House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2023,” one day after a bombshell report revealing the Democrat leader defended antisemites, including his own uncle, and called black conservatives “token” and “opportunists” in his college newspaper.
TIME Magazine released its profile on Jeffries, written by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the day following a bombshell CNN story detailing the minority leader’s use of race politics during his time at Binghamton University in upstate New York.
“Jeffries became Democratic leader with the enthusiastic, unified support of House Democrats,” Pelosi explained in his profile before noting that he “made history” by becoming the first black congressional leader. The Speaker Emerita continued:
Under his leadership, Democrats will make progress. Leader Jeffries is already doing a terrific job in the fight for Democratic values and against Republican extremism.
The challenge is great. But I know the job, I know Hakeem, and I know he will succeed. Leader Jeffries is a person of faith, patriotism, and respect for the oath we take to protect and defend our Constitution.
Our entire country will benefit from his new leadership—and one day very soon, he will be an excellent Speaker of the House!
However, just one day before, on Wednesday, a CNN story revealed that Jeffries, who has said he has a “vague recollection” of the controversy surrounding his antisemitic uncle, actually defended Leonard Jeffries, a black studies professor who lost his job after making antisemitic remarks, and Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, in his college newspaper.
In February 1992, he explained that the two were unfairly targeted by “white media” for challenging “the longstanding distortion of history”:
Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice like grip on power? Of course not. … Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire. Where do you think their interests lie? Dr. Jeffries has challenged the existing white supremist educational system and the long standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory erroneous accusations.
It was also reported that Jeffries, during his time at Binghamton University and as a member of the executive board for the Black Student Union, had invited his uncle to speak on campus.
Additionally, his editorial criticized “black conservatives” as a “phenomenon.” It also referred to them as “token Blacks” and “right-wing opportunists” that have bought into “the idea of the American dream,” in addition to comparing them to “house negroes” during American slavery.
National Republican Congressional Committee press secretary Will Reinert, looking to define Jeffries negatively, told Breitbart News, “TIME magazine must immediately remove Hakeem Jeffries from their list of most influential people of 2023.”
“If they refuse to remove him from the list, it’s a tacit agreement of Jeffries’ racist remarks and bigoted defense of anti-Semites by TIME editors and owner Marc Benioff,” Reinert added.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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