We certainly don’t like to dirty our fingers by pointing them in blame, but it seems there is a bit of a scandal brewing in Illinois.
Louis Farrakhan, the irascible Minister of the Nation of Islam, told the audience at his annual “Savior’s Day” in Chicago the root of all evil in the world comes down to the Hollywood Jews, for promoting “lesbianism, homosexuality,” and other “filth” in society. “It’s wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!”
Unfortunately, a member of the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes is Sister Claudette Marie Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan’s Director of Protocol at the Nation of Islam. And she invited other members of the Illinois Commission to Farrakhan’s speech. That must have been fun.
The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, says he had no idea of her involvement with NoI. In fact, he knows her as Claudette Marie Johnson.
Needless to say, the rest of the Commission is flabberghasted that a member of Farrakhan’s crew is among their ranks, and they demanded an explanation–but Blagojevich, in a political attempt to not take sides, stood by the side of his own appointee, and basically ignored the matter.
How about we take this to the next level?
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As a result, most of the Commission has quit, and when new members were appointed, they quit as well, leaving Sister Muhammad in office without apology for Farrakhan’s remarks. Nor has Blagojevich requested Muhammad apologize, or step down from the commission.
We’re no stranger to Farrakhan’s hate-speech, and we’re not surprised he voiced such spurrious opinions once again. But we are quite disheartened that the Governor of Illinois has chosen the George W. Bush route of sticking his head in the sand and hoping everything will all go away–especially with one of the world’s largest GLBT events, the Gay Games, headed to the city of Chicago this summer. We can only imagine what Louis Farrakhan has planned to stymie the success of the big event–and how little the Governor’s office will do about it.
