Add another name to the list of notorious antisemites with whom Raphael Warnock has associated.
An explosive new report shows Warnock’s church repeatedly hosted Leonard Jeffries, a former professor who was fired “over antisemitic and Black supremacist teachings.” At the time of his appearances, Jeffries was under fire because of a speech “in which he said that Jews and the Mafia had conspired to denigrate blacks in the movies and that Jews had financed the slave trade,” along with other antisemitic statements. Jeffries is the uncle of incoming House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
This is a troubling pattern for Warnock, who has spent his whole career associating with controversial figures:
- Warnock’s church hosted Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, which isn’t surprising considering Warnock once praised Castro’s legacy as “complex, kinda like America’s legacy is complex” (then refused to disavow his comments).
- Warnock celebrated the Nation of Islam — led by proud antisemite Louis Farrakhan — as “needed” and “important.”
- Warnock praised ex-Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as “a prophet” who should be “celebrate[d]” — even after Wright’s infamous “God Damn America” sermon.
- Warnock eulogized his spiritual mentor, Dr. James Hal Cone — who argued white Christians are “satanic” and called for “the destruction of everything white” — as a “poignant and powerful voice” of high “spiritual magnitude.”
- Warnock said he “owe[s] much of who I am today to” Calvin Butts, a controversial preacher who called Louis Farrakhan “influential.”
Warnock is the company he keeps.
