A photo of former President Barack Obama and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has surfaced on the Internet, an image that could have mired the politician's campaign in controversy. Obama, who was an Illinois senator at the time, met the contentious speaker at a Congressional Black Caucus meeting in 2005.
The journalist who took the photo, Askia Muhammad, reportedly told Trice Edney News Wire that it was kept under wraps out of fear that it would have "made a difference" on Obama's political future. He also claimed that he "gave the picture up at the time and basically swore secrecy."
Although it's natural for prominent leaders to snag a photo together, Islamophobia runs rampant in the United States and during Obama's campaign, Donald Trump led a charge declaring that the former President is Muslim and was not born in the country. Farrakhan is also known for his controversial and anti-Semitic statements.
Back in March 2016, Farrakhan praised then-presidential candidate Donald Trump for being "the only man that stood in front of some members of the Jewish community and told them 'I don’t want your money.'"
But since the controversial statements by Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright didn't bring him down, there's a chance that this photo wouldn't have either. He's just too smooth. And to be fair, taking a photo isn't nearly as bad as allegedly discriminating against Haitian immigrants, pushing the doomsday clock closer with your policies or being investigated for having questionable ties to Russia and sending an order to try to fire the guy investigating you for those alleged ties.
