Louis Farrakhan is a problem.
He is a problem for the Rev. Benjamin Chavis of the N.A.A.C.P. and Abraham Foxman of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, who met last week to discuss what to do about him in a meeting so sensitive they would not even confirm he was the topic under discussion. On Saturday, the N.A.A.C.P. said it would convene a national summit of black leaders and would pointedly include Farrakhan as a gesture of support, despite expected Jewish condemnation. "We have every right to convene African-American leadership," said Chavis. "There's a deep hunger in our community."
He is a problem for the Congressional Black Caucus, whose chairman, Representative Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, has embroiled himself in controversy by pledging a "covenant" of cooperation -- since disavowed -- with both Farrakhan and mainstream black leaders.
He is a problem for a broad range of American blacks, who rightly fear that his anti-Semitic rhetoric erodes the moral authority of his appeals against racism and who are chagrined that his Nation of Islam, long an angry voice of the underclass, now enjoys a following among college students.
He is a problem for American Jews, who want to ensure that his brand of racism means automatic disqualification from national debate.
He is a problem for the vast majority of Islamic Americans, who already suffer from having their religion equated with hostage taking and terrorism and who mostly reject Farrakhan's racial isolationism and abuse of other faiths.
He is a problem for some of his adherents, who hear in his speeches black self-love and self-help and who see the Nation of Islam as a force against crime and drugs, bringing order and discipline to neighborhoods with almost none -- yet who know that many of their associates hear only hatred in his preachments.
And Farrakhan, still impetuous at 60, is a problem for himself. In private a calm, seemingly rational man yearning for a place among trusted elders of his race, he is apt in public to get carried away on a wave of rhetoric and say things so intemperate, so easily misunderstood -- and sometimes not misunderstood -- that he thwarts his ambition.
Above all, he is a problem for an America that is increasingly multiracial and multicultural and is consequently in growing need of tolerance and mutual respect. His success underscores two ugly truths of American life. A great many black Americans view their white fellow citizens with anger. And a great many white Americans view their black fellow citizens with fear. Farrakhan's call for separatism and economic "reparations" and his assertion of black racial superiority win respect from millions of blacks, even among those who wish he would stop calling Jews "bloodsuckers." While most whites are apt to think his abusive rhetoric should be ignored if not silenced, many blacks think he is saying some things America ought to hear.