disqualify someone from serving on a state hate crimes commission? You would think so, but, at least in Illinois, you’d be wrong: “On Wednesday, [Governor] Blagojevich expressed support for Claudette Marie Muhammad, director of community outreach for the Nation of Islam, a black Muslim group led by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan… Muhammad recently invited commission members to attend a Farrakhan speech in which he accused ‘Hollywood Jews’ of ‘promoting lesbianism, homosexuality’ and other ‘filth.'”
UPDATE: In answer to readers’ comments, racism is central to NOI ideology, not peripheral. Just do a Google search on “Nation of Islam” “racism” and “yacub” or “yakub.” And I find the analogy to a Boy Scouts leader extremely imprecise. The Scouts ban gays (and atheists, and girls), certainly, but I have never seen an example of the Scouts preaching hate toward gays (or atheists, or girls). A governor could nevertheless use his discretion not to appoint a Scout leader to any civil rights-related position, of course.