Through his inept handling of a silly little
matter last week, Gov. Rod Blagojevich managed to make a real mess
of things at the Illinois Statehouse, pitting black legislators
against Jewish legislators and Jews against each other. This all started back in August, when
Blagojevich appointed members to his Commission on Discrimination
and Hate Crimes. The commission was first formed by Gov. George
Ryan, but Blagojevich had never appointed any members until last
year, when re-election season began to ramp up. One of those appointees was Sister Claudette
Marie Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan’s director of protocol at the
Nation of Islam. The appointment became an issue after
Muhammad invited members of the commission to Farrakhan’s
annual “Savior’s Day” address in Chicago. Farrakhan is not exactly an anti-hate type,
and his Savior’s Day speech was no exception.
“Don’t be afraid to love and don’t be afraid to
hate,” he said. “It’s the wicked Jews, the false
Jews, that are promoting lesbianism, homosexuality. It’s
wicked Jews, false Jews, that make it a crime for you to preach the
word of God, then they call you homophobic!” If Muhammad was simply a member of
Farrakhan’s congregation, there might be some questions, but
few would likely make a major deal out of this. But Muhammad is a high official with the
Nation of Islam and one of Farrakhan’s close advisers. So
questions were raised. Instead of addressing those questions, the
governor stood by his appointment, claiming that Muhammad was in
sync with the commission’s mission. But a few days later, the governor claimed
that he didn’t know that Muhammad was a Farrakhan person, and
it took his office several days to pry from her a weak, generic
statement claiming support for the commission’s goals. Understandably, tempers began to flare at the
Statehouse, and some Jewish legislators decided to act. Despite
lots of pressure from the governor’s office, they held a
press conference calling on Muhammad to fully explain her
positions. Some African-American legislators took to the podium
afterward to lash out at Muhammad’s critics, more than just
implying racial motives. Then things really got bad. The day after the press conference, Lonnie
Nasatir of the Anti-Defamation League resigned from the commission
in protest. A few minutes later, Blagojevich appointed state Rep.
Lou Lang to take Nasatir’s place. The appointment was
obviously designed to show that the Jewish community was divided
over the governor’s decision and to quell any media uproar. One out, one in, no big deal, no big story. But then, later that night, another prominent
Jewish leader announced his resignation. When Richard Hirschhaut,
director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center,
resigned, the governor was caught flat-footed. Blagojevich’s
office had spent the day reaching out to other prominent Jewish
leaders, but they didn’t have anyone ready to go when
Hirschaut’s announcement came. Two out, one in, a very big deal — and
a national story. The very next day, Lang resigned, along with
another prominent Jewish leader, Howard Kaplan. Four out, none in — a complete
disaster. Nobody would have uttered a peep of protest
if Blagojevich had refused to appoint a Nation of Islam official to
his hate-crimes commission last August. Few would have said a word when the story
first broke if the governor had removed Muhammad, because opinions
had yet to harden and the issue was not well known. But that’s not what happened. The
governor blindly appointed someone from a list, then refused to
change his mind, even though we now know that the governor
didn’t know whether Muhammad was as hateful to Jews and gays
as her boss is. Then he stuck by his position even though it
took days to extract from her a generic statement of support for
the commission’s goals (which should have set off major alarm
bells). And, finally, he played a cynical game of
divide-and-conquer with the Jewish community. The result of all of this is inflamed tension
between black and Jewish legislators, who are usually natural
legislative allies, and deeply hurt feelings within the Jewish
delegation itself, which is now divided between ideological foes of
Farrakhan and ultrapartisan supporters of the governor. All of this over a backwater commission which
was so unimportant that the governor didn’t even bother to
activate it for almost three years and which nobody ever heard of
until last month and whose only purpose is to write a report that
nobody will ever read. Thanks, Governor. Great job.
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2006.
