Nation of Islam, who the impressionable Green considered a Messiah? Could that have been the "unknown motivation"?
In speeches a couple of years back, Farrakhan contended that the police were not being held accountable for their racist and indiscriminate shootings and killings of young black men. In a speech at the D.C. Episcopal church, he said:
"If the federal government will not intercede in our affairs, then we must rise up and kill those who kill us. Stalk them and kill them and let them feel the pain of death that we are feeling."
Green was a 2019 graduate of Christopher Newport University in Virginia, and reportedly hoped to go on for a master's degree in finance. His dedication to Islam and to Minister Farrakhan is clear. In one of his many Face Book postings, he wrote that he believed that Minister Farrakhan was the "Messiah," and that "without his guidance, his word and his teachings that I have picked up on, I would be unable to continue."
He had filed a petition in a court in Indiana, where previously he had been a resident, to change his name from Noah Ricardo Green to Noah Zaeem Muhammad, a new name which would signify his allegiance to the Nation of Islam and Minister Farrakhan, but he missed his hearing in late March and his name-change application was dismissed.
The NOI, also known as the Back Muslims, is headquartered in Chicago, and is a powerful force inside the black and brown communities. Farrakhan, 87, is a close friend of former President Obama, and the Nation supported him in his rise from that of an Illinois legislator to the U.S. Senate and then to his two terms as the nation's 44th President. Insiders and politicians have said that Black candidates will go forward in Illinois, but only with the support of Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
Minister Farrakhan is outspoken in his anti-Semitic views, and in his continuing derogation of Israel and Jews. In the eyes of the ADL, (Anti- Defamation League) Minister Farrakhan is the country's leading voice in that category. In speeches, which can sometimes last three hours or more, he has referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers," and has characterized Adolph Hitler as "a very great man."
His venom, however, is not reserved only for Jews and racist policemen. The NOI has long tagged the white man as the "blue-eyed devil" on earth and in one speech Farrakhan has been quoted as saying that "white people deserve to die." His incendiary comments are ignored by the the Justice Department and other authorities, and it appears that Farrakhan is untouchable for his rhetoric, although there have been demands that the Department of Justice ask him to tone down his rhetoric.
Following Green's attack on police, the Nation of Islam issued a statement in the name of Minister Farrakhan in which it asserted that Noah Green was not a member of the NOI and had not made donations to it. Apparently he had initiated an application for membership but failed to complete the process.
The statement asserted that "Green’s alleged use of an automobile as a weapon and the alleged possession of a knife as reported, violates our teachings. We absolutely disavow this act that resulted in the senseless loss of life. It is shocking for us to learn that someone who was attempting to be a part of our ranks may have been involved in something as tragic as this."
Farrakhan succeeded Elijah Muhammad as leader of the NOI in 1976 following Muhammad's death. Elijah Muhammad had been recognized as a Messenger of Allah, and had personally given the late Cassius Clay the name of Muhammad Ali after Clay committed to the teachings of Islam and the Nation. The NOI today counts as members well known athletes like Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; entertainers, including Ice Cube, Kanye West and Snoop Dog and the well known television personality Dr. Oz and political writer and commentator, Fareed Zakaria. Actors Will Smith and his wife, Jada, have in the past made a donation of $150,000 to the NOI.
Born Louis Eugene Wolcott, Farrakhan was a talented violinist and calypso singer before he dedicated his life to the Nation and to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. He became a foot soldier to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who changed his deputy's name to Farrakhan. At one point he functioned as an assistant to Malcolm X, who was assassinated in 1965.
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