A House Democrat on Tuesday defended having met with controversial activist and imam Louis Farrakhan, saying the Nation of Islam leader is an "outstanding human being."
The Daily Caller asked Rep. Danny Davis (D., Ill.) about the revelation that the black separatist leader met with the Congressional Black Caucus in 2005 and was photographed meeting future president Barack Obama during a 2006 CBC meeting.
"I personally know [Farrakhan]; I’ve been to his home, done meetings, participated in events with him," Davis responded.
"I don’t regard Louis Farrakhan as an aberration or anything; I regard him as an outstanding human being who commands a following of individuals who are learned and articulate. And he plays a big role in the lives of thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people," he continued.
Farrakhan has been labeled a virulent anti-Semite by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which notes he "routinely accuses Jews of manipulating the U.S. government and controlling the levers of world power," and has praised Adolf Hitler as a "very great man."
Among other fringe beliefs, the black separatist believes 9/11 was a "false flag," Jews were responsible for slavery, white people are subhumans created by the evil black scientist named Yakub, and that after the 2011 Japanese tsunami, "divine spaceships waiting to avenge black suffering would soon arrive."