Watch this 60 minutes interview from 1996.
TRANSCRIPT:
Mike Wallace: “You go to Nigeria, which is, if not the most corrupt nation in Africa — and it is — it could be the most corrupt nation in the world, Minister Farrakhan.”
Minister Farrakhan: “Oh, now, Mr. Wallace …”
Mike Wallace: “It is the most corrupt nation I have ever covered. I’ve been there 25 years ago and I’ve been there as recently as last year.”
Minister Farrakhan: “Fine. So what? Thirty-five years old, that’s what that nation is. Now here’s America: 226 years old. You love democracy? But there in Africa you’re trying to force these people into a system of government that you have just accepted. Thirty years ago, Black folk got the right to vote. You’re not in any position to tell anybody how corrupt they are. You should be quiet and let those of us who know our people go over there and help them get out of their condition. But America should keep her mouth shut wherever there is a corrupt regime, as much hell as America has raised on this earth. No! I will not allow America or you, Mr. Wallace, to condemn them as the most corrupt nation on earth when you have spilled the blood of human beings. Has Nigeria dropped an atomic bomb and killed people in Hiroshima or Nagasaki? Have they killed off millions of Native Americans? How dare you put yourself in that position as a moral judge! I think you should keep quiet! Because with that much blood on America’s hands, you have no right to speak. I will speak because I don’t have that blood on my hands. Yes, there’s corruption there. Yes, there’s mismanagement of resources. Yes, there is abuse. There is abuse in every nation on earth, including this one. So let’s not play holy, to moralize on them. Let’s help them.”
Mike Wallace: “I’m not moralizing. I was asking a question and I got an answer.”
Minister Farrakhan: “Why would you put it like that, ‘The most corrupt regime in the world’? That don’t make sense.”
Mike Wallace: “Can you tell me of one more corrupt?”
Minister Farrakhan: “Yeah. I’m livin’ in one. I’m livin’ in one. Yes, you’ve done a hell of a thing on this earth. So you should not be the one to talk. You should be quiet when it comes to moral condemnation.”