Not so fast there, Mahdi Miami Militia

Plan for Group Tied to Nation of Islam to Patrol Miami Streets Meets With Protest (see previous post on this subject here.)

Controversy is growing in Miami over the city's decision to launch a nearly $1 million crime-fighting initiative that will include street patrols by a group with close ties to the Nation of Islam.

The City of Miami says it plans to give $150,000 to a civilian patrol group known as the Peacemakers, to be run by the Progressive Land Development International, an organization that shares a mailing address with the Nation of Islam in Miami.

But not everyone thinks having a group tied to the Nation of Islam patrolling the neighborhood is a good idea. Andrew Rosenkranz, the Anti Defamation League's Florida Regional Director, said the Nation of Islam has "a well-documented, irrefutable public record of racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism." He said the city had chosen an unlikely group to teach tolerance and civil behavior.

Details of the program are still vague and an official contract has yet to be signed. But Ed O'Dell, spokesman for the city's Community Redevelopment Agency, said the suit-and-tie wearing Muslim group will be working independent from police as role models and crime watchers. (snort)

While the Peacemakers say they are not officially affiliated with the Nation of Islam, the group is headed by Rasul Muhammad, a prominent Nation of Islam member and the son of former leader Elijah Muhammad, and its corporate offices are at the group's Miami mosque.

Muhammad told the Miami Herald that the Peacemakers not are a racist organization. "We are not anti-Jewish people. We are not anti-Catholic people. We are not anti-white people. The whole Peacemakers project is being based on being anti-crime, anti-immorality.... Are they saying that they don't want peace?'' he told the Herald.

But Rosenkranz said the city should have considered what happened when other cities experimented with programs in association with the Nation of Islam. In 2005, police in New Orleans were forced to dropped a $15,000 police sensitivity training contract with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan following public outcry about the group's anti-Semitic reputation.

"While we appreciate the City of Miami's efforts to improve conditions in the Overtown area, we are concerned that it did not fully understand the nature of the organization that it chose to provide these services," said Rosenkranz.

City officials are defending their decision, saying they sent invitations to other community and faith-based groups to participate in the "ecumenical" program after residents and nightclub owners in the area asked for increased security.

O'Dell said the City of Miami put out an announcement asking for input and even directly approached some groups about patrolling the area. "Other groups were at the meeting. Homeowners' groups, pastors, parents— anyone could come. I don't know why they didn't want to be a part of it," O'Dell said.

Oh, I don't know... perhaps because the Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians aren't THUGS like the Nation of Islam????

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