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Page:1965 FBI monograph on Nation of Islam.djvu/76

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than the "elite" or "snooty" ones. According to this captain, Elijah was interested in dope addicts, prostitutes, thieves, gamblers, and drunkards. His technique apparently is to offer to society's black rejects the organizational apparatus of the NOI. Believing these social outcasts will be shunned by other Negro leaders, Elijah hopes to impress upon them that he is interested in their rehabilitation. After considerable experience, Elijah knows the unintelligent Negro is more apt to follow cult teachings.

To date, Elijah has had little success in recruiting educated Negroes, whom he calls "white folks loving" Negroes. He expressed his feelings toward them at an NOI rally in Detroit in May, 1964. He said, "College people think their education will save them. Negroes are ignorant even though they attended college because they do not have a knowledge of themselves. They will be destroyed because of their ignorance and stubbornness."

Cult ministers and other leaders recognize that the constant turnover in membership requires constant recruiting efforts. One extreme measure used in Chicago over the past few years has been the cult's effort to interest various Negro youth street gangs in NOI membership. NOI recruiters, taking advantage of a gang member's penchant for militancy, approach a youth and remind him that the NOI basically is fighting for the same objective as the gang, that is, Negro supremacy; and, whereas the