25 years ago: Black Muslim leader speaks at KU

“It’s time for blacks and whites to change the world together, to right the lingering wrongs of the past and set a new example based on justice and mutual respect.” So declared Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, in a speech at Kansas University. The Black Muslim minister’s impassioned oratory at Hoch Auditorium climaxed three weeks of campus controversy during which he was referred to as a “black Nazi,” a racist and an anti-Semite. He was flanked by bodyguards, declared he was “a man of peace” and won a standing ovation. There were demonstrators outside the auditorium.