Ill. hate crime commission head wants Nation of Islam member on panel

The Rev. Willie Barrow is the chair or the Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. That's the group, with little fanfare, which saw Nation of Islam Minister of Protocol Claudette Marie Muhammad join its ranks last August.

Since her prominent role in Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam--an organization that can rightly be referred to as a hate group--became public, four Jewish members have resigned the hate crimes panel.

This morning, the Reverend Willie Barrow, the chair of the commission, spoke publicly for the first time on what is the top news story in the Land of Lincoln.

In a CBS 2 Chicago exclusive, political reporter Mike Flannery explains that Barrow is sticking behind Muhammad:

From that story:

"Not only should (Muhammad) continue to serve on the commission, but, I think those that resigned because they disagree, what have they done to bring about an agreement?" Barrow said.

When asked if the commissioners made a mistake, Barrow said: "I think so. I think we should be able to talk things over. That's why we have wars."

Flannery left out one item in his report. For many years, the Rev. Barrow was the co-chair of the Rainbow/Push organization; Jesse Jackson and his pals have been cozy with Farrakhan for years.

As the Chicago Tribune (free registration required) noted in an editorial yesterday:

Perhaps only in Illinois could a government panel known as the Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes become roiled in an internal battle over charges of bigotry and anti-Semitism.

This whole mess is a political disaster for Governor Rod Blagojevich. Blago refuses to throw Muhammad off the panel. The best thing Blago has going for him is that he's a Democrat in a blue state--but his support his soft. Rod is up for re-election in November--and the Jewish vote is now in play.

And if Blagojevich tosses Muhammad overboard, he risks an African-American voter boycott this fall.

Blagojevich's admission that he didn't know that his appointee was a top member of the Nation of Islam, until he heard about it from the media, only solidifies the belief among many Illinoisans the Blago is a detached chief executive, uninterested in the details involved in running the nation's fifth most-populous state.

At this point of his gubernatorial reign, Blagojevich probably is wistfully recalling the good old days, when he was an unknown minority party back-bencher in Congress.

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