The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has condemned the United States government for a half-million-dollar grant to an organization it charges is headed by “a professional anti-Semite” who is seeking to establish an anti-Semitic mercenary army. ADL general counsel Arnold Forster made that charge today in reference to the so-called Blackman’s Volunteer Army of Liberation, headed by Col. Hassan Jeru-Ahmed, 47, director of the Blackman’s Development Center in Washington. Forster told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Jeru-Ahmed had a background of “racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism,” and that it was “totally inappropriate” for him to be given federal funds–$523,000– for his narcotics-rehabilitation program in Washington and in Spotsylvania County, Va.
The ADL’s fact-finding director, Justin Finger. added that Jeru-Ahmed has been “involved with known anti-Semites and racists,” such as Willis Carto, head of the right-wing Liberty Lobby. Finger said the ADL has protested the grant to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Jeru-Ahmed, who calls himself the head of the “Provisional Government of the United Moorish Republic,” also gets $169,000 from the Narcotics Treatment Administration, also for work with drug addicts. Last year it received $23,000 from the Department of Human Resources, and last month $25,000 from the Teamsters’ Alliance for Labor Action. The organization’s total income last year was $193,343; after expenditures, it had $1,500. The Blackman’s Volunteer Army of Liberation is run in para-military style, with members wearing uniforms and participating in drills. Jeru-Ahmed’s right-hand man, a Maj. Jamal, was sentenced earlier this year to 30 days for carrying a concealed pistol in Washington while distributing leaflets.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.