Speaking truth to lies often forces one to trudge on dangerous terrain. Few dare to tread here and the minuscule number who do often tiptoe around as if walking on eggshells for fear of being misunderstood or mislabeled. Yet, I feel the need to tramp around today in an effort to alert you to an unmentionable evil of our time, namely, black supremacists.

White supremacists are roundly and rightly condemned in our day. No sensible person, much less sincere Christian, would ever approve of or associate with the Ku Klux Klan or Nazis. However, black supremacists, like Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, are not so roundly condemned. Neither are they scorned by blacks the way the Ku Klux Klan is by whites. Whereas whites appropriately risk the ruining of their reputation at the slightest hint of sympathy with the Klan, blacks who associate with Black Muslims appear to enjoy immunity to ignominy.

The African American community justifies its refusal to ostracize Black Muslims on the grounds of America’s racist past. In other words, condemned white racism condones black racism. So much for the old adage: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Apparently, they do in the race war. The wrong of white supremacists makes right the wrong of black supremacists.

According to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, a mad scientist by the name of Yakub created white people from a germ. All whites are believed by Black Muslims to be devils and less than fully evolved humans. Since blacks are the superior race, Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam teaches that blacks will defeat whites and eventually rule the world.

Despite such racist teachings, more than one-third of African Americans “express a favorable view” of Farrakhan. Furthermore, Time Magazine reported in 1994 that 63% of African Americans believe Farrakhan speaks the truth. Farrakhan’s “truth” is being promoted today by numerous African American college and university student publications, as well as by rappers and rap groups like Public Enemy and Ice Cube. Farrakhan himself is a popular speaker on America’s university campuses. He was also recently invited to take part in a national summit of black political leaders, a summit which included members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Imagine the public outrage if more than one-third of white Americans expressed a favorable view of the Ku Klux Klan and 63% of white Americans said that they believed the Klan’s Grand Wizard spoke the truth. Do you remember how George Bush was condemned during the 2000 presidential campaign for speaking at Bob Jones University, which at the time had a policy prohibiting interracial dating? What if Bob Jones University had a skinhead fraternity publishing a white supremacist campus newspaper and had invited David Duke to speak instead of George Bush? Can you imagine what would happen to the careers of white entertainers who publicly promoted the beliefs and ideas of the KKK? And what do you think would happen to white political leaders if they invited David Duke to take part in a national summit?

All of the aforementioned prove the existence of a double standard when it comes to the problem of racism in the white and black communities. This double standard was poignantly illustrated for us this past Saturday by events in Washington D. C. and Toledo, Ohio.

In Toledo, two dozen members of a group of white supremacists calling themselves the “American Nazi Party” gathered in a city park to march under police protection. The city of Toledo had roundly condemned this racist group, as rightly they should, and refused to give them a permit to march down the streets. The city could not, however, ban the marchers from walking on the sidewalks. In view of this, Toledo’s Mayor Jack Ford called upon city residents to just ignore the march. Unfortunately, the mayor’s advice went unheeded.

Shortly before the march was to begin, a crowd that had gathered to protest the march turned violent. Protesters threw baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalized vehicles and stores, and set fire to a neighborhood bar. There was even a report of a shooting, although police were unable to find a victim. At least two dozen people were arrested during the rioting and several policemen and firefighters were injured. Meanwhile, the white supremacist marchers quickly left the park after being notified that their march had been canceled due to the violent protest.

In Washington D. C., tens of thousands gathered on the National Mall for the Millions More March, an event organized by Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. The event marked the tenth anniversary of Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam’s Million Man March. Whereas this past Saturday’s Millions More March drew only tens of thousands, the 1995 Million Man March drew hundreds of thousands—more than 60% of whom claimed to be Christian, despite Farrakhan’s denunciation of Christianity as “the white man’s religion.” Proudly sharing the platform with Farrakhan this past Saturday were Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, singer Erykah Badu, and Congressional Black Caucus chairman Mel Watts.

Unlike Toledo, where the white supremacists—the American Nazi Party—were roundly condemned by city officials, no government official in our nation’s capital dared to utter a word of condemnation against the black supremacists—Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Also, there was no one in Washington D. C. who attempted to keep Farrakhan and his Black Muslims off the National Mall or who called upon Americans to ignore the Millions More March. In addition, apart from a few gay protesters protesting event leaders’ reneging on their pledge to let a national gay leader address the crowd, not one peep of protest was heard from any quarter.

It’s high time we learned that racism comes in all colors, not just white, and will never be solved until uniformly dealt with in all of its varied hues. Regardless of the color it’s painted from the human palette, racism is never appealing, but always appalling. It is just as wrong when practiced by Black Muslims as when practiced by the Mystic Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. It is just as ugly in a gathering on the National Mall as it is on the sidewalks of Toledo.