Nation of Islam Moves Toward More Inclusiveness

February 25, 2001

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On February 25, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that "the vitriolic race rhetoric that has characterized the Nation [of Islam] in the past...seems to have disappeared since last year's annual Saviour's Day celebration." At the celebration, the group's leader, Minister Louis Farrakhan, said "it was time to reach out to other groups, the Nation of Islam continues to try to paint itself in a friendlier light." The president of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago sees this as a signal of "a return to the core fundamentals of Islam" on the part of the Nation.