The following article originally appeared on the
website
of People for the American Way.
On August 24, Project 21, an African American initiative
of the right-wing National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR),
held a press
conference along with other far-right African Americans and
Hispanics, to convey the appearance of broad “minority support”
for John Roberts' confirmation to the Supreme Court.
The National
Center for Public Policy Research is a "conservative think
tank" founded in 1982 in order to "provide the conservative
movement with a versatile and energetic organization capable of
responding quickly and decisively to fast-breaking issues."
The NCPPR works on a variety of issues, from "environmental
policy" to "global warming" to "civil rights."
The organization is headed by President Amy Ridenour,
Vice-President David
Ridenour, and Executive Director David Almasi.
Project 21, the NCPPR's effort to create a “new leadership for Black
America,” seems little more than African American spokespeople with
extremist views that are at odds with what the majority of African
Americans care about and believe. Yet it incredibly claims
to be “a leading voice in the African-American community since 1992.”
The “new leadership for Black America” that Project 21 says it is
“creating” has, in recent years, attempted to manufacture the appearance
of African American support for right-wing appellate court nominee
Janice
Rogers Brown in the face of almost overwhelming opposition
by credible voices in the mainstream civil rights community. “Project
21” also supported the nomination of Priscilla Owen (mistakenly
and repeatedly referred
to her in their own press release as “Patricia” Owen), as well as
voiced its support for the Bush administration's efforts to privatize
Social Security, applauded
the replacement of Mary Frances Berry on the Civil Rights Commission,
dismissed
a highly regarded NAACP/ PFAW report documenting efforts to intimidate
minority voters at the polls, has repeatedly attacked
the NAACP – and even opposed
Earth Day!
Recently, when the Senate overwhelmingly passed
a resolution apologizing for its historic failure to pass anti-lynching
legislation, Project 21, apparently thinking no apology was necessary,
issued this
statement: “The lynchings of the past, while a sad place in
history to recount, is exactly that – history. The best way to avenge
this shameful history and make it relevant to us today is not to
wallow in the apologies and regrets offered by senators who couldn't
be in any way responsible for what occurred, but to supply our own
closure by forgiving those who trespassed against us and moving
on.”
Before John Roberts had been announced as the nominee, Project 21
explained
what it was looking for in a Supreme Court nominee. A nominee who
embraced and was committed to:
• "A strict interpretation of the Constitution,"
• "Recognition of the importance of letting the state
governments decide matters that exclusively involve state business,"
• "Upholding the Judeo-Christian heritage on which our
nation and the Constitution were based,"
• "Individual rights and private property rights,"
• "Standing for the law over politics and not legislating
from the courtroom," and
• "Having the conviction not to waver when pressured by
outside influences."
In it's release
from the August 24 press conference, the event's headliner, Mychal
Massie of Project 21, proclaimed that "John Roberts is the
type of jurist who represents the beliefs of great Americans such
as James Madison and Martin Luther King, Jr.” Massie went
on to claim that "Liberal haters … are conspiring to attack
Judge Roberts on the most personal of levels” and accused these
“liberal haters” of “[demeaning] and [attempting] to corrupt the
judicial nomination process with lies, misinformation and histrionics."
 Massie spreads his often hate-filled and bigoted
messages via columns and a talk-radio program hosted by Right Wing
media outlets such as WorldNetDaily
and Righttalk.com.
If there is anyone who knows about “demeaning” a debate with “lies,
misinformation and histrionics,” it is Massie.
Just weeks ago, Massie praised
John Roberts by defaming a sitting senator, deceased president and
their entire family by saying that Roberts is “unlike” members of
the Kennedy family in that “He is not an avowed racist, bootlegger,
gangster and anti-Semite like the Kennedy patriarch, nor does he
possess the moral turpitude of John and Teddy.” He then went on
to claim that Democrats “embrace, support and encourage every form
of debauchery the majority of Americans find unacceptable.”
Massie has a history of shamelessly playing the race card so heartily
embraced
as a tactic by the right-wing whenever Democrats have opposed the
Bush administration's extremist nominees and agenda.
When Democrats opposed the confirmation of Janice Rogers Brown based
on her writings
and her record on the California Supreme Court, rather than
dealing with the merits of the opposition Massie wrote
that it was “telling” because “exactly as in the 1890s – liberal
anti-black Democrats still publicly humiliate upstanding black citizens.”
When Democrats raised concerns regarding
the nomination of Condoleezza Rice to become Secretary of State,
Massie again avoided any substantive criticism and claimed
it was “in perfect keeping with the beatings, dogs and fire hoses
of Mississippi and Alabama. They are fully representative of Bull
Connor and Orval Faubus.”
When Sen. Harry Reid criticized
the opinions of Justice Clarence Thomas, Massie responded:
“Reid's comments should surprise no one – repulse, sicken and anger,
yes, but surprise, no. He is simply being true to his inbred familial
heritage” and then revealed his own bigoted beliefs and religious
intolerance by savaging Reid's Mormon faith before concluding that
Reid “is as absent of courage as he is filled with racial bigotry.”
On the chance he is ever asked his “thoughts”
about Senator Reid's supposed comments about Clarence Thomas, Massie
says his
reply will be: “Sen. Reid is a pernicious little person, with
a pretentious moral compass, who embodies all of that which is negatively
attributed to the adherents of his faith. . ."
On the need for civil rights protections, Massie says:
“The battle for civil rights as presently understood has been won
… Blacks/minorities can immiserate [sic] and whites can wallow in
guilt, but the fact remains – there is nothing in our country today
preventing anyone from doing, being or attempting anything they
choose, save the lack of preparedness, lack of education and lack
of vision.” Cleary Massie is not a “civil rights” activist in any
meaningful sense of the concept any more than Project 21 is a “civil
rights” organization. Massie seems to think he can just decree that
“civil rights” now means something different than it has for nearly
the last half century.
Last year, Massie outrageously compared
liberals to terrorists saying, “It occurs to me that radical, bloodthirsty
Muslims and elitist, socialistic liberals are opposite sides of
the same coin, with the same agenda.” His anger at “liberals” is
only matched by the breadth
of his religious bigotry – such as in this case, directed at
Muslims: “Radical, bloodthirsty Muslims come from nothing, have
nothing, produce nothing, stand for nothing (save murder and brutality)
and go to nothing (70 virgins notwithstanding).”
During the press conference, Massie attacked an African American
Ministers in Action press
release challenging Massie's assertion that John Roberts "represents
the beliefs of great Americans such as... Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Massie denied that he had ever done so, calling the allegations
“scurrilous.” However, the quote came directly out of Project 21's
own press
release for the event:
"John Roberts is the type of
jurist who represents the beliefs of great Americans such as James
Madison and Martin Luther King, Jr.," said Project 21's Massie.[Watch
the video of Massie denying his own press release.]
Massie was joined
at this press conference by Niger Innis of the Congress of Racial
Equality, Robert Woodson of the National Council for Neighborhood
Enterprise, and Jennifer Braceras, who identified herself in her
introduction as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
– it wasn't until much later in the press conference she mentioned
belatedly that she was not there representing the Commission. At
least one news story identified
her as a commissioner giving the impression that she was indeed
there in an official capacity. Braceras was formerly a Senior Fellow
with the anti-feminist Independent
Women's Forum and is also a member of the Committee for Justice
and the Federalist
Society, as well as a frequent contributor to the ultra-conservative
National
Review.
Niger Innis, who also appeared at the press conference, serves as
the national spokesman for the Congress
of Racial Equality, an organization originally founded to advance
civil rights. When Roy Innis, Niger's father, took control of CORE
in 1968, it lurched hard to the right. In recent years, CORE has
defended
Trent Lott during his racially-inflected fall from grace and even
honored Karl Rove at its “Martin Luther King Day” dinner claiming
that Rove's “mission is to fully integrate our people in every aspect.”
Innis has been a featured speaker
at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political
Action Conference [CPAC] on several occasions, billed as the “largest
gathering of conservative political activists in the country! [emphasis
original]” Innis is also a board member of the Alliance
for Marriage, an organization formed to promote an amendment
to the U.S. Constitution seeking to define marriage solely as between
“a man and a woman” – an amendment that, if passed, would be the
only one in the Constitution intended to discriminate
against and actually deny the rights of a group of Americans.
Robert Woodson
is the founder and president of the National Center for Neighborhood
Enterprise [NCNE] and a one-time Resident Fellow at the right-wing
American Enterprise Institute. In the mid-90's, the NCNE reportedly
received $225,000 from the Bradley Foundation, the same organization
that has financially supported
Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, where he asserts
that intelligence is predicated on race. Murray also authored Losing
Ground, which argues that many social programs for the
poor should be abolished. Along with Innis, Woodson is also a board
member of the Alliance
for Marriage.
The unreal world these spokespeople inhabit might explain the unbelievable
contradiction between the group's press conference and press release
and its assertions
that Project 21 "takes no position" on the confirmation
of any specific judges, including the Supreme Court nomination of
John Roberts! Clearly, that was the whole point of their press conference.
[watch
video of Roberts support repeatedly expressed at press conference.]
Only a Rip Van Winkle, asleep for the past 50 years, would mistake
Massie and his colleagues for civil rights leaders. [Watch
video of Woodson asserting that if Dr. King were alive, he would
be standing there with them.] |
