As was the case elsewhere, themes of black power and economic self-sufficiency resonated in prisons and street gangs, in particular. In Denver, the movement took root after Farrakhan visited in 1981. Three years later, Farrakhan broke off and resurrected the Nation of Islam under the previous beliefs. Deen Mohammed, denounced separatism and race baiting and embraced mainstream Sunni Islam, which preaches unity. The father of the organization, Elijah Muhammad, called white man the devil and demanded a separate state for blacks as compensation for slavery. Farrakhan in the past called Jews “bloodsuckers” and Hitler “a great man.” That’s a relatively new sentiment within the Nation. “There needs to be dialogue in religion because we really are saying the same thing, we are just using different terminology.” “We want to break down the barriers that divide us, the greatest barrier being religion,” Mohammad said. On one hand, his likening of rogue cops to slave-owners conflicts with the pleas of Christian pastors in the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance who have downplayed race as a factor in the Childs case.īut a moment later, Muhammad will talk about working together with other races and religions, in keeping with controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s recent efforts to distance his group from its separatist past and embrace mainstream Islam. “We have to speak to the injustice and the wrongs in our community and give our people some hope that someone will speak to the issue and not be afraid,” Muhammad said in an interview after services at the storefront mosque in the Dahlia Shopping Center. Muhammad’s presence at news conferences and rallies has helped keep race alive as an issue in the shooting’s aftermath and again raised the profile of Denver’s small Nation of Islam community. The developmentally disabled boy, who was black, was killed after refusing to put down a knife. In recent weeks, Muhammad has moved from the margins of Denver’s faith community to the middle of the intense debate over the July 5 shooting of 15-year-old Paul Childs by a Denver police officer. Ad: Vacation? City Trip? Weekend Break? Book Skip-the-line tickets
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