October 3, 2006
Distorting Civil Rights History, Again
The National Black Republican Association made headlines a little over a week ago when it began airing radio ads in Maryland and Ohio claiming Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. The ads included gross distortions of civil rights history intended to make the Republican Party sound palatable to African Americans, who usually vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.
Now the NBRA’s at it again. Apparently not content to insult listeners with merely 30 seconds of distortions, the NBRA has released a new 60-second version of its ad (audio here). The new ad contains plenty of additional warped history, and also attempts to stir up anti-gay sentiment. Here’s the transcript:
Voice 1: Dr. King was a real man. You know he was a Republican.
Voice 2: Dr. King? A Republican?
Voice 1: Democrats passed those black codes and Jim Crow laws. Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan.
Voice 2: White hoods and sheets?
Voice 1: Democrats fought all civil rights legislation form the 1860s til the 1960s. Democrats released those vicious dogs and fire hoses on blacks.
Voice 2: Seriously?
Voice 1: And the Dixiecrats? Remained Democrats and vowed to vote for a yellow dog before a Republican. Republicans freed us from slavery and put our right to vote in the Constitution.
Voice 2: What?
Voice 1: Republicans started the NAACP, affirmative action, and the HBCUs.
Voice 2: Sounds like Democrats have bamboozled blacks.
Voice 1: Democrats blocked the minimum wage passed by Republicans, and over $200 billion have been spent on education health care and job training since President Bush took office.
Voice 2: So Democrats want to keep us poor while voting only Democrat.
Voice 1: Democrats want us to accept same-sex marriages, teen abortions without a parent’s consent, and suing the boy scouts for saying God in their pledge.
Voice 2: See, we need to think and vote on our own values.
Voice 1: Exactly. Democrats have talked the talk but the Republicans have walked the walk.
Voice 2: It’s time for us to do the walk.
Voice 1: You know it girl.
This misrepresentation of history is shameful, but it’s not isolated. Radical right faux “historian” David Barton has been peddling similar propaganda through a new DVD, and the NBRA has cited Barton's work as a basis for its communications.
Thankfully, Barton, the NBRA, and their allies are not going unchallenged. Respected African American Democrats and Republicans, as well as nonpartisan leaders such as Rev. Timothy McDonald, the national chair of African American Ministers in Action, are standing up against these distortions and for the truth.
Posted by MattP at 9:27 AM
May 3, 2006
GOP’s Equal Opportunity Hater aka the “Black Jesse Helms? says “Fiesta is over for illegal aliens and homosexuals?
Vernon Robinson is an African American Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina’s 13th district – one who has almost entirely decided to forgo the traditional right-wing tactics of using coded language and subtle attacks against gays, immigrants, judges, and liberals in order to rally the base. He is currently the best financed GOP candidate in the race.
Robinson was once criticized and dubbed the "black Jesse Helms" for a campaign message “reminiscent of the old South, where race is used to scare the white would-be voter into the arms of the conservative Republican fold, lest the white sheep stray come time to vote.? Critics said the “only thing missing was a picture of the Confederate flag? and noted the irony of the fact that Robinson had “found it necessary to use the same race-mongering tactics to get elected that Jesse Helms and other white, conservative, racist politicians used to keep blacks from being elected to office.?[1]
Robinson quickly embraced the Helms mantra using it as a kind of badge of honor in a speech to the Florida Christian Coalition. He has been supported in his bids by the likes of nationally known Republicans such as former Georgia Rep. Bob Barr and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, as well as Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and right-wing commentator Pat Buchanan.
At a time when the Republican Party is trying desperately to reach out to Hispanics and African Americans, three-time GOP candidate Robinson has opted to ignore the norms of traditional political discourse and even basic decency, instead filling the airwaves with vile attack ads aimed at his Democratic opponent, Brad Miller, while continuing the traditional GOP electoral tactic of scapegoating gay Americans – this time marrying that hate-filled message to an anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic one, all in his quest for the so-called values voters that are making up a larger and more vocal part of the GOP’s base.
Here is Robinson’s most recent radio ad – [listen HERE]:
“Every night, 7,000 aliens rush into our country illegally and your ultra-liberal congressman, Brad Miller, refuses to guard the border. Instead of deporting them he votes for amnesty and throws them a party with your tax dollars. (mariachi music begins playing) Brad Miller gives these aliens welfare, driver’s licenses, Social Security, free healthcare, free lawyers, free public educations, even free school lunches. These aliens pay no income tax and send their money back to Mexico, then they take to the street waving the Mexican flag and demanding more. Unbelievably Brad Miller voted to allow these illegals to burn the American flag while waiving the Mexican flag.
“Brad Miller supports gay marriage, and sponsored a bill to let American homosexuals bring their foreign homosexual lovers to this country on a marriage visa! (sounds of gasps and revulsion) If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals, but if you elect Vernon Robinson, that party’s over.?
Robinson is also responsible for an earlier, equally offensive, radio ad that likewise targeted immigrants:
“The aliens are here but they didn’t come in a spaceship, they came across our unguarded Mexican border by the millions. They’ve filled our criminal courtrooms and invaded our schools. They sponge off the American taxpayer by clogging our welfare lines and our hospital emergency rooms; they’ve even taken over the DMV. These aliens commit heinous crimes against us, like Maximiliano Esparza who raped a nun and strangled her with her own rosary. They commit crimes but won’t commit to learn our language. You walk into a McDonald’s restaurant to order a Big Mac and find to your horror that the employees don’t speak English. You may be in the heart of America but you feel as though you’re in ‘The Twilight Zone.’ Vernon Robinson will secure our borders, cut off the welfare payments, and once and for all make English our official language. Press 1 for English? NO! Vote Vernon Robinson for English.?
Robinson also ran a television ad that played off the “Twilight Zone? theme, one that essentially put gay and lesbian Americans, feminists, African Americans, immigrants and "liberal" judges in the same category as Osama bin Laden:
“If you’re a conservative Republican, watching the news these days can make you feel as though you are in ‘The Twilight Zone.’ Americans are under attack from Islamic extremists in every corner of the world. Homosexuals are mocking holy matrimony and the lesbians and feminists are attacking everything sacred. Liberal judges have completely re-written the Constitution. You can burn the American flag and kill a million babies a year but you can’t post the Ten Commandments or say ‘God’ in public. Seven out of every 10 children are born out of wedlock and [Rev. Jesse] Jackson and [Al] Sharpton claim the answer is racial quotas. And the aliens are here but they didn’t come in a spaceship, they came across our unguarded Mexican border by the millions.?
To read this article in its entirety click here.
Posted by MattP at 11:38 AM
April 13, 2006
Lowry: Support for Immigration costly to African Americans and Hispanics
National Review Editor Rich Lowry writes that Democratic support for immigration "comes at the expense of American low-skill workers, many of them African-American and Hispanic, who are supposed to be the heart of the Democratic party" and that the "split between the Democratic elite and the working-class portion of its political base presents an opportunity for Republicans." Read
Read the NAACP’s statement on comprehensive immigration reform here.
Posted by MattP at 7:57 PM
Sen. Kennedy Slammed for Comparing Illegal Immigration Rallies to Civil Rights Marches
A black conservative minister and staunch immigration reform advocate Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson today denounced Sen. Ted Kennedy for comparing pro-illegal immigration rallies to civil rights marches for blacks half a century ago. The Massachusetts Democrat, who is a proponent of a Senate plan that would open the way to citizenship for illegals, said recent illegal immigration rallies are “reminiscent of the civil rights movement.?
Posted by MattP at 7:40 PM
Black Activists Support Judge's Ruling to Hold New Orleans Elections on Time
As Reverend Jesse Jackson and others prepare to march in opposition to scheduled city government elections in New Orleans, members of the black leadership network Project 21 are supportive of a New Orleans-based federal judge's ruling clearing the way for voting to be held on and leading up to April 22.
Posted by MattP at 7:37 PM
April 5, 2006
'State of Black America' Lamented by Urban League
(CNSNews.com) - The median white family in America has approximately ten times the net worth of the median black family, according to the annual "State of Black America" report issued Wednesday by the liberal National Urban League. However, Mychal Massie, a syndicated radio talk show host from the conservative African American group Project 21, said the report was misleading.
The Urban League stated that there are several "equality gaps between blacks and whites" in America, involving economic status, equality in education, health and quality of life, social justice, and civic engagement.
But the greatest disparity exists in the level of financial security between blacks and whites, the Urban League report contends, pointing out, for example that the unemployment rate among blacks is 10 percent and among whites only 4.4 percent.
"The median net worth of the average African American family is ten times less at $6,166 versus the average white family at $67,000, due largely to the difference in home ownership and income. Blacks own nearly 50 percent of their homes, while whites own over 70 percent," the report states.
"Now that we are in a so-called economic recovery, that job recovery has not found its way to Detroit. It hasn't found its way to the south side of Chicago. It hasn't found its way to Cleveland. People should not be celebrating this jobless recovery because it hasn't reached everyone," said Marc Morial, president of the Urban League, reportedly said.
"We cannot continue the status quo," Morial was quoted by the Detroit News as saying. "If the United States is going to compete globally, you have to have every able bodied American participating in the economic system as much as they can."
But Massie told Cybercast News Service that the National Urban League's report was a "bastardization and misrepresentation." He said the lower economic status for the median black family is "no one's fault but black Americans that they are not succeeding in greater numbers."
Click here for the full article
Posted by Lorelle at 2:52 PM
March 30, 2006
Blacks Should "Clean Up Their Acts" To Put An End To Acquired Prejudices
Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, writes in the National Review that the new FX series “Black.White.? is intentionally designed and edited in order to show racism and discrimination because “otherwise there would be, literally, no show.? But Clegg claims that “old-fashioned bigotry is dying? because “young white people today are not sat down by their parents and told, ‘Look, son/daughter, you need to know that black people are dangerous, promiscuous, lazy, and stupid.’ Rather, to the extent that kids today develop prejudices, it is more likely based on their own experiences and observations — which include the unpleasant but undeniable facts that a disproportionate number of blacks commit crimes, have children out of wedlock, and do poorly in school.? Clegg’s antidote to the development of these prejudices is “for those disproportions to end. And for that to happen, the black community has to pressure its own to clean up their acts … "
Posted by Lorelle at 10:38 AM
Black Conservative Candidates Lauded as GOP's New Leadership
Citing both President Bush’s falling approval rating and a Family Research Council poll claiming continued high support for “values voter? issues like abortion and a federal marriage amendment, Star Parker – president and founder the Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education (CURE) – suggests those issues resonate with African-American voters and many conservative candidates have turned their backs to those “values voters? who helped elect them. She says "blacks are taking the values agenda into their own hands and showing a new leadership important for all Americans.? Parker notes that “Four powerful conservative black Republicans with excellent prospects will be on ballots in upcoming elections – Ken Blackwell, running for governor in Ohio, Lynn Swann, running for governor in Pennsylvania, Michael Steele, running for the Senate in Maryland, and Keith Butler, running for the Senate in Michigan."
Posted by Lorelle at 10:06 AM
March 1, 2006
Young America’s Foundation Discounts Black History Month
Thank God that Black History Month is the shortest month of the year, for only God knows what a leftist would do if he had an extra three days to work with.
Instead of leading positive discussions about the accomplishments that blacks have made over the decades in business, education, government, and science, colleges invited speakers who enjoy lashing out angrily against white people, accuse Jesus Christ of being a socialist, and who rattle on and on about reparations for slavery.
Not only do the below instances of speaker choice highlight, once again, that black conservatives are consciously excluded from the halls of academia, but these examples also illustrate the most flagrant instances of left-wing activism's hijacking of an entire month.
Click here for the full article
Posted by Lorelle at 10:58 AM
February 22, 2006
Kathryn Jean Lopez Praises Kenneth Blackwell For Rejecting The “Victimology Of Many Black Activists?
Black Republicans are making a run for a number of big elections this year. In Maryland, Michael Steele wants retiring Democrat Paul Sarbanes's U.S. Senate seat. Keith Butler, a Detroit-area pastor, is also running for Senate, from Michigan. Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star, wants to be governor of the Keystone State. Randy Daniels would like to be governor of New York. And gunning for governor in a key presidential electoral state there is the great black hope for the Republican party, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.
The "great black hope" is probably the last phrase Blackwell would use to describe himself (I, myself, cringed while writing it). It actually both unnecessarily cheapens and ghettoizes; in truth, Ken Blackwell is a great hope for us all.
In a profile in the winter issue of City Journal, Steven Malanga calls Blackwell "Ronald Reagan's Unlikely Heir." Malanga writes, "Ken Blackwell has so many people worried because he represents a new political calculus with the power to shake up American politics."
Who can have a power like that, you ask? "For Blackwell is a fiscal and cultural conservative ... who happens to be black with the proven power to attract votes from across a startlingly wide spectrum of the electorate." Malanga continues, "Born in the projects of Cincinnati to a meat-packer who preached the work ethic and a nurse who read to him from the bible every evening, Blackwell has rejected the victimology of many black activists and opted for a different path, championing school choice, opposing abortion and advocating low taxes as a road to prosperity. The 57-year-old is equally comfortable preaching that platform to the black urban voters of Cincinnati as to the white German-Americans in Ohio's rural counties or to the state's business community."
And Blackwell could win — having taken an early pre-Republican primary lead and garnering the national attention needed to keep a campaign running.
Click here for the full article
Posted by Lorelle at 5:22 PM
February 10, 2006
Matalin Calls Civil Rights Leaders “Race Baiters and Hustlers‿
GOP operative Matalin calls civil rights leaders who spoke at Coretta Scott King’s funeral “race baiters and hustlers".
After watching video clips of the funeral service for Coretta Scott King of Rev. Joseph Lowery, a renowned civil rights activist who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and former President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jimmy Carter, eulogizing Mrs. King, Mary Matalin said their comments were offensive, un-Christian, un-southern, and not about President Bush but that they were “an insult to the memory of both Coretta Scott King and Dr. King.".
Matalin, the one-time Senior Advisor to the Vice President Dick Cheney, appeared on the February 8, 2006 episode of “Hannity and Colmes" to discuss the funeral of King and attempted to lay blame on Democrats by inexplicably claiming that “it’s very illustrative of where the Democratic Party is -- the liberal wing of the Democratic Party is today. It was completely without facts. It was ignorant. It was no hope, all hate. So it's sad."
Matalin continued, “I think these civil rights leaders are nothing more than racists and … they’re keeping their neighborhoods and their African America brothers enslaved, if you will, by continuing to let them think that … they’re victims, that the whole system is against them."
When co-host Alan Colmes recalled a similar eulogy given by Dr. King for the young victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 he asked Matalin if Dr. King was being insulting or un-Christian? Matalin responded that Colmes was “comparing a time of great civil rights unrest with a time where there's been great progress made for all Americans, and African- Americans in particular." She continued by accusing the civil rights leaders of being “race-baiters and hustlers" saying that they are propagating the “notion amongst the African-American community that we are a nation of racists and that they are victims...and they’re enslaved by us. “ Colmes protested saying that is not what they said, to which Matalin responded “That’s exactly what they are saying."
Posted by Lorelle at 12:00 PM
January 17, 2006
"Justice Sunday III? - The Fabricated “War on Christians?
Now that the holiday season has passed, the Right Wing’s inflammatory and divisive rhetoric about an alleged “war on Christmas? has begun to die away. But with the battle over the nomination of Samuel Alito just heating up, the Right’s underlying theme that the Christian faith is under attack is still going strong.
Just as they have twice in the past, the Family Research Council held a nation-wide telecast event dubbed “Justice Sunday? timed to coincide with issues of importance regarding the judiciary and judicial nominations.
The “theme? at the first “Justice Sunday? was that a handful of George Bush’s appellate court nominees were being targeted for filibusters not because they were considered extremist judges based on their records, but because they were “people of faith.? That first event was orchestrated to support - and to pressure - Republican Senators to use the so-called “nuclear option.? The “nuclear option? is a parliamentary maneuver threatened by GOP Senate leader Frist that would break Senate rules to force a fundamental change in the Senate’s operating principles with votes from as few as 50 senators, even though rule changes explicitly require a 2/3 vote. Right-wing religious leaders began making the claim that opposition to nominees was motivated by the faith of the nominee. “Justice Sunday? speakers and organizers went so far as to say that any senator or group opposed to extremist nominees was somehow trying to silence conservative Christians or deny them the right to participate in public life. When a last-minute agreement preserved the right to filibuster, those on the Right voiced their outrage.
“Justice Sunday II? coincided with the beginning of John Roberts’ confirmation hearings. Most of the speakers had unequivocally voiced their support for John Roberts, and the pro-Roberts message of “JSII? was made quite clear by the prominent display of his portrait as speakers discussed the need for “strict constructionists.? The overarching theme remained the same: that a so-called “activist? judiciary was trying to “silence? people of faith and that conservative Christians are somehow being persecuted, or treated as “second-class citizens.?
“Justice Sunday III? was held on January 8, the day before the start of Samuel Alito’s confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. The message of this event, which was once again sponsored by the right-wing Family Research Council, was much the same. Opening the event, Tony Perkins of the FRC proclaimed that Christians must take a stand to protect “our religious liberties and freedoms,? which, he claimed, have come under attack from the federal courts. The message Tony Perkins has long been promoting is that the courts are the "last bastion of [an] anti-Christian and anti-American viewpoint."
The first speaker at “Justice Sunday III? was Senator Rick Santorum, who made his support for Samuel Alito the centerpiece of his remarks. Claiming that freedom is at risk because of “liberal activist judges on the Supreme Court? and other judges who are "destroying traditional morality, creating a new moral code and prohibiting any dissent," Santorum stated that in order to “restore this republic? it is imperative that they “elevate honorable jurists like Samuel Alito.? Santorum closed by saying that Democrats are poised to “drag these hearings into the gutter,? asking “are we going to stand by and allow the destruction … of the Constitution?? exhorting viewers to “join me to make sure the answer is ‘yes’ on Judge Sam Alito.?
Rev. Herbert Lusk, whose church hosted the event, took up the persecution theme, saying he has been called everything from an “Uncle Tom? to a “sell out? for joining forces with the likes of Tony Perkins and James Dobson. Lusk warned that the Christian foundations of our country are being tampered with and that Christians are facing “like we have never before this hostility against the people of God.? Lusk then warned his unnamed enemies that he would not go down without a fight “against the redefinition of marriage,? abortion, and “Christian-bashing,? telling them to “be careful how you fool with the church? because the church has buried a million critics and all those “we have not buried, we’re making funeral arrangements for them.?
James Dobson of Focus on the Family stated that the effort to get Alito confirmed is one of the “most important efforts that has occurred in recent history.? Saying that the country is living under judicial tyranny with the Supreme Court forcing its decisions upon the American people, Dobson highlighted issues on which the Court is supposedly undermining representative government: reading the Bible in school; prayer in public school; prayer at graduation and sporting events; saying “under God? in the Pledge of Allegiance; abortion. Dobson claimed that “representative government is being weakened, vilified, and indeed made illegal? but stated that there is “good news? in that President Bush has nominated an “outstanding judge? in Samuel Alito. Dobson said Alito has made it very clear that he will be an “originalist? who will not legislate from the bench and called on those watching the telecast to contact their senators and tell them “DO NOT FILIBUSTER? and to give Alito an up-or-down vote. If that happens, Dobson said, “We can put an end to judicial tyranny.?
Appearing in a short video clip, William Donohue of the Catholic League issued a call to evangelical arms, saying that “Catholics and evangelicals? understand what is at stake, saying “our culture is going south and unless we rescue it, we’re all going down together.? Donohue stated that “we have a war in this country between the secular supremacists who want to gut our society and out religious heritage? and those who seek to protect freedom of religion. Saying the “time for an alliance? between evangelicals, Catholics and Jews, “is now? Donohue warned “either they win or we win.? This is not Donohue’s first involvement with the “Justice Sunday? strategy. The day before he spoke at “Justice Sunday II,? Donohue openly admitted that he hoped to “intimidate? the Senate Judiciary Committee into confirming John Roberts to a seat on the Supreme Court.
Speaking of the Alito nomination Rev. Jerry Falwell, declared “What we have been working on for thirty years is coming to fruition now. Now we are looking at what we really started 30 years ago – a reconstruction of a court system gone awry…? Falwell praised President Bush for keeping his promise to nominate people in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, judges who "will stand for faith and family? and urged viewers to contact their senators, noting that President Bush has three years left in office and that there could be one or two more vacancies in that time. Should that happen, Falwell stated, “there could be a reconstruction of the US Supreme Court in our immediate life time.? In the meantime, the confirmation of Alito will be “one more step toward bringing America back to one nation under God.?
Brian Bosma, Indiana’s Speaker of the House, appeared via video discussing a recent federal court ruling that outlawed the practice of opening House sessions with sectarian prayer. Bosma complained that he is now prohibited from allowing prayers “that mention the name of Jesus Christ, or any reference to the second coming, or the resurrection, or the fact that Jesus is our redeemer!? Saying he intended to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court if necessary, Bosma said it is just one part of the “broader cultural war that we find ourselves in today against those who want to take every bit of religion out of our state, local, and federal government.?
Bishop Wellington Boone closed-out the event, claiming that it is “intellectual dishonesty not to think that our whole nation began with God and with prayer.? Alleging that those who might disagree “don’t have a clue? he went on to ask “how are a bunch of liberals who don’t have a clue going to shut us up?? Finally, Boone lashed out against allegations that the Right is intolerant, saying “we are bible-believing, bible-carrying people. You say ‘you’re trying to proselytize.’ Of course [we are]!? How else, he asked, are people “going to get people saved??
It’s clear that the “Justice Sunday? organizers will continue to traffic in false charges of anti-religious bigotry and religious persecution against those who want to preserve the separation of church and state that protects all Americans’ religious liberty. This time around, they sought to tie it to the Alito hearings, but it is standard operating procedure for the Right and we will certainly be seeing it again.
Click Here to Read PFAW’s Coverage of Past “Justice Sunday? Events
Posted by Lorelle at 10:46 AM
January 11, 2006
Project 21 Likens Black Members of Congress Who Oppose Alito to Slaves
Project 21 criticized the decision of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to oppose the nomination of Samuel Alito: “The Congressional Black Caucus's rush to condemn Judge Alito in advance of the hearings is an unambiguously proof-positive indication of their contempt for the spirit of our constitutional order. It also clearly shows who their masters are. The CBC has clearly aligned itself with the extreme liberals who share their contempt for those who would uphold the Constitution as it was envisioned by our Founding Fathers. Click here for the full article.
Posted by Lorelle at 5:34 PM
December 21, 2005
C.O.R.E. Honors Haley Barbour
December 21, 2005-The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) has chosen Mississippi Governor and former Republican national chairman Haley Balbour to honor at its Martin Luther King, Jr., Day ceremony. Civil Rights activists have criticized Barbour for his defense of the Confederate emblem on the state flag, and noted Barbour’s connection to the neo-Confederate Council of Conservative Citizens. Other recent CORE “Martin Luther King? honorees include White House advisor Karl Rove and Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tennessee).
Click here for the full article.
Posted by Lorelle at 10:41 AM
October 27, 2005
Mychal Massie Blames the “Black Church and the Black Community? for the “State of Destruction" of the Black Family
Media Matters for America reports that Mychal Massie, an advisory council member for Project 21, the black right-wing organization created by the National Center for Public Policy Research think tank, told talk radio host Janet Parshall, "The black people today who curse America are cursing God because if God had not permitted" the enslavement of Africans, "we would not have what we have today."
Speaking of the "reason that the black family is in the state of destruction," Massie said "it is the fault of the black church and the black community because the preachers have succumbed to hatred; they have succumbed to a disobedience to God."
Posted by Lorelle at 5:15 PM
October 11, 2005
Right-Wing Black Leaders Praise Bennett, Criticize Katrina Evacuees
"I find that many of those people have lots of things. They have nice clothes to wear, they’re fat as a pig, they’re driving nice cars, big old color TVs. I think the reason many stayed there is because they lack moral character.?
A group of self-proclaimed ultra-conservative Black leaders gathered at the Heritage Foundation to discuss the state of Black America and, in the process, condemned African Americans’ moral character, denigrated civil rights leaders, and bashed Democrats as “Godless.?
Said Peterson, “I find that many of those people have lots of things. They have nice clothes to wear, they’re fat as a pig, they’re driving nice cars, big old color TVs. I think the reason many stayed there is because they lack moral character.?
On Tuesday, October 11, 2005, African American right-wing think tank Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) held a panel discussion with The Heritage Foundation to discuss the state of Black America, mainly the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the comments from former Education secretary Bill Bennett. BOND is a 15-year-old non-profit religious organization, which claims dedication to “Rebuilding the Family By Rebuilding the Man.? Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity of Hannity & Colmes, ultra-conservative economist Walter E. Williams, and right-wing radio talk show host Dennis Prager are on BOND’s Board of Directors. The panelists were Dr. Shelby Steele, Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution; Linda Porter, Hurricane Katrina Survivor and Founder of Jochebed Education Project; Joseph C. Phillips, actor and columnist; and LaShawn Barber, freelance writer and blogger.
Moderator Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson criticized Hurricane Katrina evacuees for what he deemed their “lack of moral character.? Said Peterson, “I find that many of those people have lots of things. They have nice clothes to wear, they’re fat as a pig, they’re driving nice cars, big old color TVs. I think the reason many stayed there is because they lack moral character.? Yet Peterson had only praise for former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, who has been widely condemned for his recent comment that aborting all black babies would be a way to bring down the crime rate, though it would be reprehensible. Peterson said of Bennett, “He has a right to speak about things. He has a right to point out right and wrong. I don’t know why you say that he should not have, that he was clumsy in saying it. I think he was right to say it. I would’ve said it too.?
These far right “leaders? also took every chance they could to bash Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, other African American leaders and the Democratic Party. Peterson criticized Black mayors around the country, especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, saying citizens of New Orleans were “out of your mind to wait on a Black Mayor to come help you. Those people had to know not to depend on the mayor.? Rev. Peterson said “You’re not born of God if you’re a Democrat… A real Christian can’t vote for a Democrat, the Democratic Party.? Rev. Peterson went on to say that he could not identify with the “Democratic, Godless Party.?
For more right-wing African American perspectives on Katrina victims by BOND founder Peterson click or here.
Posted by Lorelle at 3:53 PM
October 1, 2005
Katrina: "Compassionate Conservatives" Blame the Victims
“The USA has mandatory education. You have to go to school or pass exams if home-schooled. But nobody can force you to learn while you're in school. If you refuse to do the hard work that education requires, and millions of kids do, you're going to be ill equipped to compete in the marketplace. And all the government programs in the world are not going to change that. So every American kid should be required to watch videotape of the poor in New Orleans and see how they suffered, because they couldn't get out of town. And then, every teacher should tell the students, "If you refuse to learn, if you refuse to work hard, if you become addicted, if you live a gangsta-life, you will be poor and powerless just like many of those in New Orleans."
--Bill O'Reilly, on The O'Reilly Factor, 09/07/2005
"75 percent of New Orleans residents had left the city, it was primarily immoral, welfare-pampered blacks that stayed behind and waited for the government to bail them out." So said the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny.
"It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder." Peterson writes, "about five years ago . . . I stated that if whites were to just leave the United States and let blacks run the country, they would turn America into a ghetto within 10 years . . . I gave blacks too much credit. It took a mere three days for blacks to turn the Superdome and the convention center into ghettos, rampant with theft, rape and murder."
--Jesse Lee Peterson of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND)
Posted by Lorelle at 12:43 PM
September 30, 2005
Toxic Rhetoric From Bill Bennett
"If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."
-- Bill Bennett, on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America radio show, 09/28/05
See a response statement issued by our affiliate, the African American Ministers Leadership Council
Posted by Rob at 10:31 AM