Louis Farrakhan's Son the Baskeball Player!!!

He would like to talk about basketball, and only basketball. It is an impossible wish, a hopelessly naïve wish, but it is that charming naiveté that could insulate this teenager as he becomes a man.


Mustapha Farrakhan showed savvy and skill at the Nike All-America Camp.
He will have friends because of his name. He will have enemies because of his name, too. His name is Mustapha Farrakhan.

He is a 6-foot-3 shooting guard out of the Chicago area, and yes, he's related to the Honorable Farrakhan leader of the Nation of Islam. Louis Farrakhan is Mustapha's grandfather.

On this day, last week at the Nike All-America Camp at Indianapolis, Mustapha Farrakhan has been summoned to the media room. On the court he is smooth and confident, dunking with two hands and throwing no-look passes and flicking righteous-looking lefty 3-pointers. In the media room he is humble and shy, with huge eyes and a small smile and an earnest, surprised look that implies he had no idea he would be asked about his grandfather or his father, also named Mustapha Farrakhan, who as the Nation of Islam's supreme captain is the likely successor to Louis Farrakhan.

The eventual elevation of his father would put the younger Mustapha Farrakhan -- this one, this wide-eyed teenager standing before you -- potentially in line to lead the Nation of Islam himself some day. This is what you want to discuss with 17-year-old Mustapha Farrakhan. His birthright. His future. His politics.

But he only wants to talk about his sport.

"I'm just focusing in on basketball right now," he says. "I'm just thinking about basketball."

Mustapha Farrakhan, a rising high school senior, definitely will be a college basketball player. He'll never be a "normal" college basketball player, not with one of the most divisive surnames names in modern American society on the back of his jersey, but Mustapha Farrakhan will get a scholarship. He'll earn it, too. Farrakhan was chosen for Nike's senior all-star game Sunday and acquitted himself well: eight points on five shots from the floor, plus five rebounds and three assists in 16 minutes.

I'll be honest, if for a moment I can completely interject myself into this story: When I saw Mustapha Farrakhan's name on the Nike Camp roster, I assumed he had been invited by Nike leader George Raveling for the publicity, or as a favor to Louis Farrakhan, or both. Sure, the camp brochure indicated Mustapha Farrakhan had averaged 17.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists as a junior at Thornton Township (Ill.) High, but come on. Louis Farrakhan's grandson? No way he's a legit Division I player. That's what I assumed.

I assumed wrong. In a camp setting like Nike where most guards are selfish and/or out of control, Farrakhan stands out for his smooth jump shot, his clever passing and his overall savvy play. That's no surprise considering his 3.5 high school GPA. Not only is he being recruited at the solid mid-major level -- Missouri Valley Conference teams are on him the hardest -- but he's better than that. Mustapha Farrakhan might never be a Big Ten star, but he can play in that conference. He's that good.

He'll never be known for his basketball, however, which is too bad. Everyone deserves a chance to carve their own legacy, but for familial reasons some never get the chance. John F. Kennedy Jr. had no chance. Pete Rose Jr. had no chance. Mustapha Farrakhan has no chance, either. We can wring our hands about that, or we can get mad at anyone (me) who would be so crass as to suggest in writing that a 17-year-old kid has no shot at making a name for himself as a basketball player, but Mustapha Farrakhan is what he is: very good basketball player, grandson of Louis Farrakhan. And not in that order.

As impressive as he was at Nike Camp, Mustapha is the subject of this story because of his grandfather. Wherever he goes to college, his background will be a focal point for the local media. Is Louis Farrakhan coming to the game? Will he have bodyguards? (For the record, Louis Farrakhan has attended several of his grandson's high school games, protected by large men in dark suits.)

Here's a prediction: By the time Mustapha Farrakhan's college career is finished, he will have been written about in all of this country's major sports magazines and several of its major newspapers, and he will have been featured on ESPN. If he becomes a great college basketball player, that would help, but that's optional. Regardless of his game, his name is that big. Wherever his college team plays, Mustapha Farrakhan will be a storyline. Opposing fans will be happy to see him. Imagine the chants young Farrakhan might hear on the road. On second thought, don't.

Louis Farrakhan is an enormous figure on the socio-political landscape, a brilliant orator and persuasive Muslim leader capable of dreaming up and pulling off the 1995 Million Man March. He also is a vitriolic demagogue who has uttered more than his share of hateful words, words that won't be repeated here.

None of that, of course, has the least little thing to do with Mustapha Farrakhan's jumper or his ability to defend on the perimeter. Even though Louis Farrakhan's politics are irrelevant to this story, they are still crucial to this story.

Mustapha Farrakhan had better get used to it. It's reality for the basketball-playing grandson of Louis Farrakhan. Even when you're the story ... you're not the story.



Louis Farrakhan HONORABLE?!?!

How can Doyel call Louis Farrakhan "honorable", and then say "He also is a vitriolic demagogue who has uttered more than his share of hateful words, words that won't be repeated here."

Farrakhan's grandson is automatically a better person because he's NOT Louis Farrakhan. I hope that he keeps his distance from his grandson so that he may have a chance at basketball and life.