|
The Jew thing Professor Griff speaks his truth by MIREILLE SILCOTT
Mirror: Do you still speak to the people in Public Enemy? Professor Griff: Yes, we talk. We're cordial. But the split really took its toll. A lot of individuals thought it was about us, about infighting. It was never about us, though. M: So why did the split-up happen, if it wasn't about you? PG: Because some of us were believing the hype. Reading the papers too much. It was all, "He's too militant, he's too radical." Come on! I'm the same guy you grew up with! We HAD the public. I said turn up the heat. Speak out. But the money and the fame stood in the way. M: So according to you, you got kicked out of PE because of money? PG: No, I got kicked out because of my political view. M: So what is your political view, Griff? Give it to me straight. PG: I believe that we as black people have been deceived and lied to. The only thing I was trying to do was raise the level of consciousness. Re-educate the people. What's wrong with that? M: Well, what exactly were the quotes in the [Washington Post] article that were found so offensive? PG: Whoa. That's kinda critical to rehash. M: Try. PG: I can't quote verbatim, but I think I said that the people who set up the slave trade... well, I named all of these people. And these were the same people running the media, the music industry, I said. The gentleman who was running the tape recorder, he couldn't believe this. That I was presenting the FACTS. Then after the article came out, he faxed it to all of the Jewish organizations. And he emphasized the Jew thing, to make the article sound juicier than it was. M: He tampered with information? PG: He hyped the Jews part. He made it seem like a personal attack. Personal hatred. And it wasn't. M: Here's one of your quotes from that article: "Is it a coincidence that Jews run the jewellery business? And that its named jewellery?" That sounds like a personal attack. PG: Oh, no, no, no. If the comment was left in its proper context, then I think everyone would have understood. M: So what was the context? PG: I think I had on a ring that Terminator X gave me, and I remember that that line came out of a conversation about it... M: Eric Mohammed from the Black African Holocaust Council once said something like, there's so much concentration put on the Jewish Holocaust, because "Jews have lots of money." Do you see that as true? PG: In a sense. There is just too much talk on Jewish people's part about suffering and Hitler. There is too much talk in black people's part about slavery and blah, blah, blah. What is wrong with coming together and bridging the gap? M: Some people, given your anti-semitic quotes, would be surprised to hear you say that, all this "bridging the gap" stuff. PG: Oh, because those people never talked to me. They said "Oh, so and so wrote this, it must be true," not "Let me call Griff." M: Come on! No one called you after the Washington Times article? PG: Yes, some people called and threatened my family. But there were certain Jewish people who reached out. Which I really respect. One gentleman in Miami took me to the Jewish Holocaust museum. M: So no one in PE shared your political views? PG: Yes, they did. But I spoke unapologetically and they told me I was messing it up. And now look at it: Griff left and PE went downhill. M: An aide of Farrakhan said a while ago, "Jews control public opinion because of their overwhelming numbers in the press." Do you see any truth in those ideas? PG: I would say people control it. M: People? Yes, that's true. PG: I don't know. I would have to study that... is he talking about editors? M: He was talking mostly about news services, like the Associated Press. The wire services that many papers get their news from. PG: Oh. You're teaching me something today. I always wondered why you see the same story in different papers at the same time. M: That's why. Now you tell me why Farrakhan and you and all of these people pick on Jews. PG: Even in the way you ask that question--you use the words "picked on"--I don't think it's a "picked on" kind of thing. I wasn't picking on Jews. I was just stating facts. Professor Griff performs at spoken-word night Yawp!, along with cellist Denis Brott, Bird-Dog, the Potholes and others. At Cabaret, 7:30pm, $10 |
In 1989, Professor Griff, Public Enemy's "Minister of Information" and leader of PE's SW1 bodyguards, got kicked out of the radical rap group for anti-Semitic comments--particularly for what he had said in an interview with the Washington Post in May of that year. After the dust settled, he said he was just telling the truth. And now he says he wants all races to come together.